Who I Am Not

So........you know who you are.
But do you know who you aren't?
If you understand this, a cup of tea is all you need.
If you don't, I invite you to see the weight of being someone.

Whether willing or not, sweet or terrible, ALL roles are heavy.
You rent these masks, paying hourly upon receipt.
"Righteous" or "good"  is just as heavy as "shameful"

Do you have a longing to be where  no one knows your name?

Why should you find a place to be nobody?
For the freedom of heart, mind, and attention.
Don't underestimate the complete rest that comes from attending with no purpose.
Surprisingly deep connection is born. Not bounded.

In another country, you can be free,
if you don't bring your luggage on the plane.
Take your clothes but leave your masks behind.
Walk unnamed and unnoticed through teeming stories.

At the end of the dock, sit and gaze out over the water.
If someone joins you who doesn't know you, savor that moment.

We think we know our own burdens,
while overlooking the weight of our best traits.
If you must work, then work to uncover the tethers
 of being diligent, fit, healthy, intelligent, kind.
There is no rest if you need to be right, smart, good, clever.
You may well behave as that, but as no one.

Whenever you bear a title worth having,
whenever they call you "sir" or just "friend,"

do the job well, but don't make it yours.
Savor the restful attention of no-one.

Endless Flow

 
What is a day but moments arising in awareness?

Each one returns from whence it came. 

Whatever I am, it is here, now, living this life. 
The this is what is real. The rest is fleeting.

Do your chores gladly, and in their own time. 
Enjoy the moments of sun. Cold will fade.

This moment belongs to the absolute. 
And this is the moment I want. 

May the ultimate expression of life be known today. 
Its beautiful intuitive movements flow. 

Each moment empowered by a mystery. 
Guided by an unknown sage. 

When the Sun comes out, the stars fade away. 
When the self comes out, the ego fades away. 

Trust that what governs this life can be known.

A Nod Toward God

Every day a nod toward God.
Naming makes it smaller.
Reaching for it denies the Presence.
Reading assigns it to the author's hands.
Writing starts a focus,
but it's not in the words.
Singing praises is a start.
Admire the loving source.
You are not alone. 
Knowing, or not knowing,
is all that is ever happening.
Being is the nod towards God.
Start like a seed with a small split.
Every moment rendered completely,
 widens the gap.
One day, the seed breaks
and the beauty shines yourself back at you.

A Tidbit of Acceptance

Sometimes Acceptance, yours and mine, is a hard task involving throwing out things and reorganizing your thinking. It can be. But it is also alive in small steps, even humorous, so ordinary, that you may overlook them. Overheard at the office: "You look really nice today." Reply: "Oh, but I spilled yogurt on my pants." Reply, smiling: "You look good in yogurt." We all laughed and there was ease.

The Quiet

The sparrow sits on a bird feeder,
 but never relaxes.
At any time, a hawk may slip down
and end it's dinner.
You though, have the luxury of safety.
Sit quietly, in your own room and to talk to God.

Why should your sitting time
be lost in movies about your prowess
or your progress? 
There is no end to musings about your day.
Go into the quiet. Sink into it.
Own it. It is your Self.
You have longed for the silent,
the retreat,
the peace.
Find it now and it may follow you around.

You Say

You say you are seeking.
But you are all talk, all mind.
All prove it to me, and
analytical cross checking.

You say you want peace.
But you love drama, spin.
Searching for blue lights,
And one uplifted moment.

You say you love spirit.
But you fit this in,
when no one is talking,
or texting, or shopping.

You want your brand of holy.
Inner peace on call.
You want blessings and angels.
And nothing yet known.

You say you are ready.
But you focus on later.
New books and retreats.
The musings of sages.

It would be ironic.
If you were knocked silly
right out of yourself.
And woke up today.

How will you know
When the quiet comes in
If you are so busy searching
For you own two feet?

