Amazing discovery
Silence can dance
and does
With noise
and a whole host
of unlikely partners
And what a dancer it is
Nothing too clumsy
for it
to take into its arms
and rejoice with
Silence the expert dancer
dancing with a clod
like me
in a dance so intimate
like God dancing with God
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
No God
I enter the temple
with bowed head
and humble heart
expecting to find
a glorious god
shining and pure
I'm ready to look up
to this great one
surrendering yet again
But what greets me
is a mirror instead
and a pristine image
of myself
Am I at home
in my room
dressing up?
No I see that
this is the temple
I entered
Where is the god here?
the perfect god
I came to bow to?
The only answer
is the steady image
of myself
looking at myself
imperfect, flawed
marred, worn down
me looking at myself
I hear the temple bells
smell the incense
see the flowers
All offered in prayer
to me?!
And to you
when you come here
No god
other than you and I
No god
without you and I
No god
just you and I
as God.
with bowed head
and humble heart
expecting to find
a glorious god
shining and pure
I'm ready to look up
to this great one
surrendering yet again
But what greets me
is a mirror instead
and a pristine image
of myself
Am I at home
in my room
dressing up?
No I see that
this is the temple
I entered
Where is the god here?
the perfect god
I came to bow to?
The only answer
is the steady image
of myself
looking at myself
imperfect, flawed
marred, worn down
me looking at myself
I hear the temple bells
smell the incense
see the flowers
All offered in prayer
to me?!
And to you
when you come here
No god
other than you and I
No god
without you and I
No god
just you and I
as God.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Silence in expression
Nothing to share
but silence
hearing itself echoed through sound
reading itself printed in words
watching itself unfold in images
Not needing expression
yet in full expression everywhere!
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Freedom lived
Freedom lived
is leaving yourself
the option to love
the one who injures you
if love arises
Why take that
off the table
Freedom lived
does not deny you
anything
Freedom lived
is free of the strategy
to plot hatred
against those who hate
even subtly
Freedom lived
does not deny hatred
If it arises
it is allowed
with unflinching love
It is the space
between the leaves
of a tree dancing
with the wind
Stillness within dance
is leaving yourself
the option to love
the one who injures you
if love arises
Why take that
off the table
Freedom lived
does not deny you
anything
Freedom lived
is free of the strategy
to plot hatred
against those who hate
even subtly
Freedom lived
does not deny hatred
If it arises
it is allowed
with unflinching love
It is the space
between the leaves
of a tree dancing
with the wind
Stillness within dance
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
The eye of God
The eye of God is in all things, as all things, of all things and through all things.
This is the awareness that is inside all things. This is the awareness that we are.
This awareness is not dependent on the human mind as we sometimes believe.
The human mind is a powerful, and possibly unique, vehicle for the awareness to express itself. But awareness does not depend on your being aware or my being aware. It is totally independent of the movement of mind.
But because of the way that the human mind understands awareness, we think that awareness needs objects to be aware of. And we think that the awareness is outside the objects, and separate from them. We think that awareness is aware of the objects from outside them.
But the eye of God is in all things and awareness is on the inside of all things as all things, and as nothing. We can call it the beingness or the isness or the presence inherent in everything.
This is the awareness that is being pointed to.
Rest as this awareness, this beingness, even when the mind doesn't get it, for the mind is not the one that gets it.
Every protest of the mind is shot through with the beingness. Notice this in the next thought that says you don't get it. See the presence in the thought itself that dances in the mind.
We are this vibrant dancing alive beingness and everything is that.
We are the eye of God seeing itself.
This is the awareness that is inside all things. This is the awareness that we are.
This awareness is not dependent on the human mind as we sometimes believe.
The human mind is a powerful, and possibly unique, vehicle for the awareness to express itself. But awareness does not depend on your being aware or my being aware. It is totally independent of the movement of mind.
But because of the way that the human mind understands awareness, we think that awareness needs objects to be aware of. And we think that the awareness is outside the objects, and separate from them. We think that awareness is aware of the objects from outside them.
