{"id":6499,"date":"2019-07-21T19:16:54","date_gmt":"2019-07-22T02:16:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=6499"},"modified":"2019-07-21T19:16:54","modified_gmt":"2019-07-22T02:16:54","slug":"mechthild-of-magdeburg-a-fish-cannot-drown-in-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2019\/07\/21\/mechthild-of-magdeburg-a-fish-cannot-drown-in-water\/","title":{"rendered":"Mechthild of Magdeburg – A fish cannot drown in water"},"content":{"rendered":"

A fish cannot drown in water
\nby Mechthild of Magdeburg<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

English version by Jane Hirshfield<\/font><\/p>\n

A fish cannot drown in water,
\nA bird does not fall in air.
\nIn the fire of creation,
\nGod doesn\u2019t vanish:
\nThe fire brightens.
\nEach creature God made
\nmust live in its own true nature;
\nHow could I resist my nature,
\nThat lives for oneness with God?<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a> \u2014 from The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry<\/a>, by Stephen Mitchell<\/font><\/p>\n


\n\/ Image by kopita<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

I missed sending a poem last week. I have been especially busy with my day job. I am actively editing a new book which Poetry Chaikhana will publish soon (and thinking a lot about haiku and enlightened awareness). And there was even a question for several weeks as to whether we would be moving. Life has been full! But when I go for more than a week without connecting with the Poetry Chaikhana community I feel I am missing something essential. I refer to the Poetry Chaikhana as a community because that\u2019s what you are to me \u2014 a community, my<\/i> community. Collectively, you are my home. Is that an odd thing to say? I have had the most wonderful correspondence with several of you. With others we share the occasional short, friendly note sent back and forth. But it\u2019s not entirely about communication on that level. Even with those of you who quietly receive my poem emails without direct correspondence, I feel a connection, a shared exchange. I find nourishment in my time with all of you. I feel something vital and meaningful, a special energy shared in all directions through these poem emails and blog posts. I hope you feel it too.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t want to wait until the end of the new week to reconnect, so here\u2019s a Monday poem\u2026<\/p>\n

A fish cannot drown in water,
\nA bird does not fall in air.<\/i><\/p>\n

Variations on this metaphor are used in every culture. It\u2019s simple, but such an important reminder. We are inherently in our element. Notice how some part of our mind instinctively comes to rest and uncoils at this reminder?<\/p>\n

In the fire of creation,
\nGod doesn\u2019t vanish:
\nThe fire brightens.<\/i><\/p>\n

We have a tendency to be overwhelmed by the intensity of life\u2026 the \u201cfire of creation.\u201d In that overwhelm we often have a self-protective psychic reflex to wall out the things and experiences we label as painful. We create a mental separation and tell ourselves, \u201cThis is me. And that out there is the pain.\u201d That\u2019s natural, right? In extreme cases, maybe it\u2019s even necessary \u2014 in the moment.<\/p>\n

The problem with that in the long term is that, over time, as we live and experience more, we wall off more and more until we inhabit a fragmented psychic landscape. And, in that fragmentation, we lose the vision of unity. This is how God seems to \u201cvanish\u201d in the fire of creation. This is how we lose our connection with the fundamental ground of being and forget our true nature.<\/p>\n

BUT- through spiritual practice, through profound self-acceptance, through fearless observation, those psychic walls come tumbling down. And then, all at once, the vision comes, and we are filled with its light!<\/p>\n

Like a fish in water and a bird in the air, the Eternal lives and moves through all of creation. Material reality is the medium of expression for the Immaterial. It is That, and nothing less, which is the all-pervading animating warmth and life of all things. When we rediscover it, all of creation shines.<\/p>\n

How could I resist my nature,
\nThat lives for oneness with God?<\/i><\/p>\n

So often spiritual seekers struggle with the question of how to find God, how to get to heaven, how to attain salvation, or enlightenment, or union\u2026 What are they really? Do they even have value in \u2018real life\u2019? But Mechthild reminds us that it is our very nature to seek that unity. The real key is to simply stop resisting our nature. Seekers strive, but saints get out of the way.<\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: Mechthild of Magdeburg<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nPoetry for the Spirit: Poems of Universal Wisdom and Beauty<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nGerman Mystical Writings: Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart, Jacob Boehme, and others<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Mystic in Love: A Treasury of Mystical Poetry<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
More Books >><\/a><\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\"Mechthild<\/a><\/td>\n\nMechthild of Magdeburg<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Germany (1207 \u2013 1297) Timeline<\/a>
\nChristian<\/a> : Catholic<\/a>
\n<\/a><\/a><\/em><\/td>\n

<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

Mechthild of Magdeburg was born around the year 1207, probably into a noble family in northern Germany.<\/p>\n

She had a defining ecstatic experience at the age of twelve, where she saw \u201call things in God and God in all things.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1235, when Mechthild was in her twenties, she joined the Beguine sisterhood, as many women mystics of the time did in Germany and the Low Countries. As a Beguine she led a life of simplicity, service, and spiritual practice.<\/p>\n

Her confessor, Heinrich of Halle, convinced her to write down her ongoing mystical visions. This project took many years as it was interrupted by periods of sickness and also attacks by religious critics. She finally completed the work in about 1282, a few years before her death, and just after she joined an order of Cistercian nuns at Helfta.<\/p>\n

Her book, The Flowing Light of the Godhead<\/i>, describes experiences of unio mystica<\/i> (mystical union) as the sacred marriage, with the soul as the Bride and Christ as the Bridegroom. Her poetry stands out as among the most elevated mystical love poetry in the German language, drawing comparisons to the Sufi poets of the Middle East and the Bhakti poets of India.<\/p>\n

The great Italian poet Dante is said to have been greatly inspired by Mechthild\u2019s writing, and some have suggested that that he based his character Matilda in his Divine Comedy on her.<\/p>\n

More poetry by Mechthild of Magdeburg<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A fish cannot drown in water by Mechthild of Magdeburg English version by Jane Hirshfield A fish cannot drown in water, A bird does not fall in air. In the fire of creation, God doesn\u2019t vanish: The fire brightens. Each creature God made must live in its own true nature; How could I resist my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[613,53,79,612,2284,734],"class_list":["post-6499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-beguine","tag-catholic-poetry","tag-christian-poetry","tag-mechthild-of-magdeburg","tag-true-nature","tag-womens-spiritual-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6499"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6500,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6499\/revisions\/6500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}