Sue Ann
Sue Ann
"Then he said to Thomas, 'Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."
Jesus
I walked by the peony yesterday (the one I have written about before) and as I expected, the blooms are gone. However, not blooming does not seem to damper its enthusiasm for being in this world.
Love God as God is - a not-God, not- mind, not-person, not-image - even more, as he is a pure, clear One, separate from all twoness.
"Beyond the grandeur is God."
A friend recently suggested that I might like the book, Meister Eckhart, A Mystic Warrior for Our Times by Matthew Fox. At least I think this is the book she was suggesting; it is easy to get lost when ordering online. In the first chapter entitled, "The God of Awe, Wonder, Radical Amazement, and Justice: Meister Eckhart Meets Rabbi Heschel", Fox writes, "We need wonder to restart culture because the modern agenda started philosophy not with awe and wonder but with doubt. Heschel claims that this is destructive because 'wonder rather than doubt is the root of knowledge. ' Merkle [John C. Merkle, Genesis of Faith] comments that a philosophy 'that begins in doubt will find it difficult, if not impossible, to include wonder.' This explains why we live in a society that is less and less wonder oriented, and why our educational systems are failing - and boring - our young people. Heschel makes the point that there is no word in biblical Hebrew for doubt - but there are many words for wonder (9).
When I first read this poem, I could feel the pear in my hand. I touched the burro's ears with happiness. I could see the kindly monk who would occasionally drop by. I find this to be a humbling reminder that it matters how we treat the world. It matters what we plant and what we eat. It matters what we buy and what we throw away. Who and what we care for. What work we ask our fellow creatures (including humans) to do day in and day out. It matters how we tend to our souls because that is how we tend to all.