Being, Itself, Is
We can feel Identified with Being
We can feel Alienated from Being
But, maybe, we are neither
Perhaps we are, rather, Connected to Being

For, in Identification, we learn of the Power of Being
For, in Alienation, we learn of our Love of Being
For identification gifts us with potency and effective strivings
For alienation gifts us with yearning and affective longings
But power without love is brutality
And love without power is sentimentality

In Perfect Being would reside Power and Love
Thus, Unconnected to Perfect Being,
We are brutality and sentimentality
Our logos, a noisy gong
Our eros, a clanging cymbal
Our ethos mere brute sentiment

And so, at the end of each day,
How have I been brutal?
How have I been sentimental?
When have I been connected?
And when disconnected?

And the Power of the Father
And the Love of the Spirit
Were embodied in the Son
And your body is the nexus
For the next Incarnation

And your soul will contain the love
And your spirit will contain the power
And your body will be
Your Holy Connection to Being, Itself
A living temple, so important,
That it will be resurrected one day
Glorified, but with
All the signs of its woundedness
All of its scars and memories
Of touch and taste and smell and sight and hearing
Worn as sacraments of transformation

For Love does not lead us away from problems
For Love is not our way out of difficulties
Those are sentimental notions
Love, rather, invites us into problems and difficulties
Such that in our passing through them
We are transformed into Love, Herself

And Power does not lead us to victory over problems
And Power does not lead us to victory over difficulties
Those are brute notions
Power, rather, will not turn stones to bread
Will not cut off the enemy�s ear
But will light our way through the valley of darkness
As the Word, as a lamp unto our feet and light unto our eyes

His Peace is not as the world gives
Neither is His power nor His love
He is not merely immanent
He is not merely transcendent
He is immanent-transcendent
We are to be neither identified with Him
Nor alienated from him
But connected to Him in the core of our being
Now, here, in love.

Sentimental Love is never now
But always in a longed for past or future
Seeking to be recovered or discovered
Brute Power is never here
But always lost, stolen or misplaced
Needing to be wrestled away from another

So much of our own daily walks
So much of the way of the world
Is brute sentimentality
Disguised as passive-aggressive manipulation and control
Forcing our way on others, insidiously and craftily
With conniving and cunning, so well entrenched through habit
As to be carried out even unawares and in need of being called out
Into the Lamp Light of His Word which is a Powerful two-edged Sword

So much of our own daily walks
So much of the way of the world
Is brute sentimentality
Not at all disguised efforts at manipulation and control
Forcing our way on others, overtly and blatantly
With intimidation and aggression, so well entrenched through habit
As to be carried out even unawares and in need of being called out
Into the Lamp Light of His Word which is a Powerful two-edged Sword

So much of our own daily walks
So much of the way of the world
Can be an Incarnational Realization
Not at all disguised efforts
Not seeking control
Not forcing our way on others
So well entrenched through habit and virtue
As to be carried out even unawares
For God�s Gift, the Holy Spirit
Does not want you to be afraid
Is not a spirit of timidity
But of Power and Love and SELF-control

This is my processing of my reflections on Richard Rohr's "In Search of the Holy Grail". [although some of this won't resemble what he said but is my abstruse extrapolation]
jb

Speaking of Music: Check Out My Brother's Songs

JB, I enjoyed your reflection. Must have been an inspired time for you.

Help me understand some of your points in the first four paragraphs. There seem to be references to ontological union and mystical union, but I'm not sure where you're applying the "disconnect." Obviously, it cannot be in reference to our ontological connection with God, or else we would disappear if that one were lost. If you're referring to spiritual/mystical grace, however, I would agree that we can lose that through neglect of the relationship, in which case we can actually feel alienated even while being connected in a natural, ontological way.

I've enjoyed listening to Fr. Rohr and reading some of his books. Often, however, I find him speaking more as a poet without giving sufficient attention to the philosophical implications of what he says. Still, there's no doubting the relevance of the insights he/you provide concerning the "two ways." Good food for discerning movements in the heart.

Phil

Thesis: It is the Incarnation which overcame the Adamic Fall and prevents humanity from being mere sentimental brutes. The disconnect may come about several ways (since it's a poem) - I was musing on a couple of levels: 1) Lack of cooperation with the Grace of the Incarnation (lack of realization) and also 2) Lack of awareness of both immanence AND transcendence. I was thus also taking a back-handed swipe at pantheism. Of course, I agree with you and Juan de la Cruz who insisted our connection to God remains even when we are not in the state of Grace. Rather than nuance it heavily, I left room for interpretation and exegesis, but you already know, of course, whether I am an epistemic and/or ontological dualist, emergent monist, nonreductive physicalist, materialist monist, aspect monist, pantheist, panentheist, ontological reductionist, dipolar monist, panexperientialist, or adherent of ontological emergence and/or process metaphysics.

Pax tibi,
jb

but you already know, of course, whether I am an epistemic and/or ontological dualist, emergent monist, nonreductive physicalist, materialist monist, aspect monist, pantheist, panentheist, ontological reductionist, dipolar monist, panexperientialist, or adherent of ontological emergence and/or process metaphysics

Showoff!

Yeah, I do know, just wanting you to take a turn on the theology podium, that's all.

Phil