The Book of Job
May 28, 2007
When scholars are studying the Torah, the Rabbi will put a bit of honey on their tongues so that they will associate learning with sweetness.
Things I have learned this week:
1) That what we as performance artists have chosen is not just a vocation or a career, it is also a tribe. 2) That many people have the beespeaker's gift, but it is a knowledge deep inside us that we must seek in quiet moments.
Just before I left Edmonton yesterday, I saw Job again. He was the first person who left a message for the bees. He was young, hungry, and homeless. He wrote down, "The Book of Job" and said, "Tell that to the bees; they will know what I mean." I did indeed find a wonderful quote from Job about listening to nature:
" But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
or the plants of the earth and they will teach you;
and the fish of the sea will declare you."
I feel I'm on a mission to use nature as my guidance councilor, my classroom, and even my church. This piece and this festival have re-affirmed my goal to let my curiosity take me through the woods and gardens, and the green spaces in cities to learn how to be a better listener, observer and communicator, and to be a better artist.
Today I ask the bees for warm weather for those people who live on city streets. I ask for healing and mercy for Job.