Image: Exploration of the Sources of the Orinoco River by Remedios Varo There is a clearing in the woods. It’s found after the dark between the trees, after you stoop to pass beneath the arch where it is written: “Abandon certainty all ye who enter here…”
Hey Andrew, I could write "wow!" as always to convey the wonder, sense of what?, and gratitude after i read your gift words, however i am not satisfied with that neatly packaged, convenient response. Too easy. Akin to asking one of the numerous faces of AI that have popped up here there and seemingly everywhere: "write a one-word response to Andrew of Bog-down and Aster that conveys a sense of wonder and new discovery, a sense of the richness of historical words, even Scripture, becoming midrash if we are willing to participate in the weaving, and a profound exploration of ein sof "dimensions" that would make a physicist blush."
Thanks as always brother. I'll need more time with your midrash this time! I need to journey into that clearing.....not just with my "head" but with "all of me"....my personal tikkun olam beginning with my own inner world!
Hey Andrew! You are the apple of my Substack:) It always takes me a few days to chew, mull, regurgitate and ruminate on your musings. I’m so grateful for the elegant dance you are in with this world. I find it interesting that those, I count myself in this category, who feel the most alienated, the most alone (Alone) are also those who perceive the deepest degrees of connection in this world. To steal a phrase, “Rilke comes to mind…” This is the Aloneness that does not feel Alone or leave one in a state of loneliness and despair. This is the Aloneness that Christ sought on the mountain, in the desert and ultimately on the cross. It is the Aloneness that kept the Desert Fathers in the desert and to leave there for what we call “civilization” would have truly meant to be lonely.
I quoted from your Substack in a conversation the other day, reading the section about being a balm for the wounded. It hit me hard in a good way. It was words for something I know, something I falteringly and fumbling, try to live out, but never had the words for. Somewhere in those words is a whole lot of gratitude. Like a kernel in a nut, as Macdonald puts it, hidden, powerful, and full of potential. Our lives are gifts, and gifts are meant to give away.
I agree with Steve--Wow t'aint good enough. Pretty darn fabulous if you can say that about the useless murder of a woman like Ellisom, whose last name I can't even spell coreectly but her words are in my mind always. Glad you discovered her--I even made a 'holy card' to honor her..............okay, now to read the rest of it in more detail, although really liked your poetic response to the two afore it.
All of this, YES. And your responding poem at the end: Stunningly gorgeous, Andrew—and paired with that amazing image of vermillion human and shadow-boxed tree, alive with the waters . . .
All of these words in the whole piece, braided together are words to return to again and I will do so. Their richness and urgency requires time and attention, and text like this reveals something new when read again. Thank you, thank you for setting this table for us.
Instead of just a "comment" button, there also needs to be an "observe awestruck silence" button.
"our only hope is to hear back" bashed the gong of my heart hard -- real hard.
and i know you're right. i'm standing on the edge of the same dark water, and i know you're right.
Graham's first line just about sums it up. Here's the one that stilled me:
River, in this slipshod night,
come down from the hills,
meet us as those once darked
now lit by dark accounting
at the great dam of our separation.
Hey Andrew, I could write "wow!" as always to convey the wonder, sense of what?, and gratitude after i read your gift words, however i am not satisfied with that neatly packaged, convenient response. Too easy. Akin to asking one of the numerous faces of AI that have popped up here there and seemingly everywhere: "write a one-word response to Andrew of Bog-down and Aster that conveys a sense of wonder and new discovery, a sense of the richness of historical words, even Scripture, becoming midrash if we are willing to participate in the weaving, and a profound exploration of ein sof "dimensions" that would make a physicist blush."
Thanks as always brother. I'll need more time with your midrash this time! I need to journey into that clearing.....not just with my "head" but with "all of me"....my personal tikkun olam beginning with my own inner world!
Hey Andrew! You are the apple of my Substack:) It always takes me a few days to chew, mull, regurgitate and ruminate on your musings. I’m so grateful for the elegant dance you are in with this world. I find it interesting that those, I count myself in this category, who feel the most alienated, the most alone (Alone) are also those who perceive the deepest degrees of connection in this world. To steal a phrase, “Rilke comes to mind…” This is the Aloneness that does not feel Alone or leave one in a state of loneliness and despair. This is the Aloneness that Christ sought on the mountain, in the desert and ultimately on the cross. It is the Aloneness that kept the Desert Fathers in the desert and to leave there for what we call “civilization” would have truly meant to be lonely.
I quoted from your Substack in a conversation the other day, reading the section about being a balm for the wounded. It hit me hard in a good way. It was words for something I know, something I falteringly and fumbling, try to live out, but never had the words for. Somewhere in those words is a whole lot of gratitude. Like a kernel in a nut, as Macdonald puts it, hidden, powerful, and full of potential. Our lives are gifts, and gifts are meant to give away.
Thank you.
I agree with Steve--Wow t'aint good enough. Pretty darn fabulous if you can say that about the useless murder of a woman like Ellisom, whose last name I can't even spell coreectly but her words are in my mind always. Glad you discovered her--I even made a 'holy card' to honor her..............okay, now to read the rest of it in more detail, although really liked your poetic response to the two afore it.
All of this, YES. And your responding poem at the end: Stunningly gorgeous, Andrew—and paired with that amazing image of vermillion human and shadow-boxed tree, alive with the waters . . .
All of these words in the whole piece, braided together are words to return to again and I will do so. Their richness and urgency requires time and attention, and text like this reveals something new when read again. Thank you, thank you for setting this table for us.