Common Guilt

Washed in the news of the world,
Dark times and dark deeds.
Hearts break when nature's flippant hand
takes a thousand home.

Attuned to flickering networks
that replaced hearth life,
We absorb real, and imagined, sorrows,
and one good deed.

The watcher's response?
A common guilt is woven.
Surely, love would reach out to ease.
Love must know how to act.

So many covet a clear response.
It is not granted.
A strange silence ensues.
More of everything unfolds, and yet no word.

Listen. Do not look to be seen
AS something,
Instead, ask what you are,
Whether you respond, or not.

Live without a heart plan,
Carefully played out, in time.
Bring your love as compassion,
First inward, then running wildly.

In every corner of the world,
someone could use my hands, my life.
But in this corner,
life just flows.

Helpful action may arise,
or I may leave the needy alone.
Can you leave the world to itself,
and live in the circle of your own light?

If a couple lives a quiet life,
and dies right on time.
No one asks
"Why didn't they save the world?"

If I think one life changes the world,
while the rest slip by unnoticed,
having done too little,
I am made wrong.

More than one sage points back,
in an unsatisfying way,
holding both the doer of brave deeds,
and the doer of daily chores, lightly.

How do we turn our light around
and discover whose world,
and whose deeds
are unfolding here?

To start, ask who lives here and
what knows the living?
Without claims, action unfolds
and the doer is freed at heart.

If that is home, and
it is not fully known.
Be merciless in your asking.
Return ceaselessly to the asker.

The answer for now, is to
do what we can, what we will, for each other.
How can our guilt or fear
help even one?

If you are standing next to a burning house,
and have only a cup of water,
throw it on!
Don't wait to make a bigger statement.

Tasks Find You

You think you are the mother of your life.

Be a woman of few words, then.

Aspire to attend to that which is never changing. 

Not the ever-changing, which is just you fooling around.

Who are you then?

Savor the question. 

If you have an answer, laugh.

Sometimes a day sneaks by and only a half measure is given to the rightness of it.

When someone offers you a drink, 

don't play the fool. 

Fill your cup completely!

Are you so humble you regret the grandeur here? 

You are really a king in this life, not a poor cousin.

The king does not create the kingdom, only inherit it.

Jump in!

Wholehearted attention is required, and when given, we relax. 

Take what you are given.   Go away full.  

Don't worry that you haven't mothered this life well enough.

The tasks that are yours to do, find you.

Nature Washes Away

Night Sky. No different than open eyes.
Bird Song. Coming from the same place, within.
Endless. Formless. Grace.
Lighting bug winks at the moon, cars rush by, light streams from a lamp, a window, a star.
There is nothing that is not born from the place of unknowing.
Heart's beginning, heart's end.
A tombstone marks a memory not held by anyone living.
Nature washes the forms away,
and yet the light shines on in sweet perfection.

Advaita Breathing

Start small. I exist. Something knows it. Right here, right now there is a slice of existence creating its own unrepeatable chorus, background, captions. Back against the chair - just pressure. Shoulders tense - a sensation. A thought appears about getting it right, but nothing captures it and it fades away. This knowing of existence is constantly beset by a changing landscape - sounds, sights, rendering absolute certainties only a trick of the mind.

A worry shows up, and unlike yesterday, is summarily dismissed. What remains .. a tiny wake. New images, new, new, fresh. Never repeated for anyone despite old themes, probabilities and worn out sound tracks. Find the only constant, the wondrous noticing. Add water, earth, wind, fire, everyday repeated, but never etched, never remembered the same way, never captured. Spontaneous every moment though remembered as fixed. Marvelous attendance!

