Daily Signet

How do I leave my daily doings, the quotidian, and enter the place of the sacred?  How do I die to my busy, rushing, harried, frantic, white rabbit of a mind?  I prepare myself; I cleanse myself; I purify myself.

There is a wonderful Chassidic story as told by David Wolper, about “…the child of a Rabbi, hundreds of years ago in the old country, who used to wander in the woods all day.  At first his father let him wander, but over time he became concerned.  The woods were dangerous.  The father did not know what lurked there.  He decided to discuss the matter with his child.  One day he took him aside and said, ‘You know, I have noticed that each day you walk into the woods.  I wonder, why do you go there?’  The boy said to his father, ‘I go there to find God.’  ‘That is a good thing,’ the father replied gently.  ‘I am glad you are searching for God.  But, my child, don’t you know that God is the same everywhere?’  ‘Yes,’ the boy answered, ‘but I’m not.’ 

Again, the ritual preparation begins anew—the kids get into their pajamas, they brush their teeth, they go to that special place, we read and recite to them, and the ritual of celebrating a great story of Spirit begins again….I wash my hands and face, and put on clean clothes, the chimes sound, I enter the Holy Atrium, the music starts and the ritual of celebrating a great story begins – and I become a carrier of the Great Spirit….I pass under the torii gate; I pass under the sacred rope; I step over the hushed threshold; the Muezzin calls and I spread my magic carpet and kneel down where I am; I enter the garden of paradise for prayer, thanksgiving and service.

Again, I prepare myself; I cleanse myself; I purify myself; I focus my intent, with all my heart, and with all my soul, and with all my strength, and with all my mind.  I stop, take off my shoes, take off my mental shoes – behold, be aware, beware – a sacred place; I enter.  I die; I cease being rocky soil; I become fertile soil; open, again and again, to receive Grace and Love.        

Ben Leichtling

On This Day…

An anonymous portrait believed to show Christopher Marlowe

Christopher (“Kit”) Marlowe born 1564 in Canterbury, England, died 1593: Elizabethan playwright. Works: Tamburlaine, The Jew of Malta, Massacre at Paris
Quotes: “Was this the face that launched a thousand ships and burnt the tops and towers of Ileum?” “Whoever loved that loved not at first sight?”