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...

a silly question many will say
an interruption to things of importance..
the chair is the chair..now on to my
daily schedule..uninterrupted please..
however..after much searching to
satisfy desires..pausing with the question
might be finally reconsidered..finding that
an ****** belief in objects can be rattled
with attention to experience..telling of the
frailty of of such belief..
we experience in wholes..not in chairs
claiming their independence..
the chair reconsidered shows up as
perception temporarily..then perceiving..
a walking back to the Reality which
has been quietly waiting for
recognition..
those objects we knew before the question
now appear as they always appeared
but somehow now..satisfying the desires
we had painfully pursued...

We are taught that
A line of time
Is the dimension which
Orders our lives..
This school lesson
Assumed and forgotten..

Until experience rebels
When we are shown a
Cross-section of a tree..
With radials and circles
Appearing here all at Once..
A tree delivers Truth...

This is what Reality
really is..
It is not the multiple
appearances  
demanding our attention..

Colorful appearances
assert themselves in
such a persuasive way
that we grant their
exclamations of difference
as the one life we live..

We are deceived..!
we live unaware that
the essence of all
displayed difference
is exactly the Same..

Without the Sameness
(their Essence..that is)
all would never
have appeared
whether  a rose
or bumblebee
Batman
or us...!

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 1619 Project
Changes history's focus
Beginning 400 years ago
When a few slaves arrived..
Some are fearful
Of a subversion of
Our national narrative..
Yet is this a crack
Which may open
A floodgate
Showing  immense
Variations of stories
Originating in our
Common Source and
Growing our Freedom...?

A good question is
Asked from the edge
Of a precipice..
The mind asks and
Expects the answer
From the realm
Of earlier expectation..
Yet..this question
Finds only stillness
Frightening stillness
For the mind..and a
Wish to retreat..
Until..that Jump...

Standing in the grace

Of our Wholeness we

Note this simplicity:

Appearances are fleeting..

And perhaps more:

Appearances are everything..

We have returned Home...

There is fear
Planted by closeness..
By warnings posted in
The world without..
Closeness they say
Will be sharing of a
Microscopic terrorist
Lurking in our breath
Poised to leap when
The distance is right..

Is this admonition
Begging a turn inward to
Locate that place
Which is not a place
Where distance dissolves
In a newfound Calm...?

We live our lives
Each day with assumptions
That the "out there"
Reveals what we need to know..
This is the assumption of centuries..
It comes as a surprise
When we are told that
"Out there" actually veils the
Reality which when recognized
Will bring us Peace...

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...

This word
For most of us seems
To assume an
Object of desire which
Has been fulfilled
Thus..releasing gratitude..

A tragic misunderstanding
Failing to recognize
We live our lives in
A field of Gratitude and
Our real Identity
As Gratitude..begs for
Our Recognition...

We seem to act
Of our own volition..
Departing this place
To arrive over there..
Coffee..not tea..
Unquestioned choosing..
But does the simple sneeze
Unfurl the question:
Is there volition..?
Are all events really
Sneeze events...?

seems to be the
recommended path
for our time..
our time of quantum pace
and of special urgency..

the luxury of time
born of the belief
in the primacy of time
is quickly dissolving
before our eyes..

right here..right now
is the imperative..
pushed by personal and
ecological tragedies we
search for directness..

enter the Direct Path
and a recognition
immediate..of the source
of spiritual and worldly
assumptions..

we are invited to access
right here and now
our revealed identity
lodged in and made of
illuminating peace...

To our conditioned selves
The proposition of our
Thoughts originating beyond
Our limited body and brain
Seems..well..preposterous..
It remains preposterous
Until life circumstances
Render a new Recognition
Slowly or quantum quick
Of What we are...

These are days
Of pungent experience..
A virus in shadow makes
Fearful appearance in
Our perceptions and
Imaginations..these
Appearances have gone viral
And fill our days..
Until..we stand back
Witnessing our entanglement..
And as we disentangle for
Just one moment..to Recognize
OurSelf as..Unentangled...

