It is early morn, on the lake surrounded by mist,
in a canoe the shore cannot be seen.
Fear creeps into the periphery of my mind,
white darkness moves without rythmn before my eyes
and fairy sprites play happily beneath the water.

I quieten my mind, physically lost on familiar water.
Calming my senses I realise the sprites are fish,
Many, many fish surfacing to feed then
out of the mist a ghostly boat appears.
We greet each other as it lazily moves past,
and once again I am left alone in the white darkness.

All is quiet, all is silent, here is beauty rarely seen.
My mind draws a fine line,
between the awe of nature and unreasonable fear
and within a short time I am compelled to return,
to the land of my reality.

Naumai

Beautiful Naumai! Thanks for sharing.

In times of past when life was simple
and the tohunga reined supreme.
We spoke representing our family, ancestors, elementals, guides
there was not an I or a me,
it was a way of living rather than a seeking to find.

Any words I spoke I spoke on behalf of us all.
and when you speak, you speak on behalf of your all.

and at the end of the day
when I read what you have to say
I will take it back to my whanau
who will tell me in their way
what they think, and want to say
then I will come back to you and the cycle turns again.

Whakatauki (Contemplations)

"Watch your thoughts, they become your words,
Watch your words, they become your actions,
Watch your actions, they become your habits,
Watch your habits, they become your character,
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny"

by anon

I said to the wanting-creature inside me:
What is this river you want to cross?
There are no travelers on the river-road, and no road.
Do you see anyone moving about on that bank, or nesting?

There is no river at all, and no boat, and no boatman.
There is no tow rope either, and no one to pull it.
There is no ground, no sky, no time, no bank, no ford!

And there is no body, and no mind!
Do you believe there is some place that will make the
soul less thirsty?
In that great absence you will find nothing.

Be strong then, and enter into your own body;
there you have a solid place for your feet.
Think about it carefully!
Don't go off somewhere else!

Kabir says this: just throw away all thoughts of
imaginary things,
and stand firm in that which you are.

- Kabir

In a world anaesthetised by it’s own vanity,
I surrender the breath that breathes me.

In a world deafened by it’s own incessant chatter,
I surrender my voice
Until I feel only the angelic chorus beyond my ears.

There is a world starved
...after relentless feasting and bellies brimming with anything tempting enough to be consumed.
Stuffed full of anything hoped to satisfy the insatiable hunger for unity with the divine.

I offer from my heart, food enough to allow the entire universe to feast like royalty... but who will take a plate and join me for supper?

I am in a world drowning in tears of despair
Created by its own madness.
If only we could fall on our knees
In laughter
And realise that it is all just a dream
Created because we were blessed with gift of creativity.

Could we fail to see the tiny spark at the core of our hearts
That unconditionally eludes the veil of darkness?

The eternal flame, knowing only the light, forgives us all
There is nothing to be forgiven.

By
Trinity... with Love
xxx

what if.
you met every person with peace in your eyes
you decided to believe in the love in your heart, to create the miracles of your breath in your life
imagine if you thought every person you met was a piece of gold with a message of soul
and every experience was an arrow towards your purpose
what if you let yourself take off your shoes and run your feet along the grass
laugh so hard people stared
danced under the moon in complete bliss of who you are
indulged in the thought that you are the most magnificent being you have ever met
and that God has a special purpose for you like no other
that you are Earths saviour, the beloved one God crafted through eons of time and love
using a paint brush of golden angels hair meet by the sound of harp strings
you are the melody, you are the sound of rain drops, the crystal clear snowflake
the love before thought and deed, the space in between sound
you are everything, yet nothing, you cannot be defined yet could be named love
and your creations can sing between time, before and after and forever ripple through the ethereal to be felt by every soul that ever aspired to experience

Sarah,

Your poem is breathtaking.
The 'space between the words' echo in the deepest realms of my being.

Thank you for sharing... and welcome to the Openhand community!

With Love
Trinity

Our only goal,
Self-realization,
Our only path,
Love.

Sarah, your poem is just so beautiful...

Liberation,
So simple, so perfect!

Looking at my life
I see that only love
has been my soul's companion.
From deep inside
my soul cries out:
Do not wait, surrender
for the sake of Love.

