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Meditation on Spring
Wednesday March 22, 2006
(You might find this useful as an
updated paraphrase for Genesis 1)
Before the beginning, there was nothing,
and there was no one to know that there was nothing.
But in the nothingness, there was possibility.
And the possibility was pleased.
From the womb of nothingness, light and warmth emerged.
And in the light and the warmth were day and night,
and in light and warmth lay the possibility of life.
And the possibility was pleased.
Within the womb of light and the warmth, the elements coalesced.
Water gathered together with water, air with air, earth with earth.
The heavy metals sank to the bottom, clinging to their kin;
the lighter elements floated to the top, wrapping around the core.
And the possibility was pleased.
In the womb of warmed waters, life began.
Strings of proteins and enzymes formed and reformed
into helixes, writhing in an orgy of replication.
And the possibility was pleased.
Within their wombs of cell walls, the coiled helixes flexed their powers.
They clustered cells together into plants and animals,
which reproduced themselves in endless variations,
until the waters pulsed with life,
and some had to venture out onto the dry land.
And the possibility was pleased.
In the womb of air, trees stitched together earth and sky.
Shrubs sheltered small crawling creatures.
The creatures grew teeth and claws, fur and feathers.
And the possibility was pleased.
In the womb of life, all creatures linked their lives together.
None stood alone, apart.
They depended on each other in endless ways.
And the possibility was pleased.
In the womb of relationships, some deliberately cultivated dependencies.
They traded the fears and freedoms of the wild
for green pastures and warm hearths;
they became inseparable partners.
And the possibility was pleased.
Until one group stood tall on its hind legs;
it declared itself the final purpose of possibility.
All that had evolved existed only to serve its own needs --
the beasts of the field, the creatures of the hearth,
the swimmers in the sea, the plants upon the earth,
the resources buried below the earth and invisible above it.
And the possibility was not pleased.
Forgetting their common womb, the vertical ones
extended their mastery, to manipulate, to alter, to control.
They reached out ever further, until
their grasping hands seized possibility itself…
Copyright © by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study
groups permitted; all other rights reserved.
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Jim Taylor
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jimt@quixotic.ca
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