Poured Away

In the I of the day's carousel there is a calm center. 
Is it life rushing by or standing still and racing madly past?
The scenes are gone before fully breathed.
Gone absolutely, and only a wisp of memory in its wake.
Dance with the memory and forgetting who and what you are.
So real this fairytale, that some cannot be saved.
Give up and realize you are spellbound, and free.
When the lights come on, there in the auditorium are you as You, am I as You.
Nothing is lost.
In the end it was only electrons moving your way.
Sad, but sweet too, that all your brilliance, creativity, savvy and longing, were
Poured into the fissures of the ground of life.
Gone too are the selfish, inept, striving and wanting to succeed.
All is trickled down ruthlessly, even the loveliness of your best self.
You cannot complete yourself at any cost.
The closer you look at anything, the more there is to see. Ad infinitum.
Escher knew.
None, survives the fire of life.
Savor the sweetness of the remainder.

Life and Whatever Knows It

The unit of life is awareness, and whatever knows it.
Awareness lights one scene at a time.
Though it cleverly brings in a cast of daydreams,
and audibles, that steal the attention.
And narrow you to a sliver.
Feelings wear costumes and pretend to be,
as true and lasting as mountains.
All rise to the pretense of continuity.
For these, and all others,
the currency of life is still awareness, and whatever knows it.

The Deal

Make a deal with yourself.
Don't wait for life to wear you down at the edges.
You can be nobody right now.
Lift up a tattered corner,
Surprise! There is just a wisp of a breeze.
Layers of air, and,
Nothing else.
Don't look in for the answer.
Don't look out for a guide.
Just notice who is doing the looking.
Don't be afraid to be nobody.  The Peaceful No-Thing.
It is what is.. 

Proof of Life

In the wake of every thought, perception waning, and tap of noticing sensations, is the single proof: alive.
Don't sit down and contemplate the edges of the universe.
Focus here. Into each spark of life comes the recognition of life.
Shedding years of well worn labels, tunes, and certainties, for the unknown.
What knows even this?
Yesterday's beauties and forlorn thought trails are equal. Gone.

Full Moon Life

Does the full moon pull us from center into the edges of the dark and dull? Perhaps. But it need not be the moon at cause, for life has its own waves. We have no choice but to ride them, yet we can flail and resist the whole ride through.

When we don't resist, there is a sweetness that seeps into the edges, even in tiredness, sorry, anger and other kinds of human weather.

Step out of your responsible self into a misty field and let the energies of life rejuvenate you unaided by your ideas of what is needed.

Pushing Forward

A man helped a friend start his car by pushing it for two blocks. The driver stopped at the 2nd block and rolled down his window. "Thank you my friend, but you really didn't have to work so hard. The engine did the work after the first few yards." His friend replied, "Why did you let me push so hard for the rest of the way?"  The driver answered: "You were pushing so hard, and bent over so far, and so intent on helping that you didn't hear me say let go.  I was afraid if I accelerated, you would fall down."

Life is like this in another way. We think we are pushing the whole engine of life forward. If we stand back we can glimpse how effortlessly it unfolds without our help. Sometimes those who can see our needless efforts, must stand back and let us have our way.

Is There Any "Thing" Out There?

Sometimes, we can get stuck in all the nonduality talk about the obviousness of "no objects" out there. That can put the mind to work proving or disproving the reality of separate objects. That is the opposite of obvious! Though this line of thinking has apparently been useful for some, it can also create endless mind work for others.

"In here" and "out there", are also a mental concepts, points of view, when it comes  to it. Instead, go directly to what can be seen immediately.  And that is, whatever appears, it appears as experience, experience of which you are aware.  We can also just call that awareness. But no need to call it anything. No need to prove either that it's part of you or that it is not part of you. The "you" part of that can also start another search for some "thing."

Nothing in the universe has ever occurred outside your awareness of it. If something hasn't been part of your physical experience, memorized history, personal memory, news flash, etc. it doesn't exist to whatever you are.  Even the sense of your own physical body is a sensation, or a feeling, that arises to your own awareness of it.

