Outreach no. 273

              I1 called this concept THE
overchurch its essence
OoUlTt EAC
mtemauto
OUTREACH
the newsletter of
7 eewcfa 5 2fontea& uctentcutcuw
MARCUS BACH founder
THE LETTER
no273
february 121993
dear friend of the fellowship
at last I1 know how lincoln must have felt when the
creative muses supplied him with the immortal
opening lines of his gettysburg address
fourscore and seven yyeeaarsr ago our fathers
brought forth on this continent a new nation
conceived in liberty and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created equal and
then proceeded to pour out his heart and soul in
one of the greatest and most universal messages
in all the world
the reason for my boldness in icnocmomppaarriinngg myself
to lincolns writings is of course a brash
assumption but for the fact that at this particular
juncture in my life and time the advent of 119999331
can honestly proclaim that one score and seven
years ago our FSU brought forth on this continent a
new concept also conceived in liberty and
dedicated to the proposition that all true religions
are created equal
as outlined in our
first issue of OUTREACH posed the question
WHAT IS THE overchurch
I1 suggested that
the overchurch is an adventure in
spiritual understanding a recognition
that we can have differing
denominational roots and yet a genuine
of religious give and take it
means also that one can have no
denominational roots and still have an
undeniable sense of spiritual awareness
and kinship which is a way of saying
that every person who has thought deeply
and
lincoln walks at midnight
PHOTO FROM THE sScCuUlLpPtuTrUeRoEf FRED
AND MABEL TORREY FOREWORD BY
MARCUS BACH PUBLISHER BbOonRADdDeEnN & CO
ALHAMBRA california
74 57e& dei 57
no 273
yearsago
conti nent
1
sense
kin ship
OF
sago
I1
and earnestly about life knows that tthheenree is something in the universe that
is in them and something in them that is universal
well you know how it was with you or let me tell you how it was with
me when I1 ventured out of the confining arc of my church when I1 trav-eled
around the circumference of religion as it is practiced throughout
the world and when even more I1 got into the hub of the wheel of faith
then I1 realized what lay at the heart of the overchurch ggooddawareness
is
awareness
every persons awareness
what can we do about it perhaps we will at least want to begin with an
affirmative prayer which says almighty god help us with heart and
mind to build the church universal where there is place for altilt ancient
wisdom and all honest modermn thought which believes in freedom in the
search for truth love in the administration of justice and individual disci-plines
in the social order which shall make of all sects classes nations
and races one fellowship and in which the spirit of humankind shall be
united with thy spirit toward this ideal 0 god give us the vision and
courage to earnestly strive amen
so I1 affirmed that the overchurch had come an adventure in spiritual
understanding
FSU and my concept of the overchurch were begun out of both the joy and a
certain travail ever since my first book THEY HAVE FOUND A FAITH 1946 suggested
the idea that we know people best when we know what they believe and the best way to
understand what they believe is to put ourselves in their place shorn of any facades we
may harbor it became a great passion with me this wanting to share in the varieties of
religious experiences in all creeds wherever I1 went I1 realized that people were more
alike than different to be sure their worship differed their creeds were often in conflict
but when I1 lived with them they ooppeenneeddtthheeiirr hearts and minds confirming that all
roads that lead to godare good
now the time has come for an appraisal of the influence of our endeavors through the
ttwweennttyyssiixx years of the FSU newsletter
OUTREACH tried to cover it aailhil as we sent 868400 issues to our regular subscribers
retirement homes hospitals prisons and various
2
god are
churches of
th eenreeiilss
ltyss
denominations have we changed conditions anymore than the gettysburg address has
affected or impressed the nation or the world at large I1 wonder if lincoln ever asked for
any polls as to his endeavors or what is he thinking now as he sits in pensive thought in
his memorial chair overlooking the potomac
I1 feel that as in the case of appraising lincolns vision I1 frequently have difficulty in
measuring the success of the overchurch are these merely dreams of mine or are
they actually conceivable I1 had hoped that through this span of a quarter of a century
there would be at least some evidence of realization Is it too preposterous to ask
