Most mornings I get up and draw around me the cloak of sacred living.
Most days, the cloak lies discarded on the ground minutes after the first irritation or distraction of the day. Later, I will grasp at it again and try to pull it around me, but the folds get caught on brambles and barbed wire.
Some days, the cloak hangs completely forgotten in the wardrobe and never reaches my shoulders.
And on a few blessed occasions, it warms me all day long. Sometimes those are the days I consciously pull it around me in an act of surrender, sometimes they are the days I can let go and forget I’m wearing it.
Of course any discussion of cloaks would be incomplete without an excursion into the glorious world of Harry Potter and his invisibility cloak. I suspect there are times when this cloak would be a blessing to us all. It would allow us to make mischief or to retreat from prying eyes.
But what if the invisibility cloak had another symbolism? What if it’s purpose was to wipe away everything that gets in the way of our selves and the truly sacred? What if it rendered invisible our ego, our false self, all our defences? What if this cloak didn’t hang in our wardrobes but was a garment we lived in all the time?
What a blessed and hugely challenging life that would be, don’t you think?
Image by Jody McNary
Elsewhere:
I’ve just read this excellent post about listening for answers from God by my online friend Norman at Jewish Contemplatives. I love this: “…the only Road to walk is the one which God unrolls like a narrow carpet before you, a few steps, or one step at a time. It is only wide enough to take you alone.” And his description of how the answers may come is something I suspect most of us have experienced and sometimes ignore. Sometimes we cast the cloak aside when we don’t like the answers.
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this is so beautifully written and heartfelt, tess. i have to admit i was most taken by the final excerpt and the description of the narrow path. what a gift this is to me as it widens the path of rigid understanding and speaks of something much more true… carpet unrolling before me – one step at a time.
peace, friend. may you be wrapped in warmth today – this moment. xoxo
Hmmm… I will remain with your post for a while. Beautiful. Lovely. Precious. What a treat. Thank you.
Hugely challenging, indeed, Tess. Once put on, would we dare to don it again? We often settle on the cozy world of ritual and chant, but the greater expanse (we might envision it as an abyss) of the defenceless, the ego-less, shorn of our false self, now that’s not for the dabbler. Awesome is a big word. Of course we were meant to float and be supported in that Ocean, but it takes getting used to — especially if one is terrified of water.
You are a delight, Ms Tess, there’s no doubt about it
And thanks too for the link. I am drawn by the words of Norman. I feel like my feet have touched down on the narrow carpet once again and even though my ego cries otherwise, it is enough. It is enough
@lucy: I did feel wrapped in warmth yesterday – ironically after coming back from a very cold walk, which is what got me thinking of cloaks.
@claire: thank you, I’m glad this spoke to you.
@Barbara: your comment reminded me of that classic remark by Bette Davis: “Ageing ain’t for sissies.” This is indeed not for the dabbler.
@Sue: and you, too are a delight, Ms Sue! I think we all want to see more than one or two spaces ahead and our fear is of walking into darkness. I’m glad your feet have touched down again.
A wonderful analogy with the cloak, Tess. I know so well what you speak of here. I’m glad I’m not the only one!
The carpet analogy reminds me of a quote by E.L. Doctorow that I posted in a comment a while back on Rebecca Johnson’s blog (I think). He said that writing a novel (and this can be applied to life, too) is like driving on a highway at night; you can only see as far as your headlights shine, but it’s enough to get you the whole way there.
Tess, What if our false self is the bitter rind that protects the sweet nature of our real selves. No one thinks to attack the perfection of the true inner self to bring it down to size, or be jealous of its immortal beauty, or marry it, or divorce it, or make it a mistress. It is good that so precious a creature as the true self, is concealed by the cloak of the body, which we will discard in any case when we die.
The cloak of sacred or scared living – what a meaning just one simple slip up can make in our day. I suppose it would be too easy to be able to put it on but then such a challenge to remember to put it on. Oh, you raise all sort of question in this lovely post. Here’s to remembering to wrap up and enjoy the comfy:)
@Pollinatrix, yes I think I remember seeing the quote you posted. And I’m struck by your repetition of Sue’s word: enough. It is enough.
@Jane, thanks for your comment, “the bitter rind” yes I like that. And I’m reminded that the bitter rind of fruits like oranges and lemons can be made into sweet preserves.
@Sunrise Sister, scared living – oh yes, that has resonances!
What a huge challenge, indeed. How different would the world be, then?
Lovely concept! The laying down of the ego and allowing our true will, the true will of our soul, to lead and direct us is indeed something that I know I have never truly taken hold of. The little self, as opposed to the God Self, pops up far too often for my liking!
Roxanne: a huge challenge indeed, even to identify that is put on as opposed to what is the essence of us.
Andy: I was struck by your words “laying down…and allowing”. This seems to me very important – that we are not forcing something unnatural into being, it is a process of allowing.
Beautiful….protection…devotion…giving thanks…all seperate threads which infact are interwoven as they are here into this beautiful cloak. Thank you for this reminder
Elizabeth, thanks so much for this emphasis on the weaving of the cloak, the warp and weft as it were.
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