Hay-Ku of the Day (Cutting to the Chase, Spiritual Practice II)

Simplicity-Wise, these are the best "Spiritual Practices" (seeming self-initiated acts that can actually transcend self-entrancement -- as paradoxical as that may appear to the intellect) I've encountered in 50 years:

" Pay attention to the source of the next thought." Jackie 0'keffe

“Relax all focus for 2 to 5 seconds, again and again, and recognize what remains.” -- Bentinho Massaro

Haiku-Wise they become:

In Principle:

Focusing on the

Source of the thought reminds "me"

I Am Awareness.

***

Relaxing Focus

Extends Mental Focal Length

And Breadth of Vision.

Relaxing Focus

Opens Breadth of Vision to

Embrace All Being.

In Practice:

Simply open your

Focus and Relax into

Being Awareness.

***

Relaxing Focus

And Resting as this Felt Sense

Of Presence I Am.

Opening Focus

And Merging with this Felt Sense

Of Being I Am.

***

Shifting Focus from

Thought to the Aware Presence

Of Being I Am.

Waiting Upon the

Lord as the Aware Presence

Of Being I Am.

PS: Dedicated to Kristin Lassen, who taught me a very valuable (and hopefully final -- though I somehow doubt it -- lol) lesson in humility.

Heartfelt Knowing of

Of the Truth is the only

"Real Experience."

Heart Apprehended

Knowledge of Being is a

Direct Conception.

"Knowing the Truth" as

"I Know I Am" is the "One

True Experience."

Haiku of the Day (Spiritual Practice)

Spiritual Practice
Removes what you aren't so you
Can See what You Are.

Spiritual Practice
Removes what I am not so
I See What I Am.

***

Spiritual Practice
Only cleans the Vessel it
Doesn't fill the Cup.

Spiritual Practice
Only cleans the Vessel - 'Tis
Grace that fills the Cup

Hay-Ku of the Day (The Utter Simplicity of Being)

(1) There's nothing more Divinely Simple than:

Being What I Am

In Spirit and Truth prior to

Thinking otherwise.

Being what I Am

In Spirit and Truth prior to

Thinking I am not.

Being mentally

Still and Knowing that I Am

Awareness itself.

Being mentally

Still and Knowing I Am the 

Awareness of God.

(2) And nothing more insanely complex than:

Trying to think my

Way out of a self-conceived

Concept of Being.

Trying to think my

Way out of a self-conceived

Conception of Self.

Trying to think my

Way out of a self-conceived

Conception of Life.

Trying to think my

Way out of the self-conceived

Mental box l'm in.

[Rich Note:  Someone once said, "If you want to know the Truth, simply reverse the commonly held human view of things."  In this regard, equating "broad" in the following Scripture with "simple" (or feeling) and "narrow" with "complex" (or thinking), as a related FB cartoon appears to, is a clear case in point. 

As it is more truly said: Nothing is really more simple then shifting the mental focus of one's mind (minding actually) to "God Within as One"; and nothing more complex (impossible actually) then attempting to focus one's mind on "God Without," in his Infinite array of Self-Reflected Qualities, Attributes and Conceptual Possibilities and trying to see Them (and God) as Essentially Good and One (without "God's Single Eye" to See It as Being So). 

For in Truth, the Absolute Simplicity and Unicity of Being, Life or Existence can only be found within, at the Heart of the Matter; while the Complexity of the Utter Multiplicity of Divine Self-Expression can only exist Without.  

So what we really have here, in this seemingly simple cartoon, is a potentially nasty carnal wolf disguised in sheep's clothing, with respect to thinking and feeling, simplicity and complexity.

Re: "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:" Matthew 7:13 KJV

"Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Matthew 7:14 KJV

PS1: Of course, once One Truly Sees, Knows and Identifies One Self with God Within (as the Aware Presence of Being Itself or the Awareness I Am), God will automatically Be Seen Everywhere Without -- "in every blade of grass and every grain of sand."

Re: "To see a World in a Grain of Sand 

And a Heaven in a Wild Flower 

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand 

And Eternity in an hour..." William Blake 

PS2: More Related Haiku: 

Mind's future and past

Are broadways while the Present

Is a Narrow Gate.

