I’ve been fascinated by the strange loops that occur in life. Strange loops, often used in the illustrations of M.C. Escher, are cyclic structures that arise when, by moving only upwards or downwards, one finds oneself back where one started. The eldest of my brothers, Rick, and I have shared a lifetime of strange loops. In our twenties, I pursued training in software while he attended a Bible college. I continued my software career and became a public utility specialist. Rick led a Christian school in Zanesville, Ohio. As our lives looped upward, Rick left his ministerial position, and earned a degree in Information Services. He settled into a long career with Ameren, provider of public utility services in Missouri and Illinois.
My software career was quite rewarding in many ways; however, in my forties I chose training at Unity that led to a second career in ministry. That Rick and I chose very different career paths, and later seemed to “swap” from ministry to public utility software, and vice versa, was a strange loop that continues to surprise me.
We are all connected in ways that seem strange to our human understanding. Sometimes I think we are connected by ley lines of the heart.
Another strange loop has recently revealed itself to me. I watched a documentary on Amazon Prime named “Scientist, Artist, Philosopher, Buckminster Fuller: The Lost Interviews” and fell in love with the man, his talent, his philosophy, his vision and his kindness. So taken was I by what I learned that the next Sunday I presented an introduction to him and his work instead of the talk I had scheduled.
Then came the strange loops: Fuller was head of the Design Department at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale and we lived 5 miles away, in Herrin, when I was in high school. I took design at SIU while he was department head. My father had met Fuller, and we were familiar with the geodesic domes he designed in Carbondale.
Fast forward to my time here in California: my friend and Licensed Unity Teacher, Susan Frields, had also been at SIU, and her mother Gerry, taught there. They are known among our Sacramento Unity circle for having lived in a geodesic dome north of Auburn. Long-time Sacramento Unity leader, Phillip Pierson, was introduced to Fuller through Gerry and went on to write a book on the metaphysics of Buckminster Fuller. Ley lines of the heart.
I’ll be using Rev. Pierson’s book in a two-part series about Fuller this month. We’ll explore a life lived with intention, and fueled by deep faith. It only seems right to come home to the teachings of Buckminster Fuller, even if I looped around strangely to get here!
Please join us on November 12 and 19, and discover where the ley lines of your heart are connecting you! .
Many blessings, Rev. Carla