Make walls speak

One of the things I look out for, when I visit new places is the decoration or hangings on the walls of buildings. This is most valuable as most of what you see on the walls may reveal a lot about  people, place or their ethos.

Anna and I visited a friend's home and observed this delicate piece of art on the wall of a room facing the bed room. All these items were hand- made and placed in the present form on the wall. They are made of beads, soft cloth, malleable wire, and coloured paper which are often available in any stationary shop almost at no cost.

Let me introduce to you why this fascinated us so much. This is a pictorial representation of our friend's life journey in full  display although there is more to life than what was displayed. This reveals as well as conceals. 

Life has this dimension of being open as well as being covered. Many aspects of our lives are lived publicly in the intimacy of relationship at home, all most all of us live publicly in places of our work; we open ourselves before friends and yet, there is a dimension of life which stays close to our heart which often is known partly only to our soul mate in marriage. Even beyond this dimension of knowledge of ourselves by our spouse, there is an inner dimension which cannot be fully known. It is this which makes us believe that 'our substance is from God and we are formed in His likeness' because of which something in us will always be mystical and cannot be fully known.  

But what about the dimension which can be known and ought to be known. This calls for courage of self disclosure. It has three benefits. We discover for ourselves through self disclosure the strands which form our inner fabric of consciousness. This leads us to offer an invitation to others, to share in the experiences of our lives, which is a prelude to developing lasting friendships of shared living with some friends. When this happens, we begin to shed our fears, inhibitions or cautions and become increasingly willing to be known by others as we real as we are inside. Such an openness even at the risk of vulnerability, is the only way into fullness of life. 

The dichotomy between who we are inside and who we are perceived outside is detrimental to our inner self. Our gets its wings clipped by this dichotomy. Our souls is for communion with God. As long as we are caught in  this dichotomy, our soul is in anguish. 

Our journey into ourselves is the first step for  a journey Godwards. We were privileged to share in the journey of our friend through this revealing art work on the wall. The delicate art work symbolises the tenderness and thought with which our friend views life!   

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)