Article July 1, 1996 Issue

Tranquillity in Kansas City

by Kim Shippey

At this time of year, Powell Gardens in Kansas City, Missouri, becomes a green botanical oasis a few miles outside the city. Recently a new glass and redwood chapel designed by architect Fay Jones was built there beside a tranquil pond. The chapel is dedicated to Marjorie Powell Allen of the Powell Family Foundation, and offers visitors an extraordinary place of peace and renewal. At the dedication ceremony one evening in late April, David Holmstrom, a staff writer for The Christian Science Monitor, was invited to give a talk. Here are excerpts:

Several years ago, as a journalist, I attended a conference in upstate New York. One of the workshops was conducted by Thomas Crum, a man who practices aikido—a form of nonaggressive martial arts. He was there to offer a perspective about being in control, and understanding the positive aspects of conflict through meditation.

There were at least one hundred people in his active workshop. The way he regained class attention after each lively exercise was to strike a steel triangle; he held it up and struck it hard once. The transcendent, lovely sound —really a perfect, echoing note—was so piercing and resonant, and yet so gentle, that it was an instant attention getter.

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