Earth
“Dust thou art …”
Presented as a chilling reminder of the quickly
fading bloom of the human rose which you are. Let’s
turn that biblical boo-hoo around.
Truly, you are dust. Dirt.
Your body eats the Earth, and you deposit bodily dirt back. You are
this ongoing process of dirt-in/dirt-out. Recycling. Spiraling. Mobius.
This relentless cycle can be, nevertheless, a celebration.
Of our fundamental grittiness. Yes, you are the Earth.
Swirls and whirls of vitally zestful dust! As such, the Living
Earth.
What the beloved sees is the Living Earth being transformed
through his/her beloved. Aging—that
feared demon most evident as Secular “youth culture”—
is celebrated by beloveds. Every day you are bombarded
with commercials touting products and processes which can keep you young—
“hide your wrinkles” and mask all signs of aging. This is
a denial of you yourself as Earth. It is a denial of preciousness and
Belovedness.
What is the living earthiness of your
beloved? Her weight? His hairiness? The thickness of an eyebrow. The
twist and bend of lips. The odd protuberance of an ear, a nose. The
oddity of feet and the mangled toes. All that of your beloved which
is the peculiar intricacy of how they have been formed?
Over-time your living earthiness calls you to insights
about your beloved. You see time written on them. The
mottled hand. The bags under his/her eyes. The revenge of gravity. The
halting step. This is your self being formed and reformed by Earth,
itself. It is you in every season.
Continue—Earth
