I like your poem very much! And I feel what you feel, not only sadness but some anger at the pain and suffering throughout our world. The anger is toward the tyrants and their inhumanity toward others, for the sake of their own power and greed! But, we know they will fall, and will not last forever. Good will win out in the end, this we know, because God is ultimately in control. But for the meantime, the Spirit of God surely groans in pain with us, at this utter lack of Love and human decency that is happening right now. And all our tears and anguish have a purpose, to soften our hearts and to become prayers for those suffering.
Thank you for these beautifully rendered words, David. I know well what you describe viscerally about the hoarding of our tears, ragged sobs, and welling up. Yes, I too recognize the Spirit’s presence and give thanks even as laments bubble over and guide our paths.
I just loved your poem - thank you David. I think we feel a cosmic sadness for it seems that our world is hurtling into another catastrophy.
Etty Hillesum was a young Jewish woman in Amsterdam when Hitler was closing in. Her diary, Etty Hillesum: An Interrupted Life — the Diaries, 1941-1943 and Letters from Westerbork, were published posthumously.
She died in Westerbork concentration camp.
She wrote:
“Ought we not, from time to time, open ourselves up to cosmic sadness? Your sorrow must become an integral part of yourself. You mustn’t run away from it, but bear it like an adult… Give your sorrow all the space and shelter in yourself that is its due, for if everyone bears their grief honestly and courageously, the sorrow that now fills the world will abate.
But if you do not clear a decent shelter for your sorrow, and instead reserve most of the space inside you for hatred and thoughts of revenge — from which new sorrows will be born for others — then sorrow will never cease in this world and will multiply.”
I like your poem very much! And I feel what you feel, not only sadness but some anger at the pain and suffering throughout our world. The anger is toward the tyrants and their inhumanity toward others, for the sake of their own power and greed! But, we know they will fall, and will not last forever. Good will win out in the end, this we know, because God is ultimately in control. But for the meantime, the Spirit of God surely groans in pain with us, at this utter lack of Love and human decency that is happening right now. And all our tears and anguish have a purpose, to soften our hearts and to become prayers for those suffering.
Thank you for these beautifully rendered words, David. I know well what you describe viscerally about the hoarding of our tears, ragged sobs, and welling up. Yes, I too recognize the Spirit’s presence and give thanks even as laments bubble over and guide our paths.
Thank you. It is good to know that there are others who experience the working of the Spirit in these disturbing but constructive ways.
I just loved your poem - thank you David. I think we feel a cosmic sadness for it seems that our world is hurtling into another catastrophy.
Etty Hillesum was a young Jewish woman in Amsterdam when Hitler was closing in. Her diary, Etty Hillesum: An Interrupted Life — the Diaries, 1941-1943 and Letters from Westerbork, were published posthumously.
She died in Westerbork concentration camp.
She wrote:
“Ought we not, from time to time, open ourselves up to cosmic sadness? Your sorrow must become an integral part of yourself. You mustn’t run away from it, but bear it like an adult… Give your sorrow all the space and shelter in yourself that is its due, for if everyone bears their grief honestly and courageously, the sorrow that now fills the world will abate.
But if you do not clear a decent shelter for your sorrow, and instead reserve most of the space inside you for hatred and thoughts of revenge — from which new sorrows will be born for others — then sorrow will never cease in this world and will multiply.”
Thank you so much for bringing Etty Hillesum to mind. What a beacon of hope for us today!
Thank you Stephan for, yet again, a wonderfully generous and deep response.