sophiaserpentia (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sophiaserpentia) wrote2003-07-18 10:30 am
sophiaserpentia) wrote2003-07-18 10:30 am
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Ode 37 of Solomon, and commentary.
Ode 37 of Solomon
I stretched out my hands to my Lord:
and to the Most High I raised my voice:
And I spake with the lips of my heart;
and He heard me when my voice reached Him:
His answer came to me and gave me the fruits of my labours;
And it gave me rest by the grace of the Lord.
Hallelujah.
This ode is deceptively simple, but it describes the essence of esoteric working. It also describes, on another level, the mystical quest. By showing the unity of the many different approaches to mystery, the ways in which they subtly interweave and overlap, it represents a sublime achivement.
Commentary on scripture this sublime risks limiting the reader's ability to see deeper -- it is with this caveat that I offer a few comments, which should not in any way be construed as representing "the" meaning of the ode.
The hands upstreched or outstreched represent a basic qi pose. With proper relaxed-tautness and receptiveness, a pose of this sort, or a simple motion that starts and/or ends with this pose, opens the body to inflow and outflow of qi.
The first and second lines may or may not be implying a distinction between "Lord" and "Most High," of the sort we encounter commonly in Gnostic thought. In Valentinian thought the Lord is a spirit that watches over and guides humanity, directing national histories to facilitate goodness and justice, while the Most High is a more impersonal and abstract divine presence like the Tao or the Root of All. (cf. the Letter of Ptolemy to Flora, and my earlier comments on the "Lord thy God".)
If this is indeed the Odist's view, then by "stretching one's hands" to the Lord, the speaker is also indicating willingness to do "the Lord's work" - to act with compassion and to work for social justice and righteousness. Raising one's voice to the Most High would in this context imply recognition of a sublime divine presence, perhaps a recognition of the distinction between the Lord and the Root.
The second and third lines refer to raising one's voice to the divine, and speaking with the lips of one's heart. These may be oblique references to the throat and heart chakras; but more importantly they represent the receptiveness and readiness that one must signal outward in order to facilitate the flow of qi. On a less "esoteric" level they imply prayer and devotion, "setting a trap for God" as it is rendered in Aramaic -- creating space within oneself that is set aside for the arrival of the divine presence.
Grace (charisma) is a two-way street between the individual and the divine; it starts with the readiness of the aspirant, and is a completed circuit with the arrival of qi (esoterically) or understanding (mystically).
The answer of the divine (both esoteric and mystical) reflects outward in the form of "fruits" or outward actions and speech.
The last line mentions rest, making the entire ode reminiscent of the second verse of the Gospel of Thomas (this from the Greek Oxyrhynchus fragment, not the Nag Hammadi):
"Rest" in Gnostic terminology refers to the state of stillness or equilibrium where the Root of All was said to reside. In my opinion, this refers also to the state of inner stillness the mystic or esotercist must seek to cultivate (via meditation and breath work) in order to achieve attainment. (See earlier comments here.)
My earlier comments here relate and compare similar mystical readings in certain passages from the Tao Te Ching, New Testament, and Gospel of Thomas.
I stretched out my hands to my Lord:
and to the Most High I raised my voice:
And I spake with the lips of my heart;
and He heard me when my voice reached Him:
His answer came to me and gave me the fruits of my labours;
And it gave me rest by the grace of the Lord.
Hallelujah.
This ode is deceptively simple, but it describes the essence of esoteric working. It also describes, on another level, the mystical quest. By showing the unity of the many different approaches to mystery, the ways in which they subtly interweave and overlap, it represents a sublime achivement.
Commentary on scripture this sublime risks limiting the reader's ability to see deeper -- it is with this caveat that I offer a few comments, which should not in any way be construed as representing "the" meaning of the ode.
The hands upstreched or outstreched represent a basic qi pose. With proper relaxed-tautness and receptiveness, a pose of this sort, or a simple motion that starts and/or ends with this pose, opens the body to inflow and outflow of qi.
The first and second lines may or may not be implying a distinction between "Lord" and "Most High," of the sort we encounter commonly in Gnostic thought. In Valentinian thought the Lord is a spirit that watches over and guides humanity, directing national histories to facilitate goodness and justice, while the Most High is a more impersonal and abstract divine presence like the Tao or the Root of All. (cf. the Letter of Ptolemy to Flora, and my earlier comments on the "Lord thy God".)
If this is indeed the Odist's view, then by "stretching one's hands" to the Lord, the speaker is also indicating willingness to do "the Lord's work" - to act with compassion and to work for social justice and righteousness. Raising one's voice to the Most High would in this context imply recognition of a sublime divine presence, perhaps a recognition of the distinction between the Lord and the Root.
The second and third lines refer to raising one's voice to the divine, and speaking with the lips of one's heart. These may be oblique references to the throat and heart chakras; but more importantly they represent the receptiveness and readiness that one must signal outward in order to facilitate the flow of qi. On a less "esoteric" level they imply prayer and devotion, "setting a trap for God" as it is rendered in Aramaic -- creating space within oneself that is set aside for the arrival of the divine presence.
Grace (charisma) is a two-way street between the individual and the divine; it starts with the readiness of the aspirant, and is a completed circuit with the arrival of qi (esoterically) or understanding (mystically).
The answer of the divine (both esoteric and mystical) reflects outward in the form of "fruits" or outward actions and speech.
The last line mentions rest, making the entire ode reminiscent of the second verse of the Gospel of Thomas (this from the Greek Oxyrhynchus fragment, not the Nag Hammadi):
Jesus said, "Let the one seeking not stop seeking until he finds. And when he finds he will marvel, and marveling he will reign, and reigning he will rest."
"Rest" in Gnostic terminology refers to the state of stillness or equilibrium where the Root of All was said to reside. In my opinion, this refers also to the state of inner stillness the mystic or esotercist must seek to cultivate (via meditation and breath work) in order to achieve attainment. (See earlier comments here.)
My earlier comments here relate and compare similar mystical readings in certain passages from the Tao Te Ching, New Testament, and Gospel of Thomas.