Filled With Love

Filled With Love

Fear and love, they say,

are at the basis of all

human endeavors

and in my experience

this is quite true.

If you fear for your children

you do so only because

you love them.

If you fear for your safety

it is only because you love

the life that flows in your veins.

We only fear the loss of things

that we first love.

Good to know that love

always precedes fear

and so will

forever be stronger.

When all the grains of sand

have slipped

through your hands

and you're left

only with your breath

and a whole lot of nothing,

you'll find

all of that nothing

is full of love.

Dewey Dirks

Mystic

Mystic

Normally we all believe

it is us who experience life,

and we each build

well lived lives

by accumulating scores

of memorable moments.

So, when you experience life

in some special way, you say,

“For me, it's been

a memorable moment.”

But every once in great awhile,

you have an experience

where it seems that Nature herself

takes time out of her busy, busy day

to pay attention just to you.

When life experiences you in this way

it becomes something mystical.

When comes the day you realize

Nature is always

experiencing you in this way

just as you are experiencing her.

When comes the day

you find that both you and the world

are forever as young lovers,

meeting in a vast, vast sea

of happenstance and coincidence,

falling in love just now,

discovering each other,

over and over again, every day,

then you're a mystic.

Dewey Dirks

Be Still

Be Still

Years ago,

when I was a teenager,

my dad would sit

at the kitchen table

and think for hours on end

as he slowly smoked cigarettes

and drank black, hot coffee.

At the time I couldn't

figure out what

the point of it was.

I'd ask him,

“Dad, why don't you get up

and do something?”

He always told me

the same thing.

He'd look at me, smile,and say,

“I'm already doing something.”

It wasn't until years later

that I figured out he was right.

Sitting and thinking

is a beginning,

middle, and end all by itself.

It's one of the

more important things

we all need to do

and I'd be willing to bet

it's something that most of us

have forgotten,

or never learned how to do.

Our culture raises us

from embryos to stay busy

and most people are enculturated

so heavily that they will do

practically anything

to avoid having to sit and think.

On the rare occasion they do

sit and just think,

it's only when they have

some sort of crisis in their lives

and feel the need

to sort things out.

Get acquainted with yourself.

Teach yourself to be still.

If you do, I'll bet you'll find

that you're a pretty enjoyable

person to hang out with.

Start by having

a conversation with yourself

when you are all alone.

For an hour or two,

sit somewhere comfortable

with a drink and think about

anything you'd like.

Put down your phone.

Don't text your friends.

Don't sit at the computer.

Don't watch

the wide screen television.

Ask yourself a few questions

about things big and small.

See what sort of answers

you bring to the table.

Great things always begin

by being still.

Likewise, all your

journeys inward start

by being still, my friend.

My dad was a brilliant man

and a natural born engineer---

Among the best I've ever come

across or even heard of

and all the things he made

in life began by sitting

at the kitchen table thinking.

And me? Well, just about

everything I ever write

begins by being still for awhile.

Dewey Dirks

Six Words

Six Words

Although there are

many good words

and many words

that can heal

there are six words

that I'm especially happy

to know in life.

Six words

that, if lived by well,

connect us together

and can heal us all.

First is the Chinese word, 'Tao.'

It means a great deal

when you understand it.

Imagine everything that exists,

both alive and inanimate.

Think of everything all this does.

Imagine the reasons why everything

that exists do all that they do.

All of that, all together, all at once

is what Tao is.

Think of everything anything ever does

as notes in a grand song

that an orchestra is playing.

Tao is the orchestra and the song

all together, all at once.

Tao is the idea that the entire Universe

is one single system-in-action.

It means that we each and all

are separate things

that together make One thing.

It is what gives all existence

pattern and order

and it is the music

to which in life we all dance.

Tao is all of us in an orchestra

playing a grand symphony

while dancing along.

Good to know

that Tao doesn't dictate actions

but allows all the different

kinds of music everyone wants to play.

Tao is all that we understand

and all that dwells

beyond our understanding.

