The World Is Changing

("I of the Beholder", 2014, original pen and ink) The World Is Changing Quick as thought The world is changing Right before our eyes Everywhere People waking up To what needs to change What can be done Because finally We have the means To do Or at least try. Quick as thought People waking up To the need to correct Age-old injustices To the disadvantaged And disempowered In a society sick from success And excess That cares not for the other From the poor and unborn To the planet itself. And just as quick Piggybacking on the first Growing social awareness Comes the spiritual awakening It is all in vain Literally, our hubris to think We can change anything Others or the world That it even needs changing To become a better More perfect union Just because our guilty conscience Tell us we should And our abundant wealth and knowledge Tempts us with how Doesn’t mean we know What’s best even if we could And so we freeze – at the starting gate Or blindly rush on – unsure in which direction Each the same In our foolishness. And thus our consciousness Rises another notch On the evolutionary scale In a hierarchy of needs From the group pack and herd To the personal self and individual Onward and upward into the transpersonal With its realms beyond physical In the space of the spiritual Immediate without limit Changeless ever-present. And so we go, each and all, Zero the Hero The journey of a star from dust to dust Ignition into radiance Extinction into darkness With a moment or two of self-awareness Along the way A moment or two before and after science When time stops still We step off the wheel surprised at last To find we simply are. (10/23/23)