Dave Schwenk messenger dialogue today
Dave: Hi James, I love the stories and getting back to Tolstoy. Thanks so much for this gift. Reading the letters now. Quite excited about it. I thoroughly enjoyed Pursuit of Happiness. Tolstoy conveys such wisdom in simple and quite artistic tales. The images of the shoemaker looking out his window at the passing shoes...what a great portrayal of our mission. Interesting that he fixes shoes. Helps people continue on their way, does a fair job...that God is in all of them, and very much in those who suffer. I think when we make that leap of faith, that conviction that this is the correct way for our world, then all else must somehow fall into place...it is the path of the true warrior.
James: rarely have I been moved with such gladness as in reading your note and then sensing that for the moment at least you are alongside me and I alongside you in this journey at this moment
despite all this study these recent weeks I woke up in the middle of the night realizing I had not a clue of what to do with my life it was very distressing
and then within an hour quite unexpected I'm quite sure I saw what the rest of my hours days weeks years will consist of and I'll be posting of that today creator willing please watch carefully
Dave: It is wonderful to share the journey, James. I am glad my words had some impact on you. I am growing convinced the only way out is through absolute adherence to the principle of service to others/nonviolence/love/disruption of the capitalist beast. The time is now. I prepare myself for the journey. You are leading me to literature and thoughts that must be guided through the love of goodness and teachings of Jesus and Krishna and most religions -- as Gandhi stated they all carry the same message. I have always felt you appeared in my life for a reason and I singled you out as probably the most important person to learn from on that DS march. I feel the need for a retreat into the woods or somewhere for meditation before charting my course...look forward to reading about your vision today.
James: I am so glad when your comments are on Facebook because this dialogue is important to be available to others. I read your comment above with immense gladness and great trepidation. Without the gladness and respect I would not feel the trepidation. What you're saying would not matter to me but it does. No credit to you I think that you matter right now. So I will be blunt and speak the truth until I determine it is unwelcome from you. The truth as I see it Of course. But wirh that qualification I don't mean to diminish, I have spent decades attempting to see the truth and I experience that I've gotten closer than most.
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The profound Revelation that I saw in these letters between Tolstoy and Gandhi and the letter to a Hindu was both of them articulating what I have never before seen clearly articulated before from any of them. I guess I remember King alluding to it several times. The purpose for them of nonviolent action was to reestablish the Beloved Community, not in form although form would possibly follow, but in spirit. This has what has been f****** totally lacking from so-called nonviolent actions ever since King was murdered by the system, probably CIA at the direction of the administration and the evil powers that be in presence of the insane irresponsibilities of we citizens.
So-called nonviolent action has been turned into a weapon used by the flesh to establish desirable fleshly conditions. How many centuries have to go by before we face that this is treating the symptom and not the disease? In his early years of fighting King probably evidenced this better than anyone I can think of including Gandhi. Then he lost his way and figured that material conditions were the immediate goal, rather than the consequence of Beloved Community established. And possibly material conditions are the ultimate goal as is getting rid of a temperature of 106 in a dying child a goal but it is not the central goal. Curing the disease of the child is the goal. We cannot, must not, absolutely must not with any breath lose focus on the disease which is the absence of the loving Spirit of goodness in action in the heart of men. To me this was the brilliant expression in this exchange between Gandhi and King that I have never put into words before. Please try and hear deeply what I'm saying, if that is at all desirable, not that you would agree but that you could see clearly what I'm trying to express.
I cannot stop at the moment to proof read these comments but maybe in an hour.
Dave: Yes. Because people are willing to be a rebel on Saturday and a slave Monday to Friday and see no damage in that. I appreciate and welcome your honesty. I drift in thoughts and imagination when inspired by others so it is very helpful to have someone sharing with me…
James: As tantalizing as it is we cannot must not absolutely must not make our goal stopping the corporate state. Because that will distract us from the only thing that could stop the corporate state, every breath going toward expanding the spirit of loving goodness, the loving Spirit of Goodness in action, in the heart of people. We must now allow no breath within ourselves to deviate from that, and I shall not.
Dave: I do see that of what you write and know it in my heart.
James: I am dictating this as I walk to the spot where I have found Fairly reliable internet at which I should be in about 15 minutes.
