The Way of Love

The way of love is not some subtle argument

The doorway leads into devastation.

Birds make great sky-circles out of their freedom.

How do they learn to do that?

They fall, and in falling they’re given wings.

—Rumi

Psalm 8

The Song of Mortal Beings

1. O God, the beauty of your name fills all the earth,

so even from the lips of little ones, the innocent,

the suckling babes, your praise shall rise to overflow the heavens.

2. From there, the center of your household strong,

your enemies are stilled

and our avenger bound in chains and gone.

3.So when I lift my eyes to see you there,

I see the height of heaven itself,

a book of beauty your fingers wrote.

I see through veils of stars and space,

the canopy of sun and moon you set in place.

4. Then who are we to stand before all this and see?

Do you see us, and do you care?

5. Yes, we are mortal beings

set in this world,

below the splendor of transcendent space. 

6. You placed us here, vice-regents of your realm,

and gave the earth into our care.

7. You bid us cherish all this that’s ours,

all beasts and creatures of the wild.

8. The birds of air, the fish of sea, the plants,

and everything that lives and moves

are we to know and love.

9. We sing this song of praise to you;

your name beyond all this we know.

We sing first here so we can learn

to care at all.

Divine Abyss

Divine Abyss

The divine mystery is a deep abyss,
of which the present moment is only the entrance.

Plunge into this abyss,
and you will find it infinitely more vast
than all your desires.

— from Jean Pierre de Caussade

Drown in love

Drown in love, and you will taste eternity.

Drink the strangeness of this wine,

for love’s intoxication

is the path to true sobriety.

—Ayn al-Qudat Hamadani

Psalm 4

The Answering Voice

1. O defender of my cause, I call to you.

Release me from this vice-grip hold life has on me,

have compassion and answer me, I pray.

2. A voice responds, “O mortal ones,

how long will you defame what’s sacred and all that’s good, 

by loving what is worthless and seeking after lies?”

3. I now know this, that it is surely God who answers me.

It is God who astounds the merciful, the chosen ones, the wise.

4. So stand in awe and wonder before this God of yours,

put far from you every evil, every lie.

Commune with God deep within your hearts,

and then in silence wait and listen well

at night upon your beds.

5. Offer God in sacrifice whatever is required of you,

placing all your confidence in God’s care.

6. For there are many who only long for better times,

whose only prayer to God is to ask and ask for more.

7. But you have placed within my heart deep gratitude.

I know more joy than when wine and oil flow.

And when I lie down at night

I fall asleep in your deep peace,

for you keep me in the safe circle of your care.

Begging for Sight

Begging for Sight

All worlds are aglow with the light of the Friend,

But you, O Beloved One,

you hide in this world

like the soul in a body.

With yearning we wait,

begging for a glimpse of you,

a glimpse of the beauty of your Oneness.

So come, O Friend, tear these veils

from the sunlight of your face.

— Shah Abu ‘Ali Qalandar

The Gospel of Thomas: Logion 5

Yeshua says,

Come to know the One

in the presence before you,

and everything hidden

from you will be revealed.

For there is nothing concealed

that will not be revealed,

and nothing buried that will not be raised.

Miracle of the face

Over hundreds of aeons, creation’s fabric unfolded

until the beauty of your own face blazed forth in this world.

From the top of your head to the tip of your toes,

everything about you belongs to God.

Miraculously, formed and unfolded,

you have been molded out of one great divine Desire.

—Khaqani Shirvani

Psalm 3

Enemies All Around

1. I lift my eyes and see a hoard arrayed against me.

More in number than I care to count are my many foes.

2. Their unrelenting voices whisper constantly,

“Nothing now can help you, your imaginary God is gone, and you’re alone!”

3. But you, O God, have been for me a shielding presence.

Your beauty has always lifted up my heart and soul.

4. When I cry aloud in fear and pain,

you answer me.

5. I can fall asleep both day or night

and awaken in your care.

6. Fearlessly I rise to meet ten thousand enemies,

for you are here,

and who are these to stand against you, God?

7. And as you rise to stand with me,

strike wickedness its first-blow,

break the teeth of evil from its leering face.

