Clouds

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

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

Wild Thing

My heart beats like a wild thing,
What am I afraid of?
Perhaps not knowing is the source of this fear,
Recognition the body has its own rhythms,
Its own unconscious reasons
For making me slave to this fear.
I can doubt all but the existence of doubt,
The future beckons with one hand and threatens with the other -
The price of being human,
Always looking back and projecting forwards,
It is our nature to be unnatural,
To look everywhere for answers that will, at last, solve the problem of death.
But the only solution is to live life,
Rejoice in the flip of the coin that gave us this bounty,
It will not be our forever,
And therein lies the source of this fear -
Losing the gift we have been given for free,
Never when we expect,
Each moment casts a shadow,
Life is never free of death,
The knot with strands of both is inseparable,
Wound too tight this paradox is the heart of this truth,
It cannot be solved only lived,
Cannot be broken up only ingested whole,
Cannot be denied only accepted,
And so this heart beats on too fast,
A wild thing that must run its course
In words and rhyme and breath,
In other words, by living.

Balance through conflict

Balance is often found through conflict. It is a painful thing to have to confront the truth. Most people would rather take a pill and go back to sleep. Do not seek to turn away from the war with yourself. This is the war you fight everyday to grow, to become the person you want to be, rather than the person defined by bad habits or history.

Great Knowledge

There is small knowledge and then there is great knowledge.
Small knowledge is the everyday, mundane gossip
And the arguments of politicians;
Who is right today will be wrong tomorrow,
But nobody will remember.
But talk to me of love, of adventure, of romance or comedy -
And you speak to me in a language that echoes down the centuries,
Touching everyone.
So stop worrying about the small stuff and appreciate the greatest knowledge of all -
That we are on the journey of a lifetime,
And everyday is another opportunity to acquire wisdom in our quest for enlightenment.

Exploding Stars

We are all connected – made of the stuff of exploding stars.
The chemicals that make up our bodies have already been used by millions of different organisms in their journey throughout history, and will be used again by millions more after our death.
In this short lived wonder we should not forget the great gift of being human.
We have the opportunity to appreciate what we have been given,
What other animal can say the same?

The gift of life

Don’t do what you hate, for this is to spit on the gift of life.
Find what you love and love living,
And this more than any rule or discipline,
Shall put you on the right path.

Know one thing

Seeing things as they are, not how your mind – imagination and intellect – tell you they are,
Gives you the clarity to penetrate all things.
Do not try and master the world, just master what is in front of you;
Know one thing well and you will know all things.

Tasting Death

Through insight we gain the wisdom to know that we can never experience death.
For there is no sense of taste without taste-buds, no sights without eyes,
No sounds when the ears cease to function.