Did you know that the little cleft above your lips leading to your nose is called a philtrum? Well it is, and I’ll come back to that shortly.
I’m part of a women’s scriptural reasoning group that meets every six weeks or so. In scriptural reasoning, Jews, Christians and Muslims meet to read and discuss passages from our respective sacred texts, normally based on a shared theme. It’s a wonderful opportunity to learn from each other about these three faiths that share a common root in Abraham. We discover both similarities and differences, and share the beauty of the words.
So yesterday we met, and our theme of discussion was angels. I think perhaps none of us had reflected much before on the prevalence of angels in our sacred texts, and I’m not sure, modern women that we all are, we came to any conclusions. I think we rather tended towards the angel as symbol, not as fact (current new age interest in the subject notwithstanding).
In this context, one of our Jewish members told a traditional story from Rabbinic lore that I found really moving:
Each baby in the womb is visited by an angel. Over the long months of growth, the angel slowly teaches the baby all the wisdom of Torah and the Talmud. Then just before birth, the angel places a finger to the baby’s lips, creating the cleft of the philtrum. With the angel’s touch, the baby cannot speak the wisdom it has learned, and forgets, so has to spend a lifetime relearning. That is why a baby cries when it is born: it mourns the loss of wisdom.
For me, this was a story which symbolises the fusion between our divine souls and our human selves. In the fragility of our humanity, we are not strong enough to bear the light of untarnished wisdom. But still we yearn for it and it is our glory to reach out for it.
Image by Maricel Cruz
Elsewhere:
A reading from Gregory of Nissa, found at the Episcopal Cafe, which seems to me to speak of the same thing.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Tess – what a beautiful story about the philtrum – no, that is a new word for my vocabulary – philtrum. I will remember the story longer than I’ll remember the name for that precious and “holy” space on a newborn’s face!
Women’s spiritual reasoning group – what a terrific name! It sounds like a group heavy on “serious” AND heavy on “laughter” – I hope so anyway.
xoxo
My mama and daddy told me that’s where the angel kissed me before I was born…I always liked that.
well, as it would be SS has once again stolen my comment…i guess that’s just what sisters do
i love the idea of your group and i adore that i can be a part of your “reasoning group” on line. so, whaddya think about popping over to seattle in may for christine’s awakening program??
Researching the “philtrum,” I find that it is used to kiss — what a beautiful gift bequeathed to our anatomy!
@SS: yes certainly heavy on both laughter and seriousness, it’s great.
@Towanda: I wish I’d been told that!
@lucy: I’d never heard of scriptural reasoning before my friend invited me to be part of this group, but it’s quite a well established thing apparently. Seattle – one day…
@kigen: beautiful indeed.
And when we can absorb some bit of wisdom, it feels right like we knew it all along. Very lovely. Also lovely was the quote from Gregory of Nyssa.
Does your spiritual reasoning group tackle Scripture not common to all the participating traditions? Just wondering.
I really resonate with that “knowing it all along” feeling.
We look for themes (next time it is ‘Gardens’) which we identify by throwing out ideas. Then it is up to each ‘house’ to identify which piece(s) of scripture to bring to the discussion, so yes it can be something not common to all. Most usual example of that is the Muslim house, although much of the Qur’an references the other two faiths. The Christian house tries to stick to the New Testament. So yes there can be considerable variation. What I’ve found particularly interesting is that even comparing like for like in what we refer to as the Old Testament, the wording in our Bibles can be very different from the same verse in the Torah books.
I will never look at my face, nor the face of a new person the same ever again. Rich and beautiful, wow to be in the company of such wisdom.
Ah, really lovely post … I love the idea/metaphor of the angel kiss.
Rachel, Cindy, glad you enjoyed this story as much as I did.
Bizarrely I noticed that I had been stroking my philtrum (through my moustache) all the time that I had been reading your post. I now know that it’s a habit of mine. So whenever I catch myself doing it, I think of your post and smile.
Interesting, in a good way, story about the philtrum.
ER: thank you for your comment, which someone escaped my notice ’til now. Sounds like a good habit to me.
layne: thanks for your comment and welcome to my blog.