A shimmery descant ebbing notes around
Unacknowledged rhythms.
I know that there are rules there,
That they influence me unaware,
But I say they have no part in my art.
Guitar Hero, a white girl’s rap,
Though it some know beat enough to dance,
I place head against the floor and try hearing
Only the down steps of salsa shoes.
I’m not interested in the trills voices make,
That part is already ingrained to my head.
I don’t have to force my soul to make sounds
The lines come from within, and flow out.
No, it’s the rhythm that alludes,
It’s measurement in the way of sound.
I’ve fooled myself for so long,
Saying I don’t need it, that my mind can create
Apart from the counting and compulsion of order.
I say words are my syncopation, lyrics, my love,
That they truly comprise music,
With time, just as an author afterthought.
Yet in my deepest parts, drums a force
That longs to know the why of steps, and sways
Of heels clamoring over hardwood in symphony.
I can’t escape their call to order, to unison
Of something greater than my solo streamed sound
Theirs shakes the depths of the earth
Resonating floorboards for hours beyond
My melody depends on it; I can see that now
And so I close my eyes, trying to forget what I know
About vocals and feel solely their movement
Pulsing through the floor, time creating a new world
In which lines of notes will be born, shimmering above
Yet always rooted in the environment of origin.
I will come to understand,
Even if it requires lying on the floor all night,
Even it means forgetting words to gain time
I will - so I can, marry the notions and experience
Both IN UNISON magically twining into more
Than either could be alone

This post is an attempt of explaining further a conversation with a friend that I had earlier today. Yes, while I should be reading or writing about education right now, philosophy and theology seems much more interesting at the moment. LOL.

SO HERE I GO…
Why I Don’t Want to Accept Socrates/ Plato’s Duality of Man

If man is just a body, and mind (soul = thoughts, emotions), then how do we receive God or contain God? If the mind is in the body, and the body dies, then what of man is eternal? Why talk of heaven if we only have two parts? And yet the Tenach says part of us is eternal.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 “He made everything beautiful in its time, also He set in their heart the eternal...” (the heart/spirit is eternal)
Ecclesiastes 12:5 “...because the man goes to his eternal home,...” (spirit to a spiritual dimension)
Ecclesiastes 15:6 “...and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” (spirit leaves at death)

If the spirit is the seat of God-consciousness, and the soul the seat of self-consciousness, then the body is our world or sense-consciousness.
With the spirit we know God and our relation to Him, as well as our relation morally to every creation.
With our soul powers, we know intellect, sensibilities (affections, emotions).



Are we really so arrogant to think that we gain all knowledge through observation? Is there nothing that is not revealed? Does the divine really make itself known to the mind, and expect us to form conclusions through intuition? For even animals have brains. Our ‘comprehension’ of spirit things must come from our spirit... a revealing source outside of self.

After all, revelation is how YHVH speaks to Israel, telling them to build the tabernacle (and later temple). Its very format contains three parts – the outer court, holy place, and most holy place. We too composed of three parts: the body, the soul, and the spirit act as a living type of the temple of God, fulfilled in us. We are of the three parts: the body corresponds to the outer court, our soul to the holy place, and our human spirit to the most holy place, which is the very residence of God’s presence.



Just as the fiery cloud hovered over the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant in the physical tabernacle tent, so YHVH made humans to interact with Him during this life: Spirit to spirit, and spirit to Spirit (as a two-way conversation). However this connected relationship is only experienced by those who turn to YHVH (God).

Deuteronomy 4:29 "But if from there you will seek YHVH your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart (levav) and with all your soul (nefesh)."

Psalms 78:8 "And that they might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not set their heart aright, and whose spirit was not faithful with God."

Jeremiah 33:3 "Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will show you great and mighty things, which you did not know." (Spirit to spirit)

It should be noted though that Judaism also follows a dual-nature model even if Deuteronomy 6:4-5 separates out heart, soul, and body. “Hear O Israel! YHVH is our God, YHVH is One. And you shall love YHVH your God with all your heart (spirit) and with all your soul and with all your might (body).”

In other thoughts…
Our minds can be renewed, but can how is that different from a person’s being changed/ transformed? We can work to restore our minds, but a spirit-change must occur for deeper reverberations to move from the inner ring and affect our other dimensions (soul/ mind, and body).

Repentance and turning to God is with our heart (with the spirit, the eternal part of us). It is not tearing our garments, putting ashes on our forehead, or mouthing words that someone else wrote in a prayerbook. The consistent message of scriptures says that our spirit (our heart) is the real eternal “us," and this eternal part of us can be a sanctuary of the Spirit of God in us. It's an individual choice.

Thus friend, I hope this explains what I meant a little bit better and maybe points your soul (and spirit) towards God as well