Protecting one another's aloneness...


Tiny figure...solitary life in the midst of a very large world...look closely, and you'll see the person there...representing me...representing you...
We want, most of us anyway, to feel like we're "with", and not alone in the world. And in truth, we have moments when we experience what it is to be "with" another...in relationship, in family...in worship...but truly, at the deepest part of our souls, we are solitary in this life.
No one can really come into the secret place that is the heart and soul of a person. Perhaps this is why our yearning for connectedness can be so very strong, and the loss of connection so very painful...it reminds us that we are like the figure on the beach...walking a journey that is ours alone. We look for people to come along side, and walk with us...but they don't stay, can't stay...because they are on a solitary journey too, and their journey may call them away from us...will call them away from us, sometime...or, our journey will call us away...and our paths ultimately part ways...either in life, or in death.
As I walk along the path I find myself on, I'm continuing to read Parker Palmer's Let Your Life Speak. I am so very grateful for this small book...I'm not sure what else I could possibly read at this time that could get through to the place in me that needs comforting... Parker talks about "protecting one another's aloneness...", as if it's a good thing. I have to confess, I am not crazy right now about the idea of people helping to protect my aloneness...but I know that he's right, and there's not a thing I can do to change the deep truth of this principle.
Parker also says that we should best understand life as the cycle of seasons...spring, summer, fall...winter. When winter comes to you in summer, it seems especially harsh...and winter is harsh in many ways. In Parker's words, "Winter clears the landscape, however brutally, giving us a chance to see ourselves and each other more clearly, to see the very ground of our being." And, he goes on to say that we must get out into the winter, to walk directly into the harsh cold, if we are to learn what winter has to teach us. His invitation to brave the cold is an unwelcome one for me...I would so much rather stay inside where I thought it was warm.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Contemplative Politics

Image
I began writing this blog 2 1/2 years ago...what can only be described as several lifetimes ago, from the perspective of the events that have transpired in my life since May of 2010.   I won't take the time to recount those events, but suffice to say, I never imagined that I would use this space to contemplate politics, or the place that our political perspectives may take on the path of our individual spiritual journeys... To rightly share my story, I must go back in time to January of 2008, when I, like many Americans, first heard then-candidate Senator Barack Obama speak after his groundbreaking win in the Iowa caucus.  I remember the experience quite vividly, because I was mesmorized by the ideal he seemed to represent.  As I sat in a theater this afternoon watching the Dinesh D'Souza political documentary "2016", I was struck by the fact that much of our political consciousness is defined by what each of us projects upon the candidate of our choice. ...
Read more

Crawl into a box, and wrap yourself up as a gift to others...

Image
What if we could wrap a box of love, and put it under the Christmas tree? What would it look like? Would it rattle if you shook it? Would it be heavy or light? I am woefully behind on my Christmas preparations this year...there's no Christmas tree in my front room...no Christmas candles around the house....no presents wrapped, or even waiting to be wrapped! What is wrong with me?? When I was a kid, my Dad sometimes traveled for work, and periodically, my Mom would let me sleep with her while he was away...on those nights, she would tell me stories from her childhood...and one that comes to mind is Christmas. When my Mom was a young girl in the late 1930s and early 1940s, Christmas festivities didn't really begin at all until the week between December 18 and 25. During this week, the general mercantile store would add a toy department, and for just that one week...the kids would ooh and ahh over all the toys in the display window. Christmas trees went up on Christmas Eve, and of...
Read more

A question to ponder...

Image
Last night I was reading The Richest Man in Babylon , by George Clason. If you've never heard of the book, it's a classic...an allegory on the subject of how to wisely handle your finances. Sometimes when I'm reading a book, I stumble upon a statement or question that is totally unexpected in its impact, and last night was such a time. In this chapter, the story was of a young man who had squandered the money his father entrusted to him to begin his life as a man. As a consequence of his bad choices and seemingly insurmountable debt, the young man ultimately ends up being sold into slavery... While a slave, the young man has a conversation with the wife of his owner, and relays his tale of woe...how his life has been marred by "ill fortune." In response to his tale, the wife asks this question: "Have you the soul of a slave or the soul of a free man?" If you happen to be a Christian, or even if you're simply familiar with the writings of the Apostle ...
Read more