return to the garden

(all photos by Makropoulos)

At the moment when the infamous residents

of the original Garden Eden

ate the apple, something happened:

the human brain began so quickly to grow, so

much so it began to rival

God's

.

And not knowing this new power they so quickly had in hand,

they panicked.

If they had not panicked so

A + E may have discovered,
far too early,
 the distinctive 

pleasure of mind, the intense

satisfaction one can gain

from imagining worlds.

Ultimately, they, both woman and man,

might have gotten lost

in their own individual revery.

Like two fools in front of a TV,

they would have climbed inside themselves

-- godlike, indeed, one and only --

and that would have been the end

of the human race,

before it even began.

But that was not the plan.

God had intended all along for woman

and man

to make manifest the many dimensions of Him/

Her/

(Whatever pronoun we must deploy

to speak of God.)

But if so early in the game

the human players got distracted,

it would be the end.

Amen.

So God, in Her infinite wisdom,

put an end to that:

He decided that humans, 

more than any other species,

would have the distinct ability

to take intense pleasure in the act

of coupling, and presto!

it worked. 

Man and wife produced

legions, and with that too came

                         jealousy

                         pride

                         leachory

                               treachory

                             and 

                         falsehood =

all the products of minds misused

and bodies abused, in the 

lusty quest for self stimulation.

But meanwhile we have reproduced

indeed, and invented History

(written by the few, not always the wise;

the wise, in solitude, advanced technology).

And here we are now 

at the crest of infinity.

In our spare time,

we have created a facsimile 

of God=Expansive Mind,

but in our limitations

and morbid manipulations

we cannot see

that God is with us

and in us

right now.

O man, listen to birdsong.

O woman, cease your labors.

The earth pulses with life;

we are her masters.

It is our responsibility to care for her

as it is our appointed duty.

In the word huma, hu represents spirit, and the word mah in Arabic means water.

In English the word "human" explains two facts which are characteristic of humanity:

hu means God and man means mind, which comes from the Sanskrit mana, mind being the ordinary person.

The two words united represent the idea of the God-conscious person; in other words, hu, God, is in all things and being, but it is man by whom He is known.  "Human" therefore may be said to mean God-conscious, God realized, or God-man.    from: The Music of Life, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Dvinity and the Diva in You

aspireauctions

Divinity is the 

                                  imperfection of God;

but it is still the

                              perfection of man.

(Hazrat Inayat Khan The Unity of Religious Ideals, page 119)

Divinity, according to Hazrat Inayat Khan,

is "God personified"

Divinity is the physical manifestaion

of the divine idea

held within the mind

of every man and woman.

"Divinity is reduced God and enlarged man."

Divinity in this equation is

the intersection point,

the intermediary, 

between God and humanity.

Divinity is of God but it is not God.

layoutsparks

God is total

unutterable

all,

inconceivable

in words,

capable of conceiving us,

but we

are not capable of conceiving g-d.

The Divine is our route,

it is the nearest we can get

to conceiving the unknown and unknowable

g-d.

The Divine

is God Captive

in the Realm of Humans;

it is the seed planted and engendered there,

by the spark within each of us,

and when we open

our hearts

our mouths

our wombs

to produce our understanding of the 

divine,

we produce

divinity.

In reality, divinity is

the expansion of the human soul;

divinity is human nature

in God. . . . (Inayat Khan, p. 116)

umich/limitedforkatlas

Thus, there are as many deities as there are

perceptions of the divine.

And that is why

we should not,

we must not

chastise another,

              if her

              or his

divinity looks different from our own.

We are all responding to the same compulsion

to represent something sacred,

we who seek the divine are all listening

to the diva inside of us.

ourscience

Each human carries the seed

of divinity within --

Some religious authorities have tried to recognize the divinity

of Christ while ignoring the divinity of humanity.  They

have tried to make Christ different from what

may be called human; but by doing so they have not been able to keep

the flame alight, for they have covered the main truth that religion

had to give to the world, which was that divinity resides in humanity,

that divinity is the outcome of humanity, and that

humanity is the flower in the heart of which

divinity was born as a seed.

