“Now
faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
- Hebrews 11:1 (KJV)
The
metaphysical, "that of, or relating to the transcendent or to a reality
beyond what is perceptible to the senses."
- Webster Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary
Yesterday I
was standing at the train station beside a small, older woman poorly dressed, who
was muttering incoherently. I could tell she was not present, but I
listened to her as she spoke. As I listened I was acutely aware that at
one time of my life, I was also not present. I acted out of the delusions
and thoughts in my head that only made sense to me. But when I was again
present, I realized the truth in my delusions and thoughts. I recognized
the battle between that which is good, God, and that which is evil, sin
manifested in the metaphysical and physical on Earth. With time I was
able to sort through my thoughts by focusing on God and love in order to
experience both the metaphysical and the physical without fear. I began
to express what I saw as the good metaphysical using symbols and actions to
build a network of ideas to communicate with others.
Today I was
reminded again of how the metaphysical manifests itself through physical
symbols. One of my coworkers today passed around a poem about a snowman. The poem reminded me of my Christmas house on
Church Street which was decorated with white stucco, green shutters and roof,
and a bright red front door. I had a concrete Snowman doorstop outside the
door with the words "Let it snow." When I sold my home, I sold
it to a young woman named Noel who promptly placed a wooden Snowman outside the
door saying "Warmer Weather Welcome." The snowman poem from my
coworker said the snowman was kept in a freezer and not in a garden where it
would surely melt.
I am now
building a small home in the Summit Springs subdivision in Fairview Heights on
a hill overlooking a common ground with a beautiful view of woods. After
I placed the contract to build my new home, I realized that summit means the
pinnacle or top of a mountain and that spring means a season, to be released,
and a source of water. In 2007 at a creativity workshop in Florence Italy
the participants exchanged thoughts by writing in response to each other’s
words, and I longed for this conversation with another person through symbols
and metaphors.
Do I trust
my mind now enough to work at the metaphysical level, to let my thoughts flow
to others, to see the endless views, and to experience God without constraint?
To see the multifaceted meanings in all of us that others do not see who
are earth bound in thoughts and actions – to experience it all in my new home?
