Month: April 2014

Ego

by paulmcdonald2014, posted in Poems, Zen

Heads go up, little squabs sat in the nest,

Stretching themselves, pressing so to be heard.

Look at me and never mind all the rest,

If you could see yourself oh how absurd,

Posturing and preening to catch His gaze.

Hard wired, no choice you are forced to compete,

You should have by now left behind this phase.

To forsake a challenge is not defeat

For the fragile shell you fight to protect

And to stop the sky come falling on down.

You build your defence without neglect,

It’s behind every smile and frown.

Step away from the shore into your boat,

Release yourself from your castle and keep,

Continue on rowing across the moat

As you cast off all your illusions and weep. 

The Thought Train of Desire

by paulmcdonald2014, posted in Zen

All around us we are bombarded with images and suggestions from “The Big Other”, the ineffable force that influences and guides our actions, unseen, unheard but never-the-less omnipresent, the invisible hand of the puppet master pulling our strings.  One of the aspects of this is our desire and how western society thrives upon this to create the need for the latest product which if we buy it will give us that happiness we are searching for, that sense of fulfilment.  How the marketing people play on this sense of emptiness and inadequacy suggesting that in obtaining this missing item, travelling to exotic places, holidaying in exciting destinations or undertaking some daring expedition etc. will somehow make our happiness complete.  Alas these objects of our desire only bring fleeting happiness and leave us chasing just one more purchase or experience.  It is very difficult once on the thought train of desire to alight from it, the trick is not to step onto it in the first place and realise that by not doing so brings the real freedom and perhaps the realisation that the journey of life is where the happiness is found and not in reaching the destination.  Each one of us has this innate capacity to have this enlightened mind and the capacity for happiness away from the world of desire.