At 4:13am
In sudden grey light
They start singing
Ar 4:17am
They pause
Then again sing
These birds,
At matins
Monks praying
Dawn *
Thursday, May 28, 2026
Wednesday, May 27, 2026
surely the bodhisattva vows will help
Don’t be naive
Everyone is corrupt
Now, then, is there any
News that is not surprising
vertreibung *
Inside what word do you dwell
Which phrases give shelter
Sixty years ago yesterday
Martin Heidegger died
Yesterday in a driveway under
a tree someone pronounced
Him a wandering itinerant
Unsounding any front door
Tramping Eviction and
Expulsion *
Today I injudiciously offer
Him a seat in dooryard
Some tea facing mountain
Across road respiting der weg
Tuesday, May 26, 2026
according to then, o beginning -- (par-then-o-genesis)
Everything flowers unto itself.
Or, the zen proverb:
“A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms.” ―
There is much about mysticism that I don’t get. Still, there’s this:
Beginning in the 4th century, Mary was invoked with the title Hortus Conclusus (“Enclosed Garden”) in honor of her conception of Jesus through parthenogenesis (asexual reproduction). But the name makes more sense if we interpret it ecologically. This must be what the Friends of the Earth had in mind in 1972 when they wrote the following in the official report of the Stockholm Conference, the world’s first international conference to raise awareness about threats to the global ecology:
Life holds to one central truth—that all matter and energy needed for life moves in great closed circles from which nothing escapes and to which only the driving fire of the sun is added. Life devours itself: everything that eats is itself eaten; every chemical that is made by life can be broken down by life; all the sunlight that can be used is used. Of all that there is on Earth, nothing is taken away by life, and nothing is added by life—but nearly everything is used by life, used and reused in thousands of complex ways, moved through vast chains of plants and animals and back again to the beginning.
(--from, On Becoming a Flower, The Last Moment of Ecological Sanity in the Western World, by Clark Strand, 5/24/26)
Back again to the beginning.
Everything flowers unto itself.
Monday, May 25, 2026
housing being
Where do you dwell?
This question is not meant to elicit a town or street number in response, rather, more something like ’speak to me and I will discern by your words and emphasis where you dwell in the house of being.’
Amos Wilder wrioe: ’The language of a people is its fate.” (in The Language of the Gospel: Early Christian Rhetoric).
Martin Heidegger wrote that “Language is the house of being.” (in Letter on Humanism)
For many of us, increasingly, our fate is to be unhoused.
2. What is “language”?
In his earlier work, “language” names a totality of words or a totality of utterances - a systematic whole of signs that we can draw on in expressing ourselves linguistically (see GA36/37: 105ff). In his later work, by contrast, Heidegger uses “language” to refer to the background constitution of significance. In the later Heidegger, ‘language’ (‘Sprache’) replaces ‘discourse’ (‘Rede’) as Heidegger’s preferred translation of the Greek logos. But Heidegger (more or less) consistently understands logos in the Greek sense as a gathering of meaningful elements into a unified structure, a meaningful articulation of the world on the basis of which entities can be unconcealed and linguistic acts can be performed. This ‘language’ conditions the languages we speak, but it is not itself something linguistic. Thus, Wrathall for instance argues that the later Heidegger’s emphasis on language is, to a considerable degree, a terminological change, rather than a new substantive appreciation of the role played by ordinary language in disclosing the world (see Wrathall 2011: 130). Evidence for this can perhaps be seen in the fact that, as late as 1957, Heidegger still insisted that “discourse and discoursing … can never be determined by speaking and language” (GA79: 160).
In his later work on language, then, Heidegger consistently draws a distinction between, on the one hand, language in the ordinary or customary sense, and, on the other hand, what he calls “original language” or “the essence of language”:
What is language? …—Everyone knows that. To the question of what language is, there has long been a customary answer. Language is an expression of our inner experiences, ideas, opinions, wishes and statements in the form of sound and writing. And because it is such an expression, it serves to present what has been experienced, for communicating and understanding. This characterization of language, which even today, seen more or less clearly, underlies all thinking about it—this characterization is correct and yet it is deeply untrue because it only grasps of language that which is a consequence of its essence—but not the essence itself. (GA16: 329; emphasis supplied)
(--from, Heidegger on Language, in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
While walking at Snow Bowl, listening to words about Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna (1836-1886), I hear the reader talking about having the name of God in mind and on lips at the moment of death. This, he infers, is determinative of where one goes next.
But which name?
Which ‘Being’ wherein to dwell?
I just hope I’m not saying ‘Oh shit!’ when my time comes. Unless, of course, it's the third person singular of the Latin verb “scio” (scit) -- namely, 'he, she, or it, knows or understands’.
i’m listening
His name is Robert L. Arnold.
His words are good.
https://substack.com/@defiance13/note/c-264789130?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=82dn6
Sunday, May 24, 2026
let’s try again
Matutinum - Versus
24 May, 2026
Spiritus Domini replevit orbem terrarum, alleluia.
The Spirit of the Lord filleth the world. Alleluia.
Et hoc quod continet omnia, scientiam habet vocis, alleluia
And That Which containeth all things hath knowledge
of the voice. Alleluia.
https://app.neumz.com/listen/matutinum-spiritus-domini-replevit-tonus-communis/24-05-2026
is the “spirit" a full uncompromised but incomprehensible grasp of some truth/mystery beyond us
Then, there’s AI:
Understanding Christ's Two Natures (Hypostatic Union)
──────┴────ONE PERSON: JESUS │──────────────┐
▼ ▼ DIVINE NATURE HUMAN NATURE (Fully God) (Fully Man) • Eternal, omnipotent • Born, wept, bled, died •
└───────────────┬───────────────┘ │
▼ DIVINE NATURE (Fully God) Eternal, omnipotent , • Creator of the universe
▼ HUMAN NATURE (Fully Man) • • Born, wept, bled, died • Shared our physical limits
│ Bound by the Four Chalcedonian Pillars: Without Confusion | Without Change │Without Division | Without Separation
The Four Chalcedonian Pillars
- Without Confusion: The two natures do not blend together to create a third, hybrid nature (which would make Jesus a demi-god).
