THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF GOD

Human consciousness doesn’t continue after a human being’s death –
But inside God’s consciousness, it can and does –
It’s there – a “living reality” – inside God’s “mind.”

The Puritans were right – everything counts –
Every act, every thought, every feeling, counts.

Recently, though, we’ve been living as if they don’t – not really –
And that we’re able to brush off laws, norms,
And morals – frequently referred to as “the small stuff.”

But they aren’t “small” –
Lies go on forever
Cruelty persists
Murder can stain multiple generations
And they’re all available, by God – for playback.

Each decision we make is a choice
That lasts forever.

When we use our time and energy
To help or hurt –
It has lasting effects.

Each of our thoughts and acts is real –
Existing in real time and real space, using real energy
And, as a consequence, remains in God’s consciousness.

God also has the power to make that consciousness
Available to us – so that we can see – not just in the few moments before death –
But forever and ever –
All the consequences of our actions to everyone who’s been touched by them.

When we hurt someone – through God’s eyes – we can see what that felt like –
And what it felt like to those who loved that person
As well as all the wider consequences to their families, and even descendants.

We frequently think we can forget about consequences – that we can somehow evade them –
But we can’t
Because they happen in real time and real space
And are retained by God – every single one of them.

When God takes our actions out for review
We no longer can change them because, by then, “we’re” gone.

Inside God’s mind we’re still there though – alive – just as we were earlier –
Which lets us see – in excruciating, slow, fine detail
What we said and did – and all the consequences flowing out of those statements and actions.

This is why we have to take our thoughts and actions more seriously
While we still have an opportunity to change them – by turning away from negative ones
That is, by “repenting,” as the old-timers used to say.

Yes, it’s true that human beings’ lives do come to an end –
But not inside God’s consciousness –

If what we did or thought was ugly – it’ll still be ugly
And if it was beautiful, it’ll still be that.
Each act, each thought is incredibly important
Because all have real consequences – for us and for others –
That are permanent.

So don’t lie, don’t act in unkind ways –
Don’t accept the belief that there’s no God or lasting consequences –
For God, your actions and thoughts are all real
And will always remain so –
God keeps them alive – just as they were from the day they first came into existence.

So, please accept the joy of your actions if that’s what they illustrate
And take the pain caused if that also turns out to be the truth.

GOD HAD AN IDEA

God had an idea –
It was so beautiful
God decided to release it out into the void
Where it took flight
And became everything.

It would take eternity
To appreciate everything in detail
So why not take a single thing – or person –
Taking as much time as you need
And, after a while, some more time –
Waiting for the surprise about what you, at first, hadn’t glimpsed.

Yes, it’s time that makes things (and people) more beautiful –
Just when you’re starting to get impatient – not seeing anything new –
It comes down like glory – drenching you.

Where did this surprising beauty come from?
Was it hiding inside ourselves all along – just waiting for a touch –
Or a light of love
To cleave one’s heart like a gentle sword?

Oh, God, give us a lot more beauty
Than we’re able to, at first, see –
And then give us time to wait for this unknown beauty to open –
Time to discover the “pearl”
That is us!

POINTING TO THE GOD YOU ARE (for Ruth)

Beauty is usually seen
But can come in other ways too.

If at first nothing much appears very beautiful
Take a second look –
And, perhaps, even a third.

It’s only when you’re relaxing hard
That true beauty starts coming through.

Sometimes, beauty is just an accident –
You weren’t meant to see it coming
But, suddenly, beauty appears out of darkness
Or light – depending upon your location at a given moment.

Sometimes, beauty comes rushing through another person
Who points –
There –
And God suddenly bowls you over.

Mainly, beauty comes secretly
Between spiritual friends –
Do you have a spiritual friend
And do they ever point out God out to you?
A God you can’t see
Because they’re pointing at the God you are?

TALK ABOUT THE BEAUTY OF GOD

Jesus and the Sufis believe God is “Love” –
And it’s hard to disagree –
But, for now, I want to speak about “Beauty.”

Older adjectives for God included “Power” or “Knowledge”
Especially in the more ancient patriarchal brands –

All these go low.

Presently, though, I prefer “Love” or “Truth” –
While, like I said, I want God to be experienced as “Beautiful”
With a “knock your socks off” look –
When we do take a look.

Can’t we agree that people dedicated to Beauty
Are God’s people –

People who bring live beauty into the world –
Who’re as natural as Nature –
And possess the openness of children.

Beauty is like the first appearance of Spring –
A “natural” gesture –
A spontaneous smile.

The most valuable, aching, type of beauty,
Is the kind that’s just on the verge of disappearing –
Like cherry blossoms – falling –
A kingfisher’s flash dive into the lake –
Or a kindly memory surfacing later on in a well-lived life.

In essence, Love “reflects” Beauty –
Truth “tells” it –
And the fundamental fairness of Justice “requires” it.

God’s eyelids blink out numerous metaphors of Beauty –
Heart-stopping, if you’re fortunate enough to see one.

Beauty is a dream waiting patiently for God’s entrance into the material world
Or waking up to one of God’s repeated emergences into Time –

Beauty is a “splash” of Life –

Revivifying, spontaneous, fresh!

TIME

Time is stronger than all universes combined
Because it moves
And carries those universes along with it.

