Abre La Puerta

[cheranne]

Today I was once again listening to one of my favorite storytellers Dr. Clarrisa Pinkola Estess,while doing house work and I wanted to share this with ya'll.

I wish I could find the audio version because it is so good as she speaks this,also it made me think of all the people In and OUT of The Way International

because I look at these people as Wounded Warriors. (I will write more later)I gotta take the baby to the Dr.

Abre la Puerta! Open the Door!

by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés on Apr. 28, 2008 El Rio Debajo del Rio

Refuse to fall down.

If you cannot refuse to fall down,

refuse to stay down.

If you cannot refuse to stay down,

lift your heart toward heaven,

and like a hungry beggar,

ask that it be filled,

and it will be filled.

You may be pushed down.

You may be kept from rising.

But no one can keep you from lifting

your heart toward heaven -- only you.

It is in the midst of misery

that so much becomes clear.

The one who says

nothing good came of this,

is not yet listening.

What do we owe to our kith and kin who have been injured by those who professed holiness, but who acted in egregiously unholy ways instead?

What do we owe those who were children and who were assaulted physically during fits of temper by those who professed to be consecrated?

What do we owe children and adults and groups of human beings who have had false aspersions cast upon their characters by clerics ... in writing, behind their backs, to their faces, or in public... as well as exhorting others that that child, that adult, that group ought be shunned, set upon, or bristled at?

What do we owe those who asked questions, or who supposed, or dreamed, or envisioned, or were told to build a new Ark and to take “the best of the best” through the storm of a dying culture, to a new way of thinking, a new way of Life... what do we owe those who’d hardly gotten the blueprints for the newest Ark unrolled, and were thence set upon, insulted, politicized negatively, and borne false witness against?

What do we owe those who have been purposely erased, made institutionally invisible, those who have been made to submit to abridgement of their thoughts or visions so they now live like a beautiful book with all its center pages cut out?

What do we owe to those who have been forced to agree to not pick up their pens in their writing hands ever again, to not hit the “print” button, to not use their vocal chords in vibrato to speak the inspiratus of their thoughts?

What do we owe to those to whom a church has covetously said, “Live your life not by your soul’s sight, but by our say-so: We shall rule your body, your hands, your mind, your voice.”

What do we owe our familiares, relatives in spirit, who have been threatened spiritually, betrayed, abandoned, turned away when they begged for spiritual food?

What do we owe to those who have been injured by religious, thereby having their natural religiosity and spirituality abruptly amputated... religiosity and spirituality being a sacred process inborn into each soul, meant to occur naturally, in its own rhythm, with the precious and gradual unfolding of one’s very own spiritual gifts, life-mending insights, and ever deepening spiritual views?

What do we owe to those who are sickened by the thought of spirit now, who cringe to think of anything religious, who distrust and try to avoid anyone who carries religiosity? What do we owe those who don’t know what or who to trust again... in some horrible version of what back home we call: Cat, once burnt, won’t sit on a cold stove.

What do we owe to those waiting decades and even unto death, for even mere notice, or help, or an empathic response, heart understanding, or apologies that are made of real medicine for the wound, that truly reach to the depths to help mend what pains the soul?

What do we owe to those who have been given platitudes and patronizing placebos, or scornful disinterest, or ineptitude to the nth degree, or wily words said only in an effort to “limit damages?” What do we owe those who have “stiff upper lipped” it, who say they no longer care, and have no interest, or just gave up?

And, what do we owe the consecrated and the avowed souls who have suffered with the children and adults and groups who suffer, those consecrated and avowed who have been slung at with the offal that really belonged to their brothers and sisters and superiors? These religious have suffered two-fold; being scourged whilst protecting and holding in their arms those who have been scourged.

And what can we do for those who look upon those harmed with such impatience, wanting to be shut of it all already, to ‘move on already, wanting healing to be limited to an ‘efficient’ amount of time?’ What can we do for those whose Samaritan robes fit too snugly, and all they understandably wish for... is to get out of them and into something more comfortable...and self-comforting?

And, what shall we do for those who harmed others, those who did so out of ineptitude, that being far different than those who did so out of inflation and gourmand appetite for power? Yet, for either and both and all, what shall we say or do that can contribute to healing two things: denial and shame... and thus help to reset the core self back into the Arche, “the immaculate Source of All” again?

What might we do, you and me, those of us who live somewhere along El Rio Real debajo del rio, the real River beneath the river? .. our little catacomb community... that’s us... we who call that place our “first home,” and planet Earth, our second one...

I think the Johannine words 4: 31-33 give a strong clue about how to proceed in our time. The disciples had gone off into a small town to gather food for repast for themselves and Jesus. When they returned they found Jesus sitting alone. “... the disciples pressed him, "Rabbi, eat. Are you not going to eat?" He told them, "I have food to eat you know nothing about." The disciples were puzzled. "Who could have brought him food?"

