Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Divine Milieu...Dixie Chicks - Easy Silence...For Catherine...
"I need something to believe in,
Breathe in sanctuary in the,
Easy silence that you make for me,
It's okay when there's nothing more to say to me,
And the peaceful quiet you create for me,
And the way you keep the world at bay for me,
The way you keep the world at bay..."
Matrix Reloaded...Hmmmm...Upgrades...
No matter how many times the Agents are defeated they keep coming back to "...kill, steal and destroy..." and as Neo says, "...hmmm...ugrades..." perhaps that is all that can be said and keep fighting.
Matrix..Subway Fight Between Neo and Smith...
Neo is starting to believe who he is and no longer runs from Smith but rather confronts him and fights. He is still hurt in the conflict, but does not stay down but chooses to get up and keep fighting.
Divine Milieu...Alanis Morissette - Thank U...
How bout getting off of these antibiotics
How bout stopping eating when I'm full up
How bout them transparent dangling carrots
how bout that ever elusive kudo
Thank you India
Thank you terror
Thank you disillusionment
Thank you frailty
Thank you consequence
Thank you thank you silence
How bout me not blaming you for everything
How bout me enjoying the moment for once
How bout how good it feels to finally forgive you
How bout grieving it all one at a time
Thank you India
Thank you terror
Thank you disillusionment
Thank you frailty
Thank you consequence
Thank you thank you silence
The moment I let go of it was the moment
I got more than I could handle
The moment I jumped off of it
Was the moment I touched down
How bout no longer being masochistic
How bout remembering your divinity
How bout unabashedly bawling your eyes out
How bout not equating death with stopping
Thank you India
Thank you providence
Thank you disillusionment
Thank you nothingness
Thank you clarity
Thank you thank you silence
Sunday, April 18, 2010
silencing the desperate.jpg
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
amber druming.jpg
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Battle of the Bands.jpg
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
“Beware of affection...I was betrayed by a kiss…”
- Jesus to me
“There can be no doubt in Jesus’ mind what the kiss of Judas means, but it is Judas that he is blessing, and Judas that he is prepared to go out and die for now. Judas is only the first in a procession of betrayers two thousand years long. If Jesus were to exclude him from his love and forgiveness, to one degree or another he would have to exclude mankind.”
–Frederick Buechner
How is this possible? It is amazing to me when I consider how ineffectual I am at doing what it is that Jesus did and yet in some way, "What is impossible with human beings is possible with God."
- Jesus to me
“There can be no doubt in Jesus’ mind what the kiss of Judas means, but it is Judas that he is blessing, and Judas that he is prepared to go out and die for now. Judas is only the first in a procession of betrayers two thousand years long. If Jesus were to exclude him from his love and forgiveness, to one degree or another he would have to exclude mankind.”
–Frederick Buechner
How is this possible? It is amazing to me when I consider how ineffectual I am at doing what it is that Jesus did and yet in some way, "What is impossible with human beings is possible with God."
Where Grace Abounds...
“Grace abounds in contemporary movies, books, novels, films, and music. If God is not in the whirlwind, He may be in a Woody Allen film or a Bruce Springsteen concert. Most people understand imagery and symbol better than doctrine and dogma. Images touch hearts and awaken imaginations. One theologian suggested that Springsteen’s Tunnel of Love album, in which he symbolically sings of sin, death, despair, and redemption, is more important for Catholics than the Pope’s last visit when he spoke of morality only in doctrinal propositions. Troubadours have always been more important and influential than theologians and bishops.”
-Brennan Manning, A Ragamuffin Gospel
-Brennan Manning, A Ragamuffin Gospel
Bruce Springsteen...The Theologian From New Jersey...Badlands....
"I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of."
-Jesus
But there's one thing I know for sure girl
I don't give a damn
For the same old played out scenes
I don't give a damn
For just the in betweens
Honey, I want the heart, I want the soul
I want control right now
talk about a dream
Try to make it real
you wake up in the night
With a fear so real
Spend your life waiting
for a moment that just don't come
Well, don't waste your time waiting....
