Ring of Fire

the lyrics are 

burning with emotion..usually..

with earthy attractions and

experiences..

but with new perspective

our focus widens and deepens

with the ring burning

our illusory smallness

bringing awakening

to that which lies

beneath the ring..

with never ending defocus

and haltingly at first

we fall into that

infinite sea of love..

and we abide as that

which we always are...

Love is a burnin' thing

And it makes a fiery ring

Bound by wild desire

I fell into a ring of fire

I fell into a burnin' ring of fire

I went down, down, down

And the flames went higher

And it burns, burns, burns

The ring of fire, the ring of fire

I fell into a burnin' ring of fire

I went down, down, down

And the flames went higher

And it burns, burns, burns

The ring of fire, the ring of fire

~~Johnny Cash

Abundance is Blue

Abundance is Blue

and is opposed by scarcity..

scarcity a feeling of

constriction due to

mind-stories rising as

memories present..

as the present marches

on its inexorable timeline

a fear of the past and

a wish to shore-up

visits the future..

abundance is sought by

 scheme and investment

to calm the raging

fears of scarcity..

 seeming preposterous

is the suggestion

that stopping now

will discover that

scarcity never separates

from abundance.. only

awaits our recognition of

a temporary red shading

of a permanent blue...

Journeys

There are many journeys.  There are those in which we are

travelers observing the world from conventional windows of 

mind and body.  There is another which involves a recognition

that we are the openness of an awareness, not confined to
conventional windows.  Life's purpose resides in observing
the various journeys in our life experience, recognizing that our 
way of "seeing" influences what we see. Journey examples 

reside in many places: your own memories and journals, in art,

science, scripture, and with modern teachers who appreciate 

the value of the Journey as an approach to self-realization.
We have the advantage of the web in being exposed to these
perennial teachings in a most powerful new way...

Unmani:  When Thought Surrenders
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4nbxbto5vk

Unmani:  Living Without Knowing How to live
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CshhZb94eM

Jac O'Keefe:  Reflections on the current shift in human consciousness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i_k_fNmB4c

RS:  The Universe is not Conscious
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78gteVJwdDI

RS: on thoughts..we are not our thoughts..no chooser.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJxL4s4cI8s

RS:  The Ego Is Not a Mistake
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=116&v=uesJ9nPEUFY

RS:  The Continuous Element in All Experience
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1fOHVQUJXY

David Whyte:  The Journey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=183&v=6PK3GhnHOJc

Gangaji:  On Being Yourself
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY9ZqvzAWtU

Bernardo Kastrup teaser:  The Idea of the World
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEYKrS7mmmg


“The Journey” by David Whyte

Above the mountains
the geese turn into
the light again

Painting their
black silhouettes
on an open sky.

Sometimes everything
has to be
inscribed across
the heavens

so you can find
the one line
already written
inside you.

Sometimes it takes
a great sky
to find that

first, bright
and indescribable
wedge of freedom
in your own heart.

Sometimes with
the bones of the black
sticks left when the fire
has gone out

someone has written
something new
in the ashes of your life.

You are not leaving.
Even as the light fades quickly now
you are arriving.

"Go on a journey from self to Self, my friend...
Such a journey transforms the earth into a mine of gold."
- Jalal-ud-Din Rumi

In the middle of the journey of our life I found myself astray in a dark wood where the straight road had been lost sight of. 
Dante Alighieri

We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started... and know the place for the first time.     
TS (Thomas Stearns) Eliot

It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end     
Ursula K. Leguin

We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us.     
Marcel Proust

The only journey is the one within.
Rainer Maria Rilke

If you can see your path laid out in front of you step by step, you know it's not your path. Your own path you make with every step you take. That's why it's your path.
Joseph Campbell

Everyday is a journey, and the journey itself is home.     
Matsuo Basho

Walking lightly

Walking lightly

into the setting sun's

spreading rays

between and between..

her form slowly

submerged in darkness..

the details of sunlight

yield now to the 

no-boundary darkness

to a wholeness

recognized

where memories of detail

revealed by the light

now dance many dances

in the dark...

Fear and Desire

These are two names

applying to the ego

and to our  consensus

belief in separation..

Fear is bound by time:

remembering the past

and those admonitions

which we have enshrined

as time enslaves..

Desire is bound by space

as we search out there

for that which will

satisfy desire..and for the

peace and freedom

which lie hidden..

This searching pulse 

races through our blood

as space enslaves..

