Category: Philosophy (Page 2 of 2)

Which is better? (the secrets to life) ~Revised

December 20, 2018 / Tom

I believe there are two secrets to life. One, you must live it. Two, you must share it.

What better than to watch the Sunrise than to watch it with our bodies close? The morning birds sing to us both as the orange glow of life glistens off the morning dew. We turn to each other, eyes locked and hearts made warm by the occasion, destined to kiss in the way lovers do.

We’ve seen the Sunrise alone. Which is the better way?

What better than to see our footprints running parallel on the beach? To feel our knees touching as we sit in meditation as the Sun crests over the ocean’s waves? Love guides us as the warmth cascades around us. The sound of gulls praising life fills us, the waves announcing the presence of that space where all life was born. Our souls embrace in the moment, our hearts know we are where we belong.

We’ve sat in stillness alone. Which is better?

What better way to climb a trail and see heaven’s majesty than to stand at the summit with you? Our fingers touching as we take in the beauty before us, standing straight until your head finally finds its way to my shoulder. We sigh, breathing in and out the clean mountain air, feeling one with nature and with each other.

We’ve climbed our mountains alone. Which is better?

There are things we must see alone. There are moments best left to solitude and space. Yet isn’t life, like any great recipe, a mixture of things that share themselves to one great purpose? An egg by itself may taste wonderful. But it’s not a cake. It’s simply part of one, and I’ve never had a birthday egg.

Wishes of a Warrior

December 19, 2018 / Tom

I will not be marginalized, or forgotten. What I am is a good man, with a good heart, and those who need none of me can leave me to die in the realm their own memories.

The words flow sometimes like a wild spring river. I do not control them, nor can I stop them. They just are, and I best stay out of their way lest I succumb to their torrent.

I cause no harm to you, yet can be shelved to the wild whims of voices I cannot hear and visions I cannot see. Left alone to deal with vices not my own, I will stand tall against the demons and smash them with the hammer I hold so tightly in my chest.

Where do they come from, these words? I just stand out-of-the-way, an active observer in the war between my mind and my heart. Both made equally strong to the task, its natural selection at its best and its worst.

Just go, and leave me be. I’ve sat still in tornadoes and quashed fear when death seemed certain. You are no challenge here, for the more you try to separate me from my senses the harder you will find the task. Hear that? That’s the heart you cannot still. See that? That’s the warrior you cannot stop.

Laugher spills from my soul as the wolves howl and the birds circle high above. “I am no fool,” says one. “Neither am I,” says the other. Both are ready for what is about to come.

I have not lived to be forgotten, nor will I be left to die swimming in the swill of your mind. Underestimate me if you will, but know as I walk away I will not do so defeated nor will I do so holding on to the piss I’ve been made to drink. I have died, and risen, to be much more than this.

With that, the swords fall to the ground and the blood stains the white linen of this day. In your rest, you wish to forget about me. The Sun and silence call your heart more than my voice.

Do not take my kindness for weakness, nor my patience for a gratuity. Neither are infinite in supply, and neither are given without the measure of the man who gives them. Take them for granted, and risk seeing only the footsteps of the man who has walked away, seeking not a treasure but to be a treasure. His only desire is to be precious, somewhere.

To feel as a burden is to be a burden. To feel like the sea that never finds its shore is to be a water world where good men drown. I will not drown but I will seek the shelter of an island who welcomes not just the company, but the heart of the man who surrenders there.

The heart of a man seeks shelter not just from the storm, but also from the Sun. He seeks to love and be loved in equal measure, not parting ways with the discipline of his life nor his own sense of value. He will provide shelter in equal measure to his own desire.

The night plays havoc on his mind. His dreams remind him that he is but a figment, a fragment of an imagination whose focus is on the convenience of the mind, not a calling of the heart. Forget about me in your leisure, as I am willing to be forgotten.

I depart now for the dreams of your whimsical heart. Good night, fight well, and know that you are loved.

The Vulnerability of Being

December 14, 2018 / Tom

Seek that which you may find, but not to find it. Embrace that which you hold dear, but not to grasp it. Be burned, be lost, be afraid. It’s all going to be fine.

The Universe often speaks to me in riddles, on what appears to be riddles anyway. I will be honest with you, I have no idea what I am doing. I am a lost man with a found soul who simply just is looking for his way. I often fumble in the dark, banging my head and heart on walls hidden by the darkness, just looking for the way to something.

So the riddles do not surprise me. In fact, nothing less would seem to do.

To those who know me and have for some time, that statement of being lost may be surprising. I am usually the “put together” one, the stoic version of emotional and spiritual strength, the man who can take everything in stride. Yet what most of those friends do not know is what went into that version of me they’ve always known.

What they also do not know is that the version of me they’ve known simply does not serve me now. Parts of that man do, but parts of me need to be shed and replaced with new growth that serves me in my intention. If I wish to grow, I need to be burned, afraid and lost if just for a little while.

Life seems to be, true to form, challenging me to make a choice. Behind one curtain is the me I’ve grown to be, an honest, loving, caring man who loves aloneness, loving the serenity of needing no one, loving the harmony of self-reliance without excuse or retreat. Behind the other curtain is the me I wish to meet. Still honest, loving and caring, I want to enjoy companionship, find serenity of depending on someone, and giving up bits of self-reliance to let someone in my heart. That takes trust, courage and determination.

