Seeing God

I see God as Light,
but if I do not see God
also as Darkness,
I will never see God.

Circling Truth

Truth leads to answers.
Answers lead to questions.
Questions lead to insight.
Insight leads to Truth.

Fossil Record

The fossil record takes all
into its embrace sooner or later.

We'll be there someday, too.
A thin gray line of stone.

And time will erase even that.

What matters is not what passes away.
What matters is being here now.

Another Way In

In Tao, all are included.
Nothing is left out.

Where all are included,
even death has a place.

After all, what is death
but another way into Tao?

Open to the Possibility

Every day gives us
a chance to change the way
we see the world around us.

Every hour is ripe
with epiphanies.

Every minute pregnant
with insight and wisdom.

Every instant infinite with
chances for enlightenment.

All we have to do
is open to the possibility.

Where to Build

How do we know where
to build a bridge across a river?

How do we know where
to thread a road over a mountain?

When we follow Tao,
rivers present no obstacle.
Mountains are easy to overcome.

Wasted Time

Light within light.
Darkness within dark.

God contains everything.
Everything contains Tao.

How could God be God
if God were incomplete?

How could Tao be Tao
if Tao were less than all?

Where light and dark are both Divine,
why waste time being afraid?

Every Burning Bush

If we know how to look
every bush is burning.

If we know how to listen
every whisper is the voice of Tao.

Second Coming

Jesus comes again
whenever we feed the hungry,
whenever we clothe the naked,
whenever we tend the sick,
whenever we visit the imprisoned,
whenever we comfort the dying.

Every willing servant
is a second coming.

Weaponized

A nation that stockpiles weapons
because of threats from outside
is a nation dangerous to others.

A nation that hordes weapons
against perceived threats within
is a nation dangerous to itself.

Leaders

Good leaders are loved
by their followers.

Great leaders are not
even noticed at all.

Holy Place

No place is a holy place
until we decide it's holy.

We bring holiness into being
by deciding what is holy.

But holiness isn't up to us.
Holiness is inherent in all.

When we see that all is holy,
we give up defining holiness.

The Smallest

The smallest makes
the biggest possible.

Rocks. Sand. Dust.
Makers of mountains.

Rain. Snow. Mist.
Fillers of oceans.

Kindness. Patience. Gratitude.
Midwives of compassion.

Why Hurry

One generation brings
the next generation into being.

Our ancestors dissolve into history.
Our descendents outrun us into the future.

Where are we all going?
And why in such a hurry?

Luck

Luck isn't a matter
of winning what you want.

Luck is a matter of realizing
what you already have.

Which Path

No matter which path I take,
it will take me where I'm going --
but only if I know where I'm going.

If I don't know where I'm going,
no path will get me there.

Barred

If I put bars on my windows,
am I building a fort or a cell?

Every fortress is its own prison.

Just as It Should Be

I am a bridge
that connects
my parents and
my children.

My customs are not
the same as my parents'.

My culture is not
the same as my kids'.

Just as it should be.

This is the only way
any of us can grow.

Dividing Line

You are on your side of the line.
I am on my side of the line.

What separates us is not the line.
What keeps us apart is our fear.

When we overcome our fear,
the line becomes just another line.

Waiting Connections

How many wooden houses
wait in a stand of trees
to become who they are?

How many seasons of wheat
rest in an unplowed field
waiting to become themselves?

How many human connections
wait to come into being
every time I walk out the door?

Everlasting

All happiness passes.
All celebrations end.

Only Tao is everlasting,
therefore joy never ends.

Building Blocks

Did we invent math?
Or did we discover it?

Did we create languages?
Or did they create us?

Words and numbers.
The building blocks of ego.

What lies beyond
is anything but.

No Trouble

There is the trouble
others cast upon us.

There is the trouble
we bring on ourselves.

There is the trouble
the four winds blow in.

There is the trouble
that rains down from heaven.

But there is no trouble in Tao,
the perfect refuge from distress.

Overshadowed

When our need for security
overshadows our need for community,
we become insular and afraid.

When we are insular and afraid,
we become defensive and violent.
We cherish weapons over lives.
We become a danger to everyone.

As we become more deadly,
our collective need for security
overshadows our need for community . . .

Your Path

I walk my path.
You walk your path.

I don't know where
my path is taking me.

Why would I think I know
where yours is taking you?

Possible

What makes you think
you're suspended
between heaven and hell?

There is no heaven without love.
There is no hell without pain.

How ironic that suffering
makes compassion possible.

Intentional

Everything in the universe
changes the universe around it.
We are all agents of change.

It doesn't matter what
changes we're making.

What matters is whether
we know we're making them.

Live intentionally.

Beauty Secret

Where does beauty come from?

Is it built in, or do we add it later
by the ways we choose to see?

If it is built in, all art flows from Tao.
If we add it later, all art is just forgery.

Saved!

It is not our sins
that God blots out
to save us.

It is our fears.

Silence and Beauty

Silence and beauty
beget one another.

Is this why flowers
need no voice?

Is this why mountains
need no tongue?