Dromedary Dreams

 

Journey of the Magi, James Tissot, c. 1894

Silent footfalls belie big burdens
—traces of feet will be gone by morning,
shrouded by wind-sifted curtains.

God is completely present, even
in these evening breezes;
every desert is wholly a part of Eden.

With all the planets aligned
to the fullness of ascended moon,
light is abundantly consigned,

Accompanied by comet and star
—all is made bright and visible;
no matter where you stand, there you are,

seen. Yet, onward we ply and plod,
destination unknown,
as they say in the Land of Nod.

Being—to be—good, by deed,
word and thought, is to lodge in a place
so full of goodness, there is no need

to be elsewhere; such is the goal.
To find, there within goodness, a refuge,
where to coalesce and be whole,

in spirit, mind and body,
this is what the dromedary dreams of,
while traversing the ancient wadi.

12/23/2021

For Epiphany

© Elisabeth T. Eliassen & songsofasouljourney.blogspot.com

Notes/Commentary: 

* Genesis 3:8-9, some translations suggest the Divine Being enjoys a walk in the cool evening breezes.
* Moon, Jupiter, Saturn and Venus to aligned around (Dec. 10), joined by the moon.

* Comet C/2021 A1 (Comet Leonard) will be visible throughout December 2021 and into early January 2022

* The mythobiblical Land of Nod is located east of Eden, from which Cain was banished for murdering Abel. But this is less about a story and more about a language. Nod is the root of the Hebrew verb “to wander.” Related words reflect meanings ranging from vagabond and fugitive to being disturbed, agitated or moved. To “live in the land of Nod” can mean “to live a wandering life.”

My friend Bajun R. Mavalwalla posted Tissot’s work on his Facebook page, along with some thoughts on the magi, from the traditions of his family. I woke up a week later with the words “dromedary dreams” in my mind. Since the words showed up, I thought I’d better work with them!

This poem is meant to be lighthearted and from the point of view of dromedaries, the common pack animal of the middle eastern deserts. Humans (with their baggage) run all over the place, trying to find the person, place or thing that will make existence perfect (“destination unknown”). The dromedaries in this poem rather think you don’t have to run around to find that—well, perhaps they would prefer to find, stay and experience the goodness of a single place, any place that is illumined by Divine light. (This would certainly save wear and tear of the desert sands on dromedary feet!). 

Ultimately, this is a story of immanence, the holiness of the seen and unseen. People run all over, looking for holiness, when in truth they are surrounded by it, if only they could see and be illumined/informed by the signs, and act in accordance with them--that is, with responsible stewardship and benevolence. Rather than make this a story about astronomers from Persia with three gifts for a baby messiah, my rendering is intended to honor the traces of Zoroastrian monotheism that come to us through the Hellenist Judaism of Philo and Christianity—the transformative threefold ethical path of good thoughts, good words and good deeds.

E.T.E.

Final Walk - A Good Friday Meditation

After the dust and palm frond waves,
no steps seem more daunting,
even though each one forward paves,
despite bullies and faithless taunting,
a way, of being and living, that saves.

Servant leadership nixes vaunting
whose lie of pride and wealth behaves
so conspicuously mean and flaunting
— but all who would deny, poor knaves,
might ultimately be left empty and wanting
once redeeming love frees all of us slaves.

Good Friday is a day intended introspection rather than guilt. A newspaper headline about this day might read, “Man Acting Suspiciously Executed in Name of Empire,” and that brings it forward a few thousand years, doesn’t it?

I mean, why kill someone like the man from Nazareth? Why not sentence him to jail? After all, he did advise people that they should give Caesar what was due.

Well, it is all about the meta-message, and that was in part about upending the social strata. But that wasn’t the whole story.

Jesus tried to communicate to people that nothing about their lives was inevitable, unless they allowed it to be so. Oppression at the hands of functionaries of the Empire was the least of the difficulty. Tribalism and taboos; orthodoxy and the inevitable hypocrisy that accompanies that way of being and thinking; the creation and maintenance of ghettos—and by that I don’t just mean the ghettos that are imposed to shut people in (those are very real and devastating), but the ones we willingly create to shut people out. Jesus was trying to let us know that the fastest way to redress societal ills is not to blame, condemn, and fight, but to mitigate, ameliorate and serve.

Said another way, whenever we complain, act out or wait for someone else to solve a problem, we’re not writing ourselves into the solution; further, we are diminishing ourselves. This is not at all to say that organization and protest can be minimized to “complaint” or “acting out.” Jesus and his followers were construed to be rabble-rousers, but when they went into communities, their intent was to serve, and serve they did.

