My friend Steve Georgiou had a tribute to poet, mystic Robert Lax (1915 - 2000) published in the Merton Seasonal (Dec. 2015 edition).
Steve’s life, his life-trajectory, and values have been profoundly shaped by Lax, whom he first encountered in 1993 on the Greek Island of Patmos.
Steve introduced me to Lax, his ‘philosophy’ of life, and his poetry, first through our correspondence, but especially through the stunning and so very evocative first book in a trilogy of book’s through which Lax of woven, both explicitly, and implicitly. The book was titled: The Way of the Dreamcatcher: Spirit Lessons with Robert Lax: Poet, Peacemaker, Sage (First Edition / Ottawa: Novalis, 2002. Includes photos).
If you want to read about Lax, start with this book. Follow it with the Georgiou edited In the Beginning Was Love: Contemplative Words of Robert Lax (pub. 2015). This will give you a good introduction to Lax’s poetry. If both of these capture your imagination and warm your heart, then you’ll readily find more of Lax’s poetry, and Michael McGregor’s Pure Act: The Uncommon Life of Robert Lax (pub. Sept. 2015).
Meantime, here are excerpts from Georgiou’s tribute, and you’ll find the complete tribute below these (used with permission), in PDF form.
“…For anybody who knew Bob and/or has read his work, this over-arching, inter-relational unity is love – and not just any love, but the love of God. As he once told me, “There’s no other place I’d want my work to point to.” Bob didn’t preach about this love, nor did he try to control others in the name of God. He simply lived his compassionate, creative, nurturing, peaceful, joyful life everywhere he went. With few possessions, traveling lightly, emanating a singular authenticity, he drew others to him, into a blessing-circle of wisdom and charity. He was, for all intensive purposes, a humble, unassuming witness of what Christians call agape: universal love, reflective of the love of God for humanity. In this role he served as a lighthouse of inspiration for many, if not an instrument of grace…
… I’m reminded of a quotation from Father Thomas Hopko, a prolific Eastern Orthodox writer, who defines what it means to be a saint. It is impossible to meditate on this definition and not think of Bob: Every saint lives in the present moment. . . . Every saint pays attention to details, and does the smallest, seemingly most insignificant act with the greatest love and devotion. . . . Every saint pays attention to persons, and not to structures, institutions, parties, programs. . . . For the saint, only the person counts; everything is subordinated to the good of the person…
… When I first met Bob on Patmos in 1993, I was, in many ways, disillusioned with life, having suffered a series of taxing personal incidents. But Bob, a conduit of love, simply flashed his empathetic “It’s OK” smile and essentially said, “Relax; stop clinging to your pain; go with the flow” (Georgiou, Way 33, 55-56). What did Bob mean by “flow”? … By “flow,” Bob meant the almighty, pre-existent flow of divine love, a sacred round that begins within the very heart of the Trinitarian God. Here the Father turns to the Son, the Son turns to the Spirit, and the Spirit turns to the Father, all in an interrelational act of supreme cyclic love. In essence, what matters most is shared unity, especially in the mysterious core of God. A divine, interdependent ring of agape thus encircles heaven, a model of love for life on earth…”
Download Steve Georgiou - All Rings, One Ring - Robert Lax, A Centennial Tribute - Dec. 15
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