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Archive Number 1054 | ||
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Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 12:03:05 -0700
A MAN by NINA CASSIAN While fighting for his country, he lost an arm and was suddenly afraid: "From now on, I shall only be able to do things by halves. I shall reap half a harvest. I shall be able to play either the tune or the accompniment on the piano, but never both parts together. I shall be able to bang with only one fist on doors, and worst of all, I shall only be able to half hold my love close to me. There will be things I cannot do at all, applaud, for example, at shows where everyone applauds." From that moment on, he set himself to do everything with twice as much enthusiasm. And where the arm had been torn away a wing grew. --------- THE WORM'S WAKING by RUMI This is how a human being can change: There's a worm addicted to eating grape leaves. Suddenly, he wakes up, call it Grace, whatever, something wakes him, and he's no longer a worm. He's the entire vineyard, and the orchard, too: the fruit, the trunks, a growing wisdom and joy that doesn't need to devour. ------ 3 by KABIR (though I do not agree with all of the words in Bly's translation, the story images are rich, indeed!) Between the conscious and the unconscious, the mind has put up a swing: all earth creatures, even the supernovas, sway between these two trees, and it never winds down. Angels, animals, humans, insects by the millions, also the wheeling sun and moon; ages go by, and it goes on. Everthing is swinging: heaven, earth, water, fire, and the secret one slowly growing a body. Kabir saw that for 15 seconds, and it made him a servant for life. Student, do the simple purification. You know that the seed is inside the horse-chestnut tree; and inside the seed there are the blossoms of the tree, and the chestnuts, and the shade. So, inside the human body there is the seed, and inside the seed there is the human body again. Fire, air, earth, water and space--if you don't want the secret one, you can't have these, either. Thinkers, listen, tell me what you know of that is not inside the soul? Take a pitcher full of water and set it down on the water-- now it has water inside and water outside. We mustn't give it a name, lest silly people start talking again about the body and the soul. If you want the truth, I'll tell you the truth: Listen to the secret sound, the real sound, which is inside you. The one no one talks of speaks the secret sound to himself, and he is the one who has made it all. - The small ruby everyone wants has fallen out on the road. Some think it is east of us, others west of us. Some say, "among primitive earth rocks," others, "in the deep waters." Kabir's instinct told him what it was worth, and he wrapped it up carefully in his heart cloth. ----- THIS LAST POEM CALLS TO MIND THE TEACHING OF A LONG-AGO FRIEND, SAKI SANTORELLI WHO WROTE THIS PASSAGE IN HIS RECENT BOOK ON HEALING: ""Sitting Inside the Radiant Heart: I suspect you've noticed that you can actually 'sit' inside your heart while relating to another human being. I is as if you begin to discover that the heart has its own set of senses that allows you access to worlds transpiring behind the semingly apparent. The heart is both a receiver and a transmitter. We are learning to cultivate and use both of these unseen but often felt dimensions of human existence. Recognize that you can actually be with another and consciously transmit from your heart a wordless current of care and kindness. In some meditative traditions this stream is visualized as green or gold. It makes little difference whether you visualize or simply feel this capacity bubbling forth within you and moving out toward another. There is no need to talk about this or try manipulating, 'healing', or changing another. It is enough to be moved and to silently respond in such a manner." _________________________________________________________________ | ||