So, so, beautiful, Renee! I LOVE that this came from your memory of that Bible verse. Not only was it short enough to be easily memorized at the time, but it stayed alive in your memory all these years later. ♥️ I'm saving one of my thoughts on weeping for our next call, but something else did just come to move. One of my brilliant subscribers once said that "all water is on a journey back to the ocean." Tears are water that has taken a detour through a human life. Water is a conscious, living being and I believe it has much to do with our weeping. And stones (minerals) are the keepers of memory. In the body, water is saturated with stones, each molecule of salt holding innumerable memories. These, too, are alive and conscious. (As are every other elemental part of us.) I often think that this whole idea of an inner me is, in reality, the many different voices of all these living entities, sometimes coming together, but not always. The water within me is not a separate being from the water outside of me. The stones are part of the great stone being. Given all of this, I wonder if what we understand to be intelligence is actually remembrance.
I echo you, Jenna: such a beautiful reflection, which stirs new questions: what is remembrance? Jenna, who has just completed the wonder course, may see, as I do, 'membrane', in this word.
Julie, in our course, one of the aspects of wonder we explored was that the word 'wonder' seems to derive from the German, 'Wunde', meaning 'wound'; wonder as a breach in the membrane of ordinary awareness. What is remembrance, then? A reknitting of the membrane breached, now stitched into the tissues of our being?
The wheels of me are turning thanks to you two. Thank you both!
This rings so true for me. A remembering of my true nature, our true nature. Before all the conditioning, traumas, etc. Remembering of our history, not what is written so much, but the many oral stories that were passed down. The realigning with nature, remembering our animal family. It is not so much an awakening to something new, but removing what is in the way of what is already here. Remembering...
I missed this comment somehow. Your reflection here about "removing what is in the way" reverberates. It seems the movement toward is as you suggest here, at least in (great) measure, the removal of what has been obscured, i.e. what is in the way of what is already there. Thank you!
"Tears are water that has taken a detour through a human life. Water is a conscious, living being and I believe it has much to do with our weeping. And stones (minerals) are the keepers of memory. In the body, water is saturated with stones, each molecule of salt holding innumerable memories. These, too, are alive and conscious. (As are every other elemental part of us.)"
They render me silent, and for this, I thank you – my sense is that when we are rendered silent, we have just been touched through a portal of the numinous.
When you stated the two-word Bible verse I could feel it. Perhaps this is why it lodged itself somewhere deep within you to be pulled out as you sat down to write to us. Our tears are certainly a way of transcending our outer selves, even if it doesn't feel like it at the time. Just as the opportunity to choose doesn't always feel transcendent until later when we see the path it laid out for us.
Thank you for sharing that you could feel the two-word Bible verse, Donna. As I was writing, I, too, could feel it, and I hoped this would translate to the page, not because of me but hopefully because of the 'absenting' of me. The words conjure the image and the felt sense of weeping and the manifold meaning that the historical Jesus shed tears. I do believe, as you say, the words "lodged" in me for these decades.
"Our tears are certainly a way of transcending our outer selves." Beautiful.
I love this post Renee! I believe there is an intelligence in tears. The other day I wept. It had been quite awhile. After it faded, I was left feeling clear and open. What came next was an amazing inflow of insight that has stayed strongly with me. Yes, there is an intelligence here...
You and Jenna animate tears with a lifeforce and intelligence in ways that science and philosophy (an ever interweaving) may never get to. Your experience of tears is so poignantly revealing – tears as a springhead of creativity, unearthed water given back to the state of flow. "Yes, there is an intelligence here. . ."
Science does say that weeping releases endorphins, while crying releases adrenalin. This seems to echo you from an outside-looking-in sort of way.
