Sermons in Stone

“Find tongues in trees, books in running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.” Shakespeare, As You Like It

One of the most interesting elements of Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice is the Stone Characters. In the underworld there are three Stones and although they interact with Eurydice, they seem more set then spook. In this post, we’ll discuss the significance of stone symbolism and how it might apply to Eurydice. In the next post, we’ll discuss the director’s concept for these three characters.

Rocks are significant just because they are so old. They have been a long-standing symbol of permanence and strength. The symbolism of stone is a part of most major world religions.

The Ka'aba

Islam’s most holy site is Mecca. All pious Muslims should visit Mecca to circle the Ka’aba, which includes the Black Stone, seven times.  The Black Stone is said to be a stone sent down from God to Adam and Eve. In Jerusalem, another important site is the Dome of the Rock, which holds a rock that marks the spot where the Prophet Mohammed rose into heaven.

All good Christian children are taught to build their house upon the rock.

In Christianity, Christ is often referred to as the rock and his right hand man, Peter, was also known as the rock. The importance of strong foundations, cornerstones and keystones are found throughout Christian scripture, where we learn that Christ is the foundation stone.

A tribute to Scrooge?

In early Biblical scripture, often the basis for many religions, we see many examples of building the most sacred of edifices, alters and temples, out of stone. The prophet Samuel erected the stone Eben-Ezer or ‘Stone of Help’ to commemorate the Lord’s assistance in beating the Philistines at Mizpah. In the popular hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” I used to be confused by the second verse where it says, “Here I raise my Ebenezer.” It always made me think of The Christmas Carol or someone raising their husband from the dead, but it’s just a reference to Samuel’s stone monument to God.

God’s law was often carved in stone.

Stonehenge

In Pagan rituals, stones often play important roles, such as at Stonehenge. Was it an ancient calendar erected to celebrate the seasons or powerful healing circle? No one knows for sure. Many new age practitioners believe rocks are batteries containing the power of Mother Earth and that if we connect with them, we can access that power.

There is a beautiful Jewish tradition of putting stones on graves instead of flowers. In ancient times, shepherds would keep track of their sheep by placing the same number of pebbles in their sling as sheep they took to the pasture that day. It was an accounting; a remembering. Placing a stone on a grave is like asking God to keep the loved one in His sling; to account for them; to remember them. Flowers are like life; they are here and then they are gone. Stones are like memory. “While other things fade, stones and souls endure[i].”

We pile rocks as a memorial or on a path to remember.

Stones are intriguing symbols because they can stand for both memory and forgetting. They are like ancient witnesses soaking in not only the history of the world, but its wisdom. The Seneca have a myth about how stories came into the world. In short, a native boy learns all the world’s stories from an ancient stone deep in the forest. He then shares the stories with his people becoming the world’s first storyteller.

But stones also symbolize forgetting. “Stone-cold heart” is a heart that has forgotten how to love. A “Stone-face liar” is someone who has forgotten the truth. We use stone imagery to describe someone who is stubborn or shut down, things that seem dead to us, or people who have forgotten how to live.

As you read or view Ruhl’s Eurydice, keep both of these meanings in your mind. Ruhl constantly plays with the lines between memory and forgetting and of these two, the stones are most definitely on the forgetting, shut down, dead side of things; however, can you also find anything of memory? Of Energy? Of Wisdom?

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[i] The Symbol of the Stone by Rabbi David Wolpe