A Love Supreme
Anticipation, Advent and Audio Divina
There’s so much pleasure in anticipation. In a world where everything we think we want is at our fingertips, there’s delight in desiring something that’s difficult to attain. It’s stimulating to be consumed with longing and to be fulfilled by the slow burning satisfaction of true love.
Advent is a season of anticipation; we’re awaiting a love unlike any other.
The most supreme love we will ever experience is between us and the Beloved. As humans, we’re designed with limits: a beautiful aspect of our being. There are boundaries to how much we can give and receive in return. Source is limitless. While we don’t have the capacity to truly love unconditionally, God does. There is nothing we could ever do to separate ourselves from Source. There is nowhere we could ever go to escape this divine love. God is always with us — Immanuel.
Advent is a season of reflection; we’re remembering a love unlike any other.
We must always look back to move forward: Sankofa. American society is devoid of celebrations of true love. We’re inundated with messages that romantic love is the pinnacle of intimacy and that the exchange of material goods is its greatest expression. Advent grounds us in gratitude for what we already have, the gifts that God has already given us. We’re blessed to have breath. We’re abundant because we are One with all that is. Our ancestors understood this and the fruits of their devotion to Source invite us to reflect on and learn from their experiences of divine love.
Advent is a season of embodiment; we’re experiencing a love unlike any other.
Pouring ourselves into presence opens our hearts to experience divine love. Contemplative practice enables us to enter a state of receptivity, so we can taste the Beloved’s unconditional love for us and all that is. Audio Divina or Divine Listening is a Christian contemplative practice that incorporates sacred music. Meditating with sound invites our senses into this intimate moment with the Beloved and allows our entire being to be held with love. During advent, I will be adding audio divina to my spiritual practice and setting my contemplative sessions to A Love Supreme by John Coltrane. If you’re curious, I invite you to join me in this experience of anticipation and fulfillment inspired by our ancestors.
A Love Supreme
Recently, I was blessed to participate in a course guided by Josue Perea that centered the Black contemplative tradition in the United States. One of our sessions explored the mystical work of John Coltrane and we collectively engaged in an audio divina meditation to A Love Supreme. Josue explained that Coltrane created A Love Supreme to accompany daily prayer in four movements: Acknowledgement, Resolution, Pursuance and Psalm. During Advent, I intend to set my daily prayers to the sacred sounds of A Love Supreme. Acknowledgement in the morning, Resolution at noon, Pursuance in the afternoon and Psalm in the evening.
✦ Listen to A Love Supreme on Apple Music
✦ Listen to A Love Supreme on Spotify
✦ Listen to A Love Supreme on YouTube
We also learned that Psalm, the fourth movement, was a written psalm before it was music. Instead of composing the song and writing lyrics for it, Coltrane wrote the words of the psalm and intuitively played the lyrics to compose the music. Josue shared this video of Psalm in Coltrane’s handwriting set to the song. The words are wonderful to meditate on and provide deeper insight into John Coltrane’s embodied experience of divine love.
A long time ago, I heard a lesson and I want to share it here. Live your life, in such a way, that the people who come across you wonder if coming across you is like coming across an angel. Water in the desert, a sprout in a barren field. Your writing has done this for me today. You answered a question that has been heavy on my heart and I’d like to thank God for you. Bless you—Selah.