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Christian : Catholic 17th Century	About Angelus Silesius Timeline (1624 - 1677)
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English version by Stephen Mitchell Original Language German	God, whose love and joy
Commentary by Ivan M. Granger Themes   Bliss   Lover and Beloved   Smile       Recommended Books The Angelic Verses: From the Book of Angelus Silesius, Translated by Frederick Frank Angelus Silesius, by Jeffrey L. Sammons Angelus Silesius: The Cherubinic Wanderer (Classics of Western Spirituality), by Angelus Silesius / Translated by Maria Shrady Angelus Silesius' Cherubinischer Wandersmann: A Modern Reading With Selected Translations (Renaissance and Baroque Studies and Texts), by Maria M. Bohm The Book of Angelus Silesius, Translated by Frederick Frank More >>	God, whose love and joy      are present everywhere, can't come to visit you      unless you aren't there.     -- from The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry, by Stephen Mitchell Amazon.com
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Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

This is a great koan-like couplet by Angelus Silesius.

This couplet has two statements of God's presence that cause the logical mind to do summersaults. First, God "can't come to visit you/ unless you aren't there." And, the second, we have to ask, how can God "whose love and joy / are present everywhere," "visit" anywhere since a visit implies God isn't already there?

Think for a moment what Angelus Silesius is saying in these few words. God "can't come to visit" unless "you," the ego, the me-self is no longer present. The ego identity, though normally assumed to be the fundamental sense of oneself, can, through spiritual practice and deep surrender, fall away. When there is no longer any "you" there, the radiant, loving, blissful presence of the Divine is perceived everywhere, even where "you" once were. This is what it means for God to "come to visit you"... but it won't happen "unless you aren't there"!

Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2008 by Ivan M. Granger.
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