Life is a Dream!

We live, while we see the sun,

Where life and dreams are as one;

And living has taught me this,

Man dreams the life that is his,

Until his living is done.

The king dreams he is king, and he lives

In the deceit of a king,

Commanding and governing;

And all the praise he receives

Is written in wind, and leaves

A little dust on the way

When death ends all with a breath.

Where then is the gain of the throne,

That shall perish and not be known

In the other dream that is death?

Dreams the rich man of riches and fears,

The fears that his riches breed;

The poor man dreams of his need,

And all his sorrows and tears;

Dreams he that prospers with years,

Dreams he that feigns and foregoes,

Dreams he that rails on his foes;

And in all the world, I see,

Man dreams whatever he be,

And his own dream no man knows.

And I too dream and behold,

I dream I am bound with chains,

And I dreamed that these present pains

Were fortunate ways of old.

What is life? A tale that is told;

What is life? A frenzy extreme,

A shadow of things that seem;

And the greatest good is but small,

That all life is a dream to all,

And that dreams themselves are a dream.

                             

                       - Pedro Calderón de la Barca

Secret of Death!

You would know the secret of death.
But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?
The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light.
If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life.
For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.

In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;
And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring.
Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.
Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands before the king whose hand is to be laid upon him in honor.
Is the shepherd not joyful beneath his trembling, that he shall wear the mark of the king?
Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling?

For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      - Kahlil Gibran

She Let Go!

           
                     She let go. Without a thought or a word, she let go.

                     She let go of fear. She let go of the judgments. 
      She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around her head.
                     She let go of the committee of indecision within her.
          She let go of all the ‘right’ reasons. Wholly and completely, 
                       without hesitation or worry, she just let go.
                                She didn’t ask anyone for advice. 
                           She didn’t read a  book on how to let go.
                                      She didn’t search the scriptures.
                                              She just let go.

                          She let go of all of the memories that held her back. 

   She let go of all of the anxiety that kept her from moving forward. 
            She let go of the planning and all of the calculations 
                                         about how to do it just right.
                                                   She didn’t promise to let go. 
                                                She didn’t journal about it. 
                             She didn’t write the projected date in her day-timer.
             She made no public announcement and put no ad in the paper. 
         She didn’t check the weather report or read her daily horoscope. 
                                                               She just let go.

                                  She didn’t analyse whether she should let go. 
                              She didn’t call her friends to discuss the matter. 
                     She didn’t do a five-step Spiritual Mind Treatment. 
                                               She didn’t call the prayer line. 
                                              She didn’t utter one word. 

                                                              She just let go.

                                     No one was around when it happened. 
                                           There was no applause or congratulations. 
                                     No one thanked her or praised her. 
                                              No one noticed a thing. 

                         Like a leaf falling from a tree, she just let go.
                            There was no effort. There was no struggle. 
                                     It wasn’t good and it wasn’t bad. 
                                         It was what it was, and it is just that.
                                            In the space of letting go, she let it all be. 
                                     A small smile came over her face. 
                            A light breeze blew through her.
                    And the sun and the moon shone forevermore.

                                                                                                           - Ernest Holmes