To be honest, I have no idea why I have a blog. I’ve only told a handful of people about it, really, and don’t seem to have much of a theme in terms of what I write. I’m not even putting much of my own thought into the posts. I mostly just post links to things that I think are important or of interest. But if I’m not publicizing the blog, who do I think will be interested in these links and such? One thought that I do like, is that this blog acts as a time capsule, and archive, of things that I’m interested in at this point in my life. In the future I can go back and see how my thoughts or interests may have changed. I think that is enough to give this blog a sense of purpose. So I’ll run with it.

The following is an unsorted, unexpanded list of ideas that I think of often enough, and would like to post about in the future. Note, I am nowhere near an expert on any of these subjects, and will never claim to be:
- Kan’ts idea that space and time are inherent ideas of ours, which our minds (insert word I can not, for the life of me, think of right now) it upon the world; how this is related to our current understanding of general relativity and evolutionary psychology.
- Infinite: does calculus (when applied to the world) really use infinity to account for ratios (I’m talking specifically about limits)? If not, does calculus really solve Zeno’s paradox? What would this mean for the universe: is time and space discreet, i.e. digital (see loop quantum gravity). This would certainly pose a problem for black holes and the singularity…
- Interpretations of quantum mechanics, specifically the difference between the Copenhagen vs. a hidden variable one, like Bohmian mechanics; also the EPR paradox and the Bell experiments.
- Dark matter, how it is defined as unobservable, how this relates the the philosophy of science (Popper, and logical positivism), and that other theories like modified gravity may be more scientific, and therefore ‘correct’. I guess I would also want to talk about string theory, Lee Smolin’s criticism of string theory, and the LHC. And what would a post about the philosophy of science be without Kuhn and pragmatism. Oh, then I’d also have to talk about Hume and his views on cause and effect, and the problem of induction.
- Determinism, free will, psychology and Dennett’s idea of ‘elbow room’. Pinker’s treatment in ‘The Blank Slate’.
- Consciousness, specifically Hofstradter’s strange loop, and Dennett’s multiple drafts. Maybe Penrose a bit, but I haven’t read ‘The Emeror’s New Mind’, so that might have to wait.
- Common errors of human psychology, and how knowing them and being aware of them can profoundly change the way we think about how we think. This might be the first post I make, since all I have to do really is look in my first year psych textbook and write out the list. Oh, also I should touch on change blindness, split brain experiments, and confabulations. Then maybe relate this back to consciousness and free will…
- Evolutionary psychology and the various theories that have been put forth towards explaining religious and superstitious beliefs (specifically Boyer’s treatment).
- Nietzsche’s idea of a God shaped hole, and how it relates to meanings of our lives, and ethics. Thus I would talk about: Sartre’s ‘existence precedes essence‘; Singer; Rorty; Rawls’ ‘Theory of Justice‘; and perhaps Sen (thanks Mike), but I haven’t read much on Capabilities Approach.
- That would transition into my vegetarianism, and how it’s is probably the thing I’m most proud of in my life (what good is learning if it doesn’t change me in a meaningful way?).
- Certainty, rhetoric, sophistry, Socrates…
- Religion, some of the philosophical ideas in favor of it (which, admittedly, will be very secularly weighted, like Tillich or Kierkegaard), the historical perspective of Jesus (Michael Grant), and the history of Christian thought (Saul; the jewish revolt; Platonism; Catholicism; Europe, Luther, and the plague; and eventually Darwin).
- Madness, mental health, and Richard Bentall.

And that’s all I can think of right now, in the middle of a café.

We are all looking to end our emotional suffering and solve our life’s problems. We long to answer: How can I find love, stop being so anxious, lose weight, make money, have more energy, have a better marriage, be a better parent?

In this post I’m going to give you the answer to your difficulties and tell you how to achieve true fulfillment and happiness.

In order to do that, I will start with a short review of my basic philosophy of the heart.

As those of you who have followed my blog know, I am inspired by the great Chinese Sage of 2300 years ago, Mencius, who said,

“Pity the man who has lost his path and does not follow it, and lost his heart and does not go out and recover it.”

I believe that we have problems in our lives because we have lost our hearts. Since “essence,” — that which makes a thing what it is and no other — is known as “the heart of the matter,” our essential nature is what Mencius means by the term, “heart.” What this means then, is that we experience unnecessary suffering because we are, as theologian Paul Tillich stated it, estranged from our essential nature. This essential nature is what the Greek philosopher Aristotle called our entelechy, which is that which we are meant to be.

What is our essence? What are we meant to be? I believe that we are all meant to think, feel, act, imagine and connect in the best possible way. When those natural attributes are optimally developed we become wise, passionate, strong, creative and loving. This results in inner harmony, loving relationships, a productive social order and peaceful politics. This is an embodiment, and fulfillment, of the laws of human nature and universal nature. This is our evolutionary purpose and what is best both for the species and the universe as a whole.

A central way that we become distanced from that which we are meant to become is as a result of our relationships. When things go right in our earliest and most important relationships, we develop our potentials in the best possible way. As Mencius knew from observing nature, anything properly cultivated will grow. As we all live in a lost hearted world and each one of us is raised by flawed parents, we are all, more or less, and in different ways, emotionally wounded. When we do not receive the proper emotional sunlight, soil and water, we do not grow in the best possible way.

We become distanced from that which we are meant to be due to relationship failures in our upbringing. As a result of this, we are living in some way out of alignment with our own nature. When we are distanced from our nature, we live out of alignment with nature in general. We have, what Mencius would call, a lost heart. This results in our suffering and problems.

Science has now proved this to be true. When we get the proper love in early childhood our brain grows the way it is supposed to. When we do not get love in our early life, our brain does not develop to its full potential.

Though these early interactions leave very deep traces, we continue to grow and develop through life. Mencius said, “The principle of self-cultivation consists in nothing but trying to find the lost heart.” This means that we can live out our entelechy, we can be what we are meant to be, we can realize our optimal potentials, we can end our unnecessary suffering and solve our problems, through working on ourselves.

The Answer to Our Problems is Finding the Lost Heart

The answer is that in order to solve our problems and get what we want in life, we need to find our lost hearts. And the way to do this is to live a life of self-cultivation. What does this mean, and how do we do it?

Throughout history, everyone has wanted an instant cure, a quick fix, a magic pill. Cardinal Richelieu, who lived in the 17th century, was prescribed a mixture of horse dung and white wine to cure his ills. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. He died. The instant cure doesn’t work. Whenever we try to take a shortcut, we never reach our destination. And even though I am a psychotherapist, psychotherapy alone is not enough to give us what we need.

The  wisdom of the ages tells us that to find the answer requires a quest. The method I propose may take more work then you’d like, but, unlike the Cardinal’s cure, it will work. It includes wisdom that has been proven by thousands of years of historical experience, and modern insights proven by cutting edge science.

The essence of finding one’s heart can be distilled into five basic steps.

1.    The Path of Devotion
2.    The Path of Wisdom
3.    The Path of Healing
4.    The Path of Vision
5.    The Path of Action

The Path of Devotion

Finding true fulfillment begins and ends with living a life of devotion to finding our lost heart. The devotion to a life of self-discovery and realization is a personal bhakti marga, which is a Sanskrit word for the path of devotion. This total intellectual, moral, and emotional commitment to daily practice is more important than the particular method itself. As Sri Ramakrishna said, “One can reach god if one follows any of the paths with whole hearted devotion.”

The most important aspect of this path is daily study. In the collected sayings of Confucius, called the Analects, the very first statement is, “Is it not pleasant to learn with a constant perseverance and application?” But the purpose of this learning is not an accumulation of facts or information. Its point is the personal development of the individual.

The Path of Wisdom

One way to do this is to study the ancient wisdom texts from every culture, whether it is the Upanishads from India, the Four Books of the Chinese, the poems of Rumi, the Confessions of St. Augustine, or the Old Testament of the Hebrews. Confucius devoted his life to the study of ancient wisdom texts because he believed that the past is an inexhaustible source of content for self-discovery. He believed that in the sincere search of ancient texts one finds true knowledge. The classic texts are the best guide to understanding ourselves. This is the Hindu knowledge path of jnana-marga.

The study of the great wisdom of humankind is one important path to finding the lost heart because these texts are the evidence left behind by the great heroes of self-discovery who have travelled this road before us. These writers went into themselves, and the words they write tell us what they found there. Because we can never truly put what is deepest about being human into words, their utterances require contemplation to grasp. Their meanings are endless. The more we immerse ourselves in them, the more we find. These writings are symbolic in a particular way. I call them yantras, where a yantra is a complex symbol that is used as a revelatory conduit for cosmic truths.

Yantras are not only to be found in the writings of the wise but can come in many forms. They are in all the products of culture. They are in myths, rituals, fairy tales, mandalas, the results of scientific research, and art and literature. This path of devotion through contemplating the yantras of culture is known in German as bildung. Bildung is another essential way to develop our innate potentials. Bildung involves not simply an intellectual exercise but the participation of the complete person in the process of self development that leads to a realization of ultimate character. Whether you read The Frog Prince, Victor Hugo, or David Foster Wallace; listen to the music of Mozart, Ray Davies, or Taylor Swift; watch the movies, Citizen Kane, Groundhog Day or Ratatouille; you will find the answer wherever you look  if you immerse yourself in the work.

These practices give us a means of making a deep exploration of our selves. As inscribed at the temple to Apollo in Delphi, Greece, the answer to life is it “know thyself.” In order to find the lost heart we must embark on a journey of self-knowledge. The journey down the yellow brick road is a journey into the self. We must learn how to go within, as all the great heroes have before us, and discover the “jewel in the lotus.” In our deepest depths, we find what the Indians in the Upanishads would call Atman, the ultimate within the heart. Gestalt therapy is a good way to learn how to do this. This is a phenomenological method, which means that you learn how to go within and listen to the silent voice of the heart, your authentic self.

The Path of Healing

In the fairy tale, Cat Skin, as a result of the childhood emotional wound of incest, the princess hides her dress of diamonds in a walnut shell, covers herself in ash, lives under a staircase and does the work of the scullery maid. She has a lost heart. Because of her childhood wounds, she has hidden the best of herself, and lives a life of shame. The disguise becomes so convincing, she forgets that she is really a princess. This yantric fairy tale shows us in symbolic form the story that we all live. As a result of our childhood wounds, we hide our beauty. The low identity we create becomes so convincing we lose touch with the glorious beings we actually are. The next step in finding our hearts is to heal these wounds of the past so that we can bring our dress out of the walnut shell and reclaim our throne.

As a result of our wounds, we might live our lives believing that we are the problem, that we are broken or bad. We must uncover the true stories of our lives, and discover how we were taught these falsehoods about ourselves, how we learned that we are scullery maid instead of princess. New therapeutic techniques have been developed to help us  process those early stories so we can transcend them. In so doing, we can end the emotional suffering these wounds caused, and learn how to transform our shame into self-love, which is central to getting what we want in life. My favorite method for this is based on a method called EMDR.

Methods like the 12-steps of Alcoholics Anonymous also teach us the importance of taking responsibility for our own past and present behaviors. Part of the devotion to the recovery of our hearts is to  look closely at the hurts we have caused to ourselves and others and to do all we can to rectify those wounds.

The Path of Action

The next step in finding the heart is to take actions in the present. This corresponds to the path of karma-marga. The most important thing we can do in our lives right now to help us find the heart is to learn how to truly connect with others. If we were wounded by relationships in our lives, learning how to have relationships in the present provides us with a core means of self-realization. We need to learn the methods of authentic connection in order to become all we are meant to be. Harville Hendrix’s IMAGO technique provides one wonderful way of doing this. In this technique we learn how to speak from our hearts, and truly listen to another. We learn how to express our needs in healthy ways and meet the needs of others.

In order to find our hearts we also must care for the heart’s temple, our bodies. Good nutrition, exercise, rest and sex with an intimate partner are some of the primary ways of caring for our bodies. Health counselors trained at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition can provide terrific information on the best way to care for your body in order to optimize energy, mood, health and well-being.

Nature is the best yantra. It provides all the wisdom we need to embody and live from our hearts. Spending time in nature is essential to finding and living out our true nature.

Our own creativity is a central way of finding our hearts. When we go within in a process of self-exploration, we want to express and manifest what we find there. This is the source of creativity. It is the gift we bring back for others to share, to help them on their own paths of finding their hearts. By creating, we find out who we are. As William Faulkner said, “I never know what I think of something until I read what I’ve written on it.” Part of our essential purpose is to express ourselves. The quality of what we create is not our concern. Our job is, as the inventor of modern dance, Martha Graham, said to her student, Agnes De Mille, “to keep the channel open.”

