The Elephant in the Living Room Is Standing On My Foot

by Robert Cinque
Contributor

Question:  What is your relationship to Life?  How do you feel about being here?  Do you trust it, or are you suspicious, bitter, and withdrawn?

In my casual ego mind, I am emotionally withdrawn, absent, shut down, bewildered, disengaged, and confused.  I endlessly complain about my plight in this world and am ungrateful.  The ugly truth is that I routinely default on myself and others and on Life itself.  Life doesn’t betray me, I betray it.  When I entertain thoughts of betrayal and abandonment, I rape Life, then blame the bitch.  Life gets raped and blamed for it.

By now, I’m choking to death, but by my own hand.

This is important to recognize because, if it’s my hand, then I can remove it myself, don’t need anything or anyone to do it for me.

This is the first Office of Authentic Spiritual Practice: Recognition of and responsibility for the emotional withdrawal from Life and Love.

The Second Office is when I sit down and shut the Fuck up in the Face of the Cosmic Enormity of Life, and recognize Its Innocent, Fierce, Infinite, egoless Nature, my truest self.  I stop disassociating emotionally into my fantasies of separateness from this Profound Wonder and vomit out all the repression, the avoidance, the trauma of real and imagined disease and get into Bed with this Great Lover.

The Brilliant, Unbroken, seamless Presence of Life circulating through all creation, the Current that oscillates between the cycles of birth and death, through infinite stretches of fathomless space, that one, that Very One, is the Only Existing Reality and I am completely, always, already inherently one with It, just like a whirlpool in a River. It has always been this way.

There is only One Life living all things and It became me and you.  When we meet on that level, big things happen, because ego, the dramatization of betrayal and abandonment has been made obsolete by Noticing and Being Intimate with the One who shows up as Two. This produces emotional and spiritual intimacy between us because we are standing on what is Real.

When the whirlpool sees the River and its place in it, it swoons and falls intoxicated into bed like a lover, ready, willing, able, open, fully engaged, deeply pleasurized, intensely passionate.

Now, you are aware of the Elephant on your foot.  It hurts.  God becomes man, even poor little you and me, a painful and bloody affair. The infinite Life consents to be you and me and everything else, fully surrendered to us all, and I miss it.  The Word becomes flesh, the infinity of Life fractalizes into mortal human beings who are all going to die, and I hide my face even though I am obligated to somehow love and trust in the face of this great contradiction.  We were born with the impulse to love, and everyone we love is going to disappear.  Does this make sense?  Does it produce trust or doubt in you?

Authentic spiritual practice, true religion, begins with this:  Recognizing my emotional recoil from the Incandescent Event of Existence and overcoming it by being responsible for it.

I thereby stand before it, not as it.

Spiritual practice has exactly nothing to do with beliefs, it has everything to do with the moral obligation to face the truth, to face Reality, to tell the truth about my lies, to own my own refusal to be that which I so obviously am:  the full bodied, red blooded incarnation of Infinite Life, in spite of my mortality and all my many faults and shortcomings.

This is an Ordeal, coming to terms with the simultaneity of my infinite and mortal nature.  It’s an impossible, contradictory situation, but here I am anyway.  When I make friends with it and stop making it into a problem, my eyesight clears up, the Obvious is now Noticed, this is simply the Way God Is.  Coming to terms with this involves staring into the Paradox long enough for the light and heat to burn through the rational and metaphysical assumptions I constantly plaster onto Life, ideas like “consciousness comes from neurons firing in the brain” (scientific materialism) and “Original Sin separates Man from God” (religious psychosis)

These completely unfounded and theoretical assumptions  reduce Life to the level of a concentration camp.

We are not isolated individuals, we share a dynamic unity with literally everything. Scientism, the religion of science, as well as religious fundamentalism are maps masquerading as this Territory of the Heart.  It doesn’t matter if the whole world believes it, belief has never changed the truth, not once.

Ego ideas about life are just not equivalents to Life Itself.  No map ever could be equal to the territory it describes.  The Radiant Core of Conscious Light, Existence Itself, the Infinitely Intense Current of the Heart, is the fundamental Nature of Reality.