 (Inayat Khan p. 118)

-- I fear these words as much as I see the absolute sense in them.

I know some people may read them and immediately

leave this blog and never return.

That's the risk I take

when I write these nutty entries.

And yet, I write these words here, these words that indicate both

the absolute humanness of Jesus

(who was also divine)

and the potential divinity

of each human.

And it is true.

When Jesus said that the only way to salvation 

is through him,

he didn't mean to deify him,

he meant to work

through him,

through the metaphor he offers

in the script he provided.

It is important to note

right now

that Jesus never wrote down words.

He acted.

His script was one of deed;

it shows us how we all should

act and do if we intend

to embody the divine that dwells

in each of us.

Do not worship Jesus,

worship is a passive act.

Rather,

if you find his story to be a story

that fits your perception of divinity,

well, then,

imitate him,

walk in his shoes,

for the argument Jesus poses

is the most convincing argument

for the end of violence.

Notably,

(and I've said this a few times already)

in our current world

people who do take Jesus' words and actions

literally and live then literally

suffer one of two fates:

* we kill those people, perceiving them to be dangerous

* we chastise and alienate those people, condemning them as ignorant.

The time has come

it is now

to stop killing and chastising

the lovers of peace and truth;

the time has come

to join them.

I am not lying.

I never lie.

We have had our second chances.

The time is now.

My charge is clear; my message, simple:

if we could all just stop this bullshit

and find the divine within ourselves,

and embody that divine, then

without a doubt,

Jesus would come

Jesus would be here.

In that sense, one may call man

a miniature God, and 

it is the development of humanity

which culminates in divinity; thus

Christ is the example of the culmination of humanity

(Inayat-Khan, p. 119)

bobtowery

the diva in divine; the divine in diva

~ ~It is very pretentious, I know,
to call one's self
a diva~~

Beyonce calls herself one:

Now, I'm not going to say
that Beyonce is not
a diva,
in fact I do think she is,
but I want to contemplate,
briefly
the way the meaning of this word has changed.

A hustler, of course, is a cheater,
or a pimp
or a prostitute,
someone whose primary motivation
is money and sex.

But is that truly all

a diva is?


Now, diva is a word
that for a long time
has had somewhat negative connotations:

(maria malibran-wikipedia + mariamalibran.net )

Divas do have a reputation
of being tempermental
and willful,
but that willfulness
coincides with a tendency to be
a top performer,
someone who gives their all.



Anyone who finds opera
to be excessive or weird,
or criticizes divas
for being too testy
doesn't understand one key point:
to give one's self to a piece of music like that
means making one's Self
somewhat vulnerable.

You surrendor to the music,
you surrendor to your art,
and the outcome,
if you don't protect yourself
with a fiery temperment
or a good manager,
can be fatal.

( brooklynmuseum )


~ ~ ~


Even Wikipedia acknowledges
that the definition itself
has its roots
in something far more
perfect and pure:

"The word entered the English language in the late 19th century. It is derived from the Italian noun diva, a female deity. The plural of the word in English is "divas"; in Italian, dive [ˈdiːve]. The basic sense of the term is "goddess",^[1][2] the feminine of the Latin word divus (Italian divo), a male deity.^[3] The word is thus distantly related to the Hindu term deva and the Zoroastrian concept of the daevas."
( wikipedia/diva )

Thus, in both the West and the East,
the etymology of the word
is distinctly grounded
in the notion of divine.

(paleothea.com)

In both traditions
it is linked with a goddess,
and has a male counterpart as well.



I often quote a man named
Hazrat Inayat Khan,
and according to him:

"The word divine has its origin in the Sanskrit word
Deva,
which also means divine.  And yet the root of this word means light,
which explains that the divine 
is that part of being 
which is illuminated
by the light within."

