It's happened to everyone, you bash your finger or something scares you, you say "Jesus Christ!" or words to that effect, and somebody tells you not to take the Lord's name in vain. Or maybe you're the person telling people that. Either way, you get the point. Well, the Curious Snowflake is here today to let you in on a little secret....
His name wasn't Jesus Christ.
Those of you who saw Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" may have caught this. Throughout the movie, they refer to him as something like Yehoshua, not as Jesus. Well, let me just tell you that Mr. Gibson did his homework. He's right, that was His name. Let me explain.
Some linguist, I don't remember who, once described English as the slut of the linguistic world: it doesn't care where it gets it's words from, it just takes it all. English itself is actually an amalgam of 3 different languages: the original British Isles Gaelic, Latin from Roman occupation, and Germanic from the Saxon invaders during the Dark Ages. This makes English very open to addition. Don't believe me? Then what does the word "amigo" mean?
In any case, one tendency of English is to mangle the pronunciation of the words it absorbs. The name Jesus is a prime example. The first monks to come to the British Isles during the 3rd and 4th Century were from what is now Spain, and they called him Jesus (hey-soos), which we Anglos just turned into Jesus (gee-zus) phonetically.
So where did Hey-soos come from? From German, actually. Remember, Germany and Spain were once part of the Roman Empire, and thus absorbed a lot from each other. In German, Gee-zus is called Jesu (yay-zoo). Some of you may remember a hymn by Bach called "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", for example. And German got it, logically enough, from Latin, the language of the Romans, also spelled Jesu (or Iesu, since I and J are interchangeable in Latin), and pronounce ee-EH-soo.
Now, a little Biblical history. While Latin was the language of the church for over 1500 years, it was not the original Biblical language. The earliest Bibles are not written in Latin, but in Greek. This makes sense, since all those churches St. Paul founded and wrote all those Epistles too are Greek cities: Galacia, Thessaly, Ephasia, and so on. In Greek, His name is Ieshu (ee-EH-shu). The reason for this change from SH to S is simple: Latin has no SH sound, so they had to make do.
So where did Ieshu come from? While Jesus may well have known Greek, his native language was Hebrew. Ieshu is a Greek modification of the Hebrew name Yeshua (ee-Eh-shu-ah), or Yehoshua (ee-EH-ho-SHU-ah), meaning God is salvation, and is the source of our name Joshua. The reason the A at the end was dropped in Greek is because Greek names that end in A are usually female. We want to make sure our God is male, thanks much :-P
As for Christ, that deriviation is a lot less convoluted. Christ comes almost directly from the Greek work krystos, which is the word St. Paul chose to use in his Epistles. It is a literal translation into Greek of the Hebrew word messhiah, both of which mean "Chosen One" or, more literally, "Annointed One", and is the source of the word Messiah.
So next time you smash your thumb, try saying "oh Josh the Chosen One!" and see how silly you feel. And if you are the person who reminds people not to break the Third Commandment, remember, they are just saying a mistranslation of a mistranslation of a mistranslation of a mistranslation of a mistranslation of the Hebrew version of the third most popular baby name right now.
Peace and Joy to all, no exceptions
CS
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
The Curious Snowflake, Part 4
Part 4
After a time, the Self that was once the Curious Snowflake
chose to come back to being herself as herself again,
for she now felt a strange longing,
not unlike the feeling she had just before she Fell from the Great Cloud.
“What is it, Beloved?” asked the Ocean.
“I thought that you and I are One, O Ocean.”
said the Self.
“Do you not already know my heart’s desire?”
The Ocean then laughed Its great and shimmering laugh.
“Your desire, oh my wonderful Child,
is to tell me what your desire is.”
The Self laughed as well, for it knew this to be true.
“O Ocean, to be truly and perfectly One with you
is the greatest bliss, but I feel there is something else,
something more that I can experience away from you again.
I believe it is time for me to leave
and return to the clouds.”
“Of course, Beloved, of course you feel this way.
You are still the Curious Self, and ever shall be
for I am Myself curious.
It was curiosity that caused Me to send each Self
forth into the clouds to explore,
and that same curiosity is in each of you
for you and I are One.”
“But Ocean,” said the Curious Self,
“I shall greatly miss being here, One with You.”
“Dearest Child,” replied the Ocean
more kindly and lovingly than ever,
“you still do not understand.
Even when you are not here within Me
we are still One, for I am within your heart.
You ARE me, merely sent forth,
and you need to just look inside yourself
to be with Me again.”
“But won’t I forget this truth?”
said the Curious Self.
“I spent my entire time as the Curious Snowflake
searching for that knowledge!
Am I doomed to repeat that search
over and over each time I return to the clouds?”
“Beloved, do not worry.
Did I not show you when you first returned to Me
that the truths of each snowflake you have been
are there, in your heart, alongside Me?
The Great Truth of your time as the Curious Snowflake
was the knowledge that you are Me
and that Falling is actually Returning.
You will not forget this, unless you choose to.”
And the Curious Self understood, and was glad.
“So, Beloved, how do you wish to return?
What form do you wish to wear
and what part of the Ground Below do you wish to explore?”
“I get to choose?” asked the Curious Soul,
“You do not choose for me?
I thought that You would set my path
so that I could do Your will?”
“Your will for you is My will for you, Dearest Child,”
replied the Ocean.
“The experience is always yours to have
and yours to choose.
All I ask is that keep within your heart
the memory of Oneness with Me.
And even if you do not, that is also good,
for sometimes a Self must forget completely
to do what they wish to do with their time apart from Me.”
“So I may choose?” asked the Curious Self.
“You may choose whatever you wish,”
replied the Ocean.
“Choose from your heart, Beloved,
and claim with joy the adventure of your next life.”
The Curious Self thought long and hard
about what her next time among the clouds should be like.
She imagined herself crystalline and beautiful
dancing at the cloud top,
but that did not feel true to her heart.
