During Henry’s spring break, he and I went on a trip to California during which I signed a contract to publish A Course of Love in one single, combined volume. I’m really excited about it.
I know…it probably seems a little funny that I haven’t mentioned it before now. What kind of excitement is that, right? Well, for one thing, we’re going to launch a new website/blog and for another, with a Fall 2014 publication date, I’ve been pretty busy. We’ve checked and double-checked the manuscripts (Word files and originals) and a new cover has been designed, and everything but The Dialogues has even been typeset already. But there’s sort of this feeling, I guess, of it not being quite yet the time to introduce the folks making all of this happen or the new publication itself. It’s still a “preparatory” time.
As part of my preparation I started cleaning my sun room office. There’s a certain energy to new projects—at least for me. My deadly time is at the end. When I’m done—I’m done and I rarely look back. That’s why things like my file drawer are a mess and why I went down in the basement for an empty box, intent on filling it with the drawer’s contents and delivering all that paper into the hands of the recycler. I took everything out of that file drawer … but … by the time I was through reading and sorting, I only had about three pieces of paper in my hand for the waste basket and I started reading one of those.
My “find” of the day is this sheet of paper full of my handwriting, written in pencil on the back of page showing visual images of rotator cuff rehabilitation exercises, which tells me just how much I used that list and about how long ago it was that I wrote across its back (nearly four years)!
It’s a “find” because when you’re talking a new publication you’re asked questions like, “What is the essence of this Course of Love?” You feel like you ought to be able to easily answer such questions. And yet, if you’ve ever tried to describe A Course of Love to someone who hasn’t heard of it, you might have run into this same problem. What do you say? It speaks to the heart?
I seemed to be asking myself the same “What is it?” question when I jotted these notes four years ago. I thought I’d share them with you. (I’ll share more details on the new publishing venture soon.)
This Course begins with prayer—felt like prayer, came from prayer—the answer to prayer.
What does it draw us to?
Interior transformation and exterior manifestation
Expanding vision
Deepening compassion
Listening to God and the promptings of our hearts and listening to people and the cries of their hearts.Prayer or being with God in deep and receptive relationship—sometimes active/sometimes in silence
Union with Christ and our brothers and sistersSolidarity with others on the journey – whatever their way.
Heart energy – the love – grows our commitment and respect for the rights of people – for justice, generosity, caring
Way of great humility and ordinary leadership – of becoming mature human beings
Intimacy, fellowship, autonomy, community, dialogue, realness, authenticity
Creativity, spaciousness – out of the feeling of stuckness, being trapped in our lives
More movement than leaps. A best of times/worst of times feel.
I’d be very unlikely to say much of the same thing or use many of the same words now, but they’re all good, original words, the kind that come when you’re at ease and not in need of them for any particular reason. The kind that come from that heart place from which A Course of Love would have all of our offerings arise, the place of no effort and very little “thinking”.
