Here's
a rough attempt to articulate my first float: I began
to contemplate my "thereness"--not in terms of simple
location, because in a void there is no "whereness"
just "awareness." The thereness to awareness is the
inner place, which the "echo from Eden" addresses. The
echo from Eden is the first question God posed to man,
"Where are you?" Taken literally it would be about
simple location (behind the bushes). Taken
metaphorically, it's about levels of consciousness. As
an echo, it's the archetypal question which confronts
everyman, in the stillness of his innermost soul.
Further ponderings: The question is raised when man is
hiding. Again, not literally, but metaphorically. The
question was first asked not to authentic man, but to
estranged man--hiding from his true self. What do we
do in response to the question, "Where are you?" Look
at what man has done throughout history. We drown out
the question with our own mind chatter and our
meaningless rituals. Arthur Hauck, my mentor, referred
to common prayer as "holy motion" to quench the
stillness where we hear, "Where are you?" When the
congregation collectively prays, it's "holy
co-motion!" Church is not a place where man finds
himself, it's a place where man sanctions his
estrangement. He's still hiding in the bushes, he's
simply clipped them into a spire shape. Therein he
bows before the gods of his own making. The true
meaning of the world church (eklesia) is the "called
out ones"--out from the bushes to what Hauck calls
heaven--"the celebration of authenticity." The answer
to the question, "Where are you?" in that sense might
be, "home."