Finally, we must learn to live from our integrity and do the right thing. When what we want to do and what we should do are in harmony, then we have inner peace. This right thing is not something imposed by external doctrine or held in the dogma of religion, though we might be able to learn a great deal about the good and true from such sources.

Ultimately, what we discover is that our source of compassion and empathy, the core of our ability for moral action, is the heart itself. Just like the tongue knows the delicious and the eye the beautiful, the heart is the part of us that has a taste for goodness. When we have access to our hearts, we know the good from the inside. Cultivating the self and finding the heart, are in the end, about developing our source of goodness, which we all share, and is within us. In this way we develop what Mencius called imperturbability. Tillich called this the ‘courage to be,’ the ability to act from our hearts in the face of any external threat or danger. Once we grow this ability, we have what Mencius called ‘flood-like ch’I,’ which is access to the endless stream of universal energy. No fear of rejection or failure can stop us. We can do anything.

The Path of Vision

Next on our path of finding the heart, we must envision that which we want to become. A unique capacity of the human heart is the ability to imagine. As the ancient Greek myth put it, Prometheus created us upright so that we could contemplate the stars. We are aspirational beings. If we can imagine, we can imagine a supreme, an ultimate. As a means of finding the lost heart, the Chinese philosophers spent much of their time visualizing the ultimate person, which they called, jen. The clearer the vision we have of what it is that we want to become, the more likely we are of becoming that thing. The quarterback needs to see the ball being caught in the endzone in order to make the touchdown. In order to develop this image we need to find symbolic heroes who hold the qualities we long to realize. By contemplating and communing with these ideal figures, we free these attributes within ourselves. Napoleon Hill, in his book, Think and Grow Rich has a wonderful exercise where he communes nightly with his board of ideal advisers in order to accomplish his goals.

Finding the Lost Heart

What does life become when we follow these paths and find our hearts? By following the path of finding the lost heart we live in accordance with what the ancients called “the Tao,” or The Way. We are in harmony with our own and cosmic nature. Our problems are symptoms that indicate we are living out of harmony with the Tao. When we find this central harmony, our problems dissolve. We receive the rewards for our efforts. We have great relationships and realize profound intimacy. We discover and live out our heart’s vocation and do work we love. We become prosperous. We feel great, and are healthy in mind, body and spirit. We look great and have our best body. We live a long and energetic life. We are great parents and raise happy children. We find true success, living out our meaning and purpose. We live lives of giving. We give and receive infinitely increasing love. We contribute to the healing of the planet. We find deep spirituality and a live a life of connectedness to the all.

As the fairy tales tell us, the path is long and filled with impossible tasks, but if we take the advice of magical helpers on the way, and follow their instructions, we end up with the kingdom.

Daniel L. Migliore’s Faith Seeking Understanding: An Introduction to Christian Theology (1991) has interested me in part because, at the beginning, he lists three heavy-weight Protestant works as “sources frequently cited” — Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics, John Calvin’s Institutes of Christian Religion, and Paul Tillich’s Systematic Theology. Here’s an excerpt from Migliore:

One of the most impressive twentieth-century restatements of the doctrine of justification by grace through faith was offered by Paul Tillich in a sermon entitled “You Are Accepted.” “Just accept the fact that you are accepted,” said Tillich, “accepted by a power that is greater than you.”

In order to accomplish our life goals we need self-confidence. What is self-confidence, where does it come from, and how do we cultivate it?

Mencius, my favorite Chinese Sage, believed that confidence comes from “ch’i,” the universal source of energy. This power that moves through us has many names — eros, elan vital, libido, kundalini.

The brilliant philosopher, Paul Tillich, called self-confidence “the courage to be.” Possessing this courage means being your authentic self in the face of any danger.

Tillich believed that if we lack such confidence it means we are distanced from our essential nature. Mencius believed this, too. His name for our essential nature was heart. This definition of heart as our essential nature has been found around the world throughout history. In one example, St. Augustine said, “The heart is where I am whatever I am.” Mencius said, “pity the man who has lost his heart and does not go out and recover it.” He, too, believed our lack of strength came from being distanced from what we actually are.

Mencius said that when we are connected to our hearts, we have “free-flowing ch’i.” This means that when we are our true selves we have the ultimate connection to the endless and powerful supply of energy from the universe. It is when we are in touch with this source that we can do anything we set our minds to.

Having this power and confidence is another aspect of our entelechy, that which we are meant to be. We grow this power and self-confidence through being properly parented. When we get what we need from the world, our brain is pumped with chemicals like dopamine, which fills us with energy and confidence. When we are disappointed in life, our dopamine levels drop and we feel like the air has been taken out of our balloon. Getting sufficient positive reflection growing up is the real Popeye’s spinach. When we do not get enough positive support growing up, we chronically have low supplies of dopamine. This can lead us to feel enervated and insecure. We learn that being who we truly are is no good, and so we hide those essential aspects of ourselves. We come to believe that we are not the glorious beings that we are. We live in shame, which is the opposite of having “free-flowing ch’i,” or self-confidence.  Having problems with energy and confidence are sure signs that we have a lost heart.

With self-confidence, we believe in our value and capacities. We can face any obstacle. We can handle the risks of rejection, failure, and mistake. When we live in shame, we believe we are less than, and incapable.

How do we recover our hearts, develop the courage to be, reconnect with our essential being, and find access to our ch’i?

In the fairy tale, Maid Lena, nothing grows in the center of a farm. This is a symbol for a disconnection from heart and ch’i. When we are disconnected from this source of power, there is something in our center where nothing grows. The youngest son, Esben, lives a life mooning about. He is put down by his brothers. He lives in shame, and has no motivation or confidence. After his brothers fail at the task of figuring out why nothing will grow in the center of the farm, Esben determines that he will find out. When his father tries to dissuade him from going, he says, “I’m going, I’m going, I’m going!” When he gets there, he feels fear, but he keeps his feet on the ground, breathes, and determines to face whatever happens. A horrific storm begins. He sees three demons flying straight at him. He looks the demons right in the eye. As they get closer they turn into three swans. Then, just before they reach him, they transform into three beautiful princesses. One of the princesses promises to marry him if he spends the following year completing three impossible tasks. When he returns to the farm he looks completely different. He is filled with power and beauty. After fulfilling the princess’s wish, they marry and he becomes king.

What does this fairy tale have to tell us about recovering our hearts and finding our self-confidence? First, despite the lack of confidence shown in him by others and his own lack of energy,  he determines to find the source of his problems. No matter how frightened he is about facing his demons, he doesn’t run away. When he does, he discovers that what he had been avoiding actually becomes the source of his inspiration. By going to the empty place and staring down his fears, he becomes transformed. This doesn’t mean that his task is complete. In fact, it means that his work now begins. But he now has enough confidence and power to complete the impossible tasks he is given, and in the end he gets all that he desires.

To find our hearts and cultivate our self-confidence, we need to follow Esben’s path. We need to begin by devoting ourselves to a life-long process of growth. Just like Esben, we must say, “I’m going!” We need to go to the empty place within ourselves no matter how scary that seems. We need to learn how to go within, explore and come to understand ourselves. When we do, what we usually find is that we need to heal the wounds of our childhoods that have resulted in the formation of shame.

We must complete the impossible tasks. This means mastering our present. We need to commit ourselves to self-improvement, learning continuously, immersing ourselves in art, spending time in nature, caring for our bodies. We must practice the discipline to recognize and end our negative thinking.

Central to finding self-confidence is acting impeccably. As Mencius said, every time we do the right thing, we come into greater contact with our ch’i. We must take responsibility for our destructive behavior patterns and  surrender to getting help with our addictions and compulsions. We discover that when we do the right thing, we feel good about ourselves and this is the greatest fuel for the growth of our self-confidence.

In order to grow our confidence, we need to have reciprocal, authentic relationships. Like Esben, simply meeting the princess does not win her. He must work to gain her love. We must learn how to communicate and connect with others in true intimacy. This must include both giving and receiving positive validation. Start telling people you know and love that they are extraordinary and you’ll find your own confidence growing.

Another step in growing our confidence is envisioning a better future. By using the examples of the courageous who have gone before us, we call on them for inspiration and help. We must cultivate an image of ourselves as being that which we desire to be. We need to read stories of heroes like Esben, because when we do we realize that we are potentially kings. To fulfill our nature we simply have to follow the path of the heroes who have gone before.

This plan for self-cultivation which provides us access to the “free-flowing ch’i” which is the core of our self-confidence, is known in Asian philosophy as “the Way,” or the Dao. When we live in accordance with the way every day, we find our hearts. By living according to our core truths, we will grow in self-confidence until we can overcome any obstacle, face any fear, achieve any goal, and find true fulfillment and happiness. As Esben learned, that which we fear turns out to be the source of our power. When we follow the way, transformation is guaranteed.

Book Five — Chapter Nine Return to Williams, The Beginnings of a Worldview, Portia

CONTENTS NEXT

I shall try to keep this short and bittersweet. Bitter because there were losses and confusions. Sweet because what could be more enjoyable than dancing on a crisp New England night to the romantic soundtrack of that era? To Morris Stoloff and his orchestra doing “Moonglow” and the “Theme From ‘Picnic’” or to other melodies like “Canadian Sunset” or “Moonlight in Vermont”? Crisp nights, picturesque Vermont roadhouses, couches in alcoves, heat in cars. Ah, the thought.

But let us ask what it was that propelled Adam, fresh from his heady summer experience, to relax back into an academic routine that involved almost no classes and a year with Portia that was, as suggested, light, romantic and tactile, at least until it proved impermanent?

Would it not have been more appropriate for him to throw it all over? To jump to the city? To champion the future of Boyd? To go out to Iowa and blaze a trail of commitment with Ellie? What was going on?

I cannot fathom it all.

But I will describe some elements in the quilt of reality.

Adam was given a nice Dodge automobile by his parents to celebrate his academic achievements, honor his secure position as a member of St. Gandolph’s and suggest once again that he should have no financial worries.

He was now rooming with the amiable Bernard Lanvin, French scion of Lanvin, a young man of palpable courtesy with whom he enjoyed a companionable year. Their discussions lacked any of the shorthand college slang. Like Melchizedek, Bernard needed to go over things, to understand how they worked, what was coming, what he should do.

The fraternity house coasted along. There were enjoyable activities such as noontime poker games in a little front alcove; light, knowledgable intellectual discussions around meals with his ski buddies; and frequent group attendance at any and all movie houses within a reasonable distance of Williams.

It was almost as if Adam had been dropped into a scene in some pastoral play, “Idyllic College Days — Enjoy”. Enjoy, he did.

Still, his mind was moving in the direction of serious things. There was this world. There was the real world. Fred Schumann pressed Panflick to further examine the writings not only of Robert Nisbet and Hans Kohn, but of Seymour Martin Lipset and others whose speculations were hardly idyllic. They all probed the underside of political reality. The currents of fascistic emotion rising and falling, always threatening.

Adam was evolving a worldview not unlike the Niebuhrian vision propounded back at Exeter by George Bielby. But deeper, more nuanced. And most certainly committed to the inclusion of several disciplines. Adam was, if anything, antidiscipline. One could not embrace reality as a philosopher and not as a psychologist; as a political scientist and not as a sociologist. If added as a literary scholar and not as a mathematician, it would have touched upon hero’s substantial limitations when it came to disciplines. Still, he did have a point.

There was also the pull of a more active response to things. The parade of speakers corralled by Chaplain Cole included men like Don Benedict. A firebrand, Benedict had founded the East Harlem Protestant Parish with a friend from Union Theological Seminary. Before that, he was jailed in Danbury for pacifism. He changed his mind and was subsequently released to fight the Japanese.

There was also Paul Tillich, the German theologian, who escaped Nazism and now taught at Union Theiological Seminary. Tillich sought to make Christianity intelligible. When Adam asked him a long, involved question, Tillich’s response was, “You can’t ask that question.”

Adam delved heavily into Kierkegaard. He ended up lecturing on him to a religion class taught by a friendly professor named John Chandler. Chandler later became President of Williams.

These days Adam was also an occasional visitor to the establishments of Morton and Clarissa. Morton had a book out on McCarthy that evoked the chill of recent years. Clarissa’s housebound husband Norbert was now thin, almost gaunt. A broken man. Living up in Heath, a few miles from Williams. The promise of a huge career was lost because of HUAC. He was fired by Columbia because he had been made speechless by events.

There was, in short, an undercurrent. Add in the summer just past. The influence of the Rev. James H. Robinson. Adam’s own prescience. All these things set up an antiphonal dynamic. The bucolic atmosphere of Williams could not overcome it.

