Thursday, June 10, 2010

creation and home


Following on from longing,i want to talk about a time when i felt a glimpse of home.

I was living in South Africa and was attending a series of lectures given by a local buddhist, Rob Nairn.

He spoke about the buddhist creation myth.

I remember it slightly differently than the Wikipaedia version (read down until you get to Buddhist then read the last two paragraphs of that section.)

and here is the version i remember...

once upon a time there was light - all beings were light and joy and bliss...

They could be anywhere in space and time and all was effortless.

Some of these light beings alighted on the earth - it was beautiful there and they began to want to sample some of the earth - the ate the clouds and the soil.

Delicious.

But when they got the urge to fly away they found they could not.

They became hungry and ate more.

And the more they ate the less they were able to remember their true identity - beings of bliss and light and joy...

And the less they remembered the more they resembled something else. Something less than who they really were.


I can remember listening with tears falling - inexplicably sorrowful.

I think the explanation is longing

I think the explanation is Hireath.

I think all of us remember a time where we knew that we were beings of light and joy and bliss - unencumbered by consumption and desire.....

I think that is the home i miss.

4 comments:

  1. faerian, thank you for that beautiful Buddhist creation myth story. It resonates deeply within my soul.

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  2. Thank you for posting this -- I really needed to read this today. That is the home that I long for with an ache so deep it echoes in my chest.

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  3. Oh sister, all throughout my life I have said some version of "I don't belong here" or that I didn't understand earth people. I too share the knowing and the longing - deeply, soulfully, passionately.

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  4. thankyou lovely mollie, dreamphemera and Queen Dani...

    i think this officially makes us members of the same tribe...

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