=zev056a This is Part II of =zev055a Zenith / Evaluation '05 / Draft 5 / Save1 Editted from =zev053i ----------------------------------------------------------------- SouPy CIRCLES & OTHER EPIPHENOMENA: As I note elsewhere, in Arabic, as in Hebrew, the same consonant serves as F and as P. And in Hebrew, vowels are in general optional. That proves that the SuFi order co-exists with its shadow, the SouPy order. [ Proof: For u I can equivalenty write ou , for F I can equivalently write P , and for i I can equivalently write y. Therefore 'Sufi' = 'Soupy' (Assuming, of course, that one can substitute Hebrew for Arabic.)] And that proves that the rituals of the SouPy order are optional at Zenith. I come from New Buffalo Commune, north of Taos, New Mexico, where we invented the Circle. Before dinner we would stand in a circle, in silence, holding hands. Anyone who wanted to offer a prayer would do so. There was never worktalk in the Circle. I was sitting in the Abode dining hall once and someone said, don't talk work at dinner. The Circle is an optional SouPy order ritual. At Camp it has finally been recognized as such. Of course folks should wait until the Circle is finished before charging to the head of the chowline. In the good old days at Camp I used to stand near the head of the serving table, so that as soon as the Circle ended I needed to make only a half_turn to my left while reaching my right hand for a plate. I don't like queuing. Queues is for mice. So nowadays I wait until there's no more line, and then take a scraping of each entree, with lots of potatoes seasoned with salad dressing. It is proper to stand outsdie the circle, or sit if one is tired or hurting, and listen with at least minimal respect. In workcamp the circle seemed to be required, so I made a point of standing outside it. I wanted to say: in my society, we do not hold hands with strangers, and some of you are pretty change. More precisely, in orthodox Judaism men do not hold hands with women. And incidentally, before eating bread we wash our hands, and before washing our hands we remove all rings and bracelets. So anyone wearing one of those slave bracelets could not eat bread. Hence a prisoner is released from the obligation of following the mitzvot (religious laws). And incidentally, that gong should be rolled into the swamp. Most Zenith Campers know how to tell time, and most can afford wrist watches. At work camp the regulars have somehow learned to use a wooden board to make a non_dissonant sound from that sawed_off__gas_tank. But still, it seems unnecessary to wake the residents of a small house with a clang that can be heard a mile away. I can usually hear the Camp gong from Campra, and sometimes from Aquacalda. At that distance it is almost pleasant. I was once told that Zenith retains the gong so that Munir's Space Cadets won't miss lunch. Maybe that was the year that I stole the hammer and brought back a rubber mallete. Needless to say, Munir would not have the gong down in the Retreat Area. In that catch_all of Jewish folk_wisdom called Talmud, someone says somewhere, "He who steals sleep is like unto a thief." -------------------------------------------------------------- The Internet terminal seems to have worked quite well. I have seen no instances where anyone abused it. It is properly made available to both staff and campers. In any event, some campers do a lot more work than some staff. As I may have noted, during work_camp able_bodied men should not hide in the kitchen, leaving the chicks to shlep the FYB's uphill. FYB's is 'Fine Yellow Boards'. Well, that's not the precise translation. They were originally waterproofed with something which should never have been let out of a test_tube. Don't ever burn one. When necessary, and sometimes when not, Zenith management can ignore rules of workplace safety. ---------------------------------------------------------------- There are many very promising future workcamp leaders, if Zenith lasts that long. They should be given more responsibility now. ---------------------------------------------------------------- DISHWASHING: The first job I ever had was as a dishwasher -- that was in Cambridge at Hayes' Bickfords in the late 1950s, when I was still in High School -- and from that I learned an important lesson: Never Trust a Dishwasher. Dishwashing at Campra ain't adequate, and at Camp I assume its worse. That would be one reason minor ailments run around Camp. Dishes should be washed and rinsed only in hot water, with no cold water added. To do that you need heavy dishwashing gloves. That means these Blue Line Charlie gloves, not the Yellow Line Isabella gloves that