Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, June 3, 2010

Follow your inner moonlight;
don't hide the madness.

Poetry is the one place where people can
speak their original human mind. It is the
outlet for people to say in public what is
known in private.

Allen Ginsburg, poet, born on this date, 1926


Parables are a kind of poetry. Jesus understood this, and He used them extensively – even though St. Paul mentions none of them.

There was nothing in the parables that people didn’t “know in private”. The same is true for the stories that the Buddha told, and the rabbis in the Talmud. But we human beings know a lot “in private” – in our hearts and souls – that we can’t or won’t talk about in public. Too intimate. Too threatening to communities, or urselves. We don’t like to talk publicly about Death, about Sex, about Fear, about our failures, our prejudices, our misconceptions, our shallowness. About so many things.

But Jesus knew that we had to deal with these things. Parables were His way of making that point – and of opening up the issues. His disciples were “avoiders”; and we are too. That’s why a spiritual path can be so challenging. And Jesus certainly challenged his disciples to grow up.

Poets are God’s instruments. They offer us the opportunity to grow in our humanity. To be honest.

I’m going to read more poetry – and be more bold in public about what I “know” in private.

Brian+