Revelations

Sunday, May 26th

Pathway Facilitator: Sara Bensman
Supporting Facilitator: Lanie McKeever Anderson

Revelation is commonly associated with the apocalyptic doom of biblical Revelations, but at the root of the word revelation is re-, as in release and “velare,” meaning cover or veil. It is literally an unveiling or a “striking disclosure”.  When something is revealed to us, we lay ourselves bare of our previously held mental protections and projections and we become exposed to transformation (which begins with trans- or trance).

While we search and plan and attempt to control outcomes, the answers that we seek often can not be imagined until they appear.  Whether the revelation is personal or cosmic, it leaves us stripped of all we have known, lost in the chaotic and unfamiliar until we adjust to and co-create a new reality.

*https://www.etymonline.com/word/transform

Revelation Must Be Terrible

Revelation must be
terrible with no time left
to say goodbye.

Imagine that moment
staring at the still waters
with only the brief tremor

of your body to say
you are leaving everything
and everyone you know behind.

Being far from home is hard, but you know,
at least we are exiled together.
When you open your eyes to the world

you are on your own for
the first time. No one is
even interested in saving you now

and the world steps in
to test the calm fluidity of your body
from moment to moment

as if it believed you could join
its vibrant dance
of fire and calmness and final stillness.

As if you were meant to be exactly
where you are, as if
like the dark branch of a desert river

you could flow on without a speck
of guilt and everything
everywhere would still be just as it should be.

As if your place in the world mattered
and the world could
neither speak nor hear the fullness of

its own bitter and beautiful cry
without the deep well
of your body resonating in the echo.

Knowing that it takes only
that one, terrible
word to make the circle complete,

revelation must be terrible
knowing you can
never hide your voice again.

— David Whyte