A Personal Note to Myself

Hello Wade,

Do keep in touch and allow me to know how life is progressing. Talk to me; I will hear you. If it feels like it's not progressing, then you are not involved enough in it.

I look around often and check to see if all my limbs are working, that I can still run, that I can speak without stuttering, that I think above average with interest, and I do listen, and I know there are people who care about me. With this start and many more assets, I also realize that there are people around me who have never known all of these marvelous blessings ... and I am the person in their path who can be a friend.

"When the giving begins...the heart changes gears and pumps exhilaration into those empty spaces. Be abundant with your giving. That gratifying after-taste in your mouth is the receiving. To give is to receive. Do not expect a nod or an acknowledgment; just smile inside and offer a thank you for the opportunity to experience this level of a fully functional, spiritual existence."

I do believe it is an evolutionary process which is a part of human development, for peaceful co-existence is a very selfish process. It preserves all of us and it feels so very correct. It allows for promoting the best in all of us and places our productive qualities into action. It is the only way which will preserve this fragile species and allow us time to move beyond this planet and out among the stars when this place called Home is exhausted or placed in jeopardy by natural forces which will visit.

We will all be a part of that group so far in the future who takes the next leap. We will have placed a tiny seed into a stranger's will to reach out and take a hand and touch and care, and direct energy outward to others in that long chain of curious, loving children who will follow. We will not receive a nod or acknowledgment from that band of explorers. We won't have to...for we know now our importance to their journey. NOW is what we have and it is everything.

Do forgive me for this extended reflection, for I am delaying your journey; but it just came to my fingers, and I believe YOU are a vital part of NOW.

Stay involved NOW where you are. There are so many who have need of YOUR caring. This is one truth of which I am confident. Rest assured that I am here to remind YOU of your singular importance to the NOW. Stay focused and embrace the opportunity.

And, if you ever have a doubt...talk to me. I am listening. Love...Me

Reverend T. Wade Clegg III

Begin with a Question

Q. And why sir have you come?
A. I have come to raise your level of expectation.

Q. But sir, our expectations are acceptable.
A. I regret to inform you that you have accepted expectations at a very low level.

Q. But sir how can you tell such is the case?
A. I have listened to your children at play, at work, at study, at your dinner table.

Q. And sir what is not acceptable about them?
A. Your children have settled into certain repetitious patterns which you find acceptable and pleasing, for they are meeting your expectations.

Q. And sir, is that not acceptable?
A. If you were to ask each of your children each night at the dinner table about their expectations and what would they do to raise their effectiveness at play, at work, at study, with their playmates...what would be your expectation?

Q. Sir, I have not offered this opportunity, but rarely.
A. Then you have the opportunity to take that which is rarely done and make it a constant companion. The very question will raise within each child that opening that even your expectations are not low, as might be perceived by lack of stimulation.

Q. Sir, you must be a good Christian or Muslim or Jew or Hindu or Buddhist or some other sect?
A. I am a traveler who sat at the table with good human beings as a child, and even now as a man, and discussed this topic of raising expectations ... first within ... and the natural progression which leads to sharing the idea with others.

Q. And sir, what is your expectation of me?
A. Make that which was rare and so valuable a daily practice. Ask the question.

by Reverend T. Wade Clegg III

Response from a Reader on "The Necklace"

Sometimes you receive comments about an article which needs a response. It would be nice to respond directly to a human being and not someone who felt it necessary to hide behind the name "anonymus." The following was sent in response to the story of "The Necklace" published last month. Our Reverend T. Wade felt an answer was needed further explaining the story and it's intended purpose.

ORIGINAL COMMENT from "Anonymus"

"Man did you ever miss the point of the story.The story was a metaphor...We are the little girl...We work and work and waste our lives on junk. We are so afraid of giving it away...and eventually most of us die with crap that was always worthless...When our savior Jesus died for us, he was the pearl of great price.This little bit of crap that I hold in my hands keeps me from loving Him because I love it more.When I let go...He, Jesus, my savior replaces all the worthless crap of my life with true riches, with true life, with true hope. (What kind of minister are you anyway...(apparently not one that reads her Bible)"
August 27, 2008 11:55 PM

HERE IS REVEREND T. WADE's RESPONSE:

Dear Anonymous,

Perhaps you should have constructed a story which was less sappy than the one which I received to be passed mindlessly along to others. Yes, I know quite well that this was a metaphor, although very poorly conceived and constructed. I also know that any religion, which has as its mission a conversion aspect, constantly offers stories to lead one in a direction, but this story was a metaphor of Daddy "coercion" at its worst. It's a story of a relentless attack on a tot with no rhyme or reason, just submit, submit, submit or disappoint Big Daddy. Surely this reached you at some gut level? Or perhaps not.

