The Hound of Heaven in Parallel with the Prophet Jeremiah
YOU decide. Is there alignment or not?
This is an interim piece before I add the last two stanza’s of The Hound of Heaven. The challenge for each of us is to find what speaks to us from these ancient, old, longstanding teachings.
These are the messages of the Prophet Jeremiah from the Old Testament. It is surprisingly resonant with the state of the modern world and rings true with The Hound of Heaven.
YOU decide. The Hound of Heaven was written in 1890.
Protector of the Dharma. 700 CE
The wrathful Manjusri. also known as the immovable, protects the earth from evil, from ignorance & from disbelievers.
What do you take refuge in when the hound is coming after you?
Shakyamuni Buddha 5th Century BCE.
DO you take refuge in Buddha, Dharma, Sangha?
Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people. Jeremiah.
Do you wish you could run away from the suffering of the world? Do you take refuge in the Prophet Jeremiah?
The Prophet Jeremiah. Old Testament 650 BCE.
Oh, that I had in the desert a lodging place for travelers, so that I might leave my people and go away from them; for they are all adulterers, a crowd of unfaithful people.
Do YOU ever feel as though YOU should go away from what is happening in the world today. Someone read an article to me about a strong desire to go to the woods and live in a yurt…do you feel like running along as well.
3
"They make ready their tongue like a bow, to shoot lies; it is not by truth that they triumph in the land. They go from one mistake to another; they do not acknowledge me," declares the LORD.
Lies, lies, and more lies coming to the surface. Godless vanity & no truth.
4
"Beware of your friends; do not trust your brothers. For every brother is a deceiver, and every friend a slanderer.
Jeremiah is known for encouraging us to trust the Truth alone. How many times have friends, family, others deceived you, slandered you? Have YOU done the same?
5
Friend deceives friend, and no one speaks the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they weary themselves with missing the mark.
Is this so? Do you speak the Truth?
6
You live in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me," declares the LORD.
Do YOU acknowledge the Truth of existence? Or do you believe in and have faith in mankind, power, wealth, science, things?
7
Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty says: "See, I will refine and test them, for what else can I do because of the mistakes of my people?
Whatever comes into your life, whatever happens in your life comes to awaken you! BUT…are YOU able to accept what comes without collapse, anger, fear, hatred, and all the myriad distresses of human existence?
8
Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks with deceit. With his mouth each speaks cordially to his neighbor, but in his heart he sets a trap for him.
Do you know any hypocrites? Are you a hypocrite? Are you a fake?
9
Should I not punish them for this?" declares the LORD. "Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?"
DO you feel corrected? Disciplined? Or do you get angry when corrected??
10
I will weep and wail for the mountains and take up a lament concerning the desert pastures. They are desolate and untraveled, and the lowing of cattle is not heard. The birds of the air have fled and the animals are gone.
Notice the similarity between The Hound of Heaven and Jeremiah. Nature does not hold as it does not hold for Thompson. It does not hold for us - so I guess we need not run to the woods. The Yurt will not protect us.
11
"I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals; and I will lay waste the towns of Judah so no one can live there."
12
What man is wise enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the LORD and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross?
Greed, hate, & delusion are the roots of the ruination of our land. Even stronger, Jeremiah tells us the desert is impassable. We want to understand, to be told the Truth, to be instructed with the Truth.
Do you!
Last two stanza’s of the poem to follow.
