What Is It You Want?

Is it “knowledge” you desire, of this, that, or the other,
Do you seek a “conclusion” arrived at by the mind?
Or do you struggle endlessly, as do so many,
Holding fast to belief, while nurturing tenuous faith?

Or do you long for the immediacy of Experience,
Experience that is your own, palpable and visceral,
Not merely in transient “spiritual” moments,
But always, with every breath, every heartbeat…

Filling the Experience of Being,
With Warmth and Richness,
Fullness, Completion…
And Bliss.

Knowledge is of use only if it evokes Experience.
For otherwise, like wood stored against the winter's cold,
Unburned in the Hearth of the Heart's Longing,
It will not Warm and Comfort your Spirit…

Only the Heart's Flame will ignite that kindling.
Consuming, across the Whole of your Being,
The terrible contraction, the painful sense,
Of “I”, separate, and alone.

Whether Consciousness is the Formless Ground of Being,
Or an endless flow of Causality arising in Emptiness,
Is of no consequence, whatsoever,
Unless such knowledge evokes Experience.

Without Longing…

You can hear all the words in the world,
And the ember of your Heart will not ignite.
You can see every “teacher du jour”,
And the wellspring of your Heart will not overflow.

Without Longing…

Disciplined, you can perform 10,000 prostrations,
Recite one million “Om Mane Padme Hums,”
And receive countless empowerments,
And the Sun of your Heart will not Shine.

Without Love's Unbearable Longing,
Teachings are the sound of dry bones crumbling,
The most powerful teachers, no more than mannequins,
And the highest “highs”… only memories.

Only Longing, deep, vast, and enduring
Will water the seedling of the mind's understanding,
And reap The Heart's Desire,
From the arid fields of knowledge.

This is a matter of Mind and Heart,
Not an academic endeavor to be figured out, “gotten”.
One does not “learn” the meaning of the words…
Existence, Consciousness, Bliss.