Friday 10 July 2009

G-d laws, people's laws


The girl's name Tara \t(a)-ra\ is pronounced TAH-rah. It is of Gaelic and Sanskrit origin, and its meaning is "hill; star". Ancient Tara was the site of the "stone of destiny" on which Irish kings resided

Last night, I dreamed that I was in a big building, like an airplane hanger. The doors were open wide, and the room was empty except for a small Lucite cube in the middle of the room. I was there with someone named Tara.

She pointed to the box, a crystal clear square, about 2 feet across (so about 8 cubic feet in volume, so quite small in such a large and essentially open air space) and said "These are man's laws."

Then she gestured around us, and said. "These are G-d's laws."

There was nothing else to the dream that I recall, but the image and the words are fresh in my mind. So what does it mean?

So often, we think of G-d's laws as something we must contain within a box...a structure, a set of walls or a book. And the rules and laws of people surround the true core -- so we strive to protect G-d's laws from human changes. We build up lists of rules and fences and such, in a belief that we as people must DO something.

But this dream was saying quite the opposite. G-d's laws require little structure or containment. Yes, the hanger offered a roof, but it was far, far above. And with the big doors open, there was little enclosure. Almost none, in fact. They simply "are." Everywhere.

And G-d's laws were safe, not because we boxed in G-d, but because G-d's laws surrounded and contained and so completely outdid whatever little man tried to do. All our fuss was little more than a small box in the middle of a vast and open space.

I looked up the meaning of the name Tara...the site of the "stone of destiny." I don't know anyone named Tara...so the meaning intrigues me. My destiny? Or just a coincidence?

Another meaning was also suggested, since I heard rather than saw the name: Terra.
The girl's name Terra \t(er)-ra\ is pronounced TARE-ah. It is of Latin origin, and its meaning is "Earth". Mythology: the Roman earth goddess, equivalent to the Greek Gaia.


My experience of the creator is solidly female. Mother Earth. The Creator as the birth-giver/life-giver. Terra or Tara...I am captured by this dream.

Any thoughts?

4 comments:

LancelotSofla said...

In the Torah there are several names for G-d some male, some female (Hebrew words have gender). So you thought make perfect sense from a Jewish perspective and hopefully other religions of the world have similar perspective(s).

Unknown said...

Some have male and female names (ie, Hinduism.) some male and female attributes Islam.) Christians, I believe, have used the worship of Mary as a females side, although not part of/the same as G-d. Some have multiple deities, male and female. I can only address my experience of the feminine, within my Jewish framework.

Unknown said...

And within that context, the fact that my consciousness of G-d is as feminine, primarily. Not a feminist issue/choice...a basic, experiential knowledge of G-d as feminine, and a feeling of jarring up against a typo when I see/hear/read "He" in prayers. So your thoughts about Mother Earth/Terra were accurate for me.

Anonymous said...

Maybe God doesn't really have laws. Maybe we've constructed laws around God and ascribe them to him/her/it. Hence the little cube for man's laws and the vast emptiness for God's.