La Fretta dell’Essere: L’uomo e il miraggio del “Là”

What is man as a phenomenon? Is he a being that’s hasting toward non-being, a ghostly figure that has projected all the being he has and he can’t tolerate into and beyond a non-being horizon? Nay. Man is nothing in haste. Man is the very hasting of Being; he is hasting itself and not a being in haste. That’s why he’s always torn, torn in between here and there, for he can’t get that there out of his stupid head. He is as horizontally stretched between the opposite poles of embodiment and self-abandonment as he is vertically stretched between heaven and hell. He is everywhere and everywhen but here and now. He is a lunatic chasing shadows of himself.   … More La Fretta dell’Essere: L’uomo e il miraggio del “Là”

The Letter That Kills, the Song That Heals: When Reality Is Buried Alive in Much Intellectual Chatter

We must forget and unsee all that we know and all that we think. We must surrender who we think we are in order to see who we truly are. We must surrender what we think reality is in order to see it for what it truly is. And repetition itself can help us: to repeatedly put the headsets aside, to return again and again to the plain, unadorned real, even when it feels empty or dull. That emptiness and dullness and boredom is the withdrawal symptom of a lifelong addiction to conceptualization and repetitive thinking. Stay with that emptiness long enough and one day vision clears. But for that, all borrowed images must die. All the stories of philosophers, theologians, and scientists must vanish for the true sun to rise before our eyes. All our ideas of truth and reality must die for the One to appear. … More The Letter That Kills, the Song That Heals: When Reality Is Buried Alive in Much Intellectual Chatter

Boston Cream Doughnuts

All is He, and He’s none other than the Self, the very seeing, the very hearing, etc.. So, detecting fault is faulty detecting.” The Shaykh slipped into the golden silence before he continued, “In agreement with our doctrine, what one sees is none other than He (wherever you turn, there’s the Face of God), and He’s none other than the seeing Self, and hence what one sees is none other than the Self. A man who sees defect is seeing himself, and lacking wisdom, he thinks the defect is outside of himself and attached to this or that object or person. Only if he knew the doctrine by heart, and knew that the Self is free of all defects, he’d instantly recognize that in seeing defect he’s not seeing at all. If you can’t grasp the significance of all this, contemplate the two ways the eyes can see and comprehend a doughnut, and that’s the way of the knowers of the truth. And if you abandon even that and rise to the level of the lovers of truth, you’ll see that the lovers care not about the nature of a doughnut but rather drop away their reason to taste and take pleasure in the sweetness of the doughnut. And here’s a little secret for you: the Elect have favored the Boston Cream.” … More Boston Cream Doughnuts

The Dance of Names

Everything and everyone is here; the names make them seem far away What’s gone, too, is here; we just call it “gone” and think it “gone.” What’s to come, has always been; we just call it “not yet” and think its name. Near and far, here and there, now and then: these are Its names, … More The Dance of Names

When Love Is

Here’s my winning poem at a local poetry contest. So grateful to the organizers and judges to honor me with their choice. This poem is about the transformative power of love and vulnerability, and it is inspired by the ongoing healing love I experience in my relationship with my wife. … More When Love Is

Love invites

When your mind is set on something, the universe will take you to it. When your heart is set on something, the universe will bring it to you. Mind makes stone monuments; love breaks through them. Love hurts, but it hurts only the walls and barriers and not what’s beyond them. Mind breaks and love … More Love invites