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The following first appeared in the private email list IVy-subscribers,
which is available to all those who subscribe to the
printed magazine, International Viewpoints.
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In my hour of darkness . . .
by Phil Spickler
16 Nov 00

       As the song goes,
     "There will be an answer, Let it be, let it be;
        Whisper words of wisdom, Let it be, let it be."

       Well, I think Sehlene has done a lot better than whisper words of
wisdom; she has come out loud and clear in her posting concerning Process and
Beingness, and I for one, and I hope others, find this pleasing.

       When Sehlene describes looking into the teachings and practices of
numerous wise people and their systems, and after devoting quite a bit of her
young life (only 63 -- to me that does sound pretty young) to trying out
-ologies and -isms in her own personal quest for things like truth,
understanding, wisdom, freedom, health, etc. etc., she states in no uncertain
terms that the full satisfaction of her quest was not reached.   This is
something I think many of us will find no trouble empathizing with.

        The superb German author Hermann Hesse once wrote a book,
_Siddhartha_, and in this particular story we find someone who quests for
great enlightenment, and on this journey treads on a number of paths that are
said to hold that promise, including a life of work and business and
sensuality and even procreation, until ultimately this person reaches the
point of failure and near-death without having found the object of his
desire.  At the end, our seeker must find within himself just that Way or
No-way that results in final enlightenment, and in reading Sehlene's posting,
I thought to my many selves, "Ah!  Here's another soul that finally turns to
itself to realize that it is not only the source of the truth of the Way, but
IS the truth and the way."  And I think that's quite a "wow."

       As a failed Zen Buddhist myself (that's an esoteric statement), I don't
think what Sehlene is talking about requires the acceptance or rejection of
the existence of something called a spiritual being.  I believe that you
could subtract that from her posting without losing any of the accomplishment
that she speaks of.  In the end, though, I'm quite happy for her, and extend
to her a hearty "Very well done!"

         As to whether in recent months there has been a heavy effort to find
and/or describe a single process that would produce the state of Clear,
although this is mentioned in Sehlene's posting, I am unaware of such
happenings on this list.  But if that were the case, I would not want to say
or do anything to discourage such possibilities, no matter how confident I
felt about my own realizations.

        In my most retiring way, I decline the appellation of "spiritual
being" as being too one-sided without its ever-present partner "material
being," and it's only by a thorough understanding of theta-MEST theory that
we can avoid the pitfall of dualism and happily experience whatever is to be
experienced when the two sides of the coin vanish.

         Once again, very high marks to our Sehlene for communicating from the
heart and the soul so clearly and so legibly --
         With highest regards,
         Phil