There was no junk in this little girl's world. She had a treasure. No one explained anything! You evidently want the message, which you perceive as being portrayed to be recognized, while ignoring the damaging aspects of the other metaphor in the poor conception of this tale. From my observation this was clearly a misguided dad (god) and his subject (the tot) was being harangued relentlessly without any idea of why.

It sort of reminds me of that story (now where was it?) where this couple eats a fruit from a tree, when told specifically not to do so. Two supposedly innocent first people with built-in exploration chambers in their fresh new brains who had never been corrected for anything and knew no dangers awaited them, and low and behold, ate the whole thing! Wow, then the "know little or nothings" learned what Big Daddy was all about, when hell was unleashed. Does that sound like a metaphor for the old rabbis who needed a tale to wow the masses and keep them in tow? You bet it does!

I am not a Christian, yet I recognize clearly when a story needs scrutinized. For God's sake, do not insult a loving god with such trite stories as "The Necklace...A Beautiful Story." Please learn not to give credence to everything that seeks to be instructive, when it's clearly diminishing. You pointed out your beliefs in a few sentences much more than the writer of the beautiful story, and without a metaphor, and without dragging a child into the valley of sin.

Had the story not been presented to me as a plea to pass it along, as if I agreed with it in totality, I would not have commented. You may feel free to circulate such mixed messages in your arsenal of conversion techniques, but there are messages which need considerably more thought in what is actually striking the reader. This story falls into the genre of “child abuse.”

Most of the Bible is a metaphor, but that will not set well with most fundamental literalists. The first book is a marvelous metaphor. Most Jews understand this, while most Christians take it literally as fact. There are literally hundreds of men and women who teach at bible colleges who do not understand metaphor at all. It doesn't exist in their bible. You might spend some time educating them with some direct remarks.

If you are going to portray a loving, caring God, then don't kill the dreams of a little girl (meaning all children...that's a metaphor) with or without reason. Pick another route to exercise deliverance. Use a grubby adult who has, as you repeated, so much crap in this life. Not an innocent child who from my perspective is sinless, but won't know that she was born full of it… until this Big Daddy works his ways.

I am delighted that you personally have found something or someone, in this case, Jesus, to provide your life hope. There are indeed some grand precepts attributed to Jesus, words which Thomas Jefferson tore out of his Bible so they could be isolated and appreciated without the babble which reduced the impact of the messages.

Perhaps you will get the point of my reaction. Tell your story, allow it to resonate where it will, tell it without insulting your God and yourself, and quit allowing coercion as a major instrument in your tool box, especially toward children or adults who are child-like. The weakest link in the Christian chain, and some other religions, is the constant repetitiveness of coercive techniques of their children, who will rebel in due course upon bringing reason into their lives, and after years of exposure to the multitudes who present hypocrisy in daily doses.

There is a precept which still rings with me from many years ago, and it is borrowed from Thich Nhat Hanh, one of the world's most respected religious leaders. It is certainly not a precept which finds favor with Christian parents, yet it is an honest appeal. It reads, "Do not force others, including children, by any means whatsoever, to adopt your views, whether by authority, threat, money, propaganda, or even education. However, through compassionate dialogue, help others renounce fanaticism and narrowness."

Bring a little more kindness into the stories of your God, and walk the walk. Perhaps the actual "walk" will begin to reduce coercive techniques upon the children, because the talk (and so much written materials) is too corrosive.

Thanks for the note. Sincerely....Reverend T. Wade

Link to "A Most Lethal Weapon - Words"

Please take a few minutes, as time allows, and go to Reverend Elisheva's entry for this month on the new interfaith ministry wikizine, Zimbio.com. The article is entitled "A Most Lethal Weapon - Words." It is an important read.

