The silence will teach you
Ivan M. Granger December 31st, 2008
Read these words, but ignore them.
The silence will teach you.
Archive for December, 2008
John O’Donohue - The Inner History of a Day
Ivan M. Granger December 31st, 2008
The Inner History of a Day
by John O’Donohue
No one knew the name of this day;
Born quietly from deepest night,
It hid its face in light,
Demanded nothing for itself,
Opened out to offer each of us
A field of brightness that traveled ahead,
Providing in time, ground to hold our footsteps
And the light of thought to show the way.
The mind of the day draws no attention;
It dwells within the silence with elegance
To create a space for all our words,
Drawing us to listen inward and outward.
We seldom notice how each day is a holy place
Where the eucharist of the ordinary happens,
Transforming our broken fragments
Into an eternal continuity that keeps us.
Somewhere in us a dignity presides
That is more gracious than the smallness
That fuels us with fear and force,
A dignity that trusts the form a day takes.
So at the end of this day, we give thanks
For being betrothed to the unknown
And for the secret work
Through which the mind of the day
And wisdom of the soul become one.
— from To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings, by John O’Donohue
/ Photo by Esparta /
Today, as we stand at the cusp of the new year, I thought this meditation on the day was the perfect selection.
We seldom notice how each day is a holy place
Where the eucharist of the ordinary happens,
Transforming our broken fragments
Into an eternal continuity that keeps us.
The day, the multitude of days, the present moment that spreads in all directions, revealing itself as the eternal moment…
Midnight, tonight, on New Years’ Eve, the whole world becomes aware of time, the passing of time, the closing of the past, the hopes and aspirations for the new year, the new chapter in our lives. Intensely aware of time, we discover something of the timeless. A global reset button.
But, you know, that timeless moment doesn’t sit only at twelve midnight on this one night of the year; it is the silence behind each tick of the clock and each beat of the heart, every day, year round.
So at the end of this day, we give thanks
For being betrothed to the unknown
And for the secret work
Through which the mind of the day
And wisdom of the soul become one.
Have a new year filled with renewed hope and purpose, new possibilities, deepening peace, and the discovery of surprising new spaces in the heart.
Lots of love to you all!
|
John O’Donohue
Ireland (1954 - 2008) Timeline |
Relax into it
Ivan M. Granger December 29th, 2008
Don’t strain toward enlightenment.
Relax into it.
Ivan M. Granger - The Warbler Knows
Ivan M. Granger December 29th, 2008
The Warbler Knows
by Ivan M. Granger
The warbler knows
only dawn’s shaft
of light
on her breast.
Forgetting false future
suns, she sings
in no voice
but her own.
/ Photo by Taz-Voll /
Although snow is still on the ground here in Colorado, we’ve had a couple of days gentle sunshine, and it brought to mind tis poem I wrote a few years ago. I hope this short song summons a warm shaft of sunlight to you too…
—
Dawn is the flood of light that comes from the east which causes us to awaken. When we allow ourselves to become fully aware of this sacred state, we know nothing else, see nothing else; the spiritual dawn engulfs all, enlightening everything.
And we experience this state most strongly in the breast, a warming and radical opening and deep centering in the heart.
Utterly content in the eternal present, we forget the mind’s endless fantasies and fears about the future. All the future ever can be is an extension of the present, and it is here, now that we reside — always.
Recognizing this, we settle into silence, “no voice,” yet a song emerges from the stillness, nonetheless. The voice that sings is not the mind or the ego, but the presence quietly and eternally seated behind those fluctuating elements; it is the deeply familiar voice our true Self.
|
Ivan M. Granger
US (1969 - ) |
Take no one for granted
Ivan M. Granger December 22nd, 2008
Take no one for granted.
Every single person
is a universe of being.
Francis of Assisi - The Prayer Before the Crucifix
Ivan M. Granger December 22nd, 2008
The Prayer Before the Crucifix
by Francis of Assisi
English version by Ivan M. Granger
Most high,
glorious God,
let your light fill the shadows of my heart
and grant me, Lord,
true faith,
certain hope,
perfect love,
awareness and knowing,
that I may fulfill Your holy will.