Freedom arrives 

when we read and reread

the lessons of

time and space

and find our freedom

in recognizing 

the prisons we create...

Man metamorphosed

4)  Man is thus metamorphosed into a thing, into many things. The planter, who is Man sent out into the field to gather food, is seldom cheered by any idea of the true dignity of his ministry. He sees his bushel and his cart, and nothing beyond, and sinks into the farmer, instead of Man on the farm. The tradesman scarcely ever gives an ideal worth to his work, but is ridden by the routine of his craft, and the soul is subject to dollars. The priest becomes a form; the attorney, a statute-book; the mechanic, a machine; the sailor, a rope of a ship.  ~~Ralph Waldo Emerson, The American Scholar

a green leaf

a green leaf

fallen 

from summer green

onto the pavement..

a lifetime shortened

denying us her color

etched by the cold of

 approaching autumn..

there are youths

who also are green

fallen and denying us

the wisdom of

their autumn years..

summer 

storms and stories

have dissolved 

these green currents in

our river-flow of life..

yet they leave for us

a deep-felt comfort

knowing they 

have arrived home

as we hold with joy

 other currents

in our flow...

Rise and Fall of the Poem

Rise and Fall of the Poem

The poem

is formed within what we are

and made of ourself..

It is the waveform rising

in this moment from the

infinite potential resting

in each of us..

The poem rises and colors

the moment and then dissolves

as a wave into the sea..

The remnants which remain

inscribed on a page

is for readers who follow

bringing new waves

rising and coloring

and resting once more...

The rabbit scampered across the yard

The rabbit scampered across the yard

then back again to a starting point..

This is to isolate one of a plethora of

 seeming random happenings of nature

in the yard this morning..

Bringing to attention the private

nature of the rabbit's perceptions..

We might imagine the excursions of

the rabbit's mind..but to soon realize

these are but our own excursions..

But what is there holding those

excursions: the rabbit's and mine..?

Whatever That is

is our common world..

That through two special glasses

morphs into two private excursions

along with those many more

taking place in my morning world..

What does the Rooster know..?

What does the Rooster know..?

When in the dark of night

before a glint of early light

informs of the dawn

we hear his waking crow..

Might it be that Rooster knows

what we have long forgotten..?

We are of the strong belief

in sequences gained from habit

while the Rooster knows

by instantaneous insight:

no separation at all

in the always dawning

 light...

a glimpse of nature's eternity... 

Of interest:  
http://www.ucc.org/daily_devotional_the_thing_with_feathers

You close your eyes and see darkness,
but it is only by the light of consciousness
that the darkness is seen. Reflect on this.

~ Mooji

Feathers

~~Emily Dickinson


Feathers

Their lightness 
is their signature
no weight to consider..
and Emily liked 
their tune without words..
simply a vibration
before any words..
and the light-ness
is engaged
in shaping the feather
and the world
in our eternal self...


http://www.ucc.org/daily_devotional_the_thing_with_feathers

Metamorphosis

A term

usually derived from nature:

morphing..form to new form..

we might however

find quite revealing 

a plucking of words to

arrive at a morphing metaphor..

realizing 

there is only consciousness

a morphing of consciousness

takes place in what we find

as color and shape.. 

you and I 

and the cat

are various morphings..

new colors and forms:

temporary morphings

amazing styles fill our wonder

and dissolve one day soon:

might we say a morphing

in reverse

to reveal that which

all really is...

Nature's conversation

Nature's conversation

It is a simple language

of pointing images:

similarity pointing to unity

difference pointing to multiplicity..

similarity to realization

difference to hiddenness

similarity to creating

difference to creation

similarity to permanence 

difference to temporary..

these teachings

for our eventual discovery

of peace and joy:

there is only unity

wearing the infinite colors

and forms

of multiplicity... 

Experiment

Experiment

There are dark notes
from our skyways
with expressed alarms
over democracy threatened..
Our laws and modalities
descended from that declaration
of the reality of equality
now centuries old..
That reality is permanently 
our identity..each of us..
in all our conversations
and news conferences
which come and go..
Our experiment points to
a recognition by all
and will be repeated
'tho ours in our peril
trudges and reels
fearing darker days...
~~CC



End of the great experiment
The world just became an exponentially more dangerous place and with America’s Democracy at even greater peril. President Trump’s cozy meeting with Russia’s Vladimir Putin is bad enough. Worse still is Trump’s choice to elevate Putin’s word and nefarious agenda over and above America’s integrity, security, and national best interest, not to mention the best interests of our European allies and the rest of the world. In some circles they call this treason, and not lightly.

