Journey to Ixtlan

Poem - Human Underneath

Sat, 18 Apr 2015 14:12:28 GMT

As an accidental artist, I am amazed at the frank honesty of other artists. The brave creators bare their souls while they reveal their art. The truly amazing thing is that most people do not recognize these heroic acts. Why? Are the viewers incapable of discerning the messages, unable to see the artist standing naked in front of them? I think not. Instead, I suspect, the audience of the artist chooses to see only the surface, and not be burdened by the raw admittance of the one on the stage.

Human Underneath
Poem for Day 108 – 20150418

See the artist, creative jester therein.
Face up cards on life's table.
Can you really see brave soul
who removes a mask all have placed?
Do you wish to delve down,
explore the well fathoms deep?
A passage beckons beyond,
cold honesty wrapped in art's delights.

Their art stands as testament
to the sum of who they am.
Layers of concealment stripped
in a single creative act.
When put together, all their works,
a picture of the black is viewed,
words of muted madness heard,
the within revealed without.

If you really knew them,
what would you think?
If the veil was removed,
what would be the result?
The choice is made,
look not to the one behind the mask.
Best to see only the glamor,
and not the human underneath.

© 2015. Sean Green. All Rights Reserved

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Poem - Contents are Human

Wed, 14 Jan 2015 02:51:31 GMT

I give my fellow human being a lot of latitude because of the fact that they are terribly human. The poem “Contents are Human” is about the challenges we humans face, and a sobering concluding statement to put the whole thing into perspective.

Contents are Human
Poem for Day 013 - 20150113

Alert,
contents are human,
primitive surfaces,
soft shoulders,
blind curves,
steep grade.

Caution,
contents are human
construction in progress
beware pedestrians
children at play
slippery when wet.

Danger,
contents are human
under pressure
radioactive
explosive
live current.

So many warnings
for a condition most mortal.
There is only one remedy
for this dire situation corporeal.
Live each day to the fullest,
embrace your fellow travelers with only love
because we are all terribly human
and nobody gets out of here alive.

© 2015. Sean Green. All Rights Reserved.

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Poem - It Takes a Human

Wed, 10 Dec 2014 13:42:01 GMT

My wife and I have been watching Hellsing Ultimate on the Cartoon Network. During the story Arucard battles Anderson, a human paladin of super human power. Anderson, while he is fanatical, shows his humanity when he reject’s a Cardinal’s attempt to subjugate Britain by armed force. Anderson is not strong enough to defeat Arucard, or so the thinks. He resorts to using a holy relic in order to become a monster strong enough to perhaps slay Arucard. Arucard then has the following dialogue:

“Anderson, stop it! Do you know what that thing will do to you?! You'll become one of God's monsters! Retain your humanity. Don't succumb to power! Either side, it amounts to the same deal: whether in the name of the divine or the demonic, you're still a monster in the end! Do you intend to use that scrap of miracle...to become nothing but a scrap of miracle yourself?! This duel...between us...would you really push it this far - into the realms that lie beyond the realm of mortal life? A monster such as myself...a creature of such weakness that I could not bear the weight of a human life...if I am to be defeated, it must be by a human!”

Powerful stuff! This inspired me to write the poem “It Takes a Human” in recognition of the power of those parts of us that are still human. I see the fanatics, those driven by ideology and zeal for justice, becoming monsters of their own. Once this path is taken, well, there is no return to the fold of the humanity they seek to protect.

It Takes a Human
Poem for Day 78 – 20141210

To kill a monster
is a very difficult affair.
It will not stay dead
if you don't heed my words and show due care.
It takes a human
to find the creature's weakness and end its life.
To the creature's soul,
frailty of humankind is a knife.

To fight fire with fire
will make you as dark as that you resist.
A monster may die
and another will rise to replace it.
Hold fast to your soul
lest you become a creature even more foul.
Victory draws near
when you embrace those things humans find most dear.

