It is so good to be at Edenvale, to feel it thriving in so many ways. All the trees look so green and healthy. One of the most exciting things to see here is that there is a new arbor created by Kevin Kroetsch over by the swimming pool, made from yellow cedar. The wood is from a nearby sawmill. It is just beautiful. And there are Concord grapes being planted around it.
We have had wonderful sessions that I have been a part of, but I am a latecomer to the game. Keahi Ewa and Marilyn Manderson have been here for two weeks with others doing all kinds of wonderful things.
Thank you, interns, for what you brought and for the work you did in Primal Spirituality 3. Thank you, Gary Goodhue and team, for leading it.
There is so much that has been accomplished here at Edenvale—all kinds of intelligent, industrious action, generative activity. Speaking of the theme that Keahi presented, this is the fellowship of the generative. It is a pleasure to be here and be a part of it.
Yesterday in our AGM, I spoke about a children’s story, The Little Red Hen. And for those of us who have lived in community—or pretty much anywhere—we have a chance to learn the lesson of that story.
It starts with a question from the Little Red Hen.
Who will plant the Seed?”
But the Pig said, “Not I,” and the Cat said, “Not I,” and the Rat said, “Not I.”
“Well, then,” said the Little Red Hen, “I will.” And she did.
The rest of the story goes like that until the bread is made, and all her animal friends want a slice.
The Red Hen called: “Who will eat the Bread?” All the animals in the barnyard were watching hungrily and smacking their lips in anticipation, and the Pig said, “I will,” the Cat said, “I will,” the Rat said, “I will.”
But the Little Red Hen said, “No, you won’t. I will.” And she did.
It is a children’s story with a profound spiritual teaching—the law of Karma, which is the law of cause and effect. The Bible teaches, As ye sow, so shall ye reap. It is a law of Life, really.
Here is another story. It is a folk tale that has appeared in various European countries in various forms over the centuries. It is the story of Stone Soup. It goes like this:
Three traveling soldiers came to town, and they asked if anyone had any food that they could eat to sustain themselves on their journey. The response came back from the village people: “Oh, no, we have no food. We’re very poor here. Almost starving.”
And so, the soldiers said, “That’s all right. We know how to make soup just from stones.” And so, they got a large pot and put it on the fire, got it boiling and put in the stones. As it began to simmer, a soldier said, “You know, stone soup is magnificent. But if you have even one onion you can put in, it’s amazing the difference it makes.” And so, one of the village people said, “You know what, I still have an onion in my garden that I can pull up and add to the soup.” And he did.
Before long, one of the soldiers said, “Stone soup with just one onion is wonderful. But if there were a couple of carrots, you wouldn’t believe the difference it would make.” And so, another villager said, “Well, yes, you know, in my cupboard I have a whole bunch of carrots that I can bring for this stone soup.” And so, she brought the carrots. And so it went until there was a soup bone and celery and all kinds of things in the stone soup.
Finally, they were serving the stone soup, and everyone was loving it. One of the villagers exclaimed, “This is so good! And to think we made it just from stones.”
Of course, it is a tale with a lesson. We are poor when we hold things back for ourselves, and we are rich when we put them into the collective pot.
That applies to so many things at so many levels. It certainly applies at the physical level. We find that out in community.
When members give to the community, it thrives, and people thrive because they are all living in that common pot of collective generation. And that has physical implications like arbors over by the swimming pool, a renovation to Cedar Court, and an invigorating Annual General Meeting. But it also has implications at other levels.
At the level of the heart, when people give their heart to what they are doing together and to each other, there is a collective heart that they have the opportunity to share. Where did loneliness go?
And then there is something energetic. Use whatever word you want to use—energetic, vibrational, spiritual… There is a field that is created when people contribute to that field. And then there is the bubble of energy that those people live within.
And it is like the story of the Little Red Hen. If you are contributing to that bubble, you have the benefit of receiving from it. You are a part of it. Not because anybody said so, but just because that is the way life works.
I have a biblical reference for this one, too. The prophet Malachi instructed people to bring all the tithes into the storehouse.
All the tithes. We tend to think about tithes as donations to the church. But it has to do with bringing our substance into the collective project that we are about together as humankind. Bring everything that we have.
So why do we bring it to the storehouse? What motivates us to do that? Or if you think that way, you might say, why this storehouse and not that one? There is a sensing of what is true in this regard for us. If there is true community, a true collective with a true heart, a true intention, and true values, is it not those values that motivate us to give and be a part of that? Those values become a rallying point because we share values in common—values that are not just beliefs or principles; values which are something living, a living essence we share in common that we connect with, and that becomes real for us.
Those values can be embodied by people, and they are when people embrace those values. Then those people become a living expression and embodiment of those values. And that helps because people can become an embodiment of the rallying point for that collective. We need that given how we work as human beings. If those values stay invisible—something abstract—they are not real to us. But when somebody comes along and lives those values and embodies them and expresses them, we can come together around those values, remembering that however beautifully any individual embodies them, they are not, of themselves, those values. What really has value is the truth of what they have expressed and that we hold in common.