But the eye of God is in all things and awareness is on the inside of all things as all things, and as nothing. We can call it the beingness or the isness or the presence inherent in everything.
This is the awareness that is being pointed to.
Rest as this awareness, this beingness, even when the mind doesn't get it, for the mind is not the one that gets it.
Every protest of the mind is shot through with the beingness. Notice this in the next thought that says you don't get it. See the presence in the thought itself that dances in the mind.
We are this vibrant dancing alive beingness and everything is that.
We are the eye of God seeing itself.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Running
There is a human compulsion to make sense of things. We want things to be connected, to reveal a pattern, to satisfy our lust for meaning. We want this moment to be strung together with the next and the one before it so we can put our arms around time and life - to make something of the unmade.
We can't imagine a life where none of this is so - where each moment is on its own - orphaned. We can't imagine something so alone. It frightens us and chills us to the bone, as only something can that we know to be true. So we construct an elaborate facade and we collaborate to keep it strong and upright - not allowing each other to remember, lest the clear seeing of one become the undoing of all.
So precious is this life of meaning we say that we are willing to take its knocks just to live its grandeur. What garbage we feed ourselves. We are like a bird on the ground that does not know it has wings - and so it walks about and has little adventures - little triumphs and little mishaps. They don't really satisfy and so the bird uses its little beak of imagination to weave something grand out of the little things - and invents meaning for a filler - to fill the gaps between the little things so they can stick together and appear much bigger than they actually are.
We allow ourselves to be fooled by a life woven this way - from imagination and empty fillers. Out of fear we continue weaving and building out the emptiness. Till it grows so big and so hungry it swallows us whole. And there is nothing again. The very nothing we tried to run from. It is everywhere we run. And all the running is only running into its lap.
We can get desperate then and crumble or we can laugh - laugh a great big belly laugh. It is ridiculous to run from our self, believing we might escape the bugger. When what is running is the self. It is funny to realize this.
Then the sound of our own laughter dissolves into the nothing. And it's like it never was.
Then something is forgotten deep inside us and something is remembered there but not from a memory. And we look into the distance. And a tree waves its leaves and the sunlight filters in through a window. And we blink our eyes. And it is all one thing. Everything is just one thing. And we choke on the lump in the throat and we are blinded by the rush of tears. Gratitude and peace course through the veins. And there is fullness to bursting. Like a ripe peach cracking its skin to share the sweet juiciness. We spill over with complete abandon, not even noticing what is given up.
We can't imagine a life where none of this is so - where each moment is on its own - orphaned. We can't imagine something so alone. It frightens us and chills us to the bone, as only something can that we know to be true. So we construct an elaborate facade and we collaborate to keep it strong and upright - not allowing each other to remember, lest the clear seeing of one become the undoing of all.
So precious is this life of meaning we say that we are willing to take its knocks just to live its grandeur. What garbage we feed ourselves. We are like a bird on the ground that does not know it has wings - and so it walks about and has little adventures - little triumphs and little mishaps. They don't really satisfy and so the bird uses its little beak of imagination to weave something grand out of the little things - and invents meaning for a filler - to fill the gaps between the little things so they can stick together and appear much bigger than they actually are.
We allow ourselves to be fooled by a life woven this way - from imagination and empty fillers. Out of fear we continue weaving and building out the emptiness. Till it grows so big and so hungry it swallows us whole. And there is nothing again. The very nothing we tried to run from. It is everywhere we run. And all the running is only running into its lap.
We can get desperate then and crumble or we can laugh - laugh a great big belly laugh. It is ridiculous to run from our self, believing we might escape the bugger. When what is running is the self. It is funny to realize this.
Then the sound of our own laughter dissolves into the nothing. And it's like it never was.
Then something is forgotten deep inside us and something is remembered there but not from a memory. And we look into the distance. And a tree waves its leaves and the sunlight filters in through a window. And we blink our eyes. And it is all one thing. Everything is just one thing. And we choke on the lump in the throat and we are blinded by the rush of tears. Gratitude and peace course through the veins. And there is fullness to bursting. Like a ripe peach cracking its skin to share the sweet juiciness. We spill over with complete abandon, not even noticing what is given up.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Fearlessness
Fearlessness is not someplace
Where fear becomes incapacitated
Fearlessness is the willingness
to be fearful
Fearlessness does not mean
the absence of fear
Fearlessness is
the allowing of fear
What can terrify that
which is not afraid to be afraid?
