| April 26, 2009 | The Spiritual Significance of Flowers Reverend Jane Bramadat |
Meditation
"A Flower Arranging Summer
The white walls of this airy house assume
Flowers as natural and needed friends;
All summer long while flowers are in bloom
Attentive expectation never ends.
The day begins with walking through wet grass
In a slow progress; to visit the whole garden,
And all is undecided as I pass,
For here I must be thief and also warden;
What must I leave? What can I bear to plunder?
What fragile freshness, what amazing throat
Has opened in the night, what single wonder
That will be sounded like a single note,
When these light wandering thoughts deploy
Before the grave deeds of decisive joy?
Later, I cut judiciously and fill my basket.
It's a fine clamor of unrelated voices,
As I begin the day's adventure and slow task,
The delicate, absorbing task of choices-
That lavender and pink that need some acid,
Perhaps a saffron zinnia, linen-crisp?
Or poppy's crinkle beside the rich and placid
Rose petal, and some erratic plume or wisp
To enhance cosmos, it's flat symmetry,
And always the poised starry phlox in masses-
Sometimes I have undone the same bouquet
A dozen times in six different glasses,
A dozen times and still dissatisfied,
As if that day my wish had been denied.
Sometimes two poppies can compose a world,
Two and one seed-pagoda on a hairy stem,
Blood-red, vermilion, each entity unfurled
Clashes its cymbals in the silent room;
The scale so small, substance diaphanous,
Yet the reverberation of that twofold red
Has focused one room for me ever since,
As if an Absolute had once been said.
Sometimes the entire morning does get lost
In orchards, greenish-white, in warm deep rose,
As I pick all the zinnias against frost,
Salmon, crude red, magenta-and who knows
What harsh loud chords of music sweep the room?
Both chords and discords, till the whole bright things
Explodes into a brilliant cloud of bloom,
And the white walls themselves begin to sing.
And so the morning's gone, Was this to waste it
In a long foolish flowery meditation?
Time slides away, and how are we to taste it?
Within the floating world all is sensation.
And yet I see eternity's long wink
In these elusive games, and only there:
When I can so suspend myself to think,
I seem suspended in undying air.
May Sarton
Commentary for silent meditation:
May Sarton suggests that while arranging flowers 'time slides away' and in it she sees 'eternity's long wink' and that only through this flower activity does she manage to think at a higher level.
What activity helps you to suspend yourself and see eternity's long wink....in other words, what helps you to transcend the ordinary and have a glimpse of a different order of reality, of spirit, of pure mind?
Sermon
Even though this has been a cold, wet spring, it is impossible not to notice the vast array of colour, texture, movement and scent in the land; a vibrancy - that flowers bring to our world. Flowers are my metaphor this morning to help me try to make sense of the beautiful and chaotic world in which we all live and have our being.
Flowers are also the focus of the Flower Communion you will experience in two weeks - developed by Unitarian and martyred Czech minister Norbert Capek. The festival of flowers first came into being on June 4, 1923.... 86 years ago. It happened when, as a Unitarian clergy, he was in search for a ritual that would help to bind together members of the new Czech Unitarian church...something that would help them to celebrate community, friendship, kinship, sharing, living from similar values. Each person was asked to bring a flower representing the flowering of the different gifts they had - and then to take back another flower to symbolise the need all of us have to receive as well as to give; and to share the gifts we have with others. It is a very popular kind of communion and one that is used in most Unitarian and Universalist congregations today.
And last year around this time of year some of you may remember that I also used flowers as a metaphor. Then I looked at the language of flowers - that is, I explained and gave examples of just how other cultures and other ages used flowers as a way of talking to each other without words and why that added rich layers of meaning to one's existence.
This year my focus is the spiritual significance of flowers. Talking about their spiritual significance and listening to their voices means that I will be moving around in that religious space where the finite and the infinite have opportunities to interact. This is not "la-la" land, but a place where - even if the explanation for the experience is rational and observable; the inner response to it opens up unexpected connections of body, mind, heart and spirit.
