WHY TEARS?
A POIGNANT HISTORY OF SHEDDING TEARS
WHY VESSELS?
TEARS MADE FROM THE ELEMENTS OF EARTH
GODDESS IMAGERY
WHY 100?
WHY 3 PARTS?

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WHY TEARS -Though animals do have altruistic, painful and joyful feelings and some marine animals like seals and saltwater crocodile release water to flush excess salt from their eyes, the shedding of emotional tears sets humans apart from them. -Weeping is a human universal, as in REM's song "Everyone cries" -Tears communicate assorted emotions such as sorrow, regret, fear, or joy -Tears are the element of water, a "greening" life force. -Tears symbolize a cleansing, release, and purification. Crying requires strength -Tear shapes resemble the conical offerings found in Egyptian art; an elongated pyramidal shape of gold, silver and copper. -The Bible instructs on the items to be included in the Temple of Solomon "To make artistic designs for works in gold, silver, and bronze" (Exodus 31:4 ) that were part of the alter that included "the golden table on which was the bread of the Presence" (I Kings 7:48, II Chronicles 4:19".) -Sir Issac Newton spent years studing molten metals that he poured into the conical molds.

A POIGNANT HISTORY OF SHEDDING TEARS -The "Wailing Wall" and tears of shared emotion: Known as the Western wall, a remaining support wall from the Holy of Holies area of the destroyed Temple in Old Jerusalem. It is known as a sacred spot by the Jews as a center for mourning over Israel's past and hope for restoration. And it also has diverse significance as a place of consistent Divine presence. -The Wounded Healer and the value of tears: (Shaman, Druids, Kahunas, Indian Doctors, Sacred Warrior, or Curanderos) A worldwide spiritual system based in philosophic and religious thought where the initiation is often fearsome physical challenge to overcome serving as symbolic experiences of life, death and rebirth. Healers are humble yet confident, sensitive to the elemental forces, connected to the mysteries of the universe and the ancient wisdom of the earth. -Fairy Tales and the metaphors of tears: Tears appear as magical seeds, transcendental manifestations or offerings of deliverance as barter. Most Fairy Tales aim to illustrate the superiority of man's intervention in contrast to wonders of nature, which is reduced to experiences of fear that require "rescue". Just as in medival romance where there is the protective "city" area and the wild "woods" area. -Crying statues and icons and tears of a universal wound: Representations of The Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ or a Saint begin to weep and call for repentance and a change of life from a worldly way. Liquid drains from eyes, heart, hands and feet, and can be tears, blood or oil. Ecclesiastical superiors discern if the miracle is authentic. -Weeping Gods and Goddesses and tears of nurturing and protective nature: Falling tears are found in art objects of ancient civilization such as Huari vessels of Peru and pottery of Mexico. In some cultures silver color depict tears of the moon while gold color is the sweat of the sun. -Egyptian Creation Myth and the essential tears of humanity: In creation myths a god creates humanity out of nothingness and chaos. Atum, both a male and female deity, created a son, the god of the air who offered principles of order, and a daughter, goddess of moisture, who gave principles of life. The children were lost but then found, Atum's tears of joy dropped to earth to become human beings and illustrates the unifying and intrinsic nature of all humans. -Greek Myth of Phaeton and tears of transformation: Phaeton was driving the Sun Chariot when it came too close to the Earth, setting it ablaze. The god Zeus, in an gesture to save the earth, struck Phaeton dead with a lightning bolt. Phaeton's three sisters, the Heliades (Electrides) stayed with their dead brother and wept day and night. Their wasting bodies took root and were transformed into trees. Their tears continued to flow, and as they hardened in the sun, turned to amber. -Bodhisattva and tears of compassion: "bodhi" which means awakening, and "sattva", which means a living being as an awakened being who is moved deeply to love and postpones achieving "Nirvana" in order to ease the world's suffering. In Buddhist art, Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva is often shown with eleven heads, 1000 hands and eyes on the palms of each hand. The eye in the hand enables understanding of the pain of humanity. -Kuan Yin and tears for the world: Kuan Yin is both a male and female (uniting two) Bodhisattva and also is known as Quan'am (Vietnam), Kannon (Japan), Kanin (Bali); a beloved deity in the Buddhist tradition and the embodiment of compassionate loving kindness. Kuan Yin is the "One Who Hears the Cries of the World" and has vowed to remain in the earthly realms and not enter the heavenly worlds until all other living things have completed their own enlightenment. Kuan Yin is accessible to everyone. -Nirvana and tears of enlightenment: Nirvana is pure joy beyond the imperfection of our ordinary world. One thousand arhats (disciples) shed tears in memory of Buddha's determination and practice of profound compassion. The tears pooled in their inkstones as they wrote "Myoho-renge-kyo" and then "Thus I heard"; a phrase that appears at the beginning of almost ever sutra.

