Monastery Rebuild Complete!
After six months of being hacked and rebuilding, hacked and rebuilding, and a little over a month since the monastery’s doors were re-opened on June 1st, I am please to announce the Monastery Rebuild Project is complete! Much behind-the-scenes work has been going on. Monks have been running around the monastery grounds wielding hammers and saws, and only sometimes using them on each other.
Here is a list of the changes:
• I’m pleased to announce the latest addition: The Scriptorium. Click the new red pencil icon at the top of the page and you will be taken to a compilation of all the Ken Wapnick workshop notes I’ve posted on the blog.
• Twitter. Visit the footer daily to follow the story of an earnest split-minded monk as he muddles through his process as a Course in Miracles student amidst the backdrop of the monasterial life.
• All the posts with my classes have been reformatted. Each now has a class summary. And there is now an ongoing comprehensive list of all my classes.
• You can see photos and read the story of an 1800s era Alms Bowl owned by a Tibetan Lama that resides in my physical monastery.
• I re-did my hacked profile. Click on the picture of the young monk in the Monk sidebar box to read. Zzzzz…
• The entire sidebar has undergone changes: Vetted for accuracy, links re-done for easier visibility and reading, and there have been several additions.
Ken’s weekly 5-minute teaching video is now available in the Ken Wapnick sidebar box.
The old “ACIM Monk Sidebar Links” has been renamed and moved to the bottom of the ACIM: A Brief History sidebar box. Any of the links at the bottom of that box will take you to the audio and video recordings of Helen and Bill etc.
The Reading Loggia has been added and updated with new posts. It now has a drop down arrow to keep our monastery tidy.
Below that you will find The Poet’s Corner; a collection of all the poetry in the monastery.
Below that you will find The Prayer Chapel; a collection of all the prayers in the monastery.
And The Picture Gallery has been updated with three new pictures.
• In addition to the new Twitter box in the footer, the Whispers in the Cloister section has been re-programmed so that there is only one whisper per line (no matter how long your username — so go crazy), and you can now see the first few words of each whisper.
• The links previously contained in the Monastery Library are now in their relevant sidebar box. The new Monastery Library is the List All Posts link in the navigation-bar (located just above the footer). In just a couple seconds you can scan the title of every post in the monastery. (Use ctrl-F to bring up your browsers “find” function to search for and find a post quickly.)
• The Monk sidebar box (the top one) now has a “Latest” section. This is where I’ll briefly give you updates as to the latest on-goings around the monastery.
• Also: As previously announced, the monastery has a new assistant. My thanks to “jane-admin” for her Governess-like work over these past few weeks, and for being as fastidiously concerned about things like typos, broken links, and alignment as I am. Finally, it’s OK to be fussy exacting particular conscientious. The entire blog has been harvested for paragraphal errors, duplicate posts, typos, broken links, missing YouTube videos, extraneous html, misalgined photos etc. Also: All previous posts with the title Temecula D1, Temecula D2 etc, have been changed to FACIM D1, FACIM D2 for continuity.
• The posts from the old temporary blog (that was up during the “hacked months” from March 31 to June 1) have all been posted. This, of course, includes the ever-popular — this one is for you, Nick! — Hackers Foil Furballs post.
• I have also added a bunch of new posts from 2007. They were taken from emails I wrote during when I had an acim email list (what was I thinking??) and re-worked into blog posts. Since they are two years old they’re probably not very good… the same thing I’ll be saying about this year’s posts in 2011. :)
Here are the links to those new posts:
Metaphor: Leaky Roof, Backward Not Forward, The Truth is Out There, Metaphor: Little House on the Prairie, Dear Monk: Why Teach?, Dear Monk: Why Bother?, No One Knows God, Dear Monk: Empty Dream Figures, Dear Monk: Process and Pain, Ken Wapnick as a Symbol, Dear Monk: Depressed and Peaceful, Pushing Love Away, Dear Monk: First Same Then Spirit, Dear Monk: Worldly Suffering, Dear Monk: Scared of Love, FACIM D1: Bach to Basics, FACIM D2: ACIM is Not Our Friend, FACIM D3: Kinky Sex is Outrageous, FACIM D4: The Savage Search for Sin, FACIM D5: Roscoe Memories, FACIM D6: ACIM is Not Important
If anyone has a picture they think would poifectly fit an un-pictured post, please send it and the title of the post to emm-admin. She won’t be able to reply to submissions (unless it is used, and then you will be notified and thanked profusely), but we thank you for your suggestions.
In the past month we have thwarted three hack attempts. The worst was about a week ago when hackers from Moscow made 10 attempts in 5 minutes. Go security team!
With all these changes done we will return to the days of fewer “update” posts, and more, uh, normal posts.
The monastery is rebuilt, and in better shape than ever, thanks to your interest and support. I hope the new additions and changes help make it a more peaceful, helpful and nurturing place for ACIM monks everywhere.
July 6th, 2009 at 12:40 am
The Scriptorium is great! Sitting here in my monastery quarters with a cozy kitten curled beside me as I peruse the notes.
Many thanks Monk!
B
July 6th, 2009 at 7:33 am
What an incredible job! It has the feel of catacombs (with more light, of course). There seem to be new pathways everywhere. Hope I can drop enough breadcrumbs; wouldn’t want to think I am lost for a second time ;)
And Hurray for foiling the hackers!! Great job Security!!
July 6th, 2009 at 7:51 am
Oh Venerable Monk,
You know what’s weird? For the six months since I’ve been coming to monastery, I really feel like I’ve found a home where my heart can rest in quiet solitude and peace. I always wondered what living in a monastery would be like (but never thought it was a viable option for me in my life), but in a real way, it feels like I’m getting that experience. Thank you for all your efforts—and for protecting us with that freakin awesome kitty security team.
