March 7, 2003

childhood fears

It’s been really amazing getting this event to happen. People I didn’t expect would have any interest in it at all have come out of the woodwork and offered their services (and those whom I presumed would like to help, have not, but...). I mistakenly believed that many Christian people would not be very interested. I had this idea that they would scowl and wrinkle their nose and call me names or something. That only happened once (again, by someone I expected to be into it — someone who is going on a long trip to Europe in the summer).

My mother-in-law, who attends regular Bible study groups, told me the other night that she fixed some flyers that you couldn’t see real good at a local store, one of my coworkers who plays bells for a local church offered to help with food and said she really wanted to see the sand mandala, a friend who went to Catholic school and now works part-time at a bar has been telling everyone she sees about the event, put flyers up around town and will be helping with some of the dinners, and we’ve already talked about how the monks will be staying with and old acquaintance.

When I was pretty young their was this fairly new concept called “Superlearning” and my step-mom (who is a teacher) decided to try it out. It had all of the wrong things going for it to be taught in a small town school in the early ‘80s. Fresh out of the communist block, it encouraged students to listen to baroque music, do visualizations — all sorts of “devil-inspired” things. A few months later, after school board meetings and the modern day witch trial was over, Superlearning was put back on the shelf and nobody talked about it ever again. I carry with me this fear that I will be accused of some horrific act — some disgrace to mankind — by bringing the monks here. In this fear overzealous right wing Christians jump out of the bushes and yell, “PAGAN!”. It has been very nice knowing that it’s the regular subscribers to One Spirit who are more offended by the presence of seven men in maroon robes.

posted @ 3:00 PM

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