presents a free newsletter for friends of generosity incorporated

Welcome
Feature from Cambridge, Massachusetts
Dreams of Innocence
Why the Heart?
Book Recommendations
Innocence in the News?
Who’s Who in Innocence
The Child's Garden
Poetry

Welcome from the Editor

This month we are featuring Innocence, number 1 of the Ascending Principles (numbered 0-9). Innocence is openness to novelty, the heartfelt willingness to encounter existence, whatever it may bring. Children are often a symbol for Innocence because of their happy eagerness for experience; but Innocence is not the same as naiveté. The association with “archetypal worlds” reminds us that Innocence begins in the depths of the heart, in the surprising patterns that give birth to existence, and that Innocence generates a deep and abiding affinity to life itself.

--Tamar Frankiel, Editor

Thanks to Cammie Doty and Carol Bucklew for help on this month's newsletter!

Feature from Cambridge, Massachusetts

This month's principle is Innocence. Here is a teaching from one of our dream sisters:

One of the greatest gifts Innocence has offered me is an unreserved and wholehearted willingness to learn something new. I live in a university town, where lots of learning goes on, in a community of many very smart and highly educated people where everyone is an authority on something important, or at least wants to be. Unfortunately one of the disadvantages to all this smartness is that no one ever wants to be seen as not-knowing.

But lucky for me, and with undying thanks to Connie, I had come to accept my sun in Innocence before I moved here. So not only is it okay for me not to know, it’s okay with me if you don’t know, too. Innocence moves me to ask, “How can I help you find out?” Turns out that this is a useful attitude to have, working in a library as I do. Innocence as a primary giving in my life has driven me right back to school, getting a degree in Library and Information Science at age 56, so I can keep on helping other people find out what they want to know. It is Innocence that gives me the answer to the question, “Am I too old to learn something new?".

This “happy learner” attitude is sometimes hard for others to understand. People think I’m a bit naïve, and wonder how I could possibly allow myself to be a beginner again, how I could not realize that “who I am” is “what I know,” and just how much time do I think I have left in life, anyway? Sometimes, I let myself be bedeviled by these questions, too. As a culture we tend to glorify Innocence in the young—She’s so curious! He asks so many questions! They just love learning!—though we expect adults to grow up and out of it. But we deprive others of more than just the right to ask endless questions when we ask them to put on the oh-so-tight-fitting “expert” suit.

Because a funny thing, an amazing, miraculous thing, happens at some point when we stop trying to control Innocence and let it take us where it will instead. The desire to truly see begins to beckon us, and the desire to judge—anyone, anything—dissipates. The wish to learn, the will to know, leads us, quite without our realizing it, eventually to truth. What else is there to know, really? And what is truth? Only God is truth. And God is love. So this is where Innocence leads us, back to its birthplace, straight home to the heart of God.

I can’t begin to tell you how surprised I am.

--Cammie Doty

Dreams of Innocence

We can learn about the principles by examining our dreams. Here are two dreams of Innocence:

After delivering a package, I go to my car and there is a little girl there with long, blond, almost golden curls, Shirley Temple style. She has a notebook which she has had for about eight years - she re-writes everything she sees. As I sat with her, I realized I could "see" the historical events she had re-written stories about: the holocaust, JFK Jr’s air crash; and she was about to re-write 9-11. She takes me to a circle of stone in a nearby field, which looks like an old three-ring circus. We sit and all these events from the past walk past; all this dust stirs up and we have to cover our noses. Then there is an image of Christ walking in the dust, no cross yet he is weighed down by a crown of thorns that is way bigger than him. At this point, I close my eyes and ask the girl to lead me back to the car.

Innocence makes it possible to rewrite history. In the sequence of Ascending Principles, Innocence precedes both Purity and Memory. It goes back before any errors occurred, before any scars were embedded. The three-ring circus might even be Innocence, Purity, and Memory, the ‘circle of stone’ which gives structure to experience: archetypal patterns (Innocence), potential to return to essence (Purity), and etching events into our bones (Memory). Human experience stirs up a lot of dust, and even Christ-consciousness can appear weighed down by its huge “crown of thorns,” but Innocence can return us to ourselves ­ if we let ourselves be led by the ‘little girl.'

