Inspired by Rumi and the Tao Teh Ching...
A lover of the soul knows the questions the lover of only flesh may never see.
What drives my neighbor to grow?
Why does my sister fear?
Why do we ignore the Great Wisdom residing in each of us and instead cherish disunity?
What does my beloved see in me?
One day all questions will come to pass.
Is that day today?
Hope for the future but live for the moment.
Why is humankind scared to die?
Why is its greater fear living?
The Great Commission is truly to love, not to convert.
If only we could see that truth, then peace would thrive.
A lover of the soul asks questions and seeks, yet the Great Paradox accepted is this:
If there is Truth, why are there no answers to my inquiries?
So the soul-minded meditates, prays, and prostrates all life-practices before the Great Unknown.
This mystery penetrates the heart of all who dare to love.
It satisfies.
It terrorizes.
It captivates.
It frees.
It is all things in one and fills the nothing-void within us all.
One day we will see.
But today, let us live each moment attentively and let us do so with love.
1/2/06 1:37am (revised 1/3/05 6:19p)
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5 comments:
fear of living is fear of living a life without meaning. the meaning we feel we need is about control.
which is where conversion comes in.
the paradox to me is that we should try to live a life without meaning to live a truly meaningful life.
i find comfort in the paradoxes.
e+
good thoughts.
you sound like a taoist sage, man! the paradoxes can be so simple yet profound it really blows my mind at times. ch 45 in the tao teh ching is a great example. thoughtful paradoxes were a crucial concept in christ's message as well (first shall be last, blessed are the poor/weak).
the issue of control is at the heart of our quest for power. i'd say that true power is exerted through our ability to be vulnerable.
i think we all find the truth, albeit right at the end.
i don't believe in heaven or hell as actual physical places, but rather the place you're at in your mind when you die.
in those last moments, i believe that is your heaven or hell, when your whole life plays out in an instant and you realise how good or bad you've been.
that's just my take, but my vicar says it holds a certain amount of truth although he believes those places exist.
i've still a long way to travel yet, and may change my mind.
chris, the tao te ching changed my life. i'll share something with you ... over the internet, even.
maybe it's like testimony to encourage people to read this great piece of work.
i'm a manic-depressive guy. i never got treated for it up until about three years ago. i went through a phase right before that time when i suppose i went crazy. not crime crazy or anything just ... extremely difficult to integrate into society.
when i saw a therapist (a pastoral therapist, which i mention because it's a great way to go), he told me i qualified for admission to a hospital.
however, in my particular work environment, it was seen as "eccentricity" and "creativeness." i made money off of it, in a way ... until it became unsustainable.
anyway, the first thing the guy -- a moderate baptist minister/counselor -- did was tell me to google "tao te ching" and print out an interpolation.
it opened a new world to me, and helped me better learn the fledgling christian faith i was exploring.
(i believe that taking a walk down that path is what actually allowed me to become what i was ... crazy ... then healed. that's what they talk about in the bible when they talk about jesus "casting out demons." those guys didn't handle that without some theatrics).
it shapes my dealings sociologically, spiritually. it's so simple yet so profound. and you're right, it is another expression of the love jesus encouraged in us.
i can't quite remember the author, but it was from a book my priest gave me where he talked about the difference between right-handed power and left-handed power. the latter being the vulnerability you speak of.
that is true power. luke 9:46-50 is pasted on my work computer. so is a quote from basho: "do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. seek what they sought."
you find truth by not being wise.
anyway, i hope that's somehow useful. i talk about it sometimes with people i think it might resonate with.
when i made it through all of that -- with a newfound faith -- i tattooed my arm with a cross to symbolize what gives me life.
dan, i hope you find what you're looking for. or, perhaps, what you're not looking for.
judo chop!
e+
Dan, my thought on heaven and hell as 'physical' or even 'metaphysical' places is simply that we'll never know for sure until we die. Worrying about it or living our lives "just to make it to heaven" is pretty fruitless if you ask me. It's a great question to ponder, though.
We all have a long way to travel. It's all one journey from the womb to the tomb, so to speak. The important part is what we make of the interval between the two, I think.
Eric, thanks for sharing your story. It's all about the paradox, man. Great passage from Luke, too. To paraphrase Ben Harper, "simplicity is the greatest form of complexity"...
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