Linda's Literary Home

Tag: spirituality

  • James Weldon Johnson

    Image: James Weldon Johnson - Portrait by Laura Wheeler Waring https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.67.40
    Image: James Weldon Johnson – Portrait by Laura Wheeler Waring

    Life Sketch of James Weldon Johnson

    A true “Renaissance man,” James Weldon Johnson wrote some the best spiritual poems and songs in the American literary canon.  He also held positions as attorney, diplomat, professor, and activist in a political party, fighting for the civil rights of black Americans.

    Note on Term Usage:  Before the late 1980s in the United States, the terms “Negro,” “colored,” and “black” were accepted widely in American English parlance.   While the term “Negro” had started to lose it popularity in the 1960s, it wasn’t until 1988 that the Reverend Jesse Jackson began insisting that Americans adopt the phrase “African American.”  The earlier more accurate terms were the custom at the time that James Weldon Johnson was writing.

    Early Life and Schooling

    James Weldon Johnson was born on June 17, 1871, in Jacksonville, Florida, [1] to James Johnson, of Virginia, who had held a position as headwaiter at a resort hotel, and Helen Louise Dillet, of the Bahamas, who had served as a teacher in Florida.  

    His parents raised James to be a strong, independent man.  The future poet became a free-thinker as his parents encouraged him to understand that he was capable of achieving all the success in life for which he sought to strive. 

    In 1894, after completing the bachelor’s degree at Atlanta University, he accepted a position as principal at the Edwin M. Stanton School.  His mother had taught at that school.  In his position as principal of Stanton, he made great improvements in the curriculum, adding grades 9 and 10.

    While serving at the Stanton school as principal, Johnson founded the newspaper, The Daily American.  The paper remained in publication for only a year, but it served as a lever for Johnson’s role as an activist, bringing him to the attention of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois, two of the most influential activists of the civil rights movement.

    Johnson began the study of law in Thomas Ledwith’s law office in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1896 [2].  He passed the bar exam in 1898 and was admitted to the Florida bar.  He practiced law for several years and then decided to pursue other lines of work.

    From New York City to the Diplomatic Corp

    To engage a career in songwriting, in 1901 James and his brother Rosamond moved to New York City.  They became partners with Bob Cole and accepted a publishing contract which paid a $1200 monthly stipend.  That income amounted to a fortune in the early 20th century.  

    During the next half decade, the Johnson brothers wrote and produced a whopping 200 songs for both Broadway and for other formats.  Their substantial list of hits include titles such as  “Didn’t He Ramble,” “Under the Bamboo Tree,” and “The Old Flag Never Touched the Ground.”

    Along with Bob Cole, the Johnsons earned a outstanding reputation as a musical trio.   They became known affectionately as “Those Ebony Offenbachs.”  While they eschewed the artistry of the minstrel show stereotypes, they did agree to create simplified versions of black life of rustics for white audiences that seemed to relish such fare.  

    But their most important contribution includes a suite of six songs titled The Evolution of Ragtime, a documentary which has remained important for recording the black experience in contributing to music. Residing in New York also allowed Johnson the opportunity to attend Columbia University, where he engaged formally in the study literature and creative writing.  

    Johnson also began his civil rights activism in Republican Party politics.  While serving as the treasurer of New York’s Colored Republican Club, he wrote two songs for Theodore Roosevelt’s 1904 presidential campaign.  Roosevelt won that campaign, becoming the 26h president of the United States.

    The black national civil rights leadership divided into two factions: one remained traditional and was led by Booker T. Washington.  The other faction turned radical and was headed up by W.E.B. Du Bois.  Johnson chose to follow Washington and the traditionalists.  

    Washington’s leadership had offered the appropriate influence and had helped Roosevelt win the presidency.  Thus, Washington exerted his influence again to have Johnson appointed as the U.S. consulate to Venezuela.  

    Johnson’s stint in Venezuela afforded him time to create poetry. There he composed his magnificent, nearly perfect sonnet, “Mother Night,” during this time.  Also, during this three year period of service as consul on Venezuela, he was able to finish his novel, The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man.  

    After Johnson’s service in Venezuela, he received a promotion that relocated him to Nicaragua. His job in Nicaragua became more demanding, allowing him less time for literary efforts.

    Back to New York and the Harlem Renaissance

    In 1900, Johnson composed the hymn “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” for a school celebration of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday [3].  His brother Rosamond later added the melody to the lyric. In 1919, the National Association for Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) designated the song the “Negro National Hymn (Anthem).”

    In 1913, because of the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat, Johnson resigned his foreign service position and returned to the U.S.A.  In New York, Johnson began writing for New York’s prestigious black newspaper, the New York Age.  He wrote essays explaining and promoting the importance of the hard-work ethic and education.  

    Johnson’s traditionalism kept his position more in line with Booker T. Washington than with the radical militant W.E.B. Du Bois.  Despite those differences in ideologies, Johnson remained on good terms with both activists.

    In 1916, after Du Bois suggested the position to Johnson, he accepted the role as secretary in the NAACP.  In 1920, Johnson led the organization as president. Despite his many activist duties with the  NAACP, Johnson dedicated himself to writing full time. In 1917, he published his first collection of poems, Fifty Years and Other Poems.  That collection received great critical acclaim and established him as an important voice in the Harem Renaissance Movement.  

    Johnson continued writing and publishing; he also served as editor for numerous volumes of poetry, such as The Book of American Negro Poetry (1922), The Book of American Negro Spirituals (1925), and The Second Book of Negro Spirituals(1926).  

    In 1927, Johnson published his second book of poems God’s Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse [4]. Again, his collection received much praise from critics.  Dorothy Canfield Fisher, a best-selling author and activist for education reform, stated in a letter about Johnson’s style:

    . . . heart-shakingly beautiful and original, with the peculiar piercing tenderness and intimacy which seems to me special gifts of the Negro. It is a profound satisfaction to find those special qualities so exquisitely expressed.

