Know Your Job

Be–
Without trying to be
Or trying to make others become
That is not work…

The true meaning of work
Is to discover within your relationships
With ideas, ideals and people…
That sweet emotion of surrender and devotion…

Such–
That to serve
Becomes more incumbent
Than to be served.

And to ascend
To so high a faith
That you can stop
Your pointless pursuit of outcomes.

Knowing well
That the highest intelligence is spiritual.
And all that needs to be done will–
In spite of your efforts- get done.

Dissolve

Do not go into the night
With stains, residue, dirt…
Or the debris of collapsed hopes
And unfulfilled dreams.
Bathe… cleanse yourself
In the flow of time
Exfoliated by the roughness of sorrow
Realize that in your life story
You’re but a character playing a part.
Close the book of your life
Ever so gently…
What happened is now over.
Do not carry with you
Into a new dawn
What should be dissolved
In the nothingness of the night.

Fashioning Time

Time is a fabric
That we’ve all been given.
Fashioning it is our art.
Some of us proportion it
To the pleasures our bodies seek;
Some to the moods of the mind…
Some to the imagination of the intellect…
Some purpose it to be
An offering of love.

The art of fashion
Is an ancient art
Its actions and office
Pre-dating runways, designers and brands…
How we pattern, cut and stitch together
Our fabric of time…
And how we imprint our sentiments on it…
Or how we embellish it with our hopes…
Is a fashioning action that is imbued with intention.

The way we style our time
How we weave together
Our experiences and our memories
Or crochet together our prayers and dreams…
Or knit into a warmth
Our relationships…
Or layer into a look our old and new–
Is ultimately an expression of who we are
And also, what we are hoping to be.

Blame

If blame were a means
Of yielding remorse, realization
And then correction,
We all would’ve achieved an ideal world…
We wouldn’t be living
With old wounds still festering

Blame can only
Pin a problem to a person;
It cannot help him resolve it.
All he will see is that
For all that went wrong
It was he who was blamed.

The World Cannot Give You Direction

Morality is not a garb
That you put on
To appear better than others…
Neither is it a yardstick
By which you measure others
And gauge their integrity.

To be moral
Is to keep intact your character
So that you may stand strong
Against the onslaught
Of all sorts of demands from the world.
Unaltered. Uncorrupted.

The question to ponder on
Is who or what
Determines your actions?
And are they, or those things
Going to be responsible
For the outcomes your actions will yield?

Morality is always intrinsically determined
And almost always-
Extrinsically challenged.
The world is a mirror…
But one that stands sullied
By the dirt and grime of ambition.

To be moral
Is to reject the surface
And seek answers within a quieter oasis…
And through a clearer reflection.
The world cannot guide you
It is not designed to give you direction.

No.

No, I will not be diminished
By your dismissal of me.

No, I will not disappear
Just because you refuse to notice me.

No, I will not conform;
I will not yield to your violence.

No, I will not further your agenda
While I secretly resist it.

No, I will not agree with you;
I will not prove you right about my adaptability

No, I will not be
Who you would like me to be.

My existence will not be exploited
By your machinations and for your ambitions.

No.

What Are You Chasing?

We create the meaningless
When we pursue the meaningful

And then,
The more we pursue the meaningful
The more meaningless it becomes.

It’s only when we stop our pursuit
That we’re able to give to
And receive from everything
Regardless of its meaning.

Step Up. Step Forward. Step Back.

Life is a Tango
Best performed like a dance.
Be attuned to changing rhythms
Be light. Be ready. Be responsive.
Tease life. Challenge it. Own it.
Be graceful.

Grace is about offering yourself
To the divinity of the moment
Knowing that glory
Lies in defeating limitation.

Are you-
Feeling low? -Step up.
Feeling hopeless? -Step forward.
Feeling confident? -Step back.

Grow Within

Life is not so much an externality
As it is an internal movement
Of pulse and impulse
-Unknown cause and
Its sorrowful effect….
Between which man must learn
How to be. Should he be
Defined by his fears and
Limited by his desires?
Or, refusing all definitions and
Rejecting the impulse for an identity
He should give up the idea of being someone?

Achievement (of anything in this world)
Cannot be a worthy goal
If it is pursued for its own sake.
It becomes liberating
When it entails
Leaving behind the need
To be accomplished
…To be someone distinctive
In the vastness of existence
That is the real need;
The real poverty of consciousness
We need to be free of.

The Other

Who, or rather
What is the Other?
Your hope? Your helplessness?
Your expectation? Your indifference?
Your need for control?
Or that which you hate?
Or that which you fear?
Or, a target for your anger?

You exist in a vacuum.
Your chronic need to be someone
Creates the Other
–The matter to your anti-matter.
They are what they are
Because of what you wish to be
The Other is that part of you
That you have disowned.