Monday Morning Thoughts on “Being”

 

             There is a thickness to life, a depth and a knowing, an observer and an observed.  I feel the depth deepening.  I see the” I”  as ego and separate from the observer, when this separation is complete, bliss will remain and be all pervasive.  I feel it coming; a flood of knowing is approaching.  Glimpses of  becoming, I see the 3D effect, the truth in believing without the believing, or the truth.  To dis-identify with the body is to watch it change and grow, watch it become and not, watch it be and not and know there is no death to the being that is observing.  The bliss’s will follow, don’t grab at it, just let it be.

                It really no longer matters if he loved me or not, it really doesn’t – that is just ego. I say to him in my head,  “you have no power over me” and the glass breaks, the mirror shatters and that which is identified with is gone, leaving only the essence of being, of eternal being, not dependent on anything or anyone external.  A freeing of non-self but all self, without ego, a smiling face beyond thought, above resistance to what is, in spite of “myself” recognizing and seeing it in everything and everyone, even the many who don’t see, who don’t  know there is anything to see or know.

               My body changes, it needs food, water and rest.  It doesn’t ask for it, it demands it and takes it.  It is its due as a vessel of importance.  It holds my humanness but is not who I am.  The universal consciousness powers my physical being.  It makes me breathe in my sleep, it lights my inner darkness with a promise of the eternal.  It whispers “no fear, no death, no end to being” to my soul and shows me the way to peace.  Its peace, like a warm blanket, descends to wrap my soul and quiet its longings.  It holds and comforts until the longing stops, and then it holds some more.

                To be given this gift of life for however long the body lasts, is the ultimate blessing.  It provides a benchmark of sorts; a non-being to give being its meaning.  It provides  a sense of the temporary to illustrate the permanent, the enlessness of being.  It provides the physical to complete the picture and therein comes the depth and texture of existence, eternal existence.

                This little body, this perfect creation is lovely.  I feel its aliveness; I watch in awe how in spite of me, and my abuse of it, it continues on.  I see how I think of it, when I honor it with truth and love, it glows, it reacts as a whole with a flushing of the skin, it is telling me it knows, it hears me.  But it is ageing, only doing what it is meant to do and I have been privileged to be able to watch as the un-manifested became manifested, how it learned and experienced and how now it is fading back to the formless again but richer and aware of being aware, it is all what we choose it to be, but only if we know.

                Just be still and let it come, whatever “it” is, no concept, no thought, all freedom, stop labeling, feel and not,  see and not, know and don’t, be without being.  I can’t help but think in words, but try to stop thinking and be, be as the fresh night air that is flowing through my bedroom window.  Sharing itself with my being, the fragrance of the moist early spring earth just is and buy its just being it imbibes my being with a wonder and joy.  I experience it without thought as to the why or how of it, my being knowing its being. 

                When we can truly embrace this knowing, when we can truly embrace this mess that is our human condition, when we can finally stop pointing and touching with the broken finger only then can we experience the eternal hallelujah.  As L. Cohen wrote, “It is a cold and broke hallelujah”.  But thank goodness for the pain, for the depth, for the experience, for all of it.  But to hold that being, to maintain that presence,  to accept and believe in its fleeting nature is sometimes so far out of reach because of my ego, and when that unreachable feeling comes over me,  then it is time to sit, to be silent, to let the being take hold in silence.

                In my  sitting, there are bursts of joy, bliss and understanding of being, felt not thought, a spontaneous smile but then I try to grab it, to hold on to the majic and by doing so I chase it back into the silence from where it came.  By being silent and just sitting and being, I invite it back.  It acts like a timid bird, wanting to be close but afraid of me and my ego.  It shows itself and thereby makes the lack if it, or the absense of it when I have chased it away, so empty and flat, uncomfortable and shallow, dark and cold, I don’t’ like it.  It is not reality, or more accurately it is reality without the knowing and I don’t want to stay there.  But when I try to rise above it the effort seems too great.  It is only when I don’t try that it is effortless.  I need to stop getting in my own way, stop getting in my beings way.

