Q-Tips, Enlightenment, etc.

an unfinished collaboration - primarily between Steve C and \m

AMERICAN GITA

the man said,
for one who wants
peace, happiness, god, or truth;
this world appears as an illusion;
as a thing in this world,
enlightenment is also an illusion.
how does one proceed?

any action i take
is a diversion
taking me farther away
from happiness or peace.

sometimes i "know" and
sometimes i "don't know" ...
which understanding is best?

my guru, my mother, my god,
have dropped me here on this desert.
who will save me?
how can i save myself?
where is the courage,
what are the inner resources
that i need?

i have accomplished great things.
i have accomplished nothing at all.
why am i plagued with these thoughts?

daily life at times seems pointless, repetitive, without end;
other times, chaotic;
my own body disoriented;
my mind, in tatters;
no interest seems better than any other interest;
where is the joy in carrying on like this?

the guru said;
do no harm
persist in this one action;
do no harm
in the midst of what you experience now as
tedium and stress.
do no harm and
the self will be revealed to you.

have courage, he said;
concentrate your mind.

the man said,
i cannot concentrate.
the world seems like
cardboard cutouts;
like a video game.
the sky is a painting and
everything is cold.
where is the heart,
where is god?

the guru said,
man, you are not listening to me.
all this is coming and going.
all this is living and dying.
all this is male and female.
all this is truth and lying.
do not engage this falsity;
for peace and understanding,
engage the truth.

the formless intelligence said:
What is suffering anyhow?
An unpleasant bodily sensation?
A negative emotion?
A troubling thought?
An undigested psycho-physical lump containing all of the above?
If so, then suffering is simply a mistake, a meta-indigestion
Of whatever the situation happens to be.
What does it mean to "face fear" ?
Look at all the details, but without judgment?
If so, then the devil is not the only entity in the details!
May all beings be set straight again and again and again.

the man said;
guru, teacher, healer, giver of light,
how? how do i
engage the truth?
how do i transform
bitterness and delusion into
wisdom and peace?

interlude

the temperature seemed to drop as
a cool wind blew fog away
from the surface of the moon.
om! cried the owls, while a chorus of
frogs beat the leather drums.

the formless intelligence said;
Listen now will I explain my workings.
You might even see me
if you are profoundly and positively devoted.
I work all things;
this universe is a magnificent machine;
like clockwork all this is manifest;
all actions, all worlds, all beings,
simultaneously moving;
all coordinated by my
limitless virtue;
truely i am magnificent, awe-inspiring,
incomprehensible;
if you see me but for a second,
such a vision will never be forgotten.
OM! at all times
i am unmoved, in the midst of all motion;
i cannot be touched;
i raise and crush mountains, just as i
beat the wings of an insect;
your spiritual processes,
your thoughts,
if you turn your own head,
all this is ordained not by thee, but by me.
OM! i am beyond comprehension;
all that can be done is worship me,
be awed by me, love me,
honor me, and enjoy me.

the F.I. said:
Is fear to be something run away from,
or run directly into?
Paralysis or flow
are results of these two approaches.
The minute details of random paranoias
should be looked into, and understood.
Once understood,
the exact location
of the intersection of Spirit and Matter
becomes obvious.

the man said:
what is this?
is truth a method,
or
an empirical reality,
faith-based,
or
something else?

the infinite intelligence said:
is it not remarkable
i can speak, when i am beyond words?
do not be confused, oh
man.
the only way to be is to BE.
the only way to be not-confused, is, to not be confused.
you can know NOW
as that is your inherent
"right."

the infinite intelligence said
look to the sky.
look to the water lily.
look to your own death.
look to your daughter,
and know,
life is transient.

18a

the man said
can i conquer
confusion?
can i conquer
fear?
can i conquer
self-deprecation?

F.I. said:
There is a point in time,
rather quick perhaps
(but you know how time is)
where identification takes place -
and you get eaten.
In the next micro-moment
you are free to rise to infinity
if you dare.
The cost is realizing that you know far less
than you thought you did.

the man became quiet.
he didn't know why that answer
satisfied him on some level.

