So true and so often requires we abandon previous assumptions and 'knowns' that create patterns - holding patterns - that tie us in to limiting views of ourselves and the world.
Sasha did a recent post on how when we are locked in to a certain view of the world, we literally can't see what's right in front of us. Your poem was like a reverberation of that idea, but also the remedy. Dive.
Thank you, Kathleen. Sasha, and you, are right on. The famous Einstein quote is also relevant here: "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." I keep reminding myself of that when a certain issue seems intractable. And then, if I'm REALLY on it, I turn it all over to Source. (When I'm not, I just spin and spin and spin...)
"And then, if I'm REALLY on it, I turn it all over to Source. (When I'm not, I just spin and spin and spin...)"
Oh really? You can't always just hand it over and go about your day recognizing its all taken care of? 😂 I've wondered what I would do with all the free time if I really could just hand it over? Remains an ongoing practice, some days better at it than others. Best.
Hey, separately - I'm not sure if you sent a zoom yet? I haven't seen it - (totally could be me) but just checking. Looking forward to group chat. Best.
Hi Mary, I was cruising your substack looking for the poem where you said something about "..birds of a feather calling into an empty sky". I couldn't remember the name of the poem, but it was relevant at that time to what I and K. were experiencing in finding each other. As I searched, I came across your poem, "Epiphany" which was so timely for me because that's where I am now. "There's no knowing when a revelation will come..." I've been doing some deep diving and this really spoke to me. I experienced a kind of "quickening" because I was able to make some important connections. It felt really good to make some sense of things, and carried me forward a bit further than I am. I just wanted you to know how meaningful and timeless your writing is.
And now that I'm here writing to you, I also want to tell you how much I love that Sue Monk Kidd book,
"When the Heart Waits". The one thing I wanted to tell you was that the journey she was on, and the books and spiritual writers she came across were very similar to what I was reading back in the 80s and 90s when I began my journey in earnest with the charismatic movement. She mentions Morton Kelsey, Helen Luke and Hildegarde of Bingen. I'm not sure I even knew what I was doing back then, but I hoped I'd figure it out. Still working on it, but so grateful to have found you too along the way. xox
Rocket, your words reach me in the most necessary way. I seem to fall into regular struggles with purpose, and sometimes all it takes is a comment like yours to pull me back into alignment with what I know to be true.
I'm so very glad that what I'm sending out into the world makes a difference for you, and that you're doing the deep diving necessary to move forward -- that's the real win, in my opinion.
I keep bumping into Sue Monk Kidd in various ways, wondering what the message is for me, and now here she is again! If you have any clues, let me know! 😉 I'll check out "When the Heart Waits," as that's one I've not come across yet.
I'm so grateful for you, too. BTW, what is the charismatic movement? xox
Oh, I guess I "erred". Thought for sure that's the book of hers that you told me about.
The subtitle is "Spiritual Direction for Life's Sacred Questions." It must be the one I was supposed to read, LOL.
The Charismatic Movement was a big movement within the Catholic Church back in the 70s and 80s. It was centered around the gifts of the Holy Spirit. At first I thought it was "kookie"
because it included 'speaking in tongues'. I never was into that, but I loved the other aspects of it, prayer meetings, music, and silent prayer of the heart which has grown into Centering Prayer that the mystics do. It gave me a good foundation into that form of spirituality. K. is an expert teacher in this type of prayer, as well as the Welcoming Prayer, which also helped me a lot with the 'deep diving' part. Here it is: I'll have to text it to you.
Be careful what you ask for. LOL Thanks for answering me. xox
Ah, what duz it take? It just takes JUMPIN' IN! tho' the jumpin' is just the start... the challenge is of course the "findin' "-- What an interestin' tradition, findin' that symbolic source of LOVE by takin' a plunge! An' yes, it's not there fer the grabbin'-easy--the plunge starts the journey with the lake, pond...mebbe a forest or a crowded public square... bein' the media or medium--the anywhere! May we all find our “epiphanies"--in the plural (even those of us worship more heterodoxically!) An' of course, keep on jumpin'!
