You Only Think You Know

 

It's All In How You See It, Portsmouth, NH, July 2018, Nikon D600 with FX 28-300mm VR lens,
122mm, 1/30 sec @ f5.6, ISO 500, -1.33 EV, no flash © Steven Crisp 

You Only Think You Know

Think of all of our human concepts, 

Helpful to us in our work-a-day world, 

But perhaps taking us farther away

From the wholeness of Life and Reality.

Time is one example, where in fact

There is only continuous change

Moment by inter-dependent moment

Nothing everlasting, always flowing

Matter is another, seen first as fundamental, 

Even axiomatic — the building blocks of Life

But it too fails the permanence test

Not to mention, the divisibility test

We can't even explain if an atom

Is a particle or a wave or something else 

This reductionism is fundamentally flawed 

Life and Reality contain the Whole

Does sufficiently advanced "matter"

(aka our brains) produce consciousness?

Or 'tis it the other way 'round

Are we but ripples of consciousness?

Really, we know nothing and our castles are built on sand

Some spend their days like they spend their money

Both banked upon the felt belief that

"Tomorrow" or $$$ are the real currency

For now, what can we do, but keep chipping away 

At the hard shell of our self-serving ego; 

Creating some cracks to let the light in and the love out

Opening, more and more, to simply revel in the mystery

 

That Mask You Wear

Eyes in the Clouds, Lanikai Beach, Lanikai, HI, May 2020, iPhone 11 Pro © Steven Crisp

 

Can you see that mask you wear?

What is its purpose,

and is it really needed?

Surely the world expects it, 

or so you believe ...

Parent ...  Child ... Adult

Boss ... Employee ... Unemployed

Artist ... Druggie ... Prim & Proper

Landlord ... Renter ... Homeless

Well take a look a that cloud, with holes for your eyes 

It's just like those masks you wear,

trying to solidify your identity, your role, your ego

But they are mere gossamer, 

flimsy and transient, 

impossible to grasp and hold onto

 when Life’s winds blow

Those masks you wear 

won’t protect you, and worse

They'll cause you to confuse 

the role with the actor

Would you like to remove your mask

 on your terms and not the whims of the winds?

Then look deeply inside, for your true Self 

behind the masks of your ego 

And find the solid ground 

of Choiceless Awareness

 on which to take your stand

Firmly, confidently, equanimously

The Greatest Danger Before You

I received this in the mail today. E-mail of course ;-) It is from Nipun Mehta of charityfocus.org, and is his "thought for the week". It just seemed to be worth sharing with others. Have a read and see what you think.

The Greatest Danger Before You (by Granny D)

In the end -- and it will end -- your life will seem to have sped by like a fleeting dream. Much of your story will be the age-old but ever joyful human experience: romance, family, satisfying work, and happy completion. I wish you a great fountain of successes. You will also be provided with all the failures and tragedies necessary to deepen and widen your soul -- sufficient, I hope, to make you wise and forgiving of all human frailties. I pray that these necessary troubles will never long crush your optimism nor your love for this magical life.

The greatest danger before you is this: you live in an age when people would package and standardize your life for you -- steal it from you and sell it back to you at a price. That price is very high.

You have already been selected for this program. You have its credit cards and designer labels already expensively around you. In the months ahead, you will find yourselves working long hours, too exhausted for community life or even good friendships -- too compromised to take a stand against the abuses of the system you serve. A great treadmill has been devised for you, and its operators do not care much if it wears you out or kills you. A system is in place to steal your life from you, if you will let it. Don't let it.

Read, study, meditate and think for yourself. Let your most serious education now commence, if it has not already done so. Refine and hold your own values, and pay the high price necessary to live those values. Decide what is important to you, and hold your ground against all temptations and tortures. From the pink granite of your own values, build a fortress against the world's ethical compromises, or you will soon be among those dead of eye who stand next to you in elevators but who are not alive. Don't let them steal your life. This is the only warning you will receive.