Badlands, you gotta live it everyday
Let the broken hearts stand
As the price you've gotta pay
We'll keep pushin' till it's understood
and these badlands start treating us good....
I believe in the love that you gave me
I believe in the faith that could save me
I believe in the hope
and I pray that some day
It may raise me above these...Badlands...
For the ones who had a notion,
a notion deep inside
That it ain't no sin
to be glad you're alive
I wanna find one face
that ain't looking through me
I wanna find one place,
I wanna spit in the face of these badlands...
Thoughts...
As I sit today I feel as if I am soaking life in…in a different yet at the same time familiar way. Also, the realization stunned me in a new way that yes, yes, there is indeed such a thing as grace…it showed up in an unexpected way and in unexpected places. Subtle hints and memories from other times and places yet refracted through a new prism so the colors are new and vibrant. Bob Dylan’s lyrics from I Believe In You, come to mind (btw…he was singing this to Jesus):
Don't let me drift too far
Keep me where you are
Where I will always be renewed
And that which you've given me today
Is worth more than I could pay
And no matter what they say
I believe in you…
Another thought that occurred to me this morning is that it is in loving the imperfections in each other that life becomes beautiful. And it is not that I have figured out how to do this or even done it well at all, it is something to strive for, to someday do well “…here and there and now and then…” to borrow a phrase from Paul Tillich. In life perhaps that is all we can hope and pray for, the, “…here and there and the now and then…” – hope.
After putting my thought about soaking life in today and that there is grace on Facebook a friend put Isaiah 43:18-19 as a comment to it, this is what the text says:
Forget about what's happened; don't keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new.
It's bursting out! Don't you see it? There it is!
I'm making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands.
Listened to Brandi Carlile’s song, Looking Out and these lines spoke to me in a refreshing way and with an acute clarity:
I know the darkness falls on you.
And it’s just a point of view
When you’re outside looking in
You belong to someone and when
You feel like giving in and the coming of the end,
Like your heart can break in two,
Someone loves you.
Not sure what all this means except for maybe today, in these moments of time, in the momentary lapse of becoming, in the peace of being, if however transitory and fleeting - love won…as a good friend keeps reminding me – the sun will rise tomorrow and as he texted me this morning, “Another day of possibilities! What a ride eh?” Hmmm…
Bruce Springsteen...The Theologian From New Jersey...Dancing In The Dark...
"You can't start a fire sitting 'round crying over a broken heart
This gun's for hire
Even if we're just dancing in the dark
You can't start a fire worrying about your little world falling apart This gun's for hire
Even if we're just dancing in the dark..."
Bruce Springsteen...The Theologian from New Jersey...Tougher Than The Rest...
"So somebody ran out
Left somebody’s heart in a mess
Well if you’re looking for love
Honey I’m tougher than the rest...
The road is dark
And it’s a thin thin line
But I want you to know I’ll walk it for you any time..."
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Divine Milieu...Bruce Springsteen - Girls In Their Summer Clothes...
It has been a beautiful sunny day in the Twin Cities this afternoon and it definately feels like summer is close by. Today, reminded me of this Springsteen song and something about the lightness and freshness in it...summer days that are meant for making "poetic memories" with friends "that are as good as spring itself" -days like today make it seem possible. Hmmmmm...
Divine Milieu...Bruce Springsteen - Waitin' On A Sunny Day...
For Catherine, Mary and Trinity...
"...everything will be o.k...."
"...everything will be o.k...."
The Path...A Convergence of Thought and Circumstances Condensed in The Moments of Life...
“There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.”
– Morpheus, The Matrix
"Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls."
-Yahweh
“Know Thyself” – The Oracle at Delphi
In Greek it is, “γνῶθι σεαυτόν” and in Latin, “nosce te ipsum” - in The Matrix movie it is in Latin in this form on a plaque over the Oracle’s door,” temet nosce” or “thine own self thou must know” or simply again as “know thyself.”
