20 May - (Air) Liber LXV, 2:23-26
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23. The swan being silent, he answered: Then, if with no goal, why this eternal journey?
24. And I laid my head against the Head of the Swan, and laughed, saying: Is there not joy ineffable in this aimless winging? Is there not weariness and impatience for who would attain to some goal?
25. And the swan was ever silent. Ah! but we floated in the infinite Abyss. Joy! Joy!
White swan, bear thou ever me up between thy wings!
26. O silence! O rapture! O end of things visible and invisible! This is all mine, who am Not. -
Analysis:
"The swan being silent, he answered: Then, if with no goal, why this eternal journey?
"The Ruach asks "What's the point?"
"24. And I laid my head against the Head of the Swan, and laughed, saying: Is there not joy ineffable in this aimless winging? Is there not weariness and impatience for who would attain to some goal?
"The Neschamah responds: "We're doing it for the fun of doing it bro. Throw a goal in a mix and well, you'll get lost in reaching the goal and not doing the do."
"25. And the swan was ever silent. Ah! but we floated in the infinite Abyss. Joy! Joy!
White swan, bear thou ever me up between thy wings!- O silence! O rapture! O end of things visible and invisible! This is all mine, who am Not."
Hmmm....no words for this yet
Reflection:
For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect. -
23. The swan being silent, he answered: Then, if with no goal, why this eternal journey?
24. And I laid my head against the Head of the Swan, and laughed, saying: Is there not joy ineffable in this aimless winging? Is there not weariness and impatience for who would attain to some goal?
25. And the swan was ever silent. Ah! but we floated in the infinite Abyss. Joy! Joy!
White swan, bear thou ever me up between thy wings!
26. O silence! O rapture! O end of things visible and invisible! This is all mine, who am Not.The words are relative; and reading the above I am intensely aware, almost as a reaction to the words themselves, how this is just one way to describe the conundrum of mystical fulfillment and joy that never fades.
In this world here below, to attain something implies a brief moment of 'gotcha.' And then it's gone and we are left at a loss, wanting it again or wanting something more that promises the same intense moment of 'gotcha,' while never really able to realize that sense of fullness. It makes us crazy and we chase after one thing or another, over and over, like rats addicted to heroine.
The passage describes a state that most of us have only glimpsed at exceptional times, under exceptional influences. It's shadow is everything else—the same world of illusion and delusion analyzed by mystical Christianity and Buddhism as a call to action—learning how not to act out of the same old knee-jerk, grasping impulses of the drug addict.
Waking up to the world as it is now, here below, in addition to these brief flashes of something better, has a way of charging, like passing a magnet up and own the length of a piece of iron, the words of today's selection, drawing me out again for another effort.
First, educate the mind. Learn that the small objectives; the subservience to limited political objectives; the acquisition of small, discreet honors and achievements; the illusion of progress is vain.
I feel sick in my bones: impatient, weary. This is my devotion, that I feel this and simultaneously I am filled with a great energy and desire for release: the infinite Abyss. But first, being parched, I can only take small mouthfuls of water—small moments when the universe with all of its demonic machinery is destroyed.
Love and Will
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@Shadonis said
"Reflection:
For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect."I'll also throw in "For I am divided for love's sake, for the chance of union."
Why else would the Creator create? My first reaction is - to enjoy the creation. However, this would be a goal and thus would return "weariness and impatience". So then why?
@LIBER LXV said
"25. And the swan was ever silent."
I can just see the swan serenley laughing at me, chiding me, enticing me to join him/her/it. Impossible concentration!
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I think something was missed in the discussion. That is the role of the swan... Going with the idea that Jim gave of the swan being equal to the dove which is a semblance of the Holy Ghost, there is a semblance to this. There is also a semblance to the guardian angel
The swan is mentioned as silent twice. Is this a semblance of the number 11?
" Is there not joy ineffable in this aimless winging? Ah! but we floated in the infinite Abyss. Joy! Joy! "
The relationship to the endless winging and the joy of being in the abyss seems to shows that something was being attained
" White swan, bear thou ever me up between thy wings! "
Another reference to the spirit or the guardian angel" 26. O silence! O rapture! O end of things visible and invisible! This is all mine, who am Not. "
Three things that are equal are all mine because I am equal. In the end we are all silent (not).
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"24. And I laid my head against the Head of the Swan, and laughed,"
I love it. I love the use of laughter in this passage. It's like "what? haha goal? haha whispers to the swan he's talkin' bout goals bwahaha."
Zeroed,
I couldn't wrap my mind around the Swan. I thought it was a reference to Kether for some reason. But what you said here:"Going with the idea that Jim gave of the swan being equal to the dove which is a semblance of the Holy Ghost, there is a semblance to this."
and here
"26. O silence! O rapture! O end of things visible and invisible! This is all mine, who am Not.
Three things that are equal are all mine because I am equal. In the end we are all silent (not)."drove the points home
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Thanks Shadonis
Reading your post reminded me that 0 = 2. Then I looked down at my hands and imagined another part of me... Spirit.
I allowed (or imagined) the spirit to move slightly outside of me and reminded myself that we both = zero (2 = 0).
Then an electric pulse shot through me all at once as I was awed “Ah! but we floated in the infinite Abyss... Joy!... Joy!!!”
I am glad that I am following these meditations
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This particular pass through these meditations has been quite invigorating for the forum. I'm glad so many have decided to play and participate. This is pretty cool.
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I have to agree. There's something really powerful going on.