How the Soul Through the Senses Finds God in All Creatures

Creativity Poetry & Quotes
#1

By: Jacopne da Todi
In: Teachings of the Christian Mystics, A. Harvey ed., Boston:Shambala Press, 1998

O Love, divine Love, why do you lay siege to me ?
In a frenzy of love for me, you find no rest.

From five sides you move against me,
hearing, sight, taste, touch, and scent.
To come out is to be caught; I cannot hide from you.

If I come through sight I see Love
painted in every form and color,
inviting me to come to you, to dwell in you.

If I leave through the door of hearing,
what I hear points only to you, Lord;
I cannot escape love through this gate.

If I come out through taste, every flavor proclaims:
“Love, divine Love, hungering Love !
You have caught me on your hook, for you want to reign in me.”

If I leave through the door of scent,
I sense you in all creation; you have caught me
and wounded me through that fragrance.

If I come out through the sense of touch,
I find your lineaments in every creature;
to try to flee from you is madness.

Love, I flee from you, afraid to give you my heart:
I can see that you make me one with you,
I cease to be me and can no longer find myself.

If I see evil in a man or defect or temptation,
you fuse me with him, and make me suffer;
O love without limits, who is it you love ?

It is you, O Crucified Christ,
who takes possesion of me,
drawing me out of the sea to the shore.

There I suffer to see your wounded heart.
Why did you endure that pain ?
So that I may be healed.

#2

Gorgeous…
Thank you sharing this.

Nichole

#3

this might seem unkind, but i only mean it to be constructive: i think the poem might detract from the message, which seems to be love for christ. I could be wrong, i am bad at interpreting and analyzing. But here is my discussion:

Many philosophies believe that it is the senses that deceive us and prevent us from moving forward. Senses are kind of a hinderance. I think in Christianity, it is the Devil that tries to seduce us through our senses, and we can be saved through our pure love for christ, and accepting his gift. I could be wrong, i dunno, i am an athiest. When i read this from a quasi-Zen perspective, I cant help but think that. I hope i didnt break forum guidlines here, i only mean to be positive.

#4

To experience that kind of love indeed can be scary, because it is against the persona (our social image) and ego. The level of compassion given by that kind of love is percieved like madness by “normal” people. In fact it is very simple, but it takes tremendous courage and faith. Saint Francis of Assisi, he had a compassion that when he met someone who was wearing a worse cloth, he immediatey changed it for his own.

Mystics, sufi, bahkti, they are lovers of God, they love for love’s sake, realizing the joy of total freedom and happiness. The ego is the one what worries. The ego is the one what’s scared. Of course talk is cheap. Of course we need our ego, what we have built in years. Without the ego, we are like little children … exactly what Jesus said we are supposed to be in order to be worthy of heaven.

There is an english expression: self absorbed … in hungarian we use (word by word translation) “one who forgets him/herself” - when we focus on something with all our attention, the ego is put aside. It is interesting to see how the same thing is differently described by different nations … and still being the same.

Just a few thoughts …