Death is a Kind of Gravity | Process Musings

Death is a Kind of Gravity

Death is a kind of gravity,
a letting go, a natural tug down —
down toward the earth,
toward dust,
toward the heart of the world.

So too for those left behind.
The gravity of grief pulls us,
against our will,
down into Earth’s Heart,
the essentials, the center:
what matters.

I think of the Universe
as God’s body,
beautiful and tragic as it is.
So perhaps God is not
a remote king, judging, controlling,
manipulating from on high,
but earthy, involved, feeling the
pain of everything,
like the suffering and compassionate Jesus –

Like Michelangelo’s La Pietà:
a mother, grieving –
a loving heart who cradles us
in the tender embrace that is both
earth and sky,
spirit and soil.
tragedy and joy.

The great Heart of the Universe sings to us in our grief
a dreamy melody, luring us down into
the depth of things –
a sacred song that winnows out the chaff
of busyness and striving,
all that distracts us from our inner lives.

Then we can finally slide down into what matters:
truth, beauty, goodness,
and, most of all,
forgiveness,
love.

The Divine Tenderness is that welcoming embrace
that catches everything as it falls:
dragonflies and people,
flowers and dreams,
all to be reborn, restored, resurrected
in the great womb of God.

Gravity takes us home.

— “Death is a Kind of Gravity” by Patricia Adams Farmer, in memory of Mary Farmer Wiebe

Next Post: The Tiny Philosopher of Wonder