Mystery, Mystery & More Mystery: 2021

Preface

Preface

Greetings,

While responding to an online friend’s questions about my thoughts on the mystery, it occurred to me to take a look at all that had been written about it since I began scribing in 1989. Another friend had suggested I do this several years ago, and I had filed it on the back-burner of possible projects. The creative juices took hold, and this is the PDF result, with thoughts from all the major titles: The Stillness Before Time, The Ponderings of Yaj Ekim, Breadcrumbs, and The Return to Wonder.

A PDF is available at:

Mystery, Mystery & More Mystery

http://thestillnessbeforetime.com/mysterymysteryandmoremystery.pdf

Writing has been an enjoyable process ever since I first began toying with prose; scribbling poetry, keeping journals, corresponding with friends and acquaintances during the college daze. The philosophical/mystical/whatever-you-want-to-call-them thoughts, that have been popping into mind since 1989, have always been very out-of-the-blue spontaneous. Nothing planned or forced about them. They are being shared on the off chance that others may find them of interest, though, quite frankly, it really does not matter if no one else ever even reads them, for I am, first and foremost, my own audience. I got mine, so to speak. I played my little part. I had my share of fun. And it is, as it has ever been, up to each to discern their own, on their own. There are really no followers in this Don Quixote quest; only earnest seekers, who waylay their desires and fears and dreads, enough to discern that which is the end to doubt, the end to dueling with windmills. “Yay” if it is your fate to figure it out. “Oh well” if it is not. And “so it goes” either way, really. Ecclesiastes 1:2 is always a good reminder: “Vanity of vanities,” saith the Preacher, “Vanity of vanities. All is vanity.” Awareness can only, with great effort, regain control, regain sovereignty, from the usurper, imagination, creator of all that is time, creator of all that is space. Creator of all that is illusion, has never has been anything more than illusion, will never be anything more than illusion. Only as real as the given moment.

“The Stillness Before Time” is the original work that came together in 1992, including mostly aphorisms, an essay, a newspaper question-and-answer, ten reflections, and lists of both movies and books. Though an early self-published version, long since edited and expanded, can be purchased at major booksellers, a downloadable copy is available, no charge, at the link below. There are also links to a variety of blogs of other creations by me, along with links to many writings of a similar nature, by thinkers and seers from across all times, across all geographies.

"The Ponderings of Yaj Ekim" is the second published book, and is both blogged and available as a PDF download.

The “Breadcrumbs” titles, published annually since 2015, all include the core chapters: Leftovers, Soundbites, Breadcrumbs. In the Breadcrumbs chapters, I unleash thoughts of a more personal nature than in the other two. All just to show I was ensconced in a living, breathing, relativity mundane, oftentimes foolish, mortal mind-body. An actor playing the hand that was dealt; same as everyone else, vain as everyone else. No need to sculpt me into more than I was. No need for myths, nor legends, nor fables, nor miracles, nor cult followings, nor any other fictions, any other absurdities, over to which the human mind, and all its imaginary history, has so often given itself. The Breadcrumbs chapters prove me again and again to be yet another Shakespearian player, as full of the limited and arbitrary as anyone else born into this dream of space and time. So please be sure not to shape me, or these many random thoughts, into some dogmatic absurdity. Use them as a launchpad, not an orbit.

“The Return to Wonder” blog is a compendium of aphorisms not included in the three other works: The Stillness Before Time, The Ponderings of Yaj Ekim, and Breadcrumbs. It originally totaled 3,000 pages formatted in 300 ten-page chapters written since 1990-ish. A gradual editing that will likely never be completed, is changing that dynamic into something of a mishmash.

Please note that this sort of wordplay is very haphazard, way too much work to put into any order. Probably best read it in bits and pieces in the here and there. One of those open-to-any-page works. Especially well-suited for coffee shops, coffee tables, and porcelain thrones.

Also note that all writings are always subject to updates and editing, so if you are interested in the most current version – before this house of cards comes tumbling down, and the world grows large again – downloading PDF copies every once and a while might be a reasonable discipline. This applies especially to the current year of Breadcrumbs, which could well be an annual project until the last wheezing breath, though frankly, the temptation to stop writing entirely is not off the table. It is a pleasant way to pass some of the countdown remaining, but it is unlikely there is much ground that has not been wandered by this frame of reference far more than enough already. No matter how many times Sisyphus rolls the boulder up the mountain, it is more than a little doubtful that the blind men and their true-believer followers, will ever discern, ever realize, ever embrace, the elephant in the middle of the room, without fabricating some new form of absurdity. It is the way we roll, it is the way we have always rolled, it is the way we will, far more than probably, always roll. Every species has its limitations, and we have in this mind’s eye, far-exceeded ours.

