Greetings from the ultimate in "little boxes." I am writing to you from a small cubicle without privacy in the basement of a large glass and steel corporate building in Northern Illinois. On the shores of a lake a few miles away are row upon row of identical houses. Neighbors know each other only if necessity demands and that is often only if anger has preceded. Yet behind these rows, on the shore of the lake, back in the woods, is the unmarked grave of Joseph Beilhart. Joseph Beilhart, a scarcely known spiritual philosopher, with a small group of friends and family, established a commune that continued for many years after his death, built a large and comfortable home where they all lived together, and believed in the early 1900's, in the American Midwest, that marriage had become a form of female servitude which they were not going to accept. How did the locals of the area react? With compassion and acceptance regardless of their differences. That wasn't the case in other Midwestern locations. It doesn't mean they were more tolerant in Northern Illinois. It just means you never know. Despite Hurst newspapers' efforts to denounce them, the local community often attended his meetings and partook in social events at the "Spirit Fruit Farm." Mr. Beilhart was an amazing man, strangely close to Buddhism in his philosophies via his meditations into Christianity, and he promoted a very loving form of non-resistance. The community is long gone. I've been fascinated by this group and have pulled together a large amount of research on them. It is ironic that the very location of such a successful experiment in social living should be the same location where the individual is now lost in a sea of modern uniformity.

And yet, in this same group of houses lives a family with daughters close to the age of our own. They recently had a new baby, and we watched their daughters till the mom was out of the hospital. When we had a similar need, they reciprocated. We know and they know that should anything happen to either of our families, help is just a phone call away. To them, it is a safe place to raise their children and provide them with a good education. There home is their choice, and I think they'd laugh at being called "victims." It may or may not be the best choice, for them, for the world... Eco morality is another thread entirely. See you there.

Our own home is on a street that wasn't there fifty years ago and our house looks very similar to the rest of the houses around us (except for the Tibetan flag hanging over our door). Insulation vs. exposure is a constant battle within all parents. I challenge anyone who says they have the perfect formula, and if you have a perfect formula, expect chaos to make its introduction. It boils down to this. The human soul can never be contained in a box, physically, philosophically or metaphorically, and any time you are sure you know how "those people" are, radical republican to mainstream liberal, one of them will pop up and prove you wrong and break your box. Stereotypes will prove valid to every test except when attempting to apply them to human beings. And social efforts to contain are often the weight that strengthens the muscles of deviance.

I have a strong desire to visit Mr. Beilhart's grave and am making plans to do so. The grave and the location where the house stood is now in woods that are privately owned. There are No Trespassing signs posted. Figuring out a way to get on the side of the sign that Woody said "was made for you and me."
Gotta go. Boss coming.
Love,
E.B.