Attraction and attachment

Hooked and holding..

Many momentary "highs"

Of Likes..Loves..Wows..

But of short duration as

Thirst returns seeking for

More highs..finding instead

Those confining pains..

Allowing others to define

Who we are..is the basic

Sin of social media..

We are tangled in a

Hidden matrix..with many

Not locating the simple exit:

Asking the perennial questions

Perhaps..Who am I..??...

Reflecting the bustling traffic and

A backdrop of sky and tree allowing

It all..as nothing appearing as lights and

Honking..and stops avoiding and not avoiding

Catastrophic interruptions of movements

With sky and tree unaffected..and all

Reflected indifferently in the window pane...

is a life experience
in and of that which we are..
we in seeming smallness
are mind infinite and eternal
which molds each new story..
conceiving and perceiving
our storytelling tools
frame time and space
within that which we are..
and so..a caution: experience
in dreaming and waking
and telling
may seem to conceal
that which we are
with this story..then another..

we know there are many...!

I am the Temple
She is and you are..
Recognition is to be set free
wild in the knowing of
I am..
When religion arrives
separation comes too
with beliefs unshakable
veiling the freedom of
I am..
Although each religion
came from lighted freedom
came from knowing
then forgetting
I am..
So the world awaits
that Recognition
very old and very new
each Temple discovery:
I am..

The encounter
Each time now
Is a touch
Brief and knowing
And whole..
A preview of
The future
No words
One consciousness
To another
Will be enough...

We are attuned
Conditioned
To believe there are always
Priorities in life..That we need
Be most watchful to settle on the
Important this moment..Until
One day we discover the flaw
In all this:
Focus on importance
Doubles down once more
On attuned separation
Delaying once again
A glimpse or more of
What has always been
Unconditioned...

Viruses and more
Give us notice that
Our lives are lived
In what is largely
Unknown..
There is an overlay of
Sorts which covers the
Unknown in a large
Swath of circumstances..
But the unknown
Breaks the surface
Now and then..
To give us the message:
Our finite minds have
Severe limits..whether
The unknown seems
Near or far..
So..the hint seems to be
That an exploration of
The Unknown may
Provide an option to
Set us Free...

A racial or privilege of identity
where difference is unnoticed
results in a sameness
in our blue-pilled culture..
Some plead for an awareness
of these differences overlooked
both small ones and elephantine..
Yet in these endeavors
something else escapes notice:
our strong belief in separation
a belief born early.. never shaken..
Here is a radical approach:
step away from the differences
and find the Presence which
contains all differences..
Know that each of us
although molded in difference
the moldings are not
apart from but made of
the  Presence...

the vast blue sky stands
as the consciousness-only model
the model of truth we seek..
we have arrived after
many long centuries in which
other points of view have sustained
civilizations..their rise and fall..

the model of materialism has
dominated science and thought
reaching impressive heights..yet
intuitions are venturing questions
of blue appearances in the clouds
clouds of words and
models outworn..

like a small airplane looking
for a hole to punch through
and sail to a destined port..
the clouds are the habits of
centuries which impede the
recognition of truth..
fearful of the vast blue
we allow cloud covering
to delay the day
of plunging into truth...

Inquiry aims to discover
The vessel of our voyage
The ship on which
We have stood thus far..
We have seen many lands
And had many loves
But inquiry asks now
What is this vessel
On which we stand
And have stood so long..
Only to now recognize
A sinking and a rising
Of our real Vessel
Plying infinite seas...

For some~~

The Advent season brings us

To the story of Mary with her

Fears and misgivings after

Angelic conversations..

Her status as a ****** pointed

To an angelic mistake..does not

A conception require separation..?

A new question:

Might there be inner Birth

Recognizing Virginity

Appearing as separation...?

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)

schedules arise within
time's seeming presence..
placed with  projections
of time's spacial future..

our freedom is at stake
as the schedule separates
and controls..

until we recognize
these thoughts and
projections are all
made of the
Wax of our Being...

