Light among the Lilies

Dark Night of the Soul**

On a dark night, Kindled in love with yearnings

-- oh, happy chance! --

I went forth without being observed,

My house being now at rest.

In darkness and secure,

By the secret ladder, disguised

-- oh, happy chance! --

In darkness and in concealment,

My house being now at rest.

In the happy night,

In secret, when none saw me,

Nor I beheld aught,

Without light or guide, save that which burned in my heart.

This light guided me

More surely than the light of noonday,

To the place where he (well I knew who!) was awaiting me

-- A place where none appeared.

Oh, night that guided me,

Oh, night more lovely than the dawn,

Oh, night that joined Beloved with lover,

Lover transformed in the Beloved!

Upon my flowery breast,

Kept wholly for himself alone,

There he stayed sleeping, and I caressed him,

And the fanning of the cedars made a breeze.

The breeze blew from the turret

As I parted his locks;

With his gentle hand he wounded my neck

And caused all my senses to be suspended.

I remained, lost in oblivion;

My face I reclined on the Beloved.

All ceased and I abandoned myself,

Leaving my cares forgotten among the lilies.

Spring is in her full blown glory today, the First of May, softly and elegantly allowing springtime lovers to emerge from a long dark night of winter. There is new life everywhere, mama and papa Canada geese nudging and protecting their fluffy down goslings, a symphony of bird song resounding among the fragrant dogwood and magnolia trees, and even a tiny tribe of baby rabbits engaged in a round dance. All of life is in love today, even the cherry blossoms are bigger and brighter.  


While the love between two human beings is gorgeous, what would love between a human being and God be like?  Even more gorgeous, a stirring unlike anything else and a sweetness that nothing else could ever mirror or imitate. The best marriage would be between two who are also in love with the great Beloved. 


In St. John of the Cross's mystical theology, we are called away from all attachments and cares into that divine love affair.  This life that we have right now - this daily grind - is only the reflection, not the real thing.  The paintings of water lilies by Monet are especially awesome in Monet's awareness of light and reflection on water.  He must have been well aware of St. John's Dark Night poetry.  Maybe Monet also left his cares "forgotten among the lilies," and then was able to draw from a deeper, now clearer, well of the divine, in order to create such magnificent spirituality on canvas.


In that creativity, we are like God.  Another St. John quotes Jesus, in the Gospel of John 10:34, "Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?" 


While Jesus is not admonishing us as sinners, he is calling us to leave behind, "forgotten among the lilies," the false images of non-reality, the things and  memories of them that we have done that cloud our vision, drown our light, dim our own magnificence and power and gorgeous divinity, which when combined with our human passion, lift us up into the most beautiful of God's creation.


St. John of the Cross's theology calls us to detach completely from all the cares of our lives - all of them - including looking for that illusive job - or whatever, and enter into a state of oblivion, where God has access to our souls, merging with us, transforming our earthen nature into divine nature.  It is only this way, that we can attain our "god" state, that Jesus talks about in the gospel. This way, and I truly believe only this way, can we realize our innate power and light and miracle-making.


What if from the beginning, the church taught us that we were divine, rather than sinners?  What if we grew up knowing that we were loved, rather than punished?  What if we learned how to meditate and enter into mystical contemplation rather than learning a book of rote prayers?  What if we really believed that we had this gorgeous divinity within our human souls? What if we really knew our true selves, rather than these dim mirrors we think are us?


"When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living Father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty." Gospel of Thomas vs. 3


I wonder what our lives would be like now if the church had not inflicted on us centuries of sin indoctrination?  What if we had always known who we really are?  What if we had left our cares among the lilies and worshipped in the light of truth, rather than dwell upon the dark images cast  from shadows passing over us? I can only imagine how different and wonderful the world would be today if we had learned His message correctly from the beginning.


*  Photo:  Memories of a water lily's dream by Joel Olives from http://www.photographyblogger.net/35-beautiful-water-lily-pictures/

**This mystical poem, Dark Night of the Soul, from "Ascent of Mt. Carmel," was written by St. John of the Cross, between  1578 and 1579 in Granada, Spain, after his escape from prison.