CXXVIII
Any
population that cannot sustain itself
Must
depend on the excesses of its neighbors.
* * * *
You
must be kidding.
* * * *
Beauty
and brawn offer only so much solace.
* * * *
In any
revolution there can be many casualties.
* * * *
So innocuous
for some, so harsh for others.
Who can
fathom any why of it?
* * * *
If you
think too much about what’s going to happen,
You may
well miss what’s happening.
* * * *
Some
are active, others passive.
Each
follows an unwritten, unchosen nature
An intrinsic,
unavoidable, undeniable, self generated fate.
* * * *
How can
anyone really explain twins separated at birth being
Reunited
wearing the same baseball cap and belt buckle?
* * * *
Some
mysteries will never be solved.
* * * *
What a
drag to transcribe and edit all this,
And
still the thoughts keep pouring into the notebooks.
What a
well this vain stream of consciousness.
* * * *
Okay
dude, move over, your fifteen minutes are up.
It’s
someone else’s turn.
* * * *
Can
consciousness
Exist
without some container,
No
matter how ethereal?
Needs
research.
* * * *
The
thief is a rambler-and-gambler-
And-a-sweet-talking-ladies-man.
* * * *
Just a
new version of a very old play.
* * * *
Because
they want it as their history,
It is
so, unlikely as it may be in your own.
* * * *
Want to
catch a horse thief?
Leave a
pot of honey untied.
* * * *
Perhaps
you’ll figure it out
When
you’ve pushed the balance
To the
edge of your survival.
* * * *
If you
can’t appreciate your life,
Then
perhaps you’ll be
Closing
the book very soon now.
* * * *
It is
the pride of separation needs surrendering.
* * * *
A fate
worse than death is one that doesn’t die.
* * * *
Sometimes
its good to walk alongside your pony.
* * * *
Do not
always run through life.
Saunter
at least occasionally.
* * * *
Getting
to be like an old cat,
Feisty
and a bit stinky.
* * * *
How
numbing civilized life can be.
* * * *
What
effort passion takes.
* * * *
Go, Buddha,
go.
* * * *
Why is
it so many people
Seem to
never outgrow
Their preadolescent
Behavior
patterns?
* * * *
If a
natural setting is your neighborhood,
You pay
the same attention to trees and rivers
As you
do streets and storefronts in a civilized one.
* * * *
An iffy
prospect from the word go.
* * * *
Populations
unable to sustain themselves
Will
often be tempted to take advantage
Of the
excesses of their neighbors.
* * * *
Peace
comes through an inner acceptance.
* * * *
What
subtle little tortures life can offer.
* * * *
What is
the difference between
A
concept inspired by nature
And one
for civilization?
Both
are man-made.
* * * *
Industrializing
nature is a short-term proposition.
* * * *
Is it your
imagination that has created all this?
* * * *
What a
strange thing time is.
Sometimes
it seems to take forever
Journeying
from one place to another.
Other
times not even a snapshot is recorded.
What a
mystery the ebb and flow of consciousness.
* * * *
Without
the mechanical trappings of human creation
Time
would be, as it has always really been,
A vast
eternity of sun, moon and stars.
Under
which life dances in an
Ephemeral
veil of light.
* * * *
Some
play monopoly, some hearts.
* * * *
Tis
more than likely history will not look kindly
Upon
the twentieth century, plus and minus.
* * * *
Is
there really evil,
Or just
imagination we call evil?
* * * *
Every
part has its vision.
This
one includes you.
* * * *
Looking
for an audience of like-minded.
* * * *
Why
bother with the angst of passion,
The unfulfillability
of ceaseless craving?
What
solace can there truly be in anything
But an
unburdened mind free of longing?
* * * *
Coming
down from the eternal mountain to the mortal plain,
The
sage find it arduous to recall what he discovered up there.
* * * *
Why
explain the mystery to a fool?
How can
s/he hear anything real?
* * * *
You are
the hole at the wheel’s center.
* * * *
Self-absorption
is like any friction.
The
more it manifests, the more energy
Required
to overcome it resistance.
* * * *
Little
men are little men,
No
matter how big they get.
* * * *
A drop
is not an ocean, but it is a part.
* * * *
Our
technology molds us.
* * * *
I’m
putting my money on a virus.
* * * *
What
were we before we transformed into monkeys?
Isn’t
it rather coincidental that so many creatures
Have
four legs, two eyes, two ears, one mouth,
One
nose, one tush, one mind, and one heart?
We even
seem to have similar sexual orientations.
Distant
cousins all, whatever our minds may construe.
