The Still Point and the Dance

Fields of Gold

by Sting

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You'll remember me when the west wind moves

Upon the fields of barley

You'll forget the sun in his jealous sky

As we walk in the fields of gold

So she took her love

For to gaze awhile

Upon the fields of barley

In his arms she fell as her hair came down

Among the fields of gold

Will you stay with me, will you be my love

Among the fields of barley

We'll forget the sun in his jealous sky

As we lie in the fields of gold...

The Four Quartets

by T.S. Elliot, Poet

At the still point of the turning world, Neither flesh nor fleshless;

Neither from or towards;

At the still point, there the dancer is,

But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,

Where past and future are gathered.

Neither movement from nor towards,

Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,

There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.

Dance is movement, form, physical, spirit, creation; it absorbs the dancer into the sound, the rhythm, the pattern and colors of movement.
As a performance art form, It's hue and expression at its most intelligent; at its heart, dance is all about the slowing, the simple moment, the still point.

Inertia may initially provide that still point which the poet Elliot speaks of, but as one continues in the physical experience a dance provides, more and more what one comes to first feel, and moreover to appreciate, is this still moment in the movement, time suspended, if only for a second, by inertia before gravity prevails, forcing one back to earth.The lyrics of Fields of Gold, for example, in combination with music, explore this sublime merger of sound and meaning with movement towards a high point or note. Listen here yourself for it. The dancer most properly locates herself at its center, the fulcrum point.

Every rhythm, a dancer discovers, has a beat, a pattern, cadence in which there are pauses, a syncopation to be reckoned. It both calms, focuses and elevates one within the music into a moment so totally focused in the 'now moment' that every other awareness is obliterated. Ecstatic is the way of the dancer when becomes the dance.

Hold On, My Heart

Hold On My Heart

By Genesis. 1991
LISTEN HERE

Hold on, my heart
Just hold on to that feeling

Hold on, my heart
Just hold on to that feeling
We both know we've been here before
We both know what can happen

Hold on, my heart
'cause I'm looking over you shoulder
Please don't rush in this time
Don't show her how you feel

Hold on, my heart
Throw me a lifeline
I'll keep a place for you
Somewhere deep inside
Hold on, my heart

Please tell her to be patient
'Cause there has never been a time
That I wanted something more
If I can recall this feeling
And I know there's a chance
Oh I will be there
Yes I will be there
Be there for you

Whenever you want me to
Whenever you call I will be there
Yes I will be there
We both know we've been here before
We both know what can happen

Hold on my heart
'cause I'm looking over you shoulder
Please don't rush in this time
Don't show her how you feel

Hold on, my heart
Throw me a lifeline
I'll keep a place for you
Somewhere deep inside

Hold on, my heart
Please tell her to be patient
'Cause there has never been a time
That I wanted something more

If I can recall this feeling
And I know there's a chance
Oh I will be there
Yes I will be there

Be there for you
Whenever you want me to
Whenever you call I will be there

Yes I will be there...

The teaching is that the Christ will return, the shepherd collecting his flock. He realizes the importance of the devotion of the disciples and wants them to know he will be with them, to the end of time; however there is risk. The risk that they may not be loyal, they may not remain faithful to the One, the All, who makes the sun and the moon, the very heart of all the Christ has come to share. Yet he assures all that he, the Christ will remain until the end of time. -- St. Matthew 28:20

Tell her to be patient, the world is not yet ready, the place held open for all to enter is a deep, profound mystery. The Spirit makes a place for one and all. Hold on, my heart. I'll be there.

Moments in Doubt

How Deep It Goes

Lyrics sung by Heart

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In the quiet afternoon you left and went down into town

And I just watched the empty road behind you

Where the fog lies kissing the mountainside

You want to be sleeping, deep inside

Believing that the hungry world won't find you
Well, that's just fine, that's just fine

You've got to believe and I don't know, I don't know

What I believe anymore

Or whether to leave, or whether to stay

Or what I can say

To make you know

How deep it goes...

Come on down

Come on down
You've got to come lay down here and say those things

Those warm things, right here in my ear

The times that you had that water like wine

So clean and so fine to make me know how deep it goes...

 Asking, always we are asking the eternal question-- 'I watched the empty road behind you, and "even though there's a scar there from before," is another one of the lyrics.
We want to know that there is the one, the beloved One who cares for us, that we are not living without affect. People who matter to us--why do they return, if at all; do we matter to them, and if not, then to where must we dedicate ourselves?

How long is long enough? Can we somewhere, somehow receive a sign? Taken yet another way, the song brings to mind comparisons to nature, to the Transcendentalists of an earlier century, who with a stroke of their pen inform us that they "have many more miles to go before they sleep." It is sometimes so clean and so fine to make me know how deep.

We Are Not Salamanders

The Summons
by John Bell and Graham Maule
performed by unknown
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Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?
Will you go where you don't know and never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown? Will you let my name be known,
will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?

Will you leave yourself behind if I but call your name?
Will you care for cruel and kind and never be the same?
Will you risk the hostile stare should your life attract or scare?
Will you let me answer prayer in you and you in me?

Will you let the blinded see if I but call your name?
Will you set the prisoners free and never be the same?
Will you kiss the leper clean and do such as this unseen,
and admit to what I mean in you and you in me?

Will you love the "you" you hide if I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same?
Will you use the faith you've found to reshape the world around,
through my sight and touch and sound in you and you in me?

Lord your summons echoes true when you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you and never be the same.
In Your company I'll go where Your love and footsteps show.
Thus I'll move and live and grow in you and you in me.

Will you go where you don't know? Will you let the blind see? Will you let the prisoner free, and will you love the "you" you hide, if but call your name?
Faith is a thing of experience rather than intellect. As the lyrics say, let me turn and follow you and never be the same.

Today in this world of science and technology it is the heart which is often plowed under; the heart is a child innocent and bright. We are analyzed, critiqued, judged and most of all, made less than our full selves with labels of all sorts. The descriptions are often scientific or psychological as if we have no heart; they are often comparing us to animals such as salamanders and the like... Sorry, I'm not a salamander.

Will "You use the faith you find to reshape the world through sight, touch and sound in you and in me? Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same..." Yes, it 's true by all measures subjective and objective, I am not a salamander, a monkey nor a bird or any other animal. The Creator has seen to that and given the mind and spirit of a human being which makes me whole; something that science will not always think to do.

"Lord, your summons echos true when you but call my name."