The Field
“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I will meet you there.” ~Jalal ad-Din Rumi
Thinking a lot about this business of "right" vs. "wrong," "good" vs. "bad," etc. It keeps coming up, everywhere from the book my husband and I are reading to discussions my children and I have been having. I have some thoughts about this that are all over the map, and I'm going to spend some time blogging about them.
These thoughts may seem unrelated to one another, or perhaps, like me, you see, hear and feel a kind of "golden thread" running through it all, leading to....I don't know, but it's there...in that field Rumi is describing in the above (very ancient) quote that life happens. Somehow I know that it's there in that field that I'll find the Tree of Life that Adam and Eve felt "driven away from." The "good" and the "bad" sorting system will collapse and it will just be...us. To imagine the sort of love and connections we could have without that sorting system governing us is stunning. THAT, to me, would be "heaven."
I'd love any feedback you have. I won't publish Anonymous comments. Cowards comment anonymously. But I WILL publish any comments that are not hateful and are not anonymous. So let's hear what you think!
So let's start with the Rumi quote at the start of this post. Thoughts? Feelings? Even if your answer is, "Darn if I know!" I'd love to get your input.
3 comments:
A field is wide and open! You can run and play there and forget about everything else. You don't even have to figure out which way to run once you've walked to the middle of it. You can delightfully spin this way and that with nothing but sheer abandonment.
I guess I'm in the middle of that field and let me tell you, it's fun! ♥
Love that imagery, Holly. Where do you think "morality" fits into (or doesn't) this field-life? Can we love one another without a "God" outside of us infusing us with HIS love as we spin around together in this field? What if we were set loose in the field with no rules, no laws, no constraints (social or otherwise)? Would we end up killing one another or would we find a connection? I'm not asking you to answer all these questions, Holly! :) Just voicing some thoughts in my own head as I think about this "field" and the sort of life that it implies. So different than anything I've experienced...especially within religious contexts. But at the same time, it is not hard at all to imagine Jesus spinning around in the field with us, is it? If he had the choice of yelling at those of us spinning around and giggling and connecting and calling us out of the field and into a more organized/structured/morally-controlled environment, would he? I can't imagine that at all. I rather think he'd be laughing at the people trying to stop the play in the field. As Jesus encountered people he didn't seem to approach them as pieces of shit in need of cleaning up...he seemed to see them as ALREADY valuable, good and full of strength to walk into the life they deserve to live. Not a "morally correct" one, but a FREE one.
The field feels like a place where we can stop holding everything (in/up) and just be ... and play (Holly, yes!) ... and be FREE (Cheryl, yes!) ... together. I like thinking of that place.
BTW, Women Who Run with the Wolves (previous post) is one of my favorites. I will be interested to hear more of your reflections on your reading.
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