LXIX
If the
haves do not take an interest in the world and humanity’s future,
There
is no recourse but for Mother Nature to slap us all silly.
* * * *
The
intellect is confounded again and again
By its
emotional, irrational foundation.
* * * *
Philosophy
is the luxury of excess.
* * * *
What
does an infant’s body know
Of
desire, fear and the pain
Of
life’s incalculable tensions
It has
yet to begin experiencing?
* * * *
All
Romes fall.
* * * *
Truth
is quite unconcerned
About
all our vain pretensions.
* * * *
Strategy
is the big picture with goals and objectives.
Tactics
are the details bent to strategic ends.
* * * *
If
possible, give an opponent
Every
opportunity to change their mind.
* * * *
Have
fun with words,
But try
not to always take them so seriously.
They
aren’t worth bleeding for.
* * * *
All
those mosquitoes, flies and spiders you’ve crushed,
What
makes you think your fate should be any different?
* * * *
The
universe is just a big, long game of billiards.
* * * *
Are you
here, now?
* * * *
Philosophy
is the banter of a busy mind.
* * * *
What
life but your own
Would
you truly know how to live?
* * * *
Ah, so
you do want to be remembered.
By who?
* * * *
To be
free, you must reconcile yourself
With
the absurdity of mortal existence.
* * * *
Life is
to be transcended.
* * * *
Find
the order in all things.
* * * *
How
exhausting this painful, little, mortal world
And all
its stupid, foolish human beings
Can far
too often be.
* * * *
These
words are for those who seek
To discern
their immortal nature.
* * * *
This is
my work.
Sometimes
it is.
Sometimes
its play.
* * * *
Generally,
most emergencies are not.
* * * *
Few
read what a writer really writes
Or hear
what a speaker really speaks.
All
reflections are distorted by the incalculable,
Invariable
difference, the subjective bent of the receiver.
* * * *
You are
the mysterious ignorance sugar-coated with knowledge.
Through
you, godness explores its unfathomable nature.
* * * *
Forget
it all.
Be
anonymous without and within.
* * * *
You are
a very little drop of a very big wave
In a
very, very immeasurable ocean.
* * * *
Regarding
the infinite,
All
calculations are useless
For
anything but entertainment.
* * * *
Can’t
you feel creation and destruction
Exploding
within and without every moment?
* * * *
Remember
occasionally
How
much of what you believe so ardently
Really
isn’t.
* * * *
What
choices does a rock have?
* * * *
Is the
universe indifferent?
Are
you?
* * * *
The
devils of this world or any other
Have no
dominion over any who say and mean no.
* * * *
How
clean can you be in a muddy stream?
* * * *
You are
the result of free will
In a
choiceless sort of way.
* * * *
It is
ridiculous to expect any other
To be
conscious in the way you are.
* * * *
Admit it,
oh fool,
This
twisted world permits you endless distraction,
Endless
problems with which to contend.
What
would you do with nirvana?
Much
too simple.
* * * *
How
many universes are created and destroyed
While
god takes a snooze?
* * * *
Both
petty and profound you are.
* * * *
Guess
you’ll hang out,
Perhaps
again many times,
Until
you’re weary of the struggle.
* * * *
Do the
right thing
Just
because its the right thing to do.
No need
for compensation.
* * * *
All
your attempt to avoid your aloneness are for naught.
Still
your universe is your own, no matter the play around you.
* * * *
What
responsibility can you bear
For
that over which you have no control?
* * * *
Of
course you’re immortal, you ninny.
So
what! Get your blankety-blank act together.
* * * *
For the
many demons,
For
those who want so much,
What
better avenue to another’s spirit
Than an
earnest smile, a ready, firm handshake,
An
articulate tongue, a steady eye, and a compassionate ear?
Humor
your intuition.
* * * *
A
little ignorance goes a long way.
* * * *
Christ
burdened us with his martyrdom,
Buddha
with his pose, Lao Tzu with his disappearance.
And I
leave you with whatever notions await these words in the play of time.
Apologies.
* * * *
Pray
tell, monsieur,
Where
is the division between heart and mind?
* * * *
A
little experimentation usually brings out
The
capacities and limitations of most tools.
* * * *
It is
that constant state of anticipation
Which
creates the burden of tension and anxiety
Be open
to your fate, no matter how painful.
* * * *
Some
seem to live for what others
Will
say about them after they die.
* * * *
When it
comes to skeletons,
Which
closet do you want to start in?
* * * *
What
fools we were to ever even contemplate
That we
could run this world better than mother nature.
* * * *
Your
life was set into motion
Long
before you had any say in the matter.
* * * *
Trust
god!?
