-----Original Message-----
From: William Leed <wle...@aol.com>
To: dhamiltony2k5 <dhamiltony...@gmail.com>; doughanfam <doughan...@gmail.com>
Sent: Sat, Jan 26, 2019 3:13 pm
Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Freethinking MY thanks Doug H> 4 sending this
2 me Bill Leed, & now Via me 2 share with others in our spiritual circles well
as other becoming so!
This post as well as the former ones U posted on FF Life & thus to me is of
great value for us traveling the path. It has give me & others many incites to
the past leaders in there growth & now ours. our paths.Your words Doug, are
always so kind & up lifting to me & many others I am sure as well, THANKS Doug
I am soon going to Dr. Raju's Ayurveda Institute in Hyderabad India where many
of our FF. IA friends enjoy PK there $92.00 a day all inclusive. My health is
excellent at almost now 79 Yrs. & I desire to keep so. I am sure you know of
the PK place but desired you to know it again if you may need such, David..I
will be there 1 March & return to Buffalo NY 12 April 19
In the late spring or summer certainly by the fall semester at MUM I desire to
bring 3 new mediators to experience a longer visitors weekend there or any
week time there so they can enjoy the spirit present there. This would be at
time I will let them MUM.
I will visit off campus my more liberal TM & sidha friends who may not be
presently dome certified but will NOT expose my new friends to any negative
rift too well seen in FF. They may discover same 4 them selves. David you & Ur
wife will being top of my list my treat 4 a lunch or dinner as well as, David
Hawthorn & some other you have with me in friendship.
I also look forward to experience the vibes of the church!
Again THANKS 4 your may posts & the up lifting benefits you have give to
Fairfield Life!
-----Original Message-----
From: dhamiltony...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife] <FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com>
To: FairfieldLife <FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Fri, Jan 25, 2019 9:16 pm
Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Freethinking
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Of Free Thinkers and Orthodoxy, An essay, About our Church Building in
Fairfield, Iowa:
Here's the history about our church which is technically called the "Church of
the Holy Spirit Charitable Trust." We use the name Fellowship of the Holy
Spirit because there are too many churches named "Church of the Holy Spirit."
The building was built in 1913, and first served as a bridal and tack shop for
horses and buggies. Like every building on the square, it is long and narrow.
This allows more stores to have a storefront. The owners lived upstairs and
the backspace was for inventory and workshops. Very sensible. I don't know all
the stores or businesses that have used the building. My memory goes back to
Simone's - a clothing store owned by Julia Marchand and Bill DeKramer. Simone
was Julia's daughter. At some point Julan White, Bonnie's daughter, bought the
building. (Yes, Bonnie is the unforgettable owner of 2nd Street Coffee).
Julan loved the building and was remodeling it when unfortunately it burned..
John Minor, a local contractor who had once gone to seminary school, bought the
burned out building to keep it from being razed. He figured we didn't need
another parking lot on the square like the empty space next to India Cafe -
empty from another fire. I bought it from John to restore as a church building.
I paid $50K for the building, and then watched in amazement when I put in
another $250K at least to restore it. I've never regretted spending the money,
even though the building is not at all worth $300K. For me it has become a
gift to the community, giving me great satisfaction to see how so many people
and groups are using it for the spiritual upliftment of our community and world.
Our church history:
I was the original "Ru" minister of the Unity Church in Fairfield for 12 years.
We had a Unity-ordained minister for 2 or 3 years before that, but one day from
the pulpit she said: "The Holy Spirit has told me I have to leave, and that
you (pointing at me) are the next minister." I pulled in 3 other people to be
ministers with me - including my decades' long friend Connie Huebner.
After 12 years, the main Unity organization realized we had become a real
church with a church building and money in the bank. They sent someone up and
said we couldn't do this - we needed a real Unity minister. They sent a Unity
minister up from Quincy who was a fine person but didn't have the depth of
experience to inspire and teach a church full of sidhas. So we split off, and
Unity church faded away. Connie started the Divine Mother church, and I started
the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Joy Hirshberg became the president of the
local synagogue (a good Shiksha president!) and Eleanor Fleming moved out of
town.
