Posted in 1 with tags gospel of St Thomas, hew wood draw water, Joy, WB Yeats, Zen Koans on July 24, 2012 by josieemery
Some years ago I wrote the following as I contemplated the changes wrought in my life by ‘unfortunate circumstances’. It seems to me now that ‘unfortunate circumstances’ are the making of our lives.
Here is that original post and at its foot I will add the change it has wrought. The change, you may note, is above all in the way I say what I have to say. It is now not just words, but words in flight: words in song.
“Now therefore you are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being slaves, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God…”
King James Bible, Joshua, Ch 9 verse 21.
“Before enlightenment: hew wood, draw water.
After enlightenment: hew wood, draw water.”
Zen Koan
Isn’t that interesting? One culture sees the hewing of wood and the drawing of water as a punishment. Another sees it as a path to liberation.
On the Internet there are very few hewers of wood and drawers of water. Most are drawers of electricity from the grid. It’s been my privilege the last year to move back towards that more primal state. A privilege evoked by my loss of status, income and privilege.
To save myself I had fled to a tiny hamlet in the bush. I arrived in mid-winter. I and the wood fire became a symbiotic couple: we needed each other to stay alive. I did not need to draw water from the well, but I did need to hew wood to heat it. And to cook and keep myself warm.
I was on call 24/7 to answer the fire’s needs. As needy as an infant it was. And as hungry.
As I tended it so my stress and anxiety, my guilt and shame, fell away. My mind was cleansed, and my soul too. I reflected upon many things and let myself explore strange waters.
One such backwater was the apocryphal Gospel of St. Thomas,
Jesus said, “I am the light that is over all things. I am all: from me all came forth, and to me all attained. Split a piece of wood; I am there. Lift up the stone, and you will find me there.”
He could have added, “Draw a bucket of water and I am there.”
I split many a piece of wood and slowly I began to understand those words. I learnt them too as I dug the garden and prepared the soil for spring. I began to see the Holy in the simplest actions. I saw God in the split wood and the turned soil.
I thought of something that Thomas had recorded, which I had earlier discovered: at first to my cost and later towards my liberation.
Jesus said, “If you bring forth what is within you, what you have will save you. If you do not have that within you, what you do not have within you will kill you.”
I had brought forth that which was within me – which I had denied for far too long. I brought it forth and it liberated me.
Liberated me to where I could at last be one with hewing wood, drawing water, watching clouds and walking on the mountain.
And now, some 6 years later. THE COTTAGE SONG
Josephine Emery 