The jumping IS the start, isn't it? Wow, what a book! I'd never known of Halsman, though I remember some of his portraits. Such an interesting concept -- that the mask falls away in the act of jumping. (I have to laugh... my daughter this evening was wryly observing that every time a photographer takes a picture of her in airborne mid-swing -- playing volleyball -- her face looks like that of a dead fish. Hmmm...) 😂
yup indeedy! I think it's one'a my favorite books of Halsman--a great photographer in all ways but I love the way jumpin' frees ya up--a plunge in an' of itself! An' yet each subject's jump is unique--so like them--which IS a surprise! Ha, that's funny 'bout the dead fish look--I'm sure folks are lookin' at the whole body an' sports moves an' not the expression so hopefully it's not a "real" worry--I think that's literally why they have the sports option on the diggy-tail cameras that take a ton've shots in rapid succession so folks kin pick out the "least fishy" one an' hit delete on the fried clams!
"ridiculously fertile"--shucks, I love that (thankfully daisies ain't too particular an' tend ta even grow in the cracks've sidewalks!...includin' of NewYawk--like the song!)
You might have been better off not having grown up in a devout family. You came into a spirituality instinctively and didn't have to clean out all the cobwebs of prior indoctrination. So that now you are so able to fluently express this very special message that we all needed to hear. Thank you for sharing your epiphanies with us as you so often do. You are a treasure. xox
What an interesting take, Rocket! I've never considered that my lack of religiosity may have served me well, but I think you're absolutely right. It probably did.
Glad this one inspired. I treasure your presence, too! xox
Beautiful, Mary.
"but not the kind you think.
A willingness to journey
to an unknown place—"
So true and so often requires we abandon previous assumptions and 'knowns' that create patterns - holding patterns - that tie us in to limiting views of ourselves and the world.
Sasha did a recent post on how when we are locked in to a certain view of the world, we literally can't see what's right in front of us. Your poem was like a reverberation of that idea, but also the remedy. Dive.
Thank you. ❤️
Thank you, Kathleen. Sasha, and you, are right on. The famous Einstein quote is also relevant here: "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." I keep reminding myself of that when a certain issue seems intractable. And then, if I'm REALLY on it, I turn it all over to Source. (When I'm not, I just spin and spin and spin...)
I got some seeming intractables too.
"And then, if I'm REALLY on it, I turn it all over to Source. (When I'm not, I just spin and spin and spin...)"
Oh really? You can't always just hand it over and go about your day recognizing its all taken care of? 😂 I've wondered what I would do with all the free time if I really could just hand it over? Remains an ongoing practice, some days better at it than others. Best.
What?? You're human, too? I'm so disillusioned 😂❤️
ha ha!
Hey, separately - I'm not sure if you sent a zoom yet? I haven't seen it - (totally could be me) but just checking. Looking forward to group chat. Best.
beautiful and appreciated
Thanks, Kathleen!
Epiphanies certainly do not float like cream, to be skimmed off the top!
A magnificent ritual, a great photo, and a tremendous poetic inspiration!
Thank you Mary!
You're so welcome, Michael! Appreciate the comment and your presence! xox
Hi Mary, I was cruising your substack looking for the poem where you said something about "..birds of a feather calling into an empty sky". I couldn't remember the name of the poem, but it was relevant at that time to what I and K. were experiencing in finding each other. As I searched, I came across your poem, "Epiphany" which was so timely for me because that's where I am now. "There's no knowing when a revelation will come..." I've been doing some deep diving and this really spoke to me. I experienced a kind of "quickening" because I was able to make some important connections. It felt really good to make some sense of things, and carried me forward a bit further than I am. I just wanted you to know how meaningful and timeless your writing is.
And now that I'm here writing to you, I also want to tell you how much I love that Sue Monk Kidd book,
"When the Heart Waits". The one thing I wanted to tell you was that the journey she was on, and the books and spiritual writers she came across were very similar to what I was reading back in the 80s and 90s when I began my journey in earnest with the charismatic movement. She mentions Morton Kelsey, Helen Luke and Hildegarde of Bingen. I'm not sure I even knew what I was doing back then, but I hoped I'd figure it out. Still working on it, but so grateful to have found you too along the way. xox
Rocket, your words reach me in the most necessary way. I seem to fall into regular struggles with purpose, and sometimes all it takes is a comment like yours to pull me back into alignment with what I know to be true.
I'm so very glad that what I'm sending out into the world makes a difference for you, and that you're doing the deep diving necessary to move forward -- that's the real win, in my opinion.
