24 Feb Further In – February 25 2019
Posted at 21:21h
in Daily Thoughts
On the main road into the city
when the sun is low.
The traffic thickens, crawls.
It is a sluggish dragon glittering.
I am one of the dragon’s scales.
Suddenly the red sun is
right in the middle of the windscreen
streaming in.
I am transparent
and writing becomes visible
inside me
words in invisible ink
which appear
when the paper is held to the fire!
I know I must get far away
straight through the city and then
further until it is time to go out
and walk far in the forest.
Walk in the footprints of the badger.
It gets dark, difficult to see.
In there on the moss lie stones.
One of the stones is precious.
It can change everything
it can make the darkness shine.
It is a switch for the whole country.
Everything depends on it.
Look at it, touch it…
Further In
by Tomas Transtromer
This could be a description of our meditation practice.
There is all of this relative world in which we live: the urban, the overwhelming. Each of us as simply one of many scales on this sluggish dragon. Then, held to the fire of life and made transparent by it, finally we can read what is written for us just under the surface and know we must get far away. To nature. Going within, into the darkness, difficult to see. Transcending all the hardships of our daily grind. Transcending the senses. And then:
In there on the moss lie stones.
One of the stones is precious.
There is something there, within each of us. A treasure of inestimable value.
It can change everything
Once we have found it, nothing ever will be the same again.
it can make the darkness shine.
It is the source of all that is good, all that is right, all that is light in us and in our lives.
It is a switch for the whole country.
It is not just for us, this treasure, but for everyone. Consciousness is one thing. What I do in consciousness affects the all; most especially those closest to me, but indeed, everyone.
Everything depends on it.
It is the Truth of our existence. It is the Truth underlying all that we are. It is the Oneness of what we are, with each other and with the world. Always here within, always available to us. All we must do is choose.
Look at it, touch it…
Own it. For it is you. And it is me. It is our Truth together.
Today I will live my life as a poem, allowing each moment, each line, to lead me toward the truth of what I am. Guided by my daily experience of meditation, I will insist on the depths of what I am, the hidden treasure of what I am, the preciousness of what I am. And of what my fellows are, as well.
Redwoods, Muir Woods, Mill Valley, CA