Thursday, March 25, 2010

I read a challenging excerpt from Carlyle’s “Sartar Resartus.” Don’t ask me what that means, but the piece was titled “Who Am I?” and he poses many interesting and impossible questions. The lines that intrigued me were prefaced by the following-

“but the reflex of our own inward force, the “phantasy of our dream; or what the earth-spirit in Faust names it, the living visible garment of God.

Now what he meant by this “living visible garment of God” I’m not sure, but I think he means something like Jesus with flesh on it or the true way we represent God by our actions in the world. The following poem illustrates this……I think.

“In Being’s floods, in Action’s storm,

I walk and work, above, beneath,

Work and weave in endless motion!

Birth and Death,

An infinite ocean;

A seizing and giving

The fire of the living;

‘Tis thus at the roaring loom of time I ply,

And weave for God the garment thou seest Him by.’

So I interpret this poem to mean that in floods and active storms of life, where I carry out my continual work and life of giving and receiving, applying what I learn of man and God, I weave for others to see what I consider to be a life of Christ likeness. Christ likeness being “the garment thou seest Him by.”

That’s my take on it.

Photo taken from the Internet

2 comments:

Joseph Pulikotil said...

Hi Fred:)

Greetings and good wishes on Palm Sunday:)

Very complex question and interpretation.

My simple mind would like to believe that the flesh and body and color which God has given us in this world.After all we are made by God to HIS own liking and each one of us are different and unique. This is the body we will have while we are in this world.

You poem and its interpretation are absolutely fantastic.

Best wishes Fred:)
Joseph

Matt said...

works for me too.