May 2024
"What sweet love remembered brings" ~t.
When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes, I all alone beweep my outcast state, And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, And look upon myself and curse my fate, Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, Featured like him, like him with friends possessed, Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope, With what I most enjoy contented least; Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, Haply I think on thee, and then my state, (Like to the lark at break of day arising From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate; For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings That then I scorn to change my state with kings. |
One of the most beloved sonnets in the Shakespeare canon, its enduring saliency proves useful for readers of any epoch, particularly one as bewildering as this. We are living through yet another period seeking the wholesale denigration of humankind so that, the opening of this sonnet describes what so many are experiencing right now as characters are impugned and villianized in an attempt to annihilate they who represent common sense and fairness; who stand, in spite of fear, against the tyranny of the minority. A price is to be paid by joining the allegiance of defiant autonomy, is being paid by most regardless of political persuasion both pecuniarily and in an also dwindling quality of life. There is a shared bereavement resulting from estrangement; an ostracization replete with anger shame and shunning, but, either side of this schism creates isolation. Whether one is activated into ignorant duplicity, creating as much strife within as havoc without; or one who recognizes manufactured manipulation, mourns its devastation and toll, yet is unable to conquer the resulting hydra of bitterness and fixation on apocalyptic outcomes, both rely on the external world for behavioral cues and responses. We must be braver - escape & distractions are outlets of the past - the world will continue to compress its citizens into increasing confinement & a choice must be made. "We cannot solve our problems by using the same thinking when we created them." ~Einstein
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As the juggernaut of unspeakable unfairness sustains its crushing of the collective, the individual's crucible will be transfigured into enlightenment or bear down with incomprehensible magnitude as the pernicious source transfers to the intimate enemy who knows better than any how to keep us small. The forsakenness of the moment may cast a spell but it is one whose incantation must be recited daily to take effect. This unremitting peremptory castigation of self, of life itself, is so inverted in nature, so pathetically human attempting to exert control or punishment (commensurate with whatever deficiencies we hold so dear and without question!) but, we see that it works - the Law works - chained in a prison of your own making, you also will free yourself! Grace and dignity through Love is both key and key directive to claiming that power for good to use on your own terms for once!
To reject confusion as reality requires enough inner discourse that one can readily invite both divinity and equanimity to the party - at will - and who else? Support is crucial to survival and time a precious commodity. When spent on depth time predisposes fewer friends with much deeper bonds. The soul genuinely and volitionally progressing should seek comrades of the same stratum, however, those meant to be in your orbit will remain. We wish fond farewells and bonhomie to the past, to all who've moved on and those we've moved beyond. Never envy others, wishing to be "featured like him, like him with friends possessed." It's similarly inane to covet another's "scope" or "art" as we could no more trade ours for theirs than we could our friendships. Your level of awareness is yours and the particulars and details of your specific life are UNIQUE unto you, no path exact to another but manifested individually piece by evolutionary piece.
Long for greater understanding? Now's the time to get it. Wish for better skill or to gain new ones? Earn it/them. The rhythmic flow of the universe has music which enchants as you're engaged so enjoy, let go, trust! This is your promised land and noble betrothal arranged since before birth. You and Creation have vowed to one another to bring into being an already perfect being (YOU!) through the infallible process of perfecting - which can be quite messy with many "failures" - the worse being our inability to forgive them. (For those needing clarification, perfection and stagnation have nothing whatever to do with each other.)
Concisely sonnet 29 paints a portrait of self-inflicted ailments in shades of self-pity, public rejection, self-beratement blaming in anger everyone, everything; frustration issuing useless prayers, searing accusations of weakness with shame acutely felt. The lie of powerlessness takes hold and seeing no end nor out, the struggle is damned along with the man. Surely, the onslaught provokes, others are more endowed and capable we goad viciously, reinforcing one's exceptional ineptitude and inherent unlovability due to fecklessness, flaws. We sneer (without remotest compunction) falling short yet again. The peak of dejection occurs when the land of derision is visited so vigorously and convincedly that meager gifts & once marvelous ones, great loves and talents all are eclipsed in totality, denied in the maelstrom of self-disgust.
MUCH OF THE aforementioned misery is occurring by design and an opportunity is being presented to surpass the invasion of doom and evolve past the existence once accepted as acted upon victim of vicissitudes, jerked about and controlled, trained to fight by a cooing sinister master you subconsciously wish to please. Relent of this madness! The soul can never be content serving what also defeats it and here is the appropriate place to consider stagnation: There's no safety in staying the same, waiting for rescue, an ideal circumstance or idolized hero to save you from the mess you've created. To actually find out, once and for all, you're more than enough to face, understand, & overcome is a reward worth discovering & fighting for in a time demanding you either do so, or be done for.
Then, with dexterity, a loophole! From estrangement to elation, snap! - just like that. What super dope baller power is this? A bird? A plane? What, with such swiftness and ease, could so indemnify the profane? Suddenly and happily a spark of reversal begins its ascent from prolonged pageant of obdurate suffering to recollected enduring glory soaring with indomitable love filled of bliss and grace! To say this state exists right alongside you (and within you right now) cannot describe its actual closeness. To say the chronic heartache of your life is perpetuated by your denial of this force does not justify your unfair adjudications executed vilely, aggrievedly borne. "Thee" with a capital "T" is a love so great (greater than we know) that only with awe can we accept it and kneeling in the dirt of "sullen earth" we rise like the lark anew to be joined with the source of all without which we are nothing.