whether a small work such as FSU could have had any influence or impact on the world
at large have my dreams been too utopian this need for an evaluation was spurred
by a segment of research with which lorena confronted me with a comparison of events
that occurred in 1966 and parallel events that happened currently in 119999229933 lets turn
now to thhee study she made as we consider the world events through the eyes of spiritual
understanding in THE LESSON and THE LEARNING
yours for the fellowship c
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THE LESSON AND THE LEARNING
THE LESSON begins by asking the questions that concern all of us here are the
headlines with which lorena challenged me
HEADLINES OF 1966
fierce fighting takes place between iraqi
troops and kurdish guerrillas
israeli and jordanian forces fight battle in
hebron area
talks continue between india and moslem
pakistan over kashimir
US troops in vietnam now stand at
32500 eepxxrperseisdideenntt dwight eisenhower
says that he favors as much force as we
need to win the war in vietnam
rioting breaks out in the watts district of
los angeles
martin luther king 1I1I leads a march of 500
negroes through an aallllwwhhiittee chicago
neighborhood
FBI chief J edgar hoover reports that
the US crime rate has risen 46 in the
past five years
US population totals 19582700
US car registration totals 78 million
earthquake in eastern turkey kills 2477
people
HEADLINES OF 1199992293
kurdish
93
rebels rose up against the regime
of iraqi president saddam hussein
peace talks between arabs and israeli
make little progress
the destruction of a 16th century mosque
by hindu militants has set off a wave of
sectarian fighting which has taken more
than 1300 lives
US eases vietnam embargo the US
announced that corporations would be
allowed to open offices in vietnam
president bush tours asia in quest for
trade concessions
riots break out in los angeles causing
millions of dollars in fires after the
acquittal of four white policemen charged
with the beating of black rodney king
major colin powell a veteran of vietnam
is chairman of the joint chiefs of staff
clarence thomas becomes a justice of
the supreme court
the FBI reports that violent crime rose
33.66 to a total of 11.99 million offenses
US population passes 256 million
US car registration totals 152 million
2500 die in iinnidnodonneessiiaann earthquake
hurricane andrew losses exceed 15
billion in florida and louisiana
miniskirts come into fashion vogue shows the latest in mmiinniisskkiirrttss
36
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5
the headlines are separated by ttwweennttyyssiixx years of journalism and ttwweennttyyssiixx years of
OUTREACH what food for thought and material for contemplation
my first response to lorenas challenge was to admit that if the headlines were any
criterion the state of nations was no better than a quarter century ago wars
conspiracies borderline disputes and the buildup in military power and nuclear
weaponry still confront us daily
then I1 got to thinking I1 remembered the saying
about not seeing the forest because of the trees or
the trees because of the forest my dream and
vision of the overchurch did see some great
and inspiring events during oounroensecscoorree and
seven years you who participated you who recall
the years that were known as the period of the
counter culture uprising you who marched in
peace parades who rubbed shoulders with people
of other faiths other nations other ethnic groups
who joined in holistic meetings ecumenical
conferences parliaments of world religions who
read about these events in OUTREACH will recall
some of the highlights we were covering as best
we could the exciting episodes as they related to
the concept of the overchurch
PEACE PARADE SAN FRANCISCO 1967
we prepared interreligious and intercultural parchments and distributed them wherever
possible some of them were actually dropped from a plane over oth sides of the berlin
wall by daring friend of ours swami
vishnudevananda whom I1 had introduced to
america in the fifties it was during the sixties
and seventies that we saw the upsurge of
ecumenical emphasis the rise of the holistic
movement the crusade for interreligious
understanding in which bishop pike played an
important role when in new york the ties
between protestant jewish and roman
catholics were building new paths of
fellowship by norman vincent peale rabbi
joshua liebman and father fulton shean
these interfaith ventures caught the hearts
and attention of more people than we realized
SWAMI vishnudevananda & MARCUS
our Onescore
NO
MR
07
6
perhaps one of our most compelling contributions to this rise in ecumenism was the
publication of the booklet THE QUEST FOR SPIRITUAL understanding most FSU