It is the fly on the table,

your son texting his friends,

your Aunt Harriet sewing a scarf,

Elephants on the savannah,

and all the fish in the sea.

Tao is all of us dancing

to a melody never set to paper.

Tao is all the things we do in life.

Tao is you and me.

Next is the Hindi word 'Namaste.'

It means 'I honor and see

the place in you where

dwells love and the divine,

and I honor that same place in me,

thereby together we are One.'

I like this word very much

because if you say it

with your heart and soul

it reminds you that

we all are brothers and sisters---

Children of the same Mother Nature.

Everything that lives

are equals by virtue

of the sparks of life

within us all.

Next is a phrase

spoken by the Lakota people

of North America.

'Mitakuye oyasin' means

'All my relations' and

calls to mind not just

your human brothers and sisters

but your relations to

everything that exists

in the entire Universe.

It means that all Nature

is interconnected

and we each are small parts

of something vast and magical.

Something that is wonderful

and full of mystery.

Next are two more words

from the Chinese language.

Yin and Yang call to mind

not the good and the bad,

but that which is passive

and that which is active in life.

Yin is passive and supple

like liquid water.

Yang is active and assertive

like the same water in the form

of a thunder storm.

Yin Yang means that all the world

evolves in cycles, the active

first rising then giving way

to the passive only to rise

and give way again and again.

Yin and Yang are not opposites.

Like two sides of a great mountain

one side quiet in the shade,

the other shined upon

by the bright sun,

each side is complementary

to the other and within in each

is the seed of its counterpart.

Neither one is better than the other

and different parts of the world

gravitate naturally to one or the other.

Though both appear in all the world

in equal proportion, it is said

that Nature favors the Yin.

Yin and Yang remind us all

that the sum of our lives

is not a battle

in the middle of fighting

but a continuous process

that is constantly evolving.

Different words are favored

by different people.

These words are the ones

that mean the most to me.

I favor them, or perhaps,

they favor me.

Six words gathered

from the cultures of Humanity.

Six words to connect us each.

Six words to bind

all life together as One.

Six words to guide and nurture.

Six words to live

and love and learn.

Dewey Dirks

Spirit of a Kitten

The Search

The Search

We each search the world outside

looking for meaning and truths.

Like flowers calling bees

to dance life's dance

meaning and truth look

for us was as well.

The secret is that

before we can recognize

any meaning and truths

in the world around us,

we first must discover

them in ourselves.

Your search starts the day

you begin to look inside.

All the wandering

you do before then

is just practice.

Wonders and great mystery

are waiting my friend

Why not begin

your journeys today?

You'll be surprised

at what you see

when you come out

on the other side.

Dewey Dirks

Wondering and Wandering

Wondering and Wandering

It is good to go through life

wondering and wandering

about everything from God

to what heights and depths

the human spirit can go

to what animals might be thinking

as they go through their day.

Go though life questioning

what none of us know

and what you think

you already know.

Revisit those questions

again and again.

Discover the views of others.

Become a collector

of points of view.

Learn to recognize the mystery

in everything

that surrounds us all.

In every question

you find yourself asking

is the eternal opportunity

to learn

and to unlearn.

Dewey Dirks

Mistaken

A young friend of mine is just starting out writing. Please take a look at his poem. Personally, I think this young man has a good deal of potential :)

Mistaken

All those moments I contemplated,

You were precise and I was erroneous

All those moments I deliberated,

I was a horrific jingle in your stunning melody

I realize I was mistaken

Because I was a canopy to judge you

I realize I was defective

Because my mistakes were like a dew

It seems people don’t recognize me

How bad someone feels to be left out

It seems people don’t recognize me

The pain and sting when someone mistakes out

People find it superior to blame me

People find it fine to disgust me

But my pain and sting are dissimilar and diverse

Cavernous in my heart that nobody can touch and feel

Time reflected and shown,

It was not me but others

Who are immoral all the time?

It was not me but others

Who are idealistic tune all the time?

Saurav Karki