That said, if you do find these many thoughts at all worth preserving, for whatever times are ahead for this world and all its life forms, please feel free to share them with others who might also appreciate them. Else they may well swiftly slip back into the timeless oblivion from whence they came.

So it goes, either way. I played my part, I said my piece, I had my fun.

All the best,

P.S. For best viewing online, using the largest screen you have available to explore my little theme park, is suggested. Scrolling down and down on a phone screen is just not going to give you the same entrée.

P.P.S. Regarding the name Yaj Ekim ... It is just a reverse spelling of the first and middle names ... Michael Jay Holshouser ... Mike Jay ... Yaj Ekim.

P.P.P.S. Coincidently, make of it whatever you will, or will not, Yaj is an Indian boy’s name meaning worshipper, sacrifice, another name for Shiva, a sage. And Ekim is a Turkish name for October meaning “sowing” (of seeds). All kinds of absurdity can be read into that by the many, so-inclined – none of which was in mind when the idea came to reverse the letters to my name. See P.P.S. for details.

P.P.P.P.S. Yes, I am Shiva. And so are You. No, I am not Shiva. And neither are you. Irony and paradox rule.

The Stillness Before Time

Reflections From a Fellow Sojourner

Website

The Stillness Before Time
Reflections From a Fellow Sojourner
https://thestillnessbeforetime.com/

There is really only one Way.

It is without division or boundary.

It is without name or theology.

Awareness is its scripture.

Here now, its venue.

You, its witness.

Your life, the journey.

A PDF is available at:
https://thestillnessbeforetime.com/thestillnessbeforetime.pdf

One Through Thirty

One * 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 * Thirty

Essays

Of the Human Journey

Got God?

Ten Reflections

Blog and PDF

Blog * PDF

Other Resources

Books * Movies * Links * Blogs

Main Blogs & PDF's

(All blogs and PDF's subject to change, so stay tuned)

The Stillness Before Time
Reflections From a Fellow Sojourner
Blog * PDF

The Ponderings of Yaj Ekim
Blog * PDF

Breadcrumbs 2015
Bits and Pieces From a Dream of Time
Blog * PDF

Breadcrumbs 2018
Bits and Pieces From a Dream of Time
Blog * PDF

Breadcrumbs 2019
Bits and Pieces From a Dream of Time
Blog * PDF

Breadcrumbs 2020
Bits and Pieces From a Dream of Time
Blog * PDF

Breadcrumbs 2021
Bits and Pieces From a Dream of Time
Blog * PDF

Breadcrumbs 2022
Bits and Pieces From a Dream of Time
Blog * PDF

Breadcrumbs 2023 & Beyond
Bits and Pieces From a Dream of Time
Blog * PDF

The Return to Wonder
Field Notes From the Unknown
(Major edit underway -- Edited copy colored blue)
Blog * PDF

Blogs & PDF's of Other Works

Michael's Rabbit Hole
A Selection of Breadcrumbs & Other Aphorisms
Blog * PDF

The Call of the Eternal
A Conversation With My Self
Blog * PDF

Imagination: The Great Usurper
Blog * PDF

Lost in Translation
The Human Paradigm's Linguistic Muddle
Blog * PDF

The Gordian Knot of Ethical Thinking
Blog * PDF

Jesus on Prophets
What Any Seer Likely Faces Returning to the Cave of Origin
Blog * PDF

Aftershocks Autumn 2024
Blog * PDF

Of Meaning and Purpose
Ponderings About the Futility of It All
Blog * PDF

Mystery, Mystery & More Mystery
Blog * PDF

Imagination, Imagination & More Imagination
Blog * PDF

Doubt, Doubt & More Doubt
Blog * PDF

Science, Science & More Science
Blog * PDF

History, History & More History
Blog * PDF

Patterns, Patterns & More Patterns
Blog * PDF

Reincarnation, Reincarnation & More Reincarnation
Blog * PDF

Standouts From the Return to Wonder Edit
Selections From the First Sixteen Chapters
Blog * PDF

