April 10, 2020: Reflections on the Meaning of God

Reflections on the Meaning of God

I see God as a super-consciousness;

That’s  living beyond the brain;

Transcending this sense of separateness,

Born of weariness, need, and pain.

I see God though my own reflectiveness

About nature, science, and history;

Parables serving to build connections,

Though God Itself is a mystery.

I see God as a powerful metaphor

For the things that we would emulate.

Is it just an idea, or something more;

Something beyond what we think or create?

I see God in the occurrences

Of things that we cannot explain.

I see God in various social currents

For releasing old sorrows and shame.

I see God in hymns and scriptures,

And accounts of saints and mystics.

In group reflections, their meanings grow richer;

Their teachings more realistic.

I see God in the forms of music and art,

And the impulse to seek what is just.

I see God in the love of a merciful heart

Who serves as he feels that he must.

I see God though my own reflectiveness

About nature, science, and history;

Parables serving to build connections,

Though God Itself is a mystery.

I see God in hymns and scriptures,

And accounts of saints and mystics.

In group reflections, their meanings grow richer,

Their teachings more realistic.

I see God as a powerful metaphor

For the things that we would emulate.

Is it just an idea, or something more;

Something beyond what we think or create?

I see God as a super-consciousness;

A power of  living beyond the brain;

Transforming this sense of separateness

Born of weariness, need, and pain.

I see God in the occurrences

Of things that we cannot explain.

I see God in various social currents

Releasing us all from our chains!

I see God in the form and I see God in the spark,

And the impulse to do what is just.

I see God as the Love in a merciful heart

Who serves as she feels that she must.

April 9, 2020: Counseling

Counseling

I pray to the one true God and Savior

To be my light and to make me whole.

The worship of idols is an empty behavior

That puts a mask over heart and soul.

And within that realm is “therapy” –

The current peak of imitation,

And the modern priests of society

Are masters at dehumanization.

Go to their waiting room, and start to share.

Do the other clients meet your eye?

After months of discussions, are you more self-aware,

Or any more able to tell truth from a lie?

This isn’t a matter of people with people.

This isn’t a matter of being a friend.

It’s a place where the lonely, the lost, and the feeble

Are given a mistress on whom to depend,

Who keeps her slaves in isolation,

And asks them to follow just a few simple rules,

And by smug ideational fragmentation,

She makes clients turn into fools.

Witch doctor controls; patients submit,

And we’re not yet sure how the problem’s defined.

If she makes me struggle, I don’t want to quit,

But she’s re-arranging my mind!

I’ve come to the conclusion that if I think I’m not right,

I’ve got to learn how to deal with it naturally,

‘Cause a counselor’s only a parasite,

And so is a client in therapy!

April 8, 2020: Exceptional Child

Exceptional  Child

Child

At the edge

Of awareness –

Life is hard.

Even simple things

Are difficult.

But

What is comparison

In your being?

What is utility

In a being?

What is indignity

In being?

And compassion?

What have you to account for?

What to give?

What to accomplish,

When your being

In itself

Teaches me so much:

Challenges my ability

To perceive you,

To communicate,

And to discover

Who you really are.

You require meticulous care.

I know

Through the experience

We have shared

That

Though we are all on different levels,

We are the same.

April 7, 2020: Spiritual Confidence

Spiritual Confidence

My confidence is that God has dominion.

God provides all I need.

I trust God’s love

To be capable of manifesting in all people.

My confidence is my ability to live what I believe

Regardless of what voices say otherwise.

I know that I am capable of doing

Almost anything that another person can do.

A method and its feasibility can be determined.

My confidence is that there’s something I can do today.

Even in death, there will be tomorrow.

God’s dominion will never end, regardless.

April 6, 2020: I Have A Right

I Have A Right

I have a right to be depressed.

I have a right to be sick.

I don’t care anymore.  The whole world’s a mess.

Let me beat myself with a stick!

I have a right to my opinions,

And I have the right to judge

Anyone within my dominions.

I have a right to hold a grudge.

I want you to feel how miserable

I am when I sit and brood.

I have a right to be cynical,

And I have a right to be rude.

I have a right to spend my money

Any which way that I please.

I have the right to think everything’s funny,

Like poverty, death, and disease.

I have the right to horde or squander

Whatever I happen to own.

I have a right to wilt or wander.

Please, just leave me alone!

Don’t come and shake my shoulder.

Don’t tell me to get off my butt.

I get more complacent each day I get older

As my mind gets a little more shut!

I have the right to be upset

Over all the loving I’ve missed.

Don’t expect me to forgive or forget.

I’ll never unclench my fist!

Yes!  We all have a right to what we feel,

And to all that we understand.

We all have the right to express or conceal,

But not to our every demand!

  

Is it my right to play crazy games

Just to get a little attention?

Or to misappropriate words and names

With a thoughtless or harmful intention?

To say “It’s my right” just to rationalize

However I may wish to behave,

Twisting the truth to conceptualize

Myself as a victim or slave?

I’m seeking a vision of what it means to Live,

Where what’s right for us all is the goal,

And stop denying my chances to give

Something REAL with Courage and Soul!

Yes - I’m seeking a path to what it means to live,

Where what’s right for us all is the goal,

And open up the doors to how we all can give

Something real with courage and soul!

April 5, 2020: Advice I Haven't Quite Followed

Advice I Haven’t Quite Followed

Know what’s good for you.

Be the kind of a friend who can follow through,

And the ways you could offer some help,

Though you may not get much return.

Always consider what there is to be learned

Not just from the hand you’ve been dealt.

Who am I to say

How to live your life as you pass on your way,

When I’ve struggled so hard to manage my own.

Our patterns revolve,

And to break through, somehow we must get involved:

None of us makes it alone.

That’s how it seems,

But what you’ve got to do to reach your dreams?

It’s a process that’s got to be yours.

It’s not advice that I’ve completely followed.

Commitment is always so hard to swallow!

Still, I would like to open some doors.

April 4, 2020: Deep Woman River

Deep Woman River

It’s not that you’re extra quiet.

I’ve come for adventure.  You’re letting me try it.

But when I give you my spiel, it’s not like you to buy it,

And I’m wondering what’s really so.

You’re sensuous, but I’ve gone past the slurry.

I have not found any reason to worry,

Because you don’t seem to be in any big hurry,

And I can give myself up to your flow!

You’ve already been nourished by so many streams,

While reflecting the sun, the stars, and the moon-beams,

Passing through the forests, absorbing their dreams

With your current that never stops!

You’re a presence in which the fish can swim:

Hidden passions in a world so dim,

While you weave around islands that you move at your whim,

Or through channels that water the crops.

Chorus:

I want to honor these pathways I’ve known;

Sweet communions, taken mostly alone,

Which have brought me the lessons I needed to learn

As I moved through life’s changes; its twists and turns:

Nature in its own intelligence;

I in responsive innocence,

Building my wisdom and confidence;

Giving my thanks to Providence.

It’s not exactly what you have to say

In the changing weather, which allows you to play.

The centuries pass and you're still on your way

As you let people do as they will:

Fishing from shore, or pushing a barge,

Or on a river excursion, living large.

Engineers might think that they are in charge,

But without you is thirst unfulfilled.

At some point, I’ll have to find my way out.

There are so many passions that my life is about.

She’s carried me on a wonderful route.

Through refreshing currents I’ve roamed!

I look ahead, and she shows me the shore.

The sun is setting, and I cannot ignore:

It’s a parting sorrow that I’ve gone through before,

But I need to find my way home!

Chorus