It's been a crazy few weeks, and I didn't do this the way I wanted. No excuses- I'm back at it.
Gamble Everything for Love
If you want what visible reality
can give you, you're an employee.
If you want the unseen world,
you're not living your truth.
Both wishes are foolish,
but you'll be forgiven for forgetting
that what you really want is
love's confusing joy.
--
Gamble everything for love,
if you're a true human being.
If not, leave
this gather.
Half-heartedness doesn't reach
into majesty. You set out
to find God, but then you keep
stopping for long periods
at mean-spirited roadhouses.
--
In a boat down a fast-running creek,
it feels like trees on the bank
are rushing by. What seems
to be changing around us
is rather the speed of our craft
leaving this world.
Today's Mantra: Memento mori
Remember you are mortal. This life is fleeting, and will come to an end. Rather than being depressing or fatalistic, though, it is a call to concentrate on what is important. We have finite time on this world. We must remember to show love to those around us, take chances to get where we want to be, and appreciate the beauty of this world.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Off the wagon
So in the hectic move and drive across the country (3119 miles in 6 days), meditating got lost in the shuffle. I'm going to be back at it tomorrow morning.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Jan 9
I missed yesterday. I'm picking back up today, though.
I Have Five Things to Say
The wakened lover speaks directly to the beloved,
"You are the sky my spirit circles in,
the love inside love, the resurrection-place.
Let this window be your ear.
I have lost consciousness many times
with longing for your listening silence,
and your life-quickening smile.
You give attention to the smallest matters,
my suspicious doubts, and to the greatest.
You know my coins are counterfeit,
but you accept them anyway,
my impudence and my pretending!
I have five things to say,
five fingers to give
into your grace.
First, when I was apart from you,
this world did not exist,
nor any other.
Second, whatever I was looking for
was always you.
Third, why did I ever learn to count to three?
Fourth, my cornfield is burning!
Fifth, this finger stands for Rabia,
and this is for someone else,
Is there a difference?
Are these words or tears?
Is weeping speech?
What shall I do, my love?"
So he speaks, and everyone around
begins to cry with him, laughing crazily,
moaning in the spreading union
of love rand beloved.
This is the true religion. All others
are thrown-away bandages beside it.
This is the sema of slavery and mastery
dancing together. This is not-being.
Neither words, nor any natural fact
can express this.
I know these dancers.
Day and night I sing their songs
in this phenomenal cage.
My soul, don't try to answer now!
Find a friend, and hide.
But what can stay hidden?
Love's secret is always lifting its head
out from under the cover,
"Here I am!"
Today's mantra: Open. Shine.
I Have Five Things to Say
The wakened lover speaks directly to the beloved,
"You are the sky my spirit circles in,
the love inside love, the resurrection-place.
Let this window be your ear.
I have lost consciousness many times
with longing for your listening silence,
and your life-quickening smile.
You give attention to the smallest matters,
my suspicious doubts, and to the greatest.
You know my coins are counterfeit,
but you accept them anyway,
my impudence and my pretending!
I have five things to say,
five fingers to give
into your grace.
First, when I was apart from you,
this world did not exist,
nor any other.
Second, whatever I was looking for
was always you.
Third, why did I ever learn to count to three?
Fourth, my cornfield is burning!
Fifth, this finger stands for Rabia,
and this is for someone else,
Is there a difference?
Are these words or tears?
Is weeping speech?
What shall I do, my love?"
So he speaks, and everyone around
begins to cry with him, laughing crazily,
moaning in the spreading union
of love rand beloved.
This is the true religion. All others
are thrown-away bandages beside it.
This is the sema of slavery and mastery
dancing together. This is not-being.
Neither words, nor any natural fact
can express this.
I know these dancers.
Day and night I sing their songs
in this phenomenal cage.
My soul, don't try to answer now!
Find a friend, and hide.
But what can stay hidden?
Love's secret is always lifting its head
out from under the cover,
"Here I am!"
Today's mantra: Open. Shine.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Jan 7
The Lame Goat
You've seen a herd of goats
going down the the water.
The lame and dreamy goat
brings up the rear.
There are worried faces about that one,
but now they're laughing,
because look, as they return,
that goat is leading!