- Rumi

With love,
Ally

thank you for your comments i was taken aback by them, they are very special to me as i have never put out a poem before for others eyes to read!
lots of love
sarah

"A light that touches every thought
glistening in the first morning sun
like the simple smile of a babe when first awakened to a new day
the smile of the thought of its mothers presence again
like it was a lifetime ago, when only one night went by
time knows no boundaries
it can leap and bound so fast it seems to not exist
or drag and slump
over a chair like an old man with one breath left.

If every moment were an opening to the new dawn
to the mother earth
to the beloved sun
if every moment were a contemplation
of the moon and its melancholy
of the stars and their simple shine like no other
so many times tried to be recaptured
in pencils and paints, glitter and fabric
but the earth knows none of these like the stars
and the sun knows nothing to light like the earth.

The sun is like the tiny babe
waiting to caress the crown of your head everyday
it gave birth to you
it remembers your every journey throughout time
it knows time unlike any other being
and it sees your every movement like it is now
it knows no distance from you and witnesses you in every light you could ever be.

The moon waits in the ocean to see its reflection
it sits in your tears
and watches you as you watch out the window
holding your chin up to its darkness
for the moon knows you in every shade
it understands that the deepest absence of light is still not yet black
for it has seen your soul naked and unbound
and it knows you have been to the deepest depths of the ocean and drowned
only to be reborn again underneath the sun.

And the earth steadied you every time
whispering in your ears the wind of promise and security
that the land under your feet will not shift if you shifted with it
that the food in your belly, the air in you lungs and the water in your being will continue as long as you wish for
for you are your master and the earth your mentor
and you may live in these illusions for as long as you so desire
until desire becomes not of your being
but of that of the sun and the moon to continue turning with the earth.

There will be no more of your previous experience
for you have surpassed all humanly existence once the connection is made to understand
you are that of the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars
you are that of the light and the dark, the death and rebirth
you are that and more

They call you God and the earth's world screams this truth to the universe
whilst the sun and the moon glide on it, knowing the knower
experiencing every breath with you
your search is an illusion for what is within you, you will continue to find without you
and the greatness you seek is nowhere else but here, now, under the sun and the moon
within the warmth of your heart."
Sarah

Hi Sarah,

That is truly breath taking poetry. You have a very special gift - I've come to see words and concepts as gateways into direct experience of the absolute. Some philosophies and sciences spiral to ever greater heights with endlessly evolving concepts of reality and yet never seem to find that passage into what really is. Yet you achieve it with a few effortlessly crafted sentences!

It almost makes me want to stop writing philosophy!

Love

Chris

How wonderful that in a world intent to flow towards ever evolving chaos, you find within you an articulation in words of that which is inspired from the 'place' where there are no words!
Warmly
Trinity

haha dont stop writing, your teaching me so much!!

... Sarah, do you have an agent?

Not as yet but I have been thinking that one day that would be grand. However I believe I am simply an ever opening channel to the angels sweet wisdom.

Your poetry is so inspiring Sarah!

They are angelic words Sarah, please more if you can! I can't stop reading "wonders of the sky" - the essence is so divinely "simple" it becomes simply divine to read ....keep in touch with those angels for those of us who struggle to find them somedays! with love to you all, Hazel

In the stillness my heart lies empty
I feel no hurt
I feel no emotion
I just feel

In the noise my heart is full
I hear the pain
I hear the drama
I just feel

To be nothing
To feel nothing
Is to surrender

To be surrendered
To feel calm
Is to love

The poem below was inspired by an amazing experience during the last 'Way of the Heart' course in early November 2006, on a crisp early morning of sparkling sunshine on top of a hill....

Step from the hill

Step from the hill and come fly with me
All you do is leap
Leap from the edge, look out! See the clouds!
Look out and soar high to the sky

Step from the hill and come soar with me
All you do is be
Be true in your soul, look out! See the stars!
Look out and touch the sparkles

Step from the hill and come sparkle with me
All you do is smile
Laugh hard out loud, look out! See the angels!
Look out and come dance with me

Step from the hill and come dance with me
All you do is leap
Leap from the edge, look out! See the clouds!
Look out and soar high to the sky

Thank you for sharing those S... It reminds me of a walk that I had with recently. My little one stood at the edge of a steep hill, wind blowing through him, eyes fixed on the soaring birds... He said 'Oh, I'd love to become at one with the birds, then I'd leap off and fly up above too"

I dig deep down past the thoughts and sound
To get lost in the emptiness that lies inside
Without this place of nothingness
There would be no room for everything

I wonder as my mind waits in one empty vein
How much I have devalued this place
Was I frightened of its eerie soundlessness
The way my voice boomed and got lost, with nothing to absorb its content
What did it mean when nobody knew me?
Was it that I needed something, anything to witness my journey?

