I find myself sitting in reverent silence after reading this. The vision of hope you offered — as ontological, intrinsic to the very movement of becoming — felt like a lantern quietly lit in the depths.
Your reflection on “something shall be” awakened a sense of participation for me: that hope is not something we wait for but something we enter into and enact. It felt as if you painted a circle we are invited to step inside together.
Thank you for shaping language that carries both tenderness and philosophical depth. I feel inspired. The illustration is gorgeous!
Doreen, thank you for this heartfelt note. You let me know that this essay landed. I admit to a little concern that it had the very real possibility of not landing. Drawing on your image of stepping into the circle (lovely), we come to see the gesture as significant *and real* in its non-materiality, inviting us to “enter into and enact it” (again calling on your lovely words here). Hope as “ontological, intrinsic to the very movement of becoming felt like a lantern quietly lit in the depths.” I am glad. May we walk in hope into the dimly lighted forest of possibility.
“It must be a qualitative property, an essence, which is dynamic prior to being itself.” This makes me wonder…is there any difference then between ontological hope and love? Or are the two sides of the same thing?
Kimberly, to your wonderful questions, my intention in this series is to wander into the trio of faith, hope, and love as a threefold cord. We won’t rely on Christian canon so much as explore these “essences” already structured within reality itself. My sense is that ontological hope and love are distinct, if subtly so, but distinctly intertwined; and not so much two sides of the same coin as an interpenetrating dynamic intrinsic to the unfolding of the universe, of life . . . and so, of human evolution, too.
A bit of a walk around your questions, but is that enough of a response for now?
I so look forward to your reflections as this unfolds over the next weeks.
Julie, holding loosely, yes – to enter into the intuitive sense of it, intuitive in the sense of knowing it from within the “soul depths” of inner knowing, from the structure of reality itself, transmitted through us. Thank you for adding this reflection about "holding loosely."
"We are flipping substance ontology on its head here, realizing essence before form." I've waited so very long for someone to write that sentence; I am not surprised that it's you, dear Renée.
Doreen perfectly captures my heart and so, with gratitude, I will borrow her words "Thank you for shaping language that carries both tenderness and philosophical depth."
Becky, and I’m not surprised that “flipping substance ontology” lands for you. Perhaps we have been writing that sentence together – for eons. Rather, perhaps it has been writing through us.
Thank you for reading and reflecting always with heart. 🙏
“An interpenetrating dynamic intrinsic to the unfolding of the universe, of life . . . and so, of human evolution, too.” I feel as if hope holds more of the will, the creative potential, while love holds the surrender, the presence-ing of that creative potential. I really appreciate you making this distinction, it’s really got me thinking!
I find myself sitting in reverent silence after reading this. The vision of hope you offered — as ontological, intrinsic to the very movement of becoming — felt like a lantern quietly lit in the depths.
Your reflection on “something shall be” awakened a sense of participation for me: that hope is not something we wait for but something we enter into and enact. It felt as if you painted a circle we are invited to step inside together.
Thank you for shaping language that carries both tenderness and philosophical depth. I feel inspired. The illustration is gorgeous!
Doreen, thank you for this heartfelt note. You let me know that this essay landed. I admit to a little concern that it had the very real possibility of not landing. Drawing on your image of stepping into the circle (lovely), we come to see the gesture as significant *and real* in its non-materiality, inviting us to “enter into and enact it” (again calling on your lovely words here). Hope as “ontological, intrinsic to the very movement of becoming felt like a lantern quietly lit in the depths.” I am glad. May we walk in hope into the dimly lighted forest of possibility.
“It must be a qualitative property, an essence, which is dynamic prior to being itself.” This makes me wonder…is there any difference then between ontological hope and love? Or are the two sides of the same thing?
Kimberly, to your wonderful questions, my intention in this series is to wander into the trio of faith, hope, and love as a threefold cord. We won’t rely on Christian canon so much as explore these “essences” already structured within reality itself. My sense is that ontological hope and love are distinct, if subtly so, but distinctly intertwined; and not so much two sides of the same coin as an interpenetrating dynamic intrinsic to the unfolding of the universe, of life . . . and so, of human evolution, too.
A bit of a walk around your questions, but is that enough of a response for now?
I so look forward to your reflections as this unfolds over the next weeks.
You have captured here in words Cosmogenesis in action! All is born of hope. Another exquisite meditation you have offered us Renée 🙏🏻💔🌀
Megan, thank you. “All is born of hope.” Your words express this series in sum. 🙏❤️♾️
Love this, that hope “belong[s] to the structure of reality.” When I hold this loosely, it rings perfectly true. Thank you for this beautiful insight.
Julie, holding loosely, yes – to enter into the intuitive sense of it, intuitive in the sense of knowing it from within the “soul depths” of inner knowing, from the structure of reality itself, transmitted through us. Thank you for adding this reflection about "holding loosely."
Hope, “here all along,”
before, beyond human mind.
Preceding, seeding?
...
Hope, our “enactment,”
”on behalf of becoming.”
Draws “single circle.”
Marisol, when you are inspired to write a Haiku to distill these meditations, it touches and moves me with such humbleness and gratitude.
And today it was two Haiku. . . 🙏
"We are flipping substance ontology on its head here, realizing essence before form." I've waited so very long for someone to write that sentence; I am not surprised that it's you, dear Renée.
Doreen perfectly captures my heart and so, with gratitude, I will borrow her words "Thank you for shaping language that carries both tenderness and philosophical depth."
Becky, and I’m not surprised that “flipping substance ontology” lands for you. Perhaps we have been writing that sentence together – for eons. Rather, perhaps it has been writing through us.
Thank you for reading and reflecting always with heart. 🙏
“An interpenetrating dynamic intrinsic to the unfolding of the universe, of life . . . and so, of human evolution, too.” I feel as if hope holds more of the will, the creative potential, while love holds the surrender, the presence-ing of that creative potential. I really appreciate you making this distinction, it’s really got me thinking!