Where fear becomes incapacitated
Fearlessness is the willingness
to be fearful
Fearlessness does not mean
the absence of fear
Fearlessness is
the allowing of fear
What can terrify that
which is not afraid to be afraid?
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Nothing to lose, everything to gain
Maybe we come to the spiritual teachings because we are attracted to the peace they appear to promise.
Maybe we stay with the spiritual teachings because we taste the peace they appear to suggest.
But who can deny life its eccentricities? What can force life to provide us with unending peace?
Life inevitably presents us with the 'unpeaceful' - death, sickness, loss, war, recession etc.
(Perhaps you want to replace the word peace above with something else, like love, which resonates more strongly for you.)
Are we peaceful in these situations? What is our experience?
If you are like most seekers, then no - you are not peaceful in unpeaceful situations.
But the spiritual teachings are unassailable, we know. They are infallible, we tell ourselves.
So it must be that we are doing something wrong, - we are not seeking in the right way, we tell ourselves. If we were doing this right, then unending peace would be our experience.
This may seem like a spiritually naive belief that seasoned seekers may scoff at. But if we look again, even veteran seekers may find some version of this inside.
So we equate the end of seeking or enlightenment with a state of unending peace.
And further, we often believe that this is something that can be attained, whether it is by the right spiritual practices done the right way, or by the right transmission from the right teacher, or by the right kind of spiritual experience, or by the right spiritual attitude and so on.
The spiritual teachings that we revere so, consistently tell us one thing:
We are already and always that.
But we have given ourselves a new teaching:
I can attain the experience of unending peace.
Simply consider the vast gap between the above 2 statements.
Yet this is how all seekers (in some way or another) interprete the teachings.
Peace (or love) is only one of the myriad expressions of this that we are. If we insist on unending peace, we insist on denying every other expression. We insist on denying the fullness and vastness of what we are. In other words we insist on staying limited.
Luckily we don't succeed. :-) We are the freedom and the infinite vastness no matter how contorted and cramped we find ourselves.
So hear the teachings afresh. No old ideas needed.
We are already and always that.
The peaceful is that and the unpeaceful is that.
The love is that and the hatred is that.
The right spiritual practice is that and the wrong spiritual practice is that.
The right teacher is that and the wrong teacher is that.
The right attitude is that and the wrong attitude is that.
You are that through and through whatever you do and whoever you are.
What prevents us from acknowledging this within us is fear. All kinds of fear.
The fear of losing control. The fear of having nothing to do. The fear of dying. The fear of not knowing. The fear of of being too great to be true. The fear of being too small to matter. The fear of letting go and finding our demons. The fear of losing the world. The fear of being cast out of humanity. The fear of losing everything and everyone we love. The fear of living. The fear of freedom. The fear of not caring. The fear of losing our image. The fear of fear.
And we run from fear. This is the natural human tendency. Until it isn't.
It is not necessary to run from fear. It is not necessary to run from fear.
Can we look at the fear? - gently and at our own pace?
Can we see that something is already allowing the fear to be?
Can we be that which is already allowing the fear to be? Can we look at fear from here? - in this way?
No pressure to deal with the fear or fix it or resolve it.
Can we simply look?
Yes - It may not be very peaceful to look at fear. And that's why we have avoided the fear for so long. But the avoidance has not worked - it has not brought us peace.
Meanwhile the fear stands in the way of acknowledging what we are.
When we are ready, we can look at the fear and see what that brings.
And the beauty of this is, that the fear itself is that - that even as we look at the fear, we are already that. And no matter what we find, we are already that. And everything we find is already that.
We have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Maybe we stay with the spiritual teachings because we taste the peace they appear to suggest.
But who can deny life its eccentricities? What can force life to provide us with unending peace?
