This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Salomon ibn Gabirol, aka Solomon ben Judah or Avicebron
THE MESSIAH - Lord, tell me when Shall come to men Messiah blest, When shall Thy care His couch prepare To be my guest, To sleep on my golden bed, in my palace rest. Wake, dear gazelle, Shake off thy spell, Nor slumber still. Dawn like a flag Surmounts the crag Of Tabor’s hill, And its flame it unfurls o’er my Hermon, the hoar and chill. From the wild-ass brood To the grace renewed Of Thy dainty roe, O Lord, return, For behold we yearn Our love to show, And our soul with Thy soul at one as of yore to know. Thrice welcome he Who comes to me Of David’s line, My palace treasure Is at his pleasure With all that’s mine, My pomegranate, cinnamon, spice, and the jars of my old sweet wine.
Art | Day | Enemy | Heart | Hope | Knowledge | Land | Light | Looks | Passion | Sacrifice | Sin | Soul | Spirit | Tears | Vengeance | Will | Wisdom | Work | Art | Child | Friends |
Salomon ibn Gabirol, aka Solomon ben Judah or Avicebron
O my God, If my iniquity is too great to be borne, What wilt Thou do for Thy great name’s sake? And if I do not wait on Thy mercies, Who will have pity on me but Thee? Therefore though Thou shouldst slay me, yet will I trust in Thee. For if Thou shouldst pursue my iniquity, I will flee from Thee to Thyself, And I will shelter myself from Thy wrath in Thy shadow, And to the skirts of Thy mercies I will lay hold until Thou hast had mercy on me, And I will not let Thee go till Thou hast blessed me. Remember, I pray Thee, that of slime Thou hast made me, And by all these hardships tried me, Therefore visit me not according to my wanton dealings, Nor feed me on the fruit of my deeds, But prolong Thy patience, nor bring near my day, Until I shall have prepared provision for returning to my eternal home, Nor rage against me to send me hastily from the earth, With my sins bound up in the kneading-trough on my shoulder. And when Thou placest my sins in the balance Place Thou in the other scale my sorrows, And while recalling my depravity and frowardness, Remember my affliction and my harrying, And place these against the others. And remember, I pray Thee, O my God, That Thou hast driven me rolling and wandering like Cain, And in the furnace of exile hast tried me, And from the mass of my wickedness refined me, And I know ’tis for my good Thou hast proved me, And in faithfulness afflicted me, And that it is to profit me at my latter end That Thou hast brought me through this testing by troubles. Therefore, O God, let Thy mercies be moved toward me, And do not exhaust Thy wrath upon me, Nor reward me according to my works, But cry to the Destroying Angel: Enough! For what height or advantage have I attained That Thou shouldst pursue me for my iniquity, And shouldst post a watch over me, And trap me like an antelope in a snare? Is not the bulk of my days past and vanished? Shall the rest consume in their iniquity? And if I am here to-day before Thee, "To-morrow Thine eyes are upon me and I am not." "And now wherefore should I die And this Thy great fire devour me?" O my God, turn Thine eyes favourably upon me For the remainder of my brief days, Pursue not their escaping survivors, Nor let the remnant of the crops that the hail hath spared Be finished off by the locust for my sins. For am I not the creation of Thy hands, And what shall it avail Thee That the worm shall take me for its meal And feed on the product of Thy hands?
Anger | Birth | Childhood | Corruption | Day | Death | Gall | Glory | God | Good | Life | Life | Lord | Lust | Man | Pain | Power | Rule | Sorrow | Spirit | Time | War | Will | Work | World | Youth | Youth | God |
And now this spell was snapt: once more I viewed the ocean green, And look'd far forth, yet little saw Of what had else been seen - Like one that on a lonesome road Doth walk in fear and dread, And having once turn'd round, walks on And turns no more his head; Because he knows a frightful fiend Doth close behind him tread.
Philip Gibbs, fully Sir Philip Gibbs
At all costs we must re-establish faith in spiritual values. We must worship something beyond ourselves, lest we destroy ourselves.
