O how gently and how lovingly you lie awake in the depth and center of my soul, where you in secret and in silence alone, as its sole Master, remain, not only as in Your own house or in Your own chamber, but also as within my own bosom, in close and intimate union.
*John of the Cross. Living Flame of Love.
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In the Christian Scriptures, Jesus quotes from the Jewish Scriptures regarding religious leaders opposing him and the wisdom of spiritual liberation he is proclaiming...
You fakes! Isaiah was correct when he prophesied of you:
"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me."
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A follower asked the Sage, "Why do you speak so much about passion for the Divine and so little about what we think about God? Isn't what we think very important?” The Sage replied, "Does a lover ever enflame the heart of a beloved by falling in love with an idea of the beloved?"
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On another occasion, after the Sage observed how afraid some of his followers were of passion for the Beloved, he said, "Some persons like to admire each other’s clothes, others undress each other and make wild love."
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Three poems...
Bubble Rising to Surface
Press the skins, drink the Wine. Become a fermented bubble rising to the surface of A dark red world.
Does this poem make sense? I hope not!
Soaring into the Sky
I saw a sparrow outside the window My heart opening to Her song I spread wings and flew
I saw the Friend reflected in the rite My heart opening to the Truth I passed through the shadow into the Light
Some kiss the threshold and soar into the Sky Some just step through the door and never leave again
Fly, my friend! Fly! into the Heart of Love
Well of Forgetfulness
Be pulled, even if kicking and screaming, beyond infatuation, admiration, theory; plunged into the Well of Forgetfulness, come out drenched with the Beloved's Love.
Not knowing, beyond need to know, be clothed with the brilliance of the Sun.
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We retreat into our heads, so think about our religion or spirituality, or let others think about it for us, or we posit our reasons for not having either. We have thought ourselves into thinking we do not need Grace, or thought ourselves into thinking that thinking about Grace is enough, or, again, letting others think for us. We, thereby, escape our hearts calling us to abandonment. We intellectualize rather than surrender ourselves. We fear the raw tenderness, the sadness of the heart exposed to the Ineffable, so we take at least one step back. We want to get close, our heart longs to know itself in Love, but we do not want to get too close, for too close we feel would be too close. Or, we could say equally, we want to get close to the Sacred, but that we are not distracts us, the self we truly are not leads us astray from our native recognition of and friendship with Grace, of and with ourselves. This, while thought can lead us to the Heart of hearts, but only Love welcomes love to enter and learn to live there, contented there in those Arms.
*Video can be accessed on original site via upper left artist-title below...
*Brian Wilcox, 2020
*Quote from John of the Cross, archaic words adapted for modern readers.
