The Renunciant

 

Present I am in every man,

And in every man the same;

For spirit is as much his birthright

As flesh.

Hearing my whispers deep in their hearts,

My devotees come to me

By addition, putting me on

As a coat of wool or a suit of armor, and

In my embrace they find comfort and hope.

Others come to me by subtraction,

Removing the ash from their lives and

Allowing the ember of spirit within their hearts

To glow and eventually to flame.

Aware of my presence not by whisperings but

By a roaring in their hearts that robs the world

Of all other sound, these,

My renunciants,

They are closest to me.

--- *** ---

In the beginning,

That man might know me

And in knowing, share,

It was asked of me a name.

Nameless, I could but describe my nature, and

Through the dispositions of my prophet,

I was heard to say:

I AM WHO I AM.

I AM WHO IS.

I AM.

I AM BEING.

I AM ALL THAT IS.

--- *** ---

A name not really a name,

From the beginning a mystery

Beyond understanding, or

Rather a puzzle impossible to solve; or

Not a puzzle impossible to solve, but

A truth impossible to accept.

It has long been taught that

I alone have true being, that

I exist beyond reason,

In and for myself – that

Only I AM.

Acting on dispositions that have shaped lives

Stronger in flesh than in spirit, my

Devotees pull back from the precipice –

Avoiding the truth that,

If only I AM, then

Man IS not –

The truth that

Man, himself, is without true being.

Do not believe that

It is out of weakness

That my devotees

Cannot take this further step.

As they walk the path determined by

The dispositions of their lives, they

Hear my voice but, mistaking its source,

Believe that I am outside them, that

I am an “other.”

--- *** ---

Do not believe that

It is by greater courage

That my renunciants take the further step, for

They are not brave.

As they walk the path determined by

The dispositions of their lives,

My renunciants are deaf to

All but the sound of my voice.

My renunciants hear only that

I AM WHO I AM.

I AM WHO IS.

I AM.

I AM BEING.

I AM ALL THAT IS.

--- *** ---

Hearing that I am all that is,

My renunciants understand that

That includes man –

All men – non-believers, devotees, and

Renunciants alike –

Man is also in me.

For I AM.

I am Being itself.

--- *** ---

Dear to me are my devotees, for

Acting on dispositions that

Have shaped their lives, and

In awe of my strength and

In fear of my power, they

Abase themselves before me.

Following the instruction of their elders and

The model of the saints,

They obey my admonitions and

In pleasing me, build hope

For a place in my eternity.

Closest to me are the renunciants, for

By renouncing Self,

They face their own emptiness, and

Gazing into that emptiness

Find me there.

These are my sons;

These are my daughters;

These are my true heirs.

--- *** ---

To know of spirit

Opens the door to man’s humanity;

To believe is to walk through that door.

Drawn to the open door and,

By reflecting on body and mind,

My devotees feel in their hearts

That there is more;

This is the seed of their belief and

The potential for the blossoming of their faith.

Not led to the door but

Born there on the threshold, my

Renunciants hear my voice

Shouting in their hearts –

Sometimes so loudly as to

Be beyond understanding.

This is the seed of the renunciant’s faith and

The potential for union.

--- *** ---

It has been taught that

Man is in me, and that

I am in man. Yet,

If there is an “in,”

There must be an “out.”

My renunciants know that

If I am all there is,

There is no “out” to be found.

Approaching me, renunciants see only

A reflection, for, as I am spirit,

So, by birthright, are they.

Drawing yet closer, their reflections fade and

Leaving their Selves behind, gradually

My renunciants see

Their faces before they were born –

They see me.

Not, “I am in you and you are in me;”

No “in” and no “out,”

No “you” and no “me;”

There only IS;

There is only being, only spirit.

--- *** ---

In their awe and in their fear, my devotees

Dared not call my name but

Abasing themselves and

Averting their eyes, they

Called me Father, they

Called me Lord.

Fearing me, man held me away;

He had made of me an “other.”

Making of me an “other,” man confirmed

His Self, the root of his suffering.

My devotees suffer for our separation, but

My renunciants suffer not, for

They know that the Self is a

Creation of the flesh, as

Am I, as “other.”

Layer by layer, my renunciants

Remove the dispositions that

Bind them to the world of the flesh, the

World of isolation, the world of suffering.

Inheritors of spirit as well as flesh,

Renunciants know of the perfection of spirit,

And one path only –

The perfecting of its expression.

--- *** ---

By the one righteous act that

The will can commit,

Renunciants remove

The layers of their dispositions,

Those things that define Self and

Limit spirit’s expression.

Having made of me an “other,”

Man confirmed his Self,

The root of his suffering.

When Self is no longer present, there is

No sorrow such that

It would disturb one’s peace.

When Self is no longer present, there is

No joy such that

Sorrow would follow its loss.

When Self is no longer present,

There is indifference to the

Impermanent things of the world.

When Self is no longer present,

Only a sense of blissful wonder remains.

--- *** ---

Wonder at the fact that

This body is here

In this place,

At his time,

In this situation,

Having this experience.

And even greater wonder at the fact that

All that the body experiences –

And all that the mind thinks –

Is without true being, for

The Self is a creation of dispositions and is

Not of the spirit.

All that the body experiences – and

The mind thinks –

Is for this moment only and is

Of little importance, as

Things of the flesh return to the earth, and

Spirit, in the end, returns to me

Untouched, unchanged, unblemished.

--- *** ---

All men are heirs to both flesh and spirit;

Self is a creation of one’s dispositions and is

Not of the spirit, but of the flesh.

The mere presence of

Self contains all suffering, for

If there is Self,

There is desire for ends.

If there is desire for ends,

There are ends not met, and

Ends unmet are the

Suffering of disappointment.

If there is Self, there is other;

If there is other, there is affection;

If there is affection, there is

The suffering of longing.

If there is no Self,

There is no “other.”

There is no “I;” there is no “you.”

If there is neither “I” nor “you,”

There is no separation.

If there is no separation,

There is only union.

--- *** ---

If there is union,

There is Charity – not loving

An other as yourself, but

Love without other, without Self.

A name not really a name,

From the beginning a mystery

Beyond understanding, or

Rather a puzzle impossible to solve; or

Not a puzzle impossible to solve but

A truth impossible to accept.

Yet, now, in the

Reality of no-Self, a truth

Impossible NOT to accept,

The truth that,

I AM WHO I AM.

I AM WHO IS.

I AM.

I AM BEING.

I AM ALL THAT IS.

I AM CHARITY

I AM LOVE

--- *** ---

This is true peace – this is MY peace –

The peace to which all men aspire,

The peace of re-union, the

Peace of no-Self, the

Peace of Love, of Charity –

The peace of spirit only.

My devotees put me on as a coat that

Keeps them warm and

Comforts them in their suffering.

Renunciants peel off

Layer after layer of dispositions, aware that,

When their innermost Self is reached,

They will find it empty, and in its place,

They will encounter me,

There in the peace of undifferentiated spirit.

Knowing that

Only those of the strongest faith

Might see me in their lifetime,

My renunciants

Deepen their faith by

Discipline and by prayer.