Back, Behind, Before

You can sit for countless ages,
Listening to beautiful words,
About formless “You”,
Within which “you” appear.

But if “you”, in Solitude,
Do not turn attention within,
There is no hope that “you”,
Will ever Know “You”…

As anything more than a concept.

It's not glamorous, sitting thus,
Alone… abandoning all that appears,
Abandoning the felt sense of “you“,
And Feeling your way Back, Behind, Before…

To “You”.

Back, Behind, Before…
To the Unlocatable Aliveness “You“ are,
Before ever “you“ or the world appeared,
And attention was drawn outward, fascinated.

There is no teacher, guru, murshid,
On the Journey to the Aliveness that “You” are,
Save the teacher, guru, murshid that “You” are,
Pulling “you“ Back, Behind, Before…

Within.

You won't be rid of “you“,
By hearing endlessly about “You”,
By reading endlessly about “You”,
Or talking endlessly about “You”.

All of those must be abandoned,
Like baggage upon The Way,
Helpful in their way, early on,
But now heavy, burdensome, dragging.

“you”, and the world must be let go,
As “you” Journey from the far frontiers,
Through ever-increasing Dissolution,
To “You”, the Kingdom of Heaven…

Back, Behind, Before.

No sangha, tariqa, or community,
Can travel with “you”, Pilgrim,
On this most Solitary of Journeys,
From “you” to “You”…

Back, Behind, Before.

But take heart, weary soul,
For if you persevere with earnestness,
“you” will Vanish, into the Ineffable Sublimity,
That arises as “you” dissolve…

In the Ocean that “You” are.

Have no fear, and be of Good Cheer,
For although “you” will cease,
“You” will remain…
Shining, Ecstatic…

Before even “You” ever were.