Zenith buys. Both are sold at the Olivone General Store (the one where Zenith has its Account.) I think the Blue are thicker, but the label seems to say they ain't. So if not, find some thicker gloves. That probably applies only to dishwashing at the Staff House, I doubt that water at Camp gets hot enough to require thick gloves. ---------------------------------------------------------------- As for trash bags, you must get the ones with the drawstring inserted, even if they are a bit more expense. It is much more efficient -- holds a larger volume if you intend to tie it off -- and of course much easter to tie off the two top loops than to knot the top of the bag. The ones with the drawstring are called QuickBag and have a yellow label on the roll. The ones without drawstring have no cute name, and have a black label. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Please do not block even one lane of the Strada Romana exit. Improperly parked cares will be taken to Lost and Found and fed to the CheeseStaff. -------------------------------------------------------------- LOST AND FOUND: This was inadequate. There was no clear location for the Lost and Found Box, and no location at which to report Found objects. I liberated several items from Lost and Found -- a yuppie Alpenstock, and (mistaking it for my Mea Shearim Far East El Cheapo, until I noticed that I now had two ) the CEO's Gortex windbreaker -- and had no place at which to post what I had taken. --------------------------------------------------------------- FREE BOX: In 1990 I first established a Free Box, or tried to, and Zuleika saoid, Oh Steve, I don't think Germans do such things. I have tried most years since then. Apparently they don't, my Free Box ain't recognized as such, and becomes assimilated to Lost and Found, and sometimes as one more place where Campers can put down their gear. ---------------------------------------------------------------- STAFF FREE LOAN FUND: I have tried to set one up, and nominally it now exists albeit as a Conto Privato at Bank Raifeissen in my name as sole signatory. I heard no opposition to the idea, although ZR thought it was superfluous, and a possible distraction from Fund Appeals for the HOPE Project. I also had no contributions to the Fund, although I did not attempt to solicit any. For further details, see =lonfnd1b.txt on www.geocities.com/sa73122c To date (9 Oct '05) I have not enlisted a co_signer. I've trying a 2nd person, I'll try 2 more, and then stop trying. ----------------------------------------------------------------- MAIL should be mailed every day, especially from Camp. Begging Forgiveness , and Forgiving, are the first step in 'Disolve et Coagule' ('The Alechemical Process', which I think remains the basic form, although less explicitly, of PVK's Seminar/Retreat Method -- especially with his focus since 1993 of using higher states to gain new perspective upon one's problems. PVK has remarked that it may be better to do this by Mail than by telephone. As it is, Mail often sits in Igor's Outbox for darned near a week. Personally, I prefer the old Outbox, but that was 15 years ago. Sometimes time don't go nowhere. Also, all Mail should be sent Priority, even if the Sender did not realize and sent it 2nd-class. Zenith can afford to pay for the extra stamps. Even though every dozen upgrades costs the price of a cup of Olde__Floor__Sweepings Coffee at Honest George's Restorante. And that should be made clear by the Zenith Secretariat. Priority to Europe costs only 30 cents more for an ordinary letter. ------------------------------------------------------------------ IMPOSING CLASS_ISM ON WORK: There are class_ist attitudes at Zenith. In past years it was the Polish people -- as holy a people as I've met, except for the Ethiopian Jews, and the American Indians -- who got stuck with what in Israel we term 'black work' -- throwing out trash, cleaning toilets, etc. Workers who do "dirty work" -- maintenance, and especially toilets -- should be paid more than other workers, or work shorter hours, and MUST have unrestricted access to showers. The kibbutz attitude, which I try to emulate even if most kibutniks don't, is: work is work, do whatever needs to be done. At New Buffalo, Justin Case used to say: If you see someone picking up one end of a board, don't even wait to see if someone else is coming, walk over and pick up the other end of it. A certain German ethos pervades the camp- Hierarchic to the point of compartmentalization -- rosh katan. So for a human perspective, its only me as a would_be Israeli, and the Polish people. And the Polish people have lost most of their spirit after the