Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Chains


Maybe we should wear our broken hearts and battered idealism not like hard-won honours but open, weeping sores...maybe that unlocks the door that leads to freedom...maybe

"All our experiences are needs, dissolving when the needs are fulfilled. but the truth is, our existence, too is a need. We are such stuff as needs are made of, and our little life is rounded by a will. Lasting in our life is neither passion nor delight, neither joy nor pain but the answer to a need. The lasting in us is not our will to live. there is a need for our lives, and in living we satisfy it. Lasting is not our desire, but our answer to that need, an agreement not an impulse. Our needs are temporal while our being needed is lasting."
(Heschel)

15 comments:

awareness said...

If we are the living witnesses of the human condition, I believe it is necessary to show our vulnerabilities.....our sores and sorrows. Maybe this is a way of giving and of receiving......

Like Jesus.

When I think of the connections I make in counselling that are the deepest and most meaningful, it is when I share some of my own stories with the other person. Not to burden them.......but to let them know that I understand some of what they may be enduring, and to give them a chance to share their empathy. Though it is most often done unconciously like it would in a normal conversation, I will use it as a technique in the counselling session.....my own disclosure helps with building a more trusting environment. Gee, it sounds a bit crass when I write it down.

So many are so scared of sharing this deeply. It's a step into intimacy, isn't it?

The Harbour of Ourselves said...

dana, i guess it's in the study of the mystic, the philosophical that we primarily find ourselves engaged in the search for meaning

maybe that's why we listen to music, or read a poem or go to the movies - to know philosophical angst

if we really want the sense of mystery and pain and human experience, we turn to the arts (think I might write something more on this)

thanks for the quote, might just have kick started my words.....

Unknown said...

This is beautiful and the words that somehow make me okay with today. The year anniversary since my father in law died.

The Harbour of Ourselves said...

Tori, I so nearly gave up blogging.... glad now I didn't

some people leave a gap as wide as the grand canyon, they were the world as we best remember it...

Kyle said...

Thank you for this entry, it's one of those entries that helps remind me of my outlook.

Thanks again.

mister tumnus said...

you nearly gave up blogging?! mercy! don't be doin' that!

Suzanna said...

I have the realization that I cannot solve all my problems for myself, but I can stand alongside the parts of me that are needy and help to find the resources which will bring the healing. Integration, I think is the word.
Maybe this StandingAlongSide is God

Bar L. said...

I agree. I have found that kind of freedom, it happened to me only because I let down the guard and cried from my heart in humility - because I just didn't know any other way. And when one does that...others join and something happens and comfort is found by encouraging someone else because you really, really do feel their pain...the pretending is gone, pride eliminated what's left over is a broken heart that has hope.

PS thanks for the comment of Layla's that made me SMILE.

The Harbour of Ourselves said...

kyle,
no worries, i find your work inspiring - shockingly good images!

hey shirley
yeah been close a couple of times lately - am very parched, soul is dry - will give it time though

ps, do you think the camp father will come back tanned?

suzanna
i like the idea of standing besides oneself (and others)....'til the end

barbara
'a broken heart tha has hope' - guess that's where we've all been and where a friend of mine says maturity begins...

ps, i have been offered a ticket for bruce in London!!!!!!!!!

JP (mom) said...

I think when we share our broken hearts, our pain, as well as our joys, we fill the need of our souls to be heard. Peace, JP/deb

mister tumnus said...

well i hope you go to see lovelybruce.....

tanned? hmmmm. can't decide. i would imagine that CS#2, tart extraordinaire, would take the opportunity of relative anonymity to strip himself of all self consciousness and perhaps his clothes.....he'll probably come back with a tan, a new haircut and a wife. or perhaps a husband. who knows?

Dorian Allyn said...

To show our vulnerability is to live. Thank you for your honesty. Don't give up your blogging.

carmilevy said...

Your mastery of depth-of-field is evident in this image. It draws the eye in and forces the mind to linger over the chain - in both physical and metaphorical forms.

I am always rejuvenated after a visit to your site. Thank you for that!

The Harbour of Ourselves said...

deborah
i think you are right....the need of our souls to be heard with our broken hearts is a painful beautiful reality...almost ironic

shirley
i have an invitation to see the tan.....mercy me!

dorian,
thanks, will try not to, maybe if there's nothing there (to write) i need to sit with the void for a while....

Carmi,
really kind words thank you - loved the chained gates and sepia seemed to work, will try and keep assisting with the rejuvenating.....

nala said...

..just a caducous thought:

Freedom is Just Another Word for Nothing Left to Lose