I have an interest in the word "you" — the address that intimates use for each other, that yearning we might have, that sense of addressing self, other, Other, the void, the past, the unknown, the deeply known. That word allows me spaciousness without definition, and I like it, so I regularly repeat the word "you", in Irish, with the in and out of breath, until I've forgotten who is speaking and who is being addressed. ("The eye with which I see God / is the eye with which I see myself", my bewildering friend Meister Eckhart says.)
Is this a prayer? Sure. Is it a prayer? Why not? Is it a prayer? No. Is it? Yes. Too many years of theological study have immunized me from any interest in definitions that ask the impossible of the intellect. I'm interested in practices and signposts to the present. And breath is such a signpost, such a practice, and such an infinity.
Whatever-come-along faith is like leaves
blowing in the winds, while
Giving one's power to worldly authority
is faith denied, a soul devoid of freedom.
Awakened faith lives by the Law written on each heart,
that hears and heeds the Voice of Silence.
One's own unique and authentic faith
becomes expressed with utter integrity in action.
Aspire to know the Truth that awakens
in the heart, the Truth that sets you free.