Thursday, March 24, 2011

benevolence


trees love themselves and allow that self-love to extend into their sense of all othernesses
in whatever form they may take.

i know this as loving kindness.

it's a pairing of words that bears reflection and consideration.

loving kindness.

loving kindness allows for the possibility of a state of care that is unconcerned
with like or dislike, right or wrong.

loving kindness is entirely present in the possibility that maybe, just maybe, everything, all things,
are features, perhaps even signs pointing to the process of love that emerges unimaginably
and without condition from a creative moment we express as "the creation".

the creation manifests in our own experiencing as a sort of creative infinitude that embraces the tiniest plankton, the most ancient joshua tree, the most beautiful sunset and everything in-between,
despite and other, all expressions of love.

the creation is an unfolding gift within which it is possible to refine the presence of the soul that in this incarnation manifests as the youness of you.

and so as i stand on a streetcorner (as i did this very day) and watch the sun break through clouds painted pale violet and the softest of sienna and (if you can imagine)
turning my head ever so slightly to look further south
i watch a frostbow form and see the colours that will become spring fall to the earth
i am keenly aware of the finite features of my bodies' life and then the ebb and flow of the seasons and the larger cycles of our planet which in turn sing of the orbiting of the worlds comprising our very tiny place in this universe which even as it becomes and fills the space in its plentitude is already aware of the necessity of its return to the essence of love from which it exploded.

please understand that the extraordinary and almost unbearably beautiful forms that i am so graced to share this place with leave me filled with the overwhelming compulsion and desire to share the deep feelings of gratitude and awe that i would wish to contain but whose ownership i cannot isolate and so as an echo of the unconditional loving kindness which they reflect, i choose to share my feelings
and emerging understanding here.

(if this writing looks familiar then that means you are a reader over at my other blog "flow")

5 comments:

ellen abbott said...

seeing the life force in other things and knowing it is the same as the one in you. understanding and becoming one.

Tess Kincaid said...

Beautiful thoughts, Steven. "...loving kindness allows for the possibility of a state of care that is unconcerned with like or dislike..." This line really struck a chord with me.

steven said...

ellen - there it is in a nutshell. it takes me so much longer to sort things through. thanks. steven

steven said...

tess thankyou very much. i'm glad you found some words to fly. steven

* said...

Your keen awareness is evident in the mindfulness of your postings here. Every visit offers new insight. The lovingness of trees is shown in the shelter they provide with their limbs, their uncomplaining attitudes, their sheer there-ness.

(And on that note, I have a favor? Could I highlight one of your poems on my blog in April for National Poetry Month? Let me know.)