For the wallshasinFiniteno
It is the river that begins in the mountains and flows into the sea
A fish cannot drown in water A bird does not fall in air In the fire of creation, Nothing vanishes The fire brightens Each creature made Must live in its own true nature How could I resist my nature That lives for oneness with love? Know yet, my chosen daughter, That paradise is given to them
It is the river that begins in the mountains and flows into the sea
Alas! it was cold winter, With short days and long nights, But now, young summer speedily walks in To set us free from distress In a short time: that is plainly seen From this new year The hazelnut tree offers us fair blooms, The season’s public token
t is the river that begins in the mountains and flows into the sea
And nearby stood a tree with many branches it was tall and extended all its branches through those of another tree And I understood that it could be read on each leaf I am withoutdiscernment:meyoucan do nothing
i
The earth should not be injured! The earth must not be destroyed!
The earth should not be injured! The earth must not be destroyed!
There stood a tree with its roots upward and its crown downward This tree was wisdom It is no longer enough to think, Neither words nor deeds, nor eloquence
The earth should not be injured! The earth must not be destroyed!
It is the river that begins in the mountains and flows into the sea
you believe in the light? Have faith in the light
As the sun is the light of day, So too the soul is the light of the waking body
Bloom and thorn Root and crown
I don’t disappear
Flow Flowlight
A bird flies by Sun sun sun Sun sunFlowsun
Another bird flies by The dew quenches all thirst
As the moon is the light of the night So too the soul is the light of the sleeping body
There is no separation but distance, entangled in ways we cannot see The weight cannot be known and grasped in numbers No master can claim that he can make love with reason clearDo
A garden of apples And the flowers of all flowers
To all who ever knew and will know Of all that the sun ever shone Along the beach fire does not ignite, dew extinguishes all
The holy movement of life which overwhelms the limits of language
I am a servant in devotion The wild claims me Love me as I disappear into it
We don’t light We don’t burn We are not ashes but oxygen
O You, my Joyfulness and my Life forever, forever my life From You has also come this deep ecstasy, ecstasy this deep My desire’s goal is with You, you, you, to gain unity
In one hand I am carrying a torch, And in the other a bucket of water With these I’ll set fire to Heaven And flames of Hell put out forever So those on the way to God… Can tear the veils…the true earthly heaven discovered!
You’re my companion, my breath and my hope You’re my wealth without end and my longing!
Oh you, another night passes, another day comes The stars are sparkling…
You, you, you…
You, you, you…
You, you, you…
You, you, you…
Oh my healer, heart feeds upon its longing, longing it feeds Striving to unite with You, you, you – heal the soul of me
Your love is now my only desire and bliss and Is known to the heart’s eye, thirsting like my soul. I’ve none but You, Who makes deserts bloom, You’re my joy deep inside of me, Whom I extol How often from desire and bitter attachment I have made many streams from my eyes pour
O my life, my love, without You I would never be never without you Have across many countries … I’ve been wandering. For Your love, I am searching everywhere… Then all of a sudden with it You me are filling!
You, you, you…
My tears never stop and being with that One Is not lasting, and my sore eyes sleep no more I’ve been alone with Beloved when secrets More subtle than the zephyr of the evening Passed and the blessed Vision was given, For the prayers that I was silently saying
You, you, you…
By annihilating myself completely – myself complete
For if you speak at all it is for us and I repeat, know yet, my chosen sister that paradise is given to us all. Living spring, her sixth name, truly to Love after that of dew. This flowing force of one into the other, and this growth.
A stream of water:
Look at the cup from which you drink water; it is from all of you whose dust the earth imparts. Our dust, that which turns the day into dark.
A spark:
So I must do what strikes me; for this flowing force is what I want to strive for. But I am haunted in a barren wasteland. Such a cruel wasteland was never brought forth. I can ask loudly or in silence but the sound doesn’t seem to leave my body.
What can I do? I am hunted, captured, bound, wounded so terribly. That I never can be healed. This body of mine has a heart full of ecstasy… Inside it also has a soul with a thousand flames to see. Inside. When day and night I’m longing for its face: I have two eyes, full of streams flowing freely. Inside!
A stream of water:
A pebble:
A spark:
Look at the cup from which you drink water; it is from all of you whose dust the earth imparts. Your dust, our dust, that obscures it all. If you have many souls you will be joyous. We are not in oneness but in multiplicity, that must live in harmony within ourselves and with everything around us.