We struggled with finding a good location, so I eventually bought our current
building. It had been burned out by a construction fire - one of Julan's
construction workers was sneak-sleeping in the building and fell asleep with a
cigaret. I was going to do a cheap Walmart's remodel, but I fell in love with
the building and my business flooded me with money so I tried to do a beautiful
remodel. Funnily enough, after 13 months of remodeling, I had a Jyotish
reading that said: "for the past 13 months you have had temple building karma."
Way cool, right?
The Fellowship of the Holy Spirit was active there for 6 years, and then I took
a sabbatical to get my masters degree in Vedic Science. It was so nice not
writing a sermon every Saturday night that I never came back to preaching
actively, and changed the nature of the church to an Inner Sanctum. Connie's
church is actually a charter of our church which helps maintain our legal
status with the IRS. And she doesn't have to worry about paperwork while having
a 501(c)(3) status. She is a treasured trustee of our church, so if I'm not
around you can check with her if there is an issue with the building.
If there are other groups who could use the umbrella of a 501(c)(3), Connie and
I would be happy to consider allowing them to become a charter of our church.
As you know, I built an inner sanctum where the focus of my meditations and
singing is to heal the wounds in the Heart of America. In 2013 my heart opened
up and I could feel the national pain from the wounds in the Heart of America.
It was too great for me to handle, so I shut it off. But I realized I was
given the experience as an invitation to start the process of healing these
wounds for the sake of the country that I love so much..
My heart's guidance for this next year is to start an online group that will
join me in using the 5 Elements to heal these wounds in the heart of America.
Just fyi, I had a very clear vision of seeing the 4 chambers of the heart
relating to Earth Water, Fire, and Air; the pericardial sac surrounding the
heart relates to Akasha, the element of Space. As we heal the wounds of our
individual hearts, we heal the Heart of America. But I preach here, don't I?
Imagine that...
Here's who is using the church now:
The Divine Mother Church: Of course it is such a great blessing to have the
work Connie does happen in our building. Do you remember Maharishi's "Mother
is at home" analogy? Connie's deep services and meditations make me feel like
"Mother Divine is here, at home, in our church building." I fall silent when I
think about the greatness of her work.
Spiritus Christi: We are very happy to have Michael's church use our space.
If you have ever been in the space after one of their services, you will feel
the holy atmosphere they create. I once walked into the front space to show off
the church to a visitor from out of town. He had been an MIU student in the
70's, and had come back for a visit. We walked in after a Wednesday morning
Mass, and my friend just exclaimed: "Wow, what happened in here?" There was
such great silence. I had to later thank Michael for making me look so good.
It's the same with the IAM Sanctuary upstairs - they are really a group of
western pundits. They have pulled together a group of very pure souls who are
using their voices and awareness to create purity in Fairfield and America.
It's very powerful, and I'm grateful for the work they do. Thank you, Howard
Osborne, for using this space so well.
The Quakers meet weekdays from 5 to 6 for an "unaffiliated" silent meditation.
Maybe I shouldn't call them Quakers but this is Doug and Jennifer Hamilton's
background. They will have 2 to 12 people show up to meditate every day. It's
a great offering to those who do not have a dome badge.. I love that they do
this.
Laura Wienberg has started a group that meets the 2nd Saturday morning of each
month. I can't say exactly what she does yet because I haven't joined her so
far. But I wish her well; may her service grow and serve many, many souls.
The Community Choir uses the building, a Women Within group uses it, Brianna
Delott does some of her spiritual counseling work here, and occasionally other
groups use it. We are happy to provide this space.
So now you have a picture of what our history is, and how we work.
And of course you bless us with your extraordinary singing during the Singing
Sphere's services. Why don't you do a recital for us some ArtWalk? You have
such a gift, Greg.
I'm cc'ing everyone I've written about here. I want you all to know how
grateful I am that your groups use our church space.
And I wish everyone a very successful and happy new year - filled with the joy
of service that you all already experience.
With love and gratitude,
Rev. Steven WinnTrustee
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <dhamiltony...@yahoo.com> wrote :
Dear Col. Leed, Thanks for this appreciation.I particularly enjoy the link
below to the published paper that is written as a 'tongue in cheek' orthodox
indictment of free thinking. The particular names of free thinkers given in its
text are interesting to follow up on in context.
