I wonder if we can see our actual situation clearly
without depressing ourselves beyond all measure?
From such a stark place,
the old beliefs and illusions
begin to have their appeal again.
Lost, in this cosmic dance of entropy
and counter stroke, are we.
Aware, but impotent and
present, but transient.
These thoughts of mine are evaporating
even as I record them.
And these concerns …
simply pointless beyond all measure.
gallagher
20Dec2023
Christchurch
I awake in the morning from dreams;
with the sound of rain
slowly filling the space
around me.
And my awareness arises,
quietly regarding the mysteries
before
my thoughts begin.
This mind, with all of its small interests,
just wants to understand enough
to survive, procreate and
to spite the ever creeping
entropic darkness.
We are both the lightness of being
and the darkness of conclusions drawn.
And all the while
the animal, within us,
still growls.
And we so automatically form
those beliefs
that prevent us from seeing
the naked truth
that lies all around us, endlessly.
And that naked truth
is utterly indifferent
as to whether we see it
or not.
The rain murmurs outside
and I turn and burrow deeper
into the covers of a bed
in a house where I am loved.
I am, in this one moment then, mind.
And in the next, just simple presence.
And I am all of this …
while the rain
murmurs and sings
and the mysteries enfold me.
gallagher
29Dec2023
Christchurch
A new emergent property
of matter manifested
when chance molecular
self-replication occurred.
And thereafter, complexity’s rise
was no longer prevented
by the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
And we are that consciousness
which has arisen within matter
grown ever more complex.
We are risen through
the inevitable and unconscious
processes of evolution.
All of this is written
in the very stones we trod on
if one but wields Occam’s Razor
and searches for the truth
thru the many illusions of
our still small minds.
Not all adaptions are successful
and this, our self-awareness,
is problematic.
Just newly risen, are we,
above the tooth and claw.
And this adaptation’s power
threatens to end us
even as we’ve just begun.
That which was conserved
to support our rise is that,
which if now unchecked,
foretells our fall.
gallagher
17Jan24
Christchurch