don't keep searching for the truth, just let go of your opinion...Seng-ts'an
The Holy Longing
Tell a wise person, or else keep silent,
because the massman will mock it right away.
I praise what is truly alive,
what longs to be burned to death.
In the calm water of the love-nights,
where you were begotten, where you have begotten,
a strange feeling comes over you
when you see the silent candle burning.
Now you are no longer caught
in the obsession with darkness,
and a desire for higher love-making
sweeps you upward.
Distance does not make you falter,
now, arriving in magic, flying,
and finally, insane for the light,
you are the butterfly and you are gone.
And so long as you haven’t experienced
this: to die and so to grow,
you are only a troubled guest
on the dark earth.
…Goethe…
nothing flushes out the soul-light like complacency & self-deceipt….
& when you think you’re humble, you catch yourself feeling proud about feeling humble…you begin again….
nothing makes the world so alive & smitten as embarrassing sentimentality or remission…
& when the tiptoeing around death brings light instead of struggle…there is renewal…
there will always be derision from the angels & devils…
Compassion requires the ability to recognize & appreciate the conflict of authenticity & defense within each person we encounter. This poignant counterpoint of reality & defense is the condition of human life…..Judith Blackstone