Of the Human Journey
Along with Got God? And Ten Reflections
Blog * PDF

To Be or Not to Be
Blog * PDF

The Mystery of the Mystery
Blog * PDF

Who Was the First?
Blog * PDF

The Real is Discovering
Blog * PDF

59 Moments to The Way It Is (And Is Not)
The Scribe's Guide to the Great Whatthe#$*!?
Blog * PDF

Definitions
An Incomplete Selection 0f Contemplative Definitions
Blog * PDF

Conversations
A Variety of Letters, Emails, Texts, & Sundry Odd 'n Ends
Blog * PDF

Titles, Titles & More Titles
Blog * PDF

Even More
Blog * PDF

Sketches of the Once Upon a Time
A Few Epiphanies and Other Hallmark Moments
Blog * PDF

The Corollaries of Yaj Ekim
Blog * PDF

Possible Last Words & Epitaphs
Blog * PDF

The Standard Ripostes
The Scribe's Go-to Responses to This and That in the Day-To-Day
Blog * PDF

My (Not Quite) Haiku
Blog * PDF

Jester Amok
Blog * Facebook * Facebook (Original)

Uncle Sam Says
Blog * Facebook

Once Upon a Christmas
Blog * PDF

Ditties for the Bluegrass Pyre
Blog * PDF

A Short List of Books for the Up and Coming
Some Written Works That May Help Get the Young up to Speed
Blog * PDF

Spam Responses (a.k.a., WTF Is This Shit!?)
Blog * PDF

A Collection of Miscellaneous Creations

Final Exit and Related Links

COVID-19 Information Links

The Blind Men and the Elephant

Of A Philosophical Nature

The Four Agreements

The Joyful Curmudgeon

12 Rules You Can Live By

Quotes, Quotes & More Quotes

Fichier Circulaire de Michael

How to Work in Any Environment

50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School

Election 2016: The Rise (and Fall?) of Donald Trump

Michael's Little Warehouse of All Things Amusing, Absurd & Profound

Other Blogs and PDF's by Michael

Other Blogs and PDF's by Michael

Facebook

Michael Holshouser

Fichier Circulaire de Michael
(Michael's Circular File)

Yaj Ekim

Twitter/X

@YajEkim

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Michael Holshouser

Nine Translations of the Ashtavakra Gita

The Heart of Awareness (Byrom)

Ashtavakra Gita (Marshall)

Bitten by the Black Snake (Schoch)

Ashtavakra Gita (Richards)

A Duet of One (Balsekar)

Astavakra Samhita (Wood)

Ashtavakra Gita (Shastri)

Ashtavakra Gita (Saraswati)

Ashtavakra Gita (Vedic Scriptures)

PDF's of Nine Translations of the Ashtavakra Gita

The Heart of Awareness (Byrom)

Ashtavakra Gita (Marshall)

Bitten by the Black Snake (Schoch)

Ashtavakra Gita (Richards)

A Duet of One (Balsekar)

Astavakra Samhita (Wood)

Ashtavakra Gita (Shastri)

Ashtavakra Gita (Saraswati)

Ashtavakra Gita (Vedic Scriptures)

Ashtavakra Gita: I Am Shiva

Ashtavakra Gita: I Am Shiva

PDF's of Ashtavakra Gita: I Am Shiva

Ashtavakra Gita: I Am Shiva

I Am Shiva Comparison Chart

Four Translations of the Avadhuta Gita

Avadhuta Gita: Song of the Ever-Free (Marshall)

Song of the Avadhut (Abhayananda)

Avadhut Gita (Shastri)

Avadhuta Gita: The Song of the Ascetic (Sinha)

PDF's of Four Translations of the Avadhuta Gita

Avadhuta Gita: Song of the Ever-Free (Marshall)

Song of the Avadhut (Abhayananda)

Avadhut Gita (Shastri)

Avadhuta Gita: The Song of the Ascetic (Sinha)

Translations of Other Ancient Writings

Tao Te Ching: Verse One

Tao Te Ching (Marshall)

Bhagavad Gita (Marshall)

Yoga Sutras (Marshall)

Dhammapada (Marshall)

