Song of Solomon 1:5 · World English Bible
Song of Solomon 1:5 Meaning I Am Dark
I am dark, but lovely, you daughters of Jerusalem, like Kedar’s tents, like Solomon’s curtains.
What does Song of Solomon 1:5 mean?
Darkness on the outside, beauty held within: the intellect casts its black covering over the inner life, yet behind that curtain the settled self remains lovely and whole. The blackness is the reasoning mind standing across the holy place, the barrier that keeps the seeker from the right side of the brain, and it is this same veil that is later torn so union can be consummated.
From the Esoteric reading below.
Song of Solomon 1:5 through 1 lens
The same verse, read by one tradition.
Esoteric
ESOTERIC
Esoteric
Darkness on the outside, beauty held within: the intellect casts its black covering over the inner life, yet behind that curtain the settled self remains lovely and whole. The blackness is the reasoning mind standing across the holy place, the barrier that keeps the seeker from the right side of the brain, and it is this same veil that is later torn so union can be consummated.
The godly desires born of the inner city of peace are told not to judge by the dark surface. What looks unlovely is only the intellect's screen; underneath, the consciousness rooted in stillness is comely, and the veil that hides it will not stand forever.
Tents of Kedar: the intellect, from a root meaning darkness, its black covering thrown across the holy place Curtains of Solomon: the veil of the reasoning mind screening the inner sanctuary of peace, a barrier meant to be drawn back Daughters of Jerusalem: the godly desires begotten of the inner city of peace, driving the search for deeper union
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Esoteric lens
Live Song of Solomon 1:5 today
- Today, pick one thing about yourself you have judged as unlovely and set the judgment down for the afternoon. Your analysis of yourself is not the truth about yourself.
- When someone seems dull or difficult, hold off on the conclusion for one more conversation. The flat surface is usually the covering, not the person.
- In a moment when your mind is building a case, in traffic, in a meeting, in a text thread, stop mid thought and feel what is underneath the arguing. Something quieter is there and it is fine.
What have you written off because you only ever saw the surface?
The same truth in other traditions
Tao Te Ching 41
The great way looks dim and unimpressive from outside. What is genuinely full often appears empty, and what is deepest looks dark.
Sufism · Rumi
There is a veil between you and the beloved, and it is woven from your own clever thinking. Beauty is behind it, not missing.
Zen
The thinking mind stands in the doorway and calls itself the door. Step past it and nothing was ever blocking the room.
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