One day I looked Hafiz straight in the eye (his left if you must know) (my right) with the full faith and undeniable force of forty beleaguered years of human existence on this little planet of ours, which, in case you hadn’t noticed, is clearly going right down the same unsanitary tube as the one that we now call an asteroid belt, and I said half-jokingly, “Tell me the first thing that comes to mind.” […]
Things that appear to be so under one set of conditions, are often found to be quite different under another. It is for this reason that most of our conclusions formed historically, in the context of separation consciousness, are erroneous. What’s remarkable about the experience of life is that we can be completely incorrect about ultimate reality, and have a very real and vivid experience of our own false conclusions up to and even through […]
What does it mean to live from the heart? And why does it matter? In my experience, every difficulty I’ve ever faced has manifested itself as a rift between my heart and my mind—between what can be known most profoundly when words are left behind, and what presents itself as a seemingly irrefutable conclusion of the mind’s learning. When this happens we tend to look at circumstance as the genesis of difficulty, without realizing that […]
“I feel better. But I did that thing again, didn’t I, Hafiz?” “Yes.” “How come we both know what I’m talking about, but we can’t explain it?” “The horses giving chase always get mud in their eyes.” “That was easier than I thought. But giving chase to what?” “To whatever you think is over there.” He waved his hand limply towards the distance, indicating that somewhere along the periphery of my mind there were these […]
The description I love best is that each of us is an intersection of matter and spirit, the above and below, the eternal and the present, of knowledge and mystery. I am tired of materialism—so very tired of its laborious absurdities, the dead ends it tries to pretty-over, the delicate faculties of the human being it would all but silence. Even so, I would not discard logic or rational thought. I would simply hold them […]
Authenticity is not unveiled in a swoop of the cape. That only goes to show the last few days or hours or minutes– whatever the length of time has been since the previous flourish of unveiling– have been inauthentic. What the flourish reveals is the port of entry to our truth’s harbor. You enter by submarine. Your instruments have failed. The ballast is leaking and the batteries are dead. The hull is creaking and popping in […]
Hafiz and I have started an air band. It’s a summer thing. I guess. A now and forever thing. Like being eight years old and playing tag with your cousin on a wrap-around porch on a day that will never, ever forget you. The sky behind the house turns pink and orange in a valley between tall trees and we appear on the widow’s walk just as the bass line sets the table. We’re both […]
(This post is a continuation of the previous…) What’s a teckinal discussion, Hafiz? the child asked. Well! Hafiz replied, sitting down beside the little one, that is a very tricky thing, you see. That is when we try to identify what each thing is all by itself with such great precision any confusion in it will be squeezed right out. Sensing immediately God was an idea that would break apart beneath such pressure, the child turned […]
One time when Hafiz was balancing on one foot atop an intriguing round stone the size of a small house that was sunk into the sand beside a very fine sea and dimpled by the impact of ancient particles of dust from outer space, with his arms crossed, or flapping like wings against a blue beyond, or hitched to his side, and his other leg folded up yogically– alternately very stork-like beneath him– or resting […]
I believe a lot of interesting things, things I’ve collected along the way. I have pages and pages of notes. Scribblings. Arrows and half-thoughts running up and down the margins. Ellipses and question marks. Coffee stains. My life is a draft copy full of edits. I’m always circling back– leaping from one passage to another, sifting through my notes, strengthening the narrative, discovering what was and might have been. We are revealed in the living of […]
Embracing Forever 