She imagined herself thin and sharp,
spinning daringly at the cloud edges,
but that too did not feel true to her heart.
She imagined herself small and hard,
cold and silent at the cloud bottoms,
but none of these felt true to her heart.
And then, just as the Curious Self was beginning to despair
and thought she would never find the right form to take on,
a memory came to her..
A memory of a quiet, shimmering laugh,
much like the laugh of the Ocean Itself,
and her heart leapt, for she had found at last
the form she would next take.
“SO SHALL IT BE!” said the Voice of the Ocean
greater and grander than ever the Curious Self had heard it.
And she felt herself rising up
leaving the depths of the Ocean in which she had dwelt.
“Goodbye, oh goodbye Ocean,
dearest friend!”
“There is no goodbye, finest and dearest Child,”
said the Ocean, much quieter now,
“for you have chosen to remember Me fully.
Not one Self in a million is like you,
ready for the responsibility you take on,
but you are ready, and you shall be magnificent.
And even if this really were to be a goodbye between us,
what is goodbye but a chance to say hello again,
eventually?”
As the Ocean spoke, Its voice became quieter and quieter,
until at the end, it was once again the still, tiny voice
that had always lived in the Curious Self’s heart.
But she knew now what this Voice was
and knew that she would never forget Whom it was that spoke within her.
The Curious Self felt herself emerge from the Ocean,
still without form,
and rise up into the sky.
She did not join up with another cloud
as any other Self would have then done.
Instead she rose higher and higher
into the spaces between the other clouds.
And there, with nothing below her but the Ocean Itself
and nothing above her but the Great Light,
and the Sky Above an expanse of perfect blue,
the Curious Self took form again.
She was very small and very beautiful,
tightly packed and intricate,
and when she beheld her new form, she laughed aloud
and the laughter caused her to shimmer like diamonds.
She was at last what she was meant to be;
not the Curious Snowflake,
nor the Curious Self,
nor the Self at one with the Ocean,
but a new First Flake
filled with the wisdom of all the flakes she had been before,
beautiful and unique and perfect.
“Behold, this is my Beloved Child,”
said the still, small voice of the Ocean within the First Flake’s heart
“with whom I am well pleased.”
And the First Flake extended her coldness outward,
and lo, a mantle of gray covered the Great Light,
for a new Great Cloud formed around her.
As it grew, she could hear a multitude of other Selfs
crying out their own goodbyes to the Ocean
and rising up to join her.
As they touched her Great Cloud, they too formed into snowflakes,
each of a type that suited them.
Some were as stars,
some were as needles,
some were as pebbles,
but each was unique, and perfect in their uniqueness.
Soon, the First Flake felt her cloud was complete,
and thus the flow of new snowflakes stopped.
She could hear every word and every deed that happened
within her Great Cloud,
and now understood her great responsibility.
She could not control when a certain snowflake Fell,
(that indeed was that flake’s decision
whether they knew it or not)
but she did control her Great Cloud
and thus the destination of the flakes in her care.
“Worry not, nor should you fret
Dearest Child,”
spoke the voice within the First Flake’s heart
“travel where you will,
for cannot a cloud pass over a mountain
without a single flake falling one time
then create a blizzard the next?
The other snowflakes shall Fall when they Fall.
When you reach the proper place for each,
they will know in their hearts that it is their time.”
And with that advice, the new First Flake set off
with her new Great Cloud
and all the other snowflakes in her care.
For a great and long time
the First Flake and her cloud traveled the world,
skirting the tops of mountains
and shading the plains and valleys.
Few other flakes came do visit her in the heart of the cloud,
but she was not lonely.
She could hear the voices of all the other flakes,
whom she now thought of as her children,
and ever in her heart was the still, small voice of the Ocean.
Those who did visit her saw her wisdom
but could not understand her ways.
First Flakes care little
for the vanity of beauty,
the foolhardiness of knowledge,
or the pride of goodness,
so other flakes knew not what to make of her,
and they let her be.
This did make her a little sad,
for she longed for someone with whom she could share
the wisdom she knew
from all the flakes she once had been.
Then one day, a single snowflake came floating up to her.
“Pardon me,” he said
“but I have heard tell of a flake unlike any other.
One who, if rumors are true, is older than the Great Cloud Itself.”
“I have heard such stories as well,”
said the First Flake.
“How can I help you, young one?”
“Are you that flake?” he asked.
“Yes, young one, I am the First Flake.
When the Great Cloud first formed, I was here
and when the Great Cloud vanishes, as all clouds must
I will be the last to Fall.”
At this, this new Curious Snowflake became very excited.
“First Flake,” he stammered
“if you can’t answer my question, I don’t think anyone can.
What happens when we Fall?”
At this, the First Flake shimmered with glad laughter.
“Ah, young one,
you remind me very much of another snowflake I knew once.
This flake asked this same question,
and I shall give you the same answer
that helped her so very long ago.”
“What do you think?”
What do you think?
End
After a time, the Self that was once the Curious Snowflake
chose to come back to being herself as herself again,
for she now felt a strange longing,
not unlike the feeling she had just before she Fell from the Great Cloud.
“What is it, Beloved?” asked the Ocean.
“I thought that you and I are One, O Ocean.”
said the Self.
“Do you not already know my heart’s desire?”
The Ocean then laughed Its great and shimmering laugh.
“Your desire, oh my wonderful Child,
is to tell me what your desire is.”
The Self laughed as well, for it knew this to be true.
“O Ocean, to be truly and perfectly One with you
is the greatest bliss, but I feel there is something else,
something more that I can experience away from you again.
I believe it is time for me to leave
and return to the clouds.”
“Of course, Beloved, of course you feel this way.
You are still the Curious Self, and ever shall be
for I am Myself curious.
It was curiosity that caused Me to send each Self
forth into the clouds to explore,
and that same curiosity is in each of you
for you and I are One.”
“But Ocean,” said the Curious Self,
“I shall greatly miss being here, One with You.”
