A suspicion arises

Perhaps from a book

Or a voice..or a review

Of a lifetime..Or none

Of these..perhaps

A quiet time with

Everything shelved for

A delicious moment..

Allowing Nothing to

Dawn..with a glance

At the shelf..recognizing

Nothing as Dreaming...

There is awakening:

The joy of finding..at last

Our true Self..the expansive

Newness which has

Poked and prodded so long..

But apparently remaining

Are naps of forgetting

Which induce the sleep we

Once endured..until

A new remembering

Whisks heavy eyelids...

From the hilltop

We observe our

Searching paths:

Winding and tortuous..

So to recognize

That the hilltop

Is not a place

But What we Are..

In which our paths:

Winding and tortuous

We have trod...

The Picture:

Nothing as Everything

That's the Total

All there is..

That's it..

And you are not

In the picture..

Yet..be not troubled

For You are the Picture...!

Mirrors

Can tell us who we are

And who we are not..

Our conventional minds

See mirrored-objects:

That's me..!

(Yesterday..today..tomorrow..)

However..

To the Self..the mirror itself

And the appearances are

Fleeting images of

Seeming separation..yet

Simultaneously:

Nothing/everything...

Power..apparently

Is the mover and shaker

In our world..it is

Buried in a religion of

Separation..and wedded to

Another belief: I am

I plan..I control..I know..

Freedom..real Freedom

Is thereby darkened

Until..the dream is dreamt..

Awakening...

Can tell us who we are

And who we are not..

Our conventional minds

See mirrored-objects:

That's me..!

(Yesterday..today..tomorrow..)

However..

To the Self..the mirror itself

And the appearances are

Fleeting images of

Seeming separation..yet

Simultaneously:

Nothing/everything...

To recognize

Our role in the

Apparent life we have assumed

And know for sure

The role is projected

From the Freedom which

Is...

The self which

Is a character in the Dream

Of the Self..

Plays her role..believing

This is life..!  This is it..!

Joy is recognized when the

Self awakens to recognize

ItSelf..

In this chaotic time our

Awakening is the

Elixir of Life...!!!

We are pleased to find

Nature's suggestions of

Hidden unities..

A unity thus found might

Disclose our Self  

Enclosing and making

Of our Self that which

Seems different and Other..

Gifting us to behold  the

Infinite Beauty of

Uniqueness...

Disturbances..
There are these
We know..and they present
Opportunities for separation
To assert once more..to
Claim our self..
Yet..on second glance..
These might Lighten our
Attention toward That
In which they swim..
Springing gratitude
For a discovery again
Of infinite worth...

This is the duality..the

Separation..which serves

To comfort those searching

For meaning..in what seems..

We search and stumble and

Search more to fill that

Interminable gap..

A lifetime of searching..?

Apparently the Truth eludes..

Until a calm or stormy day

Arrives..and Nothing

Introduces Itself as

Everything...

Nothing Being Everything..

This key formulation

Which is not a formulation

Brings our finite minds

To the edge of Recognition

Of the extant of Oneness

The very Vastness of

Being..and invites our

Participation..forevermore

Not as a person..but as the

Freedom and Joy of

Nothing Being Everything...!

The poet speaks

Of unspeakable horror

A rabbit's scream in

The owl's clutches..

What to say..?..let's say

There is No-thing exterior..

Yet we suffer the rabbit

As we do..our perceptions

Of war..division..plague..

Yet..All is within and

No-thing exterior...(?)

~~CC



When the owl is less than exquisitely swift and perfect, the scream of the rabbit is terrible. But the scream of the owl, which is not of pain and hopelessness and the fear of being plucked out of the world, but of the sheer rollicking glory of the death-bringer, is more terrible still. When I hear it resounding through the woods, and then the five black pellets of its song dropping like stones into the air, I know I am standing at the edge of the mystery, in which terror is naturally and abundantly part of life, part of even the most becalmed, intelligent, sunny life — as, for example, my own. The world where the owl is endlessly hungry and endlessly on the hunt is the world in which I live too. There is only one world.

~~Mary Oliver, Owls and other Fantasies...

Start with Grace

As All in All..

Then we know

Perhaps for the

Very first time:

"Do not judge"

Is a Knowing of

Grace..as the

Admonition itself

Resides as Grace...

