giving it a shot....

okay, i know i shouldn't paraphrase this guy as i'll cream his
beautiful work. but shoot, i can't type out his whole book here,
even tho i'd like to!

the amazing mark nepo has me gasping yet again.

in his book, 'the exquisite risk' he's talking about what we need
to do if 'we are to feel the presence and friendship of all there is.'

he's talking about how we disconnect ourselves from 'all there is'
by putting buffers up around ourselves.

he gives the example of how the native americans would just say
something like 'the wind is god's voice.'  whereas we say 'the wind
is LIKE god's voice.'

that putting the 'like' in there is a buffer. and he says we do
this in so many ways. and it keeps us apart.

he had a dream about his gramma and he said it was LIKE she
came to him. and points out how that's a buffer. he didn't say
she came to him. it was LIKE she did.

'When we assume that we author everything we experience, we
snuff the possibility of being touched by the more numinous dimensions
of reality.'

i thought of one right off the bat....
when i am out in the wind, i say 'it's like the universe is hugging me.'

well....he's saying, go for it, terri.......just say 'the universe is hugging me.'

ohmygosh...you know what?? i can see the big difference it would make!

'We can begin by removing the buffers of perception that we create. We
can remove the 'like' of metaphor, letting the wind BE god's voice. ....
We can remove ourselves from the center, letting the indwelling spirit pass
through us, time and again, refreshing and rearranging us, until with D.H.
Lawrence, we utter, without shame, 'Not I, but the wind that blows through
me.'

okay, i read all this (and more) and gasped!
i liked the phrase 'indwellling spirit'....i like that.
i was in the middle of gasping when my guy walked in.
it didn't take long for me to spill this and tell him about it.
i wanna try this! i exclaimed!
he grinned at me and said he figured it wouldn't be too hard for me.

i laughed.

yeah.....maybe not.
and then again.........maybe.

i can see how it would mess with me sometimes.
and how i wouldn't want it.

but then again.........i can see how it's definitely worth a shot.

i am so trying this!