Comments on: On forms and beasts and real life tales http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2006/08/23/on-forms-and-beasts-and-real-life-tales/ uncovering life's layers, exploring truth's terrain... Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:52:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: Kristin http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2006/08/23/on-forms-and-beasts-and-real-life-tales/#comment-1362 Tue, 29 Aug 2006 19:27:41 +0000 http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2006/08/23/on-forms-and-beasts-and-real-life-tales/#comment-1362 Hadashi, I love that description! That's so great. SM, we aren't yet to the point of speaking of God to Elijah. We sense that we are his primary God images at this stage of the game, though, so are filling his days with as much love and nurture and presence as we know how to give. The questions you ask will need to be answered in time, I'm sure. I'd love to hear what you and anyone else are trying on these points. Christine, thank you. Your path sounds so rich, and strangely familiar. Hadashi, I love that description! That’s so great.

SM, we aren’t yet to the point of speaking of God to Elijah. We sense that we are his primary God images at this stage of the game, though, so are filling his days with as much love and nurture and presence as we know how to give. The questions you ask will need to be answered in time, I’m sure. I’d love to hear what you and anyone else are trying on these points.

Christine, thank you. Your path sounds so rich, and strangely familiar.

]]> by: hadashi http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2006/08/23/on-forms-and-beasts-and-real-life-tales/#comment-1361 Tue, 29 Aug 2006 17:43:10 +0000 http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2006/08/23/on-forms-and-beasts-and-real-life-tales/#comment-1361 mmmmm. lots to ponder, and the comments are thoughtful.. i find it interesting that what i am chewing on is the image of God as a Volvo: reliable, batter-able (a la Job), protective as opposed to needing protection, keeps running, can take you to places you've only dreamed of. for some reason, my God-Volvo is a silver-blue, the color of ocean in the evening, and has a few dents and scratches, and some stains on the back seat where i got carsick as a kid. and He's been very patient about the varying speeds at which i want Him to go. mmmmm. lots to ponder, and the comments are thoughtful.. i find it interesting that what i am chewing on is the image of God as a Volvo: reliable, batter-able (a la Job), protective as opposed to needing protection, keeps running, can take you to places you’ve only dreamed of.

for some reason, my God-Volvo is a silver-blue, the color of ocean in the evening, and has a few dents and scratches, and some stains on the back seat where i got carsick as a kid. and He’s been very patient about the varying speeds at which i want Him to go.

]]> by: Story Midwife http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2006/08/23/on-forms-and-beasts-and-real-life-tales/#comment-1360 Mon, 28 Aug 2006 11:20:40 +0000 http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2006/08/23/on-forms-and-beasts-and-real-life-tales/#comment-1360 Kristin, regarding how we speak of God to children: you touched on the words in my heart. In my first comment I nearly went that direction, but held back as I could write a whole post(or six)on that one. And this is YOUR blog, afterall. :-) My son is at an age where he is beginning to ask more and more concrete questions about God and Jesus, life and death, Buddha and Kwan Yin, heaven and prayer, and what God is/isn't. (We're a very Christian-interfaith household, and even there I wonder how much to integrate of "other" traditions???). I find that I wrestle with the ratio of concrete to abstract. I want to nurture spaciousness in his heart, while also offering images and tangibles for his head --hoping that the dance between the two will inspire him to keep dancing in whatever way nourishes HIS beautiful soul. How's this for you as a Mama of a one year old?? What traditions/stories are you enacting in your family? Kristin, regarding how we speak of God to children: you touched on the words in my heart. In my first comment I nearly went that direction, but held back as I could write a whole post(or six)on that one. And this is YOUR blog, afterall. :-) My son is at an age where he is beginning to ask more and more concrete questions about God and Jesus, life and death, Buddha and Kwan Yin, heaven and prayer, and what God is/isn’t. (We’re a very Christian-interfaith household, and even there I wonder how much to integrate of “other” traditions???). I find that I wrestle with the ratio of concrete to abstract. I want to nurture spaciousness in his heart, while also offering images and tangibles for his head –hoping that the dance between the two will inspire him to keep dancing in whatever way nourishes HIS beautiful soul. How’s this for you as a Mama of a one year old?? What traditions/stories are you enacting in your family?