"And the second is like it:'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
-Jesus
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
– Robert Frost
– Morpheus, The Matrix
"Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls."
-Yahweh
“Know Thyself” – The Oracle at Delphi
In Greek it is, “γνῶθι σεαυτόν” and in Latin, “nosce te ipsum” - in The Matrix movie it is in Latin in this form on a plaque over the Oracle’s door,” temet nosce” or “thine own self thou must know” or simply again as “know thyself.”
"And the second is like it:'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
-Jesus
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
– Robert Frost
The Matrix..."Knowing The Path And Walking The Path...
"You are surrounded with people telling you what you need to hear."
-Peter Jankowski, PhD. (and part time Oracle)
Thought and Grace From Poetry....
"When despair for the world grows in me ... I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free."
- Wendell Berry, from his poem "The Peace of Wild Things"
- Wendell Berry, from his poem "The Peace of Wild Things"
More Thoughts...
“People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself.”
– Ernest Hemingway
“Build time in your day to be with people who you cherish and who cherish you.”
– D. Gergen
“What’s lost is nothing to what’s found, and all the death that ever was, set next to life, would scarcely fill a cup.”
– Frederick Buechner
“If we are not careful, we can become the sum total of all the expectations others impose on our lives.”
– Erwin Mcmanus
Thoughts from Lyrics...
Commenting on the song When All Is Said And Done, Anni-Frid Lyngstad wrote, "All my sadness was captured in that song."
"There's no hurry any more when all is said and done,
Standing calmly at the crossroads,no desire to run,
There's no hurry any more when all is said and done..."
- Björn Ulvaeus
"You're dangerous, 'cos you're honest.
You're dangerous, you don't know what you want.
Well you left my heart empty as a vacant lot
For any spirit to haunt..."
-Bono
"There's no hurry any more when all is said and done,
Standing calmly at the crossroads,no desire to run,
There's no hurry any more when all is said and done..."
- Björn Ulvaeus
"You're dangerous, 'cos you're honest.
You're dangerous, you don't know what you want.
Well you left my heart empty as a vacant lot
For any spirit to haunt..."
-Bono
Perhaps Grace Is Like This...Making Peace With God...
“God, make a fresh start in me,
Shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life,
Don’t throw me out with the trash,
Or fail to breathe holiness in me.
Bring me back from exile,
Put a fresh wind in my sails!
Give me a job teaching rebels your ways,
So the lost can find their way home.”
- David (Psalm 51:10-13 - The Message Translation)
Monday, April 12, 2010
Amber and the "Second Space"
“In terms of the world’s sanity, Jesus is crazy as a coot, and anybody who thinks he (or she) can follow him without being a little crazy too is laboring less under a cross than under a delusion.”
~Frederick Buechner
Yesterday, while we were to be singing at “church” I leaned over to my daughter Amber and shared with her (while she, the drummer was tapping incessantly the beat of the songs as she can’t help doing now) what Erwin McManus shard last Thursday at Bethel University during his talk with all of us there about his daughter. Erwin spoke of his daughter’s musical giftedness and yet in spite of that she never quite was able to fit in at “church” or be selected for musical activities in that arena.
Erwin’s daughter then moved into the “second space” - of the world, the unfamiliar realm outside of the comfort and familiarity of the “church” – outside of a place where we spend much of our time “blinding each other with our lights” and in the process become increasingly irrelevant to the kingdom and the gospel. As a result of Erwin’s daughter moving into the “second space” with her strength and giftedness she is now performing in all the major clubs in Los Angeles.
Amber really related to this story. I could tell that the, “meaning, story and beauty” of it was not lost on her imagination. Amber said to me, “that is how you have more influence…” and she profoundly understood the relevance of all this. There is much more to be gained by demonstrating your giftedness and talent in the world, the “second space” than in the confines of where we are familiar and are constrained by the limitations we ourselves or others place on our lives.