So if it doesn't make sense to you that a chair, a tree, another person, "is you,"  or "is all one" just let that go. Rest in the simplicity of what arises before you. The bits of light and color we call a tree shows up in awareness. If you touch the tree, that sensation occurs in your awareness. Whether a word pops up that says, "tree, elm, mine, dead, needs trimming, etc." even those words just float into your awareness and then fade out. Come back to the simplicity of what is before you without trying to make it in to something. Don't try to label it "one" or "Unity" or non-duality. Though there is no proof that  it is all "one," it does show this absolute consistency --  it all shows up in awareness.

Who's Living?

You are not living a life. Life is living and spinning out the idea of you. 

The I-Need Mouse

Running around quickly, quietly,
with great intensity, very busy,
is the I-need mouse.
A small creature, often hidden,
peeking out from behind most endeavors.
I need money, security, peace and quiet.
I need a relationship, a car, certainty in life.
I need a good dinner, four good friends.
I need better understanding, to weigh less.
To have better timing, more energy.
To be less critical, more forceful, more money savvy.
To be be more accepting
of whatever is on offer today.

At times a roaring lion, but more often,
whispering around the corner,
the I-need mouse befriends your every movement.
Hardly seen, yet never far,
he scampers in and out of your thoughts,
your feelings, and most of all, your sight.
You see a friend with something you need.
You see a garden with something that is perfect for you.
You see the dishes and they have lots to say.
You read a catalog with your dreams in it.
The mouse says, "You ate too much."  "It wasn't healthy."
"It cost more than you wanted to spend."
"Your friends know better."
Squirmy, furry, ever-present, subtly winding,
round and around your toes, your life.
The I-need mouse.

What can possibly tame this Pavlovian creature?
A short laugh and a moment's notice.
Look at that, a mouse!
How could it be otherwise? It can't
How sweet that the mouse has his own plan.
How perfect that the plan has not unfolded.
The Great Plan includes the mouse,
The mouse includes the need.
The need shows up in this life, this moment.
We never left home. How glorious!
And look at that!  I need a mouse!

First Step

Will you allow an interruption of this play of words,
these talks, presented to hurt yourself?
Endless looping tape of "not good enough."
An internal searchlight casts brilliance
on what you call mistakes.

Light of life shines on your existence,
whether you denigrate
what you take to be you, or not.
It's not you.
Wake up to this foolish, hurtful, musical!
Stop singing this dark mournful song.
Or at least, notice that you alone are humming it.
When everyone else has gone back to work,
loving you just like they always have.

What you took to be you is nothing more
than the flashes of a film streaming by.
Something, not you, focuses on the scary parts.
So what! Let it be. This is not you.
Bring your attention to something so constant,
so limitless, so perfect.
That even your love and familiarity for struggle,
cannot deny it.

What is that undeniable thing?
Not a thing or state, but pure existence.
The awareness of life that never left you.
What is so special about that?
Nothing! That is the gift, the joy. The treasure.
Not rare, not special. Ever here. Now. You.

Breathe and relax.
Here you are no matter what happened yesterday.
No matter what decisions visited you.
No matter what thoughts rose up about what could have been.
Actually, no, it couldn't have been.
Get off that horse. Put down the whip.
Notice awareness of life is ever present.

Be still to certainty for a change.
Certainty, for which you so long desire,
is a most painful quest.
Never to be found. Mistaken for love.
Give up certainty for peace, for everything.
Allow a single thought to visit you:
"Whatever I may think, I don't know."
And if you don't know,
then be at peace.
Notice your own life shining out of nowhere.

A Moment of Recognition

All day long, a maelstrom of mind movies,
feelings, thoughts, and swirling into notice.
And then, a moment's flicker.
Stopping. Alive. Here now.
Existence.
And a shiver of joyful recognition breaks through.
It's like that.
Except when the movie plays on, OR
When there is nothing but upset, OR
When the joy prevails.

It's a quick reminder that the aware space,
has no demands. Prevents nothing.
It holds the details as well as the silent everything.
Don't wait for the right day,
the ultimate feeling,
the endless bliss.
Don't wait for anything you can think about. 
You'll miss the bus!

