FIRE

I thought if I did not go for my walk dad and I would go together but working out in the garden made his hip hurt so we came in to read our books and have supper.

"The overwhelming scientific consensus suggests all humanity lived in Africa some 6000 years ago.  Gradually small bands of people left this area looking for food and  a better life."

Going back in time and place we find a group of people who never left this area which was to have been the center of civilization.  According to Wade Davies in the "Wayfinders" they are called the San people.  They think of them selves primarily as hunters and their life is very harsh as they lived in a very dry area of droughts and little food.  They are tormented by flies and by the sun, not a source of life but of death.

They have what they call the sacred fire which symbolizes life, the unity of the people and the survival of the family.  The gift of meat formalizes the betrothal of a woman, divorce is finalized when she returns to the family fire.  A mother gives birth in the darkness and then brings the baby into the circle around the fire.

An elder too old to travel is left behind to die, protected from hyenas by a circle of thorn bushes and a fire at his feet ti show him his Way into the next world.

To ward off the evil God of the west, a source of negativity and darkness they dance around the fire until they enter into a form of a trance; where the warriors tease the fire by putting their own heads in the burning coals.  This is called a healing dance.

I am trying to understand what Jesus meant when he said in Mark's gospel "everyone must be salted with fire."  Fire stood for purification and judgement and since none would escape it did this mean that God's protection would not put out the fires of dread that evil torments us with because if we are on a journey of faith, this journey will contain joy and sorrow, pain and peacefulness, conflict and doubt.

It is hard to understand what was meant thousands of years ago because the listeners would have different pictures in their minds.  Trials and tribulations seem part of the Christian path.

"Wisdom can travel only through error, difficult though that is, and we must forgive ourselves the many errors that are  our good teachers,  The goal will be reached at great cost, for this is the place where we discover our level of commitment and our true willingness to rely on God's grace."
"The Hidden Power of the Gospels" by Alexander J. Shaia with Michelle Gaugy.

I am amazed at every time I read the Bible different things disturb me and make me think.  I am glad that we continue to  that we are evolving in our ways of thinking about the sacred because the sceptical secular culture like we like in today demands a reasonable explanation for everything and there just ain't no thing.  Where does the atheist thinker get his ideas from?

We are still dancing around a fire searching for light but it is great fun and very healing!

Dad will not be going to church today as his ears have the skin burning ointment on them that eat away the bad cells and he looks a bloody mess.  So glad we did not have to go anywhere today.