Dear Unknown Friends,

I have been reading around this forum a little since I discovered that some of you were making kind comments about a piece I wrote about Eckhart Tolle.

I am really very moved by the sincerity, searching and intelligence that I find here.

At the same time, I do wonder if I will be a fish out of water here. As I suggested at the Tolle thread, at first blush, I could see that my orientations might be very different to many here.

That orientation involves having metamophosised into what may appear a very narrow minded, hidebound traditional Catholic ...

But a key word here that may help is the word metamorphosised.

I began as non-Christian New Ager living at the Findhorn Community in Scotland, if that means anything to anyone here. (Some would call it the leading New Age community in Europe if not the world).

I became a liberal Anglican, then a liberal Catholic and increasingly an ever more traditional Catholic.

Yes once I was a liberal Catholic longing in the darkness of my heart for Ven John Paul II to die, to make way for Martini or some such figure. Forgive me, John Paul! And now I fear John Paul the Great did not do enough to defend the Tradition ...

But my journey means then that I can at least appreciate and understand a number of perspectives across the width of this spectrum.

I repeat my words: at first blush. At first blush it appears I have very different orientations to many here.

But if I do, I pray I can understand other perspectives here and be charitable and respectful.

And something I might ask in this regard is understanding that however different my orientation might be, there is nothing kneejerk about it.

The metamorphosis has been slow and difficult.

A guide a long the way has been Valentin Tomberg, the author of Meditations on the Tarot, which I see has been discussed here. I have read this book 11 times now in English and in French. There is much about this author at my site, including much that has not been widely available, in English at least. More and more deeply I felt this Unknown Friend beyond the grave say I must honour Tradition ...

World need, world suffering is too great to tolerate the things that would work insidiously to destroy Christianity.

And other experiences have contributed as well. In the past in a European country, a member of a fraternity with real political clout appeared to want to recruit me for an agenda that was very clearly anti-Church. Clearly wanted to destroy the Church. I shiver in memory of a temple but I will not say more in this public forum. I only indicate there are reasons for my apparent reactionary nature ...

I take world evil very seriously. I try to take the Sacraments very seriously – going every day if I can. I take the Tradition very seriously.

There is more of course, but this is long already. Will I be a very strange fish here? Or are my first impressions much mistaken? Time will tell ...

Welcome aboard, Roger. It's good to have you with us. Yes, I knew the Caddy family in the 1970s, so I'm familiar with Findhorn, though more with the Caddys and Dorothy Maclean than with the younger people who have been running it since then.

Hi Roger. Welcome to Shalom Place!

We are delighted to have you join us. And no, I don't think you're a very strange fish here...no more strange than most of us!
A number of folks at SP are strong Catholics. Some are fairly new to Christ, and many are bumping into us from other paths owing to kundalini or other supernatural experiences.

Phil has done a superb job of making this forum fairly open to just about any reasonable, friendly discussion of any reasonable, thoughtful participant. Those who truly want to learn and grow spiritually seem to benefit from the variety of discussions. Those with much rich experience in the metamorphisis department, as in your case, are most welcome to share and teach others so that many may benefit from your spiritual growth and transformation.

Christ's peace,
Shasha

Greetings, Roger:

I would like it if you spent time here, whatever conclusions you come to. I am sure that the people here are part of the Body of Christ. I'd like to hear more from you.

Adding my welcome again, Roger, as I made a reply on the Tolle thread as well.

And, yes, I also affirm and recommend Meditations on the Tarot. There are parts I disagree with, but, on the whole, I find it a work of incredible depth and wisdom.

Looking forward to hearing more from you.

Phil

Thank you all for the warmth, kindness and clarification (i.e. re Kundalini) both here and at the Tolle thread. I appreciate it all.

Interesting Derek that you knew the founders of Findhorn in the 70´s as I did in the 80´s ...

And regarding

quote:

Originally posted by Ariel Jaffe:
I would like it if you spent time here, whatever conclusions you come to. I am sure that the people here are part of the Body of Christ. I'd like to hear more from you.

Indeed. I may have become very traditional but I have no wish to be excluding people from His Body ...

I look forward to a richer sense of you all.

quote:

Originally posted by Roger Buck:


Indeed. I may have become very traditional but I have no wish to be excluding people from His Body ..

Hi Roger:

I'm sorry for the fuzzy communication--I was thinking of people having different things to share with each other in the Body of Christ, rather than meaning to imply you might be an exclusive snob. But I can see now I wasn't clear.

Hi Roger - Glad to see you here. I too have found Meditations on the Tarot to be important as a struggle with my continued healing and conversion. You might find this blog by a conservative psychotherapist living in California interesting. He uses Meditations as one of his recommended readings and did a series of post on it last year which are available in his achieves http://onecosmos.blogspot.com/

Peace and All Good

Alan