Conditioning

The weakling would rescue the damsel

But he isn’t prepared for the task

He must endure pain of conditioning

Before he can conquer at last

Heaven’s Foe

I think he was a good man

Not really heaven’s foe

I think he just lacked discipline

I guess we’ll never know

The Master

A general can command an army

An army can plunder great wealth

But he who is stronger and richer

Is the one who has mastered himself

Double-Cross

I behaved myself badly

Close allies I lost

I broke many bonds

Yet myself double-crossed

My future looks bleak

As my options exhaust

I burnt all my bridges

Now I can’t get across

Worlds Apart

Why do we hate the “goody-goods”?

Why do we chide the square?

Why are we threatened by their choice?

Do you feel less compared?

Why do we envy sinners?

What is the lure of crime?

Would you gladly trade places

When behind bars doing time?

Impotent

The choice I made was not my fault

I didn’t know the outcome

I cannot fix what’s out of my control

That’s my conundrum

I could reverse the consequence

If I had culpability

But I’m not self-empowered

So that’s not a possibility

Remote Control

I looked over my shoulder

At the fork in the road

Then tripped over a boulder

And spilled my heavy load

I should have gone the other way

This way is short, I know

But just my luck I second guess

This way each time I go

Next day, I tried the other path

Uphill the going slow

I looked over my shoulder

And fell backwards down the knoll

I always seem to choose the wrong

Remote the chances though

I wish there were another way

To choose and have control

Without Price

Integrity is priceless

A deal at any cost

For if you sell your soul

You’ll only do so at a loss

And then its worth diminishes

A white elephant tossed

This second hand soul servitude

Devalues all as dross

Ends and Means

Hard choices seem more difficult

Without the golden rule

Both ends and means can spoil

Noble goals if we are cruel

It matters how we get there

As well as the result

The heart that chooses paradise

Must arrive pure in molt

Our Compass

A map can be quite useful

But ships can veer off course

For currents, waves, and tides all change,

And winds can shift gale force

A compass is essential

To adapt and find our bearing

And likewise conscience orients

The soul to every setting

Choice

I didn’t want the consequence

I didn’t choose the outcome

I only wanted what I want

And freedom from all odium

Rapids

Along the journey of life’s course

We may encounter rapids

Where steering becomes difficult

And foaming currents savage

Yet often this fierce impetus

Is born of our own doing

Accumulating choices

Drive what may become a rueing

The Enemy

When life brings disappointment

Don’t kick against the pricks

The pain it brings is not caused from the first

Nor can it fix

The pain we add is not the fault

Of that which hurt us first

This simple straight equation

Is two wounds sum up to worse

Such knee jerk daft reactions

Aggravate the situation

Reversals of causation

Only thwart our education

For countless masses

Fall into the same traps day by day

They will not see their enemy

Is self caught in the fray

Drifting

Some choose a destination

Yet drift throughout their life

They do not grasp the rudder

Nor use the wind and jibe

To act is an offensive

To react is defense

Yet both require wisdom

If we’ll guide our vessel hence

Spiritual Inertia

A life can change direction

But it’s harder than it sounds

To over come momentum

One must turn their world around

And like the earth’s rotation

We can’t stop on a dime

To reverse our direction

In the end may take some time

We stop the egg from spinning

But the inside has inertia

Which will propel the outside

Once again if by minutia

Small movements of the soul impel

The outer worlds in motion

These minor ripples team

Into large waves within life’s ocean

To stem this tide

We redirect the motive of the heart

Yet time will tell as will our will

To finish what we start

Power Plant

Those which have the power to cause

Must foresee the effect

As best as one can calculate

And not their charge neglect

To live their life in harmony

Creating beauty till

The love inside spills over

In the flowering buds of will

Arithmetic of Will

The agency of free will

Does not tumble like the die

Of aligned falling dominos

For souls don’t act alike

There is no law to circumscribe

The course of human choice

One can’t predict arithmetic of will

Nor have it foist

We all are at the mercy of all souls

For we connect

The universe--a medium

Where cause produce effect

Limits

There are no guarantees in life

We are not free from sorrow

We can’t avoid sporadic chance

We can’t foresee the morrow

Despite such truth there is clear proof

We only reap what’s sown

So plow, and weed, and plant the seed

For drought is an unknown

Yet one thing is for sure

There is no harvest for the sloth

Life’s warranty is limited

But hope’s limits we allot

Perspective

The art of self-creation

Is born of small brush strokes

And yet to gain perspective

One must view them as a whole

Step back to see the big picture

Then go back and look close

Though colors blend, still in the end

Connection is no hoax

Fused

The ego is lie

Our isolation farce

The love that binds the universe

No mortal hand can parse

And so, the love for any

Is but love of Self imbued

As thus, the love of self and All

Be fused similitude

Social Bonds

What is the bond within the herd?

Is it conceived in love?

Or is it born of our self-doubt?

What is the truth thereof?

The one is true cohesion

The other but a farce

The one truly enduring

The other weak and sparse

Essential Parts

One day I tried to fix my car

And took apart the engine

I hope too make it faster

And to make it fuel efficient

I put it back together

But a few small parts remained

They didn’t look essential

So I drove it just the same

That night as it was being towed

I realized my error

No part is insignificant

But vital, key, and rare

Happy Mother's Day

Matriarch

Who are these beings that skirt the edge

To wrest in fearless love to bless

That reach into the pit of death

And draw out life with their caress

The navel is our seal and crest

True evidence we all connect

Her children rise and call her blessed

New innocence is man at best

Downhill

The diva cursed her entourage

For not meeting her needs

Her entourage screamed at the help

Who fired employees

Who kicked the dog, who bit the fan

That couldn’t make the show

And couldn’t buy the tickets

So the fan club didn’t go

And so the falling star burned out

The pecking order banned

They say shit always runs down hill

Until it hits the fan

Leadership

We look for strength in leaders

But hope they don’t repress

We want them to be confident

Yet to us acquiesce

We want them to be popular

But stand for what is right

We want them to be kind to us

Yet standup in a fight

We want them to be clever

But we hope they don’t deceive

To tell us what we want to hear

But say what they believe

Sometimes we don’t know what we want

A virtue or a vice

So whatever the outcome

Then a scapegoat’s always nice

Conviction

I asked my priests to tell me

What we believe as a sect

I asked my party leader

For our ideal politic

I asked my friends and family

To describe our firm position

It’s wonderful to think so clear

And exercise volition

Twelve Steps

Admit you are no better, but surely are no less

Believe that something greater a Divine spark did invest

Decide to see in self and all the nature of potential

Inventory attributes--not social differential

Confess your own deficiency, but improve as you should

Be open to progression, but don’t envy other’s good

Ask help when you lack strength to stand, yet kneel to assist others

List off two things your grateful for before one complaint mutters

Restore the confidence of all, when you yourself succeed

Continue to empower souls according to their need

Seek not the fallow honor of elitists which would flatter

Publish emancipation from their runged pretentious ladder