Lotus of the Heart > Path of Spirit > Naturalness

 
 

The Bird Sings

Jan 26, 2025



THE SONG OF THE BIRD


The disciples were full of questions about God.


Said the master,


God is the Unknown and the Unknowable.
Every statement about God, every answer to your questions,
is a distortion of the truth.”


The disciples were bewildered.
“Then why do you speak about God at all?”


“Why does the bird sing?” said the master.


*Anthony de Mello. The Song of the Bird. “Him” rendered “God.”

* * *


Why a bird singing? A wise teacher teaching? To awaken the heart to something 'deeper' than words or birdsong? A spiritual teacher does that. They know the limits of words and the vistas words and birdsong can open to one willing to listen - really listen. Jesus, for example, in his ancestors' style, often started a wisdom teaching, "Look!," meaning, "Pay attention!"


Yet, too, birds sing for that is what birds do, what they are. Otherwise, a bird would not be a bird. The birdsong is bird-song: an expression and extension of the birdness of the bird. No separation. We can talk about Truth, too, if that is who we are. We can do our is. Why? Just can. The doing just doing.


My late cousin was a Baptist preacher. He was so ecstatic one day, he went into the woods and preached out loud, no one there but the woods congregation. Why? Why "Why"? A bird does not need an intention, a goal, or an audience. A justification. I sing for I sing. I talk about what I cannot say, for I talk. I write, for I am a writer; writing I am.

* * *


The disciple asked the Sage, "What is God?" The Sage broke out into laughter, beaming with joy. The disciple did not understand and was a little miffed at the Sage. He said, "I don't understand. Why laugh at my question?" Again, the Sage broke out into laughter, beaming with joy. Then, he said, "That's the answer."


(C) brian k. wilcox, 2025

 

Lotus of the Heart > Path of Spirit > Naturalness

©Brian Wilcox 2025