Raise the white flag, limitless power, and Ash Ra Tempel
Oh restless mind,
oh heart full of passion and terror,
may you find steadiness
in the stillness
out of which all things arise.
Regimes, seasons, clouds,
all phenomena arising and subsiding
waves breaking.
Lives precariously dangling,
caught clinging to promises
of being and becoming,
forgetting the power of presence
freely available every breath.
Like Coelho's Santiago searching
everywhere but where we are.
We will war
to retain an idea.
Which is more painful:
confronting complexity
and questioning the story
of who and what we are,
or fighting and killing
to stay comfortable?
Past and present grievances
stems from the same roots
of violence and separateness;
look what we have done to ourselves.
What monstrous pride
compels us to continue
allegiance to machinations of harm;
from eating each other's flesh
to unctuous fealty
and ingratiating our lives
without the slightest contrition.
Raising the white flag
to invite grace in the form
of curiosity, compassion, and service.
Offering with humility
what wisdom reveals itself,
watchful against despair and
taking instructions
on how best to let love reign.
Trusting my life to return to dust,
once it has finished with me.
Inspired by Ash Ra Tempel - "Interplay of Forces"
Also, as things continue to evolve in the global and national political context, please try to keep in mind the world we are living in is quite large and mysterious. Human beings are ingenious and adaptable creatures, and we are still investigating that nature of existence. There are so many many things we do not know. We are still learning, even now (for example, we may have figured out how to generate clean and limitless power).