To the Shores of Sure

 

Within the isolation of their remote land,
from inside the work of their silent meditations,
each sage had apprehended a light the night sky,
a light indeed so singular and so great that 

the light of ordinary day seemed dim.

This light appeared
in the person of a star,
speaking and singing,
brightening and ringing,
inviting the seers on a journey
to a distant land
to see the birth
of a baby of light.

So, out of the land of Un-Sure,
the seers went forth,
guided, fed and nurtured
by this amazing star.

Having finally arrived, they found
a humble stable,
a humble couple,
and humble witnesses
to a humble birth
of new light.

The seers bestowed
what gifts they had to give
to mark the occasion,
to bless the child,
this newborn star,
burning brightly
at his mother’s breast.

This bright star
—the embodied ancient of days:
maker-father;
wisdom-mother;
innovator-child—
then proclaimed:

All that has been,
All that is now,
All that will be
has waited for this new light,
which a light that lights 

beyond the brightness and clarity
of even the visible light.

Know that this light is always present:
within every person
there is a cave of mysteries,
the fresh and fragrant wellspring
of this inimitable light.

You are the light of the world!
How so ever you see the star
shows you in a role
as light embodied,
and in a form appropriate
to this and every moment,

Your inner light is not about
worship self-served in apathy,
but about discernment to
action in service to others.

Every person with a love of learning,
take heed of this truth:
the divided house cannot stand;
what can divide light?
Only darkness.

Yet glorious light pools everywhere;
there is no place untouched by this light,
very light of very light,
begotten, not made,
meant to bring an end to all mysteries
with the simple truth that
we are, all and each,
light for each other,
to lighten the world.

Therefore, the time of waiting is past;
it is time to rise from your dreams.

 

Awaken and go forth
to fulfill your light in the world,
that you may overflow
with benevolence and peace,
blessing all along your way
for all your days.

Thus, having blessed the light
and having been blessed by the light,
having heard the homily of light,
the seers returned home,
—ever after known as the Shores of Sure—
to live out their calling in service.

© 2023 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen & songsofasouljourney.blogspot.com

NOTES and COMMENTARY: This bit of writing (perhaps a work in progress) is my odd sort of commentary on a pseudepigraphical writing known as the Revelation of the Magi, extant in the form of an 8^th century manuscript in Syriac, preserved in the Vatican Library (Biblioteca apostolica, syr. 162) that may have a 5^th century antecedent in another language. This is an interesting hash of a tale that contains, among other things, the suggestion that the magi are twelve descendants of Seth in a distant land of Shir, who received stories or texts from Adam about “the fall;” a visitation from a polymorphous star being; a journey to see the birth of the baby; anointing of the sages and their return to the land of Shir from which they came; the arrival of Judas Thomas to the land of Shir to preach in summation to the sages.

A few lines stood out to me, when I read the translation of the text in Brent Landau’s dissertation on the work. “And you will see the completion of all the mysteries in Jerusalem, and everything that was spoken with you will become true for you,” is spoken by the star prior to the journey. “Therefore, rise and go in peace to your light-receiving land, because you have been deemed worthy to receive the perfect light of the heavenly majesty, and to come worship it with your gifts in joy. Behold, you have completed everything that you were commanded by your fathers, and you have also been deemed worthy to know and learn the ancient hidden mysteries, which were written for you from the first generations. Now, behold, you have seen the completion of your mysteries…” The star child sums things up, “And it was not in vain that you were created in the world, and heaven and earth and all the worlds came into being for your sake.”  

Meta-message to me: Clarifying light makes an end to all mysteries.

//

Religion, like politics and philosophy, is about governance. 

Ideally, the best kind of governance is self-governance.

Practically speaking, the only kind of governance is self-governance. 

Sages, seers and prophets suggest a self-governance that is inspired by awe in and duty toward a universal, parent-like deity. The christian writings that purport to record the teachings of Jesus have been eclipsed by redactions, sectarian battles over interpretation, apologias that strive to turn the hero into a god from before all time, and provide colliding sacred and secular visions of the best way to control the masses in conservative hierarchical fashion, so that an elite small group wields (hopefully benign) power and metes out a meager sort of justice (when it suits).

Millennia of competing religions behaving badly, in sectarian Technicolor, has had the effect of tossing out the holy child with the dirty bath-water of political corruption, most often reflected as authoritarianism that goes against all practical realities of self-governance. 

In the canonical gospels and within other texts that record what Jesus was apparently saying and teaching, the message is unequivocal that if you believe in the god of Mosaic law then you must self-govern in a way that serves others simultaneously with self. This is what is meant by righteousness and equity. This is what communion is all about. Jesus was talking about oppressed people turning the tables and rethinking their lot by understanding themselves as having a critical, on-the-ground and irreplaceable role in community. Religion stomps this message right out, countering with a top-down authoritarian model that states people can’t possibly be good, god should strike you down because of that, but Jesus took it for Team Sin, so that you don’t have to self-govern or be accountable. But then, because of that, you can’t have a say or a role beyond following a series of hollow leaders, doing what you are told, paying up your money and taking your chances.

If there is truth in all of this god-talk, it lies in the message that we are each a unique occurrence of light in the world; this means we have something to live up to and live for, through ethical self-governance that serves community and eschews the kind of personal power that is destructive and greedy. Self governance does not mean self-serving; it means an economy of duty to others, as well as self. Duty is best accomplished out of necessity, and more so by choice. We have not one, but many roles to fulfill for ourselves and for others; this is the significance of the polymorphic star-child. Living in a state of holiness and grace is living in the faith that your best efforts will be met by those of others, and that this is aided and blessed by the workings of the Divine Unseen. 

