Woken by a shift
in the Earth’s breath,
I sit in silence –
the pre-dawn hush
and my green tea for company.
In the east,
over the Pacific,
a bright star soars,
shaking off the shackles of night.
Its brilliance beggars belief.
I blink, I bow, a thought flashes:
Never forget that
more than two millennia ago
Gautama saw this star
and knew
{ as do you }
that nothing needed to be
understood, learned or believed
felt, integrated or expressed
fixed, healed or overcome
dropped or avoided
actioned or attained,
in order that his body’s naked awareness might meet itself
as the morning star.
{ Halleluja! }
Image: Painting by Clifton Mack: Jurlurrunha – Morning Star
Clifton Mack is an elder of the Yindjibarndi people whose country is around the Millstream Tablelands in Western Australia’s Pilbara district.
See www.japingka.com
echoes from emptiness 
Miriam at one time in my life I was an art dealer and represented an aboriginal artist. I’ve always felt that, as a people, their closeness to and reverence for the land was unparalleled.
That’s my feeling as well John. Is there such a thing as conceptual art amongst the visual language of aboriginal peoples? (I can’t think of any – unless they are youngsters freshly brainwashed at art school.) Their expressions consist of lived encounters with the cosmos, the earth, its creatures and their relationships… about place and purpose. Perhaps that’s why non-indigenous people are so drawn to their art; it reconnects us with our roots.
Sending you smiles across the miles!
…as always, dearest miriam……this is “Breath Pausing” Magnificent in from you on this techno screen. THANK YOU AGAIN!!!!!
Thank you Dorothea – we sit under this same star, thousands of kilometres apart, yet as One in wild awareness! ❤
Oh! The heart beats in recognition.
We’re in tandem, as usual! So lovely to hear from you here dear Cara. ❤
I felt that longing to, back to HERE
Same star, same no-thing “looking”… and “longing”… HERE we all are!
Love to you dear Nina. x
Lovely.
Thank you dear Cate – it’s wonderful to have your company here. x
Still shining brightly
Thank you, Miriam ❤
How blessed! Shining on effortlessly – as if one had any say in the matter!
Love and blessings, dear Bob – thank you for your company as we starbathe 🙂
❤
Halleluja, indeed! A beautiful work of art, and your words are a lovely accompaniment. And I truly appreciated the comment about “lived encounters with the cosmos”–an art in itself that indeed we seem to have lost in our conceptual mapping of the territory…
Peace
Michael
Michael – thanks for your appreciative remarks. It seems that with “our conceptual mapping of the territory” we have become increasingly disembodied. I am currently undertaking an adventure into somatic awareness and finding the revelations of the body/earth/cosmos both shocking and exquisite. I simply had no idea…
Blessings!
Such a clear sense of freedom and fullness of attention towards the completeness of the moment
… freedom … fullness … completeness
Yes, these are the gifts of intimacy with the moment. Any moment, if we pause and open to its vastness.
⭐