"First Light", our newly compiled half-hour introductory video sampler,
is now available: Two copies for $9.99, post paid -- one for you, one
for a friend. "First Light" is an easy-to-follow tour of our primary
findings -- a good way to introduce our Project to friends and
colleagues. Go to http://www.meetingtent.com/FirstLight.html to
order.
On this DVD, Stan makes an important mistake. In 1991, we realized that
the special vortex shape which our work indicates is the source of the
Hebrew letters is a model human hand -- but this design and discovery
was so new that we didn't yet completely understand a key feature:
which hand? So segments of this DVD taken from an unreleased video
filmed in 1991 show Stan wearing the "First Hand" model on the wrong
hand. (He makes the same mistake on our 1991 live-lecture DVD, "A
Matrix of Meaning for Sacred Alphabets.")
Making and correcting a testable hypothesis is the essence of the
scientific method. The refinement of a theory necessarily includes
making mistakes -- and then correcting them. (Nonsense does _not_
require correction.) In this case, the idea was right -- the
flame/vortex is really intended to model a human hand -- but the
details didn't fall in place until after we made the video.
POEMS by STAN TENEN
This year, Passover and Easter occur during the same week. For each
tradition, these holidays focus and define our relationship to the
Transcendent -- viewed differently in each faith, but for those who
follow these faiths, still the same One.
In this issue we present two poems by Stan Tenen, both on the subject
of Unity: "Pick One," written in 1998, and "Apology for One God",
written in December 2005. The second piece was originally titled
"Apology for the Aleinu," which is a prayer said daily in Jewish
religious practice. (The last line of this prayer, in English, reads:
"And it is said: Hashem (YH-VH) will be King over all the world -- on
that day Hashem will be One and His Name will be One." (Artscroll
translation)) More generally, it is an apology for the One God.
**************************************************
PICK ONE
There are lots. Pick one.
----Which one?
Any one.
Any one you please,
so long as you pick one.
----Okay.
----I have One.
Is it the best One?
----I don't know.
Well, check it out.
Drive it around the block.
Kick the tires.
Check out some of the others.
Is the one you picked
The best One?
----Well, no,
I guess if I look, I can always find
a better One.
Would you like to find
The best One?
----Sure.
How do I do that?
Well, you start by looking for One.
And then you compare
One with another,
Until you find
One better.
And then you compare that
With the others,
Until you find One
Better yet.
----I could do that for a long time.
Yes, but
Once you decided to look for One,
And then to look for
Increasingly better Ones,
You had a plan.
And given that you had lots and lots of time and energy,
You could get pretty close to a good idea
of the Very Best One.
Now, the Very Best One
would be the most different
from the most ordinary
or least best one.
In fact,
when you looked all around, and averaged it all out,
The Very Best One
Would be more different from all the others
than any other one,
Even those that might seem
close to best.
Thus, the Very Best must also be
The Very Most Different.
If you searched in all directions
for the Very Best One,
There'd be One, and only One,
Direction
In which to find It.
And it would stand out from all the others,
because it would be the most different,
the most precise,
the most unique,
and by every other meaning,
the Best and Brightest
of All.
Along the way,
you must include
your best definition of
Best.
The All
includes the Best,
And the Best exemplifies
the All.
---Stan Tenen, 29 July 1998
**********************************************
APOLOGY FOR ONE GOD
Because every thing is finite,
The Infinite One must be No Thing
-- That is, not countable --
As all things are countable.
By this means
The All-Alone, undifferentiated-into-things, One
-- Which is No Thing --
Becomes the God of many different faiths.
The uncountability of No Thing
-- neither one thing,
-- nor many things
-- nor any number of things
Is the cosmic loophole that allows the same One
To be exclusively "all alone" in each faith
Yet still the uncountable One over All.
The lives of all the heroes are as claimed for them
Because a hero, by definition,
Climbs steadily, ever more steeply upward
-- Where all climbing paths must converge --
Guided in every choice
By the One not-a-thing
As their pole, and as their star.
Thus, the hero of every culture
-- The embryo of the One No Thing --
Finds the way home.
My apologies to those of you who received multiple copies of our last
eTORUS. (Earthlink sometimes has problems with bulk mailings.) The date
of our most recent eTORUS is listed at the top of Meru Foundation's
home page. If you think you should have received an eTORUS -- and
didn't -- please email Levanah at meru@meru.org. Even if you haven't
changed your email address, mail from Meru Foundation may be getting
caught in a spam filter -- or the mailbox you subscribed to eTORUS with
may be full. You can always catch up on past issues in our Newsletter
Archive at http://www.meru.org/Newsletter/journalindex.html.
I hope you enjoy this Meru Foundation eTORUS(tm) Newsletter.
We welcome your comments and suggestions, and would like the
opportunity to speak with you personally.
If you have comments or questions, please send an email to Levanah
Tenen at <meru@meru.org> with your phone number and a good time
to call -- or, please call us at 781-784-8902 (Boston area).
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Thank you for your interest in the work of the Meru Foundation.
******************************************************************
The Meru Foundation eTORUS(tm) Newsletter is copyright 2004 Meru
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