successive Nazi and Communist repressions. So when the Polish people see that the system is corrupt, they tend to work around it or walk away, rather than fight it. There is an inherent nobility in the Polish people. Given an honest system -- which Zenith sometimes achieves, though often loses -- they make an extraordinary contribution. They held the Camp together through the 2nd half of the 90s. (OK, ok, Wittgenstein got furious at Malcolm for saying, 'The British character would not stand for that', and replied, 'Haven't I taught you anything' (as Malcolm recalls in 'Wittenstein: A Memoir'), The prevailing attitude at Zenith Camp is "rosh katan" -- small head -- "and don't do nothing 'till somebody tells him to" -- And the flip side of 'rosh katan' is 'das is mein Arbeit' -- if you have a job, you do it, regardless of whether or not it needs doing. I am sitting at an improvised Shabat table in the Tea Tent, and some 'Jobsworth' -- as the English phrase it -- comes over and tries to wipe the table. My Bear Trainer says, you should not have grovled at him, he was only trying to do his job. The problem with rosh katan organiuation is that if a donkey drops dead in the parking lot and nobody in Management remembers to tell one of the Serfs to take it away, that dead donkey will stay there until its bones turn to dust and the dust blows away. People are much more motivated and energized if they are doing something at their own initiative, rather than because someone told them to do so. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Maya said, let them drink beer and wine when they want to, don't just lock it up and then pass it out on Saturday evening. ---------------------------------------------------------------- I can't imagine how anyone can get an adequatae night's sleep in that crowded Staff House. I say: Never sleep with anyone you would not want to sleep with. Also, a crowded house will pass around respiratory_transmitted diseases -- minor colds and flu. ----------------------------------------------------------------- According to our tradition, during the period of Sfirat haOmer, between the barley harvest and the wheat harvest in the land of Israel, all the students of Rabbi Akivi died, because they did not treat each other with respect. But others says: it was because they joined the revolution against the Roman Empire. ----------------------------------------------------------------- It is appropriate that people, especially WorkCamp staff, stay on after the end of Camp and of Workcamp. People need time for the re_entry phase. Otherwise, as R. Zalman has ohserved, we're in a "Wham, Bam, Thank you M'am" mode of spirituality. Once after an Abode Camp I was walking down to the Abode to styy for a few days -- even that seemed too coarse to me then -- and Fatah (Arifa) Miller said to me, "Don't worry, dear, the seeds are planted -- they'll grow." It is appropriate that participants are encouraged to particpate in the TakeDown Camp, and appropriate that people are encouraged to stay at Campra after the end of TakeDown Camp. Minimally, Campers much be enouraged to not leave on Saturday, but rather to stay until at least Sunday. And privision must be made for folks who wish to stay longer to unwind -- , at minimal cost - - that means, charging them only for resourrces they deplete, eg peanut butter, and not -- 'amortizing' I think the word is -- fixed costs on them -- eg land rental. ------------------------------------------------------------------- If an invidual has a problem, that is the problem of anyone who sees it, as_it_is_said (Old Testament), "Thou shalt not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor." Each Camp and even Workcamp has many trained healers, psychologic and physical. But it seems to me that often people with problems are not offered their help. Zenith Staff simply do not have the option of saying, "It isn't my problem" unless that problem has beem referred to someone who can and will do something to solve it, in a good way. And in a good way means, we can not betray spiritual seekers into the machines and drugs of the non_wholistic medical establishment. ----------------------------------------------------------------- It is time to ask why we built up and take down the Camp each year. Why not use a fixed camp. When I lived at New Buffalo commune, in Arroyo Hondo, 10 miles north of Taos -- still standing, I hope, and maybe still open as a B&B and Seminar Center, run by one of the original Founders, Rick Klein -- in those days, when the Indians wanted to help us zhold a prayer meeting, we would put up a tipi for it before the Meeting, and take it down after the