The Dakini Speaks

Do you feel alive, she said
Originally uploaded by AnnuskA - AnnA Theodora
THE DAKINI SPEAKS

My friends, let's grow up.
Let's stop pretending we don't know the deal here.
Or if we truly haven't noticed, let's wake up and notice.
Look: everything that can be lost, will be lost.
It's simple--how could we have missed it for so long?
Let's grieve our losses fully, like ripe human beings,
But please, let's not be so shocked by them.
Let's not act so betrayed,
As though life had broken her secret promise to us.
Impermanence is life's only promise to us,
And she keeps it with ruthless impeccability.
To a child she seems cruel, but she is only wild,
And her compassion is exquisitely precise:
Brilliantly penetrating, luminous with truth,
She strips away the unreal to show us the real.
This is the true ride -- let's give ourselves to it!
Let's stop making deals for a safe passage:
There isn't one anyway, and the cost is too high.
We are not children any more.
The true human adult gives everything for what cannot be lost.
Let's dance the wild dance of no hope!
~ Jennifer Welwood


The Universe's timing is divine. This poem found me in an unexpected place at exactly the right time. I am feeling the first baby steps of a deep movement of letting go. Trusting the unfolding of life as it is. A tender conversation with an old friend this morning was all about this. About faith. She has trouble with the G-d thing, yet has an unshakable faith that there is something bigger than us, that is always present, and that, ultimately, we are always, always ok.

This is the essence of the 3rd step prayer. This is the outcome of my IM practice. I am aware of my smallness and my bigness and my no-thingness all at the same time. I am significant and insignificant. I am breakable and temporary yet infinitely eternal. I am connected to no one and everyone. Most importantly, I am here. Just for today. I did not drink. Just for today. I am alright. Just for today.   Beyond today is simply not known,  nor promised.   There is an oddly comforting relief in that.   Just for today.