    Back to Teaching

    After his retirement from the NAACP, Johnson continued writing.   He also served as professor  at New York University.  Johnson’s stellar reputation again preceded him; as he joined the NYU faculty, Deborah Shapiro testified:

    Dr. James Weldon Johnson was already a world-renowned poet, novelist, and educator when he arrived at the School of Education in 1934.  His faculty appointment was in the Department of Educational Sociology, yet Johnson’s influence did not end there.  As the first black professor at NYU, Johnson broke a crucial color barrier, inspiring further efforts toward racial equality both within and outside the boundaries of Washington Square.

    Death

    In 1938 at age 67, Johnson was killed in an automobile accident in Wiscasset, Maine, after a train crashed into the vehicle in which the poet was a passenger.  His funeral, held in Harlem, New York, was attended by over 2000 individuals.  

    Johnson’s creative power and activism rendered him a true “Renaissance man,” who lived a full life.  He penned some of the finest poetry and songs ever to appear on the American literary and music scenes. Johnson’s life creed bestows on the world an uplifting inspiration after which any individual might choose to chisel his life:

    I will not allow one prejudiced person or one million or one hundred million to blight my life. I will not let prejudice or any of its attendant humiliations and injustices bear me down to spiritual defeat. My inner life is mine, and I shall defend and maintain its integrity against all the powers of hell. [5]

    The poet’s body is interred in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York [6]. In an unconventional final expression, his body has been arrayed in his favorite lounging cape, with his hands clutching a copy of his collection God’s Trombones.

    Sources

    [1] Editors. “James Weldon Johnson.”  Famous African Americans. Accessed January 27, 2023.

    [2] Malik Simba.  “Profile:  James Weldon Johnson (1871- 1938).”  Black Art Story.  Accessed January 27, 2023.

    [3] Editors. “The Story Behind the Black National Anthem.”  Black Excellence.  September 26, 2018.

    [4] Editors. “James Weldon Johnson.”  Poetry Foundation.  Accessed January 27, 2023.

    [5] Christine Weerts.  “How ‘Lift Every Voice And Sing’ Became A Song Of Hope For Generations.”  The Federalist.  February 12, 2021.

    [6] FindAGrave.  “James Weldon Johnson.”  Accessed January 27, 2023.

    Commentaries on Poems by James Weldon Johnson

    This room in my literary home holds links to poems written by James Weldon Johnson along with commentaries on the poems.  

    Poems with Commentaries

    1. Noah Built the Ark
    2. Go Down Death
    3. Sence You Went Away
    4. Fifty Years
    5. A Poet to His Baby Son
    6. Lift Every Voice and Sing
    7. Mother Night
    8. The Creation
    9. O Black and Unknown Bards
    10. My City
     Portrait by Laura Wheeler Waring
    Full Image: James Weldon Johnson –  Portrait  by Laura Wheeler Waring

  • Original Song:  “Astral Mother” with Prose Commentary

    Image: Mommy and Me – Photo by Ron W. G.

    Original Song:  “Astral Mother” with Prose Commentary

    This song is dedicated to my beautiful mother, Helen Richardson, whose soul left the physical planet Earth at the age of 58 and now resides in the astral world.  By faith and deep love, I visit her there from time to time.

    Introduction with Text of “Astral Mother”

    My original song, “Astral Mother,” plays out in three verse-movements and two chorus-movements.  A traditional verse is a unified set of lines—often four but through innovation the number is not consistent.

    Thus, a verse-movement may be any number of lines or stanzas because the emphasis in on the theme of the movement.  A movement depends upon theme rather than number of lines or stanzas.

    On the astral plane, souls have shed their bodies of chemicals and dust and reside in bodies of light.  Although the physical body is also made fundamentally of light, the astral body is perceived as light more easily than the “mud” covering the soul on the earthly plane.

    After visiting my mother on the astral plane, I bring back images, ideas, and thoughts that I dedicate to her in poems and songs.  The text of the song follows, and you are welcome to listen to the song on SoundCloud.

    Astral Mother

    In memoriam: Helen Richardson
    June 27, 1923 — September 5, 1981

    for your beautiful soul

    You are waiting now . . .
    A bright star light
    In the astral world

    You have shed the mud
    That covers the soul
    On the earthly plane . . . —

    Where you were my mother, and I was your child
    You were my mother, and I was your child . . . 

    You are watching for me . . .
    To catch my beam
    In the astral world

    We will live again
    The love we lived
    On the earthly plane . . . —

    Where you were my mother, and I was your child
    You were my mother, and I was your child . . .

    We will understand the Spirit-made plan . . .
    That kept us a while . . .
    In this earthly world . . . —

    Where you were my mother, and I was your child
    You were my mother, and I was your child . . .

    O, my Divine Mother, make me Thy Divine Child!
    O, my Divine Mother, make me Thy Divine Child!

    Commentary on “Astral Mother”

    A daughter addresses her mother who has departed the earth and now resides in the astral world.  Through faith and divine guidance, the daughter visits the mother and creates a tribute to her mother’s beautiful soul of light

    First Verse-Movement:  Living as Light in the Astral World

    You are waiting now . . .
    A bright star light
    In the astral world

    You have shed the mud
    That covers the soul
    On the earthly plane . . . —

    From the earthly plane of existence, the singer/narrator is addressing a loved one who is residing on the astral plane of existence.  

    The soul of the departed loved one is now existing in her astral/causal bodies—where the soul continues without its physical encasement.  Paramahansa Yogananda explains this phenomenon:

    astral body. Man’s subtle body of light, prana or lifetrons; the second of three sheaths that successively encase the soul: the causal body (q.v.), the astral body, and the physical body. The powers of the astral body enliven the physical body, much as electricity illumines a bulb. 

    The astral body has nineteen elements: intelligence, ego, feeling, mind (sense consciousness); five instruments of knowledge (the sensory powers within the physical organs of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch); five instruments of action (the executive powers in the physical instruments of procreation, excretion, speech, locomotion, and the exercise of manual skill); and five instruments of life force that perform the functions of circulation, metabolization, assimilation, crystallization, and elimination.

    The singer/narrator affirms that her loved one—her belovèd mother—is now “waiting” in her body of light as it exists on the astral plane. The singer/narrator in the second part of the movement refers to the physical body as “mud” which the astral mother has now “shed.”  The physical body encases the soul on the earthly plane of existence.

