Kneel When You Light a Fire
✎ EditKneel always when you light a fire.
- John Oxenham
Sit at a campfire and be conscious of it’s greater significance than the heat and light it produces.
All cultures in all times knew the simple skills required to kindle a warming flame. We are united with them when we share this common hearth, it warms us, brings light and breeds dreams as we gaze into the embers. Archaeologists rely on the persistent remains of fire pits to identify and date centuries-old sites. That the evidence of fire persists for so many millennia suggests that we use it knowing that the marks we leave will long outlive us.
The fire represents an elemental, powerful connection to the great cycles of nature. The power of the sun is stored by the trees that draw their food from Mother Earth. Fire releases the heat and light of the sun itself at our command.
The fire is laid within a little henge of stones that evokes the circle of time, of the sun, of the orbits of the planets. Around this circle stories are woven; dreams dreamt; friendships are shaped in the communal forge.
Calling a campfire sacred may seem sappy or naive. Perhaps because we think of sacred things are untouchable, yet the simple and most common things that hold the greatest significance in our lives. Their very familiarity masks their importance. Sacredness does not imply fragility or rarity but durability and familiarity.