Life inevitably presents us with the 'unpeaceful' - death, sickness, loss, war, recession etc.
(Perhaps you want to replace the word peace above with something else, like love, which resonates more strongly for you.)
Are we peaceful in these situations? What is our experience?
If you are like most seekers, then no - you are not peaceful in unpeaceful situations.
But the spiritual teachings are unassailable, we know. They are infallible, we tell ourselves.
So it must be that we are doing something wrong, - we are not seeking in the right way, we tell ourselves. If we were doing this right, then unending peace would be our experience.
This may seem like a spiritually naive belief that seasoned seekers may scoff at. But if we look again, even veteran seekers may find some version of this inside.
So we equate the end of seeking or enlightenment with a state of unending peace.
And further, we often believe that this is something that can be attained, whether it is by the right spiritual practices done the right way, or by the right transmission from the right teacher, or by the right kind of spiritual experience, or by the right spiritual attitude and so on.
The spiritual teachings that we revere so, consistently tell us one thing:
We are already and always that.
But we have given ourselves a new teaching:
I can attain the experience of unending peace.
Simply consider the vast gap between the above 2 statements.
Yet this is how all seekers (in some way or another) interprete the teachings.
Peace (or love) is only one of the myriad expressions of this that we are. If we insist on unending peace, we insist on denying every other expression. We insist on denying the fullness and vastness of what we are. In other words we insist on staying limited.
Luckily we don't succeed. :-) We are the freedom and the infinite vastness no matter how contorted and cramped we find ourselves.
So hear the teachings afresh. No old ideas needed.
We are already and always that.
The peaceful is that and the unpeaceful is that.
The love is that and the hatred is that.
The right spiritual practice is that and the wrong spiritual practice is that.
The right teacher is that and the wrong teacher is that.
The right attitude is that and the wrong attitude is that.
You are that through and through whatever you do and whoever you are.
What prevents us from acknowledging this within us is fear. All kinds of fear.
The fear of losing control. The fear of having nothing to do. The fear of dying. The fear of not knowing. The fear of of being too great to be true. The fear of being too small to matter. The fear of letting go and finding our demons. The fear of losing the world. The fear of being cast out of humanity. The fear of losing everything and everyone we love. The fear of living. The fear of freedom. The fear of not caring. The fear of losing our image. The fear of fear.
And we run from fear. This is the natural human tendency. Until it isn't.
It is not necessary to run from fear. It is not necessary to run from fear.
Can we look at the fear? - gently and at our own pace?
Can we see that something is already allowing the fear to be?
Can we be that which is already allowing the fear to be? Can we look at fear from here? - in this way?
No pressure to deal with the fear or fix it or resolve it.
Can we simply look?
Yes - It may not be very peaceful to look at fear. And that's why we have avoided the fear for so long. But the avoidance has not worked - it has not brought us peace.
Meanwhile the fear stands in the way of acknowledging what we are.
When we are ready, we can look at the fear and see what that brings.
And the beauty of this is, that the fear itself is that - that even as we look at the fear, we are already that. And no matter what we find, we are already that. And everything we find is already that.
We have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
The Mask
Pure innocence arises
in human form
Pure innocence arises
as thoughts
Then attachment occurs
and thought becomes belief
And this happens also
in pure innocence
The belief becomes the mask
through which we look
And the world appears
colored by belief
In this way
beliefs are amassed
The mask becomes thicker
and the world more complex
We don't realize
that what we see
is only a result
of the masks we are wearing
So we take it all
to be very real
Until we don't
And it is all pure innocence
In a moment of grace
our looking chances
upon that
through which we are looking
We see the mask
and we see how
it has shaped our world
for so long now
The mask may not
slip off right away
Infact it tends
to cling in pure innocence
But the mask
has been seen you know
And though nothing has changed
This changes everything
in human form
Pure innocence arises
as thoughts
Then attachment occurs
and thought becomes belief
And this happens also
in pure innocence
The belief becomes the mask
through which we look
And the world appears
colored by belief
In this way
beliefs are amassed
The mask becomes thicker
and the world more complex
We don't realize
that what we see
is only a result
of the masks we are wearing
So we take it all
to be very real
Until we don't
And it is all pure innocence
In a moment of grace
our looking chances
upon that
through which we are looking
We see the mask
and we see how
it has shaped our world
for so long now
The mask may not
slip off right away
Infact it tends
to cling in pure innocence
But the mask
has been seen you know
And though nothing has changed
This changes everything
Sunday, May 31, 2009
This I know
This I know
that I don't want
to live an idea
even though
it may bring me peace
or wealth or joy.
