1st draft: mindful choreography and meditative practice

Mourning Dove (building nest in tree outside window)

1. Window

Unseeing God, a new way of being body

at table Thursday making bread

and wine, every “this" into body of God. 

Then, next day,  giving body up, a seeing so stark

revealing God could be everywhere. A new way 

to sin — unwillingness to see God throughout

2. Good

In sabbath liturgy one is invited to bow reverencing 

wooden cross. Later, gassho receiving bread.

Homily is Buddhist. There is suffering in life. Why? 

I don't know. Still, God, beyond all knowing,

joins the suffering. Do we metaphor God

as accompanying response by another to suffering?

A way through, now, until it is finished? At end, reading 

says “Now — it is finished!” Jesus, now, seeing us through. 

And finished?  He does not say: “Now I am dead!”

If now is finished, what remains? Smoky incense dimness, 

night prayer, bare wooden cross standing before 

bare stripped altar. Watching; remains

3. Holy

Without fear, old monk

toddles to single candle

in center abbey sanctuary

darkness — 

extinguishing

finishing emptiness

...   ...   ...

...   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...

...   ...   ...

Accompanying letter:

Hello, 

The writer is a mendicant hermit living in Camden, Maine. He spends a lot of time as volunteer in prison, nursing home, hospice house, hospital. He teaches philosophy in college, meditates in chapel/zendo, and walks Ragged Mountain across from Bald Mountain. For him poetry is where Raimon Panikkar's cosmotheandric inter-religious dialogue best reveals itself. 

While on retreat at Trappist monastery during Holy Week 2018 I watched the mindful choreography of contemplative monks inside and the back and forth meditative practice of Mourning Dove in tree outside my room. 

These liturgies brought me to the question of seeing, inside/outside, and the unknowing transcending of what we call death by attentive compassionate embodied engagement with each and all we encounter. 

The question, "Where am I in this?" is not yet answered. 

Coraggio,
 Bill Halpin

without fear

Old monk

toddles to

single candle

in center

abbey sanctuary

darkness --

extinguishing

(Original email:)
I really just want to enjoy my morning, mid-day, and afternoon coffees without being reminded of my mortality.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/30/business/coffee-cancer-warning.html

.....

(First response:)
Of course, California! Next thing they’ll be telling us that uranium isotopes dipped in hot chocolate are not good for us.

.....

(Then, next day:)

Jon,

I meant no disrespect.

After all, you were conceived in California; Santa Cruz, to be exact; thereby a native conceived-in-California child in the barely post-sixties afterglow of a cultural disruption so deep and profound that it has been erased from the consciousness of everyone but Jerry Brown, Richard Alpert, your mother and myself.

There is no therapist for you who could disentangle the residual swirl of contradictory and paradoxical genetic asymmetry that swirls through your DNA and bloodstream.

You’ll have to quench that thirst for answers by resorting to the common elixir —  a steaming cup of coffee. 

I write this after walking past a half dozen people in silence, cold wind, and Passover moon — all of whom were going in the opposite direction (Including Saskia) who told me that they were returning from vigil night office I was bucking the current toward — held at 3:30am, not 4:30am as I thought, and had been last night. 

And that’s that! I uttered the only prayer that has been a mainstay my entire life, saying, “I want my mother!”

So, therefore, nothing I say could help you. 

You are relegated to an apophatic nescience undergirded by satori suffused silence. As, too, I.

With love, this Holy Saturday,

Dad

Here is One-
Another Itself
             
meetingbrook
      hermitage
               בס”ד 

something strange is happening

From an ancient homily on Holy Saturday
(PG 43, 439, 451, 462-463)

The Lord descends into hell

Something strange is happening — there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and Hell trembles with fear. He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, He who is both God and the Son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the Cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone, ‘My Lord be with you all.’ Christ answered him: ‘And with your spirit.’ He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: ‘Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.’

I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in Hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I in you; together we form one person and cannot be separated.

For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the Jews in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden.

See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.
I slept on the Cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in Paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in Hell. The sword that pierced Me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.


Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly Paradise. I will not restore you to that Paradise, but will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The Bridal Chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The Kingdom of Heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity. 

careful reading

Excerpt:  The Gospel According to Jesus, by Stephen Mitchell, 1991

For me, then, Jesus’ words are authentic when scholarship indicates that they probably or possibly originated from him and when at the same time they speak with the voice that I hear in the essential sayings. This may seem like circular reasoning. But it isn’t reasoning at all; it is a mode of listening. 