    The physical body may be metaphorically referred to as “mud” after the Biblical description of the human body:

    In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. (KJV Genesis 3:19)

    But after the soul leaves that physical encasement, it continues its existence in the two other bodies—astral and causal—on the astral plane where it is perceived only as light. Thus, the daughter/speaker has perceived her mother as a body of light, which she designates metaphorically as “a bright star light.”

    Second Verse-Movement:  Waiting to Spot a Familiar Dot of Light

    You are watching for me . . .
    To catch my beam
    In the astral world

    We will live again
    The love we lived
    On the earthly plane . . . —

    The singer/narrator then affirms that the astral mother is waiting for her daughter to join her on the astral plane.  The daughter will become a “beam” of light after she leaves her own physical encasement, entering the “astral world.”

    The singer/narrator then affirms that the mother and daughter will experience that same love that they shared when they were both on the earth together.   The “lived” love and they continue to live that love, but after they both are in the same level of existence, they are likely to recognize and have a deeper level of awareness of that love.

    Third Verse-Movement:  Understanding and Appreciating Love and Light

    We will understand the Spirit-made plan . . .
    That kept us a while . . .
    In this earthly world . . . —

    The singer/narrator finally affirms that after the mother and daughter are reunited, for however briefly that reunion might exist, they will understand more about the divine plan that God has for them.

    They were both maintained on the earth planet for while; they no doubt had questions about the meaning of life and all of its vicissitudes.  The singer/narrator predicts that after entering the astral plane, both she and her mother will understand more about meaning and purpose then they had before.

    Experience is great teacher; and God puts His children in positions from which they may learn what they need in order to meet their karmic demands. The singer/narrator holds great faith that she and her mother on the path that leads to the ultimate enlightenment of union with the Divine.

    Chorus-Movement 1:  A Simple Statement of Fact

    Where you were my mother, and I was your child
    You were my mother, and I was your child . . .

    In the first chorus, the singer/narrator simply states the fact that the addressee in the song was the singer’s mother, and the singer was the child of the mother.   On the earth plane, they were mother and daughter.

    The simplicity of the statement may be misleading.  This simple fact is, however, very important.  On the earth plane, they were mother and daughter, but on the astral plane they are only two individual souls that are children of the One Father-Mother-God.

    The mother/daughter relationship on earth is likely quite a different one from that relationship as two individual souls on the astral plane.  Despite that obvious fact, the important fact to remember is that love exists between the two; it existed on earth and it will exist in the astral world.

    Chorus-Movement 2:  A Prayer-Chant to the Divine Mother

    O, my Divine Mother, make me Thy Divine Child!
    O, my Divine Mother, make me Thy Divine Child!

    The momentousness of the shift from the earth relationship of mother/daughter to Divine Mother/Divine Child cannot be overstated.  

    By ending with a chant-like prayer, the singer/narrator affirms that through the love relationship between earth mother and daughter, she has come to understand that both mother and daughter are children of the Divine Reality (Heavenly Father or Divine Mother) or God.

    And the singer/narrator then supplicates to God as Divine Mother to help her realize her soul as that “Divine Child” that she is.  The same supplication is offered on behalf of the astral mother, whom the singer/narrator has been addressing.

    Both former earth mother and earth daughter are children of the Divine, and they both must one day come to realize that relationship to the Divine—and the singer/narrator prays for that to happen.

  • Original Song: “River of Time” with Commentary

    Image: Whitewater River, Richmond IN  

    Original Song: “River of Time” with Commentary

    My original song “River of Time” is a hymn to my Divine Belovèd, featuring a chorus that functions as a chant.

    Introduction with Text of Lyric “River of Time”

    Because music was my first love that I remember from the earliest age, I have always been attracted by the sounds from inspiring music.  

    I began writing songs seriously around age 32, and I especially enjoy and appreciate my songs that turn into hymns to the Divine Belovèd.  “River of Time” is such a hymn.  

    I am strongly influenced by the Cosmic Chants of my guru (spiritual leader) Paramahansa Yogananda.  Many of my original hymns have a chant-like element—a repetition that takes the minds within or bespeaks some spiritual truth for mental awareness.

    River of Time

    A hymn to my Divine Belovèd

    Verse
    Waiting by the river of time—
    My beloved keeps His rime
    In the sunlight that sings in stars
    The moon will wax in tune

    Verse
    Flowing with the river of time—
    Do you feel the rhythm that glides
    As you sing each lingering verse?
    Your soul will chant in bliss

    Verse
    Once beyond the river of time—
    Where you seek your ultimate rime,
    Where you need to battle no more
    You’ve reached that heavenly shore

    Chorus
    Every moment is light infused  
    Behind the darkness of closed eyes
    Seek no more for all is here
    Nothing more to do or fear

    Video by Carlene Craig

    Commentary on “River of Time”

    The singer/seeker/devotee in this hymn does not directly address her Heavenly Father-God.  She suggests the target of her report in subtle ways by essentially addresses her own self or soul. She sings to remind herself of her goal of soul- or self-realization, unity with the Divine Belovèd.

    First Verse:  Existence on the Physical Plane

    Waiting by the river of time—
    My beloved keeps His rime
    In the sunlight that sings in stars
    The moon will wax in tune

    The singer/devotee exists along a continuum that the human mind and heart often liken metaphorically to a river—a “river of time.”  Time seems to flow, meander, going somewhere.

    Intuition tells the human mind and heart that the soul is moving as on a flowing body of water to somewhere that must be wonderful.

    The beloved who is causing this river to flow displays his wares in light—sunlight and moonlight.  Science tells humanity that sunlight is reflected in the stars, and the moon also reflects that important, life-sustaining orb.

    The singer/devotee implies that her beloved is a poetic artist because he keeps “His rime” visible in the light of the sun and the moon.

    Second Verse:  The Rhythm of Soul Bliss

    Flowing with the river of time—
    Do you feel the rhythm that glides
    As you sing each lingering verse?
    Your soul will chant in bliss

    The singer then states that her soul is, in fact, moving down this metaphorical river.  She poses a rhetorical question of her self to ascertain if she is really sensing the rhythmic sway of the music of her verses.

    As she sings, she has become aware of her soul flowing into its natural state of “bliss.”  The verses that linger in the heart and mind bestow on her a marvelous state of awareness and joy.