Dave: I agree with that assessment and am adjusting to that reality -- the goal cannot be focused on just defeating the corporate state. That would be the ultimate outcome of opening the hearts of people. Let the acts of goodness speak for themselves and have faith in the wisdom of those like Gandhi, Tolstoy, King, and Jesus who came before us…
James: in a moment I'll be able to stop and read your recent comments I have not read a word yet because I'm walking. but please bear that in mind as I share this thought Jesus was primarily motivated because of the misery created by the Roman Empire crushing those already in misery in its way. Jesus the seed crystal for the greatest agents of change we have ever seen Tolstoy Gandhi King Schweitzer and a few others. Jesus never advocated or acted himself for political change or material change in the environment. He worked for a change within the hearts of Human beings. Should Jesus be blindly followed? No one and nothing should be blindly followed. Even the loving Spirit of goodness within us. But if we are not totally completely absolutely humble in the face of the greatest inspiration that humankind has yet had, the man Jesus and those like him, then we are nothing, no hope, not serious.
Dave: I agree with that
James: All I look for in dialogue with others is an honest search for the truth, not my truth, not their truth, but the truth which can be better found when serious hearts are searching for it together then when any individual is left to their own device.
It is with great gladness and relief that I read your two or three comments above.
What I said I would be writing of I will identify for you now and unfold this morning I hope. And then for the rest of my days I expect to be unfolding it with my deeds and words more fully that others might share in if they like. In fact, if it is not a collaboration of which I am the keeper until I find someone more able, then it will certainly make no difference but I will try anyway.
I don't know what I am. But I think I am the type of being that a Francis of Assisi was. And we're told, I think in truth, that he heard a call that I presume he did not understand but he attempted to follow, build my church. As I say I woke in the middle of the night so desperately frustrated that after weeks I was totally clueless as to what I should do with my life, how I could be of any service to Creation. And then, obvious now that I think of it after reading the exchange between Gandhi and Tolstoy, particularly Tolstoy letter to a Hindu, the call I received was, James, resume my work and that of others mentioned in tolstoy's letter to a Hindu, resume the work of building my church, and the best I can think to name that church which I think is important, that religion, is loving Spirit of Goodness-ism. This call from Jesus, the spirit of Jesus. Never any words. I never get words in this type of thing. What I get is the fully-formed concept. Certainly nothing I anticipated or crafted.
And that church, the Temple of that religion, is totally and only, exclusively, each individual in which that Spirit, the loving Spirit of Goodness in action, is embodied with every breath. This is what Jesus set out to do, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else.
Dave: I am thrilled to hear of the call. It is a product of your intense study and sharing over the last weeks/months/years...I am anxious to hear more...I started the following words before receiving your latest messages, so please excuse if things seem to jump back and forth, but that is what happens in messenger...Are you familiar with Rev. Barber from North Carolina? I worked with him some in 2016. He is the real deal. He is launching a Poor People's Campaign in the vein of Martin Luther King. Rev. Barber speaks from the high grounds of moral justice and deeds. He is first and foremost about action about helping the poor and oppressed, service to others, love, community...he has been at it since he was a child and faced abuse as one of the first black children in a desegregated school in NC. I highly recommend reading his book, The Third Reconstruction: How a moral Movement is Overcoming the Politics of Division and Fear. If you have a way to download it, I will buy it for you.
James: I'm quite sure that if I have any assets one of them is having to learned discipline Within Myself the ability to see truth that I might otherwise be hesitant or not Desiring to see. This comes to mind with Reverend Barber, by full disclosure. Dave had just urged me to read his book. I'll call him Barber, I don't like titles, I detest titles, they are the thing of Empire, profoundly destructive. Throughout my adulthood my spirit has been tuned, no credit to me, to be extremely sensitive to those spirits that are, I'll say, of creator, of the loving Spirit of goodness, and those that are not. In business oddly I was trained by my own trial and error to be attuned to this without those words to find those who with me could work what I thought were important miracles to work in businesses, which regularly happened as a consequence of my catalytic role. As I glanced in the direction of Barber I havd hoped to find such a spirit, to sense such a spirit, and I have not. But I cannot afford, and do not want to afford, to ignore or discount you at this point. Hopefully I will find the book on Amazon Kindle in which case I can download it almost immediately delayed only by my ability to get WiFi so that I can download the windows version and crack it so I can have it read to me. So it might be a week before I can start but then I will make it a priority until such time as I discover that I was wrong and it is of the spirit or that I was correct and it is not of the spirit as I see it. I will be utterly thrilled to discover that I was mistaken. We desperately need living Saints today by whatever Creed or none. Ultimately, the only way to cure the disease is enough living Saints, what we are all born to be, the children of Creator, the embodiment Every Breath of Creator spirit.
