Think about it: Nothing acts
But something is made to act.
Acculturation, education,
Society, work, marriage
Raising children…letting go…
We’re made to think that
Activity is action.
And if everything
That is something
Must act to be
What does nothing do
To be nothing?
In essence you will always remain
Not what you have done,
But what you haven’t.
Your something-ness binds you to your world
Your nothing-ness liberates you from it.
Small fears but great connivances
Scores kept
Scores settled
Projects won
The designation acquired
And the pride served…
Work for many- great as it may be
Is but a means to an end;
It’s an end that is sadly often trivial…
Simply because it is self-serving
And not a means to deliver
The grand promise of the work itself.
The Leader
Is simply a person who recognizes
The true value of work
Its nature and its way.
Work is more than just a means
To profit- personal or corporate.
At its heart, it’s a contribution
Of that which is most worthy in you
The leader simply shows others
The merit in the reasons for which
Selfless work must be undertaken.
You could complete
Something that demands
Completion
And yet be fulfilled
While it is incomplete.
Fulfilment is not dependent on completion.
To be fulfilled is to be
Poised to render incompletion
With unconditional love and acceptance
Assimilating the humility
That comes from unachieved outcomes.
There is occasionally
An hour
That is eventful…
A pivoting moment
Where you stand
Divinely reminded
Of what is worth
Living for
And what is the worth
In losing.
To a seeker
No occurrence is vain.
Everything colludes
To provide you
With new meaning
Fresh insight
Or an accepting wisdom
Where the vision that clearly sees
Differences and distinctions
Begins to blur.
Watch this moment
Absorb its essence
Feel your emotion
But do not emotionalize
The moment.
Humanity is not a particular
Flavor, after all
It requires no recipe.
It’s a quest… To be human
Is to search for promise.
Even though
I tended to my plants
With unfailing care
They still withered
And died
Too soon.
Nevertheless
New life sprouted quickly and
Once again life bloomed.
Death, I learned
Is not the end of life
But its release.
So, mourn not my end
For what will end
Was never life.
A wise soul once said:
“You’re never more alive
Than when you’re dead.”
A crisis threatens you
With loss…
A loss of meaning and purpose;
Or with a loss of resources
And reserves.
A crisis reminds you
That life comes with no guarantees
That to live means to incur debt
That must be repaid
To all that sustains, nourishes and protects you.
A crisis teaches you
To live with deference
To wait and to be grateful
To effectively transact the business of life
By refusing to bank on it.
A crisis inaugurates
Your liberation
From the smallness of certainties
To a realm of possibility
A crisis is a time to live consciously.
A crisis conveys you
From the narrow alleys of fear
To the vast open skies of promise
You renew your relationship
With trust and faith.
A crisis is integral
To the design of humanity.
It reminds us that to simply be
One need not be accomplished
Just alive and inspired.
Growth is not in itself a virtue
And to seek it for its own sake
Is to have misunderstood its purpose.
We grow in and through
Movements that yield self-discovery,
Realization… a deeper seeing.
True growth is a natural process
Not a simulated artifice
It’s not a measure on a scale.
Leave things alone;
Let them simply be-
Immersed in time and space.
Allow them their abrasions
Allow them their struggles
Allow them their fight to be.
Growth is not merely expansion;
At its heart
It’s a search for possibility.
Time is His Will
Time is His Gift
Time is Our Being
To be is to be
In sync with time.
Following its cue
Matching its step…
True morality is not a resistance
It demands a dissolution of individuality
Dissolve into the moment…
Let it consume you
From the standpoint of the highest peak
Our polarities disappear
When all is good
So is the bad; the evil.
Be willing to be destroyed
Be bold enough to destroy
Experience everything-
Joy and happiness
Sorrow and bitterness.
Feel your sadness
But do not become sad
Feel your pain
But do not become miserable
Just be; don’t become.
There’s nothing to be gained from the world
There’s nothing that the world
Can take away from you
If only you don’t insist on being
What you’ve now become.
So, tell me…
What you are feeling
What you’re struggling with
So, tell me
How are you?
The counsel of thought
Has its limitations
Its resources are often inadequate
Where then do you find a way?
Where do you find an exit?
Adjacent to thought is a questioning mind
When the heart soars to an unknown
And unseen power…
This power offers no counsel
Other than its silence.
In its silence, we can hear ourselves
In its silence, we find no answers
In its silence, the mind ceases to question
In its silence, we stand absolved.
Things are as ordinary
Or extraordinary
As our faith makes them.
Man without faith
Is a corpse-
Dead to all that
Is alive around him.
He’s unable to see
Beauty, truth and possibility…
And the providence
That is packaged in the smallest gesture.
What conveys our actions?
Wherefrom our words arrive?
What is the origin of our thoughts?
On whose estate is our inner life being lived?
(It should be our own).
We may move about aimlessly…
But thanklessly and without promise-
Now that is to be rudderless.
Your faith is the ground on which you stand
It is the basis of your being
The purpose by which you live.
Wit. Wisdom. Wonder... 