Mind's future and past

Are broadways while the Present

Moment is Narrow.

Focusing Without

Is a Broadway and Within

Is a Narrow Gate.

***

The good and bad thieves

Of the future and past are

Stealing God's Presence.

The good and bad thieves

Of the future and past are

Stealing God's Present.

***

Truth is Dirt Simple --

But mind sees it as complex

To keep its day job.]

Haiku of the Day (Empty Fullness)

Empty of "myself

As I think," I am Full of

"Myself as I Am."

Only when I am

Empty of myself Am I

Full of the Father.

"How many people do you meet who are full of emptiness? I feel a sermon coming on: 'Full Up Empty.'" -- Len Sweet

"My silence sings, my emptiness is full" -- Sri Nisargadatta

Hay-Ku of the Day (I Am in Command)

I Am in Command

Of the Boundless Still Point through

Which I Am Aware.

I Am in Command

Of the Breadth of Vision through

Which I Am Aware.

I Am in Command

Of the Boundless Focus of

Divine Awareness.

***

I Am in Command

Of both breadth of vision and 

Mental focal length.

I Am in Command

Of my mental focal length

And breadth of vision.

I Am in Command

Of the moment to moment

Breadth of Awareness.

***

I Am in Command

As the Aware Presence of

All Conscious Being.

I Am in Command

As the Conscious Awareness

Of Being God Is.

I Am in Command

As the Witnessing Presence

Of Aware Focus.

***

In Command of an

Adjustable focal point of

Absolute Focus.

In Command of a

Perfectly Adjustable 

Still Point of Focus.

In Command of a

Perfectly Expandable

Still Point of Focus.

***

A Dimensionless

Still Point of Infinitely

Adjustable breadth.

Extending Focal

Length and Breadth of Vision will

Restore Paradise.

Extending breadth of

Vision and focal length soon set

Mental captives free.

[Rich Note: A related and amazingly revelatory Part 1 from the  Neville Goddard "At Your Command" follows:

"Can man decree a thing and have it come to pass? Most decidedly he can! Man has always decreed that which has appeared in his world and is today decreeing that which is appearing in his world and shall continue to do so as long as man is conscious of being man. Not one thing has ever appeared in man’s world but what man decreed that it should. This you may deny, but try as you will you cannot disprove it, for this decreeing is based upon a changeless principle. You do not command things to appear by your words or loud affirmations. Such vain repetition is more often than not confirmation of the opposite. Decreeing is ever done in consciousness. That is; everyman is conscious of being that which he has decreed himself to be. The dumb

 man without using words is conscious of being dumb. Therefore he is decreeing himself to be dumb. When the Bible is read in this light you will find it to be the greatest scientific book ever written. Instead of looking upon the Bible as the historical record of an ancient civilization or the biography of the unusual life of Jesus, see it as a great psychological drama taking place in the consciousness of man. Claim it as your own and you will suddenly transform your world from the barren deserts of Egypt to the promised land of Canaan.

"Every one will agree with the statement that all things were made by God, and without him there is nothing made that is made, but what man does not agree upon is the identity of God. All the churches and priesthoods of the world disagree as to the identity and true nature of God. The Bible proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that Moses and the prophets were in one hundred per cent accord as to the identity and nature of God. And Jesus’ life and teachings are in agreement with the findings of the prophets of old. Moses discovered God to be man’s awareness of being, when he declared these little understood words, “I AM hath sent me unto you.” David sang in his psalms, “Be still and know that I AM God.” Isaiah declared, “I AM the Lord and there is none else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee, though thou hast not known me. I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil. I the Lord do all these things.”

 The awareness of being as God is stated hundreds of times in the New Testament. To name but a few: “I AM the shepherd, I AM the door; I AM the resurrection and the life; I AM the way; I AM the Alpha and Omega; I AM the beginning and the end”; and again, “Whom do you say that I AM?” It is not stated, “I, Jesus, am the door. I, Jesus am the way,” nor is it said, “Whom do you say that I, Jesus, am?” It is clearly stated, “I AM the way.” The awareness of being is the door through which the manifestations of life pass into the world of form.

