This is the part we’re at. This one.
We want to ask if we’re there yet, but it’s not clear who we should ask. Who should we ask? These days it feels a little like if you’re asking the question, you’re probably on the list of people most likely to give a decent answer. And what do we mean by there, anyway? Anyone? My favorite part of all this is that we know exactly what we mean. This isn’t our first moment of recollection. It’s not our first hypotenuse through a cloud of dust. This ain’t our first cosmic whodunnit. Or maybe it is. Probably they’re both true. It is and it isn’t. Yes, we are there. And no, we are not. Either way, deep down, we know exactly what we mean.
I can’t help it I have a mind that wants to understand how things work. But it’s more than that. I pull on a thread for a while and it leads to the edge of a cliff, and I look down and see darkness and a field of stars, I say good. Clears that up. Clap the chalk and charcoal off my hands. Never mind there’s a hole in the earth goes down to a field of stars. Knowing how things work gives you permission to accept the obvious.
How could we be there if we’re not? It should be clear by now, one would think. That’s just how this works. You can be there even when you’re not. In fact, I’d say that’s a requisite. And meanwhile, this is just the part we’re at.
I wanted Hafiz to tell me a joke tonight. He just whispered in my ear, ask me for a loan.
What am I borrowing? What’re the terms? Kinda’ like to know these things, Hafiz.
Listen up, he says. Where you always are, but you’re not quite there yet, it’s not finite. So you could take an advance on all of it.
You mean like something to hold me over.
Yeah– couple o’ sunsets to hold you over or something. That way you’ll have it even if you don’t have it yet. And then you’ll get there, and– well, listen close… sunsets can’t go missing if they never run out now, can they?
Guess not. We’re at kinduva’ strange part then, aren’t we, Hafiz?
It’s always a curious time, he said, when people start admitting to themselves they’re there. Even when they’re not, if they just try and admit it, you know you’re in some very auspicious days.
Well, that’s about all I could stand o’ that.
I ate some protons and electrons tonight, but they weren’t necessarily in the right form. Some forms are good and some forms are bad. That’s what they say. Some help you get there and some don’t. Depends on who you ask of course. But if you ask ’em, they’re right. So ask the right ones. I have to travel five hundred miles in one direction tomorrow and introduce myself to a stranger. Me, who’s not even here yet, or there even, introducing myself… One blip of non-existence to another. Making all the difference.
I tell you what, we’re livin’ right up to the damn edge.
Course this part we’re at isn’t the only part. But it’s the part to enjoy right now. It’s the part that’s here and needs to be held and touched and known.
When people say it doesn’t always work out, they may be confused about one of two things: what is meant by always, and what this part is part of…
Embracing Forever 
So many delicious twists and turns and look, we are where we left from, while being where we intended to go.
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Exactamundo! A twisty-turny-unity-of-here-and-there…
With friends!
Peace
Michael
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More magical mysterious conundrums Michael. I believe you’re reminding us to embrace here and now as “there” as if we have arrived in the holy land. blessings my sage friend. 🙂
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Pretty much, Brad! That’s it! If you followed that, you must have been there before. 🙂
Blessings to you also,
Michael
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Must have been by accident. XD
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Hmmm, difficult to put into words because, as soon as I figure out where it’s at, suddenly it’s not there anymore. Therefore the need for cyptography, cryptology, things that are hidden, held in codes, in order to sneak up on it, catch it unbeknownst and unaware…
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That’s it, Tiramit. I like how you expressed this here. The shadow at the corner of the eye. The wisp of movement. But when you look there, it’s only empty space… And yet it seems so full of what has been, and what will be…
Peace
Michael
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Ah, you have such a special delightful, playful way to express this paradox of the spiritual journey without distance. That is a funny metaphor. All the seekers, sound asleep right in the middle of the Kingdom of Heaven, asking like little children, “Are we there yet?”
So funny…
Thanks for sharing.
Peace,
Karin
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Ha! Yes, this is it, Karen. All of us circling the block, waiting for the valet. Where the hell is he? Well guess what!? He’s up on the roof having a smoke break. Having a stare down with a nebula. Park the damn car and wander on inside…! It’s not like we’ll need to find the car again afterwards to carry us back to places we’ve never been…!
In a Rapture of Joyous Confusion
Michael
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” It’s the part that’s here and needs to be held and touched and known. This is the part we’re at. This one.” This to me is mindful presence. Each moment, a gift to touch and deeply know.
“That way you’ll have it even if you don’t have it yet. And then you’ll get there,” So often, I feel in a great place spiritually, only to find myself judging or blaming something or someone and I feel like I’m backsliding down a steep sandy hill. It’s nice to know we can take out a loan, and be there anyway. Be there and not be there all at the same time, in this moment. This one.
Thanks Michael.
