Hyatt Carter
During our 21-year stay in Southern California, my wife Linda and I enjoyed many adventures. Two of those adventures were of special importance. First, our finding of Founder’s Center for Positive Spirituality and becoming part of that community under the inspiring leadership of Senior Minister Rev. Dr. Arthur Chang whom I sometimes refer to as Mahatma Arthur because of his effortless and omni-benevolent manifestation of the “great soul” he has cultivated and has shared with so many others.
How we found Founder’s, accidentally on purpose, is a story worth telling. One summer day we were driving east on Sixth Street not far from downtown Los Angeles. As we drove by a building, a marquee on the corner of the lot caught my eye and I drove around the block to make sure that what I thought I had seen was actually what was there. Indeed, it was. The legend on the marquee, announcing a sermon, read: The Dao of Jesus. The attractive building, built in a circular shape, was Founder’s Church. Since, at that time, I had an interest in both Zen Buddhism and Christianity, I thought that was a sermon that would be worth hearing. And so, on the following Sunday morning, with some trepidation, we entered the front doors of the church and walked into the beautiful and spacious sanctuary with its wonderful mural on the back wall.
We were at Founder’s for fourteen years and they were years of much joy, spiritual growth, loving friendships, and deep satisfaction. During those years I often could be heard saying that there’s no better place to be on a Sunday morning than Founder’s.
Though he stems from Jamaica, I sometimes wonder whether Rev. Arthur has a touch of the Irish in him, because of his wonderful gift of the gab. I remember saying to him at a convention we both attended, “You ad lib better than most of us can write.” A remark that brought a smile to his face.
While we were there at Founder’s, Rev. Arthur got his doctorate and I composed this little verse for him:
His sermons are priceless, the best you’ll ever hear;
Those who idle into Founder’s always leave in higher gear.
His words will lift you up, to a truth that sets you free;
That’s why on Sunday mornings, there’s no better place to be.
He brings us all together, as close as yin and yang,
Our beloved shepherd, and now . . . the Reverend Doctor Chang!
A summer highlight I remember fondly was the annual poolside party held at Rev. Arthur’s home, designed by renowned architect Paul Williams. Hosted by Rev. Arthur and his lovely wife Cecile, there was always a variety of tasty dishes, good conversation, and much laughter, and a cozy feeling perhaps best described by the German word Gemütlichkeit. In addition to being gifted as a poet, Rev. Arthur is also an artist of considerable merit and, when I first saw them at the first party, I was amazed at the quality of the paintings that grace the walls of his and Cecile’s home.
Then there was the music at Founder’s, always the music. With Bob Ralston, of Lawrence Welk fame, at the organ, Dr. Albert McNeil as director of music, soloists such as operatic stars Paula Swornay and Wardell Howard, Sunday mornings were a festive musical experience. I vividly remember hearing the debut of Rev. Arthur’s original musical composition, “I Found My Rest in God,” performed by Paula Swornay, and the visceral thrill the words and music caused as I was lifted up and my heart began to sing.
Among other most satisfying adventures at Founder’s I’ll mention these:
(1) Completing the three-year course of study required to become a licensed practitioner and forming an enduring bond with my teachers, Rev. Arthur, and fellow practitioners in the class. After more than twenty years as a licensed practitioner, I’m now a Practitioner Emeritus.
(2) Working on Founder’s newsletter, The Word, under editor Rev. Larry Barber. Those were most happy times working with Rev. Larry to get each new edition of The Word ready for publication. While there I created a page in the Newsletter called The Friendly Faces of Founder’s. Linda and I would take pictures of members before and after Sunday services and arrange and name the pictures for inclusion in the next issue of The Word. It proved to be a very popular page.
While working on The Word, I wrote articles on a variety of subjects, and one of these appeared in most issues. After the number of articles added up to a substantial number, I edited, expanded, and organized them into my first book. The book was published in 2008 under the title Thinking Is the Best Way to Travel.
(3) Serving on the Board of Trustees for two years and getting to know on a deeper level, through the experience of the monthly meetings, my fellow board members and Rev. Arthur who presided over the meetings.
(4) Along with Rev. Arthur, I had the pleasure of traveling to INTA conventions in three different cities (Las Vegas, San Antonio, and Norfolk) and presenting papers there on my developing understanding of process thought. A highlight of my first presentation, in which I voiced ideas that were critical of some of the doctrines of Religious Science, Rev. Arthur not only applauded, but gave robust applause at the end of my presentation. And, in his unstinted support of my talk, there you have that great soul I mentioned previously. I felt a surge of admiration for him, and a new understanding of him, at that moment.
(5) When Linda and I left California in 2010, Rev. Arthur, in a magnanimous gesture, assigned me a new status as a Founder’s Outpost Practitioner, a position I still cherish, and one that sustains my connection with Founder’s and Rev. Arthur.
As a kind of summing up of my experience at Founder’s, there was exhilaration in the journey from beginning to end, and throughout the journey, I enjoyed, and am still enjoying, many luminous rewards. Rejoice and be glad!
The second adventure of special importance was the discovery of process philosophy. In one of the practitioner classes, some general mention of process came up. I had recently, rather cursorily, glanced through an article on process thought in a magazine and I asked the teacher something like, “Isn’t there a branch of philosophy called process?” He suggested that I look into that and share it with the class. And so it was at that moment that the great process adventure began. And now continues, more than twenty years later. There’s much more to say about this, but that’s another story.
Thank you, Rev. Arthur, for establishing, through your enabling and nurturing presence, a wonderfully creative space at Founder’s wherein all this was made possible and could be realized.
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Hyatt Carter