ONE

I separate myself from you. I separate myself from the world. I separate myself from the Divine centre of all that is. I separate myself from myself. When I say I have my Divine Self & there is a Divinity in the Universe I finally approach the meaning. There is no division in Divinity. Oceanic. Indivisible. I go there when I fall asleep. I go there when I die. Hello. I am there wide awake. The great final failing of Science: it pretends the world can be known from a distance. That it can be observed. The lonely monad sitting in his glass tower jotting down notes on his observations... concocting theories & systems. Jot away, oh monad! The tiny idea of division simply gives the offset to the Truth. There is no division. There is Divinity. There is but One. There is One. ONE.

SYMBOL

We are seduced by pattern. We are seduced by the constructs of our own minds. We go to war over the stripes on a flag. We stare at the cracked paint on La Giaconda. Two lines cross at right angles, one short, one long somehow summarize the whole complexity of the Creation. That it is a logo for excruciating torture gets lost in the morass of associations. As a poet, symbols are my metier, my raison d’etre but I know their nature. They fit nicely in the niches of my toolbox. A symbol like the Crucifix has the weight of Uranium. It is too full of meaning. I have experienced spiritual ecstasy. When I am with the Divine there are no symbols. Clear spring water. Empty sky. Thoughtless thoughts. I make my Cross with empty space. I am removing the symbols from the walls of my mind. Ahhhhh.... eggshell white all around.

GNOSTIC

The One who knows does not understand. The One who understands does not know. My obsession with words has always got the best of me. I am always putting my thoughts into pleasant little boxes. I enjoy finding titles. Figuring rhymes and rhythms. Letting the image rule the idea. Call it a poem. Call it a moment. If I had the stamina I would sit in the desert or under the Boddhi tree. Sit at the top of Squaw Butte with no food or water for four days. Just stop thinking. Stop the endless mind chatter. I am empty as the winter sky.  I am speechless. Words fail me.

LAMA

My friend Boddhi told me that Lama means spiritual friend. Yesterday I met a lovely woman Isabel who is a nun of the order of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart in Kansas. What is a saint? What is an avatar? What is an angel? Siddhartha. Yeshua. Red-Cloud. Each speaks to me. I am both guided & protected. My wings of understanding are ever stronger. They are my own wings. I am a swimmer of the Fifth Age. I no longer look backwards. I look at my toes & at the horizon. I am moving forward. I bless the avatars of the past. I no longer need avatars. I venerate the saints. I no longer need saints. I do however need spiritual friends. I have entered into the true self. I AM. ME. I AM.

DREAM CATCHER

I seek an answer elsewhere. Yeshua. Siddhartha. The answer is under the toes of my feet. The Ancestors, the Inheritors have lived on this continent for 15,000 years (or more) The Woodland Cree. The Grassland Cree.The Soto. The Sioux. The people of the North. The Metis. The BlackFoot. The  NezPerce. I feel profound shame. I am humbled. I am on my knees. Forgive me. Forgive us. I am fasting. I am entering my emptiness. The people of my tribe were blind. The people of my tribe are blind. Ownership. Our creed is greed. We tried to destroy the true people of this land of Mystery. How can you own the wind? How can you harness the sky? How can you fence the grass?. It took me half a century. The scales have fallen from my eyes. If you will allow me I ask to sit quietly at the edge of the Lodge. I will follow the smoke of the sweet grass as it curls into the night. I am a Brave.

His Serene Majesty

The world our Creator made is perfect. It cannot be added to nor can there be any subtraction. When you silence your thoughts can you not hear the perfect silence? The Stillness. The pond surface at midnight. Evil is a construct of the very human mind. It is the buzzing of a gnat in the immensity of the blue, blue sky. The mind of the individual is so troubled, so distracted it may as well be blind. Be not afraid. Rest easy. Let it go. Never doubt. The power of our Creator is beyond comprehension. Ease back on the accelerator. Feel the gentle breeze against the nape of your neck. It is alright. Drift in the flow of eternity. The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand. The Kingdom of Heaven has always been at Hand. Majestic. Oceanic. Serene.

THE AWAKENED ONE

I was born in 1958. In 1958 the Dalai Lama & many deeply spiritual lamas were compelled to leave the  ancient sanctuary of the Himalayas to come down into the toss & tumble of the modern world. No mistake. No coincidences. It all happens for a reason. There are many traditions that open the way to enlightenment. Buddhism & particularly Tibetan Buddhism is one of the wide awake paths to the Light. Buddha means  “The Awakened One” I have spent two thirds of my life moving towards a state of being truly awake. I declare it now. I am awake. Wide Awake. In these dark times of the somnambulist where many of many fellow humans seems to be drifting into an ever-deepening state of oblivion I urge all of us to take whatever measures it takes to wake into the light. Siddhartha left the comfort of the Palace. He opened his eyes. He said simply “ I am here. I am wide awake. I am the Awakened One.”