No Filter

Have you not been struck by the nature
of love's complete lack?
It is the emptiness that comes,
when no barriers are placed between "me" thoughts
and "you" thoughts.
When no filter arises between how you appear
and how I appear.
We are seen together. This is love.
It comes down to "what is left over?"
The remainder.
Coming up empty.
You need not think it is something
not worth having.
Or somehow, the least of things.
No no. Quite the opposite.
It is the MAIN thing worth having.
An unfiltered fling of the Universe's hand
into notice.
Absolutely full, fullness, completeness.
Everything is here, the cup is full.
So too, the filters are there, but of no import.
The paradox of playfulness.
I love most when I bring nothing
to bear, nothing to add to this beautiful life.
This love need not apply only to humans.
For this is the light that shines on
all that you encompass, and that encompasses you.
Shine on, open to all, receive, all love.
All words in you, of you, are you.

Even the Masters Get Frustrated

Even the masters get frustrated by
this show of force, show of faith,
for our weak, searching, improvements.
Our aplomb in struggle.
Ask yourself with great sincerity.
Do I love the search more than the answer?
Is spiritual evolution better than the ordinary truth?

Don't look in the mirror to see who you are.
Turn around and look at the source
of the looking itself.
Not the eyes, the brain, or thinking.
But the fact of existence itself.

You are not weak, blind, or stupid.
Why wait another day to see what you are?
Few know the timetable for the truth.
So, if you haven't scheduled it yet,
book the time now.

You are here. You exist.
Rest, rest, REST in that.
Everything else is the dream.
Yes, you need to navigate the dream,
that road is before you.
Navigate away, within which, you are awake.
Only that.
Only that.
Only THAT is true.

Be Fascinated

Behind the words, the shadows,
the outlines of all before you,
lies a steady quiet.
This is not the quiet of no sound,
but the quiet of everything that is and isn't.
It steals over attention at times,
and a heartfelt loveliness ensues.
That does not mean that a wallop of an energetic event
isn't waiting to ambush you.
Ride it the way you wait out a thunderstorm.
Don't wish it was over.
Be fascinated.

A Few One Line Poems

There are only two states: Joy, and Joy distracted.


Appreciate the lovely truth of this statement: I am Being distracted.


The meaning of anything is in its arrival.

Don't Follow, Go Home

If you walk behind your teacher,
I hope he says, "Don't follow me. Go home."
You may go away, sad, but you will return.
I hope when you stand on the threshold
of the teacher's room, she says,
"Don't follow me. Go home."
You may rage and feel dejected.
Other than just living, you may
Sit upon your cushion,
Or become quiet by looking,
Or perform service,
Or singing praises,
Or just breathe through the day.
It doesn't matter.
The light that is in you,
not the path,
will unravel you.

Wrap Around

Life, existence, you.. what words!
Like the day, like the sun,
Wraps around you. Carrying you.
Humming to you from the back.
Stop for just one moment,
and rejoice in it.
Or just notice that you are.
Nothing is left behind in this
clear, prayerful, abiding.

One Line Poem #14

What you get when you lift an embedded rock, is a fresh look at a hidden place that was there all along.

Bring On The Day

A slight joy, effervescent and eternal,
Full of charm, bolder colors, than before.
Reveals a fascination.
A deep relaxation takes hold,
allowing this new artistic view to unfold.
The deep stillness you find at the beach,
on the sand looking at waves, is here.
And follows everywhere.
If you are not at home, ask why.
You are not alone. Ask why.
All you have to do is lift up off your seat,
And see what's been holding you all along.

Behind the Day

Behind the ordinary light of day is
a softness, a velvety wrap.
Not the sharp sound, nor the catch
in your throat,
Can ever sway you from this.
Own it, lean into it.
It can not leave you.
Wallow in it.
It backs you, depend on it.
For while the wind speeds on, sweeping
your thoughts and noticings aside,
This, that you are, shines on.

