Why am I still here

Why am I still here
After all these years
Given away my status
Asked to be demoted
Let go of all affiliations
Depersonalized divine
Developed an allergy
To any trace of dogma
Purged my scriptures
Of fixed terminology
Revived simple words
Discarded trademarks
Price paid for honesty
So here I am after all
In spiritual freedom
Found by detaching
Letting go of most all
Even what was essential
And helped me stand up
Like scaffolding or staff
Letting go such crutch
No matter how grown
Very close and dear
Time came to stand
On my very own feet
That’s why I am here
Not still, but all now
More real than ever
Answering a quest
Why I am still here

“Embraced in silence” — so close, and yet so far — in memory of Elaine

Why I am staying away from institutions

There once was a man who was a seeker of God. He had traveled the world spending time with deep spiritual teachers of every sort he could find. He sang the 99 names of Allah. And he spent months in silence with Buddhists, Hindus and in Christian monasteries. He danced with Sufis, did vision quests with shamans and trained with Shaolin Monks. Then one day, he heard that were he to climb a certain secret mountain deep in the Hindu Kush, that were he to reach the top, he would meet God and find total enlightenment.

This was a very dangerous quest because the mountain was very remote and was difficult to climb for even the most experienced climbers. But the greatest danger came from the many bandits that always saw spiritual seekers as easy pickings.

The devil heard about this upstart and sent his demon to follow him and report back. The seeker headed up the mountain with the demon not far behind.

It was a difficult climb, but eventually, the seeker made it to the top. Standing at the very top of the mountain, standing on his tippy toes, the seeker reached up, higher and higher… and grasped hold of ultimate truth, met God and became cosmically aware! The seeker now knew all of the secrets of the universe and existence!

Naturally the demon was terrified and ran back to the devil with his report, fearing how his master would react. To his surprise, the devil just leaned back in his chair, yawned and said, “It’s not a problem. I’ll just tempt him to institutionalize it.”

— from the post “Religious Institution” in the blog “A Religion of One” by Reverend Russ

Miracle colors of nature before a surprisingly normal sunrise