May you shed a tear.
The soul finds connection to things most dear.
Hear the children laugh,
young voices speak on the angel's behalf.
The old people dance,
weathered spirits hold spark of life's romance.
Creature of dark night
cannot bear the weight of a human life.

Seek out the monster.
Slay it with the spark of a human soul.
Cry for blood taken
while men slay the monster in sad defense.
No pleasure taken
as weary laughter beckons a new dawn.
The monster is gone.
Humanity's life dance continues on.

© 2014. Sean Green. All Rights Reserved

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Poem - You Human

Sat, 22 Nov 2014 20:14:11 GMT

I have my own set of experiences. For good, bad, or ugly, they color my understanding the world. There are others in the world with incredibly different life experiences. These differences can come in the form of age, race, religion, community, or society. Sometimes there are more differences than similarities between myself and the people I encounter. While we call this normal, this gives me zero permission to make harsh assumptions about their life. Too often human kind reacts in fear to the unknown, and this reaction extends to other people. The fear presents dark visions instead of bright possibilities. Diversity becomes danger. Wisdom becomes madness. Why? Ah! That is grist for another poem. Now it is enough to state that fear or righteousness are not the vehicle for reconciling our life experiences with another person's.

You Human
Bonus Poem for Day 060 – 20141122

Through the hazy window
I see your world in shadow.
I see only the maligned,
little do I know of your kind.
I see you as less than human.
Lack of empathy is illusion.
You have the tears of joy,
you have the scars of pain.

Can I understand your way
within the breadth of my Lord's Day?
Moral high ground laid low,
poor substitute for knowing.
I cannot speak honestly,
I have no authority.
An intellectual slum,
to speak would show me dumb.

A disconnect exists here,
Your way of life is what I fear.
Can I live your private life,
if I only see there strife?
Please forgive my ignorance,
my fear is the hindrance.
You deserve recognition,
this has become my mission.

No more this war of hate,
the discord must abate.
My own I must defy,
you are as human as I.

© 2014. Sean Green. All Rights Reserved.

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Spritual Practice

Sun, 17 Aug 2014 00:55:11 GMT

A spiritual practice can be see as an art form. As with any art form such as writing or painting, spiritual practice does have a structure defined by the intent of the creator, a forum available, and an anticipated audience. The wide open possibilities of the creator must somehow fit into these spaces. A spiritual practice does this fitting. The spiritual practices are then held accountable to the resulting strictures of structure. The adherents of the spiritual practices are both supported and restricted by their creation.

Spiritual pursuits have an incredible creative aspect. People can set up their spiritual practices on any scale they wish. Anything goes. The catch is that the creation takes on an internal logic matching the scope of of the spiritual practice. Compliance to a driving internal logic molds people's actions on so many levels. The logic of a spiritual practice can estrange it from other definitions. The challenge to the cross-group dynamics is that one spiritual practice's internal logic will not be congruent to another's. In fact, it takes a lot of effort to get groups to match. One of the reasons traditions are created is so there will be some congruency of internal logic. This reason by be subconscious, but it is there nonetheless. The most hardened traditions attempt to lock in a set of rules, but these fixed precepts originally came from some creative source. It is terribly practical and human that spiritual practices are seen to be a creative pursuit.

Spiritual practices can and will change. The changes may be very difficult or the changes may be very easy. The relative ease is determined by the existing internal logic and the desired state of the change. the 'explanation' of the change must fit into the existing internal logic of the spiritual practice. A person must be even more creative than the originator of the spiritual practice when a change is especially contrary to existing logic. Especially contrary changes or additions are disapproved by those who cannot explain the extension of the logic. Complete investment in a spiritual practice can put a person in a place where it is difficult to accept or promote any change. Agents of change often must then come from the 'outside'. This outside can be truly on the exterior of the spiritual practice or it can be an internal force that sees looseness in the internal structure. The agents of change provoke changes in internal logic that the vested insiders cannot.

In the end the spiritual practice becomes a helpful tool, too limiting to realize the full scope of the divine or connect all interpretations of the divine together, but it is enough to state, "this is what I believe in all its wonderful and insightful wackiness".

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