I put my arm around Amber and told her that “you get it” – you get what probably 90% of the people in “church” on a Sunday morning have no conception of. I told her that “church” on Sunday morning is “nice” and “safe” but she grasped intuitively at seventeen what is real and alive, even if it may seem “crazy or risky” at times. The living a life without fear or doubt is full with meaning and is what is beautiful like her inside and out.
Talking with Amber for what seemed like a very short time, a few fleeting moments of life that is forever “slipping through my fingers” was the most profound thing that could be experienced on this Sunday morning. God is full of surprises and is good in ways and at time when you least expect it.
Part 1: Two Thoughts...Trying To Convince Myself Of Something...
I have two seemingly juxtaposing thoughts in my mind. One, the thought of moments of time, the moments in which we create the “poetic memories” that Milan Kundara wrote about in The Unbearable Lightness of Being and the people that comprise those memories who are “as good as spring itself” as Hemingway wrote of in A Moveable Feast. Two songs by Abba capture or in some way get at this thought: The Name of The Game and When All Is Said And Done. Not sure why I am thinking of Abba so much lately other than they were a huge part of the soundtrack of my life when I was younger. Perhaps there are some indelible marks left on my soul by their music and lyrics?
The second thought being the idea of the fear or doubts that limit these moments and memories and relationships with special people. Much of the truth of it is in what Erwin McManus wrote, “Sometimes the limitations you are willing to accept establish the boundaries of your existence.” We create the limitations and in doing so we are defining our existence, our life, our being. We either allow “poetic memories” or we don’t, we either allow people and circumstances to define us or we don’t. Are we (am I) free, really free or are we (am I) a slave, a slave to people and circumstances that “…kill, steal, and destroy…” the freedom to be truly human, to be and to experience life “wide awake” and without limitation? To be…to be…. is a struggle, a fight and a moment by moment choice to remain present in the present. Two videos from the Matrix: Revolutions I believe get at this when Neo is battling Smith for the last time and Smith incessantly questions Neo as to why he keeps fighting (against the Agents), why he keeps getting up when he is knocked down and Neo answers, “…because I choose to…” – is that not the “why” for us ultimately?
Whether it is love or hate, joy or pain, life or death – all questions and most acutely the “why” of everything has to be answered in a choice that we make. It is the essence of the existential yearning, to be…to be and be free to choose why and then how and it is when we are free to choose and are willing to choose that we are the most vulnerable and the most alive at the same moment because we are no longer afraid. In a sense we have died to our fears and doubts and it is in those moments we are the most dangerous and the most alive.
Divine Milieu...The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony....
Well, I've never prayed,
But tonight I'm on my knees, yeah
I need to hear some sounds that recognize the pain in me, yeah
I let the melody shine, let it cleanse my mind , I feel free now
But the airwaves are clean and there's nobody singing to me now
No change, I can't change, I can't change, I can't change,
but I'm here in my mold , I am here with my mold
And I'm a million different people from one day to the next
I can't change my mold, no, no, no, no, no
Well have you ever been down?
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Divine Milieu...Bruce Springsteen - Life Itself...
"...in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace."
~ Frederick Buechner
"Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
And life itself, rushing over me
Life itself, the wind in black elms,
Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you..."
Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
And life itself, rushing over me
Life itself, the wind in black elms,
Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you..."
~ Bruce Springsteen
Divine Milieu...Lou Reed - Perfect Day...
Was at the breakwall in Two Harbors with Amber last night and we were talking and she played Lou Reed, "Perfect Day" and I had forgot how much I liked this song. It brought to mind some of the "Perfect Days" that have been just right, or full of grace and peace and poetic memories. Time and space shared with friends that are, "...as good as spring itself..." - last night was that way with Amber.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Divine Milieu....ABBA - Slipping Through My Fingers...
ABBA is brilliant, their lyrics and music can be and is the soundtrack to most of our lives...
"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens..."
-The Teacher
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Thought...
"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best day and night to make you everybody else, means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting."
-E.E. Cummings
-E.E. Cummings
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Divine Milieu For Erato...Muse - Starlight...
