Saturday, December 7, 2013

Every Grain Of Sand




“Love all God’s creation, both the whole and every grain of sand. Love every leaf, every ray of light. Love the animals, love the plants, love each separate thing. If thou love each thing thou wilt perceive the mystery of God in all; and when once thou perceive this, thou wilt thenceforward grow every day to a fuller understanding of it: until thou come at last to love the whole world with a love that will then be all-embracing and universal.” 
                                                                        ― Fyodor DostoyevskyThe Brothers Karamazov

When you love with your whole body and soul,  says Dostoevsky,  your love encompasses everything in this world. All creatures, all plants and leaves, and yes every single grain of sand become the object of our love and understanding.  When the light of love enters your body, you can love the whole world.

   Bob Dylan's great song reveals a darker aspect of life. Whereas Dostoevsky sees love in every grain of sand, Dylan sees a need for moral confession. Dylan and Doestoevsky see God everywhere, but come to a different conclusion.  Dylan doesn't see love or good cheer. Nevertheless, Dylan realizes that the sun will light his way. Perhaps this "ray of light" will be the beginning of a new chance to find love ( "the newborn seed").
  If we are to come to a full understanding of love, we must look for love in every grain of sand and in those who are still struggling, toiling and trying to find a greater balance between reality and dream.
 


"Every Grain Of Sand"
In the time of my confession, in the hour of my deepest need
When the pool of tears beneath my feet flood every newborn seed
There's a dying voice within me reaching out somewhere
Toiling in the danger and in the morals of despair.

Don't have the inclination to look back on any mistake
Like Cain, I now behold this chain of events that I must break
In the fury of the moment I can see the master's hand
In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand.

Oh, the flowers of indulgence and the weeds of yesteryear
Like criminals, they have choked the breath of conscience and good cheer
The sun beat down upon the steps of time to light the way
To ease the pain of idleness and the memory of decay.

I gaze into the doorway of temptation's angry flame
And every time I pass that way I always hear my name
Then onward in my journey I come to understand
That every hair is numbered like every grain of sand.

I have gone from rags to riches in the sorrow of the night
In the violence of a summer's dream, in the chill of a wintry light
In the bitter dance of loneliness fading into space
In the broken mirror of innocence on each forgotten face.

I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea
Sometimes I turn, there's someone there, other time it's only me
I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man
Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand.



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