There are forces at work which are very destructive, and some are extraordinary in their harshness. Elisheva has taken time to explore and outline some very revealing information which may shock some readers. The entry on the internet magazine, Zimbio.com, is being used since the BLOG entries are generally used for much shorter, more concise entries.

Your attention to the article at: http://www.zimbio.com/interfaith+ministry is appreciated.

Blessings,
Reverend T. Wade Clegg III

Book Marks

A Poem by Reverend T. Wade Clegg III

When there is
knowledge gained
and
wisdom obtained

be not hampered
and
subdued.

Allow yourself
to stretch
and
grow
or you will never know

the incredible
capacity
which is YOU!

My Personal Reflections

When I was a small boy, the favorite gift which came my way was a book or a bible. I really enjoyed receiving books, and they were always inscribed with personal notes from friends or relatives. I even received bibles from my grandparents which offered family birthdays and complete names for many past generations. Even to this date, I still reach for my Grandmother Della Daisy Clegg's Bible for a family reference regarding a cousin's full name and birthday.

Sometimes these old books or bibles, passed along to me, had little newspaper clippings. Memorial announcements, weddings, favorite poems and scripture, even pressed flowers, would be lodged in chapter after chapter. I still look through old books and bibles in used book stores, hoping to discover some momento important to the former owner.

I have books with personal handwritten notes from the 1800's. I am still sharing the heartfelt expressions from the giver of the book to its recipent ... but now I am the holder of the book and privileged to share in the original experience.

I began to think about what to leave in my favorite books to be passed along to my children and grandchildren. What tidbit of knowledge or inspiration could I offer? I doubt that I will ever produce a book of my own, although that possibility might occur; however, I stumbled upon one method whereby I can be in everyone's book, even if they did not intend my presence. I thought, "I will simply impose myself upon the great authors by inserting myself in between the pages, and affiliate myself with their productive influences."

Some years ago I began to write "book marks" with my own little bursts of inspiration for consideration. The little poem above is just such an item. The thought simply popped into my head while reading a marvelous book. So I made this book mark (like so many others) and placed it at the page which had so much meaning for me. I hoped that one of my children or grandchildren would come across the book mark and think, "I wonder what made granddad leave a marker at this particular page?" And I imagined that he or she would be stimulated to read the section closely and perhaps return to Chapter One and enjoy the entire book. It seemed like a really good idea.

Reading is such a marvelous pleasure, and perhaps these few paragraphs will stimulate you to write your own poems or thoughts or humor, and then provide marvelous books for the next generation to discover, while also discovering you, tucked in between the pages.

What a fantastic find! Don't you think so?

The Human Core of Spirituality

Basis for a Global Community
Daniel A. Helminiak
University of West Georgia, USA
World's Religions after September 11: A Global Congress
Montréal, Québec, Canada September 11-15, 2006

The goal is to propose a basis for structuring a global community. Whereas in earlier times individual religions held together their separate and isolated societies, today the encounter of different religions leads to misunderstanding, animosity, and outright violence. Rather than being a solution to the fragmentation of the human race, intense religious commitment and even belief in “God” have often become the problem.

Nonetheless, today as in earlier times, only shared beliefs and common values could ultimately support community—and beliefs and values are spiritual. Thus, emphasis on some generic spirituality, not particularistic religion, must be the solution.

One approach to implementing this solution would be to start with the religions. Sorting out the generic spiritual aspects of the religions—such as the Golden Rule—from their particularistic dimensions would seem to provide a spiritual basis that transcends all religions and cultures. However, it is doubtful that a viable basis could derive from the religions themselves—because religions are many, their beliefs and values differ, they base even this-worldly claims on metaphysical ones, and, certainly as regards their metaphysical claims, it is impossible to adjudicate the differences. Besides, building on the religions would leave out non-religious people and secular institutions.

Therefore, that basis must be something that all religions, cultures, and peoples have in common. Such universal commonality could only lie in the very humanity that all people share. From the point of view of human attempts to structure a global community, the basis must be human, not divine, religious, or culturally specific. Appeal must be to the human spirit and its innate structures and exigencies. Only these could provide a common basis on which to structure a global community of the third millennium.