    Third Verse:  Transcending Physical Existence

    Once beyond the river of time—
    Where you seek your ultimate rime,
    Where you need to battle no more
    You’ve reached that heavenly shore

    The singer then begins to speculate about the existence to be experienced after transcending the physical level of existence, metaphorically named the “river of time.”  

    Beyond that locus is where the ultimate poetry and music hold sway, where humanity no longer is required to struggle with life’s vicissitudes, trails, and tribulations.  Once the soul has become self-realized, it knows only divine joy and love.

    Chorus:  Moving into the Joy of the Light

    Every moment is light infused  
    Behind the darkness of closed eyes
    Seek no more for all is here
    Nothing more to do or fear

    The singer’s repeated, chant-like chorus is an affirmative statement about what goes on after she closes her eyes to the physical level of existence.

    She need not continue searching for she has arrived at the Goal of life. United with the Divine Belovèd, there is nothing that she will ever have to fear.

    Video:  Whitewater River-Tim Bowman-East Fork of the Whitewater River-near Brownsville IN 

  • If My Words Could Rise & Other Poems

    Image: If My Words Could Rise & Other Poems

    Dedicated with my love and gratitude 
    to my sweet Ron

    The following poems appear in my collection titled If My Words Could Rise, available on Amazon as paperback or Kindle.

    1 If My Words Could Rise

    Dedicated to my sweet Ron

    If my words could rise
    Like smoke
    They would form your face
    In the clouds
    They would hang
    In the tops of the trees
    Looking for a nest
    Where a mother bird sits
    On eggs
    The color of your eyes

    2 In the Tops of the Trees

    “As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the trees, then attack, for God has attacked in front of you to defeat the Philistine army.” —2 Samuel 5:25 Common English Bible

    –for the moldman, who screeched, “That’s my line!”

    No, dude, that is not your line!
    No matter how many times
    Or with how much spit
    You spew it.

    Trees and their tops
    And the words they live in
    Belong to all of us.  Go!
    Dig your hole–grovel in your slime.

    3 Dreams and Days

    “His tongue cuts / Slices of meat / From the hearts / And livers / Of those / Who would love him” – “Between Slices of Bread” —from Linda Sue Grimes’ At the End of the Road

    I quote myself, well then,
    I quote myself —
    I include multitudes —
    Uncle Walt taught me that much.

    The man in the poem
    Cannot bring himself to say
    Or to pray about his own lividness
    He shuts out spaces and commas
    Lives in his own relevance.

    He murders his own children
    With his viper attitude
    And nibbles the ankles
    Of prostitutes
    Who erase his will to power on.

    You have seen him
    Perhaps did not recognize him —
    He has sat in your parlor
    Sipping your coffee
    Dusting off his duplicitous moves —

    He fears death but not yours
    He imagines you at the bottom
    Of a cold, black ocean
    Your tongue bait for the fishes
    His Bolshevik brain conjures.

    Your freedom is a fantasy 
    If you remain too close to his heat
    Get your life back – get your love back
    Where God made you in his image
    And you are close to seeing it.

    4 Flesh and Desire

    “Humankind cannot bear very much reality.”  —T. S. Eliot

    Into the fire of wisdom, thoughts go to perish.
    “Get thee behind me, Satan!” Christ commands.
    But we still wobble behind the Devil
    Hoping to be snatched from the arms of death
    In time for supper and for the many tomorrows
    We image we still possess.
    In the valley of dreck and poison, I have lived
    Even as I knew better or thought I did.
    No, I am not here to testify.
    Although a word or two of testimony
    May slip out every line or so!
    I can pound sand with the best of them.
    But I can also bitch and moan.
    Where is the beginning of joy and rectitude?
    One might ask.  Where is the promise?
    O, come on!  You know where the promise is . . .
    Yes, just testing the waters and they are warm.
    Every time I delay, I am warned.  Just pray
    And wait and listen close and tight to the hum
    In the brain.  I will follow.  I will follow close.
    Yes, I will.  And flesh with its crude desire
    Will no longer taint the years
    With their distractions.
    The mercy of Spirit will wipe my tears. 

  • Names for the Ineffable God

    image:  “The Blue Cosmos“

    Names for the Ineffable God

    God is one Being, but God has many aspects; thus God has many names.  All religious scriptures point to God as the only Creator.  As the ineffable Spirit, God remains only the essence of Bliss, but as Creation, He is able to function through various bodies and powers for differing motives.  

    The Many Names of God, the Ineffable

    The term “ineffable” applies to anything that is indescribable, something that is so beyond human concepts that there are actually no words that can do it justice.  The term God is such a concept.  If humankind wanted to proscribe all terms hitherto naming God, it would do well to employ only the term the “Ineffable.”

    Despite the fact that there are things, beings, even events that humanity finds ineffable, the confluence of the human mind and heart seeks to name and describe those entities anyway.   But the naming and describing must always come with the caveat that anything said naming and describing are mere approximations.

    For example, on the purely material, physical plane, the taste of an orange remains ineffable.  One may say the orange tastes sweet, but so do apples, cookies, and ethylene glycol—none of which tastes like an orange.   The only way to know the taste of an orange is to taste it—no description will ever reveal that actual taste.

    The same situation exists facing the issue of knowing who or what God is.  Humanity from time immemorial has described God, given God names and descriptions, but to know God is like to know the taste of an orange—it has to be experienced for oneself.

    That is where the practice of religion enters:  the purpose of religion is to assist the individual in discovering the method for knowing God. Because most human knowledge is acquired through the five senses, one would think that knowing God would also be acquired the same way.  

    But that does not work, because the senses can detect only phenomena on the physical, material level of being.   The five senses cannot detect noumena which exists on a different plane of existence.

    As the Absolute Spirit, God is an ineffable concept because the term God includes everything in creation and also everything that exists outside of creation.  God is both creation and the originator of creation.   This fact means that there is no way to understand such a being with the limited human mind.  

