A Letter To Joseph By William Samuel
Hello, dear Joseph...
Your letter is most insightful, fun and sincere. I can understand Rachel's joy in corresponding with you.
It is just before a spring storm here, I hope. The trees and other green things are eager for the rain. Black clouds are gathering in the west. A north wind hints of a blow and the new apple blossoms are dancing in anticipation.
Joseph, your seminary friend sounds like a genuine greatest-character-I've-ever-known person. You asked how I would “handle” such a situation as that—a man who loves dogs so much he has forty of them in his home. Are you ready for this?
I would decide to know this man better than anyone I'd ever known—as if I were going to write a paper about him to submit for publication.
Most certainly I'd not attempt to change him. Day after day I'd let him tell me exactly how he feels about dogs—and why—and where his grand love for them developed. With all my heart I'd try to get inside this man's heart—because there is something special there, very special, Joseph! I would let him become my “writing discipline” for a month or so—or longer if it takes longer to hear him open up and pour out his inmost feelings. How does he relate his spiritual ideas to his surroundings and pets?—and friends? Such inner questions would be tremendously interesting coming from one who lives as you relate, sleeping with his animals. But CHANGE him? Never. If he were to act like other people, he wouldn't be as unique, different, unusual, remarkable, distinctive, divergent, incomparable, or sweet. Would he?
Gosh, Joe, this guy is extraordinary! LEARN from him.
We all play roles, don't we? Look at the silly one I have! How did I get saddled with being a luminary or an authority on anything? EVERYONE is a luminary! Over the years so many have tried to change my way of looking at the world. Oh, how the churches tried to conventionalize and modify my insights. Suppose they had succeeded? The NOTES FROM WOODSONG would be relative at best—and ordinary. Charles is Charles—unique and beautiful. If Charles didn't act as he does, Charles wouldn't be Charles anymore, but only our notion of what he should be.
So, there you have it, Joseph. As you look closer into Charles's feeling and tender places, he will begin to appear different TO YOU. Right? It's sorta like taking a walk in the woods one has been afraid to walk in before. It appears different when we get INTO the place—and there are NEW things to discover there. Our first attempt is to change the whole woods into a conventional place we are accustomed to and aren't afraid of—but, when that doesn't work (and it isn't supposed to), we change ourselves by broadening our outlook. The more I think of your friend, Charles, the more I'd like to know him. To REALLY know him. The marvel is, when we know like that, the one “out there” changes right before our eyes.
An old man in the Smoky Mountains taught me what “contradistinction” means. One day I asked why he stayed in those lonely mountains. He had been retained as a caretaker by the government, but was one of the original settlers of Cades Cove. He said he stayed because it was so beautiful. Then I asked him (he was a country bumpkin to young, arrogant me) what he meant by “beauty.” With great patience he told me about leaving the cove and going to work near Washington, D.C., during the war. While he was there he had unbelievable difficulty—losing his wife and son and developing a lung ailment of some sort from all the factory smoke. When the war was over, he returned to the cove alone. He said he looked around and saw the blue sky for the first time in his life. He tasted the sweet water for the first time—and watched the beauty of the changing seasons—all things he had seen and known many times before, but NOW he knew what real beauty was, having seen so much that WASN'T like his Cades Cove.
I spent many days camping there—and hours talking to that kindly old man who sold honey, fifty cents a quart jar, on the narrow, dirt road that runs through the cove. His notched-log cabin is still there in the park.
Suppose someone had changed him, Joseph? No, he changed ME—and that's always the only place real change can honestly happen. Here as I-Identity. Never out there with people. I change Me by understanding the Divine-I more fully—and then I see people more clearly.
I hope I haven't bothered you with too many words, Joseph. I am practicing on my fancy new word processor—a little computer that some thoughtful folks knew would make my work easier. I'm learning slowly but surely. Everything gets named here at Woodsong and the computer's name is Rabbi Moses Goldberg. He's quite a guy—librarian, lexicographer, file clerk, typist, accountant, indexer, semanticist and all-round good guy, willing to work at all hours for cheap—as long as the electricity is on and it looks like it may go off at any moment as the storm approaches.
Kindest love to you, Joseph, and many thanks for your encouragement, without which I couldn't write these letter. This work at Woodsong IS YOUR WORK, TOO!
Woodsong
1984
If you would like further guidance in understanding any of William Samuel's work based on Self discovery - you are welcome to contact me, Sandy Jones -- samuelandfriends@gmail.com - Ojai, California -
Read more by William Samuel books available on Amazon
The Awareness of Self-Discovery by William Samuel
A Guide To Awareness and Tranquillity by William Samuel
Barefoot at Heart-The Alchemy of Love and the Power of Light by Sandy Jones
Hey all you lovely childhearts
ReplyDeleteWilliam popped into my life in June last year which then led me to you sassy sandy. am new to childheart and to blogging no idea how this works! lol I have been trying to contact you by email (sharnba was the email i used) Sandy but had no response anyhoo thought would try this would love you to email me Sandy hope to hear from you its been stormy but more glimpses 2 just need a helping hand through the door.
Hi Rosy Robin, I am so happy you kept trying to get a note to me. I may have inadvertently thrown your email out --I get tons of junk mail and sometimes move through it very fast and you may have gone out with the spam---ooops. But here you are, your Child Heart shining bright and sweet I see. And here I am--And I am, sassy sandy--and so happy you found William and are learning much from his work. You will find Joy and Peace and great bundles of happiness in your life, when you realize The Child of you is what you have been seeking all along. Send me an email by way of-- sandy@williamsamuel.com --- I don't see an email address for you--- so if you email me, I can get your address that way and will love to correspond -- and you can be on our Woodsong Mailing list too! And I will be of help to you, as best I can, The Child won't let you down. Much Love and thanks for not giving up! Good going! Sandy
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