THE PURPOSE OF SUFFERING
But through the divine invasion,
God has come to permeate all existence,
And so has, through his concealed nature,
Invested all things, including suffering,
With a latent and hidden sense of purpose,
A sense of purpose that, due to its disguise,
Can exist in a world without purpose.
By being born into temporal existence,
We have inherited ignorance and pain,
But having (truly) been born eternal,
We have inherited our own salvation.
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3 comments:
I hadn't posted a comment about this poem because I was annoyed with your referencing of God as male... then I thought: OH GOOD GRIEF!!!
Joke is on me.
How intolerant and selfish of me to want you to change anything in your vernacular regarding how you view your god. Within the context of what is real and true for you, obviously God is appropriately labeled male. Who the heck am I to question that? Cheeeee.
And so, aside from ruffling my own feathers (they are now smooth and properly preened, I assure you), I really do love this poem.
You are a wonderful writer, and I am grateful for having been reminded about tolerance by your article on that subject. I can't believe I fell into the intolerance trap -- I am so offended by it!
Like I said, joke is on me.
Wonderful poem, wonderful blog.
zeph
zeph
Firstly, I am glad to see that you decided to put your annoyance with the word "his" aside in regard to this piece.
Secondly, do you recall my post about sex versus gender? In this sense, gender would be the important factor (i.e. Father God in the Sky [Heaven], Mother Goddess in the Earth [Mary/Sophia/Holy Spirit]). However, it's also important to note that there is also a certain ammount of convention in place here. God is usually refered to as "male", so it wouldn't surprise me that masculine wording would creep into my writing or that of other people who have grown up with similiar traditions. Are you suggesting I use "her" instead?
And, to the core of the matter, do you really think I consider God is either male or female? I mean, that true unknowable God beyond the Three Veils of Negative Existence (which I usually refer to as the Monad, but in this case resorted to convention, since the aim of the poem is not to throw people who are unfamiliar with my terms) - do you think I would be arrogant enough to assume I could know something like "its" gender, or that it even has one, or that it doesn't have both, or both and none at the same time?
And, thank you - I am glad you enjoy my work :)
-D
Please re-read my comment, especially this part:
"How intolerant and selfish of me to want you to change anything in your vernacular regarding how you view your god. Within the context of what is real and true for you, obviously God is appropriately labeled male. Who the heck am I to question that? Cheeeee."
I wrote my comment because I wanted to share a bit of foolishness on my part; I was tattling on myself.
Please go back and re-read the entire response. You'll see I was responding to the change I, myself, made in the process of reading your poem.
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