The sights, smells, senses of life are wonderful.  We and all the beings on this earth share our presence here together.  We enrich each other’s physical experience; and by doing so we make that cold and broken hallelujah no so cold or broken after all.

Tea Mugs and Wine Glasses

Come, sit and sip with me,

The tea will warm our hands, the wine our hearts.

Hold my hands across the table,

Watch and feel my eyes melt into yours.

Your heart hears mine but you pull

Your sweater tight and muffle its cries.

Let it out, it only wants to share

Don’t be afraid,

It won’t leave you for me and mine

Won’t leave me for you, but

They will meet when

Our chests touch and

Their harmonic beauty will speak to us of peace and love and

Lull us to sleep

Among the tea mugs

And wine glasses.

Be Amazed

Notes of soul,

Words of flesh,

The sound of time is

Love expressed.

Chants whisper to me

As their cords of light infuse my spirit.

The names of God swirl in silent eddies

And drain through the fibers of my heart

Where traces of love are

Caught and linger.

The universal love holds no space or time

It is all and nothing.

Come my love, hold my hand and

Sing with me the names of God in love and watch

Watch and be amazed as the magic unfolds again.

Creator as Creation

The undisputable evidence of the creator

Surrounds me.

She is in the heart of every rain drop,

She is the voice of the thunder.

Her soft strong hand holds the sun in the sky,

And the birds on the wing.

All life is a manifestation of

Her will and beauty.

To deny her is to deny

My very existence and the existence of all that I love.

Her voice echoes in the wind and her love

Caresses my face with moonshine and starlight.

Only she knows the time of the seasons,

As she knows the passions of my heart.

Life without the acceptance of her presence

Is possible – but empty.

My practice of Buddhism, without her foundation, without her to seek in the

Stillness of mind,

Would become empty and shallow, self serving,

An interesting preoccupation only.

I see her in every flower, every mountain top,

Every smile.

She exists in all of creation, every part and particle,

Every quark and lepton, every neutrino and vibrating string.

They all bear her thoughts and are ruled, created and

Imbibed with her universal consciousness.

A consciousness that she freely and openly shares with each and every one of us,

All we have to do is seek and she will answer.

She is an endless thought, an endless love, all encompassing, and all knowing.

She holds all the possibilities of eternity in her thoughts and ideals.

The creator has become the creation. She resides in me and you.

Reach for her in the darkness and feel her light and hope,

Open your eyes and be awake to her presence, your heart will echo her joy forever

And you will never be alone again.

She will never disappoint you,

She knew you before you were born.

The Watcher of the Wood

From my bedroom window

I watch the woodland change with the seasons.

On the corner of the house, a maple branch hugs the windowsill

Its leaves framing my view of the forest.

How can I explain the secret life of leaves I observe from my window and the

Magical growth that takes place in silence unseen?

I can think of no words to use, so instead I just watch, I watch the breeze

ruffle the leaves and the branches move together in the wind like fans made of feathers.

And then the rain comes and I watch the drops play the

Leaves like keys on a piano.

I am content with my role as watcher and marvel at the strength and skill the trees employ when they interlock  their arms to form an impenetrable force of gentle power in silence.

These graceful tree spirits are woven together by the hand of God to create

The framework of the forest.

They surround my home and speak to my soul and

My heart hears their thoughts and hopes,

And I realize and know that they are

Not so different from me.

I understand and accept that we share this planet and are

Children of the One in all our varied forms

All connected,

All equal in the eyes of our creator.

And the peace and stillness of the wood

pervades my soul and feeds my spirit and makes me one with those who stand outside looking in.

Who I Am

I am a woman,

A real woman.

Finally one with who I am

Not who anyone else wants me to be.

Mother, daughter, grandmother, friend, sister, lover

All aspects of the same me.

