Magazine - Year 2005 - Version 1
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A Silent Place
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A SILENT PLACE
There is a silent place inside us where those captivated by the world can never go. The prison bars are only limited beliefs and concepts. They cannot hurt us, but by focusing on them, reality is beyond reach. If our focus is fixed on the tiny speck in the microscope of our mind’s eye, we miss the shining sun in a universe of universes. We see the pile of dirt before our eyes and miss the vastness of the Eternal all around us.
This vastness is a Sacred Place only perceived in the emptiness of quieted mind. Without paying attention to all the chatter, we are free to perceive a reality we never leave. Only in the dreams and delusions of the mind can we be deceived into believing in a world of discord and inharmony.
With an opened inner eye we perceive the same sky and fields, but they are now singing a song of joy. We stand now in an ocean of contentment. Bliss or despair, what do these matter now? We are the eye that perceives in all directions without misconceptions. Here we are, awake to the dawn. Feel the gentle breeze and smell wave after wave of freshness as morning dissipates all appearance of night. Hear the trilling of the birds singing. They must know something we long for. Our eyes search the skies to find these divine ones disguised in feathers in the trees. Their song is a calling to our soul to fly freely, to sing the songs beyond words that praise the dawn. “Just to be, that is enough for me.”
In this moment, joy or sorrow are only changing conditions. We can smell the fragrance of the rose that always blooms, no matter what the season. We can hear a silent song that echoes throughout creation. We are the song of that one that sings. Oh how we would be the song going forth from the lips of the Beloved. We are like grapes yearning to become the wine of the Divine. Crush us beneath Your feet and hide us in Your darkened cave, until we are what the Master always intended us to be. To be free, to see all that we can be.
What more could we ask for? The Beloved is knocking at our door. Open it up and let that One in. What does it matter if our lives are shattered and thrown down? That which forms all life will lift us up again. What if we are only an empty cup? Surely the Beloved will fill us up with roses, so we may fill this empty room with their fine fragrance.
We are on the verge of knowing the Eternal. We are only a breath away. Feel It beating in our chest. Hear It all around. Feel It breathing us, now.
A Light
There is Light, if we can find it,
That dissolves the night that cloaks a troubled heart.
It is the Sun that slowly rises,
And in its Light, the night is gone.
There is a Silent Place, when we can find it,
Not in some distant city or foreign town.
It’s here, not very far away,
Just within reach of our awareness, now.
There is Love, that’s waiting for us,
That fulfils, even erases, our greatest desire,
For It, and It alone, is the object of our affections,
Not some fickle lover, but a fiery Joy, that lifts us higher.
To see! To be! That is the all of what we seek.
The price is high; forsaking our personal sense of wanting;
But for this sacrifice, a new world is revealed.
In which this inner Light alone, yearns to know Itself.
When we’ve mastered all the rules that guide us.
Even these must fall away, as stages in a rocket ship,
On a journey that takes us beyond this world
To another, not far away, but here within us now.
[ Published with the glad consent of the author, Allan Stocker. Allan has lived in many places, from Boston to Hawaii, soaking up the rich spiritual heritage each area maintains. Described as a renaissance man, Allan has found music, poetry, writing, painting, and movement exercises that nurture and give expression to this inner longing to experience Oneness. Allan tries to accept the challenges that life presents in many disguises and maintain a meditative attitude toward life’s challenges. In this way, he aspires to live each moment with innocent eyes that perceive glimpses of the Divine both in meditation and every day events. Amongst Indian saints and savants he derives special inspiration from: Kabir, Raman Maharshi, Sri Aurobindo and Rabindranath Tagore.
-Editor]
There is a silent place inside us where those captivated by the world can never go. The prison bars are only limited beliefs and concepts. They cannot hurt us, but by focusing on them, reality is beyond reach. If our focus is fixed on the tiny speck in the microscope of our mind’s eye, we miss the shining sun in a universe of universes. We see the pile of dirt before our eyes and miss the vastness of the Eternal all around us.
This vastness is a Sacred Place only perceived in the emptiness of quieted mind. Without paying attention to all the chatter, we are free to perceive a reality we never leave. Only in the dreams and delusions of the mind can we be deceived into believing in a world of discord and inharmony.
With an opened inner eye we perceive the same sky and fields, but they are now singing a song of joy. We stand now in an ocean of contentment. Bliss or despair, what do these matter now? We are the eye that perceives in all directions without misconceptions. Here we are, awake to the dawn. Feel the gentle breeze and smell wave after wave of freshness as morning dissipates all appearance of night. Hear the trilling of the birds singing. They must know something we long for. Our eyes search the skies to find these divine ones disguised in feathers in the trees. Their song is a calling to our soul to fly freely, to sing the songs beyond words that praise the dawn. “Just to be, that is enough for me.”
In this moment, joy or sorrow are only changing conditions. We can smell the fragrance of the rose that always blooms, no matter what the season. We can hear a silent song that echoes throughout creation. We are the song of that one that sings. Oh how we would be the song going forth from the lips of the Beloved. We are like grapes yearning to become the wine of the Divine. Crush us beneath Your feet and hide us in Your darkened cave, until we are what the Master always intended us to be. To be free, to see all that we can be.
What more could we ask for? The Beloved is knocking at our door. Open it up and let that One in. What does it matter if our lives are shattered and thrown down? That which forms all life will lift us up again. What if we are only an empty cup? Surely the Beloved will fill us up with roses, so we may fill this empty room with their fine fragrance.
We are on the verge of knowing the Eternal. We are only a breath away. Feel It beating in our chest. Hear It all around. Feel It breathing us, now.
A Light
There is Light, if we can find it,
That dissolves the night that cloaks a troubled heart.
It is the Sun that slowly rises,
And in its Light, the night is gone.
There is a Silent Place, when we can find it,
Not in some distant city or foreign town.
It’s here, not very far away,
Just within reach of our awareness, now.
There is Love, that’s waiting for us,
That fulfils, even erases, our greatest desire,
For It, and It alone, is the object of our affections,
Not some fickle lover, but a fiery Joy, that lifts us higher.
To see! To be! That is the all of what we seek.
The price is high; forsaking our personal sense of wanting;
But for this sacrifice, a new world is revealed.
In which this inner Light alone, yearns to know Itself.
When we’ve mastered all the rules that guide us.
Even these must fall away, as stages in a rocket ship,
On a journey that takes us beyond this world
To another, not far away, but here within us now.
[ Published with the glad consent of the author, Allan Stocker. Allan has lived in many places, from Boston to Hawaii, soaking up the rich spiritual heritage each area maintains. Described as a renaissance man, Allan has found music, poetry, writing, painting, and movement exercises that nurture and give expression to this inner longing to experience Oneness. Allan tries to accept the challenges that life presents in many disguises and maintain a meditative attitude toward life’s challenges. In this way, he aspires to live each moment with innocent eyes that perceive glimpses of the Divine both in meditation and every day events. Amongst Indian saints and savants he derives special inspiration from: Kabir, Raman Maharshi, Sri Aurobindo and Rabindranath Tagore.
-Editor]