I am in a very dark room with tall windows; it reminds me of one of my grade school classrooms in New Jersey. I'm looking through one of the very tall windows; there is one street light glowing dimly and a woman is speaking into my left ear. She's telling me we are about to execute a covert lamb rescue.

We are in a field under cover of night and are all holding white newborn lambs. They stare up at us with sweet innocent faces and my heart almost breaks. The women are hiding the lambs under long brown overcoats. It looks like the women are standing on the little lambs backs because you can't see their feet touching the ground; just the lamb feet. The whole picture is rather sweet and comical. It is like and old "Our Gang" episode when the kids all sit on each other's shoulders and try to pass themselves off as lumpy-bodied adults.

This is unmistakably a dream of Innocence. Not only are there innocent faces, a breaking heart, and newborn white lambs, but there is “one” street lamp (Innocence is #1). The lambs need to be rescued “covertly,” literally covered by overcoats. “Our Gang” seems to allude to a coterie of dreamers who are on a secret school assignment for this effort; but “Our Gang” on television was all children, who so often represent innocence. The final image, of lumpy brown ladies with lambs’ feet, is certainly comical. The dream seems to be saying that we have a responsibility to undertake a rescue operation, even if we feel or appear awkward doing it. However, we must walk on lambs’ feet: The way to get where we’re going is to walk in Innocence.

Look in your dreams for references to the heart ... to children, especially archetypal children (like movie stars or fairy tale chldren)... to the number 1 ... to the colors indigo or tanzanite (deep or royal blue).

Why the Heart?

The heart is not only the muscle that pumps the blood but also, according to many spiritual traditions, the seat of inner ­ or as we would say, “heartfelt” - wisdom. The heart as a physical organ is extremely sensitive to changes anywhere in the body; it is a transmitter for responsiveness, on the physical and emotional levels. That’s why it’s the perfect metaphor for Innocence, the universe’s own openness and responsiveness to itself. -TF

Book Recommendations

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay, by Michael Chabon
Winner of a Pulitzer prize, this novel tracks the adventures of two young men who want to make it big in the newly emerging world of the “superhero” comic book in the 1930s. Josef Kavalier, a refugee from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, and Sam Clayman, his New York cousin, travel a shamanic journey toward ­ is it success? Chabon’s writing is marvelous, a treat in itself. The “innocence” of the two, confronting power with imagination and determination, becomes a lesson in self-discovery.

The Power of One by Bruce Courtenay
In South Africa, a five-year-old boy nurtured by a loving nanny is sent to boarding school and comes into contact with a hate-filled society, where he is beaten and tortured by older boys, but then learns to focus on his own inner strength. This in turn allows him to follow his heart’s dream, to become a champion boxer, and to attract others who also follow a path of innocent trust.

Innocence in the News

Ask yourself regarding the following stories from recent news items: Is Innocence appearing in its common meaning, or in its spiritual meaning as a basic principle of form?

• Headline: Innocence Project of Texas
  Associated Press, April 7, 2009. A state district judge in Austin formally cleared a man who died in prison 13 years into a 25-year sentence for a rape he did not commit, making him the first posthumous DNA exoneration in Texas history. He always maintained his innocence.
  
  
• Headline: London’s Day of Innocence
  Stuart Jeffries, The Guardian, February 3, 2009. A rare snowfall brings innocent fun to London with a snowball fight between giggling kids and police.
  http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/feb/03/london-snow-weather.
  

6. Who's Who in Innocence

Famous people we found with Sun in Innocence ­ do you see a relation to Innocence in their lives--e.g., an unusual connection to novelty, children, or archetypes? or do you see an otherwise unnoticed dimension of Innocence?