We are no doubt
each of us
entangled..
entangled in darkness
and in light..

Suffering arrives
with the illusion
that these are
separate entanglements
or that
they are not...

the bride and groom
unseen
prepare to unite
two become one
in joyful celebration..

might we ask
what came before
this place and time..?
an earlier chapter
of everyone's story
is told with wine..

when those barrels
of water transform
one becomes two..
old Adam alone
becomes Adam with Eve
our birthing story
unfolds again..

this split for creation
a delivery dramatic
all with accompanying
complaint and pain..
stands now a
reminder from Cana
of our separation..
with some news
of joy's return...

There is a wellspring
From which all religions flow
Which when recognized
Diminishes the rancor
Over the outward forms
Which have torn
And bloodied adherents
Now and in history's
Telling..

And the amazing thing
Is that this wellspring
Is the same Wellspring
Which you and I
Need to recognize in
Our inquiry of
Who we really are...!

Our life Question
Who am I..?
Jonah means Dove
and he found
his Answer
Yet chose to run..
The continuing Tale:
Influence on sailors
Wish for death..
Overboard
Swallowed
Dark and Deep
Yet finding again
his Answer..
Which he held
through blazing Sun
a wilting tree
a cunning worm..
Do we know
Who are We...?

How might we see
Job and the whirlwind
to uplift our day..?

Job was visited by
the whirlwind
after his story of
misfortune..and advice
from friends long on
common sense
but short on
understanding..

Job the sufferer
after frustrated
searching for reasons
and with surrender
encountered the
whirlwind..

He discovered
and finally understood
himself as whirlwind
within and made of
the perennial source
  of it all...

All this petty worry
while the great cloak
of the sky grows dark
and intense
round every living thing.

All this trying
to know
who we are
and all this
wanting to know
exactly
what we must do.

But what is precious
inside us does not
care to be known
by the mind
in ways that diminish
its presence.

What we strive for
in perfection
is not what turns us
into the lit angel
we desire.

What disturbs
and then nourishes
has everything we need.

What we hate
in ourselves
is what we cannot know
in ourselves
but what is true to the pattern
does not need
to be explained.

Inside everyone
is a great shout of joy
waiting to be born…

This was his challenge to
a different understanding..
A proper challenge..I might add..
which can be boiled down to
a choice of perception..
We appear to live in a world
of separation..of duality..
and common sense asserts:
yes..this indeed is
a pencil..

A different knowing
is suggesting a
new..yet quite old
perception..
Our inner subjectivity
questions the solid object
said of our pencil over there..

To then discover:
the pencil is made of our
seeing and touching and thinking..
these not separated
from the "I"
that is perceiving..
The Oneness of "I"
asserts now and clears
with joy
centuries of illusory
perception...

He seems one of us
perhaps from Missouri..!
demand solid proof
senses supreme
trust for experiment
science is truth..

Do we mis-read..?
did he see more
than sight and touch..
his doubt his treasure
the real grounding
of  faith...

forgotten
by our religion
we have avoided
this channel to truth..
it is a direct channel
not impeded by tenets
and teachings which
veil that which
is obscured..
there is a fear
perhaps
which holds the
veil in place..
a glimpse plus
some courage
and we are pushed..
recognizing Peace...

conception and perception
these are the objects
to which we awaken
this morning..
this is creation
happening anew
each of us
with a big bang
awakening..
perception separates
and cognition names..
cognition of time
hangs together the
10000 pieces..relating
and making whole pieces..
the whole pieces point
to that which is the same
for each of us
and out of which
unending big bangs
color our day...

thoughts..

Are they ours..?

With the assumption of separation

An easy Yes is said along with

A strange brief glance..

But if we remove the assumption

This illusory assumption

The uneasy thinker finds

A crumbling identity..

Frightened and joyful..and

Free..as thoughts visit from

No-where...

