To this day I remember the first time I attended a local Christian writing group. The introductory message and announcements were given by a small, middle aged woman, perfectly coiffed in tidy attire. She mentioned that a guest speaker would be presenting on the sacredness of nature at the local libraries. She said the presentation emphasized the holiness of rocks and at that she laughed cynically and added, "The cost is $15....to hear that rocks are holy." A certain number of people in the room seemed to agree with her. They laughed too. I thought, "What am I doing here?" My heart still sinks to think that it would be folly to hold rocks in reverence or to listen to their wisdom. After all, they are so much older than we are.
Thomas Merton wrote a beautiful poem on the sacred, silent utterances of Rock.
An excerpt from In Silence by Thomas Merton
Be still.
Listen to the stones of the wall.
Be silent, they try
To speak your
Name.
Listen
To the living walls.
Who are you?
Who
Are you? Whose
Silence are you?
Who (be quiet)
Are you (as these stones
Are quiet). Do not
Think of what you are
Still less of
What you may one day be.
Rather
Be what you are (but who?) be
The unthinkable one
You do not know.
-Thomas Merton
There is wisdom in rock. There is wisdom in silence. Both will only be heard when the mind is quiet and the soul sinks into the everlasting. May the sacred peace of the everlasting be with you~ Peggy Art: Crystal palace of reedflute cave, China
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