The Power of One

From one mind
is borne an idea
birthed from our motherly kindness
an idea that can alleviate suffering
extending our motherly intuition
beyond the boundaries of our own children

From one mind
if, through words ideas are manifest into social reality
and karmic conditions are ripe
and the very same thoughts are already in the mind of other beings
an idea can catch like wildfire
and a community created united by common purpose

Out of that community
these communal words give birth to a single simple action
and from those words and actions
it spreads out to other communities throughout the world
leading to more and different actions
some will fail, others will succeed
and in this way
society stumbles towards a new paradigm

As the old paradigm gives way
the old naysayers begin to change
Seeing that the status quo is shifting
they have no choice now, but to acknowledge it

It is only the persistent, stubborn and blind adherence to traditions of suffering
and the persistent feeling of powerlessness of one's own capacity
which keeps the traditions of suffering in place

From a humble one
we can reach the entire world
because we are all the same being
divided amongst many
and we all feel very similiar feelings of sadness, anger and hope

If we ALWAYS deny our own power
we CREATE our own powerlessness
By saying "we cannot"
we close the doors to any possibility at all
and if we propagandize that attitude to others
we close the doors for all of them as well

The world is a mix
of those who know the power of one through their own experience of it
and those who do not, also through their own lack of experience of it

When we leave the door open
what is possible is for us to discover
When we close the door
we create our own truth of impossibility
by the very denial of our own potential

This is the power
and the powerlessness of one
that we should teach all our children
with the greatest clarity

I
am a poem
a juxtaposition
of l e t t e r s , symbols, words
waiting
to be discovered
by
you

It is
YOU
who bring me into the revelry or pathos
of your rose tinted glasses

without you
I am lifeless
not even words
when you look upon me with curious eyes
I am not waiting to be discovered
for I am PRECISELY what YOU make me out to be
YOU are waiting to be discovered within these words

what am I to you?
I am a chameleon
my form appears differently
for each pair of eyes who see me
beauty is in the eye of the beholder
as is ugliness

I may resonate with you
please you
teach you
inspire you
dissapoint you
bore you
upset you
I may feel like 2nd rate drivil
or
a luxuriously rich chord

As you read me
what thoughts go running in the fields of your mind
are entirely of your own creation
based upon your equally endless fields of karma

It was Heseinberg, that great sage who ushered in the quantum age
whose Uncertainty Principle says
It is YOU
who brings ME
into existence
by interacting with me

You did not happen by
but rather
you create me
by dancing with me
I am nothing without you
my beloved, eternal dance partner

Heisenberg found the Buddha
right in the midst of dualistic musing
Going in the wrong direction down the road of life
we sometimes see a sign
that points us in the right one

Become unstuck at the two extremes
don't repeat that tired story
that you discovered me

The wordsmith who forges these offerings
whose sinews are spun out of earth, water, fire and air
he too was written into being so effortlessly
by that greatest poet
who remains forever veiled

This is the story the poet chooses to tell you
a plausable one
within the framework of the middle way
an extreme one
that sits uncomfortably in between

The poet I am
is none other
than pure being, pure artform
waxing words and extolling virtues
about the great mother
not my own
but that which birthed all appearances, all experiences
the one we are all clawing our way back to

This life is a regression back to our source
the lifespring from which we have each issued forth from

This life is a continual homage
an unending reverence
to that omnipotence beyond all words

My failure to capture her
keeps me churning out
an endlessly babbling stream
of magically, mundane words
each and all doomed to fail

I am a lover in love
intoxicated by her infinite and myriad beauty
a profound, eternal and nondual one
found in both beauty and ugliness
following in the well trodden footsteps of my ancestors
writing endless Rumi poems to my loved one
I am hopeless beguilled
what else is there to do?

As a poem
I am pure art
written into existence by fingers
who are sometimes nimble, sometimes hesitant

What you see
HA!
If only you knew
how I was born
how many words were replaced
how many sections moved and repositioned
footsteps in the sand forever washed away
leaving no trace of how I got here
How many streams of inspiration
one stimulating the next
a confusing, chaotic, unknown-till-the-last-minute journey
where nothing is known
and nothing is done
and nothing is finished
until the mind suddenly says
that's it

I am a poem
a mystery
even for my creator!
For he knows not
what word will be birthed in his mind in the very next moment
My secrets remains safely hidden
in the heart of this most familar, mundane world

Who is this "poet"?
He is a charlatan I say!
How can I make such an audicious claim
to this title, "creator"
when I have absolutely no idea
what even my very next word will be?
The true creator
is not