A thought occurs
and then ends..but the mind
wishing to continue
searches for another
to consider and dismiss..
The mind not wishing
for you..Awareness..
to rest in that which
lies between...

thoughts
pass in review..
temporary shapings
within and made of
our only Self
Awareness..
then our choice:
am I a thought
or am I Awareness
or restated:
am I caught or
am I free...?

Thus some pray..
Jesus saw the apparent
Separation of wills
And the raggedness of
This frightful belief..
A belief supporting
For eons of time
Life's sufferings..
The shift to One will
Resurrects who we
Always have been...

The ego rises
And Awareness fades
Some might say departs..
And suffering enters as the
Ego becomes fearful
Its freedom diminished..

This is our main story
A story of our
False identity
Searching for freedom
Where it cannot be found..

Then with fortune
We Recognize Ourselves
Made of the freedom we
Had so earnestly sought..
The ego retreats
Dissolving in our
Infinite Identity...

Thy will be done...

On this
the year's ending day
our news is filled
documenting highlights:
another year approaching
its end..

Then from a friend
comes the photo above
and a question that leaps:
whether this image is
sunbreak or sunset..
Perhaps
we should demand
at least for a while
to know only that
this miraculous photo
images..yes.. both..!

Now returning to
what's in the news
portraying each year
the sharp knife
of time
splitting and separating
in seeming truth..
Yet knowing now that
this timely photo
points to our longing
to something we seek...!**

Thanks, Elaine..

In this season of the year
we hear many expressions
noticing the passage of time..
The year disappeared
and we are unaware how
time seemed to melt
as we send our greetings
for the new year..

Our experience of the frailty
of time may be
an experience of truth..
That time is not more
than a thought or assumption
appearing from time to time.. ( :) )
which in an ancient deception
claims a sequence..making sense
of our voyage from birth to death..

Yet back to our seasonal experience
we  glimpse something seamless
a momentary vanishing of time
which might bring to each of us
the real Joy of the season...

that is the question..
whether to hold tightly to a belief
or allow it to sink into unbelief
to which all beliefs are prone..
To recognize belief as settled thought
seemingly permanent..but
alas..always temporary..
Now to recognize our dependable
experience..and fall into that space:
the space without belief but
filled with an ultimate joy...

The hour is striking so close above me,
so clear and sharp,
that all my senses ring with it.
I feel it now: there’s a power in me
to grasp and give shape to my world.

I know that nothing has ever been real
without my beholding it.
All becoming has needed me.
My looking ripens things
And they come toward me, to meet and be met.

~~Rainer Maria Rilke

where one stands
light moment confronting..
the encounter takes root
advice is to hesitate
right there..
the moment contains
pieces of necessity
these forever lost
by walking on..
Preserving the Trace...

Words constrict the silence
disturbing the peace
of unlimited tranquility..
Words float briefly
in an infinite tranquil sea..
Islands perhaps..floating.. and disappearing
and becoming once more the sea..
The tranquil sea gives birth to a plethora of
words and expressions..vocabularies dancing..
and fading..
Tranquility is that which we are
and which we are longing to know:
our present national lament...

is both sought and unsought
the unsought is the reality
the prevalence of grace
through all of our seeking..
But the seeking in our experience
is an expectation that our seeking
with diligent pursuit and care
will yield a result and reward
of the very happiness sought..
Indeed snippets of transcendence
are found as  reward for diligence
but the snippet soon dissolves
returning we suppose to
its measureless Source...
Seeking soon continues
searching once more with
reinforced expectation that the
snippet might be found once more..
How many searches we wonder
before an all-at-once discovery
that each of us is fully captured
immersed and made of
the unsought transcendence
we have been seeking...

is a recognition
awaiting each of us..
a recognition
of who we are..

we remember our teachers
on our left and our right
our journeys of searching
in past times..

searching the world for
peace past understanding
that only comes with recognition
of who we truly are..

arriving now.. directly..
effortlessly.. as that which
has always been there
embracing our journey...