Seventh Scroll
ON MEDITATION
16 1One day Jesus was meditating in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us how to meditate.”
2Jesus said to them: “When you meditate, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. 3Sit down, focus on your breath, and empty your mind…
4Now, just as in other cases it is not possible to think something if your mind is directed at something else and your being is related to another thing, so is it with this. 5One must know that it is not possible to see God if one has the impression of another thing in the soul, and that impression is active. 6Rather, it is, you could say, like a substance receiving an imprinting, that it has to be blank if it is to take on the impression of anything. 7So too in this case. The soul has to be blank to a greater degree if it is to be filled and illuminated by the fundamental nature.
8If this is so, then the soul must withdraw from everything external and revert entirely into its own interiority, without any inclination to anything external. 9Instead, the soul should ignore everything, both the things the body senses as well as ideas. Then, in considering God, even come to ignore itself.
10For he who comes to know his own self will finally see his Source.
11Many times it has happened to me: waking up to my self from the body—that is, detached from all other things and self-encentered—I behold a marvelous beauty, 12and believe then that I am most to be identified with the better part, that I activate the best energies of life, and have become united with the Divine and situated within It, actualizing myself at that level, and situating myself above all else in Consciousness.
13For everything a person sees like a spectator is still external. Instead, one must bring the vision within, and see no longer in that mode of separation but as we know ourselves. 14Thus a man filled with God need no longer look outside for his vision of the divine being; it is but finding the strength to see divinity within.
15In seeing oneself, then, one will see oneself in this way. Or, rather, one will be in union with one’s self in this way, and experience being totally singular.
16For, then, the seeing self neither ‘sees’ nor ‘discerns,’ for it does not perceive duality.
17Then, since they are not two, but seer is one with the seen—as though it were not in fact ‘seen’ by him but rather unified with him—if he can remember what he was when he mingled so with God, he will have, within himself, an icon of It.
18He was God himself, with no difference relative to himself or anything else.
19For nothing stirred in him, no craving, no desire for anything else when he ascended. 20Nor was there even reason or thinking, nor was he even ‘himself,’ if we can say this.
21He was instead enraptured, or ecstatic in solitary quiet, in an unswerving fixedness, unwavering from his own being and not busy about himself, but entirely at rest, as if he had himself became a kind of rest.
22Then might you say, ‘Before Abraham was, I am.
I and the Father are one.’
23But, eventually, following on this repose within the Divine, and descending from the spiritual experience into dualistic reasoning, I ask myself in bewilderment how it happened that I descended, 24how my soul could so fall back into my body—the same soul which, even within the body, was the high thing it had just shown itself to be.
We are left wondering where it all came from—from within or without. And when it has gone, we say, ‘It was here! Yet, no… it was beyond.’
25But we ought not to question ‘where’ it came from; there is no ‘where,’ no ‘coming’ or ‘going’ in terms of place. Now it is seen, now not. 26We ought not to chase after it, but rather wait peacefully until it should appear, fitting ourselves for the vision, as the eye waits on the rising of the sun. For, indeed, it emerges, above the horizon—‘out of the ocean,’ as the poets say—and gives itself to our sight.
27Indeed, we are always around It, but we do not always look at It. 28It is like a choral dance: in the order of its singing, the choir keeps round the conductor but may sometimes turn away, so that the conductor is out of their sight. 29But when they turn back to him, it sings beautifully and is truly with him; 30so we, too, are always around Him but not always turned to Him.
31But, when we do look, then we are at our goal and at rest, and do not sing out of tune as we truly dance our God-inspired dance around Him. 32And in this dance, the soul sees the spring of life, the spring of consciousness, the principle of being, the cause of good and the root of the soul.”
33So Jesus said to them. But they did not understand him.
ON MEDITATION
16 1Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ εἶναι αὐτὸν ἐν τόπῳ τινὶ θεωρέοντα, ὡς ἐπαύσατο, εἶπέν τις τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ πρὸς αὐτόν· Κύριε, δίδαξον ἡμᾶς θεωρεῖν.
2Εἶπεν οὖν αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς. Σὺ δὲ ὅταν θεωρῇς, εἴσελθε εἰς τὸ ταμεῖόν σου καὶ κλείσας τὴν θύραν σου πρόσευξαι τῷ πατρί σου τῷ ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ· 3κάθισον, μάθε τὸ σὸς πνεῦμα, καὶ κενώσον τὸν νοῦν.
