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"Just
finished the Escort to the Beloved chapter. I have cried for the first
time since December 8, 2000—the night of the car accident
that nearly
took my life. I didn't cry then. I think I became an observer of my
life. I can't begin to thank you for writing this book.”
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Trebbe Johnson's Newsletter
March 2008
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 Dear
Questers, Friends, and Seekers of the
Beloved,
Attending the annual Wilderness Guides
Council meeting in the desert of southern
California at the end of February, I was
delighted to run into Linda Sartor, a woman
I'd met about fifteen years ago, when we
were both training as vision quest guides
with the School of Lost Borders. She told me
about her work in Sri Lanka, and I was very
moved not only by the work itself, but also
by Linda's attitude toward it. A few days
after I got home, my husband had
arthroscopic surgery on his shoulder, and I
was so impressed by his doctor that I
decided I had to write about him in this
newsletter. Then I got a call from a man who
had read my book, The World Is a Waiting
Lover, and wanted to tell me about how he
had transformed his own journey with an
impossible love. As I thought about each of
these remarkable people, I realized that
they all had something in common: each is
willing to venture into a troubled place--in
the world, in the body, in the heart--and to
heal it in the way that only he or she is
capable of. I hope these stories, and the
bold, creative spirit of the people who
lived them, move you as well.
To those who are receiving this newsletter
for the first time... welcome! Here you'll
find news of upcoming Vision Arrow events,
reflections, profiles of extraordinary
people, and stories of transformation that
occur when we accept, in small, bold,
startling ways the invitations that the
world is always sending us. |
SAYING YES WITH THE BODY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Linda
Sartor had always been a peace activist.
However, the attacks of September 11 and
some disturbing reactions to it, such as
racism in the guise of patriotism and the
president's promotion of consumerism as a
response to terrorism, made her realize that
she had to find a way of dedicating herself
even more fully to what she believed.
Because she had worked for several years as
a vision quest guide, she says, "I knew the
importance of following my heart. Now I was
ready to say with my body, 'My life is not
more precious than anyone else's.'"
Recently, Linda returned from Sri Lanka,
where she spent fifteen months as a member
of the
Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP), a
non-profit organization whose international
teams offer a non-violent presence in
troubled areas around the world.
Since 1983, hostilities between the
government of Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tigers
rebel group has resulted in an estimated
64,000 deaths and the abduction of more than
a million and a half people. Although a
cease fire agreement had been in effect
since 2002, people were still afraid.
Because Linda's NP team wanted to emphasize
their role as peacemakers, they
strategically situated their new office on
the border between a neighborhood occupied
on one side by Tamils and on the other by
Muslims. Part of Linda's work was to support
the efforts of peace committees, which
consisted of members from a mixture of
ethnic groups working together to solve
conflicts at the local level. Also, in an
effort to lend protection to people who felt
at risk, she worked with UNICEF to help
enroll children in vocational schools run by
churches.
In May 2002, before joining Nonviolent
Peaceforce, Linda had traveled to Israel and
Palestine with the International Solidarity
Movement, and in February 2003, just weeks
before the U.S. started bombing Iraq, she
joined the Christian Peacemaker Team on a
visit to that country. She says that, before
going to the Middle East for the first time,
she had been afraid that she would be
traumatized by becoming involved in a place
where violence was so pervasive. To the
contrary, she discovered that she felt more
alive than ever. "I see abuse and violence
regularly on the news in America," she says.
"When I was able to be in the way of abuse
instead of simply watching it from a
distance, it was very empowering." Her own
goal, which she hopes to communicate to
others is that, "although you can't get rid
of fear, you can refuse to let it stop you
from doing what you know you have to do.
Fear keeps the system of domination in
place."
The Non Violent Peace Force is currently
seeking funding to send a team to Uganda,
and Linda Sartor is eager to be a part of
it. |
THE INNER WORLD OF A
SURGEON
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 Last
fall, my husband, Andy Gardner, fell
and badly injured his rotator cuff.
His search for a good doctor to
repair the damage with arthroscopic
surgery led him to
Brian J. Sennett,
head of the sports medicine
department at the University of
Pennsylvania Health System. On the
day of the appointment, we drove
down to Philadelphia from our home
in rural northeastern Pennsylvania.
