Receptaculum: Something that Contains, Shelters and Resonates

This morning the SIP meditation came up with the Latin word “Receptaculum.”

It means pretty much what receptacle means in English — “one that receives and contains something, container.” Beware of that “pretty much”, though — it will come back to give us new meanings.

And “one that receives and contains something, container” from Merriam Webster's online dictionary is typical of English definitions.

If we spend some time with this Latin word, we can find it has at least three possible depths.

A Receptaculum is something that contains.
An automobile is a receptacle for a stray piece of popcorn, right — it contains it.

Seems though that there are more subtleties than this, though. There are better and worse receptacles.

- A bag with other pieces of popcorn is a better receptacle for that single popped kernel. It holds it with others of its kind, and indicates to the outside world what is in it. A toolbox both holds a screwdriver, and groups and indicates to the world that tools are therein.

- A better receptacle holds things snugly. A fine toolbox has a padded place for each hammer and screwdriver.

So, there are better and worse receptacles. The bag for popcorn suffices for that food.

A Receptaculum is something that welcomes and shelters.
Here is where the Latin differs a bit from the English. Whitaker’s Words adds more meanings for *receptaculum* that the English word “receptacle” does not have.

receptaculum, receptaculi N (2nd) N
receptacle; place of refuge, shelter;

That Latin seems to have a warmth. It speaks of offering protection from outside dangers.

When one becomes a Buddhist, one may recite an ancient affirmation — “I take refuge in the Buddha. I take refuge in the Dharma. I take refuge in the Sangha.” What Dharma and Sangha mean is another article (or a book, or a life) but if one were translating the affirmation into Latin, one might use receptaculum.

The carefully built toolbox with outlined or padded locations for each tool is more precise (and lovely) than the generic bag we use for popcorn. It shelters as well as contains the tools.

A Receptaculum as a resonant space.
Extending the idea of a container and a shelter, we can go one level further with the receptaculum as a resonant space. A resonator takes the flow of many frequencies and encourages some and lets others go.

The fineness of musical instruments does not depend just on the sound-maker. Certain sounds and sound-qualities are welcomed and hosted.

When one plays a stringed instrument, the string vibrates. The quality of the instrument, though, depends on the resonant qualities of the sound-box in which it echoes and is shaped before it come forth. The soundbox — the “body” in a guitar or a violin — is the resonant space.

When one plays a wind instrument, the shape of the bores, the material of which they are made, their length and width, all determine the sound at least as much as the reed or mouthpiece. The tube is the resonant space.

A laser works by being a resonant space for a certain frequency of light. As the light circulates and builds, it becomes so strong that it can melt metal or flash a signal to the moon and back.

Similarly, antennas and receivers for broadcast signals are presented with every station and signal. The length and shape of the antenna and the design of the amplifiers are tuned so they pick up (resonate with) just certain frequencies.

They do it by making it easy for that signal (sound, radiowave, light in a laser) to enter, to sound and then sound again, and again. A resonant space invites and supports repetition of just certain things. It “re-sounds.” It becomes a receptaculum for the given signal.

Applications:

We have three depths, then:

• a container,
• the more appropriately shaped shelter,
• and the interactive and amplifying resonant space.

We can take these variations of meaning and try them on different parts of our lives.

Application to the dailies: query of applications, devices and jobs
What sorts of information does this application or job welcome and shelter? With what sorts of information does it resonate?
Just as importantly, what sorts of experience and information does it not support and resonate with, so that even though they may pass by they are not welcomed in and sheltered?

Application in life: query of our psychology
Many experiences flow by me. For which have I become a receptaculum? Which do I tune to daily, amplify and store by resonance?

Application in Spirit: query of our essential selves.

The 18th Century seer and scientist, Emanuel Swedenborg, was fascinated with the idea of the receptaculum. A Regex search of his works showed 252 uses of the word in his Latin works

For Swedenborg, the deepest parts of a human are the will and the intellect. But they are not the essence — they are “vessels” (receptacula) for the true depths that flow from the Divine:

Quod binae facultates vitae sint apud hominem, voluntas et intellectus, notum est… voluntas sit receptaculum amoris, et intellectus receptaculum sapientiae.

It has been noted that there are two faculties in the human, will and intellect…will is the [vessel, shelter, refuge, resonator] of love, and intellect is the [vessel, shelter, refuge, resonator] of wisdom. (Divine Wisdom, # 5)

Swedenborg believed that we choose what we accept and resonate with in our receptacula, our vessels, but we are not the originators of those things. They come from Heaven and Hell. We can just choose whether or not to host them. Our freedom comes from what we, day to day, welcome into our hearts and minds. Those hostings lead to our actions. We become what we allow to resonate in our receptacula.

So that becomes our essential daily examination and choice: What do I welcomed into the receptacula of my soul, to echo and resound and become what I love and am?