Do not forget the fascinating Portia.

Portia might have been an out of sorts. A means of holding everything together. She was an avant garde artist. She was self-possessed. She was lovely. Sparky to talk to. Fun to be with. But somehow it did not work. Portia was a tripping presence on life’s stage. With her, Adam became a Panflick. Somewhat reserved. Somewhat removed. Somewhat not whatever he might be becoming. And most definitely not the brilliant, expressive, creative, voluble, alive little fellow who once charmed the Demarests or even the astute McCarthy imitator of Exeter times.

Perhaps I underestimate the amor fati, love-your-fate meme. Perhaps Adam was exactly where he should have been. As he was. Doing whatever he was doing.

Tossing balls out on the roof with his fraternity brothers. Taking Portia out for food, drink, dancing. Piling in someone’s car to flick out. The whole nine yards.

*

Bennington had a nonresident term in the winter and Portia went to Cleveland. She invited Adam to come visit her for a few days. She was staying with her father. Her parents had been long divorced. Mr. Trimble had a spacious lake front home in Bratenahl. It is one of the oddities of Panflick’s upbringing that he never knew of Melchizedek’s residence in this very community. Melchizedek’s childhood home was like the one Adam now snuggled into in the midst of a very cold series of winter days.

Portia was off to her dance and theater work at Karamu House every morning. Adam found himself at a loss. He had nothing to do. On one of the days, Mr. Trimble, took him to see the factory that was the source of his livelihood. Adam bundled up and went off willingly.

This is good a time as any to speak of Adam’s incapacity to pay attention to anything that did not interest him. This infantile trait will prove to be of importance as we seek to understand our hero ever more deeply. Had Adam been asked, at the close of his tour, what Portia’s father’s factory was for, what it made, what the objects he just seen were, he would have failed miserably. He had paid no attention. Likewise he typically failed to note peoples’ dress. What they said? What their names were? He seemed to possess a grand capacity to shut things out.

There was closeness with Portia on this trip. But his visit was the beginning of the end. Adam was detached. It showed. Portia saw it. She probed a bit. He had nothing to say about what he might wish to do or even to be. He flew back through the same bumpy winter air. In the spring, when she returned, their relationship was more perfunctory than pregnant with possibility. By summer. Well, I shall tell you about summer soon enough.

*

That very spring, a deja vu took place. Recall that, at Exeter, Adam took, and dismally flunked, a dummy Foreign Service exam. The same dummy test was offered at Williams. Adam he took it again. He failed again. He was within months of achieving Phi Beta Kappa. And he failed. He still could do neither math nor science. That would include physics, chemistry, geology and astronomy. And particularly biology. His occasional encounters with the latter subject left him with bad memories of frog entrails and daunting laboratory smells.

His failure was no doubt conveyed to someone at Williams. Otherwise, he might have had a feeler from the Agency. Williams was at this very time a prime recruiting station for the ClA. Its future leaders came from Williams.

Which raises the question why Adam thought being in the Foreign Service would be good for his health or peace of mind. Did not these idyllic green mountains contain the very jaws of hell?

*

Portia drew more than a line in the sand. It was, by the end of the school year, a deep ditch. I think she may have been prescient. She liked, valued and even had a bit of love for Adam. But she may have seen where he was bound. It is significant that she was, if anything, more at ease in Pickinsboro than Adam was. Mildred and Melchizedek positively loved Portia. Perhaps, in Portia, Adam saw a means of resolving things. Of avoiding the conundrum I have been describing off and on from almost the start. But it was not to be. Amor fati? Not exactly. Just fati would be more like it.

So.

By June, 1957, at the age of 21, our happy hero was in the midst of the worst depression of his life. I am speaking of a conscious rotten feeling. He was literally torn apart because he had failed with Portia. He had failed with Louisa and Nadia, but they could be seen as the normal attrition of early relationships. This was different. This had everything to do with who Adam was and what he might become.

His immediate solution was a request for some funds. He said he was going to Europe. He got a ticket on a ship called the Independence and sailed from New York City to Genoa. Before he embarked, he spent a week trying to shake the depression at Clarissa and Norbert’s. They had just lost their third and final child to Wilson’s Disease. He left as depressed as when he came. How could he have known that when he set foot on the Independence his life would change once again down to the core?

CONTENTS NEXT

If the following press release gives an accurate representation, then “The Courage to Believe” should be a worthwhile book:

It isn’t sentimental, vague, or predictable. Respected theologian Roy J. Enquist’s new book, The Courage to Believe, is a straightforward scholarly work that brilliantly explores contemporary issues. It offers overviews of scripture, sheds light on biblical redaction, and penetrates the essentials of the Christian faith with clarity. The Courage to Believe will challenge liberals and delight conservatives because of its “high” Christology and serious trinitarianism. It will challenge the conservatives and delight the liberals because of its strong use of historical criticism, affirmation of evolution, and its emphasis on connections between spirituality and ethics. It is a book that seeks to be widely inclusive for Christians while affirming other religions, especially Judaism and Islam.

The author is a former Canon Ecumenist at Washington National Cathedral and co-translator of Paul Tillich’s book, The Socialist Decision. A professor Emeritus at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Roy Enquist develops some critical themes as he writes about the confusions and possibilities of both private and public faith. In fact, political theology is a major theme in The Courage to Believe, where it is clear that the world God so loved was never a world devoid of public culture. Thus, faith and power, faith and justice, faith and science and technology, faith and ecology, faith and history are all addressed in comprehensive fashion while the author speaks in a voice that is as pastoral as it is scholarly.

Enquist’s robust evangelical (not fundamentalist) perspective is appreciated by Nicholas Beale who contributed the foreword. Beale, co-author with John Polkinghorne of Questions of Truth, was particularly taken with Enquist’s non-fundamentalist approach to discussing religion and science in the book. He believes that the ideas expressed represent tremendous strides in dispelling the notion of an unavoidable conflict between faith and science.

The Courage to Believe (ISBN 9780982265529) is a major book offered by the new publishing house, Hansen-McMenamy Books, LLC out of Texas. It may be a stretch to believe that a ridiculously small operation can do justice to such a fine work, but the publishers say that this is the caliber of work they aim to continue to produce. The book will be widely available beginning in November, 2009.

Distributed by Religion Press Release Services

When people say, “That’s just a fairy tale!” they mean that what the person believes is a naive illusion, a lie told to the self. But this is the opposite of the truth. Fairy tales succeed because they wear the clothing of simplicity and innocence, when they are in actuality deadly serious. Fairy tales are ironic. In many tales there is a character with a name like “Dummling” who turns out to be the hero. The stories themselves wear the guise of such foolishness. They do this because telling the truth can be dangerous. The only member of court who could speak truth to the king was the jester, the fool. As George Bernard Shaw said, if you are going to tell the truth, you better make it a joke.

Rather than being shallow fantasies to entertain the kiddies, fairy tales describe the human process of development in all of its mystery. They tell us the harsh facts of our beginnings, how we come to find ourselves in trouble in our lives, and they provide the only viable way out of life’s dilemmas.

They reveal their message in symbolic form because the conscious mind resists and rejects what it cannot easily incorporate. They speak to what every child knows in his heart, but all are afraid to say. As grown ups, we have all too often forgotten these realities, and we dare not admit them now. We have relegated this knowledge to a hidden place, the place where our heart resides beyond our access.

Fairy tales address our deepest existential challenges. They aim to answer the question of how to have, as philosopher Paul Tillich calls it, the courage to be. How do we live fully in the face of the threat of non-existence, insignificance, and moral failure? As Bruno Bettleheim said in his classic book on fairy tales, The Uses of Enchantment,

“The fairy tale takes (our) existential anxieties and dilemmas very seriously and addresses itself directly to them: the need to be loved and the fear that one is thought worthless; the love of life and the fear of death.”

Fairy tales address the problems of human life and relationship. The stories tell us that we are all wounded in the core of our being. The result of this woundedness is that we are all distanced from living out what Aristotle called our entelechy, that which we are meant to be. This is what it means to have a lost heart. The stories tell us how we came to be wounded in the first place and how this has led to a loss of connection to our essential selves. They remind us of what we have lost and how to find our hearts and bring our essential nature back out into the light again.

How have we become so wounded? The psychological pioneers Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung tell us that fairy stories reveal the truth about our inner lives. What these pioneers on the quest for the secrets of human nature could barely admit to themselves was that they also revealed the truth about our outer lives and our most important relationships. They reveal the archetypal patterns of the struggle between generations, between parents and children, that has plagued humanity and been repeated over and over back to the murky recesses of our most distant past.

Freud would have us believe that the story of Oedipus is all about the fantasy of the child wanting to kill the father and bed the mom. But Freud leaves out the essential beginning of the tale. The story starts as all the hero myths do. The father is threatened by the birth of the child, because there is a prophecy that the appearance of the prince means the end of the king. So threatened, the king does all he can to rid himself of the threat by having the boy killed.

The dangerous truth that fairy tales reveal is that our beginnings are fraught with peril and danger, and almost always at the hand of a parent. In Beauty and the Beast, Beauty’s father gives his daughter away to a beast to save his own skin; Hansel and Gretel are sent into the forest to starve; Cat-Skin’s father aims to marry his own daughter; Cinderella lives a life of ignominy and shame at the hand of her stepmother; the examples go on and on.

In contrast to our sentimental beliefs, the relationship between parent and child is not made up exclusively of love. Instead, parents, on a level far below their awareness, and influenced by the depth of their own woundedness, are fundamentally threatened by their children. The prophecy that each oracle reveals in the myths is that the appearance of the child means that the wheel of time is turning. It is only a matter of a few cosmic instants before the parent loses his or her beauty and power and succumbs to death, and the child achieves dominion over the realm. The appearance of the child foretells the parent’s doom.

The tales tell us that this is the natural flow of life. Unfortunately, most grown ups have a hard time accepting this reality. To the extent that we cannot accept this, we are out of harmony with what the Chinese Sage Mencius called the Heavenly Mandate. When we live in harmony with this mandate and accept the natural flow of life, we make way for the next generation wholly and completely and all is right in the world. When we resist against this flow then our hidden aggression against our children comes out in various ways and we cause harm. If we do not accept our own death, then the next generation does not have their turn to advance the human experiment. We hurt our children, and the result is that they lose their hearts.

Part Two will appear tomorrow.

Man’s hostility to God proves indisputably that he belongs to him. Where there is the possibility of hate, there and there alone is the possibility of love.

Paul Tillich, Systematic Theology, Part 2, 45

Have you noticed how, at bottom, men are never indifferent to God? They are not indifferent in the way we might be towards the existence or non-existence of the Loch Ness Monster or Unicorns. No one hates or loves a rock or other inanimate object. We hate God, by nature, but this proves we have become estrnaged from our right place of fellowship with our Maker.

“Grace strikes us when we are in great pain and restlessness. It strikes us when we walk through the dark valley of a meaningless and empty life.”

–Paul Tillich

]]> http://fixednails.wordpress.com/2009/09/17/not-conversion-but-dialogue/ Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:45:48 +0000 soulangler http://fixednails.wordpress.com/2009/09/17/not-conversion-but-dialogue/

Not conversion, but dialogue. It would be a tremendous step forward if Christianity were to accept this!

Paul Tillich, Christianity and the Encounter of the World Religions, chapter 4

So let’s tipex this verse out of the Bible then:

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Matthew 28.19

er, Tillich or Jesus? – I’ll go with Jesus thanks.

The work of Paul Tillich (1886-1965), who is considered by many to be the leading Protestant theologian of the 20^th century, offers an intriguing perspective on the God-musings of religion-scholar Karen Armstrong (see Post #32).   If nothing else, taking a look at Karen Armstrong’s views from the perspective of his work reminds us that theology is an ongoing conversation—at least for those with open, inquiring minds.

For the purposes of this post, we’ll set aside most of Tillich’s three volume systematic-theology and focus on a mere two pages in the introduction to his first volume, entitled Reason and Revelation, Being and God.  In case you’d like to reflect further on what follows, or want to bring your own mojo to bear on Tillich’s work, check pages 42-43.

In this short, but typically brilliant, part of his introduction, Tillich discusses what he calls the “experiential theology” which has grown out of the “evangelical tradition of American Christianity.”  Although Tillich was born and educated in Germany, a large swath of his career took place on American soil, giving him the unique ability to reach objective, well-informed conclusions.  He perceived that experiential theology, at least the kind particular to the American situation, attempts to generate an “empirical theology” grounded in experience.

Now we can bring Karen Armstrong into the conversation because her “sense-of-God” approach falls neatly into Tillich’s “empirical theology” category.

