A Feeling Presence with Life

[Mikal]

I think its very important to have a feeling presence with life. I Know that I have this presence with life because of the kinds of experiences that I have, for example I can enter a room and sense from the environment whether the atmosphere left behind in that room is cheerful or dark, heavy gloom. I can walk into an ongoing conversation which stops dead in its tracks and I can feel if the conversants are comfortable with my presence or uncomfortable. Conversations with people also have a content I pick up on where I know that what they are saying is not really what they want to say.

I have not always had this feeling presence with life quite as refined as I now experience it. It was a presence with life I seemed to acquire with much greater refinement, after greiving and struggling through a sudden, life tragedy. I have wondered about that because in my own research into the psyche and consciousness I undertook a study into human survival. I learnt through that study, that our feeling response and our need to survive are greatly entwined.

We build throughout our lives an internal security consciousness which is like a structure which gets built, altered and deconstructed throughout our lives based on our feeling responses to life. We seem to go full force with the good feelings but we somehow like to screen out our own response to painful things, situations and relationships.

This was easier for me to understand after bearing myself through this awful tragedy we faced as a family. We kind of have this inbuilt understanding that death is or should be connected with unforseen accidents we have no control over, fatal illness or just old age and the end of life. Tragedy, especially involving the young, especially in suicide which we typically ignore rather than learn about is an unknown to us. The grief is different, it is longer, more intense and we cannot stop it. I suppose what I am trying to say is that this kind of tragedy does not allow us to run away from pain. In the grief involved, we must go there, we have no choice as we are left with such loss it almost incapacitates us.

I suppose what I would like comments about or thoughts about concerns the fact that it seems through my own experience that in order for us to be more completed in a feeling sense, it seems we need to learn how to be more flexible with all of life, not just some of life, and to be more accepting of working through our feeling dimensions. It is strange that a tragedy could bear me to a point of more complete inner healing. Is that something we need to understand on a broader horizon? Does everyone understand what an internal structure of security consciousness means? I cannot help but consider these things as the entire experience has left me more wholly completed as a person.


Mikal

[austintorn@aol.com]

— Whens —

Life is a web of whos, whys, whats, and hows,
Stretched in time between eternal boughs.
Gossamer threads hold the beads that glisten,
Each minute a sequence of instant nows.

— A Question of Life or Death —

Since death is a certain fate on the Earth,
One might ask: How shall I live my worth?
Stay busy living—or you’ll be dying.
The answer please: There’s life after birth!

— Distant Promise —

To future columns we stretch our present row,
By a lifeline of tenuously spun vow.
Oh how soon the weighted web begins to fail—
The only real time under our feet is NOW.

— Pity the Poor Sultan —

Where the river runs, far from Sultan’s throne,
We live by the stream-side, just us alone.
We’ve found the perfect equilibrium:
Poor but rich, home yet free, great but unknown.

— Thought Experiment —

Hence old or sick, you might regret or pine,
Giving all to have back some better time;
Now you are young and fine, so, be glad, smile—
Ne’er again will you live this life of thine.

— The Fluttering Songbird of Youth —

The child in us was warm, playful, and bold,
But vanished, ere we knew, leaving us cold.
Now this we know: The day we stop being
Playful is the day we start to get old.

— Self-Less —

When younger, I knew not my elder same,
But, when older, I told my younger same
That youth must be young—he knew not my name!
It was my younger self that was to blame.

— About Time —

At last we retrieve the wingèd hours,
Those that drudges stole and overpowered:
Hours gentle and mild, like cleansing showers
That fill the cup and freshen the flowers.

— The Facts of Life —

Fresh winds make love to the blossoms of May;
The spring flowers reach for the light of day.
Drinking deep droughts of life’s sunny delight,
The fields burst with the joy of love’s bouquet.

[Mikal]

Thank you for the contribution of a poem Austin...I will consider this an Ode to Mike as he, himself was a poet. His personal journal of writings were all poetic and it seemed to be his preference for relating his thoughts and feelings to others....smiles...



Mikal

[austintorn@aol.com]

A painful foot (let's say)
sends out messages of suffering,
but the healthily feeling good foot sends
no such messages at all,
and so it is that we have reminders to feel good by
Or to steer us back to that feeling from the abyss…


— Intellectual Beauty —

The well-spring calls, the weary traveler rests,
As from a torrent, when, riding waves and crests,
One looks in depth to find a deeper source
And “hears” by inner sense against it pressed.


— Fountain of Light —

Soul to soul, it said to me, I’m the light,
Thy spirit’s sight, a beauty bold and bright,
An inspiration come from darkest night,
A newborn star aglow with insight.

— Sci-fi —

Among the lights that dance in the sky,
A haven waits out there for you and I—
A world where flowers bloom and fountains spray—
A paradise called Earth to glorify.

— We are the Cosmos —

Life’s a continual cosmic energy dance,
From some ultimate underlying happenstance.
We’re immersed in matter’s universal rhythm;
Therefore, we must all participate in the dance.

