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COPYRIGHT 2002 Mothering Magazine
I don't want to refer to the events of September 11 any longer. I'm sick of talking about it. Yet it continues to inform everything since then. This is a reference point for all of us in the world. It is a time when we have seen a deep division in the world regarding the means used to resolve conflict. We have all had to dig deeply into our beliefs. Some have generated faith, others fear. We have all had to reevaluate our beliefs about the meaning of life. We are challenged at this time and in everyday life to bring meaning to the events of our lives or to live with emptiness.
As Laurens Van der Post writes in A Far Off Place, "The real, the only crises out of which all evil came was a crisis of meaning. It was the terrible invasion of meaninglessness and a feeling of not belonging...." The implication of this statement is that it is our sense of meaning and belonging that help us to be resilient to the vicissitudes of life.
How resilient do you feel? Where do you get your sense of meaning? To whom do you belong? Many of us have been asking these questions more lately, have been getting back to the basics. I went into a needlecraft store recently, and the shopkeeper said there had been a marked upswing of interest in knitting since September. When tragedies happen, we are reminded of the importance of the small, of the ordinary. I am always nourished by the familiarity of sweeping, washing dishes, hanging clothes, feeding the birds.
I am also nourished with a greater sense of meaning in my life when...
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