These links could also go along with this exploration of Free Thinkers and
Orthodoxy..
Separatists, In Quiet, European ancestral genealogy of transcendentalism
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FairfieldLife/conversations/messages/438032
Transcendentalist Fairfield
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FairfieldLife/conversations/messages/160262
Reference.Importing Transcendentalism (German) to America HISTORICAL NOTE
German ‘Free Thinkers’Turnvereins, American Turner Movement
Records,http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/collections/german-american/mss030
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turners
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freethought
William Leed writes:THANKS Doug !!! WOW! a real post TO, save , Learned
insightful & a joy to learn from & grow in SPIRIT from as well!! WOW! & for me
& now many others!
Again in great respect! THANKS!!
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <dhamiltony...@yahoo.com> wrote :
Freethinking and Orthodoxy..
Fundamentalism..
“We have to remember that fundamentalism is . . . a reaction to the natural
progress of society. And so when I see fundamentalism surge, I know that what
is really happening is that the natural progress of society is surging. And
fundamentalism is reacting to it. I choose to focus on the progress, not the
reaction.” Reza Aslan
A great ‘freethought’ listen, on your cell phone or computer.. Manley P. Hall,
an interesting 20th Century mystic freethinker. A lifelong lecturer he gave a
biographical lecture presentation on 17th Century William Penn’s free thought
‘Holy Experiment’. Penn’s freethinking venture became an early founding of
constitutional government and subsequently the State of Pennsylvania.
Manly P. Hall - William Penn, the Quaker, and His Holy Experiment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuRD0-tTbr8
.. .
An Orthodox Indictment of L. Mott
This gives very interesting insight. A fun read as written in a voice of
'tongue in cheek'.
Reguler, The Orthodox indictment of spiritual regeneration movement: The case
of L Mott.
http://quakertheology.org/issue-10-mott-CEF-01.htm
.. .
Whitman
"Whitman believed in the Inner Light. In 1890, he told Horace Traubel, who
recorded Whitman's conversations from 1888 until the poet's death, that he
subscribed to Hicks's views of spirituality."
Anecdotes about Elias Hicks by Walt Whitman November Boughs essay "Elias
Hicks" 1888https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Anecdotes_about_Elias_Hicks
Elias Hicks:
He preached that people could experience salvation without the aid of ordained
clergy. God dwells within every person, he explained, and reveals truths to
each one by means of the Inner Light. Employing their free will, people could
choose salvation by submitting to the will of God revealed to them, or they
could choose sin by rejecting God's will to follow their "independent will"
(Hicks 336).
>From 1779 through 1829, the Quaker minister journeyed more than forty thousand
>miles to locations primarily in the Northeast; but he also made trips to
>Virginia (1797, 1801, 1819, 1828), to the northern shore of Lake Ontario,
>Canada (1803, 1810), and to Richmond, Indiana (1828).
>https://whitmanarchive.org/criticism/current/encyclopedia/entry_192.html
... ..
“And this power flowed through him -- he became its agent -- whenever he put
himself in a position to receive it. It had drawn him also to the Quakers of
New Bedford, who were having a schism and revival in 1828. He visited them
often, especially Mary Rotch. “What is this Inner Light?” he asked her. “It is
not a thing to be talked about,” she replied. But he drew her out, and she said
she had been driven inward, in these years of the Quaker Schism,” The Life of
Emerson, Brooks.
... ..
Creeds
Creed..a set of beliefs or aims that guide someone's actions,a brief
authoritative formula of religious belief.a creed is a set of beliefs,
principles, or opinions that strongly influence the way people live or work
creed is a religion.
any system, doctrine, or formula of religious belief, as of a denomination. any
system or codification of belief or of opinion. an authoritative, formulated
statement of the chief articles of belief, as the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene
Creed, or the Athanasian Creed.
.. . /
“In the 18th and 19th century, many thinkers regarded as freethinkers were
deists, arguing that the nature of God can only be known from a study of nature
rather than from religious ‘revelation’. In the 18th century, "deism" was as
much of a 'dirty word' as "atheism", and deists were often stigmatized as
either atheists or at least as freethinkers by their Christian
opponents.[13][14] Deists today regard themselves as freethinkers, but are now
arguably less prominent in the freethought movement than atheists.”
