Changes

I was born November 20, 1953 in [[Nashville, Tennessee]] amidst the darkness of a world segregated between peoples based upon their outward appearance and where [[religion]] was used to legally enforce such a condition of [[alienation]] from one another. As I grew, a war between worlds ensued, each struggling to justify their respective claims of preeminence as a wave of accelerated cultural (r)evolution moved through all institutions of society. These lines of conflict though were vividly drawn in my life by my father who in effect defended the status quo and my mother who fought to transform it.

I was born November 20, 1953 in [[Nashville, Tennessee]] amidst the darkness of a world segregated between peoples based upon their outward appearance and where [[religion]] was used to legally enforce such a condition of [[alienation]] from one another. As I grew, a war between worlds ensued, each struggling to justify their respective claims of preeminence as a wave of accelerated cultural (r)evolution moved through all institutions of society. These lines of conflict though were vividly drawn in my life by my father who in effect defended the status quo and my mother who fought to transform it.

The open war that raged outside our home was carried on more intensely inside our domestic walls intended otherwise to nurture little ones in an atmosphere of love. Amidst the surrounding explosive cultural and political atmosphere, in our home, these fires were fueled further by the abuse of alcohol destroying from within what was not being injured from without. This battle raged for years through my childhood and into adolescence until my parents divorced and my siblings were separated from one another. It seemed an act of grace which spared me from being officially orphaned and instead sent me away to an unusual boarding school founded by the The [[Order of the Holy Cross]], the first Protestant monastic community to operate in the United States. It was here that I fell in love with learning while being systematically exposed to the ‘idea’ of God’'s love as a guiding force in the world. Some of these monks were very highly educated, and I did not appreciate at the time how atypical it was for them to represent some of the most progressive forces for political transformation.

The open war that raged outside our home was carried on more intensely inside our domestic walls intended otherwise to nurture little ones in an atmosphere of love. Amidst the surrounding explosive cultural and political atmosphere, in our home, these fires were fueled further by the abuse of alcohol destroying from within what was not being injured from without. This battle raged for years through my childhood and into adolescence until my parents divorced and my siblings were separated from one another. It seemed an act of grace which spared me from being officially orphaned and instead sent me away to an unusual boarding school founded by the The [[Order of the Holy Cross]], the first Protestant monastic community to operate in the United States. It was here that I fell in love with learning while being systematically exposed to the [[Idea|idea’]] of God’'s love as a guiding force in the world. Some of these monks were very highly educated, and I did not appreciate at the time how atypical it was for them to represent some of the most progressive forces for political transformation.

Not all the teachers were monks though, and of these, several left their unique signatures upon the path of my [[intellect|intellectual]] and [[spiritual]] growth. One was a beloved [[English]] teacher who inspired my study of [[Transcendentalism]] and an investigation into experimental learning communities while another was a [[Physics]] teacher who challenged us with a survey comparing the virtually indistinguishable musings of mystics and physicists. Otherwise, our regular [[Theology]] courses were preoccupied with the study of [[Rock music]] especially the operas [[‘Hair’]], [[‘Jesus Christ Superstar’]], and [[‘Tommy’]] all the while exploring the ascendancy of film as the story telling medium of our age. My graduation and departure from this community where I served as President of a short lived experiment with students and faculty sharing the power of governance with the official school administration left me bereft of the only place which up to that time I had ever felt at home.

Not all the teachers were monks though, and of these, several left their unique signatures upon the path of my [[intellect|intellectual]] and [[spiritual]] growth. One was a beloved [[English]] teacher who inspired my study of [[Transcendentalism]] and an investigation into experimental learning communities while another was a [[Physics]] teacher who challenged us with a survey comparing the virtually indistinguishable musings of mystics and physicists. Otherwise, our regular [[Theology]] courses were preoccupied with the study of [[Rock music]] especially the operas [[‘Hair’]], [[‘Jesus Christ Superstar’]], and [[‘Tommy’]] all the while exploring the ascendancy of film as the story telling medium of our age. My graduation and departure from this community where I served as President of a short lived experiment with students and faculty sharing the power of governance with the official school administration left me bereft of the only place which up to that time I had ever felt at home.