The challenge, then, is to elaborate the human spirit and to say exactly what spiritual and wholesome spirituality mean. Bernard Lonergan's analyses of intentional consciousness, or the human spirit, provide a remarkably rich elaboration. He was the late Canadian philosopher-theologian whom Time magazine called the Thomas Aquinas of the twentieth century. On the basis of "self-appropriation"—that is, attentiveness to the workings of one's own mind—Lonergan describes a dimension of the mind that is inherently self-transcending. It is an open-ended dynamism that expresses itself as wonder, questioning, reflection, and choice and that, in the ideal, would not rest until it understood everything about everything and in universal love affirmed all that is truly of value. Such an achievement could only result from openness, insight, honesty, and goodwill, for by their very nature close-mindedness, foolishness, dishonesty, and malice provide no basis for a secure and expanding future. The unfolding of the human spirit depends on unavoidable and inherent requirements. In Lonergan's words, four "transcendental precepts" define genuine or authentic humanity: "Be attentive, Be intelligent, Be reasonable, Be responsible." These are the exigencies of the human spirit even as meanings and values—or beliefs and ethics, or understandings and commitments, or truth and love—are its products and its hallmarks.

Granted that the human spirit is of this kind, it would appear that spirituality regards, first and foremost, the on-going integration of the inherent human spiritual capacity into the structures of the personality. Spirituality is deliberate commitment to the self-transcending dimension of our minds, and its goal is increasing sensitivity and responsiveness to this same dimension. Further, it would appear that this human spiritual capacity is the source of knowledge about Transcendent Reality and the origin of society, culture, and organized religion. It would also appear that the role of religion is precisely to foster spirituality. Therefore, any religious beliefs or practices that curtain or prevent the unfolding of the human spirit would have to be judged inauthentic, spurious, misguided, wrong. Thus, emphasis on spirituality that is grounded in the make-up of the human being would seem to provide a universally valid basis for genuine human community and the criteria of genuine spiritual pursuit.

From other perspectives, others have arrived at a similar solution. The advantage of relying on Lonergan's analyses is their thorough-going rigor, exhaustive detail, and philosophical depth. Lonergan thematizes that very human "instrument" that generates cultures, religions, and systems of meaning and value. Thus, his position seems to be immune to post-modern criticism, which itself is an expression of the human spiritual capacity that is focus of Lonergan's analyses.

Just as a single humanity expresses itself in a variety of wholesome and colorful cultures, so, too, such "generic spirituality," grounded in a single humanity, could express itself in a range of religious diversity. Apart from concern for other-worldly or metaphysical possibilities but from the more urgent point of view of this-worldly living, the religions of the world and all people of good will, religious or not, could rally around this core spirituality. Thus, a shared set of beliefs and values, those that foster life, would provide the basis for a global community.

To the extent that the particularities of specific religions violated the core human beliefs and values, if attentive, intelligent, reasonable, and responsible, the religions would have to acknowledge that their teaching was askew: If these teachings do not foster richer life and deeper spirituality in this world, how could they be of God or enhance a life to come? In light of an emerging global community and the encounter of differing religions, it is only to be expected that the religions would be led to adjust and purify their teachings and, thus, better serve their adherents. Any religion unwilling or unable to follow this course could hardly claim to be authentic either before humanity or before whatever Transcendent Power there might be.

This non-religious and non-theist understanding of spirituality applies to secular institutions, as well. It calls them to respect and foster the inherent spiritual dimension of humanity. They might do so under the urging of the united voices of religious agencies and individuals and of non-religious people of good will.

This via media respects religious concerns in that it insists on spirituality, and it respects secular concerns in that it imposes no specific religious position. As in traditional societies, the religious and the secular could once again be healthily integrated, and the whole of society would be spiritual. Appeal to the human spirit—not to revelation, tradition, culture, God, or religion—could provide a universally valid spiritual basis on which to structure a global community. Required for the successful deployment of this urgent project are only the honesty and good will of the religions, nations, businesses, corporations, agencies, and people in our world.

Major Resources on Bernard Lonergan

Lonergan, B. J. F. (1972). Method in theology. New York: Herder and Herder.

_____. (1990). Understanding and being: The Halifax lectures on Insight (E. A. Morelli & M. D. Morelli, Eds.). Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan (Vol. 5). Toronto: University of Toronto Press. (original work published 1980)

_____. (1992). Insight: A study of human understanding. Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan (Vol. 3). Toronto: Toronto University Press. (original work published 1957)

McCarthy, M. (1997). Pluralism, invariance, and conflict. The Review of Metaphysics, 51, 3-23.

