A November Morning Poem: Sunrise In the City

Sunrise In the City

 

The incipient day,

Beginnings of arched gradations,

A soft peach-orange

To a vast white-blue

To the eyes,

Infinite resolution

Containing all time in a moment

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This dawn and every dawn, 

The ever-present backdrop of

Nature's stage projects

A reminder of truth, 

And an introduction to life

Of great order--

Before worldly thoughts and 

Blinding commotion

 

MS 

Spring Poem for Peace and Presence

 

Arch No.56

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Befitting of Nature,

That thoughtless duration—

Nay, dimension of space

Comes forth—

Nay, is present.

And intention is astray,

Along with the object sought—

That dual pair, of incessant motion

Now transparent in quietude

Leaving only

The timeless Present.

 

MS

Notes

 

Line 2: thoughtless duration - period of mental quietude 

Line 3: nay - or rather should I say...

Line 5: Nay, is present - rather than suggesting movement, which would imply physical and time bound, presence is immediate

Line 6: intention is astray - as intention interferes with presence

Line 8: dual pair refers to intention (representing the "thinker") and object of thought

 

 

 

 

Winter Solstice Poem

 

 

Winter Solstice

 

The silent darkness

Drawing attention

Into the vast cold

And inwardly too,

Swirling together

In clean yet gentle

Vortices of power

 

The motion of time

Unmoving in essence

Calling souls to meet

And dance and play

In a world of light

Yet unseen by the eye

 

 

MS 2025

 

Midnight Star Wood Form Ornament, 

carved in 2023 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over 30 hand-carved, abstract sculptures in the Wood Forms Etsy shop: mikesasakiwoodforms.etsy.com 

An Early November Morning Poem

 

 

 

 An Early November Morning

 

 

As the night turns

Quietly into day

The soft pink glow

Arises above mountains,

Kissing edges of clouds

Still carrying the dark grey

Of sleep and stillness.

Indoors, the watcher,

Also carrying the remnants

Of sleep, in deep connection

With the infinite view,

Shares intimate space

With the delicate glass lights

Of the humbly sized tree

Adorned of late

With reflecting forms

Hanging restfully Awake.

 

 

MS 2025 

 

 

View the wood forms sculptures inspired by love, peace and harmony at mikesasakiwoodforms.etsy.com

Light of Light Poem from the Appearance of Being No.2 Listing Description

 

Appearance of Being No.2 - 2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The warm glow of the sunsetting sky
Fades from midnight blue
To a charcoal black reflecting
The city lights in an opaque mirror
Of empty cold. 

The citizens recede into a warmer place,
A jolly drink and silence-shattering laughter
Fill the tavern with roaring energy,
Echoing into the night.

The lonely man sits outside,
Dressed in bulky layers,
Staring at passers-by with blank sincerity
And in his hopeless container are bits of metal
Scarcely scattered along the bottom.
He holds on without attachment as the warmth
of his blanket cradles his hollow heart.

The exhausted working man
Walks home with a hoppy gait.
The thoughts of supper twirl in his mind,
As he allows the pull of the warm image
To lead him home through the night.

Behind the curtain,
The actors are fidgeting around,
Preparing for the first act.
An unexpecting draft moves the curtain,
Allowing a sliver of light to shine out
Into the black seating area of patient guests.
The silent flash screams with potentiality
As the onlookers await the next light.

So mysterious, so evasive,
This flash of potential.
We wait in vain,
For it is already alight.

 

MS 2018 

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Morning Poem: In the Darkest of Shadows - Inspired by sunlight on wall scupture

 

Interacting Forms No.2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the Darkest of Shadows

 

 

In the darkest of shadows

What waits to be found?

Imagination runs wild

As colourful figures

Shift freely around

In the inner black space

Fantastic gnomes

Dance gaily together

Singing songs of old

With fresh vigour

And splashes of light

Twinkling most invisibly

From reflecting bells

Shak'n silently in the night

And the central fire

Consumeth not its fuel

Burning dark and long

For the dim-lit forms

Which twirl and circle

In an endless display

Of quiet rev'rence

And humility blind

Heard almost inaudibly

The flickering movements

Return to a rest

As the moon descends

From the vastness of space

Leaving only the shade,

The privation of sight,

Whence images sprung

Once vibrant and true

Now only memories,

Left to diffuse 

In the quenching darkness,

The darkness of Life.

MS

2025

 

Themes:

- reality as an appearance, in some ways similar to dreams or imagination 

- a light or power prior to illumination ("dark sun")

- implicit references to Plato's cave analogy and imagery

- "privation of sight" used rather than "privation of light", the common latter term referring to a shadow, is a slight play on words with a strong thematic clue or reference regarding the role of visual perception in the construction of a reality based on "appearances".

Available sculptures in the shop: Wood Forms Etsy Shop

Some Notes on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: an important gem; an investigative approach to study

 

Why I read the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (an investigative approach to study)

 

The reason I read the Yoga Sutras is not to learn a system to follow.

 

The reason I read the Yoga Sutras is to learn what has been said about the human.

 

I am interested in liberation, salvation, ascension and Truth.

 

I am not interested in believing any theory, dogma or anything. I am interested in testing it out with the purpose of recognizing or arriving at Truth. Truth will not need to be proven verbally, but will be undeniably known to be true, like when it is realized that one is creating suffering for oneself due to some unattainable desire and by seeing the fact that it is of an imaginary nature, the problem disappears.

 

 

An Important Gem

 

A point that screams for attention is the distinction between thought and Purusha. In english, words are insufficient, so the sanskrit terms must be explained (explained in the Sutras; not here : ) ) I will briefly describe Purusha, because I am not an expert. It is that consciousness before the content of consciousness—that is, the higher Self before the self-image or thought-identification. The common man (I use the term "common" loosely), perhaps has thought about the difference between thought and such a consciousness, but even so, the thought is not the clarity. The clarity comes from direct understanding, non-verbal understanding, contact with the actuality. After all, a mere concept or theory of the distinction between thought and Purusha, would be just that—a concept, which is thought. It is said in the Yoga Sutras that this "intellective discriminination" between what exactly is thought and what exactly is the Purusha, or higher Self, is a necessary step in the process of liberation or union with cosmic divinity (if you will). In other words, when this distinction has been realized, there is a great shift in perception. This will be known to be True, without need for further proof. The change is the proof.

 

As this is the first of such a blog entry, I am not certain what will follow, but my thinking is that I may continue to post more points from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali which I find are of particular importance to be shared with those who are not yet familiar or who feel they may benefit from this condensed presentation of such points.

~MS 

Wood Forms Shop

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