Some signs emerge in this saeculum (age) from realms beyond visible reality—signs that are invisible to the eyes but perceptible to minds and hearts trained to listen. This ability to listen, to perceive the unseen, is a quality possessed by those who are made of light rather than opaque matter (the majority). In this brief passage (I, 10, 2) from De Civitate Dei by Saint Augustine, we can trace the nature of these signs, which guide us in cultivating the practice of listening. Signum 1 : Nudus exivi de utero matris meae, nudus revertar in terram. Dominus dedit, Dominus abstulit, sicut Domino placuit, ita factum est . Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Just as it pleased the Lord, so it has been done. Heidegger speaks of being-toward-death, but here we might speak instead of being-toward-nudity. Listen to your own "nudity," your essential humanity, and see yourself beyond the layers that conceal this ...
Laboratorio di scrittura