let me commence
the knowing
of knowing
the peeling back
of the garments
the gentlest undressing
of this
let me arouse
the quality
of being
and fall into embrace
the immersion
into the knowing
of knowing itself
like swimming
in a warmth
that has every synonym
and none
of discovering
one is water
melting into a pond
like disappearing
in the sweetest dissolution
in the consummation
that is
now
like a delightful surrender
to yourself
only to discover
it isn’t yours
it is only knowing
it is only is
the thinnest meridian of an instant
this most transparent love
an arena
of sky
with everything within it
we have so few words
for kisses
so few concepts
for embrace
for surrounding
for dissolving into
for the
simultaneous
merging
and emerging
or for the yearning, the coming to know
the song
the holy playfulness
of being itself
the secret seduction
of seducing itself
we have so few words
and every one of them
points in the wrong direction
so, beloved,
let me put an end to language
let me commence
this undressing
of reality
this unwording
of simplicity
let me know
the nakedness of experience
coming near
nearer
that is none other
than
-Jay Michaelson, excerpt from Everything is God: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism
(2009, Shambhala Publications)
This passage arrives amidst an excellent take on the nondualist perspective pivoted from Jewish tradition and paired and contrasted with a solid knowledge base in vedanta and buddhist traditions. Jay Michaelson also edits the journal Zeek.