NAVIGATION

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NAVIGATION

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The flashes of light

Inside the pitch-black cave of my skull

Reveal everything

Yet explain nothing

Like snapshots of fleeing moments

I must interpret and integrate these pictures

Into a cohesive narrative

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They are all I have

To inform me

To remember my past

Plan my future

Orient myself each day

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No wonder I make mistakes

Blundering along

Trying to plot my course

By a fickle moon on a jet-black night

While dense oddly shaped clouds

Scud by, parting for a moment

When I can imagine I see

The path I must take

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BASHFUL

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BASHFUL

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Until humans become more intelligent, educated and rational

We will continue to settle our differences

By bashing each other with weapons we devise

Nobody wants to be bashed

But many people want to bash things

So, bashing it is

Until reason, empathy and common sense prevail

Sometime way way off in the future

If we don't bash our way into extinction first

With an out of control inner rage we must somehow control

First in our own hearts and minds

Then spreading out to the world, and whatever worlds we inhabit

When the light goes on in our mind to show the way to peace

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WONDERSTRUCK

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WONDERSTRUCK

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When we grow and learn new things

A better way

We encounter the temptation

To reconsider all our past decisions 

In the light of this new information

Information we did not have when we were making 

These decisions, some of which were obviously

Blunders of the first magnitude

This reconsideration is a huge mistake

To think we were fools back then

What we were was uninformed, naive

A babe in the woods

Wide-eyed, innocent, untutored

Inexperienced

So, while we learn, grow, renew our minds

We never critisize our younger selves

For being wonderstruck

By the overwhelming spectacle of life

Swirling rapidly around us, younger us

Unwise us, now growing in wisdom and that great gift of time

The power of discernment

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ON EDGE

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ON EDGE

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Is that pink glow the rosy fingers of dawn

Or a warning for sailors

Are those popping sounds holiday firecrackers

Or distant gunfire

Did they say "That's an interesting outfit" as a complement

Or a snide dig at my eccentric taste

New things are happening all the time

But are they improvements?

Time alone will tell, the answers are in the future

Near or far, we will eventually know

Best to remain calm for now, hope for the best

Prepare for the unexpected, and make this day count

Towards your peace and happiness

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ONE NEVER KNOWS, DO ONE?

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ONE NEVER KNOWS, DO ONE?

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There is an element of doubt in many situations

Because there is always another way of looking at something

With a different explanation

If it is an article of faith, then there is no reason to keep seeking

If we are unsatisfied with only that belief framework

We can choose facts, science, news, research

Which changes year by year, sometimes day by day

Plus, we must have faith in our information sources

Knowing that perfection is unattainable by human minds

What it is, what it was, what it will be

Are the Cosmic Jugglers spheres of chance

Always moving, in constant play, hidden behind the

Seven Veils of Wisdom is Naked Truth

Which our eyes are not ready to see yet

Yet we sense it is there in our very bones.

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WHEN A GURU HAS A GARDEN

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WHEN A GURU HAS A GARDEN

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When a guru has a garden 

It is not what you might expect

No beds, no plantings, no weeding

Because the guru's garden is just whatever grows

Wild, uncontrolled, exuberant

The appearance of the garden is not the point

Food and herbs are not the point

Enjoyment of an observer is not the point

The point of the guru's garden is life

Joyful, struggling, chaotic untamed life

Happening all around the narrow path

The guru's reverent feet tread bare.

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SKILL SET

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SKILL SET

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The fastest runner in the world

Started out learning to crawl

The smartest person in the world

Started out learning to say Mama

We each need unique skills to live our unique lives

Skills learned, developed, perfected

Over time and trial

We can learn how to be peaceful

In our hearts and minds

We can learn how to express ourselves clearly

And respectfully to find common ground

We can learn how to allow others to be 

Very different from ourselves

The stranger, the oddball, the nut job

The criminally insane might also have

Some redeeming wisdom or talent

Or they might just need to be shut out of our thought life altogether

Another valuable skill we can learn and develop

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YOU SHALL PASS

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YOU SHALL PASS

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What I need to know

Might be quite different from

What you need to know

I must trust and honor your process

As you must trust and honor mine

Each student of Life has important lessons

Taught by that greatest of all teachers

Trial and Error

In the School of Hard Knocks we all attend

The world being what it is

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SAME OLD SAME OLD

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SAME OLD SAME OLD

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While I can't say anything new

I can say something true:

Your very best friend

Will be you, in the end

So honor yourself in all that you do

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BUY THE BOOK

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BUY THE BOOK

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Biblio biblio biblio mancy

A simple idea that sounds rather fancy

Just open a book, any book will do

To a random sentence, read it through

It might contain wisdom or it might not apply

But you can't bibliomance until you try

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KING KONG KRAZY

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KING KONG KRAZY

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Rudeness is a weapon

A dramatic show of agitated threat

To disguise the lack of intellectual skills

They resort to a display like a gorilla beating his chest

Hoping to win by intimidation what they can not honestly come by

Using information and negotiation

This display of aggression has no traction in society

Where manners and mores are the grease that lets the wheels of progress 

Turn, baby, turn

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