It just got ugly...

Great way to stay connected!

I LOVE this new means to stay in touch with each other! The creative charades of Saturday evening really seemed to cement our trust and thus our deep spiritual connection with each other! And YES - LAUGHTER is definately the best medicine! I love the idea of posting thoughts, readings, poems, etc. etc. once a week! I have already found one I wanted to post - Next time - It is way past my bedtime now! I had to try this out! This is VERY new to me!! Hugs to each of you...

favorite moment

The weekend for me was unexpectedly good. I thought it would be kind of sad and kind of "ok let's get the difficult goodbyes over". I remember saying at breakfast Saturday -- wow, this has already been a great weekend! And think of all that was to come.

A period of time that stands out in my mind-- I was musing on it today-- was the free time that we companions had together. I don't know about the rest of you but it felt natural and peaceful to me. Laura's gift of song was beautiful and my opportunity to gift you all was meaningful to me. Even at one point when we moved into silence it felt totally comfortable.

And that group hug at the ceremony! So spontaneous.

Thank you all.

laughter IS great medicine

I tend to be a cup-half-empty person. Much of the weekend I struggled with the impending loss of monthly RUAH weekends. But I want to thank you recent post-ers for the hilarious email exchanges. I have laughed out loud so much. I have felt your presence with me. I've been able to celebrate!

Blog Questions

Please use the comments feature below in response to this post to ask questions and offer ideas about the blog. This way all companions will be able to participate in the conversations and learn from whatever comes up. As shared previously, if there is need for it, we can connect soon via conference calls in order to bring everyone up to speed. I think you will find that if you invest just a little time up front to learn the basics of posting and commenting here, you will have a good time and as our journey continues we will be able to do something special with this community. My observation is that we all left Richmond Hill with some very special bonds that we will not soon have an opportunity to create again. What a gift we have given each other! Let's hold onto it.


from "Let Your Life Speak", by Parker Palmer......

The German poet, Rainer Maria Rilke, has a little book called Letters to a Young Poet, one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. In that book he has a definition of love which astounds me. I want to quote it because it's the kind of thing I'm trying to communicate about being together in our inner work. Rilke says. " Love is this...that two solitudes border, protect, and salute one another." He avoids the invasive and violent notion of getting in there and fixing each other up that we have in our culture. But he affirms the possibility of being present to a person's solitude, a person's mystery, while that deep inner work goes on.

Photos (from Theresa)

not-great photos; imagine someone will be posting better ones
these from Mom's camera & hence her viewpt

Congratulations (from Mark)

I had a lot of Dad duties on Sunday and did not make it to graduation. I wanted to say congratulations. Anecdotally, you all looked so at peace with yourselves when I saw you. Gail shared with me that the journey continued deeper and deeper in the second year. I really regret not seeing where that went. I hope that you all stay in touch. I really enjoy hearing about the “epiphanies” revealed on individual faith journeys and I hope you email me with any insights that you see.

Group Hug (Julie)

Dear Ruah VII Companions and Faculty,

If you're feeling like me, you're still high from a fantastic graduation weekend.

I couldn't resist sending this photo full of love that Devon took. I turned it into a watercolor.

I miss you all.

Love,
julie

ps if anyone wants a larger version, let me know. This one is 414k, the original is 1.5 mb