/ Photo by prakhar /
I really like this prayer from St. Francis. In it’s supreme humility the only thing it asks for is self-transformation, to wholly become the embodiment of divine will. It’s almost an affront to the daily mind to allow such a selfless prayer to emerge from the heart. And it’s precisely through that rebellion that we recognize the sacred core of life.
A nice poem to honor the spirit of Christmas…
Whichever holiday you celebrate at this time of year, may the divine light fill the shadows of your heart!
|
Francis of Assisi |
Unlimited
Ivan M. Granger December 19th, 2008
Unedited memory.
Undistracted mind.
Unbound identity.
Unlimited awareness.
Hekhalot Hymns - The Face of God
Ivan M. Granger December 19th, 2008
The Face of God
by Hekhalot Hymns (Anonymous)
English version by T. Carmi
Lovely face, majestic face,
face of beauty, face of flame,
the face of the Lord God of Israel
when He sits upon His throne of glory,
robed in praise upon His seat of splendour.
His beauty surpasses
the beauty of the aged,
His splendour outshines
the splendour of newly-weds
in their bridal chamber.
Whoever looks at Him
is instantly torn;
whoever glimpses His beauty
immediately melts away.
Those who serve Him today
no longer serve Him tomorrow;
those who serve Him tomorrow
no longer serve Him afterwards;
for their strength fails and their faces are charred,
their hearts reel and their eyes grow dim
at the splendour and radiance
of their king’s beauty.
Beloved servants, lovely servants,
swift servants, light-footed servants,
who stand before the stone of the throne
of glory,
who wait upon the wheel
of the chariot.
When the sapphire of the throne of glory
whirls at them,
when the wheel of the chariot
hurls past them,
those on the right
now stand again to the left,
those on the left
now stand again to the right,
those in front
now stand again in back,
those in back
now stand again in front.
He who sees the one says,
‘That is the other’.
And he who sees the other says,
‘That is the one’.
For the visage of the one
is like the visage of the other;
and the visage of the other
is like the visage of the one.
Happy the King
who has such servants,
and happy the servants
who have such a King.
Happy the eye
that sees
and feeds
upon this wondrous light –
a wondrous vision
and most strange!
— from The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse, Edited by T. Carmi
/ Photo by PugnoM /
Hanukkah starts this Sunday at sundown. The light shines in the darkness…
This song inspired by the face of God strongly hearkens back to the Aaronic or Priestly Blessing from the Torah (Numbers 6:24 - 27):
The LORD bless you and keep you:
The LORD make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you:
The LORD lift up his face upon you, and give you peace.
There are several strong images of Merkavah mysticism in this ancient song. We have a few references to the “wheel of the chariot.” The word Merkavah can be literally translated as “chariot” or “chariot of light.” It is the vehicle that mediates between the awareness of the devout mystic and the heavenly realms. This wheel imagery also evokes Ezekiel’s vision of a heavenly wheel, often seen as a fundamental vision of the Merkavah by Jewish mystics.
The Merkavah is sometimes also described as the shining “seat of the Most High.” Someone looking for yogic parallels might see the Merkavah as representing the scintillating crown chakra.
In Jewish and early Christian mysticism, we often get enigmatic references to the “bridal chamber.” The bridal chamber is the place of union between the king or bridegroom (God) and the servant or bride (purified individual consciousness). It is in the bridal chamber that the two become one as “newly-weds” and experience the bliss of union. The bridal chamber, in other words, is the holy of holies within the soul, the meeting ground between the Eternal and the individual.
I love the line, “Whoever looks at Him / immediately melts away.” According to a translator’s note, the literal phrase is something like “Whoever looks at him is emptied like a ladle.” What a beautiful metaphor for how, overcome with the vision of God, the ego-self pours into that vastness. It suggests release, emptiness, purification, while at the same time a merging with the immense vision of the Divine.
This is language that could just as easily have come to us from a Buddhist work.
The song continues with the lines:
Those who serve Him today
no longer serve Him tomorrow;
those who serve Him tomorrow
no longer serve Him afterwards;
It is not that mystics at this stage stop serving God; rather, that there is no separate individual left to do the serving. Their “faces are charred” — the separate identity is lost in the splendor of the vision. And when their “eyes grow dim,” it is not that they go blind in the literal sense; instead, the normal vision of multiplicity is lost. This radiant vision of oneness is described by many mystics as a sort of blindness. You may see the surface and form of things, but beneath it all is only the one radiance.