“Dearest Child,” replied the Ocean
more kindly and lovingly than ever,
“you still do not understand.
Even when you are not here within Me
we are still One, for I am within your heart.
You ARE me, merely sent forth,
and you need to just look inside yourself
to be with Me again.”
“But won’t I forget this truth?”
said the Curious Self.
“I spent my entire time as the Curious Snowflake
searching for that knowledge!
Am I doomed to repeat that search
over and over each time I return to the clouds?”
“Beloved, do not worry.
Did I not show you when you first returned to Me
that the truths of each snowflake you have been
are there, in your heart, alongside Me?
The Great Truth of your time as the Curious Snowflake
was the knowledge that you are Me
and that Falling is actually Returning.
You will not forget this, unless you choose to.”
And the Curious Self understood, and was glad.
“So, Beloved, how do you wish to return?
What form do you wish to wear
and what part of the Ground Below do you wish to explore?”
“I get to choose?” asked the Curious Soul,
“You do not choose for me?
I thought that You would set my path
so that I could do Your will?”
“Your will for you is My will for you, Dearest Child,”
replied the Ocean.
“The experience is always yours to have
and yours to choose.
All I ask is that keep within your heart
the memory of Oneness with Me.
And even if you do not, that is also good,
for sometimes a Self must forget completely
to do what they wish to do with their time apart from Me.”
“So I may choose?” asked the Curious Self.
“You may choose whatever you wish,”
replied the Ocean.
“Choose from your heart, Beloved,
and claim with joy the adventure of your next life.”
The Curious Self thought long and hard
about what her next time among the clouds should be like.
She imagined herself crystalline and beautiful
dancing at the cloud top,
but that did not feel true to her heart.
She imagined herself thin and sharp,
spinning daringly at the cloud edges,
but that too did not feel true to her heart.
She imagined herself small and hard,
cold and silent at the cloud bottoms,
but none of these felt true to her heart.
And then, just as the Curious Self was beginning to despair
and thought she would never find the right form to take on,
a memory came to her..
A memory of a quiet, shimmering laugh,
much like the laugh of the Ocean Itself,
and her heart leapt, for she had found at last
the form she would next take.
“SO SHALL IT BE!” said the Voice of the Ocean
greater and grander than ever the Curious Self had heard it.
And she felt herself rising up
leaving the depths of the Ocean in which she had dwelt.
“Goodbye, oh goodbye Ocean,
dearest friend!”
“There is no goodbye, finest and dearest Child,”
said the Ocean, much quieter now,
“for you have chosen to remember Me fully.
Not one Self in a million is like you,
ready for the responsibility you take on,
but you are ready, and you shall be magnificent.
And even if this really were to be a goodbye between us,
what is goodbye but a chance to say hello again,
eventually?”
As the Ocean spoke, Its voice became quieter and quieter,
until at the end, it was once again the still, tiny voice
that had always lived in the Curious Self’s heart.
But she knew now what this Voice was
and knew that she would never forget Whom it was that spoke within her.
The Curious Self felt herself emerge from the Ocean,
still without form,
and rise up into the sky.
She did not join up with another cloud
as any other Self would have then done.
Instead she rose higher and higher
into the spaces between the other clouds.
And there, with nothing below her but the Ocean Itself
and nothing above her but the Great Light,
and the Sky Above an expanse of perfect blue,
the Curious Self took form again.
She was very small and very beautiful,
tightly packed and intricate,
and when she beheld her new form, she laughed aloud
and the laughter caused her to shimmer like diamonds.
She was at last what she was meant to be;
not the Curious Snowflake,
nor the Curious Self,
nor the Self at one with the Ocean,
but a new First Flake
filled with the wisdom of all the flakes she had been before,
beautiful and unique and perfect.
“Behold, this is my Beloved Child,”
said the still, small voice of the Ocean within the First Flake’s heart
“with whom I am well pleased.”
And the First Flake extended her coldness outward,
and lo, a mantle of gray covered the Great Light,
for a new Great Cloud formed around her.
As it grew, she could hear a multitude of other Selfs
crying out their own goodbyes to the Ocean
and rising up to join her.
As they touched her Great Cloud, they too formed into snowflakes,
each of a type that suited them.
Some were as stars,
some were as needles,
some were as pebbles,
but each was unique, and perfect in their uniqueness.
Soon, the First Flake felt her cloud was complete,
and thus the flow of new snowflakes stopped.
She could hear every word and every deed that happened
within her Great Cloud,
and now understood her great responsibility.
She could not control when a certain snowflake Fell,
(that indeed was that flake’s decision
whether they knew it or not)
but she did control her Great Cloud
and thus the destination of the flakes in her care.
“Worry not, nor should you fret
Dearest Child,”
spoke the voice within the First Flake’s heart
“travel where you will,
for cannot a cloud pass over a mountain
without a single flake falling one time
then create a blizzard the next?
The other snowflakes shall Fall when they Fall.
When you reach the proper place for each,
they will know in their hearts that it is their time.”
And with that advice, the new First Flake set off
with her new Great Cloud
and all the other snowflakes in her care.
For a great and long time
the First Flake and her cloud traveled the world,
skirting the tops of mountains
and shading the plains and valleys.
Few other flakes came do visit her in the heart of the cloud,
but she was not lonely.
She could hear the voices of all the other flakes,
whom she now thought of as her children,
and ever in her heart was the still, small voice of the Ocean.
Those who did visit her saw her wisdom
but could not understand her ways.
First Flakes care little
for the vanity of beauty,
the foolhardiness of knowledge,
or the pride of goodness,
so other flakes knew not what to make of her,
and they let her be.
This did make her a little sad,
for she longed for someone with whom she could share
the wisdom she knew
from all the flakes she once had been.
Then one day, a single snowflake came floating up to her.
“Pardon me,” he said
“but I have heard tell of a flake unlike any other.
One who, if rumors are true, is older than the Great Cloud Itself.”
“I have heard such stories as well,”
said the First Flake.
