in a comfortable room
67 degrees farenheit
in clean clothes
with a walk in closet
a large wide tub
full of fragrant water
i slip into dreams and bubbes of silk-threaded fantasy
and sleep, sleep easily through afternoons
Scarcely taking the time to awaken to the life before me.
Too much comfort makes me soft. I know it is not necessary to have quilted sheets: Sleeping with cacti and cold iron ore, in drafty driftwood shacks, on packed dirt floors. I have learned through discomfort that there is a tremendous depth of adaptability in each one of us. It has been a long time since I have explored just how deep the changes can be.
Although I am not driven to shave my head and run off alone, like a spark off of a magnesium flint burning 3200 degrees; I have a subtler, more persistent kind of flame now based on faith and understanding.
I never thought I would have faith in anything; in actuality what I avoided was BLIND faith. Faith gained through experience is a different kind of paradigm for decision making. Even through every trial is blind, here we can see the accumulated data and have faith that the next set of circumstances will produce a similar result.
So what is my input into these trials? Un-defiled nature. It works miracles on joy and ease and health. Un-defiled intentions. They make you pleasant and open and free. Hard work. It makes you strong, honorable and well rested. Community. They make you able to endure and gives meaning to the plight.
Pure nature is it's own reward; it is the full recompense for staying alive. Pointless nature is the treasure in this very life.
A clear mind, one without schemes or ideas of gain, allows us to act without conflicting cognitive dissonance. This is the precepts and the three marks.
Hard work is part of being a man. It is part of my culture, my family and my body. Sweat cleanses, hard work makes good luck and between men and women, labor bonds.
Community is the next step on my path of discovery. It is here I have the most to learn.
There is always more hope at the beginning of things
No shortcomings or failures;
Only your outlook
Which is chilly and rosy as the Spring sunrise