This I know
that I want
to live the truth
whatever it may bring.
I have lived ideas
of all kinds.
They do not satisfy
but leave me parched
yearning
for what I do not know.
In truth I am free
of the need
to duck or hold
any one thing.
Wide wide open
to all that arises.
that I don't want
to live an idea
even though
it may bring me peace
or wealth or joy.
This I know
that I want
to live the truth
whatever it may bring.
I have lived ideas
of all kinds.
They do not satisfy
but leave me parched
yearning
for what I do not know.
In truth I am free
of the need
to duck or hold
any one thing.
Wide wide open
to all that arises.
Monday, May 18, 2009
The great unknown
White light passing through a prism refracts into the rainbow. It cannot help this; it is its nature to refract into the rainbow.Nothing can change the reality of the rainbow's source or its true nature. It is light appearing in different colors. Now we may prefer one color to another, but what has that to do with what each color truly is? The seven colors can produce a kaleidoscopic reality of great beauty and intricacy. And we can enjoy the spectacular show. But the entire show is enabled by the light. The entire show is only a play of light. Miraculous!
In the same way, formlessness refracts through the great witnessing into the rainbow of this universe. And you arise and I arise and the moon and the stars, and we dance life. And we are all only the great unknown in different shades and shapes.
The great witnessing is the prism that refracts. The great witnessing is the observer observing the observed. It is the observer that unfolds the observed, from deep within itself, such that the birth of the observer is simultaneously the birth of the observed.
We can name these things and dress them in fancy words and classify them into elaborate systems and there is great joy in all that. But what remains unchanged? The true nature of all things. It is the great unknown.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Where is the love?
Where is the love
In pain or suffering?
Where is the love
In hatred and war?
Where is the love
In death?
I rave and rant
About this elusive love
I bemoan
Its startling absence
Then the anger
Exhausts itself
And I am back
where I started
Even as I berate
My 'lapse'
Something has allowed
My outburst
And something allows
My self-judgement now
Something is ok
with me
exactly as I am
I don't have to be different
or better
In its presence
It is equally present
No matter who or what I am
Can there be
A more restful love?
In pain or suffering?
Where is the love
In hatred and war?
Where is the love
In death?
I rave and rant
About this elusive love
I bemoan
Its startling absence
Then the anger
Exhausts itself
And I am back
where I started
Even as I berate
My 'lapse'
Something has allowed
My outburst
And something allows
My self-judgement now
Something is ok
with me
exactly as I am
I don't have to be different
or better
In its presence
It is equally present
No matter who or what I am
Can there be
A more restful love?
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Seeking is avoidance - Part 2
What are some ways in which we avoid seeing what we are by our very seeking?
I see 2 fundamental ways in which seekers avoid the truth - procrastination and projection.
Procrastination is about waiting for enlightenment to occur to us. It can take various forms. But usually the mind picks on some particular spiritual information that it has read or heard about, and either obviously or subtly, converts that into a pre-requisite for our enlightenment.
For example:
I haven't yet had a big spiritual experience. When I have it then perhaps enlightenment may set in.
or
I have had one or many memorable spiritual experiences, but they don't last. They come and go. When I have one that stays then I will be truly enlightened.
or
When I am finally able to be rid of my anger, and be loving all the time, then I will know that I am enlightened.
or
When I can make the time to do more meditation (or inquiry), and when I can learn to do it right, then I may have a chance at enlightenment.
or
When I find the right teacher and receive the right transmission, then .......
and on and on.
