Awakening Never Ends (Inspired Dialog)

For me, the peace found here is that I am awake now, with the understanding I have now. And that's enough.

Tomorrow, or in an instant, I may have a different understanding. And that too will be enough. Awakening never ends. So relax as it all unfolds.

What I understand, right now is enough to know that I really don't have or need a final understanding. Indeed, relaxing, I can enjoy the mystery of it all.

~

Inspired dialog with Robert Saltzman, author of The Ten Thousand Things. Robert has written an incredible book, accompanied by his beautiful photos. This is a book that works through the reader, unfolding in a shared understanding found moment by moment. Case in point are the words written above - there was no intent involved, just sharing my own understanding of the moment, as it unfolded on the page. 

Thank you Robert. 

Peace,

Eric

Yet Even If We Do

in terms of grace - and it's simply our acceptance, the moment given and all that it may contain, and the certainty of nothing lasting. There is no need to go beyond this, to complicate the sacred, raw exposure of life happening as we are, right now. Yet even if we do, if we find ourselves immersed in great detail of highs and lows of expectations - then there is grace in this too. It all happens on its own. Even this acceptance. 

~

Peace,

Eric

My One Step Program

I am sober, right now, this very moment - and I have been for a number of years, just how long, to be exact, I no longer recall. That's enough for me. My Twelve Step Program has been reduced through my affinity for simplicity, or some may even say, laziness. Both are probably true. Such being the case, and only for my own offering, I have found a single step (and in truth, no step is found at all) to be the most profound - relax. For me, the essence of all Twelve Steps are found here, relaxing my need to be sober, surrendering the illusion of power, a deep relaxation into whatever this very moment may contain - warts and all. 

And it may contain alcohol. 

Or drugs. 

But so far is hasn't. 

It doesn't always hold peace, or joy, or comfort. 

It doesn't have too. 

And that alone has set me free - I don't get (or have) to choose sobriety, or to suffer, or to be happy. I don't even choose to relax. This moment happens all on its own. The best that I can do is to relax, to see that the world is all happening on its own accord, without my help and certainly better without my interference. 

Relax. 

Even the breath has a rhythm of its own. 

Thoughts too.

It all passes through, or lingers, and yet no mark is left beyond their passage.

Even memories. 

So I don't count days. I make no effort to stay sober, to avoid alcohol, or people who drink. It does seem as if my circle of people is different now. But that came by no effort or intent of elimination. People - like the breath, and thoughts, move through our lives with a rhythm too of their own. Relaxing, we welcome them all and just as easily we watch them go. 

Even if they leave a trace of loneliness.

Or bitterness. 

Sweetness too. 

If is appears within the moment it is also our acceptance. 

This is day one - the only day I've ever had, the only moment ever known or given. 

Step One:

Relax.

There are no other steps.

~

Peace,

Eric 

And In This Way Too

not chosen, 

yet each word somehow 

given on its 

own

and in this way too - we are not separate from the page

~

Peace,

Eric 

Of Sensations

of sensations - and all played within or against the

field of my allowance. 

nothing is apart from me

a flowers scent belongs no less to me than the petals of its release or the air in which it lingers - and too I am home to the winds caress and its every sigh and whisper. 

there is nothing that is not meant for

my reception 

and each sensation tells me this is so

~

Peace,

Eric 

If Not The Traveler

and what endures - if not the traveler, then the

distance pressed against them

in further truth

they're found as 

one 

~

Peace,

Eric 

I'm Sorry

 I'm sorry - and not in any sense of wrong, nor to find forgiveness from another. This is my atonement, redirecting my view from an outward glance that seeks to keep the world apart from source, to seeing now from a single eye that holds it all as one. My words are for myself alone - I am sorry and in this there is inclusion, a self correction that knows you again as the deepest part of me. I say these words simply in recognition that for much time I saw only the partial truth and believed the world divided. I'm sorry - brings this all together. 

The whole truth of one existence. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

Played Against Skin

we are the fabric of the world, a template for 

sensations played against 

skin

yet even this is not a solid truth at all - but the illusion of borders between spaciousness and that which occurs in passing. We offer ourselves as an imaginary meeting point -and as this we experience the world. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

Into the Next

everything ripples into the next, unique now in its

appearance - yet always still, one 

thing in its existence 

~

Peace,

Eric 

And of Simply Letting Go

it's a non-practice - the Tao of being and of simply letting go, even as we find there are no such things as to surrender. This moment alone is enough to realize the clarity of existence. Things occur, they pass, and again it's all repeated, there are no lines of distinction that last beyond these appearances. So what is there to really practice? Everything happens on its own accord. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

Things of the World

it's the things of the world - and the

presence shared in their 

occurrence

we are aware

and no lines drawn through

our existence. 

~

So even the thought of being aware of thought, or object is a subtle line drawn of division. It's enough to simply be. Of course even lines belong. Seeing - is all very relaxing. 