meeting. I'm sure there is a deep truth in that. With the Indians, there usually is. They take down and rebuild the Zenith tents, but they never take down and rebuild the Zenith structure. In 15 years about the only thing they have learned is -- don't hit the metal sawed_off gas_tank with a metal hammer. And they ain't even hardly learned that. Even struck with a piece of wood or a plastic tent_stake sledge -- which gives you a harmony without the dissonances -- the sound usually travels from Camp to Campra. ----------------------------------------------------------------- For all that most Campers see of the mountains, they might as well be doing a retreat in a bowling alley in Hoboken . ---------------------------------------------------------------- OK -- if you permit people to Camp, you are responsible for seeing that they have adequate toilet facilities, adequately close at hand. 'Close at hand' also means -- for those nights when the dinner cook crew dropped the pepper pot in the soup. Emergency sleep facilities with adjacent toilets must be provided for those that got the trots. ----------------------------------------------------------------- As at the Abode, supervisory positions -- there, Works Commissioner, and Regent -- should rotate, so that no manager starts believing that that's what he is. In PVK's terminology, that is mistaking 'suzereignty' -- temporarily delegated power and authority -- for 'sovereignŒty' -- an essential attribute of one's own that one seems suddenly and miraculously to have acquired with practically no work. One might say: We have all been riding on PVK's wings, and now the time has come when we must try to learn to fly. Nirtan is an excellent construction boss, and very good at manipulating people into harmonious work teams. But he doesn't know where nor when to stop. Nirtan's strength is organizaton; his weakness is over_organization. He has to some extent tried to manipulate the entire Camp into a very simple harmony -- and that is perceived by some -- (ie me and one other vatik -- vatik is kibbutz slang for 'old-timer' ) as authoritatian. He tends to ignore the feelings of workers. The Construction Boss should not also be charged with running the Camp itself, except insofar as tents etc. need to be repaired. One sees with Mike and with Nirtan that this is just too much responsibility to put on one person. Mike should be invited back to help manage. The after_camp let_down can be quite bumpy for the Construction Boss, who suddenly goes from a position of almost infinite responsiblity and absolute authority, back to being just one more civillian. He goes from a position of superhuman responsibility, with thousands of details to attend to -- although a decentralization of authority would be helpful here -- to an ordinary state of responsibility only for himself. Mike used to call it the Breakdwon Camp, not without reason. call it the Breakdwon Camp, not without reason. PVK once remarked of Zenith Camp, 'You know, there are more psychologists here than -- 'people', I would have added. So some of those should be drafted to support folks on the re_entry phase. Anyone with that much responsibility is bound to make many mistakes, and if he is also on a spiritual path, those mistakes may haunt and weaken him when he has time to reflect back upon them. The Bible says clearly, The greatest source of weakness is a guilty conscience. Someone asked me, does the Sufi path have dangers. I should have said, yes -- if you combine greater activity with greater sensitivity, then unless you can also be quite tough, you risk being thrown off_course by little sins that ordinary people would not even notice, or would immediately drown in a pint of bitter. I always kept of few shots of schnapps in my tent, for just such emergencies. Shahabudin often quotes one of those old ducks -- I though it was Shamsher Bryn Beorse, but someone said, it was Joe Miller, whoever he was -- I regret my ignorance, so somoene tell me what I've missed -- who said, "You can get more stinking from thinking than drinking." It is essential that such a person find a new project to embark on when the year's Camp and Workcamp end. Otherwise he is very much at risk of a breakdown. A breakdown is largely a matter of "spinning one's wheel". As Justin Case once said to me, when I came back to New Buffalo but found that there was nothing that needed doing, 'All ready to go and nothing to go on.' A person who appears to be in a depression may actually be too filled with energy for which he/she has no outlet. