Friday, September 21, 2007

Something to Ponder (or Sleep On)

There's a cacophony of color in our northwoods. It arrived overnight and the reds and rusts and burgundies and yellows and umbers and oranges are fighting for attention. The dark greens of the pine forests create the perfect background for the hardwood stands and our county's 1200 lakes present sparkling reflections in the Autumn sunshine. God, the artist, is good.

But that's not what I've been pondering. I've been thinking about one of God's cleverest creations. Ta da....sleep. A good night's sleep is a pure pleasure. When one flops into bed when one is dogbone tired, (that's a combination of dog tired and bone tired,) and can drift into a semi comatose state and wake later, refreshed, renewed and recharged, that's amazing. Just think, if we had to be awake all the time. Life would be exhausting and unrelenting and too darn stimulating. I read an article once that tried to say that a human's natural state is sleep and when we are awake, that is unnatural. Well, I really didn't get it at that time and now I can't remember their premise for stating that but I was thinking that maybe sleep is the time set aside by our creator for our spirits to be awake as our bodies are at rest. In our dreams we can move around as though we have no bodies to encumber us and maybe it's recreation time for our souls. Maybe God in His infinite wisdom knew that eventually man would invent and create and get to such a state of infatuation with their minds and bodies and powers that they would not carve out enough time to nourish their interior life, and so He built in the need for sleep. Our dreams pull us back into balance and give us time to remember that there must be physical, mental, emotional and spiritual growth as we make this journey through earthly life. Maybe Heaven is just a dream away and there is no need for a physical place called Heaven. Maybe it's whatever we can dream up. Sweet dreams to you all.

3 comments:

Bernie said...

To sleep, perchance to dream.

Balance, Mother, is of the essence.

You speak of the balance of the spirit through dreaming. That is also the supposed purpose of the physical being's need for sleep.

Many of the molecules necessary for the dance of life within our bodies must be re-created, re-acquired, re-turned to strike up the band again, anon.

Bernie said...

You metaphysicians can ponder this:
This evening, while working in the kitchen, I listened to a TTBOOK episode - http://www.wpr.org/book/070819b.html - about learning science, which led me to another NPR show about science - http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2007/05/25 - about sleep.

They happened to drop the Shakespeare quote, and discuss a new theory about the physical need for sleep. The theory supposes that during the course of the day, your body builds many proteins. Many are built poorly. These are detritus on the workroom floor. Processes during sleep clean these up.
And,
Another theory says that the electrical waves that pass over the brain during sleep, maybe a thousand times a night, are erasing the day's memories. The stronger memories; whether repeated instances: practicing guitar, memorizing facts, or emotionally significant instances: the rottweiler living in the green house, the pretty girl in homeroom; survive the erasing process, and the insignificant memories fade away.

Review:
Metaphysically: why did I encounter this knowledge one day after reading Mom's writings?

Philosophically: does this new knowledge of physical human properties cause you to ponder the possibly parallel nature of the spirit during sleep?

Carmen Ronyak said...

i like the open-ended thought process,here,mom....it's quite fun, i think, to ponder it....perhaps as someone famous once said, " the kingdom of heaven is at hand".....literally,right now;our life,and it is whatever we create it to be...quite a gift it is...i enjoy reading these perspectives and ideas, as they are quite new to me in this new "awakened state" ...i enjoy the journey(reading the different takes, and discussing them) with such well inbred peopl...i mean well-bred people as yourself....keep 'em comin' if you're so inspired...there's 2 ears listenin' over here.... metaphysically,bernie you have created a pattern of thought (hey,i like pbs radio show), word(you spoke of it to others), and action(you literally sat at the comp. and listened to it). You believed the show would help you in one way or another, and so you tried it. So, for the timing of it, you created the pattern many months before, and were disciplined enough to saty with the pattern based on your belief that it would help you in one way or another....just a guess...seems every little thing we think, do or say is based on our beliefs and the estimated outcome of the situation....try this: think not of the outcome of a situation, but let you spirit(soul) guide you---basically, think not, as the mind dampens the soul's voice...if we act with our "knowing"and not our "thinking", then it is pure love....pure God .....philisophically...i read something recently that sleep is a time for our bodies and minds to re"member" with our souls, since it's so easy to forget WHO WE ARE in our busy world created...find to open ourselves to all possibility--I, Tony Ronyak, believe this is a way to help remember who we are before and after this realm or dimension---who our soul is---what magnificence we are...mom, can you please forward this to bernie, or ask him to read it .also bernie, that is quite an in-depth article for tittybook (TTbook); usually they just have pitures of naked women! .thanks love, tony ronyak