Being too hard on yourself
is ego too:
measuring yourself harshly
against a standard derived
from your own understanding.

The path forward
is a free and humble heart,
continuously learning
and turning toward God and joy.

“Ego” arises from ideas
that ossify into a false sense of reality —
whether within or without —
and become veils between [...]

The shell of the seed is hard, so hard!
and there is nothing for it
but to be thrust into damp and dark
and given patience, water, fertilizer and time.

I think we are all beautiful souls,
potential within the shell of self and limitation.
Some will germinate;
some fall on stony soil and need relocation.

Yet how [...]

Imagine all your life
you were blinded
and kept in a room.

Suddenly the cloak
is pulled off your head
and there you sit,
in front of a perfect mirror
slanted toward you.

Through a hole in the ceiling.
the sun shines down
onto the mirror
and directly into your eyes.

You hear someone say:
This is [...]

A shadow cannot meet the Sun.

“I” is the true separation,
the reason you cannot see
that He is nearer to you
than your life’s vein.

The wave lifts up
gazing at the sky
for a moment
and asks:

How ever could I meet the Ocean? [...]

The sun rises and sets;
it moves through the Zodiac;
it shines on clear days
or is hidden by clouds.

Whatever condition
the Earth happens to be in
determines how we see
the sun on that day.

Meanwhile,
it has never moved,
never changed,
never shined
any more or less brightly. [...]

O lovely moth!
who at every dusk
strives for his moon
with the same hope
as the night before.

Her silver light
is your treasure;
the stars, your diamonds;
each flame, a flowing gold.

The ache in your wings
is fond communion;
the wind in your eyes, a kiss;
every fire, a luminous doorway
you leave the cloak [...]