I know what I can take and

When to say “Enough!”

When to be still, when to move

When to love, when to protect.

They are my choices to make, mine alone and

My chances to take as well.

I have enough love for the whole world and

Dreams to match.

I am wise in so many new ways,

Ways I never knew existed.

The transition from girl to young woman

To the me of now has been a hard journey.

I no longer need, now I know and feel and treasure what and who is.

This recent shift in perspective has been life changing.

I know what I don’t want and what I

Will not put up with ever again.

I am a mother to everyone and

A servant to none but God.

I am a sister to my friends and will stand by

And with them for all time.

It takes a special man to handle the love of a real woman,

A woman of strength and passion.

I am thankful to have finally met such a man, I am his lover and his alone.

My love for him is not controlling or imposing, it is freeing and glorious, as is he.

“Come my love, come share in my journey, as I will share in yours.

Take my hand and walk with me, I will not let you down, I promise.”

It has taken me 60 years to find this place in myself and now with him.

I can finally shut off the voices in my head that would deny me this joy.

They are self-defeating voices carrying left over pains from the past, a past

Best left behind, not ignored and stifled but learned from and then put to rest.

I can now assert and live my right to be who I am, who I’ve always been,

From the beginning of time and now, thankfully, for all time to come.

The Space Within

The space within, the space without.

Infinite space and darkness, the same.

A warm, soft darkness,

Full and empty, existing and not.

Silence and heart noise

Flow and flux as I sit and feel.

Stable and symmetrical are the

Shadows and light.

The energy I send rebounds from the depths and its

Vibrations shake my soul.

The cushion and candles, Buddha and Quan Yin all

Become one.

My soul and my heart are

Darkness and light together and

Soft winds and tides ebb and flow

As thunder shakes the sky within.

The space within and the space without are the same and blend together,

Only divided by the layer of skin that holds my face.

Summer’s Love

In the abundance of summer

I am astounded and surrounded by life.

 

A time of growth, lush and green

When the Earth awakens and the cycle of life begins.

 

The trees surround me and hang over my house.

Watching and waiting.

 

They watch us scurry about,

Sometimes missing so much in our haste.

 

But the trees know and in their knowing they stand

As silent sententials with green, growing souls.

 

Makers of light, life and breath,

Keepers of the leaves.

 

I sense their souls, and can feel the strength in their roots

Sunk deeply in the earth.

 

They stretch their arms skyward,

In a silent Om

 

And it radiates from their beings, filling the forest

With its vibrations.

 

Birds answer in kind with song,

And mummers of life stir the forest floor in praise.

 

The summer’s love is not wasted on the indifferent,

The forest sees and remembers.

Each leaf and blade of grass, patch of moss, clump of shrubs

And form of life has a hand in building the harmony of nature.

 

Everything has worth, and a role to play

In the chorus of life in love with the earth.

 

The earth sings her love back

In wind and rain, fire and hope and

 

All of creation rests in harmony.

Solstice Sisters

Sisters at Solstice

Close in every way.

Tied together by heart strings,

Communing, sharing, boundless souls.

Summer eve’s fire of light and drums brings us together.

We woman are drummers, playing the rhythm of life.

Givers of life, keepers of souls,

Ours and others, together in harmony.

Old friends and new, first and last.

Time is no separator, souls know no distance.

Heart words flow and sage cleans as

we face our fears and hopes, hand in hand.

The vale is lifted,

The curtain swept back.

The darkness is soft and warm

with the fullness of life.

The fire light defines the dark and

our spirit moves freely between them.

Light and dark can not exist without each other,

like tear drops and smiles.

Throughout the evening, our emotions run high and then crash to

the depths and are full of hope and love, happiness and tears.

For we are women of soul, of life

and darkness, of love and laughter and light.

Sisters united in our love of life and love for each other.

Solstice sisters, inseparable, together in life and heart, always.