8. For it is you who gains for us the victory.

It is you who blesses us, who blesses all.

The window of divine being

One and Many

The Sun’s shining essence is just one—always one,

but its rays spread out in every direction becoming many.

Each created thing is a separate colored piece
in the window of divine being

catching the light of the rays of its sun.

The essence is one, but its attributes are many.

—Ibn Muhammad Hadi Rida Quli Hidayat

The Gospel of Thomas: Logion 3

Yeshua says,

If your spiritual guides say to you,

“Look, the Divine Realm is in the sky,”

well then the birds will get there ahead of you.

If they say, “It is in the sea,” then the fish

will precede you.

No, Divine Reality exists inside and all around you.

Only when you have come to know your true Self

will you be fully known—

realizing at last that you are a child of the Living One.

If however you never come to know who you truly are,

you are a poverty-stricken being,

and it is your “self”which lies impoverished.

Psalm 2

Struggle on the World’s Stage

1 Why this raging, deafening roar of many nations,

this rising voice of the multitudes?

2. Why do the rulers of the earth conspire together,

and in utter folly plot against the Lord?

3. Why do they say to God’s anointed,

“Let us break God’s grip upon us,

let us strip away these sacred chains.”

4. God, you laugh from your throne in heaven,

you laugh in mirth, seeing all.

5. But then you speak to them in fury,

and terrify them in your wrath.

6. You say, “I myself have set a king among you.

I have placed him there on a holy mountain tall.”

7. But who is this anointed one you speak of?

God says, “You are a child of mine, this day I birth you.”

8. Ask of me and I shall give you all.

The many nations shall be your own possession,

9. You shall rule in strength and with an iron scepter.

You shall break rebellion like a shattered jar.

10. So listen well, you rulers of the peoples,

be wise, pay heed to what you hear.

11. Learn service to the God of earth and heaven,

in humility and awe draw close, come near.

12. Instead of fury, anger, fear and wrath,

know blessedness,

learn to trust and live as a refugee in God.

The Face of the Friend

The Face of the Friend

If you dwell with the Friend in intimacy,

Then, in the whole world you will see the Face of the incomparable God.

Since the whole world is the living mirror of Divine Reality,

It is impossible to see anything other than God.

—- Sa’d al-Din Hamawi

Psalm 1

Life’s Journey

1. Blessed, O blessed, I say

are those who walk upon a path

whose steps are firmly planted on your eternal law,

For in that word they find their joy, their meditation day and night,

and do not wander far to take the counsels of the worldly wise.

2. These “wise-of-word” speak guile,

their scorn of you is made from prideful seats above the masses far below.

3. But the blessed ones grow strong as living trees,

their roots sink deep and hidden
beside the flowing streams which come from you.

And through life’s passing seasons
they do not cease to bear a plenitude of fruit,

nor do they fade from giving shade of leaf that covers all with good.

4. While on the other path there is no shade or water near,

and all life withers quickly in the winds

that blow across the grass.

5. So when the sad results of wickedness give witness to their lives

they fall away and have no place

in your eternal circle of the wise.

6. You guard and guide the path that leads to life

and those who walk in right-relationship to all.

But those who choose the other path?

Their steps lead surely into doom.

Divine Deer

Divine Deer

You are a shy divine deer
and I cannot cease tracking you.
Only once of late
have I got close enough to see,
and what I saw was my own face and heart
reflected in your wondrous, soft,
luminous eyes.
And I thought, Beloved, that I had You
cornered there at last.
But what I felt
was the sublime beauty of your divine being
as you slipped away again
brushing against my hand.
—Hafez

The Gospel of Thomas: Logion 1

I who write this am Thomas, the Double, the Twin.
Yeshua, the Living Master spoke,
and his secret sayings I have written down.

I assure you, whoever grasps their meaning
will not know the taste of death.

The Gospel of Thomas: Logion 2

Yeshua says...

If you are searching, you must not stop until you find.
When you find, however, you will become troubled.
Your confusion will give way to wonder.
In wonder you will reign over all things.
Your sovereignty will be your rest.