Ecclesiastes (Marshall)

Atma Bodha (Chinmayananda)

The Essence of the Ribhu Gitaj (Aiyer)

Yoga Vasishta Sara (Ramasramam)

Crest-Jewel of Discrimination (Madhavananda)

Mandukya Upanishad & Mandukya Karika of Gaudapada (Panoli)

Gaudapada: Advaita Vedanta's First Philosopher (Jones)

Translations of Ancient Writings by Bart Marshall

Avadhuta Gita: Song of the Ever-Free

Ashtavakra Gita

Tao Te Ching

Bhagavad Gita

Yoga Sutras

Dhammapada

Ecclesiastes

Writings by Bart Marshall

Verses Regarding True Nature

One Hundred Two Haiku

* * * * * * * * * *

Mystery, Mystery & More Mystery

World Rights Reserved

Michael J. Holshouser

1112 Cedar Creek Drive, Unit 4

Modesto, California 95355-5213

The United States of America

mjholshouser@gmail.com

Pronunciation: Holtzhowzer

All have the express written encouragement

To distribute this creation freely to any and all

Who have the eyes to see and the ears to hear

The mystery in which each and every one

Equally participates in so many ways

The Stillness Before Time

Copyright Page

All have the express written encouragement

To distribute this creation freely to any and all

Who have the eyes to see and the ears to hear

The mystery in which each and every one

Equally participates in so many ways.

Preface

What is written here

Has been spoken, written, and lived

By many in many times and places in human history.

Ever disguised by innumerable masks, costumes, concepts, and technologies,

Its mysterious nature has timelessly confused and frightened

Those unable to discern beneath the surface.

This aphoristic vision is simply another attempt,

Using contemporary masks, costumes, concepts, and technologies,

To illustrate in thought something as old as old is,

That which has ever yet never been.

It is for those who desire nothing from this manifest dream

But that it be a journey into freedom.

Best wishes.

You are the source,

The quantum ocean,

The absolute supreme,

The eternal unicity of isness.

* * * *

Discovering your true birthright

Requires the persistence

Of an aloof scientist,

Gradually scraping away

At the layers of conditioning

Until at some point there is nothing left,

And what you truly are, and are not, is quite apparent.

* * * *

When in every moment

You see without a trace of doubt

That there is no master other than you,

That those many pedestaled images of great souls

Were projections of the inherent longing

To awaken to the birthright

That is prior to consciousness,

You will be free of artificial limits,

You will have triumphed over illusion,

You will have discovered the indelible truth:

That you are, indeed, sovereign, indivisibly absolute.

Call it by whatever sound you will:

God, Allah, Brahman, Tao, Buddha, Krishna,

Christ, Great Spirit, Way, Absolute, Supreme, Totality,

Or any of the many other labels it is given throughout the world,

It is ever the same indivisible mystery cloaked by the illusion of diversity.

III

You who seek are already that which is sought.

You are the unequivocal source, the mystery, pure and simple.

Discerning it clearly in the everyday, without a trace of doubt, is the challenge.

* * * *

Occasionally, attentively reflect within … "I am.”

That unadorned thought is the first and foremost assumption.

Contemplate it closely, thoroughly, add nothing to it.

See its subtle movement to the source within.

Those persistent and discerning enough

Will dissolve into the inexplicable.

This fleeting mystery is a whimsical kaleidoscope.

An eternal, immortal weaving; without beginning, without end.

A boundless, indivisible ocean of light and shadow in which all forms dance.

All one can observe of the mystery are the countless manifestations;

Never the dispassionate, unwavering witness beneath.

* * * *

The infinite source of manifestation

Is tasteless and untouchable;

Without vision or sound or smell.

What one perceives is but the mind’s reverie.

The vague, obtuse, ephemeral quality of awareness called intuition,

Is as near to understanding as any one can ever come.

* * * *

Be serene, content, alert, cheerfully at ease.

It is your original state, your birthright.

It requires no choice, effort, or contention.

No outward manifestation or proof is required.

It is a natural state of awareness, of simple beingness.

An effortless wander in the unconditional, timeless aloneness.

* * * *

Worship martyrs, crosses, statues, crystals, photographs,

Nature, wealth, words, ideas, or whatever your own will manufactures,

Or simply attend nothing but your own momentary awareness.