I keep bumping into Sue Monk Kidd in various ways, wondering what the message is for me, and now here she is again! If you have any clues, let me know! 😉 I'll check out "When the Heart Waits," as that's one I've not come across yet.
I'm so grateful for you, too. BTW, what is the charismatic movement? xox
Oh, I guess I "erred". Thought for sure that's the book of hers that you told me about.
The subtitle is "Spiritual Direction for Life's Sacred Questions." It must be the one I was supposed to read, LOL.
The Charismatic Movement was a big movement within the Catholic Church back in the 70s and 80s. It was centered around the gifts of the Holy Spirit. At first I thought it was "kookie"
because it included 'speaking in tongues'. I never was into that, but I loved the other aspects of it, prayer meetings, music, and silent prayer of the heart which has grown into Centering Prayer that the mystics do. It gave me a good foundation into that form of spirituality. K. is an expert teacher in this type of prayer, as well as the Welcoming Prayer, which also helped me a lot with the 'deep diving' part. Here it is: I'll have to text it to you.
Be careful what you ask for. LOL Thanks for answering me. xox
Got it! Thank you... gosh, it's just beautiful. 🙏🏼
Well. Color me epiphanated. Some things are just best read first thing in the morning. Thank you.
🙏🏼❤️
Ah, what duz it take? It just takes JUMPIN' IN! tho' the jumpin' is just the start... the challenge is of course the "findin' "-- What an interestin' tradition, findin' that symbolic source of LOVE by takin' a plunge! An' yes, it's not there fer the grabbin'-easy--the plunge starts the journey with the lake, pond...mebbe a forest or a crowded public square... bein' the media or medium--the anywhere! May we all find our “epiphanies"--in the plural (even those of us worship more heterodoxically!) An' of course, keep on jumpin'!
(I like it thisaway!):
https://www.themarginalian.org/2010/11/24/philippe-halsman-jump/
The jumping IS the start, isn't it? Wow, what a book! I'd never known of Halsman, though I remember some of his portraits. Such an interesting concept -- that the mask falls away in the act of jumping. (I have to laugh... my daughter this evening was wryly observing that every time a photographer takes a picture of her in airborne mid-swing -- playing volleyball -- her face looks like that of a dead fish. Hmmm...) 😂
yup indeedy! I think it's one'a my favorite books of Halsman--a great photographer in all ways but I love the way jumpin' frees ya up--a plunge in an' of itself! An' yet each subject's jump is unique--so like them--which IS a surprise! Ha, that's funny 'bout the dead fish look--I'm sure folks are lookin' at the whole body an' sports moves an' not the expression so hopefully it's not a "real" worry--I think that's literally why they have the sports option on the diggy-tail cameras that take a ton've shots in rapid succession so folks kin pick out the "least fishy" one an' hit delete on the fried clams!
I've never thought of jumping as a plunge, but it is, isn't it! An upward one! Ooh, I like that. Daisy, your mind is ridiculously fertile ground.
"Fried clams" is hilarious! In most of her pics, her tongue is sticking out, too. I keep telling her it's Jordanesque...
"ridiculously fertile"--shucks, I love that (thankfully daisies ain't too particular an' tend ta even grow in the cracks've sidewalks!...includin' of NewYawk--like the song!)
Always there, yet unseen and un-questioned. I love your dive into this topic. ;)
I also thought of Sasha's latest piece...about seeing, wrapping your limited scope perspective around what you are seeing...
Have a wonderful Sunday and thank you for being you!♥
Always there, waiting for the discovery.
Yes! The tie-in with Sasha's is palpable. To really "see," we have to step outside the view available through our two eyes.
Thank you, SadieJay! And the very same to you...❤️
Mary, your essays/poems/musings always get me thinking (and feeling!) I love how you weave words together. This was a gem. 💎🩷
So grateful for your presence, Barbara. I feel exactly the same way. Thank you. xox
Mary, this was truly inspiring.
You might have been better off not having grown up in a devout family. You came into a spirituality instinctively and didn't have to clean out all the cobwebs of prior indoctrination. So that now you are so able to fluently express this very special message that we all needed to hear. Thank you for sharing your epiphanies with us as you so often do. You are a treasure. xox
What an interesting take, Rocket! I've never considered that my lack of religiosity may have served me well, but I think you're absolutely right. It probably did.
Glad this one inspired. I treasure your presence, too! xox