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solitude by a river
Sasanoa River, Georgetown Island, Maine
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For the Beloved alone, I wait silently,
for hope comes to me from there.
*Psalm 62.5
What offering is more acceptable to Presence than throughout the day to quit our looking outward and to withdraw to worship One within the secret places of the self? Besides, in this, we transform self-infatuation, which can continue only among the things of sense and of which these times of quiet retirement with Presence rid us almost without our knowing.
*Brother Lawrence. The Practice of the Presence of God, and The Spiritual Maxims. Adapted.
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Who would cry, awash in Ocean Waves,
"Desert! Oh, Desert! so hot and dry!"
Who seeks the Sun
in daylight full and bright?
Some questions are asked
only to lead you into Silence.
What is the door to that madness?
Love beyond love, there is no way to That.
There are many insanities in the world
but only One worth giving your Heart to.
Nothing need be said about This ~
Lovely Fire that burns all words away.
* * *
The self tends to flee the Silence. One seeks to escape when immersed in bliss - the bliss sought. The discomfort is felt in contrast to what the body has been accustomed to.
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On this site, I wrote in "This Lovely Fire" (Feb. 23, 2018) -
One may not see how he or she fears what is discovered beyond the self, that is Love - not sentimental feelings or experiences of love, Love. And within the addiction to disquiet, the egoic game includes the avoidance of Silence, and this avoidance allows one to create the illusion that one is truly not in-love with misery, not avoiding Love.
* * *
I know of this avoidance from two sources. First, observing myself and others through the years. Through spiritual practice, we receive insight into how things are, not how they appear. I was awakened to the pervasive avoidance of love and Love. Furthermore, I saw how religion and spirituality are often used as a spiritual bypass to sitting in the Love-Fire, Presence itself.
In theistic terms - God is the Fire. To meet God is not merely to meet a comforting Presence but to encounter a discomforting Presence. Not that God is discomforting, but the encounter discomforts us - that not-of-Love meets that-of-Love. This split must be healed, and one endures the split consciously and willingly for the healing of it.
* * *
We consent to remain in the discomfort, the unaccustomed bliss, habituating, slowly, to this rejuvenating, reorienting habitat. In time, quiet, contented joy, unlike the thrill and excitement we once enjoyed, becomes home. The Silence is now welcomed, even sought... a familiar friend.
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"If, as you say, Love transforms us, what does it transform us into?" "Love to Love," replied the Sage.
*Brian K. Wilcox. "Meetings with an Anonymous Sage."
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*©Brian K. Wilcox, 2023.
*Use of photography is allowed accompanied by credit given to Brian K. Wilcox and title and place of photograph.
*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.
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