But for the sorrow of continuity in all but the latter,

All dreams pass in the same manner.

Understand the subtlety between

Claiming you are god,

And knowing you are godness.

One cannot be, and the other never was not.

* * * *

Explore love as much as you might with all your beingness,

It is the awareness within all that is its unfathomable cradle.

* * * *

You may sit quietly and breathe with your eyes wide open or tightly shut;

Chant spiritual songs or hum mantras until your mind is three shades of blue;

Practice every sort of rigid, dogmatic, death-defying diet or prescribed exercise;

Submit to ancient beliefs, rituals, and traditions; wear costumes and deify symbols;

Practice any discipline, worship any form your mind or another's might conjure;

Real meditation is the serene awareness of every moment's birth and death,

And no system is required to discern and freely perceive your birthright.

You are the ground,

The splintered I Amness of isness,

Creator and witness to an inexplicable theater,

A dreamer dreaming the kaleidoscoping quantum show real,

The timeless nature masked by endless variations of laughter and sorrow.

Why? No one can know. That you are is surely enough.

* * * *

Nothing wrought of this quantum genesis is ultimately real.

Everything is imagined, everything is dreamily timeless.

All indivisibly appearing, all indivisibly disappearing,

Within and without the eternal matrix of awareness.

* * * *

There is no Eastern or Western thought,

Only an awareness manifesting consciousness,

Blanketed by an innumerable array of mythologies.

* * * *

Are you able to scrutinize your existence

Without any attachment, any craving, any trepidation?

Dispassionately, objectively, reserving all pride-filled judgments;

Discerning forthrightly, clearly, without ulterior motive;

Observing closely the many joys and sorrows;

The likes and dislikes, the loves and hates;

The thoughts, beliefs, opinions, conclusions;

The endless flow of people, places, things, ideas;

The seemingly boundless array of passing experiences;

And come to the realization that it was really all your creation;

An inexplicable, intangible, ungraspable, timelessly indivisible journey;

Imagined by a dreamer whose ultimately choiceless nature is prior to all imagination.

VII

There is really no religion, no Way,

Just keen observing of a passing mystery

Beyond comprehension or conclusion.

* * * *

The senses tease and taunt you.

They are lies of the delusional mind.

You must ascertain the witness within,

Discriminate the freedom that they cannot,

And know with every particle of your beingness,

That only in the timelessness of awareness are you real.

VIII

Polish mirrors that never reflected,

Clean stains never spilled,

Mend tears never torn,

Perfect that never flawed,

Illuminate shadows never cast,

Give purpose that requiring none.

You are ever unfathomable and unknown,

A timelessly whimsical enigma dancing in stillness.

* * * *

It is consciousness that suffers, not you.

The awareness is without laws or principles or ideals.

What consciousness believes are but choices founded in delusion.

What is enlightenment but simply awakening

To the innate awareness, to the timeless birthright.

Liberation is abiding freely in that discerning ignorance.

* * * *

Identity is like cotton candy bought at a carnival,

A lot of puff concocted from practically nothing.

* * * *

When you awaken after sleeping,

There is a moment when the awareness

Resumes remembering the patterning it plays.

You could be anywhere, anything, anybody,

And what form and identity do you choose

But that which you are least able to resist.

* * * *

When you discover what you truly are, what you truly are not,

What is left but an inexplicable sense of awareness, unchained.

* * * *

You are the nexus through which the mystery manifests a personal view of time and space.

Since the dawn of consciousness, mind has grappled

With the mystery of birth and death, creation and destruction.

It has used every device to explain that which can never be explained.

Only in complete surrender to the awareness prior to thought's linear conception,

Can there be any insight into the choicelessness of the indivisibility.

* * * *

In the struggle with the indivisible nature, you must lose to win.

* * * *

Everyone has a mindset, a filtering process that interprets

The reality appearing to appear about them.

The challenge is discerning the relativity of all experience;

That everything is temporal, ephemeral illusion, nothing more or less real;

That, from beginning to end, each and every moment is but the fleeting dreamtime of awareness.

Mythoi across this shrinking planet

Migrate in every possible direction without respite.

The geographic isolation that created this remarkable manifest diversity

Is less important than discerning the thread of indivisibility

With which all creation is woven together.

XII

Thought is a reflection of an illusory past

And the projector of imagined futures.

