Treating Spiritual Disorders
Recent Reflections
THE THOUGHTFUL OPENING OF THE HEART
When life unfolds harmoniously, its qualities (whether foreground or background) are of a unity and have no relative value one over the other. This confluence allows us to move with less effort and distraction through the many manifestations of daily living. The press and urgency of what must be done is somewhat puzzling. It is not a problem to us when seeing water rush over a fall and thunder to the riverbed below, continuing on more serenely. There are certainly such forces within us that carry us along, seemingly as helpless as a stick caught up in the current. But perhaps illusion distracts us from the harmony which life affords. That being, union through unity in nondifferention within creation's existence: the confluence of presence and absence. While power is a product of the river's movement, so too is confluence and integration. When motivations, drives and such urgency thrust us into the sea of unbridled emotion the stability of this union being obscured, we must listen for the still small voice which combines with the thunderous as truth in being.
SENARIOS
Tumultuous living
presses its power over us.
No one can resist it
so one may come to believe.
It tires me
and I wish only
for the rest of oblivion
retiring from play.
Of course it is wonderful
to be seen and play
on the fields of the affluent
to the audiences
wishing to hear and see
what is said to be
noteworthy and prominent
or showing promise
that in time the fledgling
will come upon
the center light
basking in the cold
warmth of it all.
I become caught up
in the vacuous
not remembering to see
in the earnestness
of the performer
those inner rhythms
seeking to be seen
and known to be alive
to be seen
before whomsoever
may glimpse upon
those creations so dear
those years of touching
so little
feeling for those energies
offered subtly
with polite noises
or with gusty bravos
and cheers.
Ah, but the emptiness
and the aloneness
the business at hand
and the selling of wares
before the people.
Why have we come to this
to offer what will
quite likely, be seen
by few, and then
understood with each one
as from within what truth
they themselves create?
The thunderous
is not the obsession.
But then, perhaps it is.
For against all understanding
we are drawn to it
perhaps so as to awaken our spirits:
its booming voice covering the land
and with gusty wind
displays nature's prominence.
Thus do we take it
upon ourselves
to be like the force of life
and create our own thunder
and raging waters
lifting ourselves
out of smallness
to become esteemed and seen
before the face of all peoples
for the glory of life's reflection.
II
It is the still small voice
I seek as it speaks
from within, barely making it
into even a hint of recognition.
Yet it is enough
and draws me to its light.
Its sweet smelling fragrance
on the night
of the Summer Solstice.
Take care
that what you offer
is not a trade
wherein with expectation
the gift must be returned.
It must come from within
then lie upon the stage
of its offering
as paths that tell
tell of a way.
How many times
have we come upon
this journey wanting,
nay even compelling
the light of life to unfold
as we would have it be
thereby settling, once again
for its reflection
from the eye of the beholder.
For now I will stay
upon how it is I have come
to be here for this purpose
to wend my way
into the heart of being
bringing you to be here
that we may see together
this unity in being.
The thoughtful opening
of the heart
does not offend
neither does it take offense.
next reflection - YIELDING