I found myself in this vein I have always possessed, yet never acknowledged
And I waited, not for the encapsulation of its boundaries
Not for the flow of its content
But for the shadow of the terror in the night I have run from

I waited for the nothingness to take me over
So that I might become an unrecognizable part of the whole
Where was I, what was I to find?

Right now, everything stops because I say so
The water is turned off and I am in a motion picture
Paused
In Peace

The dragon, the monster, the ghost and the spider
All imaginations of the carrier, of the cup
Because it had not yet taken the time to know the space between itself
Only knowing that it was empty
Knowing nothing of nothingness

The running of the wind chasing the sand throughout the desert,
The mind left to create without the knowledge of experience.

Yet another beautiful and deep insight - have you thought of compiling a book?

Love and best wishes

Chris

Thanks Chris
I wouldn’t know where to start...Ill put it out into the flow of consciousness and see what happens!

Hi Sarah,

Try looking at lulu.com
They help people self publish - many people seem to be going that way and its not at all expensive.

'Celestine Prophecy' was self published and Redfield sold 100,000 copies from the boot of his car before Warner Books took it on! Now its sold millions of course.

Best wishes

Chris

~
Perhaps the longing, perhaps the gentle sadness at the end of the day is that we miss the connection with our own soul, we miss living through this connection and we feel we live without, with not enough. We try to fill this lost connection with all sorts of wrongly shaped jig saw puzzle pieces. Pieces that are seemly ridiculous when they can be seen for what they are.

I read something titled 'listening to the whispers of our heart' and just that sentence spoke to me, it caressed my heart, slowly and softly, gently awakening it up to the increase in my consciousness. I began to hear the twinkling of the stars, the flow of the river, the howl of the wolf and the rush of the wind, all within my heart. I wondered, what else lies in this forgotten land? For am I one with itching feet to travel the earth plane, to travel the untravelled, maybe, or am I one with an itching heart to travel in my soul life on Earth.

Sometimes on going to sleep all I could here were the words 'I got lost' repeated over and over. I realise now the awareness of my soul life was waking before my consciousness could deepen in time to catch it. As my consciousness deepens, racing to hold hands with my soul I begin to hear my heart more and more.

As I lay in the bath I marvel at the sound of my heart. My ears are so well designed that water does not rush in and drown my brain. It carefully closes off the water and allows me to hear the drum of my heart. I marvel at this. I marvel at the sound of not one beat but two. Two beats. I am hearing the beat of my beloved. Three beats. I am hearing the beat of the Earth. Four beats. I am hearing the beat of the universe. Five beats. I am hearing the beat of the ethereal. How many heartbeats can be contained in one bath, recognised by one independent consciousness?

There is a matrix. There is so much I cannot yet see. I could become preoccupied with this. However I no longer wish to hear 'I got lost', my time is Earth time. And as a great one awakened me to re-believe I am so grateful to be here. I am enthralled with the things I have chosen to learn. I am enthralled with all that I am. We have a purpose; we have a path no greater than another yet greater than all.

~

The previous probably isnt a poem but i wrote it some time ago when i was begining to awaken, thanks Trin

My video rental store had the Celestine prophecy and I was curious so I rented it. Strange movie to say the least and I was wondering, how much of it is about real possibilities and how much is exaggerated, if any? I mean seeing one's own energy, people's auras, and reality with the perception of Saint Francis. How many people can actually manage that?
; )

I've read the book, but not seen the film: I found the material interesting and worthwhile but the literary style was rather weak. Personally, I have had some very striking synchronistic experiences, and also some other experiences of the type you mention.

However I don't really like to talk about them in public, as they are all quite personal. More importantly, they are not something I need or want to be attached to - that's not a productive approach.

