Posted by cav on March 17, 2005 at 21:45:40:
In Reply to: Re: of fish tongues and shellfish bellies posted by giveawayboy on March 17, 2005 at 14:32:10:
I think we all have a place to fill, and it is tied intrinsically with the things we crave and the paths we take. It forms a vast jeweled net that reflects the light from another source, the source. Each point may be connected to an infinite number of other points, and there's no way we could possibly trace them effectively. Thus wherever you are is where you're supposed to be, and the center of infinite space is always immediately in the pit of your own belly. Thus you may seem inbetween one segment, but in another segment you may be the center, or fringe...and all at the same time. I think you understand this thoroughly...in fact I probably learned alot of it from you.
But anyway, that's why I'm not so worried about commonality with people anymore, or even sense of common direction. I know that at some point we all intersect.
As for water...you said underwater...to tie with John's theme of symbols, water has always been extremely powerful for me. I find myself drawn to it, and all the greatest things in my life, as well as the trials, intersect water at some point. I even named my kid after water...and naming for me is a L'Englian experience. I guess I was hoping to incorporate that power into him...but then maybe it was already there, I was trying hard just to see the reality of who he is. It was amazing for me to go through a totally surprising Dedication ceremony. I expected a typical evangelical thing and got this blessing and naming that was rife with power. It felt like there were flaming lines being connected and revealed in multiple realms as my son was presented to the world and declared one of the Children of God before all the demons and angels. He is KAIL RAIN! His name is the conquering boldness of water that both nourishes and destroys, causes life to grow and erodes mountains of stone.
As for myself, water is the element of power. I can't describe it really, but because you said your piece underwater it resonates and travels far further than in the thin air. This is one of the powers of water...while it obscures the direction of sound, it magnifies the distance to which it travels many times over.
: No John, in between is a good place to be. It's a place of presence and participation. It is not isolated buy involved. The way of the shaman is a way to go into the world of spirit and bring back a message, and the hard part, living it out in a way to communicate it to the people and beings that inhabit the local communities. I'm no expert on shamanism but it seems that from my understanding this 'in between' state is what it's largely about. And this to me seems like a great point of unity between a shamanistic way of seeing and what Christianity talks about when it talks about the god-man hanging between Heaven and Earth, having his very center poured out to sew Creator and creatures back together. It seems to me that in between is where the shaman or the god-man does his greatest work. Am I equating Christ with shamanism. Certainly not. I'm showing a relationship. That there are similarlities does not equate things. It merely relates them in a respectful, hopefully harmonious way. I do however, believe that a shaman will give us one perspective on the nature or things, esp. as those things relate to a local culture, and Christ will give us the perspective on the nature of things as they relate to God and man. I'm not going to try and reconcile these two ways of seeing. I only hope that we don't pluck out any eyes that God may have given us. Being in between you and John I see how dialogue, w the possibility of a fall and redemption can bring in the necessary checks and balances for equipoise. O.K. This is all said underwater, but I think there is a nice sleek manta ray knocking about in there somewhere.