There Is The Appearance Of Things

held - yet more, absorbed into the

very fabric of existence.

there is the appearance of things separate from the

source of which they're viewed. 

but nothing belongs outside us - and once 

seen, again, we merge as 

seen and seer.

~

Really, it's an illusion of sight, a play of senses to divide the world and again tease us in reunion - and all the while there is the reality of One existence. 

Peace,

Eric 

In Fact - Headless

and to this point - even the witness folds

within its own observation, 

and all that's left is

simply seeing

~

It only takes a look - but of course we must face the right direction. Begin with the outward gaze, follow to object and note each item in its distinction. It's a beautiful world and it would be a shame to overlook it - even what seems mundane will soon be revealed as holy. Lets travel the view further, to legs, body and further still to trace it directly to its origin. What now? What do we see? Is this the beginning or end of all that's seen? We are at the Source, direct, confronted with a curious absence of face and eyes. In fact - headless. And yet aware. More so, aware and awake to our own spacious capacity - everything is still found, objects still existing, thoughts still floating through this now headless space. But there are no lines to cause division, everything is shared in one existence, nothing is absent but the viewer. 

We are seeing. 

Again. 

Finally. 

~ 

Peace,

Eric 

Each Drop Too

rain falls through the 

infinite self -

appearing as the sky,

and each drop too our own

becoming.

~

Peace,

Eric

Our Truth is Told as Distance

it's distance itself - undefined space that allows for the contours of existence. Our interest is pulled to objects, a fascination of form in an infinite realm of formlessness. So we see ourselves as a solid understanding, even as our own mystery continuously unfolds in and as spacious awareness. Our truth is told as distance. Objects no more than a measured self-reflection shown as form. The mystery is always found in distance. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

It Only Seems As A Touch

it seems as a touch - an object against the

very essence that lends itself in

definition,

and yet it's one thing in form as well as 

formless embrace.

it only seems as a touch....

~

Peace,

Eric 

An Exercise in Headless Inquiry

It's an exercise in headless inquiry  - to ask "where am I" and then an actual search in the silent realm that follows. In a quiet spot we sit, breathe, and allow the moment to hold what it does, whatever that may now be. Our question is simple -  "where am I?' and we ask with the innocence of a child come to search for their location. There is the obvious, and quickly dismissed, we are not asking for the physical sense of being, and whatever answer follows is always preceded by a silent search that indeed holds the beginning of our truth. We are in the silence. And now, in this stillness, we look - our inquiry asks us to turn towards the asking, with open eyes we literally face the source that dared to ask of our existence. Where am I? Objects are found, including body, and thoughts find their way as temporary answers, and yet again, turning to the actual source that holds this all in its awareness - nothing will be found. To know this as so we have to actually look, our inquiry is now silent, eyes searching for a glimpse of themselves, an attempt to go beyond the faith that what isn't viewed is actually there. Do we see a face? A head? Or only memories of what a mirror, or photo once held. Right now, looking, where are we? If we are satisfied with whatever answer we may encounter, perhaps the inquiry is over. Yet if we continue looking, gently asking, abiding in the silence that always follows - we may find ourselves unexpectedly absent, and fully present in the emptiness as well. 

All we can is ask, and look, and explore 

whatever mystery that follows. 

_

Peace,

Eric 

Just The Listening

listening - and to sound, and silence just beneath, I come to

hear a rhythm of my own rise and fall in 

endless fashion, 

it's just the listening that

remains. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

Nothing Is Caressed

from a wings

spread, 

nothing is caressed 

...and in this, each bird is 

given flight 

~

Here, nothing is not the absence of anything, but is the clear capacity that allows all things to be. It is the empty embrace of an unconditional love, giving freely of its space for the sake of flight. Nothing, once seen in its promise, is the intimacy that allows every object, each person, a unique contour through existence.  With a spread of wings - nothing is indeed caressed. And we too are given flight. 

Peace,

Eric 

Until There Comes A Letting Go

we try - until there comes a letting go, always on its own accord, and presence known again at last. It can't be rushed, indeed, our nature is of infinite patience and requires nothing beyond itself. Knowing this, even effort is seen as belonging. 

Until there comes a letting go...

~

Peace,

Eric 

In Contrast

 this stillness - offered in contrast to

the world in motion, 

and then comes our

caress 

~

It's not two things, stillness is the template for the play of motion and from this there is the experience of the worlds caress. Yet at all time there is only love - in all it's various appearances. 

Peace,

Eric 

That Adores

a flower is only ever held - by the 

presence that 

adores 

it

so too we find ourselves 

embraced 

~

We are presence, our true nature is what offers adoration in its complete acceptance of what is appearing in each moment. It's love, without the filter of a conceptual lens, seen only through the beauty of what belongs. 

Peace,

Eric 

As Our Belonging

now - abidance, 

and the world continues as

before. 

yet now we live as 

our belonging.

~

Peace,

Eric 

Lightly

with no expectations, effortless, 

aware, 

there is only this belonging

and so we touch the

world 

lightly

~

It all comes, goes, and only grace remains. 

Peace,

Eric 

saturated night - Guest Blog/Poem by Emily Kerstetter

this night

pours over us

delightfully viscous

            like honey from its comb

nectar of the vine

we drink

            our souls, slowly saturated 

                                               invaded & intoxicated 

we glow

       stars in the sky

illuminating all

                        blinding & bold 

~

Emily Kerstetter (copy write 2017) 

By Water, By Air, And Too

there is acceptance by water, by air, and

too the clear space of our 

existence 

all things belong by virtue of their presence

and we are as water, and air, and

clear space

~ 

Looking back, towards the origin of the view - and there is no point that denies entry to what is seen, no line drawn that excludes us from the world. We're seeing - both the world and who we are in clear view. 

