Sunday, December 31, 2017

Gifts of War


Gifts of War

As we consider
or disparage this
wrenching title..
We are told stories
some long hidden
of camaraderie
transcending fear
real freedom..
Might we today 
look beneath all
of life's struggles
and dislocations
and find there
this same Gift..
Visiting the Gift
we might find what  
has been forgotten:
we are that Gift...



Saturday, December 30, 2017

Question and Answer



Question and Answer

A question is 
a narrowing by the mind
looking for satisfaction
in an objective way..
Looking in the way
the mind has always looked..
The sage advice we are given
is to cease looking
and recognize the 
deep core of the question:
dissolving all answers
in a most satisfying
Truth...

Friday, December 29, 2017

to Daniel on his 30th Birthday..!



to Daniel on his 30th Birthday..!

It is with pride and love
that I send you this greeting..
You have found your own way
as each of us must..
Your path has led
via those twists and turns
to this moment of reflection
on what is past and ahead..
You were blessed on that day
you met another on her path
and you both found
you have always been
walking together..
Together as Each
you will find your ways
through many new days
but let's pause on this one:
Have a Most Happy Birthday..!

Poppa

Thursday, December 28, 2017

Perspectives



Perspectives

The world seems to be awaiting
the discovery that it..and each of us..
are not who we have thought ourselves
to Be..
Perspective teaches much..!
When we believe we are some-thing only
we suffer the pains of separation..
Peace comes with the recognition of ourselves
as no-thing..a blissful recognition..
Happiness arrives with a third recognition:
that we are every-thing..
However..these three stages are artificial and
analytical..
Experience reveals that all three are bundled
and we might simply enter our bundle
and note the various colorations of a whole:  
Some-No-Every-Thing..
The bundle is our fulfilled identity:
Freedom results in the knowing that
each perspective is available
at all times and in all places...



Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Our Colors


Our Colors

We live forgetting
who we are
and become enthralled
with roles and purposes..
Reality seems as
the coloring we apply
to the identity
we have forgotten..
Some of the coloring
is darker as life
presents its struggles..
At some point
we need recognize
life as forgetting
erasing the colors
remembering with joy
that which we 
have always been 
and still are...

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Simply this...






















A Christmas Message from Rupert Spira:

"‘I am’ is the first name of Christ. “Before Abraham was, I am”. Christmas is the Mass of Christ, that is, the remembrance and celebration of the I am that I am, and that knows itself to be. Instead of stories of children, mangers and sheep, it is this I am that I am, and that knows itself to be, that should be proclaimed from our churches. To know the peace that passeth understanding and the unconditional happiness that accompanies it, it is only necessary to know our own being – the I am that I am, and that knows itself to be – as it is.

"To indicate that is the most precious gift that anyone can impart or receive.

"Happy Christmas! That is, be happy in the remembrance and celebration of your own being – its knowing of itself."

The Hard Problem of Consciousness















The Hard Problem of Consciousness

It is exceedingly hard
because of stern dependence 
upon thoughts and perceptions
in diligent research of the brain.. 
Hoping to yield with great effort 
the secret of consciousness..
The assumption seems entrenched
that the mind has capacities
beyond its lenses of limitation..
The mind is lodged in time and space
and stands mute in the presence of
no-dimension..
It seems we are waiting for the mind
to yield to its humble limitations
acknowledging that solutions to
the hard problem exceed its grasp
as the moth dies in its flame of desire..
Surrender may then be the path
to a direct recognition
of the secret of long seeking...




Monday, December 25, 2017

Happy / Merry



Happy / Merry

A contest of greetings
this annual diversion from
discovery of underlying Truth..
Both words are limitations
but happy seems expansive
merry seems temporary..
A merry occasion
brings momentary happiness
a taste of happiness..
Leaving the longing
for one more taste
and one more..
Searching for understanding:
Happiness is...

Son of God / of Man


Son of God / of Man


Sunday, December 24, 2017

Christmas Eve


Another Christmas Eve..
Many of us have known this Eve
through many advancing years..
We have been reminded of the story
which refers to those events and beliefs
with their color and calming voice..
Perhaps this year we might allow
the visions and sounds to fade..
To fade not into sleep but
into an awareness now
of heavenly peace..