Desire | Individual | Passion | Responsibility |
Reflection on what we seek to remember in practice, developing the capacity to see which stories serve to develop wholesome qualities and reduce suffering. The center of the talk is a tour through the Jewish year, interpreting each holiday as a form of retreat practice and the opportunity to awaken and develop heart qualities.
Anger | Better | Care | Giving | Good | Justice | Passion | Self-awareness | Will | Work |
Anthony Kenny, fully Sir Anthony John Patrick Kenny
Internalized experiences of selfhood are linked to autobiographical narratives, which are linked to biographies, legal testimonies, and medical case histories, which are linked to forms of therapy and theories of the subject.
Control | Defects | Humility | Inclination | Judgment | Passion | Reason | Virtue | Virtue |
When we do elect activists, we want them to change the thinking and behavior of other people, rarely our own.
Attainment | Curiosity | Distinction | Life | Life | Passion | Wisdom | Worth |
Rumi, fully Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rumi NULL
A Thirsty Fish - I don't get tired of you. Don't grow weary of being compassionate toward me. All this thirst equipment must surely be tired of me, the water-jar, the water carrier. I have a thirsty fish in me that can never find enough of what it's thirsty for. Show me the way to the ocean. Break these half-measures, these small containers. All this fantasy and grief. Let my house be drowned in the wave that rose last night in the courtyard hidden in the center of my chest. Joseph fell like the moon into my we'll. The harvest I expected was washed away. But no matter. A fire has risen above my tombstone hat. I don't want learning, or dignity, or respectability. I want this music and this dawn and the warmth of your cheek against mine. The grief armies assemble, but I'm not going with them. This is how it always is when I finish a poem. A great silence comes over me, and I wonder why I ever thought to use language.
Too much work and too much energy kill a man just as effectively as too much assorted vice or too much drink
Sorrow |
Rumi, fully Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rumi NULL
Beyond our ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about. Ideas, language, even the phrase ‘each other’ doesn’t make sense anymore.
Rufus Jones, fully Rufus Matthew Jones
We are no more bankrupt in our capacity for finding God than in our capacity for finding harmony, or beauty, or moral goodness, or truth. We shall not find all there is of any of these values, but all we do is find is real, and is good to live by. So also with our findings of God, they do not exhaust His being. They do not carry us to the full height of all that He is. But what we have proves to be solid building material for life-purposes, and every spiritual gain that is achieved makes the next one more possible and more sure.
Rumi, fully Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rumi NULL
My place is the Placeless, my trace is the Traceless; 'Tis neither body nor soul, for I belong to the soul of the Beloved. I have put duality away, I have seen that the two worlds are one; One I seek, One I know, One I see, One I call.
Rumi, fully Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rumi NULL
Within tears, find hidden laughter Seek treasures amid ruins, sincere one.
Passion |
Rumi, fully Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rumi NULL
The garden of the world has no limits, except in your mind.
Rumi, fully Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rumi NULL
Never lose hope, my heart, miracles dwell in the invisible. If the whole world turns against you keep your eyes on the Friend.
Rumi, fully Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rumi NULL
There is a secret medicine given only to those who hurt so hard they can't hope. The hopers would feel slighted if they knew.
Passion |
Rumi, fully Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rumi NULL
I searched for God among the Christians and on the Cross and therein I found Him not. I went into the ancient temples of idolatry; no trace of Him was there. I entered the mountain cave of Hira and then went as far as Qandhar but God I found not. With set purpose I fared to the summit of Mount Caucasus and found there only 'anqa's habitation. Then I directed my search to the Kaaba, the resort of old and young; God was not there even. Turning to philosophy I inquired about him from ibn Sina but found Him not within his range. I fared then to the scene of the Prophet's experience of a great divine manifestation only a two bow-lengths' distance from him but God was not there even in that exalted court. Finally, I looked into my own heart and there I saw Him; He was nowhere else.