19 Open to Touch: Let It Be Your Eyes and Ears
February 21, 2022•325 words
symptoms as messengers, as pathways, as openings. so difficult a life way, but it must be so.
what have you brought this day, my friend. what can we share. what gifts to exchange? i invite you now.
THE CONCEPT OF A TREE. THE SIGHT OF IT. AND YET, TOUCHING THE TREE, RUNNING YOUR HAND AGAINST HER BARK, TOUCHING THE STICKY SAP THAT CAN OOZE FROM HER PORES. THE ROCK, OR THE ROCK THAT HAS BECOME SCULPTURE, NOT CONCEPT, NOT EVEN SIGHT, BUT RATHER TOUCH. FEEL THE ROUGHNESS, THEN THE SMOOTH. EMBRACE IT AS A LOVER, OR SNUGGLE AGAINST IT AS A CHILD SEEKS EMBRACE FROM ITS MOTHER.
LIVE LIFE IN EMBRACE. NOT IN CONCEPT. NOT EVEN IN SIGHT. IN TOUCH. IN GROUNDING. IN THE HEAVY AND THE LIGHT. IN THE ROUGH AND THE SMOOTH, IN THE COLD AND THE WARM, IN THAT LIFE.
this captures my love of sculpture, of touching it. of carrying rocks and fossilized bones in my pocket or putting them on my desk. of laying my hands on the bark of a venerable oak. the mourning over a tree toppled, a stone shattered. a mountain's top blown apart.
LET BARE FOOT CHILDREN WALK UP AND DOWN YOUR BACK. LET OLD WOMEN TOUCH YOUR CHEEK. LET CATS WRAP THEMSELVES AROUND YOUR LEGS. FALL UPON YOUR KNEES AND LET THE EARTH LAY HANDS UPON YOUR GRIEVING HEAD.
FEEL STONES UNDER FOOT. PRESS YOUR CHEEK AGAINST THE COLD KITCHEN COUNTER. RECAL THE WARMTH THE YOUNG CAT BRNGS TO YOUR BED AT NIGHT, ALMOST TOO MUCH HEAT. REMEMBER LIFTING A CHILD INTO THE AIR, SPINNING, THEN BRINGING IT DOWN INTO AN ENVELOPING EMBRACE.
IF YOU HAD TO RELINQUISH ONE OF YOUR SENSES, WOULD IT FIRST BE TOUCH?
OPEN TO TOUCH. LET IT BE YOUR EYES, YOUR EARS. GET TO KNOW THE WORLD WITH YOUR HANDS, YOUR SKIN. THIS IS THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGE. RECOLLECT IT. NURTURE IT. LEARN AGAIN TO SPEAK THAT WAY.
from: 2021.01.30 sat