Whenever the mind is vacant

Of all thoughts of desire, clinging, aversion and self,

There is no nothingness, no fear, no death!

The Universe immediately fills the space

With all of its beauty and diversity,

Just as the empty cup is filled with tea.

Living only really begins

When eyes, ears, heart and mind

Have opened to it,

And the thinker has disappeared.

Dreaming of a different kind of
Conversation,
Using our naked bodies,
Entwined in mounting passion,
We tenderly, silently
Surrender to each other.

Getting lost in each others eyes.
Lips kissing lips,
Tongues tasting, licking,
Hands caressing and massaging,
Bodies joining at the pelvis.
You, welcoming me
Into yourself.
Me, giving myself
To you.
Lovers becoming one.

And as the storm outside rages,
The silence in your bedroom is
Broken only by moans of pleasure,
And occasional whispers of
"I Love You".
As lust rages within us.

Huddled around a campfire,
We each seek
A little oasis of light and warmth
On the darkest and coldest of nights.

Looking into each others eyes,
Seeing faces lighting up with laughter,
Or tears running down cheeks.
It doesn't matter which.
As long as we face each other,
We see the light, and hear the love
We create for each other.

However,
Whenever we turn away,
Gaze into the shadows
And imagine we are
All alone
In a Universe
Without light and
Without love.  
We often feel surrounded by darkness
And totally lost.

Which is more real,
The world in which,
Lost,
We sit alone,
Or one in which,
Equally lost,
We sit together...

With despairing eyes
I see no hope.
With hating eyes
Only hatred, I see.
Through eyes of love
I see mostly love!

All around me,
What I see
Apparently depends,
To a great degree,
On which eyes I choose
In which to see!

Who knew how simple
My life could be!
That I could choose
Happiness over Suffering
So easily,
Whenever I take the time
And effort
To choose the eyes
Through which
I See!

She spends her days
In a house of mirrors.
Each image is real, yet
Each is false.
Each image is
Reflected into
Her frightened eyes
By a mirror, warped
And twisted, by
Past beliefs that are not,
And never were,
True.

She can't see her own
Wondrous Light
Beauty and,
Immeasurable
Worth,
Something we each possess
As human beings,
To shine on each other,
And light up our world.
These mirrors she constructed
Constantly and consistently
Lie to her, and she only sees a
Pathetic, worthless failure
In them.

Where might she find
A true reflection
Of herself in this
House of false reflections?
Perhaps in
The eyes of those who
Care about her, and
Love her?
There she might glimpse the truth
About her real, whole self.
A truth she
Dares not discover,
For fear that it will just be
A confirmation of
What she already knows:

That she is an unlovable monster
With nothing of any value
In herself
To offer anyone!

Why is it so much easier for many of us,
Like her,
To live with the certainty of painful lies,
And punish ourselves for what we are not,
Than risk the uncertainty of
Glimpsing the unknown truths
About our unknowable selves?

You may at times feel
Broken,
Lost,
Inadequate,
Incompetent,
Ugly,
Stupid,
Insigni­ficant,
Invisible,
Helpless,
Hopeless,
Etc...,
During the unexpected detours
In your life,
Just as I have felt
In mine,
Just as many sometimes feel
In theirs.

However, Take heart,
My dear Emma!
Please always remember that:

You will always have
A hand to hold,
A shoulder to cry on,
A pair of arms to hug you,
A pair of ears to listen to you,
A mind to try to understand you,
And most of all,
A heart to empathize with you,
As you trudge though those
Unbeaten and challenging paths
In your life!

This, I promise you.
You can always count on me!
From now on, you will never travel alone.
We will always travel together,
At least in spirit.

We are all personal beings,
Living in a primarily impersonal world.
All we have are each other,
Otherwise we would each
Be all alone,
And helpless...

However,
We are each separated
From each other
Not by space,
Nor distance,

But primarily
By Fear
Shame, and
Most of all,
Mistrust
Of each other.

What a pity!