When human culture is based on the Recognition and Appreciation and Exploration of this Wonder, this Impossible Treasure buried in the Field, when we as individuals and nations overcome our recoil, our lack of confidence in Life, in Actual God, we will return to the disposition of the Radiant Core and humanity will become the birthplace of Real Life, not materialistic, industrialized consumerism and disaster capitalism, not fundamentalism and fascism.  Tyrants will be laughed off the planet, having no exploitable hosts to dominate. Priests will go broke for lack of work.  The searing Obviousness of Utter Unity with all Life will overwhelm the petty differences within the human family and profound gratitude for and empathy with all others will be the dominant social meme planet wide.

This will come about when Reality is met on it’s own terms and is no longer held hostage in the dungeons of ego mind.   That will be accomplished when we have had quite enough of self strangulation, capitulation to lies, collusion with saboteurs, empowerment of tyrants, belief in false gods and completely wake up to the liberating Facts of Life:  Freedom and Light and Happiness is our very nature, now.  We share the nature of That which originated us, which is Free, Self Existing, and Radiant, Intelligent Light. We are not orphans born in sin.  We are inherently blissful incarnations of love and truth (Reality) radiant fractals of eternal Light, now as always. This is the demonstrable Truth, is not a belief, an idea.  It’s Real.  See for yourself.

This is cause for great celebration and will one day be the basis of human culture.  The Recognition of the Free, Ecstatic nature of Life and our inherent unity with It will unleash the most powerful forces ever seen on planet Earth.  When we identify What is fundamentally True and live in alignment with It, everything else falls into place.

Responsibility for Love, for Life, for What is True is the only realistic way to live.  Conventional religious and scientific beliefs are like junk food, it looks good, but has no real nutritional value.

Only Truth and Love can provide Light and Life. Truth is Real, is not an opinion.  If Truth is an ocean,  belief is a ripple on its surface.

Belief systems are virtual facsimiles of this Reality, canned versions of fresh food.

Why settle for a virtual reality when you can have the Real Thing?

+++

ZenGardner.com

Symptoms of Inner Peace

by Saskia Davis
©1984

Be on the lookout for symptoms of inner peace. The hearts of a great many have already been exposed to inner peace and it is possible that people everywhere could come down with it in epidemic proportions. This could pose a serious threat to what has, up to now, been a fairly stable condition of conflict in the world.

Some signs and symptoms of inner peace:

· A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than on fears based on past experiences.

· An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment.

· A loss of interest in judging other people.

· A loss of interest in judging self.

· A loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others.

· A loss of interest in conflict.

· A loss of the ability to worry. (This is a very serious symptom.)

· Frequent, overwhelming episodes of appreciation.

· Contented feelings of connectedness with others and nature.

· Frequent attacks of smiling.

· An increasing tendency to let things happen rather than (try to) make them happen.

· An increased susceptibility to the love extended by others as well as the uncontrollable urge to extend it.

WARNING:

If you have some or all of the above symptoms, please be advised that your condition of inner peace may be so far advanced as to not be curable. If you are exposed to anyone exhibiting any of these symptoms, remain exposed only at your own risk.

 www.symptomsofinnerpeace.net 

Manu Aluli Meyer on Epistemology - Aloha is Knowing

You Are Consciousness - A Close Encounter With "Self"

Love Always, Suzen

State of Independence - Happy New YOU!

Don't forget to turn the sound up for this one:

Lyrics:

State of life, may I live, may I love
Coming out of the sky I name me a name
Coming up silver word for what it is
It is the very nature of the sound of the game

Siamese, Indonese to Tibet
Treat the life as a game if you please
Coming up Caribbean sense of freedom
Derives from a meditative state

Moving on, believe that's it
Call it magic Third World
It is, I only guessed it
Shah blam ee dee
Shah blam ee dah

Shot to the soul
The flame of Aura'ladin
The essence of the word
The state of independence

Sound like a signal from you
Bring me to meet your sound
And I will bring you to my heart

Love like a signal you call
Touching my body, my soul
Bring to me, you to meet me here
Home be the temple of your heart
Home be the body of your love
Just like holy water to my lips

Yes, I do know how I survive
Yes, I do know why I'm alive
To love and be with you
Day by day by day by day

Say yea yea yea yo
Yea yea yea yo
Be the sound of higher than today

Time again it is said we will hear
We will see it all in this wisdom here
This truth will abound the land
The state of independence shall be



And here is Donna Summers version, see if you can stay sitting down for this one!

2012 Crossing Over: A New Beginning

If you are having any confusion or fear about December 21, 2012, this video does much to educate and enlighten as to the meaning of this propitious time.

