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It's just after seven in the morning. No one else is awake here. I've a cup of tea and the sound of pounding rain outside to keep me company. I am very conscious right now of how alone we all are in the world.
In the midst of my cognitive dissonance the other day, I kept coming back to one phrase over and over in my wandering mind. That day, I named a post for it, but in my typical randomness did not explain it.
We live, each of us, in our own silent worlds.
To put it another way, nobody can get into your skull but you. The silence I mean is our interior silence.
Silence is necessary for contemplation, for the interior life. Silence and stillness evoke holiness. It's not that we can block out the noise of the world, or even that we don't need it or want it in our lives. Humans remain tribal animals. In one sense, we are at our best and most effective when we act in groups. And parties by ourselves are rarely very satisfying.
Sometimes we must dwell in ourselves, in our own silent world, just to keep our minds and our souls operating correctly. Serenity within (a nearly impossible goal, I find) promotes serenity in the world. Imagine a world where everyone could dwell in silence from time to time. Imagine a world where everyone took the time to quiet their seething brains and just... be for a while.
As the great sage Amenemope said more than 3000 years ago, "Fill yourself with silence; you will find life and your body shall flourish upon the earth." You will find life. Too often we think of life as movement. I am a human being, not a human is, after all. We live our lives like rushing waters seeking the sea.
Sometimes, we need to meander into an eddy.
It's a delicious irony to me that my sponsor for RCIA is named Eddie Carpenter. Work it out. That God, He's a tricky one.
In just over twelve hours I shall be baptised into a new community. There will be hundreds, perhaps a thousand, people there. Some are core members of the parish community; I know many of them already. Some are more distant members, the Catholics that only attend church at Easter and Christmas. Some aren't members at all; they're friends and relatives of those undergoing baptism or confirmation into the Church, or they're the curious or the hungry.
All of them are welcome. In twelve hours.
Between then and now, the world goes one. I've got to do some laundry, maybe vacuum. At 10:30 or so we're going to the church to practice and make sure everyone has their cues right.
There is another community here, of course. Friends are coming over in the evening to attend my baptism. Kevin flew in from California, God bless him. Janet's driving in. Brother Theo's coming (hopefully bringing my daughter Victoria with him). And Francine and her daughter Michaela will attend as well.
For those keeping track, that's a Christian, a Shaman, an Agnostic, a Pagan, a (Catholic) Christian, and a Jew.
They are, each of them, on their own road, their own interior road. In a sense, it's the same road. There is only one road, after all, but each traveller is veiled from the other by their own silence.
How can one describe the road? I've tried. You can't. The road that can be described is not the eternal road.
That God, He's a tricky one.
Like Pilate, we are each of us looking for Truth. God is veiled from us, but the veil, I think, is the one we put over our own eyes.
In the midst of my cognitive dissonance the other day, I kept coming back to one phrase over and over in my wandering mind. That day, I named a post for it, but in my typical randomness did not explain it.
We live, each of us, in our own silent worlds.
To put it another way, nobody can get into your skull but you. The silence I mean is our interior silence.
Silence is necessary for contemplation, for the interior life. Silence and stillness evoke holiness. It's not that we can block out the noise of the world, or even that we don't need it or want it in our lives. Humans remain tribal animals. In one sense, we are at our best and most effective when we act in groups. And parties by ourselves are rarely very satisfying.
Sometimes we must dwell in ourselves, in our own silent world, just to keep our minds and our souls operating correctly. Serenity within (a nearly impossible goal, I find) promotes serenity in the world. Imagine a world where everyone could dwell in silence from time to time. Imagine a world where everyone took the time to quiet their seething brains and just... be for a while.
As the great sage Amenemope said more than 3000 years ago, "Fill yourself with silence; you will find life and your body shall flourish upon the earth." You will find life. Too often we think of life as movement. I am a human being, not a human is, after all. We live our lives like rushing waters seeking the sea.
Sometimes, we need to meander into an eddy.
It's a delicious irony to me that my sponsor for RCIA is named Eddie Carpenter. Work it out. That God, He's a tricky one.
In just over twelve hours I shall be baptised into a new community. There will be hundreds, perhaps a thousand, people there. Some are core members of the parish community; I know many of them already. Some are more distant members, the Catholics that only attend church at Easter and Christmas. Some aren't members at all; they're friends and relatives of those undergoing baptism or confirmation into the Church, or they're the curious or the hungry.
All of them are welcome. In twelve hours.
