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Illustrations
for the Song of Solomon Although
it has been the most widely read and celebrated romantic poem in
Western literature, there are surprisingly few well-known artistic
representations of the Song of Solomon... and fewer still that
accurately convey the sensuality of the original text. Where are the
Michelangelos and the Da Vincis? No renowned masterpiece comes to mind.
Please share your expertise with our other visitors, if you happen to
be better informed.
Meanwhile, this collection of
illustrations
for the Song of Solomon re-dedicates several "secular" works
of art, to present the Song's sensuality in a way that is vivid and
engaging. We hope that these illustrations will inspire and encourage
contemporary artists to celebrate the sacred dance of courtship and
procreation---our own participation in the creative power of the Source
of Life and Love. Island of Sanity
This website began as a showcase for my music
for the Song of Solomon. But it has gradually morphed into
what I like to think of as a little island of sanity.
The connecting thread and central theme of this site ( other than the
Song of Solomon itself ) is the mystical experience of
"unitive consciousness:" a profound experience of "oneness" with the
Source of Life. The great Christian mystic, Meister Eckhart referred to
this experience when he said: "The
eye with which I see God is the same eye with which God sees me: my eye
and God's eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing and one love."
--- German Sermon No. 12 Speaking from this same vista of consciousness,
Jesus said: "I am the vine, and you are the branches." The Marriage of Heaven and Earth In Western culture, the experience of unitive
consciousnes is usually associated with self-denial and disciplined
prayer or meditation. But it can also occur in a sexual context, as a
result of deeply felt, selfless love. Which is, after all, a way of
transcending one's limited sense of self. As Alan Watts pointed out in
an exposition of Tantric yoga, selfless love can sometimes sweep away
the illusion of separateness: "in
an embrace of this kind, all considerations of time and place, of what
and who, drop away" and they discover in themselves "the primordial
'love that makes the world go round.' There is an extraordinary melting
sensation ... and, 'seeing their eyes reflected in each other's, they
realize that there is one Self looking out through both... The
conceptual boundary between male and female, self and other, dissolves,
and---as every spoke leads to the hub---this particular embrace on the
this particular day discloses itself as going on forever, behind the
scenes." ---Alan Watts, "Erotic
Spirituality
Because
of my interest in the Song of Solomon --- with its many references
to the Hebrew goddess and the ancient rite of Sacred Marriage --- the
experience of oneness is often referred to herein as a "Marriage of
Heaven and Earth." In other words, "an ecstatic union of higher and
lower consciousness." One of the most vivid and moving accounts of this
experience ( that I know of ) is given by Trisha Feuerstein, in her
husband's book Sacred Sexuality. This is what she
wrote:
My first memory of that
incident is of awakening one morning after a night of lovemaking and
feeling as if I had not been asleep. I felt as though I was conscious
or constantly awake on some higher plane. That entire day I remember
feeling totally and perfectly relaxed.
In this
perfect relaxation I stood outside of time. It was as if time normally
flowed in a horizontal plane, and I had somehow stepped out of this
horizontal flow into a timeless state. There was absolutely no sense of
the passage of time. To say there was no beginning or ending of time
would seem irrelevant. There was simply no time.
I remember coming home from work a few days later, standing in the
living room of my little studio apartment, and suddenly realizing that
I had no edges. There was no me. The thought arose, and these are the
exact words, "This is what I AM in truth." I remember looking over to
the door of my apartment and thinking, "There is no difference between
door jambs and smog." There is no difference between anything
whatsoever. Everything is the same. There is only apparent difference.
I remember that the thoughts also arose, "You could shoot me
in this moment and I would laugh." Everything material seemed
superfluous. It was all spontaneously and playfully arising from one
great source, and it could just as well cease to arise in any moment.
Somehow I had become infinity with eyes. I felt as if I had
just been born in that moment, or that I had been asleep all my life
and had just awakened. I also remember thinking that this was the true
condition of everyone and that everyone could know this.
This particular moment remains, seventeen years later, the single most
significant moment of my life. It was also the most ordinary, simple,
happy, normal, neurosis-free moment of my life. I was simply being what
I AM, and what everyone else IS, in truth.
I
remained in this state of edgelessness for about three weeks, and life
was intensely magnified. When I walked, I felt so light it was as if my
feet did not touch the ground. I had no appetite for food---in fact,
most of what I tried to eat left a strange metallic taste in my mouth.
And although I ate almost nothing during this period, I lost no weight.
I remember telling my lover that it felt as if my spine were plugged
into the "universal socket" and that it was a source of infinite energy.
During this time I was more creative than I had ever
been---or have been since---both at work and outside of work. All the
limits on my thinking were no longer in place. I also became
prescient---seeing into the future and then later experiencing the
scenes I had foreseen down to the last detail. This astonished me.
I also remember sitting at my desk at work one day and
turning to look at one of my officemates. In an instant I was drowning
in bliss, overwhelmed with love and compassion for my fellow worker,
and for every being and thing I looked at. I loved everyone, including
my lover, the same---infinitely. There was really no one separate to
love. Tears silently rolled down my cheeks. I felt infinite love and
infinite pain at the same time, the pain arising from realizing the
power and primacy of love, yet how little we love.
I remember thinking that this universal love is what the Madonna
symbolizes. Then suddenly I felt as if I were the source of all
creation, that the universe was arising from me, or through me---from
whatever this infinite thing was I had become." ---Trisha Feuerstein
Read more
about the Song of Solomon and the Marriage of Heaven and Earth
Read
about the Hidden Meaning of the Song of Solomon
Also see...
Wedding
Music for the Marriage of Heaven and Earth
All quotations for the Song of Solomon are from the new
translation by Ariel and Chana Bloch
email: tomás@song-of-songs.net
Copyright ©
Call 2005 |