"Consciousness is the resurrecting power – resurrecting that which man is conscious of being. Man is ever out-picturing that which he is conscious of being. This is the truth that makes man free, for man is always self-imprisoned or self-freed. If you, the reader, will give up all of your former beliefs in a God apart from yourself, and claim God as your awareness of being – as Jesus and the prophets did – you will transform your world with the realization that, “I and my father are one.” This statement, “I and my father are one, but my father is greater than I,” seems very confusing – but if interpreted in the light of what we have just said concerning the identity of God, you will find it very revealing. Consciousness, being God, is as ‘father.’ The thing that you are conscious of being is the ‘son’ bearing witness of his ‘father.’ It is like the conceiver and its conceptions. The conceiver is ever greater than his conceptions yet ever remains one with his conception. For instance; before you are conscious of being man, you are first conscious of being. Then you become conscious of being man. Yet you remain as

 conceiver, greater than your conception – man.

"Jesus discovered this glorious truth and declared himself to be one with God – not a God that man had fashioned. For he never recognized such a God. He said, “If any man should ever come, saying, ‘Look here or look there,’ believe them not, for the kingdom of God is within you.” Heaven is within you. Therefore, when it is recorded that “He went unto his father,” it is telling you that he rose in consciousness to the point where he was just conscious of being, thus transcending the limitations of his present conception of himself, called ‘Jesus.’"  -- Neville Goddard.

PS: Here's a link to the full version of "At Your Command" for those who might wish to read more of Neville's masterful, 14 page exposition on the "Principle of Expression" (Spiritual Law of Attraction and/or Manifestation as reflected  in the  preceding Scripture): 

(1) "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee." Proverbs 23:7 KJV

(2) "Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same." Job 4:8 KJV 

(3) "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Matthew 6:33 KJV.

http://realneville.com/pdf/at_your_command.pdf ]

Hay-Ku of the Day (A Divine Fool's Errand)

Seeking without What

Can only Be found Within 

Is a Fool's Errand.

The one way to keep

From finding out Who I Am

Is seek it without.

The one way to keep

From finding out Who I Am

Is seek mentally.

The one way to keep

From finding out Who I Am

Is to keep seeking.

Related Scripture:

"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?1 Corinthians 3:16 KJV

"Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee."  Isaiah 12:6 KJV

"So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord , the Holy One in Israel." Ezekiel 39:7 KJV

"Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts." Jeremiah 15:16 KJV

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:6 KJV

[Rich Note: If you insist Jesus was making a unique personal claim, as opposed to It Being the same I AM that spoke to Moses from the burning bush, that was declaring the same Ultimate Truth in, as and through Jesus, then please explain why Jesus himself, as a person, also declared: "...Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God." Luke 18:19 KJV

As such, the "Holy Name, One or Spirit of God" that dwells in the midst of thee is "I AM," this "Heartfelt Aware Presence of Being I Am, You Are and All is," right here, right now (that also declared, "...lo, I AM with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Matthew 28:20 KJV because "We Are All That" in "Spirit and Truth") -- the Word that was with God and was God in the Beginning, is Now and Ever Shall Be.]

Hay-Ku of the Day (I Am the Great Pretender)

Why pretend to be what I am not and refuse to be what I am?

Because I am not

What I was conditioned to

Think when I got here.

Because I am not

What society programmed me

To think as a child.

Because I think I

Am not and have forgotten

What I Am in Truth.

***

OOMM Oldies:

A fatal case of 

Mistaken identity 

This being human.

A case of Divine

Amnesia caused by a false

Premise of Being.

Re-collecting the

Whole of which I am part is 

The object of life.

Conscious intent and 

Expectation blinds us to 

The Fullness of Life.

Life is a cosmic game 

Of divine hide and seek in 

Which we are all it!

Life is a Divine

Game of hide and seek in which

Everyone is It.

The Object of Life

Is to find out who I Am

Before time runs out.

***

"Stop pretending to

Be what you are not and you 

Will be what you are

Inspired by Sri Nisargadatta's:

"Don't pretend to be what you are not, don't refuse to be what you are." 

(From I AM THAT - http://advaita.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/1-I-Am-That-Nisargadatta-Maharaj-Resumo.pdf )

“One day a six-year-old friend said to me, ‘Pretend you are surrounded by a thousand hungry tigers. What would you do?’ I visualized the situation as he had suggested and, coming up with no viable plan of action, said, ‘Wow, I don’t know. What would you do?’ And he replied, ‘I’d stop pretending.'”