Nick
p.s.–if this is a monastery, are you the Abbot?
p.p.s.–if anyone wants to start a monastery house jazz quartet, I play drums.
July 6th, 2009 at 8:14 am
Lots of goodies here. I best watch my tendency to make goodies into idols! :) Thanks, dear Monk.
July 6th, 2009 at 8:20 am
Awww, Nick – your comment actually made me cry, because I feel the same. What a beautiful place of peace and guidance this monastery has become to me! In reading today’s post, I feel waves of love at the incredible generosity of the Monk for all his hard work in sharing such a thing of beauty and inspiration. Last night, before bed, I was reading ‘Castaway’ (one of my favorite posts EVER!), and at the same time listening to the music at the bottom of the post, and was overcome with the most comforting feeling I think I have ever had. I can’t express enough my gratitude for this amazing blog. It is truly a home for me. Thank you for building it Monk.
July 6th, 2009 at 9:05 am
No wonder you were so exhausted last week!
With Gratitude and Love that words can never express~
July 6th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Jamie, Bonnie, Jane-Admin, Security Guys and Benevolent Cats (Nice, Kitty, Kitty)…
The monastery is wonderful. Beats Disneyland. But, hey, I’d say you guys need a nap.
Whew!
July 6th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
I too love this Monastery, its inhabitants, and its leader, Monk. All sorts of “realizations” happen for me when reading, just as I hear happen within ashrams, etc. This morning I “realized” that the reason I love this Course is because: I don’t want to be happy, I love my misery. Jesus doesn’t offer instant joy, peace and happiness. (I threw all those self-help-in-a-day books away when I read my first chapter of my Blue Book. You know which ones they are…)
What He offers is a long play-time in my sandbox of horrors, my favorite things. I can spend as much time as I want looking at my hatred, misery and choice of victimizations. Immediate joy is not required, nor would I want it. If this Course was not difficult, I would have thrown it away with the others. It wouldn’t have held my interest like it does, nor be the compelling lifetime path it has become for me.
I quite suspect this to be His intent, knowing the ego as He does… As He sneaks in the back door of my heart, my sandbox will eventually evolve into the Peace, Light and Joy that I will have become, again.
July 6th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
i loved your comment, debbi! what a perfect description – ‘long play-time in my sandbox of horrors, my favorite things.’ can i ever relate to that! i have my baby-blanket in a death grip and i won’t let go. and i am so grateful that jesus doesn’t try to yank it away. there is something sooooo comforting about knowing i can hang on to it as long as i think i need it, and i can picture jesus (figuratively) smiling and nodding lovingly when he looks on my clutching fists, forever grasping at nothing… thanks for sharing!
July 6th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Wow! This is more than I could ever ask for. Thank you very much to you, to Bonnie, to Jane and to all the people that help you. Now we only have to write acimmonk.com, push a button, and there he is, Jesus with all his teachings and helpers and students. Thank you so much, all this really means a lot to me. I already visited the loggia many times and obtained a lot of help. But now there are a lot of new rooms we have to visit and enjoy.
July 6th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
I should add that Jesus is using this Monastery and Monk to do a great deal of his sneaking around… Careful, everyone, he’s very quiet. And I hear He’s carrying around a (monk edit: BIG) bag of Lays…
July 6th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Good morning, Jamie. I would just like to say I hope you are feeling better and that you got the rest you needed. I understand that you have been working through a bit of a “dark night” and wanted to let you know that my heart is with you. I, and I know many others, appreciate you very much but I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that you, too, are working your way out of this very long seeming dream. It is wise of you to know when you need special down time. Take care. Hugs and love, DonnaD.
July 6th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Thank You for The Scriptorium.
July 6th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
Twittering Monk – If nothing you see means anything, then it might just be time for a nap! After all that junk food, I’m not surprised!
July 7th, 2009 at 12:02 am
Love the Scriptorium. Great reference site. I made this my home page.
I urge you, Jamie, to refute the temptation to create a Vomitorium in the Monestary, although people may need to release a lot of toxic patterns and thoughts. Perhaps a more pretty analogy might be Dumbledore gently lifting cotton candy strands of his memories out of his mind with his wand and depositing them into a bowl of water.
My monestary (don’t we each sort of create one in our vision?) is a western prototype, based on Franciscan Brothers monestaries, Benedictine monestaries, Spanish missions in California, and a pinch of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts school. I confess I don’t relate well to the Eastern Buddhist (bald guys in red robes) schtick, but I still relate most to a form from that big bad white man’s western civilization. My monks wear hoods on cold days and love scaring children temporarily on Halloween. Certainly, all western monestaries had libraries of ageless wisdom, often hand copied into new editions by faithful monks as their chosen service. That equates to the Scriptorium.
Great achievement, Jamie. Thank you.
Will
July 7th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
I love it all. I love monastaries period. I love the posts, the music, my fellow postulants/novices/monks/masters…whatever we are. My heart opens and calms every time I visit and listen and read.
Many thanks again and again and again.
Here kitty kitty…(sneaking more treats to them)
July 9th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Thank you for the very kind and supportive words; glad everyone is enjoying the changes and additions.
Couple technical updates from Cody (our trusty web developer):
#1 Oratory: If every time you visit you have to click Submit, don’t click “remember password” function as this overrides the cookie. This way you only have to enter log-in info and click submit once, and page will bypass the log-in page each time you click the heart icon.
#2 For the few people who aren’t able to listen to Monastery Music on the main page (get an empty box), only in the Oratory… Cody said, “It’s likely a security setting not allowing the pop-up and/or Flash, or perhaps at one point they tried to access it when it was not working and they have a browser cache bug. That happens in Safari a lot, and also in IE. Usually you have to reinstall the browser.”