That Place
(LYRICS)
Words & Music by Bob Ryan (C)2004
Along that ranging wind
I caught the scent
Of a Place that cannot be
Yet has always been
Came the tatters of a song
We'd all sang as one
In that Place that cannot be...we sang
And now I can't explain
Though I can say
To that Place that cannot be
I've found a way
And now, after all this time of wait
With the opening of the Gate
We find that Place that's always been
That Place that cannot be...it's here
And like a newborn babe
After all the pain
Reaches out to find its way
Reaching for the Flame
And the swelling of the hearts
As they beat as one
In that Place that cannot be...we sing
Tiu loko enirebla
Per la Pordo el la Dio
Profetajxita je la eko
De la mondo gxis la nuna
In this changing world
hear the deep refrain
Of a Name foretold through time
in tears of joy and pain
Of a call to unity
On this earthly plane
Here in that Place that cannot be...we'll sing
The Players:
Bob Ryan - Guitar and Vocals
Recorded in Lightkeeper Music Recording Studios in 2007
I was raised with no conscious belief in God. A materialist worldview, without even an intellectual curiosity about religion or the lives of the great Manifestations of God such as Moses, Krishna, Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad.
Of course I was culturally aware of these figures and heard claims by many about Their purpose and place in human history. It wasn't until I was a young adult that I began a systematic investigation of religious teachings that eventually lead me to finding out about the Baha'i Faith and Baha'u'llah, its Prophet/Founder. This involved about a four year indepth study of the world faiths culminating in the study of the Baha'i Teachings.
The startling claim that Baha'u'llah made - that He was the Promised One of all the religions of the past, the One Who is to establish a global spiritual civilization, uniting all the peoples of the world - was staggering. After some time of serious investigation, I came to accept this claim and became a Baha'i myself.
In the song, the term, "that place" refers not so much to a physical place ( its meaning isn't restricted to the material) but to a state of sanctity and of being in the divine presence. From my materialistic upbringing, throughout my time of religious study, I had been a skeptic of religion (and one might argue - for good reason!). But my journey has shown me that the many people throughout the ages who had responded to the great Manifestations of the Will of God, who stood up and bore witness to the truth of Their Words, were correct in their assertion of a "place" or condition of mindfulness and sacredness that human beings can realize. And that we now live in the period of history to which all the past religions had been pointing toward: the appearance of the Kingdom of God on earth.
That is now the Place in which we live, the Place in which we can labor and grow, the Place that is emerging out of the chaos of a dying world order all over the planet.