When a person expresses those values, they are making a declaration not only of who they are, but of who we are together. We have that opportunity, each of us, probably rarely in words, but in what we do to make the declaration, This is who we are. It does not come because someone has the big ambition to impress other people. But nonetheless, where there truly is generation, something is expressed and embodied, and then something manifests. They are declaring who we are.
We each have a chance to do that in our lives. We have a chance to be that expression, both to be gathered—someone who comes together with friends in a fellowship of the generative—and to be a gatherer like Clarence and Lois Haasjes in the community garden. Clarence and Lois have a patch themselves out there, but they do not just have their patch. They have invited others to have their own. And so it is beautiful out there, each plot unique and beautifully cared for.
These are the principles upon which Emissaries of Divine Light British Columbia was founded and the principles upon which Edenvale was founded. Sunrise Ranch is the same way. And the same with Emissaries of Divine Light around the world.
Do you think it was created by anything other than the principles of Life? The principles of Creation? No, it was founded on those principles. And the people who were most consciously involved in initiating it all were wise enough to know there is no other way to do it. May we have the same wisdom.
Do you think that this organization, this collective of people, this endeavor could succeed any other way? It does not make much sense to try to achieve the mission of a ministry that teaches the foundational principles of Creation and of Life in a way that ignores those principles. How would that work? Well, it does not work, actually. So, we are wise enough to know what to do.
A key factor is what the interns and others will be focusing on in Module Four of Primal Spirituality, which has to do with Fulfilling Mission. If you care about fulfilling mission, you care about the principles by which that mission is fulfilled. If you do not care, it does not matter. And then you have the results of that. But if you care about the mission, you care about the principles by which that mission is fulfilled.
I have named two of them here, and you might say there are more. The foundational laws of Creation have been working for eons. As far as I know, they were not suspended any time recently. They are still in action. Jesus said that his yoke was easy and his burden was light. What makes the yoke easy and the burden light? The principles of creative generation. They transcend human effort. I am not saying there is no need for human effort. There is human labor. There is a need for the human being to do something and let the creative factors activate them and work through them. We cannot expect them to work all by themselves without regard to us. But still, what is happening is happening because of a power that is bigger than we are as human beings. Because the principles of Life are at work, the powers of Life are activated through ourselves and others. The stone soup is good.
Try to fulfill the mission of this program, the mission of Edenvale, the mission of Emissaries of Divine Light, in a way that does not honor the principles by which it happens. You just bought for yourself a bunch of sweat of the brow.
Where there is a knowing of, alignment with, and harmonization with the principles of Life, you just bought yourself a bunch of joy. And we get the joy of doing this individually and of doing it together.
I sat here in a circle yesterday, looking around the room and just thinking, These are people I am honored to be with and honored to be a part of. Among other things, I noted that these are people of action—hardworking people, as I put it. I told the AGM membership that they have a hardworking board. And like swans on a lake, they are just gliding along, but underneath, there is a lot of paddling going on. A lot happening. And it is not just with the board here. You have some hardworking people, which I admire because it is not just sweat of the brow, although there is that. But there is also the power and vigor of life on the move. There is a sense of possibility. And a sense of the mission that we have in common.
Yesterday in the AGM, I heard Kevin say, I have a vision for this place. And you can tell that vision fires him up, inspires him. He sees something. He sees what could be. And so, he is giving himself to what could be, like so many of us. And there is generation. There is life abundant. Good to be doing this together. We had a lot of thanks and acknowledgement yesterday. And it was wonderful to acknowledge all the people who are contributing so generously to what we are doing.
Karl Marx got a lot of things wrong. But I think it was he who articulated this principle of how a society ought to work: From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs. Is that not a description of how we can be together? Not all of us here could build an arbor. Not all of us could flourish on the board of this organization. And so, it is with so many of the things we do here. But there is our unique ability, the unique contribution that we can make. And let us give that, whatever it is. Let us not be comparing. Who is giving more? Who is giving less and all of that? No. We each give our own gifts and receive the gifts of others. That is something that is vital for a community to work.
I know here in this community, at some point, one of the hardworking members of the community was looking around and thought, Me and what army? Who is helping? It is hard not to have that thought for someone who is industrious and mission-driven. And yet, that thought will take you down if you do not just keep going. You have to keep going if people are to follow.
The principles of leadership are so simple. To lead, you have to go someplace. That is the very essence of leadership, yes? To lead, you have got to go someplace and invite others to follow. But if you do not go, they cannot follow. So, you have got to go. You have got to do the thing and invite others to come along, and not stop going where you are going, looking over your shoulder constantly. Thankfully, there tend to be others who come along, not just following far behind. That is not the ultimate objective. Is it not the objective to walk side by side, arm in arm, heart to heart? We are doing it together, making the stone soup.
As Malachi said, That there might be meat in my house. And what does that mean? We could think of it in terms of a lot of things. It could be money; it could be physical substance of whatever kind. But it is also meat as a symbol for the field of heart and for the energy field we share. That there might be meat in my house, that there might be a strong, positive, loving energy field that we create together because we brought all the tithes into the storehouse. And so, the storehouse is full.