A short dream about fabrics, knots, threads, purposes, lives and connections

Sandy Smith,

I was dreaming about you. You were in India meeting with thousands of women of all ages. And you were all sewing. More properly, you were all “demonstrating and preserving” “the ancient and eternal arts of fabric and string and thread”. So there was much embroidery, crochet, lace, geometric, permanent, and elaborate constructions of all sorts.

Somehow, since it was a dream, there were women, some men, some young and some old – from current and future generations there. The fabrics, threads and materials were of every color, texture, method and purpose. But the deep feeling as I looked at every person was their deep love of what they were doing, their love and respect for others.

Each thing that I saw was accompanied by a careful narrative of the life and special interests and family of the person. In moments the whole life of the person and the sometimes long (hundreds, even thousands or tens of thousands of hours of work of each person (and group) – was told. With reverence, respect, with humor and caring, with understanding and context, with clear place in the fabric of human experiences and lives. The works were the embodiment of the people, the people were creating things out of the fabric of their lives, hopes, dreams, values, events, longings, and stories.

There was one scene where I was looking at thousands of creations, in just a few yards of space. It had the feeling like our grandmothers attic and that same smell. With a strong smell of dust, heat, and underlying fabric and strings. I focused for a moment on what looked like an open blue bowl, dark blue, with myriad organic and rich textures. I could feel the lines of force in the strings and threads, and they were not just one kind, but countless. The very personal narrative was the voice of the main person of that object, but there were many. And she told the story of the lives of her people, and where they fit into society, where their lives extended and overlapped, and interacted with the lives of millions of others. Hundreds of millions. Billions over many generations.

I could see women and a few men over countless generations. There are a few from 500,000 years ago, and somehow, a few from the far future who were spending their long hours in space and on strange and different lonely worlds – to shape these creations. As a way to be connected with others, even with vast distances kept them apart and separated.

Somehow, every object, woven, knotted, shaped just by pressure, tension, forces and touch – transmitted its own story, and I could feel every element of the constructions – their forces and steps — in my heart, in my arms and hands, in my eyes and brain and time.

It is hard to write things that were mostly feeling of doing things, mostly appreciating the work and lives of people. I felt the same love I felt growing up with a large extended family – where everyone had a place in the fabric of all lives. We cared about all people and all lives. We prayed constantly for others.  We were connected and woven and tied and shaped into a whole community, a whole human species, a whole people, a whole society. God was very real, purpose was very real, longing and love, beauty and power of connection was very real.

Sandy, you were there in every moment of that dream, helping others and shaping lives for the greater good, for the fabric of the human species. . I wish I could do the dream justice.

Filed as (A short dream about fabric, knots, threads, purposes, lives and connections)

Richard Collins, The Internet Foundation

Amber McCubbin, So do not treat it as a burden or a failing, rather nurture and use it for the good of all. Pace yourself. I managed to get through most of the last 26 years working 7 days a week, 12-18 hours a day. It was not hard, though I got tired a few times. When the going gets tough, the tough get going, and there is need for a few who can work without ceasing. Human survival and evolution, needs many kinds, where lives complement and complete each other.