* * * *
You are
the rock upon which your church is founded.
* * * *
What’s
the difference?
* * * *
Learn
how things work.
Learn
how to make things happen.
Perhaps
life will be a little easier to mange.
Perhaps.
* * * *
Chronicling
samsara is busywork.
Keeps
you out of trouble.
Sometimes.
* * * *
The
first thing a child must master is breathing.
* * * *
How can
you play a game
If you
don’t understand the rules?
* * * *
Feel
the weather.
* * * *
Sometimes
you must hear something for years
To
understand what the author intended.
* * * *
What
creates life
Is so
much more fundamental
Than a
material body.
* * * *
The you
that answers to you
Is not
the you you think.
* * * *
So many
varied experiences
You
will play out in this theater,
Yet all
in one life as you know it.
* * * *
Ever
notice how smoke requires light to be seen?
* * * *
Once
you understand physics, the rest is history.
* * * *
So
astounding that sounds
Combined
in every conceivable way
Create
this ethereal, dubious conscious reality.
* * * *
Every
step you take creates your fate.
There
is no going back
No
matter how cautiously you tread.
* * * *
The
piper will be paid.
* * * *
Ambition
requires discipline.
But
what is the discipline
Of
those who have none?
* * * *
Accept
no substitutes for the real thing.
* * * *
The
pursuit of a safe haven
Is the
unending human delusion.
There
is naught but imaginary comfort
But for
those discerning their true immortality.
Even
that reality can be slippery footing
Given
the way of consciousness,
Insidious
monkey that it is.
* * * *
Can’t
capture that smoke,
Or get
more than a quick snapshot
Of the
river’s churning journey.
No atom
can stop even
For a
moment
No
matter how you
Smash
at its essential nature.
* * * *
History
is already written
And
long since forgotten.
* * * *
You are
the intuition of a dream.
* * * *
How frustrating
it must be for those
Who
spend their entire life measuring
That
they can never complete their work.
* * * *
Political
correctness is the will of one herd or another.
* * * *
Alas,
you keep forgetting,
But
that is the way of time.
* * * *
Flowers
succumb so quickly
To the
harshness of extremes.
* * * *
How far
will intelligence take us?
Will we
ever use it wisely?
Or must
ignorance
Always
overwhelm best intentions?
* * * *
That
fossil was once as full of life as you.
* * * *
Once a
mind is switched on,
The
instrument must be dissolved
For
consciousness to return to oblivion.
* * * *
Death
insures that all your concerns will someday cease.
* * * *
The
winds of time
Will
blow these words
To a
well-deserved landfill.
Where
that will be only fate knows.
* * * *
Peace be
within, Pilgrim.
* * * *
Examine
the vastness within your mind
And you
will see the infinity of eternity.
* * * *
Find
that fundamental security
And you
will discern
The
wisdom of insecurity.
* * * *
What
genetic lines will dominate the legacy of our time?
* * * *
What a
harsh bargain this savage garden exacts.
How can
anyone not occasionally feel
Great
compassion for what so many must endure.
* * * *
You
never asked for this.
Something
happened
And
here you are,
A seer
of all potentials.
* * * *
Yet
another tortured soul.
* * * *
Memory
slips slowly into oblivion
Like
gravity sucking down the rain.
* * * *
Is
there to be any end anytime soon
To the
insanity of how f
The
further we get from nature,
The
more insane it will get.
Despite
all the diversions we enjoy,
We were
not meant to live in large groupings.
* * * *
Not
everyone is a specialist.
Not
everyone is a generalist.
The
world caters all dispositions
* * * *
Sooner
or later, after any fall
Ya
gotta get up, dust off, and get on with it.
There
is really no failure or loss,
Only
experimentation.
* * * *
It
isn’t about how you die,
It’s
about how you live.
* * * *
There
are many fantasies not worth carrying out.
* * * *
The
pull of the senses
Draws you
into the samsara of suffering
Pleasure,
fear, anger, every sort of passionate response.
To find
peace, return to the unknowable within.
* * * *
Try
doubting your version of history.
It may
not be the way you believe anyway.
* * * *
Did I
say any of this was easy or worth it?
* * * *
Another
empty bag full of opinions.
* * * *
There
is no past, there is no future, there is only now.
* * * *
All
your life you’ve struggled to maintain an identity,
Only to
realize it is only a figment of imagination,
A bag
of thoughts to which you habitually cling.
* * * *
Please
excuse the repetition and monotony.
It’s probably more interesting to write than
read.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Stillness Before Time (Compendium)
© Michael J. Holshouser 2009
World Rights Reserved