Samesteller Myra Magdalena Lochner Editor
Voorwoord M.Dianne Berry Foreword
Omslagfoto's en Kuns Myra Magdalena Lochner Cover Photos and Art
Format: Soft Cover, 220 pages
Published and distributed by/Gepubliseer en versprei deur
KREATIV
PO BOX/POSBUS 4404 GEORGE EAST/GEORGE-OOS
6539
SOUTH AFRICA/SUID-AFRIKA
All rights reserved/Alle regte voorbehou
Copyright © Kopiereg 2008 Myra Lochner KREATIV
Copyright of individual submissions remains with the authors
Kopiereg van individuele bydraes berus by die skrywers
First Edition First Print 2008 Eerste Uitgawe Eerste Druk
ISBN 978-0-620-40296-5
PLEASE ORDER AT: Myra Lochner myrataal@mweb.co.za
PLEASE NOTE: WINS Verlies.Gained LOSS is in English, with some of the poems submitted in Afrikaans; some poems are translated in English or Afrikaans -- those are a special bonus for the reader.
FOREWORD
Nothing devastates more than the death of someone who has left us behind. It could be a parent, spouse, child, sibling, friend, mentor, or someone whose qualities and interaction have impacted us and forever shaped who we’ve become. Depending on how sheltered or predictable we are, the bigger scope can’t be seen until the loss actually occurs.
Consequently and similarly, there are other deaths. There is the end of a time which bookmarked our youth, leaving us with something that hasn’t recovered or found closure. First loves, rejection, and final goodbyes are familiar, but formidable, foes. From each shocking interval, like shards of glass, it represses the fragile child within and is held hostage, until something bequeaths a healing. It warrants what is needed to overturn and convert all the valid hurt, hostility, and pity. Now in print, here is a retreat where all the dark and candid adversaries must meet once again for tearful confrontation, to make some sense of it.
Within this book, created and elaborated by its producer, Myra Lochner, we see before our eyes numerous poetic pictures, which illustrate a heart’s need to cross over a remaining bridge, while making use of all the intense pain that came with it. Should we share to therapeutically engage with others, or just want to take a chance on being exposed, this book will give purpose beyond our present understanding. All those who collaborated in this venture, realize that we will undergo a chillingly sharp turn, in order to be changed by one another. Loneliness becomes a common denominator with others, rather than an enemy to defy the goal of being released from all sorts of longtime bondages.
Myra Lochner’s intuitive idea gently invites us to step out of obscurity and into a recognizable identity. As a literary assembly, we will hearken the truth that, at best hopes, will set us free to walk on. We can claim the aspired gain with divine intervention, instead of walking over the broken glass all alone. This surprising interlude will bring a meaningful eclipse to the fears that many of us so long avoided.
M. Dianne Berry
Poet and Spiritual Leader
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE SILENT JOY OF SORROW
From the swirl of confusion, which is often caused by sorrow or loss, comes the knowing that the depth of mourning cannot be defined by loss, but by gain – gain rooted in love. Nothing can define this love, but Love itself, which is God. This divine Love is ever-satisfying, ever-needed, ever-accepting and ever-giving. It offers and accepts offerings. It cares and accepts care. It cannot fail, even in the presence of failure.
To hold this Love, is to know its freedom. This freedom cannot lose and does not strive to win. It can only be the clarity of Being. Should one reach for words in meanings or in feelings, one may find that the core of its vastness cannot be grasped, nor the vastness of its core. It becomes nothing and All.
In sorrow the truth of happiness is found; in separation the value of nearness. To truly love, the fragments of the wounded soul has to enter the Whole and the Whole reforms the shards to wholeness. This is how the knowing of gain in loss comes to mind. How would I ever know gain, if not by loss? In suffering, the soul does not keep track of time. Sorrow becomes timeless. And when there is no time, the soul becomes part of the divine, timeless realm. Sorrow, stripped from selfishness, leads to the condition of purity in loss.
To carry on with tasks in loving others, while the self is deprived almost beyond hope, is a holy condition. It humbles and it strengthens. Within sorrow the soul moves towards knowing the transformation from mortality to immortality – this knowing is only a small step away from eternal bliss. To map this route is an effort of soul and not of mind – of faith and not of reason. This is impossible without surrendering to the infinite power of Soul. But: in accepting loss, the gain becomes apparent. In the gain lies the possibility to hope; from hope comes the willingness to try again. To try again asks for faith ... which entices the soul to recollect the promises made and realized in the past. To remember (or, as I often call it, REM-ember), is to seek in the ashes for the dream of the smouldering Ember.
Freedom comes first in the decision to let go, in order to hold forever. This can only be taught by experience, which leads to understanding and acceptance, pivotal for turning loss into gain.
Happiness is a divine condition, sprouting from self within Self. The essence of life cannot be grasped without being fully aware of purpose, not only as a far-away goal, but purpose reaffirmed from moment to moment, in sorrow and in joy.
The hungry soul yearns for true acceptance, by the self and by others, in full trust. Grasping happiness is an eternal journey. It opens the soul to the possibility of being vulnerable in the embrace of everlasting and divine Love, in order to gain spiritual strength. This gain is part of a process, that unfolds as gradually, but inevitably, as dawn itself: moving through the hues of day into dusk, and through the dark of night, approaching dawn again. In repetitive cycles of light and shadow, the soul is led by time towards acceptance of timelessness.
The value of GAINED LOSS.WINS VERLIES whispers between the lines its silent journey, and voices the muted braveness seldom grasped or verbalized, but which is of utter importance for the survival of the soul. Greatness does not carry a farewell: it stays forever in the memory ... as failure does. But, as greatness, failure brings to the tapestry of life the beauty of the strive towards perfection. A lifetime of gain may be birthed by recollecting the losses, assessing the divine gain thereof, and moving on.
The salmon’s swim upstream becomes effortless in its instinctive knowing that the glide leads to fruition.
Myra Magdalena Lochner
Meta-therapist and Poet
KREATIV SOUTH AFRICA
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