It's Not Personal

We must stop taking each encounter and thought personally. It no longer is about the personality or content of the mind. If you remember that thoughts are merely conditioning that we have identified with, then it is easier to see that whatever arises in consciousness, whether it looks to be outside in the world, or appears in our inner landscape, is to be considered a clue as to what is the next step in our collective healing. Approaching all content of the dream as markers that point to the unfolding of awakening, we see the direction we must go and the actions we must take. But it never is directing us towards further separation. The idea we should shield ourselves in any way, is entrenched in duality. In Oneness there can be no enemy.

That doesn’t mean we are required to play a part in the dream that would override our sense of integrity. Some behaviors and scenarios are dead ends and lead to further fragmentation. Since the goal of any organism is wholeness and coherence, we continue in that direction and avoid any enticement that would distract emotionally and pull us into drama. The “I” thought that differentiates, with its “own” values, perceptions, beliefs, etc. is the program, not the truth. We are Consciousness, aware of ITSELF, evolving through this dimensional dream world, and discovering its nature. It is always attempting to divulge its true nature, to look more closely and pierce the veil. It attempts this through us as its agents. So the invitation is to relinquish individuality, not to another belief system as presented by another teacher, but to LIFE ITSELF as it moves through us, breathing the new paradigm into existence.

There are always opportunities, more so now than ever, to surrender our personas of protection and become transparent and vulnerable to LIFE in its constant expression. Love is its language and would speak through action, not words. I do not mean action necessarily in the form of doing, but is more about the nature of Being. The intellect cannot reason out the manner in which the flow will appear, as each moment makes itself known completely fresh, neither encumbered by the past nor expectant of a future. It knows intuitively its directionality through time-space. It is like water, tumbling from stream to river as it seeks finally joining its mother, the ocean. It is inevitable. It is HOME.

When we enter this flow, surrendering control and entering the stream of alive Consciousness, we become instruments of harmony, joining the frequential and vibratory undoing of anything unlike the essential truth of Being, of Life ITSELF. We are the change agents as soon as we walk into a room. When you feel tension arising, know you have ushered in an invitation to freedom. There is nothing need be said, but Life’s presence through you will begin the adjustment necessary. It has nothing to do with you, so stay out of it. Be still. Allow. Love. That’s all.

Opinions and viewpoints are transitory and are constantly changing as we are upgraded in our understanding. Do not be a disseminator of viewpoints, please. Relinquish all viewpoints and join the infinity of Life’s awareness, which, of course, includes EVERYTHING in existence, including that which you cannot yet perceive. That means you cannot take a stand, anywhere. It is like an endless free fall, where you become accustomed to the inability to orient yourself to any reference point, where you finally stop trying to grab onto something to stop the sense of certain death. In fact, you stop trying to avoid anything, but instead become curious as to what it is you’ve been afraid of. It’s time to come to grips and get to know your inner terrorist, to face it head on and see what happens. When you’re ready, the universe will align with your intent, and your situation will morph to provide the perfect opening for you to transcend your self-imposed limitations.

True freedom is awakening from the illusion of everything you thought was true and encountering Truth directly, alive and always brand new as it moves through time-space moment by moment. It is the death of your fictional identity and the relinquishing of all desire to recreate a new one. It is not just getting off the carousel; it is leaving the amusement park altogether. What happens after that is anyone’s guess.

Love to All, Suzen

The Carrot and the Stick

By Robert Cinque
of Cinqueterra

The ego is born through an emotional recoil from its Origin.  This creates the appearance that God is distant and must be found.  The spiritual traditions of humanity are based on this search , this impulse for re-union with the Divine.  However, the search is based on an illusion of separateness and isolation, which reduces God to a carrot on an ego stick.

Throw away the stick. Eat the Carrot.

Creating the stick is an activity that produces “me” and then the “world”.    Authentic spiritual life is about recognizing this, not “overcoming the ego”, which cannot be done anyway because it does not exist in the first place, except in our imagination.  This practice is about Standing Prior to the birth of ego, not overcoming it after you created it.

Try picking up an imaginary rock, it’s impossible. The disease of egoity is self created and imaginary, too. When recoil is replaced with emotional intimacy, the ego is pre-empted and cannot form.

