I went on a course at Hawkwood College and the following poem emerged as I waited for the Friday evening session to start.
Heather, unsteady as the sea
sometimes rising to undefinable blue
or falling to no-name green
Having no name for green
no name for blue
and no need for either
it is just present here in this garden
Flexible in the wind
it yields to these colours
always balanced,
enjoying the wind and light
It is not the unfamiliar colours
but naming them that makes me unsteady
This is a poem about non-duality inspired by the 1st verse of the Tao Te Ching. The idea in this poem is that it is naming things that takes us away from the present and in doing so it unbalances us. While I was looking at the Heather and struggling to define the wavering colours of blue and green, to describe their effect in words, I began to feel sea sick. Yet the sun was falling on my shoulders in a beautiful garden - if I had just been present with the experience the unsteadiness would not have arisen. These ideas are to do with the doctrine of non-duality which is something which crosses all faiths and creeds. If you are interested there are some books below which explain it in more detail.
