The following post is from Diane Geanuleas summarising what took place at a Logopraxis Workshop facilitated by Gray Glenn and held in Gray’s home in Kempton Pennsylvania on Saturday 14th of Jan 2017.
Supporting Materials [added by editor]
Read MoreLP Jan 2017 Kempton event outline
Related Points to Ponder
E12. There is a struggle to get beyond the appearances. Sit with the struggle without judgment. It is useful to hold two things at once mentally [for instance, truths and appearances or lower and higher levels] and allow them to interact.
E5. Believe in truths from the Word more than in appearances. The issue isn’t the appearances; the issue is the conclusions we draw from appearances. In Logopraxis we learn to see appearances from what truths teach.
C12. Repentance is thinking from the Word as opposed to thinking from oneself. (The Greek word translated as ‘repentance’ in the Gospels is ‘metanoia’ which means ‘new mind’ and carries a sense of transformation, not regret.)
C2. An appearance is not something false; it’s how something higher is perceived in the lower. If the appearance is seen from a higher plane (truths from the Word) it is recognized as an appearance. If it is seen from the same plane it is taken as the thing in itself.
A6. Representatives are not things in themselves.
A10. We must distinguish between principles and our way of understanding them. We need to work to be open to have our way of understanding changed by what truths teach.
Diane’s Summary/Report of the Meeting
Read MoreDear Friends,
This is a long email, and I hope it will become longer as many of you respond. My twofold purpose in writing is to offer some thoughts as a bit of a communal report from the five-hour LP gathering at Gray’s yesterday, and to invite all other participants to add their notes and comments. I have embedded some suggestions specifically for the Wednesday AM group’s consideration, and hope these do not distract. I trust replies & additions can still be usefully made to the entire group. Thank you.
Deliberately, I have left as yet unreported the opening exercise Gray offered. Also, I was not in attendance for David Millar’s contributions, so there is plenty to report there as well, in addition to notes and comments from any point during the meeting. I think we will look forward to it all.
My concentration is mostly on what I gathered on the format of our LP meetings; and I introduce my report with some general quotes I noted down.
QUOTATIONS FROM THE MEETING: Diane noted:
~Our goal is thinking from the Word.
~Evil cannot exist outside of considerations of person, time and space.
~Evil has the appearance of power in the world of appearances.
~The New Church is built on a new understanding of the Word.
~In Logopraxis we are practicing spiritual literacy skills.
~We are reading the Word to be confronted, to have our [own, proprial] thoughts destroyed.
~Man thinks from time and space, and needs to.
~My relationship to the Lord is exactly the same as my relationship to the Word.
Gray offered multiple citations from the Writings in support of many quotations she mentioned. She also offered to transmit her research with its citations upon request, if I understood her correctly. (Find these here)
NOTES ON LOGOPRAXIS CONTENT AND ITS FORMAT
New to many of us was Gray’s opening statement that anyone doing LP can go to any LP meeting (rather like an open 12-Step Meeting, I presumed). It was her understanding that LP meetings were never meant to be closed. Some surprise and a few comments were expressed, then we moved on.
It was asserted that the three-part format of LP meetings is valuable, and it was thought best to retain all three rounds.
Business ought to be dealt with outside of any round.
Good opening for Round One: It was offered that an appropriate opening to Round One is, “Where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them.” Our AM group has also found opening with five minutes of silence a good preparation.
Attitudes for Round One: It was good to be reminded that each participant ideally comes to Round One [especially Round One? maybe to all rounds?] with the attitude of attention to the actions of his or her proprium, and with an open heart and mind to what THE LORD is offering to us–apart from person, time and space. We should expect Round One to be hard work, and we should be noting our proprial reactions throughout. Are we able to stay present? What are we experiencing as we listen?
Notes on Round One: This round is a report of our “experience in seeing from the Word.” Our submission might be as brief as two sentences, which might be a good discipline in removing person, time and space. This makes it all the more evident why we avoid telling our “stories” and offer instead what we have seen from the Word. This is a “from-the-past” [ie, from the past two weeks] round.
Good opening for Round Two: [Diane’s opinion:] Our AM group singing “All that the Lord has spoken” seemed to be an appropriate transition in line with the general comments on Round Two, as does our guideline to restrict our comments to one turn per person, without further comment on anyone else’s remarks [mentioned by others at the meeting]. See below for Diane’s suggestion for a few minutes of silence to open Round Two.