Nothing is planned
these thoughts that drive these fingers
they simply bubble up from some mysterious wellspring spontaneously
Indeed
even that which " I plan"
arises spontaneously out of nothingness

It is even beyond being humble
It is only recognizing
that I am nothing but my creators creation
and all "my" creations are hers
I cannot rightfully take credit for any of them
except in the most illusory of ways

I myself am pure poetry
this body, this mind
these thoughts, these feelings
whether in my finest form or my worst
all is perfect prose of the great mother

Pure everchanging form that I am
a speech of blood and bone
my life's journey
an unfolding stream of symbols
of love and hate, discovery and ignorance, beauty and ugliness
trying to find the middle way between these extremes
I have been written into a temporary existence
for the viewing pleasure and playful pure expression
of the only poet there is and ever will be

I hope she enjoys reading me

I
am a poem
a juxtaposition
of l e t t e r s , symbols, words
waiting
to be discovered
by
you

49 = 7 x 7
7 weeks
each week of 7 days

The time to journey through the bardo
and reincarnate in 1 of 6 realms
so the Buddhist teachings say

In reality
only words for me right now
intriguing ones
but far from living truth
still they exist in the wider framework of practice that does make sense

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100
100 years....about the longest we will live
a ripe old age
100 years x 365 days/year  = 36,500 days
how many days will we actually live?
maybe half that
but the days whittle down,
minute by minute
day by day

We seem to have a lot of time
yet any finite amount
is but a drop in the bucket of infinite
squander a day here
another one there
soon we will reach the end of our time

Funny how we can embroil ourselves in negativity that can last years!
Oh well, we have lots of time!


---------------------------------------------------------

Today is the 49th day
Fieka, you breathed you last breath 49 days ago

You were a living being, just like we are
here for so many years
you did the best that you could in the world
just as we do
and in the end
you left in peace
with your children by your side
What more could a mother ask for?

You left your mark in the world
your footprints in the minds of others
inspired many others
like my wife, your husband Bill
your Children and friends

We are all but children
born to travel to that last moment of life
and to use this illusory journey of life to give meaning to it

Back to the mystery you have returned
blazing the pathway for us

We learn from you
as we learn from all our ancestors
and we shall honor you
by living life to the best of our means
so that we may teach others of their own journey

-------------------------

While we are alive
Form is emptiness
when we die
Form is emptiness

In this moment
we are born
we live
we die

We magically appear onto this stage of life
and just as magically dissappear
where do the days go? the weeks? the years?
In a moment
a life has flashed by

We must never forget the sacredness of this moment
Each of us is a tree
but we forget we are a forest as well!
The individual we are
is always and at each moment
the full embodiment of the infinite
here in the same body
right now
a jewel in indra's jeweled net
whose luster is so far beyond our limited imagination

Fieke, you bubbled into existence
as have I and all beings who are now here enjoying life
May our ancestors remind us of the preciousness of this life
so that we may not squander our time

Your family and friends remember you on this day
thank you for the preciousness of your life
may you have safe journey in your new one
whereever you are

E Ma Ho

Know the state of pure and total presence to be a vast expanse without center or border. It is everywhere the same, without acceptance or rejection. Blend the nature of mind and its habit patterns into non-duality. Because entities, whether subjectively conceived or directly experienced, are present as ornaments of one's own state of being, do not accept or reject them. And, because they are not divided into self and other, the apparitional, spontaneously present objects are the play of pure experience.

Listen: this majestic awareness, freely transforming itself, displays the integrated structure centered around the inner reality of form.
Everything that exists and appears displays itself in the space of unborn reality. In this inner reality there is nothing to accept or reject. All that exists is displayed by me, the supreme ordering principle.

Listen: this teacher of teachers, the majestic creative intelligence,
Displays the integrated structure centered around the inner reality of communication. Everything that exists and is designated displays itself as linguistic communication coming from the unborn field and is gathered into this inexplicable inner reality of communication, the supreme ordering principle's symphony.

Listen: this teacher of teachers, majestic creativity displays the integrated structure centered around the inner reality of awareness. Know everything thought or attended to to be the substance of the unborn ordering principle itself. The realms of form, communication, and awareness of the creative intelligence are the three naturally occurring, uncontrived integrated structures of reality. One who understands the reality of these integrated structures as complete in a moment without having been set up, has understood the core meaning of the spontaneously complete inner reality.
Thus, because all that is present as form, sound, and thought ever since they appeared in time has existed as these three unborn integrated structures, from the start live this great natural non-duality without going into any conceptual analysis. Through realizing beings and their worlds to be these integrated structures, affirmations, negations, antidotes, and hindrances will definitely be freed in their own place.