Application of Lonergan's Analyses to Generic Spirituality

Helminiak, D. A. (1987). Spiritual development: An interdisciplinary study. Chicago: Loyola University Press.

_____. (1996). The human core of spirituality: Mind as psyche and spirit. Albany: State University of New York Press.

_____. (1997). Killing for God's sake: The spiritual crisis in religion and society. Pastoral Psychology, 45, 365-374

_____. (1998). Religion and the human sciences: An approach via spirituality. Albany: State University of New York Press.

_____. (2005). A down-to-earth approach to the psychology of spirituality a century after James's Varieties. The Humanistic Psychologist, 33, 69-86

_____. (2005). Meditation without myth: What I wish they'd taught me in church about prayer, meditation, and the quest for peace. New York: Crossroad.

_____. (2006). The role of spirituality in formulating a theory of the psychology of religion. Zygon, 41, 197-224.

_____. (2006). Sex and the sacred: Gay identity and spiritual growth. New York: Harrington Park Press.

_____. (2008). Spirituality for a global community: Religion, pluralism, and secular society. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.

Related Works of Similar Emphasis

Dalai Lama (1999). Ethics for the new millennium. New York: Riverhead Books.

Elkins, D. N. (1998) Beyond religion: A personal program for building a spiritual life outside the walls of traditional religion. Wheaton, IL: Quest Books.

Holloway, R. (1999). Godless morality: Keeping religion out of ethics. Edinburgh: Canongate Books.

Küng, H. (2001). Global responsibility: In search of a new world ethic. New York: Continuum.

Küng, H., & Schmidt, H. (Eds.). (1998). A global ethic and global responsibilities: Two declarations. London: SCM Press.

Kane, R. (1994). Through the moral maze: Searching for absolute values in a pluralistic world. New York: Paragon House.

Mustakova-Possardt, E. (2003). Critical consciousness: A study of morality in global, historical context. London: Praeger.

The Gift

The tale of the vase began at a very important wedding in a storybook place some time ago. Following a lovely ceremony, the request was presented to the audience for anyone wishing to offer words of comfort or learning to now state those wishes to the couple.

There arose from the crowd an elderly man, who had come alone. His name was not known to the couple, but he had a presence of being The Wise, and his nature was soothing to all. He walked to the couple and asked for both to hold forth their hands...into which he placed the most gorgeous handmade vase.

The Wise then said, "There is in this setting an excess of goodfeelings of love and caring. The overflow which is so abundant will now enter this vase. You will place this vase and all that it contains in a prominent place in your dwelling, and there it will remain."

The Wise added, "The vase is by itself a beautiful object from this memorable day, but it now contains sustainable ingredients of the most important celebration in your lives. It is the host of the love and caring which originated with your union."

And then The Wise said, "The challenges will be many in your marriage, and understanding may experience strain. You may inadvertently say or do something which diminishes your partner, and hurt may permeate your being and bring stress to your partner. Then - the one who has caused stress will go to the place of the vase, and place a flower into it. The bloom will draw sustenance from that which is within the vase, and the flower's fragrance will sweep through your dwelling and reach your inner senses and allow you to know that the transgressor seeks forgiveness and a return to love. The one who forgives will also place a flower into the vase as a signal that a renewal is secured."

Then The Wise added one single blessing: "May the vase never know occupancy, but if it must, may the flowers remain for the shortest duration, and find their way to other vessels."

The vase was released to the couple and The Wise departed. No one knew who he was or from where he came, but the vase was to become a cherished and permanent reminder to the couple, who lived joyously for fifty years and died peacefully within days of each other.

What is known and passed along in the history of the family is that the vase never was used in the life of the couple. They knew the art of communication and the knowledge of each other's heart, and never allowed the vase to bear the burden of disenchantment.

When the couple died, their children went to find the vase, but it had disappeared. Their intention was to bury the vase with the couple, for it was their most valued possession.

On the day they were buried in a place not so far away, a wedding was in progress and at the end of the service, when the audience was asked to offer a blessing...there arose an elderly man who came forward with a gift.....

- Reverend T. Wade Clegg III