Love,
Mary
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Hi Mary,
It’s great to know we can take out a loan. For sure! Especially one you pay back by taking. (!?) (!) (!) 🙂
The beautiful thing about this practice is we can backslide and be caught by Love. Once we stop disappointing ourselves, or fooling ourselves, or deluding ourselves, we’re just right there. Once we stop thinking it’s something else, it’s where we always were. Compassion feels like this to me. Like this is what compassion means in a sense. Compassion is like this feeling that the moment is a net big enough to catch everything and anything that matters, and let the rest dissolve entirely…
Peace and Love,
Michael
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Yes, it’s nice to be caught by Love, isn’t it?
Compassion, Love and being in the moment fully present with what is. Such peace and grace in that. I feel such gratitude, letting those things that matter not at all, dissolve entirely.
Peace and Love to you as well,
Mary
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Beautiful work, Michael, I am amazed how much humor and at the same time very important thoughts you and your friend Hafiz bundled up into this relatively short piece. I laughed at the “Clears that up.” and getting permission to accept the obvious once you know how things work.
And what I mostly took from this, is the forms. All being there in whatever form. As I was thinking this morning of spring flowers, daydreaming about April and May in the woods, I thought of your words, and realized that all my beautiful wildflowers are already here, with me, in the form of seeds, roots, little sprouts, they never left. Neither form being good or bad. Without one, there would not be another. And as we were gathering sap over the weekend, the sap was flowing now through the stems, but it is always there, in the roots, all winter long. And when I talk to kids about all our food basically made up of earthworm poop, we laugh, and it is good to know, this is all a parts, changing forms, all the time.
Thank you once again for reminding of everywhere
Many blessings,
Kristina
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Hi Kristina,
Sometimes there are just one or two lines that make the experience of creating a piece really good. One of those for me was the crazy idea that if you know how things work, you can accept the obvious. That one just kind of dropped into my awareness and made a ripple. I’m glad you picked up on it…
Yes, the forms are always changing, always drifting, dissolving, growing, singing, silencing, waving in the wind, being carried away by the wind, then gone… And earthworm poop is quite amazing, yes…! Worms! They are incredible creatures. Building life down in the dark… I love how life begets life. It’s so inscrutable. You can only marvel at it… Accept the obvious and smile…
Blessings to you also,
Michael
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🙂 smiling. Actually, I was giggling out loud while reading all the comments and responses. Good stuff. Yes, that line of knowing things so we accept the obvious, I had copied and saved, considering to quote it some place. I’d felt the feeling behind it, but you put it in crisp words.
I really marvel at how your words flow and often think: wow, he just clarified that, which I could not quite put my finger on, for example, your pointing out the meaning of Compassion in response to Mary. And the interest-free loan you pay back by taking more. 🙂 Liked your analogy of the map boundaries and the magnets in response to Rajani.
And now, I am secretly wishing there was a (friendly) live debate between you and Hariod, I have a hunch it would be a good one. 🙂
With gratitude,
Kristina
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Hi Kristina,
Secret wishes come true more than we like to admit I’m afraid. I think maybe this discussion Hariod and I had once came before you and I had made one another’s acquaintance… It should be enough to quell such mad wishes! ha! 🙂
Sharing in your gratitude,
Michael
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Thank you for making me laugh, Michael! ❤ For me, it's as simple as that: Thank you. I'm here.
Love, Ka
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That’s all we need, Ka. A reason to smile, that reminds us there are no reasons really needed… 🙂 So here we all are…
Truth and Wonder
Michael
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🙂
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there’s no place like home,
there’s no place like home,
right in the here & now,
oh but for this poetic wake up, Michael
my heels would be clicking without my notice.
then off I’d go to see some wizard
or monkeys or witches
who in their own way would
advice as you, although
less gently 🙂
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I’ve got a bit of a heel-clicking thing going myself, David. But you’re right. It’s amazing how everything advises us of what is so, though in its own way. Is everything saying the same thing, in its own way? When the wizard and the monkey and the witch are indiscernible, we’ll see a beautiful scene indeed…
Peace
Michael
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I’m not there…still wandering ☺️
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We sloppy Buddhists have nothing which can arrive, of course. 😉
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indeed it’s all illusion 😉 happy day to you Hariod!
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I thought wandering was what you did there…?
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i’m just energy…flowing like water…hitting the river bank every now and again 😀
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This is classic Michael, what finesse to write with such levity, yet write of things so profound. I enjoyed this thoroughly here and there, there and here. You’ve also touched on that sense that “I am all over the place” that I sometimes feel, it’s kind of a prickly feeling. Yes, I learned from this, I am always going to be all over the place – there is no other place I can be, so why not enjoy the ride. Great work Michael! Your friend, Harlon
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Good thinking, Harlon. You can be all over the place and still be right there. Right where it is, where you are… Thank you for the kind words. I find you to be the master of lines that speak to me with both humor and depth, so savor your compliment this evening. The ride is surely meant to be enjoyed, if we can cultivate the skill to hang in the balance of it…
Peace, my friend,
Michael
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“Beyond our ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing,
there is a field. I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase ‘each other’
doesn’t make sense any more.” Rumi
Great post Michael.