The spiritual traditions exhort us to overcome this fleshly “ego” and be more “spiritual” by identifying with our non-physical, “inner” being.  This so-called inner being is only yet another spontaneous patterning of this Infinite Consciousness, Whatever That Is altogether, but the inside of me is not the exclusive domain of truth, only That in which the inner being is appearing is the Domain of Truth, the Amphitheatre of the Heart.

I am in awe of This, I surrender in love to It. Ultimately, I am It, or rather, It became “me”.  Once it becomes clear that It is the basis of “me”, all dilemma disappears, all searching, all “other”.

Authentic spiritual life is about recognizing what is already true, not deifying my beliefs about it.  Conventional spiritual practice is like using a really excellent and detailed map of Detroit while you’re trying to find your way around Paris.  Conventional spiritual life places enlightenment at the end of the journey, the search is finally over, but authentic spiritual life places enlightenment at the beginning, middle, and end, as the very foundation of human life. It is based on heartfelt response ability, not belief, not technique, not method, not mythology, not search.

It’s about Discovery.

Jesus is reported to have said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure a man finds buried in his field.”

Authentic spiritual life is about love, which is truth.  Truth, whatever it is altogether, is identical with Reality.  What Is, is True.  Find out What Is, prior to mind, prior to “me”, prior to “world”.  That is the knockout punch and is why “you” won’t survive the “journey” to “God”.

Conventional religious belief, from fundamentalism to New Age metaphysics, is based on this search, on the “great path of return” to God, to Unity and Wholeness. Sounds great, doesn’t it?  It’s exciting, adventurous, and romantic.  The only problem with it is the fact that you’re not actually lost, not actually separate from That which you seek.  The problem with conventional religious belief is that it supports and enables a carrot on a stick.  At best, ordinary religious beliefs prepare us for authentic spiritual life if only by providing an illusion to demolish.

Only God Exists and You are not separate from It.That’s the truth that sets the heart free, not that I need to be saved from Original Sin or that I can have and do and be anything I want, that happiness can be found in the manifestation of my desires. Happiness cannot be found because it is not lost.

Happiness is the nature of Reality already and our spiritual obligation is to realize it, not believe in it, not seek it in pleasure or in the fulfillment of need and desire. Happiness is prior to pleasure and need and desire, and everything else. 

See for yourself.

To read more, CLICK HERE.

I Woke Up This Morning...

This is a sincere plea to everyone who is involved with supporting the globalist agenda, especially those who remain unconscious of working towards their own enslavement and the enslavement of humanity. Please wake up and choose Freedom!

I Woke Up This Morning from Suzen Caring on Vimeo.

Just Love Everybody!

Watching this really made my heart happy! Enjoy!

Echoes of Creation - A Joyride for Your Soul

 

 Incredible nature and music....enjoy!

 

All is Welcome HERE

Here is something to uplift your heart and senses. Enjoy!

And here is a little video where my picture surprisingly appears around 1:36. Or at least "I think" it's me (haha). Love to ALL!

The Battlefield is YOU!

http://www.zengardner.com/the-battlefield-is-you/

WAKE UP!

LOVE and NON-COMPLIANCE Will Dissolve the New World Order

You have been under hypnosis, dreaming, unawake. Now is the time to remember the Truth of You, not the story you have been told. Have the courage to stand together as One and be Free.





http://thecrowhouse.com/ftnwo.html

Peace, Love, Compassion

Nothing I say can explain to you Divine Love

Yet all of creation cannot seem to stop talking about it.

~ Rumi

*******  ***  *******  ***  *******   ***

Love is seeing

the unity

under

the imaginary

diversity.

~ Nisargadatta

*******  ***  *******  ***  *******   ***

The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.

So instead of loving what you think is peace, love other [people] and love God above all. And instead of hating the people you think are warmongers, hate the appetites and the disorder in your own soul, which are the causes of war. If you love peace, then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed – but hate these things in yourself, not in another.

~ Thomas Merton

*******  ***  *******  ***  *******   ***

Don't look for peace. Don't look for any other state than the one you are in now; otherwise, you will set up inner conflict and unconscious resistance.

Forgive yourself for not being at peace. The moment you completely accept your non-peace, your non-peace becomes transmuted into peace. Anything you accept fully will get you there, will take you into peace. This is the miracle of surrender.

When you accept what is, every moment is the best moment. That is enlightenment.

