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aVulcanThinker
Registered User
(5/6/02 12:28 pm)
Reply 		The Mission
There is a wonderful, wonderful article on the The Mission, the "luminous....1986 film masterpiece about Jesuit missionaries caught between obedience to the Church and fidelity to the Christian people they serve." A link to the full article is below:

Mission Statement

This just reinforces the legitimacy--and urgency--of the issues and debates raised by the Walrus. These are not simple questions, my friends, nor are they insignificant. Nor are they new. One of the greatest illusions fostered within SRF by its current leadership is that somehow they have a "new" truth that is independent of millenia of spiritual experience. What hubris! What arrogance! How sad.

chuckle chela
Registered User
(5/7/02 4:41 pm)
Reply 		Re: The Mission
Yes, aVulcanThinker, this is a great movie, and the article in the NR does a good job of bringing out the salient points (I would also recommend Bolt's A Man For All Seasons, which also deals with moral conflict, and which is another great film). A brief quote from the NR article:
Quote:
...there are times, as depicted in The Mission, when valid religious authority makes illegitimate and un-Christian demands of the faithful, and must be resisted by the faithful, come what may. The Mission is a comfort because it conveys the righteousness, even the obligation, of Catholic resistance to abuse of religious
authority, and that this resistance may be the cost of Christian discipleship.

And this is one of the National Review's leading writers penning this article. This ain't Atlantic Monthly; this is the bastion of conservatism in America. But they (including William F. Buckley) have been strong in pointing out the moral obligations of both the laity and the Church in situations like these; they have been clear in their condemnation of the Church's moral failure. We can learn much from all this.

Edited by: chuckle chela at: 5/7/02 4:42:41 pm
crogman24
Registered User
(5/8/02 6:04 am)
Reply 		Re: The Mission
The thing people are missing is the fact that the organization is unnecessary. The Mission film was made with the same pretext, that the organization is needed to guide lesser mortals to salvation. This is a Kali Yuga ideal (and the film takes place years ago so OK!).

The need for others to tell us how to live and find God is deep seated. The search seems complex and path unclear. The fact is that the search IS complex in that it is unique for each individual. Having a third party decide the right path for the masses just dumbs it down for everyone. It also creates positions of power which lead to all kinds of problems with people.

I agree with messages I see in other threads that we will eventually go back to Master’s original words (not his heavily edited versions of his books) and meet in smaller groups where we meditate together and take turns leading a service. No central leadership is needed to tell us we can’t eat fish on Friday or can increase our Kriya practice.

The moral conflict within the organization is of course much more than issues like when we eat fish. The internal organization has serious problems and they are getting worse. Problems with corruption within the Accounting department (ethical and leadership problems in this case I believe) which were brought up at SRF by the computer department were dealt with by removing all the monks in the computer department. They were replaced with members who continued to bring up the same issues and were then fired. The story reminded me of the Saturday Night Massacre of Nixon’s days.

Why deal with those issues? The organization is unnecessary. Look at the Hindu model and the Buddhist model. No central all knowing power, other than God and Guru, are needed. The ideal of resistance to the organizational problems is a mistaken belief that the organization is worth saving. Believing that and you have already fallen into their trap and inserted them between yourself and Master.

soulcircle
Registered User
(6/4/02 4:16 am)
Reply 		Again, A Thread to Dance To && ** ~~ !!
aVulcanThinker, chuckle chela and crogman24,

Quote:
The thing people are missing is the fact that the organization is unnecessary.


Thanks! Agreed!

Quote:
I agree with messages I see in other threads that we will eventually go back to Master’s original words (not his heavily edited versions of his books) and meet in smaller groups


Interesting, my wife's mother has been doing this most of her 80 years, no msg,
n = no
o = organization

m = meeting
s = small and
g = good

I am joining my "mom" day after tomorrow.
Walri and friends of Walri here in the Bay Area in California are meeting June 29th, and ever after.

Whitman says it, speaks of avatar's thousands, this I [Whitman] prophecize today

let's dig up the exact quote, yogananda uses it also

This thread is the understanding and compassion that I have for each of you, and my*self*

soulcircle


Edited by: soulcircle at: 6/4/02 4:24:52 am
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