https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-FNVia8wixCxFNzGrEfGaUTVFblyNwIsCDTTYPAOO_w/edit
Wednesday, November 29, 2023
Tuesday, November 21, 2023
The Wild Goose and the Dove of Peace
It has been along while since I have posted anything on this site. I would like to remedy that. This past October I entered my 78th year….And it has been quite a ride. This modality has been a journal of sorts for me following the passage of my dear wife, Sherita, and as such it has run quite a gambit. Running from my story to the underpinnings of the philosophical, theological, spiritual, political, and social aspects of what I have called the conundrum which is I.
In the next few posting I would like to try to picture some of the elements which have comprised the components of the spirituality in compassed by the title of this posting. The Wild Goose and the Dove of Peace .
Actually, it’s been a while since I started this post and I find that I can edit it at this point. The wild goose is a Celtic metaphor for the Holy Spirit, and really is a part of what I am becoming and understanding the breath of what Christ was actually teaching For those who would hear. The next post is ,I hope, A link to a labyrinth walk installed some years ago by myself and friends from Waters edge church. It is linked to another post. I will post shortly which is a reflection. I am planning on presenting at a local church. All of this combined presents a picture I am very comfortable to be a part of. Pox et Bonum! RV
Monday, September 21, 2020
The Bookend by Richard
Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation
From the Center for Action and Contemplation
Week Thirty-eight
Interspiritual Mysticism
An Unspeakable Name
Monday, September 21, 2020
Remember what God said to Moses: “I AM Who I AM” (Exodus 3:14). God is clearly not tied to a name, nor does God seem to want us to tie Divinity to any one name. Which is why, in Judaism, God’s statement to Moses became God’s unspeakable and unnamable identity. Some would say that the name of God literally cannot be “spoken,” only breathed. [1] Now that was very wise, and sometimes I wish we had kept it up. This tradition alone should tell us to practice profound humility in regard to God, who gives us not a name, but only pure presence—no handle that could allow us to think we “know” who God is or have the divine as our private possession.
The Christ is always far too much for us, larger than any one era, culture, empire, or religion. Its radical inclusivity is a threat to any power structure and any form of arrogant thinking. Jesus by himself has usually been limited by the evolution of human consciousness in these first two thousand years, and held captive by culture, nationalism, and Western Christianity’s own cultural captivity to a white, bourgeois, and Eurocentric worldview. We have often missed the ways Jesus reveals himself, because “there stood among us one we did not recognize” (John 1:26). He came in mid-tone skin, from the underclass, a male body with a female soul, from an often-hated religion, and living on the very cusp between East and West. No one owns him, and no one ever will.
Jesus clearly says naming God correctly is not the priority, “Do not believe those who say ‘Lord, Lord’” (Matthew 7:21; Luke 6:46. Italics added). It is those who “do it right” that matter, he says, not those who “say it right.” Yet verbal orthodoxy has been Christianity’s preoccupation, at times even allowing us to burn people at the stake for not “saying it right.” We ended up spreading national cultures under the rubric of Jesus, instead of a universally liberating message under the name of Christ. What I call an incarnational worldview is the profound recognition of the presence of the divine in literally “every thing” and “every one.”
I would go so far as to say that the proof that you are a mature Christian is that you can see Christ everywhere else. Authentic God experience always exp
ands your seeing and never constricts it. What else would be worthy of God? In God you do not include less and less; you always see and love more and more. And it is from this place that we lose any fear we have about entering into discussion, prayer, and friendship with people of other faith traditions.
Gateway to Action & Contemplation:
AloHa!
RV
Pulling the Past Together and Wondering about the Future?
After making many ovatures to likely matches I seem to be honing in on a family who's roots were from the East Coast(Rhode Island) extending down through the Southeast into Oklahoma into Texas. The family name is Mount, Originally from Kent, England. There actually was a geneology book written by one of the family members.
From another Mount Geneology
One of my cousins recalled an Aunt speaking of one of her nephews who had joined the Navy out of high school(in Dallas). The family dynamics had apparently been a bit tumultuous involving three marriages (by my Grandfather Victor Timothy) and some degree of estrangement from the rest of the family. However I now had a name to work with and checked out Ancestry's military records for Victor Leon Mount.
