Thoughts and words
don't accurately represent
living reality.
Speaking and thinking
are always one-sided.
We can only conceive
of one aspect of the story
at a time.
If night is mentioned,
day is omitted.
If sacred is emphasized,
profane is ignored.
When conservative is pointed to,
liberal is forgotten.
When a tree is in focus,
the forest is blurry.
This is because the rational mind
can only think one thought at a time.
We could try to inhibit dividing-mind
by conceptualizing it as undivided.
We could make grand ideological claims
such as, "It's all one"
and "duality is an illusion."
And we might be right.
However, we are still left
with the paradox:
me, my concepts, and the world.
Apparent separation.
Which might not be a problem,
except that it gnaws at us.
This sense of separation
makes us feel lonely,
purposeless, and dissatisfied.
We may argue
that the conundrum
can be resolved
by adopting the point of view
of oneness.
However, the moment we do this
the pesky notion of two-ness pops up.
Divided mind
is a maze of logical abstractions.
if we argue non-duality,
duality appears right next to it.
If “everything” is hinted at,
the concept of “nothing”
comes an instant later.
"It's all good," you say.
Perhaps you're correct,
but "good" has no meaning
without the existence of "bad.”
Our conceptual mind is a one-sided coin,
a coin that is always spinning, changing.
In the terminology of yoga,
this is called chitta vritti (Sanskrit "mind turbulent").
Sages discovered
a time-tested way
to avoid the trap
of allowing turbulent mind
to distort our experience
of reality.
Their invitation
involves two steps,
one surrender.
Step,
and relinquish
the assumption
that reality can be understood
and explained.
Step,
and notice the gap
between thoughts.
Let go,
fall through the gap
and land
in embodied presence.
One-Sided Coin