Monday, September 06, 2010
Zebras in the Monastery: in interview with Christian Hett
by Sonja Spahn
Recently our friend and Mighty Companion, Chris Hett, received a calling to join David Hoffmeister and the Messengers of Peace at the Living Monastery in Utah. Chris was kind enough to visit by phone for an interview to answer all those burning questions his fellow Zebras have been asking.
Chris started the interview with an ACIM prayer…
Steady our feet, our Father. Let our doubts be quiet and our holy minds be still, and speak to us. We have no words to give to You. We would but listen to Your Word, and make it ours. Lead our practicing as does a father lead a little child along a way he does not understand. Yet does he follow, sure that he is safe because his father leads the way for him.
So do we bring our practicing to You. And if we stumble, You will raise us up. If we forget the way, we count upon Your sure remembering. We wander off, but You will not forget to call us back. Quicken our footsteps now, that we may walk more certainly and quickly unto You. And we accept the Word You offer us to unify our practicing, as we review the thoughts that You have given us.
When Chris and I spoke, he had been at the monastery for seven weeks. He and I had spoken about the calling before, and I knew he had considered it long before it happened in the world. I just had to know, when did he know he would be going to Utah to join the Messengers?
Chris: I knew that I was going to be leaving Louisiana for six or seven months before I left. I kept asking (Inwardly) I asked when I changed apartments. When I asked if I should move, I heard that it didn’t matter as I wouldn’t be there very long.
When I moved, the apartment floor was kind of a mess. I said, Holy Spirit, if I’m going to stay all summer, I’ll put in tile. If not, I’ll just paint the floor. I got the message, “paint the floor.
A month later, I went to Kentucky. In Kentucky (at a workshop with David Hoffmeister and the Messengers of Peace) David just kept talking about going deeper. Nothing else in the world was going to make me happy.
I looked at David and kept wondering to myself. David takes everything in his life and applies it to Awakening. Everything in his life is used. Nothing is wasted. Nothing is haphazard. Whether he dropped a tray or he didn’t have enough money, David applied the litmus test of the Course to everything.
I just knew this was something I had to do…bam! So I drove home from Kentucky and put in my two weeks notice and three days later I was here.
When Holy Spirit is ready for you to move…it’s quick!
The morning I drove here, I heard Spirit say to me, “You haven’t grown as much as you think you have. But you’re about to!”
Sonja: What kind of fears did you have before you made the leap?
Chris: Before I came, my friends were telling me that it was a cult. If it is, it is the worst cult on the planet. It is a completely different way and it’s not for everybody. In fact, it’s not for almost no body. (Chris laughs) The healing is intense.
Sonja: Now that you’ve been there a while, do you think you did the right thing?
Chris: This is the highest thinking on the planet. The ego cannot understand, so of course the ego has to backlash. People are scared of real love. We really do believe we’re the ego and we really are afraid we won’t survive.
You never have to do anything to don’t want to do. Really, if you do something you don’t want to do, that is a real problem. It is so different than the way the world looks and the world works. When there is a problem, you bring it up to look at it. You use the problem as a joining rather than a separation.
It is about living the principles of a Course in Miracles. Do you want to have any shred of misery? The Course is adamant that if you have one ego thought-you have the whole thought system.
How fast you want to Awaken. It is not easy. In the world, we have places we can run to hide. We complain about somebody at work, we surf the Internet, we flick on the TV, or run to Starbucks. These are all the ways for ego to keep us from looking at what we need to see to wake up.
This is not giving ego any breathing space. Those insane conversations just don’t keep playing because there is no place for them to hide.
Sonja: How are things structured there?
Chris: David has laid down this blueprint and it works over and over. It is powerful.
If someone comes and they are not ready, they leave. This isn’t easy and really, it would be so easy to run away from it and not look at it. Many folks do. The folks who end up staying have a few things in common, the rules of the road here:
· They have to want to heal.
· No people pleasing.
· No private thoughts.
· Last, but not least, you have to trust.
Every single thought you have is literally being mirrored in your world. Here we see this and we don’t make any exceptions.
I was stung by a scorpion and I crushed it. I took it to Lisa and asked her what she thought. “Those are your attack thoughts,” she said.
The thoughts that pass through, they really are just like clouds if you let them just pass. David teaches that when we believe the thoughts are trains, instead, we gotta ask, “Do I really want to jump on that train”?
It is a way of asking ourselves if we really want to identify with these thoughts.
