nondual meditation on easter

[Guest guest]

eastering into the beloved

(a symphonic mediation)

 

“There isn’t one static moment”

-, Easter 2001

 

there is a moment,

beyond precious,

a life giving moment

 

between the end of the last breath

and the beginning of the first breath

a moment you receive ten thousand

times ten thousand in one mortal life

there is a moment,

without value,

a death dealing moment

 

a moment that may and cannot be taken

but merely accepted for what it is and is not

a casual but kind gesture of divine grace

casting itself into a too crowded universe

 

a life giving moment,

of sincerity,

there is a moment

 

even if you have chosen the forgetting

that you choose to forgot, it returns again

relentlessly marrying the yin with yang

springing familiar dark into fresh light

 

a death dealing moment,

of insincerity,

there is a moment

 

it is as dishonest as the empty promises

we make to ourself that we intend to keep

the effort to ceaselessly forget that we forget

our present situation is a gift and not a right

 

there is a moment,

gently gentle,

these life giving

moments

 

the courtly dance of shiva holding shakti

each new step arising from an embrace of all

that is known into a wanton surrender to all

that remains unknown but must be made known

 

there is a moment,

gentle gently,

these death dealing

moments

 

brahman must die that atman may love

atman must love that brahman may die

each gracefully deferring endlessly to each

one into two, two into three, three into one

 

this moment is that moment,

instigating stillness,

that moment is this

moment

 

the dance is the sacrificial blood rushing

from one end of your body to the other

with joy in its work, sweet joy in each cell,

ecstasy in life’s plasma moving on and on

 

these death dealing moments,

gentle gently,

these are your moments

 

there is no such thing as a static moment

each moment is a motionless flux of love

there is no moment not within yet another

motionless flux instigating active stillness

 

there life giving moments,

gently gentle,

these were your

moments

 

they are the sacrifice of countless ancestors

reaching back through all who came before

the minds, the hearts, the seeds, the wombs

of all once and still future mothers and fathers

 

there are still moments,

moments of insincerity,

death dealing moments

 

as they are, so we will become, surrending

as the sons and daughters of the godhead.

walking as they the way of darkness before us

saying with them, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani!

 

there are silent moments,

moments of sincerity,

life giving moments

 

the gods and goddesses dying die endlessly

that each of us, a new queen and a new king,

may fall in love as if for the first and only time,

that within us a new child is born into eternity

 

 

there are eternal moments,

beyond value,

these are your moments

of stillness

 

sit in them as only the buddha sitting sits

stand in them as only a noble warrior stands

walk in the as only the christ walking walks

know as the ancient ones know, you are the way

 

there are infinite moments,

without price,

these are your moment

of silence

 

the universe in silence awaits your music

it is holy relic containing a divine treasure,

will you accept the silent grace of all creation,

stand, take your first step beginning the dance

 

all these words are one moment,

the fugitive moment,

the one moment kissed

by love

 

they are yours if you marry the beloved with a kiss

join the beloved in love arising into love eastering

into the solemn and holy day of singing and dancing

step out of the cathedral of grace drunk with singing

 

oh, my readers, come with and drink,. sing, dance

it is the time of easter to begin anew eastering

into the music i hear yesterday, today, tomorrow

 

what does the beloved’s poet hear that hearing you hear not?

silly you, why i hear nothing less than my beloved laughing!

 

mark christopher valentine

(april 15, 2001) unedited