How to skip a stone may be a lesson in life
Thomas Moore shares images of his father, James Hillman, and Carl Jung in his column "Skipping Stones" for Spirituality & Health magazine's March - April 2015 issue. He writes about the alchemy of stones and water:
"The joy my dad and I found in watching the stones bounce in the air, glancing off the water, reflected the kind of life each of us wanted: not too serious, not excessively grounded, not sinking into the waters of emotion and melodrama. We enjoyed touching down but preferred to stay in the air. I imagine that it was in this same spirit that Jesus, in many ways a puer, walked on water. He was like a skipping stone himself, enjoying life one minute and praying to his Sky Father the next."
Moore's father whom he affectionately calls the philosophical plumber, died a month after his one-hundredth birthday party. Moore writes: "The trick is to grow up without losing your innocence and playfulness. The more seriously you take life, the more room there is to remain a child. When you teach your child how to skip a stone, maybe you’ll notice that it’s a game but also a lesson in life. "
"The joy my dad and I found in watching the stones bounce in the air, glancing off the water, reflected the kind of life each of us wanted: not too serious, not excessively grounded, not sinking into the waters of emotion and melodrama. We enjoyed touching down but preferred to stay in the air. I imagine that it was in this same spirit that Jesus, in many ways a puer, walked on water. He was like a skipping stone himself, enjoying life one minute and praying to his Sky Father the next."
Moore's father whom he affectionately calls the philosophical plumber, died a month after his one-hundredth birthday party. Moore writes: "The trick is to grow up without losing your innocence and playfulness. The more seriously you take life, the more room there is to remain a child. When you teach your child how to skip a stone, maybe you’ll notice that it’s a game but also a lesson in life. "
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