Power

There is no power to be gained from spiritual enlightenment.
For enlightenment is the giving up of all power,
or rather the recognition we never had any in the first place.

Failure

Ninety-nine percent of experiments fail,
this is the price of innovation.
If you are not regularly failing,
you are not growing.

Work

The only work of life is this,
to re-convince one’s self of the oft forgotten fact:
I am not free,
nor shall I ever be so.

Clouds

I can no more control my thoughts,
than the clouds in the sky.
So how can I control what I do?

Chasing your own tail

This mind is a dog that cannot cease
to chase its own tail,
wondering if on the next pass
it will be victorious,
and kill itself with a final bite.

Enlightened

The mind is either peaceful or it is not. There is no in-between state. Therefore our mind is not peaceful. Yet we cannot make it peaceful through effort. Such effort is counter-productive, it creates more thoughts. And if we cannot do this one simple thing – make our mind peaceful – what can we do? The answer is so appalling that only a handful of people have ever fully accepted it. These people are called enlightened.

The Same

Even if within, a man is changed utterly
The world still presses in as it always has
Demanding a response
Perhaps he cannot help it, if
He answers just the same as before

Guilt and Honour

Attacks on my honour
Skeletons dug up and dressed in guilt
Light bent and perspective smudged
By the answer they want to see
Shall I argue, point out right from wrong
Oppose passion with passion
And with the sharpness of my sword
Cut them down to size?
Or just smile and say
You have all the answers and I none
Or let silence do my work
Let the judgers be judged in turn
Minds that cannot rest
Until they think they have won
Then more battles they must find
Enjoy it! That endless toil, I think
Then catch the same thought in myself
And smile; we’re all the same
Inside

The Winner

How I hate the winner
Favoured in his master’s eye
One more right answer
Is all that divides
Futures already written
But give me a sword
And I’ll write it for myself
With the blood of these fools

Forever Poor

Enjoying life involves both engagement and detachment
To see the trees I look at the sky
To see the flowers I look at the trees
And to see myself forget myself
It is this dual focus that makes wisdom possible
And helps us to find meaning in any situation

Ask yourself this:
If you cannot find meaning in any situation
Any happy or horrible circumstance of life
Then how can you find meaning in anything at all?
For if our happiness is dependant on outcome
We are forever poor