According
to the standard theory,
That’s
what got me into this fine mess in the first place.
Trust
god, yeah, right.
* * * *
Your
life was set into motion
Long
before you had any say in the matter.
* * * *
Real
freedom is that pleasure
Which
borders on pain.
* * * *
There
is no death,
Just as
there was no birth.
The
nowness perceives neither.
* * * *
How can
you believe your intelligence,
Or that
of any living creature, whatever the realm,
Was not
born of the same divine essence?
* * * *
What a
devil you are.
Maybe
even his great granddaddy.
* * * *
It is
technicians and cooks
Who
have always won wars.
* * * *
You are
the immeasurable, not the measurement.
You are
too immeasurable to be measured.
* * * *
Does
love require relationship?
* * * *
Smoke
wafts silently into the non-existence of all.
* * * *
Is life
preparation for war or peace,
Or are
both really the same?
* * * *
Eternal
life becomes apparent when you realize
The
shadow of death encompasses all.
* * * *
That
splinter in yur eye shore do get magnified sometimes.
* * * *
How
many ways the body can torture itself.
* * * *
Stay a
beginner always.
* * * *
How to
approach an accusation:
Guilty
before proven innocent,
Or
innocent before proven guilty?
How
easy to quickly rush to judgment
Before
the evidence is thoroughly scrutinized.
* * * *
If we
ignored the politicians, would they go away?
* * * *
Allow the
oneness to heal all divisions.
* * * *
You are
that essential, primary nature which some nickname love,
That
which is far more than the ceaseless romantic notions
Imagination
weaves for its own consumption.
* * * *
Those
who harbor a sense of manifest destiny
Will
one day find out god’s benevolence
Is a
razor-sharp, two-edged blade.
* * * *
We have
conjured a whimsical world
Where
every imaginable distraction
Only
displaces us further and further
From
the natural pulse of our inception.
* * * *
You can
only whip a horse so long.
* * * *
You are
alone, you are not alone,
In the
all-alone-together paradox.
* * * *
Ambition
requires sincerity
If
intention is to be achieved.
Mere
parody is inconsequential.
* * * *
Life is
not always convenient.
* * * *
So many
play the game merely to survive.
* * * *
What is
necessary to hear has been written.
The
rest is the redundancy of time’s remainder.
* * * *
All
your differences have a way of making you more alike.
* * * *
One
man’s teeter is another’s totter.
* * * *
Life
shapes us in so many ways.
* * * *
Save-the-worlders.
What
self-deception.
* * * *
Be
satisfied with your own life
Without
disrupting another’s
By
telling them how to live.
* * * *
The
idea of you is often more enticing than the reality.
* * * *
“Ooh,
big cage out here!” thought the liberated bird.
* * * *
Every
predator eventually falls prey.
* * * *
And
they all wore icons to the same god
As they
marched forward to kill, maim and torture,
To
battle for the power, the glory and the light.
* * * *
Can you
feel the competitive drive
Surging
through your pattern?
* * * *
In what
way is your opponent so different from you
That
you would destroy rather than befriend?
* * * *
The
gardener may well be
More
powerful than the warrior.
* * * *
Cooperation
is much more suited to survival
Than
ceaseless self-absorbed competition.
* * * *
Is
detachment a actuality for you, or merely another vain pretense?
Or
perhaps you are indifferent from some things but not others.
Or perhaps
you are only aloof from what you cannot have,
Or
toward that which you are incapable of achieving.
* * * *
Every
creature ever birthed
Either
adapted to the time and circumstances
Of its
geography and inheritance.
Or
perished trying.
* * * *
What
love can find its way in a passionate mind?
* * * *
The joy
of the part is in the whole.
* * * *
Kick
away the ladder.
Traverse
infinity without foundation.
* * * *
It is
what you are not that gives you wings.
* * * *
The
gardener allows time its course.
* * * *
Let the
other fellow die for his ideals.
* * * *
How can
you know a peak
But
through the valley’s contrast?
* * * *
So much which to give
your attention.
What really matters?
* * * *
History
can move very quickly.
* * * *
There
will always be those warrior spirits
Who
would rather die fighting in the ghetto
Rather
than passively in the gas chamber.
* * * *
Gold is
sand to the seers of eternal fare.
* * * *
Your
fearful craving weaves the play you see.
* * * *
Truth
is smaller and larger than any net ever cast.
Attempts
to possess and control it are laughably absurd.
They
are the irreconcilable, unfailing blaspheme of arrogance,
The
mortal harvest of buffoons, the well that offers
Naught
but salt to those truly thirsty.
*
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The
Stillness Before Time (Compendium)
©
Michael J. Holshouser 2009
World
Rights Reserved