Irina wrote recently about a sermon she heard at a synagogue she has been frequenting that brought her a revelation - holding on and letting go are not polar opposites. It is possible to do both, especially in the context of loss of a loved one.
This agrees very much with everything I've been reading about the poles of solitude and loneliness, in particular the idea that in embracing the solitariness in which we all travel, there we can find the true and profound love we are able to nurture for our fellow travelers.
Khalil Gibran writes:
Sing and dance and be joyous,
but let each one of you be alone.
Even as the strings of a lute are alone
though they quiver with the same music.
Stand together yet not too near together
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
and the oak tree and the cypress
grow not in each other's shadow.
In the Novalis print of the Roman Missal, a woman named Marie-Louise Ternier-Gommers quotes an acquaintance named Jason, who says, When I moved away, I didn't have to say goodbye. I took the place and the person with me. They had entered my heart.
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Holding on, Letting go
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2 comments:
I love Khalil Gibran's poetry... Haven't gotten to reading Novalis yet...
Agreed. There's a gentleness, a loving tenderness to Gibran's work that has a mouthwatering sweetness to it. This particular passage is apparently read frequently at weddings, although I have never heard it at one myself.
As to the Roman Missal, well, though I love that introductory quote, I didn't expect anyone else here to have read that; its the lectionery from Catholic liturgy. So those people who aren't Catholic priests, cantors, or lectors likely would not have caught the reference. Still, I hate quoting without attribution. :-)
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