teaching – THIS HAPPENED

words are useful to describe the surfaces of things & how they
function. words are all about things: physical things, emotional
things, mental things & how they can combine into new things: ideas,
governments, stories, music, spaceships. it goes on & on & on.

deep down inside ourselves, fluidity & flow take place beyond
the known boundaries of the mind. here, the new & surprising may
surface like leaping fish in the clear light of the full moon, flashing
with ephemeral rainbows, splashing down as an invitation
to the depths. words have no place in this domain where subtle rays of
love & compassion are silently healing with blessings of light.

here, deep down inside ourselves is a formless realm, yet it can be
known as if we are dark-sighted birds of the night, riding on that
visualpurple edge of reality that magnifies the
shimmer of mystery & wonder. with inner commitment we
enter that realm & offer greetings of friendly benevolence
in ambient tones that have no words, yet overflow with meaning.

You show me this, Shiva. You reveal the sublime OM of silence:
how to blend into the inner realm through the pure sonic sweetness
that rises up from that formless abode like ageless healing mantras.
You help to open the hidden gateway at my core to release
the arcane subtle awareness of the divine presence in all.
i rest in this. i melt in this. i make my home here, Shiva, in
the midst of all that You are teaching me now, including words too!

You taught me earlier to be serious, focussed, deeply thinking. then, at that time, it served me well. now You teach me quirky playfulness, which has great value in this nursing home where laughter is less common. i am Your student of silliness, practicing my funny faces in the mirror & with the friend You bless me with on the internet. toilet paper -- thin, crisp & flimsy -- provides a lesson in humor, fluttering into angular shapes at the touch of a reaching hand. it perversely creases & crimps & pleats & twists, corkscrewing into weirdly angular lengths, dancing gently in the drafty room. You show me that the elemental entities of the air frolic in the folds of the tissue, delighting in its insubstantiality. i can almost hear them now, laughing like rowdy children running wild without any supervision inside the playground of the bathroom. You teach me that i do not need to take life so seriously. the crisp & kinky toilet paper was once an irritation & now i smile at the antics of those frisky little beings playing. i delight in their comedy act & they like my silly faces.