Monday, April 25, 2011

The Mystic Path: Illumination

Illumination is the third stage of the path of the mystic. According to Evelyn Underhill to "see God in nature" and be conscious of the "otherness" of natural things is the most common form of illumination. Beauty inspires illumination and the state of illumination results in the expression of love and rapture, such as one finds in mystical poetry.


Poets such as William Blake, John Keats, Rumi, Hafiz and in my opinion, Mary Oliver share with us the discoveries they make when they feel close to the Divine. The artistic form is the best way to communicate the goodness, truth and beauty that the mystic is opened to in the state of illumination.

The following poems/extracts illustrate this for me.

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty, that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
John Keats

"To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour."
William Blake 

The beauty of the heart
is the lasting beauty:
its lips give to drink
of the water of life.
Truly it is the water,
that which pours,
and the one who drinks.
All three become one when 
your talisman is shattered.
That oneness you can't know
by reasoning.
Rumi

"I tell you this
to break your heart,
by which I mean only
that it break open and never close again
to the rest of the world."
Mary Oliver

And as I let my SoulCollage® card speak to me, it says:

I am the one who receives illumination into my very core.
I am the one who basks in the light shining down on me.
I am the one who feeds on the beauty of the world around me.
I am the one who is infused with the pure joy of existence.

What poems remind you of your connectedness to All Life, a connectedness that makes you feel fully alive?

3 comments:

Joanne Huffman said...

[in Just]
By E. E. Cummings

in Just-
spring when the world is mud-
luscious the little
lame balloonman

whistles far and wee

and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer
old balloonman whistles
far and wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

it's
spring
and

the

goat-footed

balloonMan whistles
far
and
wee

Catherine Anderson said...

Joanne, I just love the phrase "the world is puddle-wonderful"! Thank you for sharing this poem.

Air Fryer Recipes said...

Interestingg read