In the world are many things,
some pleasant,
others very repulsive;
There is human warmth,
and demonic cold heartedness,
and some who are indifferent;
Empathy and compassion
exist along side
hearts and minds armored,
dead to the pain of others.
Those who flee from pain
and then others who love to inflict it;
Good mothers,
hateful moms,
protecting fathers
and dad’s who abuse without mercy;
Poor and rich,
ugly and beautiful
and most of us in between,
though it is very true,
“that beauty is in the eye of the beholder”.
Inner beauty
and outer,
some faces glow
others are pinched;
for life can seem to be without mercy
or regard to what we want,
desire, or care for.
Some believe and others do not,
for both perhaps
their way is obvious;
if only those ‘others’ would simply
open their minds.
It is a dance I guess,
though often one of pain,
making one to forget better times;
If it is not one thing
it is another,
pleasure alternates with suffering,
good health
becomes bad on a dime,
one moment alive
and the next dead.
No wonder many don’t want to think about it;
the loneliness that seems to be the lot
of all Earth’s children,
who are both blessed
and at times perhaps also cursed
with self awareness;
(though all in all it is a true blessing I believe),
Memories of things past,
once loved now gone forever,
and the fear
of what ones imagines for the future.
We have hearts that the finite cannot seem to fill;
for we love and often it shows us deeper longings,
that finite humans cannot quench;
though human love is a great boon.
Will that longing one day be satisfied,
will the infinite fill the finite,
the universal heart
enter into the intimacy of each man and women’s’
inner chamber?
That source of human longing and suffering,
each hidden from the other
though we can stand face to face?
A vast inner desert awaiting
God’s healing touch
that will seduce the soul into infinite ecstasy.
Perhaps then,
(well maybe not),
this dance of ‘opposing’
will be understood
and even stopped.
My mind cannot grasp such a thing,
yet faith hopes in all things,
and love simply trust.
Br. Mark Dohle
Holy Spirit Monastery
It is a life long journey to seek wholeness. Without paradox there would be no need of faith.
As Esther de Waal states in “Liviing with Contradiction” We descend by exaltation and
ascend by humility. Living with paradox, contrasting forces is also a vehicle for expressing
truths. We believe in ;
A God who becomes man.
A victor Who rides on a donkey.
A Saviour who is executed like some common thief.
A King whos` kingdom is not here but to come.
A God who tells me when I am weak I am strong.
A God who tells me that in losing my life I shal find it.
It ends when we become one in the loving embrace of our Creator.
Tom Trotter