]]> by: Sacred Art of Living http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2006/08/23/on-forms-and-beasts-and-real-life-tales/#comment-1359 Mon, 28 Aug 2006 01:12:45 +0000 http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2006/08/23/on-forms-and-beasts-and-real-life-tales/#comment-1359 Kristin, I read your post and let it stir in me and I am glad I came back to read your follow-up comment: "God is less like a person "out there" and more part of the fabric of the universe, being spoken of and pointed to and felt/smelled/tasted/touched by all of creation, all of the time." I also loved the image of people whose edges are rusty. I have been dealing with some grief in my life, and that image rang so true to me, the things I have experienced give me a certain depth of perspective that has rusty, jagged edges. This past year I have had my image of God explode wide open (and I thought it was pretty spacious to begin with). Spending long hours in the forest and by the ocean, being present to the profound love for people and creatures in my life, diving deeply into my dreamlife, suddenly God became this wild, untamable force and I love her fiercely. Blessings to you, Christine Kristin, I read your post and let it stir in me and I am glad I came back to read your follow-up comment: “God is less like a person “out there” and more part of the fabric of the universe, being spoken of and pointed to and felt/smelled/tasted/touched by all of creation, all of the time.” I also loved the image of people whose edges are rusty. I have been dealing with some grief in my life, and that image rang so true to me, the things I have experienced give me a certain depth of perspective that has rusty, jagged edges. This past year I have had my image of God explode wide open (and I thought it was pretty spacious to begin with). Spending long hours in the forest and by the ocean, being present to the profound love for people and creatures in my life, diving deeply into my dreamlife, suddenly God became this wild, untamable force and I love her fiercely. Blessings to you, Christine

]]> by: Kristin http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2006/08/23/on-forms-and-beasts-and-real-life-tales/#comment-1358 Sun, 27 Aug 2006 13:52:11 +0000 http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2006/08/23/on-forms-and-beasts-and-real-life-tales/#comment-1358 Julianne, I'm starting to wonder whether God is more feelable than even I thought in my evangelical Christian days. Though what I mean by that now is a lot different than what I would have meant by it then. I guess I'm thinking God is less like a person "out there" and more part of the fabric of the universe, being spoken of and pointed to and felt/smelled/tasted/touched by all of creation, all of the time. It is the openness and the listening, like you say, that makes this real to me, and humbles and emboldens and fills me up with words and with silence and a sense of wonder in the face of this All. Reading both micro and macrophysics does this in me as well. Julianne, I’m starting to wonder whether God is more feelable than even I thought in my evangelical Christian days. Though what I mean by that now is a lot different than what I would have meant by it then. I guess I’m thinking God is less like a person “out there” and more part of the fabric of the universe, being spoken of and pointed to and felt/smelled/tasted/touched by all of creation, all of the time. It is the openness and the listening, like you say, that makes this real to me, and humbles and emboldens and fills me up with words and with silence and a sense of wonder in the face of this All. Reading both micro and macrophysics does this in me as well.