Vladimir Putin is a former KGB assassin and butcher. His current demonic will to power and geopolitical aggression are just getting started, and by falling under Putin’s spell, Trump is feeding both. The comparison of Britain’s Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain being duped after his meeting with Adolf Hitler at Munich in 1938 is numbingly accurate. Trusting Putin’s word that his regime had nothing to do with attempting to undermine the 2016 elections, as against the cumulative conclusions of America’s elite intelligence community, is simply suicide for our democracy.

What is happening on this international stage is stunning in its magnitude, paving the way for the potential fall of America.

We are headed down that slippery slope to the end of the great American Experiment, as well as the demise of all those who’ve given it allegiance and hope.

Robin Izer
Colorado Springs

let's go directly

let's go directly

let's go directly to the place

we already are..

to the Awareness which

is our identity..however hidden

it seems..in this moment..

from our empty Awareness 

our world we create 

in this moment..or not..

you and I are Awareness:

we need know this

to the chagrin 

of that smaller person

who enjoyed hiding

this new discovery which

you and I need to make

before we die...!

Our movie script

Our movie script

the script of our life experiences
appears on a timeline moving
from birth to death..
is there a way to edit this script
and choose seeming fulfillments
thus creating the life of our longing..?
it would seem that the longing is
the real gift..a gift with a message:
none of the scripted events..fulfilling or not..
have brought a lasting end to our longing
a longing which comes from a memory of home..
home is a realization of what we are:
within which the script is played
by which the script is known
and out of which the script is made:
now we are home...
~~CC


Editing Your Life

BY MADISYN TAYLOR
You have the choice to accept your life script you've written thus far, or edit it so you can create a life that fulfills you.
Our lives can be compared to an ongoing movie script over which we have complete creative control. Within us lies the power to examine what works or isn't working in our lives and make "edits" to our life's script, accordingly. Choosing to actively edit your life can be incredibly empowering. As you evolve, you have the choice to accept the script you've written thus far or edit it so you can create a life that fulfills you. You can cut out from your life's script what is no longer working for you. Acknowledging that you are responsible for the experience you create gives you the ability to create the life you've always longed for.

Granted, editing your real life isn't always as easy as erasing a line of text. If you've carried emotional baggage or held on to an unhealthy relationship for a long time, these may be difficult to edit out. But when you do cut out what isn't working from your life, you'll feel lighter and more alive. Editing out activities that you find stressful, disassociating yourself from people that drain your energy, and letting go of your emotional baggage are all beneficial cuts you can make. In the empty spaces that are left behind, you can add in anything you like. Just as you have the power to edit out negative situations or beliefs that you no longer wish to have as part of your life, you can now include the kinds of positive experiences, people, and beliefs that you would like to fill your life with. The manifestation of these thoughts and images as realities in your life will inevitably follow. As you make changes to your life, you can also add in the bits where you choose more intimate, healthier relationships, seek out adventure over tedium, and are no longer negatively impacted by old experiences. 

To begin editing your life, simply think about your positive and negative experiences. When you determine what parts of your life are no longer serving you, make the commitment to remove them – though, it is important to remember that there is no proper timing or way to do this, and patience and compassion for yourself are always important during this process. Then, ask yourself what has brought you profound bliss and consider how you can make those experiences and beliefs part of your life now. With a little editing, you'll be able to clear out what is no longer serving you and make room in your life for more happiness, love, and wisdom. 

Subjectivity

Subjectivity

objectivity seems to many..even most..

the crown jewel of truth in our busy crowd..

subjectivity has been the way of the mystic

and the avoiders of common sense in

informing on what we know..

the push to be objective sums up our

remembered education..and seemingly now

has pushed us into a darker world..

the face and features of objectivity

not usually a crowd recognition 
are those slippery concepts 
of ego and separation..

these are the concepts to which we

succumb when we are briskly told: 

please be objective..!

but let us counter: the objectivity 

worshiped has had its day..and we await

its fall into subjective truth..

a new day dawning..when..?
perhaps here and now...! 

A Second Graduation...West Point

A Second Graduation

We all remember the tossing of the caps..this celebration of accomplishment and endurance.
And in the spring of each year since, we are reminded of our own graduation by many similar expressions of exuberance at military academies, and elsewhere.  This iconic ritual is gratefully remembered, and marks what I like to call our "first graduation."
Our freshly printed diplomas, signed by the Superintendent, stated that we were prepared to
participate as leaders in our nation's defense.  More preparation followed in branch and service schools to ensure that details were absorbed for accomplishment of many specific missions.

