Miscellany

Two days left in admin hell!

I have to buy a new bathing suit today for the trip.
Not looking forward to it.

Dreamed last night that I got to Florida and it was snowing.
That really put a crimp in the Everglades open-boat tour.

Thanks to everyone for the book recommendations!
I went with blessed_harlot's recommendation of Snow Crash, and a historical fiction novel I found called On a Highland Shore. However I'm keeping all the suggestions for future reference. If anyone has additional recommendations, please feel free to leave them at the previous post or on this one.

"The Ladder of Lights"

My current reading is The Ladder of Lights, a book about Qabalah by William G. Gray. I'd had only the most cursory introduction to the subject before, and I've been thoroughly enjoying myself. Gray's text demands slow, thoughtful reading -- not because it's difficult, but because it's so densely packed with ideas.

One of the elements I'm enjoying the most is that each sephirah has a divine name/nature associated with it, and as I take in each one I feel like I'm getting re-connected to the "One" in a way I haven't been able to be for years. It's hard to find words for this. . . Each sephirah expresses an aspect of the divine -- as in the metaphor of a prism separating white light into color spectrum. Each is light and part of the whole, but has its own characteristics. The names of God in this model don't equate to "persons." There's no anthropomorphizing -- but it focuses on different 'wavelengths' of God, shows how the ultimate divine relates to specific aspects of our existence in meaningful ways.

I know that some people have no problem with the idea of the Almighty Creator being able to relate to them on an individual level -- but it's been a struggle for me for years. Ever since the Void, I've had a hard time imaginging that any Being vast enough to surpass the Void can be connected with an individual in a meaningful way. The Tree helps me reconnect.

There's also a wonderfully humane ethical system involved: one of coming to appropriate balance in all aspects of life, and rising on the Tree to draw closer to God. (There are all kinds of names for this process, depending on which path or tradition a person is within.) And at the same time we are rising, divine energy/light/creation/thought continues to flow down the tree into manifestation. It's a contstant two-way cycle of divine and human coming-together.

I'm finding it lovely and fascinating and challenging in the best possible way. When I've finished reading it, I'm going to re-read Promethea, and then start this book over again.

Life, Death, and Kingship

One of my ongoing fascinations in the area of spirituality and lore is the concept of the Divine/Sacrificial King. It touches my interests in theology, sovereignty, the hieros gamos, and more.

Gray had an unusual take on the subject that I wanted to post here "just because." My Buddhist friends may find this of particular interest, since to me it seems that he's talking about the bodhisattva nature/path.

This passage is from the chapter on Chesed, which is associated with Mercy and with the divine overflowing of abundance and generosity.


"We often think self-sacrifice is the greatest good we can imagine, but on a higher level it is even greater to remain expressed in self for the sake of other selves. The real sacrifice of a Divine King is not their death by crucifixion or other means, but their incarnation into a human body. Birth binds, and death liberates them from their self-accepted obligation. Strictly speaking, the Cross is the wrong is the wrong symbol to use for sacrifice. It should be the cradle. But then, we are looking at the whole Mystery upside down!"
(The Ladder of Lights, p. 137)


Without wanting to take anything away from the Mystery and meaning of the Crucifixion, I really like this perspective. Most of us are not going to be put in a situation where we're going to have to face dying for our beliefs -- but each and every day we have to choose what we're going to live for, and the manner of our living. For those of us who believe in reincarnation, this goes a step further to address the magnitude of the decision to reincarnate with an attitude of doing so in the service of others, when we could just as easily avoid the whole messy, often painful experience. Call it the bodhisattva path, call it living within and bringing about the Kingdom of God, it works out to the same thing: being devoted to the salvation/enlightenment/rising up of all, not just self.

I for one need that reminder on a regular basis.

Hee!

Thanks to revpanthera: Star Trek meets Monty Python!