How are you?

Thank you for the beautiful poem; I liked the sculpture
Also your commentary was enjoyable By the I liked the pictures that you posted
Thank you very much once again

In Bernini’s amazing sculpture the manifestation of the heavenly far outshines that of the earthly. The angel’s sweet charming delight to the mystic’s enraptured but agonized ecstasy. The gently held but fiery tipped piercing arrow about to be plunged is perhaps to raise the mystic above her state of enrapture to that of the angels bliss: which was what was sought by the mystic after all. It is as if she were to lift the cloud of covering to bring the earthly to the angelic by and through the fire of a new found love. Love, not arising from the earthly but descending from the heavens.

Is this not every mystics noble fantasy?

Paradoxically, my interest has been whetted to know more about Teresa of Avila
in an historical context, as a strong woman of action balancing her ecstatic
mysticism at a turbulent time in Spanish history. I’m curious about the parallels to today’s world &
how a mystic lives in & shapes his/her environment , at many levels.

You just never know what chords your words will strike, do you?

Thanks ( from a sun-drenched beach in Salalah, Oman)

Thank you for all you do.

Peg

Teresa’s reference here to the feminine is not related to her gender. Teresa is acknowledging the divine feminine, which she must allow to guide her within the darkened well to her union with God. In order to reach God, one must dwell in the stillness and darkness without fear, meaning all earthly desires of survival, procreation, and materialism must be resolved. It is at this point, Teresa is in wait, the pause before the breath, the moment right after the match is struck and before the eyes see the flame. Action and stillness reside in the same house. Both masculine and feminine, action and stillness, need to be resolved to their divine counterparts. This then, true stillness, allows for the heart and brain to be lit by the union with God.

Happy belated Valentine’s Day, Peg

PS My mother, who is not in a physical body any longer, loves Teresa of Avila. Not only did I receive the swirling pink and white light of Teresa, but also, the energy of the love my mother had for Teresa. Thank you so much Ivan for this gift.

Shankara’s beautiful words brought with it a sense of peace and a treasure of enrichment. This quite evidently borne out by the responses in appreciation. Though it does seem that the Chaikhana’s carriage has reached a peak, among many peaks. And though these words and all the truths like it, so expertly presented to us by our captain has brought us to loves heart, the currents brewing in the heart tell another story. Whose story only unfolds to the one who is present with the day’s currents. Look with another eye what the unfolding clouds are revealing, that one may alight unto this caravan departing.