Eremos

This is the 110th issue of EREMOS magazine in the year 2010. I remember the first Executive Director saying to me way back in the mid eighties that the Eremos lifespan might be eight years or so. We thought back then that eight years was such a long time! Twenty years have since been added, and Eremos has seen many ups and downs as it has ridden storms of change and chances of fortune. Over the last three years the Council has been on the bridge covering much of the necessary work. It is now time to look at the strong position this has left Eremos in, and make arrangements for more paid assistance.

That is exciting news, because it strengthens the organisation and gives it room to change and grow. Eremos has always sought to explore the byways of personal spirituality along with the time-honoured traditions such as contemplative prayer, and now its mark is firmly imprinted on the face of spirituality in Australia. You could say, to paraphrase Robert Frost, that the Eremos route is a road well travelled incorporating tracks less known.

In this issue, Susan Phillips, visiting Australia from the US, gives us some tips for spiritual nutrition from traditional recipes. In two poems Noel Davis extols the gift of love and the joy of life, followed by Rob Brennan’s exposé of the water myths of nineteenth century infiltrators in this land, encapsulated in the catchcry of ‘Australia Unlimited’. It’s far from unlimited, as we now know only too well. Rob’s article is aptly followed by Don Meadows’ review of The Water Dreamers by Michael Cathcart, in which the silence of the land is encountered in its very dryness.

In a short piece, Maryla Rose expresses the desire for another way to live and act in the world—a search for the tracks less known on the moral map. Elaine Alinta then continues the examination of the evolution debate commenced last issue. In an article which exemplifies the courage of contributors willing to explore the darker side of life, a writer who wishes to remain anonymous recounts the consequences of his nineteen-year-old son’s uncertain steps in the journey to manhood, and the resultant pain and understanding.

Book reviews follow: The Things that Make for Peace by Heather Thomson, As One Voice—The Next Generation, a collection of music from Willow Connection and three reviews by members of the Eremos Discussion Groups, Like Catching Water in a Net by Val Webb, Unveiling Empire—Reading Revelation Then and Now by Wes Howard-Brook and Anthony Gwyther, and The Quiet Revolution by Peter Kirkwood.

In the information pages you will find, along with the usual notices, a letter from the new Chair of the Eremos Council, Kate Scholl, formerly an Executive Director of Eremos, in which she makes clear the choices now facing the Council.  There are also reports on finances and the AGM, including a list of the elected Council members. Read these reports and Kate’s letter carefully as this is time to be aware of the Eremos path, be it the well-travelled road or the less followed tracks of spirituality in Australia today.

Jacquie Pryor