Email Poem

Your IP Address: 216.73.216.110
Your Email Address:
To Email Address:
Subject
Personal Note:
Poem Title:
Poem
(Playful girl in Western Tibet, 2009)

The Natural Way of Being

There’s a natural way of being 
And then there is a contrived way
Of trying to become.

I remember the natural way as a child
Simply being, exploring, playing,
And I’ve pursued the contrived way
Most of my life since.

It comes from a lack of confidence
When training in the unfamiliar.
But if we want to get beyond the habits
Of our conditional mind
We have to explore the unfamiliar.

Eventually, I suppose, we gain confidence 
In what is beyond ordinary mind.
But if my life is any indication
This process of familiarization
Takes many lifetimes,
Lifetimes spent trying.

Master Yoda famously pointed out the distinction 
“Do or do not. There is no try.”
And yet as clear and easy as this is to see
We continue to try, 
Forcing round pegs into square holes.
Because that’s what the system does
And so what we become conditioned to do.

If we’re lucky we find an activity or hobby 
Doing something that comes naturally 
Improving through practice without trying 
To become something we’re not.
For years rock climbing was this for me,
Something I did because I wanted to,
In my own way and without a doubt.

And doing in this way I discovered 
What is to be free, what it is to be me,
And what it is to be connected to everything else.
In this way I found my true spiritual practice
Without it being something special
Or somehow separate from the physical.

What I found was what I knew as a child
Without even knowing I knew;
The passion of living, the pull of life,
Of a moth to flame, or bee to nectar,
The force of life embodied only in this life.

I remember what it was like being a child
And what it’s been like ever since. 
What it’s like to want to change
And all the steps and stages along the way.

There’s a contrived way of trying to become
And then there’s the natural way of being
Which is, in truth, our true nature.

(2/2/25)
CAPTCHA Preview
Type the characters you see in the picture
Required