Eaton Satsang
Love, Respect & Gratitude
I feel love, respect, appreciation, and gratitude
for my teachers Pamela Wilson & Jac O'Keeffe
who have loved, guided, and encouraged me for many years.
And as I sat with my feelings they expanded to include
my Sufi teachers,
and Diamond Approach teachers,
especially Rosanne Annoni
some non-dual teachers,
and many other teachers for personal guidance,
and others, both known and unknown
who supported me
in this journey of self-discovery.
I feel love, respect, appreciation, and gratitude
for the wide variety of spiritual teachings that I've been introduced to;
theistic or non-theistic, eastern or western,
ordinary and extraordinary, ancient or modern
and their many representatives who support
and guide us with writings or recordings, prayers or meditations.
All have contributed to my greater understanding.
I feel love, respect, appreciation, and gratitude
for the great lineages and religions,
for philosophers, sages, saints,
gurus, mystics, shamans and the like that produced for us
exemplars for the great range of possible human experiences.
I have learned from them all.
I feel love, respect, appreciation, and gratitude
for my parents, friends, and family.
For Kathy, my love, support, and fellow student for 50+ years
For our sangha, our community of spiritual friends
and students, who treasure and support each other in their
shared experiences of joy and suffering, confusion and clarity,
love and misunderstanding. Learning together we are all,
as Ram Dass said, “just walking each other home.”
I feel love, respect, appreciation, and gratitude
to be reminded of our humanity and compassion for those who
suffer the most. The confused or damaged souls, the victims
of injustice, the outcasts, the unloved, the contrarians,
and for those who suffer helplessly with them.
We need these reminders of our shared oneness.
I feel love, respect, appreciation, and gratitude
for aging, infirmity, and death,
the untethering from our bodies,
as reminders of our true selves,
and the lessons that life provides.
And the mystery,
the ultimate unknown,
the surrounding darkness,
the ultimate invitation.
~ Dick
Awaken Me
Awaken me
A prayer to awaken
To the only self
From the only self
The Buddha said “I am awake”
Since ancient times
Sages and Saints
Philosophers and Mystics
have each declared that
we are asleep
Awaken me
from eons of conditioning
from deep hypnosis
from slumber
from false beliefs
from dualistic judgments
from self-improvement
from stories of self
from habits of thought
from needing love
from separation
from suffering & discontent
from death’s shadow
Awaken me
Again & again
to silence
to stillness
to spaciousness
to naturalness
to not knowing
to freedom
to equanimity
to innocence
to fearlessness
to endlessness
to love & beauty
The taste of knowing remains as memory
The tease of gaining becomes a carrot
Tempting the seeker
Who’s grasping at wisps of smoke
Like groundhog day, over and over
One moment a sage
Another moment a puppet
As awakening unfolds
Awaken me
Over and over again
Rumi says “Don’t go back to sleep”
Remove the snooze button
Ever the recognition that All is Well
Have patience
Awaken me
Hear my prayer Oh Self
Longing to rest in love
Longing for freedom
Longing to live in the lap of God.