The first move of what Tillich calls empirical theology is to show that “religious objects [like God] are not objects among others.”  Armstrong made this exact move when she decided God was not an object among objects.  God was not like a plate or a glass or a table she could pick up and examine.  Those objects existed, and so they could be found.  But since she couldn’t find God (like an object), making God’s existence the starting point for her search had led her down a dead end.  That path had only served to alienate her from God—her travels had yielded nothing more than a shadowy abstraction.

Still with me?  Whoever said theology, even stripped-down theology, was simplistic?

Armstrong, having abandoning God’s existence as the starting-point for her search, found God when she identified a different starting-point—that of creating a “sense of God.”  In other words, she decided to look for God in what seemed, to her, to be the most secure source available—her own experiences.  Instead of starting with the question “Does God exist?” she started with “What does God mean to me?”

How many of you have reached a dead end like Armstrong’s and resorted to finding God in the quality or dimension of your own experiences?  If you have, then, like hers, yours is an American empirical theology.  Sounds impressive, doesn’t it?  Your friends’ jaws will surely drop open when you spring the words “American empirical theology” on them.  Try it and see.

Tillich further explains that American empirical theology agrees with European phenomenological theology a la Rudolph Otto in his famous book, The Idea of the Holy.   Now you can also tell your friends that your empirical theology has something in common with “phenomenological theology.”  A warning:  you’ll have to practice saying “phenomenological” several dozen times before you nail it.  But it’ll be worth it.  Your friends’ jaws will drop even lower.

Besides the concerns raised at the end of Post #32 by yours truly and by those who took the time (or had the time) to leave comments, Tillich identified a few problems with Armstrong’s empirical-theology approach.  Any theology, like most things in life, has its advantages and drawbacks.  The advantages, as Armstrong herself so well illustrated, was that she was able to find God after decades of fruitless search “out there”.

But here’s a potential drawback.  Let’s pretend that we’re using Armstrong’s empirical-theological method.  Since the whole of experience can’t serve as the source for a “sense of God,” we have to identify an experience as having a unique quality.  Surveying the vast set of our experiences, we look for one few that strike us as having a special quality, special enough so that we can label them religious experiences.  It could be that feeling of wonder when watching the sun rise (see Post #30), or an unexplainable feeling of calm in the midst of crisis (see Post #4).

This means that we’ve had the “special” experiences before we ever label them as such.  Until we assign to them the “special” status of religious as a result of theological analysis, the “special” experiences were simply part of the whole of our experiences.  Our theological analysis, looking for experiences to label religious, finds them.  Then, on the basis of these so-labeled religious experiences, we develop an empirical theology.  Philosophers call this circular thinking.

Is circular thinking a problem?  Not necessarily, but proponents of empirical theology should realize that their thinking is as circular as those who adopt other kinds of theologies, including ones that empirical-theology-proponents might find objectionable.

Are there any other (potential) downsides?  Empirical theology traps God in our experience.  God is “trapped” because God no longer transcends experience.  God, in the traditional sense of the God-Who-is-not-us is excluded from this kind of theology.  While such an entrapment is attractive for Armstrong, others will find it harder to walk away from theologies that locate God outside of the human realm.

The bottom line is that, like the conversation between Tillich and Armstrong in this post, theological conversation is ongoing.  All theologies, including our own are (or should be) works in progress.  As such, we benefit (as do academic theologians) from the ability to be clear about our assumptions and about what counts as adequate criteria of validity for us.  Any theology can be called into question.  Plusses and minuses are part of the package.  Does this mean we shouldn’t adopt an empirical theology like Armstrong’s?  Not at all.  But theologians, academic or not, will want to informed about the strengths and weaknesses of their positions.

Another revised essay from my masters program. Only minor edits and it may warrant more when I look at it again.

Paul Tillich remains one of the most important contemporary Christian theologians and reading his work has influenced my thought a  great deal. I worked on a reading guide to the Systematic Theology, which you can find  here, and this essay is a small exploration of his understanding of reason as it relates to revelation and the nature of being.

For Paul Tillich reason is an integral part of existence and being, but it points beyond itself to still more fundamental being (though not a being) which Tillich calls God. Reason, for Tillich, is not complete in and of itself. It requires revelation. Tillich’s Systematic Theology, based upon God as the ground of all being, deals with being as split into two categories: essence and existence. Reason resides in both categories, in a perfect/essential form, or in an existential form which is broken and divided against itself. Both forms, however, despite their differences, point beyond reason through revelation to God, because all being points to God. Due to the complex nature of Tillich’s system a comprehensive examination of the Systematic Theology is beyond the scope of this post, but an examination of the function of reason lends itself to a wider understanding of the system as a whole. The many sections of the Systematic Theology illuminate Tillich’s understanding of the divide between essence and existence, but the nature of reason is especially instructive in understanding the system as a whole.

To begin we need to understand the general structure of Tillich’s universe. Ultimately, his entire system rests upon his assertion that “the being of God is being-itself” (Vol. I 235). This is a necessary truth, according to Tillich, because if God were not being-itself he would be “subordinate to it, just as Zeus is subordinate to fate in Greek religion” (Vol. I 236). In Christianity “God is his own fate” (Vol. I 236) and supposedly powerful and great beyond all that we know and “when applied to God, [even] superlatives become diminutives” (Vol. I 235). According to Tillich, God as the ground of all being is the power that makes beings, measures, and experiences possible. He is not of them, but creates them. In this way, the two categories of being that Tillich describes, essence and existence (both of which are finite because only God is infinite being), depend upon God for their existence. All being that is not God is either essential being or existential being. Only in Tillich’s formulation of the “new being” are the two united in perfect balance and creation, and this occurs, initially, only in the person Tillich calls “the Christ.” The examination of reason vividly illustrates the divide between essence and existence, which is likely why Tillich himself begins his Systematic Theology with a look at reason.

By Tillich’s own account explicating the relationship between essence and existence is a lengthy and difficult one. Indeed, “a complete discussion of the relation of essence to existence is identical with the entire theological system” (Vol. I 204). Still, a “preliminary and definitory” (Vol. I 204) discussion is possible, which is then followed by a more specific discussion of the nature of reason. The difficulty of defining the terms “essence” and “existence” comes from the ambiguous way in which they have been used historically in philosophy, religion, myth, and art. Generally, however, Tillich identifies them as a Christian would: essence is creation in its perfection before the fall, and existence is the distortion of creation after the fall (Vol. I 204). Unlike many Christians, however, Tillich considers these metaphorical ways of talking about the nature of essential and existential being. The fall and is not a characterization to be taken literally. Tillich understands the fall symbolically as representing the transition between essence and existence, though the transition does not take place spatially or temporally (Volume II 29-31). Ultimately, because “the distinction between essence and existence . . . is the back-bone of the whole body of theological thought [in the Systematic Theology,] it must be elaborated in every part of the theological system” (Vol. I 204). It is useful, then, to turn now directly to an examination of the nature of reason, because in this examination the divide between essence and existence becomes clear as well.

Tillich contends that reason has been separated into two different forms: technical reason and ontological reason. Ontological reason is “classical reason,” or reason as “the structure of the mind which enables the mind to grasp and to transform reality” (Vol. I 72). This contains the “cognitive, aesthetic, practical and technical functions of the human mind” (Vol. I 72), and is what allows us to navigate the world, shaping and controlling it in various ways. Technical reason, as mentioned above, is only one aspect of ontological reason. Whereas ontological reason extends into emotional life, art and the practical aspects of worldly life, technical reason is “reason . . . reduced to the capacity for ‘reasoning’” (Vol. I 73). Ontological reason encompasses all of human intellectual life while technical reason “determines the means while accepting the ends from ’somewhere else’” (Vol. I 73). Technical reason is the tool ontological reason utilizes.

Tillich attributes this divorce within reason, the distinction between ontological and technical reason, to its being within existence. For Tillich, all existential being is imperfect and divided against itself. In existence we bring reason down to the level of “reasoning” as a matter of course, so it is important to differentiate “ontological reason in its essential perfection from its predicament in the different stages of its actualization in existence, life, and history” (Vol. I 75). There is a more perfect form of reason than existential ontological reason, and when Tillich states that essential reason is perfect, he means that “the essence of ontological reason, the universal logos of being, is identical with the content of revelation” (Vol. I 74). This definition in turn begs the definition of revelation, and it is here, in the intersection of reason and revelation, that the cohesion of Tillich’s system can be seen. Revelation is defined as “a special and extraordinary manifestation which removes the veil from something which is hidden in a special and extraordinary way” (Vol. I 108). That is, revelation is an event that points beyond itself to something that is normally hidden. Revelation, then, has no special, specific content, because it does not portray finite information or knowledge as we understand it, but knowledge of, or unity with, the divine. Revelation has content, and that content may vary, but that content is transparent. Revelation’s true content is recognition and knowledge of the divine: being-itself.

However, when Tillich states that “the essence of ontological reason, the universal logos of being, is identical with the content of revelation,” he is not claiming reason is identical with being-itself. He is explaining that essential ontological reason, by its very nature, points to being-itself. This is what Tillich calls the “depth of reason” (Vol. I 79), that to which reason points, that which gives it being. Tillich is not stating that reason is identical with being-itself, which is infinite, because only God as the ground of being-itself is infinite (Vol. I 81). So as stated above, reason is completed by revelation (all of essence and existence is completed by revelation), because revelation is the knowledge of the power and primacy of being-itself. But just as reason functions differently in essence and existence, revelation through reason functions differently in essence and existence.

In essential being reason transparently points beyond itself to being-itself sot he “depth of reason” is self-evident. In existence, since reason is broken and divided into technical reason and ontological reason, the transparency of revelation becomes opaque. Revelation becomes symbolic and “because of [the] conditions [of existence,] reason in existence expresses itself in myth and cult, as well as in its proper functions” (Vol. I 80). “[B]oth of [myth and cult] are utterly ambiguous from the point of view of existential reason” (80), because broken reason cannot reflexively understand the products of its own brokenness.

This exploration of the brokenness of reason in existence is an example of the brokenness of all things in existence. The relationship of reason to revelation, and reason in essence and existence, is typical of the nature of all being and all revelation. According to Tillich, every being can be a means of revelation because “[n]othing is excluded from revelation in principle because nothing is included in it on the basis of special qualities” (Vol. I 118). In other words nothing in existence is especially likely to be a means of revelation, because all things in existence participate in being equally. Though essential being transparently points to being-itself all aspects of being, in essence and existence, point to being-itself, even if only opaquely.
Through the example of reason, in both its essential and existential forms, we can clearly see the nature of all being in essence and existence. Essence is pure, perfect and transparent, while existence is clouded, broken, and imperfect. Clearly, the traditional question concerning the relation of reason to revelation is recast in this system. While reason is completed by revelation, the two are not at odds, the former is not destroyed or made less by the latter. On the contrary, for Tillich, reason, like all being, speaks of God. In its essential form it does so with clarity, in existence it does so in a muddled way, but still all being points to God, and reason does not point to God more (or less) profoundly than any other aspect of essential being.

Tillich, Paul. Systematic Theology Volume I: Reason and Revelation Being and God. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951.
—–. Systematic Theology Volume II: Existence and the Christ. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957.

Language… has created the word “loneliness” to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word “solitude” to express the glory of being alone.

- Paul Tillich

Viborg, South Dakota native and author Joy Ibsen returned home for Danish Days 2009 to present her new book “Unafraid” that includes a slice of Viborg life

Michigan Author Job Ibsen visits Bethania Cemetery aka West Cemetery near Viborg, South Dakota where several generations of her family are buried including grandfather, great-grand parents

Photo by Don Lenef

Author Joy Ibsen visits Turkey Ridge, SD location where her great-grandfather Mads Ibsen homesteaded after 1893 Depression

Photo by Don Lenef

Young Danish Folk Dancers from Author Joy Ibsen’s late father’s Sunday School performed traditional dancing

Photo & videos by Don Lenef

(Viborg, South Dakota) – Michigan Author Joy Ibsen returned to her childhood hometown during Danish Days 2009 to present her latest book “Unafraid” that includes a slice of Viborg life.
From a great-grandfather forced to live in a local cave during a depression in the 1890s to a father who pastored two area churches after a stint protecting Danish royalty, Ibsen’s Viborg heritage is as colorful as the bright red and white Danish flag.

Author Joy Ibsen’s books: “Unafraid” and “Songs of Denmark”

During Danish Days, Ibsen lead a Songfest on Saturday, July 18, 2009 using her popular first book “Songs of Denmark: Songs to Live By” that was followed by a PowerPoint presentation about her book “Unafraid” and then sign her books for friends, former neighbors and local residents.
“I read a chapter from Unafraid and explained its Grundtvigian philosophy,” said Ibsen, whose presentation included her family history and stories based in Viborg.