Thursday, December 21, 2017

The Hidden Pearl

  

Religions seem to do this:
hide the pearl which is their source..
Buried sometimes quite deeply
is the most precious pearl..
The pearl is covered by opaqueness 
by decorative metaphor
by stories of ancient ponderings..
What is needed..first of all..
is to know the pearl for which
we are looking..
Take a path directly to the pearl
and avoid the circuitous routes
 offered by scriptural densities..
What can we say of the pearl..?
Seeming as no-thing
It is full of potential
Infinite as Here
Eternal as Now..
Finally..we return to those
stories and coverings and
see the Pearl shining
in simple words
scattered here and now...

Here..for example:
Note below how the 
Now and Joy
shine as the Pearl
we seek...!





Wednesday, December 20, 2017

The Nature of Consciousness






Rupert Spira:  The Nature of Consciousness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co-mK9ReLzY&t=3304s
(1:24, Q & A @ 1:02)
Topics:  Mary and Jane, Big Bang,...)

The Perennial Prayer


The Perennial Prayer

First the recognition
of one's hallowed identity..
Pausing there
experiencing the wholeness
and abounding love..
Then new recognition
of the real creation
within and made of
one's identity..
Obvious..no separation:
earth and heaven..
This new birthing
of life on earth
still needing bread and
forgiveness  cleansing
for our forgetting..
Recognizing ego's slyness
to fill new identity
leading to temptation..
Knowing finally
with peace and joy: 
The Kingdom already 
IS
Here and Now...






Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Mind and Matter and Joy


Mind and Matter and Joy

These words are our life knowings..
To see that mind and matter
are our conventional ways
of perceiving as we do..
And then asking:
Is this all..?
Unease brings this question..
Awaiting a collapse
and the birth of
Joy...





Rupert Spira videos:

Courage


Courage

The topic today..Cafe discussion..
Courage:  What is it..?
Perhaps a response to the more
fundamental word: fear..
Considering fear as a departure
from the Present..a venture
into the past whether very recent
or back then..
or a venture into the future
with an ominous slant..
Fear grabs our attention
especially:  fire..flood..other..
Whether near or far
sudden or not
courage takes one
to a transcendent place:
recognizing the wholeness 
of: "I"   ...

Sunday, December 17, 2017

War Songs





War Songs

We look back
with nostalgia and pride..
My father heard these songs
over there..
He and we
as we Know
experience these songs
coloring our presence..

Note the comments
with this medley..
Those suffering dementia 
still know this music
with its words..
Could it be:
the experience Now
is the same experience
then and now...?



World War I Songs Medley by Terry R. Shaw

Friday, December 15, 2017

Alien life





Alien Life

As in all new science
we must start with consciousness..
Everything 
appears within consciousness
which is our simple experience..
The next step is to realize:
Everything 
is made of consciousness
aliens and robots..you too..!
Consciousness is infinite stuff
(a bit of liberty here..!)
Everything 
we can readily realize
must be made of that stuff..

The elephants of deception
are the assumptions that aliens
are made of other stuff
which will enter our view from
outside.. their exotic place..
This forgetting the nature
of the really real:
(Remember:
the all of consciousness..?)
Allows the mind to wander
locating and thinking of
appearances which maybe..
Until remembering awakens
and we return to
our beginning words...




Here I am



Here I am

Placeless and timeless
some face with fear..
Others experience
 as saving grace..
Those in fear
cling to the eclipse
to the covering
disguising Here
as here...

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Shocking Words..!


Shocking Words..!

Shock and Surprise
this Hanukkah revelation..
A revelation of the
Perennial Tradition
the foundation of 
all religion and
and soon for science..
Consciousness seeps 
from this ancient text
as it does from others
after those centuries
of hiding in plain sight..!


