LIFE IS THE INVITATION TO LOVE

Love is transcendent. Yet also very ordinary. It is divine, yet also very human. It is said, and I don’t know this ‘for a fact,’ that Sanskrit has ninety-six words for love; ancient Persian has eighty, Greek three, and English only one. Do we suffer from a limited awareness of the depths and nuances of love?

Why yes I would say we do. And that scarcity is not about words or descriptions, it points to our linear ways, our lack of poetry, our disconnection with the true beauty of existence. It’s an indicator of some disconnection we have learned. We have become top heavy, mind fixated, and opinion led.

And yet just below the surface the ninety-six words for love exist in us all, longing to be revealed, touched and embraced. Maybe that longing leads to much of the spiritual search. I speak to that longing.

Here are some poems.

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I discovered a love
That wasn’t comprised 
Of anything

But was the essence
Out of which
Everything was comprised

That was the end
Of all my searching.

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You invite the light of truth in
And say, ‘I want this with all my heart.’
The divine hears your call
And offers you all your karmic patterns to unravel
That’s how much you are loved.

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One must have the courage
To meet oneself ever deeper
To face all beliefs and judgments 
And all hidden demons and devils
Until there is only naked freedom
And a profound kindness
To the human condition.

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Love is a light 
Passed from one 
Soul to another.

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You think you are the word
But really you are the silence
Out of which the word emerges.

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True love is presence
We mistake it for a thing
That we transact
But that is just an aspect of love

A star glows and shimmers
But is not the night sky
True love is the presence
Of that vast night sky.

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THERE IS A LIGHT.

There is a light
That shines through you 
Even on the darkest of days
When the clouds hang heavy
And the storm is close at hand

Friend, do not fight the storm
When it approaches
But surrender into it
Let it drench you and cleanse you
Let it blow through you
Like a wild and healing force

Storms come and storms go
Clouds arise as if from nowhere
Suddenly the sky darkens
Lightning forks from the heavens
And crashes into the earth
The clouds let loose their tears
Without holding anything back
The earth says yes to it all

There is a light
That shines through 
Even in the darkest of times.

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You don’t need to be enlightened
You just have to fall in love
With being kind
To yourself
And to the world
Grace will take care of the rest.

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Fall in love with grace
Without knowing what it is
Just the frequency of the word
Will carry you to its beauty.

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The true lover
Must leave the world
And its concerns
And give themselves 
To the divine
And then seek
To return to the world
And live from that openness.

I am a little excited and nervous to be playing live on retreat again. It has been many years and much has changed, including my playing (or lack of it).

But I will give it my best effort and surrender to what happens. A few new lyrical songs, some poetry and some ambient guitar soundscapes and a whole lot of love, that’s my plan.

It’s not too late to join us in Utah!

News! We have just added the music and poetry evening to the livestream broadcast of the retreat. I’d better get practicing.

Thanks for reading!