Andy's surgery was scheduled for
12:30, but it was delayed four hours
because the doctor had two
emergencies. We'd been told the
procedure would last two hours, but
it ended up taking almost an hour
longer. I was in the out-patient
waiting room reading when Dr.
Sennett bounded in at about 8:30 in
the evening to talk to me.
He was full of enthusiasm for how
well the surgery had gone, even
better than he had anticipated, he
told me. He talked about range of
motion, repairing, reconnecting
muscles. Not only did he show no
trace of exhaustion after hours of
work that demanded the most careful
and precise attention to detail, but
his pleasure in his work was
obvious.
After we had talked for a while
about the surgery, I mentioned how
full of energy he was after what
must have been a very long day. "Oh,
it's so fascinating!" he said. "Once
I get in there and start looking
around, I just lose all track of
time."
These days, when medical care is so
often a brisk, impersonal business
that seems to be more about
technology than human beings (one
doctor my husband considered for the
surgery looked at the MRI before
even glancing at Andy himself), it
was wonderful to find an excellent
doctor who loves the work he does
and eagerly communicates with
patients and their families. This is
how the dynamic archetype of the
inner Beloved works in us: by making
us feel that when we enter our work,
we step into a fascinating world
that is just waiting for us to
transform it for the better.
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REVAMPING ATTRACTION
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Because
I speak candidly in my book, The
World Is a Waiting Lover: Desire and
the Quest for the Beloved, of how my
exploration of the roots and
possibilities of desire began (a
huge, impossible attraction), I
often hear from other people who
have been swept off their feet by
Eros and plunged into longing for a
romance that cannot be--and, at the
same time, that they cannot ignore.
Recently I spoke with a man who had
had a romance with a younger woman
that reawakened him sexually and
creatively, yet, for many reasons
could not survive as a viable
partnership.
After they stopped seeing each
other, he was determined to learn as
much as he could from what had
happened. One step he took was to
make a list of all the ways in which
he felt that the woman he had loved
had regarded him and that he wanted
to cultivate more mindfully in
himself. For example:
I am a man who is decisive in taking
action when I recognize
that there is something I must do.
I am a man who walks with
confidence.
I am a man who gives my attention
fully to whatever or whoever I am
with.
Attraction, the magical allure of
Eros, always has something profound
to teach us if only we're willing to
look at it from interesting new
perspectives. I like this man's
approach to transforming Falling in
Love with somebody else to
developing welcome new qualities in
himself.
If you're interested in exploring
how attraction can nourish you
instead of eating you alive, come to
the Roots of Attraction workshop I'm
guiding with Charles Tack at the
Institute of Noetic Sciences Retreat
Center, Petaluma, CA June 27-29.
Charley has done pioneering work
about attraction for many years, and
I'm very excited that we will be
working together on this two-part
program. |
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BOOK AND
WORKSHOP NEWS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Do
you feel Eros beckoning in your
life: to a new person, a new place,
a cause, a skill, a passion? I'll be
offering workshops on Desire and the
Quest for the Beloved at several
places in the weeks to come:.
April 11-13: Morristown,
NJ--Morristown Unitarian Fellowship
(contact Bob Evans, BobEv1@aol.com
May 2-4: Cincinnati, OH--Moye
Retreat Center, Melbourne, KY
(contact Jennifer Wheatley,
jh.wheatley@gmail.com)
June 8-12 (evening sessions):
Washington, DC (contact Barbara
Bitondo de Arène, bitondo@springpcs.com
or 202-607-4906)
Louden Kiracofe, my colleague of
many years, will be offering two
exciting programs. In Working with
Dreams and Walking in Dream-Time
(held at Louden's beautiful retreat
in southern Colorado at the edge of
Mesa Verde) you'll work with
Louden's own innovative practice of
using dialogue with dream figures
and solo nature walks to enter the
world of the dream. A retired
surgeon and urologist, Louden is
also offering a Vision Quest for
Physicians for the first time. This
quest in southern Utah is shorter
than most of our quests and is
specially designed for busy doctors
who often neglect their own inner
lives in their commitment to heal
others. |
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Contact Information
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phone: 570/727-4272
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