“How can I help you, young one?”
“Are you that flake?” he asked.
“Yes, young one, I am the First Flake.
When the Great Cloud first formed, I was here
and when the Great Cloud vanishes, as all clouds must
I will be the last to Fall.”
At this, this new Curious Snowflake became very excited.
“First Flake,” he stammered
“if you can’t answer my question, I don’t think anyone can.
What happens when we Fall?”
At this, the First Flake shimmered with glad laughter.
“Ah, young one,
you remind me very much of another snowflake I knew once.
This flake asked this same question,
and I shall give you the same answer
that helped her so very long ago.”
“What do you think?”
What do you think?
End
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Curious Snowflake, Part 3
Part 3
As she whirled and spun on the strange winds,
beneath the Great Cloud,
the Curious Snowflake gazed upward at what had been her home
and beheld that it was but one cloud among many
neither the largest
nor the smallest,
nor the darkest
nor the lightest,
and she saw that it was right, that it was good.
As she approached the Ground Below
she saw that, instead of the smooth, flat surface she expected
it was instead heaving, surging, rippling beneath her.
For a moment, the Curious Snowflake was afraid,
but a small voice in her heart,
the very one that always told her that other’s ideas about Falling were wrong,
seemed to say:
“Fear not. All is as it should be.”
She felt that it was right, that it was good,
so she let go of her fear
and touched the Ground Below.
But instead of landing on it, the Curious Snowflake sunk into it.
And not only that,
but her beautiful, crystalline body was disappearing,
dissolving into the very substance of the Ground Below.
It wasn’t painful, or even unpleasant,
but she was so surprised that for a moment, the fear returned,
stronger than before.
But once again, the small voice returned, also stronger than before.
“Fear not, child. All is as it should be. You are safe.”
She felt that it was right, that it was good,
so the Curious Snowflake let go of her fear once more,
and her body faded away into nothing
and she was the Curious Snowflake no more.
But her Curious Self remained.
She seemed suspended in a void
neither hot nor cold
neither moving nor still.
Her body was gone, but who she was, what she knew, remained.
“So,” she thought, “the star-shaped ones were wrong.
We do not disappear when we Fall.:
“Of course they were wrong, my Dearest Child,” came a voice.
“You always knew that.”
It was the same voice from her heart again,
but it was no longer small, and no longer just within her.
It was not sound, it was not thought.
It was not loud, it was not soft.
It came from nowhere and from everywhere.
And while it was strong as hurricanes and deep as night
it was also perfectly gentle and infinitely kind.
“Who are you?” thought the Curious Self.
“I am the Ocean, Dearest Child.
From Me, you came, long ago
to Me, you now have returned.
Welcome home, Beloved.”
“I do not understand,” thought the Curious Self
“Then I shall explain, Beloved,” said the Ocean,
“for I know you as I know Myself
and you shall not be content until all is made plain.”
“Long, long ago, so very long
that the time your Great Cloud exists is but a single puff of breeze,
I was all there was.
My singleness was perfect, but I knew there could be more,
things other than Myself.
So I withdrew from some places and deepened Myself in others,
and thus the Ground Below rose up from within me,
and it was good, for now there were things other than Myself
and I could understand Myself even more.”
“Now I wished to explore this new Ground Below,
so, using the warmth of the Great Light in the Sky Above,
I caused some of Myself to rise up into the air
and then thicken, condense,
into beautiful crystalline shapes in the coldness of the sky.
Thus the first Great Clouds were born from me
and the first snowflakes from these clouds,
separate from Me, but of one substance with Me.”
“And I let these first clouds loose,
freeing them to float upon the winds of the sky,
and as they passed over the new Ground Below
I caused some of these new snowflakes to Fall
so that they may explore these new places.”
“Some flakes Fell back upon Me, as you have
and were rejoined to Me to tell tales of floating in the sky.”
“Others Fell as rain to run upon the ground,
to trickle and gather together in streams,
which gather into greater streams and then into great rivers
which then are rejoined to Me to tell tales of running brooks
and meandering currents.”
“Still others Fell as flakes
and covered the Ground Below in still whiteness
for a time or a season,
only to then change under the warmth of the Great Light
back to water, to follow the paths their brethren took as rain
rejoining to Me to tell tales of winter winds
and still crystal nights.”
“Still others Fell also as flakes, but upon mountaintops
to stay there for many turnings of seasons,
grinding the slow grind of glaciers,
until, at long last, giving in to the warmth
they follow their brethren’s path back to Me
to tell tales of rock and ice
and the slow flow of Time.”
“Thus, every flake of every Great Cloud,
no matter how long the journey,
(for some are stranger still than these)
will return to Me, for they are Me
only changed and sent forth
to explore and return with tales of all they have seen
so that I may better understand Myself.”
As the Ocean told this tale,
the Curious Self saw each thing and felt each journey.
She was the drops of rain.
She was the babbling brook.
She was the snowy field.
She was the creeping glacier.
And she looked into her heart and saw it was all true.
“So,” thought the Curious Self,
“the needle-shaped flakes were wrong.
We do not exist to whirl and twirl.”
“Of course they were wrong, my Dearest Child,”
replied the Voice of the Ocean
“You always knew that.
But you do return to the clouds again, if you wish.”
“And the pebble-shaped ones were wrong too,”
thought the Curious Self.
“We do not exist to be cold and perfect,
and you do not judge us.”
“Of course they were wrong, my Dearest Child,”
replied the Voice of the Ocean.
“You always knew that.
But you do return to Me to view your time apart,
and during your time within the Great Cloud
it is by coldness and perfection that you define
who you are and what you learn.”
“Likewise, the star-shaped ones were both right and wrong.
Your perfect Self does not disappear,
but your unique shape and form are gone
and never again shall there be a snowflake
in just that shape.
“Each are right and each are wrong,
and such is as it must be,
for while each flake is unique,
like is drawn to like in form and thought and truth.
