This prose was written by a student for his high school literary magazine, Myriad.

A gentle voice comes to me, saying:

“You are leaving your home,
Becoming human so that you may
Experience & learn & advance.
The memory of the paradise you
have dwelt in
will be removed; otherwise you
could not bear the pain and sorrow
of life on earth.
You will forget your true identity,
believing yourself to be
a physical being.

The parents you have chosen
will feed you, clothe you, protect you
and give you love.
Be not deceived by those who will
try to convince you that life on
earth is the important, the only,
or that you must secure yourself
to their beliefs in order to be “saved.”
They have been misled.
Open your mind to all things:
experience the many paths,
always do your best,

and you may one day
be granted Enlightenment
and realize that you
have the life of Buddha,
the life of Krishna,
the life of Baha ‘u’ llah,
the life of Christ within you.
Then you will be freed from the
bonds of the flesh, the bonds of
rebirth, of space and time.”

The way is before me,
i will my molecules to slow
their vibration, and
hover above my mother-to-be.
She is sitting in a chair,
knitting.
i slip inside her and enter
her womb,
the unborn fetus,
now my body.

The woman feels a movement
of life
within her,
and she smiles.

* * * * * * * *

The night is lonely, the
air chilled and silent. i
walk the sidewalks slowly.

Wondering, what is real?
studying my hand:
is this body mine?

Probing the bark of a tree
with my fingers
becoming the tree
sprouting buds
soaking up warm sunshine
drawing moist earth up through
my roots.
How am i different from this tree,
from the blades of grass on the lawn,
the stars in the heaven above?
Why do i have a border
why do my molecules not
blend with the air
Why is there always me and it? -
my essence apart from all other existence
where do my thoughts come from?

The shadows on the ground
the reflection in the window say
i am.
Travelling along the myriad roads
so many lead to nowhere
the happiness they bring
is there and gone
after reaching the highest point

they allow
one may go no further.
But the Joy of being
One with the Universe
knows no limits,
for the Universe is without limit.
Absorbing the teachings
of the inspired
brings an understanding:
the Lotus Sutra, the Bible,
Hesse and Rampa, Rembrandt and Dali,
Beethoven & Brahms & Mozart & Chopin
Socrates and Shakespere and the Moody Blues,
the artist and the thinker.

* * * * * * * *

Making good causes
brings good effects:
“Love thy neighbor as thyself,”

“Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”
“Be still and know the I within.”

What would it be like to be
an air bubble,
drifting upward
from the lake bottom
through the deep waters,
and rising above the surface to
burst
then become one with the air
and mingle with the atmosphere
and course through the veins
of the winds?

A great voice speaks:
You have walked your path
with a sincere heart
and an open mind,
you have strived with all your effort
to find truth

never turning from your goal
no matter the obstacles
that lay before you.

Be at peace now,
for you have found yourself
you are fulfilled
the Universe is You.