This is the conclusion
Of a technical pursuit
A scientific view of
The nature of our Self..

Brain as filter
Connecting us to
The infinite..
Yet we observe that
In this view
The brain remains
An object as your
Fingernail or front door..

So it seems
We await a dawning
Which is the knowing of
Our brains as appearances
Of the infinite
Among many appearances
In our on-going dream...

The simplicity
Of the Teaching
Amazes and brings
Skepticism..
Why..it is asked
Was this not found
many eons ago..?
A legitimate query
From our habitual
Reference..
Yet..each of us
Might set our habitual
Religion aside
At any time or place
And recognize
Under our habits
What we have sought
For our own eons...

It is about sundown
With a blend of sounds
From distant trees..
Stepping back..however..
I find chirping and
Hearing as One..
Chirping modifies
Hearing in the moment
Then..silent hearing
Resumes..Peace...

How do we know..?
Our waking life convinces
Dreams are nighttimes..
Daytimes show what
Really counts as we fill
Our notches in daytime
Expectation..

Agreement here brings on
The waves
Of nicety and nastiness
Which we know so well..
Nighttime escapes bring
Temporary relief..until
Morning's waves resume..

Is there a break..?
Something new..?
Temporary..?
Permanence..?
An exchange..?
Some say so...

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...

A question often heard
Which reflects our conditioning
In assuming we come from
Some..place..
So..when we Realize where
We come from..we have also
Realized that the question lies
In ashes from the fire of the
Source...

The lesson now for
All traditions
Religious and not..it seems..
Is that beliefs and practices
Which you have fostered
So long..always carry their
Shadow of Doubt..

Our own experience tells us
Why this is so..
Beliefs and practices live
In the realm of our minds
Cast in separation modes..
Replacing mind with Mind
Yes..Drops the shadow...

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...?

Should be the teacher's motive..
It is an acquaintance
By the Teacher of her
Own Identity..

Starting elsewhere..in a textbook
In a settled belief..only serves
To diminish the teacher and to
Guarantee a quick departure of
The thing that is intended
To be taught..a Recognition that

Textbooks and beliefs are
Unsteady tools of Truth which
May be discarded in
A more favorable Wind...

In a darkened crevice
Between rugged rocks
We sometimes find
An emerging voice..
Light and shadow
With fragile connection
Seem to claim the
Story of difference..
And if we stay with
The story..as we depart
Walking away from the
Crevice..we may be
Hailed to return..
Return to an inner place
Which dissolves the
Difference..and reveals
The Beauty we missed
As we walked away...

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...

The experience
I Am
Points to purity..
Yet also points to
That which seems to
Cloud and stain
The purity I Am..

This is our
Point of departure
To Recognize that
I Am..in
Silent Understanding
Is never clouded
Or stained...

Perhaps we are to learn
That the chaos of the world
Is always here and now..
Events..that is thoughts and
Perceptions..if we closely assess
Arise unexpected in what
We know as ourself..
We are lulled in times which
Seem to be linear..all smoothly
Connected by thought..

Do we then learn that thought
Only supplies connections
Allowing belief in control..
The Real connections lie in
The infinite and eternal
Here and Now...

Finding
No path..is a signal
To pause where we are
Allow the silence to surround
And inform..and to realize
There is no path to
Where we really want to
Be...

A pause or gap
Which if we consider
Lies between words
Between breaths and
Thoughts..
Between musical notes..
It seems that we
Must listen in the gaps
For the silence and the
Absence of measure..
For what we are:
Holy Hiatus...!

In our dreamtime
We receive a gift
Which when seen
As a gift
There is immense
Reward..
Next morning we
Can and usually ignore:
Believing the unreality
Of the dreamtime
Having just passed..
However..
The gift may be a glimpse
Of Wholeness separating
Within Itself and making
Of Itself appearances
Of convincing stature..
Breaking News...?

