Our Changeless Nature

(“Before the Door”, 2023, original encaustic) Our Changeless Nature Within all the changes of this life All the particulars of who we are What we do and know, and don’t know, Is something that isn’t a thing Isn’t caused and conditioned Thus changeless and permanent. There is only one way to know this nature And that is for ourselves, Once it has been pointed out for us, And this pointing out can come in ten thousand ways From pedantic philosophy To poetic allusion All pointing to the illusion Of all we think is real. Eventually this pointing out Doesn’t depend on an external other But comes from our own awareness Like a sun dawning within Illuminating everything we see, And everything we see, Being a projection of this awareness, Reminds us who we really are. Everyone, from beggar to king is the same In carrying a shell we call our self A shell we cherish and serve In sad charade of our real self, But this charade is only sad to the false self Sad and boring or delightful and charming, Even enlightening, it makes no difference Because it is still always false. To our true self, Changeless and permanent, There is only awareness, patient and dispassionate Without coming or going Learning or forgetting And yet still we have these false selves Striving to become Something other than we have always been. Eventually, in the end or along the way We come to see Only a fool would wish to be something other Than they truly are And in this moment They know they are no fool Nor can pretend to be one any more. If there is no free nature Then what’s the point We being slaves to this or that Blown endlessly by a wind Of causes and conditions, But if we have a free nature Then it’s all good, this play of Life Just sometimes seen through the wrong end Of the lens. (7/21/25)