what do babies know of god?

I'd just like to share a letter to Neale Donald Walsch from the Conversations with God Newsletter that really touched me:

Dear Neale,

How true what you said on bulletin #146 last week about babies. They come to this world fresh from the realm of God and they know nothing but love until the world teaches them the rest. It made me remember a few years back when I went shopping with my then 4-year old granddaughter. Kasey is so happy to see people and would say hello to anyone she sees. She said hello to 3 heavy set older white ladies and they just looked at her as if she said something wrong. (Kasey and I are from the Philippines.)

About a decade ago, I did some research on miracles. I have a few major miracles in my life that I've kept these many years to myself. I was afraid that when I tell it to someone and they don't believe it, it would feel like something very beautiful is sullied. And true enough when I shared it with someone whom I thought could relate I was quite disappointed. Anyway I learned that people cannot relate to anything they have not experienced. If they do not have any experience of miracle(s) in their life, they cannot relate to it.

And so I decided to do some research to find out if I am alone with this experience or if there are others out there who have experienced miracles in their lives. To my delight, I found dozens upon dozens of great miracle stories.

One of the stories I encountered is about a couple with a 3-year girl and their new baby. Their 3-year-old kept insisting that she'd like to be alone with the new baby. They would always say "No" to her because they were afraid that the 3-year-old might be jealous and might try to harm the baby. When the parents can no longer say no to their 3-year-old as she would ask each day and was quite persistent, they relented and allowed her to be with the baby but left the baby monitor so they can hear what's going on in the nursery from their kitchen. What they heard is this -- the toddler asked the baby: "Tell me about God, I am forgetting." The parents wrote to the author of the miracle book that they could not figure out what that means. Yet, for us, we all can relate to what that means having read the CwG material that you so graciously gifted the world. I just wish I could explain to that couple that this is because babies are new arrivals to Earth from God's realm.

Connie

seeds part 3: paul ferrini

I'd never heard of this guy before I attended the conference, but he was a very inspiring speaker and writer and I intend to purchase some of his books. Here's a really powerful prayer he shared with us during his keynote speech. I think it speaks for itself.

seeds part 2: Bard College

I can pinpoint the exact moment when I decided to go to this conference -- when I saw a picture of Fisher Arts Center at Bard College against a beautiful green lawn. It made my heart sing. While I was there it kept reminding me of the Disney Concert Hall, and unsurprisingly Fisher Center was designed by the same architect, Frank Gehry.

As I said before, the conference was set up in collaboration with Bard College. More specifically, the Institute of Advanced Theology at Bard. Their website can tell you about them more elegantly than I can. The founder and director, Dr. Bruce Chilton, did some keynote speeches and workshops at the conference, and he is doing some amazing work in promoting understanding between religions. The institute has done some groundbreaking study on James, the brother of Jesus, and Dr. Chilton is writing a book on the gospel according to Mary (Magdalene). I find his stuff fascinating and plan to read some of it as soon as I finish reading all the other stuff I'm planning to read. :P

I don't have many regrets, but this college makes me wish I'd done my degree here.

seeds of transformation

I just got back this past Monday from a weekend in upstate New York for the Humanity's TeamGathering, in collaboration with Bard College. This will be the first short post in a series of posts about the conference, mostly because I don't have time to write down my thoughts about it all at once :P.

The trip to New York and back was, in a word, challenging, but that was the only down side of the trip. I spent half of Friday at the airport and on the plane, and the other half trying to get to Bard College, since my train was 2 hours late due to some accident that resulted in a fatality. On the way back, my plane was late 3 1/2 hours in taking off due to bad weather. And since I was trying to conserve my vacation time, I had no time to actually visit New York City (flew into Newark, NJ) and go see a musical.

Bard College is located in Annandale-on-Hudson, which is in the Hudson River Valley right next to the river. The college sits in the midst of this unexpectedly gorgeous countryside. Everything was so lush and green; the houses were scattered and surrounded by forests. The route from the train station to the college took me through winding roads that made me nostalgic for the English countryside. What a sight for sore L.A. eyes.