{"id":130,"date":"2013-07-07T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-07T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/123b2faf-5c17-426a-adcb-6f4f2005c600"},"modified":"2013-07-07T05:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-07-07T05:00:00","slug":"on-the-building-and-tearing-down-of-walls-part-one-of-two-by-joseph-anthony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/?p=130","title":{"rendered":"On the Building and Tearing Down of Walls, Part One of Two, By Joseph Anthony"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the Building and Tearing Down of Walls<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

Part One of Two<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

By<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

Joseph Anthony<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/font>\"\"<\/p>\n

People build
\nwalls when they need a safe place to live. 
\nAnimals build shelters for the same reason.  Some say we build psychological\/spiritual
\nwalls after we\u2019ve been hurt or betrayed. 
\nSome say the thing to do once we\u2019re emotionally and spiritually mature
\nis to tear down these walls.  Some people
\nbelieve they build walls and never come out, they\u2019re too afraid; they always
\nstay in.  <\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

My take on
\nwalls is different.  I believe building
\nwalls is wisdom in action.  I believe we
\nbuild walls when we\u2019re children not because we\u2019ve been hurt, we build them
\nbefore<\/i> we\u2019re hurt\u2014we build them out of play<\/i>. 
\nGive a child a cloth, a bed sheet, a large piece of silk and watch them almost
\ninstantly build a fort or wrap it around themselves.  Watch them transform the space underneath a
\ntable or in a closet, in a tree\u2014almost anywhere\u2014into a safe, magical
\nplace.  Teens even love their own
\nspace.  <\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

In other
\nwords I believe building walls is natural, creative, holy, and necessary.  Inner stress comes when we go inside and have
\ntrouble coming back out, or when we are unable to invite people in, or when we
\noutgrow the space and don\u2019t make proper renovations, or we don\u2019t tend the space
\nand it becomes cramped, isolated, filled with shadows.  As this happens over time, our inner space can become unhealthy and we in fact do need to come out
\nor let people in to help us clean. 
\nPerhaps we sense our inner space has become too confining, restricted, or
\nnarrow.  It\u2019s now that someone might
\nsuggest to us that it\u2019s time to tear the walls down.  And there are some of us who need that type
\nof violent gesture to free ourselves and feel empowered.  That\u2019s OK. The walls came tumbling down in
\nJericho after all (with the power of commitment and music, no less).<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

And if you
\nfind yourself telling yourself (and others) that you never come out or you
\nalways stay in your wall and that you can\u2019t come out, know that words like always<\/i>, never<\/i>, and can\u2019t<\/i>, are
\nsimply not true.  If you had never come
\nout of your wall you wouldn\u2019t know to even want to.  Anytime you genuinely laughed\u2014you were
\noutside the wall.  Any time you wept in
\nfront of someone you were outside the wall (or you had invited them inside).  So you can<\/i>
\ncome out.  The way might be cluttered,
\nbut you can, if you choose.<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

I suggest a
\ngentle approach to walls\u2014in building and transforming them, and choosing when
\nto come out or let others in.  It is an
\napproach infused with the overarching idea that the wall was built in the first
\nplace for a reason, a holy, and healthy reason. 
\nIt was built out of the spirit of play and to keep ourselves safe. Know
\nthat the word paradise<\/i> means a walled
\ngarden\u2014a safe, beautiful place surrounded by a wall.  Did we use our paradise as a place to hide
\nand to withdrawal from painful people and situations?  I hope so. 
\nDid some of us become addicted to the inner space, the isolation?  Did some of us neglect our inner gardens and
\nlet them become over grown with weeds?  Yes.
\nWe all do to one degree or another and at one time or another. But when we know
\nit\u2019s time to move out or let others in, there is a way to do so that honors
\nboth your wisdom for building it in the first place and the wall itself.  And I will share my thoughts on this process on
\nWednesday.  <\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

For now, be
\nwith the idea that inside of you is a paradise<\/i>.  That\u2019s a wonderful idea indeed.<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Donate to the Wonder Child Blog<\/p>\n

\n

\n
\n
\n
\n\"\"
\n<\/form>\n

Copyright Joseph Anthony of the Wonder Child Blog<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the Building and Tearing Down of Walls Part One of Two By Joseph Anthony   People build walls when they need a safe place to live.  Animals build shelters for the same reason.  Some say we build psychological\/spiritual walls after we\u2019ve been hurt or betrayed.  Some say the thing to do once we\u2019re emotionally […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11,2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}