Thresholds

Releasing tight grip
what I want 
to be real

Lightening hold
what I want
to see

Opening soul
enters
reality

Truth found
goodness, sadness abide
joy, suffering reside

This 
moving
forward

Recently I finished two books for the Great Books of the Western World reading project: Exodus, tradition says it was written by Moses and Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift. Also, I have been reading the Center for Action and Contemplation's journal, Oneing: An Alternative Orthodoxy. The theme of this journal is 'Liminal Space.' 

'In the universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between them, there are doors.' This quote by William Blake describes liminal spaces. Liminal comes from the Latin word limen, which means threshold. In the journal's introduction, Richard Rohr states, '(t)he two greatest liminal spaces in human life are great love and great suffering.' These thresholds are present in our lives; they lead us to the unknown. It is what we do in this space that determines how we grow, what we learn, and what we will become.

 

Gulliver's Travels, written in 1726, is a satire of the state of affairs in England. Gulliver sets out, as usual, to sea and finds himself in the most unusual places. As James Danaher writes in his essay, Truth and Liminality, 'As we enter into liminal space, everything becomes new and amazing, but always most unfamiliar.' In The Voyage to Lilliput, Gulliver is pinned to the ground with ropes over his entire body. This has been done to him by the tiniest of people. As he is forced into stillness in this strange place, he becomes still, listens, and begins to learn the language. Gulliver recounts what he says when he can finally speak the language, '(t)he first words I learnt where to express my desire, that he would please to give me my liberty.' It was in his stillness that he learned something new and could then express his desire.

 

In Exodus, Moses took the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the promised land. After the ten plagues, the Jewish people were finally going to cross the Red Sea and escape slavery. The crossing of the Red Sea is a threshold of knowing what was on one side of the sea and not knowing what was on the other. James Danaher continues in his essay, 'things that are familiar feel safer and more manageable. This is true even when the 'norm' is self-limiting or even painful.' At the edge of the sea, God speaks to Moses, 'Fear not, stand firm. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.' Many wanted to turn around and go back to what they knew when seeing the Egyptian army approaching. There was nothing for them to do on the edge of this threshold but be silent.

 

We all recognize this space where we experience 'great suffering' or share 'great love.' We have all been on this threshold. As I reflect on the thresholds in my own life, I am aware of the time I needed to cross over to the unknown. This threshold space does not happen quickly for me. I have learned that it is vital to keep going forward in this space and not turn around to what seems familiar. In order not to get stuck, I must not be self-limiting. That which is required to move through to the other side, the side of the unknown, is stillness, silence, being, and learning.

 

Did I say I am working on my Swedish? Det är svårt för mig men jag försöker. 

Image by Andreas at Läckö Slott.

• Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals (1785) by Immanuel Kant
• Anxioux People (2019) by Fredrik Backman
• Meadowlands (1996) by Louise Glück
• On Liberty (1859) by John Stuart Mill
• Paradise Lost (1663) by John Milton
• Tale of Two Cities (1859) by Charles Dickens
• Paradise Regained (1671) by John Milton

Currently Reading:

• Psalm (5th Century BC) by King David and Solomon
• Averno (2006) by Louise Glück
• Kajsa Kavat (1950) by Astrid Lindgren
• Proverbs (8th Century BC) by King Solomon
• Oneing: An Alternative Orthodoxy Liminal Space (2020)

Audio:

• What Unites Us ( 2017) by Dan Rather

The Unveiled Face

Proverbs 12:25: 

‘Anxiety in a heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.’

I must admit this is an unexpected combination of books. Fredrik Backman (a Swedish author) wrote Folk med ångest or in English, Anxious People in 2019, and On Liberty which John Stuart Mill wrote in 1859.  Anxious People, I read in my Reading i Sverige book club, and On Liberty, I read in my Great Books of the Western World reading project. One is a humorous, lonely, and wise account of modern life, the other a philosophical treatise on individual liberties. Surprisingly, they spoke to each other and reminded me of work I have done in the past. 

Anxious People is set in a small town in Sweden. The story is about ordinary people,' idiots,' where one becomes a bank robber. The bank robber inadvertently takes hostages. The dialogue of the hostages illuminates the anxieties of living in the modern world. Human relations are complicated because of different beliefs, seemingly different values, lost chances, failure to communicate, grief, and many other factors. Throughout the book, it is the unveiling of the individuals through dialogue that brings healing and peace. 'You can't carry the guilt and the shame and the unbearable silence on your own, and you shouldn't have to.'

 

Mill emphatically puts forth that dialogue is essential for individual liberties. It is through the work of understanding other's views that we do not become intellectually lazy and morally corrupt: 'But the price paid for this sort of intellectual pacification is the sacrifice of the entire moral courage of the human mind.' Mill would say we cannot know different views by listening to media commentators or reading snippets here and there on social media. The only way to maintain our own individual liberties is by listening to someone we know and by listening for understanding. He seems to be saying we need to have friends who think differently than we do. '(M)ust hear them (opinions)  from persons who actually believe them, who defend them in earnest'. If we do that, then there is hope for peace. '(T)here is always hope when people are forced to listen to both sides; it is when they attend only to one that errors harden into prejudices, and truth itself ceases to have the effect of truth, by being exaggerated into falsehood.'

