WHEN IT GETS TOO MUCH, RELAX AND READ SOME POETRY

It is truly no surprise that awakening seems so out of reach for so many, for there is a mountain of baggage to let go of.

You must remember there is no spiritual context for spiritual inquiry and dismantling of the fictitious self in the west. Most of us come from survivalist ancestry, and that doesn’t just disappear because we are suddenly seeking liberation.

The society we live in, our goldfish bowl, particularly here in the west, has no spiritual quality inherent to it at all. It has religion, morality, politics and civic responsibility, and family.

Society instils its values into us early in life…work, acquisition, think of yourself, follow desire, fear failure, be jealous as a motivating force, and breed.
We have survivalism built into us. The tribe is dead and replaced with nuclear family.

We are trained to be hard, to disavow weakness, to deride surrender, to scorn selfless love. We are materialist, science based believers.

And then we arrive at a spirituality that demands we let go of all that.

What I’m saying is that, when it seems so hard to let go of all that you are attached to, when the weight seems absolutely too much to hold onto, but letting go of it all feels like a death, realize how big this is, how heavily laden the investment in self is, and relax.

And read some poetry.

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Soak, drench, drown yourself
In beauty and wonder
Jump in with your fullness
Hold nothing back
You must give yourself totally
To what you love

And then, with grace,
You will become it.

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A tremendous peace arises
A freedom unbounded
And a profound acceptance
Fills us up

When we find a way
To forgive life
For being the way it is
And we forgive God
For allowing it to be this way.

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One day
I will write my final poem
I pray my last words
Will be of love
To ensure that will be true
I will write of nothing but love
From now until I go.

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Become the sensitive one
You are truly meant to be
Open up and listen
The universe is talking to you
End your distraction
By getting very quiet
And paying attention
Hear it whisper its secrets
To your quiet heart
And still mind
This is your grace.

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Listen, if you can’t sit in silence
Just sit and listen to the noise
Without moving towards it
Or away from it
And without any resistance to it
From the self.

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Live from what you know in your deepest 
Be true only to that
It is the path of the unknown.

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Our lives are borrowed
From some sacred source
Our breath is the bridge
Between the worlds
Grace has bestowed 
Upon us this miracle
Yet we turn away
Distracted by phenomena
Lost in the fear of losing 
What we hold dear
Yet forgetting to say
A simple thank you.

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MAY YOU RISE LIKE A PHOENIX.

May you be as a phoenix
And arise from the ashes
Of all that is false in you

As the flames consume 
The rage and the pain
The righteousness
And the fractured self
The doubter and the defeated

There, in that debris,
That seems so destroyed 
Stirs something new
Something fresh and free
Naked and wild
Whole and harmonious
Mighty and ruthless
Yet soft and tender

May you become that
And then live that truth.

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It usually takes some kind of breakdown 
To break through to something new
It may not be as polite or safe as you would like

Transformation involves the whole organism 
And there is always a visceral, physical experience
It takes you to the edge of your self
And beyond
Trust it.

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There is a sacred place within
A sanctuary of silence
An inner temple
A divine place
Untouchable by form
Or what happens 
On the human level
You don’t have to search for it
You can only rest deeply into it.

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Thank you for reading these words over the last year. I wish you many blessings of the deepest acceptance for the upcoming year. I think we may need all our equanimity and inner authority as things unfold.