TA Newsletter April 2021 Issue 40 – Who Knows?
This month, the last Saturday came a bit early, so we’re bringing out our April edition on May 1, as both an ending and a beginning! We offer a contemplative editorial from Fax Gilbert, a painting and poem in response to the Trillium Self-Inquiry Deck from practitioner Kendra Kehde, and a list of upcoming events to meet you in your process.
Who Knows?
It seems to be getting harder to count on established sources of truth, justice, and knowledge necessary to deliver the clarity, confidence, and safety needed to navigate life.
Parental wisdom drops off when we reach adolescence, organized religion at about the same time, the court system fell away after O.J., pollsters after 2016, some friends after covid theories, and respect for rational thought in general after the 2020 elections. Guru figures, charts, numbers, designs and maps come and go along the way.
Fortunately we can still rely on science to deliver solid understandings of objective reality through peer reviewed research, but wait…this from the New York Times, April 7, 2021 “A sub atomic particle, the Muon, has been found to behave in an unpredictable way and there is strong evidence that the Muon is sensitive to something that is not in our best theories… The result, physicists say, suggest there are forms of matter and energy vital to the nature and evolution of the cosmos that are not yet known to science.” A misbehaving particle and decades of established scientific theory come into question and, for some reason, the researchers are totally delighted by it.
If you can’t rely on physics for reliable enduring truth, what can you rely on? Surely the oldest spiritual tradition on the planet, the Vedic tradition of India, whose knowledge is derived from the internal cognitions of seers exploring within their own subjective awareness, they will know…
This then from the concluding 10th mandala of the Rig Veda:
“He from whom this creation arose, he may uphold it or he may not (no one else can); he who is its superintendent in the highest heaven, he assuredly knows, or if he knows not, no one else does.”
When I first read that passage 35 years ago I could relate to Dorothy’s surprise and disappointment when the curtain was pulled back on the ‘all powerful’ Oz.
~ Fax Gilbert, Editor
“Burnt Out:” A Poem and Painting in response to Hypermasculinity
Burnt Out
My dragons have cleared me out.
Who is left to answer their searing commentary—
the outrageous flapping and bashing,
cracking ribs from inside.
“The worst is happening!” comes the screaming fusillade
of tiny embers, embedding in my optic nerve.
Lights out.
Hurtling up the spinal column comes another scorching roar:
“You can’t handle it.”
His shadow is so enormous it blocks the prefrontal cortex
completely.
The third introduced himself just once with his full name:
Yooshud B. O’Shaymed
This was enough.
I’m not sure how he flies, being so heavy.
When he curls up to sleep around the blackened chambers of my
heart
I can’t move at all.
~Kendra Kehde
Announcements & Upcoming Events
Upcoming Sunday Spotlight Meditations
led by different teachers each time
more info
- May 2 – led by Jim Trofatter: Breathing from Our Core
- May 18 – led by Cielle Backstrom: Heart-based Meditation
Virtual Sitting
The Lucid Gatherings
Teacher: Bill Miller
5/2/2021 9 am – 11 am PDT
more info
Virtual Sitting
Unraveling , Broken Zones, Oscillations, Reconfiguration
Teacher:Cielle Backstrom
5/2/2021 10 am – 12 pm PDT
more info
TA Introduction
Teachers: Bill Miller, Ralf Humphries
5/7/2021 4 pm – 6 pm PDT
more info
Virtual Sitting
All Hearts on Deck: A Sacred-World-Witness Circle
Teacher: Margit Bantowsky
5/8/2021 9 am – 10:30 am PDT
more info
Virtual Sitting
The Amrita (Nectar) Factor of Radiant Whole Being
Teacher: Van Nguyen
5/11/2021 4 pm – 5:30 pm PDT
more info
Virtual Presentation
Exploring Non-Human Relationship
Teacher: Fax Gilbert
5/16/2021 10 am – 11:30 am PDT
more info
Virtual Sitting
The Temple of the Beloved: A Sacred Vessel for Healing and Awakening
Teacher: Bill Epperly
5/23/2021 12 pm – 2:30 pm PDT
more info
Fairfield Annual Feast of Sittings
Teachers: Cielle Backstrom, Jeffrey Backstrom, Sharon Gilbert, Fax Gilbert, Steve Boggs, Denise Gallagher, Sandra Glickman
5/28 – 31/2021 4 – 5:30 PDT
more info
International Online Retreat
Discovering and Living the Full Spectrum of Awakened Love
Teachers: Rod Taylor, CC Leigh,
Ralf Humphries,
Francesca Blackstock
6/10 – 13/2021 9 am – 11 am PDT
more info
Check out our
calendar of events
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Trillium Awakening
is a unique offering to the world, with 45 teachers, 14 mentors, events, both virtual and in-person, and a shared manifesto and mission to catalyze awakening for individuals, society, and the world.
The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed in our newsletter are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of the Trillium Awakening Teachers Circle.
Send comments or suggestions for future issues to: fax@lisco.com
Editor-in-Chief: Fax Gilbert
Assistant Editor: Sharon Gilbert
Graphic Design: Subhaga Crystal Bacon
Copy Editor: Deborah Boyar
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