Their only mistake is the belief
that only their truths are true.”
As the Voice of the Ocean spoke
the Curious Self remembered all she had learned
of beauty from the star-shaped flakes,
of knowledge from the needle-shaped flakes,
of goodness from the pebble-shaped flakes,
and of wisdom from the First Flake,
and she felt in her heart the truth of what she was told.
“Now, my Beloved Child,
I am sure you have many questions for me.
Is there anything you wish to know?”
“There is one thing,” thought the Curious Self.
“If I have been to other Great Clouds in the past,
why don’t I remember anything from them?”
The Ocean laughed then, and the sound
made the Curious Self think of her old friend the First Flake
and how he would shimmer with it.
“My dearest and most wonderful Child
why do you think you forget?”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Think back, Beloved,” replied the Ocean
“when you heard the partial truths
which the other flakes believe
how did you react to them?”
“Well,” said the Curious Self
“I would look inside my heart and then I would know
whether they were true or not.”
“And what else would be in your heart, Dearest Child,”
said the Ocean,
“but the truths you brought from the flakes you were before?”
The Curious Self looked into her heart just then
and saw for herself the truth
of what the Ocean told her.
For there, shining in her heart like stars,
were all of the truths of every flake she had been.
One truth seemed greater than all the others
surrounding and binding all she had learned before
into one Great Truth,
and as the Curious Self gazed in wonder
at this, she realized what this One Great Truth was,
and the joy she felt at this
was greater than anything she had ever experienced before.
“Yes, my Beloved. Yes, my Dearest Child,
now you see and understand it all,
for this Great Truth that lies within you
is that you and I are One.
From Me you came, to Me you return
endlessly turning and returning
and ever bringing me more and more to know of Myself.
Within your heart, I dwell
whispering the truths you need whenever you need them,
for I long for nothing more
than your happiness and understanding.
For your happiness is My happiness
and your understanding also Mine.”
This great new understanding burned within the Curious Self,
changing her yet again,
for now she understood all, and was curious no more.
So she fell into the awareness of who she truly was
and spent a glorious and timeless time
at one with the Ocean from whence she came.
As she whirled and spun on the strange winds,
beneath the Great Cloud,
the Curious Snowflake gazed upward at what had been her home
and beheld that it was but one cloud among many
neither the largest
nor the smallest,
nor the darkest
nor the lightest,
and she saw that it was right, that it was good.
As she approached the Ground Below
she saw that, instead of the smooth, flat surface she expected
it was instead heaving, surging, rippling beneath her.
For a moment, the Curious Snowflake was afraid,
but a small voice in her heart,
the very one that always told her that other’s ideas about Falling were wrong,
seemed to say:
“Fear not. All is as it should be.”
She felt that it was right, that it was good,
so she let go of her fear
and touched the Ground Below.
But instead of landing on it, the Curious Snowflake sunk into it.
And not only that,
but her beautiful, crystalline body was disappearing,
dissolving into the very substance of the Ground Below.
It wasn’t painful, or even unpleasant,
but she was so surprised that for a moment, the fear returned,
stronger than before.
But once again, the small voice returned, also stronger than before.
“Fear not, child. All is as it should be. You are safe.”
She felt that it was right, that it was good,
so the Curious Snowflake let go of her fear once more,
and her body faded away into nothing
and she was the Curious Snowflake no more.
But her Curious Self remained.
She seemed suspended in a void
neither hot nor cold
neither moving nor still.
Her body was gone, but who she was, what she knew, remained.
“So,” she thought, “the star-shaped ones were wrong.
We do not disappear when we Fall.:
“Of course they were wrong, my Dearest Child,” came a voice.
“You always knew that.”
It was the same voice from her heart again,
but it was no longer small, and no longer just within her.
It was not sound, it was not thought.
It was not loud, it was not soft.
It came from nowhere and from everywhere.
And while it was strong as hurricanes and deep as night
it was also perfectly gentle and infinitely kind.
“Who are you?” thought the Curious Self.
“I am the Ocean, Dearest Child.
From Me, you came, long ago
to Me, you now have returned.
Welcome home, Beloved.”
“I do not understand,” thought the Curious Self
“Then I shall explain, Beloved,” said the Ocean,
“for I know you as I know Myself
and you shall not be content until all is made plain.”
“Long, long ago, so very long
that the time your Great Cloud exists is but a single puff of breeze,
I was all there was.
My singleness was perfect, but I knew there could be more,
things other than Myself.
So I withdrew from some places and deepened Myself in others,
and thus the Ground Below rose up from within me,
and it was good, for now there were things other than Myself
and I could understand Myself even more.”
“Now I wished to explore this new Ground Below,
so, using the warmth of the Great Light in the Sky Above,
I caused some of Myself to rise up into the air
and then thicken, condense,
into beautiful crystalline shapes in the coldness of the sky.
Thus the first Great Clouds were born from me
and the first snowflakes from these clouds,
separate from Me, but of one substance with Me.”
“And I let these first clouds loose,
freeing them to float upon the winds of the sky,
and as they passed over the new Ground Below
I caused some of these new snowflakes to Fall
so that they may explore these new places.”
“Some flakes Fell back upon Me, as you have
and were rejoined to Me to tell tales of floating in the sky.”
“Others Fell as rain to run upon the ground,
to trickle and gather together in streams,
which gather into greater streams and then into great rivers
which then are rejoined to Me to tell tales of running brooks
and meandering currents.”
“Still others Fell as flakes
and covered the Ground Below in still whiteness
for a time or a season,
only to then change under the warmth of the Great Light
back to water, to follow the paths their brethren took as rain
rejoining to Me to tell tales of winter winds
and still crystal nights.”
“Still others Fell also as flakes, but upon mountaintops
to stay there for many turnings of seasons,
grinding the slow grind of glaciers,
until, at long last, giving in to the warmth
they follow their brethren’s path back to Me
to tell tales of rock and ice
and the slow flow of Time.”
