Sep 27 2024
Ivan M. Granger – Bent
Bent
by Ivan M. Granger
Yes, seekers, do
sit up,
stand tall.
But hear
my bent secret:
All saints slouch.
God’s lovers lean
into the divine embrace
and there
let the years pass.
Struggling for straightness,
your strivings shaken,
learn what true knowers know:
Effort clears the way,
but the steps
are already taken.
— from Real Thirst: Poetry of the Spiritual Journey, by Ivan M. Granger
/ Image by Guillaume Bolduc /
So many straight spines and rigorous strivings in the spiritual game. All valuable in the right context. But, you know, at some point you just lean into that divine embrace and finally find what all that effort failed to attain.
I like the image of a slingshot. You and I, we are the pebbles. We pull and strain; we fast and meditate, pray and breathe, turn inward, reach outward to help how we can… and yet all we feel is tension. Then, unexpectedly, we surrender, perhaps we stumble, we let go. The slingshot snaps back; that’s when we soar!
Letting go doesn’t mean much if we haven’t first created the proper dynamic tension and focus through spiritual effort. But ceaseless tugging only leads to rigidity and strain. Effort is required, but it is only through yielding that we reach the goal.
Another way to understand this is that enlightenment, salvation, liberation, the true Self, these are not attained through effort. They are not attained at all. They simply are. They are already our nature. Effort is necessary, yes, but only to clear away the delusion that they are not already who we are. Effort clears the way, but the steps are already taken.
So, yes, seekers, do sit up, stand tall. But then again, we slouch our way into heaven. Resting in that recognition, we let the years pass…
A good weekend to go outside, lean back into the earth, look up, let go, and soar!
Recommended Books: Ivan M. Granger
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Ivan M. Granger
US (1969 – ) |
Ivan M. Granger is the founder and editor of the Poetry Chaikhana, a publishing house and online resource for sacred poetry from around the world. He is the author of Real Thirst: Poetry of the Spiritual Journey. He is also the editor of The Longing in Between: A Poetry Chaikhana Anthology and This Dance of Bliss: Ecstatic Poetry from Around the World. His poetry and translations have been included in several magazines and anthologies.
Ivan grew up in Oregon and Southern California, and he has lived on the island of Maui and for many years in Colorado. He lives in Oregon with his wife, Michele.
“Poetry has an immediate effect on the mind. The simple act of reading poetry alters thought patterns and the shuttle of the breath. Poetry induces trance. Its words are chant. Its rhythms are drumbeats. Its images become the icons of the inner eye. Poetry is more than a description of the sacred experience; it carries the experience itself.”
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Poetry Chaikhana readers often ask me about myself. Who is the guy behind all those poetry emails? What drew you to sacred poetry? And just what does “Poetry Chaikhana” mean?
As a way to answer some of those questions, I thought I’d post an audio interview I did a few years ago. I talk a little about myself, and a lot about poetry — the transformational power of poetry, the ways poetry naturally expresses the sacred experience, the non-dogmatic nature of poetry. And I read a few poems.
Click to listen: Interview with Ivan M. Granger
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Love it!!💛
Thank you for your poems in general, but this one today struck a chord because I had very similar thoughts only hours before. I am trying to fix postural problems with my back and hips with very slow meditative attention and movements, and while projecting my thoughts into the future and the elimination of this problem, I thought that ‘you may have to do the work but the outcome is already assured, so have no anxiety about the ends.’ So my effort would clear the way but the success had ‘already happened.’ And in the process, I would become ‘unbent.’ It was all very serendipitous. Thanks again. Your work is very much appreciated.
Today’s poem and comment resonated very deeply.
Interesting how earlier today I learned that one of the principles in Tai Chi is to allow the chest to sink in. As a yoga- and dance-trained practitioner, this instruction sounded totally counterintuitive, but once I put it into practice I discovered that amazing sense of release that you describe, of finally letting go.
So I had just learned in my body what you beautifully put into words.
Perhaps this was no coincidence.
As you say, all experiences are connected.
Thank You Ivan for this, your poem. I too love it and have recently come across
two quotes that somehow seem related:
Haiku from Drew Goins WAPO Up the creek, lacking
Not your paddles but the bent
To bail others out
And from Nadia Bolz Weber: Quote from Tom who grew up on the reservation
and follows the Lakota ways – “Prayer is the sloughing off of who we are not”
Thank You, Carol