No careful reader of the Gospels can fail to be struck by the difference between the largeheartedness of such passages and the bitter, badgering tone of some of the passages added by the early church. It is not only the polemical element in the Gospels, the belief in devils, the flashy miracles, and the resurrection itself that readers like Jefferson, Tolstoy, and Gandhi have felt are unworthy of Jesus, but most of all, the direct antitheses to the authentic teaching that were put into “Jesus'” mouth, doctrines and attitudes so offensive that they “have caused good men to reject the whole in disgust.” Jesus teaches us, in his sayings and by his actions, not to judge (in the sense of not to condemn), but to keep our hearts open to all people; the later “Jesus” is the archetypal judge, who will float down terribly on the clouds for the world’s final rewards and condemnations.
Jesus cautions against anger and teaches the love of enemies; “Jesus” calls his enemies “children of the Devil” and attacks them with the utmost vituperation and contempt. Jesus talks of God as a loving father, even to the wicked; “Jesus” preaches a god who will cast the disobedient into everlasting flames. Jesus includes all people when he calls God “your Father in heaven”; “Jesus” says “my Father in heaven.” Jesus teaches that all those who make peace, and all those who love their enemies, are sons of God; “Jesus” refers to himself as “the Son of God.” Jesus isn’t interested in defining who he is (except for one passing reference to himself as a prophet); “Jesus” talks on and on about himself. Jesus teaches God’s absolute forgiveness; “Jesus” utters the horrifying statement that “whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness but is guilty of an eternal sin.” The epitome of this narrowhearted, sectarian consciousness is a saying which a second-century Christian scribe put into the mouth of the resurrected Savior at the end of Mark: “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever doesn’t believe will be damned.” No wonder Jefferson said, with barely contained indignation,

Among the sayings and discourses imputed to him by his biographers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of the most lovely benevolence; and others again of so much ignorance, so much absurdity, so much untruth, charlatanism, and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such contradictions should have proceeded from the same being. (To William Short, April 13, 1820)

(--pp.8-9, The Gospel According to Jesus, by Stephen Mitchell, 1991) https://stephenmitchellbooks.com/non-fiction/the-gospel-according-to-jesus/

watching remains

In Good Friday liturgy one is invited to bow reverencing the wooden cross. Later to bow and receive bread.

The homily is Buddhist. There is suffering in life. Why? I don't know. But the God that is beyond all comprehension joins the suffering.

In the metaphor of 'kingdom' of God, perhaps it means that an accompanying response by another to suffering is a way through, now, until it is finished.

The end of the Passion reading is "Now it is finished!"

Jesus is the now. And finished? What of that?

He does not say: Now I am dead!

If the now is finished, what remains?

In smoky incense dimness at night prayer a bare wooden cross stands before a bare stripped altar.

Watching

Remains

unseeing God

A new way of being body

Holy Thursday

He made bread

and wine, and every "this"

into the body of God



Then, next day, he gave

away his body

so that God could be

everywhere



Is this a new way of

seeing sin

the unwillingness to

see God everywhere?

coraggio

it’s what

is nee

ds when

is

nee

ded

to become

itself

panecastic

These four principles are thought-provoking. Here from Wikipedia about Joseph Jacotot:

His emancipatory or panecastic (French: panécastique "everything in each" from Greek πᾶν and ἕκαστον) method was not only adopted in several institutions in Belgium, but also met with some approval in France, England, Germany, and Russia. It was based on four principles:

1. 1. all men have equal intelligence;
   2. every man has received from God the faculty of being able to instruct himself;
   3. we can teach what we don't know;
   4. everything is in everything.^[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Jacotot

The most interesting and challenging set of principles about education, for me, comes from the book The Ignorant Schoolmaster, by Jacques Ranciere. One excerpt is:

The duty of Joseph Jacotot’s disciples is thus sim­ ple. They must announce to everyone, in all places and all  cir­cumstances, the news, the practice: one can teach what one doesn’t know. A poor and ignorant father can thus begin edu­cating his children: something must be learned and all the rest related to it, on this principle: everyone is of equal intelligence. (p.111, http://abahlali.org/files/Ranciere.pdf)

Then, this:

Jacotot/Rancière argued that people were perfectly capable of learning for themselves without the intervention of the usual skilled pedagogy consisting of systematic explication.  Indeed, they learned even if pedagogues themselves knew nothing about the subject. There was a fundamental equality of intelligence among human beings of whatever station. In addition, knowledge could be developed in any direction by a process of linking the new to what was known already.  Both claims contrast strongly with those of conventional models which involve skilled and sequential (‘progressive’ in that sense) explication. Explication produces permanent hierarchical relations between teacher and taught, because the ignorant can never catch up and bridge the gap between themselves and their teachers.

