{"id":1688,"date":"2014-10-27T15:28:50","date_gmt":"2014-10-27T20:28:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/?p=1688"},"modified":"2014-10-27T15:29:18","modified_gmt":"2014-10-27T20:29:18","slug":"poem-nothing-new-under-the-sun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2014\/10\/27\/poem-nothing-new-under-the-sun\/","title":{"rendered":"POEM: Nothing New Under The Sun"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is nothing new under the sun<\/strong>
\nThough in the shadows<\/strong>
\nThe same old same old<\/strong>
\nIs more mournfully familiar<\/strong>
\nSettling for reality-lite<\/strong>
\nToo at home with night<\/strong>
\nGroping with eyes open<\/strong>
\nInstead of lightly touched<\/strong>
\nEven with eyes closed seeing<\/strong>
\nAge-old must<\/strong>
\nAnd vexing knot<\/strong>
\nA bout<\/strong>
\nBitter medicine as won’s savor<\/strong>
\nKnow silence<\/strong>
\nToo be heard<\/strong>
\nWhere the sun don’t shine<\/strong>
\nAs passing vapor<\/strong>
\nIn stubborn renouncing<\/strong>
\nNot eye<\/strong>
\nAnd such fancy<\/strong>
\nStill too much<\/strong>
\nTo be taken<\/strong>
\nIn completely<\/strong>
\nThe spell overcast<\/strong>
\nEclipsing the census<\/strong>
\nOf awe that counts<\/strong>
\nMore than won could<\/strong>
\nEver bask for<\/strong><\/p>\n

This poem weaves the themes of our everyday blindness to deeper realities, the mystical third eye, and gratitude.\u00a0 Things are not always as they appear.\u00a0 Things are more than they appear.\u00a0 Those who round reality down to mere appearance settle for a more finite and uninspiring perspective on reality.\u00a0 If it isn’t obvious that life is blisteringly miraculous in the sunshine occupying roughly half of our earthly existence, then there is a deeper, ever-present way of seeing that enlightens awe of reality, more than one could ever bask for.\u00a0 Sadly, many prefer to manage dwelling in the even more roughly half of our earthly existence, darkness, despite its propensity for inducing fear and despair.\u00a0 This poem plays with these two interwoven aspects of reality, dark and light, mere appearance and meaning full experience.\u00a0 These dual, and dueling, aspects of reality are not contradictory; rather, they are different levels of reality, one including yet transcending the other.\u00a0 The prosaic and miraculous are only divorced if our perspective is committed to irreconcilable differences.\u00a0 The oneness of reality eternally woos us if wowing us is too transparent for our mode of perception.\u00a0 Nonetheless, the lure of the manageability of the world of mere appearances is powerful, to those limiting themselves to such parochial power.\u00a0 Unfortunately, those limiting themselves to the scarcity and paucity of the world of mere appearances will feel compelled to compete, even brutally, for control over this lesser realm.\u00a0 Security and freedom become mortal enemies and even the asleep don’t sleep well.\u00a0 Those suffering such blindness and obsession insist upon their powerful incites.\u00a0 The ensuing fetish with control and manipulation extract a brutal price from anyone actually exercising freedom.\u00a0 More liberal-minded manipulators will insist that you have all kinds of rights but they will get nervous if you actually exercise them!<\/p>\n

My experience informs me that peace and freedom can exist together if gratitude is the uniting reality. This gratitude-powered peace is both an internal peace and external peace.\u00a0 Gratitude-powered people are the least dangerous people in the world; that is, except to those whose job is to convince others of their lack, especially if linked to selling you a product, service, or idea that will make them gain money or status.\u00a0 If gratitude unites your world view, then you could say that gratitude is your religion, a religion of “Thank God for thanks!”\u00a0 As you might guess, my worldview is profoundly influenced by grace, a recognition and respect for undeserved gain that overturns a barren capitalistic view that at best can offer a fair and equal exchange, where generosity is a foolish inefficiency and the bounty of life is jacked up to yield the highest price possibly bearable by humanity (or by “the market” if “humanity” doesn’t compute).\u00a0 The bounty of life becomes fodder of our folly, as “Wanted — dead or alive,” runs roughshod over life itself.\u00a0 I strongly suspect that the consuming disease of controlling others is a failure to answer the question of how much is enough.\u00a0 At the heart of this disease is fear and inescapable greed.\u00a0 I believe that a responsible freedom, a freedom that is informed by gratitude, can operate amidst fear and greed without distorting its own nature and consonance with life, that comes from who knows where, but, as a dyslexic and a mystic, I find naturally super!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is nothing new under the sun Though in the shadows The same old same old Is more mournfully familiar Settling for reality-lite Too at home with night Groping with eyes open Instead of lightly touched Even with eyes closed … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,9,15],"tags":[294,341,476,430,104,428,469,462,460,115,415,65,263,255,117,431,305,493,208,359,418,486,66,444,13,379,354,594,658,94,110,491,601,83,502,375,659,131,394,406,340,550],"class_list":["post-1688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-peace","category-poems","category-political-and-philosophical-musings","tag-awe","tag-control","tag-disease","tag-efficiency","tag-enemies","tag-experience","tag-failure","tag-fear","tag-foolish","tag-freedom","tag-generosity","tag-god","tag-grace","tag-gratitude","tag-greed","tag-heart","tag-humanity","tag-job","tag-liberal","tag-life","tag-market","tag-meaning","tag-money","tag-mystic","tag-mystical","tag-nature","tag-perspective","tag-play","tag-poems","tag-poetry","tag-power","tag-present","tag-reality","tag-religion","tag-respect","tag-scarcity","tag-security","tag-silence","tag-sleep","tag-status","tag-suffering","tag-worldview"],"yoast_head":"\nPOEM: Nothing New Under The Sun | Peace, Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings | Top Pun's Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! 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