    Thus, the concept of God has come to be thought of in many manifestations or aspects, such as God as Father, God as Son, as God as Holy Spirit, which will be immediately recognized as the Trinity of Christianity, the religion of the West.  And the “Holy Spirit” aspect is the only aspect of God within creation. Paramahansa Yogananda explains the nature of the trinity [1]: 

    When Spirit manifests creation, It becomes the Trinity: Father, Son, Holy Ghost, or Sat, Tat, Aum. The Father (Sat) is God as the Creator existing beyond creation (Cosmic Consciousness). 

    The Son (Tat) is God’s omnipresent intelligence existing in creation (Christ Consciousness or KutasthaChaitanya). The Holy Ghost (Aum) is the vibratory power of God that objectifies and becomes creation.

    Many cycles of cosmic creation and dissolution have come and gone in Eternity. At the time of cosmic dissolution, the Trinity and all other relativities of creation resolve into the Absolute Spirit.

    The principal religion of the East is Hinduism, which is often mistakenly thought to be a polytheistic religion.  The term “polytheism” signifies a misleading concept.   There could never be two or more ultimate creators [2]: 

    Spirit, being the only existing Substance, had naught but Itself with which to create. 

    Spirit and Its universal creation could not be essentially different, for two ever-existing Infinite Forces would consequently each be absolute, which is by definition an impossibility. An orderly creation requires the duality of Creator and created.

    That mistake of assuming Hinduism to be polytheistic arises because in Hinduism, especially as interpreted through yogic philosophy, God is expressed through many aspects.

    Some of those aspects include such terms as Father, Mother, Friend, Love, Light, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Sat-Chit-Ananda, Kali, Prakriti, Sat-Tat-Aum, and many others.   Dr. David Frawley’s explanation [3] includes the lowercase use of the term “god” which actually refers only to an aspect of the Supreme God, as the context will reveal: 

    Spirit, being the only existing Substance, had naught but Itself with which to create. 

    Spirit and Its universal creation could not be essentially different, for two ever-existing Infinite Forces would consequently each be absolute, which is by definition an impossibility. An orderly creation requires the duality of Creator and created.

    If Hinduism is deemed a polytheistic religion because of the many names for aspects of the one God, then Christianity could also be considered a polytheistic religion because it also possesses a trinity.  In addition to the trinity, the Judeo-Christian Bible also puts on display many other names for God such as Jehovah, Yahweh, Lawgiver, Creator, Judge, and Providence—all obvious aspects of the One Supreme Absolute or God.  

    The fact remains that both Hinduism and Christianity, along with Judaism and Islam, are monotheistic religions.  The Christian Trinity portrays the three functions of God, and Hinduism offers the same functional trinity in Sat-Tat-Aum.   Hinduism also includes other manifestations or aspects of God such as Krishna [4], who in many ways parallels Jesus the Christ and Kali [5], who parallels the Virgin Mary.

    Scientific religionists and dedicated spiritual seekers have determined that there is only one God—and all religions profess this fact—but there are many aspects of that one God.  And those aspects have been given specific labels for the purpose of discussion.   One cannot discuss everything at once; thus, to aid in that the ability to discuss spirituality and religion, various aspects of the one God have been isolated and specified with different names.

    Aspect Names Similar to Nicknames

    A human being may have several nicknames. I am Linda Sue Grimes, born Linda Sue Richardson, but I am also Sissy, Grammy, Nubbies—those are three of my nicknames:  I am Sissy to my sister; Grammy to my grandchildren; Nubbies to the husband. 

    There are not five of me just because I have five names.  There is one of me, but I have various aspects to different people; thus, each of them thinks of me in terms of a specific aspect to which they have each given a specific name.   It is a similar situation for naming God through His many aspects.

    However,  even more pressing because in theory, one could discuss the person “Linda Sue Grimes” without breaking the concept of her into various aspects because Linda Sue Grimes as a human being is not ineffable.  A discussion of the ineffable God remains impossible without those names of aspects.  

    God Remains Ineffable

    Still, God remains ineffable despite the various aspects assigned to the concept.  The spiritually striving devotee on the path to God unity is not attempting to merely understand God, which would be a mental function.  

    The spiritual aspirant is working to unite with God, more specifically to contact his own soul which is the spark or expression of God.   Contacting the soul means quieting both the physical body and the mind in order for the soul become ascendant in one’s consciousness.  

    Avatars such a Paramahansa Yogananda instruct devotees that they are not the body, not the mind, but the soul.  In fact, the human being is a soul that possesses and body and mind, not the other way around.   The soul has become a blurred concept as it is replaced with the ego, which strongly identifies with physical body and the mind.

    It is only through the soul that the human being can contact God.  The body cannot contact God because it is just bunch of chemicals; the mind cannot contact God because it gets its information through the unreliable senses.  

    The senses are in contact with the ever-changing maya delusion of the created cosmos.  Thus, only the soul as a spark of God can contact God.  The only way the soul can contact God is to quiet the body and mind.   After the body and mind become quieted and capable of remaining perfectly still, the soul can manifest to the consciousness of the individual human being.

    Why Did God Create the Cosmic Delusion?

    Paramahansa Yogananda explains:

    In order to give individuality and independence to Its thought images, Spirit had to employ a cosmic deception, a universal mental magic. 

    Spirit overspread and permeated Its creative desire with cosmic delusion, a grand magical measurer described in Hindu scriptures as maya (from the Sanskrit root ma, “to measure”). 

    Delusion divides, measures out, the Undefined Infinite into finite forms and forces. The working of cosmic delusion on these individualizations is called avidya, individual illusion or ignorance, which imparts a specious reality to their existence as separate from Spirit.

    . . .

    This Unmanifested Absolute cannot be described except that It was the Knower, the Knowing, and the Known existing as One. 

    In It the being,  Its cosmic consciousness, and Its omnipotence, all were without differentiation: ever-existing, ever-conscious, ever newly joyous Spirit. 

    In this Ever-New Bliss, there was no space or time, no dual conception or law of relativity; everything that was, is, or is to be existed as One Undifferentiated Spirit.  [6]

    The question arises, however:  why did God decide to manifest into various forms, if as one ineffable Spirit He is nothing but Bliss?  The best answer to that question is what gurus (spiritual leaders) tell their chelas (spiritual aspirants):  leave some questions to Eternity, meaning after you reach your goal of unity with God, all questions will be answered.  

    However, Paramahansa Yogananda has also answered that question by explaining that God created his lila or divine play simply in order to enjoy it.  As unmanifested Spirit, God exists as bliss, but even though He is present in his Creation and likely enjoying it, He is also suffering it; thus arise various paths that lead god back to God, or the soul back to the Over-Soul.  

    Because that answer likely still heralds another “why?”  One must return to the notion of leaving some answers to Eternity.  One must take baby steps on the journey back to uniting with unmanifested Spirit.   Just fitting the physical and mental bodies by yogic practice for the ability to accomplish that unity gives the devotee enough to think about and do.

    Other Concepts and Labels for God

    As names for God vary, so do personal concepts.  For example, Jesus the Christ liked to think of God as the Father [7]; thus, many Western prayers begin with “Heavenly Father.”

    The founder Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF), Paramahansa Yogananda—”The Father of Yoga in the West”—was fond of assigning the mother-aspect to God and referring to God as Divine Mother.  Thus, the opening of each SRF gathering begins with the following invocation: 

    Heavenly Father, Mother, (often lengthened to “Divine Mother”), Friend, Belovèd God, followed by the names of each guru associated with Self-Realization Fellowship.

    All of these named references designate aspects of the same Entity—the Absolute Spirit or God.

    My Use of the Term “God”

    Because the term God can be alienating, especially triggering atheists and agnostics, I often refer to God in my commentaries by one of His possibly less disagreeable aspects. Therefore, I employ such terms as Ultimate Reality, Originator, Creator, Divine Reality, Divine Belovèd, Blessèd Creator, or simply just the Divine.  

    Likely, even the term Divine can be too mystically oriented for some postmodern, belligerent anti-spiritual, anti-religionists.  Nevertheless, I do not completely eschew using the label God, despite negative reactions to and ignorance about the term, because the term does remain accurate and perfectly descriptive.

    I do, however, continue to strive to render the context in which I use the term God as accurate and understandable as possible so that it may soften the blow for postmodern minds, being accosted by that term.

    Sources

    [1]  Editors.  Glossary:  Trinity. Self-Realization Fellowship Official Web Site. Accessed March 5, 2023.

    [2]  Editors. “Law of Maya.”  Paramahansa Yogananda: The Royal Path of Yoga.  Accessed March 5, 2023.

    [3]  David Frawley. “Is Hinduism a Monotheistic Religion?”  American Institute of Vedic Studies. August 27, 2014.

    [4]  Editors. “About Krishna.”  krishna.com. Accessed January 14, 2021.

    [5] Subhamoy Das. “Kali: The Dark Mother Goddess in Hinduism.”  Learn Religions. Updated January 17, 2019.

    [6] Editors. “Paramahansa Yogananda: The Father of Yoga in the West.”  Self-Realization Fellowship Official Web Site.  Accessed January 14, 2021.

    [7]  Stephen Smith. Editor. “How Many Times Does Jesus Call God Father?” OpenBible.info. January 10, 2021.

  • Quotations

    Image:  Open AI created inspired by the lines “Noise blossoms in the mind / Bursting into a riot of sound color”

    Quotations

    Paramahansa Yogananda:  People interested in developing their memory should avoid the regular use of stimulants such as coffee, tea, and tobacco, which contain caffeine, theine, and nicotine, respectively.* Strictly avoid using strong stimulants such as liquor and drugs.  Such substances intoxicate, drug, and deteriorate the intelligence and memory cells of the brain, preventing them from recording noble ideas and sense impressions in general.  Memory cells that are constantly anesthetized by intoxicants lose their retentive power, and become lazy and inert. Intoxication obliterates the functions of the conscious mind by harmful chemicals, hence injures the cerebral memory-organ.  When the brain is affected the memory is impaired. — SRF Lesson 51:  “Yoga Methods for Developing Memory” (*Editor’s Note: Some modern research indicates that light to moderate use of caffeine improves short-term memory for brief periods.  Yogis, however, assert that continuous use over a long period erodes rather than enhances the capacity of this divine faculty.)

    Paramahansa Yogananda:  In the natural course of evolution through reincarnation, souls are automatically reincarnated by cosmic law in a higher form or species in each incarnation.  The soul is never reborn in the same animal species:  a dog is never a dog again. — SRF Lesson 78: “Conscious Evolution”

    Paramahansa Yogananda:  There is nothing more powerful than will.  Everything in this universe is produced by will.  Physiological changes may even be made to occur in the body by will power.  There is no time element involved; place a thought in the mind and hold it there, and think that the thing is done and your whole body and mind will respond to it.  Nor does it take time to acquire or discard a habit if you exercise sufficient will power.  It is all in your mind. —SRF Lesson S-4 P-79

    Paramahansa Yogananda:   Remember that when you are unhappy it is generally because you do not visualize strongly enough the great things that you definitely want to accomplish in life, nor do you employ steadfastly enough your will power, your creative ability, and your patience until your dreams are materialized. —SRF Lessons and Spiritual Diary, April 22 – Will Power, Creative Ability, & Patience

    Paramahansa Yogananda: The Sanskrit word for ‘musician’ is bhagavathar, “he who sings the praises of God.” —Autobiography of a Yogi

    Sri Yukteswar:  Forget the past.  The vanished lives of all men are dark with many shames.  Human conduct is ever unreliable until man is anchored in the Divine.  Everything in future will improve if you are making a spiritual effort now.   —Autobiography of a Yogi

    Sri Yukteswar: “How can sense slaves enjoy the world? Its subtle flavors escape them while they grovel in primal mud. All nice discriminations are lost to the man of elemental lusts.”  —Autobiography of a Yogi

    Sri Yukteswar:  Sri Yukteswar’s interpretation of the Adam and Eve creation story in Genesis—from Autobiography of a Yogi, pages 169-171, Twelfth Edition, First quality paperback printing 1994:

    Genesis is deeply symbolic, and cannot be grasped by a literal interpretation; its “tree of life” is the human body.  The spinal cord is like an upturned tree, with man’s hair as its roots, and afferent and efferent nerves as branches.  The tree of the nervous system bears many enjoyable fruits, or sensations of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch.  In these, man may rightfully indulge; but he was forbidden the experience of sex, the “apple” at the center of the body (“in the midst of the garden”).  (my emphasis)

    The “serpent” represents the coiled-up spinal energy that stimulates the sex nerves.  “Adam” is reason, and “Eve” is feeling.  When the emotion or Eve-consciousness in any human being is overpowered by the sex impulse, his reason or Adam also succumbs.

    God created the human species by materializing the bodies of man and woman through the force of His will; He endowed the new species with the power to create children in a similar “immaculate” or divine manner.  Because His manifestation in the individualized soul had hitherto been limited to animals, instinct-bound and lacking the potentialities of full reason, God made the first human bodies, symbolically called Adam and Eve.  To these, for advantageous upward evolution, He transferred the souls or divine essence of two animals.  In Adam or man, reason predominated; in Eve or woman, feeling was ascendant.  Thus was expressed the duality or polarity that underlies the phenomenal worlds.  Reason and feeling remain in the heaven of cooperative joy so long as the human mind is not tricked by the serpentine energy of animal propensities.

    The human body was therefore not solely a result of evolution from beasts, but was produced through an act of special creation by God.  The animal forms were too crude to express full divinity; man was uniquely given the potentially omniscient “thousand-petaled lotus” in the brain, as well as acutely awakened occult centers in the spine.

    God, or the Divine Consciousness present within the first created pair, counseled them to enjoy all human sensibilities, with one exception: sex sensations.  These were banned, lest humanity enmesh itself in the inferior animal method of propagation.  (my emphasis)  The warning not to revive subconsciously present bestial memories was unheeded.  Resuming the way of brute procreation, Adam and Eve fell from the state of heavenly joy natural to the original perfect man.  When “they knew they were naked,” their consciousness of immortality was lost, even as God had warned them; they had placed themselves under the physical law by which bodily birth must be followed by bodily death.

    The knowledge of “good and evil,” promised Eve by the “serpent,” refers to the dualistic and oppositional experiences that mortals under maya must undergo.  Falling into delusion through misuse of his feeling and reason, or Eve- and Adam-consciousness, man relinquishes his right to enter the heavenly garden of divine self-sufficiency.  The personal responsibility of every human being is to restore his “parents” or dual nature to a unified harmony or Eden.

    Alexander Pope: Hope springs eternal in the human breast. —An Essay on Man: “Epistle 1”

    Alexander Pope:  All are but parts of one stupendous whole, / Whose body Nature is, and God the soul. —An Essay on Man: “Epistle 1”

    Alexander Pope: And, spite of pride, in erring reason’s spite, / One truth is clear, Whatever is, is right. —An Essay on Man: “Epistle 1”

    Alexander Pope:  Know then thyself, presume not God to scan; / The proper study of mankind is man.  —An Essay on Man: “Epistle 2”

    Alexander Pope: What Reason weaves, by Passion is undone.  —An Essay on Man: “Epistle 2”

    T. S. Eliot:  Man is man because he can recognize supernatural realities, not because he can invent them.

    Evan Sayet:  “The modern liberal will invariably side with evil over good, wrong over right, and the behaviors that lead to failure over those that lead to success.”

  • A Musing on Overcoming Fear

    Image:  Created by Grok

    A Musing on Overcoming Fear

    Five Major Sources That Elicit in Me Fear of Pain

    Most important to remember:  fear “. . . attracts the very thing you fear.”

    Paramahansa Yogananda:  “Whatever it is that you fear, take your mind away from it and leave it to God. Have faith in Him. Much suffering is due simply to worry. Why suffer now when the malady has not yet come? Since most of our ills come through fear, if you give up fear you will be free at once. The healing will be instant. Every night, before you sleep, affirm: “The Heavenly Father is with me; I am protected.” Mentally surround yourself with Spirit….You will feel His wonderful protection.”

    Paramahansa Yogananda:  “Trust in God and destroy fear, which paralyzes all efforts to succeed and attracts the very thing you fear.”

    1. Status in Astral World: because of failure to attain goal
    2. Losing Ron
    3. Gaining weight: not losing to desired goal
    4. Not being able to quit coffee
    5. Accidents, diseases, old age losing ability to function and pain in general

    Overcoming Fear of Pain for Each Source

    1. Status in Astral World: because of failure to attain samadhi:

    I don’t remember being born in this incarnation.  So I don’t remember what it was like when I was last in the Astral World.  Leave it to God and Guru: “Leave a few mysteries to explore in Eternity,” says Sri Yukteswar in Paramahansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi

    2.  Losing Ron: One day at a time.  With guidance from God and Guru.  We are not given more than we can deal with.  Guruji says:  “You should be prepared to deal with all problems of health, mind, and soul by common sense methods and faith in God, knowing that in life or death your soul remains unconquered.”  I am more likely to shuffle off first, but if I do not, I know I would do what I had to do . . . still . . . ?!

    3.  Gaining weight or not losing to desired goal:  From SRF talk, Brother Anantananda:  “Fear disrupts our natural inner harmony, causing physical, mental, and spiritual disturbances. But as we learn to live more in the calm interior silence of the soul, we discover an inner sanctuary where worries and fears cannot intrude — and where we are ever safe and secure in our oneness with the Divine.” 

    4.  Not being able to quit coffee: Remember the little drunk devotee in the lesson “The Bad Man Who Was Preferred By God.”

    5.  Accidents, diseases, and pain in general:  “Daily devotional contact with the Eternal Source of security and resilience is the way to train ourselves to a constant, lived affirmation of our souls’ power to ‘stand unshaken amidst the crash of breaking worlds’.”  —A New Year’s Message From Brother Chidananda 2022

    Whenever a stray fear pops up such as fear of losing physical and cognitive ability—just let it go just like the others, give it God and Guruji.  They are in control, not me.   

    Most important to remember:  

    fear “. . . attracts the very thing you fear.”

    And then there are regrets: 

    Biggest regret:  that I have not been able to to influence my family to study and follow the spiritual teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda.  I must not be a good enough example for them to follow or even wonder about.  

    Answer:  I cannot control the karma of others.  I must take care of my own soul.  The others belong to God.  God is guiding them as He sees fit.  Again, let it go and leave it to God and Gurus.

