Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Listening to the Elephant

So g*d (whatever that is) found perfection stultifying and busted out, falling into individuality, each piece possessing the potential godlike ability to comprehend itself. Now here we are, in this amazing universe filled with leaves and galaxies and peanut M&Ms and french kisses, and built into the whole thing is the necessity to connect with each other in order to know anything important about those amazing things.

Each of us holds a piece of the world, our very own hand on the elephant. We have our own experiences. Well, I have my experience. And I’m assuming you have yours. You, on the other hand, have your experience, and must assume I have mine. This is the real faith necessary for eternal life.

Over and over again, the things that are important in life prove to be impossible to know by a single individual. We can learn our perspective of the thing, but we can only begin know the thing itself when we start to listen to each other. The universe is made this way for a reason.

If you love that elephant and you really want to know what it is, then know that every person has their hand on it somewhere. And that person has a gift for you. Only they can tell you what that part of the elephant is like. You just have to listen.

2 comments:

suz said...

but sometimes i shriek and wail 'I WANNA KNOW THE WHOLE ELEPHANT!!! I WANT TO KNOW EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!'
then i come back to remembering that the sweetness IS the adventure, the discovery, the process.
wet rot and all.
:) khairete
suz

Yvonne Rathbone said...

Ah, desire. That's the good stuff. The next person you talk to will have something to tell you about the elephant. It may or may not be a part of the elephant you've ever heard of.