The following information is being supplied to you at this time with hopes of bringing peace through acceptance of religious cultural differences. This is an excerpt from a response to a new member who recently expressed to us a "concern" for our mental health state and a concern for our "negativity" all surrounding one statement made several days ago. WE trust that people will read this and at least try to come to an understanding that the Monastery is a place where there will be differences of cultural and religious training, beliefs and customs. We are not here to CHANGE or CONVERT others. We are here to SHARE with others and to have them SHARE with us. Hopefully this can continue to happen with mutual respect and people honoring others traditions and beliefs.
#1. My birth name is not Nanhi. My Spiritual Name is Mother Nanhi. Nanhi by itself has no meaning. My husband's Spiritual Name is Father Leslie. These titles were given by our Cherokee Tribe, not the Universal LC Monastery. Just sharing the origin. Also, we are not Catholic. And many religions and spiritual persons use the names Father and Mother without being Roman Catholic (catholic literally means "universal").
My husband and I asked for simple respect for use of our actual names. We asked for understanding and observance of our religious beliefs and practices. We are not here to change others beliefs, just to share our beliefs and to learn about others. We never said we were above anyone else. We never said we were God. This is how others decided to take this statement. As some noted, "That was taken that he is demanding". Thank you for noting that it is possible for someone to take something in a manner that was different than what the speaker intended.
#2. There are thousands of gentlemen here who call themselves Father and are frequently greeted with the simple name Father so-in-so, including the ever popular Fr. Carl Smith who continues on a regular basis to greet new persons as is appropriate and yet Father Leslie and I were told that somehow when we do this it is abnormal behavior.
Why?
#3. My husband clearly and simply, like many other married men here, has been subjected to females advances. He made it clear, as is permitted, that he is not here to be courted. He is not interested in receiving messages from women that can be directed towards me. This may not be your way. It is ours both culturally and religiously and we simply ask folks to observe that simple custom without trying to make us into something we are not. No conversion needed...just understanding.
#4 It is interesting that people claim they did not want "drama" and yet it was their own statements that created it. Perhaps a more low key reaction would have saved us all the aggravation and pain.
#5 When we start a new group or post a blog or poll to address an issue which has come up in conversation with others here, it is for the same reason that other ministers start new groups. This is the FIRST time in two years that we have been here that any of the nearly 14,000 people here ever complained. One tenth of those persons send us messages every day and tell us how much they appreciate the groups we have started over the past several years.
#6 As for certain new members who provided a "professional" analysis of our mental health, I think I will stick with the analysis of a psychiatrist that has known me for over 50 years, who once ran a 100 bed hospital and is now 80 years old. She is my mother. Perhaps you should also consider that a clinical diagnosis is best offered when one actually talks directly to the parties IN PERSON that one is judging.
#7 Anyone who comes on board and starts immediately analyzing people without gettting to know them is not very polite or professional at all.
Suffice it to say, it is never good to jumpt to conclusions. An ounce of pretension is worth a pound of manure and assumptions make an A** out of U and ME.
Not everyone is going to see things the same way and not everyone feels the way you do.
Thank you to those who took the time to listen and to read this blog...that is, after all, the sign of a healthy person.
Thank you also for not trying to change us into people you want us to be. This is a place of sharing, not a cult. Thank you again.
Peace & Blessings to you all with Joy & Wisdom of the Ages,
Mother Nanhi and Father Leslie
Partners in Marriage & Ministry