Reflections On The Nature Of Mind

What is this mind before which
all this passes?
the cars endlessly rolling,
the breeze, the people standing
at the bus stop waiting

The way it wants to reach out,
to merge with nature
not the asphalt and the metal
but the beauty of the weaving branches
the blueness of the sky
the flight of the seagull
the striation of cirrus clouds
like an unknowable alphabet in the sky.

In time I am waiting
amidst the turbulent changes
I am waiting
Before the future I am creating
I am waiting

In the now
there is the boarding of the bus,
the placing of the $2.35 in the coinbox,
the finding of a seat,
sunrays reflecting from
the aluminum backs of the seats,
the air conditioning cooling the air,
the squeaking brakes of the bus.
the clicking heels of the tall woman
stepping to the back of the bus.
to the Golden Gate bridge and San Francisco
This is the now
There is the past.
Here comes the future.

Yet when I look through God's eyes,
I laugh.
I laugh after I cry from the shock of the transition.
I laugh because my mind
despite all these perceptions,
these cascading thoughts
has no existence, no time, no separateness.

This is the vastness.
This is the sea of darkness.
This is the kiss of light.
This is the immersion into the mist.
This is the flight of matter.
This is the dissolution of soul.
This is the remembrance.
This is the eternal wheel,
the wheel within the wheel
This is my home.
This is my exile
from the human world.
This is the never-ending journey.

© Copyright by Allen Cohen. All rights reserved.

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