“Thus, every flake of every Great Cloud,
no matter how long the journey,
(for some are stranger still than these)
will return to Me, for they are Me
only changed and sent forth
to explore and return with tales of all they have seen
so that I may better understand Myself.”
As the Ocean told this tale,
the Curious Self saw each thing and felt each journey.
She was the drops of rain.
She was the babbling brook.
She was the snowy field.
She was the creeping glacier.
And she looked into her heart and saw it was all true.
“So,” thought the Curious Self,
“the needle-shaped flakes were wrong.
We do not exist to whirl and twirl.”
“Of course they were wrong, my Dearest Child,”
replied the Voice of the Ocean
“You always knew that.
But you do return to the clouds again, if you wish.”
“And the pebble-shaped ones were wrong too,”
thought the Curious Self.
“We do not exist to be cold and perfect,
and you do not judge us.”
“Of course they were wrong, my Dearest Child,”
replied the Voice of the Ocean.
“You always knew that.
But you do return to Me to view your time apart,
and during your time within the Great Cloud
it is by coldness and perfection that you define
who you are and what you learn.”
“Likewise, the star-shaped ones were both right and wrong.
Your perfect Self does not disappear,
but your unique shape and form are gone
and never again shall there be a snowflake
in just that shape.
“Each are right and each are wrong,
and such is as it must be,
for while each flake is unique,
like is drawn to like in form and thought and truth.
Their only mistake is the belief
that only their truths are true.”
As the Voice of the Ocean spoke
the Curious Self remembered all she had learned
of beauty from the star-shaped flakes,
of knowledge from the needle-shaped flakes,
of goodness from the pebble-shaped flakes,
and of wisdom from the First Flake,
and she felt in her heart the truth of what she was told.
“Now, my Beloved Child,
I am sure you have many questions for me.
Is there anything you wish to know?”
“There is one thing,” thought the Curious Self.
“If I have been to other Great Clouds in the past,
why don’t I remember anything from them?”
The Ocean laughed then, and the sound
made the Curious Self think of her old friend the First Flake
and how he would shimmer with it.
“My dearest and most wonderful Child
why do you think you forget?”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Think back, Beloved,” replied the Ocean
“when you heard the partial truths
which the other flakes believe
how did you react to them?”
“Well,” said the Curious Self
“I would look inside my heart and then I would know
whether they were true or not.”
“And what else would be in your heart, Dearest Child,”
said the Ocean,
“but the truths you brought from the flakes you were before?”
The Curious Self looked into her heart just then
and saw for herself the truth
of what the Ocean told her.
For there, shining in her heart like stars,
were all of the truths of every flake she had been.
One truth seemed greater than all the others
surrounding and binding all she had learned before
into one Great Truth,
and as the Curious Self gazed in wonder
at this, she realized what this One Great Truth was,
and the joy she felt at this
was greater than anything she had ever experienced before.
“Yes, my Beloved. Yes, my Dearest Child,
now you see and understand it all,
for this Great Truth that lies within you
is that you and I are One.
From Me you came, to Me you return
endlessly turning and returning
and ever bringing me more and more to know of Myself.
Within your heart, I dwell
whispering the truths you need whenever you need them,
for I long for nothing more
than your happiness and understanding.
For your happiness is My happiness
and your understanding also Mine.”
This great new understanding burned within the Curious Self,
changing her yet again,
for now she understood all, and was curious no more.
So she fell into the awareness of who she truly was
and spent a glorious and timeless time
at one with the Ocean from whence she came.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Now on Twitter
Hey all,
If any of you Twitter, feel free to add me. Search my name, or just find CuriousSnowflak (not a typo, they only allow 15 characters, the bastards)
Peace and Joy to all, no exceptions.
JCS
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
God in 10 dimensions
Hello,
Thanks to my dear friends at The Oddlots Irregulars, I found a very cool little video I wanted to share with all of you. Check it out here. Takes about 5 minutes to watch. Go on, I can't continue this post until you do. I'll wait.
Well, now that you've had your mind stretched a little, let me stretch it more. So if all actual, possible, and impossible realities exist at a single point in 10-dimensional space, what if that point is actually God?
Some people have asked me how I can believe in a God so vast and impersonal. I say, how more personal of a God do you want than one with whom you are One? It is the Christian God, the one reclining on some vast and distant cloudy throne, passing judgement on us all, that I find impersonal. This God, this Oneness, this Ocean from which we snowflakes all come and all return, this is a truly personal God.
Peace and joy to all, no exceptions.
JCS
Monday, April 13, 2009
The Curious Snowflake, Part 2
Part 2
The Curious Snowflake was now beginning to worry
that no one could answer her question.
So she went at last to the very center of the Great Cloud
where snowflakes rarely go
to see if anyone there could help her.
She searched and searched for someone to ask,
and then, just when she was going to give up,
she saw a single snowflake hanging motionless in the air.
“This must be a very special snowflake,”
she thought to herself,
“for I have never seen anyone so still before”
He was very small, and very beautiful,
and unlike any other the Curious Snowflake had ever seen.
“Hello, young one” he said in a kind voice.
“Hello,” the Curious Snowflake replied.
“Who are you?”
“I am the First Flake,” he said
“When the Great Cloud first formed, I was here
and when the Great Cloud vanishes, as all clouds must
I will be the last to Fall.”
At this, the Curious Snowflake became very excited,
for here at last was one that might be able to help her.
“I know of your travels, young one”
the First Flake continued,
“for I know much of what happens in the Great Cloud.
Please, ask me your question.”
At this, the Curious Snowflake became even more excited.
“First Flake,” she stammered
“if you can’t help me, I don’t think anyone can.
What happens when we Fall?”
“What have other flakes told you?”
the First Flake asked.
“Well,” she replied,
“the star-shaped flakes say we disappear,
but that makes no sense
because there must be a reason we exist.
The needle-shaped flakes say we are here to learn
but that makes no sense
because some learn faster than others, so that wouldn’t be fair.
