Jungle Vines

Disconnecting from the source hurts. It might help you feel less pain, if that is the goal, but only temporarily. Go ahead; ignore the panther stalking you in the trees. You'll inevitably encounter it when it pounces. Don't you wonder why you get sad when you're alone? You can't do anything to avoid the shadow watching you. There are no pretty animals, foliage, or people around to distract you. Maybe, if you took the cat straight on with knowledge and experience from previous encounters, it wouldn't be as much of a struggle this time around. Don't sabotage yourself; it might be painful to be cut by claws but it hurts a lot more finding out that you could have eventually healed if you had just given yourself the time.

Never Beginning, Never Ending

Ask yourself, "Was I ever not here?" Try to remember the moment you first knew you were here in this life. I doubt if you can. It's a vague wavering memory residing in fantasy. Do your parents know, really know, if they were ever not here? Do you know? Who else could know better than you? What if you're never beginning, never ending? Would you know? From mystery to mystery. 

Great Fall

You are not broken. Working through dark feelings can be crippling, but even in that state, you are not broken. We are not eggs. We might suffer to unimaginable extremes, but we are still not broken. Though, at times, it feels like we need all the kings horses and all the kings men, you never have to be put back together again.

So Fresh and Alive

The Zen artist sits in front of a canvas. Waiting. Letting mind be. Following breaths. Waiting. Suddenly hand and brush meets the canvas. Rapid stocks. Suddenly, a simple vibrant image or calligraphy appears. A hundred years later: thousands of reproductions in museums, books and greeting cards. We say, "It feels so fresh and alive!" 

A Democracy of Geometry

Always falling. Earth is falling through space. Sun is falling. Galaxies are falling. No ground. Only centers. You are a center. It's all turning around you. It's also, all turning around your friends, acquaintances, and the President. How can this be? Look deeper - you will see and know. The truth is that every point can be seen as, and be, center. You are free. A democracy of geometry. 

Buddha

An existential crisis came upon me while in graduate school studying philosophy. I wanted a meaningful life. Academic classes had no real answers. I examined the life of Buddha - who left home searching to go beyond suffering, eventually finding Enlightenment. Buddha's path is beyond a philosophical theory of existence; it's practical guidance based in lived experiences. Buddha went from thought to beyond thought. Inspiration came - my deepest journey began. Life changed and changed again.  

Energy

Energy, a most basic aspect of the physical universe. Energy, also a feeling of spirit, inspiration, and expiration. Minds become confused by complexity. So much to do. We go off center. "Just" get down to it. Pull back in. Touch the infinite-peace that is really You. As pure energy - there's no distinction between matter and spirit. I look out my window -- just before sunrise -- light rays passing through the fog.

Stare at the sky

The "magic hour." When the world seems to sleep. Too early to be day; too late to be night. If you watch the sky as the sun rises, you notice that the stars begin to transform. Though not visible; never disappearing. Then the first colors of morning begin to appear with the first rays of new light. Beautiful, vivid colors splashed across the canvas of infinite potential; the sky. Like drops of a melting ice cream cone on a summers day. When I think of the sunrise, I can see that unique and untouchable pink or the radiant  orange. Though, even before the sun becomes visible or its rays begin to stream through the shadows like a gentle rain warming the earth, a new day has already begun. The moon will always be there, but sleeps soundly knowing that the sun's power will guide us through a different cycle of day. Yes, even the night is apart of the day. We seem to forget that the day isn't just when the sun wakes us but is also when the moon watches over us as we dream. Then the cycle of day changes again as the sun sets and the moon and stars return. This cycle creates life and helps it grow. I was always afraid of these "magic hours." They seemed to be eerie and bring out the darkness inside. But, if you look inside, deep inside, you'll notice that you are still staring at the sky. That unique color, those gentle stars, the soft light of the moon, the powerful sun; they are all inside. You don't need to see the sun come up or the moon go down to realize that it has already become a new day.

Winter

Poem by Richard Pauloo

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Winter
Wherein lies the texture of the hillside?
What makes great branches break and decay
And sways them through seasons back into the ground?
What sound do leaves make when they die?
They rupture and fall
Like any one of us
We are deciduous
Destined to dance a few cycles of season
Have you stood on the hillside long enough
To hear leaves breathing?
If you are patient enough to listen
You will hear them whisper about their mortality.
When with tremendous sighs
Their veins
Rupture and fall into the hillside
It is nothing to cry about
It is only the winter

Being Late

As meditation instructor, being late to class became a point of instruction. Recorded 2011-11-23.