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Katrina merits much creidt for allowing Pascale to stay. Pascale worked responsibly in every work situation in which I saw her. She showed excellent safety consciousness. However, no attempt was made to offer ther the various tpyes of healing available at Zenith. No Zenith Wholistic medical officer critically evaluated the crude tranquilizers that had more or less been forced upon her. Nor to deal with the sociologic aspects of her problem. Similarly, a woman facing a difficult pregnancy in a difficult situation received less free wholistic professional help than might have been available. ---------------------------------------------------------------- There should be a sort of Workers Advisory Board, that meets twice a week with the management team. --------------------------------------------------------------- A prevalent management technique at Zenith is, "the squeaky wheel gets the grease." That is, anyone who complains is appeeased. There is a tendency to try to appease any customer or even staff member who complains, however incorrect and unjustified the complaint. There is a also a tendency to tolerate malingers, shirkers, manipulaters, and even the occasional saboteur (ie, to belabour the phrase, half_assed__black_magician.) ----------------------------------------------------------------- In general, drums should be played only outdoors. That's what they were made for -- long distance communication. -------------------------------------------------------------- The last day of a week, at least as it was under PVK, can be for some a very important, very vulnerable time, when one has an opprotunity, but cannot save it for later, to absorb and retain the various teachings and blessings which one has received during that week. This applies especially to those who have received initiation. So those people must be assured a quiet environment in which to hear their own thoughts. That means no staff discos, no 'garage parties', etc. etc. This is a meditation camp, and that is the priority, the staff need to blow off steam must be deferred. --------------------------------------------------------------- I don't quite recall G.B. Shaw's aphorism on marriage -- 'the combination of maximized temptation with maximized opportunity', maybe my paraphrase was; "George Bernard Shaw, a bachelor' [ defined marriage as ] 'maximum chance of accepted advances'". The Zenith Staff experience, with all its Circles and Coffee_Breaks and 'Sharings' and miscellaneous group activities, and its compressed sleeping quarters and group meals, is rather an emotional orgy, which may explain why it draws in people who have rather little commitment to SO ideals, and less to plain honest work. So it seems to offer a maximum of emotional experience with a minimum of commitment. An emotional orgy. ------------------------------------------------------------- NEED TO BACKKUP ZENITH DATABASE ETC.: I don't know what backup exists of the Zenith files. My usual procedure is to make two backup copies, on two seperate floppy discs. Those should be stored in two seperate locations. In the case of Zenith, a backkup copy should be sent to the Abode. I also Post files to a Website, or to a Yahoo Briefcase if restricted access is important. This also applies to extant PVK material, in all media. One copy should be held at the Abode, and one copy at Sureesnes. ---------------------------------------------------------------- I would like to raise the question of anti_semitism -- that is, of anti_Jewish predisposition -- within the SO and within Zenith. But I would not at this point be comfortable asserting that it exists. Only that it may. A teacher from India once wrote, "My son, in the kali yurga bad thoughts are no sin." So individual thoughts and feelings and attitudes etc. matter only when they are expressed in action. Once upon a time I was beginning a relationship with an Afro_American woman. We had gone for the weekend to New Hampshire -- it was Sukot -- and she was speaking of her brother, a lawyer in Washington D.C. I said, Oh, so he's not just some nigger. She answered me very gently, but I realized the meaning of the Yiddish expression, 'Beis dein tzung' -- bite your tongue. I would say that the SO and Zenith provide am available vehicle for philo_Arabism -- although that can barely be distinguished from philo_Islam_iism, which would seem to be a perfectly reasonable hobby, no more eccentric than most others. Time was when it was not uncommon to see a few people at Zenith wering kaiffa's, which had become rather a symbol of the intifada. I would say that for many, the SO and Zenith serve as a sort of dress_up__party -- they get to take an Arabic/Islamic name, chant Islamic -- well, religious