members still cherish copies of the five steps to spiritual growth to refresh your memory
the booklet is really the outline of the overchurch its basic concepts ssuuggggeessttoouurrss is
a new world a neighborhood in which one can no longer be blind to the fact that god has
made of one blood all nations to dwell on the face of the earth spiritual understanding
means looking at life through our highest level of consciousness through the eyes of a
god so great that we see him not only on planet earth and in you and me
but in infinite planets galaxies universes and in endless manifestations of himself at
long last we are realizing that religion is the catalyst for everything that is good true and
beautiful in all of life the religion of jesus was not exclusive but inclusive it was a religion
of love indwelling everything and everyone
As to the learning it was
inherent in the experiences
one cannot truly join with
another in prayer without being
aware of an infinite presence I1
remember reporting in
OUTREACH of a visit that
lorena and I1 spent with a
moslem family one cold winter
evening in their simple and
almost barren home in
jJeebbjJeenniinn seated around a fire
were ten lebanese only one
whom had a smattering of
english we knew no lebanese
or arabic it could have been HASSAN STOKES THE FIRE
the dullest of visits had it not happened that I1 had memorized a number of chapters out of
THE PROPHET breaking the silence I1 began quoting segments from kahlil gibrans
immortal poetry it was electrifying when hassan one of the young men catching the
rhythm and the spirit of the english words repeated them in his mother tongue
who can separate his faith from his actions or his belief
from his occupations who can spread his hours before
him saying this for god and this for myself this for may
soul and this other for my body all your hours are wings
that beat through space from self to self
and he to whom worshipping is a window to open but also
to shut has not yet visited the house of his soul whose windows
are from dawn to dawn
how such incidents are removed from the headlines how closely they relate to the
mystique of life it is all a part of the learning my inner quest and interspiritual
encounters
spiritual
with people aoff other faiths colors and creeds have brought me around to the
concept of reincarnation you cannot live with the speculation of the overchurch
without having a persistent awareness that we are often too much alike to insist we are
different poets persuade me in my speculation more ttthhhaaarirnrrt preachers as when the
english poet laureate john masefield exclaimed
1 I hold that when a person dies
his soul returns again to earth
arrayed in some new flesh disguise
another mother gives him birth
with sturdier limbs and brighter brain
the old soul takes the road again
what is THE LESSON and THE LEARNING trying to teach us they are offering the
proposition that the counter culture revolution was not wasted or lost and that the
headlines were not without their significance on the contrary a consciousness of
reason of order and an awareness of spiritual understanding are more evident today
than ever in our history lincolns dream and visions of great americans are inspiring the
hope of a warless world you wont find the word overchurch in any dictionary but
in our small way we do find it in the vision and heart of the utopian dream thou shall
not kill love thy neighbor as thyself the power is in peace not in war it is in an
understanding of universal law rather than our belief in methods of destruction it is in
the quietude of heart and mind rather than in oratory
7
far
lets not let lincolns vision fade with the years or the dream of the overchurch
waste away lets have the will to believe that true scientists and true men and women
of faith will work the miracle ofpeace on earth and goodwill to men my faith increases
with the thought of a coalition in the fields of science and religion and as I1 have said
elsewhere in my musing if a wedding between the two occurs id like to be the best
man
lincoln spoke from heart to heart leaving a tremendous challenge to posterity FSU is
challenged to speak from spirit to spirit I1 have this in common with lLiinnccoollnnWwee both had
our likenesses immortalized by fred torrey lorena caught the completion of the bas
relief of me while still in torrey hands
fred torreys last masterwork
photos by lorena bach
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1 organizations study groups etc are available write to fellowship FOR SPIRITUAL
understanding PO box 816 palos verdes estates CA 90274 phone 310 33773322666699
8
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