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Zahhar

Erin Thomas


Last Updated: 11/17/2009

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March 5, 2009 - Thursday 

Category: Writing and Poetry



  Self discovery implies the existence of a self to discover—Something clearer than metaphor, something more concrete than abstraction. Yet when we press our inward eye against the pane of our being, we find ourselves gaping into the unknown, seeing only the dust of time and culture that has accumulated there—Like a fog.

  We wave our hands and fidget our fingers as we strive to express it, "It's like a mustard seed ...", "It's like a reflection ...", "It's that place from which all experience ...", and it goes on. Almost always it's "like", it's "as", it's simile and metaphor. It never just is. And after so many years with my face nearly flat against that pane, I can't seem to figure out where or what it is. So I've let go of trying to answer the age old question of, "Who am I?" I've let go even of asking. I am. Whatever I am, however it happened, it's here. It just is
For now:


        Creation


        You are already all
                you've longed to be
close your eyes and breathe
        trust in the rhythm of inspiration

        The work is done
                all that remains now
is the clear crisp waters of faith
        on your sapling words

        They sprouted when your soul was new
                in dark brown soils where
confusion percolated down to nourish
        tiny roots of sentience

        Blind to all knowing they pushed
                cracked open the earth and spread
tremulous shoots
        glittering themes of light

        What could be eons passed
                bending with the sun
singing out to stars perhaps
        long since vanished

        All unwitting you kept
                your garden safe from saws
that would plane your understanding
        into signposts and billboards

        A garden not unlike perhaps
                the long ago Eden that once
rustled softly in morning winds
        yearning to the step of creation

        Now open your eyes
                and behold strong green sprays
swaying over streams of time
        they were always there




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She is Green

 
GREAT! I truly appreciate you and your work.

I can't even begin to express how amazed I am that you are that in touch with yourself and your "existance". Thank you.

 
Posted by She is Green on March 5, 2009 - Thursday - 6:35 AM
[Reply to this
Zahhar
Erin Thomas

 
Thanks! And me and my work truly appreciate being appreciated.
:D





I myself am uncertain just how in touch "I" am with my "self", because more and more evidence seems to point to anything I conceive of as "self" as being mere illusion, reflection, or perhaps even just conditional patterns accrued over a long period--also called karma.



 
Posted by Zahhar on March 9, 2009 - Monday - 8:35 AM
[Reply to this
Shelby

 
To "be" is to find peace.
As always, you have expressed this beautifully!
 
Posted by Shelby on March 5, 2009 - Thursday - 9:23 AM
[Reply to this
Zahhar
Erin Thomas

 
If we're lucky. :) I think the way I'd put it is: To cultivate one's being is to cultivate peace.




Thanks for reading, Shelby! And for commenting! :)
 
Posted by Zahhar on March 7, 2009 - Saturday - 8:17 AM
[Reply to this
Zahhar
Erin Thomas

 
Ah yes. Exactly. In a way there's nothing to find, and if we're fortunate the whole process of seeking that self becomes or transforms into a self cultivative process that, in time, brings us to discover or realize that we have gained and sustained so much insight, peace and composure as a result of the journey itself that we find that though we haven't been able to fathom out the depths or nature of the "true" self, we are happy with the apparent self that has manifested through the cultivative process.




I'm glad you enjoyed this, Erin.
:)
 
Posted by Zahhar on March 7, 2009 - Saturday - 8:24 AM
[Reply to this
Rose

 
Deep thoughts.

 
Posted by Rose on March 5, 2009 - Thursday - 7:56 PM
[Reply to this
Zahhar
Erin Thomas

 
:)
 
Posted by Zahhar on March 7, 2009 - Saturday - 8:24 AM
[Reply to this
nina moon

 
spend a life trying to find happiness.. to be accepted to be appreciated.. when in truth we were already there when we first began our journey into this world as mere babes in the womb ..
 
Posted by nina moon on March 5, 2009 - Thursday - 8:55 PM
[Reply to this
Zahhar
Erin Thomas

 
The metaphor, or allegory, of the poem extends the concept of "words", which can in themselves represent self.
Without words, without the ability to formulate and express symbolically, would a self exist? Could a self exist in such circumstances?





I remember my first coherent thoughts--just swirling colors and incoherent sounds. No words. No sight. No understanding. The neurons began to connect and organize, and color formed and began to take shape. Suddenly there it was, the world. I was already a toddler, standing in front of a counter looking up at something.





Before that moment I did not exist, and whatever I seemed to be to those around, nothing animated my child body before that moment but basic instincts and reactions. Nothing conscious had yet manifested. My body, my mind, certainly made the struggle to manifest, channel, or otherwise create or invent being, consciousness, sentience, but I'm firmly convinced that it wasn't there until that moment. Then, and only then, did I begin to coalesce.





My first conscious act, I think, was to speak. My sister told me later in life that I never spoke until five or so. How could I? I wasn't there yet. Something was wrong with my early experience that resisted the manifestation of "self", and the self that manifested had to be willing--on some level--to accept and take on the traumas already imbued in the cells and membranes of this body.





I'll never be certain how it works, and perhaps it works in an entirely unique way for each and every conscious entity, but I am fairly clear about certain aspects of my own experience.
:)


 
Posted by Zahhar on March 7, 2009 - Saturday - 8:32 AM
[Reply to this
Michele A.

 
This is truly a piece of great depth and beauty Zahhar....I believe when you said "all that remains now is the cool crisp waters of faith"...you summed it up...at least for me :)

wishing you Peace always,
Michele ~
 
Posted by Michele A. on March 6, 2009 - Friday - 6:22 AM
[Reply to this
Zahhar
Erin Thomas

 
One of the original lines of the poem, in fact, that came down from the top. All that remains is the crisp clear waters of faith--from there anything can be nurtured into being, what ever it is that waits in the seeds of understanding.




Thanks for reading, Michele, and for enjoying.
:)
 
Posted by Zahhar on March 7, 2009 - Saturday - 8:35 AM
[Reply to this
Karen

 
Lovely.


Break the pane....

K xx
 
Posted by Karen on March 7, 2009 - Saturday - 5:38 AM
[Reply to this
Zahhar
Erin Thomas

 
I would, but it's like a mist.
:)
 
Posted by Zahhar on March 7, 2009 - Saturday - 8:36 AM
[Reply to this
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