I’m also fascinated by the lines:
those on the right
now stand again to the left,
those on the left
now stand again to the right,
those in front
now stand again in back,
those in back
now stand again in front.
We’ve got a total reversal that also suggests a total unity. Opposites flip and become the other until no sense of polarity can remain. You find similar lines in the great Gnostic work the Gospel of Thomas. Everything is flipped, reversed, to be set back into proper order.
And near the end:
He who sees the one says,
‘That is the other’.
And he who sees the other says,
‘That is the one’.
For the visage of the one
is like the visage of the other;
and the visage of the other
is like the visage of the one.
These lines suggest to me the merging of the ego-self and the endless multiplicity of the universe into the divine unity, until the “other / is like the visage of the one.”
And continuously we return to the vision of mysterious, soul-nourishing light:
Happy the eye
that sees
and feeds
upon this wondrous light –
a wondrous vision
and most strange!
| Hekhalot Hymns (Anonymous) |
Video & Music: The Lark Ascending, by Vaughan Williams
Ivan M. Granger December 17th, 2008
A member of the Poetry Chaikhana forwarded this to me in response to Mary Oliver’s poem, The Lark. Worth sharing with everyone…
Become a Non-Believer
Ivan M. Granger December 17th, 2008
The goal is to become a non-believer,
to abandon belief — and dogma and hearsay –
in favor of direct knowing.
Mary Oliver - The Lark
Ivan M. Granger December 17th, 2008
The Lark
by Mary Oliver
And I have seen,
at dawn,
the lark
spin out of the long grass
and into the pink air –
its wings,
which are neither wide
nor overstrong,
fluttering –
the pectorals
ploughing and flashing
for nothing but altitude –
and the song
bursting
all the while
from the red throat.
And then he descends,
and is sorry.
His little head hangs
and he pants for breath
for a few moments
among the hoops of the grass,
which are crisp and dry,
where most of his living is done –
and then something summons him again
and up he goes,
his shoulders working,
his whole body almost collapsing and floating
to the edges of the world.
We are reconciled, I think,
to too much.
Better to be a bird, like this one –
an ornament of the eternal.
As he came down once, to the nest of the grass,
“Squander the day, but save the soul,”
I heard him say.
— from What Do We Know: Poems and Prose Poems, by Mary Oliver
/ Photo by desertgecko /
I had a request for a Mary Oliver poem, and this one stood out to me.
Something about those closing lines brings a smile to my face:
“Squander the day, but save the soul,”
I heard him say.
It reminds me of Whitman’s great line: “I loaf and invite my soul.”
A reminder for us all today from the simple wisdom of the lark to be at ease in the timeless. That God-self in each one of us, it is recognized in deep peace, not in our endless doings…
Remember to do a little wise squandering today! 
|
Mary Oliver
US (1935 - ) |
Faith is being present
Ivan M. Granger December 15th, 2008
Faith is being in your feet
as well as your head.
Faith is being
– present.
Bawa Muhaiyaddeen - There is One God
Ivan M. Granger December 15th, 2008
There is One God.
by Bawa Muhaiyaddeen
There is One God.
He created all beings,
And He exists beyond the beyond of religions,
Beyond the separations of race,
Religion, and philosophies.
He is beyond mind, desire, and physical vision
He is beyond the world, lust, torpor, and illusion.
God resides in that spotlessly pure place known as the heart
And sees and knows everything.
He sees each and every heart and mind and understands all things.
/ Photo by hakki kotek /
God resides in that spotlessly pure place known as the heart…
Don’t you just love the photograph of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen? There is something so serene in his eyes — gentle, clear-seeing, intelligent — yet also unsettlingly otherworldly, almost alien. Gazing at his picture, I almost feel I am witnessing a pure-hearted, wise extraterrestrial.
And He exists beyond the beyond of religions,
Beyond the separations of race,
Religion, and philosophies.
|
Bawa Muhaiyaddeen
Sri Lanka (1900? - 1986) Timeline |
Holiday Book Recommendations
Ivan M. Granger December 12th, 2008
As we enter the holiday season, please remember that books of sacred poetry make wonderful gifts (including gifts to yourself ;-).
