Friday, July 29, 2011

One Leaf

Tuesday 5 July 2011

One leaf…
Right here, waiting for me to take a seat.
Planted by the wind
Waiting now
simply waiting.
The wind stirs
and the heart opens...
the bird sings
and the heart thrills...
the tree sways,
loving the wind's sweet caresses.
I don't know much these days
I don't seek much these days
I do wait however…
I do know how to wait.
In letting the wind
arrive in its own time
the leaf drops gently
and lands itself down
on the seat and waits.
Beingness knows no beginning…
Knows no end.
Awakening into Presence
is an awakening out of existence.
In truth, the essence of beingness always already is.
This… This that we truly are never really loses itself…
But allows all dreaming to manifest.
In this allowing all manner of shape and form becomes.
But Presence never becomes.
Presence only ever is.
Seeking is always becoming.
When seeking ends,
Presence is.
The Forever Dance asks for no partner.
The Forever Dance dances as the One.
Stop seeking…
Stop becoming…
And you are Here.
Always already Here.
Waiting… Waiting for what?
For no thing
simply waiting.
In this waiting seeing happens.
And in this seeing
allowing forms.
And in this allowing
clarity opens her door.
And no matter what,
nothing matters
only This.
If you are chasing shadows
stop for a bit.
Land yourself down on the seat as the leaf
and wait…
Don't move and watch all life in motion.

Saturday 30 July 2011

I walked in this morning after feeding our dog Chesco, with a leaf on my shoulder. One beautiful, solitary, golden leaf… Just sitting there. I'm reminded of the poem I wrote back on 5 July… ''One leaf… Right here, waiting for me…"
It seems that the simple statement of the one leaf has been overlooked and needed to present itself to me again.
Enza noticed it,"oh… That's a beautiful leaf you have on your shoulder."
I looked at it and felt its gift immediately. Intuitively I was nudged awake, reminded not to take this life for granted. Each day is a precious gift… And we are brothers of the leaf, members of the secret order of "Living Awakenedness."

It is not complicated at all, but we do make it so. We are each that solitary leaf, yet that very leaf points back to something much larger, back to what we really are, that eternal, vast, infinite expanse that is actually right here on our shoulders. This world is not some outside realm we walk through and struggle with, but is our actual beingness made manifest… right here… right on these very shoulders lies all and everything. This world is a miraculous moment to moment outpouring of formlessness into form. It is not frozen or fixed but constantly in flux. Yet, we can very easily believe in our beliefs about this world, losing sight of the "seeing" ... that clear-seeing that comes with Being.

This vast, eternal presence is not out, is not in… It's simply here, simply this. And great love dwells here, the greatest deepest love of all. I don't wait for anything any more… How can I wait with all everything laid bare… not before me, not within me… simply laid bare as me.

This joyful re-birthing this constant re-awakening into this vast, eternal Presence floods my heart with a softness and a strange, yet clear knowing that… that solitary leaf knows no bounds.
Let it blow wherever it chooses… Let it land whereever it wills… Let it signal the way back home.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Be Who You Are

Okay … that moment is here. Now is the time to “Be who you are”. The world is calling out for open, clear vehicles. Forget all those thoughts about “not yet ready”, “need more time”, “not worthy”. You are ready, no time is needed, and you are worthy … just as you are. The world is reeling right now and conscious channels for peace and clarity are required.
You are part of the plan. If you have caught a glimpse of the Eternal Vastness that sits at the heart of you, it’s time to allow for This to come to the fore. If you have tasted of Its magnificence but still entertain notions of, and identify with the “little me” ideas that so dominate the thinking … the moment is upon us. If you haven’t done it yet for yourself then do it now for the world.
Take note: You are not who you think yourself to be. Look … really look. Who are you without all those ideas about who you are? See This … know this directly.
Stop! Just where you are… right here, you already are all that which you have been seeking. Don’t go looking in your thinking mind for the truth of your own beingness. What you are … you already are. See this. No need to change your thinking, simply recognise that your thinking is not who you are and the thinking will change very naturally in response to this. The world now needs you. Just as you are. Don’t believe those thoughts about all the work that still needs to be done to get there. This is it. You are here … now. You are awake and if you rest in This for a moment, you will discover how so very close It is … how available and accessible This always is. It’s the very truth of you.
Do you feel it? Look around you. There’s nowhere left to hide. Clarify by simply being present. Be here and actively listen with your whole being.
Take note: The vast, infinite, intelligence … that loving, divine presence that you think you will one day become, you already are right now. The moment of truth is here. Take a deep breath … look … listen … feel … allow. Be here … be This … this undifferentiated beingness, and don’t be tempted to define it. Simply breathe … be … allow. This is where all your strength and inspiration comes comes from. Be This now.

The Wonder of It All

The ability to wonder is a state of pure innocence. The more we know, the less we really know. Notice how it makes you feel in that place of “not-knowing”, how does it make you feel?
Many today have lost the ability to wonder, to simply sit in not-knowing … that place of childlike open curiosity, and allow for their heart to reveal itself.
A friend of mine recently commented that kids these days have had their God-given ability to wonder hijacked by technology. He told me about a family gathering that took place where during a discussion someone raised a question no-one had an immediate answer for. One of the children rushed to an iphone and googled an answer. “Here it is.” Everyone now knew, but did they really? The not-knowing as an opportunity to deepen into the unknown and allow for life to deliver a degree of insight or awakening was replaced by someone else’s knowledge. How much growth comes out of this?
Rumi once said: “Conventional opinion is the ruin of our souls, something borrowed which we mistake as our own. Ignorance is better than this.”
The most direct way back in to our own Eternal Self is to simply allow the not-knowing the space to be, to have a place within ourselves.
Knowledge is a crude substitute for the Knowing that arrives when we are willing to sit in wonder… wondering how life will reveal itself to us today. Our minds are in such desperate need of security that the not-knowing is never a comfortable place for it … but it is the most precious place for the soul.
This gift of wondering is pure contemplation. It is a profound spiritual practice that requires no technique … we innately wonder at every given opportunity. We know it so well, as little children we were totally immersed in it, embraced by it … our whole life was an expression of it. Recapturing this place of innocence is vital in our times. From this place of wonder, we are able to open up to the infinite opportunities of each moment.
Dare to not-know for a while … sit in the purity of not-knowing and see what a difference it brings to your life. Come back to that place of innocence and wonder …

“Returning to the root,
We get the essence.”
-Hsin Hsin Ming

Take a moment ... why not this moment.
Pause within its sweet embrace.
Wondering what to do with it?
Ignore that ... there's deeper work to be done.

Wonder instead at the miracle that's holding you.
Wonder at the breath that's breathing ...
The ears that are listening ...
the thoughts that think themselves into being ...
then dissolve back into emptiness again.

Wonder at just who this is that woke up this morning.
Groggy-eyed ... hardly a movement ... then suddenly it's here.
But where were you while the body was sleeping?
Wonder about where you were while the body was dreaming
and deeper still wonder about
what existed in deep dreamless sleep.

Wondering about such things is why we are given
this miraculous ability to wonder.
I wondered when I was four ...
I continued to wonder when I was seventeen ...
I'm still wondering now ...
and I thank God for it ... for the wonder of it all.

I wonder ... what will I see today?
What will I be today?
I pause and I open up to This ...this Eternal Wonder glistening forever here in my heart.
Wondering my way back into You.
God I wonder ... and I thank You for it.