This recently came to my awareness when I realized that frequently in Christian liturgical language, God is named as “Maker of heaven and earth.1” Initially I’d consider that we live in one of those places, and the other is the other – hopefully where’s we’ll go when we’re done here (good sixth-grade theology).
Then a friend suggested I read James McBride’s 2023 novel, “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store”, where the flyleaf notes the author “shows that it is love and community – heaven and earth– that ultimately sustain us.” That took me well beyond sixth grade.
Did God just create opposites? Do we live in just one or the other? Even as the Creed continues, is God’s “all” divided as well (into just “seen and unseen”)? Or is there more?
The Space in-between
I was well on my way to a different place for myself. How about I live in-between, which is itself a space of its own. Not a static space, like yes and no, like good and evil, like right and wrong. Rather a space of struggle, of tension, of dialogue, of listening and hearing, of giving and taking, of creativity, of making something new, couples making children, of balancing, of sorrow and joy, of Life, of Love, of birth and death. Yes, as humans, that’s where we LIVE – in the spaces between.
I think it was in High School physics class that I was introduced to the matter of defining light. It is wave and it is particle. Completely opposite phenomena, yet both totally correct. (Maybe that’s when I decided I could become a marriage counselor.)
Creation Stories
There was a time, some years ago, when I gathered and studied a number of the world’s creation stories. And a common theme was the matter of chaos and order. In the beginning, or rather before the beginning, there was a primal chaos, no order. And into the chaos an ordering principle emerged (cf God, or a Creator entity, spoke into the chaos, and an Order was established. That’s how language and creativity become an ongoing dymanic of The Space In-Between.
Creation / Creativity is a hallmark of that Space. Which includes the human language arts. And it is also why to Lie is so innately abhorrent and destructive in human society.
Language, Law & Stories
Each of these are important aspects of life in The Space In-Between.
Language is the medium within which much of the tensions of TSiB are managed and transcended.
Law is the specific structuring of human life-patterns for the sake of social order.
Stories are the other medium, by which human culture is transmitted and cherished.
The Hebrew Scriptures (the Christian Old Testament) is a balanced combination of Law and Stories. The law provides structure, the stories provide meaning. And when they are in balance, the people flourish.
If you meet the Buddha
The psychoanalyst Sheldon Kopp, back in 1972, published a wonderful book, “If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him!” (Subtitled, The Pilgrimage of Psychotherapy Patients). Over the years, I’ve recommended it to many clients.
It’s a compilation of many classic stories from around the world, and concludes with the title story, which is an actual Buddhist teaching. In simple terms, it’s a warning that if you meet someone who ‘has all the answers’ kill him before you’re tempted to follow – for the true Buddha is deep within yourself. A grown-up can be no man’s disciple.
For me, years ago, that led me on my own journey into life as TSiB.
Journey
A common theme, in literature and in life, is that of a Journey. It begins somewhere, and ends somewhere. And each of those are static moments.2 It’s what takes place In-Between that counts. That’s where we have Life – And for me, it’s not surprising that we don’t know much or really anything about what came before and what comes after. We have a word for time beyond our time – eternity. And Jesus taught us about eternal life. But it’s like the other side of the moon. We know it’s (probably) there, but…
A river has a beginning, tributaries, and an end where it flows/disappears into a sea. And in between there’s flow. That’s where we are. And there are patterns of wisdom – such as we may spend the first part of our life gathering our treasure, and the second part giving it all away. Sometimes my work as a counselor is to help manage the changes, the fulcrums. And at the end, life (TSiB) has (hopefully) taught us to let it all go. That’s how sex and be such a great life teacher.
Trouble
One of my favorite quotes from Nikos Kazankis’ Zorba the Greek is
“Life is trouble. Only death is not. To be alive is to undo your belt and look for trouble.”
Also – the following conversation beween Zorba and his young scholar-friend, Basil,
Zorba: “Why do the young die? Why does anybody die?”
Basil: “I don’t know.”
Zorba: “Then what’s the use of all your damn books!”
Basil: “They tell me about the agony of those who can’t answers questions such as yours.”
We love Zorba, because he’s so full of life – so full of being a man who lives “in that space in-between.” (Here also the creative tension between language and life.)
Endnote
It’s been said, that if the Angels, who are of a higher order than our humanity, could be jealous, they would be jealous of us mortals – because we can know and experience such a broad spectrum of life, and God never stops loving us. Angels, on the other hand, can only do two things, sing praise to God all day, and be sent on rescue trips.
So here we are. Full of LIFE in TSiB!
To suffer and to cherish.
And learn to let it all go.
Into the Mystery of it all.
Footnotes
1 cf the second phrase of the Nicene Creed: “maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.”
2 Many cosmologies also have a vertical framework, where our place (earth) has below it an (invisible) underworld – cf the classic “Night/Sea Journey” or the sun completing its cycle underneath us.