So, we really are putting it into practice. All we do is incorporate the Course principles and get closer to that idea of Oneness. You can’t be here and not heal. It is like Osmosis!
Sonja: How does this accelerate healing?
Chris: The only reason ego survives is because it isolates itself. The Course mentions it as true empathy.
Here we constantly throw that stuff on the table and we join to look at it together. And when we join, we are powerful. We don’t join in false empathy, but in true empathy.
When the person who is looking at it sees it, this person feels weakened.
We don’t say, “Baby, it is okay, you’ll get better”. Jesus tells us in ACIM, you don’t say anything. Let that person dump everything. Then, at the end, you might talk. But when you talk, it won’t be to recommend a solution, it isn’t about that. When you join, you join in strength in Holy Spirit. Then you can feel it, then, you feel the strength.
The ego, it just wants you to join in the littleness.
Sonja: I read the communications from the Messengers about the Monastery and it looks like you have quite a lot of sweat equity. But it sounds like you do a lot of talking…when are you getting anything done?
Chris: I got mad at first. I was used to working hard. At my job I always worked hard. I said, “You guys, I’m used to getting a lot more done”! I thought it was all about the work, about the sweat equity. I felt like I was a sports car that was used to going 200 miles an hour and they were only driving me 20 miles an hour!
But it isn’t about what you get done. Whether you are scrubbing a toilet or building a cabin it is about watching your mind. Lisa tells me, “I don’t care what gets done. I just want you to watch your mind”.
And it is funny. When I do that and I do finally go out, I get twice as much done!
Sonja: I am amazed at how quickly I can pick up a grievance against someone else, even another Mighty Companion. You guys are with each other all the time, how do you deal with that?
Chris: The ego wants to remain unlooked at. It wants to remain separated, in isolation.
Before, if I had a problem with someone else, it might be six or seven months before I even looked that person in the eye. Here, we put it on the table instantly. We take care of it and join in a place where ego cannot exist. That is where the healing is, it is in the joining.
Nine Chapters in ACIM are devoted to this, so it must be important.
Jesus says, “Your way will be different. Your way will be in Holy Relationships.”
I’ve seen the difference between holy relationships and the world’s relationships…this is powerful.
When you find you have an issue with someone else in the world, state the ego drama grievance or hatred. And say, don’t try to fix this, don’t advise me, do not join me in false empathy. When you find yourself saying, “I know where you can get a new washing machine”, stop there. This is not about fixing anything; it isn’t about doing anything in the world at all.
Just listen. Then join with Holy Spirit and stay right minded together in Spirit.
It is done. Ego cannot survive in that climate.
Sonja: What does a typical day look like there?
Chris: The volunteers meet at 8:15. Someone is always doing a lesson. Lisa Fair downloads the information for the day from Holy Spirit. Lisa meets with Sue. Sue gives jobs for healing and heads up the volunteers. She got that job because she doesn’t want to do that job! It brings up all kinds of healing.
Each day when the jobs are given out, it isn’t about working, it is about working the mind. We usually leave after getting together in the morning and get back together at lunch. Then we talk over what came up during the morning. Sometimes we don’t leave back out to do our work for hours, if someone has something that came up that we need to look at. We call it the expression session.
The point to the jobs is to put you in a position to heal. You look at whatever comes up and heal. They don’t even know they’re giving you a job that brings up healing, but that is how it works out.
I was in charge of a group that was prepping a porch, fixing a roof, and in charge of money. I didn’t want to do it. I had all this stuff coming up. Then they told me, that is exactly why you are doing it, because you don’t want to!
In a way, it is like washing everyone’s dirty laundry. There are lots of tears; there are Kleenex boxes everywhere around just at arm’s reach.
Communication is huge. We would consider it all minutias in the world. Because of this intense connection, there is a definite mental connection. This connection is where we join together. It is so different that the way the world operates. You throw out all of that and start anew.
We all have to work from where we appear to be. The reality is there is only one problem and one solution. One thought, just one thought of separation. But that one thought divided and subdivided, and it looks so complicated. But there is only one thought even if it appears to be many.
All we are doing is undoing that thought.
Right now, it looks like a path, but eventually it will be a point. Just that. Just one point. Today, it looks like we have to do it over and over again. Jesus tells us, this path is going to become a point. And then the path is forgotten. The separation wasn’t true and the thought that it was just…disappears and is forgotten!
Sonja: So do you think you’ll stay for a while or is something else calling to you?
