Teach Them...Phenomenologically

Vicky Gilpin, EdD
Teacher
Cerro Gordo High School
Illinois
E-mail:  Gilpin_vicky@hotmail.com

I. Inhale.
(epoche)
                    Illumination
                    (is a process)

To illumine requires a price:
            candle, torch, bonfire
                                    dispassionate moonlight reflection of raging sunbursts

Illumination craves a catalyst--
                                    a spark
                                    a sacrifice
                                    a silent match-agony
            to ignite.

Even lamp-glow consumes--
Even Las Vegas neon, even K-mart fluorescence, even Broadway fresnels
                                                devour.

What is the sacrifice?
When kindling is abstract---human---inspiration---questioning---
What is the sacrifice?

II. Hold.
                       veshinantam levanecha
            “and you shall teach them diligently to your children”
                        How?

Connecting with
Commiserating with
Cerebral agrarians---practitioners---planting seeds of Judaism.
            Battling poor soil, no rain, obsolete equipment
            Assisted by barn-raising affection, guidance, connection
                        and always the goal, the warm sun, the hope
                                                         of fruition,
                                                                        of intellectual fecundity

of any word taking root of any deed making a difference of any action giving meaning

Planting seeds is dirty---hard work---time consuming---
Why?
                                                To make more farmers,
                                                to plant more seeds,
                                                to survive forwards and backwards,
                                                veshinantam levanecha

III. Ignite.
                                                Illumination
                                                (is a process)

No wild brushfire, no lava flow
            Just banked embers
            a slow glow.

                                                No Archimedes’ bathwater, no Newton’s apple,
                                                not even Blake’s innocence and experience

Just the softest “eureka” escaping…a steam hiss…into the dark---
and returned:

                        an awakening, awareness
                        soft-limned focus

                                    No honed sword forged in flame,
                                    No lightning strike’s shocking glare,
                                    Not even a solitary candle guttering against the gloom…

Just the transformationperceptionreflection
            ---the slow glow.

                                             …this illumination smolders, eager, hungry.  

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