The burning one-ness binding everything
This sonnet is inspired by yesterday’s message, the quotation from James Nayler which begins, “There is a spirit which I feel that delights to do no evil…”
There is a Spirit that I Feel
Can I, imprisoned, body-bounded, touch
The starry garment of the Oversoul,
Reach from my tiny part to the great Whole,
And spread my Little to the infinite Much,
When Truth forever slips from out my clutch,
And what I take indeed, I do but dole
In cupfuls from a rimless ocean-bowl
That holds a million million million such?
And yet, some Thing that moves among the stars,
And holds the cosmos in a web of law,
Moves too in me: a hunger, a quick thaw
Of soul that liquifies the ancient bars,
As I, a member of creation, sing
The burning one-ness binding everything.
— Kenneth Boulding, 1939
Quaker economist, academic, and poet
Today’s Invitation
Spread your Little to the infinite Much.
This Week’s Query
If George Fox or another early Quaker came to your meeting this week, what would happen?
How would they be received? What messages might they have for us today?
Read the source of today’s quote
Banner art by Violet Oakley