Awareness is the tentative, ungraspable now.

It is boundless, eternal, neither identity nor persona.

It is the mysterious origin, the vapor of insight and intuition.

From its unknowable nature thought springs into being,

But without it, none of this would ever have been.

It is the parent of manifest consciousness,

The source prior to all perception.

* * * *

The sciences have in every manner

Scrutinized the unitary movement of this illusion.

They have stretched the conceptual mind in innumerable ways,

Yet none will ever succeed in determining its origin.

All they can ever do is dance with Maya

On the floor of manifestation.

* * * *

You are the gold, not the jewelry into which it is made.

* * * *

At some point, books and their many concepts must be set aside.

Scholars journey the dead-end path of dualistic intellect.

Reclaiming your birthright is direct perception,

Not the cataloging of manuscripts.

The truth you seek will not be found in them.

XIII

Virtual reality is not just a computer fantasy.

The senses have created the cosmos with such precision, such exactness,

That you have yet to truly fathom, to indelibly discern,

That none of it is ultimately real.

It is software born of quantum programming.

* * * *

When one surrenders to insight, eternity emerges:

Infinite, timeless, pathless, unencumbered, serene.

XIV

Essential nature is not divisible.

There is only totality, oneness, isness.

Nothing greater, nothing lesser, nothing but.

We are all in reality an indivisible, indelible enigma,

Quantumly dancing center stage in every form imaginable.

* * * *

Endless debate over which religion, which dogma, speaks for god, for truth,

Is sophomoric and only obscures the possibility of genuine awakening.

It is the time-bound distraction of priests and scholars and undiscerning followers,

Who have little interest in anything more than the false security of one collusion or another.

XVI

Humanity must accept total responsibility

For its impact on this garden world.

Do not put the burden on god.

There will be no messiah,

Nor hordes of angels to save us.

Each alone must make the paradigm shift.

XVII

There is really only one Way.

It is without division or boundary.

It is without name or theology.

Awareness is its scripture,

Here now its venue,

You its witness,

Your life the journey.

XVIII

To invoke a name of god

In any conflict is unutterable vanity.

There has never truly been a spiritual conflict,

Only the countless petty squabbles

Of self-serving dogmas.

* * * *

You suffer the linear continuity of time and space

Because your view of awareness is locked

Into a constricted conscious identity

That is not, has never been,

Will never be, real.

* * * *

Whatever path you may be inclined to wander,

Whether good works, devotion, intellect, or meditation,

In any combination, weighted in any manner,

All meander the same vast mystery.

* * * *

Philosophy not culminating in the serenity of timeless indivisibility,

Is merely desolate wordplay pandering to the desire for continuity.

* * * *

Without the eyes, you would not observe.

The ears gone, you would not hear.

The nose, you would not smell.

The touch, you would not feel.

The tongue, you would not taste.

The mind, you would not discern.

Remove them all, and you would be,

What in awareness, you have been all along.

XIX

Continuity is illusion, a subtle trick of memory, of imagination.

The indivisible waves of reality timelessly break ever anew.

This world is a birthing ground of consciousness,

Away from which the only earnest heading is awareness.

When your vision tacks this direction there may or may not be

Acceptance from the relatives and friends you value.

Unresolvable differences may be unavoidable,

But whatever course ultimately unfolds,

Your revelation must carry the day.

Neither seek nor expect the sanction of those

Lacking the insight to comprehend your journey home.

XXI

To believe godness is only that which is out of the ordinary,

Is an error humankind succumbs to again and again.

All manifest forms persevere in the same field.

A particle of dust is as much an unfathomable mystery

As the most astounding, most wondrous miracle ever performed.

There is absolutely nothing ordinary about anything in this quantum matrix.

* * * *

We are rapidly approaching the inevitable reckoning point

In the dynamic movement of human consciousness,

When we as a tentative life form have no choice

But to reconcile the countless differences

And see the unmanifest universality,

The absolute unicity of awareness.

Our many differences are imagined,

But the results of this continued delusion

Are inescapably devastating to all life on this sphere.

To maintain this paradigm as it has evolved is indescribable madness.

* * * *

What unutterable vanity to believe that this timeless quantum mystery

Needs to be, much less can be, systematized into any so-called religion.