The main message I would like to give is that when one starts to become truly open to love, to listen to the heartbeat of the Universe as Sarah says so poetically, then events and experiences for the benefit of one's unique spiritual development will occur. One has to trust these will be the right ones (what else could they be?)

Yes of course those things are very personal, I was just wondering about the degree to which people can actually experience them like in the movie (or book). This is because I remain a little skeptical about the claims of the new age movement - I wonder if such claims are not misleading. As for myself it's quite simple, I've had just one very special spiritual experience which I have talked about here a couple of weeks ago, and a couple of events that felt like synchronicities in a meaningful way. But then in my case existence tends to become again quite ordinary and confusing... has to do with how evolved one is I guess. And I understand what you're saying, and given that the Universe has its own tempo, but what about my own tempo here on earth? Things sure can take a long time. My spiritual quest has been too accidental and seemingly unproductive for me to even call it a quest. Then these new age authors claim that a new age is indeed upon us and that the spiritual realms are within our reach if we only chose to. You have to wonder though.

Thanks for your reply,
m_b

Hi Sarah,

'Tis perhaps not a 'poem', but your musings sound most poetic to my ears Ahhhhh... I sense from within you profound gratitude and appreciation for your unfoldings. How inspiring. I love your sharings.

In love and light
Trinity

Now I'm curious...What is reality within the perception of St Francis m_b?

Oddly enough I was visiting a retreat centre yesterday, walking through the trees, and out of the undergrowth I bumped into a lifesize statue, of none other than St Francis (rather excitedly, I must admit... there is something about him that resonates deeply).

Trin
x

Was it St Francis mentioned in the film, I now wonder - but I know because my brain translated automatically that the holy man's name in French is Saint François d'Assise. All I can recall from my catechism classes is that he chose to live among nature and could talk to birds! So St Francis / François comes up in the movie as an example of someone who could see the world "as it really is", actually see the divine source, the flow of sub-atomic energy giving life to all things. That involves seeing people's energies or auras too. The crew of heroes in the film who've discovered and learned the Celestine scrolls/teachings have all begun to be able to sense reality in that way and to have regular extra-sensory experiences. At one point the main hero has a full-on technicolor St-François vision at the the edge of a cliff overlooking a majestic Andean landscape, while becoming invisible to the army men chasing after him to kill him and so escaping them.
xx
m_b

Ah yes... Saint Francois d'Assise, is indeed "St Francis". I don't think that St Francis has exlcusivity to 'seeing' in this way (it sounds like he is an interesting example though). I do know from personal experience that we all have the ability to see reality 'as it is'. The world as we know it is an illusion, a fabrication of symbols that help guide us towards self-realisation.

We step from one level of consciousness to another as we 'peel back the layers' of the illusionary world. At some point our awareness fully opens to the sense that we are all 'one', connected being. This is a 'natural' state whereby we can sense (some people'see' visually, some 'hear', others intuit an unmistakable knowing within etc...) much beyond the little 'me' that we thought we were. It is very real.

In my experience the key tenets to harmonising with the flow of universal energy, are trust and surrender. As Liberation puts so well, to 'trust' in the unfolding of the universe, and to trust that we receive exactly what we need in the best interest of our own unfolding are paramount to aligning with the universe.

What resonates with me about St. Francis of Assisi's life and writings is his deep connection with the natural world, both living creatures and the environment. I have the feeling he did believe "we are all one" and we should not erect barriers and boundaries to divide us. In his Canticle of the Sun he refers to "Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Brothers Wind and Air, Sister Water" and so on: this is a perfect expression of unity conciousness in my view.

More at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_of_Assisi .

I heard that St Francis had much material wealth, and success in the conventional sense, but surrendered it all to follow his true service. He was, apparently of complete service to his true calling in life, and profoundly harmonised with the natural world. Humble too!

Thanks for the links Liberation.

"I have been all things unholy. If God can work through me, he can work through anyone.
St. Francis of Assisi

"I have been all things unholy" : this could almost be out of a Johnny Cash song...