Some of us did not return from the Viet Nam war, for which dark clouds loomed as we graduated.  Others lived to observe the notable failures of this war, even as they fully supported their comrades in arms. A few declared openly the discomfort they experienced by their own participation in a war which, for them, lost all meaning. As a result of these varying experiences, questions arise as to how well our preparation served us for encountering failure in our life endeavors. Would an education more fully informative of the so-called negative aspects of life--mistakes, futility, egotism, duplicity--have improved our understanding in this early stage of our lives, and the stages to follow. Or is experience the only real teacher of such things?  To be sure, however, such  teachings seem most significant as we approach a vital "second graduation."

Which brings me to my suggestion of the need for a "second graduation" from the Academy, or  really from any institution attended by future generations.  The second graduation is unique to each individual, and might even precede the first!  Simply, the second is a recognition of that dimension of each of us which observes the multiplicity of activities, the good and difficult times, through which our lives seem to move. Our attention to the activities themselves entangles and diverts our attention from this most important realization. Although a maturing process likely occurred for most of us, and glimpses of a new graduation no doubt were perceived, it seems that something more of an awakening is necessary.  

Perhaps retirement is a time when such awakening  takes place.  There is a Japanese military tradition referred to as the "dismissing your loyal soldier," by which is meant an expanding perspective of reality, a birthing of widening contexts, leading to  a new self identification..transcending the duties which had so long filled our foreground. This self identity has always been truly ours, however veiled by those many situations requiring immediate and dutiful attention.The beauty of this recognition is that former times might then be revisited and experienced with much more color and fulfillment. Also, a new freedom may seem to hone our critical thinking faculties, reaching new possibilities of insight and service.  In other words, we might discover that all activities, past or present, are actually made of that wholeness now recognized by a second graduation.

The cadet hymn, "The Corps" sings of the "thrill that your presence imparts."  The "presence"  refers to the Academy's rich traditions, particularly the Long Gray Line, which indeed underly the excitement of our first graduation.  The thrill might, and should, then  expand to a larger and living presence, the gift of a second graduation.

(forwarded on July 20, 2018)

Ulysses (reworked)

Ulysses (reworked)

It little satisfies that a knowing King,
By this stillness, appearing sometimes barren,
Match'd with aged ignorance, I mete and dole
Unequal explanations to believers in inequality,
That hoard, and sleep, and know not themselves..
I cannot rest from travel:  I will drink
Life to the lees:  All times I have en-joyed
Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when
Thro scudding veils the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea: I am.. has became a name;
For always searching for the new, 
Much have I experienced; cities,
And manners, climates, councils, governments
All reflecting Myself, and honor'd by such joy;
Also the joy of unity with my peers in battle,
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.
I am..is both whole and part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is a vortex wherethro'
Gleams that untraveled self whose margin fades
For ever and forever when my ego moves.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnished, not to create by action!
As tho' to breath were life! Life piled on life
Were all too little, all such wholeness to me
Was not enough: but every hour saved
From that eternal silence, something more,
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
For some three suns to disallow my ventures,
And this gray spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of all my thoughts.

The First and Second Steps

The First and Second Steps

The First..

is the step of disentanglement..

we notice our failure to notice

the Identity is obscured midst

the stories which clutter

and demand our attention..

but then..at long last..we notice

that which within lie

all of those tangled tales..

we are renewed knowing now

the identity we had lost..

The Second..

comes from a growing unease

that the identity we found

may be something more..

we recall all those stories which

obscured..calling us once more

now shining in our projected light..

Two steps to home...

the mind lens

the mind lens

this is the fundamental new path
which science and philosophy must tread 
in our days marked with confusion and strain:
our minds view what might be known
through a lens which limits the known..
until this lens fact is known we will remain
in a fundamental morass:  not knowing 
ourselves..and by extension..not knowing
countless appearances dancing and
tantalizing our search for truth...

the walker

the walker

how 

to experience our true nature

 going for a walk..?

we know that the mind shapes

and names the body as the walker..

but what if we were to imagine

that the shape of the body

occurs within a substance

seeming to merge the walker

with path and the passing sights..

we might then discard the

the habitual picture of 

a body limited..out for a walk

with passing appearances

changing as we step..

our true nature experiences

a stationary whole

within..and as which..the walker

 and appearances seem to move 

to and fro...

lives lived in contraction

lives lived in contraction

our lives are lived in a contraction
which we often do not recognize..
the recognition that would be helpful
is the knowing of suffering as the
contraction which has resulted from
consciousness moving within itself
to produce our manifest perceptions..
the manifest appears as a multiplicity
of separation..with a convincing air
of a universe as the wholeness of all..
based only on the perceptions which hide 
the truth of consciousness in contraction..
the truth awaits our discovery with
suffering as teacher and friend..