Peace,

Eric 

Suddenly, Seamless in its Looking

and then at once I am touched upon by sky, and stars, and things that belong wholly to the night - I am again opened to myself as continuation of the world and further still the space it touches. And all this seen from a glance that found itself, suddenly, seamless in its looking. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

Capacity Fulfilled

of service - and so we find ourselves as a promise, emptiness displaying the world at large, and all things invited to appear. We are capacity - fulfilled. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

Always For you

always for you - and through this too, 

I serve the world

it's a simple exchange, presence, open to fulfillment, and we each come to form in order to comply. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

It's All Seamless in Existence

and seamless still on

our arrival - 

it's the illusion of travel, as if we depart from any given moment, lending ourselves to scenery to announce a change in our location. Yet even in the widest cast of imagination, or countless steps taken through miles and time - there are no lines drawn between us, not a single break within departure and arrival. It's all seamless in existence. 

Peace,

Eric 

And Too, My Gift as Well

to look at you - and see my own

beauty held in pure

awareness

and too, my gift as well

for we offer this to one another, our spaciousness in fair trade, serving as the capacity for form to come to rest and simply be - and always, only, for the sake of love. 

Peace,

Eric 

Unending Fashion

of the one who sees - and all but the

seer revealed in 

form

our mystery goes on in unending fashion

~

The great revelation isn't an answer but the exposure of ourselves as fiction, a continuous mystery told in the story of form. It's not answers that matter - only questions that lead us past the story. 

Peace,

Eric 

Not Shown Without You

and thank you truly - my own grace not

shown without you. 

~

What we are is a giving space that allows the world to reach fulfillment - our true self as capacity given to another's form. We are of service, gladly, and always to all our view may hold. Through this we are holy in our exchange - each allowing the grace and beauty of the other to be known. And so I say, thank you, thank you, thank you. 

Peace,

Eric 

Sometimes Subtle and Always Immediate

sometimes subtle, and always immediate - we find ourselves continuous in the view of our surroundings. There is no edge from here, center, the origin of earth, air, and stars - only lines drawn and imagined in distinction. Sometimes, in rare and subtle moments - we see clear our own self unfolding as the whole. Yet always, there is the immediacy of our belonging. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

Found Equal

by virtue of presence - what occurs now is holy to the moment. And why holy? Simply by appearance alone, arriving within a framework of pure allowance. It's holy only because it belongs exactly where and when received. Through this - a rose's bloom is found equal to its dormant bud and neither more holy than the thorny vine from which they're offered. All belong within existence. 

Peace,

Eric 

In This Great Belonging

even our suffering is welcomed, and more cherished in its stay - in this

great belonging, nothing is apart from our 

existence 

and all is held as love

~

Peace,

Eric 

Beyond Opinion (but it's just my opinion of course)

it's absolutely nothing at all - and in this the

world is held beyond opinion. 

If a truth is found, it's here, perhaps if only for the moment of belief. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

And Not Apart

as rain - dropped through the 

stillness of a 

moment,

and not apart from our 

experience of the

storm

it's all one thing.

~

Peace,

Eric 

The Blessing of The Seen

the blessing of the seen - to receive us

fully as its own,

and hold it all in seamless

wonder

~

Truly the blessing is both ways of the view - an exchange of space for fulfillment equal in its giving. In all this we behold our own wonder, what is seems we have become in trade from formless to the formed. It's all a returned favor - and indeed, seamless in giving and reception. 

Peace,

Eric 

To Touch The World

tracing existence from behind our eyes to

touch the world, 

and so it will continue

seamless all the

way

~

Peace,

Eric 

An Illusion of Becoming

as one thing simply is another - the infinite in the guise of form and embraced again in its own spacious wonder. It's our continuous nature. What we hold in view is only an illusion of becoming - we are no less than the template of what appears as world and stars, our emptiness serving as backdrop for all things to be. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

Fulfilled By The Desires of The World

all things given to our spaciousness - and we are

fulfilled by the desires of the 

world

~

It's not about meeting our desires with a void of hope and expectations - for even they belong within our realization. What we do is serve as the capacity for these things to appear, to play their role through their moment in awareness, and too to pass when their time is due. Yes, we serve as emptiness, but not from the world, we serve so that the world, and all things of its belonging, may be. Emptiness is our fulfillment. 

Peace,

Eric 

No Ordinary Absence

no ordinary absence - for the world is

found in the place I

thought I'd be

~

And every concept and thought and belief of what we are is contained in the bare reality of a moment. They all appear and last for the length of stay they're given, before again the clarity of the backdrop that allows for their appearance is shown in the light of its capacity to hold all things that make the world. 

Peace,

Eric 

Before and After Asking

so it often begins with the simplicity of a question, asking of ourselves direct revelation as to who we are and to where we might be in relation to the source of all creation. And so we come to layers, each one discarded in the faith of one more question. Yet at some point - we find a stillness between the asking, an emptiness that holds each layer loosely as a truth. Here, is our arrival, existing always, and exactly, in the moment before and after asking. 

Peace,

Eric