John Dunn

Something from nothing

Thursday, 5 December 2024 at 21:49

Dante

Something from nothing

The point is that Swayambhu is more original to the universe than any notion of abiotic or living principle. The inevitable limitations of materialism are swept away by Swayambhu, the self-generating, self-evolving, self-existent, self-manifesting and self-born. It is this self-generating principle in man, the first art, the creative drive of the cave painter, the spontaneity of Dante’s child at play, that is the Divine in man. It is the principle that man can create something from nothing. He can overturn the equilibrium of Śūnya to create something new.

From Child of Encounter

© John Dunn.

Promethean Flame

Wednesday, 4 December 2024 at 22:08

Promethean Flame

Hiranyagarbha is the cosmic egg of Hinduism, the golden womb from which comes all life. It is the soul or Atman of all Creation, the Lord of all that moves and stands. Hiranyagarbha is the vivifying power of Surya, the Sundeity whose symbol is the swastika in either right or left-facing form.The Brahmins produced a flame by friction with the pramantha, a stick inserted into a wooden disc, symbolic of Swayambhu and penetration. Pramantha is the ‘fire-drill’, the rotation that generates fire, the spinning rotation of flame symbolised by the swastika. The Greeks conflated Pramantha with Prometheus and man’s God-like Promethean power to intervene destructively in nature. The swastika too was the symbol of the vivifying sun to the Greeks - life-giving Apollo, from whom Prometheus stole fire, who with the Muses made Parnassus the home of poetry, dance and music: in short, the seat of creativity and play.

From Child of Encounter

© John Dunn.

Swayambhu

Tuesday, 3 December 2024 at 22:03

Swayambhu

All we have is metaphor, the intervention was made, the circle was broken open, the egg was penetrated. Swayambhu, spontaneous and self-manifested being, entered the cosmic egg, Hiraṇyagarbha.And from the breaking waters a lotus flower emerged. And creation was like that lotus flower, from which shone a brilliant light. And the name of the place came to be Swayambhu, meaning self-created or self-existent. Pilgrim saints, sages and divinities venerated this transfigurative light for its power in granting enlightenment. Most holy Swayambhu, light of the lotus flower atop your wooded hill, most ancient and enigmatic of all the holy shrines in the valley of Kathmandu. Here the body of pure light was assumed, here the rainbow body achieved.

From Child of Encounter

© John Dunn.

Unrestrained freedom

Monday, 2 December 2024 at 21:41

Unrestrained freedom

The world came into being in an act of spontaneity. There was no pre-determined reason for its creation, which was an act of total freedom. Dante likened the spontaneity of this act to a child at play who turns eagerly to what delights it. He believed that such unrestrained freedom is the foundation for our own human freedom. Because we were born out of this spontaneous action we can go on believing that there is such a freedom for us. So important did Dante believe this allegorisation of creativity and play to be that it occurs at the very centre of Purgatory (XVI) and is thus at the dead-centre of the Divine Comedy as a whole.

From Child of Encounter

© John Dunn.