I think the small voice answer is: We could. We could, each in our own ways, be some of the ones who bring non-worldly food that feeds here and now -- our own and others’ spiritual need -- for sharpened sight and spirit blood transfusion and creative strength.

There is a wisdom set into us which proposes that a slightly different point of view, a more aerial view will reveal to us -- for the tri-jillionth time in our lives as we struggle along -- that things are not always as they seem ...

that a wound is not only a laceration, it may also be a door ...

Abre la puerta, Open The Door

“She’s 12 years old, -- going on 20-to-life.

She is God at 5 feet tall.

But, abre la puerta,

open the door and let her in.

Give her food.

“Old Florencia lives in the parking garage

at the university, with her bags and packs

on the floor all around.

She washes her 84-year-old body in the sink at the library,

with a piece of flannel from her deceased husband’s pajamas.

Abre la puerta, she is God.

Florencia is God, the God named Florencia.

“Remember that old abuelita,

your grandest grandmother?

how she staggered toward you

on legs so thin? You were just a baby then.

And she smiled all over your infant self,

as you rose young and steaming from the void.

That was God in her abuelita form

crying with joy just to see you.

“Que, que, que, bebebebita!” says the grandmother God.

“Look,” she says, “I opened a door in my belly for your mother.

¡Miré! ¡Look! your mother opened a door in her belly for you.”

Ah, this grandmother, you can see God through her.

God is a grandmother.

“Remember that red room where you grew?

That was God.

Remember the warm hands that received you?

That was God.

Remember your father’s hands holding your face

As though it were a jewel?

In that moment, God shone through.

“Maria Martinez tells me she dreams of chickens made larger

when she cannot find shelter.

She licks her hands, “and they taste good,” she says.

She is God.

God is homeless, yet she has hope.

Abre la puerta, let her in.

“Your mate who snores, well, maybe God snores.

Your mate is God who can never find his socks.

Your lover who burns for things you cannot give,

your mate is God.

God is a housewife in mud-face and curlers

standing at the door in a housecoat

waving good-bye.

God wears a housecoat once in a while.

“Oh world who is young, and has loved so deeply,

and been so betrayed,

whose skin hangs like rags,

whose arms have no muscle,

whose eyes have lost luster —

Open the door of your heartache,

step through the door of your betrayal,

pass through the hole in your heart,

Pass through!

It is a door.

¡Abre la puerta!

Open the door…

“Oh the world is a thing whose lover disappoints,

who is tired of the news that is no news,

who toils for silly people doing silly things.

Pass through the eye of the needle that shreds your skin.

¡Abre la puerta! it is a door.

Your only hope -- step through the break in your own broken heart.

¡Abre la puerta! open the door.

“Do you remember that your legs are el anillo,

the ring that circles your lover?

Your legs make a door.

Pass through the door.

¡Abre la puerta! pass the bolt through.

Open the door, the most sacred of doors,

the trail through your belly

The road up your spine.

“Remember, fire is a door.

Destruction is a door.

Song is a door.

A scar is a door.

¡Abre la puerta! Open the door!

“The forest on fire is a door.

The ocean ruined is a door.

Anything that needs us,

or calls us to God

is a door.

¡Abre la puerta!

Open the door.

Anything that hurts us,

anything we make holy

opens the door.

¡Abre la puerta!

pass through the door!

“All those years of seeming indestructibility,

and then, the grandfather of your world dies;

…his heart explodes,

and yours breaks into a thousand pieces.

Each tiny piece of your shattered heart is a door…

These are doors…

Open the doors…

Abre la puerta …

Pass through these doors.

“Whatever has died and left its big muddy boots

cold and hard by the back porch door —

put them on…

Walk through the door of this death,

the door that dying has made for you.

Walk in those boots that bend with your warmth.

You are the grandfather now.

You are the grandmother now.

¡Abre la puerta!

Open the door.

“The world is a tribe of one-breasted women …

walk through the doors of the scars on their chests.

¡Abre la puerta! open the door.

Over the edge of the world you go,

into the abyss we all march in time.

Put the best medicine in the worst of the wounds.

¡Abre la puerta! open the door.

“The lake in which you almost drowned?

That is a door.

The slap in the face that made you kiss the floor?

That is a door.

The betrayal that sent you straight to hell?

That is a door

¡Abre la puerta! open the door.

“Same old story, all strong souls first go to hell

before they do the healing of the world

they came here for.

If we are lucky, we return to help

those still trapped below.

¡Abre la puerta! open the door.

¡Abre la puerta! open the door.

Hell is a door that is caused by pain.

