A meditation on the unceasing rain

Nearly 200 years ago, the poet John Keats offered a lovely little phrase: “Call the world if you please ‘The vale of soul-making.’ Then you will find out the use of the world.” He meant to go against the common idea of the world as a “vale (valley, landscape) of tears.”  Keats is saying that the world is not just a place of meaningless suffering (because of original sin), but suffering is a training ground for the soul. Our experiences shape and refine our deep humanness. We become human not only by merely passing through this valley, but by paying attention with our soul to what we are experiencing.  

The “Valley of Tears” idea is said to originate in  Psalm 84:6:  “Who passing through the valley of tears make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.” The common interpretation is that God turns believers’ tears into a pool of life-giving water if they keep their faith during suffering times. The thinnest view of this is that, after death, all will be well.

The shamanic view, which, in my book is always the thickest, juiciest, and most relevant view, is this: We are worked by the Sprit(s) - as a potter works clay, as a painter works the layers of color one over another, as a poet works the image and rhythm line after line - we are worked into a shape that allows us to apply our powers and gifts to this world.

In the Celtic tradition, it is said that we have a cooking pot in our heart center. Sorrow and joy are the food tossed in, our attitude toward them is the spice, and the fire that cooks them is the spirit. We cook these ingredients into food to be served in this world.  So many people think the shamanic path is about the other world – it’s about journeying to the spirits and having dramatic out of body experiences.  So many religious people think that faith is all about building a mansion in the afterlife after you leave this wreckage of this life in the body. To me the spiritual life, the life of faith, is about the here and now. Right now is what matters. What matters is the food we are cooking and serving, right now.

So on Friday, we will bless the seeds with song and prayer so that they may grow into good food. We bless Beltane, the beginning of summer. We bless the skin and the body and the sunlight and the rain falling on them right now.