A 1958 graduate of Viborg High School, Joy’s new book “Unafraid” has many stories about the years she lived in Viborg.

The late Rev. Harald Ibsen (left) relaxes in his Viborg study; Our Savior’s Lutheran Church (center) in Viborg; Our Savior’s Danish Gymnasium Hall (right) in Viborg circa 1925

“Unafraid” is co-authored by her late father Harald who served Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Viborg and the Trinity Lutheran Church in Gayville, SD (near Meckling) from 1948 to 1960.
Ibsen died in 1972 at age of 74.
“The book is co-authored by my (late) father because the sermons are the basis of the book and the thoughts and ideas are his and they are very relevant to today’s world,” Ibsen said.
Joy Ibsen brought “some of the Danish influence” and organizers were“excited to have her back again this year,” said Danish Days co-chair Julie Hartmann.
“My mom grew up in her dad’s church,” said Hartmann adding many of her relatives attended Harald Ibsen’s Viborg services.

Danish Folk Dancers on July 18, 2009 in Viborg High School

Photo by Don Lenef

Young Sunday school students from her Rev. Ibsen’s one-time church (Our Savior’s Lutheran Church ) comprise the Danish Folk Dancers performed traditional dances at Viborg High School during Danish Days just prior to Ibsen’s appearance.
While going through an old wooden file cabinet in her mother’s home, Ibsen rescued her late father’s sermon notes. The sermons were given in small town and rural churches in four Midwest states with his longest service in Viborg.
Her stories in “Unafraid” are fiction but begin with autobiographical stories mainly from Viborg.
The 225-page paperback book is published by Wipf and Stock Publishers of Eugene, Oregon.
Each of the 36 chapters in “Unafraid” starts with a portion of her father’s sermons followed by the thoughts of parishioners and what is going on in their lives. Transcribing her father’s sermon notes was a challenge, because they were in note form and created on an old Danish Royal typewriter with its Danish symbols and letters.
After graduating from Viborg High School, Ibsen received arts and humanities degrees from Grand View College in Des Moines and Shimer College in Chicago. Ibsen is now a writer, piano teacher, musician, lay minister in the tiny northern Michigan hamlet of Trout Creek.
“Unafraid” is on sale at the Viborg Museum. “Songs of Denmark” is available along with CD by the Grand View College Kantorei for $39.95.

The CD alone is $10.

The 1890s homestead (left, center) of Mads Ibsen in Turkey Ridge; Author Joy Ibsen visits West Cemetery to visit graves of her grandfather Lars Ibsen and great-grandparents Mads and Margrethe Ibsen

Photos by Don Lenef

During her visit to the Viborg area, Joy Ibsen visited her great-grandfather Mads Ibsen’s old homestead and visited her family plots at the West Cemetery.
“I consider Viborg my hometown because that’s where I grew up from third grade through high school,” Ibsen said. “I always visit the West Cemetery where my great-grandparents, grandfather and many other relatives are buried.”
The Ibsen family’s deep South Dakota roots include her great-grandfather Mads Ibsen who settled in Viborg (formerly Danneville) in 1889 which then had a population of 50 families.

Joy Ibsen’s great-grandfather Mads (left); Joy Ibsen’s book “Unafraid” (top left, right collage) that’s co-authored by her late father Rev. Harald Ibsen; Author Joy Ibsen (collage top right) of Trout Creek, MI; (collage bottom left) Author Joy Ibsen’s grandparents Lars and Mathilda Ibsen, and Joy’s father Harald Ibsen, Age 4 in South Dakota. His parents are holding sister Ingeborg; and (bottom right) the Harald and Asta Ibsen Family (Joy’s parents) in Viborg, SD in 1957, and author Joy Ibsen (right sitting on grass), her parents Rev. Harald Ibsen and Asta Juhl Ibsen, and her brother (standing right) David (now of Portland, OR) and sister (left sitting on grass) Karma (now of Urbana, IL). Father Harald Ibsen died in 1972. Mother Asta Juhl Ibsen died in 1993.

During Danish Days, Joy Ibsen visited her great-grandfather’s homestead on 100 acres of unplowed prairie that included a small stream near Turkey Ridge where he built an 8 by 12 foot wooden shack with a slanted roof.
“He bought the farm for $600 by making small payments to a former homesteader who was losing her rights to the property,” Ibsen said.
Ibsen hopes to one day find the cave near Spring Valley where her great-grandfather (Mads) and two of his sons were forced to live during the winters of 1892 and 1893 after a beleaguered railroad project’s contractors twice went broke.

Mads and Margrethe Ibsen and their Children: Back Row: Frederick, Lars, Grethe, Villads, Janus Front Row: Ida, Mads, Margrethe, Ingeborg, Jens

The Depression of 1893 was one of the worst in American history and the unemployment rate exceeded ten percent for half a decade, according to historical records
“It’s my hope to sometime find the cave,” said Ibsen.
“He had no money and would not accept charity so he dug out a cave in the side of a hill,” Ibsen said. “They only had a table, bench and a bed.”
A 50-page family history poignantly includes a story about a Methodist shoemaker celebrating Christmas in the cave with Mads and sons.
“They cooked and ate the Christmas dinner, played cards, sang and danced,” she said. “The conservative visitor forgot himself while waltzing with Mads and it dawned on him he was holy man who was not supposed to dance. He ran out of the cave like a whirlwind.”

1960 photo of 25th wedding anniversary of Rev. Harald Ibsen and Asta Juhl Ibsen in Viborg, SD. Photo by “Click Hans,” a popular Danish photographer in Viborg. “Click Hans” earned the nickname because he was always clicking photos.

Ibsen’s father Harald – the co-author of “Unafraid” – was born in Irene, South Dakota in 1898, but moved back to Denmark at the age of six (1904) with his mother Mathilda, sister and baby brother after the death of his father Lars from tuberculosis, a disease that would kill millions of Americans including many Viborg residents.
While living in Denmark for 20 years, Harald Ibsen served in the Danish Royal Guard at Amalienborg Palace. He returned to Viborg two decades later (1924), only to leave again seeking work including a stint as a construction worker at Yellowstone National Park. Ibsen graduated from Grand View Seminary in Des Moines, Iowa and became pastor of six Midwestern churches during the 40s, 50s and 60s.
Ibsen said her father did not require his children to practice his religion and encouraged them to seek their own spirituality.
“Because my Dad was a Lutheran minister, we went to church every Sunday, but when I went away to college, to my surprise he suggested that I attend other churches so that I would be exposed to different faiths,” said Ibsen.
“He wanted his children to have a religion that was chosen, real and meaningful to them because that was much more important than appearances,” said Ibsen, who did graduate work in religion and literature at the University of Chicago and completed the theological education program in Episcopal lay ministry at the University of the South school of theology in Sewanee, TN.
The mother of three grown children and two grandchildren, Ibsen says her parents “have been models for my own parenting.”
The Ibsen children were anything but the traditional “preacher’s kids” due to the unconventional child-rearing views her dad held in the conventional 1940s and 1950s. Her dad’s view of raising children was different from many fathers as shown in his comments at the weddings of Ibsen and her sister, Karma.
“We always enjoyed having Joy as a guest in our home,” said Harald Ibsen.
Joy Ibsen said “dad believed children are ‘guests’ who during their growing up years, lived with parents, who help and guide them but we were not expected to fulfill the dreams of our parents.”
“Of course, we had to comply with house rules because ‘guests’ don’t track in mud or stay out unreasonable hours,” Ibsen said of her upbringing. “Welcome ‘guests’ always lend a hand, help out, and they certainly don’t get spanked.”
Several titles for her second book were mulled over but Ibsen named it after the Danish hymn “Unafraid” one of the 48 songs in both Danish and English in her first book “Songs of Denmark.”
“Songs of Denmark” was presented to Danish Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary by Grand View University President Kent Henning during a ceremony in March 2009.
The hymn “Unafraid” was “sung in the Danish Resistance during World War Two – a time of terrible danger,” Ibsen said.
“Unafraid doesn’t mean a person is problem-free and it surely doesn’t mean to be reckless,” Ibsen said. “Today’s society is bombarded by all kinds of fears and we need to learn to live unafraid with confidence and hope.”
Well-known Christian author Dr. Walter Brueggemann described Ibsen’s father as “fresh in his thought, puckish in his style and grounded in faith” during his endorsement of “Unafraid.”
“We may thank the daughter for letting us know her remarkable father,” Brueggemann wrote. “Harald was unafraid as an immigrant who lived in a venturesome way.”
Brueggemann and others have said the book is relevant today because some of the same issues discussed by Ibsen’s congregation members are the same today including the bad economy, war, child-rearing difficulties, terminal illness, death of spouse, career choice, marital problems and loss of faith.
Endorsements of “Unafraid” were also written by St. Olaf College religion professor L. DeAne Lagerquist and retired Lutheran Bishop Emeritus Harry Andersen of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Northern Great Lakes Synod in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (U.P.).
Ibsen is currently working on two other books including “Hatchings” that describes “experiences of death and how it is similar to birthing.”
Ibsen is the editor and columnist for “Church and Life,” a publication of the Danish Interest Conference through the ELCA. An original member of the interfaith U.P. EarthKeeper environment group, Ibsen is a lay minister with the AELC Lutheran Church and an organist at Trinity Lutheran Church in Trout Creek, MI. She served as president of the Danish Immigrant Museum and is a participant at the Danebod Folk School.
Sermons used in “Unafraid” are from Christmas, New Year, Epiphany, Lent, Good Friday, Easter, Pentecost, Trinity, and Advent.
Chapters in “Unafraid” are based on Harald Ibsen’s other churches including St. John Lutheran Church (1960-1965) in the Danish village of Kronborg, NE; Immanuel Lutheran Church (1942-1948) in Kimballton, IA; and from 1936 to 1942 at the Diamond Lake Lutheran Church in Lake Benton, MN and the Hope Lutheran Church in Ruthton, MN.
Rev. Ibsen belonged to the American Evangelical Lutheran Church (AELC), formerly the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church, that merged into the American Lutheran Church (ALC) in 1962 that merged into the ELCA in 1987.
Ibsen manages Danamerica, a Danish-American website about her first book “Songs of Denmark.”
Photographs in “Songs of Denmark” are by National Geographic photographer Sisse Brimberg and a 70-minute CD of the songs was produced by the Grand View College Kantorei.

—

Joy Ibsen contact info:

Joy Marie Ibsen

P O Box 43

Trout Creek, MI

49967

Call:

906-852-3479

email Author Joy Ibsen

—

Author Joy Ibsen official website

—

Joy Ibsen social and photograph websites:

Author Joy Ibsen on Facebook

Author Joy Ibsen on Twitter

Author Joy Ibsen on myspace

Author Joy Ibsen on Word Press blog

Author Joy Ibsen on bliptv

Author Joy Ibsen on youtube

Author Joy Ibsen on Flickr

Author Joy Ibsen on Photobucket

—

Wipf & Stock Publishing: “Unafraid” by Joy Ibsen and Rev. Harald Ibsen

Wipf and Stock: Author Joy Ibsen bio

Wipf and Stock: Harald Ibsen bio

—

Joy Ibsen, Editor of “Church and Life”

Joy Ibsen bio on “Church and Life“

—

Danamerica is the official website of Ibsen’s first book “Songs of Denmark: Songs to Live By” with color photographs by National Geographic photographer Sisse Brimberg. Produced 70 minute CD by the Grand View College Kantorei

—

Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig:

Joy Ibsen writes about four principles of Grundtvigianism

Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig aka

N.F.S. Grundtvig, Danish bishop and poet info on Wikipedia and Britannica websites:

—

Pine Mountain Music Festival:

Joy Ibsen serves as vice president of the Pine Mountain Music Festival board of directors

—

Media coverage 2006-2010:

Omaha World-Herald Preview story on 8-21-09 about Author Joy Ibsen talk to the Danish Immigrant Museum in Elk Horn IA

L’Anse Sentinel newspaper preview story on Author Joy Ibsen book signing on July 30, 2009 at North Wind Books in Hancock, MI

Superior Chronicle story on “Unafraid” on 6-18-09

Iron Mountain Daily News brief on upcoming book signing at Finn Fest 2009 in Covington, MI

Joy Ibsen honored in her childhood home newspaper Yankton Press-Dakotan in July 2008 during annual Danish Days festival for first book “Songs of Denmark“

Joy Ibsen first book “Songs of Denmark” is mentioned in story by Des Moines Register because book was presented to Danish Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary by Grand View University President Kent Henning during a March 2009 ceremony. The story “Danish royalty pay visit to Grand View” by Cynthia Reynaud appeared on 3-25-09 (requires subscription to read)

—

The book “Unafraid” is sold online by publisher and numerous Windows Booksellers website and other sites:

Target

Tower Books

Boone Bridge Books

Amazon.com UK

Amazon.com UK: Harald Ibsen listing

Amazon.com UK: Joy Ibsen listing

Amazon.com UK: “Unafraid” listing

New & Used copies of the book “Unafraid“ on Amazon.com

Cokesbury

Kirjasana

Antiqbook

Biblio

Internet BookShop (IBS)

Other websites related to Denmark, Author Joy Ibsen or information in the story:

Danish Imigrant Museum

Danebod Family Camps & Folk School

Danish American Heritage Society publication “The Bridge”

Danish Royal Family on Wikipedia

Danish Royal Family on Danish Royal Watchers blog

Grand View University, (formerly Grand View College) a four-year, liberal-arts college affiliated with the ELCA in Des Moine

s

Grand View University on Wikipedia

Shimer College

University of Chicago

Paul Tillich, German-American theologian, Christian existentialist philosopher on Wikipedia

Paul Tillich on theology website

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)

Wikipedia page on the ELCA

—

Friends of Author Joy Ibsen:

Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard and Rev. Dr. George Cairns founded the nonprofit Turtle Island Project in 2007 to foster respect for indigenous people and cultures and to promote what they can teach us about caring and repairing the environment.

