Sharing of a More Personal Nature-- Reflections on Earlier Writings, Rare Family Keepsakes, etc.

I have made a decision to offer readers a significant number of excerpts from earlier writings, reflections on some rare family keepsakes, and a longer and more personal autobiographical sketch than I have made accessible in the past. Some of the excerpts from my earlier writings are pieces I have only shared with a few people before now.

The thinking that influenced me to make this series of posts can be summarized as follows:

a) these posts touch on many more personal experiences than my current writings—and as such may provide more “touchstones” for a wider variety of people, and thus more starting points for thoughtful, respectful, and constructive discussion
b) the times are critical, with many difficult challenges ahead, and there are many unknowns in my own current circumstances… therefore, it seemed like a good time to share these things….
c) these posts may provide readers with some insight into why I am giving so much of my attention to building The Interfaith Peacebuilding and Community Revitalization (IPCR) Initiative (see www.ipcri.net)

I decided to make this series of posts accessible on the Facebook platform, as the software there provides me with the most options for both sharing and editorial supervision. Note: I am still learning about Facebook , so while my intention is for my home page and my “Wall” to be exclusively for this series of posts, and reader comments, I may need to learn more before that actually happens. Also, for now, that means only people who are members of Facebook could access this series of posts. If that turns out to be too restrictive, and there are specific requests, I will transfer the series of posts to my worldpulse.com journal. ( I may do that anyway….) For people who can access Facebook, just search for Stefan Pasti, and you will find my Facebook page.

Here is a list of the titles of the 21 posts in this “Sharing of a More Personal Nature” series (posts which should be accessible at my Facebook page)….

1. Notes on the I Ching (a book of ancient Chinese philosophy)—and an Arrangement of Excerpts


2. Excerpts from Unpublished Manuscript—“A Timetable of Memorable Events in Popular Culture from 1900-1990”


3. Excerpts from a 7 page essay titled “The Cottage”


4. Two Short Stories I Wrote When I Was in 2nd Grade


5. An Introduction to the short story “The Spirit of the Sacred Hoop”


6. Excerpts from a short story: “The Spirit of the Sacred Hoop”


7. Work-in-Progress: “Calling ‘the better angels of our nature’….”


8. “Land Ho!”—“Creating Culture” and Educational Experiences with a Special Deck of Playing Cards


9. Some Responses to Outreach Done with the “Durham Village” Concept, etc.


10. How Modern Agriculture-Based Villages Can Contribute to the Continuity of Peaceful Human Settlements


11. “A ‘Branching’ of American Culture” (Commentary, Part of the Agriculture-Based Villages Outreach Package


12. An Autobiographical Sketch (written in August, 2009)


13. Two Items from a Kitchen Bulletin Board


14. A List (with commentary) of Phraseology Commonly Used by My Father


15. Some Glimpses into My Father’s Philosophy (notes from one of his files)


16. Two Excerpts from “The Last Map of Root Man Charlie”)


17. A Tribute to My Father—from Funeral Services (1/4/96) at National Presbyterian Church (D.C.)


18. Invitation to Hospitality House Square Dance Fundraiser (1985)—Published in Watauga Democrat (Boone, NC) as a Paid Advertisement


19. My Mother’s Report Cards—from when she was 8 (in 1937)


20. Where Does Love Come From? (a song)


21. New Document titled “Divine Intervention: A Collection of Quotations from ‘Sathya Sai Speaks’”

While it is a common procedure at Facebook to make comments directly to the posts, I hope that if readers find inspiration from something in this series, they will think of a way to carry the discussion back to worldpulse.com, and make it a part of a building process, so that the inspiration can have practical and beneficial consequences in someone’s everyday life—and in someone’s community life.

For Peacebuilding and Community Revitalization,

Stefan Pasti