This search led to a conundrum of questions. At first glance it gave Victor's record and enlistment path. However the thread disappeared in 1946...and there was no record of his demise in the War. Alexandria suggested that we try a DD214 directly from the military archives. This did take a while but finally it did come in.....with one little problem. The record was attached to an other name! Michael Lee Walker. Same Selective Service #, same birthday, same date and place of enlistment, and same duty roster as Ancestry had for Victor?? I contacted the archive and asked what ??? Their advise was to research a new DD214 with Michaels name. Here we go down another rabbit holeš ....This time the rest of his record was generated all of the way to his retirement to Florida......I said earlier that there was some strange dynamics in Leon's high school years. Difficult enough to prompt him to change his birth name to that of his mom's new husband, Walker?! I did find some city directory information which clarify things a bit. I can't find a divorce record(yet) between Victor T and Virginia A nor a Marriage record(yet) between her and Evner A Walker. However it seems according to the directories that Virginia was with Victor in Oklahoma City in 1930 and Evner in Dallas in 1931. The really significant tidbit here is that Victor L would have been 10 or 11 years old when this came down soo...it isn't a huge stretch to see why he opted to change his name when he became an adult.
My Biodad, Michael, aka Leon, died in Florida in 1985 having finally married and having left no offspring, that he knew of, but three stepchildren by his wife, June. Of course he didn't know of my existence and from his service record he was in the Pacific theater including, but not limited to Australia and Hawaii. So who knows who may turn up in the future! Not too long ago I finally connected with one of his stepsons in Florida, Duane Fish...He knew nothing of me, how would he, but did say that his stepdad did tell them that he had changed his name from Mount to Walker ....
Why have I felt the need to write this all down? My seventy plus years have seen many changes and joys and a few disappointments. But if I am learning anything it is that God doesn't make no junk! And we should look for the fingerprint of the Divine in All things and especially in each other.
Helene gave me up for adoption probably feeling that would be best for her new marriage. I understand and honor that decision. I must say emphatically that I have enjoyed my adopted life and have been abundantly blessed on this path. I hope you can understand, also, my thankfulness that abortion was not readily available in 1944. I would have liked to know her, however. I am quite certain there are abundant joys and value to be experienced in both biologic and adoptive families. I have experienced that and it sometimes bothers me a bit when unaware people denigrate either familial format. We are all connected and both forms of family(among others) can be a fruitful experience.
My greatest joys in my life are my children. I do regret not having located Michael Lee before his passing. But in the greater scheme of life I am hopeful he found great joy in his stepchildren with June. And I think of him fondly whenever I come downwind of an 18 wheeler or a Greyhound bus :0)
To Be Continued ??
I will be posting several documents and papers on here. A lot of this is also on Ancestry.com under my public tree. Any one who would like their headshot on that tree please send one to me.
On the post just before this string I mentioned a book that means a lot to me and then yesterday Richard's daily meditation was again very meaningful to me. So the next post will be that morsel to share. But first:
A paternal linage going back to Kent England cir. 1560
From another Mount Geneology
Part of Ancestry Paternal side
Guess Who?
Early attempt to climb the Mountain
Treading Water with the Navy
Sunday, September 20, 2020
Some More on Mom And Then the Doldrums
Over the next few years we visited as a family many times. Both South to Avo Amelia and North to the Seldens in Seattle. Alexandria was born shortly after meeting Avo Amelia and my brother Rich had a daughter, Crystle, about the same time. The girls grew up apart but visited a lot during those years, and are still very close. I got to know many cousins and aunts/uncles but none of them had further knowledge of Helene's little indescretion , that would be me. I even met Bud Tucker, an old boyfriend of Helene's. They both worked at the "Porthole", just off Georgia St in Vallejo. With little dates on pictures and such it seemed they were an item prior to 1944 and he had no new information to share. Everyone I met were on the (De)Souza side of my maternal history. My maternal Bio grandfather, Manual Vincente, was from Lisbon Portugal. He and Avo met and married in Oakland. According to Amelia he did have cousins in the old country. She divorced him in the 30's and had several self induced abortions. She felt he was abusive and a philanderer. She had her opinions and for whatever reasons it seems to me that she was a very independent driven woman for a Roman Catholic wife in that era.
This story, so far, starting almost forty years ago, has been a journey following one picture, one newspaper article or document, one shred at a time leading to what I felt was my maternal biohistory.
No where was there a "proof" of my linage and very little information on my mysterious "Bio dad". At one point I was able to speak to an archivist at Providence where I was adopted. She said there was very little information about my father. The notes given by Helene indicated that my father was a red headed Irish submarine sailor. He was a diesel motor mechanic. Another irony is that I have always loved the smell of diesel fumes, not gas, just diesel...As sketchy as this seems it had a great influence about forty years later, So I was essentially dead in the water in my search unless something new popped up. And then along came DNA and Ancestery .com. Several years ago Alexandria suggested I sign up and see where it led. I did and did it ever go somewhere!