I suspect that I want to today almost immediately publish our dialogue in part or in full on my blog and more clearly on Facebook that others might / take. Please tell me if you object.
Dave: I do not object.
{ Dave strongly urged that I read a book by William Barber a minister activist in South Carolina. He offered to buy it for me which was very kind. I indicated that logistic Lee that wouldn't work but that I do accept donations. This followed from that. He indicated that he would be doing so.}
James: Gandhi said of himself, and I take him to be an honest person, he said of himself that he was the most cowardly individual on Earth, paraphrase. I experienced myself the same way. When I was a child I knew that I would much rather die than experience pain including the psychological and physical pain of material deprivation. My Hardware hasn't changed and probably not my software overall since that time. But my understanding of life, of where Joy is to be found, is something I did not anticipate profoundly changing for me. And as I have honed my ability to see opportunities for joy, and to pursue those, they have transcended what otherwise was the paralyzing fear of my fleshly and mental spirit. I don't know if everyone can find the same path, but I know that it is a path available to some, I am too greedy not to walk it myself, and to improve my ability to do so, and I am too greedy to not try and illuminate the path for maybe someone else now or in the future. This has been and will continue to be the focus of my each breath.
Dave: It helps to hear of the difficulties you face(d) and the inner conflict you overcame. This aids others like me.
James: This comes to mind as I think of anyone providing a donation. I haven't any desire but to use any penny at my disposal towards the goals discussed in this dialogue. This is amazing to me. I was the most selfish, but physically selfish, uninformed individual for most of my decades. I simply have become more enlightened greedy. I'm not perfect at this but I think I'm near perfect at it. This enlightened greed. One possible exception is when I was at a campground near Yucca Valley there was a $8 per day lunch, or $10 per day dinner at a all you can eat Chinese buffet. I understand these buffets as medicine for my body, loads of vegetables, healthy starches, fruit. And I would make this my one meal for the day. I can't be sure that I needed to go there every day. That may have been selfish Indulgence, so small I'm not particularly concerned but I am aware. If I ever try to afford myself the luxury of being perfect, as I'm afraid I find many prior religious greats attempting to be, then I have ceased being any hope. The purpose of Our Lives needs to be helping others, not some spiritual masturbation of personal perfection.
<3. Thank you for the encouraging words about my sharing. A major discouragement in recent years has been realizing the truth expressed by Jesus that I have never wanted to face, that the gate is narrow and few will enter in. I suspect I will never have the wisdom or courage to fully accept his position on this though all of history says that he is correct. But to your point about the helpfulness of me sharing my own walk, the reason I do so is, I am not convinced that my nervous system is so different than anyone else. And clearly Jesus and Gandhi and Tolstoy had a similar perception, that in finding the path for themselves that it could be relevant to the nervous system of some other people.
LOL. Let's try and stay on Facebook as much as possible so this dialogue can be shared.
Dave: Yes, I call it that as well, spiritual masturbation...the poet William Blake wrote in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, "Improvement makes strait roads, but the crooked roads without Improvement, are roads of genius."
Ok, we can get back to FB, Yes, your path is very relevant to other people
James: <3. I don't think this is over emphasizing or over acknowledgement. Look how expensive in terms of time the dialogue you and I are having today is. It is true of my entire adulthood that my only interest is in trying to be a piece, a catalyst, for an impossible miracle that needs to happen for the lives of many people. It is unlikely that will ever change for me. I live only for the largest emergency I can try and address. That is the only place I find life, joy, the ability to keep going in the face of such virtually total harror and evil on 2018 earth. Therefore I value each second, each breath, the way most people value $1,000. This is not an exaggeration. My point being, for me, this dialogue today is extremely expensive and way more than valuable enough to justify the expense. It is a tremendous gift.
Dave: I feel the same. I threw all else aside for this. Gladly. Nothing is more important, and you are helping me in a time of spiritual conflict and yearning.