*image by Ben Harubin

 

 

Descriptions, The Tao, The Depths Of Recognition:
One Man's Colloquial Ode

To hear 'em say
you can't talk about the Way
kin almost ruin
a feller's day.

But for you to realize
with your very own eyes
what this means
...kin cheer ya up considerable.

Legend says that many years ago existed a school for advanced consciousness,
which had but one teaching -- that a man should "swallow his head."

There was once a man who developed a process whereby you could turn your mouth inside out,
but he could never get the patent office to seriously look at his plans.
Well-l-l, at least they said they never looked at them.

Once upon a time a certain god accidentally stumbled into a reality not his own,
and was immediately startled by the fact of how seriously creatures there took the idea of sanity.
...(In fact, he was more than startled, he was amazed! But don't ask me why.)

A man asked a mystic, "Should I abandon all thoughts?"
And the mystic replied, "Which ones?"
"All of them," the man said, "Should I abandon all thoughts?"
"Yes, but which ones specifically?" the mystic insisted.
"All of them," in turn insisted the man.
"I know," said the mystic, "but exactly which ones?"
"There is no 'which'," shouted the man, "only an 'all'!"
"Yes, I hear you," said the mystic, "but I must know precisely the thoughts you refer to."
"All of them, dammit!" yelled the man, "I'm asking about all of my damn, damn, dammit thoughts -- all of them!"

And just as the man appeared ready to bust a gut over the matter,
the mystic put a rabbit into his top hat,
pulled his hand back empty, and -- viola! -- it was empty.
And as he held his blank palms open and out to the man,
the man suddenly smiled, and in spite of himself said, "Yes, yes, but I must know specifically which thoughts you're referring to."
And the bunny instantly had its enlightenment.

And an obviously disgruntled fan writes to say,
"I'm not even gonna bother to write you about this one."

How To -- Unfailingly -- Know The Truth (Short Version)
Accept no views of others.

A man with sufficient tastes of those astounding states mused,
"What better description than an uninterrupted mind? -- an uninterrupted mind?"

And one guy noted, "Normally, regularity counts for little, but here I make an exception.
'An uninterrupted mind' did he say?..."