The word for this week is entelechy, and a lovely word it is. Both word and concept were coined by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, and they spring from the Late Latin entelecheia, thence the Greek télos meaning "end or purpose", and échein, meaning simply "to have".Aristotle defined entelechy as "having one's end within", and the late U.N. Secretary General, Dag Hammarskjold, described it as "existing in the fleet joy of becoming". The French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, also a renowned paleontologist, geologist and physicist, described entelechy as being "something inside of you like a butterfly is inside a caterpillar".
Entelechy is the potential within a nut or acorn to become a tree, within a rose hip of becoming a fragrant bloom in summer. It is the power within an awakening seed at the bottom of a pond to make its careful way to the surface and bloom as a lotus or waterlily. It is the possibility encoded in each of us at birth of becoming decent kind thoughtful adults and reaching some form of enlightenment.
Enlightenment may not take place in this lifetime, and some of us have a long way to go (I am thinking of myself here), but we are already on our way, and all along that winding trail are nuggets of wisdom, knowing and shy discernment.
To use the words of Emily Dickinson, we dwell in Possibility, although we manage to forget it most of the time. Here again on a Friday Ramble, one of those seeds of truth about which I sometimes need reminding. How often I need such reminders these days! I am frequently crotchety and impatient with myself, but that is part of the process too.
One of my summer water lilies would have been a better image for this morning's post, but I craved the burnished mahogany smoothness of last autumn's acorns. Now they rest on a sunny hillside in the Lanark Highlands, and this old tree shepherd will tend them on their way to becoming stately oaks.
9 singing pebbles:
This is a grand new word, I like to think of what we have within us, the possibility Emily Dickinson everlastingly gently stirs our souls.
"...burnished mahogany smoothness..., these too are thrilling words of color and texture.
Blessings and wishing you a cozy warm day, or pottering the Lanark Highlands of your heart.
Wonderful words, concepts, and insights.
Here's to our collective potential, one individual at a time.
Thanks for your thoughtful ramblings.
I needed the words of Emily Dickinson - this day - and every day.
Thank you !!
The same as everyone else.
I am struck ny the similarity between the acorn and the icon on the right. Was that deliberate? It gave me a jolt of excitement and then a smile.
Lightsnaps, there IS a similarity between the acorns and the Buddha's curls. I didn't realize it until I had written this morning's post, but there is certainly some food for thought there.
What a wonderful word and you explain it so beautifully. I love the images and the thought.
I can't tell you how many fairies I have made using an acorn cap as a hat! They're one of my favorite things to gather on my walks.
thank you...may we all recognize the possibilities that dwell with in each and every one of our cells!
thank you for this,
truly.
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