is

i bow down to that soft voice of correctness that whispers the perfect thought ceaselessly om namo guru manjughosaya

for starters there is NOW catch it if you can

you won't ever but that's nearly the whole point of the exercise

for NOW presents two equally matched challengers they have many names they are called agitation and dullness they are called ultimate and deceptive they are called desire and malevolence they are called staying and going they are called Tree of Life and Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

but in their perfect juxtaposition is a garden of clear light it is a paradise a canopy stuffed with every imaginable delight

and all one has to do to find it is look for it and true to the paradox of any object called wisdom that ever was actually wisdom failure to discover it is the proof of its discovery

herein is youth and beauty herein is immortality and health herein is the miraculous power of every sage and master that was or could ever be

and if you're lucky if you're so much more fortunate than any zillion dollar lottery winner ever dreamed you might discover shangri-la utopia nowhere in the expedition to conquer NOW

and if you're not so fortunate then it might sound like all this opposite talk is just fortune-cookie riddles

what do you hear what do you smell what do you taste and breathe what do you feel right NOW

and moreover who is this that is hearing who is this that is smelling who is this that is tasting and breathing and feeling right NOW

and if you say ME

you are correct

but then tell me

who is this ME

and just to be in this space in the examination of the lie

is so far beyond all the wealth that any numeral could quantify

and here we must be gentle here we must talk in whispers in gestures

for we step soft in the prints of God

for it's not something and it's not nothing

it's I AM

or perhaps, better AM

limitless available effortless bliss

but what about bills what about heart breaks what about pain and ecstacy what about injustices and windfalls

and then it's gone lost

do but stay a while in AM BE

even to write it or speak of it destroys it

but to rest in it

is divine

just to rest in the meaning of these two english letters IS forget the rest just IS

and if the thought arises as it must what is IS

stay