6 May - (Earth) Liber LXV, 1:62
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62. O Lord God! let the haven be cast down by the fury of the storm! Let the foam of the grape tincture my soul with Thy light!
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62. O Lord God! let the haven be cast down by the fury of the storm! Let the foam of the grape tincture my soul with Thy light!
Analysis: The Adept craves more than even the happy haven. In his frenzy, he calls the storm to consume even that illusion(?) for whatever rapture could be next - to have his own soul colored with the light of Adonai.
Reflection: "More! More! More!" - in the orgasmic throws of spiritual ecstacy and longing for union.
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The shipmaster trembles at this... but another part says "throw me overboard"
The last few days the verses seem filled with layers and layers of allusions. One of them is the story of Jonah. Jonah is running away from his true will, but a storm threatens the ship he is fleeing on, and he realizes the futility of his striving, and allows himself to be thrown overboard...
Here are the lyrics to a song about Jonah, called "The Dove":
Black sailors’ eyes, frightened by the rain
Searching, not for truth, but a means to end the pain
Bronzed sailors’ arms, darkened by the night
Reaching, not for love, but a rope to end my flightI was just passing through,
hoping that you
would not notice me
A dove, flying through the fogPierce my coward foot, for I’m not fit to stand
Deliver me into my destroyer’s hand
When the raging storm, returns to tranquil sea
You will know the cause of your suffering was meIf I should fall through,
Don’t let your own abyss
envelop me
A dove, falling from on high -
@Jim Eshelman said
"62. O Lord God! let the haven be cast down by the fury of the storm! Let the foam of the grape tincture my soul with Thy light!"
The "haven" for the Ruach was actually... the K&C of the HGA! Even this, Supernal consciousness implores, is to be blown away. Every impression raw, unfiltered, full... it reads to me entirely like Neshamah calling even the illuminated Ruach to cross the Abyss, so that the froth of the ecstasy of the kisses Adonai and V.V.V.V.V. have been sharing permanently "stains" the lower aspects of mind (Nephesh and Ruach).
"Cast down," in this case, doesn't seem to mean "delivered neatly to a lower level." It seems to mean "blown away."
As a meditation (a new experiencing), one can walk back through the layers after establishing oneself firmly in Ruach. I'm not sure I can write about it, though (especially sitting here in my office in my place of employment).
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62. O Lord God! let the haven be cast down by the fury of the storm!
"Hold! Hold! Bear up in thy rapture; fall not in swoon of the excellent kisses!"
— The Book of the Law 2:67
I can feel it but I can't describe it very well—sweep away the happy haven, even this little island of sanity and safety.
V.V.V.V.V. is sacrificing beauty for the sublime!
Descriptions by people who experienced trench warfare in the first world war often invoke the word: sublime. In reading this passage I understand the difference between beauty and the sublime. Beauty preserves a polite aesthetic distance no matter how sweet or poignant. The sublime destroys the distance; it utterly overwhelms the witnessing faculty. A necessary component of the sublime is terror.
Let the foam of the grape tincture my soul with Thy light!
"...We are one; we are none."
— The Book of the Law 2:66
I am thrown back onto the image of the grape, full and ripe, falling into the mouth...
Experience trumps wisdom and understanding! There can only be this kind of apocalyptic seal to describe these experiences. After all, it's just pixels on my computer screen forming letters, which in turn form words—common words, if taken individually...Love and Will
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In contemplating this passage I have entered association land. I am reduced to saying things like: it's like <your associations here>.
It's like Captain Ahab from Melville's Moby Dick.
The gesture is one of complete and utter abandonment of good sense. Staring at the full Tree of Life illustration I wonder what I have often wondered: does the serpent of wisdom actually touch the path of the Fool—the type of divine madness? What awkward fun to realize that I have used this part of the tree for my avatar knowing I was, I am fascinated by this notion.
This is the end of wisdom.
Love and Will