Essence of this Joy

" But you who are so happy here, tell me:

do you aspire to a more profound

insight, or a greater ecstasy ?"

She smiled a little, as did the shades beside her

then answered with such gladness that her whole

being seemed to glow with love's first fire:

"Brother , God's generosity itself

calms our will, and makes us want no more

than what we have, and long for nothing else.

If we desired any greater bliss,

we would not be in harmony with Him

whose love assigns us to a lower place.

The essence of this joy is that we all

have given up our personal desires

so that our will is merged with Gods own will.

Therefore our rank in heaven, from height to height,

is just as dear to each particular soul

as to the Master who appointed it.

In His will is our peace: it is the sea

into which all currents and all streams

empty themselves, for all eternity," Dante

They Way You Can Get

I Know The Way You Can Get

I know the way you can get

When you have not had a drink of Love:

Your face hardens,

Your sweet muscles cramp.

Children become concerned

About a strange look that appears in your eyes

Which even begins to worry your own mirror

And nose.

Squirrels and birds sense your sadness

And call an important conference in a tall tree.

They decide which secret code to chant

To help your mind and soul.

Even angels fear that brand of madness

That arrays itself against the world

And throws sharp stones and spears into

The innocent

And into one's self.

O I know the way you can get

If you have not been drinking Love:

You might rip apart

Every sentence your friends and teachers say,

Looking for hidden clauses.

You might weigh every word on a scale

Like a dead fish.

You might pull out a ruler to measure

From every angle in your darkness

The beautiful dimensions of a heart you once

Trusted.

I know the way you can get

If you have not had a drink from Love's

Hands.

That is why all the Great Ones speak of

The vital need

To keep remembering God,

So you will come to know and see Him

As being so Playful

And Wanting,

Just Wanting to help.

That is why Hafiz says:

Bring your cup near me.

For all I care about

Is quenching your thirst for freedom!

All a Sane man can ever care about

Is giving Love! 

Only in Doing

"Only in our doing can we grasp you.

Only with our hands can we illumine you.

The mind is but a visitor:

It thinks us out of our world.

Each mind fabricates itself.

We sense its limits, for we have made them.

And just when we would flee them, you come

and make of yourself an offering.

I don't want to think a place for you.

Speak to me from everywhere.

Your gospel can be comprehended

without looking for its source.

When I go toward you

it is with my whole life."

~ Rainer Maria Rilke

On Freedom

"From this hour, freedom!
From this hour I ordain myself loos’d of limits and imaginary lines,
Going where I list, my own master, total and absolute,	55
Listening to others, and considering well what they say,
Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating,
Gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the holds that would hold me.	"

Walt Whitman, From the Open Road

"Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage." Emerson

"No bird soars too high, if he soars on his own wings. "-- William Blake