Living By Heart

You become what you Love,
What you're fascinated with.
This was true, I found, as a musician,
When, through the sheer intensity of Love,
I learned to play…

“By ear”.

And this proved to be true, I found,
In regard to The Beloved, where,
Through the sheer intensity of the Heart's Longing,
And the relentless focus of the mind's Fascination,
I came to my Heart's Desire, existing thereafter…

“By Heart”.

I did not learn “spiritual theory”,
Or practice long hours, or in fact at all,
Any science, technique, or methodology,
To come to what can only be described as,
Causeless, Conditionless Grace.…

For which… even the word “Love” is inadequate.

Unlike the world in which knowledge and skill,
Enhance our ability to express more beautifully,
The depth and breadth of our Inner Vision,
In matters of The Beloved… there is little use,
in the accumulation of knowledge or skill.

This, at least, is my experience.

The knowledge I have gained over time,
Of the vast and varied Paths to God,
Has only been of benefit, perhaps,
In understanding how others have interpreted,
The Unfathomable Mystery that Shines…

Uninterpreted, in my Heart.

For although there were times,
When I took refuge in this path or that,
I never “believed”, much less had “faith” in,
The concepts, theories, and conjecture,
In which they all wrapped The Great Mystery…

The Great Unknowable.

I was drawn to each, for a time,
Not by their many doctrines or dogmas,
But by the Love I saw buried there,
Beneath all that demanded belief and faith,
Shining… still perceptible…

Through that dry, dead detritus.

But in the end, I returned, again and again,
To the Wilderness of Unknowing,
As a solitary Wanderer, but never alone,
In a Vastness so Great and Undefinable,
That the mind stops, and the Heart…

Shines.

For how do I describe, what do I call,
That Vanishing into Heaven that took me,
Into and as Incomprehensible Union?
And how do I describe, what do I call,
This Radiant Ecstasy that has shone, thereafter…

in the Wellspring of The Heart?

I use words from every tradition,
For in each there is such Great Beauty,
Though each, in their way, falls short,
And fails to express the Inexpressible,
This Unfathomable, Unknowable…

Mystery.