Some tried to say that what Jesus and his followers were doing was illegal, and if there was indeed a real trial, Jesus would have been convicted based on court legalities. In truth, what Jesus suggested is that to do the right thing, we are sometimes forced to act outside human law, especially where it is constructed to ensnare and weaken people in ways that serve no positive societal purpose (a real example: A court demanded a million dollars in bail for the release of a transient accused of arson. What purpose did that serve? There was no one to come forward for the man; the bail might even have been as low as $10K, and this man would have been stuck in jail.) or that are divisive toward the community.

When I reflect on the gospel message, I see that Jesus is saying we cannot use “the system” as an excuse. If “the system” needs fixing, we have to do it ourselves, even if our DIY is a “work around.” The can is kicked forward because the task of dismantling and reassembling the Tower of Babel is too daunting. So, what happens in the meanwhile? Nothing? Status quo? Complacency? All we like sheep, awaiting a new shepherd?

No. The message is clear and irrefutable: There is no easy way out of the thicket of wrongs and the legalese of inequity, but love finds the way. Love can only find the way if we have compassion and if we truly care about and are empowered toward just outcomes. This is such an outcome driven world, and yet so few people invest in the good outcome unless “good outcome” means wealth and status.

Jesus took the final walk trying to awaken us to a desire for the “right outcome.” If we want “right outcomes,” we need to invest self into the equation. Denials and excuses don’t cut it in the Kingdom of Heaven, which is here, inside each of us, and all around us in this life we are living, right now. The charge to “love thy neighbor” is a call to be and do the controversial (loudly or even secretly, if necessary), to buck the system, to do the right thing, the just thing, the very best thing.

Don’t let the dream die. Go in peace, my friends, to love and to serve.

© 2018 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen

The World's Worth

“The world is my country; my religion is to do good.”

~Thomas Paine

The World’s Worth

There is no thicket of identities
in this ebb and flow of crowds;
one is at once unique,
while also each and every,
as in the sharing of aspirations,
as in the dreaming of dreams—
we’re all water walking or rolling upright,

moving vertically over a horizontal world,
various mixtures of stardust and desert sand;
but we have yet to fully embrace personhood
as the embodiment of democracy.
What message should we add
to that old corked bottle
we’ll cast onto the oceans of time?
What future there may be
will only be found
where the good person,
in communion with all
others of their ilk,
is the sole expression
of the world’s worth.

© 2018 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen

A Message for the Season: Preach the Gospel of Peace

For more than half my life, this time of year has been accompanied by multiple performances of Handel’s Messiah. I have sung all the different historical versions of this oratorio, both as chorister and as soloist. I have three different editions of the score for this masterwork, and these are the most used scores in my music library.

The libretto for this oratorio was assembled by Charles Jennens, who used snippets of biblical scripture to form a narrative that follows the church year from Advent through Easter. With every year and every single iteration, I discover and hear the piece anew.

This year, four sections of Part II stood out for me, although I would rather have them heard in a different order. In Scene VI of Part II, the bass sings the aria, Why do the nations so furiously rage together? This is followed by the chorus, Let us break their Bonds asunder.

Here are the complete texts for these two sections that comprise Scene VI:

ARIA – Bass

Why do the Nations so furiously rage together? and why do the People imagine a vain Thing? The Kings of the Earth rise up, and the Rulers take Counsel together against the Lord and against his Anointed. (Psalm 2:1-2)

CHORUS

Let us break their Bonds asunder, and cast away their Yokes from us. (Psalm 2:3)

This year, I felt as though the two sections from Scene V, immediately previous to Scene VI, should follow these texts.

ARIA – Soprano

How beautiful are the Feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. (Romans 10:15)

CHORUS

Their sound is gone out into all Lands, and their Words unto the ends of the World. (Romans 10:18)

This year, 2017, has been difficult and painful in so many ways it would take too long to enumerate them all. I know so many who have been personally anguished, injured, suffered financial setbacks and job losses. Friends and family members have died, as well as exemplars and cultural heroes. Our family has experienced all these things; perhaps, so too has yours.

This country has become mired in cynicism and hypocrisy that is being played out in the highest government offices by people who mock the notion of common good; such people actively work against equality, each according to their need. These people are not “public servants” but are rather self-serving.

The Nations of the Earth may engage in this “game of thrones” – but, the planet cannot survive such hubris, much less the inhabitants. We must break the bonds of… what, exactly? Power? Wealth? Narcissism? The bonds are cultural, and not limited to our culture alone; but certainly our culture has driven this venality and actively unraveled our national sense of empathy. Portions of our citizenry have been taught to fear and despise others, and those defined as such are treated as scapegoats for every problem we experience.

We learn about this in grade school, don’t we? About petty bullies mistreating people they have objectified and labeled as inferior. This thing we learned about in grade school is being played out big time in our national life, and is threatening all our international relationships.

What is to be done? What can we do? What can I do, or you?

