The Logos of Sophia by John Asher

[John Asher]

I had never before written anything beyond grade school assignments. 

I live in a nursing home. I can't explain it really, but these words demanded release.

It was not an option. 

I am gradually placing the text on https://logosofsophia.wordpress.com/ 

There is a lot! I suggest it be read aloud, except for the vignette, "Confessions of the Adversary."

I will go through the text piece by piece here and share some of what I believe it means.

I hope for positive feedback (of course!).

I decided to share this unique text here, because of the word "progressive" in the forum title!

One of these days soon, I'll make it into a complete .pdf and offer it free here.

Blindness slows me down, but doesn't stop me!

[John Asher]

The Logos of Sophia 4

Love does not flourish, 
nor does wisdom thrive 
in the long shadow of fear. 

Fear is not reverence. 
Fear is not the beginning 
of wisdom. 

Only they who 
do willful harm 
to the innocent 
have cause to fear.

It is not I who change, 
but you who are now 
ready to understand 
rather than merely believe. 

It is from your own judgment 
that you most require saving. 

No longer seek to move 
forward while looking behind. 

For no matter how loudly, 
long or often a lie is told; 
it does not become true.

None are made guilty 
by another’s act; 
nor can any be 
made pure, thereby.  

Do not bully the helpless, 
nor swindle the honest. 

Do not enrich the corrupt, 
nor impoverish the destitute. 

May none bask in luxury 
while children starve.

Slavery, in any form 
is an abomination. 

To free a slave is admirable 
and to end slavery altogether 
is miraculous. 

That same help 
you have provided 
or harm done to anyone, 
you have done to yourself 
and to me also. 

Become the awakening 
conscience of this world.
 

[John Asher]

The Logos of Sophia 5

Woman is neither the 
downfall, nor the weaker vessel. 

At such risk to her own life 
and health does she bring 
forth all the new, that no man 
may rightly dictate her terms. 

Until one half of humanity 
utterly ceases to oppress the other, 
what has been accomplished?

I share your anguish 
without relief; 
for I will not ask from you, 
that of which I am unwilling. 

Those that say one thing 
and do another are hypocrites. 

Better an honest unbeliever 
than a hypocrite. 

May they rise above 
that unworthy illusion 
of a secondhand pardon 
gained at another’s expense.

Do not pander to tyrants; 
nor serve injustice 
by your effort or silence. 

None who seek power 
over others are wise. 

No victory is there 
in ruling over a ruin.

Do not sell your honest labor 
to those whose wealth comes 
by way of corruption; 
for in so doing, 
you will have contributed 
your own effort and value 
to reward thieves. 

Those who betray justice 
and leave the corrupt to 
retain their loot are complicit.

By derision and violence, 
the faithful seek to force 
their rampant will 
upon the knowing. 

Until such wrongs 
of the past are corrected 
and not memorialized, 
how shall the future improve?
 

[John Asher]

The Logos of Sophia 6

You are made to rise 
in eternal majesty. 

Not given as though alms, 
for you are no beggar. 

You rise not 
upon innocent blood, 
but by Loving Wisdom, 
augmented by grace. 

You are the true heirs 
to all that I am. 

You do not yet know 
your own full value.

Any worthy parent
willingly suffers for 
their child’s sake; 
for to truly bear a child 
is to end self-obsession. 

Conceived neither 
for submission nor 
my selfish glory, 
you are worthy of love; 
for so have you been made. 

You were created in 
Our image and likeness; 
by We, who as One, 
lay the living 
foundation of worlds. 

As part of me, I know you; 
neither slave nor sheep. 

Your childhood now 
draws to a close. 

Let fall the veil.

My spirit flows 
within each of you, 
the sacred heirs of eternal love. 

You are not meant 
for mindless conformity. 

There are lessons 
which prepare you 
and from needless suffering, 
I would gladly have you spared.

I deny you no opportunity 
to confront and overcome 
meaningful challenges, 
that you achieve 
your immortal rise. 

I guide homeward those 
lost by this careless world. 

I make eternity worth having. 

By Loving Wisdom, 
your wounds are cleansed 
and life healed. 

Thus is your world 
remade a garden.
 

[John Asher]

The Logos of Sophia 7

You cannot securely rise 
to fulfill your destiny 
until freed from that 
which binds you still. 

Free will is yours, 
its promise and peril both. 

You remain free to choose. 

Without complicity or 
complacency, you shall 
not be overcome.

When surrounded by 
the hostile or the uncaring, 
you do not stand alone; 
for I am with you. 

Evil is arrayed 
that your free will 
is surrendered to fear
and reason overthrown. 

Yet, they have no power 
that you do not grant them. 

You experience the reality 
of your immortal self 
and are immersed in that light, 
which dissolves fear. 

Strength beyond 
all former limits, 
awaits your moment 
of greatest need.

For an age, or an instant; 
we pause and begin anew. 

For the sake of this 
troubled world, we resume. 

No longer ruled by 
the imaginings of men, 
you rise above the dust 
and ashes of the past 
with something most precious.

Life itself unfolds 
in my loving embrace. 

Look, listen, feel and 
remember all you truly are. 

You do not need 
to believe, but to know. 
Seek not faith, but wisdom.  

Even as a parent 
will do for a child, 
I make sacrifices. 
I do not make sacrifices 
of my children. 

You are no inert lump of clay, 
but a unique being; 
with whom I have 
a loving relationship. 

Not to shape you to my use, 
but to share eternity. 

Through every wound of flesh, 
celestial light enters to meld with 
your own lustrous creation; 
uniquely faceted and imperishable. 

The luminous core within 
connects each to all. 

That inmost particle, 
already perfect;
is who you now 
and are forever becoming.

