In the face to face encounter with the other, the absolute other,
not friend, nor enemy, not foe, no one we know, someone without a name
that demands our respect, that begs recognition as a human being,
her value precedes her presence, before she asks us to honor her place,
elicit a response to accept or reject, recognize or deny,
forget about ethics as written on pages of philosophy books,
as we understand good and evil, right and wrong, the heat of the moment
conditions our actions into learned behaviors, we need to overcome
evidence of anger, resentment or hatred, deep-seated and hidden,
to remember the past is not enough, the face we see before us leaves,
otherwise than being, or beyond essence, seek to choose the way of truth,
faced with an encounter, our choices and actions reveal our true nature,
as we are conditioned by our cultural past, we may have learned to act
callously to others, others we do not know, those we will never meet,
encounters demand depth of appreciation, these moments disappear,
endlessly appearing in another moment, until we turn over
new leaves, we turn a page in the book of our lives, we learn to love ourselves,
conditioned to choose hate over love for others, others we do not know,
only complicates acts of aggression, hatred, violence, injustice,
until we bow deeply before our reflection, we must accept others
not as ourselves, but real appearances of life in its complexity,
to admit to ourselves that we harbor ill-will for no good reason, truth
enfolds within our spines, the humility found in the books of the wise,
remembering our past, how we have been maligned, and, in turn, harmed others
will not help us to face the other with kindness, the heat of the moment
in fact raises the stakes to act as moral rods before the lightning strikes,
take it not for granted I preach before the choir, to seek humility,
honestly, takes courage even a lion lacks, we may be animals
to devour each other in times of peace and war, for what reason, power,
humans seek out control, to maintain the order they create for themselves,
evidently, we love or hate as animals, political machines,
only the encounter with the other opens a path to salvation,
this saving grace to life is the only difference between the animals,
hunters of living prey, and ourselves as human, as sentient beings,
even the animals are more humane than us at times with the other,
remain open to change, to hurt from the inside, because humility
tears our egos to shreds, removes our false swagger, attends to the conscience,
humility demands we polish a roof tile to see our reflection,
enter the house of fun where images aren't real and the exit unknown,
absolution arrives by cleansing the conscience of past misdeeds, accept
blindly the faith I preach, vultures circle above, my corpse awaits their feast,
seek not meaning in life, but to overcome fear, the fear of the other,
only the encounter allows us to witness ourselves outside ourselves,
look back on the moment, learn from mistakes, lessons not to repeat again,
understand, we return again and again, learn, or make the same mistake
time and again, vultures circle as do ideas, they follow the same path,
encircle the spiral, a gyre or a helix doubled, to rise or fall,
only the encounter reveals to us the truth, the truth we cannot speak,
truth resides in the face of the other, we seek only our reflection,
however, truth remains beyond appearances, beyond ideas of self,
exactly when we hear the wind whistle through trees, without form we arrive,
remember the future is full of past mistakes, accept humility.
No comments:
Post a Comment