Wednesday 06 Dec 2017

This poem comes at the end of the series of blogs I have written since "Hypnosis, Buddhist Meditation and Reality" which was uploaded on 25th August 2017. I feel it succinctly covers both the intellectual and emotional experience of existence as it relates to the paradox of the the Universe being a collective while at the same time being a very personal and individual experience. At its heart it addresses the meaning of what the Buddha pointed to when he said --- "Enlighten yourself and you enlighten the entire Universe!"

Awakening to Stillness

by Dennis Sheppard.  Spring --- 2017.

Early mornings with birdsong,

The spring has settled in,

Energy flows expectant,

Again ready to begin.

Life’s complexity’s starts building,

As the sleep falls away from my eyes.

Busyness starts to manifest my lot,

My focus spins --- I can lose the plot.

Still consciousness is there,

As I become aware of each new day.

But its truth and beauty can get lost,

As I enter into life’s fray.

The still energy aggregates the components,

That I have been conditioned to become.

Losing the truth of the still moment,

Ignorant of how it all begun.

The present moment is the balance point,

Between the past and future concealed.

I know that truth lies at its heart,

But then desire can keep us both apart.

To see that I am confined,

Unable to be free!

Locked up in a mental straight jacket,

In jail while holding the key

Awakening to stillness is my life’s work,

It brings reality to my being.

To see the hypnotic spell that I am under,

And know the unification beyond my wonder.

Perfection is this world, past and future built into the now,

Form built with grace, from the empty ground of space.

While relativity tensions with time,

Beauty and truth forming, a natural exquisite rhyme.

But my desire for form exceeds the truth within,

So I jail myself much to my chagrin.

Rounds of rebirth that bring no satisfaction,

Grasping for more to create ongoing distraction.

Because resounding still energy is powerful,

As it feeds back into the now.

Bringing the Universe with it,

Until our world becomes a sacred cow.

Awakening to stillness allows me to see,

The beauty and truth in all that can be.

So I can see the world without delusion,

And allow my mind to be free from confusion.

Still consciousness becomes my datum,

For me to know the movement of my mind,

To see it resonating with the world,

To know its truth and not be blind.

As the stillness becomes more important,

Than the world it creates into form.

I start to become one with all that is,

Then freedom opens its doors.

The more mindful I become of the stillness,

The more focussed I become to let go.

Then the stillness finishes with feedback external,

And the unification brings a glimpse of the eternal.

Its peace is real and so compelling,

Truth is the focus with insight foretelling.

Aspiring to death with a unified gaze,

An end of rebirth feeding back life’s maze.

So the seasons begin and end,

With perfection so sublime.

Wisdom develops to live and know,

Life balanced in the flow.

So when heedful I do not die,

But heedless death will bring new birth.

To stop is my ultimate aspiration,

To finish forever with dual causation.

Birth and death become relative,

To my conscious flow in space and time.

Mindfulness can see it all finish,

To leave Absolute Truth, pure and prime.

With full acknowledgement to the Buddha’s teaching.