I find Inayat Khan's message to be
the most satisfying these days,
because he sought to preach a
oneness
across belief systems,
and it is a oneness
that acknowledges
the existence of
the divine.

He goes on to say:

"Therefore, though in man there is light hidden,
if not disclosed,
he is not divine.
If the hidden light were divine,
then the stone could be divine too,
for the spark of fire
is hidden in the rock.
All life is one,
without doubt,
and all names and forms are of the same life.
But that part of life from which light springs,
illuminating itself and its surroundings,
and bringing recognition of its own being,
is divine;
for in this is the fulfilment
of the purpose of the whole creation,
and every activity is directed towards achieving the same purpose."

( minxmx )

A deva in the Hindu tradition
is an angel, any benevolent spiritual entity,
and there are many

In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad,
it is claimed there are
33 celestial devas,
and the Vedas tell us
that those 33 devas
are reflected in Nature,
in the world we live in.


Inayat Khan continues:
"How calmly the mountains and hills seem to be waiting for a certain day to come!
If we went near them and listened to their voices,
they would tell us this.
And how eagerly the plants and the trees in the forest
seem to be waiting for some day, for some hour,
the hour of the fulfilment of their desire!
If only we could hear the words they say!
In animals, in birds,
in the lower creation, the desire is still more intense
and still more pronounced. 
The seer can see it when his glance meets their glance."


In Buddhism,
the deva is also a deity,
a "shining one,"
but they live in an impermanent place,


The average human,
caught up in the hustle of the day
(the diva is a hustler???)
cannot hear them,
but those who have opened their
extrasensory eye or ear,
they can be perceived.

( esogarden )


In all these traditions,
the deva or diva
is she - and he -
who has taken the next step
on a journey
to the divine
,
and this individual
gains this stage
by opening up
something essential
to that individual--


Inayat Khan adds:
"But the fulfilmment of this desire is in man [and woman]:
the desire that has worked through all aspects of life
and brought forth different fruits,
yet always preparing a way
to reach the same Light which is called Divinity.
But even man, whose right it is, 
cannot reach it unless he acquire
the knowledge of the self,
which is the essence of all religions."
( from:"God the Infinite" The Unity of Religious Ideals ) 


The knowledge of self,
in this sense,
has little to do
with money or sex
and everything to do
with accepting your true voice
opening yourself up
and truly
singing --


a vulnerable position,
to say the least,
but it is the position
of the true diva
the one who 
will take the risk
of letting their light
really shine . . . 











(follow this link to 80 year-old Janey Cutler -- those who have posted
her videos on YouTube have wisely not enabled comments or posting.)


I would dare say
a true diva 
today
is one who is not afraid
to open up
and let their inner light shine.





Notably,
though,
many divas today
in the U.S.A.
feel it necessary
to wrap their divinity
in pretentious disguises,
or  to only settle for children
who do it naturally,
because in the West,
at least,
we don't smile upon those who forefront their talent.
We prefer
to elevate
the mundane,
and the absurd,
to give rewards
for just being present,
and to applaud
the hustla.




And meanwhile,
the natural world,
the earth,
waits, 
waits
for the coming of the divine


and the sad thing is:


the divine will come from nowhere
if it does not come
from us.

Duet: Czeslaw Milosz & Hazrat Inayat Khan (I do believe both are tenors)

Dependence belongs to matter

and independence to spirit.

The independent spirit becomes dependent through manifestation.

When the One becomes many, then each part of the One,

being limited, strives to be helped

by the other part,

for each part finds itself

imperfect.

Therefore we human beings,

however rich

with the treasures of heaven and earth,

are poor in reality because

of our dependence upon others. 

The spiritual view makes one conscious

of this fact, but the material view

blinds man, who then show independence

and indifference to his fellow man.

Pride, conceit and vanity

are the outcome of this ignorance.

There are moments when even the king has to depend

upon a most insignificant person.

