Rest in Peace

How vain is individuality!
How vain its pain,
Its sorrows and its hopes!
How vain its self-enclosed life!

The mind is not redeemed
Through indulgence or strict austerities
But through adherence
To the highest intelligence.

Knowing oneself
Entails knowing that
The very idea of oneself
Is a lie.

It’s a skepticism
That’s rooted in a deep faith
Of an existence
That supports one’s own.

Watch things happen
Experience them.
But do not mistakenly believe
That they happen to you.

There is no “you.”
“You,” are just an idea
A persistent pattern
Of thinking and feeling.

Life stands outside
Of thoughts and patterns.
Individuality thinks that life is particular
Whereas life is an all-pervading existence.

Individuality is not
An expression of life
It’s a dead weight
That we carry around with pride.

The expression of life
Is natural
Requiring very little effort
From the mind.

Reign in the mind.
Turn it inward.
Appreciate its introverted-ness
Allow it to rest in peace.

You Are Light

Light cannot be contained
It can only fill up a space
Recognize that you are
The Light;
Not the reflection
Know that
Your sense of ‘I’
Is only relative to your perception
Of the ‘other’
Both are objects
Illumined by the
Light of your consciousness.

Do not hold on to sorrow
Let go of expectations
Know that your needs
Are being met
Stop depriving yourself
Through want
Don’t occupy a position
In order to serve your shadow.
Leave. Bring your light
To other spaces
Travel further knowing that
Your destination is a brighter light
Not darkness.

The Creative Mind

The mind creates
By virtue of its
Agitation and ignorance.

It brings into existence
The false, the temporary
The ill-fated.

Things that tempt,
Excite, threaten, entice
Or beckon us to themselves.

Escapisms-
That we in our ignorance
Believe that we need.

Does the creative mind
Hold a higher possibility?
Is there for it, another way to be?

Would it still create
In silence…
In an abode of peace?

What if it were still
Like a lake…
Reflecting all in its placid calm?

Creation then,
Would be an act of observation
Not an act of restlessness.

The seeing, the observing
The attending to-
Would be the creative act.

Closures

Death doesn’t bring
An end to things
It leaves questions unanswered
Issues unresolved…
Those who are angry
And are left behind-
Are left with a directionless anger.
Where relationships
Were decaying
For want of love and trust-
Death offers no redemption.

Your anger needs to be
Laid to rest in understanding
Your hurt must turn to compassion
And indifference to a higher attentiveness
Your identity needs to dissolve
In His presence.
The dream must end
With an awakening.
We must find release
From the confines of smallness
Into an ever-expanding grace.

No Way to Being

Now I’m seeking
How to be
Without being someone…

A being
Without definition
Without make-believe

I want to
Be able to see
What my ignorance has erected.

I want to stand
Face-to-face
With my incompleteness.

I want to
Get re-acquainted
With my emptiness…

In that emptiness, I sense
I will find that there is
No way to being.

Happenings and Happiness

Have you lost your way?
You wished to be there
But landed up here…

It happens.

You thought you’d never
Lose your touch
But you did…

It happens.

You believed you could live
In accordance with your values
Bet fell short and felt lowered…

It happens.

You found yourself
Behaving in ways
You said you’d never do…

It happens.

Happiness as a goal
Proved to be elusive
You’ve given up the pursuit…

It happens.

Your happiness stands suspended
Between your experiences
And your ignorance

Existence is, it does not happen…

It’s not an event
It’s an am-ness
Unaffected by

What happens.

Loss is Always Less Than What You Gain

Deprived
Defeated
Robbed
Disadvantaged
Negated.

Diminished
Wasted
Impoverished
Lessened
Subtracted….

Yet here you are
Within an expanse
Reminded that this wholeness
Was never defined
By what you lost.

Embrace then
This completeness…
This ocean of life
That is forever brimming
And you stand immersed in it.

You cannot see it
Even though it surrounds you
The things that you lost
The things that you now cling to
Cloud your vision.

See with a new understanding
Your newness.
Your loss by virtue
Will always be less than
What you gain.

Learn to Live

The problem with inertia
Is that there is no recourse
Life moves on…
Undeterred by your paralysis
You move with it-
A lifeless being.

It makes everything redundant
Relationships, emotions,
Celebrations, plans and projects
Life continues
It’s very hard to deal with
The fact that you don’t matter.

And yet here you are
In the grand scheme of things
Partial, but essential to the whole
To flow with life then
Must mean being
In a ‘whole’ new way.

Without contest,
Without ambition,
Without separation
Free of machinations
Reclaim your individuality
And fear not the future.

Don’t avoid the end
But embrace it
Keep your mind lean,
Attentive, responsive
Not loaded with
The unnecessary.

Travel lightly
There’s nothing to arrive to
Apart from the moment
Take away important lessons
From your state of inertia
Things will happen as they should.

Align yourself to life
Step away from ideas
Wake up
After enjoying your sleep
Know the difference
Between perception and reality.

From wherever you go to
Return…
Abide in a space
Where all life abides
In that space
Make your home.

Perception

The seen is meaning

That superimposes itself

On the unseen.

 

Look carefully.

Look beyond the edges

And the boundaries of meaning…

 

See how it extends itself

How it negotiates

Its freedom from finitude.

 

Positivity is illusion.

Possibility is promise.

All forms transform.

 

After you’ve understood

The meaning of a thing

Perceive its meaningfulness.

Creativity

The truth

does not conform

to clichés

It cannot

be apprehended in

fixed forms

To create

is to render

a challenge

To ideas

that masqueraded as

the truth.