themes, although, as PVK sometimes suggested, a strict Islamist might be rather uncomfortable with some of what is done -- as I am uncomfortable with most of what is done at Zenith in supposed homage to Judaism. Of course philo_Arabism, not to mention philo_Islamicism, does not entail anti_Semitism. Well, I have just read through, once, Josef Jaffee, 'Nations We Love to Hate: Israel, America and the New Antisemitism' (Vidal Sasson Internation Center for the Study of Antisemitism, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Posen Papers in Contemporary Antisemitism, #1. There is much in it I would disagree with, and well_written it ain't, but it is a bit suggestive. Zenith romanticizes Judaism to the point of trivialization, but it tends to do something similar to Islam. And for that matter, to Christianity. Again, this is the 'Soupy Order' as distinct from the 'Sufi Order'. One would not charge PVK with romanticization nor trivialization (except in a few instances); quite the contrary. ---------------------------------------------------------------- YOLAND MARTINEZ, Apache/Mescalero singer/songwriter/teacher, www.yolandasdrums.com , Legends Alove Productions, PO Box 81, Las Cruces, New Mexico, NM 88004 USA, Telephone: +001---505-373-8642, FAX: +001--505--373-8655, ydrums@aol.com , She is for real, and a nice person. More or less on the level of Saki Lee, I would guess. She should be hired to do a week at Zenith. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Well, that's my edit of all the notes I've got. I've not left it in very good shape, but I don't have the energy to do more now. And I do have other things to do, maybe more constructive. I'm sorry for all the down notes. There was much joy at this year's Zenith Camp, for all that I missed much of it, spending too much time at Campra and too little up at the Camp. And there were many beautiful people. OK, it is very important to keep the community together. There will be a fork in the road, between those who follow ZIK and those of us, mostly of an older generation I imagine, who cleave to the memory of PVK and resist any other attunement. It is essential that this remain a fraternal branching, and that we all work together whenever that is called for. It is essential that everyone look out for each other. I was lost on the beach of Rodos for 3 years. I do not want anyone else to get lost. As I have repeatedly said, each person should take responsibility for at least 2 others persons. And each of those two others should take responsibility for two others, so you have 'interlocking triads'. It is not enough to think good thoughts and send good energy and all that, ESP can't get through to someone in an agitated state, they're bedeviled with psychic garbage. "Spooks haint's and hobgoblins, as Justin Case once said to me. So there must be clear realworld communication -- letters, postcards, Emails, telephone calls, visits. Sharif Graham once said, A Guide will do anything for his student. A similar obligation falls upon friends. Hopefully one will not often be called upon to exercise it. So stay on-call, like a fireman in a firehouse, waiting to be called out to fight a fire, and meanwhile trying to have an intelligent conversation with the firehouse Dalmation Dog -- but keep a six-pack handy for all those times when nobody needs your noble intentions. You know, with all we've learned, we could have some darned good fights -- that is the Tibetan level of the Nobles, the level of Plato's warriors. But above that is the level of Gold, Plato's Philospher_King . And of course that was PVK's level. So fighting might be fun, but we should really try to cleave to what we've learned, and hope that sometimes, if we need it and have stayed reasonably clean, that some of it comes back through, if only for fleeting moments. As Jesus said, or so they say, 'You know not when the bridegroom cometh.' Well ok. Of course we all miss each other. And of course we must all carry on. And now I'm an hour past Ma'ariv time, so I should walk out of this shack, take a quick look at the stars, knock off something like Ma'ariv, the evening prayer, and unwind with a bite to eat and maybe a hit of wine. And go back to Archiving the leftover Zenith '89--'90--'91 Master tapes tomoorow. Respects, best wishes, and gratitude to all. as always Stephen Benjamin Amdur. Z. =============================================================== sa, Campra, 9 Oct '05 -- 7 Tishrei -- 7 Ramadan L_shana t_ktav_nu -- May we all be inscribed for a good year. Clear cold night -- Milky Way when one walks above the lights of Campra ===============================================================