Rev. Hubbard is the executive director of the ELCA-related Navajo Lutheran Mission in Rock Point, Arizona. Rev. Cairns is a Chicago Theological Seminary professor who founded the nonprofit Celtic Christianity Today.

Read the Spirit, an online spiritual magazine with inspirational stories and book reviews created by David Crumm, the longtime religion editor for the Detroit Free Press

. Crumm established ten pinciples for his work that all people with a religion should read.

The many interfaith and youth-related environment projects founded by Rev. Jon Magnuson of Marquette, MI under the nonprofit Cedar Tree Institute.

Magnuson’s CTI co-founded the EarthKeeper Initiative, and founded the Earth Healing Initiative, Manoomin Project and the Zaagkii Wings & Seeds Project.

Zaagkii Wings and Seeds Project –

Native American and Marquette area teens protecting pollinators project:

Zaagkii TV on youtube

Zaagkii Project Story Part 1 Indian Country Today newspaper

Zaagkii Project Story Part 2 Indian Country Today newspaper

Zaagkii Project hailed as success by U.S. Forest Service

Zaagkii Project blog on wordpress

Non-profit Interfaith

Earth Healing Initiative: Numerous environment projects across the Great Lakes Basin in cooperation with the EPA, American Indian Tribes and local governments

Earth Healing TV on youtube

Earth Healing TV on bliptv

Earth Healing Initiative was part of the first EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge with youtube and bliptv videos.

EarthKeeper TV on youtube has EarthKeeper and Manoomin Project videos including stories and a Manoomin Project music video & more

Manoomin Project story in Indian Country Today

Manoomin Project Story in World Magazine

Author Joy Ibsen encourages everyone to live their life “Unafraid”

Viborg Enterprise newspaper

Viborg Enterprise newspaper

Viborg Enterprise newspaper

Omaha World-Herald newspaper

L’Anse Sentinel Newspaper

Viborg, South Dakota native and author Joy Ibsen returned home for Danish Days 2009 to present her new book “Unafraid” that includes a slice of Viborg life

Michigan Author Job Ibsen visits Bethania Cemetery aka West Cemetery near Viborg, South Dakota where several generations of her family are buried including grandfather, great-grand parents

Photo by Don Lenef

Author Joy Ibsen visits Turkey Ridge, SD location where her great-grandfather Mads Ibsen homesteaded after 1893 Depression

Photo by Don Lenef

Young Danish Folk Dancers from Author Joy Ibsen’s late father’s Sunday School performed traditional dancing

Photo & videos by Don Lenef

(Viborg, South Dakota) – Michigan Author Joy Ibsen returned to her childhood hometown during Danish Days 2009 to present her latest book “Unafraid” that includes a slice of Viborg life.
From a great-grandfather forced to live in a local cave during a depression in the 1890s to a father who pastored two area churches after a stint protecting Danish royalty, Ibsen’s Viborg heritage is as colorful as the bright red and white Danish flag.

Author Joy Ibsen’s books: “Unafraid” and “Songs of Denmark”

During Danish Days, Ibsen lead a Songfest on Saturday, July 18, 2009 using her popular first book “Songs of Denmark: Songs to Live By” that was followed by a PowerPoint presentation about her book “Unafraid” and then sign her books for friends, former neighbors and local residents.
“I read a chapter from Unafraid and explained its Grundtvigian philosophy,” said Ibsen, whose presentation included her family history and stories based in Viborg.

A 1958 graduate of Viborg High School, Joy’s new book “Unafraid” has many stories about the years she lived in Viborg.

The late Rev. Harald Ibsen (left) relaxes in his Viborg study; Our Savior’s Lutheran Church (center) in Viborg; Our Savior’s Danish Gymnasium Hall (right) in Viborg circa 1925

“Unafraid” is co-authored by her late father Harald who served Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Viborg and the Trinity Lutheran Church in Gayville, SD (near Meckling) from 1948 to 1960.
Ibsen died in 1972 at age of 74.
“The book is co-authored by my (late) father because the sermons are the basis of the book and the thoughts and ideas are his and they are very relevant to today’s world,” Ibsen said.
Joy Ibsen brought “some of the Danish influence” and organizers were“excited to have her back again this year,” said Danish Days co-chair Julie Hartmann.
“My mom grew up in her dad’s church,” said Hartmann adding many of her relatives attended Harald Ibsen’s Viborg services.

Danish Folk Dancers on July 18, 2009 in Viborg High School

Photo by Don Lenef

Young Sunday school students from her Rev. Ibsen’s one-time church (Our Savior’s Lutheran Church ) comprise the Danish Folk Dancers performed traditional dances at Viborg High School during Danish Days just prior to Ibsen’s appearance.
While going through an old wooden file cabinet in her mother’s home, Ibsen rescued her late father’s sermon notes. The sermons were given in small town and rural churches in four Midwest states with his longest service in Viborg.
Her stories in “Unafraid” are fiction but begin with autobiographical stories mainly from Viborg.
The 225-page paperback book is published by Wipf and Stock Publishers of Eugene, Oregon.
Each of the 36 chapters in “Unafraid” starts with a portion of her father’s sermons followed by the thoughts of parishioners and what is going on in their lives. Transcribing her father’s sermon notes was a challenge, because they were in note form and created on an old Danish Royal typewriter with its Danish symbols and letters.
After graduating from Viborg High School, Ibsen received arts and humanities degrees from Grand View College in Des Moines and Shimer College in Chicago. Ibsen is now a writer, piano teacher, musician, lay minister in the tiny northern Michigan hamlet of Trout Creek.
“Unafraid” is on sale at the Viborg Museum. “Songs of Denmark” is available along with CD by the Grand View College Kantorei for $39.95.

The CD alone is $10.

The 1890s homestead (left, center) of Mads Ibsen in Turkey Ridge; Author Joy Ibsen visits West Cemetery to visit graves of her grandfather Lars Ibsen and great-grandparents Mads and Margrethe Ibsen

Photos by Don Lenef

During her visit to the Viborg area, Joy Ibsen visited her great-grandfather Mads Ibsen’s old homestead and visited her family plots at the West Cemetery.
“I consider Viborg my hometown because that’s where I grew up from third grade through high school,” Ibsen said. “I always visit the West Cemetery where my great-grandparents, grandfather and many other relatives are buried.”
The Ibsen family’s deep South Dakota roots include her great-grandfather Mads Ibsen who settled in Viborg (formerly Danneville) in 1889 which then had a population of 50 families.

Joy Ibsen’s great-grandfather Mads (left); Joy Ibsen’s book “Unafraid” (top left, right collage) that’s co-authored by her late father Rev. Harald Ibsen; Author Joy Ibsen (collage top right) of Trout Creek, MI; (collage bottom left) Author Joy Ibsen’s grandparents Lars and Mathilda Ibsen, and Joy’s father Harald Ibsen, Age 4 in South Dakota. His parents are holding sister Ingeborg; and (bottom right) the Harald and Asta Ibsen Family (Joy’s parents) in Viborg, SD in 1957, and author Joy Ibsen (right sitting on grass), her parents Rev. Harald Ibsen and Asta Juhl Ibsen, and her brother (standing right) David (now of Portland, OR) and sister (left sitting on grass) Karma (now of Urbana, IL). Father Harald Ibsen died in 1972. Mother Asta Juhl Ibsen died in 1993.

During Danish Days, Joy Ibsen visited her great-grandfather’s homestead on 100 acres of unplowed prairie that included a small stream near Turkey Ridge where he built an 8 by 12 foot wooden shack with a slanted roof.
“He bought the farm for $600 by making small payments to a former homesteader who was losing her rights to the property,” Ibsen said.
Ibsen hopes to one day find the cave near Spring Valley where her great-grandfather (Mads) and two of his sons were forced to live during the winters of 1892 and 1893 after a beleaguered railroad project’s contractors twice went broke.

Mads and Margrethe Ibsen and their Children: Back Row: Frederick, Lars, Grethe, Villads, Janus Front Row: Ida, Mads, Margrethe, Ingeborg, Jens

The Depression of 1893 was one of the worst in American history and the unemployment rate exceeded ten percent for half a decade, according to historical records
“It’s my hope to sometime find the cave,” said Ibsen.
“He had no money and would not accept charity so he dug out a cave in the side of a hill,” Ibsen said. “They only had a table, bench and a bed.”
A 50-page family history poignantly includes a story about a Methodist shoemaker celebrating Christmas in the cave with Mads and sons.
“They cooked and ate the Christmas dinner, played cards, sang and danced,” she said. “The conservative visitor forgot himself while waltzing with Mads and it dawned on him he was holy man who was not supposed to dance. He ran out of the cave like a whirlwind.”

1960 photo of 25th wedding anniversary of Rev. Harald Ibsen and Asta Juhl Ibsen in Viborg, SD. Photo by “Click Hans,” a popular Danish photographer in Viborg. “Click Hans” earned the nickname because he was always clicking photos.

