Whole and Free

 Fear: Panic  Fear, other people’s fear, is what I have thought keeps them from volunteering in the prison ministry: fear of becoming a victim of a crime.   A little bit of my own fear enabled me to be cautious in designing how the ministry worked.   Even the worst things about us have some good to offer. In the past six months I’ve been exploring darker aspects of my mind.   Darker means that which leads me to darkness, to blindness, that enmeshes me in not knowing the truth.   It started as an intention to do this, via SoulCollage ® .   That is an enjoyable, intuitive art activity through which you create a pack of cards with your own collages on them. It was developed by Seena Frost who has studied and practiced Jungian analysis and also theology.   She had originally been using Tarot cards   with her clients to help them easily open the treasure chest of their own minds (or spirits) themselves, to access their own wisdom.   At...

Last week, as I was telling Christian how Salman's first day of freedom had gone, Christian said that he wished I'd write these things down, that it might help him. Christian is a new intern in the Freedom Ministry, the prison outreach program at Oakland Center for Spiritual Living.   I had the inspiration of Amma who has made her life a continual demonstration of unconditional love.   Not only does she hug all who come to her but also she has inspired the founding and continuation of so many humanitarian projects that it takes at least an hour just to mention and briefly describe them all. I proceed with some humility to discover things to do that harm no one and to continually evaluate what has been tried.     I am always available to learn from others who have been doing work like this for some time, indeed from anyone with a good idea and a willingness to help make it happen. In my life in American culture activism, usually entailed deciding who th...