28 July (Fire) Liber LXV, 4:42-44

[Jim Eshelman]

42. There is a deep taint beneath the ineffable bliss; it is the taint of generation.
43. Yea, though the flower wave bright in the sunshine, the root is deep in the darkness of earth.
44. Praise to thee, O beautiful dark earth, thou art the mother of a million myriads of myriads of flowers.

[RobertAllen]

42. There is a deep taint beneath the ineffable bliss; it is the taint of generation.

Sex, Fvcking, but always with the idea of consequences—more babies to grow up and {••••} some more resulting in more things to work themselves out by making even more that will be the source of further consequences, and so on.

Or simple analog of sexual bliss to mystical bliss. Which suggests that this could be a set up where we will be told that even this bliss is still part of the world, and that there is something higher, and truly beyond even this.

43. Yea, though the flower wave bright in the sunshine, the root is deep in the darkness of earth.

Fine, but I still feel we are waiting for a qualification, a judgment. Right now it's just a schematic of the relationship between the higher bliss and its roots in the dark earth. I'm waiting for the justification for this exposition. WHY ARE YOU TELLING ME THIS?!!!!

44. Praise to thee, O beautiful dark earth, thou art the mother of a million myriads of myriads of flowers.

Praise seems to belie my fears. Based on the text am I to appreciate this earth, acknowledging her beauty and celebrate her fertility? To the extent I could identify with this generation isn't it a problem, an inability to see the one shining truth beyond all of this?

I don't know, though I quite agree with the text in terms of this assessment: the dark earth is beautiful!

Love and Will

[Jim Eshelman]

I think I noted in an earlier chapter... "taint," by etymology, is simply tint. It has come to have the inference of degradation, but, at root, simply means a thing has been colored, tinted. The present verse speaks of a "deep taint," so there's a lot of tinting!

The thing "tainted" is compromised only in the literal sense of impurity that means it isn't modified by something else - it isn't "clear" (as if viewed through clear, clean glass), but is seen through a tinted window.

Most neutrally, that means that there is relationship between two ideas, rather than our viewing them isolated from each other.

[mojorisin44]

This appears to be a view from above looking down upon creation, time, and material existence. The light that radiates from the ineffable bliss is shot down the prism of existence (thanks for the “taint” clarification Jim) and there grows life. The flower analogy is very valuable to me and underscores the dualistic nature of being. Love not only the light, but the darkness as well – as it all emanates from the ineffable bliss.

I know the darkness all too well as it feels that is where I dwell from day to day. However, I feel a voice… “Be Proud! In all your endeavors as the sum total is an adoration to the Divine!” Everything I do may not seem pertinent to the path I feel I am on, but looking back – everything has been necessary to where I am today – and I’m okay with that. I am not proud of myself per se, but of the guiding force that seems to know what I need even if I refuse it. And the Earth being tended to – look back – there are flowers waving in the breeze, and grass, and weeds, and animals of all kind – and in it all there is dark and light and above all, Love!

[Tinman]

"But we're all the same inside - why don't people see that."
"Yes, we are all the same dear. But also, look at all the flowers. Aren't they lovely in their differences too? Aren't we all?"

[Gemini]

93-
with heat in the earth gestation takes place absorbing all....simmering.
in the flower above, the reflection of all brought forth from below grown and made manifest. i can see this as the continuing path....of the fire that burns w/in us and in the core of every star....by their garden ye shall know

[Jim Eshelman]

(I'm taking advantage of a "day off" on these meditations to catch up posting diary entries from the summer that never made it here.)

42. There is a deep taint beneath the ineffable bliss; it is the taint of generation.

At the touch of the sublime, the mortal part of our minds - not surrendered in the Adept (for whom they, in fact, are essential) - feels our smallness, imperfection, and unworthiness - whatever "favorite bad feelings" we habitually horde. Part of the sweet, bitter, painful, fulfilling union with the infinite is the magnification of our smallness. The initial feeling I get from this verse is the restirring of every personal sense of smallness and inadequacy we bear, comingled with the bliss and truth of union with the Angel.

...And thus are those feelings of smallness and inadequacy sanctified.

This is not the only place that Liber LXV uses "taint" in this way. In 3:8-9 we find, "But I beheld in thee a certain taint, even in that wherein I delighted. I beheld in thee the taint of thy father the ape, of thy grandsire the Blind Worm of Slime." It does seem linked to unredeemed Nephesh but, even more (in the context of Chapter 3), to mortality and transiency within the field of time. ("I gazed upon the Crystal of the Future, and I saw the horror of the End of thee" [3:10] - and see the surrounding verses.) The "taint" of which this speaks is mortality itself.

Taint, though having moral implications of degeneracy and corruption, is simply tint or tinge. The verse above, therefore, is saying that the experience of the union with the Holy Guardian Angel is deeply tinged with recollection of one's mortality. (The "corruption" or "decay" is simply the natural breaking down of that which is born, lives, and dies.)

My attention directed by this verse, today I experience this "ineffable bliss" as seasoned with the actuality of mortality. Not imperfection, certianly not unworthiness (not in the embrace of the Angel), but certainly smallness - so long as I continue to identify with my mortal self.

43. Yea, though the flower wave bright in the sunshine, the root is deep in the darkness of earth.

Adepthood is a union and equilibrium of the mortal and immortal. Neither is surrendered and both are essential to the equation of 5=6. Tiphereth exactly equilibrating Kether and Malkuth. Neither human nor God alone, but God-Human.

This coexistence - this taint, tint, tinge, seasoning - is, in fact, part of its sweetness. Verse 43 declares this single dual-truth. At the specific level called Adepthood, the attainment is the fruit of mortal roots.

44. Praise to thee, O beautiful dark earth, thou art the mother of a million myriads of myriads of flowers.

Praise to thee, O beautiful dark earth, thou art the mother of a million myriads of myriads of flowers.

The essence of this particular practice is simply the continuing awareness of, and abiding within, the interminable Love of the Holy Guardian Angel.