XIX
There
is an enormously profound difference
Between
righteousness and self-righteousness.
* * * *
It has
all been just a fleeting dance of memory.
* * * *
What we
call civilization is really domestication,
No
different from what we have done to animals and plants.
Just a
more complex set of hoops and jumps.
* * * *
How
often the envy and vanity
Of
individuals in groups work to sabotage
Those
truly seeking to comprehend
What a
teacher is teaching.
* * * *
The
incessant temptation to continue seeking
Outward
happiness through sense objects is strong,
And
ever just as equally doomed to failure.
* * * *
Did
god invent you, or you, god?
Hard to say for
positively, absolutely sure,
But, by all personal
observations accumulated thus far,
Odds are the latter.
* * * *
You
cannot surrender totally to totality
If
there is anything else you put before it.
Anything.
* * * *
A lot
of people talking about dying,
But not
too many volunteering.
* * * *
Symbols
and traditions often create
Addictive
dependency on outward show,
Serving
only to distract from the real one within.
* * * *
Be firm
or harsh when you must,
Gentle
and flexible when you are able.
* * * *
To whom
do you apologize?
* * * *
Wherever
you go, whatever you do,
The
mystery is ever unfolding within.
* * * *
Passive
understanding is the key.
* * * *
Negation
eventually transforms into discerning wonder.
* * * *
What
words cannot explain,
Faith
must bridge and harmony cross.
* * * *
Can you
stare at a blank wall
With
the same eyes as that which you most value?
* * * *
For all
to be empowered, encouraged and enlightened
Requires
the love of a gardener for flowers and weeds alike.
* * * *
Through
thick and thin,
Through
breadth and depth,
Through
all forms great and small,
The
journey is ever the same essence.
* * * *
You
lingered in my memory
For the
remainder of my life.
In
letting me go so easily,
You
bring me closer
Forever
after.
* * * *
Put
aside all attempts to organize spiritual pursuit.
Like
waves crashing endlessly upon an infinity of shores,
Each
moment's timeless unfolding breaks spontaneously anew.
* * * *
Scholarly
studies of the vain histories of this civilization or that
Seem to
serve little purpose except to more efficiently expedite
Continuing
degeneration of the diversity of life on this planet.
* * * *
It does
not really matter at all
Who
Jesus, Siddhartha or anyone else was.
Find
out who you are and all questions will be answered.
* * * *
The
politicians, priests, and aristocrats
Use
your vanity to sustain their own.
* * * *
Drift
on, sweetness.
* * * *
Dogmatic
morality stagnates into legalisms.
Compassion
flowers freely, rightly.
* * * *
Fellowship
is the manifest expression of the unity of godness.
Dogmatic
doctrines fabricated by groupthink are its antithesis.
* * * *
You
play an individual persona, a separate ego-identity
Until
you discern the strength to play indivisible godness.
* * * *
Any who
erroneously believe they
Or
anyone else possess sole title to godness
Miss
completely the point of this wordy dissertation.
* * * *
In the
current attempts to discern godness,
Knowledge,
technology, history in every arena
Offers
serious spiritual inquiry a nearly endless field
In the
way of metaphors, similes, analogies and parables.
* * * *
Live
your life that you discern completely for all time
The
mortal existence of all creatures great and small.
* * * *
If you
feel constricted by life,
You are
not following your inner vision.
Write
your time with your heart, not another's law.
* * * *
Put
your mortal concerns second.
It is
all you in the highest sense.
* * * *
What
you hear another say
Is ever
your own projection.
You
must discern your own way
Using
the dreamtime passing within you.
* * * *
Isness
opens the door to infinity
To
those who knock with discernment.
* * * *
To beg
for oneself in any way
Is a
misunderstanding of prayer
And of
the point of surrender itself.
* * * *
Scientists
are currently saying all that is manifest
Came
from an atomic point smaller than an electron.
Where
exactly do you as an individual personality
Fit
when the universe someday closes shop?
* * * *
Since
times beginning humanity has worshipped words and forms.
Many
have seen that it is the inner nature that creates all,
Yet
still the mind ever seeks to organize that which
Deigns
to no manifestation its sovereignty.
* * * *
Comprehension
of the spirit resides in the shifting dunes of insecurity.
Your
attempts to get a foothold in the sands of timelessness
Are
futile until you become one with the sand.
* * * *
Never hesitate
to question anything and everything.
Despite
its having no concrete answers, it is all questionable.
* * * *
Ego-identity
is a temporal game consciousness plays
Until
its craving shapes into the earnest quest
To find
out what this mystery is all about.
* * * *
Do not
equate faith with fear of god.
It is
more accurately a sense of harmony in godness.
* * * *
Your
routines and habits are signposts
Of that
insecurity manifesting from within.
* * * *
As on
the spinning pottery wheel
You are
free to create, maintain or destroy.
It is
your light show and you may play
And pay
for it however you will.
* * * *
Whatever
you may believe or think,
Compassion
toward your fellow creatures
Is not
such a difficult or impossible thing to muster.
* * * *
It is not
so much what others think of you
As what
you see and think of yourself.
To use
others to that end is only projection.
You
must discern and love what you really are.
* * * *
Undiluted
awareness is the final attunement.
* * * *
Your
attempts to surround yourself with beauty
Are
often vain attempts to create it within.
