the ZEN Aluminati statement
Whom are we thinking about? Aluminati Update
Who are the Zen Aluminati?
The Monk with Dysentery
Sangha News On Death and Dying Memorial Index
Early Tassajara Alumni Home Page
Cuke Development Index
OUR MOTTO: Remembering friends, visiting the old, the sick, those in need and in time of trouble - even when we don't feel like it - at least now and then.
We're all busy and it's so tedious to get in a car to go see someone who's sick or dying or just old or who's had a death in the family or whatever, and that's why the Zen Aluminati are here to prod us on to do a little bit more than we'd do on our own.
The Zen Aluminati were caught napping when Del Carlson, in his eighties, spent three miserable weeks in a hospital without one visit. Del had spent every summer all summer at Tassajara being a hard working kitchen worker and regular zendo attendee. He's done a lot of hospice time for others too, especially Phil Whalen. It's not that no one knew where Del was - there was a wellness ceremony for him at Green Gulch. We were all just too busy. Del was so mad. He told me when he got out the first thing he did was change his will from leaving everything to the SFZC to the WHO. Now he's living in Florida.
I know there are many people in our wide community (not just Zen Center) who have dedicated lots of time and effort to hospice work, to nursing, doctoring, helping those in need. The purpose of the Zen Aluminati is to encourage those like me who avoid this sort of selfless behavior to do just a little bit now and then. And then maybe someday we may be lying somewhere staring at the ceiling and some young whippersnappers will come by on their way to the beach and hang out with us a bit. - DC
I did a bunch of lobbying back then in 2004 for ZC to start an alumni group which could, among other things, serve the goals stated herein. Now there's an alumni group. Of course the board members and officers who are trying to keep Zen Center afloat are hoping that the alumni can serve the traditional purpose of fundraising. But the alumni may well also expand the conscience of ZC. May no one be forgotten.----- From SFZC Alumni Retreat comments. - dc, 5-1-12