awakening the swan

"the swan" milton resnick


the sleeping swan . . . mirra lokhvitskaya

my earthly life is a ringing,
an indistinct rustle of rushes
it lulls the sleeping swan
my disquieted soul.

far off one catches a glimpse of hurrying ships
greedily plying.
peacefully in the midst of the bay,
where sadness breathes like the weight of the world.

but the sound, born of trembling
blends with the rustling of the rushes
and shakes the awakening swan
my immortal soul.

it surges into a world of freedom
where the waves echo the sighing storms
and where the ever changing waters
reflect eternal azure.

from birth to death people sleep.

one day, you begin to wake up. you become aware of several "i's", each with its own demands and expectations.

john bennett describes this awakening . . .

"you have to ask yourself: "what do i really want? who is it in me that want?" each of your centers wants different things. every 'i' in you wants something for itself. there are some things that you really need; for example, you need not only food and clothing and the direct requirements of your bodily life, but you also need certain kinds of impressions. if you do not get those impressions, your spiritual life remains hungry. it can even be starved.

but you have to realize that life can never give you all that you want. it cannot even give you all that you need. if you are hungry for one kind of impression which you cannot get, you have to be clever and try to find what other impressions will give you the food you need. it is true that you need food of impressions. life sometimes will not give us the impressions we need. It is not only that life can deny us impressions and experiences that we want. it often will not give us impressions that are really necessary as food for us. we must study ourselves. we have to learn what kinds of impressions are necessary for work. It is always possible to get what we need if we know how to look for it." extract from talk j.g. bennett