We can Break their Bonds asunder. Those people do not speak for me or for you. They may cast their edicts, but we know the truth behind their lies. We can and we must act to do the right thing, whenever and however possible, despite the warped edicts of petty despots and bullies.

How do we Break their Bonds asunder? By Preaching the gospel of peace, and sending that message out from our homes and into our neighborhoods, towns, cities, counties and states. What is the gospel of peace, precisely? It is the message that we all belong, that we all have dignity; and we honor this by working toward peace, by spreading good will, and acting toward goals of mutual good with everyone we meet. This is true citizenship.

The Kings of the Earth will fall from grace. Well, to be honest, some of them have never had anything akin to grace, in the first place. We can't let that stop us from working as a positive force for good. We might yet fold the negative into the positive...

My wishes for you on this day, at this hour – and in all the days and hours that follow:

• Only do to and for others what you would have others do to and for you; accept every gift of grace and good intent. 
• To break the bonds of oppression asunder, counter negativity and bad actors by doing good and spreading good wherever you are. 
• Watch for those who need assistance, and offer it however you can; even a smile can change a person’s day.
• Preach the gospel of peace and harmony; you don’t have to be loud, obnoxious or even religious to make your glad sound go out into all lands.

All of you are beautiful, who spread the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. I give thanks for the many of you I am fortunate to know and encounter in my life! 

May the light of your peace illumine every place where you step foot, and may 2018 be a year of blessing and positive transformation for you, your families – and your communities.

Sutra of No More Sutras

Thus I have heard, once and forever.

In the wake of Shariputra’s death and parinirvana, Ananda spoke,
voicing the thoughts of those assembled.

“Honored teacher, we know your time with us nears its completion.
Pray, tell us how to continue beyond your extinction?”

The Buddha opened his eyes and offered his smile to all,
and then he spoke:

“For many years, we have thus assembled,
and I have given voice to the music of one vehicle,
three treasures,
four noble truths,
six perfections,
ten powers and ten precepts,
twelve causes and thirty-two signs.
I have spoken and chanted into the ten directions:
and these sayings and singings continue to vibrate through the chiliocosm. “

“To you, a good doctrine has been given,
acknowledged by buddhas and arhats,
past, present and future,
and expertly remembered by you, honored Ananda.
Many sermons have been set down,
by scribe after scribe,
in scroll after scroll after scroll.

“Good cousin, Ananda,
these teachings of the way
have been the making of a raft,
one strong enough to float above
the ever-flowing stream of happening
and even of dharma practice.

“But this raft must now be untethered and released,
and each adept must engage
the singular stream of unfolding—
the teaching, and also the teacher,
must be released into the wild unknown.

“Wherefore?
Because, any other course would come to ruin
in grasping and corruption.”

All present, on hearing these things, quietly bowed their heads.

“Do not sorrow, Dear Ones,
do not sorrow; the great void is not to be feared,
for truly it is indicative of endless potential,
which is Presence,
gleaming and differently perceived in each moment.

“How the good doctrine will flourish
on the ever-flowing river
cannot be foretold by the Tathagata,
nor by all the ranks of adepts in every dimension,
neither can time tell.

“To reside on the scroll
is to miss the point,
it is a surrender to inaction
that borders on forgetting;
one can rapidly become lost
in the thicket of serifs and diacriticals,
grammars and dialecticals.

“This leads to doubt.
Doubt leads to discussion.
Discussion leads to arguments and grousing,
parsing and chasing
after forms and meanings.

“In the end, this activity is
so tarry illogical
to the reality of eternal moment.”

The birds in the trees stopped singing,
cocking their heads to listen.

The butterflies found a place to light,
so they could hear.

The trees bowed their limbs lower.

“The chasing after merit
is also like the chasing after forms and meanings.

“There is only the Way,
and the truth of the Way
is where the heaping of merit occurs
never for the individual,
but only for all of existence,
as served by the Three Jewels.

“These Jewels are Buddha, Dharma and Sangha;

compassion, frugality and humility;

right view, right knowledge and right conduct;
thought, word and deed;
essence, vitality and spirit.

“Any heaping of merit is
unknown and unknowable,
but indeed present in eternal moment.

“Every being who does right in the moment
heaps merit onto the wheel of time and change,
for all and for all time.

“There is no such thing as competition;
all conscious right actions are integral
to the completion of perfection.
This is the essence of the Middle Way.”

A single ray of light burst forth
from between the Buddha’s brows,
touching all with understanding.
The birds, the butterflies and the trees
arose jubilantly.

“Take to the raft of the Way and journey.
Be the gift of goodness in the World.
Do not write it or discuss or plan it.
Be it, in the best way you can, in the moment;
this is how the teaching grows and spreads
to all generations.”

When the Buddha finished this Discourse,
all present were filled with the joy of this teaching,
and, taking it sincerely to heart, they went their ways.

© 2015 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen