The Intimacy
Feb 11, 2024
Intimacy: From Birth to Union
From Munajat
A Great Wagon
Ibn Arabi on Intimacy
The Gestures of Intimacy
Monthly Assignments
From Munajat by Pir Elias Amidon
The Quiet
Your stillness is upon me.
How gentle it is.
It doesn't ask anything.
It holds the beating of my heart
and the air around me.
It holds the story of my life.
So quiet, so clear, no wonder no one notices.
Your stillness is upon me.
It comes first, gives birth,
like a mother births a child.
Mother light, child light,
the quiet at the heart.
Your stillness is upon me.
You are the I that I am.
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Your Beautiful Composure
Inside the noise my life makes
you live in silence.
You make my body move but you stay still.
The sun climbs into the day
and everyone gets busy, but you don't.
Over there we're hurting each other,
and over there we've left a mess,
but you don't interfere.
You're quiet, like the air,
always giving us another chance.
Teach us the way you are, beloved,
your beautiful composure, this generous giving
the way you pour light everywhere
just to see love grow in our gardens.
Teach us to be like that,
not asking for anything,
sweeping the kitchen after the party,
everyone home in their beds.
Teach us to turn into you
when no one's looking,
when we see stars coming out
in each other's bodies.
You breathe; new shapes appear,
and the music of a desire as widespread
as Spring begins to move
like a great wagon.
Drive slowly.
Some of us walking alongside
are lame!
~
Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened. Don’t open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
~
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase 'each other'
doesn’t make any sense.
From Rumi: Selected Poems,
translated by Coleman Barks
The Great Wagon
Ibn Arabi on Intimacy
"Hence the whole cosmos has an intimacy with God. However, parts of it are not aware that the intimacy they have is with God.
Each part of the cosmos must find an intimacy with something, whether constantly, or by way of transferral to an intimacy that it finds with something else. However, nothing other than God among the engendered things has any properties. Hence, a thing’s intimacy can only be with God, even if it does not know this. When the servant sees his intimacy with something, that thing is one of the forms of God’s self-disclosure. The servant may recognize this, or he may deny it. So the servant can feel repelled by the same thing with which he is intimate, but he is not aware, because of the diversity of the forms.
Hence, no one lacks intimacy with God, and no one is alienated from any but God. Intimacy is an expansiveness, while alienation is a contraction.
The intimacy of the knowers of God is an intimacy with themselves, not with God, for they have come to know that they see nothing of God but the form of what they are. They have no intimacy with anything but what they see. Those who are not gnostics see intimacy only with the other, so they are overcome by alienation when they are alone with themselves."
Quoted by William C. Chittick in his eassy, "Presence With God"
The one who looks out of my eyes looks out of yours.
When our eyes meet we see the resemblance but we’re shy.
Why?
From FLASHES by Pir Elias amidon
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Monthly Assignments
THE CHILLA OF EYES
Whenever you encounter another being—whether someone you know or a stranger—attempt to make eye contact. If you are successful, maintain that connection for as long as you comfortably can.
Like all good chillas, this is simple but not necessarily easy. Some people will completely ignore your gesture of connection; a few may find it confusing or off-putting, most will likely smile or nod in acknowledgement. But one should keep in mind that this chilla is not about them, it’s about our own ability to be mindfully present and responsive to the life around us.
Don’t forget, dogs, cats, squirrels, birds and other creatures have eyes too.
EVERYDAY GESTURES OF INTIMACY
Practice the Gestures of Intimacy in various everyday situations, not just as an invocation to spiritual practice. For example:
Before a “we have to talk” conversation with a friend or loved one;
While you’re watching or reading news or entertainment;
When you step out for a walk;
As you do your grocery shopping or your gym/yoga workout;
In a group meeting with associates, coworkers;
Sitting down for a meal;
Etc.