Ibsen’s father Harald – the co-author of “Unafraid” – was born in Irene, South Dakota in 1898, but moved back to Denmark at the age of six (1904) with his mother Mathilda, sister and baby brother after the death of his father Lars from tuberculosis, a disease that would kill millions of Americans including many Viborg residents.
While living in Denmark for 20 years, Harald Ibsen served in the Danish Royal Guard at Amalienborg Palace. He returned to Viborg two decades later (1924), only to leave again seeking work including a stint as a construction worker at Yellowstone National Park. Ibsen graduated from Grand View Seminary in Des Moines, Iowa and became pastor of six Midwestern churches during the 40s, 50s and 60s.
Ibsen said her father did not require his children to practice his religion and encouraged them to seek their own spirituality.
“Because my Dad was a Lutheran minister, we went to church every Sunday, but when I went away to college, to my surprise he suggested that I attend other churches so that I would be exposed to different faiths,” said Ibsen.
“He wanted his children to have a religion that was chosen, real and meaningful to them because that was much more important than appearances,” said Ibsen, who did graduate work in religion and literature at the University of Chicago and completed the theological education program in Episcopal lay ministry at the University of the South school of theology in Sewanee, TN.
The mother of three grown children and two grandchildren, Ibsen says her parents “have been models for my own parenting.”
The Ibsen children were anything but the traditional “preacher’s kids” due to the unconventional child-rearing views her dad held in the conventional 1940s and 1950s. Her dad’s view of raising children was different from many fathers as shown in his comments at the weddings of Ibsen and her sister, Karma.
“We always enjoyed having Joy as a guest in our home,” said Harald Ibsen.
Joy Ibsen said “dad believed children are ‘guests’ who during their growing up years, lived with parents, who help and guide them but we were not expected to fulfill the dreams of our parents.”
“Of course, we had to comply with house rules because ‘guests’ don’t track in mud or stay out unreasonable hours,” Ibsen said of her upbringing. “Welcome ‘guests’ always lend a hand, help out, and they certainly don’t get spanked.”
Several titles for her second book were mulled over but Ibsen named it after the Danish hymn “Unafraid” one of the 48 songs in both Danish and English in her first book “Songs of Denmark.”
“Songs of Denmark” was presented to Danish Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary by Grand View University President Kent Henning during a ceremony in March 2009.
The hymn “Unafraid” was “sung in the Danish Resistance during World War Two – a time of terrible danger,” Ibsen said.
“Unafraid doesn’t mean a person is problem-free and it surely doesn’t mean to be reckless,” Ibsen said. “Today’s society is bombarded by all kinds of fears and we need to learn to live unafraid with confidence and hope.”
Well-known Christian author Dr. Walter Brueggemann described Ibsen’s father as “fresh in his thought, puckish in his style and grounded in faith” during his endorsement of “Unafraid.”
“We may thank the daughter for letting us know her remarkable father,” Brueggemann wrote. “Harald was unafraid as an immigrant who lived in a venturesome way.”
Brueggemann and others have said the book is relevant today because some of the same issues discussed by Ibsen’s congregation members are the same today including the bad economy, war, child-rearing difficulties, terminal illness, death of spouse, career choice, marital problems and loss of faith.
Endorsements of “Unafraid” were also written by St. Olaf College religion professor L. DeAne Lagerquist and retired Lutheran Bishop Emeritus Harry Andersen of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Northern Great Lakes Synod in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (U.P.).
Ibsen is currently working on two other books including “Hatchings” that describes “experiences of death and how it is similar to birthing.”
Ibsen is the editor and columnist for “Church and Life,” a publication of the Danish Interest Conference through the ELCA. An original member of the interfaith U.P. EarthKeeper environment group, Ibsen is a lay minister with the AELC Lutheran Church and an organist at Trinity Lutheran Church in Trout Creek, MI. She served as president of the Danish Immigrant Museum and is a participant at the Danebod Folk School.
Sermons used in “Unafraid” are from Christmas, New Year, Epiphany, Lent, Good Friday, Easter, Pentecost, Trinity, and Advent.
Chapters in “Unafraid” are based on Harald Ibsen’s other churches including St. John Lutheran Church (1960-1965) in the Danish village of Kronborg, NE; Immanuel Lutheran Church (1942-1948) in Kimballton, IA; and from 1936 to 1942 at the Diamond Lake Lutheran Church in Lake Benton, MN and the Hope Lutheran Church in Ruthton, MN.
Rev. Ibsen belonged to the American Evangelical Lutheran Church (AELC), formerly the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church, that merged into the American Lutheran Church (ALC) in 1962 that merged into the ELCA in 1987.
Ibsen manages Danamerica, a Danish-American website about her first book “Songs of Denmark.”
Photographs in “Songs of Denmark” are by National Geographic photographer Sisse Brimberg and a 70-minute CD of the songs was produced by the Grand View College Kantorei.

—

Joy Ibsen contact info:

Joy Marie Ibsen

P O Box 43

Trout Creek, MI

49967

Call:

906-852-3479

email Author Joy Ibsen

—

Author Joy Ibsen official website

—

Joy Ibsen social and photograph websites:

Author Joy Ibsen on Facebook

Author Joy Ibsen on Twitter

Author Joy Ibsen on myspace

Author Joy Ibsen on Word Press blog

Author Joy Ibsen on bliptv

Author Joy Ibsen on youtube

Author Joy Ibsen on Flickr

Author Joy Ibsen on Photobucket

—

Wipf & Stock Publishing: “Unafraid” by Joy Ibsen and Rev. Harald Ibsen

Wipf and Stock: Author Joy Ibsen bio

Wipf and Stock: Harald Ibsen bio

—

Joy Ibsen, Editor of “Church and Life”

Joy Ibsen bio on “Church and Life“

—

Danamerica is the official website of Ibsen’s first book “Songs of Denmark: Songs to Live By” with color photographs by National Geographic photographer Sisse Brimberg. Produced 70 minute CD by the Grand View College Kantorei

—

Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig:

Joy Ibsen writes about four principles of Grundtvigianism

Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig aka

N.F.S. Grundtvig, Danish bishop and poet info on Wikipedia and Britannica websites:

—

Pine Mountain Music Festival:

Joy Ibsen serves as vice president of the Pine Mountain Music Festival board of directors

—

Media coverage 2006-2010:

Omaha World-Herald Preview story on 8-21-09 about Author Joy Ibsen talk to the Danish Immigrant Museum in Elk Horn IA

L’Anse Sentinel newspaper preview story on Author Joy Ibsen book signing on July 30, 2009 at North Wind Books in Hancock, MI

Superior Chronicle story on “Unafraid” on 6-18-09

Iron Mountain Daily News brief on upcoming book signing at Finn Fest 2009 in Covington, MI

Joy Ibsen honored in her childhood home newspaper Yankton Press-Dakotan in July 2008 during annual Danish Days festival for first book “Songs of Denmark“

Joy Ibsen first book “Songs of Denmark” is mentioned in story by Des Moines Register because book was presented to Danish Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary by Grand View University President Kent Henning during a March 2009 ceremony. The story “Danish royalty pay visit to Grand View” by Cynthia Reynaud appeared on 3-25-09 (requires subscription to read)

—

The book “Unafraid” is sold online by publisher and numerous Windows Booksellers website and other sites:

Target

Tower Books

Boone Bridge Books

Amazon.com UK

Amazon.com UK: Harald Ibsen listing

Amazon.com UK: Joy Ibsen listing

Amazon.com UK: “Unafraid” listing

New & Used copies of the book “Unafraid“ on Amazon.com

Cokesbury

Kirjasana

Antiqbook

Biblio

Internet BookShop (IBS)

Other websites related to Denmark, Author Joy Ibsen or information in the story:

Danish Imigrant Museum

Danebod Family Camps & Folk School

Danish American Heritage Society publication “The Bridge”

Danish Royal Family on Wikipedia

Danish Royal Family on Danish Royal Watchers blog

Grand View University, (formerly Grand View College) a four-year, liberal-arts college affiliated with the ELCA in Des Moine

s

Grand View University on Wikipedia

Shimer College

University of Chicago

Paul Tillich, German-American theologian, Christian existentialist philosopher on Wikipedia

Paul Tillich on theology website

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)

Wikipedia page on the ELCA

—

Friends of Author Joy Ibsen:

Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard and Rev. Dr. George Cairns founded the nonprofit Turtle Island Project in 2007 to foster respect for indigenous people and cultures and to promote what they can teach us about caring and repairing the environment.

Rev. Hubbard is the executive director of the ELCA-related Navajo Lutheran Mission in Rock Point, Arizona. Rev. Cairns is a Chicago Theological Seminary professor who founded the nonprofit Celtic Christianity Today.

Read the Spirit, an online spiritual magazine with inspirational stories and book reviews created by David Crumm, the longtime religion editor for the Detroit Free Press

. Crumm established ten pinciples for his work that all people with a religion should read.

The many interfaith and youth-related environment projects founded by Rev. Jon Magnuson of Marquette, MI under the nonprofit Cedar Tree Institute.

Magnuson’s CTI co-founded the EarthKeeper Initiative, and founded the Earth Healing Initiative, Manoomin Project and the Zaagkii Wings & Seeds Project.

Zaagkii Wings and Seeds Project –

Native American and Marquette area teens protecting pollinators project:

Zaagkii TV on youtube

Zaagkii Project Story Part 1 Indian Country Today newspaper

Zaagkii Project Story Part 2 Indian Country Today newspaper

Zaagkii Project hailed as success by U.S. Forest Service

Zaagkii Project blog on wordpress

Non-profit Interfaith

Earth Healing Initiative: Numerous environment projects across the Great Lakes Basin in cooperation with the EPA, American Indian Tribes and local governments

Earth Healing TV on youtube

Earth Healing TV on bliptv

Earth Healing Initiative was part of the first EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge with youtube and bliptv videos.

EarthKeeper TV on youtube has EarthKeeper and Manoomin Project videos including stories and a Manoomin Project music video & more

Manoomin Project story in Indian Country Today

Manoomin Project Story in World Magazine

Author Joy Ibsen encourages everyone to live their life “Unafraid”

Viborg Enterprise newspaper

Viborg Enterprise newspaper

Viborg Enterprise newspaper

Omaha World-Herald newspaper

L’Anse Sentinel Newspaper

Viborg, South Dakota native and author Joy Ibsen returned home for Danish Days 2009 to present her new book “Unafraid” that includes a slice of Viborg life

Michigan Author Job Ibsen visits Bethania Cemetery aka West Cemetery near Viborg, South Dakota where several generations of her family are buried including grandfather, great-grand parents

Photo by Don Lenef

Author Joy Ibsen visits Turkey Ridge, SD location where her great-grandfather Mads Ibsen homesteaded after 1893 Depression

Photo by Don Lenef

Young Danish Folk Dancers from Author Joy Ibsen’s late father’s Sunday School performed traditional dancing

Photo & videos by Don Lenef

(Viborg, South Dakota) – Michigan Author Joy Ibsen returned to her childhood hometown during Danish Days 2009 to present her latest book “Unafraid” that includes a slice of Viborg life.
From a great-grandfather forced to live in a local cave during a depression in the 1890s to a father who pastored two area churches after a stint protecting Danish royalty, Ibsen’s Viborg heritage is as colorful as the bright red and white Danish flag.

Author Joy Ibsen’s books: “Unafraid” and “Songs of Denmark”

During Danish Days, Ibsen lead a Songfest on Saturday, July 18, 2009 using her popular first book “Songs of Denmark: Songs to Live By” that was followed by a PowerPoint presentation about her book “Unafraid” and then sign her books for friends, former neighbors and local residents.
“I read a chapter from Unafraid and explained its Grundtvigian philosophy,” said Ibsen, whose presentation included her family history and stories based in Viborg.

A 1958 graduate of Viborg High School, Joy’s new book “Unafraid” has many stories about the years she lived in Viborg.

The late Rev. Harald Ibsen (left) relaxes in his Viborg study; Our Savior’s Lutheran Church (center) in Viborg; Our Savior’s Danish Gymnasium Hall (right) in Viborg circa 1925

“Unafraid” is co-authored by her late father Harald who served Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Viborg and the Trinity Lutheran Church in Gayville, SD (near Meckling) from 1948 to 1960.
Ibsen died in 1972 at age of 74.
“The book is co-authored by my (late) father because the sermons are the basis of the book and the thoughts and ideas are his and they are very relevant to today’s world,” Ibsen said.
Joy Ibsen brought “some of the Danish influence” and organizers were“excited to have her back again this year,” said Danish Days co-chair Julie Hartmann.
“My mom grew up in her dad’s church,” said Hartmann adding many of her relatives attended Harald Ibsen’s Viborg services.

Danish Folk Dancers on July 18, 2009 in Viborg High School

Photo by Don Lenef

Young Sunday school students from her Rev. Ibsen’s one-time church (Our Savior’s Lutheran Church ) comprise the Danish Folk Dancers performed traditional dances at Viborg High School during Danish Days just prior to Ibsen’s appearance.
While going through an old wooden file cabinet in her mother’s home, Ibsen rescued her late father’s sermon notes. The sermons were given in small town and rural churches in four Midwest states with his longest service in Viborg.
Her stories in “Unafraid” are fiction but begin with autobiographical stories mainly from Viborg.
The 225-page paperback book is published by Wipf and Stock Publishers of Eugene, Oregon.
Each of the 36 chapters in “Unafraid” starts with a portion of her father’s sermons followed by the thoughts of parishioners and what is going on in their lives. Transcribing her father’s sermon notes was a challenge, because they were in note form and created on an old Danish Royal typewriter with its Danish symbols and letters.
After graduating from Viborg High School, Ibsen received arts and humanities degrees from Grand View College in Des Moines and Shimer College in Chicago. Ibsen is now a writer, piano teacher, musician, lay minister in the tiny northern Michigan hamlet of Trout Creek.
“Unafraid” is on sale at the Viborg Museum. “Songs of Denmark” is available along with CD by the Grand View College Kantorei for $39.95.

The CD alone is $10.

The 1890s homestead (left, center) of Mads Ibsen in Turkey Ridge; Author Joy Ibsen visits West Cemetery to visit graves of her grandfather Lars Ibsen and great-grandparents Mads and Margrethe Ibsen

Photos by Don Lenef

During her visit to the Viborg area, Joy Ibsen visited her great-grandfather Mads Ibsen’s old homestead and visited her family plots at the West Cemetery.
“I consider Viborg my hometown because that’s where I grew up from third grade through high school,” Ibsen said. “I always visit the West Cemetery where my great-grandparents, grandfather and many other relatives are buried.”
The Ibsen family’s deep South Dakota roots include her great-grandfather Mads Ibsen who settled in Viborg (formerly Danneville) in 1889 which then had a population of 50 families.