Jesus' Shocking Words at Hanukkah

True knowledge is the experiential understanding that there is only ever-present, unlimited Awareness or Knowing. Nothing other than this is ever known even when it seems that a mind, body and world are known. This ever-present, unlimited Awareness, which is simply the intimacy of our own being, is the fundamental nature of the apparently inside self and its corollary, the apparently outside object, other or world.
All religions are founded upon this understanding. In Christianity it is expressed as, “I and my Father are one.” That is, I, Awareness, and the ultimate reality of the universe are one and the same reality. In Buddhism, “Nirvana and Samsara are identical.” That is, the transparent, open, empty light of Awareness which is not made out of any kind of a thing – nothing – is the substance of all appearances – everything. Nothing taking the shape of everything. In Hinduism, “Atman and Param-Atman are one.” That is, the individual self, when divested of superimposed beliefs and feelings of limitation, stands revealed as the true and only self of eternal, infinite Awareness. And in Sufism, “Wherever the eye falls, there is the face of God.” All that is seen is God’s face and it is God that sees it.
All these phrases are conditioned by the culture in which they appeared but they all point towards the same unconditional truth – the reality of all experience.
-Rupert Spira


Monday, December 11, 2017

The Window


The Window

This is hidden news
but most Revolutionary..
We need to watch
for the simple words:
I am
in whatever scripture
we now attend..
The words are a window
to Peace and Grace..
And to the Joy available
in these troubling times..
Peering through the Window
from inside
we find the world
as we have known..
With a turning
and peering through
from the outside
we find our Self
a newness with Joy...


Sunday, December 10, 2017

Incarnation



I am Incarnation
We use the word "I"
every day and hour..
I brings to focus
observer and object
the birth of the other
of 2..

Incarnation then
is I and my world..
We celebrate I
in this season..
Yet we find more
with the question 
What am I..?

I seem lacking
unfulfilled
especially in those
darker hours..
Must I be 2..?
Then the discovery
and the flame:
I am not 2
I am 1...




Lead us not...



















Lead us not...

Do not lead us..changes to
Do not let us..
Lead and Let..
As in all such oppositions
we need to locate our perspective:
objective or subjective..
Objectively we are asking for assistance
in not being led or not letting 
assuming the separation of the source
of assistance from our needing..
Subjectively we can realize:
there is no distance from the source
as we are the words on the page..
Any words may appear..lead and let
and others between..yet the page remains
undisturbed and whole..one with the words..
Lead and Let are we find dimming when
we realize we are the Page...


Pope Francis has called for a translation of a phrase about temptation in the Lord's Prayer to be changed.
The current wording that says "lead us not into temptation" is not a good translation because God does not lead humans to sin, he says.
His suggestion is to use "do not let us fall into temptation" instead, he told Italian TV on Wednesday night.
The Lord's Prayer is the best-known prayer in Christianity.
The pontiff said France's Roman Catholic Church was now using the new wording "do not let us fall into temptation" as an alternative, and something similar should be used worldwide.
"Do not let me fall into temptation because it is I who fall, it is not God who throws me into temptation and then sees how I fell," he told TV2000, an Italian Catholic TV channel.
"A father does not do that, a father helps you to get up immediately."

Friday, December 8, 2017

Bouncing Cosmology











Bouncing Cosmology

Not a Bang..but a Cycle
contraction and expansion
like the ocean and a wave:
the wave contracts within the ocean
then expands and becomes once more
the ocean..which it always has been..

Considering the bounce more subjectively.
I am the bounce..as are You..
I contract and perceive the universe
I expand and the perception lightens
disappearing into light..until contraction
brings back the universe in all its glory..!


The concept (bouncing cosmology) first appeared at least 40 years ago, and it agrees that the universe is expanding, but does not assume that the universe came into being when that expansion started and the universe was infinitely small. Instead, it proposes that the universe is eternally undergoing a cycle of contraction and expansion. These alternating phases smoothly follow each other like the phases of the tide.
(for more:  https://www.space.com/38982-no-big-bang-bouncing-cosmology-theory.html




Thursday, December 7, 2017

A Journey

A Journey

As we face inward
we seem to leave behind
the tangles and misfortunes
of what was outward..
A real identity shines
bringing unexplained
fear to some and
happiness and peace
to others..
Those in fear 
may retreat so to
perceive once more
the expected.. their
outward faith in
rocky stability..
For the others
blissful remaining
is immediate wish
but eventual turning
reveals a merging
 inward and outward..
Yet the appearances
are as remembered..
As this journey
is enjoined by
each of us...