FI said:
On the matter of kindness to oneself,
really the ultimate kindness
is to stop struggling.
Cease to fight reality.
Reality has an unfathomably terrible quality, sometimes.
But...once this terribility is faced,
with patience and calmness,
then psychic deconstruction does begin,
dismantling the illusion-machine
needle-ray by needle-ray.
Imagine that.

FI:
How quickly will you allow
the next moment to appear?
The next moment is inherently free
of the stink of the last moment...
...but only if you allow for it to be so.
It is a tricky arrangement, no doubt -
after all, who gives permission?
but simple in concept.

The man
did not even hear FI's last statement;
his mind was plunged into the silence ...
why am I here?
what is this?
the vastness is pervasive ...
his mind was remote indeed.

the great and almighty Formless Intelligence wrote:
Idea----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Idea
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Idea----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Idea

the man said
i am overwhelmed.
there is NO ANSWER possible in words
that is not inverse math, poetic, based on dirt and water, sound, stories on gods and masters, wind, or typographical.

[verse editorially deleted - ram ram ram ram ram ram]

The Formless Intelligence Spoke: "2:00AM. Closing time."
The man woke up. He opened his eyes. He was lying on the floor. He stood up, sauntered out to his car, and drove home.

Upon arriving home, the man went to a special door in his house and opened it. Upon flicking a switch inside the door, 25 high-intensity spectrum-balanced floodlights flicked on in a bright dazzle. The man bathed himself in the soothing rays.
Then the man took a 10-minute nap to decrease the baseline rate of his nervous system.
Then the man took a hot-and-cold shower to stimulate the nervous system.
Then the man judiciously picked the 3 most appropriate yoga asanas of the moment and executed them with great and deep concentration.
Then the man judiciously picked the 2 most appropriate pranayama routines of the moment and executed them with great energy and depth.
Then the Formless Intelligence, for eons pondering whether grand and dramatic aren't trumped by small and subtle almost all of the time, manifested an astral eyebrow and cocked it, while remaining completely silent.

Such is this human life. Formless Existence's foot moved by accident or on purpose, and pushes the boat of the human body off shore, where various size and shapes of waves are encountered, at various speeds, color, and temperature. Sometimes the waves are pleasant and desirable, sometimes frightening and unwanted. Rigorously and with great interest, man works the sails.

The man climbed into bed. He stared at the ceiling in the dark. He thought to himself, "Is this all there is?"

[verse editorially deleted - ram ram ram ram ram ram]

His mind sped quickly through the subtle realm and unraveled to the causal plane of existence. By the focus of his mind due to his existential dilemna, the man became aware of himself sleeping, as if he was in a deep pool or silent awareness ... he heard himself snoring as if he was awake and listening to another person.

The next day he awoke and went to the local Masonic Lodge. There he requested to be made a member of the craft, and they made him so. To the 33rd degree over several months.

After having attained the 33rd degree, the man found himself detained in the Masonic lodge. The man was told that he attracted "type 2" people and he must stay and work on attracting "type 3" people. The man was shown a small bedroom. At an opportune moment, the man snuck out of a side door to the street and started running for his life away from the situation, in a southwest direction, toward "home".

The Guru said, "Nothing much can be done about groups that engage people every deeper in the mind, levels, numbers, and all sorts of nonsense, except to speak the truth, and to avoid useless human beings, while helping those who wish to no longer be useless, to help themselves."

Formless Intelligence was being ignored, both by the man and the Guru. An unforseen consequence of the unavoidable creation myth. Well, what of it, that's their problem! After all, Formless Intelligence is unborn. Anytime those silly animals care to turn around and look, all they will find is radiance anyway.

Having offered the secret Masonic handshake to his Guru, the man felt he was holding a limp fish. The Guru merely smiled at him. The man withdrew, shocked that he had spent so much effort to attain the 33rd degree. Nevertheless, there is always the Masonic retirement home for the later years. (That and Public School.) The Guru continued smiling.

38-108

[verses not written...yet]