Monday, March 31, 2014

Blazes


How much
of my journey
is my journey
and how much
is actually up to
somebody else?

Depends.

How many
blazes do I follow?
How many
trails do I blaze?


Sunday, March 30, 2014

Change of Season


No bare tree can keep me
from believing spring
will come again
if I want to believe
spring will come again.

No flower can convince me
spring has finally arrived
if I want to believe
winter will never end.


Saturday, March 29, 2014

Go out and See


How do I know which path
is the right path to take?

How do I figure out what
my next step should be?

Is there only one path for me?
Is there only one next step?

The only way to find out
is to go out and see.

Friday, March 28, 2014

Siblings


Help when you can
where you can.

That's your sibling
you're aiding.


Thursday, March 27, 2014

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

High Church


Wonder, trust, and gratitude
are the highest forms of worship.

Everything else is for our benefit only.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Perceptions


Sight is a layer.
Sound is a layer.
Smell is a layer.
Taste is a layer.
Touch is a layer.
Spirit is a whole.


Monday, March 24, 2014

Not the Thing


The word rain is not wet.
It doesn't quench thirst.
It doesn't relieve a drought.
It doesn't carve mountains.
It doesn't fill the ocean.

The word God is not divine.
It doesn't quench doubt.
It doesn't relieve worry.
It doesn't carve lifetimes.
It doesn't fill the universe.

The word is not the thing.
Only the thing is the thing.


Sunday, March 23, 2014

Saturday, March 22, 2014

First Word


In the beginning was the word,
and the word brought into being
the ten thousand things.

Before the beginning
was before the word.

Before the word was one.

Friday, March 21, 2014

Hollow


Every death leaves
a hollow place
that fills in over time.

What it fills with
depends on the life
of the one who died,
not the one still alive.

Some hollows
never fill in.


Thursday, March 20, 2014

Yes


The center of the universe.

Are we growing out from it?
Or swimming back toward it?


Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Small Work


I want my work life
to fulfill me, not define me.

What I do is too small
to explain who I am,
but I want what I do
to help me be who I am.

To do and to be.
Sometimes different.
Sometimes the same.


Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Silent One


Silence your mind,
and wisdom arises.

Silence your thoughts,
and experience deepens.

Silence your heart,
and compassion flows.


Monday, March 17, 2014

Oasis


The light within us
creates its own oasis
in our inner dark.

But all we'll see
in the black distance
is a mirage if that's all
we're willing to see.

The only truths
we can depend on
are the truths
we're willing to believe.


Sunday, March 16, 2014

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Best


What more
do we owe
one another
than to seek
to do our best?

What greater gift
can I give myself
than to seek
to do my best?

There is
no failure
in that.


Friday, March 14, 2014

Quiet One


In memoriam
David Schonert
1953-2014

Every life matters,
but the quiet ones,
the ones who give
without being asked,
are the hardest
to give back to Tao.

The compensation is
that theirs are the lives
that grow larger
after they're gone.


Thursday, March 13, 2014

Without Light


Connections take place
in darkness as well as in light.
This is how light gets in.

There is no darkness
without light.


Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Not Really


If you're a seeker,
you'll go out and seek.

But if you
don't expect to find,
you're not really seeking.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Owner


Who owns my life?
The one to whom it was given?
Or the one who gave it?

There is no ownership.
Only the gift of experiencing it.


Monday, March 10, 2014

My Neighbor


But who is my neighbor?

I am my neighbor.
With all of my faults
and my arrogance
and my meanness
and my selfishness
and my bitterness
and my pride.

I am my neighbor.
With all of my pains
and my sorrows
and my heartaches
and my disappointments
and my weaknesses
and my defeats.

I am my neighbor.

When I accept others,
I accept myself.
When I care for others,
I care for myself.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Self-Made


No one is self-made.

This is why we live in community --
not because we are tribal,
but because we are vulnerable.

Saturday, March 8, 2014

What Is Not Dark


To accept light is also
to accept darkness,
because it is through
darkness that we learn
to see what is not dark.

Friday, March 7, 2014

Words and Experiences


What happens
at the end of a life
is no different
from what happens
at the beginning
or anywhere in between.

What matters is
how we experience it.
The way we experience it
depends on the words
we use to describe it.
Words are not
experiences, though.

We begin to wake up
when we discover this.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Next Thing


What happens next?
Where do I go from here?

Into dirt. Into ash. Into earth.
Heaven. Hell. Nothing.
The turning wheel of karma.

That I'll continue
in some form is a given.

Whether I drag my ego
along with me is not.

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Spiritual Adjustment


Beyond the glare
of traditional lights,
it gets easier to see --
once your eyes
adjust to the dark.

Monday, March 3, 2014

Constructing Tao


Connect the unconnected.

This is how I construct Tao,
one connection at a time.

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Woven into Being


We are made up
of threads of Tao
woven into being.

A hundred million
years from now,
we'll be a thin layer
of sedimentary rock.

All art, all music,
all religion, all wisdom,
all that we are
will have vanished
into the geologic record.

Yet here we are now --
Tao woven into being.

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Getting There


The paths into God
are countless.

Each of us walks
our own path alone.

It is the walking,
not the path,
that gets us there.