4Ὥσπερ δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων οὐκ ἔστι τι νοεῖν ἄλλο νοοῦντα καὶ πρὸς ἄλλῳ ὄντα, οὕτω δεῖ καὶ ἐνταῦθα εἰδέναι, 5ὡς οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλου ἔχοντα ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ τύπον ἐκεῖνο νοῆσαι ἐνεργοῦντος τοῦ τύπου. 6ἀλλ’ ὥσπερ περὶ τῆς ὕλης λέγεται, ὡς ἄρα ἄποιον εἶναι δεῖ πάντων, εἰ μέλλει δέχεσθαι τοὺς πάντων τύπους, 7οὕτω καὶ πολὺ μᾶλλον ἀνείδεον τὴν ψυχὴν γίνεσθαι, εἰ μέλλει μηδὲν ἐμπόδιον ἐγκαθήμενον ἔσεσθαι πρὸς πλήρωσιν καὶ ἔλλαμψιν αὐτῇ τῆς φύσεως τῆς πρώτης.
8Εἰ δὲ τοῦτο, πάντων τῶν ἔξω ἀφεμένην δεῖ ἐπιστραφῆναι πρὸς τὸ εἴσω πάντη, μὴ πρός τι τῶν ἔξω κεκλίσθαι, 9ἀλλὰ ἀγνοήσαντα τὰ πάντα καὶ πρὸ τοῦ μὲν τῇ διαθέσει, τότε δὲ καὶ τοῖς εἴδεσιν, ἀγνοήσαντα δὲ καὶ αὑτὸν ἐν τῇ θέᾳ ἐκείνου γενέσθαι. 10ὁ δὲ μαθὼν ἑαυτὸν εἰδήσει καὶ ὁπόθεν.
11Πολλάκις ἐγειρόμενος εἰς ἐμαυτὸν ἐκ τοῦ σώματος καὶ γινόμενος τῶν μὲν ἄλλων ἔξω, ἐμαυτοῦ δὲ εἴσω, θαυμαστὸν ἡλίκον ὁρῶν κάλλος, 12καὶ τῆς κρείττονος μοίρας πιστεύσας τότε μάλιστα εἶναι, ζωήν τε ἀρίστην ἐνεργήσας καὶ τῷ θείῳ εἰς ταὐτὸν γεγενημένος καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ ἱδρυθεὶς εἰς ἐνέργειαν ἐλθὼν ἐκείνην ὑπὲρ πᾶν τὸ ἄλλο νοητὸν ἐμαυτὸν ἱδρύσας.
13Πᾶν δὲ ὅ τις ὡς θεατὸν βλέπει ἔξω βλέπει. ἀλλὰ χρὴ εἰς αὑτὸν ἤδη μεταφέρειν καὶ βλέπειν ὡς ἓν καὶ βλέπειν ὡς αὑτόν, 14ὥσπερ εἴ τις ὑπὸ θεοῦ κατασχεθεὶς ἐν αὑτῷ ἂν ποιοῖτο τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν θέαν, εἰ δύναμιν ἔχοι ἐν αὑτῷ θεὸν βλέπειν.
15Ἑαυτὸν μὲν οὖν ἰδὼν τότε, ὅτε ὁρᾷ, τοιοῦτον ὄψεται, μᾶλλον δὲ αὑτῷ τοιούτῳ συνέσται καὶ τοιοῦτον αἰσθήσεται ἁπλοῦν γενόμενον.
16Τότε μὲν οὖν οὔτε ὁρᾷ οὐδὲ διακρίνει ὁ ὁρῶν οὐδὲ φαντάζεται δύο.
17Ἐπεὶ τοίνυν δύο οὐκ ἦν, ἀλλ’ ἓν ἦν αὐτὸς ὁ ἰδὼν πρὸς τὸ ἑωραμένον, ὡς ἂν μὴ ἑωραμένον, ἀλλ’ ἡνωμένον, ὃς ἐγένετο ὅτε ἐκείνῳ ἐμίγνυτο εἰ μεμνῷτο, ἔχοι ἂν παρ’ ἑαυτῷ ἐκείνου εἰκόνα·
18Ἦν δὲ ὁ θεὸς καὶ αὐτὸς διαφορὰν ἐν αὑτῷ οὐδεμίαν πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἔχων οὔτε κατὰ ἄλλα—
19Οὐ γάρ τι ἐκινεῖτο παρ’ αὐτῷ, οὐ θυμός, οὐκ ἐπιθυμία ἄλλου παρῆν αὐτῷ ἀναβεβηκότι—20οὐδὲ λόγος οὐδέ τις νόησις οὐδ’ ὅλως αὐτός, εἰ δεῖ καὶ τοῦτο λέγειν.
21Ἀλλ’ ὥσπερ ἁρπασθεὶς ἢ ἐνθουσιάσας ἡσυχῇ ἐν ἐρήμῳ καὶ καταστάσει γεγένηται ἀτρεμεῖ, τῇ αὑτοῦ οὐσίᾳ οὐδαμῇ ἀποκλίνων οὐδὲ περὶ αὑτὸν στρεφόμενος, ἑστὼς πάντη καὶ οἷον στάσις γενόμενος.
