this is who i long to be

The way I see it, a mystic takes a peek at God and then does her best to show the rest of us what she saw. She'll use image-language, not discourse. Giving an image is the giving of gold, the biggest things she's got... Hurling and wielding the best stuff she can imagine, ...she agrees to the quiet morning hour in front of God in exchange for a bit of revelation. She doesn't ditch tradition as much as take it for its word and peer inside its cavernous shell. There must still be something worth saying, worth pointing to.

Jessie Harriman van Eerden

i have no idea who jessie harriman (this was all i could find by googling the name) is or where this quote was lifted from. i am reading "God Laughs & Plays" by David James Duncan and he quotes it on page 4. i just LOVE this concept. it is truly who i long to be. giving gold, getting a glimpse and finding the things worth pointing to. (i did remove a line from the quote - but it was already where the ellipses existed as i wasn't sure what 'the way of wakefullness' signified and couldn't find anything online regarding it)

UPDATE: I was contacted by the author of the quote and she is published in Best American Spiritual Writing 2006:

Harriman, Jessie van Ferden. “This Soul Has Six Wings.” Best American Spiritual Writing 2006. Ed. Philip Zaleski. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006.

Thanks Jessie!