Feeling To Infinity

We hover like Greek gods above our lives, only rarely
descending to inhabit our humanity for the time it takes
to fashion a new myth, a more finely sculpted self-image.

This is how we each become our own religion, regardless
of any nominal affiliation to which we pledge allegiance
while kneeling at the altar of our transient beliefs.

We scare ourselves so we get a gun. We take aim
and pull the trigger, but the bullet flies backwards
and makes another smoking hole in our heart.

The heaviest shopped grocery aisle is “Pet Foods”,
yet we are responsible for the extinction of more
than 200 animal species every day. WE are.

We see a shiny object and immediately we crave it;
until we possess it at last we can think of little else.
In this way, our desire inevitably becomes our suffering.

All we are ever doing is creating worlds and destroying
worlds — so many Shivas, not enough Shaktis. Mother,
take us in your loving arms, so we can die in peace.

When I opened the pages, I saw where you had used
a yellow marker to highlight certain lines and passages,
and tears sprung to my eyes — God am I lost in you!

Time fell away, and I was sitting inside you, looking
out through your young eyes as you let the words
reach out and touch you, just as I love to touch you.

We are so many parts of other parts, all circling around
the great pillar of brilliant light that makes everything
so dear, so perfect in its own moment, so clear.

I don’t know how this happens, that we are brought
together in a scene so brimming with this wild ecstasy
that I can barely breathe when you put my hand in yours.

And sometimes, in moments like these, I imagine
that if I loved you any stronger I would dissolve this
form and shine forever as the light around your body.

Our kind of radiance would be like the struck tone
of a great bell rung through pristine emptiness —
it would ripple out, ripple out, feeling to infinity.

There was something very big, very near, rustling
around in the fallen leaves, You could tell that it was
big by the noises it made, bold and unfamiliar sounds.

It was bigger than a rodent, a feral cat, a lost dog,
a raccoon, a possum, a skunk, a small deer, a fox,
a coyote, or any wandering phantom of the night.

Since a big mountain lion ran right past us the other night,
we weren’t taking any chances. When something like that
happens, you never quite feel at ease in the dark forest.

Without lingering in fright’s paralysis, we blended back
into the void, with only our scent remaining to explain
how we once may have been here, but now we’re not.

First we were a whisper, then we became the ambient
forest sounds of the evening, the ones you can hear
if you stop chattering and simply let them talk.

Some nesting birds suddenly took flight. They bolted
out of the Cherry Laurels and scared themselves even
more, since now they were flying blind and disoriented.

This is how it is for all of us — something startles us, then
we find ourselves, sightless, in a dark realm where predators
rustle in the forest, hungry creatures with ominous intent.

Wherever one of us goes, the whole universe goes with us.
When we climb to the top of our lives, we find everyone
waiting there, even if we seem to be standing alone.

Over in the shadows, we may be overheard gossiping
about the questionable way certain people are behaving,
unaware that we ourselves are the ones in question.

There are still clear nights when we can recline and gaze
out at the stars, but so few understand that the vast sky
itself is perpetually shining brightly within us.

It’s alright if we sometimes feel lost and confused.
It’s alright if we try on lots of different suits and shoes.
Even if we’ve already eaten, we can still sit at God’s Table.

When we find our place there, we will look to see who else
is seated with us. Even though every one has their own
shining face, it is only God looking out of their eyes.

I have a place marked in my holy book where everything
is explained in terms that anyone can follow. It says God is
closer than we imagine, reading these words along with us.

Even though it may often seem wearingly familiar, each day
we all set out on another new adventure into the unknown
which will add another chapter to the book of life itself.

Neurons in mammalian brains are producing Biophotons
which appear in the visible spectrum, but are also entangled
on the quantum level, linking consciousness with light itself.

Rather than arguing about whose description of reality
is superior, or which religious sect will get one enlightened
quicker, why not bow down and surrender to love itself?

People will do almost anything in the hope it will make them
happy at last, though the truly wise will recognize that they
have always already been nothing else but happiness itself.

Now, if I should choose to add something extra to the way
things are, something superfluous for a mere verbal effect,
I might conclude by saying “Everything happens by itself.”

Isn’t it so, we want reasons for everything.
The most difficult thing for us to accept:

Whatever happens, simply happens.
Whatever is, just is.

We are all here on our own special assignments. It might
seem that just being oneself would be easy enough, but
more often than not, we tend to complicate that job.

Perhaps we’ve kept ourselves so occupied with busy tasks
that we fail to notice how serious we’ve become, until we
look in the mirror and see a stressed face squinting back.

Alternately, when the grim-mouthed monks pass on, they
may discover to their chagrin they missed out on life’s fun,
meditating in cold caves, instead of playing out in the sun.

Working so hard to become happy some day, we postpone
the chance to be happy today. After all, if we can’t enjoy
our life right now, why believe we’ll be happy then?

Entangled in hopeful thoughts of attainment and gain,
all our energy stagnates in the head instead of flowing
into the heart, where our real treasure patiently pines.

In the midst of whatever we’re busy doing, we can pause
for a moment and take a good breath. Sometimes it’s only
by slowing down that we’re able to arrive here on time.