Crown of Thorns -- The Pains of Birth...

As we near the end, this twelfth installment of "Crown of Thorns" plays with the fact that in the language of the ancient texts, words like "water", "sky" and "face" are plural.

If you consider it for a moment you will see the internal logic.

Water, sky and the human face are constantly shifting and changing. Currents, the wind and the heat of the sun -- or lack of it bring changes in the waters and the skies. But it is what is hidden in the heart, the movements of mind and soul which are revealed in the face.

What is true of the human should also be true of the Eternal which the human, in the context of the ancient texts, is made in the image of. However, the "faces" of the eternal manifest in proper contexts -- this is not always the case with people, for we can just as easily be a father of lies as well as a crown of creation.

The sweetness of love's embrace and the pains of birth?

The angels sing of the joy sweetness brings,
but it's known by those who live upon the earth,
that is all of us human beings,
that within each joy, many sorrows sleep;
and beyond sorrow, the music of joy is played...

To understand, you must dive very deep
into what it means to be "in the image made..."

Perhaps you are puzzled by the paradox
that the image should have so very many faces?

I think Sweet William* explained it well enough:
the Image changes to match different places!

Among the angels, there was one who loved Man the best:
Azrael** -- he became the Angel of Death.

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* I.E., William Blake -- two poems of William Blake are required reading: "The Divine Image" and "A Divine Image".

** According to some traditions, when the Eternal asked who would to bring death to mankind, only Azrael volunteered. It was because its love that it could accept the fact that it would have to appear horrible and ugly to us when it comes to gives us the kiss and the final embrace...