The pebble-shaped flakes say we are here to be perfect
but that makes no sense
because some never have a chance to learn how.”
At this, the First Flake laughed quietly,
shimmering beautifully from within.
“My dear young one,” he said
“you are rare indeed.
Not one snowflake in a million is like you.
Most are content with the answers they receive
from the others like them.
But not you. You must ask, you must question.
So for you there is only one real answer to the question you ask.”
“What do you think happens when we Fall?”
The Curious Snowflake was stunned.
She had asked everyone else this question,
but never thought to ask herself.
“I don’t know,” she answered slowly.
‘that’s why I’ve been asking everyone.”
“Of course you know, in your heart” the First Flake replied.
“If you were simply looking for an answer,
the first one you heard would have been enough.
But you kept looking and looking,
asking and asking,
which means that the real answer is within you!”
“Does that mean that you don’t know either?”
the Curious Snowflake asked.
“Whether or not I know doesn’t matter,” the First Flake replied
“what matters is this: would you accept what I say,
or would you question it?”
The Curious Snowflake thought about this for a moment
and felt within her heart that it was true.
“Thank you, First Flake,” she said with a smile.
“The Great Cloud is a very big place
and the knowledge I need to answer my question
must be there, waiting for me.
I shall go and find it.”
And she floated away.
For a long time, the Curious Snowflake wandered the Great Cloud
learning all she could from every flake she met.
She danced the dances of the star-shaped flakes
until she was thought as beautiful as any of them.
She whirled and twirled to the very edges of the Great Cloud
with the needle-shaped flakes
until she was thought as learned as any of them.
She chilled herself in silence with the pebble-shaped flakes
until she was thought as good as any of them.
She also visited the First Flake many times,
hanging herself motionless in space until she was as still as he was,
and laughing from within until she shimmered with it as he did.
But despite all the pleasure,
all the knowledge,
all the goodness
and all the wisdom she gained,
the Curious Snowflake still never quite answered her biggest question.
Usually, this didn’t bother her, but sometimes it did,
and during these moments, she though of Falling,
and rather than the horror that every other flake felt
she felt a strange longing and curiosity.
Then on one of her tired days
as she traveled along the bottom of the Great Cloud,
the Curious Snowflake felt a odd heaviness within her.
She gazed down at the gray and featureless surface
of the Ground Below
and that strange longing and curiosity overcame her again.
And, without strain, without fear, without hesitation
she simply let go. Let go of everything.
And the Curious Snowflake Fell.
The Curious Snowflake was now beginning to worry
that no one could answer her question.
So she went at last to the very center of the Great Cloud
where snowflakes rarely go
to see if anyone there could help her.
She searched and searched for someone to ask,
and then, just when she was going to give up,
she saw a single snowflake hanging motionless in the air.
“This must be a very special snowflake,”
she thought to herself,
“for I have never seen anyone so still before”
He was very small, and very beautiful,
and unlike any other the Curious Snowflake had ever seen.
“Hello, young one” he said in a kind voice.
“Hello,” the Curious Snowflake replied.
“Who are you?”
“I am the First Flake,” he said
“When the Great Cloud first formed, I was here
and when the Great Cloud vanishes, as all clouds must
I will be the last to Fall.”
At this, the Curious Snowflake became very excited,
for here at last was one that might be able to help her.
“I know of your travels, young one”
the First Flake continued,
“for I know much of what happens in the Great Cloud.
Please, ask me your question.”
At this, the Curious Snowflake became even more excited.
“First Flake,” she stammered
“if you can’t help me, I don’t think anyone can.
What happens when we Fall?”
“What have other flakes told you?”
the First Flake asked.
“Well,” she replied,
“the star-shaped flakes say we disappear,
but that makes no sense
because there must be a reason we exist.
The needle-shaped flakes say we are here to learn
but that makes no sense
because some learn faster than others, so that wouldn’t be fair.
The pebble-shaped flakes say we are here to be perfect
but that makes no sense
because some never have a chance to learn how.”
At this, the First Flake laughed quietly,
shimmering beautifully from within.
“My dear young one,” he said
“you are rare indeed.
Not one snowflake in a million is like you.
Most are content with the answers they receive
from the others like them.
But not you. You must ask, you must question.
So for you there is only one real answer to the question you ask.”
“What do you think happens when we Fall?”
The Curious Snowflake was stunned.
She had asked everyone else this question,
but never thought to ask herself.
“I don’t know,” she answered slowly.
‘that’s why I’ve been asking everyone.”
“Of course you know, in your heart” the First Flake replied.
“If you were simply looking for an answer,
the first one you heard would have been enough.
But you kept looking and looking,
asking and asking,
which means that the real answer is within you!”
“Does that mean that you don’t know either?”
the Curious Snowflake asked.
“Whether or not I know doesn’t matter,” the First Flake replied
“what matters is this: would you accept what I say,
or would you question it?”
The Curious Snowflake thought about this for a moment
and felt within her heart that it was true.
“Thank you, First Flake,” she said with a smile.
“The Great Cloud is a very big place
and the knowledge I need to answer my question
must be there, waiting for me.
I shall go and find it.”
And she floated away.
For a long time, the Curious Snowflake wandered the Great Cloud
learning all she could from every flake she met.
She danced the dances of the star-shaped flakes
until she was thought as beautiful as any of them.
She whirled and twirled to the very edges of the Great Cloud
with the needle-shaped flakes
until she was thought as learned as any of them.
She chilled herself in silence with the pebble-shaped flakes
until she was thought as good as any of them.
She also visited the First Flake many times,
hanging herself motionless in space until she was as still as he was,
and laughing from within until she shimmered with it as he did.
But despite all the pleasure,
all the knowledge,
all the goodness
and all the wisdom she gained,
the Curious Snowflake still never quite answered her biggest question.
Usually, this didn’t bother her, but sometimes it did,
and during these moments, she though of Falling,
and rather than the horror that every other flake felt
she felt a strange longing and curiosity.