“Opening a flower,

rain opening the earth,

the kisses of humans

opening the hearts of the world,

These are doors…

No further lamentation required…

¡Abre la puerta! open the door.

“The scar drawn by razors…

that is a door.

The scars drawn by chain saws across forests…

those are doors.

These all are doors,

¡Abre la puerta! open the doors.

“The poem of New Life that comes every dawn,

the soaring of sun…that is a door!

The grave is a door.

The door to hell is a door to Life.

¡Abre la puerta! open the door.

¡Abre la puerta! open the door.

¡Abre, abre la puerta! open the door.”

[cheranne]

So...I was thinking about the Wounded Warrior earlier,I thought of the Ephesians 6 :10 -20 Chapter and how The Way International liked to use that as leverage to motivate believers to go wow,go corp or do whatever they wanted us to do.

Ofcourse I believe that a good many of these people believe in God and Love the Lord,but during our journey in our life we got snagged by The Way. Like a prisoner of war!

I try to explain it like this,here you are hungry for God,wanting Truth and here comes The Way International and there classes. With eyes wide open like a Wonder Child

we prepare to make a life change by taking this class,to KNOW God to Know the Bible .

I remember the day I went to Limb Hq's in Oklahoma and the Wow who undersheparded me helped me to get a bible,and it was like Gold in my hands,I loved it ...

I loved the smell of it and I loved the Hope that I had in my heart to find meaning in life.

When the class began and the teacher with the weird voice (on audio back in 78)said Open your bibles and turn with me to John 10:10(I had NO idea where that was

NONE)

Never went to vacation bible school and never had a bible! I wanted to know everything! I was sure I was in the right place and when the teacher said put ALL newspapers,magazines and so forth away , I did.

I would rush home from college and then straight to The Class. there were 7 of us in an upstair apartment ,a vietnam vet, a sales man from Sears ,and a few college kids.

28 Wows that year in Oklahoma City. Most of them as green as I was but I thought these people have it together,they are soooo cool. But later I realized when I went Wow the next year,they were all saying the same thing.

However a lovely group of people back then unless you crossed them.(or disagreed with Way teaching) drop them don't waste time I really didn't notice that too much

in Oklahoma.

I was a lovely person too as it turned out and after the class if you crossed me about The Way (basically you were The Adversary!)

So......my family became the Adversary and like those mirrors in the fun house at the state fairs,things began to get DISTORTED(in how I looked at things)

I was now convinced of everything The Way International taught me and I was advised to put on the whole armor of God,to stand and having done all STAND.

(according to Way beliefs that is) The Sword was The Word and The Word of God was the Will of God. and as Claudette sang Nothing is gonna stop me Nothing is

gonna stop me cause I've been born again.

Bond Servant/Slave .................................with all good intentions to serve........................

However. Instead of fighting the good fight thinking we were on the right side,doing the right thing.....the enemy had trained us and formed us to be spiritually disfunctional.

Chasing dragons with Plastic Swords and going in Circles as if our night vision was impaired and we all followed the pied piper down the rabbitt whole singing

How Firm a foundation.............when all along it was quicksand.....sinking sand!!!

As we fought we got stuck in the mire,traps...snares placed there by our OWN "FRIENDLY FIRE" if you will. We were killing ourselves spiritually speaking and

didn't even see it coming.

We were WOUNDED WARRIORS.

Why?

Edited October 11, 2010 by cheranne

[cheranne]

so.......... here we are broken swords and all. But,........ Freedom( from that fight is over.) if you are OUT of The Way physically out but spiritually and emotionally you may feel beat up........wounded

Not intrested in a Church....,not intrested in anything...but that Spirit still calls you out . Not the one like Hotel California but, the one you first yearned for long ago

the one God who never gave up on you.

We took a wrong turn and ended up lost in a distorted forrest of The Way Tree.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

(this part from Dr. Clarrisa Pinkola Estess)

"Wounds have to be cleaned out,sutured,put medicine on and allowed TIME to heal. After that you have NOT (((NEW SKIN))) but SCAR and Scar is 10 times stronger than skin.

It is a sign that some kind of seperation occured and was mended and it is STRONGER.

You found your way back!

If a wound is not atttended to at the worst an amputation is needed or a the least like gangreene where there is NO life in the wounded area."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I listened to this today ,from the story teller while cleaning my kitchen and watching my grandson and thought of it in this light of these people of The Way International.

and I thought ....Leave no man behind.

[Ham]

I've tried reading all of this.. but it was hard to keep up..

maybe.. the whole point is.. it's over, when it's all over..

what does one say then..

ha! give me a few more minutes here..

[Ham]

Leave no man behind..

what about the pets?

if they don't go.. I don't go..

right. They are *lesser(?) than us..