~ Eckhart Tolle

*******  ***  *******  ***  *******   ***

The truth is that a whole new state of consciousness already exists, that every part of your experience that’s unfolding right now is already enclosed within absolute stillness, absolute ease. And so there really isn’t

anywhere to go or anything for which to search. Struggle only gets us deeper into the very thing we’re trying to escape. This is a very important thing to know about egoic consciousness: The harder we try to get out, the deeper we dig ourselves in.

~ Adyashanti

*******  ***  *******  ***  *******   ***

We try to grasp something strange and mysterious because we believe happiness lies elsewhere. This is the mistake. The Self is all-pervading. Our real nature is liberation, but we imagine that we are bound, we make strenuous efforts to become free, although all the while we are free. Birth and death pertain only to the body, they are superimposed upon the Self, giving rise to the delusion that birth and death relate to the Self. The universe exists within the Self. Discover the undying Self and be immortal and happy. Be yourself and nothing more. Thoughts change but not you. There is neither past nor future; there is only the present. Yesterday was the present when you experienced it; tomorrow will also be the present when you experience it, therefore, experience takes place only in the present, and even the present is mere imagination, for the sense of time is purely mental.

All that is required to realize the Self is to be still. What can be easier than that? Your true nature is that of infinite spirit.

~ Ramana Maharshi

*******  ***  *******  ***  *******   ***

Enlighten your desires.

Meditate on who you are.

Quit imagining.

What you want is profoundly expensive,

and difficult to find,

yet closeby.

Don't search for it. It is nothing,

and a nothing within nothing.

~ Lalla - 14th Century North Indian mystic

*******  ***  *******  ***  *******   ***

The Ineffable Mystery of Being

What I have discovered through my spiritual practice is an increasing self-intimacy. ..a sense of authenticity and real-ness, that has become the cornerstone of my daily life. I cannot imagine how I could have lived without this living presence and sense of emerging fullness.

Our awareness is incredibly powerful at enabling the unveiling of ourselves, revealing a fuller picture, illuminating our experience, but only if we are willing and committed to knowing the fullness of what we are.

I find as I continue noticing and encountering this awareness in my life what comes into view is both particular and vast, discordant yet harmonious, life sustaining yet challenging and not necessarily easy. This active engagement demands my courage and honesty, this is no walk in the park.

As I continue, the sense of congruence and authenticity begins to sprout and this self-intimacy becomes the rule, in time. Although it is not as though there is one mode of being, that of self-intimacy, no, it is more like that a dance has begun.

This dance, fueled and enabled by the openness and desire of wanting to know myself, is both exhilarating and liberating and, as I develop trust in the unfolding, I soon begin to recognize that any ideas or desires for Awakening need not concern me....it no longer is of interest as my life has filled up with a delicious fragrance of authenticity.

I no longer care for anything other than supporting what has taken root within me…if the self concept or ego continues I don't care, the teachers and teachings tell me this and that and I don't care, life is its usual mix of struggle and strife, joy and love, and I no longer care...why would I care when I know the golden key is within? Why search for anything when the very fabric of experience is the path of unfolding. Everyday experience reveals this once we get a little more familiar with ourselves and stop trying to awaken, stop meddling with our experience long enough to notice what is.

At some stage there was a key realization, one among many, when I realized I can let go of all concepts about the teaching and just feel comfortable in everyday experience without any framework or concepts about how it ought to be. Is their a doer? Is there an ego? Is there an awakening? Are we perfect? None of these conceptual frames of reference are important. Instead I relax and notice that all that stuff is just ideas about...about the ineffable mystery of being.

~ Rob Matthews

#OCCUPY YOURSELF - 28 OCTOBER 2011

For one day, we shut the system down!

 

PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH AS MANY AS POSSIBLE...WE DO NOT HAVE MUCH TIME!

A momentum is occurring
People are uniting across the world
They are sending a message
The next step is fast approaching

On Oct 28th 2011
WE SHUT THE SYSTEM DOWN.

For one day we peacefully protest in a symbol that will be felt across the globe.

We step out of the system and step back into ourselves.

Turn off all lights
Unplug all electrical devices
Abstain from using TV, radio and internet or phone.
Abstain from making any purchase of any kind
Choose that morning to cancel any services you feel you no longer need
That morning call in sick to work

Do NOTHING that generates money into THE SYSTEM.