I took my title from the title of a small book I brought back from a sabbatical I was granted in 1998; from Avatar Sri Aurobindo's ashram in Pondicherry, India. Sri Aurobindo believed that one could attain a higher level of mental and spiritual consciousness practicing Yoga and living simply in religious community. This book, The Spiritual Significance of Flowers explored the spiritual nature of flowers....commenting:
"Flowers may appear frail and fleeting, but for a brief moment they bring a touch of eternity, of joy and beauty which lie beyond the sorrows and cares of the human world....Deep spiritual truths, sometimes, become easier to grasp when expressed through simple images... Sri Aurobindo said: 'Earth's flowers spring up and laugh at time and death.' There is a 'soul' quality to flowers that sometimes allows a deeper comprehension to take place for those of us who, either purposely or accidentally, find ourselves experiencing the unusual and communicating in ways stranger than we ever could have imagined.
'Earth's flowers spring up and laugh at time and death.' I was fascinated to find that our own Ralph Waldo Emerson had used a very similar phrase in one of his poems, Hamatreya.
Minott, Lee, Willard, Hosmer, Meriam, Flint,
Possessed the land which rendered to their toil
Hay, corn, roots, hemp, flax, apples, wool and wood.
Each of these landlords walked amidst his farm,
Saying, "'Tis mine, my children's and my name's.
How sweet the west wind sounds in my own trees!
How graceful climb those shadows on my hill!
I fancy these pure waters and the flags
Know me, as does my dog: we sympathize;
And, I affirm, my actions smack of the soil.'
Where are these men? Asleep beneath their grounds:
And strangers, fond as they, their furrows plough.
Earth laughs in flowers, to see her boastful boys
Earth-proud, proud of the earth which is not theirs;
Who steer the plough, but cannot steer their feet
Clear of the grave.
They added ridge to valley, brook to pond,
And sighed for all that bounded their domain;
'This suits me for a pasture; that's my park;
We must have clay, lime, gravel, granite-ledge,
And misty lowland, where to go for peat.
The land is well,—lies fairly to the south.
'Tis good, when you have crossed the sea and back,
To find the sitfast acres where you left them.'
Ah! the hot owner sees not Death, who adds
Him to his land, a lump of mould the more.
Hear what the Earth says:—
Earth-Song
"Mine and yours;
Mine, not yours, Earth endures;
Stars abide—
Shine down in the old sea;
Old are the shores;
But where are old men?
I who have seen much,
Such have I never seen.
"The lawyer's deed
Ran sure,
In tail,
To them, and to their heirs
Who shall succeed,
Without fail,
Forevermore.
"Here is the land,
Shaggy with wood,
With its old valley,
Mound and flood.
"But the heritors?—
Fled like the flood's foam.
The lawyer, and the laws,
And the kingdom,
Clean swept herefrom.
"They called me theirs,
Who so controlled me;
Yet every one
Wished to stay, and is gone,
How am I theirs,
If they cannot hold me,
But I hold them?'
When I heard the Earth-song,
I was no longer brave;
My avarice cooled
Like lust in the chill of the grave."
Earth laughs in flowers, says Emerson....but somewhat mockingly, so that we not forget that time and death are not controllable by us. We need, rather, to make use of the ‘now’ of life - to observe some of the wisdom of flowers. As Friedrich von Schiller said: “If thou wouldst attain to thy highest [self’], go look upon a flower; what that does will-lessly, that do thou willingly.”
And of course there are many myths and legends about flowers .
Here are only two:
A Roman legend says that Rodanthe was a woman bothered by many suitors. She was interested in none of them, but the young were so in love with her, that they assaulted her house, even breaking its gate. Angered, the goddess Diana turned the woman into a rose and the suitors into its prickles. In Rome, a wild rose would be placed on the door of a room where confidential matters were discussed. The phrase "sub rosa" (under the rose) meant to guard a secret.
The beautiful aster was supposedly created when the Greek goddess of the stars, Asterea, looked down at the earth to discover that no stars dwelled there. This brought tears to her eyes. As her tears fell from the sky, they and the stardust, united and fell to the earth. Where ever this happened, it formed a dainty flower that was named aster after the goddess.
Let me now share with you some of my memories from different places of the spiritual impact of flowers on me. I invite you to be recalling your own unusual memories of flowers.
