A LETTER TO JUDY WATERS('60MM) ABOUT BEDE GRIFFITH

A LETTER TO JUDY WATERS('60), by Linda Mary Montano('60)

Dear Judy,

For about 30 years I was involved in Easter Theologies and in the last decade have been exploring a way to merge my newly discovered Roman Catholic roots with Hindu/Buddhist teachings. The internet has been a great resource and I found online, Father Bede Griffith, who has been a mentor for me in this ongoing/delicate process.
But here is the real story. I was invited to write an article about my art for a journal, and I chose to explore art&the brain and because Bede Griffith talks so eloquently about the brain, I included (see below) a transcribed You Tube essay by him. My thinking is that artists use the intuitive brain which keep us out of the often troubling discursive mind. Father Bede says it very well and talks about how his stroke brought him to a surrendered place which I posit is similar to the artist's mind-home when creating. Bede Griffith indicates that his PURE LOVE BRAIN was medically induced and I believe,his PURE LOVE was certainly contemplatively pre-practiced; and I indicate in the article that the artist's small "Love" can be creatively induced via art practice. Back to the real story: in transcribing the audio from You Tube, which I had seen/listened to many many times, but because of his accent, I never really heard your name, LO AND BEHOLD!!!!! Bede Griffiths mentions you, JUDY WATERS!!!!!! You were FATHER BEDE GRIFFITH'S NURSE!!!!! The syncronicity was incredible and now I am even more committed to asking you to allow me to visit his Ashram with you in India sometime!!!(You were on your way there after our 50th Full Circle reunion, correct?)
Judy, please mentor me?
In the spirit of MOTHER MARY JOSEPH'S good humor,
Linda



FATHER BEDE GRIFFITH: " Last January, I had this experience of what medically they call a stroke. It means death of the mind. Suddendly a terriffic force hit me and the mind went like that.(demonstrates, see You Tube) And I was laid out for about a week. People thought that I was going to die and I thought I was going to die which was very important...and then I slowly began to come back and as I was coming back I had the premonition that I was going to die. I said the proper prayers ....and waited and nothing happnened and so I got (Shamla ?) to massage me and I came back to normal and then I felt a need to surrender and it was interesting. "SURRENDER TO THE MOTHER". It came very clearly, "SURRENDER TO THE MOTHER." And I made this act of surrender and a kind of wave of love overwhelmed me. There was a friend, a nurse, Judy Waters, looking after me....and I called out, "I've been overwhelmed with love and I don't know if I can weather and survive it." It was such a tremendous hurricaine. I think it was simply an opening to the unconscious. A call to the feminine simply opened up.That was real death of the mind...and from that time onwards, I've never really been in the dualistic mind. Something is always beyond it....What my experience taught me was that when everything else goes you discover this love which is in you all the time. It's there, deep down there, and you know nothing about it. But let everything go and it comes.
And I got a tremendous insight into Jesus on the Cross through this. It was very interesting and the words, "MY GOD , MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?" came. That was the climax for him. I think it was at that moment he lost everything: his disciples had fled, the Jews were all against him, his people rejected him and now he had to let go of his God. "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?" And the moment he let go of God and faced death, darkness , nothingness he was taken into total love...That is the experience of death. Behind all death is the tremendous power of love. Everybody has got it in them if they could only find it but the mind is controlling all the time and won't let it through. But somebody has to hit you on the head to awaken you to, " I am no longer afraid of death or accidents or illness; they are all incidents which love can use to reveal itself."
I think that when people die, they are all afraid of so many things. But what you face is unconditional love. That is the Judgment. It's unconditional love which is very demanding. It doesn't let you do whatever you like. Love demands Love. You're called! Some people just cannot respond. But for most people it's so powerfull you just have to give way and surrender. That's what we're called to do."