There is both- a continuous
And a discontinuous, ever- present aspect
To our lived experience.
That which is subject to change
Must live in the realm of continuity.
It must abide by time’s tenses.
It holds memories of the past
And hopes for the future.
It dreams of favourable change
And growth and prosperity
And a fulfilment that evades it.
It forges ahead (sometimes meekly)
Doing, thinking and sacrificing consciously
To bring into being a better tomorrow.
In a trajectory marked by impermanence and chance
It seeks certainty and permanence.

However, that about us which is ever-present
Is free of the past and the future.
As pure awareness, it enables us to see
What we think, how we feel, what we do
And why we do what we do.
This awareness is not subject to change.
It does not need continuity to exist.
It is what is ever-real and ever-new.
Time cannot change or destroy it.
It is what remains
In and through changing times…
Even when new values replace the old…
Even as things seem to worsen rather than improve…
Even when ideologies are destroyed
And grand institutions and empires collapse.

This realm of awareness
Needs no new hopes
It does not need a “new” year
It does not need any effort
Or any luck; it requires no strategy.
For it’s not a built castle
And it’s not a tale that needs telling
Or a story that needs a new plot.
It has lived through the ages
It carries with it the wisdom of a life
That has seen much.
Trust it. It is the silence and the temple
That receives your prayers.
It holds your tears as they fall
And is the light that by which you can see
That you are engulfed in darkness.

May that which is continuous in you
And is travelling through the days, weeks and years
And is hoping for the better to arrive
Before it is destined to end…
Be blessed by that which holds that possibility
That heaven…that power of the true self
That is real, sovereign and ever-fulfilled.