The world is not a cold dead place,
is it?
Do you know?
Is life forever alone? No matter how well known or dearly held one might be, in the end we are alone,
aren't we.
And any euphoria,
and any bliss,
and any pain,
passes.
Beyond that, there is what is.
Sweet, but until then I am confronted with life, and all its appearance of reality.
To pass through with some lightness, some joy, leaving some beauty in my wake.
All these are as distractions, overlaid on the ground of being.
Still, silent, impenetrable, alive, intimate,
and yet, alone.
A week and a day ago, Roy (named here for my reference) made a comment about the awe of being alive. It's only sharpened the edge, given some teeth to what brews beneath the surface. Off center, out of balance, and pressing on in the dark... mostly, it seems, to survive.
11 comments:
It seems we are alone at times, but since we are part of this planet, and the planet and Sun are part of the atoms of some massive star that blew up and spewed its atoms into the cloud that birthed us, we are all connected to that star and whatever birthed it. You have as much life living on you now in the form of microbial flora as you do cells that came from the one egg and sperm of your parents. You are part of their hopes and dreams and love, so you are not even alone there it seems, but just a continuation of those. Then, there is your art and architecture which is a continuation of you. And there's William who depends upon you for food and shelter, who loves you for you. Your friends who choose your company over someone else's or their own aloneness.Ad infinitum, and so it goes. Every molecule in you has coursed through some other living being since Life began on this planet and so shall it continue until this planet dies. You and I and everyone else will always be part of some one or thing else until the earth is no more. What of our essence? Energy is neither created nor destroyed. That must on in some way as well.
some part of me wants to nod, "yes."
another part wonders what it means to be alone when there is no separation.
John, your comment has a density that I just can't grasp without some effort. I'll come back to it. At the moment I feel as though you missed what I was driving at.
Greenfrog, me too. I think it's a statement of both-and rather than a question of either-or, regarding alone-and-one. In the end it's more about the experience, my experience. Life among 'mere mortals', the unaware, is rarely punctuated by shared moments of connection. Life's more a joy when that spark exists not just at home but at work and play too.
I pause for a moment, look out the window, ponder the nature of existence. I do not look to my past experience. I look to the present. Silently, screamingly alone. At the same time, held close by that which is.
This:I pause for a moment, look out the window, ponder the nature of existence. I do not look to my past experience. I look to the present. Silently, screamingly alone. At the same time, held close by that which is.
is both beautiful and true.
You aren't so much alone as alien or unique. How does the flower feel when it blossoms early in a field of flowers that have not yet bloomed? Whether one calls it uniqueness or alieness - those words pale to the reality. But it is not aloneness.
I love jbmoore's response, for this is how I see life too - throbbing life, dancing frantically, total ongoing transformation, life without end.
what puzzles me, and I think might be more to your point, is how there is an "I" that identifies out some portion of this cacophony of life, and says "this is me." how is it that our experience is "me" when life is so profoundly an intertwined "us?" without that "I" we would never be alone... with it, we are forever isolated, walled off.
I have no idea.
What is aloneness? Do I feel alone? Am I lonely for being or feeling alone?
Is aloneness the same thing as loneliness?
I guess these are just ideas, thoughts, feelings, actions, activities...
Am I alone in the first place? I don't know.
But sometimes I want to be alone.
You are part of the fire at the center of the earth, you burn wet, the water accumulates and you form a body to hold you in, your fire sees itself, rejoices, precious, loves, and knows always that moment. You are body in mind, love in light, truth in God, a jewel of fire.
You wrote a beautiful poem.
When I read this earlier today, it occurred to me that Dogen may have been describing the same kind of experience when he said that we swim on the surface of the ocean and walk at the bottom of the ocean at the same time.
Jim; thank you.
Greenfrog; good connection, I hadn't heard the Dogen comment before. Thank you.
Your wording reminds me of an Incubus song that says:
"Don't let the world bring you down,
not everyone here is that f*cked up and cold,
remember why you've come and while you're alive
experience the Warmth before you go."
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