I'm building an Ark. Never in my 17 years of Los Angeles living have I seen so much rain. The scientific facts of rainfall in inches don't interest me; it's the experience of the rain that matters, exploring how the rain effects us that I find intriguing. Just as the archeological evidence around the Great Flood and Noah's Ark are slim, it is the story that matters.
In case you are one of the very few lucky people who didn't have the Old Testament Book of Genesis thrust upon you at a young age, the story of Noah and his Ark can be summed up thus:
A righteous man is told by God that there will be a great flood and that he should build a giant ark to insure the survival of his family and all animal species. He gathers the animals in couples and the rain begins. It rains for 40 days and 40 nights until the ark rests atop Mt. Ararat. (This is where the timing gets tricky, somehow 40 days turn into six to seven months, possibly 10 months depending on the source.) After seven days, Noah sends out a raven to search for dry land. It feasts on carrion and doesn't return. After seven more days, he sends out a dove, which comes back with an olive branch indicating that dry land exists. After another seven days, Noah sends the dove out again and it doesn't return indicating that the flood had receded. Noah and those who accompanied him on his ark safely emerge from their long confinement to dry land.
Rabbi Winston, please forgive me if I have butchered this story in anyway. You trained me well for my bat mitzvah, but that was a long time ago. Your bad breath and long white beard however will be forever imprinted in my mind, as is the significance of the dove. It is in the story of Noah that the dove takes on mythical status. It becomes the friend of man and the image of the olive branch in its beak -- forever a symbol of peace. This branch is a sign of hope to those who had been sequestered in the ark, a sign of life on earth when their faith had waned. The branch is possibility, the future.
Lesson 1: Observe a Sabbath, take a day of rest.
The timeline of this story is a little vague as is often the case for things that happened thousands of years ago and maybe never happened at all. Even so, a poignant message is revealed in its chronology: respect for the Sabbath. All actions take place either on a Friday, a Sunday or a Wednesday, honoring this "Day of Rest." It's no accident, I'm sure that the Hebrew name "Noah," actually means "rest."
Taking a day of rest is a challenge for many of us in modern culture. Trying to stay ahead of the game in work, care for our families and heaven forbid also take time to exercise can keep us on the treadmill for 18 hours a day, every day.
My brother and his wife, both Ph.D.s, are two of the hardest working people I know. They are efficient with their time to a fault and seem to be able to navigate all aspects of life seamlessly. For years they worked seven days a week without fail. It wasn't even open for discussion. On a visit a couple of years back, they actually spent the majority of the day with me and I expressed my surprise, inquiring as to when they were going to get back to work. My brother explained that they had done an experiment and found that whether they worked seven days a week or knocked it down to six, they got the same amount of work done.
Lesson 2: Say Grace, offer gratitude for each meal.
"After the flood, Noah was the first tiller of the soil. He planted a vineyard; and he drank of the wine." Between Noah and Michelle Obama's organic garden at the White House, the message is clear: have a connection to the food you eat. If we don't have the time or means to grow our own food, we can at least just take a moment to pause before we eat. We can consider where our food came from, how many hands labored to bring it to our mouths and have gratitude that we get to enjoy the meal. In addition, the act of eating is really an act of "one-ness," "union," yoga. It is the moment when we become one with the planet.
Lesson 3: Choose what goes on the ark, choose carefully what survives.
The massive flood that consumed the earth at that time, wiped away all but the carefully selected. Noah made lucid decisions about what would go on the ark for survival. This foresight was a luxury that has not been afforded to many who lost their homes, their families and even their lives in recent disasters. All of it makes me question my own value system. If the flood came to me, as it did to so many just a few weeks ago, what would I save? Who would I reach out to? What would survive?
Rain is representative of washing things clean, of wiping away the past and also bringing new life. The rain spring cleans the earth and triggers our desire to spring clean ourselves -- body, mind and soul. What is it that we are willing to let go of? Whether it is cleaning out the closet, re-evaluating relationships that don't serve or going on a cleanse, the rain outside is inspiration. Building our own metaphorical ark is a way of protecting that which is sacred to us.
