Monday, September 30, 2013

Best Light


The journey out of darkness
is also a journey into darkness.

To know our own ignorance
is our best hope for light.

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Dark Wealth


To have too much earthly wealth
is the burden of too much fear.

This is why the rich ones who have
no light need our forgiveness.

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Quiet Clearing


Inside and out, we each live
in a thicket of voices.

When the din becomes too much,
we make a clearing for silence.

Silence is the only place where
we can hear what's being said.

Friday, September 27, 2013

Impossible


It's easy
to box up
my religion
and put it
in a closet.

Boxing up
my spiritual life,
on the other hand,
has become
impossible.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Our Tiny Corner


Humans will never be able
to destroy all life on the planet.
The universe is too fecund.

Even our tiny corner of it.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

All I Miss


A mite rides
atop an elephant.

The mite is all I see.
The elephant is all I miss.

We are immersed in Tao
and never even notice we're wet.

We're too thirsty for more
of whatever we think we're missing.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Shadow Drawing


We each leave a shadow behind
when we die. A thin, faint line.
Part of an endless drawing Tao
is making of the ten thousand things.

Monday, September 23, 2013

Billions


When a billion in the bank
still isn't enough to drive one
to do whatever he can to help
those who are hurting,
then money should come
to mean nothing at all.

Not every poor man
deserves his poverty.
Not every rich man
deserves his wealth.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Art Walk


We carry art
around with us
everywhere we go,
deep inside.

When art looks out
through our eyes,
we see art
all around us,
and we realize
it's been hiding
in plain sight
all along.

Like Tao.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Finding the Door


Ask, and you'll receive.
Seek, and you'll find.
Knock, and the door will open.

It isn't the asking.
It isn't the receiving.

But if I don't seek after I ask,
how will I find the door?

Friday, September 20, 2013

Forever Before Us


We live on
the front edge of night.

But this moment is lit,
and the future never stops
arriving as the present.

The darkness remains
forever before us.

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Stretch


I can look up or
I can keep my eyes
fastened on the road.

Trees stretch skyward.
The road stretches to the horizon.

When I look up,
I stretch with the trees.

When I look ahead,
I stretch with the road.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

To Touch Us


Time carves us.
Tao shapes us.

What we become
depends on
what we allow
to touch us.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Lunatic


The moon appears out of nothing.
It grows brighter every night.
It slides back into silence.
It becomes new again.

Month after month.

I appear out of nothing.
I grow brighter every night.
I slide back into silence.
I become new again.

Year after year.

Monday, September 16, 2013

No Where Else


Fences are the warp and woof
of our communal life together.

They protect us from each other.
They hold us in and contain us.
They keep us thinking we're different.

And we are.
But only where fences matter.

No where else.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Rio Tao


We are rivers flowing
into the ocean of Tao.

We are clouds flowing
across the sky of Tao.

We are herds flowing
over the land of Tao.

Tao flowing through Tao.

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Missing the Kingdom


To wait a lifetime to gain
the kingdom of heaven
is to waste a lifetime of not living
in the kingdom of heaven right now.

Friday, September 13, 2013

The Beginning of Community


Community begins
when we create
a lighted place
between us.

A space big enough
for each of us to step into.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Open the Roof


Friends lowered a sick man
down through a hole
in the roof of the house
where Jesus was teaching.

As the story goes,
Jesus healed the man,
who then stood up,
picked up his bed,
and walked out.

When I need healing,
it's good to have friends
who will open a roof for me.

Opening a roof is sometimes
the only healing we need.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Beyond It


Unless there
are shadows,
there is no light.

Night and day.
Yin and yang.
Male and female.
Hard and soft.
Cold and hot.

There is not one
without the other.

Easy to know this.
Much harder to see
beyond it.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

River of This Moment


Every moment
is its own thing.

Eternity is nothing but
the river of this moment.

Monday, September 9, 2013

Sunday, September 8, 2013

No Roof


Nothing separates
heaven and earth --
no matter what
kind of roof we build
to protect us from it.

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Dark Inside


There is light everywhere.
More than enough for our needs.

But the darkness we carry inside
makes it hard to see this.

Friday, September 6, 2013

Empty


I have no senses
that can take it in
or read it in the air
or prove it to myself.

I have no name
I can use to name it.

It's invisible,
but when I look,
I see it.

It's silent,
but when I listen,
I hear it.

How can emptiness
remain so full?

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Fear of Self


No road is too long.
No path is too narrow.
No journey is too hard.

It is only our fear for self
that makes us think so.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Skins


The skin of the ego
is thin and tough.

The skin of the heart
is thinner and tougher.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Clouded


Storms darken the land,
then blow on through. 

A clouded mind needs
a different wind to clear.

Monday, September 2, 2013

Workers


To labor with your hands
is a blessing.

To labor with your mind
is a gift.

To labor with your heart
is a strength.

To labor with just your money
is a misery.

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Escape Route


Hillsides hold rivers on course
even as the rivers wear them away.

Tree limbs stretch higher every year
even as their roots dig deeper underground.

What holds us in place
creates the way of our escape.