We claim our victory by claiming our right to this universal power and in doing so are no longer separate but whole - part of the merriest of bands - rather than maudlin soloists in a cacophonous din of confusion obfuscating everything with our understanding of nothing. There's no negotiation in this void, only loss and to lose, but, the truth of who we are: The divine sacrosanct reality can, in an instant, revive us from death as heaven's gates are flung open as the entrance to life, life, life everyday! We are creative forces backed devotedly by omnipotence with magnificent gentleness. Recalling this we no longer tarry with the world but embody spiritual riches alighting with reverent thrill in the sacred gift of OUR individual life.
With hallowed humility bow your head if better off than those still clinging to deceit as though it were true (who Herodotus spoke of through chagrin, "There is nothing more foolish, nothing more given to outrage than a useless mob"), while the true God of grace steadfastly awaits our indubitable homecoming, resplendent in celebration at the knowledge of our return! The devilish trap of ignorance & arrogance no longer drains all preciousness as we break free. Your spiritual heritage, ancient, auspicious, beckons you wake from the dream of disillusionment & waken to the certainty of Love! elementally composing your being, comprising whence & wherefore we came & shall go forth, in which we may resolutely trust and abide in exaltation; where - when we remember - all is made whole again. ~t.
To reject confusion as reality requires enough inner discourse that one can readily invite both divinity and equanimity to the party - at will - and who else? Support is crucial to survival and time a precious commodity. When spent on depth time predisposes fewer friends with much deeper bonds. The soul genuinely and volitionally progressing should seek comrades of the same stratum, however, those meant to be in your orbit will remain. We wish fond farewells and bonhomie to the past, to all who've moved on and those we've moved beyond. Never envy others, wishing to be "featured like him, like him with friends possessed." It's similarly inane to covet another's "scope" or "art" as we could no more trade ours for theirs than we could our friendships. Your level of awareness is yours and the particulars and details of your specific life are UNIQUE unto you, no path exact to another but manifested individually piece by evolutionary piece.
Long for greater understanding? Now's the time to get it. Wish for better skill or to gain new ones? Earn it/them. The rhythmic flow of the universe has music which enchants as you're engaged so enjoy, let go, trust! This is your promised land and noble betrothal arranged since before birth. You and Creation have vowed to one another to bring into being an already perfect being (YOU!) through the infallible process of perfecting - which can be quite messy with many "failures" - the worse being our inability to forgive them. (For those needing clarification, perfection and stagnation have nothing whatever to do with each other.)
Concisely sonnet 29 paints a portrait of self-inflicted ailments in shades of self-pity, public rejection, self-beratement blaming in anger everyone, everything; frustration issuing useless prayers, searing accusations of weakness with shame acutely felt. The lie of powerlessness takes hold and seeing no end nor out, the struggle is damned along with the man. Surely, the onslaught provokes, others are more endowed and capable we goad viciously, reinforcing one's exceptional ineptitude and inherent unlovability due to fecklessness, flaws. We sneer (without remotest compunction) falling short yet again. The peak of dejection occurs when the land of derision is visited so vigorously and convincedly that meager gifts & once marvelous ones, great loves and talents all are eclipsed in totality, denied in the maelstrom of self-disgust.
MUCH OF THE aforementioned misery is occurring by design and an opportunity is being presented to surpass the invasion of doom and evolve past the existence once accepted as acted upon victim of vicissitudes, jerked about and controlled, trained to fight by a cooing sinister master you subconsciously wish to please. Relent of this madness! The soul can never be content serving what also defeats it and here is the appropriate place to consider stagnation: There's no safety in staying the same, waiting for rescue, an ideal circumstance or idolized hero to save you from the mess you've created. To actually find out, once and for all, you're more than enough to face, understand, & overcome is a reward worth discovering & fighting for in a time demanding you either do so, or be done for.
Then, with dexterity, a loophole! From estrangement to elation, snap! - just like that. What super dope baller power is this? A bird? A plane? What, with such swiftness and ease, could so indemnify the profane? Suddenly and happily a spark of reversal begins its ascent from prolonged pageant of obdurate suffering to recollected enduring glory soaring with indomitable love filled of bliss and grace! To say this state exists right alongside you (and within you right now) cannot describe its actual closeness. To say the chronic heartache of your life is perpetuated by your denial of this force does not justify your unfair adjudications executed vilely, aggrievedly borne. "Thee" with a capital "T" is a love so great (greater than we know) that only with awe can we accept it and kneeling in the dirt of "sullen earth" we rise like the lark anew to be joined with the source of all without which we are nothing.
We claim our victory by claiming our right to this universal power and in doing so are no longer separate but whole - part of the merriest of bands - rather than maudlin soloists in a cacophonous din of confusion obfuscating everything with our understanding of nothing. There's no negotiation in this void, only loss and to lose, but, the truth of who we are: The divine sacrosanct reality can, in an instant, revive us from death as heaven's gates are flung open as the entrance to life, life, life everyday! We are creative forces backed devotedly by omnipotence with magnificent gentleness. Recalling this we no longer tarry with the world but embody spiritual riches alighting with reverent thrill in the sacred gift of OUR individual life.
With hallowed humility bow your head if better off than those still clinging to deceit as though it were true (who Herodotus spoke of through chagrin, "There is nothing more foolish, nothing more given to outrage than a useless mob"), while the true God of grace steadfastly awaits our indubitable homecoming, resplendent in celebration at the knowledge of our return! The devilish trap of ignorance & arrogance no longer drains all preciousness as we break free. Your spiritual heritage, ancient, auspicious, beckons you wake from the dream of disillusionment & waken to the certainty of Love! elementally composing your being, comprising whence & wherefore we came & shall go forth, in which we may resolutely trust and abide in exaltation; where - when we remember - all is made whole again. ~t.
