THE GRACE OF PRESENCE

One thing I have learned on the path is the art of always returning. Returning to what? Returning to the grace of presence, to the equanimity of openness and to the profound relief of the deepest acceptance.

The path is fraught with traps and distractions, places where we inevitably forget the grace of presence and become lost in the waves. But then, and we have seen this in those we work with time and time again, there is a tendency to be self punishing about our ‘failure.’

Friend, all we have is our remembering and returning, else we will be endlessly trapped on the wheel of suffering. The self will always seek to perfect itself, even if that means attacking itself. This is no way to go on.

Return only, again and again, to this soft grace we may call presence, yet is also the deepest acceptance of the way things are. Be diligent of course, but also soft and forgiving of all perceived errors. Love is the only way home.

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At some point
A flower opened
In the center of my chest
And beauty poured out
Now I see that flower everywhere
In everyone I meet.

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Stop running
Away from suffering
Or towards relief

Just be still 
And watch the waves
Rise and fall within you

Rest in your oceanic nature
By and by
You will fall into harmony.

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As a person
You appear to be moving
Through the world

As consciousness
The world itself
Is moving through you

The nature of spiritual freedom now
Is to embrace both truths.

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Wisdom comes
Not from knowledge alone
But from the embodiment
Of that knowledge 
Into one’s heart and soul.

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On the surface it is all free will
And the power of deciding our fate
But fall inside
Deep into the mystery
Into the vast inner cathedral
That touches the heavens themselves
And the more you will see
The hand of the beloved in all things
And the play of divine will.

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Life itself
Seems to take us away from God
And plunges us into the secular world
The great challenge
Is to find our way back to a God 
We never left
Even in the midst of this dense landscape
Of illusion.

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Sooner or later
On the path of spiritual transformation
You come face to face with God
And realize it is nothing other
Than your self
This is the end of you
As a separate being.

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Stop looking for answers
And wait for a deeper understanding
Everything you need is inside you
Covered over by layers of belief
And the denseness of conditioning
Seek only to remove those layers
And there is your wisdom and grace.

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I was blessed
That life brought me to my knees
And humbled all my ideas
Of how I thought things should be
It forced me to decide
Whether to let go into a deep surrender
Or hold  on to old stories and grievances
In desperation I chose to surrender
And a door to grace opened.

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To look into the night sky
And see only love’s eyes
Winking back at you
Is a blessing of the divine.

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Search for your center
And you will discover the divine universe.

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