FORGIVANCES FORGRIEVANCES
Missive #14 - Transcribed Poetic Dictation
[I am here with all of you. I have very little to say. I love you all.] Received 8/14/2023 | ~8:30pm
FORGIVANCES FORGRIEVANCES
The other night I dreamt I was in council
With a cat, an orange-striped tiger
A small housecat who had lived 1000 lives
And I, too, had lived 1000 lives, and
Both of us were lucid to all of them.
This is a familiar dream to me—
Whenever it seems that we are
On the precipice of a major collective crossroads
A dream like this occurs.
Something big is happening.
In this council of two (or two thousand)
We took a somber tone, like a warning
Or like two tired old friends drumming up
Excitement for yet another, even greater trial.
The Temptation of St. Anthony is sometimes called
The Trial. Was he beset by demons in the air
Or on the ground? He looks calmly down
At us, receiving his battery with loving
Gratitude and appreciation. He was not the first
To have such a thing happen to him, nor
Was he the first to respond so graciously.
Forgive them, for they know not what they do.
The demons divvy up His clothing and,
Grinning, whack away, with words and
Hammers and attitude and manners, mannerisms.
Forgive them, for they know not
What they do, or do not. Not a one
Of us knows what we do.
Not the saint, not the monk,
Not the conscious or conscientious,
Not the practitioner of mindfulness,
Not the guru, not the sage, not the soldier.
Conscious is not conscious.
Present is not present.
Awareness is not aware.
Not even being conscious of being conscious
Can avail you to the knowledge of what
You do; you do it in the dark. The light
Is dark when faced—it blinds us to
Its own revelation. It is not for “no”
Reason that the ancients have said
That the only knowledge we can have
Is of knowing nothing at all. Knowledge
Of nothing is knowledge in the least, or
At least. What, then, are we left to do,
In the face of our incessant ignorance,
And often torturous treatment of ourselves
And those around us? Forgive them.
Forgive all of them. Forgive yourself!
Forgive the fly buzzing about your head.
We can only have a chance at knowing
What we have already done after it has
Already occurred. Arrogance is attachment
To knowing in the moment. The moment
Cannot be known until it is past.
And ‘the moment’ has never left us, nor
Shall it ever be away from us.
Every moment is only one moment.
Every memory is memory of only one Thing.
Dementia: deMens and deMons.
The de-structure of the Mind, pulled
Apart by demons. Why is it that
Saints are so often plagued by demons?
Why can a person’s personality change
And enter into paranoia?
"A great decision is at hand" The cat
Demurrs. "You cannot know what
Decision you will make. The choice is
Already at-hand, and has not yet been
Made, and will not be undone, and
Has already been chosen.” I nod in
Understanding, as if my dreamsage self
Is remembering for me from a long distant
Place, plum forgotten in futurepast tense.
Forgive them to forget your comeuppance.
Is ascension an act of indiscretion?
What is forgotten is forgiven. Give to
Yourself what only you can get from
Yourself. Forgive the demons, for they are
Not demons, but angels, carrying you to
Where you next must go, and be, and do.
The clothing is no matter. It was not mine
To begin with. We cannot know whose it
Is, or why it was ever worn or how.
And so I return back to my confidence.
My loving trust and acceptance of the
Necessity of who I am and who I’ve been
And where I’ve been and what I’ve seen.
There is here and here is there.
There is not where to go, nor gone in any way.
Gate, Gate, Pāragate, Pārasamgate.
Forgive those who announce the knell of departure.
Forgive them again, and again, and again.
Do not linger where forgiveness has been given.
For there is more to forgive yet.
And there is more to forgive then.
And so we shall forgive and forgive,
Until all is forgiven, and all attachment
To knowing is forgiven, and all
Attachment to knowledge is forgotten.
And it is there, in that new now,
Where the ever-increasing weirdness shall
Cease, and all forgiveness shall be done,
And all knowledge shall be attained,
And the very peace we seek, achieved.
A very good read. Thank you.
https://spotify.link/wJ1I0Jt7iCb