Musings on Existence Philosophy, 1.

     It has occurred to me that the attempt to define oneself by any pre-fabricated set of standards, rules, or morals leads the individual into more confusion than he or she was previous to such a commitment of rigid spirituality. The problem arises when the individual convinces him or herself that it is necessary to believe within and along with a group, thus stripping he or she of any individuative qualities. The individual comes to believe that the support and encouragement to adopt the group mentality will benefit his or her state of being, will give them a greater sense of peace and belonging. This, however, is an illusion. A trick. When an individual integrates him or herself into a group, he or she is giving up the right to freedom which is so essential to human being. This individual no longer decides how he or she thinks, feels and acts; each of these leaves the individual's control and becomes under the control of the group.
     What people fail to realize is the discontent that arises from similarity.  When we would all share the same everything, all come to envy the others way of similitude; that is to say, if one practices such and such a religion and so does another, one will begin to worry that he or she is lacking in devotion compared to the other, thus instigating internal strife.

Spoken Pleasures

     The best part of my day
Is the ride home after work
Is the wind's roar in my ears
The wide open feeling of
      Wild being

Spiritual liberation
Is pedaling through clouds of
     Tiny flies and highsummer honeysuckle
Is the sun on my face
The sweat down my back
Is such earthly libation

Pleasure is the rolling rush of
     Hands off the handle bars
Flying down that steep hill

Passing people
     On those shady sidewalks
People passing me
     Waving, nodding, smiling

Is singing and swaying and
     Smiling back
Squeezing to get by
Balancing on sidewalk and street

Is seeing all the tall trees
Breathing in the evergreen
Ducking low-hanging branches
Brushing past fluttering leaves
Staring into the dappled dome
     Of blue and white
Those distant mountains
     Flashing in and out of sight
Pleasure is a natural high
Yes, pleasure is on my bike

To take pleasure in what feels right

on the utter core
          uttered chord

oh, to suffer love,
such poetic conversation,
such perceived integration,
as to be:
            metamorphosed,
            transfigured,
            considered,
imagined;
seeking to know
the honest truth of things;
to suffer being    s.     .    . complete.   .  

In the Manner of Gertrude Stein

I am taking an other way to love
A longer longing way
I loved an other, often longing
Loving long other ways
I am taking long to love
To long to love
An other way I long
One way to love
An other
I take a longer way to love
Loving an other 
Long loving one way
Or an other
An other love