Staring into the ocean at night
Seeing the wave in the picture, I would like to see it twice
Down by the sea there’s nothing alike
Down by the stream no flow the same

Falling asleep and waking my eyes hold a different light
Capturing a thousand truths
I am never the same and the trees they swoon and they wave
Knowing the air will breathe differently each moment to ground them again

Where the squirrel hides its stockpile
I place my mountain of security
The tree will see to it that the wind blows past to whip it all away

Holding on too tight, believing it will be the same
Is that not an invitation to my soul, to demonstrate just how old
These truths that have seen far too many falls
Knees that are broken, bruised and scratched
Falling down the rabbit hole so easy to get lost

There’s a grain of sand resting on my nose
I realize it has been around the world a thousand times and more
It has seen it all
If I place it on my tongue will it show my insides the world re-run?

I am that grain of sand buzzing with the Earth’s blood
I am the rock slowly drumming to the Earth’s beat
All an extension of my tiny feet.

Gorgeous poetry Sarah!

I just wanted to add that St Francis was also able to "bend" the natural laws by experiencing such things as levitation and the stigmata, he was also able to appear in more than one place at a time - I'm not sure of the technical term for this but there have been a few saints that also posessed these abilities to play with the laws of physics - Padre Pio (I think thats part of his name)was another more recent one that comes to mind.

Nice to see you here Bodhi.
Interesting info about St Francis. Thanks for sharing.
Love
Trin
x

The snow streams down through the hole in the sky
A purposeful, pre-destined journey as it meets the ground
Layer upon layer, building to a deep blanket of whiteness
Man’s stains and misdemeanours temporarily hidden from view

Snowflakes gently floating to their resting place
Sent on a mission to discover who they really are
Carried in the wind as it swirls around them
Each uniquely unaware of their true destination

Feel the peace and stillness within the new winter landscape
Everything cleansed by a coat of fresh, virginal snow
Simple quietness as the noise and chatter of the world falls away
Pause for a while and contemplate the meaning of life on earth

A solitary walker breaks the silence as snow is squashed under foot
A car slithers and slides its way along a heavily disguised road
The first signs of movement in a scene free from unnecessary motion
The remorseless wheels of society grinding back into action; snow is sidelined
Quickly melting into the background; the human drama again holds sway

Beautiful poem Andy. A beautiful way of looking at such a delicate and gentle expression of nature. I especially like the part here..."snowflakes discovering who they really are"

Thanks, Trinity for your kind comments about the poem.
It's strange but the verse about 'snowflakes discovering who they are etc' seemed to come instinctively and naturally to me when I wrote it-out of nowhere the words just flowed out.

Love and best wishes,

Andy

A poem inspired by Thought for the Day (7/3/08)

“Just because you are in a minority of one, doesn't make your truth untruth.”

Following your truth

Dare to be different, to stand out from the masses
An object of gossip for the chattering classes
Out on a limb, the forgotten minority view
Is it such a terrible crime not to follow the party line?

Mocked and ridiculed, cast off by society
All for committing a supposed impropriety
Delusional minds a threat to those in power
Misfits against the norm; lock him in the tower!

Follow your truth, straight from the heart
A strongly held belief is a good place to start
Free to express your innermost convictions
Without fearing the weight of government’s constrictions
But still open to life’s teachers in their many guises
Guiding lights for your soul in a journey full of surprises

AndyC

March 2008

Hi Andy,

What an awesome poem. Thanks so much for sharing!

Chris

A leap of faith

Outside the confines of an mundane existence
Beyond the realms of conventional reality
Lies the elusive path to spiritual enlightenment
A whole new dimension until now in the shadow of an eclipse

Stepping onto a different level, uncertain of the ground beneath
No reference points to guide, only the unerring flow of the heart
Fears dissolving inwardly to reveal the true and authentic self
Waiting at an end, a fresh perspective on life’s journey ahead
No longer shrouded in mystery, all becomes naturally crystal clear

But then doubt enters the mind, the ghost of a familiar echo
Signs and signatures, repeated patterns etched into the brain
Inner voices questioning the very nature of this seed change
Disregard the laws of the universe at your peril
Your identity lost to the world on the jagged rocks below

A leap into the unknown, trust in belief as your guardian angel
Risking everything on the shoulder of insanity’s presence
Faith tested to the limit, dangerously close to the border line
Free to fly away from the sheer weight of expectations
The dawn of a fragile new beginning emerging from within

AndyC

March 2008

I feel honoured to read this insight of your own personal journey. You have so much stirring within you. Keep flowing brother, keep flowing!

(Click on page 2 for more poetry folks)