"My life
You electrify my life
Let's conspire to ignite
All the souls that would die just to feel alive
I'll never let you go
If you promise not to fade away
Never fade away
Our hopes and expectations
Black holes and revelations
Our hopes and expectations
Black holes and revelations..."
Trinity and The Trinity...Some Thoughts...Inspired By A Muse...Erato…
"Thank you for loving me
For being my eyes
When I couldn't see
For parting my lips
When I couldn't breathe
Thank you for loving me
You pick me up when I fall down
You ring the bell before they count me out
If I was drowning you would part the sea
And risk your own life to rescue me..."
-Jon Bon Jovi
The bible is a love story! Plain and simple it is about love and passion and affection. Brennan Manning wrote, “To open yourself to another person, to stop lying about your loneliness and your fears, to be honest about your affections, and to tell others how much they mean to you – this openness is the triumph of the child over the Pharisee and a sign of the dynamic presence of the Holy Spirit….To ignore, repress, or dismiss our feelings is to fail to listen to the stirrings of the Spirit within our emotional life. Jesus listened.”
Look at this from the Song of Songs, “I slept but my heart was awake. Listen! My beloved is knocking: "Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night" (Song of Songs 5:2).
This is why the love between Trinity and Neo is so appealing and why the music and lyrics of Bon Jovi move our hearts to think of those we love or have loved or want to love. It is how we are hard wired, how our hearts move if we allow them to, if we are free and unafraid. The story of Trinity and Neo is the story of each of us and The Trinity; we are the beloved, the pursued, the ones who above all else desire the intimacy and closeness that only the Trinity can fulfill. We have glimpses of it in our lives when we love and we are loved. When we are not limited by fear or constrained in our freedom to speak the truth to those most dear and cherished in our lives. Yet, we are stalked by the Agents just as Neo and Trinity are: our past, our failures, our successes, our pain, our suffering, our fear, our anxiety, the voices that condemn, haunt, shame us and come to us to “…kill, steal and destroy…” what our hearts are to be, abundantly alive.
This is where I believe the love of The Trinity and the love of others in our lives unite and is what enables us to move when we feel as though we are dying. If not for someone that comes along and manifests love to us, just as Trinity does for Neo we will never believe in what we are, we will fear without a hand to touch us in the darkness, to hear a voice whisper, “I love you…your very special…nothing you do or say will push me away from you…” and it is in these rare but profound moments of being truly human do we know what the love of The Trinity is. In these moments we are kissed back to life by The Trinity and our hearts swell with what it means to be truly desired and loved. This is precisely what Jesus experienced when baptized by John, the pivotal union of human and divine love and complete affirmation of the worth of Jesus and each of us. John loved Jesus and Jesus is vulnerable and free to be baptized by him and at that moment he hears, “You are my son, whom I love, in whom I am well pleased” The same words we hear when we experience love and the same thing Mary Magdelaine experienced at the feet of Jesus wet with her tears and at the foot of the cross wet with the blood of Jesus and at the empty tomb on a desolate Sunday morning wet with the freshness of new life.
Maybe the Beatles were right, “…love is all we need…” – we are too frightened by it so we flee rather than opening our arms to embrace it. To love well is to risk a lot, if not everything. To open our hearts is a dangerous thing, we have been hurt to many times and our hearts fear the hurt again. To risk is to love and to love is to risk or as Dickens put it, “…to love and lost is better than to have never loved at all…” – we all have to decide this on our own, in the dark night of our souls. We have to be broken before the light can shine through our cracks. "Thank-you for loving me..."
Trinity...Back To The Start...
Come up to meet you, tell you I'm sorry
You don't know how lovely you are
I had to find you
Tell you I need you
Tell you I've set you apart
Tell me your secrets
And ask me your questions
Oh, let's go back to the start
Running in circles
Coming up tails
Heads on the science apart
Nobody said it was easy
It's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard
Oh take me back to the start
I was just guessing
At numbers and figures
Pulling the puzzles apart
Questions of science
Science and progress
Do not speak as loud as my heart
Oh tell me you love me
Come back and haunt me
Oh and I rush to the start
Running in circles
Chasing our tails
Coming back as we are
Nobody said it was easy
Oh, it's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be so hard
I’m going back to the start
Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris....If This Is Goodbye...