— Grateful Prayer —

My blood runs warm with the sun’s heat at noon.
My spirit is swept by the swelling moon.
Air surrounds me. The ocean flows through me.
Earth’s rhythm is always playing my tune.

— Balance —

Not quite sober blessed nor drunk to excess—
Never too foolish nor very reckless;
Oh, our passion is so reasonable
In this delicate state of awareness.

— The Union Begets All —

There’s a subtle, interlinked complexity of
Life, a relation that unites the world in love—
The earth is our mother, sustaining from below;
The sky is our father, nourishing from above.

— A Word’s Girth —

I notice here, a great pittance and dearth
Of words that rhyme with our beloved “Earth”;
So, aside from mirth, how can poems give birth
To all that life on this planet is worth?

— Sum of the Parts —

Life must be more like a mosaic done
Than a focused laser tunnel of sun.
Since few lengthy pleasures are lent to us,
We build a stained-glass window of small ones.

— Living on the Edge —

I dare to walk the line, balancing fun
There between adventure and misfortune—
For the greatest blunder in life is to
Repeatedly fear that you might make one.

— Harmony —

Each holds within itself the seed of the other—
Yin reaches climax, then retreats in Yang’s favor:
Cyclic movement of rotational symmetry.
Rounded life is the blend of Yin/Yang together.

— “I’ve Got to Run Now” —

See them hurrying hither and thither:
Oh, look at the time! They must go whither.
What sense the life that has no time to live?
Wherefore the wind that swirls in a dither?

— The Bird of Time —

A moment of eternity in hand,
Caught from a wingèd creature on time’s sand.
Then put aside to later view in peace—
It flew! Now pursue it through Never-Land.

— Looking Down the Road —

The walker down the morning path gazes
To where s/he’ll be when the next trail blazes.
Do we, too, whom this moment calls her own,
Stare past the scene into hazy mazes?

— Drink Deep —

To the morning-star I must say Good-bye,
For the sun’s fire now lights up the whole sky.
Vapors quickly ascend toward heaven’s dome.
Drink—ere life’s dew on your flower be dry!

— Potent Spirit —

In the night lies the healthy breath of morn;
The giant oak sleeps within the acorn;
The flower waits for spring inside the seed;
And so in a daydream is your life born.

— Blurry —

Long we give our time to worry’s hurry,
Going breathless back and forth in scurry,
Making a living, but having no life—
Cold, unseeing, blinded by the flurry.

— Walled In —

If you’re a captive of the lifeless day,
A wall around you, brick by brick, will weigh.
Habited you’ll stay until, one day,
Bricks will be moulded from your dusty clay.

— Whence and Whither Flown —

Oh how life is frittered and thrown away
By running back and forth this and that way
In vain pursuit of meaningless details—
When a simpler life could be had straight away!

— Re-Versed —

No time to taste life’s joy or read a verse?
Too busy for friends? Rushing for the hearse?
Then life’s lost in the living—that’s the curse.
Pause—save a life: simplify, start anew, reverse.

— Return from Oblivion —

Hectic and hurried, we rush to success—
Serenity can’t find us unless
We slow down, see shades, hear tones, feel textures,
Smell scents, and enjoy life’s loving caress.

— Illume —

Waste not the time of your life in gloom’s doom!
By these verses, the lamp of life relume:
“Your live body, full of warmth and bloom,
Is worth ten thousand lying in the tomb.”

— The Simple Truth —

After the old excuses we still retell,
And all new advice we as yet expel,
One lone truth remains, undeniable:
There is NO excuse for not living well!

— Heaven Found —

Purgatory’s on Venus, where sulphurs rain.
Hell’s found in the sun’s heart, oh, hot burning pain!
Of Heaven’s site, no one has any idea—
For it’s the world’s best kept secret: Earth’s its name!

— The Best of All Worlds —

Earth’s a garden, an oasis in space,
A world of boundless beauty and grace.
One could search the heavens for such in vain,
Finding no equal, anytime or anyplace.

— Life’s Joy —

We are life’s eternal creative smile,
Beaming as the universal epistyle.
In us the cosmos has come alive—
Thus we borrow life from death for awhile.

— Opportune —

Be wide aware when chance shines as your sun,
For she, in turn, happens on everyone—
Graciously welcome the lady of luck
By recognizing her as Dame Fortune.

— Time After Time —

Lovely moment, come hither unto me:
Embrace me, then, expiring, give birth to
Another just as sweet—you’re mine, all mine,
For you’re giving me the time of my life!

— Anadem —

Seize the moment or lose its momentum,
Wearing time as your royal diadem;
Richly accelerate life’s momentous gem,
Letting your motto be “Carpe diem”.

— Stress Exercise —

Breathe in all that’s good, breathe out all that’s bad;
Peace flows into you—it’s warm, wet, and glad.
Feel it spread throughout your body, then say,
“This is the best life that I’ve ever had!”

— Going With the Flow —

Never struggle against the way things are,
But rather, become the way that things are.
When you give yourself to the moving whole,
Natural currents will carry you quite far.

— Peace Continuum —

My spirit flows from moment to moment,
Connecting and savoring life’s events,
Drinking-in the sounds, currents, textures, scents,
And subtle delights—a being self-content.

— Love-Scene —

I’m fully immersed in love’s boundless dream,
Floating in peace on beauty’s quiet stream.
Truth is clearly seen—it’s so bright and right;
Purity’s goodness swells each sparkling gleam.

— Getting It Together —

When once I was, my presence full beheld
Spirit, body, heart, and mind all in meld.
More than just the parts, I became the whole,
A human being living life unparalleled.

— Versifier —

Thoughts fly as sparks from the eternal fire,
To fill these pages with light to inspire,
For giving love is all that I desire,
And living life is all that I require.

[mkirkpatrick]

Thank you Mikal for a truly wonderful and thoughtful thread
starter.
I truly understand what you are sharing here, adversity and
illness coupled with emotional upheavals all hone and refine
our inner being,as long as we accept them of course!

As we unfold through experiencing lifes ups and downs and
accepting them with good grace,we "tune in" the an ever
finer sensitivity,we become more "online" and inline to lifes
pulsating beat.

We begin to realise that life is eternal,birth and death are
part of an endless cycle repeating so we can "unfold" more
and more of our inherit divinity.


We due to our individuel painful experiences learn and feel
more acutely,we become more sensitive to others mood
and state of mind,empathy arises naturally from within
us due to fuller unfoldment.

This "presence" can also and indeed does lead us to
establish contact with our soul,we begin to be able to
tune in to our innermost being,that is where our soul is found,some see this as the "higher self" it is all the same
thing though.

Consciousness expands and becomes more inclusive as we
unfold and grow in sensitivity,this gives an even greater
sense of "presence" than before.

warmest regards michael.

[Mikal]

Dear Michael...thank you for your very inspiring thoughts. My own experience with tragedy has proved to be the irony that one of the youngest participants in my life became a situation of drastic upheaval and an immense confrontation I had no choice but to participate in. He left me no choice but to meet and meld with the most sensitive parts and depths of myself.
I have through the journey he propelled me into, discovered a much greater understanding of this intertwining of our feeling life and our survival needs. I look upon that place as like a screen where we filter out too much and while filtering lose our most subtle and sensitive depths, thereby limiting our own perceptual possibilities.
I feel like the situation tore and mangled this screen leaving big holes that my sensitivity now seeps through. I have no choice now but to live from this sensitivity, understanding that I am so emotionally open I understand my own human nature, so can place others into a conceptual framework whereby I understand them in a much greater way. This living with a greater sentient presence allows me acute presence with people where I can now both observe life and its situations and also be present with life and its situations.

I think this is the Law of Flexibility and is certainly one of the Laws hemmed into the seams of life.


Thank you again....Mikal

[Mohan.C]

No, questions asked within seconds,
No answers given within moments,
Can judge me to be real,
For, if I am my own judge,
And my own jury, I can be
Just as real as I think,
Or as unreal as I want.

[mkirkpatrick]

No, questions asked within seconds,
No answers given within moments,
Can judge me to be real,
For, if I am my own judge,
And my own jury, I can be
Just as real as I think,
Or as unreal as I want.

What a wonderful poem brother,thanks for the insightful
words.


regards michael.

[mkirkpatrick]

Dear Michael...thank you for your very inspiring thoughts. My own experience with tragedy has proved to be the irony that one of the youngest participants in my life became a situation of drastic upheaval and an immense confrontation I had no choice but to participate in. He left me no choice but to meet and meld with the most sensitive parts and depths of myself.
I have through the journey he propelled me into, discovered a much greater understanding of this intertwining of our feeling life and our survival needs. I look upon that place as like a screen where we filter out too much and while filtering lose our most subtle and sensitive depths, thereby limiting our own perceptual possibilities.
I feel like the situation tore and mangled this screen leaving big holes that my sensitivity now seeps through. I have no choice now but to live from this sensitivity, understanding that I am so emotionally open I understand my own human nature, so can place others into a conceptual framework whereby I understand them in a much greater way. This living with a greater sentient presence allows me acute presence with people where I can now both observe life and its situations and also be present with life and its situations.

I think this is the Law of Flexibility and is certainly one of the Laws hemmed into the seams of life.


Thank you again....Mikal

Yes indeed Mikal flexibilty is a must,bend or we will break!

Plus being harmless in all we do and say.

regards michael.

[Mikal]

Thank you Mohan for poetically inspiring words and Michael for your comments on flexibility. I think the more we know about the Law of Flexibility we gain the power to stop being a trembling tree in our lives and rise to the strength of the mighty Oak which of course mastered the storm by accepting that the storm may rob its leaves and break its branches but it does not take away from the fact that it is still a tree!

Michael it goes into our Serenity Prayer which acknowledges that though the winds of opposition may howl and the storm outside be unfavorable, we can still rest determinably within ourselves....there is surely a strong, silently flowing river of strength and sensitivity within us all that allows us to move with quiet purpose throughout our lives....


Mikal