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| Glass Cup |
ARE YOU LOOKING FOR ME
Are you looking for me? I am in the next seat.
My shoulder is against yours.
You will not find me in stupas, not in Indian shrine rooms, nor in synagogues, nor in cathedrals;
not in masses, nor kirtans, not in legs winding around your own neck, nor in eating nothing but vegetables.
When you really look for me, you will see me instantly—
you will find me in the tiniest house of time.
Kabir says: Student, tell me, what is God?
He is the breath inside the breath.
My shoulder is against yours.
You will not find me in stupas, not in Indian shrine rooms, nor in synagogues, nor in cathedrals;
not in masses, nor kirtans, not in legs winding around your own neck, nor in eating nothing but vegetables.
When you really look for me, you will see me instantly—
you will find me in the tiniest house of time.
Kabir says: Student, tell me, what is God?
He is the breath inside the breath.
—Kabir, translated by American author and poet Robert Bly in The Winged Energy of Delight: Selected Translations
We need help. We wander around looking and finding bits and pieces trying to put things together, to make sense of it all, seeking for something. Somehow we know we are like the cup. We sense things falling apart, coming apart. We know things don't hold up. We want something to hold up, to last, to be whole.
You need to explore on your own in your own skin what is going on here. Kabir's last line is what Kabir knew or was told. Forget it. Don't repeat it. It's not yours to repeat. If you have not done the concentrated work of seeing for yourself you are merely a parrot, a thief or a fake.
Live in your skin, not the dust of ancients. You can not claim what belongs to another as yours. It is unsatisfactory. It is dead Zen. Dead! You must manifest who you look for as the one who looks for you in your own bag of skin. Proclaim it yourself.
Who are you?
Concentrate.
What is God?
Concentrate.
Ask for help. Beg for it. It's not as simple as "believing" something. It requires more than beliefs.
We need help. We wander around looking and finding bits and pieces trying to put things together, to make sense of it all, seeking for something. Somehow we know we are like the cup. We sense things falling apart, coming apart. We know things don't hold up. We want something to hold up, to last, to be whole.
You need to explore on your own in your own skin what is going on here. Kabir's last line is what Kabir knew or was told. Forget it. Don't repeat it. It's not yours to repeat. If you have not done the concentrated work of seeing for yourself you are merely a parrot, a thief or a fake.
Live in your skin, not the dust of ancients. You can not claim what belongs to another as yours. It is unsatisfactory. It is dead Zen. Dead! You must manifest who you look for as the one who looks for you in your own bag of skin. Proclaim it yourself.
Who are you?
Concentrate.
What is God?
Concentrate.
Ask for help. Beg for it. It's not as simple as "believing" something. It requires more than beliefs.
Ouch. I have simply been resting in these entries, at times dreaming of what to pass along as my own. I don't know why tears come with the reading of this entry. Perhaps because it gives me some help I was unaware that I needed to ask for.....much thanks.
ReplyDeleteBill Perkins
A broken cup?
DeleteGot any glue?
DeleteAll my broken promises, disbeliefs, recklessness; all my karmic cycles have brought me here:
ReplyDelete"If God said,... pay homage to everything that has helped you enter my arms, there would not be one experience of my life, not one thought, not one feeling, not any act, I would not bow to."
Love Poems From God, translated by Daniel Ladinsky
Toni,
ReplyDeleteYou've come along way...as we all do.
Through the trials of our every day life.
Through the words spoken, promises broken,the actions taken.
All of it conspires to bring us home.
Love all around you.
I like that phrase..."the dust of ancients." Reminds me of a song called Higher Ground & Barbra Streisand sings in it "..the words of ancient poets fall like dust upon my shoes." And another lyric goes, "Walk me over this horizon..." also very apt, too, because I do need help from time to time, reminders of what to do and who I am and that I AM living in my skin - with or without me! I see the horizon, and it's scary sometimes, but a lot less so when someone walks over it with me. Thank you Liz, for walking with me this past weekend.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome.
ReplyDelete