from director to nobody

driving through the connecticut river valley in nh this afternoon: old houses, ramshackle barns, cut corn fields, sparkling river, vt hills!

colorful oranges and yellows but many trees still lime green and perfect blue october sky with that certain slant of autumn dazzling light.

mesmerizing manifested wondrous beauty of unbelievable mindstuff impossible to comprehend so eyes just drool with almost tears & look see!

when thought asks this question: why does a magnificent landscape sometimes appear more loving with an old house or barn in the foreground?

& thought answers itself: the observer of this scenery is a dream character which is just a thought & appreciates a thought within its view.

in other words, thought needs another thought within its vicinity to keep it company & give the wilderness of consciousness a familiar face.


so all of that scenery was prologue to this: can awareness really awaken to itself when thought is immersed within its world of thought?

is some kind of monastic separation necessary? not necessarily a monastery. or hermitage. or even complete solitude. but some kind of refuge

& by refuge, it's not pointing to some religious refuge in belief, texts or congregation but an honest to goodness separation from the world

some separation that kindles that freedom, that grace, that blessing, that reality, that that of being in the world but not of the world.

because when immersed in thought, thought just loves to keep on thinking; it is what it is. & moments of meditation can't ungap that bridge.


i feel no coincidence a need for busy-ness (or business) in usa; it's self-preservation of thought and usa is just a thought!

& the massive mass entertainment world around us in usa is nothing but thought enabling thought: tv movies fiction & nonfiction (the worst!)

and then there's the thought of spiritual thought which just might be the most enslaving thought of them all. all those dream state coaches!

between the rock of religion and the hard place of business, where can awareness catch a break from the tyranny of thought?

that is the real question that a 21st century hamlet needs to address. it's really not to be or not to be. it's first how to know to be.

everything in our environment is stacked against 'to be.' it's seen up close and personal in those near and dear. it's heart-breaking.


in gratitude for the circumstances of the past several years. from director to nobody (ah, emily!). roll credits. maharshi to maharaj.