An extra bit to share

In these last days of Lent...

As I wrote yesterday, this week in the sauna, I reread Cynthia Bourgeault’s Eye of the Heart (for the third but really "first" time).

The chapter What Are We Here For? rang out in a very different way.

Particularly:

For God so loved the world…

“Only when love enters the constructal givens of this world, and encounters the constrictions of choice, finality, separation, tragedy, betrayal, and heartbreak do its most tender and exquisite facets begin to emerge- qualities such as steadfastness, tenderness, commitment, forbearance, fidelity, and forgiveness. These mature and subtle flavours of love make no sense in a world where everything simply flows.”

Today, it feels right (even important) to share my song When Love Meets Dust, in this last week of Lent. It was written on the day that Valentine's Day landed on Ash Wednesday... if ever there was a day to work with the paradox of love and suffering.

In the video, I play a rocker, a roman, and a magdalene. The very precious Rocker knows something isn't right, and rebels, usually to the point of addiction or self-inflicted abuse and relational dysfunction. The Roman fits in more respectably with civilization and some aspect of service, but still hasn't worked out an alignment, to move that Eros beyond the allure of consuming and gaining, mostly for her self. (And interestingly between the two, the rocker's heart is less dissociated... less "gated"). The Magdalene holds the resurrection egg at her heart, and in her other hand, she holds the mysterious wellspring, that requires great courage to tend and protect.

And of course neither the rocker nor the roman are erased, but instead, are brought in and matured. (For example, when I first began as a recording artist one reviewer remarked that I had the "exuberance of a young colt", and as time continued, another reviewer in Ireland said, "she is maturing like a fine malt"). The raw material is transfigured, not merely taught to "behave". Without them, there would be no transfiguration at all.

And let's face it, we could all use a bit of exuberance in these days.

I will admit, my rocker has a bit of a childish retort to the "Common Father" when she sings "you sowed this flame inside of us, we are what happens, when love meets dust". In other words... she has been shamed for that Eros that hits her so hard through the music, through her heart for people who suffer, and is transferring a bit of responsibility for her wildfires, onto that surging energy itself.

But as Cynthia said so beautifully "no, the pathway toward real love, not this crazy craving stuff, lies in the opposite direction." Shifting that sly resentment toward "lessening the sorrow" has been very helpful, and could very well be what is needed for the evolution of Creativity.

As we continue to feel so strongly, the withholding energy of the keys to our great mystery, held in a closed system many of us are not welcome to enter, may we find courage, to tend to that wellspring that continues to be pushed further underground. I will be working with that alabaster jar you see in the video, toward this end, especially during Holy Week, and have hope that the resurrection egg will draw to the surface new and blessed quenching configurations.