Be Here Now

Be here now

Streams whisper it in the trickling water,
But it is drowned out by passing cars

Rain taps it out on fields everywhere,
And it is silenced by louder noise.

Plants exude it:
As life-giving as oxygen;
It is choked out by the weeds of distraction
-Of ‘everyday life.’

Yet the still small voice exists
For those that abide it.

“Be Here Now”

Acknowledge its truth,
And live as you were meant to live:
Being rather than doing.

Philosophy

Philosophy

A good philosopher is skeptical;
A great philosopher keeps an open mind.
“It can’t be done” and “it hasn’t yet been done”
What a difference between the two!

One suggests impossibility
While the other creates opportunity.

Optimism is the seed from which hope and peace grow;
Cultivate it with patience and solitude,
And the spirit will grow to be fruitful.

"Best Days"

"Best Days"

"These are the best days of your life,"
said the man with a sad distant look in his eyes,
"enjoy them," was added as more of a command than suggestion.
16 at the time, and believed the lie.

Four years later the same statement made
By a different man, but with that same look
As if he were 'there' and not 'here,'
Internally questioned this time-

How could the best days be both then and now?

Now newly wed and hears this cliche once more,
starts to rebel against this lie
-but discovers a misinterpreted truth.

"These" truly are the best days -no matter when they are.
They were the best days, as much as they are now,
and as much as they will be in the future.

Beyond Emotions

Beyond Emotions

Happy leads to sad and yet;
Sometimes sadness leads to happiness.
Can you decide? Can you control them?
Or do circumstances dictate the way you feel?

There is a better way!
Beyond both of these is a peace
-a peace which passes understanding.
A joy which rules over all.

Open up and embrace it;
Look beyond the temporal.
This transcending of emotions
Leaves us not empty,
but eternally fulfilled.

Painting a new picture

Painting a New Picture

The time for stick figures and finger-painting has ended.
Let go of conscious efforts to depict the world
-they will always fall short.

Erase all preconceptions from the mind;
Put down the brush and dull primary colors.
Put away the crude mental constructs.

Allow the pristine white canvas to be colored
By the vivid reality all around.
See things for what they truly are
And not what we perceive them as.

Sit

Sit

Just sit there and enjoy your cup of tea –or coffee if you prefer.
You could think about the unfathomable, indescribable mysteries of reality
(you could even attempt to describe them!)
Pin down more adjectives concerning the nameless, ever present existence enveloping everything.

But your drink is getting cold…

Then there is the matter of death:
The elusive, illusive, much alluded to ‘great equalizer’
Perhaps you could further mankind’s quest for answers?
There are more unsettled things:
Love, peace, consciousness, faith, and more

Sometimes I prefer tea to answers
-darkness to light
-mystery to resolution
-present to past or future
And in the moments of true clarity and stillness I know:
There is no need to seek answers when they are all around you,
Only a need to open up and let them enter you like a warm cup of tea on a cool fall day.

The Observer

The Observer :

Reality passes through the filter of conscious for all, but the lens of distortion is not quite so thick for the true observer. He perceives; then preserves –imbibing actuality without digestion. The observer absorbs his environment without disturbing it. The situation constantly transforms, but its account is eternal.

Reality seeps into his pores and is exuded with the steady rise and fall of respiration. The passivity is deceptive. Deep concentration is summoned and channeled into a most worthy endeavor. The moment is soon over and it no longer exists anywhere but the mind of the observer. Its validity is solely dependant on the reliability of his senses.

Reality has not changed, but the observer has. Though his objectivity is unwavering, it has forced him to lose control –as any truly equitable party should when faced with the unassailably verifiable. Being a true observer means this: focusing on reality to the point that you do not merely perceive it, but become it.