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'The Grace of Solitude'
Overlook, Back River, Georgetown Island, ME
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Like a parent protecting children
I open my boundless heart to all
Releasing all ill will
Never betraying loving kindness
*Tai Sheridan. Celestial Music: Sutras of Emptiness.
The ability of a love bound by lots of attachment to expand into a love that is purely letting go .... is manifested throughout Zen practice and it is arguably the purpose of Zen practice. Suzuki Roshi said, "Zen is making your best effort in each moment forever." Is that not love that’s letting go? ... Sure, this love sounds impossible, but like my teacher Tim says, "It’s not impossible, it’s inconceivable." Dive in!
*Ben Connelly. Inside the Grass Hut: Living Shitou's Classic Zen Poem.
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I looked at Connie. I was mystified by the attraction to her. I did not find her very attractive, though I did not see her as unattractive; however, I was very attracted to her. How is this possible? I had been with other girlfriends, all of whom I liked, for I found them physically attractive. This was different. Possibly, this was one of my first initiations into the power of love. I could say unconditional love; that would be redundant. This power of love is in that it does not comply with how we see others; instead, it changes how we see them, for it sees them as it sees them. We know this love in not choosing this love for someone. We sense someone or something choosing this for us. All we can logically do in reply is surrender to it. Then, we find life, for love is life, and life is love.
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Kabir Helminski -
Once a certain [Sufi] shaikh, someone who had given a lifetime to the path, was visiting us. He spoke about the efforts and sacrifices that are needed if we truly want to know the Truth. There was a guest in our circle that day, someone who was filled with a sentimental enthusiasm. "But what about love?" she asked with her dreamy eyes.
"Love? I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," our foxy mentor replied.
"Well, love is wonderful, love is incredible, love is what spirituality is all about. You mean you don't know about love?" An excruciatingly long pause followed.
"My dear," he said to her, "should one use such a word unless in the moment that one uses it, one is that love?"
*The Knowing Heart: A Sufi Path of Transformation.
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We can say love is something we have. So, "I have a lot of love for you." We can consider love is something we give. So, "I want to give you all my love." We may think love is a feeling inside us. We may esteem love to be something outside us, so we are trying to get it or find it.
Love is none of this. And as long as we separate ourselves from love, as though it is property to be owned or given or found or lost, we substitute something not love for love.
So, we cannot know love separate from love. We cannot know the wind unless it blows upon us. In union with love, we know it. We cannot say, "I know what love is," but we know. And our socially-conditioned ideas of love will be challenged by insight into love we know without knowing what it is.
It is good, then, to say, "I don't know what love is; I have no idea, none." One can say this with humor. It is not a sad matter. It is a joyful avowal. You find it humorous to speak it. All you had said about love was love as an object. Now, you might wish not to say at all, for what you know, you cannot pull back into language. So, possibly, you may be more reticent to speak about love - as about many other things once you do not know what something is, but you know it. Silence means relaxing in knowing because you do not know. Silence is the purest confession of this delightful ignorance.
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*(C) Brian K. Wilcox, 2021
*Brian's book, An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major online booksellers or the publisher AuthorHouse. The book is a collection of poems based on mystical traditions, especially Christian and Sufi, with extensive notes on the teachings and imagery in the poetry.
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