Good day, friends!
You may or may not have noticed that I haven’t sent out any Daily Dharmas for quite some time. I’ve been taking some quiet time for myself in order to be outside and enjoy the last days of summer, and also to feel my way through some changes and challenges happening in my personal life (more about that at whatever point things become clear). I had the privilege to spend a week at the Outer Banks of North Carolina, walking for miles on the beach each day. It was exquisite, and a time of profound connection with myself that I’m grateful for. I’m back home now on my rented property way back in the woods, enjoying the creek, the sky, the trees, and my little hermitage. It feels like the time has come for me to jump back in and support spiritual practice once again in all the ways that are available to me, so here I am.
To get things going again I thought I’d offer you this interesting and lovely poem from St Thomas Aquinas, the theologian from The Middle ages. Enjoy!
Gassho,
David
ON BEHALF OF LOVE
Every truth, without exception, no matter who makes it, is from God.
If a bird were accused of singing too early in the morning,
If a lute began to magically play on its own in the square
And the enchanting sounds it made drove a pair of young lovers into a wild, public display of passion,
If this lute and bird then were called before the Inquisition and their lives were literally at stake,
Could not God walk up and say before the court,
“All acts of beauty are mine, all happen on behalf of love”?
And while God was there, testifying for our heart’s desires, hopefully the judge would be astute enough to brave a question that could go,
“Dear God, you say all acts of beauty are yours, surely we can believe that.
But what of all the evil actions we see in this world, for is there any force in existence greater than the power of your omnipresent hand?”
And God might have responded, “I like that question,” adding, “May I ask you one as well?”
And then God would say,
“Have you ever been in a conversation when children enter the room, and you then ceased speaking because your wisdom knew they were not old enough to benefit, to understand?
As exquisite is your world, most everyone in it is spiritually young.
Spirituality is love, and love never wars with the minute, the day, one’s self and others. Love would rather die than lame a limb, a wing.
Dear, anything that divides human from human, earth from sky, light and dark, one religion from another….
Oh, I best keep silent, I see a child just entered the room.”