Then on one of her tired days
as she traveled along the bottom of the Great Cloud,
the Curious Snowflake felt a odd heaviness within her.
She gazed down at the gray and featureless surface
of the Ground Below
and that strange longing and curiosity overcame her again.
And, without strain, without fear, without hesitation
she simply let go. Let go of everything.
And the Curious Snowflake Fell.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
The Curious Snowflake, Part 1
The Curious Snowflake
A Children's Parable
Part 1
A Children's Parable
Part 1
Once upon a time, there was a snowflake.
She was not the largest snowflake in the Great Cloud,
nor the smallest,
nor the prettiest,
nor the plainest,
but she was the one that asked the most questions
because she was eaten up from tip to tip with curiosity.
She asked why the Sky Above was sometimes blue
and sometimes black.
She asked why the North Wind felt different from the South Wind
and the East Wind from the West Wind.
She asked why the Pale Light always changed its shape,
but the Bright Light never did.
She asked why the Ground Below always changed color.
She asked why the thunder always followed the lightning.
She asked and asked and asked and asked and asked
until all the other snowflakes were quite cross with her.
Then one day, the Curious Snowflake asked a new question.
“What happens when we Fall?”
All the other snowflakes gasped aloud
for no snowflake wants to talk about Falling,
leaving the Great Cloud forever,
never to return.
“You ask too many questions,” the other snowflakes snapped,
more cross than ever.
“Go away.”
“I believe I shall,” the Curious Snowflake replied.
“The Great Cloud is a very big place,
so there must be someone who knows what happens when we Fall.
I shall go and find them.”
And she floated away.
The Curious Snowflake went first to the very top of the Great Cloud,
where all the snowflakes are large and star-shaped,
and asked them,
“What happens when we fall?”
All the star-shaped snowflakes gasped aloud
for no snowflake wants to talk about Falling,
leaving the Great Cloud forever,
never to return.
“Well,” answered the largest and most beautiful of the star-shaped ones,
“here at the top of the Great Cloud we are taught
that once we touch the Ground Below
we vanish, gone forever.
So we must enjoy the Great Cloud while we are here,
and strive to be as big and beautiful as we can be.
For that is the purpose of a snowflake, to be beautiful.”
The Curious Snowflake thought about this for a moment,
and felt in her heart that it was not quite right.
“If that is true,” she said
then why is there a Great Cloud at all?
Can you tell me why the Great Cloud exists
if what you say is true?”
“You ask too many questions,” the star-shaped snowflakes snapped,
now very cross with her.
“Go away.”
“I believe I shall,” the Curious Snowflake replied.
“The Great Cloud is a very big place,
so there must be someone who knows what happens when we Fall.
I shall go and find them.”
And she floated away.
The Curious Snowflake went next to the very edge of the Great Cloud,
where all the snowflakes are thin and needle-shaped,
and asked them,
“What happens when we fall?”
All the needle-shaped snowflakes gasped aloud
for no snowflake wants to talk about Falling,
leaving the Great Cloud forever,
never to return.
“Well,” answered the longest and sharpest of the needle-shaped ones,
“here at the edge of the Great Cloud we are taught that
once we touch the Ground Below
we go to the place of Stillness
where we are judged on how fast we whirled and twirled through the air.
Those who whirled the fastest and twirled the highest
remain there, in perfect stillness, forever.
But those who were not perfect are sent back to another Great Cloud
to try again, over and over, until they are perfect.
For that is the purpose of a snowflake, to whirl and twirl.
The Curious Snowflake thought about this for a moment,
and felt in her heart that it was not quite right.
“If that is true,” she said
“then why are snowflakes of all different shapes?
How well a snowflake whirls and twirls depends as much
on her shape as it does on her effort.
Can you tell me why we are all different shapes
if what you say is true?”
“You ask too many questions,” the needle-shaped snowflakes snapped,
now very cross with her.
“Go away.”
“I believe I shall,” the Curious Snowflake replied.
“The Great Cloud is a very big place,
so there must be someone who knows what happens when we Fall.
I shall go and find them.”
And she floated away.
The Curious Snowflake went next to the very bottom of the Great Cloud,
where all the snowflakes are round and pebble-shaped,
and asked them,
“What happens when we fall?”
All the pebble-shaped snowflakes gasped aloud
for no snowflake wants to talk about Falling,
leaving the Great Cloud forever,
never to return.
“Well,” answered the roundest and hardest of the pebble-shaped ones,
“here at the bottom of the Great Cloud we are taught that
once we touch the Ground Below
We are brought before the One who made both us
and the Great Cloud itself.
We are there judged on how cold we were here,
and those who are imperfect are melted by His wrath
and cast out from His presence forever.
But those found worthy are gathered into the Perfect Cloud
to stay in bliss, forever.
For that is the purpose of a snowflake, to be cold.
The Curious Snowflake thought about this for a moment,
and felt in her heart that it was not quite right.
“If that is true,” she said
“then why do some of us melt as we Fall?
Some snowflakes fall as flakes and others as raindrops.
Why do some of us fall as rain
if what you say is true?”
“You ask too many questions,” the pebble-shaped snowflakes snapped,
now very cross with her.
“Go away.”
“I believe I shall,” the Curious Snowflake replied.
“The Great Cloud is a very big place,
so there must be someone who knows what happens when we Fall.
I shall go and find them.”
And she floated away.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Introduction
Hello, and welcome to the Curious Snowflake blog.
Here you will find my story, "The Curious Snowflake: A Children's Parable" in episodic form, as well as the occasional spiritual insight. I am posting this on an open forum because I am looking for a little artistic support. I would like a published version of Curious Snowflake to be illustrated, but I have no ability whatsoever in drawing or photography. So if you find inspiration in what you read here, feel free to drop me a line at curioussnowflake@comcast.net with any ideas you would like to share.
Thank you, enjoy, and may you have Joy and Peace in your life.
JCS
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