Silent Musings

Just for fun, OK? Don’t take it personally.

awakening = sudden realization that i’m better than other people.
present = thinking that being here is a special achievement.
namaste = i’m too cool to say “hello”.
mindful = trying too hard to impress.
manifest = take credit where no credit is due.
spiritual = has a hardened belief system.
advaita = replacing your version of duality with mine.
ego = my excuse for acting like an a**hole.
karma = justification for my failures, and retribution for my enemies’ failures.
practice = getting high on the cheap.
God = someone please give me the answer.
enlightenment = fantasy meets reality.
heaven/hell = country club/prison for those who agree/disagree with me.
divine = that which truly is better.
guru = someone whose wisdom I exhalt and whose faults I ignore.
devotion = begging at the feet of my lord and/or guru for spiritual goodies.
om = the first and last symbol of hypocrisy.
tantra = ecstatic union of eastern mysticism and western indulgence.
zen = too cool to make sense.

It’s ironic how truth operates. When one has no clue what it is or how to find it, there seems to be no trouble telling great tales of false notions so firmly believed. Then, as truth is approached more closely, suddenly the ability to speak about it seems to disappear completely. There comes a realization that there is no way to state the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and one must be satisfied at best to point in its general direction. Even then there is a certainty that some, if not most, will misinterpret what is said. It has to be this way.

Fortunately, with this realization comes the knowledge that all is well and as it should be. The compulsion to be heard is so closely aligned with untruth, that it is likely impossible to have one without the other. And so one is content to speak only when spoken to, and to allow the quest for truth drive the need to communicate it. No quest, no communication.

And so it appears that there is nothing left to say, at least for now. It’s not so much that the end of the path has been reached as the path has dwindled into nothing. There is surely somewhere to go from here, but there is no idea as to where. And “I” am no longer the guide on this journey. Okay, so I never was the guide, but I did believe I was.

Therefore the future is now left in the capable hands of the universe. If questions come to “me” to be answered, I may answer, if so compelled. No promises. But you, dear reader, are certainly welcome to ask if you have any that surely need answering. From where the answers may come, I cannot say.

Perhaps without prompting something will arise spontaneously that wants to be written, but I wouldn’t count on it. I used to wonder when the sages that I knew would say that nothing in their interactions was as important as the questions being asked. Now I understand. To reveal itself as any kind of manifestation, the truth needs to be sought in earnest. Otherwise, it simply rests as it is.

Man: God, if you can hear me, please answer my prayer. I’m desperate to discover your true nature.

God: …

Man: Please, God! I don’t know how long I can take this. I’ve meditated for over 30 years, and still, nothing. Can you please show me a sign?

God: …

Man: God, why have you forsaken me? You reveal yourself to others, but not to me. Can you please show me, just this once? That’s all I ask.

God: …

Man: This is hopeless. I need a drink.

God: (thinking to himself) How much more clear and obvious can I be?! This is hopeless. I need a drink.

It is difficult to write when one has no frame of reference from which to speak. No map, no truth, nothing of which to be certain, no experience that connects to any other in any logical way. There is a distinct connection in every moment, but it is perplexingly self-referential, yet simulaneously all encompassing.

What else can I say? You had to be there? Except that there isn’t any “there” there. Maybe one day I’ll have something more to say, or maybe “I” will simply disappear into the Beautiful empty pages that emanate from the Heart.

What kind of work
Can I do in this world?

Who would be kind enough
To hire an old holy Bum,

One with a great reputation
For loving the charms
Of the lawless
And the wild artists and the lewd?

Maybe I could become a poet.

Maybe the Beloved
Will make my love so Pure

That He will come to sit upon
All my Beautiful empty pages.
And when you come to look at them,

He might kick you
With His Beautiful Divine Foot.

- Hafiz

This is a nothing-special offer, available for an unlimited time. If you don’t act right now, you will receive the ordinary No Results™ package, made up of nothing. That’s right, absolutely nothing, right in the comfort of your very own home. Not only that, but without doing anything more, you will receive not one, not two, not three, but infinitely many occurrences of No Results™.

How much would you pay for such an offer? Many of our competitors would charge several hundred dollars for such a package, and even make you travel hundreds of miles to a retreat center in the process. One even charges as much as $50 thousand. But before you make up your mind, we will also throw in an unlimited supply of Failure^®, for those of you who aren’t yet over being motivated.

Now how much would you pay? Our price? That’s right, absolutely, positively … free. And no shipping or handling costs, or other hidden fees. In fact, our No Results™ package, together with an unlimited supply of Failure^® is delivered to you instantaneously. How many of our competitors can make that claim?

In addition, if you fail to receive No Results™, we guarantee with 100% certainty that any results you do produce will eventually disappear completely. That’s right! And we’ve never been wrong in over 160,000 years of human life on planet Earth.

But, wait! There’s no more.