Joy Ibsen’s great-grandfather Mads (left); Joy Ibsen’s book “Unafraid” (top left, right collage) that’s co-authored by her late father Rev. Harald Ibsen; Author Joy Ibsen (collage top right) of Trout Creek, MI; (collage bottom left) Author Joy Ibsen’s grandparents Lars and Mathilda Ibsen, and Joy’s father Harald Ibsen, Age 4 in South Dakota. His parents are holding sister Ingeborg; and (bottom right) the Harald and Asta Ibsen Family (Joy’s parents) in Viborg, SD in 1957, and author Joy Ibsen (right sitting on grass), her parents Rev. Harald Ibsen and Asta Juhl Ibsen, and her brother (standing right) David (now of Portland, OR) and sister (left sitting on grass) Karma (now of Urbana, IL). Father Harald Ibsen died in 1972. Mother Asta Juhl Ibsen died in 1993.

During Danish Days, Joy Ibsen visited her great-grandfather’s homestead on 100 acres of unplowed prairie that included a small stream near Turkey Ridge where he built an 8 by 12 foot wooden shack with a slanted roof.
“He bought the farm for $600 by making small payments to a former homesteader who was losing her rights to the property,” Ibsen said.
Ibsen hopes to one day find the cave near Spring Valley where her great-grandfather (Mads) and two of his sons were forced to live during the winters of 1892 and 1893 after a beleaguered railroad project’s contractors twice went broke.

Mads and Margrethe Ibsen and their Children: Back Row: Frederick, Lars, Grethe, Villads, Janus Front Row: Ida, Mads, Margrethe, Ingeborg, Jens

The Depression of 1893 was one of the worst in American history and the unemployment rate exceeded ten percent for half a decade, according to historical records
“It’s my hope to sometime find the cave,” said Ibsen.
“He had no money and would not accept charity so he dug out a cave in the side of a hill,” Ibsen said. “They only had a table, bench and a bed.”
A 50-page family history poignantly includes a story about a Methodist shoemaker celebrating Christmas in the cave with Mads and sons.
“They cooked and ate the Christmas dinner, played cards, sang and danced,” she said. “The conservative visitor forgot himself while waltzing with Mads and it dawned on him he was holy man who was not supposed to dance. He ran out of the cave like a whirlwind.”

1960 photo of 25th wedding anniversary of Rev. Harald Ibsen and Asta Juhl Ibsen in Viborg, SD. Photo by “Click Hans,” a popular Danish photographer in Viborg. “Click Hans” earned the nickname because he was always clicking photos.

Ibsen’s father Harald – the co-author of “Unafraid” – was born in Irene, South Dakota in 1898, but moved back to Denmark at the age of six (1904) with his mother Mathilda, sister and baby brother after the death of his father Lars from tuberculosis, a disease that would kill millions of Americans including many Viborg residents.
While living in Denmark for 20 years, Harald Ibsen served in the Danish Royal Guard at Amalienborg Palace. He returned to Viborg two decades later (1924), only to leave again seeking work including a stint as a construction worker at Yellowstone National Park. Ibsen graduated from Grand View Seminary in Des Moines, Iowa and became pastor of six Midwestern churches during the 40s, 50s and 60s.
Ibsen said her father did not require his children to practice his religion and encouraged them to seek their own spirituality.
“Because my Dad was a Lutheran minister, we went to church every Sunday, but when I went away to college, to my surprise he suggested that I attend other churches so that I would be exposed to different faiths,” said Ibsen.
“He wanted his children to have a religion that was chosen, real and meaningful to them because that was much more important than appearances,” said Ibsen, who did graduate work in religion and literature at the University of Chicago and completed the theological education program in Episcopal lay ministry at the University of the South school of theology in Sewanee, TN.
The mother of three grown children and two grandchildren, Ibsen says her parents “have been models for my own parenting.”
The Ibsen children were anything but the traditional “preacher’s kids” due to the unconventional child-rearing views her dad held in the conventional 1940s and 1950s. Her dad’s view of raising children was different from many fathers as shown in his comments at the weddings of Ibsen and her sister, Karma.
“We always enjoyed having Joy as a guest in our home,” said Harald Ibsen.
Joy Ibsen said “dad believed children are ‘guests’ who during their growing up years, lived with parents, who help and guide them but we were not expected to fulfill the dreams of our parents.”
“Of course, we had to comply with house rules because ‘guests’ don’t track in mud or stay out unreasonable hours,” Ibsen said of her upbringing. “Welcome ‘guests’ always lend a hand, help out, and they certainly don’t get spanked.”
Several titles for her second book were mulled over but Ibsen named it after the Danish hymn “Unafraid” one of the 48 songs in both Danish and English in her first book “Songs of Denmark.”
“Songs of Denmark” was presented to Danish Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary by Grand View University President Kent Henning during a ceremony in March 2009.
The hymn “Unafraid” was “sung in the Danish Resistance during World War Two – a time of terrible danger,” Ibsen said.
“Unafraid doesn’t mean a person is problem-free and it surely doesn’t mean to be reckless,” Ibsen said. “Today’s society is bombarded by all kinds of fears and we need to learn to live unafraid with confidence and hope.”
Well-known Christian author Dr. Walter Brueggemann described Ibsen’s father as “fresh in his thought, puckish in his style and grounded in faith” during his endorsement of “Unafraid.”
“We may thank the daughter for letting us know her remarkable father,” Brueggemann wrote. “Harald was unafraid as an immigrant who lived in a venturesome way.”
Brueggemann and others have said the book is relevant today because some of the same issues discussed by Ibsen’s congregation members are the same today including the bad economy, war, child-rearing difficulties, terminal illness, death of spouse, career choice, marital problems and loss of faith.
Endorsements of “Unafraid” were also written by St. Olaf College religion professor L. DeAne Lagerquist and retired Lutheran Bishop Emeritus Harry Andersen of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Northern Great Lakes Synod in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (U.P.).
Ibsen is currently working on two other books including “Hatchings” that describes “experiences of death and how it is similar to birthing.”
Ibsen is the editor and columnist for “Church and Life,” a publication of the Danish Interest Conference through the ELCA. An original member of the interfaith U.P. EarthKeeper environment group, Ibsen is a lay minister with the AELC Lutheran Church and an organist at Trinity Lutheran Church in Trout Creek, MI. She served as president of the Danish Immigrant Museum and is a participant at the Danebod Folk School.
Sermons used in “Unafraid” are from Christmas, New Year, Epiphany, Lent, Good Friday, Easter, Pentecost, Trinity, and Advent.
Chapters in “Unafraid” are based on Harald Ibsen’s other churches including St. John Lutheran Church (1960-1965) in the Danish village of Kronborg, NE; Immanuel Lutheran Church (1942-1948) in Kimballton, IA; and from 1936 to 1942 at the Diamond Lake Lutheran Church in Lake Benton, MN and the Hope Lutheran Church in Ruthton, MN.
Rev. Ibsen belonged to the American Evangelical Lutheran Church (AELC), formerly the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church, that merged into the American Lutheran Church (ALC) in 1962 that merged into the ELCA in 1987.
Ibsen manages Danamerica, a Danish-American website about her first book “Songs of Denmark.”
Photographs in “Songs of Denmark” are by National Geographic photographer Sisse Brimberg and a 70-minute CD of the songs was produced by the Grand View College Kantorei.

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Joy Ibsen contact info:

Joy Marie Ibsen

P O Box 43

Trout Creek, MI

49967

Call:

906-852-3479

email Author Joy Ibsen

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Author Joy Ibsen official website

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Joy Ibsen social and photograph websites:

Author Joy Ibsen on Facebook

Author Joy Ibsen on Twitter

Author Joy Ibsen on myspace

Author Joy Ibsen on Word Press blog

Author Joy Ibsen on bliptv

Author Joy Ibsen on youtube

Author Joy Ibsen on Flickr

Author Joy Ibsen on Photobucket

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Wipf & Stock Publishing: “Unafraid” by Joy Ibsen and Rev. Harald Ibsen

Wipf and Stock: Author Joy Ibsen bio

Wipf and Stock: Harald Ibsen bio

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Joy Ibsen, Editor of “Church and Life”

Joy Ibsen bio on “Church and Life“

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Danamerica is the official website of Ibsen’s first book “Songs of Denmark: Songs to Live By” with color photographs by National Geographic photographer Sisse Brimberg. Produced 70 minute CD by the Grand View College Kantorei

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Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig:

Joy Ibsen writes about four principles of Grundtvigianism

Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig aka

N.F.S. Grundtvig, Danish bishop and poet info on Wikipedia and Britannica websites:

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Pine Mountain Music Festival:

Joy Ibsen serves as vice president of the Pine Mountain Music Festival board of directors

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Media coverage 2006-2010:

Omaha World-Herald Preview story on 8-21-09 about Author Joy Ibsen talk to the Danish Immigrant Museum in Elk Horn IA

L’Anse Sentinel newspaper preview story on Author Joy Ibsen book signing on July 30, 2009 at North Wind Books in Hancock, MI

Superior Chronicle story on “Unafraid” on 6-18-09

Iron Mountain Daily News brief on upcoming book signing at Finn Fest 2009 in Covington, MI

Joy Ibsen honored in her childhood home newspaper Yankton Press-Dakotan in July 2008 during annual Danish Days festival for first book “Songs of Denmark“

Joy Ibsen first book “Songs of Denmark” is mentioned in story by Des Moines Register because book was presented to Danish Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary by Grand View University President Kent Henning during a March 2009 ceremony. The story “Danish royalty pay visit to Grand View” by Cynthia Reynaud appeared on 3-25-09 (requires subscription to read)

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The book “Unafraid” is sold online by publisher and numerous Windows Booksellers website and other sites:

Target

Tower Books

Boone Bridge Books

Amazon.com UK

Amazon.com UK: Harald Ibsen listing

Amazon.com UK: Joy Ibsen listing

Amazon.com UK: “Unafraid” listing

New & Used copies of the book “Unafraid“ on Amazon.com

Cokesbury

Kirjasana

Antiqbook

Biblio

Internet BookShop (IBS)

Other websites related to Denmark, Author Joy Ibsen or information in the story:

Danish Imigrant Museum

Danebod Family Camps & Folk School

Danish American Heritage Society publication “The Bridge”

Danish Royal Family on Wikipedia

Danish Royal Family on Danish Royal Watchers blog

Grand View University, (formerly Grand View College) a four-year, liberal-arts college affiliated with the ELCA in Des Moine

s

Grand View University on Wikipedia

Shimer College

University of Chicago

Paul Tillich, German-American theologian, Christian existentialist philosopher on Wikipedia

Paul Tillich on theology website

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)

Wikipedia page on the ELCA

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Friends of Author Joy Ibsen:

Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard and Rev. Dr. George Cairns founded the nonprofit Turtle Island Project in 2007 to foster respect for indigenous people and cultures and to promote what they can teach us about caring and repairing the environment.

Rev. Hubbard is the executive director of the ELCA-related Navajo Lutheran Mission in Rock Point, Arizona. Rev. Cairns is a Chicago Theological Seminary professor who founded the nonprofit Celtic Christianity Today.

Read the Spirit, an online spiritual magazine with inspirational stories and book reviews created by David Crumm, the longtime religion editor for the Detroit Free Press

. Crumm established ten pinciples for his work that all people with a religion should read.

The many interfaith and youth-related environment projects founded by Rev. Jon Magnuson of Marquette, MI under the nonprofit Cedar Tree Institute.

Magnuson’s CTI co-founded the EarthKeeper Initiative, and founded the Earth Healing Initiative, Manoomin Project and the Zaagkii Wings & Seeds Project.

Zaagkii Wings and Seeds Project –

Native American and Marquette area teens protecting pollinators project:

Zaagkii TV on youtube

Zaagkii Project Story Part 1 Indian Country Today newspaper

Zaagkii Project Story Part 2 Indian Country Today newspaper

Zaagkii Project hailed as success by U.S. Forest Service

Zaagkii Project blog on wordpress

Non-profit Interfaith

Earth Healing Initiative: Numerous environment projects across the Great Lakes Basin in cooperation with the EPA, American Indian Tribes and local governments

Earth Healing TV on youtube

Earth Healing TV on bliptv

Earth Healing Initiative was part of the first EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge with youtube and bliptv videos.

EarthKeeper TV on youtube has EarthKeeper and Manoomin Project videos including stories and a Manoomin Project music video & more

Manoomin Project story in Indian Country Today

Manoomin Project Story in World Magazine

Author Joy Ibsen encourages everyone to live their life “Unafraid”

Viborg Enterprise newspaper

Viborg Enterprise newspaper

Viborg Enterprise newspaper

Omaha World-Herald newspaper

L’Anse Sentinel Newspaper