There are many kinds of knowing.
The lame goat's kind is a branch
that traces back to the roots of presence.
Learn from the lame goat,
and lead the herd home.
Today's mantra: Breath. Release.
You've seen a herd of goats
going down the the water.
The lame and dreamy goat
brings up the rear.
There are worried faces about that one,
but now they're laughing,
because look, as they return,
that goat is leading!
There are many kinds of knowing.
The lame goat's kind is a branch
that traces back to the roots of presence.
Learn from the lame goat,
and lead the herd home.
Today's mantra: Breath. Release.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Jan 6
Same poem as yesterday, same mantra. Different thoughts.
I'm going to a conference in San Diego this weekend. I'm really going to have to keep on myself to do my meditation every day, but I think I can do it!
I'm going to a conference in San Diego this weekend. I'm really going to have to keep on myself to do my meditation every day, but I think I can do it!
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Jan 5
I feel like I cut this one short tonight- I plan to come back to it tomorrow.
A Community of the Spirit
There is a community of the spirit.
join it, and feel the delight
of walking in the noisy street,
and being the noise.
Drink all your passion,
and be a disgrace.
Close both eyes
to see with teh other eye.
Open your hands,
if you want to be held.
Sit down in this circle.
Quit acting like a wolf, and feel
the shephard's love filling you.
At night, your beloved wanders.
Don't accept consolations.
Close your mouth against food.
Taste the lovers' mouth in yours.
You moan, "She left me" "He left me."
Twenty more will come.
Be empty of worrying.
Think of who created thought!
Why do you stay in prison
when the door is so wide open?
Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking.
Live in silence.
Flow down and down in always
widening rings of being.
--
There's a strange frenzy in my head,
of birds flying,
each particle circulating on its own.
Is the one I love everywhere?
--
Drunks fear the police,
but the police are drunk too.
People in this town love them both
like different chess pieces.
Today's mantra: Be empty of worrying.
A Community of the Spirit
There is a community of the spirit.
join it, and feel the delight
of walking in the noisy street,
and being the noise.
Drink all your passion,
and be a disgrace.
Close both eyes
to see with teh other eye.
Open your hands,
if you want to be held.
Sit down in this circle.
Quit acting like a wolf, and feel
the shephard's love filling you.
At night, your beloved wanders.
Don't accept consolations.
Close your mouth against food.
Taste the lovers' mouth in yours.
You moan, "She left me" "He left me."
Twenty more will come.
Be empty of worrying.
Think of who created thought!
Why do you stay in prison
when the door is so wide open?
Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking.
Live in silence.
Flow down and down in always
widening rings of being.
--
There's a strange frenzy in my head,
of birds flying,
each particle circulating on its own.
Is the one I love everywhere?
--
Drunks fear the police,
but the police are drunk too.
People in this town love them both
like different chess pieces.
Today's mantra: Be empty of worrying.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Jan 4
Story Water
A story is like water
that you heat for your bath.
It takes messages between the fire
and your skin. It lets them meet,
and it cleans you!
Very few can sit down
in the middle of the fire itself
like a salamander or Abraham.
We need intermediaries.
A feeling of fullness comes,
but usually it takes some bread
to bring it.
Beauty surrounds us,
but usually we need to be walking
in a garden to know it.
The body itself is a screen
to shield and partially reveal
the light that's blazing
inside your presence.
Water, stories, the body,
all the things we do, are mediums
that hide and show what's hidden.
Study them,
and enjoy this being washed
with a secret we sometimes know,
and then not.
Today's mantra: Breathe. Release.
A story is like water
that you heat for your bath.
It takes messages between the fire
and your skin. It lets them meet,
and it cleans you!
Very few can sit down
in the middle of the fire itself
like a salamander or Abraham.
We need intermediaries.
A feeling of fullness comes,
but usually it takes some bread
to bring it.
Beauty surrounds us,
but usually we need to be walking
in a garden to know it.
The body itself is a screen
to shield and partially reveal
the light that's blazing
inside your presence.
Water, stories, the body,
all the things we do, are mediums
that hide and show what's hidden.
Study them,
and enjoy this being washed
with a secret we sometimes know,
and then not.
Today's mantra: Breathe. Release.
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