Alumni Newsletter - May 2016
A Note from Paul Swanson
I worry about a lot of things, but I don't worry about achievements. I worry primarily about whether there are nightclubs in Heaven. --Tom Waits

This line by the bard of back alleys could have come from the lips of a cheeky Living School alum, for alumni recognize the crowning achievement of completing the Living School is simply taking another step deeper into the Mystery, which is at once ineffable and endlessly knowable and therefore doesn't translate easily onto a LinkedIn profile. Mix this bottomless sense of Divine intimacy with seeking to serve the world through prophetic, compassionate action, and we get . . . you.

We've combed over your survey responses for ways we can empower students to have greater impact in their communities. Based on your feedback we have made some shifts in the curriculum. The most exciting news is that we are beginning to make Core Faculty teachings available in a downloadable audio format for Living School students and alumni. (Hold the phones! Before asking how you too can get a copy of these recordings, know that we will contact you once the recordings are ready for you to access.)

Keep reading this email for additional news about the Living School and the CAC and reflections from Carolyn Metzler, poetry by Gisele Njeim, and a spotlight on Helen Fitzgerald.

Thanks for all you do in the world! If our paths don't cross again on this side of the veil, let's plan to meet in the back booth of one of those nightclubs in Heaven.

Steady on, compadres.


Paul Swanson, Director of Curriculum

Faculty Reflection - Carolyn Metzler
And where we are is where we live,
And where we serve is where we love,
And where we die is where we surrender
To the deepest instinct that lifts our uncertain wings to the prevailing winds 
those which,  
without fail  
bring us home.

Dear Sendees of the Living School,

The Sandhill Cranes have flown north now; few remain in the area. . . . But each year they come back to this place, to this river, to this harvested cornfield, the singular particularity of memory guiding them like a homing beacon.

I think of you all also, sent out alone but in community to the far reaches of the planet where you do what you do to love the world. Living School faculty and staff have been in exciting conversation about how to best support alumni, given our limited resources and given that we are largely about empowering alumni to create educational and supportive community among yourselves. . . . Click here to continue reading Carolyn's letter.
 
 
Alumni Spotlight 
 
We are always delighted to hear about things you are doing, ways you are involved in changing the world, and we rejoice to hear the respect with which your stories are told by others. We also know you continue to do the quiet, hidden work of contemplation in small but significant ways. We welcome your news and reflections! Email us at livschool@cac.org. For consideration in the August newsletter, send submissions by July 22.



Helen Fitzgerald shared with us the risky work of building relationships of real caring between supposed enemies. In November 2015, she traveled to Israel and Palestine as part of an international delegation to practice Compassionate Listening. Compassionate Listening is a process of transformative listening in the midst of adversarial relationships. The group participated in listening sessions with the hope that in the vulnerability of each person-to-person encounter, wounds could be healed and seeds of peace could be planted. For Helen, the trip helped to bridge her contemplative practice and her work for social justice. Click here to see more photos and learn more about The Compassionate Listening Project. 

See additional Alumni Spotlights at cac.org.

Alumni Poetry

Poetry is another dimension of approaching the Holy. We invite your own poems for future newsletters; send them to livschool@cac.org . In this newsletter, read Gisele Njeim's words and let them find a place in your own prayer where they can come to life. 



The desert is calling me
to recall who I am
And remember my lineage
In blood and essence.
I am God's beloved offspring
Not needing trickery to gain his benediction.
I know I was blessed, when I was
in the womb conceived
By love's gladness to give all itself
In one particular seed.

The desert has called my soul
To remember what It always knew for sure
But willingly forgot, to gain benediction.
Through a haze of mystification
It pulled my unerring mind
To question everything It knew as real.
Confined with bewilderment,
Battered and confused,
I finally understood:
God is infinitely giving God-self as every being.
As a tree, a forest,
And every single bee.
As a woman I never saw
Burned alive many years ago.
As the men who convicted her.
As the Pope,
As me.

The desert is calling us to awake
Through tales of holy fools
Who lived and preached the Good Story
We never believed to be real.
The fools who saw the true glory
A wilderness reveal
In every tiny grain of sand
and every face they met:
God is infinitely giving God-Self, as every being.
As every particular living cell, be it heart or skin.
For his plenitude lies in this:
Giving all himself as every unique seed
Growing in the dark to be the one vine
He sees budding from time's beginning
And thirsts for its signature wine.

The desert was calling all along
confusion and character to dance together,
For singleness to emerge as the song
The body danced to its rhythm since ever
In rituals of abundance and love
to bestow on earth
renewal and continuity.
Spring is here! In the heat of the desert,
Unveiling the One who gives his all
As every tiny grain of sand,
and every barren soil.
As the Soul that dies into the wild
to live in remembrance of who she is:
A bride giving all herself!
For she takes a great delight
in being taken all
Heart and skin

In his likeness.

--Gisele Njeim

News from the Living School

New Venue for Intensives

Beginning in 2017, we will be holding intensives at the Bosque Center, a retreat nestled in the bosque-cottonwood forest-along the Rio Grande in northwest Albuquerque. We hope this beautiful, peaceful setting will allow students to more fully enter the liminal space of Living School intensives. If you visit Albuquerque, you might enjoy spending a few days in this quiet place.

August Symposium

Mary Evelyn Tucker will join Richard, Cynthia, and Jim for this year's Symposium, August 23-26, 2016, at Hotel Albuquerque. Tucker's talks will center on the film Journey of the Universe, a project produced in collaboration with evolutionary philosopher Brian Swimme. Jack Jezreel, president and founder of JustFaith Ministries, will speak at the Sending Ceremony, and Living School alumna Alana Levandoski will give a concert. 

Second-year Intensives

In 2017, the Living School will hold two optional intensive retreats as an experimental pilot for those in the second year of the program. In California, Jim will focus on living the mystical experience in the everyday, February 17-19. Cynthia will lead a hands-on immersion in Christian contemplative "Wisdom practices" at Glastonbury Abbey in Massachusetts, April 24-28. This is one of the curriculum changes Paul referred to, based on feedback from alumni and students. Thanks for helping us improve the program!
 
Living School on Facebook

The Living School Community group on Facebook is a vibrant, sacred space for sharing everything from personal news to resources to support your continued learning and practice ( like this video on Sacred Texts featuring our dear Cynthia). If you haven't yet joined and would like to participate, follow this link and click the green +Join button (note it may take a few days for us to process your request).

The public Living School Facebook page has gone dormant, but you can still find and share posts. "Like" the Center for Action and Contemplation to receive Richard's meditations and CAC news.

Wild Goose Festival & Mystic Action Camp

Come join in the festivities at the intersection of art, music, justice, and spirituality: July 7-10, 2016, in Hot Springs, North Carolina. All are welcome! Bring your drum. Special rate ends June 20. Learn more and buy tickets.

There are still a few spaces available for the pre-festival Mystic Action Camp with Living School alumni Teresa Pasquale, Holly Roach, and Gabrielle Stoner and Matthew Fox, Adam Bucko, and others.

CONSPIRE 2016: Everything Belongs

We'd love to see you at CAC's annual conference in Albuquerque, July 15-17, but you can also register to watch the webcast (live or later). Richard will teach alongside Christena Cleveland, James Alison, and Mirabai Starr. Don't let the cost keep you away--scholarships are available! Register soon.

We Want to Hear From You!

Please let us know how this newsletter might support you as you live the Living School in your everyday life. Send your comments and suggestions to livschool@cac.org.
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