Jul 11 2008
Lead Me
I cannot dance, O Lord,
Unless You lead me,
If You wish me to leap joyfully,
Let me see You dance and sing -
Then I will leap into Love -
And from Love into Knowledge,
And from Knowledge into the Harvest,
That sweetest Fruit beyond human sense.
There I will stay with You, whirling.
[Mechthild of Magdeburg]
(((hugs)))
P.S. this one didn’t need a video and/or music included in the post…somehow, there is music rising up in my soul at this very moment.
“from Knowledge into the Harvest” — I’d first thought she’d meant into the world (while not of it), but she then goes on to call it a sweet Fruit.
I cannot dance, Lord, unless you lead me.
If you want me to leap with abandon,
You must intone the song.
Then I shall leap into love,
From love into knowledge,
From knowledge into enjoyment,
And from enjoyment beyond all human sensations.
There I want to remain, yet want also to circle higher still.
We can see that much depends on the translation…and which is more correct, I cannot say…
My own feeling is that she may be talking about contemplation, from the beginnings of infused contemplation into a mystical direct experience of God with sensory consolations, but that she desires to go beyond these consolations to the heights of contemplation. I don’t have “The Flowing Light of the Godhead”, but I would really love to read it in its entirety.
Lucy, I love those images too! Receptivity and wild abandon, but with grace, when God is in charge of the whirlwind/vortex…