Very few things have given me pleasure in this life. John Donne's 17th Meditation is one.1 Rachmaninoff's 'Variations On a Theme of Paganini' (especially the 18th Variation. Aka the theme for 'The Story Of Three Loves'; a fine film) is another.2 Oh, and not to forget his Second Piano Concerto (aka 'Full Moon & Empty Arms' to - and for?? - people of a certain age). My first experience of sexual intercourse was long overdue and, by then, highly overrated.3 Oh - and Gaia, Herself. She is, simply, a doll. I have deeply enjoyed seeing a lot of Her, in my sojourn here, this life around.
Glad that She will be joining the Ascension going on as well. (Glad that She will as well be joining the Ascension going on? Glad that She as well will be joining the Ascension going on??…Oh well. You know what I meant.)
Oh - and a few films. And many books; to know what all has been going on; behind my back, as it were.
And that's about it, really.
P.S. And Jackie Evancho's voice and presence. And……
Well. You get the idea. Time for a change.
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Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions
MEDITATION XVII.
NUNC LENTO SONITU DICUNT, MORIERIS.
Now this bell tolling softly for another,
says to me, Thou must die.
PERCHANCE he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill as that he knows not it tolls for him. And perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me, and see my state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that. The church is catholic, universal, so are all her actions; all that she does, belongs to all. When she baptizes a child, that action concerns me; for that child is thereby connected to that head which is my head too, and ingraffed into that body, whereof I am a member. And when she buries a man, that action concerns me; all mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated; God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God's hand is in every translation, and his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again, for that library where every book shall lie open to one another; as therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come; so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness.
There was a contention as far as a suit (in which, piety and dignity, religion and estimation, were mingled) which of the religious orders should ring to prayers first in the morning; and it was determined, that they should ring first that rose earliest. If we understand aright the dignity of this bell, that tolls for our evening prayer, we would be glad to make it ours, by rising early, in that application, that it might be ours as well as his, whose indeed it is. The bell doth toll for him, that thinks it doth; and though it intermit again, yet from that minute, that that occasion wrought upon him, he is united to God.* Who casts not up his eye to the sun when it rises? But who takes off his eye from a comet, when that breaks out? who bends not his ear to any bell, which upon any occasion rings? But who can remove it from that bell, which is passing a piece of himself out of this world?
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
Neither can we call this a begging of misery, or a borrowing of misery, as though we were not miserable enough of ourselves, but must fetch in more from the next house, in taking upon us the misery of our neighbors. Truly it were an excusable covetousness if we did; for affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it. No man hath afflicion enough, that is not matured and ripened by it, and made fit for God by that affliction. If a man carry treasure in bullion or in a wedge of gold, and have none coined into current moneys, his treasure will not defray him as he travels. Tribulation is treasure in the nature of it, but it is not current money in the use of it, except we get nearer and nearer our home, heaven, by it. Another may be sick too, and sick to death, and this affliction may lie in his bowels, as gold in a mine, and be of no use to him; but this bell that tells me of his affliction, digs out, and applies that gold to me: if by this consideration of another's danger, I take mine own into contemplation, and so secure myself, by making my recourse to my God, who is our only security.
* I typed this sentence out and carried it in my wallet for years and years. After a 'spiritual experience' that I had during my university days; which caused me to drop out of my formal education stream, and head out on my own .
I came across this Meditation when my Freshman English instructor, at the end of that school year, gave me a (portable) copy of Donne's works.
Thank you, Barney. It saw me through many an up and down in my subsequent life.
There was a contention as far as a suit (in which, piety and dignity, religion and estimation, were mingled) which of the religious orders should ring to prayers first in the morning; and it was determined, that they should ring first that rose earliest. If we understand aright the dignity of this bell, that tolls for our evening prayer, we would be glad to make it ours, by rising early, in that application, that it might be ours as well as his, whose indeed it is. The bell doth toll for him, that thinks it doth; and though it intermit again, yet from that minute, that that occasion wrought upon him, he is united to God.* Who casts not up his eye to the sun when it rises? But who takes off his eye from a comet, when that breaks out? who bends not his ear to any bell, which upon any occasion rings? But who can remove it from that bell, which is passing a piece of himself out of this world?
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
Neither can we call this a begging of misery, or a borrowing of misery, as though we were not miserable enough of ourselves, but must fetch in more from the next house, in taking upon us the misery of our neighbors. Truly it were an excusable covetousness if we did; for affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it. No man hath afflicion enough, that is not matured and ripened by it, and made fit for God by that affliction. If a man carry treasure in bullion or in a wedge of gold, and have none coined into current moneys, his treasure will not defray him as he travels. Tribulation is treasure in the nature of it, but it is not current money in the use of it, except we get nearer and nearer our home, heaven, by it. Another may be sick too, and sick to death, and this affliction may lie in his bowels, as gold in a mine, and be of no use to him; but this bell that tells me of his affliction, digs out, and applies that gold to me: if by this consideration of another's danger, I take mine own into contemplation, and so secure myself, by making my recourse to my God, who is our only security.
* I typed this sentence out and carried it in my wallet for years and years. After a 'spiritual experience' that I had during my university days; which caused me to drop out of my formal education stream, and head out on my own .
I came across this Meditation when my Freshman English instructor, at the end of that school year, gave me a (portable) copy of Donne's works.
Thank you, Barney. It saw me through many an up and down in my subsequent life.
2) And I know that your'e 'supposed' to put the punctuation inside of the quote mark; but I have long chafed under that rule, and am hereby going to ignore it.
Watch it! The sky is falling!!
3) Sex seems to be something that you just 'do' here because it's the thing to do. Or was that just me…
I don't think so, because there is something 'formulaic' about it; as though the idea of merging one's energies/being with Another is great than the (human sexual) reality of it. Perhaps that is why so many people ultimately turn to drugs, for a high.
Hey - If you want to get really high……...
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I Fully Let Go
Of Everything
That Is No Longer
In Alignment
With My Highest &
Greatest Good.
This Release
Manifests Into
My Life With
Ease & Grace.
So be it.
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P.S. Interesting message from Hilarion this week in this whole regard.
I know, I know. But check it out anyway. It won't kill you; and it may well do you some good. To help you understand what may be going on with, and in, you…
…in these Interesting Times that we live in………
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P.S. Interesting message from Hilarion this week in this whole regard.
I know, I know. But check it out anyway. It won't kill you; and it may well do you some good. To help you understand what may be going on with, and in, you…
…in these Interesting Times that we live in………
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