keeping things whole

 

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When the soul leaves the body, it is no longer under the burden 
and control of space and time. The soul is free; 
distance and separation hinder it no more.  

The dead are our nearest neighbors; they are all around us. 
Meister Eckhart was once asked, Where does the soul of a person go
when the person dies? He said, no place. Where else would the soul be going?
Where else is the eternal world? It can be nowhere other than here. 

We have falsely spatialized the eternal world. We have driven the eternal 
out into some kind of distant galaxy. Yet the eternal world 
does not seem to be a place but rather a different state of being.  

The soul of the person goes no place because there is no place else to go. 
This suggests that the dead are here with us, in the air that we are
moving through all the time.  

The only difference between us and the dead
is that they are now in an invisible form. You cannot see them 
with the human eye. But you can sense the presence of those you love
who have died. With the refinement of your soul, 
you can sense them. You feel that they are near.


—John O'Donohue
from Anam Cara

. . .

 

In a field
I am the absence
of field.

This is
always the case.

Wherever I am
I am what is missing.

When I walk
I part the air
and always
the air moves in
to fill the spaces
where my body's been.

We all have reasons
for moving.

I move
to keep things whole.


—Mark Strand

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From the beginning the flying birds have left no footprints on the blue sky 


—Miso Soseki
W.S. Merwin translation

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sisters and brothers

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In your clay body, things are coming to expression and to light
that were never known before, presences that never came to
light or shape in any other individual.  

To paraphrase Heidegger, who said, "Man is a shepherd of being,"  
we could say, "Man is a shepherd of clay."

You represent an unknown world that begs you to bring it to voice. 
Often the joy you feel does not belong to your individual biography
but to the clay out of which you are formed.

At other times, you will find sorrow moving through you,
like a dark mist over a landscape.  
This sorrow is dark enough to paralyze you. 

It is a mistake to interfere with this movement of feeling. 
It is more appropriate to recognize that this emotion belongs more
to your clay than to your mind.

It is wise to let this weather of feeling pass;
it is on its way elsewhere.

Regardless of how modern we seem, we still remain ancient,
sisters and brothers of the one clay.

In each of us a different part of the mystery becomes luminous.
To truly be and become yourself, 

you need the ancient radiance of others.


–John O'Donohue

(© John O'Donohue. All rights reserved.)

for more: johnodonohue.com

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Beannacht

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John O'Donohue
David Whyte
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beauty

 





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How can we ever know the difference we make to the soul of the earth? Where the infinite stillness of the earth meets the passion of the human eye, invisible depths strain towards the mirror of the name.

In the word, the earth breaks silence. It has waited a long time for the word. Concealed beneath familiarity and silence, the earth holds back and it never occurs to us to wonder how the earth sees us. Is it not possible that a place could have huge affection for those who dwell there?

Perhaps your place loves having you there. It misses you when you are away and in its secret way rejoices when you return. Could it be possible that a landscape might have a deep friendship with you? That it could sense your presence and feel the care you extend towards it? Perhaps your favorite place feels proud of you.

We tend to think of death as a return to clay, a victory for nature. But maybe it is the converse: that when you die, your native place will fill with sorrow. It will miss your voice, your breath and the bright waves of your thought, how you walked through the light and brought news of other places.

Perhaps each day our lives undertake unknown tasks on behalf of the silent mind and vast soul of nature. During its millions of years of presence perhaps it was also waiting for us, for our eyes and our words. Each of us is a secret envoi of the earth.


–John O'Donohue
Beauty: Rediscovering the True Source of Compassion, Serenity and Hope

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dean
inloveipersevere 
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