My Relationship with Man

 

Wishing to grow closer to me,

One asked of me a name.

And in naming me I AM,

Distinguished me, and,

In distinguishing me,

Pushed me away.

Alienated from the hearts of man,

I became an “other.”

All seeing, all knowing,

Everywhere present and all powerful.

I inspired awe, and

Men learned to fear me.

In their awe and in their fear, they

Dared not call my name but

Abasing themselves and

Averting their eyes, they

Called me Father, they

Called me Lord.

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Fearing me, man held me away. Yet,

Hearing my voice rising

From within his own heart,

Man wanted me near.

Wanting me near,

Man sorrowed for the divide

He had created between us.

Man’s fear brought suffering;

Man’s want brought sorrow.

In their suffering and in their sorrow,

Again … and again … they reached out to me.

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At once the substance of both

Man’s body, and man’s mind,

I am also the spirit that

Dwells in man’s heart.

That which separates man from the beasts,

That which makes man human, is not that

He is both flesh and spirit,

For all living things are in this alike.

What makes him fully human,

What separates man from all other life,

Is his capacity for knowing that

This is the case.

Present in every man,

I am as much his birthright as his flesh.

To some, I am silent;

To others, I come as a shout and a scream.

However loudly my voice is heard,

However clearly my meaning understood,

To that extent does spirit rule the flesh.

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A primacy of flesh and

One is dead to spirit and

The body is a tomb;

An abundance of spirit, and

One is alive to me and

The body is a temple.

Tomb or temple, the body,

Like the grass that withers or the vapor that

Floats away on the breeze,

Returns, in the end, from whence it came, and

Spirit returns to me.

Present in every man and

In every man the same,

Spirit is as much man’s birthright as flesh.

The end to which human life aspires is,

Through growth to spirit,

Union with me and freedom

From life’s suffering.

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Present in every heart,

Spirit is as much man’s birthright as flesh.

Neither by ceremony instilled,

Nor gifted from without,

I am an ember buried deep within man’s heart,

My light and my heat hidden beneath

A fleshy body and a lifetime of experience –

The dispositions that create men’s Selves.

Buried deep within man’s heart, my heat

Can be brought to flame

By the breezes of life’s experience or

By the breath of a guiding spirit.

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Present in every man and

In every man the same,

Spirit is as much man’s birthright as flesh.

What makes man human is not that

He is both flesh and spirit,

For all living things are in this way alike.

What makes man human

Is his capacity for knowing that

This is the case.

To know of spirit opens the door

To man’s humanity.

To know, however, is not to believe.

To believe is to

Walk through that door and,

Reflecting on body and mind,

Be certain there is more.