"Your bright shining sun
Would light up the way before me
You were the one
Made me feel I could fly
And I love you
Whatever is waiting for me
If this is good bye
If this is good bye....
My famous last words
Could never tell the story
Spinning unheard
In the dark of the sky
But I love you
And this is our glory
If this is good bye
If this is good bye..."
The Doors...The End...
"This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I'll never look into your eyes...again
Can you picture what will be
So limitless and free
Desperately in need...of some...stranger's hand
In a...desperate land..."
The Blame...Into the Wilderness...
"But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD to be used for making atonement by sending it into the wilderness as a scapegoat."
-Leviticus 16:10
-Leviticus 16:10
Pink Floyd...Hey You...
"Hey you, out there on your own
Sitting naked by the phone
Would you touch me?
Hey you, with you ear against the wall
Waiting for someone to call out
Would you touch me?
Hey you, would you help me to carry the stone?
Open your heart, I'm coming home.
But it was only fantasy.
The wall was too high,
As you can see.
No matter how he tried,
He could not break free.
And the worms ate into his brain."
Queen...Bohemian Rhapsody...
"Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see
I'm just a poor boy (Poor boy)
I need no sympathy
Because I'm easy come, easy go
Little high, little low
Any way the wind blows
Doesn't really matter to me, to me..."
Monday, April 5, 2010
Trinity...William Blake and The Matrix...
“Worship the Trinity, which I call the only true devotion and saving doctrine”.
–Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 43, 405.
To Be Embraced By (the) Trinity Is Grace Itself...
"Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance."
"At the still point of the turning world.
Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.
I can only say, there we have been: but I cannot say where.
And I cannot say, how long, for that is to place it in time.
The inner freedom from the practical desire,
The release from action and suffering, release from the inner
And the outer compulsion, yet surrounded
By a grace of sense, a white light still and moving,
Erhebung without motion, concentration
Without elimination, both a new world
And the old made explicit, understood
In the completion of its partial ecstasy,
The resolution of its partial horror.
Yet the enchainment of past and future
Woven in the weakness of the changing body,
Protects mankind from heaven and damnation
Which flesh cannot endure.
Time past and time future
Allow but a little consciousness.
To be conscious is not to be in time
But only in time can the moment in the rose-garden,
The moment in the arbour where the rain beat,
The moment in the draughty church at smokefall
Be remembered; involved with past and future.
Only through time time is conquered."
-T.S. Eliot, East Norton
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance."
"At the still point of the turning world.
Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.
I can only say, there we have been: but I cannot say where.
And I cannot say, how long, for that is to place it in time.
The inner freedom from the practical desire,
The release from action and suffering, release from the inner
And the outer compulsion, yet surrounded
By a grace of sense, a white light still and moving,
Erhebung without motion, concentration
Without elimination, both a new world
And the old made explicit, understood
In the completion of its partial ecstasy,
The resolution of its partial horror.
Yet the enchainment of past and future
Woven in the weakness of the changing body,
Protects mankind from heaven and damnation
Which flesh cannot endure.
Time past and time future
Allow but a little consciousness.
To be conscious is not to be in time
But only in time can the moment in the rose-garden,
The moment in the arbour where the rain beat,
The moment in the draughty church at smokefall
Be remembered; involved with past and future.
Only through time time is conquered."
-T.S. Eliot, East Norton
Mary..."All In All Is All We Are..." - K.C.
"Want you to know you are very special to me - across all the time and space the memories of you are lodged in my heart."
Thought..."Deep Calls To Deep..."
"You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me."
-Jonah 2:3
Perhaps Grace Is Like This....
"What can men do against such wreckless hate..."
Ride out...and let grace come like the breaking of the sun over the horizon with new hope and strength...
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