Together…
A pairing…. A grouping…
That begins by chance
Is recognized for its beauty
Is sustained by love
And is eternalized by culture.
From Passion to Dispassion
Why do our passions trap us?
Why do they never live up
To their promise of liberation?
We see passion as the force
And the path for the work we do
And yet such work is inevitably dead-ended.
The real work we need to do
Is to forge a path to understanding.
For it is understanding that liberates us.
Our passions are the vehicle on which
We ride through the labyrinth of life.
We mistake them for our way.
We traverse through dense darkness
Every day, to arrive at a fresh dawn.
Time is memory; time is also promise.
But not everything we’ve learned
Is remembered. Much is forgotten
And along the way a lot is lost.
The day stands like a weight
That must be carried;
Its annoyances– endured.
Soon the promise of an ending
Becomes more comforting
Than the promise of a beginning.
Your intelligence suggests to you
That time must be more than just
The duration between excitement and dismay.
That its office cannot just be
To mark event and non-event.
Time is life.
It’s what silently watches
As you live your ideas
And then get disillusioned by them.
Ideas that once gripped you
Over time, lose their grip.
You’ve outlived your passion.
You now stand facing an abyss
What must you do?
Must you hold on to that which once held you?
Or should you let it go?
What do you stand to lose?
What will you be without your reason to be?
Do not choose definition and identity
When growth into a higher dimension beckons.
Allow your passion to dissolve into dispassion.
The Real Value
A value is that which enriches your existence
Like good health and strength…
Like grace and simplicity…
Like inspiration…
Like creativity…
Like kindness…
Like silence…
Like understanding…
Like clarity…
Like forgiveness…
Like harmony…
All the multifarious aspects of love.
A value is not a number.
It’s also not a thing of degree.
Being rich (in values)
Has nothing to do
With how much you have
It’s about what you’re able to bring.
A value is not a commodity
That you can trade.
Values cannot be purchased;
They can only be realized.
And once realized,
They fulfil your life.
How do you realize ‘real’ values?
Begin by understanding
That life is not an externality.
Life is what goes on inside of you.
Your inner restlessness
Is seeking rest and repose.
Your fear and insecurity
Is in need of assurance and strength.
Your emotional knots
Need release and expression.
Your hatred is unable to see love.
And your lack of trust is a poverty of faith.
Your desire to own
And be known, recognized and validated
Is a search for fulfilment.
None of these values
Can be mined from the world.
They cannot be purchased in a market.
They cannot be acquired via accomplishment.
They must be self-generated.
The fount of life is within you
It is you who creates
And sustains your life.
You are the real value.
However
Knowledge in itself
Is not enough
However,
One must have the wisdom
To see that.
The Art of Simplicity
Organize. Arrange.
Declutter. Reduce.
Focus. Pay attention.
Respond as expected
Say what you mean
Mean what you say
Weed out the unnecessary
(So that you may know what you truly need).
Remove assumptions
Seek clarity
Decide quickly
Act in a timely way
Be patient with results
Know that the credit for any achievement
Must be shared
Express gratitude.
Contribute where you can
Perform where you must.
When you come to realize
That the world is but a stage
And it’s all just an act
And you’re just an actor
Pay attention to your pauses.
Bring intentionality to your silence
Prepare to exit.
Truth is Not a Smooth-Talker
Words have become slippery
They’re no longer able to
Firmly hold on to their meanings
Truth has no language…
No construction…
Words with their promiscuous meanings
Can no longer convey the truth.
The understanding
That one therefore needs
Is a non-verbal kind.
One that observes in silence
And can therefore see (but can no longer convey)
How our words
Have become an aberration of truth.
Connected
We’re all connected
Prior to our being
Organized by society
As family…as friends…
As lovers… as ex-es…
As enemies…. as rivals.
We’re not just connected to each other
But to all forms of life…
The mineral… the liquid…
the air… the space…
We’re in them
They’re in us
We’re a composite
Of so many existences
And a residue of so many lives
Yet our thought stands as a wall
Leaving us unable to see, hear and feel
Anything other than itself.
My separation is a delusion;
My individuality is a scam.
I contain nothing
Other than another
I am no one
If I’m not all of you.
Forever
Forever, I’ve come to see…
Is not just the mush
Of teenage love letters
Forever is a promise
A passionate romance…
It’s a commitment…
An ideal…
It’s devotion…
It’s surrender…
It’s not a light word
But it’s sweet
Not a sugar-coated type of sweetness
But one that sweetens with
The passage of time.
‘Forever’ is not staid,
One-dimensional or unchanging
On the contrary,
It is allowing that which is changeable
To change; and allowing all
Change to be absorbed in its promise
It is a faith…
That we realize when we stop clinging
To the changing and let it go
And in the process, come to see
What is unchangeable and
Forever.
What We’re Seeking is Not Outside
When we question our intentions
Our fears,
Our conformity,
Our compromised individuality-
All stand exposed by our reason.
Whatever project of woke-ness
We may wax eloquent about
And claim our commitment to
Deep down, all we want
Is to belong (to something).
We think our need to belong
Can be met by attachment
To a group, an ideology or a cause
To belong somewhere
Becomes our purpose.
And yet all our efforts–
In all futility–
Only leave us more with ourselves
The world can only utilize you
It cannot embrace you.
One can only
Add to the many
One cannot be absorbed
By anything other than
A larger one-ness.
So when you find yourself
Being strategically invested in your relationships
Question your intentions
Redirect your attention inwards
The largeness your seeking is not outside.
Experience
To know one must experience.
To experience one must know.
To experience anything fully
One must be present…
Observant… Attentive…
Open to feeling…
One must be able to contact life
Deeply; not tangentially.
You must experience abrasion
To know your strength and power.
Only when you feel pain
Will you understand meaning.
You must meet the unfamiliar
Before you get familiar with who you are.
You must experience difficulty
In order to know what is accomplishment.
You must experience differences
Before you come to know love.
Experience is first-hand knowledge.
In and through it you discover
Your profound qualities
All your experiences
Must lead you to a deeper knowledge.
And then…
To superior experiences.
Wit. Wisdom. Wonder... 