• Kurt Cobain, 1967-1994
  Lead guitarist for the Seattle-based ‘grunge’ band Nirvana, who became spokesman for alternative rock in the early 1990s.

• Barry Bonds, 1964-
  Major league baseball player, most recently with the San Francisco Giants, who holds the records for the most home runs in his career (762) and seven Most Valuable Player awards. He has been indicted for covering up steroid use.

• Nia Vardalos, 1962-
  Canadian-American actress and screenwriter, best known for her starring role in My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
  
  
• Patty Hearst, 1954-
  Daughter of the wealthy publisher William Randolph Hearst, who gained notoriety when kidnapped by a leftist urban guerrilla group in 1974, then joined her captors in their cause. Imprisoned for bank robbery for 2 years, her sentence was commuted by President Carter and she was pardoned by President Clinton.
  
  
• Deepak Chopra, 1946-
  Indian-born physician and spiritual teacher, who has written extensively on mind-body medicine and on spiritual topics such as the existence of God and life after death ­ more than 50 books overall.
  
  
• Robert Gates, 1943-
  Former director of the CIA, then U.S. Secretary of Defense in the closing years of the Bush administration, continuing in the Obama administration.
  
  
• Helen Reddy, 1941-
  Australian singer who became immensely popular in the USA in the 1970s, with a it song from Jesus Christ Superstar and the feminist ‘anthem’ “I Am Woman.” She now is a hypnotherapist practicing near Sydney, Australia.
  
  
• Jim Henson. 1936 ­1990
  Best known puppeteer in modern American history, as creator of the Muppets and the driving force beyond their long run in Sesame Street, as well as in films like The Muppet Movie and Dark Crystal.
  
  
• Pat Robertson, 1930-
  Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson, American televangelist, is founder of numerous organizations, including the American Center for Law and Justice, Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), the Christian Coalition, and Regent University.
  
  
• Sidney Poitier, 1927-
  Sir Sidney Poitier KBE is an Academy Award-winning Bahamian American actor, film director, and activist. Consciously defying racial stereotyping, he became in 1963 the first black actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor (Lilies of the Field).
  
  
• Erma Bombeck, 1927-1996
  Humorist whose newspapers columns on daily human foibles and home life appeared from the 1960s to the 1990s. She also wrote 15 best-selling books.
  
  
• Robert Altman, 1925-
  American film director, known for working in a stylized way with naturalistic topics. His films MASH and Nashvillehave been selected as part of the U.S. National film registry.
  
  
• Jose Luis Borges, 1899-1986
  Argentine writer of whom it has been said that he “renovated the language of fiction.” Many of his popular stories focus on mirrors, labyrinths, or fantastic themes, to explore philosophy and personal identity.
  
  
• Robert Graves, 1895-1985
  English poet, scholar, and novelist. During his long life, he produced more than 140 works, including major interpretations of Greek mythology and books such as The White Goddess.
  
  
• Harpo Marx, 1888-1964
  One of the famous Marx Brothers comedy team. He never talked in their performances, but instead used horns and whistles, and played the harp.
  
  
• Chico Marx, 1887-1961
  Leonard Marx, another of the famous Marx Brothers comedy team. He was originally nicknamed Chicko due to his reputation as a ladies man, or a "chicken chaser" in the popular slang of the day.
  
  
• Wolfgang Kohler, 1887-1967
  German psychologist, a scholar of the psychology of vision, who was one of the founders of a new holistic school of psychology called “Gestalt” theory.
  
  
• John Charles Fremont, 1830-1890
  Military officer and explorer, the first candidate of the Republican Party for the office of President of the United States, and the first presidential candidate of a major party to run on a platform in opposition to slavery. His nickname was “The Pathfinder."
  
  
• Joseph Smith, 1805-1844
  American religious leader who founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ­ the Mormon church ­ understood as the restoration of the original church that had been lost since the days of the Apostles.
  
