Center

Where is the center of the sea? Why don’t the waves break there?

Donde esta el centro del mar? Por que no van allĂ­ las olas?

[Pablo Neruda (Sara Lisa Paulson, trans), Paloma Valdivia, illustrator; Book of Questions; New York: Enchanted Lion Books, 2022]

Ocean currents are amazing and mysterious. Surface movement in any direction is balanced out with deep currents going in the opposite direction – and all kinds of movement happens between. Since waves break upon shores, could there be a location where the deep currents are breaking – unseen by our human eyes, at depths beyond our reach?

In Orthodox theology, one of the images for God’s love and creative power is a procession; love and life begin in the Creator, flow through the Spirit and Christ, and out to the farthest reaches of creation. All things receive life and love from their center in God, like waves breaking on the shores of our very being.

If I stick with the wave metaphor, could it be that there is a deep, unseen current that returns even my tiniest offerings of love to the source of all things?

2 thoughts on “Center

  1. Bill Albritton

    My left-brained analytical self responds that if you’re on Nukutepipi in the center of the Pacific, you’ll see waves break from time to time.

  2. Johnna Post author

    Interesting, Bill. I’m such a left brain person, yet I’ve never hear of Nukutepipi. So fun to learn new things! Peace and Thanks, Johnna

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