All items and photos can be found here, Mieke Willems.Mieke Willems collects all the nice things in the world. I was so sad to hear that their little shop is closing.
Times are hard for eternal children now. People have lost their imaginations and monies. We keep making ridiculous things, though, because we don't know what else to do. Maybe we can't possibly do anything else? We are not so charmed by society's idea of a conventional adulthood. What to do, what to do? It is romantic, but there is no great love story here. I find it very sad. We tend not to organize, making us almost powerless. We were simply left behind one day, when some ship, maybe Noah's Ark, carried everyone away into the world. Maybe we were picking daisies, woolgathering alone in fields, or falling down rabbit holes. Maybe we were too nervous to board, and hid in the attic. Why should we need your world? We have our own, each one different and wonderful and warm, none of them overlapping. Well, maybe just barely. A welcoming would be nice, but we have been disappointed too many times by the World As We Know It, so don't be surprised if we are hesitant. Remember, emotionally we are most unusual and find it hard to communicate. Please be gentle with us. We sometimes have sensory issues and become easily overwhelmed by either an abundance of beauty or its upsetting scarcity. It becomes hard to function. Moving music is the making and breaking of us.
It may be a bit self important, but I will proceed to say it. One of my favorite parts of Judaism is the concept of Tikkun Olam. It means, repairing the world. In short, it says that the world is broken. During its very invention, tiny pieces of light were shattered to form the universe and it is our job, as good people, to find the pieces and put them back together. Most people now take this to indicate a call to action, to promote social justice and charity, tzedakah. Don't bother telling me. I realize that I interpret it strangely. I think that creative people are collecting the pieces, and we are trying very hard to put the world back together. The shards cut, though. It gets difficult. I can't keep being your lovely little oneironaut, if you aren't patient with me when I get lost. Go easy on me. I am trying to save the world, but it keeps breaking my heart. I have a few of the pieces, tied together with string. You need them. We all do.
3 comments:
Did you ever see the Dark Crystal as a kid? Your words reminded me of the impressions I have of that movie from childhood. I like the idea of shards of light. I'll keep thinking on it.
I was OBSESSED with The Dark Crystal when I was a kid. Rachel, I think you may be on to something here. Now that I think about it, there are so many parallels. When the shards of light are put back together in the film, the Mystics (who look strangely rabbinic! And are called mystics!) are finally restored to power.
If I remember this account correctly, within the whole affair of creation, God contracted himself (in an act of love that resembles a big bang!) in order to give room for everything else to be created. Everything expanded and pieces of divine light were encapsulated in little glass-like vessels (kelim, kilem or something?) but the divine light was too powerful and shattered the pieces. Now, a lot of the light is trapped on these broken pieces. The broken vessels made up the physical material of the world, meaning that the world is a completely broken mess of evil junk. Adam was supposed to fix all of this....but we know what happened next. I think human souls are supposed to be trapped in the shards as well. So in a sense, we ARE the pieces.
Truly, though, the pieces themselves are supposed to be kinda bad I think. It's that they contain divine light in them, this gives them power, and we have to rescue the light from these pieces by repairing them.
But, I like to think of the pieces as just being the good stuff and it's like a cosmic treasure hunt.
I'm not sure how much this verges on mysticism and how much is purely orthodox. It's suuch a fine line.
I have a feeling that I got that all wrong. It's surprisingly difficult to find this kind of stuff on the internet. You study religion, you probably know more than me! I just remember that during some Shabbat services at the Jewish school last year I was like....what....you guys think that the world is broken? Me too. What else? And that is what I learned.
I don't actually know that much about Judaism, much less Jewish mysticism. Most of my knowledge of it comes from reading the Old Testament, which is really only a partial view.
But, I like the idea of that story. I tend to be cynical these days, but I still believe in ethics and in thinking deeply about how to act and how other people find faith and good in things.
Maybe I just need to keep looking harder? :)
Post a Comment