. . . . .

As individuals depend upon other individuals,

so nations and races depend upon

one another.  

No individual can say that he can geet on without anyone else,

and no nation can be really happy

while another nation is unhappy.

But both individuals and communities depend most

upon God, in whom we all unite.

(Hazrat Inayat Kahn The Unity of Religious Ideals)

Another Trinity -- from "God the Infinite" by Hazrat Inayat Khan

(photo by Makropoulos)

". . . the Spirit of God is incomprehensibe

because that which comprehends itself

is intelligence, God's real being;

and comprehension has nothing to comprehend 

in its own being.  No doubt, in our usual terms

it is the comprehending faculty in us which we call

comprehension; but this is not meant here, for intelligence

is not necessarily intellect.  Merit is something which is comprehensible;

it is something which is clear and distinct, so that it can be made

intelligible; but intelligence is not intelligible except

to its own self.  Intelligence knows that I am; 

but it does not know what I am.

"Such is the nature of God.  Intelligence would not have knows its own power

and existence if it had not known something besides itself,

so God knows Himself by manifestation.  Manifestation

is the self of God, but a self which is limited, a self

that makes Him know that He is perfect when He compares

His own Being with the limited self which we call nature.

Therefore the purpose of the whole of creation is the realization

which God Himself gains by discovering His own perfection

through his manifestation.

"Among Christian ideas there is one which, if we can solve its riddle,

helps us to discover the truth of life.  It is the idea of the Trinity.

What keeps the soul in perplexity is the threefold aspect

of manifestation, and as long as the soul remains puzzled

by this, it cannot arrive at the knowledge of the One.

These three aspects are the seer, sight, and the seen;

the knower, knowledge and the known.

In point of fact, these are the three aspects of life.

One aspect is the person who sees; 

the second aspect is the sight, or the eyes,

by the help of which he sees; 

and the third aspect is that which he sees.

That is why one cannot readily accept the idea

that what one sees is the same as oneself,

nor can one believe for a moment that the medium

by which one sees is oneself, for these three aspects

seem to be separate and to be looking at one another's faces,

as the first person, second person, and third person

of Brahma.

"When this riddle is solved by the realization that the three are one,

then the purpose of the God-ideal is fulfilled. . . . "

(from: The Unity of Religious Ideals,

by Hazrat Inayat Khan)

(If you have time, read this alongside

some of my entries about 

the Creation,

the Palindrome,

and God's Desire

to See Himself)

thank you for reading 

this blog--

The Rarest Emotion (a.m. channelling)

*

The word of Christ is that God is love;

and if God is love,

then we,

every one of us,

can prove God in us 

by expressing God in our life.

(from: Hazrat Inayat Khan: The Unity of Religious Ideals)

The rarest emotion

is love

We talk of it

     We sing of it

        We long for it

rarely

do we feel it.

The pessimists and skeptics would call

the quest for love

unrealistic.

But it's only unreal

to them

because it's so rare.

But it is real.

Saying that love

is a fiction

is like saying

that we're the only planet

in the solar system

that can support

life

( washingtonpost )

~ ~ ~

Now, jealousy 

=

we can do that;

it's easy because

it's based on what we see

in the material world

(which we live in)

So, too, is

desire

lust

and 

wistfulness.

~ ~ ~ 

Hatred

is easier 

than love

because it's born

in the place where

the material bound emotions

meet the metaphysical

ie:

the spiritual.

You see,

because 

some emotions are

             body born

                          and some

are not.

~ ~ ~ 

Emotions are the fruit

of the interaction

between

the material

and

the spiritual;

the mortal

and 

the immortal.

Some are more in

one domain,

some 

in the other.

And there are various

gradations

in between.

( AstronomyPictureofDay  

6 October 2010)

Love 

is the only pure emotion

lodged

solely

in the spiritual,

the immortal

domain,

and in that sense

it is the rarest emotion

and

the one

to strive for.