Between then and now, the world goes one. I've got to do some laundry, maybe vacuum. At 10:30 or so we're going to the church to practice and make sure everyone has their cues right.
There is another community here, of course. Friends are coming over in the evening to attend my baptism. Kevin flew in from California, God bless him. Janet's driving in. Brother Theo's coming (hopefully bringing my daughter Victoria with him). And Francine and her daughter Michaela will attend as well.
For those keeping track, that's a Christian, a Shaman, an Agnostic, a Pagan, a (Catholic) Christian, and a Jew.
They are, each of them, on their own road, their own interior road. In a sense, it's the same road. There is only one road, after all, but each traveller is veiled from the other by their own silence.
How can one describe the road? I've tried. You can't. The road that can be described is not the eternal road.
That God, He's a tricky one.
Like Pilate, we are each of us looking for Truth. God is veiled from us, but the veil, I think, is the one we put over our own eyes.
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![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-26 03:53 pm (UTC)===Blessings on your path...I have a great respect for the Catholics that get it....and I consider the path quite honorable.
All the best..
Date: 2005-03-26 04:03 pm (UTC)I often think that people should be baptised or confirmed as adults, not as 'tweens' or infants, but the chances of that.. well..
I hope you find your chosen path enlightening and fulfilling.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-26 04:59 pm (UTC)brilliant
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-26 05:18 pm (UTC)I find myself asking what your expectations are for this ceremony. What does it mean to you? Obviously, it's not just some ordinary sunday, not even some ordinary Easter. What, if it isn't too personal and you don't mind sharing, are your hopes for tomerrow? I ask because I am interested, I'm not trying to invade your thoughts.
Another thought: we may not be able to get inside each other's heads, but we share something deep, a real connection. Maybe this is the essence of our tribal side, that we begin being connected as human beings first, and then as a result of our enterprizes, second.
ya dad
Re: ya dad
Date: 2005-03-26 08:51 pm (UTC)Re: ya dad
Date: 2005-03-27 12:23 am (UTC)Re: ya dad
Date: 2005-03-27 03:12 am (UTC)Re: ya dad
Date: 2005-03-27 03:45 am (UTC)Re: ya dad
Date: 2005-03-27 05:34 pm (UTC)I have gotten to be a better speller since using the computer spell check every day. The spell check never scolds me about my spelling, never tells me to look it up in the dictionary, and never embarrases me in front of the class. By just seeing the word spelled correctly, repeatedly, my spelling has improved greatly.
Re: ya dad
Date: 2005-03-28 01:42 am (UTC)Re: ya dad
Date: 2005-03-27 03:44 am (UTC)Re: ya dad
Date: 2005-03-28 01:41 am (UTC)i don't know why but i just do
Re: ya dad
Date: 2005-03-28 05:03 am (UTC)Re: ya dad
Date: 2005-03-28 07:23 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-26 08:28 pm (UTC)In The Miracle of Mindfulness, the great Buddhist teacher Thich Nat Han lays out the centuries old importance of stillness. I once saw him speak up in San Francisco (speak being a relative term -- he nearly whispers), and he likened sitting still to letting the silt from a glass of pure apple juice settle to the bottom: it's the only way to get clear. The Buddhists practice stillness and silence in community all the time.
Thich Nat Han also says that to be a good Christian is to be a good Buddhist. :)
I hope that tomorrow brings you spiritual awakening, vitality, and awareness!
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-26 08:39 pm (UTC)I'm alone this weekend myself - Jack went to Norwescon and I opted not to do so. It's different, and nice. A studio apartment gets small for two people and a hyper cat.
Strangely, impulse is pushing me to do my first ritual (or overt spiritual activity of any kind) in over a year tonight. We shall see how that goes.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-26 08:50 pm (UTC)oh and Beverly is bringing victoria up I beleive.
(no subject)
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-27 12:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-28 10:26 am (UTC)I am inclined to agree.
Best wishes, in your stillness and your change.
Happy Easter!
Date: 2005-03-28 08:00 pm (UTC)>the veil, I think, is the one we put over our own eyes
It could be that we are not blind, but merely wearing too big a hat, like Douglas Adams said in a book.
SILENCE... hail and skol...
Date: 2005-03-30 06:35 pm (UTC)Re: SILENCE... hail and skol...
Date: 2005-03-30 06:38 pm (UTC)Welcome to LJ!
I may have need of your promised brush in the not-so-distant future...
"promised brush" ???
Date: 2005-03-31 10:54 pm (UTC)