7 years ago today...reflections on the Jopoa's Anniversary

7 years ago today
Jopoa passed away
from life into death

Time is an illusion
sweeping us continually into this present moment
Where have these 7 years gone?

We live
only in the present
even when we dwell in the past
or worry about the future
it is always done right here, in the present moment

This awareness matching perfectly with appearances
either side ceaselessly changing
that's all there is
unending change

Don't attach to this or that
don't distinguish good from bad
and from that
we will find the universal good underlying both and all
it is all the beautiful manfestation
of the same unnamable pristine awareness

unknowable
unnamable
inconceivable

though we try to know
label it
and think about it

I look at the picture of my icon
Jopoa, who meant so much to me
who still means so much to me
The symbol of radiance, light, energy, life & death
The eternal child
spirit flowed through this life
while body moved itself along with her
the baby, the young girl, the married one, the one with children
the one who escaped the Japanese occupation of China
the one who came to teach me
the one who became old
the one who died

We are all her
we are all each other
in spite of all our differences
we are fundamentally the same
trying to reach for the same ultimate truths
trying to awaken to our own true nature

Today I will sing songs that I wrote to honor her
say prayers,
remind myself of the sacredness of being human

For in her life and in her death
may we remember
the profound state of wonderment we naturally expressed as children
that indominable spirit that could not be stopped
of being born a son or daughter of the universe
a child of pristine awareness

Life goes on
In the remembrance of her death 5 years afterwards
The flame of love was passed on right here on Gaia
when a Hummingbird flew by this abode
and on her way noticed something that intrigued her
....the beginnings of the transferrence of love

I found Jopoa's love
rebirthed in a new life with my wife Anna
and so
love continues flowing on
moving from one body to another
this energy field of the universe
bodies dying both love never does

For though loved ones die
their love never does
it lives within us
making us into who we are
it resides in the invisible memory field of our own being
it is there in our presence and awareness of every appearance around us
and is the secret teacher behind all our lessons
the driver behind all our actions
the kindness in all our good deeds
the saving grace behind suffering
the beat that moves that heart

That love we carry with us always
quietly and unspoken
When people meet me
they meet us
When they love me
they love this love I carry of Jopoa and all those who have loved me

Love is that quality which we cherished most in our loved ones
that emphereal quality not of the body
and we who are loved
internalize that love
become the living ambassador of it
especially when our loved ones have passed on

The flame of love within our own heart
lit by the act of being loved
we carry forth
like a proud Olympic Torch bearer
setting ablaze other hearts

LOOK! This love I have been given!
It is utterly marvelous, deep, profound
it is beyond everything

Smile at the world
for that smile is your gift of the love you have been given
That simple smile
opens the chakras
and allows love to flow into the heart of other beings

We have been gifted
now let us gift
For love is nothing
if not gratefulness

Let me light your heart with it
pass it on to you
so that you may live ablazed in its profoundness
friends all of you
even strangers, friends waiting to happen
be kept warm on cold days by this internal fire