Angelenos have a strong reaction to rain. It seems for them (like Noah) when it rains, everything stops. For years I have looked down on this, thinking it was "wimpy," deducing that they were just lazy when it came to doing anything that involved the extra effort that the rain brought with it. But I've revised my hypothesis. Angelenos are like Noah. When it rains, they use the opportunity to go inward, to hibernate and evaluate. They use this precious time to stop the rat race of their usual lives, and in this pause they see what is really important to them. They see who they connect with, what they really want to do with their time -- what will survive. This pause reveals their true nature and allows a new equilibrium to unfold. Like Noah, when the rain has cleared, they emerge refreshed and new.
As the rain continues to pound away over Los Angeles today, instead of complaining that I don't get to go to the beach, I'm going Biblical. I'm building an ark.
Follow Sara Elizabeth Ivanhoe on Twitter: www.twitter.com/sara_ivanhoe
Noah's Ark and the Flood - Bible Story Summary of Noah's Ark
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Be careful when you go to Home Depot for the lumber. Don't tell them you're going to use "cubits" as your unit of measure.
'Fate was now to take over as the Nephilim knew that at the next passing of their planet a great catastrophic event would totally destroy planet Earth.When the next crossing took place,the magnetic field of Planet X would be so powerful it would cause the Earth to tilt ever so slightly and it would either fry or freeze.
Jesus said to Mary,'Now unfolds the greatest story never told:"Oh man of Shuruppak,my son,demolish your house and build a boat.Abandon wealth and seek survival.Spurn property,save life.Take on-board the seed of all living things.The boat you build should have equal dimensions-her length and breadth shall be the same .Cover her with a roof like the ocean below.Enki was going over the top .not only was he defying his brother Enlil-Jehovah ,he was also giving details to his son to build the first submersible craft ever seen.
The Nephilim departed,their rockets scorching the sky with brilliant flashes.They would wait aloft for the passing and nearing of their home planet.They had no idea what was going to take place,but they knew that planet Earth was doomed.As Planet X neared,its gravitational pull caused earth to tilt slightly,enough to cause the oceans to take over the land.
(This story 10 thousand years later became known as NOAH IN THE ARK)
Even if you accept the story is just a story, your search for meaning from it still comes up empty. Basically you've selectively chosen the bits you consider worthwhile but ignored many other unpleasant elements of the story. Mass apocalyptic genocide. I'm not even sure what to call it when one kills all life but a few. The bible is very clear, it was all life, everything but what was on the ark. Repopulation through 1st cousins. Only Noah's sons and their wives made it on the ark, so all their children had to bear their children by their 1st cousins - and that's the best case scenario....
My problem with religion, especially at this level, is that it brings nothing but simple-minded bronze age misinterpretations and false explanations of our world and life itself. You can attempt to make lemonade from lemons, but in the end, a bad story filled with with bad ideas is not the ideal foundation for morality or life lessons.
Genesis 9:20-25
And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders and went backwards, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness. And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
Huh?
On Point # 2: When it comes to thinking about Noah, I reflect on the nature of professionalism. I like to keep in mind that the ark was built by an old man with a drinking problem who had visions. Later in time, the Titanic was built by professional engineers who had diplomas and licenses.
...obviously.
...the pressure from the weight of the water on the earth's crust forms new earth's crust which put pressure on the land areas and pushed up the mountains.
1. Liz Warren as Captain...when the tide recedes...President.
2. Michael Moore as Navigator....then Pope.
3. Governor Walker in the Brig (gotta perpetuate the republican species, right?...c'mon, right?).
4. Amy Goodman, Rachel Maddow, and Keith Ohlbermann as ship's Communications Officers...then network presidents.
5. Ed Shultz as enlisted folk's ombudsman...later Secretary of Labor.
6. Allan Grayson as head of Ship's Security and Shore Patrol...later Attorney General.
7. Russ Feingold as XO...later VP.
8. Noam Chomsky as Senior Weapons Officer...later Secretary of Defense.
9. Bernie Sanders as Chief Pursar...later Secretary of Treasury, Commerce, Fed, and SEC.
10.Al Gore as Chief Meteorology Officer...later Secretary of the Interior.
Crewing the new Ark...how'd we do? Who'd we leave out?
I always found many good analogies for life in fairytales and old mythology. Like the Iliad,(to me a far superior piece of ancient literature than the literature of the bible), which shows how mans use of God(s) support motivation for war and pride.