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Thank you very much, Karen. i thought a lot about that field Rumi described while writing this, and almost referenced it directly, so you have wandered into the same heart place I was occupying temporarily… The ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing can truly trip us up, and shorten our vision…
Peace
Michael
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It is one of my favorite’s from Rumi and it is exactly what came to mind when I read your post ha! When I read those words I feel deeply connected and home, and I guess that is the “There” we are always searching for. Peace to you Michael for your beautiful work.
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“I pull on a thread for a while and it leads to the edge of a cliff, and I look down and see darkness and a field of stars”– loved this. Such a beautiful image. I am always asking, “Are we there yet” and getting reprimanded for doing so. Have always asked that. If we have to ask, we aren’t but maybe we’re on the right path to realize this. It would be nice to know. But nice is not what it is all about. Your pieces often bring me to the sky full of stars to stare in awe.
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Thank you, Ellen. Oh, the mind is so good at setting traps… like if you have to ask, you’re not there… but this is a trick of course. Asking or not asking, it is where we are. The only question is how we’re choosing to experience any particular moment. And since that is just a choice, it is light as a feather to nudge out of the way…
Though I agree, sometimes the not knowing is ours to inhabit for a time. There is something to be gained even from the richness of being “not there yet”…
Peace and Love
Michael
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This is one of your offerings, Michael, that a part of me fails to understand, and then a another part of me does. Fitting eh? 😉
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Yes, quite.
I wish I could have said it better, but I didn’t really know what I was talking about or who was doing the talking… Thankfully, what I understand has very little to do with it all… 🙂
Sometimes I line up all my parts, and bless them for their given propensities, and then take out the batteries. Finally… some peace and quiet in here… 🙂
Much Love
Michael
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I know exactly what you mean Michael; it’s such a relief when the moronic klutz in my head stops talking for a bit.
Much love to you too my dear friend, and to your own little moron also of course. 😉
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Where I am in relation to time and space and how that connects to the rest of the cosmic truth, I may never know. But within the perimeter of truths that I comprehend, I can clearly see I am not yet where I want to be. But in questioning the premise itself, it starts to get really complicated. Lots to think about in this piece Michael…though you make it sound so simple!
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Hi Rajani,
I wish you every good thing you desire, and none of the fine print…
It is funny how the perimeters we draw can put us off the map somehow. As you say, questioning the premise can initially be quite confusing. If you’ve played with little magnets you know sometimes you can only get them so close to a particular configuration, and then one of them just flips over. It’s like there’s an attraction until they reach a certain proximity, and then it reverses suddenly. I think it’s a little like that… Then we realize maybe forcing those two magnets to make contact wasn’t the right idea at all… And we try a new configuration, and all the forces suddenly work together… But they were there all along… 🙂
Peace
Michael
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“Some forms are good and some forms are bad. That’s what they say. Some help you get there and some don’t. Depends on who you ask of course. But if you ask ’em, they’re right. So ask the right ones.”
I really appreciated and got a good laugh out of these lines– they are so true and relevant to today. It’s rare to find a writer that holds just the right amount of uniqueness of style and thought in their work…so much so that each piece of writing is different, but still connected to each other in a meaningful way. Thanks for being one of those!
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Thank you, RJ! Glad you enjoyed it and I very much appreciate your feedback on the writing. I like the observation of the connection between pieces, because I see that a lot in people’s work. One of the great things about WordPress is seeing how we respond to one another over time, and how our writing and thinking shifts. Yet there is that common thread in each of us– something unique to each that makes its way into the open. It is a holy observation…
Peace
Michael
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Welcome to the corn maze of the universe, sign shows big X stating you are here, and no matter where you go, there is always that sign that says X, you are here…and we laugh because we knew it long before any sign deigned to tell us so, it was part of our memory DNA, and we know where it is we are going, I think the theme from Mahogany said it best, heard it yesterday as a matter of fact, it’s when we stop asking for directions, we slide merrily along down the big water slide of life, yelling Wheeeee to our hearts content and open our eyes to find we are no longer in the corn maze, but the big meandering red poppy field following the happy yellow brick road. We can be wherever we want to be, as long as we are there in joy and gratitude, we are everywhere at once. I like when the magic happens like that. Thank you for my morning smile and heartfelt joy, I am here and you are here within me too….neat trick Hafiz… Do it again, ‘kay? Peace and fast sliding in the sun😊☀️
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