What is Sacred

I want to talk about holy

What is spirit

And how you practice seeing

Being it

Finding it

In the wild

Who decided it was stillness

Quiet

And not colorful

Active

Or loud

Sitting still ain’t it

Legs falling asleep

Performing

Maybe for some

But not for me

No

Sacred is in motion

Birdsong

Seeing spirit in everything

In the moments

In between

Holy is the trees

Swaying in breezes

Unseen but felt

The laughter of a stranger

Passing by

The work of the people

Making their way

Carrying the heavy weight

Like it’s nothing

Like it’s something

The hustle has a sacred

The drive to survive

There is only this

Spirit is in everything

If you know how to find it

There is no one right way

No one is better

There is only the work

And it is everywhere

You can visit every shrine

Admire the shiny decorations

All I see is what might have

Fed someone

The plain ones speak to me

They say we used what we had

To take care of the people

All that gold collected off the walls

Fed the community

It did no good where it was

So we gave it all away

No gold leaf

No silence

No stillness

No words

No legacy

No history

Just this moment

And a beating heart

And love

.

I see it in the sky

In the air

The clouds

Also in the hands

Building and cleaning

Repairing and maintaining

Keeping the faith

Making do every day

Each one a special flower

Each one the same, ordinary

Equal under the sun

Shining on all of us

Look at what we made

.

It is time to celebrate

Let go of the notion

That you know what it is

To live

And finally become more

Expand beyond your own borders

The limits you impose on others

Cage you still

.

Forget what they told you

And see

Look and really understand

Don’t hold yourself apart

Be with the world

Be of the people

Be free

.

It’s not just clean and white

Quiet and still

Breath held

Body immobile

It’s everything

All of the time

Everywhere

All at once

The world will not wait

It needs you now

Take the first step

Do one small thing

Walk out of this constriction

And become

.

What you impose

Brittle, fragile, false

Like a house made out of crackers

So easily lost

Cannot stand

Vines of reality

Intertwine with old structures

Bring down the

Stones

Heavy weights imposed

Laid over natural impulse

Structures built to withhold

Separate

Learned discernment

False conclusions

Blind to the truth

Break it all down

Cart it away

And clear a space

For observation

.

Life serves up

Sustenance

Maybe

Not what you ordered

Someone told you

This is and

That isn’t but

They didn’t understand

They just followed the rules

Which isn’t the same thing

At all

Now you regurgitate that structure

Still not knowing what it means

Having not quite

Heard the call

You shout it at others

Hoping maybe you’ll finally hear

The missing message

.

Strip down to the girders

And build again

This time

Don’t try

Just be

.

Fear is a lonely companion

Holding judgement’s hand

.

Muddy waters

Settle

Reflection revealed

.

Yours is not mine

Is not theirs

You cannot

Impose your will

And call it

True

.

I find the sacred in the ordinary

Not the gilded halls

Gold leaf over everything

Hushed tones

Stuffed

Held

No

The brash playfulness

The daily

Ritual

Like a

Tide

Pulling the

World around

Each one a jewel

.

Once you write it down it is gone

There is no trace of what was there

Only a shadow on the paper

Some footsteps in the sand

You can try to follow the hollow trails

Skipping from one checkpoint to the next

But you can’t walk the same path twice

With different feet

.

You are not your parents

Not your history

Your lineage

Isn’t you

From but not of

You must learn to fly

Using only the air

Your strength

And a feeling

Begin again

For the first time

This time

Make something stronger

So it can withstand

The world

And still be

True