Answers don’t arrive if you’re afraid of sitting in the empty dark room of not knowing by yourself long enough for them to arrive on their own schedule.
—Michael Thelen
Oh let me, too, be willing to sit in the empty dark
and let the darkness enter me.
Let me not pretend to know how it will be.
Let me lose my plans, though it terrifies me.
Let me not imagine any better time
to practice than now.
Let me be the bowl that sings when touched,
the bowl that is content with its own stillness.
If I want answers, let me sit with my longing.
If I want lessons, let me find them right here.
And if it is dark, let me not run from the dark,
but lean into it. And if it is light,
let me long for the light. Let it enter me.
Let me not pretend to know how it will be.
You have made of Thelen’s baffling sentence a thing of beauty–a poem that inspires and moves, as it should, to our finding rewards in life. A small note– it was a good touch let “empty dark” stand alone. Again, thank you, Rosemerry
ahhh … my dear friend Michael is in his first few weeks of becoming a monk, and I lifted his line out of a letter–it really spoke to me of how important it is to just sit in the dark–or the light–but to be in that state of surrender. I think it is soooooo brave to do that–he amazes me with his courage to just show up and lose the teacher, lose the to-do list, lose the one who knows anything and see what happens then …
Knowing how it will be often seems to prevent grace from dropping into our lives with all its joy.
isn’t it true? I get in my own way–in the way of grace–so often.
I speak from vast experience!