Is any of this familiar so far? Discover your own voice of procrastination. And see how it sustains the seeking. - Till you see that in this way we end up seeking only that which can be used to keep away the truth!
Projection is about putting the enlightenment onto another's shoulders. It's the you-are-enlightened-and-I-am-not pattern. Typically the teacher or someone else is held up as an exemplar that simply cannot be matched. The mind finds something unique about this enlightened other, that is then used to compare one's own experience with, and of course one's own experience always falls short.
For e.g.
This teacher talks about how they are in constant bliss. Now that is true enlightenment and it is simply not my experience.
or
I go from teacher to teacher and I see clearly that they have all had some extraordinary experience that changed them forever and that is not my experience and will likely never be.
or
My experience contradicts what the enlightened one says, so my experience is wrong. I can never be what she is.
or
Look at that amazing enlightened one! How could I (with all my faults) be the same as that one? What blasphemy!
and on and on.
Perhaps this sounds familiar? Check in to find your own version of projection. And notice if it is not infact used to reassert a comfortable belief - that you are not enlightened.
So why do we try to avoid the truth of what we are? Especially when we profess to want it so much?
It has much to do with the fear of realizing the truth fully. - The fear of disappearing as this ego-mind, the fear of taking full responsibility for everything, the fear of being completely alone, the fear of losing control and the fear of dying.
So what to do about this fear?
Nothing. Anything that is done to counter the fear actually stems from fear - the fear of fear. Instead we can take the opportunity to see clearly. Seeing clearly means seeing what is just as it is, without having to interprete it through the lens of judgement.
So when we see the various ways in which we are avoiding the truth of ourselves, then simply by that act of seeing, something starts to open up. It clears the way for a dropping of the resistance to the truth.
Don't expect this to be experienced in any one particular way. Discover and enjoy how it wishes to manifest in your own experience.
I see 2 fundamental ways in which seekers avoid the truth - procrastination and projection.
Procrastination is about waiting for enlightenment to occur to us. It can take various forms. But usually the mind picks on some particular spiritual information that it has read or heard about, and either obviously or subtly, converts that into a pre-requisite for our enlightenment.
For example:
I haven't yet had a big spiritual experience. When I have it then perhaps enlightenment may set in.
or
I have had one or many memorable spiritual experiences, but they don't last. They come and go. When I have one that stays then I will be truly enlightened.
or
When I am finally able to be rid of my anger, and be loving all the time, then I will know that I am enlightened.
or
When I can make the time to do more meditation (or inquiry), and when I can learn to do it right, then I may have a chance at enlightenment.
or
When I find the right teacher and receive the right transmission, then .......
and on and on.
Is any of this familiar so far? Discover your own voice of procrastination. And see how it sustains the seeking. - Till you see that in this way we end up seeking only that which can be used to keep away the truth!
Projection is about putting the enlightenment onto another's shoulders. It's the you-are-enlightened-and-I-am-not pattern. Typically the teacher or someone else is held up as an exemplar that simply cannot be matched. The mind finds something unique about this enlightened other, that is then used to compare one's own experience with, and of course one's own experience always falls short.
For e.g.
This teacher talks about how they are in constant bliss. Now that is true enlightenment and it is simply not my experience.
or
I go from teacher to teacher and I see clearly that they have all had some extraordinary experience that changed them forever and that is not my experience and will likely never be.
or
My experience contradicts what the enlightened one says, so my experience is wrong. I can never be what she is.
or
Look at that amazing enlightened one! How could I (with all my faults) be the same as that one? What blasphemy!
and on and on.
Perhaps this sounds familiar? Check in to find your own version of projection. And notice if it is not infact used to reassert a comfortable belief - that you are not enlightened.
So why do we try to avoid the truth of what we are? Especially when we profess to want it so much?
It has much to do with the fear of realizing the truth fully. - The fear of disappearing as this ego-mind, the fear of taking full responsibility for everything, the fear of being completely alone, the fear of losing control and the fear of dying.
So what to do about this fear?
