How I love to visit temples, mosques, and churches,
But only because when I see or enter them,
The Temple of my own Heart Illumines in recognition.
Not a recognition of beliefs or dogmas,
But of the Effulgent Mystery that each enshrines,
So often obscured by the detritus of "religion".
My “nondual” friends think me naive and foolish,
In need of emotional healing, or simply delusional,
Or I would surely not enter these monuments to duality.
But having Experienced formless, unmanifest Heaven,
And returned, my Heart thereafter Illumined,
I no longer discern where nonduality begins and ends…
For Formless, Unmanifest Heaven now Shines… Here.
The Radiant Presence within the Heart,
Is none other than the Light of Heaven, Immanent,
And it is This Great Mystery which Dances in recognition…
Recognition of temple, mosque, church, or cathedral,
Of the Light in the eyes of fellow Lovers,
Of the infinite manifestation of the unmanifest…
And my own… Sweet… Existence.
“Love is my Religion,” as a Sufi poet declared,
And where it Shines, my Heart Illumines in recognition,
Recognition of Love here… Shining there.
All of Creation is surely a Temple,
As are edifices built with hands, sweat, and devotion,
But my own Heart, the Great Recognizer of these…
Is the Inner Sanctum.
