" SpiritofSaltSpring:BC:Canada:GulfIslands:SaltSpring:Salt Spring:

June 19, 2008

Soul a la Mode


I was reading one of my favorite books that I haven't looked at or even thought about in about 12 years. A friend suggested I take a look at it again based on a conversation we were having. It's called Care of the Soul by Thomas Moore. It's fair to say Moore should know something about the soul because he lived as a monk in a Catholic religious order for 12 years.

In it there is a reference to the bardo state. It says that The Tibetan Book of the Dead describes this state as a time between incarnations; the period before the next birth. Bardo takes time, it can't be rushed. There's no point in premature birth.

That's where I feel I am at. It's why finding "a job" is not happening the way it should: with ease. There is no reason on the surface of my life why being employed should be a difficult thing for me at this point in time.

However, what is happening on the surface is insignificant in a way compared to what is happening deep down and that, in my own soul, I know is the real reason why this transition is becoming in the words of another friend "biblical" in nature; the stuff of Greek myths.

I have often been Saturn's child and Saturn according to Moore, locates identity deep in the soul rather than on the surface of personality. We know who we are because we have uncovered the stuff of which we are made, sifted out by melancholy or depressive thought and experiences then reduced to "essence".

This description makes so much sense to me at the moment. It's a time that stops in time. You are apart, separate, forced to look at what you have not looked at while your life has been light and happy, full of activity, purpose and the stuff of dailiness.

During those times things are going well and you no longer must think very deeply at all because there is no time, there is no need really and with ease all the right people and experiences are flowing towards you. It's good. It can't last long enough especially for one of Saturn's children. And, inevitably it never does even if years unfold and it seems like you'll never go to that place again. All your lessons have been conquered. Or so you were hoping.

This may not be true for everyone. Some might say, a consistency of spirit and a life of little reflection is part of their own dilemma even though, on the surface, there appears to be no dilemma at all.

Have they ever been forced to ask difficult questions; to move closer to their own essences in order to transition to that next place where there soul will not be completely abandoned, left to wait, feeling an opportunity has been lost even though, on the surface, where life gets measured by others, everything is going so well.

4 comments:

Ben Anderson said...

I sincerely loved your last post, Soul a la Mode. I'd never heard of the bardo state before. Thanks.

...here's one of Cat Stevens' beautiful lyrics from 1970

MILES FROM NOWHERE

Miles from nowhere
I guess I'll take my time
Oh yeah, to reach there

Look up at the mountain
I have to climb
Oh yeah, to reach there.

Lord my body has been a good friend
But I won't need it when I reach the end

Miles from nowhere
Guess I'll take my time
Oh yeah, to reach there

I creep through the valleys
And I grope through the woods
'cause I know when I find it my honey
It's gonna make me feel good

I love everything
So don't it make you feel sad
'cause I'll drink to you, my baby
I'll think to that, I'll think to that.

Miles from nowhere
Not a soul in sight
Oh yeah, but it's alright

I have my freedom
I can make my own rules
Oh yeah, the ones that I choose

Lord my body has been a good friend
But I won't need it when I reach the end

Miles from nowhere
I Guess I'll take my time
Oh yeah, to reach there.

Gayle Mavor said...

Beautiful! I used to listen to his Teaser and the Firecat album all the time when I was a teenager.

Ben Anderson said...

the timing of your post is wonderful as well, coming as it does one day after the full moon, and one day before the Summer Solstice

Ben Anderson said...

your reference to "this transition is becoming in the words of another friend 'biblical' in nature; the stuff of Greek myths." led me to revisit the last lines of the prayer of Saint Francis, which reads, "For it is by self-forgetting that one finds. It is by forgiving that one is forgiven. It is by dying that one awakes to eternal life." and from a black book entitled, "24 hours a Day" meditation for June 19..."Your real work in life is to grow spiritually. To do this you must follow the path of diligently seeking good. The hidden spiritual wonders are revealed to those who diligently seek this treasure. From one point to the next, you have to follow the way of obedience to God's will until finally you reach greater and greater spiritual heights. Work on the material plane should be secondary to your real life's work. The material things that you need most are those that help you to attain the spiritual."