Living The Sacred
Oct. 21st, 2011 01:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cedar_groveFrom The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have.
Certainly, there is nothing wrong with bettering our outer circumstances, but these constructions mean nothing if we never face the very pulse of life that waits like a kind mother at the edge of our exhaustion.
This is something that used to be a part of my way of life far more than it is at the moment, and something that I want so very much to get back to. What follows is a poem that came out of one such profound sacred moment… and I'd like to share.
PERFECT LOVE
Across endless, timeless waves I drifted in darkness,
Knowing and yet not knowing,
Seeing and yet blind, understanding neither love nor trust,
A truly empty vessel with no direction.
A lantern held aloft, and a voice speaks, stern in his kindness.
Is this your life long striving, to feel nothing?
And from the lantern light a figure
Golden and shining with life,
And with love of life, but I ran for I did not understand.
In that moment I knew fear, and a heart began to beat.
Sit a while within these arms and let me tell you
Of she whom men have long known
Yet most have all but forgotten.
Does he love her?
She is my life.
Moved, I sat with him, his arms enfolded me
Warmth spread through me until it touched my heart
And a voice within me answered to his touch,
Singing many lives and thoughts into my soul.
Then call to me whenever you have need
And I will show you all that you already know
But are afraid to understand.
I am She who would help you to be free,
But only you may tear aside the ties that bind you
To your guilt and fear,
For only naked and alone shall you come to me.
And having healed yourself, then shall you
Show to others understanding of that which is divine:
Ecstasy of spirit and joy on Earth.
When the way is long, remember Perfect Love
And Perfect Trust shall be our call.
Mind that you taint not your ideals and let
None judge them nor call you wrong
And turn you aside.
For only those who are true unto themselves
May hope to be true unto others and so truly know Me.
For I am the Grail and all that it contains.
Vivid colour burst like rain upon my spirit
And I asked of my companion the name of such beauty
He answered with my own and I did not understand.
You are women, Goddess, my daughter.
And you?
I am man, God, your son.
Lie a while with me that I may show you
She who is the Mother of all life.
The heat of creation spread over me
Awakening every cell, to centre,
Hovering over my womb and a song within me answered:
I who am the Land, the Earth and Moon
And the Waters of Life that stir the heart
Call within your soul.
From the waters all things pass
And all return in love.
Therefore give unto yourself you life.
Let me be loved within a balanced heart
Living in beauty with strength,
Power tempered with compassion,
Honour and humility, laughter and also reverence.
And if you strive to know me, listen,
For you shall not find me lets you look within
To find me there.
For I am within you from the beginning
Unto the end, unto the ending of desire.
Words faded quickly, but the song remained
And I truly understood
How one could be everything, yet nothing,
All things to all people. I turned to my companion
Who looked at me with loving question in his eyes.
And will you run no more from me
My Sister, my Love
How can I when you are my life, beloved?
I am also your death
Come then, let us share the circle and grant
New life to those in need.
And at sunrise, as He dawned upon a new world
Born of our love,
We two began to fade,
And only the waters, rippling on the lake
Stood as testimony to our passing.
The higher goal of spiritual living is not to amass a wealth of information, but to face sacred moments.
--Abraham Heschel
Certainly, there is nothing wrong with bettering our outer circumstances, but these constructions mean nothing if we never face the very pulse of life that waits like a kind mother at the edge of our exhaustion.
This is something that used to be a part of my way of life far more than it is at the moment, and something that I want so very much to get back to. What follows is a poem that came out of one such profound sacred moment… and I'd like to share.
PERFECT LOVE
Across endless, timeless waves I drifted in darkness,
Knowing and yet not knowing,
Seeing and yet blind, understanding neither love nor trust,
A truly empty vessel with no direction.
A lantern held aloft, and a voice speaks, stern in his kindness.
Is this your life long striving, to feel nothing?
And from the lantern light a figure
Golden and shining with life,
And with love of life, but I ran for I did not understand.
In that moment I knew fear, and a heart began to beat.
Sit a while within these arms and let me tell you
Of she whom men have long known
Yet most have all but forgotten.
Does he love her?
She is my life.
Moved, I sat with him, his arms enfolded me
Warmth spread through me until it touched my heart
And a voice within me answered to his touch,
Singing many lives and thoughts into my soul.
Then call to me whenever you have need
And I will show you all that you already know
But are afraid to understand.
I am She who would help you to be free,
But only you may tear aside the ties that bind you
To your guilt and fear,
For only naked and alone shall you come to me.
And having healed yourself, then shall you
Show to others understanding of that which is divine:
Ecstasy of spirit and joy on Earth.
When the way is long, remember Perfect Love
And Perfect Trust shall be our call.
Mind that you taint not your ideals and let
None judge them nor call you wrong
And turn you aside.
For only those who are true unto themselves
May hope to be true unto others and so truly know Me.
For I am the Grail and all that it contains.
Vivid colour burst like rain upon my spirit
And I asked of my companion the name of such beauty
He answered with my own and I did not understand.
You are women, Goddess, my daughter.
And you?
I am man, God, your son.
Lie a while with me that I may show you
She who is the Mother of all life.
The heat of creation spread over me
Awakening every cell, to centre,
Hovering over my womb and a song within me answered:
I who am the Land, the Earth and Moon
And the Waters of Life that stir the heart
Call within your soul.
From the waters all things pass
And all return in love.
Therefore give unto yourself you life.
Let me be loved within a balanced heart
Living in beauty with strength,
Power tempered with compassion,
Honour and humility, laughter and also reverence.
And if you strive to know me, listen,
For you shall not find me lets you look within
To find me there.
For I am within you from the beginning
Unto the end, unto the ending of desire.
Words faded quickly, but the song remained
And I truly understood
How one could be everything, yet nothing,
All things to all people. I turned to my companion
Who looked at me with loving question in his eyes.
And will you run no more from me
My Sister, my Love
How can I when you are my life, beloved?
I am also your death
Come then, let us share the circle and grant
New life to those in need.
And at sunrise, as He dawned upon a new world
Born of our love,
We two began to fade,
And only the waters, rippling on the lake
Stood as testimony to our passing.