Chris: I can see me staying here for a few years. I’m open and willing for Guidance, but it looks like there is a lot of healing to do! We are all about joy, and the good news is all you have to do is walk through the blocks to the other side to be in joy!
The Living Miracles Monastery in Utah, is a monastery dedicated to living by the teachings and examples of Jesus Christ. The monastery is affectionately referred to as The Bridge. The Messengers began residence at the monastery in May of 2010, after returning from missionary work abroad. We have seen the Holy Spirit move through all of us as we answer His Call of healing and allowing the miracles to unfold in a consistent and peaceful way. Visit on the web at: http://miracles-monastery.org/ or at: http://global-miracles.net
"For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
July 2010
How The Zebras Got Their Stripes
Dedicated to those original zebras who…remembered to laugh.
Matthew 18:20
Chances are that if you are A Course in Miracles student anywhere in Texas or Louisiana…or even Wyoming, you’ve run across a group of Truth Seekers who call themselves Zebras.
What is the purpose of this, you might ask? Have Coursies suddenly started taking up mascots? Will each region make their geography special by separating themselves? How do I get into the Zebra Club, are there monthly dues, is this a special relationship? And, most importantly, WHY zebra? Why not panther, elephant, owl or cobra?
Folks have shared many stories over the years about why they believe zebras are an appropriate name for seekers. Their tales are so interesting I almost hate to give the real version, lest sleep overtake you during the reading. But here, straight from the horse’s mouth, or make that the zebra’s muzzle….is the story of the zebras as I remember it, long, long ago, back in B.C. (Before Course).
Once upon a time, in a tiny town far, far into the Bible belt, lived some Mighty Companions. These companions had just discovered Gary Renard’s Disappearance of the Universe and felt compelled to study A Course in Miracles. While they had seen the signs before, this time the message was clear and simple and direct….run, do not walk to be a serious student of ACIM.
Thank you, Gary. On behalf of all the serious students of the Course who found their way through your books, I am grateful.
The only problem was that in this little town there were didn’t seem to be any other seekers interested in any way in A Course in Miracles or the teachings it contained. The little town also didn’t have many forms of entertainment, and community and church life was really important to the occupants of the little burg. To suddenly be disconnected from that community and be thrust in a much more solitary pursuit was a bit of a culture shock, to be certain, but one our merry band of Truthies shouldered with courage and cheerfulness.
Then, one day, the group was Guided to attend a road trip in Georgia with none other than their first ACIM guide, Gary Renard.
As with all road trips, half the fun is in anticipation. We were all looking forward with wonder and awe to joining with Renardians, real and actual Course in Miracles students that we could see and touch and speak with, rather than just reading from or about in newsletters, books, and articles.
One of the trekkies had a special glint in her eye when she spoke of this upcoming gathering, as if it was indeed some wonderful event. This same Mighty Companion had a saying…”if you want to be a zebra painter, you’d better live around zebras”! When questioned by a co-worker about the extent of the glint in her eye, she answered,
"You see, I’m a zebra. And where I’m going there is a whole herd of zebras!"
And thus the zebras were born. We’re the same as the entire herd, not special in any way. But we feel a yearning, hear a calling…The characteristics are described in the Manual for Teachers from A Course In Miracles, Who Are God’s Teachers?
A teacher of God is anyone who chooses to be one. His qualifications consist solely in this; somehow, somewhere he has made a deliberate choice in which he did not see his interests as apart from someone else's. Once he has done that, his road is established and his direction is sure. A light has entered the darkness.
We recognize the Light in each other, and know it is not of this world. We gather together in small groups studying, questioning, listening and smiling. Our Inner Sanctuary serves as our church. Our Inner Voice serves as our minister. And when we gather together …again, the Manual for Teachers gives us this beautiful selection:
They come from all over the world. They come from all religions and from no religion. They are the ones who have answered. The Call is universal. It goes on all the time everywhere. It calls for teachers to speak for It and redeem the world. Many hear It, but few will answer. Yet it is all a matter of time. Everyone will answer in the end, but the end can be a long, long way off. It is because of this that the plan of the teachers was established. Their function is to save time. Each one begins as a single light, but with the Call at its center it is a light that cannot be limited. And each one saves a thousand years of time as the world judges it. To the Call Itself time has no meaning.
And that, dearest, is the story of how the zebras got their stripes. Like so many things of this world, they are only an illusion, a dream. But we like to think they are a symbol of a happy dream where we all live happily ever after~as One.
The End
Return toZebras in the Son
