Because There is No "Other"

I had a dream last night.
I was sitting by the fire at the center of our camp,
And suddenly a wolf appeared, moving toward me from the forest.
He was in pain, blind to everything else around him, bearing his teeth, growling, and approaching quickly.

As he moved closer, 
He looked directly at me, and everything else faded away.
Just wolf and me.
And my heart broke open.
Here was my brother in pain. 
So I stood up, bowed to him,
And offered him my pipe.

He paused, looking with curiosity at this two-legged
Who was so bold, yet so kind.
Slowly, he bowed his head in recognition,
And all I could hear was the drumbeat of our hearts.
I began to move to that sacred rhythm, and
He joined in the dance.
Together we chanted
The Call of the One that we had each learned as a child:

“I see you. 
You are part of the Whole I am.
Each time you come to call,
I will acknowledge you
I will honor you
And then... 
We will dance!”

The Garden at Sunset

 

If you could pause, breathe, and look around,

You may notice that

Everything

Is singing a love song to the One

Who abides deep within your own heart.

Everything

pointing you back

to your Origins.

Everything

celebrating the utter magnificence

that is here right now.

Everything...

bowing in Namaste.

The Infinite Ocean of Love is here.

You are its revelation.

Just be still.

(photo from my morning walk in the gardens)

This Holy Communion

Right now,
I have no interest in ideas or insights.
I am taking a vacation from meaning making.

For now the Barred Owls' opera at midnight,
The silver foxes scurrying through the dappled forest,
The winged seeds as they spin their way from branch to earth,
The lake, as the infinite waves drift gently to shore,
The melodious call of winged things that ripples out for miles,
The turtles sunning themselves on every spare limb and rock,
The flash of blue as the thrush finds a perch on which to sing,
The deeply rooted peace as I sit in the sacred grove of Beech,
The way the leaves shimmer in the fresh eastern breeze;
This is my Temple. This my Holy Communion. 
My dissolution. My prayer.

Everything connected
Everything arising then falling back into this Silence
Everything 
Singing your Holy Name.

Om Sat-Chit-Ananda.


(photo-Sunrise in Bushy Park - Max Ellis)

The Light of a Thousand Suns

What shall I sing to you he asked

How can I light a candle in this darkness?
She held out her hand.
Come she said.
Come sit on the Heart stool
And I will show you the Light
Of a thousand suns;
This love of the Universe
for Itself
That shines inside your own chest
And inside the inside of everything
That exists.
Every particle dancing!
Everything Singing!

I Am This.

(art - "Revealing the Self" - Freydoon Rassouli)

The Altar of Now

Come, place this on the altar of NOW;
This thought
This agitation
This excitement
This fear
This expectation
This endless problem solving;
Place it all
on the altar of NOW.

Unclench your fist and
Just...let...go...into this moment,
Into your breath
Into your experience right Now.

Nothing you need to do
about anything out there right now
Just...be...here.

Open gently
Keep dissolving into this moment
Let your experience of Now
go deep and wide
Until there is nothing left but
This breath, this
Moment.
Here. Now. This.

Experience what
Rumi meant when he said,
"Love said to me there is nothing
that is not me. Be silent."

OM.

Entering the Void

Many of us are moving through a powerful passage of opening to what is bigger and more real than any story we have had about who we have imagined we are supposed to be.  

As a part of this letting go and letting come, we will inevitably enter what some have called the VOID. A place that leaves us with little to say or think about anything. It can be a confusing passage as our culture has a bias toward action and knowing.

Yet this passage offers the invitation to stop looking outside for instruction, distraction, or validation through do-do-doing and go-go-going. Step by step we learn to say yes to this "not-knowing." Step by step we enter the Mystery with no guidance for the mind. Instead we drop our anchor into This moment. Only This moment. With each breath, each step, sinking more deeply into our own felt experience. Deeper and deeper we go into What has always been "closer than breathing nearer than hands and feet."

As Van Morrison sings...
"Let go into the mystery
Let yourself go
There is no other place to be
Baby this I know
You've got to dance and sing
And be alive in the mystery
And be joyous and give thanks
And let yourself go"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


(art by Freydoon Rassouli)

Dissolving in Breath

Oh my Beloved!

With each inhalation,
He invites me
To ride this wave of ecstasy
Back to Its Source...
Then to linger for a moment

In Silence,
Before riding exhalation
slowly, effortlessly, back
Out into Infinity.

Each Inhalation… Immersion
Every Exhalation… Dissolution, Emptiness

Each breath an invitation
To join Him in
This eternal dance
Of revelation.

Om purnam-adah purnam-idam


Purnaat purnam-udachyate


Purnasya purnam-aadaaya


Purnameva-a va shishyate


(image by Kagaya)