~Catherine Ingram"

Hay-Ku of the Day (A Divine Quickie)

"I Am this or that"

Takes you away; "This or that,

I Am" takes you Home.

[Rich Note: Yoda was right!]

PS: Truth is Perfectly

Simple -- the human mind is

What makes Life complex.

Truth is Perfectly

Simple -- carnal mind projects

The complexity.

Hay-Ku of the Day (Waking Up to the Aware Presence of Being I Am Here and Now)

Shifting Focus from

Thought to the Aware Presence 

Of Being I Am.

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee : because he trusteth in thee." Isaiah 26:3 KJV

Waiting upon the

Lord as the Aware Presence

Of Being I Am.

"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Isaiah 40:31 KJV

Relaxing focus

And resting in this felt sense

Of Being I Am.

"The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms..." Deuteronomy 33:27 KJV

Opening focus

And merging in this felt sense

Of Presence I Am.

"Keep in mind the feeling I am, merge in it, till mind and feeling are one." -- Sri Nisargadatta

[Rich Note: This series of cross-triangulating haiku were directly inspired by Bentinho Massaro's simple, yet utterly effective, suggestion to, "Relax focus for two to five seconds and notice what remains" (and, thereby, "waking-up" to "Being  the Awareness" you "Always Already Are" (in "Spirit and Truth") and, so, can never not be).]

Hay-Ku of the Hay (The Living Light of the Word of God I Am)

All I ever see

Is the Living Word of God

I Am Manifest.

All I ever Sees

Is the Living Word and Face

Of God Manifest.

No One ever has

An experience outside

Awareness Itself.

One never has an

Experience outside the

Awareness One Is.

***

This Aware Presence

Of Being I Am is God's

Word made Manifest

The Word of God is

This Awareness of Being

I Am and You Are.

The Word of God is

God's Awareness of Being

Present as I Am.

***

I Am God's Vision

Living "In, As and Through All

Existent Being.

I Am God's Vision

Of Being Alive "In, As and 

Through" All Creation.

God's Divine Vision

Of Being Manifests as

The Knowledge I Am.

God's Divine Vision

Of Being Manifests as

Present Awareness.

***

The Living Word is

God's Knowledge of Being Here

Present as I Am.

The Living Word of

God I Am is the Presence

Of this Awareness.

The Living Word of

God I Am Manifests as

Divine Awareness.

The Living Word of

God I Am Manifests as

Present Awareness.

***

This Aware Presence

Of Being I Am is the 

Light of God in All.

***

"As long as I am 

In the world, I am the 

light of the world." John 9:5 KJV

"Ye are the light of the world. 

A city that is set on an hill 

cannot be hid." Matthew 5:14 KJV

"That was the true Light, 

which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." John 1:9 KJV

"Thy word is a lamp 

Unto my feet, and a light 

Unto my path."  -- Psalm 119:105 KJV

"Let the Word of 

Christ Dwell in you Richly 

in All Wisdom..." Colossians 3:16 KJV

"In the Beginning

Was the Word and the Word was

With God and...was God."  John 1:1 KJV

"After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward." Genesis 15:1 KJV

"...For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.…" 1 Corinthians 13:9-12 KJV

"In the Beginning was the Word..." John 1:1

[Rich Note: "If a 'word' is defined as an external vibratory pattern of energy intended to express or convey an inner thought or idea, is it not possible to characterize each and every man-made object you now see before you as a “living word?” For is not each such object simply a recurring pattern of physical energy that expresses an inner idea that once impressed another person’s mind? Do you yourself not also speak your mental ideas into physical being through words—vibratory patterns of external energy—in a similar fashion every time you speak or write? Might this same characterize  not also hold true of the natural world?"

-- from Introduction to "Out of My Mind and Back to My Senses," Chapter 1, In the Beginning Was the Word.]

Hay-Ku of the Day (A Grateful Heart)

Hay-Ku of the Day (A Grateful Heart)

Re: Charlie Hayes 1-3-16 FB Post:

"Word for the day: Grateful!"

Rich: A Primal Sense of a Wide-Open Heart!