Like a pill, time swallows everything whole –
So we’ll never be seen again –
We’re gone
No longer here, even in the very next moment.

Time is not beautiful because it doesn’t exist as a thing
Beauty enters the world only when time stops for a second
And, suddenly, something or someone appears
Wearing brilliant shoes.

Time is like a handshake without hands
A kiss without lips
Or a hug without a body.

Time can’t be understood
Because there’s no place to stand back to view it –
Time is flow and we’re in that flowTime, apparently, goes in only one direction –
Up or down – never, sideways.

Time has a sense of humor
Because whatever you expect usually never appears –
And frequently turns out to be its opposite.

Time thinks this quite funny.

SHE’LL HEAR US AND COME

Each of the old religions are fading away
Because, essentially, they’re all male!

Men have taken it about as far as they’re able –
But, now, it’s over
And time to start imagining the face of God as female.

I’m not talking about any everyday woman
I’m talking about an ideal
I’m talking about a woman able to step beyond Jesus
Who meditates deeper than the Buddha
And who wields the sword of truth more nimbly than Mohammed.

While the entire world is tumbling and crumbling around us
With weird new diseases taking hold all around the planet
It’s time to call out for a new God –
Personified by this ideal female –
Gentle yet brilliant
Beautiful yet profound
Way beyond the boundaries of quotidian male justice.

Her name is and always will be “Love.”

She’s the only hope we have –
The One we’ve been waiting for.

She’ll be the first of a new kind of enlightened being –
An avatar of a spontaneous, deep, love –

If we concentrate all our asking – (and, personally, I’m asking) –
Wherever she is on earth – out there among seven billion people –
She’ll hear us and, hopefully, come right away!

BLAZING BEAUTY

How is it possible to grow more beautiful while aging,
Especially given all the recent dimming
Of eyes, ears, teeth, feet – even balance?

Is it only our memories that are getting somewhat sweeter,
Especially the recent ones?

Those recent memories – the brand-new ones –
Having just been born –
Are certainly the easiest to grasp.

Primarily, it’s increasing gentleness that I have recently begun to accept –
Especially a gratitude for small gifts –
The unexpected ones, that aging’s been providing me with.

I think a certain kind of beauty does arrive with age – but mostly from the outside –
A beauty we might never have noticed before
That we can carefully turn and store inside ourselves.

It goes without saying that this kind of beauty constituted the original name of God.

So, as we get older, it’s our ability to accept God,
Along with God’s primary attributes – love, truth, justice, beauty and freedom –
That’s the source of any and all blazing beauty in our lives.

CHRISTIAN CAPITALISM

Poets of “the spirit,” to some, may appear un-American
Because “America” stands for a boyish “toughness” –
For men pursuing women with showers of strength
And women carrying out the role of store-window mannequins of beauty.

However, the spirit, in essence, is beautiful by itself!
Which is why it’s so unknown in all 50 states –
After all, people didn’t come here for beauty
They came for money
And, for some at least, there’s been plenty of that.

There’s a surplus of energy banging around in the good ol’ U.S. of A. –
Lots of striving to make “big house” dreams come true
Culminating in hierarchies of unequals – originally imported from the Old World
But, more recently, branded “Christian Capitalism”
Worshipped by cold and intolerant Evangelical hearts
Without the necessity of any spiritual foundation whatsoever.

It’s a mystery why beauty never became more important in America –
Perhaps it’s our dedication to “first things first”
Or that we simply never got around to fully appreciating it.

Treating “beauty” in this way, however –
Imagine how unlikely we’re ever going to view “love” or “truth” –
Much less “God” in a serious manner either.

A BEAUTY WE HAVEN’T BEEN ABLE TO IMAGINE

First, there’s the “self” our mother celebrates –
A mother who loves her child –
This self is like a hard rubber ball
Rolling and bouncing around borderline realities.

Next is an incipient “God” self – which is aspirational –
The person we would like to become –
Prayers floating out ahead of us
Accompanied by whispered dreams – nearly coming true –
Which culminates in the “beloved” – essentially, your “true self.”

Then, finally, one day, we might even begin thinking about attempting the ultimate goal –
A no-thing who’s equally a non-persona –
More beautiful than beauty –
So much so that it stuns our eyes.

In this experience, we discover the kind of joy
Allowing us to forget who we are – or, even, who we ever were –
Revealing a beauty we haven’t been able to imagine –
A beauty we might actually achieve if we were “God”
Or, perhaps even, “God’s” God.

WHEN MEN ARE FREE TO BE BEAUTIFUL

When men are free to be beautiful
And women become inspired by the bravery of Alexander –

When men start reflecting on the beauty of their surroundings
And women train night and day for competitive contests –

When men write poetry about their love of the natural world
And women burn with desire for stellar accomplishments –

Is the time when men and women will start switching roles –
And, then, switching back again –
Especially since such roles will no longer exist –
Nor the traditional hierarchies either –
And people’s historically stubborn egos will disappear forever.

When everyone becomes free enough to be their “true self”
They’ll also be free to ask what God would do – and then, actually, do it!

This is the spiritual space Jesus embodied himself,
Then perfected, and, subsequently, died for!

Now, two millennia later, it’s become somewhat easier to achieve –
Not, of course, a “gimme” –
But, certainly, more possible
Now than then!