Friday, September 26, 2014

Beauty Everywhere

Beauty Everywhere

There is so much
beauty in the world
it's far beyond
the conveyance
of mere words.
I have no idea
how I came
to be able to see it,
but now, wherever
I happen to look
and have the presence
of mind to notice,
beauty is there.
Yes, it's true
there is pain
in the world
and sadness too,
but like a vast star field
hidden behind the blue
wash of daylight,
or life giving sunlight
hidden behind
passing storm clouds
beauty is there too.

Dewey Dirks

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Peace Among Mankind

Today President Obama made a speech before the UN in which he said that no God would condone the actions of the group ISIL and he made the case for nations around the globe to come together to co-operate in the fight against ISIL, the ebola outbreak, and combating climate change. He also said that nations should all strive together for greater global health security. While the Presidents aspirations for greater co-operation among the nations of Earth is very commendable, I have to tell you, Mr. President and other leaders around the world, you can't exploit, bomb, and kill your way to global peace and co-operation. Just as no God would be pleased with the behavior of ISIL, I'm sure no God would be happy with the long history of exploitation and killing of people around the globe by rich nations such the U.S. and those in the European Union. Mr. President and other world leaders, if you really desire to improve the behavior between nations and people around the globe, I suggest you all put your money where your mouths are and come together to spend five or ten trillion dollars on weaning our civilization from its self-destructive addiction to petroleum. Such an effort would also go a considerable distance in the global effort to lesson climate change, and it would improve enormously the health of people around the planet, so you'd all get three chickens in the pot for the price of one. 'Can't argue with that.

Monday, September 22, 2014

Standing Up For The Environment

Hi folks. I know the mainstream media hasn't reported on it much (of course) but over 310,000 people showed up for yesterdays march in New York City to protest against climate change policy. It's good to hear that more and more people are taking an interest in protecting our environment and coming out against our cultures insane dependance on petroleum. I hear today that they've gathered at Wall Street to protest the contribution of corporations to greenhouse gasses. Once again, it's good that people are standing up to corporate and governmental idiocy. It really is up to us to straighten out the behavior of our civilization before it runs itself into the ground. It just goes to show that the general population has a better conception of how our culture should behave than the ruling classes do...Keep it up people! Remember folks, it's not about one country verses another, democrat verses republican, or one religion verses another. It's all about humanity verses corporate shortsightedness and greed.

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Dancing The Abyss

Dancing the Abyss

Rich, poor, no matter.
Creeds, convictions, colors,
compassions, no matter.
Every path through life,
and everyone, everywhere
dances a few times along the abyss
and passes through
terrible typhoons and tornadoes.
If it's not of one sort, it's another.
Everyone breaks in a place or two
and wear a few deep scars for it.
We all find out sooner or later
what this old world can do.
Some fall and don't get up.
These have to wait for another lifetime
to move through the pain.
Others regrow, patch and repair.
To some they appear haggard,
torn and tattered, but where their scars are,
a light now shines and they are stronger.

Dewey Dirks

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Roads Inward

Roads Inward

There are many ways to start your journey inward.
Truth be known, I think that sooner or later
pretty much every road leads inward
at some point along the line.

Some open the doors inward through
spirituality, mysticism, or philosophy
and a soul searching longing
to know how life is put together.

Some people begin out of necessity
when they suffer from life changing
events that give them shell shock
and they find the only way to see it through
is to travel the roads deep, deep inside.
Others begin after a very close brush with death
that opens their mind and spreads bare their soul.

Some begin their journey inward through science
when they become interested in anthropology,
sociology, psychology, biology, or even physics.
Most every path in science leads to introspection
if you are honest enough in your objectivity
and you travel far enough down the line.

My journeys begin as a teenager
when a couple of very gifted teachers
introduced me to the world of philosophy,
and to the notion that the knowledge and wisdom
of Man is not confined to one single worldview,
but the roads of truth are broad and many.
Not long after, when I was nineteen
I decided two very important things---
First, I decided that what I most wanted to do in life
was learn as many things as I could no matter where
it might lead me and so I let my natural curiosity
begin to point the way in my life.
Second, I began to call into question
virtually everything I had ever been taught.
As time passed, I realized I'd become a collector
of ideas and differing points of view.

As the years quickly rolled on,
although I didn't realize it at the time,
through happenstance and circumstance,
life was very kind to offer up
just the sort to lessons I needed to learn.
Soon, I discovered that the farther
out into the world that you explore,
the more deeply you also look within
because all human perceptions about
the world around us are viewed through the filters
of the ideas floating around in our heads.

Along the way, after I had a couple very close
brushes with death by wrecking on motorcycles,
my eyes were opened to the notion
that every day is to be cherished, because no one knows
how long they've got on this Earth,
and I learned that it wasn't enough
to merely know lots of things, that knowledge
is never complete until it's been shared with others,
so, I began to write about some of the things I'd learned.

