The unstable equilibrium of staying true

Unquenchable in our heart:
is the wish:
To lead a good life;
something purposeful, meaningful,
one that is worth our self-worth.

Unconditionally aver the wise:
"The path of truth is best!
difficult though this road,
well heeled sure it is,
just follow us."

Fortunate are we,
that their wisdom shines on us,
to enliven and educate -
"peer behind the veil, dethrone
every shallow recipe of success;

perceive the field of discourse,
practice harmlessness,
conform to higher norms,
make it Safe for others,
be courteous to everylife!"

Inside this meta-recipe,
is hidden the path to heaven;
but it is also found by living
out-there. And it is
your very Self that uncovers it.

As we gaze to these horizons
from the expansive valley of our desires,
to verify that we see the truth,
from the intersections of our forefathers' ways -
How sweet to stop after seeing,
and flip the channel back to
"ah, now back to real-life"!


The temporary gaze to frame eternity
within the flashes of lightning
coursing through the dendrite forest
that make our dreams and desires,
is but momentary,
as we pull back to the familiar self.

This,
the center
of our current subjective life -
Is existence.
Or is it?

How easy it is, to pull back our gaze,
to the place of comfort -
where the strong levers of our habit
catapult us to ephemeral pleasures
yoked as is to the fulcrum
of our swadharma
( the karmic resultant current "self").

Tasty is the  near sight,
that blindly binds our minds,
blithely bonds our souls
and
bends reality
into an arc of  comfortable (existence).

Are the wise wise?
to portray a different vision
of life and living;
one free from binding, and
free from non-binding?

--

Yes, there is that path,
which shall not avoid
the halls
of binding and non-binding.

This path can only be seen
by unwinding the soul,
that nurtured our nature,
and delivered both to neither!

This road isn't hard or soft;
the travel down this lane
may take you nowhere,
downwards even.

It is the path where the familiar
turns into a tightrope,
where you see no safety net,
no easy descent
once you step on it.

Here, along every step,
you stare down
the valley floor deep underneath,
and the firmament
is as dangerous to fly to
as the fall through the ravines
back to the comforting blindness.

This is where the fractal borders
between life and living
seethe with possibilities
of unknown unknowns
pushing their fists
through the mists
of uncertain knowledge.

This nether point,
the trishanku moment,
is like empty air
under the feet,
as you slip

between the serrated floor - of
conversations between you and your past
that break out through your memories
to tease out truths
from your clawing hands
that grasp your past.

This is the edge.

At this edge,
nothing comes easy.
You see that your strengths -
goal, ambitions, consistency of ascent - 
have but become
a loss, a crutch,
a lever that takes you farther away.

From your self.

This
is where the wise learn
to balance these currents of superficial strengths
with their necessary
(and deeper, but lost) counterparts
in due measure -
innocence, fears and spontaneity.

At this edge,
your roots of self start taking flight
to meet the ocean currents
of the never-seen,
that weaves
the infinite rainbow of choice.

Walking this edge
is to overcome the normal
objectives of a measured life -
money, name, fame, reputation,
getting-along, success,
satisfaction, happiness
[fill all the other favorite valley trails].

Before you ask --
walking this path is not to destroy,
but to polish existence.
Refine, clean, let the substrate
of your Self
shine.

Nothing drives this
as much
as a meta-purpose,
the Real.

What is this Purpose?

It is simply to win,
to survive,
to beat statistical odds,
the capturing of chance
within the bubbles
of uncomfortable possibilities.

By this Purpose,
we hope
we can make it easy
for those
whom we make.

In a self referential twist,
The purpose also
stays true
Only by minimizing -

the destruction
of those very same Purposes
in other entities -
beings, non-beings
and meta-beings.

This is the seed of staying true.

It is not easy to act right
as we grow into it,
without peeling away
parts of us
that really just hide,
more than embellish.

The right action
towards this purpose,
this quest,
this being-made,
is
to become
The Fool.


You simply accept a
deep level of ignorance.
A bi-modal life -
Goal directed-ness with innocence.
Ambition tempered by fear of its over-reach,
Consistency diffracted by the diamonds of spontaneity.

Along this path of Purpose,
it is essential that
you drop your survival gears -
"self" evaluation,
"self" critique, and the
"self" serving attitude.

Nyeh! In this path,
there are no comparisons,
no benchmarks,
no maps nor field guides.
The walk, is it!

No aspirations of being better-than.
Yet, becoming better!
Because,
the only one you want
to be better than today -
is the you of yesterday.

The Fool's wisdom is thus -
today's clever me
is the foolish me
in the rear view
of tomorrow's memory.

What is the outcome
of this attitude,
even as you start
practicing just a little?

Do you become. Truly become?

Did you
increase the clarity
in your trail
that will light up
the direction for others?

Did you
drop down your guard,
appear truly vulnerable,
so others can freely become,
and you grow the pool
of fulfilling the Common Purpose?

Did you fumble,
stumble, recover and retry,
run around to complete the circle
and end up finding your Center?

Did you help build a clear road ahead,
even though it may mean unhappiness
to those who are content
to merely fill the potholes
of other people's rain ravaged pathways?

Did you find that you are just enough?

Did you find
that you are not the norm,
but that the norm develops
a habit of following you
after it is done discounting you?

Did you find
that you are easily misunderstood,
but completely helpful,
a gateway of last resort
to those packets of searching souls?

Do you laugh
at your misconceptions of adulthood,
smile to face children
to honestly ask for band-aids
to patch you up as they out you
with their innocent deep
peering smiling lie-detector eyes?

Do you stop
working so hard,
simply take a walk,
make happen
that unscripted talk?

Do you stop
being lazy,
and
start
becoming meta-busy?


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P.S:

The unstable equilibrium
of staying true to the Purpose -
has never been more important to do,
nor has it been harder,

than in today's world
where digital emotions
meet the infinite un-erasable memory
of the search-social-mobile-cloud.