Book of Mercy #11-15

[lazariuk]

And ond last thing before i leave for awhile. The curious thing that everyone who takes the drug ahayuasca seems to see the same cat. Recently it was observed among the Inuit that people who had never even seen a picture of a cat still see that cat when using ahayuasca.

[lizzytysh]

RE: Jack/cat/ahayuasca ~ Amazing.


~ Lizzy

[tomsakic]

Just to keep it on top;-) I have splitted the original thread in foru pieces. We cane lave this one when it grows to big, and introduce next psalm in fifth thread.

[lizzytysh]

Hi Doron ~

I saw you here earlier and waited to see if something would appear here. It didn't and you left. I've returned later now, and seeing nothing new, I'm hoping you'll be returning to this thread soon.


~ Lizzy

[DBCohen]

Thanks, Lizzy, I’ve been following but not posting recently, and I also wish to thank Tom for his work in rearranging this thread. I wanted to comment on the recent valuable contributions by Joe, Mat and Simon, but somehow I got carried away with other pressing matters and lost touch a little. In fact, I still can’t go into the deep and serious discussion required in responding to all the good staff above. However, on rereading I.11 once again, an idea had occurred to me, which I thought I’d share briefly.

Faces of women appeared, and they explained themselves to him, connecting feature to character, beauty to kindness. Various families came to him and showed him all the chairs he might sit in. ‘How can I say this gently?’ he said. ‘Though I love your company, your instructions are wasted here. I will always chose the woman who carries me off. I will always sit with the family of loneliness.’

The narrator here answers two different proposals in his last quote: one by the women, and one by the “various families” (which may have to do with the “nations” of I.10). Someone had suggested above that the families were offering their daughters, but if we read carefully we see that they are offering him something else, “chairs”, which may indeed be places around the family table, but may also be positions in the outside world, such as a “chair” in academy, or in parliament, and so on. Also the word “instructions” which he uses in his answer is intriguing; it brings to mind religious instructions, so the various families may also be various religions, who try to get him interested in joining them. They may, in fact, be after his sole (and we’ve already reflected on the feminine identity of the soul, or the spiritual identity of the female, and the mixture of the two here and elsewhere). In his answer he declares his loyalty to the “family of loneliness” (which is an amazing oxymoron: isn’t the idea of family the very opposite of loneliness? But we all know of lonesome families). Would it be too narrow to identify this family with the Jewish people? And after his visitors depart, he keeps first in hiding, and then his slow progress towards the “tabernacle of peace”, which earlier I associated with the Jewish prayer. Well, that’s just a thought, and as before, I offer this as one possible interpretation, which does not exclude other valid ones.

[mat james]

DB says,

"Someone had suggested above that the families were offering their daughters, but if we read carefully we see that they are offering him something else, “chairs”, which may indeed be places around the family table, but may also be positions in the outside world, such as a “chair” in academy, or in parliament, and so on."

This interpretation of chairs makes sense DB. Following this "seat of authority" notion; to "faculty", and its various meanings:
• a branch of science or knowledge
• mental power (having one's wits about them)
• will and reason are often discussed by religious writers and defined as spiritual faculties, as I remember.

"Various families came to him and showed him all the chairs he might sit in. ‘How can I say this gently?’ he said. ‘Though I love your company, your instructions are wasted here. I will always chose the woman who carries me off. I will always sit with the family of loneliness.’"

Various families: various schools of thought/ideas/concepts, probably about "the divine" intrigue and entertain his mind. He recognises that he could peruse/pursue any or all of these further and perhaps become master (chair) of some;
but it is not his inclination to do so!

‘How can I say this gently?’

Though he loves their company, though he loves the world of ideas, they do not ultimately "satisfy" his longings. His soul (the woman who carries him off)journeys now to god and the spiritual marriage, and the development of this relationship; Leonard via soul to god.He is now in love with his journey and his destination.
The family of loneliness, the flight of the lone soul to the lone God is a journey that is taken perhaps by meditating (sometimes called prayer) through the gap between thoughts (Sogyal Rinpoche, Tibetan Book of Living and Dying), by "stilling the mind" till thinking has ceased.
If thinking has ceased, then the faculties (chair/thoughts/ideas, reason and eventually even "will" etc) must have ceased operations. This is the common thread of all the Mystic paths. Thinking must stop.

So, in summary, while Leonard loves the beauty of culture (rituals and ideas), he prefers to still the mind, enter that stillness, on the wings of his soul, and fly to his God (

carries me off

).

There is a crack, a crack in everything, even thoughts, and that is how the intuition, light, gets in.

Matj

[DBCohen]

That’s great, Mat, and it’s nice how one thought leads to another. Your mystical interpretation seems very appropriate here. Of course, there is always the danger of projecting too much of the reader’s own mind into the text (and I’m sure it happens to me sometimes), but on the other hand, a text that yields itself to different interpretations is so very useful, because it allows us not only to find ourselves (our needs, our hopes) in it, but also exposes us to different ideas than ours, and challenges us to respond to them.

