The Hollow Man

Written sometime 1987-1990.

The hollow man slept,

On a table,
In a room blackened by time.

A dim lamp shone in a corner,
A star,

The sun,
Penetrating the darkness,
Through black grime of thoughts,
The thoughts within the mind of a boy,
Who knelt at the foot of the bed.

The boy wept and shook his head,
"Can it be true that my father is dead"?

Who is the Hollow Man in the darkness? Is it me or my Father?... who when I wrote this was alive, but is now no longer with us....another early poem wrestling with death and darkness. 

For my Father: Passed Away April 19, 2010

 Turn! Turn! Turn!

The Byrds

Words-adapted from The Bible, book of Ecclesiastes
Music-Pete Seeger

To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep

To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

A time to build up,a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together

To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

A time of love, a time of hate
A time of war, a time of peace
A time you may embrace, a time to refrain from embracing

To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time for love, a time for hate
A time for peace, I swear it's not too late

Wake Up Humans - Use Your Power!

 Received February 26, 2010

Wake up humans. Correct the error of your ways. Mend your broken planet. Give back to Gaia. Move out of the darkness towards the light. Save yourselves and your planet.

Things cannot go on the way they are. Things must change. Accepting the fact that the darkness is present is no excuse for ignoring it.

By moving to the light actively, consciously you can each effect change. The problem is that many of you - most of you in fact - are wallowing in your subjective feelings of seeming powerlessness and resigning yourselves to the flow of events outside of you. Take your Power back! Take sovereignty over yourselves and events. You are all Kings and Queens with infinite Power inside you. You are all children of the Creator. Children of God. You are all Gods and Goddesses! The darkness is ineffective against you.

Ask yourself if you can bear to see Gaia suffering in the way she is. She is also your Mother. She has had enough and she is taking her own Power back. She is waking up and she is bringing a significant portion of humanity with her. Are you going to be one of them or are you going to continue to fester in your own pool of detritus? Are you going to continue to watch events unfold with no feeling, no empathy in your heart? How will you hold your so-called leaders to account? How will you create better ways of ‘Being’? How will you evolve better ways of ‘Doing’? For remember that first is ‘Being’ then is ‘Doing’. You cannot do things to change something, to become something. Everything that happens in your life comes from your state of ‘Being’. Your center of balance is your heart. Once you realize that All Is One and One Is All, you find your pivot point - the fulcrum around which your life revolves in a spiral of perfection. Then you learn to exhibit and exude The Power...Your Power!

But, again, are you prepared to change your ways? Will you actively, consciously change your lifestyles? Will you take charge of yourselves and actively contribute to a society that is for the good of all, rather than for the benefit of the few? What organizations, established to help Gaia, will you join? What letters will you write to encourage change? It doesn’t matter if those politicians to whom you write listen or not, for it is in the very act of writing the words down, clicking the send button or licking the envelope, patting the stamp and sending your letter off, through which you effect the change. This is because the words you write will be imbued with love, feeling, belief and compassion from your heart and these ways of being will help make the changes you desire on their own merit. 

You see, you have no need to feel powerless. A small proportion of the population, who know a secret, can pass that information on to the rest of the population without them even realizing they are being influenced by it! This is proven science. Fighting in the Lebanon was reduced significantly when the square root of one percent of the population prayed and meditated for peace!

Have compassion, have love, gain knowledge, acquire wisdom. Think about the consequences of every single decision you make, the way you interact with every single person during every day. What consequences ensue? What effects do your flapping butterfly wings have on the other side of the world? Do they cause tornadoes or pleasant breezes? For the fundamental principle of the universe, the golden rule, is cause and effect. Everything is connected. Each and everyone of us is connected to each other and to everything else. For every action, there is an equivalent reaction - remember? Love begets love, fear begets fear.

So, you must monitor yourselves. What does your heart tell you? For everything starts with you as an individual divine being. You are The Power! You have The Power within you to overcome the darkness.

But even in your moments, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, even years of doubt, if you have the glowing joy of love in your heart, and the recognition of the connectedness of all things, you will overcome those doubts. For you will be free to be you, to find the real you inside, the one who has existed since the beginning and who has evolved to the level of consciousness you have now. For only evolved spirits enter human bodies everywhere in the universe.

So, don’t put yourself down. Don’t live in doubt. Change your world. Change the world! Heal the planet! For you have The Power! Use the Power! Be the Power!

Characteristics of a Spiritual Master

This isn't one of mine :-), but I liked it so am sharing it here. Happy Easter everyone!
 From: http://www.umsonline.org/Reading/PastIssues/2004/Summer04/Articles/CharacteristicsMaster.htm

* A Master expresses and is sensitive to beauty in all forms.


* A Master never directs attention to himself. He is egoless.


* A Master has respect for all members of the Nature kingdoms.


* A Master’s very presence radiates power.


* Unconditional love is a basic quality of a Master. A Master never judges, is always impersonal, detached and yet compassionate.


* A true Master is a Master of Wisdom. His understanding of life and Cosmic laws far exceeds those of the average person.


* A Master, though possessing some or all spiritual and psychic powers renounces their use except for emergencies and urgencies. He, therefore will hardly ever reveal to anyone that he has them.


* A Master never commands he simply suggests, he never instills fear but awakens courage. He never makes you feel bad about yourself; on the contrary, he helps you build self-esteem.


* As a rule, a Master never predicts a person’s future and he never flatters the human ego.


* A Master will always lead and direct you to the ultimate goal. Though he may teach the lower laws, truths and forces applicable to the improvement of mundane life, he will not place too much emphasis upon them, instructing that the phenomenal world is nothing but a dream and is illusory from the absolute perspective.


* A Master seldom speaks of his past, himself, his background, etc., unless it is pertinent and useful as illustrations in the conveyance of spiritual teachings to others.


* A Master is universal and non-sectarian in his attitudes. He sees all men as an expression of the Supreme, regardless of their religious leanings, their color, race, sex, etc.


* A true Master is creatively original. Being enlightened by his own divine essence a Master would teach or even write books directly from his heart and own experience. He would never plagiarize the work of another or teach things that are outmoded.


* Masters do not argue. They know that no amount of argument would convince the skeptic, and to those who are true seekers no argument would be necessary.


* A Master embodies most, if not all, of the divine virtues.


* Although compassionate, a Master never sympathize with the feelings of the human ego for he does not recognize imperfection. He is simply aware of the perfection of God indwelling in the divine spark within microcosmic man.


* A Master has no longer any egoic desires, he no longer functions from the personality level; he has long given up his human will in favor of the expression of the Divine Will of God.


* A true Master does not hasten a student’s psychic growth prematurely by any “transference” of power. He always predominately concentrates upon raising the consciousness, improving character, spirituality, and increasing the wisdom and the understanding of his students.


* A Master never judges the outer person of others but looks into the depths of their soul for value.


* A Master never makes others feel guilty in any way.


* Although detached, impersonal, and sometimes seemingly aloof, a Master is full of affection for his chelas (students).


* A Master appreciates every small service that is offered to him and the great work of manifesting the Divine Plan.


Perhaps one of the most outstanding and admirable characteristics of Spiritual Masters is that they do not consider themselves Masters. This is their humility. They know that they still have a considerable amount of things to master and learn. They are so aware that they are still undergoing the learning process that they are embarrassed to call themselves “Masters” or have anyone else call them that. In performing their divine and spiritual duties Spiritual Masters declare: “It is not I that works but the ‘Father’ within me.”