Category Archives: Cosmos

an Advent poem: making ready (what comes before)

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an Advent poem:
making ready
(what comes before)

sitting in the pre-dawn
darkness of this spiritually
transformative season

silent, reflective, open,
to the Divine Truth within
and the new beginnings before us

witnessing the Universal Cosmic Christ
who came down to us, comes again,
and is always with us in eternal life

mindful of the season’s
sentimentality, nostalgia, and hubris
which comforts and distracts us

here and now in the bliss
of participating and being
in the way of Creator God of All

mutually committed in body/mind/spirit
to preparing the way and living together
in diversity, healing, and peace

we humans transformed and co-creating
the alternative neighborly community
of True Self and Authentic Belonging

a lone voice in the wilderness
crying out, make ready the way
for the in-flowing of the Great I Am

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
December 6, 2022

author’s note: The last stanza is a paraphrase of the prophet Isaiah from the old testament found in Isaiah 40:3. The Great I Am reverences the I Am statements of Jesus in the Gospel of John, and Yahweh, God’s name in the Old Testament. It also connotes the Sanskrit mantra Tat Tvam Asi from the Chandogya Upanishad which refers to the unity of the individual Soul with the Divine Universal Consciousness. My experience is that all Divine Truth is universal, perennial, and cosmic flowing from the one supreme source which underlies all religion, spirituality, and mysticism, and which can be directly experienced by human beings who follow the way of True Self. An excellent book on this idea is “The Perennial Philosophy” by Aldous Huxley.

art image ‘O Root’ by Sister Ansgar Holmberg

poem: conscious aging, spiritual foresight, perennial wisdom

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poem: conscious aging,
spiritual foresight,
perennial wisdommindfully present
flowing in the
universal rhythms
of the Cosmos
here and now

letting go any
pretense of
hubris, sentimentality,
power, control,
and domination

pure being,
not desiring,
doing,
grasping,
or withholding

emptying,
opening,
uniting,
in the eternal, omnipresent
One Peace/One Love

sharing mutually
authentic presence
of belonging: witnesses,
prophets, seers, souls,
and saints

focusing, preparing, practicing,
participating, reflecting,
celebrating, liberating,
transitioning, whole-making,
arriving full-circle

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
October 20, 2022

photo by author

“Full Circle”

poem: an elder’s perspective on time and space

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poem: an elder’s perspective
on time and space

thinking of the past is useless
unless it informs the present

always going for the gust
is a fool’s dream

worrying for tomorrow
a thief in the night

thus taking more time
mindfully present here and now

with loved ones, dear friends,
soul mates, and witnesses

wherever you go, there you are
you will find me there

covering less ground somewhere
between disengaged and belonging

close to home
Homeward bound

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
October 27, 2022

author’s note: My reflection on aging

was sparked after reading Thomas Merton’s
quote, “Take more time, cover less ground.”
John Kabat- Zinn is reflected in a book title
of his, “Wherever You Go, There You Are.”
And Ram Dass’ iconic words, “Be Here Now”
from his book by the same title is
represented in the poem. Merton, a Catholic
monk; Kabat-Zinn, a biomedical scientist
influenced by Buddhism; and Ram Dass,
a Harvard social psychology research professor who became
a disciple of Hindu guru Neem Karoli Baba.
These and others have been my teachers from
whom I have learned about living, aging, and dying.
I have tried to be a good student and continue to learn.
photo by author ‘On the Front Stoop’

poem: mindful, intentional, purposeful

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poem: mindful, intentional, purposeful

our presence deeply
touching the moment
beyond ego and selfishness

performing acts sacramentally
without attachment
to outcomes

interconnecting as One
in the flow
of all existence

manifesting equanimity of mind
healing inner fears
and worldly suffering

being holistically
body, mind, and spirit
in mutuality with the Cosmos

transforming personal self awareness
through dominant thinking to collective
Self realization of Spiritual Union

prepare
practice
participate

one turns around
receives the key
opens the door, enters

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
August 1, 2022

art image by Meghan Oona Clifford
‘Star Born’

poem: visions of hope, transformation, and manifestation

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poem: visions of hope, transformation,
and manifestation

hooking one’s hopes on the egos
of humans and worldly events
crushes our souls

peace is denied at the tyrant’s whim,
human rights are ruled unconstitutional,
life, liberty, and happiness end at the point of a gun

we, in the world, not of the world,
Earth students, Spirit beings,
our hopes are set in shared visions

the diminution of ego of True Self,
the diminution of control of Authentic Being,
the diminution of personal power of universal Cosmic Consciousness

our visions of yes/and unity, wounded healing,
mutuality, beloved community, wholeness,
the way of the Cosmos

one’s authentic hope lies
in deep intuitive knowing, envisioning,
and faith in manifesting transformation

beloveds, be the change
shanti, shanti, shanti
thou art that

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry

May 15, 2022

poem: her great nest of being

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poem: her great nest of being

her eyes are heavy, head nodding
sun down, light fading
memories of a girl in wildflowers

the blue-eyed grass is in bloom
the wild garlic is growing
the lilies are budding

Earth Home in her rhythm
manifesting symbiosis
all creation included and connected

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
May 8, 2022

for Cathey

photos by author

poem: a Lenten blessing for personal and relational transformation for all

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poem: a Lenten blessing for personal
and relational transformation for all

in some shadowy Lenten corner of our
desert hearts, may we face all of our
small self-serving definitions of Creator God,
and the idols we erect and worship
of our hubris, conceit, and sentimentality

liberating our self from this wilderness,
following the Way of the Cross, as did Jesus,
the Universal Cosmic Christ, and resurrecting
into a more authentic becoming
with the Spirit

Creator God’s grace and love universally and
unconditionally given cannot sustain New Life
in an arid heart and wilderness mind,
the vine dies and fails to produce the
communal Fruit of Life

may the Divine Creator be the lotus flower
upon the throne of our heart chakra,
om manni padme hum, manifesting love,
grace, kindness, and compassion
to every corner of the Cosmos

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
March 9, 2022

images
Lotus heart chakra – unattributed
Open your heart, Paschima Namaskarasana,
Reverse Prayer Hands – unattributed

tanka: glory of heavenly and earthly bodies

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tanka: glory of heavenly
and earthly bodiesheavenly bodies
and earthly bodies in glory
glory of the sun
and another of the moon
and each star their own glory

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
February 2, 2022

Author’s note: The photo is
my own and was taken as the
sun was rising on the eastern
horizon at 6:09 AM on Sunday,
January 30, 2022 at Nashville,
Tennessee. Also visible is
the planet Venus and the waning
crescent moon. My tanka poem
is inspired by 1 Corinthians 15
in which Paul the apostle explains
to the early church in Corinthia the
resurrection of the body of Christ
from the dead. He speaks of the
different types of bodies, each in
their own glory, including earthly
and heavenly bodies and physical
and spiritual bodies.