 

This humble listening, as I called it while doing Multi-Faith work in Indiana, is not easy. As the religion teacher at a college preparatory school, I brought a group of parents together, all from different religions, to discuss the differences in our faiths. The intent was not necessarily to discuss what we had in common, though that was discussed, too. I wondered if we still disagreed after our dialogue, could we be in this community together? Could we be friends? 'At Complete Peace' is a blog entry I wrote in 2012.

 

            'And finally, there was a simple but profound statement. A Muslim gentleman said that when he was at HIP (Haven Interfaith Parent) meetings, he was at complete peace. HIP is a group where we have discovered we have much in common, but we also discuss our differences. What a wonderful testament to the importance of multi-faith work, being at complete peace.'

 

As Mill says, 'giving honor to everyone, whatever the opinion he may hold, who has calmness to see and honesty to state what his opponents and their opinions really are, exaggerating nothing to their discredit, keeping nothing back which tells, or can be supposed to tell, in their favor. This is the real morality of public discussion, and is often violated.' Let’s speak words of peace.

The Unveiled Face

 

Who am I?

Who are you?

 

Paul says that ‘our

Unveiled face reflects

Like a mirror

The glory of God’

 

Is my face veiled?

Is your face unveiled?

 

Veiled face

Where there is destruction, hatred.

Where there is greed, selfishness.

Where there is disregard for the holy, ignorance.

Face cannot be seen

 

Removing the veil

Taking a lifetime, never-ending

No clear reflection

Always striving, seeking always

 

My task

Your task

 

Unveiled face

Vulnerable

Peacemaker

Jesus says, ‘Blessed are

The peacemakers for they

Shall see the kingdom of God’

Face is seen

 

Am I peace?

Are you peace?

The image is of a fresco I purchased in Italy.

March Reading List

Completed:

• Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals (1785) by Immanuel Kant
• Anxioux People (2019) by Fredrik Backman
• Meadowlands (1996) by Louise Glück
• On Liberty (1859) by John Stuart Mill
• Paradise Lost (1663) by John Milton

Currently Reading:

• Psalm (5th Century BC) by King David and Solomon
• Averno (2006) by Louise Glück
• Kajsa Kavat (1950) by Astrid Lindgren
• Paradise Regained (1671) by John Milton
• Proverbs (8th Century BC) by King Solomon

Audio:

• Tale of Two Cities (1859) by Charles Dickens

Let Go and Let Be

Do we know what makes us happy? Happiness is the theme in my recent reading. Immanuel Kant in Fundamentals Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals tells us that to be a moral person; it is unnecessary to bother about happiness. He writes, ‘(He) is unable to determine with certainty what would make him truly happy, because to do so, he would need to be omniscient.’ Kant is saying that we don't know what will make us happy tomorrow or the next day. Happiness is ephemeral. Yet, we can choose to be moral people.

 Anxious People (2020) author Fredrik Backman details a conversation that Zara has with her psychologist. The psychologist is asking  Zara why she wants money and lots of it. Her response gives us an understanding of how she hopes to achieve happiness, ‘I buy distance from people.’ Zara explains that when a person has money, they get extra room in first class, bigger distances between tables at fine restaurants, and hotel rooms with special entrances. In the modern age, we buy distance; we think that makes us happy. 

Paradise Lost, by John Milton, has been a beautiful listen and read. The language is magical as the story unfolds. The first lines in Book V read:

 

       Now Morn her rosy steps in the eastern clime

       Advancing sowed the earth with orient pearl

 

In this, I am hopefully omniscient. The beauty of words, portraying simple truths as describing a sunrise, will make me happy. Psalm 30:5 is another of those magical phrases:

 

       Weeping may tarry for the night

       But joy comes with the morning

 

Julian of Norwich states the essentials of happiness. She relays that our soul must perform two duties. The one is we must 'reverently' wonder and be surprised; the other is we must 'humbly endure' or gently let go and let be. These words 'let go and let be' do not require us to be omniscient; instead, we simply see the simple things around us and delight in them. Is that not to be happy?

 
Let go and let be
Julian of Norwich
States simply
Let go and let be
 
These simple words
Stated simply
Profound in my ears
Sending truth through my heart
 
Let go, simply, let go.
Let be, simply, let be.
 
These simple words
Stated simply
Hearing requires
Being
 

March Reading List

Completed:

• Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals (1785) by Immanuel Kant

Currently Reading:

• Anxioux People (2019) by Fredrik Backman
• Psalm (5th Century BC) by King David and Solomon
• Meadowlands (1996) by Louise Glück
• Kajsa Kavat (1950) by Astrid Lindgren
• On Liberty (1859) by John Stuart Mill
• Paradise Lost (1663) by John Milton
• Proverbs (8th Century BC) by King Solomon

Audio:

• Tale of Two Cities (1859) by Charles Dickens