Many years have now gone by and much water
has passed beneath all the bridges I've crossed.
Each day, I still learn a new thing or two,
and I spend much of my time writing about
what I've learned over the long years behind.
I think perhaps among the most important things
I've learned is that you gotta believe in love
before you can believe in most anything else at all.

Dewey Dirks

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Patrick Tomby

Patrick Tomby

I was twenty-four when I met him
I was full of spit and vinegar
Had lots of false bravado
Secretly, I was oh so confused
Didn't know left from right
Couldn't tell which way was up
And which way was down
Patrick Tomby was old and gray, north of seventy
Wore a blue baseball cap, carried a cane
He had a limp, drank gallons of black coffee
Ate peanuts by the pound

We sat around down at Sambo's
Every Saturday night
During the summer of nineteen seventy-nine
He told me tales of climbing mountains and crossing deserts
Did a stint as a merchant seaman
Was traveling trader a time or two
Served in an army, raced cars for a little while
Talked to Buddhist monks in Tibet
Saw the red square and Tiananmen
Said he was always looking
For what he did not know

Along towards the the end of July, I confessed to him
'Said, “Patrick, I'm lost and I wander
I always have a longing
A hollow and empty ache inside
I don't know what to do or where to go”
He said, “Well, I know that son.
So I'll tell you that one day I was walking
South of a little village in Uzbekistan
The grass swayed gently by the roadside
A sparrow sang from a bush nearby
And I realized that whatever it was
I'd been seeking all my life
Was already in my heart and mind, with me all the while
And the only reason I didn't understand
Was because I'd never bothered to look at myself
And take an adventure deep inside”

If you don't know what life is all about
If you are a seeker, always longing to know
Then look far within yourself
Find the paths to the bright center inside
You might be surprised at what you see
When you come out on the other side

Dewey Dirks
From “The Questioning Way”

Monday, September 8, 2014

Three Faces

Three Faces

We each are of three minds.
Each person, a tree with three faces.
The first mind is propelled by fear
and feeds on anger and ignorance.
It seeks to control everything
and tries always to avoid change.
You should listen to this mind
only one time in every twenty.

The second mind is propelled by glowing passion.
It thrives on high hopes and sky reaching dreams.
It gives us each the will,
intelligence and energy to strive in life.
You should listen to this mind
nineteen times in every twenty.

The third mind is your soul and is propelled by love.
It's the part of us that is closest to the Universe
and precedes all that you have ever been or will ever be.
It gives us each the ability to see the grace
and the redemption hidden in everything.
It is very old and enormously wise
even in young children.
Through its eyes you can see and feel
the quiet melody that nudges and twirls us all.
Every day, bring yourself to sway to its music.
You should listen to this mind
every time you hear its lilting song.

It is often harder for a person
to become aware of the love in their soul
than it is for them to see
their shortcomings and their fears.
To open your eyes to the nature of the world,
to be a complete and whole person,
you must learn to live
embracing all three minds.

The first face gives you propriety, caution
and energy to grow your roots very deep.
The second face gives you purpose,
strength and fiber to grow your branches
broad and high reaching for the sky.
The third face gives you your life force.
It carries with it the power of miracles,
and can keep alive dying men.
It can turn mere truth into wisdom,
binds all three minds together as one,
and it has the strength to overcome
any obstacle you might ever happen across.

Dewey Dirks

Thursday, September 4, 2014

The Longest Journey

The Longest Journey

They say the longest journey
is the one you take into yourself.
I promised myself at nineteen
that I would take
the long way home
not knowing at the time
exactly what that might mean.
So, I've traveled
over the last fifty years.
the winding roads inward
many times over
and I've discovered
new things to know
every single time.

One of the things I've learned
is 'as without, so within,
likewise, as within so without.'
and I've learned that living
can be divided into two parts---
Times to pick up
what you believe, and act
and times to put down
what you believe and learn.

Whenever I hear someone say,
“I know myself pretty well,”
I can kinda figure
what they really mean to say is,
“I know just enough about myself,
to feel comfortable with how I imagine
myself to be.”
...and I can tell there are probably
quite a few forests
they have not yet wandered wondering,
and quite a few mountains high
they have yet to cross over.

Good to know, inside we each
are as simple as a single
second of silence
yet at the same time
as vast as all the sea of stars at night
and just as full of mystery.
If you don't spend
a fair amount of time,
in a state of wonder,
like a young child
you've likely got a ways
yet to wander.
Put down your preconceptions
and set your sails as high as you can.
Grand and uncharted
the sea awaits you, my friend.

Dewey Dirks

Monday, September 1, 2014

Silence Shared

Silence Shared

My roommate and I
are like two old mountain men.
Days after day
goes by with both of us
in the same room
where hardly three sentences
are spoken between us
and in our silence shared
we are connected.

Dewey Dirks