Nothing. Anything that is done to counter the fear actually stems from fear - the fear of fear. Instead we can take the opportunity to see clearly. Seeing clearly means seeing what is just as it is, without having to interprete it through the lens of judgement.
So when we see the various ways in which we are avoiding the truth of ourselves, then simply by that act of seeing, something starts to open up. It clears the way for a dropping of the resistance to the truth.
Don't expect this to be experienced in any one particular way. Discover and enjoy how it wishes to manifest in your own experience.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Seeking is avoidance - Part 1
Seeking is avoidance. Have you seen that in yourself?
Seeking is the dance between the deep desire for the truth and the avoidance of the truth, of what we are.
The desire for the truth holds our integrity. - That which yearns to fully meet itself.
The avoidance of the truth holds our resistance. - That which is afraid of what the truth may really mean for the I, for the body-mind.
The desire for the truth comes from beyond the I, despite the I. The avoidance of the truth comes from the I.
The desire for the truth bestows the grace of the breakthroughs. The avoidance attaches to the breakthroughs - the lack of them and the presence of them - as though they were the only truth.
Finally, it is the deep desire for the truth that enables us to see that we are in avoidance of the truth.
Seeking is avoidance.
Seeking is seeing the avoidance.
Seeking is seeing the dropping of avoidance.
Seeking ceases. The joy of continual discovery begins.
Nothing has changed. Everything has changed.
Seeking is the dance between the deep desire for the truth and the avoidance of the truth, of what we are.
The desire for the truth holds our integrity. - That which yearns to fully meet itself.
The avoidance of the truth holds our resistance. - That which is afraid of what the truth may really mean for the I, for the body-mind.
The desire for the truth comes from beyond the I, despite the I. The avoidance of the truth comes from the I.
The desire for the truth bestows the grace of the breakthroughs. The avoidance attaches to the breakthroughs - the lack of them and the presence of them - as though they were the only truth.
Finally, it is the deep desire for the truth that enables us to see that we are in avoidance of the truth.
Seeking is avoidance.
Seeking is seeing the avoidance.
Seeking is seeing the dropping of avoidance.
Seeking ceases. The joy of continual discovery begins.
Nothing has changed. Everything has changed.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Heart to heart
When we look from the heart
Into the heart of all things
We find the same innocence
Everywhere
When we look at something
And miss the heart here and there
We find the same separateness
Everywhere
The price of separateness
Is the loss of innocence
The separate one does not deem this
To be a great loss
Nor a high price
To pay for its existence
But remember that separation too
Is born from the oneness
And the innocence
And returns to it surely
Into the heart of all things
We find the same innocence
Everywhere
When we look at something
And miss the heart here and there
We find the same separateness
Everywhere
The price of separateness
Is the loss of innocence
The separate one does not deem this
To be a great loss
Nor a high price
To pay for its existence
But remember that separation too
Is born from the oneness
And the innocence
And returns to it surely
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Freedom of Silence
The freedom of silence
Is not that it escapes noise
The freedom of silence
Is that it does not personalize noise
Is not that it escapes noise
The freedom of silence
Is that it does not personalize noise
Monday, March 30, 2009
Silence expressed
I find myself sitting down
To write this post
Sometimes the fingers fly
on the keyboard
At other times
They meander
Taking their own time
to form words
Today the hand is poised
over the letters
And the silence comes
Only silence
I don't know how long
I sit this way
With the silence
And the potential for words
After a while
The eyes open
The fingers fly again
And these words appear
Silence takes shape
Silence takes form
Silence wears a mask
Of meaning
It is all silence
Beckoning us back home
to silence
through noise
To write this post
Sometimes the fingers fly
on the keyboard
At other times
They meander
Taking their own time
to form words
Today the hand is poised
over the letters
And the silence comes
Only silence
I don't know how long
I sit this way
With the silence
And the potential for words
After a while
The eyes open
The fingers fly again
And these words appear
Silence takes shape
Silence takes form
Silence wears a mask
Of meaning
It is all silence
Beckoning us back home
to silence
through noise
Friday, March 20, 2009
How foolish!