Awaken me
to wonder & beauty
to oneness
to illumination
to happiness & contentment
to boundless love
There is no god, but God
When one with God
to relax and enjoy
to hold hands
A sacred kiss
~ Dick
A Story
A story
In the beginning, from love
From singularity – this big bang, space & time
Then gasses, solids, & biology
From a single intelligent egg
Skin & bones, body & mind, inseparable
Wanting to Be: Love, Lover & Beloved
Some say it was from original sin
Or perhaps physical separation
Or even a twist in the dream
Or the 10,000 things
That individuality appears
Now you think this is your life
That it belongs to a “me”
A separate thing called ‘I”
That you cannot locate
That learned to believe
That it has some control
But did “I” choose:
Its time & place of birth
Its color, shape, or size
It’s health or strength
Its circumstances of life
Its beliefs of good & bad
And does this “I” have control
Of external influences
Of its genetic inheritance
Of unseen, electro-chemical responses
Of limitations of the senses
Of its instinct to survive
Of the teachings it received
Of its six-million year inheritance
Yet “I” believes it has control
So it judges itself & others
Feels guilt and shame for it’s past
And blames & shames others
by the same learned standards
Thus denying true forgiveness
Love is overshadowed
Perception is blind to the sacred trinity
Love, Lover & Beloved
As one
Do you still believe that:
You can control your emotions
You can control your environment
(consider Covid-19)
You can deny your anxiety and fear
You can control your next thought
You can manage your control
So, the paradox is
You cannot do “letting go”
You can only change understanding
Examine your beliefs, and surrender happens
Clarity appears
Something much greater than “I” is in charge
& you are That
Not the small “I”
But the greater Self
That cannot be named or defined
That can only be known
Thus trusted
And you can begin to relax
~ Dick
A different view - A different you
you were taught that you were in control
you needed to control
you needed to survive
you had no choice but to accept this hypnosis
so you believe you have control and that you know
you were taught right & wrong
and it’s confirmed
and you believe that’s what has kept you safe
but what if
you’re not in control of anything
what if
you have no independent will
what if
you’re just a character in this play of existence
destined to play your unique part
like a blade of grass, growing
like a field sparrow, singing
with no choice but to follow natures lead, your nature
that includes your innocent body
wherever and however it extends
You’re invited to attend the play
to enjoy the play
to respond in whatever way the mind/body is able to participate
to love and to sin
to succeed and to fail
to laugh and to cry
to work and to play
to born and to die
you are free to watch
you are free to allow
you are free to enjoy
you are free to take time out
you are free to not know
you are free to know that all is well
because it has never been otherwise with nature
and you are nature itself
and deep inside you know this to be true
~ Dick
Death
Love is recalled through the loss of old friends
Past four-score years
of earthly living
reflecting on the recent passing
of two old friends
brings memories
of warmth and affection
I wish to share
reflections of love
and death
It seems so natural
to fear one’s passing
to fear any pain or suffering
and to obey the survival instinct
of our animal nature
Yet deeper still, the fear
the deep deep fear
the grandaddy of all fears
is that we fear
the loss of
love
Love we recall as
cherished feelings
Memories we cling to
that bind us with
this physical world
We fear love goes
like ashes
when our bodies
die
Past four-score years
of earthly living
I have discovered
when I think of death
I cannot but think of love as well
They bond together
Inseparable
Love I’ve known
flowers in spring
children and puppies
trees and clouds
young girls and boys displaying their youth
lovers and roadkill
innocent eyes in awe and amazement
hand-holding and reconciliation
aging lovers in quietude
happy hearts singing, chanting, dancing
resonant works of poets and scholars
dreaming oneself in music and songs
thunderstorms and babbling brooks
dragonflys and acorns
dying trees and quartz
telltale signs of animal neighbors
birdsong and distant laughter
reminders of friendship, present or lost
but not forgotten
Oh, how the heart clings
to all these love feelings
that have blessed us so long
There’s something so precious
in friendship and family
husbands, wives, and partners
sons and daughters, grandchildren aplenty
Neighbors, community, tribe and nation
and the natural world endlessly
displaying aliveness
I treasure the love and
support
of teachers and seekers
that share in this journey
Even news and reports
of hate and destruction
suffering and horror
grief and isolation
shame and blame
buffered by mindless distractions
to shutter awareness
from pain and death
Even the evening news
reveals love
if only we can see
It becomes known, revealed
seen or discovered
Love is endless.
Love recreates itself
in everything
as everything
including you.
Even pain is love
Spiritual teachings all
point to love
the beloved within
calling us home
Love
uncontained
indescribable
more fundamental
than concepts of mind
revealed only in the heart
The spiritual journey is
to bring forth that love
to become
before death
open-hearted
and discover that
love is the world
And the fear?
Where does the snake go when it’s seen to be a rope
or the desert mirage when it vanishes
or a belief when truth is revealed
Where do they go?
As ice disappears in warm water
so fear vanishes in love
We are like ice
destined to melt
Love is recalled through the loss of old friends
~ Dick