Deric Bouts 1460

WHY VESSELS? -Spiritual: In Psalm 56:8 David prays to God "Thou tellest my wanderings, put thou my tears in Thy bottle; are they in Thy book?" -Historical: Lachrymatory, the ancient custom of collecting actual tears evolved in Rome where small vessels were placed in noble burial tombs as a sign of respect. In the Victorian Era, the custom reemerge to satisfy a fascination with death, dying and grieving. During the American Civil War, the practice was used to measure one's sorrow from missing a loved one. In contemporary Hollywood test tubes were distributed to movie goers to cry into in order to measure tangible grief triggered by actual life similarities, eroused from "tear jerkers". -Worship: Sufi dancers whirl around with one palm to the heaven and the other cast out. Theirs heads are tilted off to one side to represent an empty vessel, a body void of ego so to be filled with the spirit of God. They twirl in to focus their minds and bodies on the spiritual quest of offering the spirit of God to others. -Symbol: In Ancient civilizations vessels represent the fertile womb. Food vessels, storage containers, and homes are all fashioned from the female form to symbolize birth and rebirth. -Metaphor: The Buddhist Treasure Vase is a sign of fulfillment of spiritual and material wishes. -Ceremony: The Native American double sided wedding vase is used to bless and show respect to the earth and all her creatures by drinking from east to west and then from north to south. -Mystical: In the practice of alchemy vibrational remedies, dissolved elements held in water called elixers, are mixed in vessels and used for salve, bath or drink -Holistic: "A woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head" (Mark 14:3, John 12:3) Nard, known as Spikenard, is a rare and costly aromatic herb part of the valerian family found in the Himalayas mountains and can sooth the mind and body.

Rome 100-200 AD vessel from 6BC Mesopotamia

TEARS MADE FROM THE ELEMENTS OF EARTH
Through many regions of the world, earth is given reverence with titles such as: Mother Earth, The Great Spirit, The Great Mystery, The Sacred Feminine, The Female Principle, The Powerful Symbol, Deity, Goddess Mother, Giver of Birth, Wakan Tanka, The Green Tara, Isis, Kali, Ishtar, Inanna, Gaia to name only a few. A universal system of honor once defined every single activity and were key factors in existential issues. Central to the belief of traditional healers and practitioners about the world is that we must honor our earth as a living and conscious organism that nourishes our existence.
-Gold was the first metal widely known to human beings and is associated with water because it was found in streams all over the world. The river Pison out of Eden and the land of Havilah was nourished with gold (Genesis 2:10-12). Gold, in its natural state, are shining yellow solid lumps that resist tarnish and corrosion. Gold is extremely soft and malleable, despite its unique density and weight. Early civilizations equated the permanence and luster of gold to the immortality and brilliance of deities and made pure gold offerings to them, therefore attaching monetary value to gold was not an intention.
As in the ceremony--that spawned the "Legend of El Dorado", the mythic city of gold--where a newly anointed Muiscas chief, covered in gold dust, prayed to the Sun God and tossed a great heap of gold treasures into lake Guatavita (now Bogota, Colombia) It was believed that gold was a particularly dense combination of water and sunlight.
-Early humans also with copper and then added an alloy, tin, to make bronze. Next Iron, which with an alloy made steel. New invention in gathering metals and minerals is the cornerstone of electrical, communication, and transportation industries of the 20th Century.
-Precious metals and minerals are extracted from ore. Rare Earth Oxides (REO) are not concentrated enough to be mined in large quantities but are incorporated into more common metals, making them difficult to mine and more valuable.
-The many properties of the earth can metaphorically express emotional states by way of their material characteristics; Glass, bronze, iron, silver, gold, stone, marble, clay to name a few.

GODDESS IMAGERY
Goddess imagery can be empowering but personification of the earth as a mother or woman has not always proved to be helped. Assigning objects gender categories effects how we see it. As "Mother Earth" some treat "her" as something that is obligated to provide and to be taken from, many thinking that "her resources will never end".
When language and the written word was in development single god worshiping males adopted some sanskrit terms that created duality: male/female, rational/intuitive, mind/body, nature/culture. Those that had power to name the objects of the world were in position to influence reality by creating relationships that devalued nature and included women in those definitions. The once abundant peaceful and nurturing goddess were then diminished in number and given traits of vengefulness and defense. Therefore, we discover how subjective our language is in conceptualizing and establishing relationships.
Today we must redefine the female principle from the perception of a woman and note that the earth is a "house of depth, strength, knowledge, and wisdom", as Hildagard of Bingen professed, and entity all to its own and not to be taken for granted.

WHY 100?
A natural deeply rooted impulse? The one-hundred syllable mantra of Vajrasattva?

WHY 3 PARTS?
-Three, as one (1+1+1=1,) is a prominent cycle where pluralities unite. Triads recur through history in many themes that ultimately represent the Universal Trinity:
Cosmic regions- Low earth, middle earth and high; Heaven, earth and humanity; God, nature and humanity; Body, spirit and soul.
Creation- Germination, propagation and projection; Father, Mother and child; child, adult and elder; Birth, growth and decay; Life, death and rebirth; Death, resurrection and ascension; Creation, emergence and migration.
Myth- The mother of Janism lives in 3 metallic cites, gold, silver and iron. Each cities represents Heaven, air and earth or mind, body and spirit. Also, Inanna, the Sumerian diety, is a triple goddess that ruled the heavens, planets and climate.
Nature- Rising sun, noon sun and setting sun; Waxing, full and waning moon; Igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic; Electric, magnetic and sensation; Solid, liguid and gas; Stable, metabolic and motion; Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka (Orion's belt).
Theory- Thesis, antithesis and synthesis; Principle, particular and practice.
Time-Past, present and future; Space, time and movement;
Enlightenment- Cultivation, discipline, perfection; Mantra, mudra, mandala; mantra, sutra and prayer; Vocalization, body and visualization; Prayer, meditation and realization; Thought, energy and mater; Physical, etheric and subtle; Virtue, meditation and wisdom; Emotional, intellectual and wisdom.

Understanding of the three parts of 100 Tears is to experience the interior in self reflection, the exterior in contemplation of the world, and the transcendent through a departure from the predictable.