Like a flower that emerges from rocky soil
Only on a fully moonlit night, Truth appears
And its fragrance enriches whoever waits near.
Then suddenly, just as it appears
On no appointed schedule, it disappears again...
Only silence marks the empty spot from out of which it sprang.

Some try to dig it out, but manage to extract only
Bits and pieces of petals, stem, and occasional root.
None can pull from the ground intact
What is one with its nurturing soil;
Nor can they harm this precious flower they pursue...
Because it cannot be possessed, it is deathless.

Perhaps the harm in their pursuit, if any,
Is the almost impossible discovery that the beauty
They so long to possess does not live apart from them;
Rather, it lives for them -- even in those moments
When they tear it apart, trying in vain to possess
What it gives freely to those who die for the sight of it.

It may not always seem so, but everyone wages
The best battle possible at the time.
When challenges come, we stand as upright as stature allows,
And life delivers the inevitable blow that bends the will to break.

Is that greatly religious, wise, or wealthy person lying there,
Worn and torn on the ground, any less shattered
Than the one who, despite all effort, loses the little so hard won?
I think not.
None are better; none are worse in their weakness.
All are equal in this light.

If the passage of time reduces all to this lowliest of places,
If none may win other than momentary pride,
Then perhaps the true heights are best measured
Not by where one has once stood,
But by what rises in one's heart even as it falls to the ground.

Look at what one reaches for in his darkest hour,
And you gaze upon his God.

When I look at you,
I am looking at me . . .
In a time or place
I have been, or will be.

Real...am I.
Only when Thou art with me.

Real...I am,
Lives in remembrance of Thee.

If only we would cease giving others
Reasons to resist our presence,
Bear ourselves
With what we burden them,
Leaving no reason for blame . . .

Then . . . that great silent rage
Hidden in the human heart
Would have to be seen for what it is:
Violence looking for a war.

Such a discovery would awaken
Within the discerning soul
The immediate, most intimate need
To be the embodiment of peace.

This seeing-born need
Is the seed of true revolution.

Dreams of greatness are formed by life undigested,
The fleeting stuff of souls untested...
Who'd sooner sleep in a fitful peace
Than leap into Life's cleansing fires.

For there already dwells Greatness uncontested,
A Gift beyond time, a Title vested...
In the waking hearts of warrior souls
Enflamed alone by what God inspires.

"Give me your life,
I will give you mine."

Such . . . is the Path,
If Love you would find.

We are a Sound, making sounds,
And in our echo sleep.

We are a Form, building forms
That we cannot keep.

We are a Seed, sowing seeds,
Our harvest bittersweet.

We are a Light, dark and bright
A Rainbow in the Deep.

What we live for,
We give to.

What we give to,
We grow in.

What we grow in,
We become.

What we are becoming
Is our life,
However we may name it.

Only through a change
In what we live for
Is there a Life beyond becoming.

Without effort to become, there can be no barrier.

Without a barrier, there is nothing to overcome.

Without that which must be overcome, there is no fear.

Without the fear of loss, there is nothing to be gained.

With nothing to be gained, there is nothing to be learned.

Without that which must be learned, there is no ignorance.

Without having to end ignorance, no effort is required.

Without effort, Peace of heart and mind is already present.

Stand, like mountain,
Bend, like reed.
Surge, like fountain,
Wait, like seed.

Give, like sunshine,
Melt, like snow.
Live, like springtime . . .
Come and go.

All that I am is revealed... wordlessly
In the great court of Now,
For without need of a single image
I am seen just as I am.

There is a gentle, but thorough, judgment here...
Balanced in a perfect act of justice without prosecution.
Whatever the case in question -- it is quietly put to rest
So no defense is necessary.

Time served is the sentence before this deliberation...

And only by stepping up to take the stand
Is it possible to hear the great verdict read aloud:
The sentence of fear is forever stayed
In a tender pardon already granted long, long ago.