Appearances are not the Truth
And the Truth is evident, not apparent.
Know the difference.
Courage may not always look grand
It often keeps its distance from the grandiosity of gesture.
Let it remain invisible.
Your real achievements often go unnoticed.
Awards are intended to legitimise the awarder.
Their place is on a shelf; yours, in life.
You’re educated to acquire special skills
Yet all real work happens through surrender and prayer.
Give up all ideas of yourself.
Pause…
Because a pause creates beauty
And this creation of beauty
Is not designed action
It is a reflection in stillness.
What a paradox it is
That in order
To apprehend life’s complexity
The simplest act of cessation is sufficient
Just as much as it is necessary.
A pause
Is a way to pay respect
To the doer, the doing and the done
It’s a constraint you put
On the excessive and the unnecessary.
A pause
Is a form of acknowledgement
That conveyance
Is an action of many forces
And that intention is one such force.
A pause is power
The ultimate form of self-control
A recognition of
What fails in success
And what succeeds in failure.
Money as a means
Is a blessing;
As an end in itself
It’s a curse.
As a means it provides
As an end it appropriates
As a means it exchanges value
As an end it robs value.
Money is an energy
That supports the business of living.
But it’s not the objective of life.
Ask yourself:
What’s the price you paid
To earn your money?
Can it redeem for you
All that you lost in its pursuit?
Can it sustain its worth
Or does it lose it over time?
Are you making money for money’s sake
By passing off a lesser value in exchange?
Have you normalised
An economic mindset
That sees nothing wrong
In profiting out of thievery?
What if we resolved
To spend more thoughtfully
Seeking value rather than a steal?
What if money could
Be made more true?
Not as wealth in itself
But as a supporter and promoter
Of the wealth already in you.
Play an active role
In your own life:
Make tough choices.
Create joy.
Give love.
Provide space.
Bring intelligence.
Leverage opportunities.
Earn respect.
Work for a cause.
Acquire experiences.
Develop capability.
Dream and then recreate the dream.
Inspire and influence.
Leave. Know when you’re not needed.
Accept your fate with faith.
Rest. Redeem yourself.
When something breaks
Destiny takes over its purpose.
What becomes of the part,
Separated from the whole-
Depends on the actions
Of many forces.
Life takes over.
Emotions drive it.
Sustenance becomes essential
For survival.
Separated from the whole,
The part searches for its own identity.
It awaits true love…
Searches for something
And someone to belong to.
Unconscious of the truth
That no one thing can complete it-
As it belongs with All.
Life is a journey
To a destination-
A voyage from no-thing
To no-thing.
Our something-ness is maya
That should be lived…endured…
But not preserved or pursued.
Intoxicated with life
We live in a state of forgetfulness
Of who we essentially are;
Adamant to ‘be’ someone whole…
Someone who will be
Loved, remembered…continued.
The feeling of purposelessness
Haunts the part.
Separated from the whole
It may be re-imagined, re-purposed…cultivated.
But it can never become
What it cannot be.
So much activity, very little action.
So much knowledge, very little understanding.
So many words, very little meaning.
So many functions, very little purpose.
So many pleasures, but very little satisfaction.
Man can only provide
Imagination and variety,
Alternatives, substitutes and evocations
For what evades him in essence.
Originality is good.
The true is good.
The honest is good.
To surrender the material
At the altar of the spiritual
Is good
Self-awareness is good.
To love is good.
Correct knowledge is good.
To overcome weakness is good.
Courage is good.
To adapt to change
But to remain unchanged by it
Is good.
To relate with care is good.
To sustain the good is good.
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.
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.
To see beauty
Is to awaken
To all that is.
Beauty is not
A matter of judgement
But of absorption.
After all,
You cannot seize something
That grips you.
In the presence of beauty
The mind is silenced;
At her altar, all the senses kneel.
You stand there-
Feeling privileged,
Feeling blessed.
She won’t be spoken to;
There’s nothing
That you can say to her.
Silence becomes
The expression of your awe
And wonder.
Your words
Can’t describe her
For she is pure essence.
Not this, not that
Not this way
Not that way.
She can’t be drawn
Or designed
Or sculpted.
You can find her
Only when
You are immersed in her.
Wit. Wisdom. Wonder... 