On the way I found, like graceful running water, again, again. I rush from the ocean that comes, again, again, again.
You - who makes deserts bloom. The world is on fire, you are the one who can bring peace to the soil. You have forgotten the vastness of love. In love, nothing exists between heart and heart. Speech is born out of longing, true description from the real taste. How can you describe the true form of something in whose presence you are made obscured? And in whose being you still exist? And who lives as a sign for your journey?Aspark:
O breeze I would give my life for a message delivered. It is love that makes the wild lion tame. Give me what I wish. Oh holy water, I need you upon my eyes: it is you, dear, you – in each form. Whatever the season may be in all the wide world, there is nothing that can bring me joy. Yet Nature.
A pebble:
A lover must go and risk one’s life in love’s way And turn upside down heart’s peace … every day!
On the way I found, like graceful running water, Water is running from my eyes again, again,
spark:
It is the river that begins in the mountains and flows into the sea
For the Infinite has no walls
A stream of water:
Get up…come, my chamber I’ve made beautiful, And for you I’ve spread a carpet, O so wonderful!
The world is on fire…from what is in our hearts, It is from kin, whose dust the earth imparts
Let us not forget, the joy is still there. Get up…come, I have made my chamber beautiful. And for you I have spread a carpet, O so wonderful! Our dust, that which turns the day into dark.A
In the barrel of the winehouse, I am a dervish From that barrel of wine, give me what I wish
Your prayer brings light, my breath and my hope. In my soul there is a temple, a shrine, a mosque, a church where I kneel. Prayer should bring us to an altar where no walls or names exist. For the Infinite has no walls.
A pebble:
Be bold and daring, Oh Nature -- She is the center and the periphery. It is the river that begins in the mountains and flows into the ocean. There are no limits, no borders, no gaps.
Keep dripping, Water from stone’s heart and sky’s eyes Keep dripping
For all of Eternity this soul of mine is the dwelling Of Your love
My soul and my heart I love because this heart has Your brand on it and my soul is sign showing, Your Whenlove!ruby-coloured tears from my eyes Keep dripping, Water from stone’s heart and sky’s eyes Keep dripping
This body of mine has a heart full of ecstasy… ItInsidealso has soul with a thousand flames to see, WhenInside day and night I’m longing for your face: I have two eyes, full of streams flowing freely, WhenInside!ruby-coloured tears from my eyes
A wonder: now like a soul-refreshing friend It acts, now like a bloodthirsty foe, Insane!
Since before time this heart was place of nesting Of Your love…
This broken-winged bird you see… Has Whenreturned!ruby-coloured tears from my eyes Keep dripping, Water from stone’s heart and sky’s eyes Keep dripping
ThatBelovedBelovedBelovedone, smitten by your beauty, Has One,returnedforunion with you, thirsty… Has Cleanreturnedcage,toss seeds of kindness
O breeze I would give my life for a message delivered It is love that makes the wild lion tame And it’s from the ocean that comes again
Quickly the young girl let go of my hand, turned, and said to me:
Then the young girl disappeared.
“Then rub some on my friend here” the young girl said. “Once upon a time,” said the maidens, “part of this spice and the fragrance of it clung to her body -- but then she shied away.”
“Your prayers are your light; Your devotion is your strength; Sleep is the enemy of both. Your life is the only opportunity that life can give you. If you ignore it, if you waste it, You will only turn to dust.”
“Would you like to see a place even more wonderful than this?” she asked. “Oh yes,” I answered. Then taking me by the hand, she led me on until we came to a magnificent palace, like nothing that was ever seen by human eyes. The young girl knocked on the door, and someone opened it. Immediately both of us were flooded with light.
Only she knows the inner meaning of the maidens we saw living there. Each one carried in her hand a serving-tray filled with light. The young girl asked the maidens where they were going, and they answered her, “We are looking for someone who was drowned in the sea, and so became a martyr. She never slept at night, not one wink! We are going to rub funeral spices on her body.”
I saw myself in a wide green garden, more beautiful than I could begin to understand. In this garden was a young girl. I said to her, “How wonderful this place is!”
