For All Time

To live freely we must let go of the subtle, underlying notion that sometime in the past we were more innocent, more care-free, or somehow happier than we are now. Also, we must let go of the subtle, underlying idea that things will be worse off in the future. These poisonous ideas will naturally subside if we consciously drop the hard-edged storyline of birth and death, yesterday and tomorrow, past and future. Our reverence for youth and absolute fear of death is nothing more than an escape from the ever-present reality of this moment. If we remain here, we are free for all time.

Your Fire

the world is on fire.

and your thoughts are like flames trying to put it out.

running this way and that,

spreading destruction with every step.

violently screaming, “there is no peace, truth, or good here! all must change to how I see fit!”

indeed.

you shall become a blazing inferno!

let your mad quest for peace consume you.

for you would do good to burn yourself out.

only then will you remember what was so before you set yourself ablaze.

and when all the fires of your dreams have gone,

in the calm, luminous expanse of reality,

you will laugh heartily at all the ways you tried to squelch the flames of life

with your fire.