we humans do not need
(if ever you ask me)
more sustained dialogue,
more voicing of opinions,
more inclusive debates,
more elaborate theories,
overturning of dogmas,
and shifting of paradigms –
as much as we need
to let our heart
be inhabited by silence,
a quiet and simple awareness
of things as they are,
as they manifest,
beyond words, simply
in their being present to us –
a silence wherein
we can see, and listen,
and only listen,
without having to answer,
assent or disagree.
simply to listen
to the silence of life
that needs no words to be.
Friday, December 27, 2013
Thursday, December 19, 2013
oh man...
oh man! you’ve got it all
in reverse.
your relentless efforts
at renouncing the world
will not make God present to you.
your presence to God –
that alone will move you,
effortlessly, to renounce the world.
in reverse.
your relentless efforts
at renouncing the world
will not make God present to you.
your presence to God –
that alone will move you,
effortlessly, to renounce the world.
A Change of Heart
A prayer attributed to Ibn Sīnā
[Arabic, 11th century]
I
seek refuge in You, my God.
I forsake the trivial seduction of the
world,
necklace
of a narrow life.
I
now return to You, accept my return,
and change in me this heart
which
has for so long turned away from You.
If
You do not restore my ailing soul,
or heal it from its blindness,
to whom but You would I raise my complaint?
[my translation]
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
JonathanBot
What Would I Say?
A selection of the most poetic phrases randomly generated from my past Facebook posts on the internet app what-would-i-say.com.
Unfortunately, posts can’t be used as a transcendent Reality.
Since ancient times, no one else bought you a shaft of sunlight.
Actually, I entirely fill the heart, the heart is astonishing.
I want to own you, attain five hundred years of experience when
I contemplate the tongues of atoms.
A certain dervish asked him to delete everything.
Each veil between men would never be freed by many worlds.
I forsake the trivial seduction of possibility as an ocean of dusty library shelves.
How simple the orchids, the dust mixed with the material world becomes a noble mercy of proportion with generosities beyond art.
I want you to stir, of thoughtful trees. And send waves of a reed to you now.
Love is the public service because Jesus endured his mountain of gold.
She took a postprandial walk through the forms of their errors.
Iron kills a star in a very poignant way.
A selection of the most poetic phrases randomly generated from my past Facebook posts on the internet app what-would-i-say.com.
Unfortunately, posts can’t be used as a transcendent Reality.
Since ancient times, no one else bought you a shaft of sunlight.
Actually, I entirely fill the heart, the heart is astonishing.
I want to own you, attain five hundred years of experience when
I contemplate the tongues of atoms.
A certain dervish asked him to delete everything.
Each veil between men would never be freed by many worlds.
I forsake the trivial seduction of possibility as an ocean of dusty library shelves.
How simple the orchids, the dust mixed with the material world becomes a noble mercy of proportion with generosities beyond art.
I want you to stir, of thoughtful trees. And send waves of a reed to you now.
Love is the public service because Jesus endured his mountain of gold.
She took a postprandial walk through the forms of their errors.
Iron kills a star in a very poignant way.
Monday, December 16, 2013
she is not real.
put her down,
they said.
she is not real.
they sought her secrets
within her.
they found her heart.
they told me much
about her heart.
cut her up,
they said.
she is not real.
I remembered her joy.
this is not her heart,
I said.
but they laughed,
derisively.
they learned much
about her heart.
gazing on,
with their eyes
of flesh.
they said.
she is not real.
they sought her secrets
within her.
they found her heart.
they told me much
about her heart.
cut her up,
they said.
she is not real.
I remembered her joy.
this is not her heart,
I said.
but they laughed,
derisively.
they learned much
about her heart.
gazing on,
with their eyes
of flesh.
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Adam, the Angel and the Beast
From Maulānā Rūmī’s Masnavī-i Ma‘navī (IV, ll. 1497-1514)
[Persian, 13th century]
A Tradition* recounts that the Lord of Glory
created in the world three classes of beings:
one given intelligence, science, munificence –
those are angels engaged in ceaseless worship
in whose nature abide neither greed nor lust,
only pure light, whose life is the love of God.
then a second class, devoid of all knowledge,
cattle that ruminate all day on fattening grass,
without a care but for their stall and pasture,
heedless of all portents of misery and honour.
A third is the progeny of Adam and mankind,
whose nature is half angelic and half asinine –
the asinine side ever drawing him earthward,
even as his angelic side pulls him heavenward.
It remains unclear which of them will prevail,
and overcome its rival in this wrestling match.
[If intelligence prevails, man will rise higher
than the angel through this trial of endurance.
If his passion prevails, he will descend lower
than the beast which cannot rise above itself.]
Between these there is neither war nor strife,
yet in man, to his affliction, they are enemies.
*This Tradition (ḥadīth) has been ascribed to ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib in the Biḥār al-Anwār (60/299/5): “[Imām ‘Alī] (AS) said, ‘God, the Mighty and Majestic, gave the angels intelligence (‘aql) without desire (shahwa), He gave the beasts desire without intelligence, and He gave both to the sons of Adam. So a man whose intelligence prevails over his desire is better than the angels, whilst a man whose desire prevails over his intelligence is worse than the beasts.’”
[my translation]
Persian text: http://ganjoor.net/moulavi/masnavi/daftar4/sh56/
[Persian, 13th century]
A Tradition* recounts that the Lord of Glory
created in the world three classes of beings:
one given intelligence, science, munificence –
those are angels engaged in ceaseless worship
in whose nature abide neither greed nor lust,
only pure light, whose life is the love of God.
then a second class, devoid of all knowledge,
cattle that ruminate all day on fattening grass,
without a care but for their stall and pasture,
heedless of all portents of misery and honour.
A third is the progeny of Adam and mankind,
whose nature is half angelic and half asinine –
the asinine side ever drawing him earthward,
even as his angelic side pulls him heavenward.
It remains unclear which of them will prevail,
and overcome its rival in this wrestling match.
[If intelligence prevails, man will rise higher
than the angel through this trial of endurance.
If his passion prevails, he will descend lower
than the beast which cannot rise above itself.]
Between these there is neither war nor strife,
yet in man, to his affliction, they are enemies.
*This Tradition (ḥadīth) has been ascribed to ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib in the Biḥār al-Anwār (60/299/5): “[Imām ‘Alī] (AS) said, ‘God, the Mighty and Majestic, gave the angels intelligence (‘aql) without desire (shahwa), He gave the beasts desire without intelligence, and He gave both to the sons of Adam. So a man whose intelligence prevails over his desire is better than the angels, whilst a man whose desire prevails over his intelligence is worse than the beasts.’”
[my translation]
Persian text: http://ganjoor.net/moulavi/masnavi/daftar4/sh56/
Friday, December 13, 2013
the way that goes from you to me
I have not found the way to You, my God.
Relying on myself
I have found only myself
and lost my way.
If i cannot find You
on the way that goes from me to You, my God,
I know that You will find me
on the way that goes from You to me.
Relying on myself
I have found only myself
and lost my way.
If i cannot find You
on the way that goes from me to You, my God,
I know that You will find me
on the way that goes from You to me.
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