Use Your Broom to Find the Lightness of Being

If you are waiting for someone else's clarity,
the sage's words, however heartfelt, to ring true,
sweep them away.

Find the certainty of the ever present,
Shining where it never left you.
No one ever lied in describing
The 10,000 things, as One,
But you and that One, are one.

Sweep away even the highest,
most sacred ceremony,
Sacred chants, holy path,
in favor of simple existence.

Relax. Relax. Do not mourn,
That you can never know what others know.
Though their descriptions flow on,
Only timeless moments flow into your heart.

Sweep your attention toward the fundamental,
the unspeakable, peace of simple existence.
It belongs to you.
It belongs to whatever you are.

That existence that is you, never defends itself
No story, object or force derails it.
Bask in its unstoppable, ever flowing nature.

Reach for the "ever beyond words" part of you
that never changes. Never left you.
Sweep your focus into mystery.

Who Are You?

If you knew nothing about mind,
the brain,
your life,
Something would still exist.

If you had no thoughts about the past,
this day,
yourself,
Something would still exist.

If a feeling just arose,
From a pool of noticing,
From a sense of being in a body,
And a flicker across being,
Something would still exist.

If the something that exists,
Is aware,
Is beyond limit,
And present to you now.
You are home.

Holding the Busy Life

Front facing,
busy life,
rushes forward and straight into
the disappearance
at the end of two parallel lines.

Inner facing,
quiet life,
observes and holds the busy life,
while steadily breathing in and breathing out
the stillness.

Easing Reactions

Don't make it a goal to try to stop reacting to things. This is futile. When there is conditioning and underlying resistance, reactions will happen naturally. Three kinds of noticing may help.The first is a simple noticing that the sensations and thoughts of a reaction are now happening. They have a start, a middle, and will end. The second kind of noticing is noticing that something wants to concoct a story out of this energetic flow. And make it "mine". The story is just another bit of energy. Let if flow. The third is noticing that the flow of all this energy is free and unattached to the body or mind. Even "body sensations" flow freely into awareness and flow out when another perception distracts. 

Should you take apart the reaction and analyze it? This can be helpful at times when a reaction recurs frequently. There may be some underlying false beliefs that stubbornly persist. The Work of Byron Katie, the Enneagram,or other investigative system, can be very helpful in this. But if you have reached a point where you know the power of unquestioned thoughts and have done work in this area, it may be as well to soften recurring reactions with acceptance and awareness.

Reborn

In the Christian concept of being reborn, a person can be new again, from within a religious cocoon. They leave their sins behind. To be reborn in a non-dual meaning is to die to your sins as well. In addition, to die to the sense of being an individual who gets things done. It means to live from the place of absolute clarity. It does not mean you cannot participate in whatever life has been created for you. It only means you cannot be mistaken about your part in it.

Innocence

What is innocence?  It is not knowing who you are. It is acting from a place with no definitions. It is willingness to take whatever role is assigned, for now. The innocent don't know what is going to happen. They don't know anyone's motives. This is the absolute truth for everyone. You can't be anything but innocent, but you may think you know better.

Innocence is recognizing that yesterdays' roles have gone up in smoke and are no longer attached to this moment. It is laying down the burden of others' ideas about you. Do this even if you thought your loyalty kept you firmly in the tribe. Be willing to be homeless. In that innocence you are home.

One line poem #13

One by one, demanding questions find their way back from whence they came, leaving a thin trail of satisfaction.

Cognizing Entity

Sanyaha told his students: "This is not a world experienced by "me." The "I" is not moving through a world that is out there. The world does not act upon a "me." The "me" is an experience of consciousness.  Consciousness assumes the form of a me, of a world, of you, and all the time, there is no cognizing entity, no center.  There is only ever the knowing of experience. Cognizing yes, entity, no.  Experience continues to happen.