So, so, beautiful, Renee! I LOVE that this came from your memory of that Bible verse. Not only was it short enough to be easily memorized at the time, but it stayed alive in your memory all these years later. ♥️ I'm saving one of my thoughts on weeping for our next call, but something else did just come to move. One of my brilliant subscribers once said that "all water is on a journey back to the ocean." Tears are water that has taken a detour through a human life. Water is a conscious, living being and I believe it has much to do with our weeping. And stones (minerals) are the keepers of memory. In the body, water is saturated with stones, each molecule of salt holding innumerable memories. These, too, are alive and conscious. (As are every other elemental part of us.) I often think that this whole idea of an inner me is, in reality, the many different voices of all these living entities, sometimes coming together, but not always. The water within me is not a separate being from the water outside of me. The stones are part of the great stone being. Given all of this, I wonder if what we understand to be intelligence is actually remembrance.
I love this Jenna, "I wonder if what we understand to be intelligence is actually remembrance." I could not agree more!
I echo you, Jenna: such a beautiful reflection, which stirs new questions: what is remembrance? Jenna, who has just completed the wonder course, may see, as I do, 'membrane', in this word.
Julie, in our course, one of the aspects of wonder we explored was that the word 'wonder' seems to derive from the German, 'Wunde', meaning 'wound'; wonder as a breach in the membrane of ordinary awareness. What is remembrance, then? A reknitting of the membrane breached, now stitched into the tissues of our being?
The wheels of me are turning thanks to you two. Thank you both!
This rings so true for me. A remembering of my true nature, our true nature. Before all the conditioning, traumas, etc. Remembering of our history, not what is written so much, but the many oral stories that were passed down. The realigning with nature, remembering our animal family. It is not so much an awakening to something new, but removing what is in the way of what is already here. Remembering...
Julie,
I missed this comment somehow. Your reflection here about "removing what is in the way" reverberates. It seems the movement toward is as you suggest here, at least in (great) measure, the removal of what has been obscured, i.e. what is in the way of what is already there. Thank you!
Jenna,
These words are immensely stirring:
"Tears are water that has taken a detour through a human life. Water is a conscious, living being and I believe it has much to do with our weeping. And stones (minerals) are the keepers of memory. In the body, water is saturated with stones, each molecule of salt holding innumerable memories. These, too, are alive and conscious. (As are every other elemental part of us.)"
They render me silent, and for this, I thank you – my sense is that when we are rendered silent, we have just been touched through a portal of the numinous.
With love,
Renée
When you stated the two-word Bible verse I could feel it. Perhaps this is why it lodged itself somewhere deep within you to be pulled out as you sat down to write to us. Our tears are certainly a way of transcending our outer selves, even if it doesn't feel like it at the time. Just as the opportunity to choose doesn't always feel transcendent until later when we see the path it laid out for us.
A beautiful essay Renee, thank you.
Donna,
I missed this comment from you last week somehow.
Thank you for sharing that you could feel the two-word Bible verse, Donna. As I was writing, I, too, could feel it, and I hoped this would translate to the page, not because of me but hopefully because of the 'absenting' of me. The words conjure the image and the felt sense of weeping and the manifold meaning that the historical Jesus shed tears. I do believe, as you say, the words "lodged" in me for these decades.
"Our tears are certainly a way of transcending our outer selves." Beautiful.
With love,
Renée
I love this post Renee! I believe there is an intelligence in tears. The other day I wept. It had been quite awhile. After it faded, I was left feeling clear and open. What came next was an amazing inflow of insight that has stayed strongly with me. Yes, there is an intelligence here...
Julie,
You and Jenna animate tears with a lifeforce and intelligence in ways that science and philosophy (an ever interweaving) may never get to. Your experience of tears is so poignantly revealing – tears as a springhead of creativity, unearthed water given back to the state of flow. "Yes, there is an intelligence here. . ."
Science does say that weeping releases endorphins, while crying releases adrenalin. This seems to echo you from an outside-looking-in sort of way.
Thank you so for sharing.
With love,
Renée
Intelligence is relation. And then what we do with it. Love this, Renee!
Holly, thank you! It's great to see you roll on over here, fellow rover.