Entish talk
Lately I have been experiencing an aspect of conversation with Grand Pooba known as God that I would describe as…Entish. If you don’t know what an Ent is, then I am about to exceed your expectations of my geekness. Ents are tree-herders in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings
. If you have seen the films then you have a taste of Ent-talk. Read the book and you feel you are right there with Merry and Pippin, falling asleep as the Ents take forever to say, “hello.”
What, per se, do I mean when I call God Entish? Well, imagine if you lived outside of time with no beginning or ending. Now try imagining what it must be like to talk to us who live in a world that says time is short, time is everything, time is money. Getting my drift? God is not a hasty one, this is certain.
So, lately, when I ask him a question, I am left in a prolonged silence.
I had a friend in college like this. You would ask him a question as simple as, “Did you enjoy skiing today?” Then he would follow with something like this:
“Uhm…..” [[winces]] [[sighs]]
“Wellp…” [[Looks up at nothing]]
“It was…good.” [[long silence]]
(I need not mention the name of said chap as all my old guide-buddies and college mates know exactly whom I am talking about)
It was a rare thing to be asked anything back by this friend. And you certainly had to work yourself up to ask him how he was doing with life in general. Entish fellow.
If I were as hasty as many mates back east tend to be, this whole business would drive me insane. As it is, God knows what he is doing. He seems to know that taking the time to speak will slow my heart rate down, teach me to be more present with all that is in front of me. He isn’t always like this. Just of late. But after all, is it not an intimacy of sorts to be able to take your time, to be quietly present with one who loves you?
Considering I live in a world that thinks the increase of technology – cell phones, computers, wireless – will allow for more “free” time…and has only created quicker ways for us to multi-task and be fairly non-present with anything or anybody…
Considering all this, it’s not so terrible to be brought to a much slower pace by the one who created me. It just takes me a bit of time to slow my breathing down and hear his. Ents for all their time taking seemed to be rather soothing and calming. I think I can handle a little more of that in life even if he is not an Ent.
(for more on what it is to Breathe click here NOOMA Breathe 014
)
. If you have seen the films then you have a taste of Ent-talk. Read the book and you feel you are right there with Merry and Pippin, falling asleep as the Ents take forever to say, “hello.” What, per se, do I mean when I call God Entish? Well, imagine if you lived outside of time with no beginning or ending. Now try imagining what it must be like to talk to us who live in a world that says time is short, time is everything, time is money. Getting my drift? God is not a hasty one, this is certain.
So, lately, when I ask him a question, I am left in a prolonged silence.
I had a friend in college like this. You would ask him a question as simple as, “Did you enjoy skiing today?” Then he would follow with something like this:
“Uhm…..” [[winces]] [[sighs]]
“Wellp…” [[Looks up at nothing]]
“It was…good.” [[long silence]]
(I need not mention the name of said chap as all my old guide-buddies and college mates know exactly whom I am talking about)
It was a rare thing to be asked anything back by this friend. And you certainly had to work yourself up to ask him how he was doing with life in general. Entish fellow.
If I were as hasty as many mates back east tend to be, this whole business would drive me insane. As it is, God knows what he is doing. He seems to know that taking the time to speak will slow my heart rate down, teach me to be more present with all that is in front of me. He isn’t always like this. Just of late. But after all, is it not an intimacy of sorts to be able to take your time, to be quietly present with one who loves you?
Considering I live in a world that thinks the increase of technology – cell phones, computers, wireless – will allow for more “free” time…and has only created quicker ways for us to multi-task and be fairly non-present with anything or anybody…
Considering all this, it’s not so terrible to be brought to a much slower pace by the one who created me. It just takes me a bit of time to slow my breathing down and hear his. Ents for all their time taking seemed to be rather soothing and calming. I think I can handle a little more of that in life even if he is not an Ent.
(for more on what it is to Breathe click here NOOMA Breathe 014
)