We will send a message
We will unite

Most importantly, for one day...
We live without distraction

Read a book
Meditate
Play
Sing
Dance
Create
Frolic in nature
Love

On Oct 28th 2011
Step out of the system and get back to yourself

Spread the word!
SHUT IT ALL DOWN!

Join us on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=275706552463169&notif_t=event_ph... 

SIT SILENTLY AND DO NOTHING

ZEN WILL BE YOUR PATH. Dhyana, meditation, will be your path... and Rinzai was one of the greatest meditators. His meditation is the simplest -- JUST SITTING AND DOING NOTHING.

IT IS THE SIMPLEST AND YET THE HARDEST -- because if people are told to do something, they can; even if it is difficult, they can manage to do. But when they are told not to do anything and just to sit, it becomes almost impossible. NOBODY KNOWS HOW TO DO NOTHING, nobody knows how not to do. People know how to do things; it is easier. Once the knack of it comes to your consciousness, you will laugh that it was so simple: one can simply sit.

So, start at least one hour sitting, mm? I will give you other groups that you can do, but make it a point that whenever you have time, to just sit silently under any tree. GO TO THE RIVER OR ANYWHERE AND JUST SIT. There is nothing else to do, just go on sitting for one hour. Thoughts will come -- let them come and go.

Rinzai's famous saying is: SITTING SILENTLY, DOING NOTHING, AND THE GRASS GROWS BY ITSELF. There is no need to do anything -- the grass is growing by itself. And so grows the soul... so grows the inner being!

~ OSHO

*********** *** *********** *** ***********

THE EXPERIENCE OF BEING AT HOME has to be spread slowly, so that for twenty-four hours you are at home -- waking, sleeping. But this is possible only if you learn THE GREATEST ART OF BEING SILENT. Then you are settled in yourself. Then your whole energy is turned into a silent pool, without any ripples.

AND IF YOU CAN ATTAIN THIS STATE... existence does not want you to fulfill any other condition -- this is enough. You will be accepted, welcomed... by all the mysteries and all the splendor of existence. Right now, it is a small taste. But I have made it clear to you why it is happening.

YOU HAVE TO TRY IT ON YOUR OWN. Just go into the forest and sit silently, or by the side of the river, JUST SIT SILENTLY. Or just here in the ashram, anywhere, sit silently -- just being alert of whatever is happening all around, not thinking about it... what this bird is saying. They are not saying anything; they are just feeling so joyous in the early morning with the new life that the sun has brought again -- one day more to dance, to sing, to enjoy the whole expanse of the sky.

Just listen to them, the way you listen to me, and you will feel at home. And slowly, slowly you have to learn that it is not a question of listening, IT IS A QUESTION OF THE INNER CHATTER STOPPING. Then whenever you find the inner chattering is starting, simply say, "Shut up!" ...and you will suddenly be at home.

ONCE THE MIND UNDERSTANDS that you have found something greater, something better, something higher... slowly it recedes into the darkness. Its function is fulfilled; it is no more needed; it is an unwelcome guest.

~ OSHO

So Much Beauty.....

"It was one of those days when it's a minute away from snowing and there's this electricity in the air, you can almost hear it. And this bag was, like, dancing with me. Like a little kid begging me to play with it. For fifteen minutes. And that's the day I realized there was this entire life behind things, and... this incredibly benevolent force, that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid, ever."

~ 'Ricky Fitts', from the movie "American Beauty"

Keeping Quiet

Now we will count to twelve

and we will all keep still.

For once on the face of the earth

let's not speak in any language,

let's stop for one second,

and not move our arms so much.

It would be an exotic moment

without rush, without engines,

we would all be together

in a sudden strangeness.

Fishermen in the cold sea

would not harm whales

and the man gathering salt

would look at his hurt hands.

Those who prepare green wars,

wars with gas, wars with fire,

victory with no survivors,

would put on clean clothes

and walk about with their brothers

in the shade, doing nothing.

What I want should not be confused

with total inactivity.

Life is what it is about;

I want no truck with death.

If we were not so single-minded

about keeping our lives moving,

and for once could do nothing,

perhaps a huge silence

might interrupt this sadness

of never understanding ourselves

and of threatening ourselves with death.

Perhaps the earth can teach us

as when everything seems dead

and later proves to be alive.

Now I'll count up to twelve

and you keep quiet and I will go.

~ Pablo Neruda