Dreamer

You say you only see what you can see
And all of my dreams are captured in my mind
That the desert you love is ample for you
But I hear music up above

The Philosopher and the Oppressed

Comic from xkcd

It isn't enough to think, building up thoughts like a castle around you
If you never use your thoughts to notice and to love the needy around you.

Growing Up

Maturity only happens through suffering
Those who succeed in being mature are those
Who have a storehouse of joy and freedom
To cushion the suffering that makes us grow.
For this reason we need to protect children
Give them freedom and joy and protection
To give them a strong life.

Suffering

Unless the hero surrenders all, even his life, he cannot be honored or even noticed.

Unless the heroine loses her way and faces the villain who threatens her life, she is only a girl.

Unless the robin pierces his breast with the thorn, he is an unremarkable bird among millions.

Unless a child suffers under a life-sucking cancer, the genius will not invent the cure.

Until the police brutalize and kill the protester, the wrong will never be righted.

Unless the mother loses many nights, breaking her body and spirit, weeping at her weariness, the child will not be fed or loved to become the strong generation that will change the world.

Without suffering, nothing worthwhile is accomplished.

Boring

Sobriety is boring. It doesn't make our lives more exciting or more interesting. But without sobriety, we can do nothing to make our lives meaningful.

Self discipline is the bottom requirement for us to get to the end of our lives and say proudly, "This is what I did."

Chosen

Broken man, sitting on the road
Mourning for what once was
Jealous of the settled lives rolling by
Longing for a can of forgetfulness or two…
You
Yes, you
Are the chosen one.
The Great One has abandoned his children
Abandoned his saints
And chosen you,
who cannot endure this life,
who must beg for a coat or tent,
who is told where to go and what to do
To bring life to all.

Burning

As the skilled forester burns, kills, demolishes and destroys so that life might abound,
So does the Creator of trees.
How we regret suffering and death
Yet death is the only pathway to abundant life.

Broken

The broken is the vessel which understands it cannot be filled.
It has destroyed itself, breaking its sides with pleasure and narrow-mindedness;
It has been battered, struggling with what others find simple;
It has chosen the difficult path, only to find it is not sturdy enough to endure;
It has been abused, shattered.
Yet the broken is the chosen vessel of God.
What is useless to anyone else
Is precious without compare to He who creates beauty.

First Things First

You cannot encourage unless you also listen
You cannot love unless you also rest.
You cannot pray unless you are world-involved.
You cannot listen unless you remain silent.
You cannot give unless you notice need.
You cannot express beauty unless you experience beauty.
You cannot grow until you see your smallness.

War 1

Control with harshness 

results in fear, resentment 

and barely controlled violence.

Inspire peace, 

guide to love 

and you will release 

respect 

and natural harmony.

Monster's Day

On the day politeness, apologies and regulations are done away with
 shall the monsters crush the weak.
“Do away with charity and assistance; 

 selfishness will grant all moderation”
Behind their backs chaos and death await to pounce.

Same

Lovely and ugly are not dissimilar,
  yet one draws and the other repulses.
Trustworthy and fear-inspiring are not dissimilar,
  yet one prospers and the other is punished.
Saint and sinner are not dissimilar,
  for both are rejected by the norm
  when they are seen on the street.
As for me, I will choose the crescent moon
  though all desire the full.

Unfinished

Only those who are incomplete can be made whole.
The cup is useful only because it is made with emptiness.
It must then wait to be filled
Becoming whole depends upon being unfinished.

Overflow

There is a time to stop pouring
or else chaos results.
There is a time to stop working
and observe what is done.

Little Things

A tree's worship

Why should we care what we wear to church?
God sees us all naked, without a facade.
Why such consternation over worship music?

God rejoices in the rhythm of the woodpecker

Social media, “foul” words, foods, piercings, cuttings

All of these are forms of communication

To help us hear the cry of the human heart

Why silence the cry of the desperate?

Why not just listen?

And support?

Lotus positions, liturgies, salahs and blasphemies

All are acts of reaching to heaven’s peace

Which God accepts as prayers

Why shut down the cry for shalom?

Why not just seek God’s mercy?

And response?

Foundation

The poor sell their possessions to give to the poor;
The wealthy keep what they have to gather more;
Which are the foundation of society?

Citizens

Beggars are fellow citizens; why are they treated as if they have no rights?

Fast

The busy cannot glance at the greatest need.
The fast-paced crush the ant and the beetle.
The distracted have priorities handed to them.
No time for reflection
No love for consideration
No thought for what is best.

Wealth

Spiritual wealth creates that which cannot be seen:
  Not the wealth that creates buildings
  or extravagant art
Spiritual wealth flows directly to those in greatest need:
  Establishing communities of gratitude
  Who forget the whos and wheres
  And give all glory to the Most High
Thus does spiritual wealth
Become banks no longer found on earth.

Draw

War isn’t about religion or land or wealth or protection
It is about power:
  Controlling another to bid them to do your will.
Warmongers can never understand--
Power is not the ability to push
But to draw to oneself.

Now

There is a time to cease movement:
To let your hands fall
To collapse onto the grass
To surrender
To quit one’s task
To let the world move around you.
How I wish that time were now.

The Way

The heart of wisdom is when a man admits
“I cannot do this by myself.”
The path of wisdom is denying all
  until the best helper is found.
The goal of wisdom is perfect partnership.

Limits

The truest knowledge knows its limits
  and knows when to say “I don’t know”.
The truest compassion knows its limits
  when its greatest gift is to say, “I cannot give.”
The truest love knows its limits
  and admits to itself, “I cannot love.”
he truest peace knows its limits
  and confesses to another, “Find your own peace.”
This admission is not a principle
  but a temporary lapse.