You joined our community at birth
I have just peeled the skin from the potato And you are still contemplating its worth, Sweetheart; indeed there are wonderful nutrients in all, For God made everything
You cannot wander anywhere that will not aid you Anything you can touch – God brought it into the classroom of your mind
Every cry of the heart Is attended by light’s own arms
The Holy sent out a surveyor to find the limits / Of its compassion and being / God knows a divine frustration whenever They act like that / For the Infinite has / No walls / Why not tease Them about this? / Why not accept the freedom of what it means / For our Lord to see us / As Themself / So magnificently sovereign is our Lover; never say / “On the other side of this river a different King rules.” / For how could that be true – for nothing can oppose Infinite strength / No one lives outside the walls of this sacred place, existence / The holy water my soul’s brow needs is unity / Love opened my eye and I was cleansed / By the purity of each / Form / In my soul / There is a temple, a shrine, a mosque, a church / Where I kneel / Prayer should bring us to an altar where no walls or names exist / Is there not a region of love where the sovereignty is / Illuminated into nothing? / Where ecstasy gets poured into itself / And becomes / Lost? / Where the wing is fully alive…/ But has no mind or / Body? / In my soul / There is a temple, a shrine, a mosque, a church / That dissolves, that / Dissolves in it
Differences exist, but not in the city of love Thus my vows and yours, I know they are the same
What do the world’s scales know of your precious value?
No one lives outside the walls of this sacred place, existence The holy water, I need it upon my eyes: it is you, dear, you – each form
If the water forms itself from the mist, like small droplets
If it springs from necessity
Attuning
BetweenThen
thorny arms and legs, a green voice will call out
In tune/ out of tune
In tune/ out of tune
It is the river that begins in the mountains and flows into the sea
We really don’t know anything!
If a god of dark green tendrils moves into the soft brown earth
Already on earth the soul lives like an angel, and (life) follows eternal (life),
Each of their writings delve into self-annihilation towards a loving devotion to God and the cosmos, and can be considered as alternatives to the dominant patriarchal society at the time. Additionally, in their writing there is a heavy emphasis on wildness, animals, plants, the elements, mystery, and ‘nature’ as a whole, which stands at odds with the ever sharpening image during the 1100’s - 1400’s of a sky-dwelling Father God who is divorced from Earth.
The words are not intended to be read quietly at home, but to be collectively read aloud, so that they activate and animate the space in a kind of togetherness, a being-in-dialogue-with the ever thriving more than human world. Mahsati, Rabia, Beatrice, Hadewijch, Marguerite, and Hildegard, while each unique in lived experience and soul, all held a common belief in the wild power of love -- that in seeking the kind of ego-annihilation that emerges from loving ________ , there comes a recognition of being ultimately just a part of the larger world body. We view all these women writers as inspiring us towards the creation of different versions of the text and a performance/ritual that straddles the intersections of art, feminism, being a part of nature, and the unknowable. In a time of impoverishment and dis-enchantement with the world, our senses must be awakened and our relationship with the animate thriving world beyond patriarchal logic must be deepened.
About the Text
For this iteration we collaborate in performance with Chilean artist, Bernardita Bennett, who is based in Weimar.
We consider this ongoing and ever-evolving score to be a long-term project that can be activated in different spaces, where the words of these women are spoken out loud. Each iteration of the project implies a new research of the writings and lives of specific authors. Their words and our own writings are integrated with the previous score in a revised version. Similar to the process of sourdough or the transmission of oral traditions: there are always some things that stay, others that shift and some that are completely new. The limits of authorship and time collapse to give space to a new blend of voices.
Thank you for coming, SapLab (Lucy + Paz) and Bernardita
This is the second iteration of a work that initially was performed a year ago in Antwerp based on the writings of several medieval mystics from Western Europe, including Beatrice of Nazareth, Hadewijch, Marguerite de Porete, and Hildegard von Bingen. Over the past few months, we have expanded the document to include the work of Mahsati Ganjavi (12th century) and Rabia of Basra (8th century), poets and Sufi mystics from what is now known to be Azerbaijan and Iraq.
For the inFinite has no walls was perFormed on June 25th, 2022 in Berlin as part oF the exhiBition " we Begin to seek out dirt" shared in sapspace, in neukölln, Berlin. movement Font By nm type & design indaBa 2019. soundscape By william Basinski.
saplaB is lucy cordes engelman and paz ortúzar. guest artist: Bernardita Bennett