Roots

What is the root of pain? Ignorance of yourself. 
What is the root of desire? The urge to find yourself. 
All creation toils for its self and will not rest until it returns to it. 

Nisargadatta Maharaj


The Banyan trees in Florida are amazing examples of roots expanding and seeking to take hold in the space all around. As if the desire to find itself is all consuming. For most of my life, there has been a similar urge to understand why I am here, who I am, and all of that. It has taken me to many dark places as I root into the unconcscious in an attempt to bring light to my endless desire to know.


Lately, what comes is a feeling that knowing is always right here and the toil isn't necessary. The flow of life moves us along like a river. Sometimes it fast, exciting and perhaps a bit overwhelming; other times is meanders along or crawls at a snails pace. I've found it is in the letting go that all these opposites dissolve into the Presence that is each moment unfolding fresh and new.  

Free What Waits Within Me...

I believe in all that has never yet been spoken.
I want to free what waits within me
so that what no one has dared to wish for
may for once spring clear
without my contriving.

If this is arrogant, God forgive me,
but this is what I need to say.
May what I do flow from me like a river,
no forcing and no holding back,
the way it is with children.

Then in these swelling and ebbing currents,
these deepening tides moving out, returning,
I will sing you as no one ever has,
streaming through widening channels
into the open sea.

- Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Joanna Macy

Rilke is one of my favorite poets. He is a master at taking the ordinary and creating something that transforms the reader bringing awareness into everyday moments. His ability to enchant us is his honesty, clarity and depth of seeing.

I'm not sure if everyone has this feeling, but I think many writers and artists do have a kind of yearning to express what is inside of them. It is what birthed this blog for me. The secret may be authenticity. To allow what is inside to flow without forcing or holding back. When I am able to rest in the moment, I feel the song riding on the deepening tides, "freeing what waits within me."