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#3265 - Friday, August 22, 2008 - Editor: Gloria Lee

Nonduality Highlights - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights         

If you are eager to be nothing
before you know who you are,
you rob yourself of your true being.
Until you understand nothingness
you will never know true Faith.

  - Rumi
  "Rumi - Whispers of the Beloved"
Selected and translated by
    Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mafi
posted to Along The Way
 


  Starlight and Non-being
(from Thomas Merton's "The Way of Chuang-tzu")

Starlight asked Non-being: "Master, are
you? Or are you not?"
Since he received no answer whatever,
Starlight set himself to watch for Non-Be-
ing. He waited to see if Non-Being would
put in an appearance.
He kept his gaze fixed on the deep Void,
hoping to catch a glimpse of Non-Being.
All day long he looked, and he saw
nothing. He listened, but heard nothing.
He reached out to grasp, and grasped
nothing.
Then Starlight exclaimed at last, "This
is IT!"
"This is the furthest yet! Who can reach it?
I can comprehend the absence of Being
But who can comprehend the absence of
Nothing?
If now, on top of all this, Non-
Being IS,
Who can comprehend it?"


---
gill
posted to Allspirit Inspiration
 


 

  When my Beloved appears,

By Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi
(1165 - 1240)

English version by Reynold A. Nicholson

When my Beloved appears,
With what eye do I see Him?

With His eye, not with mine,
For none sees Him except Himself.

-- from The Mystics of Islam, by Reynold A. Nicholson

/ Photo by tanakawho /

www.Poetry-Chaikhana.com


A Poem for the Sefirot as a Wheel of Light

By Naftali Bacharach
(17th Century)

English version by Jerome Rothenberg and Harris Lenowitz

(the rim)

& going 'round
the ten
sefirot
of
the ball
& orbit
of the world
of first space
. . . . . . . . .

(the spokes)

1
crown

light from light
extreme light

2
wisdom

splendor from splendor
hidden light

3
understanding

sparkle from sparkle
sparkling light

4
greatness

splendor from splendor
pure light

5
power

light from splendor
of light pure

6
beauty

sparkle from light
light shining

7
victory

light from sparkle
light refined

8
majesty

splendor from sparkle
light bright

9
foundation

sparkle from splendor
purer light
pure pure

10
kingdom

most precious precious
shining light is

-- from A Big Jewish Book: Poems and Other Visions of the Jews from Tribal Times to the Present, Edited by Jerome Rothenberg

This is not really a poem in the normal sense. It is actually a translation into verse form of a Kabbalistic meditation image, the Kabbalistic Tree of Life envisioned as a circle. It is a mandala of Hebrew characters drawn in the shape of a wheel with the writing forming spokes and a rim.

www.Poetry-Chaikhana.com


The Tree of Life
The Uniter of Worlds

The Tree of Life is an important symbol in nearly every culture.

http://altreligion.about.com/library/weekly/aa102902a.htm

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