The first memory comes from Trinidad in the West Indies. When we lived there Angus's mother had this amazing flower that I had never heard of before. Certainly some of you will have. It was, I guess, a type of wax plant - I think it is called a "Night Blooming Sirius;" it produced huge blooms of unusually brilliant colours and size. This particular flower had several other peculiarities - it had a very, very strong perfume when it bloomed; and it only bloomed when there was a full moon and then only at night. . Now, I have a wax plant here in Brentwood Bay and all I can tell you is that there is a very large qualitative difference. Our wax plant scent is just as strong, but maybe because it is occurring in the rather antiseptic environment of the temperate zone and doesn't have a rich, moist, loamy environmental backdrop, it isn't the same at all.
This plant in Trinidad produces a huge white blossom that in the full moon seems almost phosphorescent; its scent permeates everything and yet because it is not closed up in doors, it is not cloying. It only lasts for several hours and may or may not bloom again the next night.
Perhaps it is the ephemeral nature of the bloom that always gets me thinking about the transitory nature of life; of life's beauty and the necessity to recognise, enjoy and appreciate it while one can. It is the same sense of wonder I have when the northern lights bloom in the winter, a whale breaks the surface of the water, a butterfly begins to unfurl from a cocoon or a perfect note unfolds from a singer's throat. It may be natural but it is still amazing and convinces me that there is a larger pattern in the universe, just outside the present scope of my awareness.
Another experience occurred during a visit (before I came to live here) at Butchart Gardens just down the road. At the time it was not the whole garden I remember, although certainly all parts of it were spectacular - it was the little begonia bower that arrested my attention. This was because I was surprised. The begonias looked quite ordinary when you looked at them straight-on -- but when when you sat down and looked up -- what a surprise! it was as if exquisite decorations for a party had suddenly been created by the most ingenious and imaginative of decorators - who certainly must have had some heavenly connections. I am trying to recreate a small portion of this paradise on a covered patio here and even though I know I come no where near to the beauty I saw at Butchart Gardens, I keep trying because of the peace and tranquillity I felt in that environment.
It seems to me that any memory that brings a recollection of peace and tranquillity, even if momentary, is doing its bit to bring about harmony. It further seems to me that this memory serves to remind me that one can't always see the beauty in life by looking at it straight-on -- sometimes it is necessary to look up, to look in, to look out a different way than usual; to focus on the ordinary in order to see past it to the extraordinary.
And I wonder how many of you have been fortunate enough to be driving in the country when the flax grain comes into flower? The flax flower is a brilliant blue and it temporarily turns large fields of flax into prairie and meadowland seas. It doesn't matter how many times I explain to myself that flax flowers are blue so there's no surprise; it always hits me with a jolt - the colours leap out in contrast to the golden wheat and oats and I could swear I can hear the water lapping at the side of the road and even smell more moisture in the air. Its sudden sighting invigorates my senses and brings my imagination to full alert. The mind and the heart will always have need of a stimulated imagination...and it is likewise the pathway to the spirit.
Do flowers really communicate? If they do, few of us understand them. But I am sure there is a form of communication that goes on. Beauty has its own voice and there are times when our need for beauty in our lives is so great that beauty is able to break through the human barrier and bring joy and appreciation to a parched person. As well, some people are better attuned to the beauty found in other life forms and can celebrate and nurture it....why is it not possible that it would return such treatment with gratefulness? Sometimes the lessons learned from experiences with flowers are very simple...and very significant to heart and mind as well as spirit.
And the following advice comes from the Spiritual Significance of Flowers again. The advice is based on a passage from the Dhammapada (Buddhist readings- part of the Therevada Scripture - stories from Buddha’s life..)) in which a seeker after spiritual truth and knowledge is helped to understanding with the aid of images of flowers.
"The purest lily can spring out of a heap of rubbish by the wayside. That is to say, there is nothing so rotten that it cannot give birth to the purest realisation.
Whatever may be the past, whatever may be the faults committed, whatever the ignorance in which one might have lived, one carries deep within oneself the supreme purity which can translate itself in to a wonderful realisation.
The whole point is to think of that, to concentrate on that and not to be concerned with all the difficulties and obstacles and hindrances.