First arises an assumption that "you" are the mind in a body, navigating the objective world, which existed before you were born. Then you may learn that something called Consciousness experiences all that is known and there is no personal volition.  Finally it is seen that the experience, and the knowing of it, are one and the same."

Student:  "If there is no me, then why does it seem as if I am still looking out of these eyes?"
Sanyaha: "You" are not looking out of those eyes. There is only perception occurring, along with conditioned thoughts about a fiction called "me".  You think everything you know and do has an owner called "you".  This is John's body, these are John's thoughts.  I, John, should have done a better job on that." This is not the case. It's like thinking the sandman brings sleep every night as your parents may have told you as a child. Then you find out there is no sandman. Sleep happens without anyone's help.

When you are looking at something and thinking nothing, do you disappear? Whatever you are, exists before, after and during thoughts. Do not give this a name. The name is only a word. Existence or being is present with or without any words."

Resolving into Now

No matter what causes you to be dissatisfied with this moment, it's resolution always puts you squarely back in the middle of another moment. We call it now, but existence is only ever the moment. The sense that something needs to change, to be better, to be more complete, to be in any way different, is only a thought occurring now to an impersonal awareness. Rest in the knowingness that whatever is arising now, you are the receiver of it, not the creator.

One Line Poem #12

Cut the cord between whatever shows up, and what you think it means for this breathing organism.

Hold These Things Thoughout the Day

Notice the very fact of your existence.
That ordinary knowing of life.
Nothing special, just the is-ness of life.
Existence is here. Undeniable. No thinking required.

Notice that into this open place flows all.
The world, the body, all movement.
Every bite you put in your mouth.
Every movement you make, others make.
All perceived.

Revel in the utter defenselessness of this awareness.
It stops at nothing.
It seems to have continuity.
It is what you are; what everything is.

Feel yourself belonging to, existing AS this vast existence.
It is not something to think about, to find.
It is the ordinariness of complete life membership
Feel how it is what looks out of your eyes and knows.
You have never left it, it has never left you.

One line poem #11

Give up trying to use your mind to open doors.

How to Open

You will never be promoted to total freedom
in this ordinary way of living for yourself.
But rejoice, because you are not chained
to an external platitude, your identity.
Everyone takes two breaths, then goes to one.

Men and women have worked a land
belonging to no one.
Their identities submerged until eyes open.
Only to find, there was no closing.

Can it be that this one thing never hidden,
is my only song today?

Four men walk out on a bridge.
One sits and begins fishing.
One stares out at the horizon in meditation.
One lowers himself into the water.
The last one never was.
Find them in yourself.

The unique expression of it lives on!
Singularity is not tied to identity.
Singularity is simply motion.

What Do You Know?

Sitting there, upright. Check to see what  is actually here. Are you a mind inside a body, made alive by some forces unknown? Experiencing this objective world, which you did not make? Thinking,  judging, improving through minds conditioned by culture bound by time and changing constantly. Is this what you are? Or what  you know? When referring to yourself, check to see if anything other than the knowing of experience has ever been present.

Abstain from Bigger Minds

Have you taken this Love and parsed it into letters?

Spoken strings, musing the point?

We can't stop comparing this moment,

Or asking Rilke or Rumi to speak for us.

Though beautiful expressions of truth

remind us of our timeless wandering,

Nothing satisfies like the tide of being.

Whether mere focus or streaming action.

Know when to abstain from big minds
And follow the gossamer thread
Of your own path.
That instance of living that you only can know.

Speak to yourself like a teacher clapping for attention.

Don't go home and think about it.

An exalted mind is a troubled mind.

Fearful and wanting to wander away.

An arrogant mind believes in its own highest value.

But who gave you that mind?

To lead by proofing from confusion

is to insulate yourself from the portal.

We arrive on sufferance not on scholarship.

Live in the "half-empty" space.

Come with an inch or two of hollowness.

