>

Thursday, April 24, 2025

Alain Joly - The Possibility We Are In

 



Whatever there is is God’s presence felt. And whatever we may feel of God’s presence, is what there is here and now, including what exists and appears. It is all here for our recollecting, all here that we can be and be god like. Every experience that we may have, every sorrow and every joy, every fear or trust, every ugly or beautiful appearance, is felt and seen because of our being first. To watch anything is to be watched in return by a presence watching. We can make ourself disappear in it, and be without a self, without the self we have always known and colluded with. And we can share of that impersonal, infinite being that is not ours, but that we can be and embrace as our own. So ‘I am’ is the secret door opener within us, that will give us the world we are in. We will have an aggrandised property, or a world made of the very size of ourself, infinite, manageable, and towards which our being may shine a benevolent beam of light and peace. That I feel is a possibility.

The world will have its secret identity disclosed to us. And we too will have our secret identity revealed. Both being made one, and ourself being of it. Others will cease being others. They will join us as that shared one being. There won’t be any jealousy or comparison, but a rejoicing in and as that oneness felt. Our fate and destiny will be contained inside us, within our own being. There won’t be a time to hope for, or a place to fail in, or a self to mess up. There won’t be a fear of tomorrow, or a regret of yesterday, for both will have merged in and as the being that we are. Time and place will have come to be only convenience. And our very being will have come to be the time and place we are in. That too is a possibility.

The knowing of our own being will have come to be our only experience. The many will have shrunk into the one, and the infinite will have subdued our senses, and made itself seen, heard, touched, and contained within our experience. Happiness will cease being a temporary achievement, and will become the flavour of our shared being with people and things. We will have joy woven into every single corner of our life. That’s the possibility we have at hand.

Movement will be seen as the manifold expression of stillness, and silence recognised as the only component of our living symphony. Turmoil will be felt as this last bit of ourself that we have yet to embrace — not something to be afraid of, but an opportunity that we welcome. We have to see this as a possibility.

So this life is the garden of Eden we once extricated ourself from, but have in fact never left otherwise than in our imagination. And love is not an occasional encounter, but the very air we take our breath from. I’m just throwing the possibility in the air.

Now we recognise after all, that the being of God is what we are — the possibility we are in, without there being a God or a ‘we’.




from




Wednesday, April 23, 2025

Yunus Emre - Let's go to the Friend

 


Let's be companions, the two of us.
     Let's go to the Friend, my soul.

Let's be close intimates, the two of us.
     Lets go to the Friend, my soul.

Let's go before this life is over,
Before our bodies disappear,
Before enemies come between us --

     Let's go to the Friend, my soul.

Come on, let's go. Don't remain alone.
Let's be a chisel in the Friend's hand.
The only stop will be our sheikh's station.

     The only stop will be our sheikh's station.

Let's leave our towns and cities
and gladly suffer for the Friend.
Let's wrap our arms around our Beloved's waist.

     Let's go to the Friend, my soul.

Let's not be bewildered by the world.
Let's not be cheated by its sudden dying.
Let's not sit together never touching.

     Let's go to the Friend, my soul.

Let's give up this transient world
and fly to the lasting land of the Friend.
Let's give up all the playthings of the nafs.

     Let's go to the Friend, my soul.

Be a guide to me on this journey.
Let's set our destination at the Friend,
Not thinking where we begin or end.

     Let's go to the Friend, my soul.

This world isn't everlasting.
With eyes half-open it is tempting.
Be a companion of lovers and a lover.

     Let's go to the Friend, my soul.

Before the news of death reaches us,
Before the hour when he grabs us by the collar,
Before Azrail makes his sudden move,

     Let's go to the Friend, my soul.

Let's arrive at the Divine Truth
and inquire there about Reality.

 Let's take Yunus Emre with us---
and go to the Friend, my soul.




English version by Jennifer Ferraro & Latif Bolat
Original Language Turkish