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Evangelicals


Evangelicals

These E's
energized apparently
by teachings which
others quietly embrace..
It seems our culture of
separation and belief
has placed walls
which deny freedom
in knowing the roots 
of religious fervor.. 
An idolatrous odor
seems on occasion
to rise from worship
of flag and nation..
Their exclusion of
those not sharing this
moment's ecstasy
feels disheartening..
However..
these are judgments
perhaps made in haste
perhaps ill-informed..
Some words I
might readily erase...!

Monday, December 4, 2017

A matter of waiting


A matter of waiting

The Advent message
repeated over centuries:
Waiting in time for
fulfillment and peace..
What will happen
with the recognition
that time is a construct
a convenient line
appearing in Mind..?
To recognize that
 illusory time disguises
and demands attention
as the framework for
history and lives..?
The lifetime discovery:
to recognize that
here and now resides
fulfillment and peace: 
There is no wait...!

Saturday, December 2, 2017

Burdens


Burdens

East and West cultures
embellish spiritual truth
with color and decoration
and with shadows of
creation's duality..
These confounding covers
produce sleep and 
resistance to calls for
new recognition..
Religious texts hide
their single truth
in their stories and
discontinuities..
We need to find teachers
ancient and new
with a balm of simplicity
to uncover..untangle
and burn all those
burdens which hide
our own Truth...

Friday, December 1, 2017

Resisting



Resisting

A morning recognition:
We resist what is not
rather than what is..
Resistance 
in normal parlance
is the pushing back on
what we see as events
in our world of separation..
Resistance seems as justice
and a change for the good..
Putting the above aside
for a moment:
Might we also see
that with resistance as
life's focus
we cloud the happiness
which is recognizable
here and now..?
Both perspectives are vital:
we need resist what is not
when moral sense rises
but recognize what is:
what is open and whole
behind the cloud...







Thursday, November 30, 2017

WHAT REMAINS?


WHAT REMAINS?

We keep a focus
on what appears as the world:
the morning newspaper
checking email and 
Facebook and checkbook..
Perhaps we meditate
and notice the thoughts
interfering it seems
with meditating goals..
All of these outward
attractions and destinies
seem to claim somewhat
of what we are.. 
The question may assert:
What remains..?
The assertion arriving 
with fits of discomfort..
We might respond:
Nothing remains:
a frightening reply 
to some..calming to others..
This introduction
to what we are
is the real message
of this season...


Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Being of help


Being of help

It takes courage
to assert ourselves
claiming an identity
that has found fraud
in the seeming separate ego..
Oftentimes the ego clamor
with its many stories and facts
seems as a barrier unassailable..
Perhaps what is needed
is to relax
recognizing the answers
are embedded in the questions...




Monday, November 27, 2017

Science and Religion

and


The only reconciliation comes
from the recognition of the
Truth which illumines their
background..
It is the Perennial Truth
with a glow dimmed
as we immerse in 
either science or religion..
In religion is downloaded
an apparent separation
which is persistent 
in religious perception..
In science another download
and another separation..
These are prodigal journeys
and a return seems beaconing..
Science..in its quantum newness
seems slowly turning..
Religion..in non-dual awakening
may yet turn toward home..
Or..is each of us
by our own experience
marking the path...







Zig-Zag



Zig-Zag

Downtown or on the roadway
zig-zag searching
always for something..
Stopping at a coffeeshop 
reaching a place
seemingly removed..
An interruption in
a zig-zag map
with map forgotten..
The coffeeshop was not
a zig stop..or a zag
just momentary..a respite..
Might zig-zag dissolve
right here and now
 in this cup of coffee...?