A day recalling

Past doing and achieving..

And demanding of decency..

Working and supporting

Abundance speaking..

Ideal colorings bringing

Nostalgic happiness..

Enter the pandemic

With stirrings and fear..

Yet..perhaps pointing to

Our unknown Livelihood:

Abundance unbounded...

Lenses

The lenses we use

Delineate and separate..

Let us imagine:

Our lenses

As vital for our vision

Without which..blurring

And uncertainty

Become our world..

Losing our lenses would

Likely bring fears untold..

Yet..might the blurring

Turn our attention

Inward..so to know

Who we Are..and the

Fleeting nature of all

Which seems outside...?

A New Era..

A sudden Recognition

Experiencing of Permanence

Seems occurring

In these days of chaos

Anxiety and pain..

The externals we carried

Conditioning our lives are

Absent or do not satisfy..

Some have questioned

Others have surrendered

Heralding a new Peace..

Recognizing

A New Era...

I Am..

For those of the Jesus

Persuasion:

What was the simple teaching..?

Which is shared Perennially

With all traditions..

We tend to jump to the words

Which follow the two above..

Until we realize these two

Are critical to discover our

True Identity:

I Am...

Democracy

Is the Recognition

Of the Equality of what seems separate..

Until that Recognition

The struggle ensues..but there are

Voices exceeding other voices:

Sounds of brutal historical suffering

Identifying the suffering we all hold..

Equality in suffering..and perhaps

The Recognition of the Equality of

Democracy...

Cultish leanings

There is attachment to

The mysteries of life

Embodied..seemingly in

A pedestaled attraction..

Add beliefs of import and

Shadowed conspiracies..

A religion start-up..?

All dismantled by inquiry

Into the Self we are...

Standing in the grace

Of our Wholeness we

Note this simplicity:

Appearances are fleeting..

And perhaps more:

Appearances are everything..

We have returned Home...

Conspiracy Theories..

The assumption at the core

Is that of separation..

And fear of the unknown..

An unknown that towers

As a threat to our peace..

Good versus evil..and

Believers and non-believers..

Small crumbs of truth

Coincide and confirm..

Large proofs of denial

Paradoxically align..

The cure..?

Simply a Self-Inquiry

Of thoughts and perceptions

To allow: the Recognition of

Self as Truth..

This is a mystery

Until we Know

Nothing is also

Something..without

Seams..An appearance

Of nothing as something

Is our Dream and

Our Liberation...

Doubt

Thrives when the

Assumption of separation

Is live and well..

Belief and doubt

Are twins of deception..

One does not appear

Without the other..

So..how to proceed..?

Knowing these twins

Shade our Truth...

The Experience:

I Am

Without clinging things

No objects attached..

Why continue..?

All has already

Been said...

Lydia in Purple

She was extraordinary

As a business woman

Purple cloth her trade..

With an exploring bent to

Uncover her real Self..

A "god-fearer" she

Wrapped herself in

Oneness..and we're told

The Apostle entered

Her story..and discovered

Their common Home...

(See Acts 16..)

Quickly..on Freedom

And it should be quick..

To glimpse right now

The Freedom you Are..

Unconditioned by those

Many stipulations you

Have heaped before..

Leave the heap

Without disturbance and

Allow the discovery:

Freedom Itself as You...

Conditioning

Is what we all

Carry along with us..

All of those boundaries

And attitudes toward

What confines and frees..

Then to discover..or not

That Freedom is overlooked

In our life as lived...

On our many pathways

We look for the endpoint

Which defines..we think

A lifting endearment

In itself our worthy wish..

But no..satisfaction fades

To a new endpoint which

Seems the new real thing..

Until..the endpoint is

Revealed as..yet one more

Corpse...



See Gospel of Thomas

(56) Jesus says:

“Whoever has come to know the world has found a corpse.

And whoever has found (this) corpse, of him the world is not worthy.”

Our return

To our original Abundance

Unfettered by conditioning

Which we accumulate in

Schooling..which creates

The maskings of what is

Real..and simultaneously

Creates ups and downs

Which we assume are what

We must know and accept..

Meanwhile~~

Desperation tugs..begs for

Our return...

