Passionate Commitment

THE KABBALAH TREE OF LIFE is referred to in the mystic tradition as "The Lightning Flash of Creation."

Each of its eleven emanations (sephira) represents a principle of the universal process of creation. PASSIONATE COMMITMENT is the 7th principle. It is the "fuel" for moving a creation from idea or vision to fulfillment in form. This principle is the home of emotion, feeling and imagination. It is the principle that whispers to our inner Self, "This shall happen!", and keeps intention on course in the face of obstacles and naysayers.

Sometimes poetry says it best. In many Core Wisdom courses, I recite this poem by Pulitzer Prize winning poet, Mary Oliver. It captures the spirit of Passionate Commitment, and who we need to be to walk the way of the practical mystic.

                -- Hal Isen

From Core Wisdom On-Line Number 1
� 2001 Hal Isen & Associates, Inc.

THE JOURNEY

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting their bad advice--
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations--
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice,
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do--
determined to save
the only life you could save.

                -- Mary Oliver

Hal Isen & Associates, Inc. 541-488-7687 [email protected] Ashland, OR 97520