]]> by: julianne http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2006/08/23/on-forms-and-beasts-and-real-life-tales/#comment-1357 Sat, 26 Aug 2006 07:31:17 +0000 http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2006/08/23/on-forms-and-beasts-and-real-life-tales/#comment-1357 Kristin I think you completely hit the nail on the head with your comment about growing up in our understanding and experience of God, just like life. I look back on years when I felt (emphasis on that word, not because it wasn't real, but because feelings are transient and only part of the bigger picture) so 'alive' to God and his world. As an adult, perhaps because my reason has kicked in full time, this feeling is rare. And I have actually come to be wary of the feeling, thinking it is a farce - an old 'evangelicalism' taking hold and robbing me of all I have learned since I was a teenager. I don't know which state is the right one to be towards God and our experience of him except that open and listening is a must. how else can he be real to us in our everyday lives? Kristin I think you completely hit the nail on the head with your comment about growing up in our understanding and experience of God, just like life. I look back on years when I felt (emphasis on that word, not because it wasn’t real, but because feelings are transient and only part of the bigger picture) so ‘alive’ to God and his world. As an adult, perhaps because my reason has kicked in full time, this feeling is rare. And I have actually come to be wary of the feeling, thinking it is a farce - an old ‘evangelicalism’ taking hold and robbing me of all I have learned since I was a teenager. I don’t know which state is the right one to be towards God and our experience of him except that open and listening is a must. how else can he be real to us in our everyday lives?

]]> by: Kristin http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2006/08/23/on-forms-and-beasts-and-real-life-tales/#comment-1356 Fri, 25 Aug 2006 14:43:55 +0000 http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2006/08/23/on-forms-and-beasts-and-real-life-tales/#comment-1356 Story Midwife--That's an idea that seems so worth pondering. Or the flip side of it: now that we're adults, what does it mean for us to speak of God to children? How do we speak of sacred things in ways that give these things substance in little minds, but in ways that also don't limit the way those minds experience and trust and interpret the things they observe and experience of the holy? Thank you, Cindy and Atticus. :) Story Midwife–That’s an idea that seems so worth pondering. Or the flip side of it: now that we’re adults, what does it mean for us to speak of God to children? How do we speak of sacred things in ways that give these things substance in little minds, but in ways that also don’t limit the way those minds experience and trust and interpret the things they observe and experience of the holy?

Thank you, Cindy and Atticus. :)

]]> by: Cindy http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2006/08/23/on-forms-and-beasts-and-real-life-tales/#comment-1355 Fri, 25 Aug 2006 12:40:08 +0000 http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2006/08/23/on-forms-and-beasts-and-real-life-tales/#comment-1355 YES!!! Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes!!!!!!! YES!!! Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes!!!!!!!

]]> by: atticus http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2006/08/23/on-forms-and-beasts-and-real-life-tales/#comment-1354 Fri, 25 Aug 2006 02:13:12 +0000 http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2006/08/23/on-forms-and-beasts-and-real-life-tales/#comment-1354 kristin, i enjoyed reading the June writings...so much of what you write about seems so wise beyond your 30 years of age...i am glad you still have hope and openness...your words always stick in my brain (in a good way) and sink in deeper over the next few days after reading them..coming back to me with clearer understanding...i can't wait to read your novel... kristin, i enjoyed reading the June writings…so much of what you write about seems so wise beyond your 30 years of age…i am glad you still have hope and openness…your words always stick in my brain (in a good way) and sink in deeper over the next few days after reading them..coming back to me with clearer understanding…i can’t wait to read your novel…

]]> by: Story Midwife http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2006/08/23/on-forms-and-beasts-and-real-life-tales/#comment-1353 Thu, 24 Aug 2006 16:06:47 +0000 http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2006/08/23/on-forms-and-beasts-and-real-life-tales/#comment-1353 I, too, will need to re-read to glean more of the gems you've planted here. Thanks for the invitation to let God be what God is -- or isn't. I've often wondered what sort of God/diety/energy/object/person/essence I would worship/pray to/dance with/invoke if I had grown up without having anyone tell me what God is and is not. What language or understanding might I have found on my own? Interesting for me to ponder... I, too, will need to re-read to glean more of the gems you’ve planted here. Thanks for the invitation to let God be what God is — or isn’t. I’ve often wondered what sort of God/diety/energy/object/person/essence I would worship/pray to/dance with/invoke if I had grown up without having anyone tell me what God is and is not. What language or understanding might I have found on my own? Interesting for me to ponder…

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