Write Spirit

Ancient wisdom and modern inspiration

Christian Mystics

"I believe that everyone who wants to love unconditionally is a mystic. All children are born mystics, and if you were once a child, you were once a mystic. Christian mysticism is following the example of Christ as he followed the Father. And mysticism is not by any means restricted to Christianity: the Bible says, ?everyone who loves is begotten of God, and knows God.? (1 Jn. 4.7) God speaks in various ways, in every time and every place to "whosoever will."

From: Christian Mystics

Another Definition of a Christian Mystic

"As with any religion, there are two types found within Christianity. The first is the tribal member. He or she favors a literal, concrete reading of Christianity, asserting that God is a judge with a rule book. Those who don’t play for "our team" are damned to eternity, and it can be our job to help them along the way to that end."

"The second person is concerned not with knowing the rules and dogma, but with knowing the Mystery itself, which is to say living from within the experience of that Mystery. This is the search for and experience of that connection to and affirmation of God’s Presence on an ongoing basis. Here, the ideal is to live life from the very center of the Mystery, and to manifest into this world God’s compassion, love and mercy. It is to this group that Jesus of Nazareth belonged, and it is why, beneath the centuries of overlays in the name of scripture and tradition, we can still find at the heart Jesus to be of such central importance to our particular spiritual path."

Christian Mysticism

"In love there can be no fear, but fear is driven out by perfect love: because to fear is to expect punishment, and anyone who is afraid is still imperfect in love. ? 1 Jn 4.18.

I believe Christian mysticism is the essence of what Jesus Christ wanted. He didn’t come to have temples errected in his honour. It was his hope that people would find in their own hearts the living presence of God "The Peace that passeth understanding." Jesus came into the world not to condemn but illumine humanity.

"If anyone hears my wordsand does not keep them faithfully it is not I who shall condemn him, since I have come not to condemn the world, but to save the world. ?Jn. 12.47"

The Christian mystics are a source of great inspiration for us. Unfortunately they were often persecuted, but they showed that it was possible to experience the divine Christ Consciousness. One story that is quite striking is about St John of the Cross. St John of the Cross was tortured and kept imprisoned. But even in these pitiful conditions he experienced the Divine. This is a poem "I cobbled their shoes" which explains how he was guided to see the divine in all. It reminds me of Jesus Christ’s immortal utterance.

"Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."

For more poetry of Christian Mystics. See Christian Mystics at Poetseers

The Garden of Love – William Blake

I went to the Garden of Love,
And saw what I never had seen;
A Chapel was built in the midst,
Where I used to play on the green.
And the gates of this Chapel were shut,
And ‘Thou shalt not’ writ over the door;
So I turned to the Garden of Love
That so many sweet flowers bore.
And I saw it was filled with graves,
And tombstones where flowers should be;
And priests in black gowns were walking their rounds,
And binding with briars my joys and desires.

By: William Blake

To Blake love is innocence, spirituality released from materialism. Churches and chapels belong to bad things, the state and coercive order (see E.P. THompson’s Witness against the beast)

Happiness of Being

ramana maharshi

Ramana Maharshi

Happiness of Being is a new website developed by Michael James and dedicated to the great Spiritual Master Ramana Maharshi .

"Happiness lies deep within us, in the very core of our being. Happiness does not exist in any external object, but only in us, who are the consciousness that experiences happiness. Though we seem to derive happiness from external objects or experiences, the happiness that we thus enjoy in fact arises from within us."

Mirabai and Akbar Play

Sri Krishna

Here is a play recently performed for Sri Chinmoy and his students. Its aim is to illustrate how misunderstandings between religions are an ancient challenge for humanity, but as Sri Chinmoy teaches, there is hope for the oneness of all humanity, and that historical figures such as Sri Krishna, Mirabai and Akbar The Great can inspire us and show is the way.

View: Play of Mirabai and Akbar

Script by Sumangali Morhall

selected scenes

[Enter Mirabai and her statue of Krishna]

Narrator:

The honeyed sun came closer to,
but shyly veiled himself from view,
drawing spices from the air.
The maiden moon watched soft and fair.
Early stars came out to glisten.
Bells and creatures stilled to listen:

[Mirabai?s music starts]

Tiger harkened out of sight
Peacock nestled for the night
Spider paused upon his yarn.
The young princess of Rajasthan
sweeter, finer than them all
sang behind a jewelled wall.

[Enter Mother & Father. Mirabai still sings]

Father [furious]:

If I see that Moghul scum
in ten miles of my country come
That rank Mohammedan I?ll curse
with fleas or warts or death, or worse!
I?ll pluck his whiskers one by one!
I?ll light his hair to see him run!
I?ll skin his ears, I?ll roast his eyes!

Mirabai and Akbar play

Poems of Ben Okri

 

african

The Awakening Age

O ye who travel the meridian line,
May the vision of a new world within you shine.

May eyes that have lived with poverty’s rage,
See through to the glory of the awakening age.

For we are all richly linked in hope,
Woven in history, like a mountain rope.

Together we can ascend to a new height,
Guided by our heart’s clearest light.

When perceptions are changed there’s much to gain,
A flowering of truth instead of pain.

There’s more to a people than their poverty;
There’s their work, wisdom, and creativity.

Along the line may our lives rhyme,
To make a loving harvest of space and time.

Copyright Ben Okri, 1999

 

By: Ben Okri

More Poems of Ben Okri

Brief Biography of Ben Okri

March 15, 1959) is a Nigerian poet and novelist. Having spent his early childhood in London, he and his family returned to Nigeria in 1968. He later left for England, embarking on studies at the University of Essex. He has received honorary doctorates from the University of Westminster (1997) and the University of Essex (2002), and was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in 2001.

Since publishing his first novel, Flowers and Shadows (1980), Okri has risen to international acclaim, and he is often described as one of Africa’s greatest writers. His best known work, The Famished Road, was awarded the 1991 Booker Prize, making him the youngest winner of that prize. He has also been described as a magic realist, although he has shrugged off that tag. His first-hand experiences of civil war in Nigeria are said to have inspired many of his works. He writes about both the mundane and the metaphysical, the individual and the collective, and his writing enthrals the reader, drawing him/her into a world with vivid descriptions.

Okri is a Vice-President of the English Centre for the International PEN, an association of writers with 130 branches in over 100 countries. He is also a member of the United Kingdom’s Royal National Theatre.

From: Wikipedia – open source

 

An African Elegy – Ben Okri

 

african

An African Elegy

We are the miracles that God made
To taste the bitter fruit of Time.
We are precious.
And one day our suffering
Will turn into the wonders of the earth.

There are things that burn me now
Which turn golden when I am happy.
Do you see the mystery of our pain?
That we bear the poverty
And are able to sing and dream sweet things.

And that we never curse the air when it is warm
Or the fruit when it tastes so good
Or the lights that bounce gently on the waters?
We bless the things even in our pain.
We bless them in silence.

That is why our music is so sweet.
It makes the air remember.
There are secret miracles at work
That only Time will bring forth.
I too have heard the dead singing.

And they tell me that
This life is good
They tell me to live it gently
With fire, and always with hope.
There is wonder here

And there is surprise
In everything the unseen moves.
The ocean is full of songs.
The sky is not an enemy.
Destiny is our friend.

 

By: Ben Okri