Addendum:

Grateful to Be This

Awareness, Right Here, Right Now,

As the One I Am.

Grateful to Be This

Awareness, Right Here, Right Now,

As the Child I Am.

Grateful to Be This

Awareness, Right Here, Right Now,

As the Light I Am.

Grateful to Be This

Awareness, Right Here, Right Now,

As the Living Light.

Grateful to Be This

Awareness, Right Here, Right Now,

As Light's Living Love.

Grateful to Be This

Awareness, Right Here, Right Now,

As the Father's Child.

[Rich Notes: A number of related points about this series of haiku worth sharing:

(1) Grateful to Be This

Awareness, Right Now, Right Now,

As the Child I Am.

This is actually one of a six daily "purifying meditations" that include the following first lines: "I Love Being...", Grateful to Be...", Thankful to Be...", Happy to Be...", Happy Being...", I Am Being..." and "God is Being..."

(2) "...This Awareness, Right Here, Right Now..." is a "non-dual pointer" that recurs in Bill Samuel's written and spoken word.

(3) "Truth, Peace, Joy, Life, Love, Grace, Faith, Hope, Heart, Health, Wealth, Word, Christ" can all be substituted for "Child, One and Light" in the third-line of the haiku and the  declaration remains equally valid or true.]

Hay-Ku of the Day (A 2016 New Year's Day Reprise)

(1) A few Old Favorites:

Poetic Glimpses

Into the Divine Nature 

Of Being Aware. 

A Thousand Haiku 

All reflecting different

Facets of One Truth.

Smart bombs to target

Deeply embedded patterns

Of self-centered thought.

***

Infinite rays shine,

Blazing from One Central Sun, Universal Light.

Centered in the One

Abiding in the Balance

Mindful of the Light.

Being Here and Now

Still and Silent as I Am

One with the Father.

***

This Holy Moment

Awareness Knows Sensation

Consciousness is Born.

I Am Awareness

Embodied as a Sense of 

Radiant Presence.

I Love Being This

Awareness, Right Here, Right Now,

As the Child I Am.

***

Abiding as This

Felt Sense of Aware Presence

Of Being I Am.

Resting in Presence

As the Child of God I Am

One with the Father.

"Christ in You" is the

Self-Witnessing Presence of

The Father of All.

***

Playful old puppies 

She frolics, he gently paws – 

Love in furry coats.

A basement cricket

Competing with my day dream

Who is more alive?

Banging pots and pans

Startle my thoughtful repose

Another wake-up call.

***

A fatal case of 

Mistaken identity 

This being human.

Thinking of myself 

In relative terms I Am 

Subject to objects.

My soulful anguish 

Mid-wife to Divine Glory 

Cosmic Labor pains.

***

The question is not 

Whether there is a God, but 

Who’s playing the role.

Any god that is 

Other than I Am is not

An Absolute One.

Faith in doctrine is

Worshipping conceptual

Graven images.

***

Jesus died to save 

Us all from our delusion 

Of self-existence.

[Rich Note:  

This Holy Instant

Awareness (Father) 

Knows Sensation (Mother)

Consciousness (Child) 

is Born.]

(2) Something included in the 2006 book's introduction on the subject of haiku:

"As to why a collection of haiku was chosen as the first offering in the series, the author would suggest that haiku has an unparallel potential to overcome the loss of fidelity that normally occurs when relative words and thoughts are used to convey non-relative insights. As such, haiku has a remarkable capacity to evoke direct experiential understanding without the mental noise linguistic communication normally entails. Seen in this light, haiku might be rightly characterized as a kind of “intellectual judo,” in which a simple arrangement of words is used to throw the thinker beyond thought and occasion direct insight."

[Rich Note: This new arrangement (reprise) of some old and new favorites from the archives was triggered by the following kind comment by Friend Gale Sanyu Gibbson and my response:

Gale: "Richard F Hay what is the highest level of haiku writing?  Cuz you're a black belt in haiku writing! :-)"

Rich: "Been attempting to capture and distill insights in this form of haiku (a friend once coined the term "hay-ku," which is used in the blog title) for 18 years now and it pretty much "happens of itself" at this point -- but you really shouldn't encourage me, Gale -- lol."

Re:..(the above reprise). ]