As Above So NOT Below

("Anagogical Moments Merit Badge" #39, 2011, original oil) As Above So NOT Below The tripartite world of material appearance Sandwiched between the infinite depths Of the unconscious And infinite expanse Of transcendent supraconsciousness Encompasses all that is and isn’t Known and unknown Desired and undesirable…. Confused, turned upside down By our own inverted perceptions Most of us contentedly live Lives of ignorant bliss Even though it’s more often one of suffering Nestled securely in the middle Within the sandwich of two ineffables High and low. And then there are the few Driven for whatever perverse reasons To escape the safe and mundane Striving for transcendence Most often settling instead for descendence Into the unconscious. This is the easy path after all The downward path of gravity Earth Mother Universal womb And holy bhaga. And so we go Tempted by The Fates to strive In whatever way they guide us For the unattainable Or that which once attained Dissolves all other…. And so we rise You and I against all odds Against the force of Nature Somehow turned upside down again Totally mixed up and thus righted In our confusion Breaking for a surface Which holds the light A surface dividing The above from the below The earth from sky The Mother from Father Our past from future. Rising, propelled with the last trace of breath, prana, chi To break the surface And cycle of existence To finally at last break free. To take another And dive again. (11/23/23)