#3059 - Monday, January 28, 2008 - Editor:
Gloria Lee
Cease practice based
On intellectual understanding,
Pursuing words and
Following after speech.
Learn the backward
Step that turns
Your light inward
To illuminate within.
Body and mind of themselves
Will drop away
And your original face will be manifest.
- Dogen (1200-1253)
Effortlessly,
Love flows from God into man,
Like a bird
Who rivers the air
Without moving her wings.
Thus we move in His world
One in body and soul,
Though outwardly separate in form.
As the Source strikes the note,
Humanity sings-
The Holy Spirit is our harpist,
And all the strings
Which are touched in Love
Must sound.
- Mechthild of Magdeburg [c.1210?-c.1282]
trans. by Jane Hirshfield
A fish cannot drown in water,
A bird does not fall in air.
In the fire of creation,
Gold doesn't vanish: the fire brightens.
Each creature God made
Must live in its own true nature;
How could I resist my nature,
That lives for oneness with God?
- Mechthild of Magdeburg [c.1210?-c.1282]
Anthony de Mello
It was lecture time and the Master said,
"The genius of a composer is found in the notes of
his music - but analyzing the notes will not
reveal his genius. The poet's greatness is
contained in his words - yet the study of his
words will not disclose his inspiration.
God reveals himself in creation - but scrutinize
creation as minutely as you wish, you will not
find God, any more than you will find the soul
through the careful examination of your body."
At question time someone asked, "How then shall we find
God?"
"By looking at creation, not by analyzing it."
"And how is one to look?"
"A peasant sets out to find beauty in the sunset,
but all he finds is sun and cloud and sky and
earth's horizon - till he understands that beauty
is not a 'thing' but a special way of looking.
You will seek for God in vain till you
understand that God can't be seen as 'thing';
he needs a special way of looking - similar to
that of little children whose sight is undistorted
by prefabricated doctrines and beliefs."
- Anthony de Mello, S.J.
Look -- I do nothing; He performs all deeds,
and He endures the pain when my heart bleeds.
When He draws near and grants you an audience
should you hang back in tongue-tied diffidence?
When will your cautious heart consent to go
beyond the homely boundaries you know?
O you, if He should show His love to you,
love which His deeds perpetually renew
you will be nothing, you will disappear.
Leave all to Him who acts, and have no fear.
If there is any "you", if any wraith
of self persists, you've strayed outside our faith.
The Conference of the Birds.
Farid ud - Din Attar.
"A few weeks ago we lost the wonderful Irish poet and
philosopher, John O'Donohue. I thought we should honor his
passing with one of his blessing poems." [John
O'Donohue passed away unexpectedly and peacefully in his sleep in
the night of January 3, 2008. He was 52 years old.] http://www.jodonohue.com/ "From it's beginning, I
have given the Poetry Chaikhana web site the tagline "Sacred
Poetry from Around the World." I am regularly reminded that
the Poetry Chaikhana community is also from around the world --
but I don't share that enough with everyone else. In just the
last month , the Poetry Chaikhana has had visits from 131
different countries and territories. We make up quite a
community, don't we? Through the Poetry Chaikhana, we are all
connected to every part of this planet we share.
The next time a poem touches that warm ember deep in your chest,
and your thoughts stop, and your mind clears, and a quiet smile
spreads across your face... reach out and feel who else on this
planet is feeling exactly the same thing. Could be someone who
wears different clothes or different colored skin, someone who
speaks with a different accent or an entirely different language,
someone who sits or kneels or bows to worship. Reach out and
recognize that person as a brother or sister who, like us all, is
walking through the human journey, pausing occasionally to sing
songs of the Divine."
