Who told her she could come and stay here - that whispering, snake tongue who is never full?
I remember reading Blake's "London" from his "Songs of Innocence and Experience" in my first year of University and coming across the lines:
In every cry of every Man,
In every Infant's cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forged manacles I hear.
I think about that a lot - the mind-forged manacles- the self-imposed restrictions I place on my life and pretend to fight against. That damn critic that keeps me up at night, correcting my mistakes, reliving old embarrassments, rehearsing should have said speeches in my head. But there are these glorious moments of clarity that come to me at times and make me catch my breath in gratitude. For a space I can see how much grace and freedom I really exist within and I feel as if I am the most fortunate of all people on earth. I want to live recklessly and bravely and held by my faith all at once and I can see the mind-forged manacles for the loose threads that they really are.
Now, we see as in a mirror.
It is one of my favorite ideas. How little I know. How little I really see. How little of what I bind myself with now has any strength at all.
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2 comments:
I know what you mean... sometimes when I am caught in the middle of all of that muck of wanting & regret I'll have this enormous sense of wealth. I'll look around myself at that moment & I'll see my life for what it really is instead of what the world or my insecurities have told me. What a space to live within... how do we hold on to that? I'm sure there are a bazllion self help books or a copy of Buddhism for Dummies out there that will tell me! Thanks Ang for reminding me again!
You're welcome ol' buddy. Hey, I actually saw a copy of "Christianity for Dummies". I looked around for someone to share my disbelief with with, but I was alone. Wish you were there.
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