Allow the truth to wedge in between lofty ideas.

Make room to notice your own Self.

You can not NOT be what you are,

but you can THINK otherwise.

How can you sing if your mouth is full?

Wit is delightful
and as good as gold in any bar.

But this quest is for dissolution.

Cherish your compound analysis
and you will be standing alone.

The same with comparative unraveling.

If you want to strive, go to the gym.

To this place, bring anticipation.

Bring childlike curiosity.

Come like a sleeping child to a campfire meeting.

Be quieted by the crackling of the flames.

Be filled with the dancing light.

Be comforted by warm bodies in a circle.

Feel the inner quiet in these lovers.

Your inner life will come out to play.
Pray that a spark of recognition will leave the fire 

and shoot your way.

Listen

There is perfection in this moment, that

if you are quiet, you can hear.

The delightful dance weaving through the day,

is yours for the joining.

The full out, whole body, streaming of energy

creating this moment becomes you with no struggling.

The symphony send music right to your heart. 

Listen for it.

There is a congregation of being forming you,
which has always been.

Pay It Forever

Are you still paying for your life?
Every encounter a transaction.
Keep on giving - it hurts already.
With no end to the debt you've imagined.

What can we bring if not this imperfect
set of skills and competence?
The receipt you demand as proof
for service is your version of gratitude.

How quickly the anger and shame flows,
when our gifts of competence and skill are not needed.
Personal insult at best, complete devaluation at worst.
Didn't the universe put you here to work?
  
Pay up, pay up. An internal whisper sung by the generations.
Make sure you don't sit quietly and just exist.
Pro bono life only seems forbidden.
Sometimes, nothing given, is just right.

That flush of shame creeping up your neck,
is only the old arrogance we all have.
That our skills and talents are needed now, and,
if not accepted, we are indebted and alone.

What joy there is in knowing the reverse!
That our very presence is a gift worth having.
Others will remember when they see you own it.
"Take me as I am"

To your own self and others, offer completeness.
You never came in any way but this:
Empty-handed,
Open-hearted.

The Given

This moment, this. Gentle facing.
Whether tear-soaked or radiant,
Once sought, now found,
minus the account of  you.

Erasing the effort of striving.
Of improving the tale,
Of deleting past transgressions,
for a better you to come.

This moment, this. Alive on arrival.
Unremarkable, but the end of longing.
Attend as if standing alone on a high point,
leaving no room for the rewritten past.

This moment, this. Complete.
Come into your body with such fullness,
arising from an attention so minute,
that all sensations
become whispers.

This moment, this blink. Gifted.
Given from nowhere.
Defenses dissolve. Requirements recede.
When you hear "given"
your very willfulness can subside.

Don't Let Enthusiasm Stop You

Don't let the enthusiasm for new year's goals,
or discouragements from last year's promises,
prevent you from standing in the present.
The task for this day is to stand on the center dot. Yours.
Put that in your goal sheet.
Resurrect the sheer wonder at how this roller coaster life,
keeps coming back to center.

Breathe in existence as if it were your last breath.
Dance if you are asked to. Partake.
Do not leave one drop of yourself inside,
when the outside adventure begins.
Land on attunement and be glad.
With both hands on your heart,
Offer yourself to the whole world. Whatever comes.

Gladness comes of staying awake in the sleeping place.
It is not success you want, but attention to the journey.
Later in your armchair, you can smile,
not at having accomplished so much,
but at having kept your eyes open the whole time.

Ember

From the depths of the staleness of a life half-lived
A spark of recognition comes.
It may only be the sudden joy of encountering a puppy,
or the exploits of a man who has sailed around the world.
What is that spark which unsettles and teases?
It is reformation, reclamation.
What has been lost since childhood, can be found.
Right livelihood is a gem among gems.
It means you find your place, your happiness, your sadhana.

If you find that spark, blow on it. Nurture it.
Let the tiny ember grow until you burst into flame.
And find home.