ORIGINAL ESSENCE "i was dead" "..a time before..." "...what we Are, before we are." January 24, 2020

Above Photo from Five Years Ago
January 24, 2015

​ONLY THE NOURISHMENT
OF ORIGINAL ESSENCE SUFFICETH
ew
3:01 AM-1/24/20

i was dead
i came alive
i was tears
i became laughter
all because of love
when it arrived
my temporal life
from then on
changed to eternal

love said to me
you are not
crazy enough
you don’t
fit this house

i went and
became crazy
crazy enough
to be in chains
​
love said
you are not
intoxicated enough
you don’t
fit the group​

i went and
got drunk
drunk enough
to overflow
with light-headedness
​
love said
you are still
too clever
filled with
imagination and skepticism

​i went and
became gullible
and in fright
pulled away
from it all

love said
you are a candle
attracting everyone
gathering every one
​around you

i am no more
a candle spreading light
i gather no more crowds
and like smoke
i am all scattered now

love said
you are a teacher
you are a head
and for everyone
you are a leader
​
i am no more
not a teacher
not a leader
just a servant
to your wishes​

love said
you already have
your own wings
i will not give you
more feathers
​
and then my heart
pulled itself apart
and filled to the brim
with a new light
overflowed with fresh life

now even the heavens
are thankful that
because of love
i have become
the giver of light
― Rumi
https://allpoetry.com/I-Was-Dead​

AFTERNOON

In the Garden of The Beloved
November 27, 2019 · 

It occurred to me…
There was a time when my Soul Shone, unobscured,
By all that would accrue upon my Naked Innocence,
When the Ecstasy of Being was unalloyed by selfhood,
And I existed as my Essence.

There was a time, before I learned a language,
Before the inner voice began its endless dialog,
Before I came to feel my self as the thinker,
When I was simply Perception.

There was a time before all that is experienced,
Was wrapped in words, concepts, and images,
Overlaying every perception with the already known,
A time when I was simply Immediacy.

There was a time, before the felt sense of my self,
Qualified and conditioned in countless ways,
Came to feel dense, isolated, and alone,
A time when I was simply Experience.

There was a time, before boy-girl; fat-thin, gifted-dim;
Smart-dull; attractive-unattractive; admired-disdained,
A time before qualifications and attributions,
When I simply Was.

And I wondered if, before these Veils enshrouded me,
The Ecstasy of Being I sought so desperately,
Might simply be the Nature of what I Am, Before.

And so I Journeyed within, back, behind, before,
All that had accrued “upon” my naked Innocence,
Until only Perception Remained.

Past the felt sense of myself as a person,
Qualified and judged by myself and others,
Until only Experience Remained. ​

Past the attributes that had defined the person,
Birthing a relentless concern for stature,
In the eyes of others, and in my own.

Past the words, concepts, and images that cloaked,
And dulled every perception with the already known,
Until only Immediacy Remained.
Within, past all that was not my Essence I Journeyed,
Until I, and all that existed, Vanished utterly,
And somehow, impossibly…

 I Remained, not as “I”, but Existence Itself.

 And Returning, I saw that it had been as I’d thought,
For the Ecstasy of Being is simply the Nature,
Of what we Are, before we are.
In the Garden of The Beloved
​November 27, 2019

​www.GardenOfTheBeloved.com
www.facebook.com/InTheGardenOfTheBeloved

The Truth is the only thing you'll ever run into
​that has no agenda.
Adyashanti
https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/183733-emptiness-dancing
https://zenmoments.org/wp-content/uploads/Adyashanti-Ebook-Emptiness-Dancing-Complete.pdf

​See Read More Below
Additional Afternoon Photos