Notes on Round Two: we were reminded that one useful way to view our Round One contributions is as “ingredients [with which THE LORD will] make a meal” to feed those present. “What will the Lord make?” Ideally, reflections are offered in Round Two only if we have some personal “aha” insight, or if perhaps we see some connection between the various Round One contributions that would tie the submission threads together in an unanticipated way. Round Two is an “in-the-present” round in response to our concentrated attention–in Logopraxis mode–to submissions in Round One. It was mentioned that some groups have decided to remain silent for the entire Round Two, to absorb but not to presume to comment. [Diane:] would it be helpful perhaps to institute a two-minute or so “time of silence” to open Round Two, in order to take in and reflect on what we have heard in Round One? And to help keep person, time and space out of our comments?
Opening for Round Three: see below the suggestion to move the pamphlet reading to the opening of Round Three.
Notes on Round Three: Gray offered the idea that she considers this round to be the most important round in our meeting. This statement met with expressions of astonishment, and it opened an extended discussion. She noted that in Round Three we deal with our ponderings, or the things we are questioning, specifically around encountering the Lord in the Word, that is, encountering the Lord as the Word. [DM Note: See Comments Section below for Gray’s response to this]
[DM Note: Links to Articles on Rounds: HERE; AND HERE]
Another way this was expressed is that our inquiries come from our thinking from a Logopraxis perspective. This LP perspective was summed up in one way with a quote from our meeting: [In LP] “we are going for the experience that we are double” [ie, we are in the natural and spiritual worlds at the same time, and are attempting to approach situations by thinking from both perspectives — necessarily from person, time and space, and by choice apart from person, time and space].
Since our morning LP group has been reading from “Points to Ponder” regularly, we might consider moving that reading to the opening of Round Three, to stimulate discussion on the process of LP, among other things. [That suggestion is strictly from Diane, as is this: we might close Round Three by moving the Lord’s Prayer to the end of our meeting, before we take up any business.]
Thank you for finding some appropriate time to read all this. I look forward to any and all additions, clarifications (even corrections!) to help us remember and reflect on our workshop.
Respectfully,
Diane
Thanks Diane,
I couldn’t come, but your kind effort allows me to hear something of what was discussed.
Dear all, I’m posting this on behalf of Loretta Alden Hi, Diane. I hope it isn’t too late to make a response to your synopsis of the LP meeting at the Glenn’s in Kempton. I am amazed at how well ordered your thoughts on the gathering are, as I had a much more confused take on things… Although it was not discussed (as far as I remember), you added information as to how your group begins each meeting, so I feel inclined to mention how ours is done: either our facilitator or some other person comes prepared with a brief… Read more »
‘My relationship to the Lord is exactly the same as my relationship to the Word’…that one’s been hitting hard over the last 24 hours!…great quotes and great report, really thought provoking : )
For those of you who are following this Post – I have added some additional material that gives more context to the meeting. The additional material can be found at the top of the original post above under Supporting Materials and includes the Outline and References attendees were given prior to meeting as well as the relevant Points to Ponder for reflection.
Thank you all for sharing – it enriches us all
Thanks Diane and Gray. It is helpful and also connecting to be able to read this – others experience of the LP groups. I’ve been thinking also that there is another round- or perhaps it is a another task step? that occurs after the meeting has finished ( and we have all logged off or gone home). I often find that others comments may not come to light or seem to be truths to me until some time has passed – hours or a few days and it is only then that i may start to integrate them and reflect… Read more »
HI Sarah- what you bring out here is the distinction between Logopraxis as a process and Logopraxis as a method. One way the gathering in Kempton got billed was as “an extended Round 3”. Indeed, the hour after lunch was a discussion about issues related to LP as a method. I so appreciate being redirected and redirected by your implied point that the purpose of the method is to introduce us into a process from the Word.
Dear Diane Thanks for pulling this summary of the day’s events together, it puts a little more context around what unfolded prior to my coming in via Hangout towards the end. Here are a few thoughts… So far as meetings being open are concerned the principle from the outset has been that anyone who is actively engaged in Logopraxis work should be able to join with any group and have their work received by that group as a gift from the Lord. This, of course, suggests a level of potential fluidity in the make up of any given group, but… Read more »
David I like this idea of a way to frame R1, R2 and R3.
Response From Gray Glenn Diane, Thank you for your attention and time spent in offering your report and a format to continue. It’s a service to our growth in LP! I’d like to make a distinction about my comment on Round 3. In the initial discussion I mixed up the level of functioning as a facilitator with the level of lobbying as a participant in LP. I lacked the presence of mind to realize the distinction as the topic continued. Later, the interjection that my value of Round 3 was personal couldn’t defuse what had polarized. It added a prickly… Read more »