Peace,

Eric 

Turns in my Awareness

yes, I am - and the world reflects this

truth through me

as it turns in my 

awareness 

~

I can say that I'm aware - beyond this it's all a mystery. 

Peace,

Eric 

That I Am Here At All

I find myself here - and yet as well 

there is the absence of the 

notion, 

that I am here at all 

~

My paradox - I find myself in the most unlikely places, spread as distance and measured small as form. The inquiry is simply asked - "where am I" and the answer comes in looking. I am here - but I am not as I expected. More than this and I can't really say - but I invite you all to look from where you are as well. 

Peace,

Eric 

Words Fulfilling Promise to the Page

into the void - as if words to the page, an invitation that here, we belong, and meaning is found only in the realization of the great emptiness of our surroundings. To be marked is the only promise offered by a page and our life as symbols fill the void as well. We fulfill our own promise - for in truth we are more than mere form marked against an infinite page, we are the void itself, unmarked capacity in endless expansion. Symbols are always temporary - what we are, isn't. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

like rain - Guest Poet Emily Kerstetter

will you lift me up

& hold me close

when I fall

like rain

when I can no longer subdue

the raging storms

within my soul?

tears of anguish

transform the landscape of my heart

it has been numb

& barren for ages

I surrender my vulnerable parts

although it pains me profoundly

embracing them in the hope

they will flower into breathtaking blossoms

symbols of hope & light

a beautiful promise

a springtime born of bitter tears

breathing in

the sweet floral perfume

of this garden,

born of suffering

a reminder of the rewards of perseverance & faith

~

Emily Kerstetter (copy write 2017)

Exactly Who We Are

a bird doesn't give itself to the breeze in the hope if its deliverance - but simply lets go of its attachment to the branch. Air is always present, and flight belongs as its extension. To fly - is to only be exactly who we are. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

Only of Ourselves

receiving, yet only of

ourselves -

in the guise of all the world

~

Peace,

Eric

We Just Go On

and it's not that we merge, there is no subtle shift from form to air, and then touched again against an object of becoming. Our view shows a seamless reality - one thing appearing as another, it's a constant flow without break or pause in its continuation. We are this whole, and as much an appearance in temporary form as any tree, or rock, or distance star. We do not merge - we just go on. 

Peace,

Eric 

If I Ask To Be Revealed

we asked to be revealed -  and the 

silence gathered after 

asking, 

is the only truth that's known 

~

My self-inquiry is not so much a practice as it is a revelation of what each moment holds upon my asking - pointing to my own reference point of where I claim to be, I find my absence, a headless state that still claims a space as my existence. If I ask to be revealed it's not a face I'm shown but the objects of a room, or spacious stretch of sky that reaches further than the stars. I am proportionate to where I ask, yet never limited to set borders. I ask to be revealed, not for answers, but for the simple pleasure of the asking. Who I am is always shown. 

Peace,

Eric 

Continued As Air

continued as air - and meeting ourselves again in

form as every object of the world.

and further still we shine as

stars 

~

It's amazing, to be at once a localized self as well as the larger world and more. Our realization is not that we are not a personalized self, but that we are far, far more than this alone. We can see through the fiction of our smallness, and in no way does this lessen the joy of intimate things, in truth, we come to cherish ourselves as a unique, yet brief, aspect of the whole, and our appreciation of this life given only grows. 

Peace,

Eric 

On Equal Terms

we meet both sky and earth on equal terms - our own spaciousness kissed against the infinite view, our steps found in solid understanding with the ground. We are not just one thing, but the many aspects of existence. The sky and earth meet us in agreement. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

To What Is

to what is - and this alone is

our surrender,

and too our grace received 

~

The only practice  - not mindful, or forgiveness offered, just this moment and all it offers - accepted. Nothing else is needed. 

Peace,

Eric 

And From This

rain - holding only the 

promise of its

fall, 

and from this a garden blooms 

~

To know that each moment provides only the promise that it will pass - nothing more, and to be grateful to be given the time to be alive. 

Nothing more is needed. 

Peace,

Eric 

Summer Leaf

...and it's still about 

letting go,

even as the summer leaf clings

~

Peace,

Eric 

Gone

letting go, letting go, until

gone...

yet holding all the

world

~

Peace,

Eric 

It's Only Air

 only air - yet perhaps a bird sees this 

as the infinite reach of its

existence, 

and flight is simply the grace if its surrender

~

Peace,

Eric 

Air Between Us

there is only air between us - and this is

our connection.

All we have to do is

breathe. 

~

and too our steps are shared against the earth and it all flows in a continuation of the whole - we are not removed by any means of separation, it is simply thoughts invested with the belief that we are of a different existence. 

And nothing could be further than the truth. 

We are indeed that whole, and only

dream ourselves in parts. 

Peace,

Eric 

A Unified Presence

never truly against me - although I feel the brush of world on my skin, and sights and sound are pressed to the senses. In truth, I am within the world as much as the world unfolds from me. It's a unified presence and in unguarded moments I find myself merged to the point of knowing only its continuation. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

Into This Is My Surrender

always and only love - and into

this is my surrender 

~

Nothing is not aligned nor misplaced - it all happens within a great acceptance, and even our resistance to what's present is at once released and absorbed in love. We stay at center, always, and without condition to what occurs in our awareness and too in all that passes. This is love, it has no opposite, there is no reality save for its presence. 

It's what we are. 

Peace,

Eric