By the way, I can’t figure out the image in your avatar, which looks like a sculpture from an Indian temple, but I can’t make it out clearly.

[mat james]

Of course, there is always the danger of projecting too much of the reader’s own mind into the text

DB Cohen

Yes, DB. I have a bit of a laugh at myself every now and then, at my tunnel vision!
And you are right, the text does lead to a range of possible interpretations, and this is what adds immensely to our fascination.

Tha Avatar is of an erotic couple (stone carving) on an Indian temple (DB is correct again!). It was carved along with many others, but I particularly like this one. They are both naked, he is holding her around the waist and she has her legs dangling up over his arms. Her arms are held up in the air and she has a bunched up pony-tail formed like a bun. The Indians are quite creative!
She seems to be having a lovely time, in the arms of her man.

Eroticism, I assume, is close to godliness in the Indian mind. It reminded me also of Leonard's mind; of the theme of much of Leonard's poetry/songs and therefore I felt it was appropriate to use it on this forum as my Avatar.
Like all things spiritual, one needs to look long and hard to see the little mystery!!!
I'm glad you asked DB as I wondered who wondered.!!!

I love it!
Does any-one else ?

The lovely Apsaras on the carving seems to

Matj

[DBCohen]

Mat,

Yes, it looked familiar, only I didn’t identify the position. Years ago I visited the amazing temples of Khajuraho, where the sculptures offer an encyclopedia of every imaginable position, possible or impossible. One of the many wonders of India, religious and profane, or both.

[mat james]

Things are a bit quiet around here since Jack L. became enlightened

I wonder if he is chasing that cat, or just a pussy

Signed; naughty Matj

[lizzytysh]

Mat ~

You do have a streak of that dirty little boy mentality, that shows in tidbits of your humour from time to time, don't you? Well, we all have a shadow self. Is this one yours? Better to have that emerge than to whack people with axes... not that the two could compare . It's still always a tad startling to see your name and then a ditty like this .

Since Jack's retreat was a silent one, though, his vow may be retroactive, as well... so maybe he'll answer and maybe he won't. Now, If this exchange carries this thread forward, I don't know in what direction ... I'm guessing it may still be stalled .

D-a-a-a-a-a-d-d-y D-o-o-o-o-r-o-n..... Mat's making dirty jokes... .


~ Lizzy
Honorary Member, WADD*

* Women Against Dirty Ditties [we seem to have a thing for acronyms over here... just had to add it in, once it came to me ~ might never get another chance ]

Maybe Simon will sign in soon.

[DBCohen]

Moi? Daddy?? You’ve got to be kidding. And anyhow, who am I to cast a stone. Yes, but before we really get too childish, we’d better get back to business. And with several regulars gone AWOL, isn't it time for some new blood? I do wish more people will join us. We'll welcome everyone back, of course.

As usual, we haven’t really exhausted the discussion of the last prayer, but it feels like the right time to move on to the next one. Let's give it one more day, though.

[lizzytysh]

I know the Daddy was a stretch [and the alliteration, who could resist ], but had to go with the little girly-girl if I was going to wail . The rest, well... my stone at Mat is equivalent to a belt with a rubber bat . However, we did get you here, didn't we ? So, now, maybe it really will move forward... old blood, new blood, so long as it's good and not spilt blood .

As far as projecting oneself into/onto Leonard's work, even with Book of Mercy ~ it seems to me that this is really a very personal work of his, yet like all of his others, Leonard wrote it with the circumspection of knowing others would be reading it and intentionally leaving cracks for their light to get in... hence, like the Bible, the Tanakh/Torah, the Koran, the Talmud, and other great works [even if not at that magnitude, of course], it would stand the test of time, for people to draw inspiration for their own lives. Leonard is considerate that way . Still, this discussion is so important to me, personally, because I know nothing of the content of Leonard's origins as a Jew. Reading this book from that perspective helps me to learn of that realm as a whole, as well as about Leonard in that context.

Looking forward to more on this verse or tomorrow's... whichever comes first.


~ Lizzy

[mat james]

Lizzy said,

You do have a streak of that dirty little boy mentality

And I thought that:

"unless you come to me as a little child
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven"

(the big "J")

was a valuable piece of advice?
and I still do.

Yes, it would be good to hear from others.
They may not wish to talk about Leonard's sources of inspiration or cultural interpretations: ...But it would be good to hear about what the verses.psalms "mean to them".
I would like to hear some "gut" responses of where this book "takes" people.
What tangents do they go off on and where do they end up?

noapologiesandnoregretsMatj

[lizzytysh]

Looking forward to the next verse... looks like it may be tomorrow .




~ Lizzy