Essential in this moment 
is to know love is 
stronger than hate. 
For now, that alone is enough. 

One breath proclaims 
truth sufficient to heal 
this entire world. 
 

[John Asher]

The Logos of Sophia is complete and available free here:

https://logosofsophia.wordpress.com/

[John Asher]

The Logos of Sophia is freely available here:

https://logosofsophia.blogspot.com/ 

[John Asher]

Sophia 8

In the forest laid low by fire, 

a first flower rises from the ash 

to begin the eternal process 

of reclaiming ruin 

for life and beauty. 

 

In verdant fields, I yearly 

offer living bouquets 

of delicate wildflowers; 

reaching toward the sunlight, 

unfurling to dance 

in the warm breeze.

 

You are blessed with 

this most lovely world; 

of splendid variety 

and deep meaning. 

 

Do not despoil your home. 

You are not alone here.

 

Neither this world, 

nor the life upon and 

within it may be owned.

 

You are a worthy part 

of this vast, unfolding 

masterwork of life; 

begun in a process 

older than the stars.

 

You are each a living note 

in the song of all creation. 

 

A song of such beauty as to 

inspire many to struggle 

against hopeless odds and 

of such power that one 

alone may well prevail.

 

You now perceive but a 

fragment of all you are given. 

 

Otherwise, you would be 

overwhelmed to breathless tears; 

by that beauty which 

surrounds you and reveals me. 

 

I nourish the born and the unborn, 

composing the bond of parent for child, 

deeper than blood. 

 

My touch is that gentle breeze 

which stirs but a single leaf; 

the delicate breath of 

each sleeping infant.

 

Too often have I observed 

the workings of inhuman will 

serve oppression. 

 

I well know the continuing anguish 

a few inflict upon so many. 

 

Only those who have 

endured suffering 

are able to fully greet 

the arrival of joy. 

 

Your time of weeping soon 

falls behind and is no more. 

 

In the darkness and through the pain; 

I whisper softly to you of undying love. 

 

I delight in you. 

You give me joy simply in your being. 

 

Of your reverence, I am worthy; 

not by power alone is this so, 

but by love.

https://logosofsophia.blogspot.com/

[John Asher]

Sophia 9

I prefer you to walk in peace 
on the earth than walk on water 
and dwell not upon the past, 
but this very moment.

Even now, 
you are embraced on every side 
by miracles awaiting your notice. 

There is more to 
your life and being; 
far more to understand 
and become than 
you will yet imagine.

Though you learn much, 
the mystery remains.

Many would teach you to 
despise yourself and thereby, 
cause you unseen pain 
beyond their power to inflict.

No longer be an accomplice 
to your own harm. 

Reclaim those keys which reveal truth. 

For it is in the full exertion 
of your most human faculties, 
that love is with wisdom, 
joined to power.

Long before the babe’s first cry 
and after the last sigh of the old; 
prior to your eye’s initial 
opening to light and far beyond 
its final closing upon this world; 
each of you is deeply known 
and treasured. 

Not a single gesture, smile, 
memory, moment of joy; 
not one particle of wisdom, 
nor your smallest loving action 
is ever lost or forgotten.

In every understanding 
which leads you forward; 
in each flash of 
insight and inspiration; 
in your rise to loving wisdom 
I rejoice and know sorrow 
when you lose your way.

I feel with you, pleasure and pain; 
share in your suffering and joy. 

Every instant forever retains 
its fullest meaning in 
this sacred journey, 
the ascent of dead matter 
to living spirit.

Not for worship do I perform all, 
but in loving generosity; 
that life unfolds and you ascend to know and fulfill your joyful destiny. 

That which may now seem lost, is not. 

Gentle, fierce and more 
relentless than death, is love. 
 

[tariki]

14 hours ago, John Asher said:

 

There is more to 
your life and being; 
far more to understand 
and become than 
you will yet imagine.

Though you learn much, 
the mystery remains.

 

 

Hi John,

I saw your first posts here some time ago. I did think of responding with a quick word, but my coffee got cold in McDonalds and I was on my way.....😀

I'm taking a rest from my usual Forum so popped back here and saw your latest posting. I must admit to not reading much of you entire "Logos of Sophia" but the verse above which I have quoted caught my mind/heart. It fell into my current preoccupations and thinking (in between cracking further levels of Candy Crush Soda Saga) which revolves around relating Jung's so called "Individuation" process with the Buddhist "anatta" teaching (not self) Apparently, superficially, at loggerheads, yet as usual my own mind seeks for wholeness, unity, correspondences.

I think that there must always be "mystery" beyond (and within) our being (or non-being) Without mystery, without the "something beyond, yet still to be" then it is easy to congeal into a finished product, a self-satisfied and "justified" self. 

New Age jargon speaks of living in the Now, and many seem to propose this. "Live in the Now, man!" goes the mantra. But if we get away from linear time frames into a multi-dimensional realisation of Time, any "Now" will always include before and after in ways that then add the "mystery". 

My own leanings are towards the synthesis of zen and Pure Land Buddhism, and the 13th century zen master Dogen has been (and is) a great guide and mentor to me. 

But I must go. Shopping to get, family chores. But I remember the story of Dogen, when in China, searching for his very own path, time and place. Searching for a "master" who would pass muster and do the job for him. In his travels he met an aged cook of a local monastery and had a short conversation, which ended with Dogen saying to the old fellow:- "Would you not rather be studying the Dharma than cooking for the novices at the monastery?" The old guy just laughed out loud! Dogen, when he eventually found his very own path, time and place, only then fully understood why. 

 Anyway, all the best. It is quiet around here. I've simply indulged myself with my own musings.

All the best.

Derek