Today I was sending out links to my friend’s story of his pilgrimage to India, Gandhi, Little Man, Great Dreams. I noticed that getting to the page on my web site, www.nonviolentcow.org, was very, very slow. One person even wrote me that she could not even get any of the three links I sent her. I wondered what was wrong. I checked some of my other pages on the web site and they were also slow. I checked some other web pages and they were not slow. Then I checked another web site that shares the same server as I do and it was very slow in coming up. I wrote to my wiki gnome and she confirmed that yes, indeed, it was the server.

Now all is well and the server is responding normally. However, when it was very slow I had two choices, to get upset or just accept it and let it be. Today I choose the later and felt much better than if I had been upset.

Tonight I went to another workshop on the ‘Paradox of Power’ and heard an intellectual presentation about “letting go and acceptance.” I thought what I had today was practical practice presented to me of ‘letting go.’ You can have all the intellectual discussion you can handle but when it comes to life it is the practice that counts and the stories that get heard.

I was so glad that Jesus talked in grounded language, stories, parables and paradoxes, in the Gospels not intellectual arguments.

As I was leaving the workshop someone, I have not seen in awhile, asked me if I was still marching around the Marquette University campus. I knew he was talking about our campaign to Teach War No More at Marquette so I answered him Yes, what else was I could do. I gave him part of the message of Salvadoran Jesuit Ignacio Ellacuria in talking about the military on Catholic Jesuit campus said, “Tell the Jesuits…..that they are committing mortal sin because they are supporting the forces of death which are killing our people.” Hopefully that was an honest direct answer without being critical of him who anyone else that remains silent in face of the teaching of killing without conscience at this Catholic Jesuit University.

I now understand that I need to talk more in parables, stories, antidotes and paradoxes, all grounded, to make my ‘opinions of truth’ clear rather than preaching and alienated persons or make it sound like I am forcing my opinion of truth on them.

This brings me back to this page, Diary of the Worm, where I intended to ground my reflections by looking deeply into small observations of daily life. To see more deeply, to hear more deeply, to feel more deeply into everyday life is my prayer and observation today. Any good stories?

Comments

(:commentboxchrono:)