I woke up this morning after a twelve hour sleep,
during which I experienced a bit of dreaming.
Somehow I found myself in the company
of very young twenty year olds. We were at a party.
They accepted me as being one of them,
despite my having been twice their age.
An old friend showed up, now a famous poet.
He looked younger too.
He leaned in and planted a firm kiss on my mouth.
Although somewhat taken aback, I accepted the kiss.
I could feel the coarseness of his stubble.
The rough maleness of it.
It was very casual, as if we were just saying
"Hello" to each other.
Granted, it had been many years since we last
hung out together.
Today I am worried about him and his wife.
We all know he is lingering by the clearing.
The clearing at the end of the road.
This has gotten me thinking about spirit.
What is spirit, if not the commonality of all things?
Could the great spirit have projected this image
of my friend into my dream?
There being essentially zero difference
between the two?
Is it possible my dream was that spirit bidding
us farewell for me?
Even while he may be slipping from his mortal shell,
unaware himself, God Itself
may have been sending me a message.
I hope and pray that my dear friend has not passed away yet.
Maybe this image in my dream was meant as a reminder.
A reminder that after all, we don't have that much time left.
A tap on the shoulder in my sleep,
to get myself to Boston this spring.
What is God but a word we invented
to signify what we don't understand?
About this existence, this magnetic planet,
this solar storm in which we live.
These great, nested spheres of unimaginable
energy animating us all.
Why are we all so divided in our beliefs
to the point of constant warring?
Because we survivors must live here together.
It must be that we only use a fraction
of our heart's muscle toward thinking.
Could it be that we have over-analyzed
every little thing into fruitlessness?
Allow me to provide just one example
in this endless forest of night.
It has been stated that to forgive is divine,
but what is forgiveness, then?
What is it to forgive, if not to merely pardon
someone for even the smallest thing?
In other words, the next time someone
whose beliefs are different than yours,
why not try an experiment, you know,
just for shits and giggles.
If they think something differently
than you, why not pardon them and listen.
Is there any such thing as an authority
on this great open wide green Earth?
If you just pardon someone's different
belief system, you have forgiven them.
To forgive does not necessarily mean that
the case in which it's done must be extreme.
If you are an atheist and believe in science,
does that mean you cannot believe in spirit?
If you're religious and believe in creationism,
does that mean you live in a dream world?
Do the laws of physics as we have come
to understand them even mean a thing?
This is why I have chosen to live
my life on middle ground.
It's a firm decision to establish
one's home on this bridge.