  
• Franz Anton Mesmer, 1734-1815
  German thinker who discovered what he called animal magnetism and others often called mesmerism; his work laid the foundation for the practice of hypnosis.
  
  
• Antony van Leeuwenhoek, 1632-1723
  Dutch tradesman and scientist known as "the Father of Microbiology". The son of a basket maker, he is best known for his work on the improvement of the microscope.

7. The Child's Garden

The spiritual parenting of our children ­ through studying their principles ­ teaches us as well as them. We believe that bringing this work to the next generation can be one of the most powerful forces to heal humanity. Here’s an example of learning from our children:

I have two children with Mars in Innocence (which happens to be my own Mars placement too). I’ve wondered about Mars, which represents the physical body. Do these children relate to their physicality in similar ways that are at the same time different from their siblings? In terms of health history, energy levels, metabolism, or physical structure, I really can’t see any area where they ‘match’ and their siblings don’t. What does Innocence mean for them?

Physicality is the densest form of spirit. It is dense in the sense of difficult to change, more rooted in “habits of nature” as Rupert Sheldrake would have it. We say that natural laws rule in the physical world, but those laws are simply habits that have lasted a long, long time, surviving under so many circumstances that they are unlikely ever to change in our universe.

In our bodies, the habits of nature as recorded in our DNA do form our visible physical structure, but there are spiritual habits as well. We convey this in the common term, “second nature.” When anything happens that you perceive to affect your physical environs or your body, what governs your normal reaction? Animals have fight-flight-freeze reactions, but we have a much greater nuance. And the Invisible Garment teaches us that these responses follow the lines of the Thirty Principles.

What these children exemplify is a ‘second nature’ reaction of openness without tension. Innocence is paradoxical, in that it expresses openness to novelty but, perhaps because it is on the Indigo sphere, it has an 'inward-pulling' or ‘background’ quality rather than an outgoingness toward novelty. So, when confronted with a difficult situation, they reacted calmly yet with alert readiness. They seemed to take in cellular information and formulate a slow response.

I remember when the Northridge earthquake hit. My oldest son, then 13, woke up and, as soon as he realized it was an earthquake, walked into his little sister’s bedroom and caught her as she rolled off the top bunk. My daughter, when she was old enough, trained as an EMT (emergency medical technician). She loved the combination of quick thinking, calm emotion, and physical responsiveness that was demanded. Needless to say, she and her brother are both great to have around in times of crisis.

--Tamar Frankiel

8. Poetry

One of America’s familiar poets, read by every school child, is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. A couple of his poems capture the freshness of Innocence, apparently ephemeral but with an imprint that goes deep into the heart. These are from www.poets.org and The Mentor Book of Major American Poets (1962).

The Children's Hour
by Henry Wordsworth Longfellow

Between the dark and the daylight,
When the night is beginning to lower,
Comes a pause in the day's occupations,
That is known as the Children's Hour.

I hear in the chamber above me
The patter of little feet,
The sound of a door that is opened,
And voices soft and sweet.

From my study I see in the lamplight,
Descending the broad hall stair,
Grave Alice, and laughing Allegra,
And Edith with golden hair.

A whisper, and then a silence:
Yet I know by their merry eyes
They are plotting and planning together
To take me by surprise.

A sudden rush from the stairway,
A sudden raid from the hall!
By three doors left unguarded
They enter my castle wall!

They climb up into my turret
O'er the arms and back of my chair;
If I try to escape, they surround me;
They seem to be everywhere.

They almost devour me with kisses,
Their arms about me entwine,
Till I think of the Bishop of Bingen
In his Mouse-Tower on the Rhine!

Do you think, O blue-eyed banditti,
Because you have scaled the wall,
Such an old mustache as I am
Is not a match for you all!

I have you fast in my fortress,
And will not let you depart,
But put you down into the dungeon
In the round-tower of my heart.

And there will I keep you forever,
Yes, forever and a day,
Till the walls shall crumble to ruin,
And moulder in dust away!

The Arrow and the Song
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroken;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.

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