"Tell me, O you whom my soul loves..."
Again and yet again, the Lover will turn to the "Song of Songs", until these sacred words become her own, in the self-abandonment of life in the tears of God...
Again and yet again, the Lover will hear, from the Song of Songs, "The voice of my beloved! behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills"... in the moments of respite, from life in the tears of God...
Life in the tears of God is not grief piled upon grief (although the "leaking" from the broken heart is definitely everyday). Rather, it is the slow, yet steady, transformation of the ways of loving... from possessive to codependent to romantic to subjective, and finally, to becoming love. (See the Introduction to Ralph Alan Dale's translation of the Tao Te Ching)... Baba Ram Dass powerfully explores this theme of becoming love in his spiritual classic Be Love Now...
Becoming love does not require becoming a monk! You need not contemplate that particular vocation as the "only or best" means of advancing in contemplation or the experience of Oneness... But what is necessary, whether monk or person "in the world" is, in the final analysis, the very same thing, though the path differs... A monk might rise several times at night for prayer... a mom will certainly do the same as she nurses her baby... For both, it is all about becoming love. It is about remembering the importance to both intention and attention as central to spirituality and happiness...
Hesychius of Jerusalem, sometime between 412 and 432 A.D, wrote to Theodulus, "Attention is unceasing silence of the heart..." and "Great care should be taken to preserve that which is precious..." (Excerpt from Writings From The Philokalia On The Prayer Of The Heart)... Whether monk, Mom, Dad, student, worker, executive, public servant, or whomever, "attention" and "great care" are essential for the cultivation of life in the tears of God...
Dostoevsky writes in The Brothers Karamazov that "prayer is education"... Well, let me tell you, so is a Soup Kitchen, a marriage, a Board of Directors, a drug addict, a drunk, a banker, or a lawyer: no matter what you do or where you go, an education is waiting for you! The only question is whether or not you are taking your studies seriously! Attention and great care are the core work and study habits of both the intentional monk or Mom...
Dostoevsky goes on to write further in The Brothers Karamazov: as to where this attention and great care will take the intentional monk or Mom: "Be not afraid of human sin, love man even in his state of sin, for this is already a likeness of divine love and is the highest love on this earth. Love all of God's creation, love the whole, and love each grain of sand. Love every leaf, every ray of God's light. Love animals, love plants, love every kind of thing. If you love every kind of thing, then everywhere God's mystery will reveal itself to you. Once this has been revealed to you, you will begin to understand it ever more deeply with each passing day. And finally you will be able to love the whole world with an all-encompassing universal love."
Dorothy Day often said and wrote that Dostoevsky was her favorite author and The Brothers Karamazov her favorite book... More on life in the tears of God in the coming days... As a study-aid, you can order my book Resplendent In Rags by calling 1-715-531-3515 (although not this weekend... my daughter has my phone...)
Again and yet again, the Lover will turn to the "Song of Songs", until these sacred words become her own, in the self-abandonment of life in the tears of God...
Again and yet again, the Lover will hear, from the Song of Songs, "The voice of my beloved! behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills"... in the moments of respite, from life in the tears of God...
Life in the tears of God is not grief piled upon grief (although the "leaking" from the broken heart is definitely everyday). Rather, it is the slow, yet steady, transformation of the ways of loving... from possessive to codependent to romantic to subjective, and finally, to becoming love. (See the Introduction to Ralph Alan Dale's translation of the Tao Te Ching)... Baba Ram Dass powerfully explores this theme of becoming love in his spiritual classic Be Love Now...
Becoming love does not require becoming a monk! You need not contemplate that particular vocation as the "only or best" means of advancing in contemplation or the experience of Oneness... But what is necessary, whether monk or person "in the world" is, in the final analysis, the very same thing, though the path differs... A monk might rise several times at night for prayer... a mom will certainly do the same as she nurses her baby... For both, it is all about becoming love. It is about remembering the importance to both intention and attention as central to spirituality and happiness...
Hesychius of Jerusalem, sometime between 412 and 432 A.D, wrote to Theodulus, "Attention is unceasing silence of the heart..." and "Great care should be taken to preserve that which is precious..." (Excerpt from Writings From The Philokalia On The Prayer Of The Heart)... Whether monk, Mom, Dad, student, worker, executive, public servant, or whomever, "attention" and "great care" are essential for the cultivation of life in the tears of God...
Dostoevsky writes in The Brothers Karamazov that "prayer is education"... Well, let me tell you, so is a Soup Kitchen, a marriage, a Board of Directors, a drug addict, a drunk, a banker, or a lawyer: no matter what you do or where you go, an education is waiting for you! The only question is whether or not you are taking your studies seriously! Attention and great care are the core work and study habits of both the intentional monk or Mom...
Dostoevsky goes on to write further in The Brothers Karamazov: as to where this attention and great care will take the intentional monk or Mom: "Be not afraid of human sin, love man even in his state of sin, for this is already a likeness of divine love and is the highest love on this earth. Love all of God's creation, love the whole, and love each grain of sand. Love every leaf, every ray of God's light. Love animals, love plants, love every kind of thing. If you love every kind of thing, then everywhere God's mystery will reveal itself to you. Once this has been revealed to you, you will begin to understand it ever more deeply with each passing day. And finally you will be able to love the whole world with an all-encompassing universal love."
Dorothy Day often said and wrote that Dostoevsky was her favorite author and The Brothers Karamazov her favorite book... More on life in the tears of God in the coming days... As a study-aid, you can order my book Resplendent In Rags by calling 1-715-531-3515 (although not this weekend... my daughter has my phone...)
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