22Τότε λέγητε· Πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι, ἐγὼ εἰμί.
Ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν.
23Ἀλλ’ μετὰ ταύτην τὴν ἐν τῷ θείῳ στάσιν εἰς λογισμὸν ἐκ νοῦ καταβὰς ἀπορῶ, πῶς ποτε καὶ νῦν καταβαίνω, 24καὶ ὅπως ποτέ μοι ἔνδον ἡ ψυχὴ γεγένηται τοῦ σώματος τοῦτο οὖσα, οἷον ἐφάνη καθ’ ἑαυτήν, καίπερ οὖσα ἐν σώματι.
25Ἢ οὐ δεῖ ζητεῖν πόθεν· οὐ γάρ ἐστι τὸ πόθεν· οὔτε γὰρ ἔρχεται οὔτε ἄπεισιν οὐδαμοῦ, ἀλλὰ φαίνεταί τε καὶ οὐ φαίνεται·
26Διὸ οὐ χρὴ διώκειν, ἀλλ’ ἡσυχῇ μένειν, ἕως ἂν φανῇ, παρασκευάσαντα ἑαυτὸν θεατὴν εἶναι, ὥσπερ ὀφθαλμὸς ἀνατολὰς ἡλίου περιμένει· ὁ δὲ ὑπερφανεὶς τοῦ ὁρίζοντος—ἐξ ὠκεανοῦ φασιν οἱ ποιηταί—ἔδωκεν ἑαυτὸν θεάσασθαι τοῖς ὄμμασιν.
27Ἀεὶ μὲν περὶ αὐτό, οὐκ ἀεὶ δὲ εἰς αὐτὸ βλέπομεν, 28ἀλλ’ οἷον χορὸς ἐξᾴδων καίπερ ἔχων περὶ τὸν κορυφαῖον τραπείη ἂν εἰς τὸ ἔξω τῆς θέας, 29ὅταν δὲ ἐπιστρέψῃ, ᾄδει τε καλῶς καὶ ὄντως περὶ αὐτὸν ἔχει, 30οὕτω καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀεὶ μὲν περὶ αὐτόν οὐκ ἀεὶ δὲ εἰς αὐτόν.
31ἀλλ’ ὅταν εἰς αὐτὸν ἴδωμεν, τότε ἡμῖν τέλος καὶ ἀνάπαυλα καὶ τὸ μὴ ἀπᾴδειν χορεύουσιν ὄντως περὶ αὐτὸν
χορείαν ἔνθεον. 32ἐν δὲ ταύτῃ τῇ χορείᾳ καθορᾷ πηγὴν μὲν ζωῆς, πηγὴν δὲ νοῦ, ἀρχὴν ὄντος, ἀγαθοῦ αἰτίαν, ῥίζαν ψυχῆς·
33Ὡς εἶπεν οὖν αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς. καὶ αὐτοὶ οὐ συνῆκαν τὸ ῥῆμα ὃ ἐλάλησεν αὐτοῖς.
“Do you understand why I’m
doing this?” she asked Johannes
as she put the injira in his mouth.
“Because we’re a collective organism
sharing one body with the cosmos.
The voice that speaks through me
is the vine inside of you.
It is the breath creating everything
and your body is its poetry.”
“The only thing that keeps you
from trusting the love that
blooms you into your full self
is your suspicion that God
is a harsh man who reaps
where he doesn’t sow,
a capitalist emperor who demands
continuous flattery and props up
the most assertive narcissists
who always control the story,
so you guard your love closely
like a buried treasure to exhume
and hand back to God when
you die as your ticket for the Disneyland
in the sky that has never existed.”
“I give you my body to feast on
in the heaven that is now,
where we can make art
that blossoms into beautiful fruit
to multiply the delight.”
“Saul, do you want to say the words
for the wine?” she asked.
I cleared my throat:
“This wine is the blood of our crucifixion,
we the despised ones who had our
movement stolen from us by the
popular kids, we who persevered
through the ordeal as every Lucifer
persecuted us across the centuries,
dressed in purple linen, feasting
on our demonization as we
wasted away outside the gate.”
“We will not wait for heaven any longer.
Enough wine has been bled
for us to see how the
fruit of knowledge curses,
how the bishops built a tower
to heaven all of creation
has been groaning to topple
in a Pentecost of rainbow vomit.”
“Let us repent in glitter and ashes
as we laugh without a shred
of respectability remaining
knowing only mercy with each
sip of this Sangiovese which
is the blood of the lamb
poured out into our poetry.”