Closing Up Shop (Again) But More To Come

Hi friends. After another months-long hiatus, I've decided to continue blogging but on a slightly different theme to reflect where I am. Check out http://brokenwideopen.blogspot.com/. In a way it's a continuation of Metaminute because it's an experimentation on sharing as a dialectic healing practice. But in another way it's different because my aim is to share more than just the insights, but some of the insight-birthing process as well. Anyway, thanks for your patience and readership!

A Return

A little under two years ago I closed Meta-Minute as I was moved to do so. It felt as if I'd shed some sort of spiritual skin, so that writing about spirituality no longer fit. I expressed an intention to re-open Meta-minute if my feelings changed, and suggested that it become a place to share creative writing. Here we are.

I had a wonderful opportunity to write about my dear friend, Ayesha, for a celebration of her life last month. These are initial impressions, about 20 minutes' worth.

http://lovericebeans.blogspot.com

http://walkingeightfoldpath.blogspot.com

***

Slowly, she salters into the room,

Eyes follow as she sways sideways,

Here to there, there to here,

If you have not paid attention—she has arrived,

Signaled by the fluttering butterflies,

That her steps leave behind.

From her breast comes a throbbing heat,

Enough, you may wonder, will fire roll from her lips?

But, instead, when she speaks,

Her breathe is cool – like a smooth groove at dusk,

Yes, it is cool, like an aged river - running deep,

With a long trace only matched,

By a deliciously sticky presence, and,

Freshly made, love-simmered heartbeat.

***

Closing Time

Hello Readers,

Some of you may have noticed fewer posts these past several months. During a 2 1/2 hour meditation this morning, where I gained tremendous clarity on a number of things, I realized that it is time to close Metaminute. I am fortunate to have writing inspiration, yet, Metaminute is not the venue to which I'm now called. I will be returning to poetry and working within creative writing for the first time. Beyond this, I believe the blog fulfilled its personal goal--to sustain me, and share with others, this spiritual path upon which I found myself. I learned a great deal during this time, and I learned even more over recent weeks. Thank you for reading, for your comments, and for providing this platform. Perhaps another time will come for Metaminute. Until then, I look forward to reading your blog entries and following you offline.

Be well,
R.

The Monkey

This is an excerpt from Chogyam Trungpa's Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism. This chapter addresses "The Six Realms" which is an analogy for samsara, the first noble truth about life's difficulty. This particular part resonated with me at the moment:

"How can the monkey get out of this seemingly endless, self-contained cycle of imprisonment? It is in the human realm that the possibility of breaking the karmic chain, or th circle of samsara arises. The intellect of the human realm and the possiblity of discriminating action allow room to question the whole process of struggle. There is a possibility for the monkey to question the obssession of rleating to something, of getting something, to question the solidity of the words that he experiences. To do this, the monkey needs to develop panoramic awareness and transcendental knowledge.

Panoramic awareness allows the monkey to see the space in which the struggle occurs so that he can begin to see its ironical and humorous quality. Instead of simply struggling, he begins to exprience the struggle and see its futility. He laughs through the hallucinations. He discovers that when he does not fight the walls, the are not repulsive and hard but are actually warm, soft, and penetrable. He finds thathe does not have to lseap from the five windows or break down the walls or even dwell upon them; he can step through them anywhere. That is why compassion, or karuna, is describes as "soft and noble heart." It is a communication process that is soft, open, and warm.

The clarify and precsion of transcendental knowledge allow the monkey to see the walls in a different way. He begins to realize that the world was never outside of himself, that is was his own dualistic attitude, the separation of 'I' and 'other,' that created the problem. He begins to understand that he himslef is making the walls soid, that he is imprisoning himself through his ambition. And so he begins to realize that to be free of his prison he must give up his ambition to escape and accept the walls as they are."

Precious

I've heard a great deal about the newly-released film, Precious, based on the Sapphire book, Push. I am moved by the story, as well as this Studio 360 interview with debut actress, Gabourey Sidibe.

About Contradiction: Indian/Not Indian

Fritz Scholder came to mind, for some reason, during my Indian Law class this morning. I saw an exhibit over the summer of his work. I really like his style, vision. More so, I like his complexity as an artist and person. His work reminds an audience about their our own contradictions in all of its bold color and vividness.

More on Multiverse

I am a fan of multiverse, even alluding to it in the previous post. Family Guy breaks it down in its own Family Guy way:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/98264/family-guy-road-to-the-multiverse