XXIII

Do not make the mistake of fashioning

Prophets, mystics, saints, seers, and sages into idols.

They may well have been awakened mortals, models of realization,

But they all began with the same primal awareness,

The same timeless potential as you.

* * * *

The stillpoint of awareness you are is the keystone to reality.

It is the point from which all manifestation is created,

And the point of oblivion to which all returns.

* * * *

As consciousness grounds in awareness,

As you clearly perceive illusion is not reality,

As you discern duality is the source of all suffering,

As the birthright of beingness resumes its rightful function,

There is nothing left to do but whatever needs doing.

XXIV

Since the origin of manifest consciousness, humans

Have been raised and patterned in accordance

With the varied responses to geography.

They have played, fought, and mated,

Sought power, fame, and fortune,

Worshipped innumerable idols,

Lived desperately, nobly, and vainly,

Suffered sickness, injury, aging, and death.

To what end the speculations are beyond number,

But ever the source has been the same inscrutable awareness,

Unfathomable, unknowable, impenetrable, timeless, indivisible, omniscient.

* * * *

Despite attempts by sages of every era and geography,

The human psyche remains dominated and shaped

By primal instincts and urges bred into the mind long ago.

The many masks of fear have diversified into innumerable forms,

And are as blinding, paralyzing, and destructive as they have ever been.

Transforming consciousness into its fullest potential is not for the meek of spirit.

XXV

You wander through cities, down paths, along rivers,

But who was it wandered where and when?

In all those walks, those thoughts,

Those many acts and deeds,

Woven into each and every one

Was the unwavering, choiceless awareness,

The witness you are, have always been, and will ever be.

* * * *

Your appearance in this manifest world is unimportant.

Whatever your attributes, whether you run barefoot or wear shoes,

Are clean or unclean, crippled or healthy, intelligent or simple, female or male,

Poor or wealthy, strong or weak, ugly or comely, named or unnamed,

Each and every one is the same essential quantum nature.

* * * *

The quantum nature can be challenging to ascertain

Because you only perceive the shortcomings of this dualistic world.

Quest within, discern the essence, unify with the totality,

Realize the perfection you have ever been.

XXVI

Though all that is, is the unicity of the great quantum dreamtime,

Few deeply discern the ever-present, unborn-undying state.

Many are called, few are chosen, fewer still volunteer.

XXVIII

Because isness is, you are.

Because you are, isness is.

Without isness, there would be no you.

Without you, there would be no witness to the mystery.

* * * *

Many would call it sacrilegious

To state, "I am that which is godness."

But it is far more so to deny it.

* * * *

Meditation is awareness of the unfolding moment.

It is the dredging of the accumulated sediment of identification;

That which inhibits the timeless discernment of what you truly are, and are not.

* * * *

Who sees the wind tipping the trees in spring?

Hears the busy chatter of squirrels chasing?

Smells the mid-afternoon coffee brewing?

Feels the piercing of the kitten's playful claws?

Tastes the chilled chocolate melting?

Who has all those memories?

All that knowledge and capability?

All those assorted opinions and values?

Who desires, dreads, angers, laughs, suffers?

You do.

You are the power, the light, a drop of all that is, and is not.

You are creator, quantum dancer, eternally, immortally absolute.

* * * *

You have always been a quantum being.

There has never been one moment when you were not.

All you need do is discern it, and allow the witness to take wing within.

* * * *

A drug may help you find it, but cannot keep you there for long.

The challenge is to perceive eternity in the everyday mundane.

XXIX

The mind-body is a temporal vessel of finite patterning,

In which the infinite has potential to consciously manifest.

* * * *

It may be fairly frightening, even irritating,

For many to begin fathoming they are godness,

Because up to this point, their manifest consciousness

Has not even begun to open to that expansive an inner vision.

* * * *

Free your Self of the notion of original sin, that you were born evil.

It is nothing more than an idea inspired by ignorance, by greed, by the need to control,

That the pure awareness you most definitely are, did not choose at birth.

There is no sin, no iniquity, only dualistic whimsy.

XXX

A hindrance many have in considering themselves godness manifest,

Is that they believe it should entail having all sorts of innate supernatural powers.

The fact that they see, walk, talk, and create every sort of mischief,

Does not register because everyone else can, too.

Well, of course they can.

They are also godness manifest.

It is the concept of god that needs changing.