Once
within, however, what is without
May or
may not take on a different concern.
* * * *
There
is a balanced mixture of worship and humor to all of it,
A
divine two-faced coin, made with a blend of serious absurdity.
* * * *
As long
as the ego-identity dominates your life,
You
will be separated from the jewel of life's potential.
* * * *
You
cannot own reality until you can release everything.
* * * *
Peace
is a quality of serenity within.
As an
intellectual ideal it has little meaning
Because
the mind's actions are planned,
Not a
free spontaneous outcome.
* * * *
There
is really only one spirit, one religion.
It
manifests through fellowship without boundaries.
Any who
misunderstand only perpetuate divisive confusion,
Laying
claims to god without a foundation to stand on.
* * * *
When
you run into someone who tells you that they are god,
But
does not make clear that you and everyone else is as well,
Let
some wind into your sail and leave a wake at their feet.
* * * *
Your
innocence is never really lost,
Just
hidden by innumerable protective layers.
A
psyche fortress, a forged identity, a fabricated chameleon.
Where
best for the thief to hide but where the real crime was committed?
* * * *
We have
created a world in which
The
illusion of time rules from cradle to grave.
Our
technology doubles the thickness of Maya's weaving,
Extricating
your mind from the muddle requires strength and courage.
* * * *
Your
personality is merely a by-product of your original nature.
It is
like the vegetation on a mountain, lush and fascinating,
But
ultimately having little to do with the mountain itself.
* * * *
This
life, what is this life you think you have?
What do
you stubbornly cling to so tightly?
What do
you ever really know or own?
* * * *
Each
day you awaken and continue that ceaseless quest
For
happiness, fulfillment and meaning.
To what
end?
* * * *
There
appear to be many degrees of faith
Depending
on the blend of courage and discernment,
Yet are
any more or less real than any other?
* * * *
Measure
those you meet by their actions, their essence, not their ideals.
How
often we gullibly follow the misrepresented word.
* * * *
A
shopping spree is as deep as many seem to get
In
contemplating the nature of space and time.
* * * *
Who do
you trust most if not yourself.
If not,
why not?
* * * *
Everyone
poops and pees.
What
vain fuss to think one person's
Is any
better than another's
* * * *
A true
understanding of fellowship
Looks
past another's exterior
Into
the eyes and heart.
* * * *
Our
separateness from the manifest garden
Is
reflected in statements like conquest of nature,
But
what do we really defeat but ourselves?
* * * *
We have
all been told so many things,
Countless
contrary arguments and philosophies.
What to
discern, how to know, is such a challenging road.
It is
in this Soul quest that a sense of harmony
Must
override the distracting confusion
And
discern the highest view.
* * * *
Is
there anything more bothersome
Than hypocritical
self-righteousness?
* * * *
Just another light
show,
Leave ‘em laughing
When you go.
* * * *
You
don’t have to do anything, you know.
* * * *
Embarrassing,
sure, if you’re bothered
By what any given other
thinks of you.
* * * *
It’s
certainly an interesting perspective, eh what?
* * * *
Who
can say what it is you feel.
* * * *
Sorrow is of time.
Joy is eternal.
* * * *
As
if you have to behave in any certain way.
* * * *
It’s
for others to get over if it bothers them.
* * * *
Just
another myth, just another trip played out
By the delusion of one
self-absorption or another.
* * * *
Read
it, and weep, wail and curse
That your ancestors
spent your inheritance.
Yup, it was mighty good
for them that had a taste of it.
A bit tougher on those
many who died and otherwise suffered for it.
But, what the hey,
isn’t that the way they say it goes.
* * * *
The
difference between heaven and hell
Is but a momentary,
ephemeral state of mind.
Suffer those whose
thunder perfect mind
Is unable to discern
the tranquility
Prior to consciousness.
* * * *
How
in god’s name
(If there ever was such
a thing)
Did you create all
this?
* * * *
Connect
the dots as you please.
* * * *
You can say what you
please,
As long as you don’t
talk too loud.
* * * *
Every
breath a bit closer to the last.
* * * *
Could
s/he be any more pathetic?
* * * *
Those
who lack vision
Tend to follow or mimic
Those who do.
* * * *
Curious
how many different labels
Can be attached by so
many
To the same individual.
* * * *
So
many lies polluting all our minds.
* * * *
All that desire, all
that craving, all that yearning,
Does it really foster
real happiness?
Does it really bring
real joy?
* * * *
How
can you use a word like love
When you don’t even
know what it means?
* * * *
I Am,
The beginning and end
Of all creation.
* * * *
What
need is there to lie
When the truth is more
amusing.
* * * *
Perhaps you are mad.
Oh well.
* * * *
Reframing
the big picture without a frame.
* * * *
What you do in the
younger years of your existence,
You will, in who knows
how many ways,
Pay for in whatever’s
left.
* * * *
Too
negative a view?
Or just too real, too
frightening
To pull your quaking
head out of the sand?
* * * *
It
is what you dream it to be.
* * * *
Why
do you deny your Self?
* * * *
There you are, innocent
of all charges,
Being once again
tortured by some other.
*
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The
Stillness Before Time (Compendium)
©
Michael J. Holshouser 2009
World
Rights Reserved