We know of progress
And we don't deny
Those relative comparisons..
The measurements distancing
The start point  of slavery..
But..we must hold a
Systemic lens to Recognize
That the patchwork of history
Has not reached the depth
Of Freedom for all..
This we can know only when we
Recognize the Truth of our
Own Freedom..which lies
In a discovered Silence.. to which
Words..patches and systemic
Can only point...

All journeys are
Necessary and welcome..
Worthwhile destinations
Are worthwhile..
Journeys are celebrated
As interfacing unfolds and
Tears of joy and sadness
Attest..
However..there is this:
There is only one Journey
In which we have already
Arrived..Be there Now...!

The word itself
Implies a limit..
With the limit
Freedom is lost..
And a search ensues
To find what was lost..
Many others are met
Billions perhaps
Also searching..
A tragedy until
A fortunate stumble
Reveals our SELF...

If I do not
Stop writing
The Truth which
I wish to express
May well be more
Submerged..
Might I stop now
And allow the
Dimmed light to
Remain as glimmer..?
Or might a few
Words more
Serve to cleanse
What is already
Said...?

Imagine
If you can
A bowl encased in wax.
And the bowl one day
Discovers that wax
And finds no end to it..
It covers all sides and
Of thickness forever..
Lonely at first
Until this Aware bowl
Discovers her own
Makeup of Wax...

The Vow

Ruth and Naomi
Embraced the Grace of
Their common Self..
The one Self within
Which all journeys
Take place..and so
Ruth famously vowed
To go where you go and
Stay where you stay..
This wedding promise
Pointed to a Vastness
Unfolding into those
Religious stories which
We know so well..

(See the Book of Ruth)

This is the default
When complexities bind..
The knowing of
The Placeless place
Eternally transparent
Where separation dissolves
And a surge of Joy
With new Understanding
Wipes our slate clean...

Religions
Ask for it..
But more
We ask for it..
We want
Clarity of contrast
Eye chart truth..
We were educated
That way..
Until one day
We find the Freedom
Of fuzziness..
And then we find
The Freedom of
Contrast...

The mind resists
What seems to be
An entryway into
Emptiness
The cloak of Fullness..
Fear pulls us back
Into comfy norms of
What we know so well..
And that seems the end
For many explorers..
The leap not taken..
But the invitation
Remains..in a
Blooming flower
A sideward glance or
A crushing defeat...

Let the distractions lie..
Know they are also made
Of that which we truly Are..
But for now..there is need
To surrender and quietly
Taste the Purity and the
Transparency of that which
We originally Are..before
The distractions seemed to
Direct our paths through
Circuitous and frustrating
Byways...

This old biblical tale
Dreamlike in the telling
Could well be
Our own dream..
Events and places
Abruptly appear and
Dissolve..
Dream opponents
Philistines and a giant
Appear and fade..
But what remains..?
The Grace of Namaste
(Jonathan and David)..
Which we Recognize
As we awaken from
Our own fitful Dream...


(See 1 Samuel: 18-23)

Whether we know or not
Our experience is always
Spontaneous..
Our Moment is shaped
And colored
And expresses
Always..our Self..yet
Our minds leap to separate
And label..rendering
False impressions of  Self..
Allowing our minds to
Leap unnoticed
Takes us from Home on
More and more journeys..while
Reecognition of Home comes
On one Spontaneous
Journey...!

Who are we..
This seeming person
Doing that which we
Seem to be doing
In this moment..?
Do we see
That "seeming" is our
Ticket to Recognize
Ourself as character
And ourSelf as Stage...?

This apparent urge to
Erase the markings of history
Which appear to stain..
History..a story appearing
In our reading this moment..
Often justifying past doings..
But..alas.. assumptions of
Division cling and remain..

Statues..toppled in
Widespread places..may be
(Whether recognized or not)
A turn Inward..collectively
To cleanse the divisions
Hiding our inner Vastness
Out of which all history
Emerges and is made...

There is an apparent urge
To erase the markings of history
Which appear to stain
Visions of what should be..
History is a story appearing
In our reading in this moment..
Often justifying doings as right
Which can then be retold on
This Fourth of July..
But..alas.. clinging assumptions
Of division remain..

Statues are stories written
In sidedness and division..
What if the urge to erase
As we are observing in
Widespread places..is really
(Whether recognized or not)
A turn Inward..collectively
To bypass the assumptions and  
Recognize our inner Vastness
In which all history
Is written..and read...?