Shir HaShirim (Balak)

Chapter 6:8-9


There are sixty queens,
And eighty concubines,
And young maidens beyond number.

One alone is my dove, my perfect one,
One alone so luminous in her mother’s heart.

Every maiden delights in her,
Queens and concubines praise her.

The little girl inside asks, “Who, me?”
“Is my heart wide enough to receive the Great Love? Am I worthy? Will I dissolve under that Divine gaze? Will I shatter under the weight of your faith in me? Will I disappoint You?”

The Great Mother
Who is birthing Creation in every moment knows me,
She knows my unique light,
She sends me to walk this Path of Love.


In the Fever of Love ©2008 Shefa Gold. All rights reserved.


Practice

Chant: One Alone

Commentary

This is a love-song celebrating Unity consciousness. Though Reality appears to us as multiplicity (sixty queens, eighty concubines, young maidens beyond number), the awakened inner eye knows and sees it All as One, sourced in and emanating from the Great mother-womb of Being.

Bridge to Torah

In Parshat Balak, the Torah gives us the story of how Bil’am evolves as a prophet and opens to the truth of Unity Consciousness. Bil’am must learn to open his eyes to the presence of God by paying attention with reverence for each step of his journey; he must learn to listen to the wisdom of his donkey; he must fall to the earth and to earthiness, with eyes unveiled and spirit humbled. Only then will the miracle of Oneness pour forth as blessing.

The Song of Songs shows the way to that Unity consciousness, surveying all of the distractions along the way (queens, concubines, young maidens beyond number) yet journeying on towards the blessings that come with loving, attentive awareness of the One.

Click to see Numbers 22:2–25:9 in Hebrew and English (JPS 1985) or the associated Torah Journeys page.

Question for Contemplation

Can I install a constant remembrance of One Alone/Unity consciousness, even as I engage with the multiplicity, the vast variety of myriad experience?

Resources

View Love at the Center Resources.
See also SHS Commandment 9.
Click to see Song of Songs Chapter 6:8-9 in Hebrew with the English JPS (1985) translation.