Tuesday, August 03, 2004
Greeting Ra
Recently, I was at an organizational meeting for a small group of women who are planning to meet informally from time to time to enjoy mutual spiritual support. Some felt we should begin by setting a clear intention and then describing how we would achieve it. Some felt we should define aims and means. Then it was suggested that it might be useful for each of us to start with the phrase, "My intention for this group is," and then to finish with whatever came up. Immediately, the following came into my head:
"My intention is to have no intention. My goal is to have no goal. My aim is to forego all aims. I wish to be a seed dropped from above, taking root where it falls, not certain of its true identity until it blossoms in due season."
Of course, such a philosophy ("the path is the goal") may work better at my stage of life than for a twenty or thirty-year old just beginning the journey. And perhaps some guidelines or general outlines are needed for a group effort.
But, for me, detailed life plans and extensive lists of intended accomplishments have proved futile, since those events which most shaped my experience have frequently come unexpectedly, without design or forewarning. True, I often found that I had unknowingly prepared for the new revelation or unexpected opportunity, sometimes for years. But there was simply no way I could have imagined the form it would take. It often felt as though a "hidden script" unfolded at the propitious moment, bringing a fortuitous meeting or a chance confluence of circumstances which totallly altered the course of my life. Who can predict the moment a stranger may appear who totally chages everything? Who could arrange the precise pattern of events which brings transformation?
Today, when I wanted to locate an appropriate passage to quote for this entry, I stood at my bookshelf, opened a volume, and my eye fell on these paragraphs from "Awakening Osiris: The Egyptian Book of the Dead," translated by Normandi Ellis. This magnificent book is an eloquent, delightfully poetic work, which I read frequently for the beauty of its language and the deep profoundity of its text.
" This day I am with you. Stabbed by the light of the great mind I wake. The sun crests the hill and the hawk, according to a higher will, whirls and circumscribes day. I am called from my house. I shuffle sand underfoot, but my heart leaps. I open, am pierced by light. A cry escapes my lips. I know not what I say; it is the language of soul beneath skin, the song of birds in acacia trees.
Beautiful is the golden seed from which the corn arises; beautiful the sun on the hill from which springs god's day. My body nourishes some unfolding time and purpose. I shine bronze as Hathor's mirror. My heart lifts like the sun. Passion and power quiver on the land, casting long shadows."
from "Awakening Osiris," tr. Normandie Ellis
"My intention is to have no intention. My goal is to have no goal. My aim is to forego all aims. I wish to be a seed dropped from above, taking root where it falls, not certain of its true identity until it blossoms in due season."
Of course, such a philosophy ("the path is the goal") may work better at my stage of life than for a twenty or thirty-year old just beginning the journey. And perhaps some guidelines or general outlines are needed for a group effort.
But, for me, detailed life plans and extensive lists of intended accomplishments have proved futile, since those events which most shaped my experience have frequently come unexpectedly, without design or forewarning. True, I often found that I had unknowingly prepared for the new revelation or unexpected opportunity, sometimes for years. But there was simply no way I could have imagined the form it would take. It often felt as though a "hidden script" unfolded at the propitious moment, bringing a fortuitous meeting or a chance confluence of circumstances which totallly altered the course of my life. Who can predict the moment a stranger may appear who totally chages everything? Who could arrange the precise pattern of events which brings transformation?
Today, when I wanted to locate an appropriate passage to quote for this entry, I stood at my bookshelf, opened a volume, and my eye fell on these paragraphs from "Awakening Osiris: The Egyptian Book of the Dead," translated by Normandi Ellis. This magnificent book is an eloquent, delightfully poetic work, which I read frequently for the beauty of its language and the deep profoundity of its text.
" This day I am with you. Stabbed by the light of the great mind I wake. The sun crests the hill and the hawk, according to a higher will, whirls and circumscribes day. I am called from my house. I shuffle sand underfoot, but my heart leaps. I open, am pierced by light. A cry escapes my lips. I know not what I say; it is the language of soul beneath skin, the song of birds in acacia trees.
Beautiful is the golden seed from which the corn arises; beautiful the sun on the hill from which springs god's day. My body nourishes some unfolding time and purpose. I shine bronze as Hathor's mirror. My heart lifts like the sun. Passion and power quiver on the land, casting long shadows."
from "Awakening Osiris," tr. Normandie Ellis
