Life Dancing and Joyous Action
Apr. 24th, 2010 10:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
qosI wrote this at work a few weeks ago, and need to keep coming back to it:
I must be the Journeyer, but not the passive girl who was moved like a chesspiece. I must take action to dance through the different facets of myself, complete - and comfortable - in my own complexity, and not feeling tugged or embattled or in conflict. Until I can do this, I will have neither peace nor satisfaction. Time and time again I give priority to what is least satisfying, most oppressive, or simply numbing. What if instead I took joyous action?
Norris's "Quotidian Mysteries" is rooted in her relationship with Christian liturgy and theology, but her observations are valid beyond that context, especially when she brings acedia into it, and the restorative impact of giving dignity to the repetitive tasks of life.
The "Master Maker" in Froud's Faery Oracle has in influence here as well. One of his quotes is "No job is too small to not be done beautifully." "Small" can have many implications here, including the priority or honor one would usually grant the task: like washing dishes or making the bed.
I want so much to be able to communicate this to Wolfling, but how can I when my own grasp is so tenuous?
I keep coming back to the image of the dance: moving decisively, gracefully, from one position/location to another. One position does not invalidate another. My doing menial domestic chores does not dishonor me, does not make me less an intellectual or less a priestess. In fact, it could enhance my priestess work if I let it. Possibly ditto my marriage, even though LM is not present corporeally.
There's another story to release and re-tell: "domestically disabled."
What if instead I become a woman who is joyously comfortable in all four elements?
What kind of radical transformation would be possible if I truly believed in my ability to encompass my complexity and express each in turn, as appropriate? Would it help deflect me from the impulse to bury myself in the numbing solitaire games? I would never be so self-anaesthetizing if LM were present in the flesh.
I must be the Journeyer, but not the passive girl who was moved like a chesspiece. I must take action to dance through the different facets of myself, complete - and comfortable - in my own complexity, and not feeling tugged or embattled or in conflict. Until I can do this, I will have neither peace nor satisfaction. Time and time again I give priority to what is least satisfying, most oppressive, or simply numbing. What if instead I took joyous action?
Norris's "Quotidian Mysteries" is rooted in her relationship with Christian liturgy and theology, but her observations are valid beyond that context, especially when she brings acedia into it, and the restorative impact of giving dignity to the repetitive tasks of life.
The "Master Maker" in Froud's Faery Oracle has in influence here as well. One of his quotes is "No job is too small to not be done beautifully." "Small" can have many implications here, including the priority or honor one would usually grant the task: like washing dishes or making the bed.
I want so much to be able to communicate this to Wolfling, but how can I when my own grasp is so tenuous?
I keep coming back to the image of the dance: moving decisively, gracefully, from one position/location to another. One position does not invalidate another. My doing menial domestic chores does not dishonor me, does not make me less an intellectual or less a priestess. In fact, it could enhance my priestess work if I let it. Possibly ditto my marriage, even though LM is not present corporeally.
There's another story to release and re-tell: "domestically disabled."
What if instead I become a woman who is joyously comfortable in all four elements?
What kind of radical transformation would be possible if I truly believed in my ability to encompass my complexity and express each in turn, as appropriate? Would it help deflect me from the impulse to bury myself in the numbing solitaire games? I would never be so self-anaesthetizing if LM were present in the flesh.
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-24 11:59 pm (UTC)I have to agree with this. When I was still a member of the Mormon church, I was in voluntary service for a time in one of the temples. My job involved a fair amount of 'menial' work, including washing and folding laundry. But the amount of Spirit there was such that at NO time did I ever feel demeaned by this work, any less of a priestess in the service of her god, and everyone there took turns at it, no matter who they were, what positions they held, or how long they had served. Never while I was a member of that church did I feel more empowered than during that time, and even now I use that memory as a measure to see how well I am truly following my path. If I feel powerful when doing the necessary mundane things around the house, I know my spells and rituals will be equally or more powerful.
After all, "After the ecstasy, the laundry..." ;-)