Holy Wisdom

Friday, September 5, 2008 at 11:23pm

We carry our burdens with dignity for dedication,

kneel in shame for humility,

travel to lands afar to pass through desolation,

seeking connection, discovering solitude,

finding gratitude, then return to be once again

lost in the melodrama of life: fear and longing,

love and jealousy, confusion and isolation,

hurrying and idling, anger and success.

The past disappeared fast,

the future only imagined to last,

and the present cast away.

Life is tough; it takes a lot of time

to alleviate our own isolation and loneliness,

to have our needs fulfilled by others.

The broken record stuck in the loop of insanity.

At the root of suffering is a small heart,

frightened to be here in human dilemma,

afraid to cross the river of change,

to let go into the rapids of this ever-changing world

in order to get to the other shore.

Life journey has led us through many adventures,

back to where we are now.

Our sacred longing is to return to where we are,

to know the place for the first time,

our own true nature, on our way home.

Stop worrying, we need not renounce the world--only striving

to find something special in this holy life

and fear of the sorrows of existence as they are;

renounce the smaller pleasures

for the greater treasure of the Divine.

Religion attempts to explain the mystery of Life,

meditation seeks to open us to it,

wisdom celebrates this mystery,

and compassion loves it all--the gleam in every single being's eye.

For consciousness is the source of experience,

the play of mystery itself.

To give ourselves to awakening is a revolutionary act,

a transformation of the world for the whole--awakened

to a reverence for all life.

Service is the expression of the awakened heart,

catered to all life, without custody, only care.

We are all part of the measureless whole.

The most political act is a change of heart.

If we want to overcome greed, racism, exploitation, and hatred,

to end suffering and bring our lives into harmony with the earth,

we must see that the fundamental crisis is IN human consciousness.

The world cannot be healed by political and economic means alone.

We have to face the music: the forces of separation, of greed,

of hate directly, and learn to live peacefully, with a free heart.

But first the heart has to be soft before any of us can be free.

Wisdom is not knowledge, but an abiding presence,

an opening of the body and heart back to an original innocence,

the innocence of childlike wisdom that sees

with the eyes of the moment

and the freedom of the unbounded heart.

Wisdom is not knowing but being--nothing to fix or hold,

only to love whatever is here in all its glory and faults.

Only here can the wise heart leave the vault.

Amidst the world's suffering one can remain happy of heart.

Then we can finally rest in the undying source of all forms,

in the timeless grace from which all arises and returns.

This holy wisdom is whispered by the Tibetans

in the ear of the one who is dying, "Remember the clear light,

the pure clear light from which everything in the universe comes,

to which everything returns, the original nature of your own mind.

It is your own true nature; it is home."

It is sung as the prayer of oneness in Judaism,

worshiped as the Holy Spirit of Christian love,

celebrated as the eternal Brahman by the Hindus,

realized as the buddha-nature by the individual heart,

and it is the essence of the Tao:

"If you don't realize the source,

you stumble in confusion and sorrow.

When you realize where you come from

you naturally become tolerant,

disinterested, amused,

kindhearted as a grandmother,

dignified as a king.

Immersed in the wonder of the Tao,

you can deal with whatever life brings,

and then, when death comes, you are ready."

When we embody this truth, our life becomes a blessing.

We ourselves become the source.

Releasing ambition or fear, we return to our true home.

Without imitation, we become just who we are.

Our being is at ease; our heart opens.

Joy and freedom of spirit fills the days.

We are the Sun of the Spirit,

the Golden Child of the Universe--the Back Whole.

May you rest in grace,

in natural compassion and a liberated heart.

Whether in times of joy or sorrow,

in ecstasy or in toil, may you be happy.

And in the midst of it all,

may you remember to laugh at the folly

of the unseen perfection of God's becoming.