The Icebook - a miniature theatre experience

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A Life On Fire

"Betrayals during war are childlike compared with our betrayals during peace. New lovers are nervous and tender, but smash everything. For the heart is an organ of fire". Michael Ondaatje - The English Patient.

Diana Lorence has lived for many years in tiny abodes, and has been married to her husband, Michael Anthony Lorence for many years. The stories that she shares from her Innermost House are incredible gifts. They are the accumulation of all the years and also of a transcendence from darkness into light.

The world is perhaps full of as much fear and darkness as ever it was. There are stories of war and betrayal filling our news. And yet the world is also full of love and light and much kindness.

Those that live a simple life without many material possessions tend to be very peaceful people. They do not covet outer wealth and power and yet tend to be the most spiritually wealthy and seem to hold a very deep inner power.

Many followers of the 'Tiny House Movement' are single people. There are many reasons why one might live a solitary life, whether it be through circumstance or choice. Something very special about the Lorence's story is that they have successfully managed to develop a relationship while always living in tiny homes. I do not doubt for a single moment that they have not encountered difficulties and hardship. Indeed, the fact that they are so magnanimous would suggest that they have suffered as much as any.

There are many practical guides of how to build a tiny house but by reading Diana's words, one learns how to live in a tiny house. How to let go of what you think you want and to learn instead what you truly need and love.

The heart of the house is the fire and Diana's article is full of metaphor. A fire must be respected. If we are to live a peaceful life, a life of deepest contentment, then we must all learn to build and tend to a fire that gives warmth without scalding and brings light without blinding.

It is from such sparks of hope that our entire lives might one day burst into flame with a fire that like the Holy Fire or the Burning Bush, burns without consuming.

(To visit the website of Innermost House please click here).