Is our conditioning..
It is that which veils
Our eternal Now..
Veiled when separation
Gains our attention
And we venture into
Past and future..
East of Eden in the
Story's terms..

So..
In our many lifetimes
In the Life we live
We experience Now
In surprising glimpses..
Until..
Our  lifetimes' shadows
Are deemed enough
And we reincarnate
Now to Now
To discover at last
What has always been
Home...

The virus
Is a display
Of interconnectedness
Seeming to be everywhere
In quantum quickness..
The glaring question is
What now of free will..?

We are now in lockdown
Against the preferences
Of most of us..
Responsibilities are now
Not local..and our confinement
Does not appear to be ending..
Our only choice veers Inward

To recognize..at last
An infinite measure of
Free Will..

First the suffering which
Is our many disguises is
Hiding our Self..
It is Grace attempting
To Awaken our Self
To our true Identity..
Grace in the circumstance
And in the conditioning
And in the distress
Calling us home..

Conditioning
Contains the parameters
Of our illusory self..
Our so-called history is
A history embedded in
A belief of separation
Settled..unquestioned..
Opportunities for resisting
Arise constantly in this
Assumed world..
Bringing our suffering
As wake-up calls
To look elsewhere for
An Already Identity...

That which is All
(That which we Are)
Wrinkles and shapes
OurSelf into all those
Appearances which
Decorate our world..
Larger wrinkles are
Time and space which
Seem to house all
Wrinkles appearing..
We need to engage
Or not engage
Quickly with wrinkles
For a hot iron is now
Heating up...!

Responding to this question
Determines our identity..
Separation is insistent
To which most seemingly
Succumb..the appearance
Of things..argues for our
Conditioned assumption of
Separation..until we relax
Into that of which I Am...

These are the names of Grace
Found in nature by many..
Never-ending change in the midst of
And made of the Permanence...

Happy New Year..!

What are those Wednesday things
That draw our attention today..?
Each of them promises to make
A division of the Peace we are..
Unless our Peace is Recognized
As that which composes and does
Those Wednesday things..

Covid-19
Has gained our attention
Attention in terms of
Dread..anxiety..boredom..
An unexpected lifetime
Experience which has a
Global sameness..of sorts..

Restrictions and constrictions
Imposed from without and
Within..responding to an
Unpredictable dark force..
Resilience is oft cited as
Our need to recover the
Size and shape of our
Lives before..

Yet..might we stand back
From imposed constrictions
Recognizing ourselves as
Witness..The calm face of
Resilience..and allow the
Constrictions to uncoil
In their own time as
They must and will...

Is
The Dream our Self
Has entertained for
Eons..brought on by
Beliefs in separation..
Our  inevitable fall..
Thus..
Our Self remains asleep
As separation maintains
Its persistent persuasion..
Oppositions play..
Yet..
We are treated in moments
Waking as I Am..
Yet..
We sink soon
Resuming the fall...
Our Fallen Dream...
Yet..
Are there not signs
In these stressed times
Of a new Morning...?

Purpose


We assign a purpose
But there is a cost..
With said purpose
We narrow our focus
Consult a few maps
Confine our freedom
Acknowledge a self..
Allowing
Is blindfolded as we
Create our world of
Purpose..

Going  for a walk... (?)

Monet painted it:
A diminishing power
Of objects to claim
Our attention..
Our outward attention
Has reversed course
As paint colors fade
And wispy clouds
In the sky gain their
Seeming equality..
We experience waiting
For the colors and forms
To further diminish
Revealing finally the
Living Truth of
Transparency...

Righteous Anger

When anger bursts forth
In an encounter calling to
Unleash our fury..
The veil of dualism
Of separation seems to
Thicken..to conceal our
Inherent Peace..

When we recognize
What is above
Our anger responses
Can be sourced in
Our Peace...