In my thinking, I regularly translate the traditional notion of "righteousness" as harmony: to be righteous is to be in harmony with the music of the spheres, the Song of everything.
(I also translate "obedience" as fidelity—both in the sense of honoring the covenant, and also in the sense of a record, becoming a high-fidelity reflection of the image of God. The idea is to shift the stuffy moralistic concepts into a poetic register.)
I've an especial fondness for Robert Fludd. I grew up in the small Kentish village where he resided. He gave his name to one of the "Houses" in my Junior School, although at the time I had no idea who he was, and didn't make the connection until I was in my twenties.
In my time living at a Benedictine monastery, there was a strong sense of both the year and the day being rhythmic expressions of sacred truth. The year with the penitential and celebratory seasons, including the balance and juxtaposition of the more feminine-centric Advent-Christmas cycle (waiting in darkness, followed by birth), and the more masculine-centric Lent-Easter cycle (fasting in the wilderness, followed by sacrifice and resurrection).
The day at this community always began with Vigils in the crypt, a chamber below the main chapel and altar. Then the community rises into the upper world for the rest of the prayers and the work of the day. The last liturgical act of the day, towards the end of Compline, is when the whole community descends back into the crypt for the final Marian hymn and blessing. So there's a little birth-death-rebirth cycle that occurs every 24 hours.
Living there invoked this poetic metaphysics of time - and gratefully I've continued to carry with me some of that sense of the years and days....
In my thinking, I regularly translate the traditional notion of "righteousness" as harmony: to be righteous is to be in harmony with the music of the spheres, the Song of everything.
(I also translate "obedience" as fidelity—both in the sense of honoring the covenant, and also in the sense of a record, becoming a high-fidelity reflection of the image of God. The idea is to shift the stuffy moralistic concepts into a poetic register.)
Love and Keep
Great piece and great to see Thomas Vaughan in there
Wow, you excel at making complex or murky notions clear!
I've an especial fondness for Robert Fludd. I grew up in the small Kentish village where he resided. He gave his name to one of the "Houses" in my Junior School, although at the time I had no idea who he was, and didn't make the connection until I was in my twenties.
So jealous!
In my time living at a Benedictine monastery, there was a strong sense of both the year and the day being rhythmic expressions of sacred truth. The year with the penitential and celebratory seasons, including the balance and juxtaposition of the more feminine-centric Advent-Christmas cycle (waiting in darkness, followed by birth), and the more masculine-centric Lent-Easter cycle (fasting in the wilderness, followed by sacrifice and resurrection).
The day at this community always began with Vigils in the crypt, a chamber below the main chapel and altar. Then the community rises into the upper world for the rest of the prayers and the work of the day. The last liturgical act of the day, towards the end of Compline, is when the whole community descends back into the crypt for the final Marian hymn and blessing. So there's a little birth-death-rebirth cycle that occurs every 24 hours.
Living there invoked this poetic metaphysics of time - and gratefully I've continued to carry with me some of that sense of the years and days....
what a great story!
⚜️ Saint Teresa of Jesus,
pray for us! 🇪🇸💎🏰✍🏼📚
Meter, rhythm, harmonics, 🌊 waves & time.💫
Man is a Liturgical Being, the Six Days, the ☀️Sun and 🌙 Moon, λόγοι and 🔥Cosmos....
Nice essay & THANK YOU for the Footnotes! ✍🏼
Pray for Translators, Σοφία Χάρης Αγάπη Δόξα!
The universe was "poemed" into being. ☦️🕯️📿
Music mysticism is the reason evangelical churches are prospering! Wherever there is beautiful music, therein lies heaven's door!