ULYSSES

ULYSSES 
It little profits that an idle king, 
By this still hearth, among these barren crags, 
Match’d with an aged wife, I mete and dole 
Unequal laws unto a savage race, 
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me. 

I cannot rest from travel: I will drink 
Life to the lees: All times I have enjoy’d 
Greatly, have suffer’d greatly, both with those 
That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when 
Thro’ scudding drifts the rainy Hyades 
Vext the dim sea: I am become a name; 
For always roaming with a hungry heart 
Much have I seen and known; cities of men 
And manners, climates, councils, governments, 
Myself not least, but honour’d of them all; 
And drunk delight of battle with my peers, 
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy. 
I am a part of all that I have met; 
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro’ 
Gleams that untravell’d world whose margin fades 
For ever and forever when I move. 
How dull it is to pause, to make an end, 
To rust unburnish’d, not to shine in use! 
As tho’ to breathe were life! Life piled on life 
Were all too little, and of one to me 
Little remains: but every hour is saved 
From that eternal silence, something more, 
A bringer of new things; and vile it were 
For some three suns to store and hoard myself, 
And this gray spirit yearning in desire 
To follow knowledge like a sinking star, 
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought. 

   This is my son, mine own Telemachus, 
To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle,— 
Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfil 
This labour, by slow prudence to make mild 
A rugged people, and thro’ soft degrees 
Subdue them to the useful and the good. 
Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere 
Of common duties, decent not to fail 
In offices of tenderness, and pay 
Meet adoration to my household gods, 
When I am gone. He works his work, I mine. 

   There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail: 
There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners, 
Souls that have toil’d, and wrought, and thought with me— 
That ever with a frolic welcome took 
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed 
Free hearts, free foreheads—you and I are old; 
Old age hath yet his honour and his toil; 
Death closes all: but something ere the end, 
Some work of noble note, may yet be done, 
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods. 
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks: 
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep 
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends, 
’Tis not too late to seek a newer world. 
Push off, and sitting well in order smite 
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds 
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths 
Of all the western stars, until I die. 
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down: 
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles, 
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew. 
Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’ 
We are not now that strength which in old days 
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are; 
One equal temper of heroic hearts, 
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will 
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. 

~~Alfred Lord Tennyson

Summary

Ulysses (Odysseus) declares that there is little point in his staying home “by this still hearth” with his old wife, doling out rewards and punishments for the unnamed masses who live in his kingdom.


Still speaking to himself he proclaims that he “cannot rest from travel” but feels compelled to live to the fullest and swallow every last drop of life. He has enjoyed all his experiences as a sailor who travels the seas, and he considers himself a symbol for everyone who wanders and roams the earth. His travels have exposed him to many different types of people and ways of living. They have also exposed him to the “delight of battle” while fighting the Trojan War with his men. Ulysses declares that his travels and encounters have shaped who he is: “I am a part of all that I have met,” he asserts. And it is only when he is traveling that the “margin” of the globe that he has not yet traversed shrink and fade, and cease to goad him.

Ulysses declares that it is boring to stay in one place, and that to remain stationary is to rust rather than to shine; to stay in one place is to pretend that all there is to life is the simple act of breathing, whereas he knows that in fact life contains much novelty, and he longs to encounter this. His spirit yearns constantly for new experiences that will broaden his horizons; he wishes “to follow knowledge like a sinking star” and forever grow in wisdom and in learning.

Ulysses now speaks to an unidentified audience concerning his son Telemachus, who will act as his successor while the great hero resumes his travels: he says, “This is my son, mine own Telemachus, to whom I leave the scepter and the isle.” He speaks highly but also patronizingly of his son’s capabilities as a ruler, praising his prudence, dedication, and devotion to the gods. Telemachus will do his work of governing the island while Ulysses will do his work of traveling the seas: “He works his work, I mine.”

