It is no small thing that ‘Presence’ equalizes ‘Witness’. It’s ‘First Person’. I-We can only bear witness to what we have seen. The Legal field has clearly delineated this Truth in determinating that a ‘2nd person witness’ is one who heard said —hearsay is NOT PRESENT and their testimony is inadmissable. This could be a small part of “…the relations between things are seen for the first time” that Howard Thurman speaks and writes about; or it could be a huge part unknown. Martin Buber made his mark on Theology in his work “I and Thou.” ‘First Person Relationship’… when knowledge comes. Impossible to BE the same again.
It occurs to me that the discipline of listening to a person of knowledge, no the ability, no the skill of listening to a person of knowledge is what happens when you attend the opening and/or closing Conference Address; or a Ted Talk, perhaps; or a Sermon —on the mount or maybe a sermon on the plains. It is ‘monologue’. Which unlike dialogue we listen to respond with our own thoughts about what is being said; perhaps as an antagonist or other disagreeable purpose.
Dick Gregory was that Equalizer of Knowledge. OK so it looks like a new coinage in the revelation of this column this 2nd day of Christmas… “Equalizer of Knowledge”! I have long now been persuaded, since my classroom at Bennett College, that every individual should have not less than ‘Three Living Guides’. Those 3 persons whom you are guided by their understanding, and thinking, and writing and Truth Proclamation of the whole of life. Dick Gregory was a Living Guide for life to me. Lots of others but not the availability. Such godliness. When I was in DC for the 50th Anniversary March on Washington I ran into him on the street. No bodyguards, no crowds, no fanfare. Humility. Even in his latter years, he gifted the world his knowledge through the Social Media context. In one of his 3 hr shows at Zanie’s Nashville, there was very little comedy. He came onto the stage with a tattered leather notebook full of Articles of news from all over the planet (his word used for world, earth). He spoke of how many researchers informed him daily of the smallest of events found hidden in daily print. I found him to be the greatest of all times in his witness to “the relations between things…” always, always making us aware of this that we now see “for the very first time”. He chose this posture several times when he visited “The Breakfast Club” for interviews OR to ‘equalize knowledge’. Yeah. That’s it! And when Charlemayne da god was not listening or hearing his ‘relations between things’ he would say to him, “They told me you was a smart man!”
The ‘Mood of Christmas’ seems to be more and more difficult to catch as the years go by. So swift has been the disappearance of the age old signs of this Christian faith based celebration which at one time had the power to cause the planet to just… Be Still! Advent. Angels. Baby Jesus. Bells. Bethlehem. Bows. Bright star, bright eyes, bright lights. Candles. Candy canes. Carols. Charity. Chestnuts. Children. Chimney. Christ. Saviour. Cards. Christmas Tree. Cider. Dancing merrily. Deck the halls. Dolls. Doves. Egg nog. Elves. Emanuel. Evergreen. Family. Reindeer. Fireplace. Frankincense. Friends. Gay apparel. Gifts. Gingerbread. Gloria in ‘Excelsis Deo’. Gold. Good Will towards Men. Holly. Holy. Icicles. Inn. Jolly. Joy. Joseph. Kiddie cars. Lamb. Laughter. Love. Magi. Mass. Manger. Mistletoe. Myrrh. Nativity. Naughty OR Nice. Noel. Ornaments. Peace on Earth. Poinsettias. Presents. Ribbons. Santa. Shepherds. Snow… flakes and men. Stable. Stockings. Toys. Tidings. Tinsel. Turkey. Virgin Mary. Wise Men. Worship. Wreaths. Yule.
Mary, did you know that your baby boy would save our sons and daughters? Lest we forget the ‘knowledge of salvation”
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