The Paradox of Naming

All women are manifestations of the divine feminine.

I am the Mother of God, Sophia, Magdalene, Merry, Kuan Yin.

All men are manifestations of the divine masculine.

You are the Christ, Adam, Jesus, Burl, Buddha.

We return together in love to (re)create our world.

My animus recognizes your masculinity as essential to me;

Your anima recognizes my femininity as essential to you.

Love happened once (upon-a-time), and love happens for all.
As above, so below.

Perhaps it was in the very holy

(But also divisive) act of naming things
That humanity created the myth of our exile from the garden.

This, then, was no sin, for it is a simile

For the paradox intrinsic in God's own holy
(But also divisive) act of creation wherein

We are all unique, even as we are also all One.

Perhaps if we ceased to argue about whether Jerusalem's

Last name is Israel or Palestine and just recognized it

As Mother Earth, our common Home,

We could find our peace in unity with Her.



Humanity is both blessed and cursed by language.

Our nouns both join and sunder us, as actively as verbs.

We bless and curse the earth with one dual-edged sword.

We divorced ourselves from our fellow creatures

At the very instant we recognized and proclaimed them.

The holy/hellish act of naming leads to concepts

Of possession and exclusion, even as it also leads

To comprehension, appreciation, and communication.

The creatures God charged with naming the world

Begat both Cain and Abel, bestowed both the Cross and the Crown.

Isn't the dance of life/death a wondrous/dangerous thing?