{"id":8092,"date":"2022-07-01T06:52:53","date_gmt":"2022-07-01T13:52:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=8092"},"modified":"2022-07-01T06:52:53","modified_gmt":"2022-07-01T13:52:53","slug":"jacopone-da-todi-as-air-carries-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2022\/07\/01\/jacopone-da-todi-as-air-carries-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacopone da Todi – As air carries light"},"content":{"rendered":"

As air carries light poured out by the rising sun
\nby Jacopone da Todi (Jacopone Benedetti)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

English version by Ivan M. Granger<\/font><\/p>\n

As air carries light poured out by the rising sun,
\nAs the candle spills away beneath the flame\u2019s touch,
\nSo too does the soul melt when ignited by light,
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 its will now gone.
\nLost within this light,
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the soul, dying to itself, in majesty lives on.<\/p>\n

Why fish among the waves for wine
\nSpilled into the sea?
\nIt has become the ocean.
\nCan wine once mingled be drawn again from water?
\nSo it is with the soul drowned in light:
\nLove has drunk it in,
\nchanged it, mixed it with truth,
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 until it is entirely new.<\/p>\n

The soul is willing and yet unwilling,
\nFor there is nothing the soul now seeks,
\nsave for this beauty!
\nNo longer does it hunger or grasp,
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 so emptied by such sweetness.
\nThis supreme summit of the soul rises
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 from a nothingness shaped
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and set within the Lord.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a> \u2014 from This Dance of Bliss: Ecstatic Poetry from Around the World<\/a>, Edited by Ivan M. Granger<\/font><\/p>\n


\/ Image by Dulcey Lima<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

As air carries light poured out by the rising sun,
\nAs the candle spills away beneath the flame\u2019s touch,
\nSo too does the soul melt when ignited by light\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n

With these recognizable images, we begin to get an idea of how the soul is transformed in exalted states. Flooded by the light of illumination, we, like wax near a fire, melt. The self is no longer a fixed, hardened thing, but something fluid and formless. In this dynamic state, the soul loses its dull opacity, becoming clear, allowing the light to shine through it.<\/p>\n

Lost within this light,
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the soul, dying to itself, in majesty lives on.<\/i><\/p>\n

The old, inanimate self melts away, becoming a new and fluid being that expresses itself through yielding. In its yielding, the soul discovers its real life.<\/p>\n

So it is with the soul drowned in light:
\nLove has drunk it in,
\nchanged it, mixed it with truth,
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 until it is entirely new<\/i>.<\/p>\n

The spiritual concept of surrendering the will is difficult to accept in any age, but especially so in the modern era when accomplishment through aggressive exercise of the will is idolized.<\/p>\n

The soul is willing and yet unwilling\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n

The most immediate objection is that without will, we can do nothing. On a certain level, we prove our existence by acting in the world, right? <\/p>\n

When deeply examined, however, the will is revealed to be more complex than we might casually think. There are different expressions of will. On one level, will is volition or the impulse to act. Will can be our sense of firm determination. Will is also the capacity to choose, our free will. <\/p>\n

Mystics regularly use terms like \u201cself-will\u201d to express a further understanding of what the will is and how it works. We can say that self-will is selfish will, as opposed to the willingness to be of service. Or we might say that self-will is willfulness, when we are consumed by our own private purposes and no longer pay attention to feedback from other people or the environment. But there is more to self-will than that. <\/p>\n

Self-will isn\u2019t always cruel or destructive, at least not in obvious ways. It is quite possible to perform great philanthropic works and still have it be an expression of self-will, for example. Self-will is will that is under the control of the ego. Its actions serve and reinforce the ego. Self-will renews the trance of the ego-self.<\/p>\n

Most of what we call will is involved somehow in self-will. But the opposite of self-will is not inaction. There is another form of will that does not originate with the ego and does not constantly return our attention to it. This selfless will is potent, yet it is not our own. To unleash this other will in our lives requires an elegant balance between yielding and stepping forward, between selflessness and presence. We engage in action, but we are not the actors. What we normally think of as the self is not directing the action.<\/p>\n

This frees up a great amount of trapped psychic energy, and we become awestruck witnesses to the unexpected grace and power of life acting through us \u2014 a vision of immense beauty!<\/p>\n

For there is nothing the soul now seeks,
\nsave for this beauty!<\/i><\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: Jacopone da Todi (Jacopone Benedetti)<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

\n\n\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Poetry for the Spirit: Poems of Universal Wisdom and Beauty<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThis Dance of Bliss: Ecstatic Poetry from Around the World<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nJacopone da Todi: Lauds (Classics of Western Spirituality)<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nAll Saints: Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for Our Time<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\n
\n\"Jacopone<\/a>\n<\/td>\n\nJacopone da Todi (Jacopone Benedetti)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Italy (1230 \u2013 1306) Timeline<\/a>
\nChristian<\/a> : Catholic<\/a>
\n<\/a><\/a><\/em>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

Little is known with historical certainty about the life of of Jacopone da Todi. He was born Jacopone Benedetti to a wealthy family in the town of Todi, Italy. As a young man he entered a career as a notario, combining the skills of an accountant and a lawyer. And he married. All of these elements suggest an early life of moderate wealth.<\/p>\n

A popular story from an early religious biography suggests that his life drastically changed when, at a wedding feast, a balcony collapsed and mortally wounded his young wife. Devastated, Jacopone abandoned his career and gave away all of his possessions. This event is questioned by some historians, however, as possibly being manufactured for religious drama. But some traumatic event seems to have prompted his radical conversion.<\/p>\n

He first became a wandering penitent and a source of public ridicule. Jacopone eventually joined the Franciscan order. Among the Franciscans, he discovered his gift for poetry. Brother Jacopone became a leader of the Spirituals faction of Franciscans who dedicated themselves to the ideal of radical poverty.<\/p>\n

The Franciscan Spirituals got caught up in the ugly politics of papal succession of the time, and Jacopone was imprisoned for five years for his opposition to the election of Pope Boniface VIII. Throughout this time, Jacopone continued to write his ecstatic and mournful poems that touch upon the deepest personal encounters with divine Love. <\/p>\n

With his release on Pope Boniface\u2019s death, Jacopone retired to a hermitage near Orvieto. He died on Christmas Day in 1306.<\/p>\n

More poetry by Jacopone da Todi (Jacopone Benedetti)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As air carries light poured out by the rising sun by Jacopone da Todi (Jacopone Benedetti) English version by Ivan M. Granger As air carries light poured out by the rising sun, As the candle spills away beneath the flame\u2019s touch, So too does the soul melt when ignited by light, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 its will now […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[102,3,1],"tags":[53,79,1953,2477,735,77,60,1332,1333],"class_list":["post-8092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ivans-story","category-poetry","category-uncategorized","tag-catholic-poetry","tag-christian-poetry","tag-divine-will","tag-free-will","tag-jacopone-benedetti","tag-jacopone-da-todi","tag-light","tag-self-will","tag-will"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8092","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=8092"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8094,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8092\/revisions\/8094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}