Concentrate exclusively on what you want to be, forget as entirely as possible what you do not want to be."
As I mentioned before: deep spiritual truths sometimes become easier to grasp when expressed through simple images. Wisdom is available to us in every aspect of creation. We are required only to remain open to hear and to see. May we prove curious, humble and attentive enough to be good students.
The spiritual significance in flowers appears only when we reach for meaning deeper than the first layer of petals or the outer flamboyance of colour. The spiritual significance appears only when we can hear a wordless voice translating the message of beauty into human hope.
My subject this morning is almost endless and so I will simply end with one more bit of wisdom from the book, The Spiritual Significance of Flowers. It is a comment made after observing a flower just being. It is, I believe, a spirit-filled message.
“The true consciousness is that you do the right thing not because it is your duty to do it, not because it is worthy to do it and it is expected of you to do it, but because your nature impels you towards it. The flower blooms spontaneously without any sense of duty. It possesses no sense of duty because its nature is to do so, to be beautiful. Human beings also could be like that, spontaneous and natural in its action and behaviour. When you do a great thing, you do not realise that you are doing something marvelous or that you are exercising or stretching your power. You do not do a thing because it is your duty to do it but because it is your nature to do so, you cannot but do it.” (Nolini Kanta Gupta)
And on a less mystical or esoteric level, I have a list of the spiritual meanings of various flowers that I will make available to any of you who are interested. Find out what spiritual blooms you may have unknowingly growing in your garden, thus invisibly enriching your soul!
Closing Words
Be like a flower: open, frank, equal, generous and kind.
Open to all that surrounds you; exerting a spontaneous
influence on all that is around, radiating joy and beauty.
Frank as well; hiding nothing of yourself.
What is within your depths, let it been seen.
Equal to all; let all be given the opportunity of experiencing your being.
Generous without reserve or restriction.
Kind with a tenderness unexpected, undeserved and unconditional.
These are good qualities to help guide your life.
Be like a flower.
(adaptation of some words of The Mother in The Spiritual Significance of Flowers)
A Partial List of Spiritual Meaning of Flowers, Herbs
Rose - love, loving surrender
Morning Glory - Gratitude
Phlox - skill in psychic work, sweet dreams
Climbing Ylang-Ylang, artabotrys odoratissimus, perfume tree - reason
Oleander - quiet mind
Bougainvillea - psychic protection
Snap Dragon - power of psychic protection
Sweet Violet - modesty
Petunia hybrid - joyous psychic enthusiasm
Cassia fistula, or poppy - imagination
Lemon Grass - help
Impatiens - generosity - psychic generosity (pink)
Dahlia - dignity, pride (in our accomplishments), vanity
Cup-and-Saucer - curiosity
Begonia - balance,( psychic, mental)
Hibiscus - power of harmony, femininity, sexuality, warmth and new creation
Pereskia grandifolia - never tell a lie
Dianthus - obedience
Mimosa pudica - Touch me not, vital sensitivity
Water Lily - wealth
Portulaca grandiflora - Sri Aurobindo’s compassion
Aloe vera - dreams
Basil - integration and discipline
Carnation - deep love, healing and love of self
Daffodil - inner beauty and clarity of thought
Daisy - increasing awareness, creativity and innerstrength, gentleness, innocence
Geranium - spiritual happiness, healing and renewed joy....savour the moment...
Iris - higher inspiration, the eye of heaven, faith, wisdom
Lavender - magic, love, protection, healing and vision.....believe in the impossible..
Lily - birth, godly mind and humility
Marigold - loving sacrifice
Sunflower - opportunities, happiness, longevity.....remain a child at heart
Gladiola - sword, admiration and strength of character, sincerity
Aster - if you desire love, grow aster in your garden
Chrsyanthemum - friendship, love, truth
Almond flowers - hope
Basil - best wishes Thyme - courage
Fern - sincerity, shelter, confidence
Pansy - loving thoughts
Crocus - gladness
Bittersweet, or White chrysanthemum - truth
Larkspur - open heart (or fickleness!)
Nasturtium - patriotism Bachelor Button - blessedness
Rosemary - constancy, fidelity, loyalty
Zinnia - thoughts of absent friends
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