When I wish to be free of mind
How foolish I am being
When have I been free of mind?
Yesterday says the mind
Yesterday in meditation
I was free of mind
But the truth is
That today rolled around
And mind appeared again
As it always does
Something shifts
And mind is mostly quiet here
But here is there
And mind is active there
So how foolish of me
To seek my rest
In quiet mind
Here or there
The only rest
Is alongside mind
Inside it even
Right in its sweet lap
This is real freedom
So untouched
By mind's noise
And by mind's silence
How foolish I am being
When have I been free of mind?
Yesterday says the mind
Yesterday in meditation
I was free of mind
But the truth is
That today rolled around
And mind appeared again
As it always does
Something shifts
And mind is mostly quiet here
But here is there
And mind is active there
So how foolish of me
To seek my rest
In quiet mind
Here or there
The only rest
Is alongside mind
Inside it even
Right in its sweet lap
This is real freedom
So untouched
By mind's noise
And by mind's silence
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
What sees I?
A question pops up:
I am this human expression - is it true?
I look into the mirror. I see this familiar face. I see the corners of the mouth turn up.
And I am deeply conscious of this that is looking - looking at this face and its reflection. It is looking at the eyes looking at the eyes. How strange.
I am this human expression - is it true?
This human expression is ever-changing. This body-mind is never the same from one year to the next, from one week to the next, from one day to the next, even from one moment to the next. One moment I am not smiling, then in the next moment I am! One moment my tooth is attached to the gum and in the next moment it comes unattached. One moment I am not in pain and then in the next moment, the pain starts.
One moment I am not conceived, and in the next moment I am. One moment I am not dead and in the next moment ....
This human expression is ever-changing.
Yet something always call itself I. What is it that holds to calling itself I? What is I?
What is I?
The body moves. The legs start up and walk the body into the kitchen. The hands move and reach out for this and that. A cup of tea is ready. The cup is lifted to the mouth. The tea is tasted. The eyes close briefly in appreciation. The legs walk this back here, with cup of tea in hand.
Action is happening. The heart is beating. The lungs are breathing. The bird is flying. The tree is gently waving.
Where am I in all this?
I am here - in this body-mind - is it true?
I look into the mirror again. I see the wall behind, a bottle, a candle-holder. Am I there, in those?
I am this human expression - is it true?
I look into the mirror. I see this familiar face. I see the corners of the mouth turn up.
And I am deeply conscious of this that is looking - looking at this face and its reflection. It is looking at the eyes looking at the eyes. How strange.
I am this human expression - is it true?
This human expression is ever-changing. This body-mind is never the same from one year to the next, from one week to the next, from one day to the next, even from one moment to the next. One moment I am not smiling, then in the next moment I am! One moment my tooth is attached to the gum and in the next moment it comes unattached. One moment I am not in pain and then in the next moment, the pain starts.
One moment I am not conceived, and in the next moment I am. One moment I am not dead and in the next moment ....
This human expression is ever-changing.
Yet something always call itself I. What is it that holds to calling itself I? What is I?
What is I?
The body moves. The legs start up and walk the body into the kitchen. The hands move and reach out for this and that. A cup of tea is ready. The cup is lifted to the mouth. The tea is tasted. The eyes close briefly in appreciation. The legs walk this back here, with cup of tea in hand.
Action is happening. The heart is beating. The lungs are breathing. The bird is flying. The tree is gently waving.
Where am I in all this?
I am here - in this body-mind - is it true?
I look into the mirror again. I see the wall behind, a bottle, a candle-holder. Am I there, in those?
I touch the space separating this here from that there. The space is filled with thoughts. They are quite wispy. They just float about. It is very clearly seen that if attachment occurs to any of them, and if they are believed, - even a tiny bit, then wham - the wispy thoughts become a sticky quagmire, sucking more and more identity into them. And with that attachment, a vast distance develops between this I here and everything else. The separate I is birthed from the attachment to thought.
Something sees all this very calmly, as though in complete empathy and understanding. What is it that sees the I being born? What is it that sees the I live? What is it that sees the I die?
What sees I?
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