The first results showed up a definite Portuguese(Iberian Peninsula) component. And besides Alexandria being my daughter(and since then my son Michael as well) It confirmed three of my nieces from the Selden clan in Washington. And as I was soon to discover several other distant cousins and such from the DeSouza tree. So this, of course, gave that proof element I had been searching for all those years. And then as if more proof was needed another niece showed up, Nina, who was the daughter, by another mother, of my half brother Richard. This match actually showed up on the 23 and Me DNA site. So besides confirming my maternal link there is now another tool available in my Biodad search. With one assumption, that my Biodad was not Portuguese, then any match showing up on Ancestry who had no Iberian Peninsula would probably be related to my Biodad. This, of course, was just an assumption but guessing that he was supposed to be a red headed Irishman made that assumption more likely accurate. To Be Continued:
These are the Ancestry Trees reflecting the Maternal links
Saturday, September 19, 2020
Seattle Connection
Following that Friday night I called a couple of my brothers or their wives and introduced myself. I then called Howard Selden, Helene's husband and told him my story. I had found out more information once I met Grandma such such as Helene and Howard's Marriage certificate from Washington which gave his address as the "USS Portland"
He listened very politely and then hit me up the side the head(on the phone) with one sentence. "That is a very interesting story but I married Helene in 1944 (June as I recall) and she was not pregnant nor have a child in 1944"....That kind of threw me for a loop, and all I could do was appologize for bothering him and penitently hang up.
Something really didn't make sense....So I wandered up Bridge street to the SOSC library where I wandered into the History section and (#2 irony) found a book on Naval ship movements during WWII. I had his ship name, USS Portland, and it was listed as having come into Mare Island NSY the end of January 1944....And having left for the Philippine Islands in August. The USS Portland didn't return Stateside until 1945.
Armed with a few other facts such as on their marriage license in Renton, Washington his address was the Portland AND her address was the same as the one on my illgotten birth certificate. I could only come up with one conclusion...When Howard came into port my mom was already pregnant with me. AND she hid that fact from him until he shipped out. She was living in Vallejo and visiting Providence Hospital in Oakland who handled the adoption two months later. She was a small woman and probably didn't "show" prominently until later in term. My wife Diana similarly showed with our first child, Veronica.
My next step was to try to meet Howard in person at his home in Federal Way, Washington. I walked up to his door and requested to talk. Again he was very polite and listened to my story along with what data I had on hand. He never accepted me as Helene's son but he did acknowledge one thing at the end of that visit. He said "It could have happened the way you relate it because when I left Mare Island she was working at one restaurant and when I returned (some eight months later) she had changed jobs to another restaurant" Hardly a proof statement, for sure, but back then you didn't get maternity leave. You just quit when the time was due.
Over the ensuing years Michael, Jerry, and Richard came to accept me as the real deal, but Howard never did.
About six months or so after first meeting Avo Amelia we had a visit in Ashland from her helpers, Carl and Virginia Mickleson. Avo had sent them to meet me as they were on a road trip North from Antioch. In our conversation Ginny was telling me a story from several months before I first met Avo Amelia. Ginny walked in on Avo one day while she was praying the Rosary. Ginny asked her for what she was praying? Carl and Ginny were Christians but not so familiar with the Catholic Rosary. Avo Amelia told her that " she was praying to someday meet the grandchild she never knew"!! WOW! So I knew another trip South was in store soon.
In my previous conversations with her this story had never come up And I did have some concerns about the story so far. Meaning that here was my 87ish old grandmother who made No qualms about her intense dislike for Howard as she blamed him for her only daughters untimely passing. Helene died at home from alcoholic complications in 1970. She was a tiny lady who married into a party focused Navy officer's life. This could have led her to accept me as an alternative family path. As wierd as that sounds, this latest story comes from a third party related before I first showed up at her door that Friday night.
On my next chance to go South I assked Avo Amelia to tell me the whole story. She related that at somepoint, in the Spring of 1944, Helene visited her home. Amelia could tell she was pregnant but she never asked and Helene never voluntered anything !?? Several months later Helene again visited, this time not pregnant. Amelia never asked and Helene never elucidated, Again!?? Very strange to me but that just seemed to be the privacy thing between them...
To Be Continued:
This is the first family tree I put together some thirty years ago. At the time only including my Portuguise connection
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