History is the heritage and patrimony of mankind in its lessons of the past that give priceless inspiration for the future — Henry Clausen
Sometimes the past meets the present and the future in one place in time. One of the wonders of my childhood was visiting Chautauqua Institution. My sister worked there at the summer home of her English teacher as a housekeeper. Chautauqua represents a magical place for me and so many other people. It has a rich history.
Chautauqua Institution was founded in 1870’s by inventor Lewis Miller and Methodist Bishop John Heyl Vincent. It was initially named the Chautauqua Lake Sunday School Assembly. This perfectly represents the intersection of science and religion that has remained so crucial to the Institution since its beginning. It has a summer season filled with many speakers, a symphony, ballet, opera and more. Many students go there to learn their art. I just visited there recently to attend their Sunday church service and walk the grounds, rekindle old memories and friendships from years past.
Visiting this amazing place is like going back in time because it has many Victorian homes – the painted ladies! Every street is like a visit to the 1850’s. Many US Presidents have spoken there. Thomas Edison had a residence there.
Most of the people I have known over the years are “doers” and they have accomplished many important things with their lives. They are candlelight worshippers and those who serve the Light but don’t know what that means.
I moved back to the Jamestown area in my twenties for several years and have written about some of those experiences. All of these things have made me who I am. I don’t regard myself as a very unique person. Although I do tend to have this sort of reverence for all things in my life. It makes my life magical too. I am in the hopes of having a magical mystical experience for you too, when you come to the Divine Insight Grace Path and have a place to know that God is real for you. You can do the same things that I do. You can count the things that are the fabric of your life and enjoy that which makes you magical, unique and filled with amazing experiences. Then you can begin to really appreciate who and what you really are. You can begin to discover your authentic self.
There may be many folks in your life who are the most special and wonderous people who are better than their highest selves to you. They contribute something very amazing so that you have hope in your heart. The path to discovery can help you find out what your filters make you: male/female, blue party/red party, thin/portly, young/old, cat lover/dog lover and on and on. In Heaven someday, these things will all fall away and you can see who you really are and God and his holy Angels will help you to soften your hard edges that separate you from the true and most holy and scared love you could ever imagine. It’s like a blanket of love that I wrap myself up in every day. What can you do with your imagination?
One of God’s favorite sayings is “soften thy countenances”! We all have met people who are very rough around the edges and in our faces way to much! Social media has not helped the wellness of people in that regard. Take heart that someday they will account for the types of personalities that cause harm to everyone they meet.
If you want to really experience life some would say you should “look at life through the eyes of a child”. There are those who would take advantage of children, or yell at them or hit them for being what a child really is. When my children were small, I used to think that other people thought they should act like 70-year-olds when they were just being what they were at the time: children full of life and fun. They were perfect discovery beings for the Montessori School that they attended. It just happened to be located at our church on weekdays. Someday we’ll look into more about the contribution of Maria Montessori to the way children should be treated and taught in school.
So there we are. This is our brief visit today. There are so many fine things in this world to love, discover and cherish. You already know this, right? If we really appreciate what we have, help those who cannot help themselves and give what we can to the really poor then we can make the world a better place. Kindness! So simple but the importance of some of the basic things we once took for granted are becoming more treasured as they seem to go lacking in society, depending on your perspective. In the coming years these things will spread into all aspects of our culture because so many people are spreading kindness today.
We are about the future. You are the future to people who have walked this world in the past. You are the present. Life happens in the present. Your relatives and ancestors who have passed will welcome you home someday and they will let you know how proud they are of you. They have learned very much and been made whole since you last saw them.
God bless you on your journey. Try to see the world as God sees it. He sees the people of the world with love and so you should too. So many people have contributed to this American Dream to get us to this point. It’s sometimes difficult to think about what people have given to make the world a better place. When you think about all of the gracious things in the kingdom all of the negatives get pushed away. Fill your life with the best thoughts, words and deeds possible!
The following is a story about Palestine Park. It has a very unique and precious history:
Palestine Park is a scale model of the Holy Land, including cities, hills, rivers, and seas, in approximately correct geographical relation on the grounds of Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York. Palestine Park is laid out along the southwestern side of Chautauqua Lake, which takes the place of the Mediterranean Sea. This creates a rotated version of the actual land, which is on the east coast of the Mediterranean. A large mound of stones represents Mount Hermon, with an artificial stream representing the Jordan River as it flows south from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea. Small hills represent biblical landmarks such as Mount Tabor and the Mount of Olives, with markers representing sites of biblical significance including Jacob’s Well, Jericho, Bethsaida and a scale model of Jerusalem in the time of Jesus complete with a small replica of the ancient Jewish Temple.
The park was one of Chautauqua’s first landmarks. In 1874, Chautauqua founder Rev. John Heyl Vincent gave his friend Dr. W. W. Wythe the task of laying out Palestine Park as a visual aid for teaching biblical history and geography to the Sunday School teachers that were Chautauqua’s first visitors. In the nineteenth century, people arrived at Chautauqua via ferryboats and disembarked at Palestine Park so that their first footsteps were on the Holy Land as though they were pilgrims going up to Jerusalem; an actual journey to the Land of Israel was well beyond the financial ability of most Americans in that era.
The park has been reconstructed many times over the years. The present Palestine Park is 350 feet long with a scale of 21 inches to 1 mile. The park is a contributing property in the Chautauqua Institution Historic District.