Scary stuff, but things I’ve learned I can count on. I choose curtain number two.

There is nothing wrong with these changes. I can be true to myself and vulnerable. I can be fine with aloneness while I lay cuddled up on a sofa with my partner. I can experience love of her without ever giving up love of myself. None of these need be mutually exclusive, and can be incorporated in a loving, caring, and conscious relationship. In fact, they can often feed off each other in the best symbiotic way imaginable.

The first step, I’ve found, is for me to allow of the vulnerability of being. We are all human beings with a story; one that includes fear, uncertainty and anxious moments all bundled up in our desire to love and function. Conscious relationships understand that, and loving relationships allow those human frailties to be exposed in the open. What is not permitted is to allow these moments to define the relationship (dysfunction). We can approach each other’s humanness in a way that not only shows the love shared, but exposes those fears for the bastard liars they usually are.

Soon, those fears will vanish in the face of a loving truth.

It’s is not only acceptable, but very necessary, to be very human in a conscious relationship. Spirituality, and the practice of spirituality, certainly has its place in my relationships but it is equally important to me to be absolutely human there too. I want to be afraid and lost sometimes. Those moments, while certainly not pleasant for me while in them, serve to remind me of my heart, my soul and the fact that today I have a partner I can share all of me with. Not just the stoic parts. Not just the conscious parts. I can share even the parts that aren’t so bright and glamorous.

Things I never thought I could share with anyone. Imagine that (growth).

She in turn, can choose to share those parts with me. I don’t expect, or want, her to be perfectly put together like some neatly packaged deity. What is wonderful is when I can return the gift she is to me, to her.

We are all works in progress, beautiful and amazing even in our dark moments. Accept those moments as fervently as you accept those moments of being your being so amazingly put together and you will find some peace in them. Better yet (particularly for those of us used to going it alone), lay your head on your partner’s shoulder, cry it out (let it go) and learn that doing so is perfectly spiritual, too. Functioning alone is no better a spiritual practice than functioning with someone who loves you is. Both are equally amazing.

Love’s Encounter

December 11, 2018 / Tom

"What burdens you, my love,"
Says the empath across the way,
"You look so sad and lost,
On this bright and sunny day."

I shrugged my shoulders in a truth,
Resigned to my own fate,
"It's not the love that saddens you,
It's its absence that you hate."

I nodded in a short reply, 
The old woman began to smile,
She had a story she wished to tell,
"Come sit with me awhile."

It was as if I knew this soul,
There was something in her eyes,
Perhaps it was the way she looked at me,
That took me by surprise.

"I loved a man from over there,"
She pointed across the mountains free,
"And the first best day of my entire life,
Was when he fell back in love with me."

"At first it was not so easy,
To love across that epic span,
But what I knew and could not forget,
Was the love embodied in that man."

"So step by step we closed the gap,
That kept our lips apart,
Always knowing there was no space,
Between us in our hearts."

"Then one day our paths converged,
He stepped onto my shore,
We held each other for some time,
And then we held each other more."

"See a distant start can be a gift,
As you will shortly find,
You'll never take a kiss for granted,
Or any touch from her in kind."

"What burdens others you won't see,
For you'll remember nights alone,
What matters most is the hand you hold,
And the love you both have known."

I take a breath and give a sigh,
For what she says is true,
"She's coming love, just be prepared,
For her dream is also you."

A tear forms within my eyes,
And I smile all the same,
For a simple man such as me,
Shall find his truest flame.

I thank her soul for the kindest words,
Her wrinkled hand now holds my own,
"Don't worry love, she's got your back,
In the tenderness you've shown."

"You remind me of the man I love,
I should go kiss him, it's been a while,
She kind of winked and then she laughed,
And with that a familiar smile.

"We came here just to meet with you, 
We know you've come so far,
So come meet the man I've always loved,
He's waiting in the car."

With that she stood and took my hand,
I followed her out the door,
Her aged gait was slow but sure,
I had walked with her before.

We arrived at the car he sat,
"Now Tom, relax and you will see,"
She needed to say nothing more,
The old man I saw was me.

She turned and hugged me tight but true,
"See, I've loved you for all my life,
So much I had to come to you,
And then become your wife."

The old man gave me an "I love you" sign,
The old woman hugged me tight,
"Just remember you are the one I love,
When the nightmares come at night."

She pulled away and looked up at me,
Her eyes filled my heart with grace,
My love, much older yet still the same,
Now wiped the tears that soaked my face.

"I'm coming love, just you see,
There's nothing we need do.
For the greatest gift you gave to me,
Was the love you held so true."

"You taught me more than I could know,
In that I must confide,
For the truth of love I learned from you,
Just by standing by your side."

She turned and got back in the car,
And kissed the old man tenderly,
The love I found in her it seemed
She also found in me.

So much had changed that Summer's morn,
I began to release my doubt,
Uncertainty was soon replaced,
With a truth that lived throughout.

Sometimes Love will come to you,
Even when you do not pray,
As had happened to me in a flash of time,
On an uncertain Summer day.

It is really up to us in love,
If it is a truth we want to hear,
Or if we choose to believe,
The liar that is fear.

May one day you come to know,
Love's encounter, tried and true,
And realize that all you seek,
Is also seeking you.