By Andre van Zijl, Faculty Member

The Self is the only savior of the self
The self is the only jailor of the self

No eye, nor mind, can reveal
The magnificence or magnitude
Of the Unseen Seer
Of the Unknown Knower

Only the utterly yielded
Mind & heart
May approach the
Throne of the Inner King

All urge to separate selfhood
Quenched
All struggle to join the part-less Whole
Released

All striving to gain what cannot be lost
Surrendered

What remains is an abiding
A deep abiding
Within the unvoiced song of our eternal
Being

This wordless hymn
Singing us into light
Singing us into form
Heals all schism
Melds all oppositions into
A unity beyond all reason
To fulfill

O miracle!
O Breath
Breathe into me
That eternal breathing
Of the Fullness that cannot be
Emptied
Of the light which cannot be
Dimmed
Of the shining darkness which cannot
Oppress
Of the strength which does not
Fade
Of the Life which lives
All that
Is

Open all that is closed
Open all the gates of self
So that the flood of grace
Might irradiate & enoble
All that is
Sideways glancing, secretly yearning,
Slyly hoarding up its vanishing gifts
To shore up the ebbing tide of time’s favor

O timeless wonder
Fill all that is of time
With its natural awe
So that all the products of time
Might sing in unison
A song of unending sunlit gratitude
For simply being

May all the delicacies
Of exquisite difference
Not swallow us into their indifferent embrace
Blinding us to the glory of a one-ness
No variety might dismay
Nor contradiction thwart

O Radiant Self
O Eternal Groom
May this trembling bride
Await the union of its insufficiencies
With Your own self-existing Perfection
So that together
Flesh might be embraced by
Spirit’s unyielding Joy

A Joy
Which no getting can procure
& no losing can depart

There cannot be dismay
In the corruptions of form
Time brings upon them

That which is touched by time
Is not that which survives beyond
The extinguishing of all forms

O beauteous Light
Which unburdens my sight
May all that is seen, touched, treasured
And clung to
Be released of its inevitable loss
For that which is gained must be lost
& That which is never gained
Be all in all

Paradise is the inward kingdom of
Unceasing Peace
In the midst of the falling dominos
Of expectation and surprise

Paradise is the loving Fullness
Which no gain or loss can overtake

O praise to That which always Is –

The Light outdistancing
The darkness