I’ve found that a collection of poetry by several poets makes an especially good introduction for people — a holiday sampler.
Here are a few of my favorite general collections of sacred poetry:
This is a compact anthology, but a wonderful collection that includes Li Po, Wu-Men, Rumi, Kabir, Mirabai, Rilke… One of my personal favorites! |
This is the first anthology I got years ago that made me say, Wow! Includes Sappho, Rabia, Yeshe Tsogyel, Hildegard of Bingen, Mechthild of Magdeburg, Hadewijch of Antwerp, Lal Ded, Mirabai, Bibi Hayati, Tsvetaeva. The best collection I’ve found of women’s voices in sacred poetry. |
One of my favorite collections of the Persian Sufi poets, some you m ay have heard of and others who may be new to you: Jami, Attar, Hamadani, Iraqi, Hafez, Ibn Arabi, Sanai, and many others. If you like Sufi poetry, this is a book you should have. |
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Another very good collection of Persian Sufi poetry. This book focuses on poems and poets that are not as well known in the West. A very good place to discover some new names. |
Something about Andrew Harvey’s selections and translations always strike a pure note. This book is a delightful collection of poetry and Sufi wisdom stories. Rumi, Kabir, al-Hallaj, Shabistari, Ansari… This is one I return to again and again. |
Willis Barnstone’s translations balance the scholarly with the poetic — a real treat! This anthology ranges from Sappho and early Biblical utterances, to Wang Wei, Rilke, and St. John of the Cross. I like to leave through the pages until something catches my attention and I’m pleasantly lost in the page. |
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A very nice sampler of Japanese and Chinese Zen poetry. Han Shan, Li Po, Wang Wei, Basho, Soseki, Ryokan, Issa… The book fits well in your hand when you’re walking to the riverside or the local coffee shop. |
The most complete collection I’ve found of sacred Hebrew poetry, including Judah ha Levi, Solomon ibn Gabirol, Samuel Hanagid, the early Hekhalot Hymns, and many more. My only complaint: the translations are not versified, even though the Hebrew originals were. Still, worth reading. |
This book became an immediate favorite of mine ever since I picked up a copy of it a couple of years ago. Stunning poems from the Shiva bhakti tradition of India. Basavanna, Devara Dasimayya, Mahadevi, Allama Prabhu. The commentary in the book, though a little academic, is genuinely insightful. Enthusiastically recommended! |
For even more book recommendations, click here.
May you and your loved ones have a special holiday season during this time when the sacred light renews itself in the midst of winter darkness. And may the new year bring you bright blessings!
Ivan
Each step
Ivan M. Granger December 12th, 2008
Each step is a step into
the unknown.
Marguerite Porete - Beloved, what do you want of me?
Ivan M. Granger December 12th, 2008
Beloved, what do you want of me?
by Marguerite Porete
English version by Peter Drunke
Beloved, what do you want of me?
I contain all that was, and that is, and shall be,
I am filled with the all.
Take of me all you please –
if you want all of myself, I’ll not say no.
Tell me, beloved, what you want of me –
I am Love, who am filled with the all:
what you want,
we want, beloved –
tell us your desire nakedly
— from Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women, Edited by Jane Hirshfield
/ Photo by Hulagway /
I was going to pick a gentle poem today. Something gentle and soothing. I don’t know what happened!
—
This is the way of it — the terrifying, shattering, exhilarating, total yielding that opens us to true union with the Eternal.
Take of me all you please –
if you want all of myself, I’ll not say no.
This is the fierce courage that every saint and sage has found. “Take anything, everything, even my very life, but give me Yourself!” This is the daring prayer of the great peaceworkers and social healers, and of every lover of God.
To reach out this way while remaining free from fear, requires both subtle balance and iron determination, for it throws us into direct conflict with the ego-self’s constant assertion that it is the most important thing in the universe. We are forced to step beyond such an impoverished sense of ourselves. Before we can let go of our littleness, we must recognize our immensity:
I am Love, who am filled with the all…
Only then can we say honestly, and with total confidence to that Eternal Presence–
what you want,
we want, beloved –
tell us your desire nakedly
| Marguerite Porete |
Self-discovery
Ivan M. Granger December 10th, 2008
Every exploration is self-discovery.
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