5 May - (Earth) Liber LXV, 1:59-61
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59. Stained is the purple of thy mouth, O brilliant one, with the white glory of the lips of Adonai.
60. The foam of the grape is like the storm upon the sea; the ships tremble and shudder; the shipmaster is afraid.
61. That is thy drunkenness, O holy one, and the winds whirl away the soul of the scribe into the happy haven. -
59. Stained is the purple of thy mouth, O brilliant one, with the white glory of the lips of Adonai.
60. The foam of the grape is like the storm upon the sea; the ships tremble and shudder; the shipmaster is afraid.
61. That is thy drunkenness, O holy one, and the winds whirl away the soul of the scribe into the happy haven.This reads much more like a metaphor than yesterday's passages. It's even hard to see today's text in terms of a literal exposition—what sea, the Adriatic?
Still, line 59 is confusing is so far as I am trying to figure out if the speaker is describing one mouth or two: a purple mouth that is also the white lips of Adonai; or a purple mouth that is stained by another mouth which is identified as Adonai because of its white lips. Grammatically it feels like the second, but then I am wondering who or what is the brilliant one, and/or who is now describing the event—the scribe? But I worry too much, so lets just assume there are two, and the primary image is a kiss!
This is right, because all anxieties disappear when we treat the words as poetry. The problems I encounter by making various, most obvious, associations, by QBL or logic, with casual words are just not trustworthy tools to 'decode' the inner meaning, if there is one. By contrast, poetry can continue to deepen for any individual indefinitely, so there is no set method or inner meaning, objective and absolute.
Death is like Snow, or in the faux-certitude of poetry: One must have a mind of winter...
So the resolution described in today's text is like a storm where the shipmaster—an alternative term for the Captain—is desperately afraid because the violence of the storm is untempered, by anything! The storm is the drunken revel of Yod partying with Heh.
For me, the words touch on a very deep desire, one I have rarely dared to act on in my life—the desire to be totally at the mercy of forces infinitely larger than myself—I can only liken it to what it must feel like when you are abducted and made to feel your life or death is the whim of a sadistic tormentor. A dark fantasy, but the alternative is the more frightening possibility, in my opinion. This is where you manage to always be in control of your ship, always. So the absolute, the other reality that is the cosmos or the truth at the center of your being never invades, never whirls you away.
Maybe literal life, the one that is political, social, and involves things like actual famine and war is only there to provide us with metaphors for the only reality that really matters—the one that belongs to us in our solitude—for the chance that this solitude will be destroyed one day.
Love and Will
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@RobertAllen said
"Still, line 59 is confusing is so far as I am trying to figure out if the speaker is describing one mouth or two: a purple mouth that is also the white lips of Adonai; or a purple mouth that is stained by another mouth which is identified as Adonai because of its white lips."
FWIW I take this line as Adonai speaking to V.V.V.V.V. whom He has just kissed. V.V.V.V.V. is the "brilliant one" and the "holy one." The kiss they have just shared even catches up the soul of the Ruach.
"For me, the words touch on a very deep desire, one I have rarely dared to act on in my life—the desire to be totally at the mercy of forces infinitely larger than myself"
That's awesome!
"I can only liken it to what it must feel like when you are abducted and made to feel your life or death is the whim of a sadistic tormentor. A dark fantasy, but the alternative is the more frightening possibility, in my opinion. This is where you manage to always be in control of your ship, always. So the absolute, the other reality that is the cosmos or the truth at the center of your being never invades, never whirls you away."
There's a third p.o.v., but it involves no longer identifying with the Ruach or rational mind. It's the p.o.v. of the Master in witnessing the phenomena of the life of the aspirant. These "storms" (or whatever) end up appearing like the reflections on the surface of a soap bubble - which is quite different, and far more frightening, when you're riding the bubble yourself and convinced that you're dependent on the bubble's persistence!
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59. Stained is the purple of thy mouth, O brilliant one, with the white glory of the lips of Adonai.
60. The foam of the grape is like the storm upon the sea; the ships tremble and shudder; the shipmaster is afraid.
61. That is thy drunkenness, O holy one, and the winds whirl away the soul of the scribe into the happy haven.Analysis: The Adepts lips are depicted as stained with the kiss of Adonai. The white glory of the "lips" could refer to Peh (mouth) and the declarations of Adonai proceeding through the Adept's mouth. If taken this way, then the import could be that the Adept was afraid to speak the words that would cause the Blasted Tower experience in others – perhaps within himself. But in yielding to the love of Adonai, the experience could be seen as a "word" and a "grape" and a "kiss" of Adonai – a consuming love that destroys illusions.
Reflection: It makes me think of a blessing that first causes destruction before the true intent can be seen. When you can’t see the blessing working behind it, it appears terrible only.
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"As I read this today, I am reminded that I recall somewhere that the word Liber actually has origins in a deity that was absorbed into Bacchus."
As I read this the idea of ecstatic liber-ation entered my mind
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59. Stained is the purple of thy mouth, O brilliant one, with the white glory of the lips of Adonai.
60. The foam of the grape is like the storm upon the sea; the ships tremble and shudder; the shipmaster is afraid.
61. That is thy drunkenness, O holy one, and the winds whirl away the soul of the scribe into the happy haven.I too was confused by the character references in verse 59, but I agree with Jim that the "brilliant one" seems to be V.V.V.V.V.
My first thoughts regarding verse 60 are that the shipmaster is the ego, and the ships are the thoughts, emotions, etc. of the Ruach. (I remember Jim mentioning that the Hebrew word ANY literally means "a fleet of ships," which he likened to the Ruach.) The glory of this "grape," then, and the ecstasy it brings the Neshamah, will probably appear as a huge upheaval to the Ruach. (This jives well with the little experience I have.)
I found these verses easier to penetrate in a different sense than previous verses - this meditation felt more like Bhakti to me than any of the others that I have done, which felt like feeble attempts at Gnana. That's probably just persistence, although I do feel like this verse set touches on something my subconscious realizes.
93, 93/93.
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When I read this I created a picture or a mini movie of the adept drinking the grape juice which created the purple mouth and his mouth is stained white by Adonai.
I then saw a picture of the adept crushing grapes with his feet in a vat and upon seeing the foam from the crushed grapes he is reminded of many tumultuous periods that he has had in his life.
Since the words “ship master” and “master of his own ship” are interchangeable it would seem that he has had some points in his life that he was afraid.
In 61, drunkenness has a relationship to the whirling of good memories and bad memories. In the end the soul of the scribe or the happiness which has got him to this point takes him to happy haven.
Happy haven sounds like it is a personal area that the adapt may have created to help him in times when he is in fear or depression, but I am not too sure of this point of view.