- Without Change: The divine nature did not alter or lose its divinity when becoming flesh, and the human nature was not swallowed up by the divine.
- Without Division: Jesus cannot be split into two separate people (one who does the miracles and one who suffers).
- Without Separation: The union is permanent; Jesus did not temporarily "borrow" a human body and discard it afterward. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Why This Doctrine Matters to Christianity
The theological reason for defending both natures simultaneously centers entirely on the Christian concept of salvation:
- Why He had to be human: To pay the penalty for human sin, the savior had to be part of the human race. He had to be capable of actual physical suffering, temptation, and death.
Why He had to be divine: A mere human could not bear the infinite weight of humanity's sin, nor conquer death. Only God possessed the power to offer an infinite sacrifice and rise from the dead. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
semper hi errant corde / these always err in heart.
Sometimes, words are merely the words they are.
On days like today I listen to them.
Invitatorium, Matutinum, Pentecost, 24May2026
Alleluia, Spiritus Domini replevit orbem terrarum:
The Spirit of the Lord filleth the world:
Venite adoremus, alleluia.
O come, let us worship Him. Alleluia.
Alleluia, Spiritus Domini replevit orbem terrarum:
The Spirit of the Lord filleth the world:
Venite adoremus, alleluia.
O come, let us worship Him. Alleluia.
(Ps. 94) Veníte, exsultémus Dómino,
(Ps. 94) Come let us praise the Lord with joy:
jubilémus Deo, salutári nostro.
let us joyfully sing to God our saviour.
Præoccupémus fáciem ejus
Let us come before his presence
in confessióne,
in confessióne,
et in psalmis jubilémus ei.
and make a joyful noise to him with psalms.
Alleluia, Spiritus Domini replevit orbem terrarum:
The Spirit of the Lord filleth the world:
Venite adoremus, alleluia.
O come, let us worship Him. Alleluia.
Quóniam Deus magnus Dóminus,
For the Lord is a great God,
et rex magnus super omnes deos.
and a great King above all gods.
Quóniam non repéllet Dóminus plebem suam,
For the Lord will not cast off his people:
quia in manu ejus sunt omnes fines terræ,
for in his hand are all the ends of the earth,
et altitúdines móntium ipse cónspicit.
and the heights of the mountains are his.
Venite adoremus, alleluia.
O come, let us worship Him. Alleluia.
Quóniam ipsíus est mare,
For the sea is his,
et ipse fecit illud,
and he made it:
et áridam fundavérunt manus ejus.
and his hands formed the dry land.
Veníte, adorémus, et procidámus ante Deum,
Come let us adore and fall down:
plorémus coram Dómino, qui fecit nos,
and weep before the Lord that made us:
quia ipse est Dóminus, Deus noster,
For he is the Lord our God:
nos autem pópulus ejus,
and we are the people of his pasture
et oves páscuæ ejus.
and the sheep of his hand.
Alleluia, Spiritus Domini replevit orbem terrarum:
The Spirit of the Lord filleth the world:
Venite adoremus, alleluia.
O come, let us worship Him. Alleluia.
Hódie, si vocem ejus audiéritis:
Today if you shall hear his voice,
«Nolíte obduráre corda vestra,
harden not your hearts:
sicut in exacerbatióne secúndum diem tentatiónis in desérto:
As in the provocation, according to the day of temptation in the wilderness:
ubi tentavérunt me patres vestri:
where your fathers tempted me,
probavérunt et vidérunt ópera mea.
they proved me, and saw my works.
Venite adoremus, alleluia.
O come, let us worship Him. Alleluia.
Quadragínta annis próximus fui generatióni huic, et dixi:
Forty years long was I offended with that generation, and I said:
Semper hi errant corde.
These always err in heart.
Ipsi vero non cognovérunt vias meas:
And these men have not known my ways:
quibus jurávi in ira mea:
so I swore in my wrath
Si introíbunt in réquiem meam.»
that they shall not enter into my rest.
Alleluia, Spiritus Domini replevit orbem terrarum:
The Spirit of the Lord filleth the world:
Venite adoremus, alleluia.
O come, let us worship Him. Alleluia.
Glória Patri, et Fílio,
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
et Spirítui Sancto.
and to the Holy Spirit.
Sicut erat in princípio, et nunc, et semper,
As it was in the beginning, is now,
et in sǽcula sæculórum. Amen.
and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Venite adoremus, alleluia.
O come, let us worship Him. Alleluia.
Alleluia, Spiritus Domini replevit orbem terrarum:
The Spirit of the Lord filleth the world:
Venite adoremus, alleluia.
O come, let us worship Him. Alleluia.
https://app.neumz.com/listen/matutinum-alleluia-spiritus-domini-replevit/24-05-2026
I barely know how to read. I barely know how to pray.
Words about God often do not satisfy, bordering on incomprehensible, bordering on the writer’s fondest wish. They wash over history on their way somewhere else.
Today, if I hear the word of God, I don’t want my heart to be hardened.
Can I forgive God his expression? Can I forgive the psalmist his enthusiasm?
Niether.
Today I simply listen. Neither as believer nor as cynic. I merely listen.
Thereby and therein an unexplainable act of faith.
It is, they say, Pentecost!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)