Julian Ungar-Sargon

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Poems

Moving Poetry by Dr. Julian Ungar-Sargon

Music Thanatologist

Julian Ungar-Sargon April 10, 2005

I lie on the couch and prepare myself for this experience.

I close my eyes and prepare myself as if this might be the

last day on this earth.

I am in my 55th year

My preparations should begin.

Lower Heh

He begins with playing his harp.

Each string gets plucked and is allowed to die slowly

without dampening

Each note follows the other sequentially

I am filled with grief

For myself, my past, my children and parents

My ancestors

My people,

Humanity

In ever enlarging circle of grief

I think of the Vurker Rebbe and the "ocean of tears"

Yes I am his Chassid.

Drowning in tears of grief I am breathing deeply and slowly

holding the in-breath then the out breath.

Holding all this suffering on behalf of humanity right this

moment

The only one alive

Avraham haya yachid...

Deeper breaths bring deeper pain and it cuts right through

me.

That is until he stops. The silence is deafening and cuts

short this self-indulgence.

Silence, holding my breath

All is still

The chapel is silent.

Screaming silence.

Vav

Next he begins to sing, deep slow baritones

Vowels of the language emerge from him

And I feel I am being transported across somewhere

To another side

Where there is movement, as if I am transforming into

something deeper and higher.

This lasts for a short time followed by another silence.

Heh Elyona

Now music emerges once more

Notes in a higher range being played with a slightly more

distant feel

I am in another place now where I am hearing the music of

the spheres

An exalted place beyond suffering

Seeing or feeling on God's perspective

His overall view of the world below where all is soothing

and calm

In this space nothing is affecting me

Just the privilege of being present to a higher order of

harmony.

Yud

Finally silence and my vision is clouded by waves of

circular shadows coming and going

I am puzzled by these spherical shapes moving across my

visual field

Until I realize that I have arrived at the core of the Divine

Adjacent to the Ein Sof, where in Azilut there is only

Desire

I have become present to Divine Desire

And filled with a sense of awe and reverence for the gift

Being present to the source of all creation, desire.

This place brings a feeling of exaltedness and sanctity.

I cannot stand it here too long and end it quickly

As if I had been privy to something so refined

I must only stay a little while and soon return

To my world.

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Julian Ungar-Sargon

This is Julian Ungar-Sargon's personal website. It contains poems, essays, and podcasts for the spiritual seeker and interdisciplinary aficionado.​