Day 073n: Heading back to the Garden … (June 26, 2019)
The next town, with the unusual moniker of Géus-d’Arzacq, was not far down the Road, and I paused briefly inside its church – to profess my usual resolve-laden gratitude and to light the standard candle of honorful remembrance, of course, and yet also to enjoy the stained glass portrayal of Jesus holding a lamb – as well as wonder over its colorful counterpart that showed a headless-yet-somehow-serene St. Leon* …
“Most would still argue that a simpler manifestation of consciousness, no matter how burrowed or banal, is preferable to a more complex one. And yet while we might indeed admire the stoic serenity of the lion in repose, or the tribesman’s untroubled acceptance of his fate, or the child’s attention-soaked involvement in the Here&Now, none of these can offer a model for resolving our most profound predicament. And yet while society (and the ego that sustains the same) makes it clear that order based on selfless innocence is fully beyond our grasp – that once the fruit is plucked from the Tree of Knowledge, the way back to Eden is barred forever – Jesus and his followers would have us remember that this is not at all the case. For it is an intentional return to innocence – a purposeful pilgrimage back to the mind & heart of an infant – that is not only a journey that is possible for our salvation, but one that is necessary.” ~ inspired by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
*A curious subset of Christian martyrs are commonly shown carrying their own heads. Known as cephalophores (literally “head-carriers” in Greek), these headless saints all suffered martyrdom by decapitation.
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