I tend to think inductively.

the almighty has time for.. anything but lesser(?) creatures..

I'm pretty lesser..

I mean.. you have to figure in.. who is going to change the cats box..

what makes you think humans are any less .. what's the word..

convenient to have around..

maybe I'm just looking at another paradox..

[waysider]

Sorry if this is a derail but it made me think of THIS.

[Ham]

Very good thought..

[cheranne]

I've tried reading all of this.. but it was hard to keep up..

maybe.. the whole point is.. it's over, when it's all over..

what does one say then..

ha! give me a few more minutes here..

I will try to break it down,(from the poem )

What do we owe our familiares, relatives in spirit, who have been threatened spiritually, betrayed, abandoned, turned away when they begged for spiritual food?

What do we owe to those who have been injured by religious, thereby having their natural religiosity and spirituality abruptly amputated... religiosity and spirituality being a sacred process inborn into each soul, meant to occur naturally, in its own rhythm, with the precious and gradual unfolding of one's very own spiritual gifts, life-mending insights, and ever deepening spiritual views?

What do we owe to those who are sickened by the thought of spirit now, who cringe to think of anything religious, who distrust and try to avoid anyone who carries religiosity? What do we owe those who don't know what or who to trust again... in some horrible version of what back home we call: Cat, once burnt, won't sit on a cold stove.

What do we owe to those waiting decades and even unto death, for even mere notice, or help, or an empathic response, heart understanding, or apologies that are made of real medicine for the wound, that truly reach to the depths to help mend what pains the soul?

Edited October 12, 2010 by cheranne

[cheranne]

still breaking it down...........

think the small voice answer is: We could. We could, each in our own ways, be some of the ones who bring non-worldly food that feeds here and now -- our own and others’ spiritual need -- for sharpened sight and spirit blood transfusion and creative strength. There is a wisdom set into us which proposes that a slightly different point of view, a more aerial view will reveal to us -- for the tri-jillionth time in our lives as we struggle along -- that things are not always as they seem ...

that a wound is not only a laceration, it may also be a door ...

I think to all the people reading this and this site, and how it offers support that some can not find after time in The Way International not just for people who were in but also family member who were affected and did not understand what happened to there loved ones after The Way teachings?

I'm just saying wounds heal in time.

[Ham]

amputated spirituality.. interesting..

maybe it's like a lizard.. if it loses its tail, it grows back.. or has the capacity to. But it isn't exactly the same tail..

maybe I'm looking for the perfect religion..

Where one is not perpetually an outsider, no matter how dedicated a follower can become..

where friendships are not based on a particular belief, or lack of.. or based on performance.. or one's income..

[cheranne]

[cheranne]

amputated spirituality.. interesting..

maybe it's like a lizard.. if it loses its tail, it grows back.. or has the capacity to. But it isn't exactly the same tail..

maybe I'm looking for the perfect religion..

Where one is not perpetually an outsider, no matter how dedicated a follower can become..

where friendships are not based on a particular belief, or lack of.. or based on performance.. or one's income..

I hear you Ham and understand where your coming from,some people in any organization act like things trying to destroy (kill steal and destroy)those still hung up on Way doctrine that is twisted and distorted,but then there are those people who have left and are humble and honest about loving God and miss that....desire that and are broken and need healing(from being in a Cult like The Way)..but don't know how are where to turn,maybe they are skiddish about going anywhere and that is okay.

I don't want people to think because The Way International burned them and used them that they don't fit anywhere else in The Body of Christ....because I believe at 1 time

every believer had a genuine desire to KNOW truth to know God or else WHY would we have even bothered with a (cough/choke "so called Biblial Research and Teaching

ministry)

Along The Way(pardon the pun)we got spiritually raped (to put it as nice as I can) Speaking for myself I thought I would never get back to a place in mylife I could accept

Gods love...The Way made me feel condemned,shunned and because of the broken vow they made me think(by serving The Way International ..the buisness of running there classes for $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$) that when I left I was turning my back on God!!!!

That is wrong, I was turning my back on The Way (the buisness of selling candy coated snake oil.) but of course after being told You'll be a grease spot by midnight and things like that,tripped out blah blah blah,and that THEY are the only people who have it all together ,who despise other religons,and have all the answers except it is all

according to The Classes they have learned..........the same...answers ..like a parrott over and over and over.......BORING.

However. People were HURT,Children were HURT families HURT. Broken ..............Wounded.

Spiritually speaking Paralyzied...Numb...........

and in there heart of hearts.........they Loved God...............along time ago .........when they wanted answers and thought they would find it in The Way International.

Edited October 12, 2010 by cheranne

[cheranne]

Nuff said!

[cheranne]

Nuff said!

The Way International(((DOOR)))is more like Greetings to see the man behind the curtain in Oz!