In the final stanza, Ulysses addresses the mariners with whom he has worked, traveled, and weathered life’s storms over many years. He declares that although he and they are old, they still have the potential to do something noble and honorable before “the long day wanes.” He encourages them to make use of their old age because “ ’tis not too late to seek a newer world.” He declares that his goal is to sail onward “beyond the sunset” until his death. Perhaps, he suggests, they may even reach the “Happy Isles,” or the paradise of perpetual summer described in Greek mythology where great heroes like the warrior Achilles were believed to have been taken after their deaths. Although Ulysses and his mariners are not as strong as they were in youth, they are “strong in will” and are sustained by their resolve to push onward relentlessly: “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”

Form

This poem is written as a dramatic monologue: the entire poem is spoken by a single character, whose identity is revealed by his own words. The lines are in blank verse, or unrhymed iambic pentameter, which serves to impart a fluid and natural quality to Ulysses’s speech. Many of the lines are enjambed, which means that a thought does not end with the line-break; the sentences often end in the middle, rather than the end, of the lines. The use of enjambment is appropriate in a poem about pushing forward “beyond the utmost bound of human thought.” Finally, the poem is divided into four paragraph-like sections, each of which comprises a distinct thematic unit of the poem.



Ulysses (Odysseus), fed up with retirement, summons you to the deck of a massive vessel on the ocean’s edge and announces: to hell with old age, to hell with senility, we’re going on an epic journey.

Though not published until 1842, the poem was composed in 1833, only a few weeks after Tennyson learned of the death of his friend, Arthur Henry Hallam. The loss was to haunt him for the rest of his life, and Hallam became the subject of his longest poem: In Memoriam A.H.H. Years later Tennyson commented:

There is more about myself in Ulysses, which was written under the sense of loss and that all had gone by, but that still life must be fought out to the end. It was more written with the feeling of his loss upon me than many poems in In Memoriam.

Tennyson picks up the story of Ulysses/Odysseus about where Dante does in the Inferno (Canto 26), though the venture Dante’s Ulysses undertakes ends poorly… which says what about this poem?

‘O brothers, who amid a hundred thousand
Perils,’ I said, ‘have come unto the West,
To this so inconsiderable vigil

Which is remaining of your senses still
Be ye unwilling to deny the knowledge,
Following the sun, of the unpeopled world.

Consider ye the seed from which ye sprang;
Ye were not made to live like unto brutes,
But for pursuit of virtue and of knowledge.'

So eager did I render my companions,
With this brief exhortation, for the voyage,
That then I hardly could have held them back.

And having turned our stern unto the morning,
We of the oars made wings for our mad flight,
Evermore gaining on the larboard side.

Already all the stars of the other pole
The night beheld, and ours so very low
It did not rise above the ocean floor.

Five times rekindled and as many quenched
Had been the splendour underneath the moon,
Since we had entered into the deep pass,

When there appeared to us a mountain, dim
From distance, and it seemed to me so high
As I had never any one beheld.

Joyful were we, and soon it turned to weeping;
For out of the new land a whirlwind rose,
And smote upon the fore part of the ship.

Three times it made her whirl with all the waters,
At the fourth time it made the stern uplift,
And the prow downward go, as pleased Another,

Until the sea above us closed again."

Roots

the roots of our feeling of separation
come from acknowledgement of all
we think and perceive as sole reality..
we thus conclude that separation is the
fundamental nature of who I am..
the world out there by consensus
lies outside of your and my consciousness
and this common sensical belief
remains the cornerstone of our lives..
according to this bedrock belief
we create creators out beyond
whom we implore to help us with
the lives we believe in separation..
and so it goes.. through desperate years
alleviated at times by the joys we
all know..but in the end..wondering
if separation..believed so long..
perceived so long..those roots assumed..
need now..at long last..to be uprooted...

Alone?

Alone?

Where is everybody?

Enrico Fermi asked

he and the 

Drake equation

attempt to calculate

how many of us there are

out there..

the equation is fraught

with many guesses

and the latest conclusion

leans to say:

yes..we are alone..

this is another example of late

of thought and perception

attempting to grasp

what cannot be grasped..

if we flip our programing

to mind over matter

we might recognize

a new identity

of each of us..

as mind

we need ask:

what is the nature

of our identity..?

our experience would

then tell us:

we have no boundaries

and we are that

which does not

come and go..!
recognizing then the
infinite possibilities
(and aligning it seems
with Drake's simple formula)
we await the endless
possibilities of SETI
appearing or not
 in mind...

https://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2018/06/new-model-predicts-that-were-probably.html#jxH5DQR9U7YjeS0H.97

THANKS, CP!