It has happened again. I am reading through a pile of books on the coffee table, and note connections between two unrelated tomes. First, it was Louise Penny’s latest murder mystery, All the Devils are Here, in which I came across a word never seen nor heard previously: funicular (see above). On completing this gripping tale, I moved on to a more leisurely read, The Weekend, by Charlotte Wood. Lo, and behold, there was that word; funicular.
The funicular railway definition speaks to life in a body, and I believe, is the reason I was drawn to this word. ‘a cable railway operating in such a way that the ascending and descending cars are counterbalanced.‘ Or, ‘a human body, operating in such a way that ascending and descending energies are counterbalanced.’ Gravity travels down through our structures and it is this downward path that gives us our ‘up,’ our ‘spring-in-the-step,’ akin to bouncing multiple times down onto the diving board, which propels the body up and off the board.
Resident in a human body, I am in relationship with earth and sky, counterbalanced, as is the funicular railway. Descending allows for ascending. ‘Down’ gives us ‘Up.’
Poise and Presence 