  • A Suite of “Samadhi” Villanelles

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    A Suite of “Samadhi” Villanelles

    The following six villanelles are inspired by the poem “Samadhi” by Paramahansa Yogananda.

    1 The veil of Maya’s mortal confusion is now shed

    The veil of Maya’s mortal confusion is now shed—
    The storm of delusion hushed, that once was mine.
    My soul has awakened from all suffering and dread.

    Bewitching flesh temptation has now fled—
    Lust and longing, even death whither beneath the Vine.
    The veil of Maya’s mortal confusion is now shed.

    The spool of the worldliness has lost its thread—
    Love becomes real and deep in Truth’s sacred shrine.
    My soul has awakened from all suffering and dread.

    The road to hell before had often led
    To misery and blight before the Word did shine.
    The veil of Maya’s mortal confusion is now shed.

    My soul now goes where the snake cannot lift his head
    Where light and faith rise together in Love Divine.
    My soul has awakened from all suffering and dread.

    O Thou, Who art That!  May Thy will be spread!
    I live in Thee, and now for nothing else I pine.
    The veil of Maya’s mortal confusion is now shed.
    My soul has awakened from all suffering and dread.

    2 Without the Waves

    “Be still, and know that I am God.” — Psalm 46:10

    In Memoriam:  Bill Craig
    August 8, 1954 — February 6, 2025

    Without the waves—I exist only as boundless sea.
    God’s boundless love has stemmed the tide.
    God’s bliss is mine—deep, wide, eternally free.

    No more hemmed round in time, space, and memory,
    My soul will now and always in sacred Light abide.
    Without the waves—I exist only as boundless sea.

    Satan’s veil is shed—my soul’s eye now can see
    Only holy Light no shadow can ever hide.
    God’s bliss is mine—deep, wide, eternally free.

    My soul unborn of flesh, not changed through history—
    Like Christ I stand up to the trial that would divide.
    Without the waves—I exist only as boundless sea.

    I listen only to angelic voices singing to me.
    Lesser music has vanished—noise has died.
    God’s bliss is mine—deep, wide, eternally free.

    I take no thought for I live in celestial unity—
    From former failures no need to hide.
    Without the waves—I exist only as boundless sea.
    God’s bliss is mine—deep, wide, eternally free.

    3 Myself and All

    I consumed the stars and swallowed their flame—
    All planets bending to my will and trust,
    The cosmos flooding into my soul, my name.

    Bursting violent wails of destruction came,
    Then glacial silence reigned in a silver swept gust—
    I consumed the stars and swallowed their flame.

    Past and future pairs of opposites rose to claim
    Seeds of good and evil, life and death, love and lust—
    The cosmos flooding into my soul, my name.

    Creation’s clay testified to every primitive shame;
    The heart of humanity beat fast, became robust.
    I consumed the stars and swallowed their flame.

    No particle, no whispered essence could disclaim
    My soul transformed the storm by my spirit’s thrust—
    The cosmos flooding into my soul, my name.

    Now all is one—no other voice to blame—
    My ego fire consumed, for burning be I must:
    I consumed the stars and swallowed their flame—
    The cosmos flooding into my soul, my name.

    4 Wild, Burning Joy in Cerebration’s Glow

    Wild, burning joy in cerebration’s glow
    Brims tearing eyes with Holy Light and never dies
    Swallows up my pain, my name, my all: I know.  

    Thou art I, Thou I am—blessèd unity on us bestow
    The blaze of bliss: Knower, Knowing, Known arise—
    Wild, burning joy in cerebration’s glow.  

    An infinite river of eternal bliss ever to flow,
    Fusing my peace with truth that never lies,
    Swallows up my pain, my name, my all: I know.  

    One blissful, peaceful joy, where living waters go
    No ego remains, no limiting, sorrowful cries—
    Wild, burning joy in cerebration’s glow.  

    Blissful soul the heart its oneness does show,
    One soothing flame soaring beyond the skies—
    Swallows up my pain, my name, my all: I know.  

    In sun-filled stillness, the heavenly bud can blow,
    Where all-pervading, ever-living peace can never die—
    Wild, burning joy in cerebration’s glow
    Swallows up my pain, my name, my all: I know.

    5 No Lack of Consciousness but Wildly Aware

    No lack of consciousness but wildly aware,
    Shed the mental boundaries of my physical frame,
    Where I, on the Cosmic Sea of stillness, dare.

    The soul without ego drifts with no care,
    My design no longer hide-bound to a name—
    No lack of consciousness but wildly aware.

    Space moves as an iceberg drifting there,
    Throughout my infinite, omniscient mind-flame,
    Where I, on the Cosmic Sea of stillness, dare.

    A falling sparrow cannot flee my loving care;
    All worlds appearing and disappearing are the same—
    No lack of consciousness but wildly aware.

    Through heartfelt prayer in meditation rare,
    By Guruji’s grace, my inner silence came—
    Where I, on the Cosmic Sea of stillness, dare.

    Reality abides eternally inside His heavenly lair;
    I am now united with the Source which is my aim—
    No lack of consciousness but wildly aware,
    Where I, on the Cosmic Sea of stillness, dare.

    6 Sea of Mirth

    We come from Joy, and to Joy we must return.
    Four veils we shall lift:  solid, liquid, air, and light.
    In divine Joy, all mortal boundaries burn.

    The atoms’ secrets we shall try to learn,
    Earth, seas, and stars all wane into cosmic night.
    We come from Joy, and to Joy we must return.

    In vaporous veils where nebulae do churn,
    Electrons, protons whirl in all-pervading might.
    In divine Joy, all mortal boundaries burn.

    The cosmic drum strikes rhythms that concern,
    As massive forms abscond into telling fright—
    We come from Joy, and to Joy we must return.

    I am but God’s little wave, and yet I begging yearn
    To possess an ocean-mind absorbing wrong and right.
    In divine Joy, all mortal boundaries burn.

    Bubbling laughter, all boundaries I shall spurn
    As I meld with Sea of Mirth’s brilliant blaze of white.
    We come from Joy, and to Joy we again return.
    In divine Joy, all mortal boundaries burn.