ON WORDS

“Something opens our wings. Something makes boredom and hurt disappear. Someone fills the cup in front of us: We taste only sacredness.”

-Rumi-

Perfectly good food discarded when 'neighbors' fled to destinations unknown

Some view anything deemed sacred as belonging to 'god', and resist using the word for that reason. 

A woman selling her art on West 23rd street, NYC

Others embrace the word for the same reason.

 Priced at three for twenty dollars

I use the word 'sacred' to denote something or some one worthy of honor.  Consequently, to my understanding, everything and every one is sacred.  Then, what about good and evil, pain and pleasure, suffering and liberation?   

Pictures on an alter at New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care

 

More words with which to indicate an attitude toward something or some one.  Sacred's just a six letter word after all, and all words are mere signifiers, both real and illusory--ultimately inadequate to the tasks of living and dying.

Symbolic blade to sever illusions

Still, we humans struggle to find the right words to describe what's seen and felt.  That's how stories are born.  A 'Beautiful' story is not complete without the darker elements of that story, nor are the darker parts any less 'beautiful'.  

'Liberty' in New York's harbor-2009

Given enough longing and light, having devoured it's own substance, story emerges like a butterfly-unique and brief.

~*~