This is the Epiphany I have received from a lifetime of readings in and meditations on religion, philosophy and history, and I share it heartily with you. 

May you receive many blessings on your journey, and share your light with the world.

//

Revelations of the Magi: The Lost Tale of the Wise Men’s Journey to Bethlehem, © 2010 by Brent Christopher Landau, Harper Collins NY

Image: Gentile da Fabriano, Adoration of the Magi, 1423, tempera on panel, 283 x 300 cm (Uffizi Gallery, Florence)

The Origins of the Universal Themes of our Lives

All words are built upon all words.

The above quote is mine, oft repeated to my children during their formative years.

How do I come by this statement, and what does it mean?

When I was a child, I received a special Christmas gift from my great uncle. It was a collection of Greek myths, vetted for the young reader. I read that book over and over, until the page corners were all dog-eared and soft as leather When I later read the library many of us call “The Holy Bible,” I was struck by thematic similarities in the stories. The Bible even contains duplications of stories, each version with a slight difference—and I could also see thematic similarities between Greek mythology and Scripture. What could be more similar than the theme of the hero surviving multiple trials? And what could be more true of everylife?

And yet, through the ensuing years, I realized that these collections of literature were held in academic silos, never being truly and honestly held up to the same scrutiny and academic rigor, much less honest comparison. Mythological literature was studied in one way, “sacred” literature in another.

Justice, I had been taught via the church, is what one trusts a supernatural being will bring about…

And yet… and yet…

So, what do I believe? 

Well, I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. I’ve been reading in this vein—well, actually in two veins simultaneously—all my life long. I do not proclaim to be an expert in ancient literature, but I have read a lot of books on the subject(s), and I would have to say that there are blind spots, many blind spots, in our general education on matters mythological and spiritual.

I currently believe that the academic approach with regard to early introduction to Greek literature is a worthy endeavor. This provides a good start to presenting our common life themes. 

Yes, the subject runs into the world of the sacred, or the immortal, and we, being mere mortals, can hardly be expected to understand the unseen.

However, my personal experience of comparative mythology and comparative religious literature (as a non-classics scholar, a non-seminarian) has shown me a stark truth that the average person is all too willing to overlook: Mythology and Scripture share a role in presenting all the universal themes that occur in mortal life. While the ideas of the ancient Greeks do not seem to hold sway in modern times, truly the epic nature of life enjoys all the drama that can be found in Greek literature—and Biblical epic.

So many people are prepared to believe and have faith in a being that acts proxy or go between, an intermediary between this world and the sacred, unseen.

What do I mean to suggest with that outrageous statement? 

Well, first of all, the epic nature of Greek mythology and Biblio-sacramental literature is not all that different. The relationships that can be found between each of these sets of literature are by no means confined to these sets or generations, as the relationships reach back to earlier literatures, even to the earliest examples of Western literature. 

All of our history of literature is comprised of and built on clear and similar themes with variations; similar narratives as viewed through, sometimes, different lenses, and/or offered with different motives—frequently to explain what has just happened or to explain far distant historical events, or perhaps indicate the future.

The homework on all of this, by the way, has been done by bone fide scholars—and not just recently—but the results have largely been ignored, if not scoffed; previous work of classicists on ancient literature and its common themes has been ignored by Biblical scholars, to the detriment, I think, of all followers of Judeo-Christian faith. Christians, in particular, do not realize they err and even sin with regard to what they falsely believe is exceptionalwith regard to their faith. The average Christian is, I have found, frightfully ignorantof the context of writings they will quote by chapter and verse and claim to live by. Moreover, they are ignorant of how many innocent people have died throughout the centuries, so that they could wallow in their false sense of exceptionalism. In many cases, the Gospel message has been excised completely from their consciousness, if not twisted out all sense. [Contrast this with Thomas Jefferson’s exercise in recreating the New Testament by extracting everything outside the Gospel message, with the goal to bring that into harsh focus.]

If one looks critically at all the extant ancient literature available, one can see a very important and universalset of moral themes. The just person, the ethical person, must be an exemplar of hospitality to other. The only way that one be such is to examine and evaluate self, with an eye to self-improvement and, if need be, self-healing. The Greeks are purported to have invented journaling as a tool to self-knowing and self-improvement; this is an admirable technology still practiced in modern times. But the modern public has become disconnected with intent of this tool, just as it has become disconnected from the universality of themes contained in its world literature.

I propose that the universal themes within our ancient literature point to something vital and true: The Human Species is one single race, albeit divided politically, divided regionally, divided in so many natural and unnatural ways.

If this is indeed the case, then we are all meant to have a role in the lives of those in our community, with all the best of intent. Perhaps social justice, ancient and modern, is about insuring that we are capable of being the hero in our own lives, that our personal heroism in the face of trial is supported in the community, that our individual heroism has a role in supporting the community.

I know I will write about this more, but what I set here is enough, for now.

My wish for you in 2020 and beyond: Be the hero of your story and ours; be the light and love of mindfulness, generosity and thoughtfulness, ethical action and sustainability that makes a difference in your community; may health and prosperity visit you, your friends and family, and the ever widening spirals of your acquaintance; and may the abundance, blessings and beauty of this world be upon you, to uplift you as you shine your light!