Within each and every one of us
is a unique culture:

Ethnocentrism
reaches just as far inward
as it does outward:

Just because
academia
has imposed it's own
fascist, totalitarian, absolute
definitions
does not mean
that it has final say:
i postulate
such adacemic-fetishism
is merely a byproduct of
propaganda
pushed by Big Money
rather than
a genuine insitution
of respectable edification:
that is
i see it as
a mere appeal
to authority;
a well-known logical fallacy
to those who are in the know.

Tread lightly.

Modern Academics
seems to be
yet another
corrupt branch
of Business;
little more.

Academic achievement
is not equivocal
to intellectual worth:

a graduate's degree
is moreso
a status symbol
than it is
a credential
anymore.

'T'is vile idolatry
in lieu of
an individual's personal philosophy;
that's not to say it's
absolutely worthless,
but it may as well be
in today's job market
(unless it's a business degree!)


Then again,
that's just my opinion.
i guess i oughtta shut up
before Edu-nazis shut me down.

Oops, did i type that out loud?
I'm so sorry, you see,
vhat i meant to say vas:
Heil Stanford!
Heil Harvord!
Heil Berkley!
Heil vhat i am told zu heil!
Heil zhe publishing companies!
Heil zhe holders of student loans!
Heil egredious student debt
in lieu of philosophical discourse,
let alone progress!

Heil vhat i see on TV!
Heil *******!
Heil alkohol!
Heil gasoline!

Do not qvestion zhe dogma;
go back zu sleep, you sheep!

The spiritual ladder is somewhat the same for everyone
"Archaic" beginnings as the spirit takes growth
Into "Magical" beliefs that fill our hearts
With Utopian reprieve

Yet the "Mythical" awaits like a principal in the next room
Wielding the Bible Belt of fundamental values
And if we were truly blessed we reach for
"Rationality" the next rung
On the ladder of spiritual evolution

This is the kicker:
Rationality leads to Agnosticism
And Atheism
But have no fear
For if you truly have the gift
The next rung will soothe your
Wayward soul

"Mysticism"
This is where you will find the masters
The Shamans
And yes, some Saints
Those who are known to live in the higher states
States of Enlightenment
The realization of Oneness
It is locked inside of each and everyone of us
It rears its presence in spiritual spikes
On the lower rung of the
Ladder Of Spiritual Evolution

So in conclusion
Only those of the higher rungs
Are the ones that we can't understand
We are not there yet
Or at least I'm not
Not this time around anyways...

Make yourself
A social engagement
With some wise and brilliant minds
Discover the think tank mentality
It's the intellectual wine

Intellectuality can only grow
In wide and open spaces
Questioning your own beliefs
Could give your heart a face-lift

A masterful One hearing of the Tao
immediately begins to embody it.

An average One hearing of the Tao
half believes it and half doubts it.

A foolish One hearing of the Tao
laughs out loud, and yet
should fools not laugh,
it wouldn't be the Tao!


Thus t'is writ:
The path into the light seems dark,
the path forward seems to go back,
the direct path seems long,
true power seems weak,
true purity seems tarnished,
true steadfastness seems changeable,
true clarity seems obscure,
the greatest seem unsophisticated,
the greatest love seems indifferent,
the greatest wisdom seems childish.

The Tao is nowhere to be found,
yet it nourishes and completes all things.

-
--
---
- - -

Wisdom prepares when unseen.
Folly develops for all to see.

All it takes
to be a Mystic
is to be willing
to take mental risks
for a chance at greater understanding;

All it takes
to be a Mystic
is to delve into the Void,
come back with some new thing
and share that thing with the World;

All it takes
to be a Mystic
is to be sensitive
to one's own Path
reminding others of theirs;

All it takes
to be a Mystic
is to not be afraid
to defy your Time, peers and Culture
to bring forth the Divinity inherent in everything;

All it takes
to be a Mystic
is not not be deterred
by what you are told, but instead
to be guided by what you feel truest in yourself;

All it takes
to be a Mystic
is to be able to interpret
and take things symbolically,
Mythos and Logos, synesthetically creating a new mutual Reality;

All it takes
to be a Mystic
is to be willing and able
to be a Prism for the Divine;
to purify the Mirror of your being;

All it takes
to be a Mystic
is to be Artistic; Creative and Imaginative,
not that the Mystic must be an Artist, or that any Artist is a Mystic,
but that the Mystic is most naturally expressed through the various Artistic mediums;

To be an example for the masses
of just how the many are One
as One is truly the many
and thus All is Divine:

How the Universe itself
and all it's inhabitants
are the expressions
reflections and
manifestations
of the Godself;
An illusion,
A Dream:
Godself
and self
is One.
--
All is a Chapel of Sacred Mirrors
divided by Mind
into Self and Other,
but all is truly Godself:
Collective Unconscious and Personal Conscious,
Brahman and Ātman,
Godself and Self;
One in the same.

Tat tvam asi.

All it takes
to be a Mystic
is to be willing and able
to look inward and learn:

Godself and Self;
One in the Same.

Ideas usurp various limits
by the judicious art
of cross-application.