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Open Poetry #38
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Finding Meaning
| Open Poetry #38 |
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Finding Meaning |
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WindWalker Senior Member
since 2001-10-12
Posts 1218 |
A story is told of a man who realized one day his life had no meaning. He was going on in years, entering retirement and all he saw of himself seemed meaningless. So he took a vow that before he died he was going to put meaning in the remainder of his life. He walked snowy, stormy paths in the Himalayas and talked at length with Buddhist monks; He went to Rome and got an audience with the Pope. He met shamans and teachers and elders, spent several seasons with Australian aborigines. He studied and pondered, cloistered in a monastery; read tome upon tome of Christian history and philosophy. He studied the life of Gandhi and Mother Teresa, read biographies on Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr. And he observed people in far away towns and villages; crossed Africa and trekked through the Middle East. He encountered wars and famines and strange customs. He ate foods that made him sick, drank polluted water and tried an endless number of rituals. Eventually all his retirement money ran out and he found himself back in his own town, on his own street, in his own home – alone. Thought a fool, by all, including himself, and none the wiser. Then he had a dream one night: He was reading a simple novel, in his den by the fire when he saw a word he didn’t know the meaning of so he reached for his dictionary... and he got it! Meaning! Right there, in his dictionary where it had been all along... “Meaning: that which is intended to be, or actually is, expressed or indicated.” That simple. In a dictionary. Meaning of life? What that life is. It has no other meaning! No one finds meaning by searching for it. What is is all the meaning there can be. No one can fill a cup that is already full; if one does not like the contents thereof, one must empty the cup, wash it, and refill it. But life does not allow such a luxury for the cup of life comes without possibility of a refill. |
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| © Copyright 2006 Sharran WindWalker - All Rights Reserved | |||
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ThisDiamond Member Rara Avis
since 2002-02-22
Posts 9353Michigan, USA |
This write is outstanding, as I have come to expect from you poet. Now I might add, what can be changed is the richness held within the cup. Toasting you.  TD |
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Honeybunch Member Rara Avis
since 2001-12-29
Posts 7115South Africa |
Enjoyed the read and the think. "What is is all the meaning there can be." Probably most true but I've a feeling that around and about the "what is" there is so much more that we don't know and perhaps aren't expected to know and yet, like the character in your poem, we search and research just to end up with "what is". I guess we all have to go on our own safari in spite of those who have gone before us. |
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XOx Uriah xOX Senior Member
since 2006-02-11
Posts 1403Virginia |
::smiles:: I like this. ah :: bows :: Spirit knows that it has ALWAYS been ONE with Buddha, with Christ, with God. Ah But "ego" likes to pretend that it can "attain" Oneness through techniques, rituals....this way...It continues to create the thought of seperation. Thereby...keeping its throne. The quest for the Elusive Obvious. Looking through our glasses...in search of our spectacles. Good job! |
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Earth Angel Member Empyrean
since 2002-08-27
Posts 40215Realms of Light |
A good indicator of a good poem is good replies! ~ and you gottem!  A Master-Full write, Sir Sage. Love, Light, Peace & Harmony, EA  |
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