Afternoon Thoughts

Last updated on: October 23, 2007 at 4:47 pm by Cat Chapin-Bishop

Afternoon Thoughts 2007-10-23T16:47:00-04:00 Cat Chapin-Bishop

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A couple of quick things today. (Even if I finish the next part of the spiritual journey series, I won’t be posting it tonight–this one is hard to write, and deserves some discernment time when I eventually do finish it.)

First off: I’ve been reading through a couple of the blogs I was following closely all summer. I hate that I don’t have the time to stay up-to-date on all the Pagan and Quaker writers I love… but I’m very happy to notice that many of those same writers feel a bit like old friends who I may not see for months or even years on end, but who somehow I can always settle back into intimacy with.

Reading through the comments on one Quaker blog today, noting the level of honesty and openness I find there, I found myself thinking, “I love (insert name here).”

And this is about a person I have never met.

Does this make me unrealistic? Some kind of boundaryless freak?

I don’t think so. Sure, if I had to live with and wash dishes with a lot of the men and women I love and admire as writers, I’d have plenty of chances to get to know their perhaps many human faults and failings. I’m sure we’d bump up against each other and feel pain, because that’s just how humans seem to be.

But, see, I think love is never the illusion. Yeah, we’re all capable of projecting our illusions onto others at times–but I think that simple, happy, unpossessive sense of simply loving another person in the moment is not a projection, but rather, a rare moment of clarity–a kind of grace, even.

The times we’re too pissed off to deal with the complexity of it all–those are the times we’re caught up in the illusion. Not that it’s not gonna happen, because it is–we’ll reach the limits of our merely human capacity to see clearly, whether due to fatigue or hurt feelings or disappointed desires or (favorite Britishism coming up) sheer bloody-mindedness. And we won’t see through the eyes of love. (Hmmm… I’m realizing this thought has more to do with the Felicia Hardy posts than I thought at first blush.)

But the loving glimpse of the other is the real one. The rest is when we’re seeing “through a glass, darkly.”

Right. So, that was Afternoon Thought #1.

Afternoon Thought #2 arose driving home with our Indian exchange teacher in the car. He has never seen a New England autumn, so he’s pretty much blown away by the fall foliage. He’s never seen a maple tree or an oak tree or a white pine before this year… and our winding, hilly road to and from work takes us past some extraordinary stands of forest.

I get to see all of this through new eyes, because he is in the car with me. And I loved it a lot already with the old eyes, I can tell you.

So here’s the thought I had, gliding past swirling eddies of orange and yellow leaves on the rain-slicked road: Maybe I am Pagan simply because I had the good fortune to be born and live most of my life here, in New England, surrounded by all this beauty.

How could I live in this place and at this time, and not give the whole embrace of my heart to the trees and hills of home? How could I look on the warm, smoldering fire of autumn maples, sumacs, and oaks, bright against the grim deep greens of hemlocks and pines, and not feel an answering warmth from deep inside my belly?

I dearly love the flooding light of Quaker meeting, and I trust the Spirit I encounter there. But the earth’s musk and the lifted head of the doe who catches my scent, and the fire on a Berkshire hillside… I have no words for the depth of the love I feel for this vivid, living landscape of mine.

How could I not be Pagan, when my life and my heart have grown up here?

Uncategorized

Previous Post

October 21, 2007

Brilliant!

Next Post

October 27, 2007 Peter on Names

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Cat's posts Peter's posts Uncategorized

Select a Month March 2017 February 2017 November 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 July 2013 June 2013 March 2013 February 2013 December 2012 November 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 April 2012 February 2012 January 2012 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 July 2000

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz