the unspeakable visions of the individual

ak

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Ode to Big Sur

I drove along your up, above spine

Abrupt turns, and at first I wondered why

Until I came inevitably upon the end of each

Sharp turn: Ah! The greatest meeting of land and

sea!

At each pass, my heart sighed through my eyes

Here I am pressed against eternity and back into my

youthful

Daydreams—a feeling so fleeting yet freeing like a

floating

Butterfly, who’s heart rises with each flutter

Along Your Mercy and Endless Beauty,

Here in between formlessness and legacy.

I nearly crashed into the mountainside

After a careless bite and toss, a near end—I saw my

life flash.

You saved me, Your Hand is underneath it all, always

The outer as infinite webwork expanding everywhere

in Infinitely subtle and complex ways beyond

explanation—

That is Your sign, Your work in the dark and quiet

Hours, when my attention is away or I am unfocused;

When this world weakens my heart—

How You are always with each of us and You

Wait patiently for us as we vainly think we do for You,

When You work through all things, at all times;

What happens when one pure heart reflects upon

another pure heart?

I’m addicted to material highs and desires that I am

aware of & its growing evil.

I know my intellect quietly slumbers,

a clambering and lazy minister it’s become;

Some say art is a miracle and here I am in search of

You in it—

Is this impossible? Your voice is clear in my head:

Nothing is impossible when it is done in Your name,

I stayed and saw a light portal into unknown depths

splash and sparkle mist and foam,

the waves chaos and rhythm surges through

a keyhole to the ocean—

I was part of a community there—dearest ones,

forever tied by the knot of a moment

we submitted ourselves to a Holy event—

Like a Friday Prayer or Sunday Sermon—

Our plane of existence lifted up and the sand a tint

of white lighter, a light humming and ringing

in my ears—it is utterly silent yet incredibly noisy—

Suddenly the keyhole is illuminated by a golden door

and my heart trembles; Angel Gabriel once showed

his true form to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)

His wingspan covers the east and west, and his

wings are over 600 in total—how terrifying!

Rilke said beauty is but the beginning of terror—

Anäis alluded to this of June’s beauty too

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I am here, Al-Mutakabbir!

The one finally bowed, seen as

A purple blossoming flower

Within my heart, Your Form Radiant:

Red and neon pink, soft yellow

Butterfly shape, seen inwardly—

Did you know, at one time all the

Light had died out from me?

Yesterday I read that, On no soul

Do You place a burden greater than

It can bear? You, Light Upon Light

You who says, ‘Be!’ and it is.

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Be world unto yourself:

The this is the beginning kind

The self reflection kind

The existential question kind

The why am I as I am kind

The where is God kind

The where is my mind kind

The can I do this without substances kind

The pain parts of my brain only kind

The only through suffering and silence kind...

...And the world went quiet and I felt safe

Kind. The learn to be your best self

Kind.

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Mountains like flat tops, dimension-

Less intentional servitude to the sense-

Perception is reality as far as one eye

Sees is evenly balanced like the two

Eyes and pair of limbs, upper and lower

Your gaze upon the hour glass is bowed

Before gravity there was space, endless

Vast as your imagination at years less

Than Ten are The Commandments more

Intuitively one knows that aerially is equal

To the haircut style I adorned as a kid front

Center posed saying, ‘I’ll be back’

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Infinite Solace, unknown sounds

Syllables of sight and glances

Do you feel the solitude?

Bear the pain of senses

Pour into it, do not stop

The cup awaits in space

I await for my Awakening

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Green

Green like the leaves

The tall grass in the breeze

Green as possibilities

Few if your skin is not

White

White as the clouds

The hands of oppression

White as lines drawn on

Black sand

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Monuments to the Soul

Dust upon dust

Eyelids like rosebuds

Flutter up, then fall

The moon obsorbed by the earth

Remnants of a past

Reagents for creation—

Alchemy of the moment

[s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s]

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was[a] on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

6 Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” 7 Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.

9 Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 So the evening and the morning were the third day.

14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. 17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

20 Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.” 21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all[b] the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

29 And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. 30 Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. 31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

2 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

4 This is the history[a] of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; 6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.

7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

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This is Everything. Thank you, Sufjan

[s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s]

[s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s]

—Pema Chödrön

[s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s]

Friendly reminder. Be humble.