Revelation

Beautiful words aren’t true on their own.
Only when accompanied with exquisite action
  can words be understood.
Otherwise, in discerning the next truth
One must set aside all action
Delve into silence
And the Deep shall reveal itself to you.

Silence

The wind moves around the rock
The spiritual respond to stillness
Firm silence speaks deeper than
  many varying words.

Freedom

Freedom is glorious
Complete freedom comes only at the cost
  of slavery for all us ourselves.
Better for us to be slaves
Than to buy freedom at the cost of lives.

The Thou

The Thou exists in each person
We neglect another’s Thou to our own harm.
We exalt our own Thou to the harm of all.

Wind

The world is wind.
No one controls the wind.
Yet it continues to blow as it will.
The ruler of the world
Must remain gentle
Blowing with it
Only changing heat gradually.

Butterfly

Life must have unpleasantness
For change requires breaking
But keep unpleasantness brief
Lest it become a habit.
Become used to gentleness,
Make the butterfly your norm,
So be the world’s guide.

Base

Be pure in loving service;
Pure of mind, pure in motive.
In purity, seek not the pure
  but the base.

Tracks

Take care to leave no tracks
Take care to speak with peace.
Once your boot steps in the mud
You cannot remove your imprint.

Leaders and People

Wise rulers prevent judgment by
  teaching the people to care for each other.
Wise people prevent judgment by
  teaching rulers compassion.
A wise nation prepares for calamity
  for we live in a broken world.
Wise rulers begin shalom with the lowest
  and work their way up.
Wise people prevent the natural tendency
  of rulers to love the elite.
A wise nation trains the world in
  love and so establishes shalom.

Three Deaths

The penultimate death is this:
The underground passage to an unknown land;
The unseen forest creek leading to the deep ocean;
Eternal darkness of hidden rest;
The track divided, whether right or left we have already chosen.
It is a separation from all we love and rapture we have known to plunge into
A solemn welcome to the sea of hidden humanity.
The masses fear it
but we all must travel

The master Death is this:
He awakes you every morning, sorrow lowering your brow;
You roll over, wondering which way he will abuse your body;
He plants today the brutal children in your path, threatening, battering;
He is the menace in the officer’s gaze as he destroys your safety;
He is the fist of the skinhead landing on your face, your gut, your crown;
He is your rapist, thrusting his hell within you;
He is the kidnapper, forcing you to kill or be killed;
He is the comfort of the liar, easing us all to the ideas of war and famine;
He is the persistent nausea and pain of what another calls “healing”;
He is the slow quiet desperation, certain of an untimely ending.
He is living dystopia
For all the lowly.

The defeating death is this:
The newborn father awaking to give the mother respite;
Forgiving he who stole your life;
Giving the last coin to bring the injured to a healer;
Remaining awake all night to prevent a friend’s suicide;
Quitting your job because they abuse the poor;
Standing  before the soldier that he won’t shoot the innocent;
Daily waking exhausted to serve those without hope;
Becoming a slave to comfort the slave
Healing lepers and so becoming a leper;
Serving prisoners as a prisoner;
Ending on a hateful blade.
Embracing the master
Is death’s defeat.

Dirty

The Creator formed humans of humus
That we might always remember our weakness.
Our mortality nips at our heels
With sickness and pain and accidents and the death of our loved ones.
Every promise we make is futile and feeble;
  Our firmest resolve is thinner than onion skin.
Our plans for tomorrow are outside our control;
  Each act we command ourselves to do has unforeseen consequences.
Our relationships thwart us as much as empowers.
We are vessels of clay to remind us that
We must be complete from without.

Diogenes Unchained

I am looking for the weakest
Who relies on the unseen strength
All my possessions, all my wisdom
All my love, all my fame
I grant to that one
Pour it uselessly at her feet.
I am not wasting my great resources
  for they will be used to build the eternal.

Small is Beautiful

The greatest accomplishments are small acts
The greatest strength is found in the weak
The greatest wisdom is the uneducated mind
Because the greatest power
Is the One who fills the empty.

Curse of Stealing

Woe to the poor man who steals from his brother;
Deeper still the disaster that befalls the authority
Who preys on the weak.

Present/Futue

Some are intended for imprisonment;
Some are intended to use weapons to kill;
Some are intended to serve their soul to their masters;
Some are intended to wipe their shoes on the back of the weak;
Some are intended to give all, leaving nothing for themselves;
Some are intended to rob the very life from another…
How often we forget the two guiding principles of existence:
  Whatever we do to others is what we will receive, and
  Our fate is in our hands.

Fearism

Our enemy is not the violent but violence;
  not the oppressor but oppression;
  not the terrorist but terrorism.
Woe to the one who becomes violent to combat violence;
  who oppresses to combat oppression;
  who terrorizes to combat terrorism,
for all he most fears will fall upon him.

Power

The power of deliverance is not physical
 

for we are not delivered from that which binds us.
The power of deliverance is not ethereal
  for ghosts are only whisperers, not chain-breakers.
The power of deliverance is not political
  for deception cannot build what is true.
The power of deliverance is not religious,
  priests are for comfort, not revolution.
The power of deliverance is unseen, raw and angry
  more solid than solid
  imperious to fear or bribes or weapons.
And He is triggered by the whispered cries of a child.

Fixer Upper

The Creator gave us an incomplete world so we might share in his creation.
He gave us a world of violence so that we might create peace.
He gave us a world of competition so that we might reward charity.
He gave us a world of suffering so that we might heal.
He gave us a world of emptiness so that we might fill it with love.