.. .
W. E. Channing,
in Channing’s sequence of time in the coming on of Emerson and others, bringing
a closure to Puritanism in New England..
“The divine attributes,” Channing writes, “are first developed in ourselves and
hence transferred to our Creator. The idea of God, sublime and awful as it is,
is the idea of our own spiritual nature, purified and enlarged to infinity.”
“When Channing whistled, if his friends had only known it, that was the end of
Calvinism for Boston.” The Life of Emerson, Brooks.
.. . Freethought is the philosophy that man rules his own destiny, rejecting
the notion that there is any kind of divine intervention in life. Belief
centers on the idea that nature and Natural Law guide mankind and that the use
of reason, epistemology, and science are the means by which life is validated.
Freethought came to Wisconsin with the massive influx of German immigrants in
the 1850s, particularly those known as "Forty-eighters" who had fled autocratic
German states after the failed revolts of
1848.https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS1926
1850’s.. Freethinkers refused to accept political absolutism and the authority
of a church, religion, or its supposedly inspired scripture. They insisted on
the freedom to form religious opinions on the basis of intellectual reasoning
powers and not on blind, unquestioned faith. Freethinking became fashionable in
the German state of Prussia during the reign of Frederick the Great, who ruled
from 1740-53, within a period known as the "Age of Reason." "Freethinkers" Of
the Early Texas.. https://ffrf.org/legacy/fttoday/1998/april98/scharf.html
Freethought, Vs. the true believer..
true believer. noun. One who is deeply, sometimes fanatically devoted to a
cause, organization, or person: “a band of true believers bonded together
against all those who did not agree with them” ( Theodore Draper )
: a person who professes absolute belief in something: a zealous supporter of a
particular cause
...true believers who fought the good fight even when it was out of fashion.
..it's impossible to argue with those true believers, as they think any
counterevidence, is proof of an evil conspiracy.
True-believershttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_True_Believer
.. .
“On the other hand, according to Bertrand Russell, atheists and/or agnostics
are not necessarily freethinkers. As an example, he mentions Stalin, whom he
compares to a "pope": what I am concerned with is the doctrine of the modern
Communistic Party, and of the Russian Government to which it owes allegiance.
According to this doctrine, the world develops on the lines of a Plan called
Dialectical Materialism, first discovered by Karl Marx, embodied in the
practice of a great state by Lenin, and now expounded from day to day by a
Church of which Stalin is the Pope. […] Free discussion is to be prevented
wherever the power to do so exists; […] If this doctrine and this organization
prevail, free inquiry will become as impossible as it was in the middle ages,
and the world will relapse into bigotry and obscurantism.”— Bertrand Russell,
The Value of Free Thought. How to Become a Truth-Seeker and Break the Chains of
Mental Slavery
The “kidnapped” monument to German freethinkers in the Texas hill country
https://medium.com/k%C3%BChner-kommentar/the-kidnapped-monument-to-german-freethinkers-in-the-texas-hill-country-4aee0c1f518c
.. .
"What makes a freethinker is not his beliefs but the way in which he holds
them. If he holds them because his elders told him they were true when he was
young, or if he holds them because if he did not he would be unhappy, his
thought is not free; but if he holds them because, after careful thought he
finds a balance of evidence in their favour, then his thought is free, however
odd his conclusions may seem.".."The person who is free in any respect is free
from something; what is the free thinker free from? To be worthy of the name,
he must be free of two things: the force of tradition, and the tyranny of his
own passions. No one is completely free from either, but in the measure of a
man's emancipation he deserves to be called a free thinker."— Bertrand Russell,
The Value of Free Thought. How to Become a Truth-Seeker and Break the Chains of
Mental Slavery, from the first paragraph
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freethought
Fwd: [FairfieldLife] Re: Freethinking MY thanks Doug H> 4 sending this 2 me Bill Leed, & now Via me 2 share with others in our spiritual circles well as other becoming so!
William Leed wle...@aol.com [FairfieldLife] Sat, 26 Jan 2019 12:18:01 -0800
