Although we like to imagine
A special spiritual state
Where we become untouchable
Happy, even blissful
And free of human problems
What’s more true
Is we become simple
And uncomplicated
Undramatic and story free
Open and light
With feet on the ground
Rooted in presence.
The storm rages
The lighthouse stands
Rooted in stillness
Casting its light
Into the darkness.
Image by Mollyroselee from Pixabay
Give up trying to bargain with life
Or overcome it
Existence has all the cards
And you won’t win that game
Just meet it naked and open
Throw your righteous ego away
Bow down in dignified humility
And life will melt into you
And soften you up
Beautifully.
Image by NoName_13 from Pixabay
We must never doubt the power of love as it moves through us and through our world. It is the fragrance of the garden. It holds everything, even in the suffering and division. It is beyond time. It is our true breath.
Thanks for reading.
Kavi
Become one who never forgets
Their eternal nature
Who who allows the waves to be as they are
And stays at peace
Even in the turbulence.
Love destroyed all falseness
And left me open and tender
No self left to defend
Slowly I adjusted to life
And learned to live fully
From this deepest place
In the world
But not of the world
The beloved is alive
Everywhere and always
What death is there
To be afraid of?
The lover lays down his ego
And bathes in surrender and humility
He gave up the idea of a world
Separate or outside him
And willingly, if painfully, yielded to life
In existence he saw the beloved
His true lover
And as he offered himself naked
So he was reborn as existence itself
You are a portal
Through which
The cosmic universe
Awakens and manifests.
Become a master of your inner world
But it does not happen by accident
It happens through endeavor and willingness
It happens through inquiry and humility
Through opening the heart when it feels closed
And meeting all the demons and ghosts
That have haunted us for years.
The greatest trick of all
Is the one that says
The world
Is something outside us.
Love’s invitation
Is everywhere
Stop wondering
Whether you are worthy
The invitation includes you
No need to wait any more.
Heart wide open
Mind empty as sky
Deep as the ocean
High as the heavens
No limit and no resistance
In grief, sorrow and suffering
In joy and delight
He danced
Knowing he was already home.
Be the facilitator
Not the doer
Realize that
The universe is intelligent.
Surf the phenomenal world
With great tenderness
And compassion
You and the world are one
And the way you treat it
Is the way you treat yourself.
(We will need it in 2023)
The spiritual journey
Is not composed of just
Acceptance and grace
It is not all love and light
And effortless opening
To the majestic beauty of it all
Oh no…
Sometimes you have to
Get down on your knees
And dig in the dirt
And in the crap of it all
It can be a snotty tearful mess
In fact it may feel wretched
And you might rail at god
And life itself
For the injustice
It’s not all sweetness and joy
It can get very messy
And you may need some resilience
You may find yourself
Hanging on for dear life
By your finger nails
Even questioning your sanity
Rock bottom
And you may need resilience
The resilience to keep on walking
Without even knowing where you’re going
In the darkness
In the mess
In the tears and the anger
Just that resilient willingness
To persist
To just keep on walking
Because you can
This resilience does something
It forges something within
Like a blade
It’s almost a hidden quality
On the spiritual path
Neglected in all this talk
Of surrender and acceptance
Dig deep, fly high
Even when it’s a mess.
First posted 2019
Here is another selection of poems from this week’s outpouring. I hope they speak to you. There are many more and I am truly realizing that I must find a way to get them in book form. That will become my mission for 2023. I have also declared I will do a kind of poetry and music album and that is also being lined up for next year.
The tough thing is that this teaching with Amoda takes up time, there are so many behind the scenes and technical, administrative tasks, let alone the new 501c we have just set up! It’s a busy life, this (relatively) new life in USA. We are at growth point.
Anyway back to the poems.
Thanks for reading!
———————————————————–
Whatever it is within your heart
That longs to burst forth
Cherish it and nurture it
Don’t let the flame
Be dampened by any negativity
Yours or others
There is a garden inside each being
Don’t let it become barren
A simple turning towards it
Again and again
Is enough
If you have caught
The fragrance of love
In the air
You must serve that love
Be bold and unashamed
True and open
Aware and awake
Humble and ordinary
Wrathful and peaceful
There is no one else for the task
It is your time
You are the chosen one.
The lightness of being
Is a delicate fragrance
Unencumbered by the past
Throw away time’s demands
And remember the innocence
Of your true nature
This beauty is latent within all beings
But only those willing to remove their armor
Can know its light.
Allow yourself
To feel so deeply
The world pours in
And is resurrected
Into love.
Be beautiful for no reason
Shine because it is
Inherent in your nature
You are the sun
And the moon
Believing yourself
To be the clouds.
Master discomfort
Not by doing anything
But by falling deeper into being.
Real love cannot be cultivated
It can only be revealed
For it is the very heart of us
The core, the essence,
But we have completely
Overlooked our essence
In favor of our appearance.
When the fight with life is over
All that is left is loving what is
From that moment on
All you can do is love it all
Including your experience and the world
However it shows up
But first we must end the fight with life.
Transcend culture
Without rebellion
Leave your ancestry
Without rejecting its influence
Go beyond
All definitions of yourself
And find peace in not knowing
Who you really are
What beauty there is
Within the one who is simply here.
You are the doorway
Through which love
Can arrive in the world.
Thanks for reading.
Face yourself
Start where you are
Rip off the protective mask
Meet what scares you
Bear the pain you carry
It won’t kill you
It will hurt like hell
There is an intelligence
That won’t give you
More than you can handle
Trust the journey.
Image by S. Hermann / F. Richter from Pixabay
Today I am in love
With grief and sorrow
Don’t try and pull me away
Or cheer me up
There is nothing wrong
Let me drown a while
In this vast ocean
I will die ten thousand times
And feel the wave
Of suffering
And my own helplessness
It will be terrible
And beautiful
And, like all things,
Will pass in its own time
I am not the author of any of this
But I surrender into it.
Image by Engin Akyurt from Pixabay
I swim in the underworld
The individual and
Collective unconscious
Seeing where the light is
In the darkness and shadows.
Image by Dorothe from Pixabay
If you are too preoccupied
Searching for the peace
You imagine is in the future
You may lose the possibility
Of discovering the peace NOW
In that sense the future is an illusion
And this is as good as it gets
This is it.
Image by Harald Lepisk from Pixabay
Poetry of Beauty 