Emptiness

Emptiness.
Nothing to say.
Just sweet silence.
Stillness and calm.
Finally at peace.
With room for all.

Still, here we are.
Words, thoughts.
Being in this body.
Living in this world.
While there’s breath.
In and out, in duality.

Growing and unfolding.
In body, mind, and spirit.
Cruising along conscious.
More or less alert and aware.
Then slowing and shrinking.
Fading away in old age?

When the body declines.
Spirit can keep soaring.
With new insights ever.
In silence and calm.
Not much to say.
In emptiness.
All free.
Now.

“Vibhas dawn” — daybreak raag

Who looks in the mirror — at the movies or in life

“At some moments there are also gaps in the action; the show gets a bit slow, even boring. We might shift in our seats, notice the people eating popcorn around us, remember we’re in a movie. In the same way we can notice that there are gaps between our thoughts, gaps in the whole sense of our self. Instead of being lost in ideas and the problems in front of us, creating the whole drama of ourself, there are moments when we sense the space around our experience, let go, and relax. ‘These gaps … are extremely good news.’ They remind us that we can always rest in awareness, that freedom is always possible.”

“Awareness has no shape or color. It is beyond presence or absence, coming or going. Instead there is only a clear space of knowing, of consciousness, which is empty and yet cognizant at the same time.”

“When we learn to rest in awareness, there’s both caring and silence, There is listening for what’s the next thing to do and awareness of all that’s happening, a big space and a connected feeling of love. When there is enough space, our whole being can both apprehend the situation and be at ease. We see the dance of life, we dance beautifully, yet we’re not caught in it. In any situation, we can open up, relax, and return to the sky-like nature of consciousness.”

— The Wise Heart — Jack Kornfield — pp. 44-47

Emptiness fulfilled