( On Jacotot and the Ignorant Schoolmaster, by Dave Harris

http://www.arasite.org/RanandJac.html 

do I know you

Reading Stephen Mitchell's The Gospel According to Jesus, A NEW TRANSLATION AND GUIDE TO HIS ESSENTIAL TEACHING FOR BELIEVERS AND UNBELIEVERS, HARPERCOLLINS 1991

This from the Introduction:

For me, then, Jesus’ words are authentic when scholarship indicates that they probably or possibly originated from him and when at the same time they speak with the voice that I hear in the essential sayings. This may seem like circular reasoning. But it isn’t reasoning at all; it is a mode of listening.

No careful reader of the Gospels can fail to be struck by the difference between the largeheartedness of such passages and the bitter, badgering tone of some of the passages added by the early church. It is not only the polemical element in the Gospels, the belief in devils, the flashy miracles, and the resurrection itself that readers like Jefferson, Tolstoy, and Gandhi have felt are unworthy of Jesus, but most of all, the direct antitheses to the authentic teaching that were put into “Jesus'” mouth, doctrines and attitudes so offensive that they “have caused good men to reject the whole in disgust.” Jesus teaches us, in his sayings and by his actions, not to judge (in the sense of not to condemn), but to keep our hearts open to all people; the later “Jesus” is the archetypal judge, who will float down terribly on the clouds for the world’s final rewards and condemnations.

Jesus cautions against anger and teaches the love of enemies; “Jesus” calls his enemies “children of the Devil” and attacks them with the utmost vituperation and contempt. Jesus talks of God as a loving father, even to the wicked; “Jesus” preaches a god who will cast the disobedient into everlasting flames. Jesus includes all people when he calls God “your Father in heaven”; “Jesus” says “my Father in heaven.” Jesus teaches that all those who make peace, and all those who love their enemies, are sons of God; “Jesus” refers to himself as “the Son of God.” Jesus isn’t interested in defining who he is (except for one passing reference to himself as a prophet); “Jesus” talks on and on about himself. Jesus teaches God’s absolute forgiveness; “Jesus” utters the horrifying statement that “whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness but is guilty of an eternal sin.” The epitome of this narrowhearted, sectarian consciousness is a saying which a second-century Christian scribe put into the mouth of the resurrected Savior at the end of Mark: “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever doesn’t believe will be damned.” No wonder Jefferson said, with barely contained indignation,

Among the sayings and discourses imputed to him by his biographers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of the most lovely benevolence; and others again of so much ignorance, so much absurdity, so much untruth, charlatanism, and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such contradictions should have proceeded from the same being. (To William Short, April 13, 1820)

the-gospel-according-to-jesus 

 Reading can be so helpful.

besiyata dishmaya — with the help of heaven

[In response to: What’s more dangerous than a dictatorship of relativism? A dictatorship of positivism. 
By  Matt Malone, S.J.3/23/18] America Magazine

https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2018/03/23/whats-more-dangerous-dictatorship-relativism-dictatorship-positivism#comment-97828

. . .

I’d have thought real dictatorship held no error is possible if we’d hold only one view of what is right. The scholarly Joseph Ratzinger and the ex cathedra Pope Benedict should have tea with Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau the national leader and Mr. Justin Trudeau the thinker of thoughts deliberatively difficult to absolutize — and discuss the merits of their views ad infinitum, relating relativity and relationality, a colloquy of experiential realism based on actual lived existence in the everyday world of biological and psychological uncertainty longing for a clarity hard-won by means of compassionate conversation and kindly consideration of aporia in human decision making and the tragic facticity of nescience that is part and parcel of minds and hearts attempting to see life through to God and nascent ever-present originity consequent to each and every good-faith choice made with fear and trembling surrounding the unknown with compass in hand seeking true north, love, and a way to move through this moment into an eternity of grace arising from earth under our feet — oh — if only we could grasp what incarnation actually means, if only the narrative of resurrection did not entail death, if only Jesus were to be seen in his hiding place within each and all, if only the incomparable HaShem (Besiyata Dishmaya* — with the help of heaven) would sound Itself beautifully as the unfolding Yes manifesting each coming-into-appearance as the Very Presence, the realization of Being Becoming This, if only Christ-reality instantiated our contemplation!

...

*(Aramaic: בסיעתא דשמיא)

Besiyata Dishmaya (Aramaic: בסיעתא דשמיא) is an Aramaic phrase, meaning "with the help of Heaven". The acronym BS"D(Mostly written in Hebrew: בס"ד) has become a popular term among Orthodox Jews, reproduced at the top of every written document (beginnings of correspondences, letters, notes, etc.) as a reminder to them that all comes from God, including the following content, and to contextualize what is really important in the text, that without God's help, nothing can be done successfully. BS"D is not derived from any religious law of the Halakha, but it is considered an old accepted tradition.  (Wikipedia)