Recognize that Who you call ‘I’ Is merely a consolidation of memories And a voice of hope. ‘I’ am but an idea Afraid of its flimsy reality. And so much this idea Has come to love life That now its biggest fear Is to be denied existence. ‘I’ is but a meaning Given to am-ness So that life can be lived As an ode to memory And romanced through Songs of love and hope. Your limitations belong to your façade And not to your essence. Live fearlessly. Live courageously. Live like you don’t matter.
Locked In
The time has come
To break away from habit.
Habits of thinking
And being and doing.
Our way of life
Was a roadmap of diversions;
We never really arrived anywhere
Except to where we began.
The search for validation
Was misconstrued as the search for self.
We have lived as partial beings
Unable to embrace a world of our making.
We speak, but don’t listen
We hurry, but to no specific destination.
Activity is valued as action
And in its chaos we seek our purpose.
How do we see our truth?
How do we integrate our being?
How do we come to see
That to be we must be free?
Our exchanges must be directed
To let go of a lesser value for a higher one.
Poverty does not belong to outer circumstances
But to an inner blindness that doesn’t let us see
That our wealth is as unreal
As our imagined poverty
Gain and loss are the way of life
It’s the alternating of breath that sustains life.
Freedom cannot be won in a world of perceptions.
We must stay silent, watchful and locked in.
Isn’t it True?
Examine deeply
Your notions of the true.
The froth of the ocean
Is as true as its depth.
Ranking and evaluating and judging
Are intellectual pastimes.
They may or may not
Yield you the wisdom to see.
That when you organize things
From the truest to the less true
The world stands disintegrated
And broken in two.
A true seeing of the true
Will harmonize differences
And create parities
Where none seem to be.
The true may sometimes
Seem false, often inconsistent
And in disagreement with your view
On how things should be
But ultimately the true
Keeps its own promise to be;
Answerable to no one, it remains
In perfect sync with its own potentiality.
The Play of Love
I put in place
All that you’ve strewn
All over the floor.
I fix the things
That you innocently
Broke, tore or damaged.
I shut the door
So that I can work in solitude
But you must enter…
I sigh… I wonder…
There must be a design
To daily disturbances and infiltration.
Let’s not go by the mere appearances
Of your transgressions
And my consequent upset.
It is the play of love
To demand attention and then,
To be fulfilled in giving it.
Before and After
Before I become the truth
Must I be the lie?
Living it day in and day out
With tedious self-consciousness
So many facades to keep up
So many consistencies to maintain
What if the point of keeping appearances
Is only to exhaust me to the point of death…?
…And ‘I’ no longer exist?
Who then, will be?
Who will continue?
And what will continue?
If ‘I’ die
Who will live?
And how will truth live
Without lying?
What Are You Busy With?
To have something to do
Gives you a sense of worth
It gives you purpose
And continuity and
Therefore, an existence.
Time and movement
Are very important
For my sense of self-
And all that ‘I’ embrace…
I must be other than where I am at 5o’clock.
New places, new people, new projects
All of these make my life
So meaningful, so interesting, so glamorous.
Photographed memories of my day
Leave me with an entertaining sense of accomplishment.
Now’s the time to ask:
Is life the story of one person?
Can life remain imprisoned within a personality?
Without memory and pattern
Who am I? Who are you?
What new patterns are you forming?
What new memories are being created?
What new plans are being made?
As life awaits your homecoming
What are you busy with?
Perfection is At Work
Things remain clean
When we persist
With the act of cleaning.
The action then,
Is more important
Than the state.
A state is indefinite
It can change or disappear
But the action must be consistent.
Persistence and perseverance
Are the only ways
To deal with entropy.
Action is the essence of life
To live , is to be
In an eternal relationship with perfection.
While you persistently act
To keep things in a state of perfection
Allow Perfection to act on you.
Life after all,
Is infinitely intelligent
And inherently perfect.
Disorder, disruption, chaos
Are surface disturbances…
Look deeper. Perfection is at work.
The New is Being Prepared; Be Prepared for the New
Are these testing times,
Or is this an Act of Providence?
We know what our losses are;
Will we be able to see our gains?
Or, will all questions
Of loss and gain lose relevance?
With the discovery of new values
Will old denominations vanish?
Will our houses now become homes;
Will our hearths now warm our hearts?
Will social distancing
Re-acquaint us with each other?
Will we learn in isolation
What good company is all about?
Will we remember over time
This spring that renewed us all?
Durations
Allow time
To take you on a walk
To give your thoughts
A duration.
See yourself
Let go of ideas
And stand free of
Their certainties.
Definitions too
Are not permanent
Love has revealed to me
Other meanings.
The future
Becomes less important;
Plans and designs get replaced
By responses.
Today’s importance
Is self-evident…intrinsic;
Small matters that suggest
Little matters.
Say a prayer
Wash your hands and stay in
Apparently, that’s a good way to end
A pandemic.
Today
And what does today say?
…the unfolding of light
….the repetition of rituals
….the memory of yesterday
Moments left behind
Moments arrived at…
All indicate two points in a continuum.
Let me pause.
Watch change happen…
Let me see time
Work its artistry
How will things be today?
What will lose its charm for me?
What will I begin to wonder?
Wit. Wisdom. Wonder... 