Remnant
All that remains
When all’s been said and done
Is what’s always been here
And always will be
.
The vast presence of absence
Endlessly calling for attention
Waiting to burst into life
At the strike of a light
.
Endlessly forgotten
By the clamour of inattention to innermost receptivity
Frothing over hidden depth
Carving initials
Into stone and bark
.
Claiming
‘I was here’
Meaning
‘I really mattered, didn’t I?’
Which could never have happened
In the first place
Without what remains
When all’s been said and done
.
We are but traces in eternity*
Flowing lines that gather around receptive cores
Before passing on from here to there
We are not building blocks or machine parts
Neither are we made from building blocks or machine parts
We are receptive-responsive relationships
All the way in and all the way out
The music of silence wrapped in sound
And sound wrapped in silence
The play of light enveloping darkness
As darkness envelops the play of light
Solvent and solute in natural solution,
Not one or other at odds
That’s what really matters
.
For further exploration of all that remains, please visit http://www.spanglefish.com/exploringnaturalinclusion
*Thanks to Jim Welsh for this evocative phrase
…
Addendum (added 04/06/2021)
This poem expresses my feeling that I have said and done all I humanly can to bring to light a fundamental natural principle.
This principle of ‘natural inclusion’ can only fully be understood when it is admitted that the entirety of modern theoretical science and rationalistic philosophy is falsely premised on the assumption that matter and space are either mutually exclusive or indistinguishable from one another. This assumption arises from the mental isolation of the human observer from what is objectively observed, and consequent inattention to the ubiquity of natural space as an intangible receptive omnipresence at and extending infinitely all around the gravitational zero-point centre of all material bodies. It goes hand-in-hand with the false isolation of self-identity or ‘ego’ from its natural spatial and energetic neighbourhood and neighbours. As such it supports a false sense of self in conflict with and either domineering or subservient to others. It also yields a profoundly paradoxical, ‘building block’ view of reality in which space and boundaries are regarded as sources of definitive discontinuity instead of receptive continuity and dynamic distinction.
No sooner is it admitted that matter and space are distinct but mutually inclusive occurrences, then this false assumption can be set aside, and a more fluidly realistic, compassionate and ecologically and evolutionarily sustainable view of Nature and human nature put in its place. I have been communicating this view verbally, scientifically and artistically now for more than twenty years.
I have, however, always felt uncomfortable with being personally identified with natural inclusion, because it enables people to focus on (and disregard) me instead of what I am trying to give voice to as a fundamental principle of Nature that does not belong to me. And nowhere have I found anyone well-known in the scientific and philosophical communities prepared to admit the false assumption upon which so much of their authority is founded, let alone explicitly support what I have been saying. Without that explicit admission and support, natural inclusion cannot become known and appreciated by more than a precious few.
Hence all that remains for me to say and do in this situation is to bide my time and offer support receptively and responsively to anyone who wants to enquire further, beyond the impasse that has become so deeply entrenched in modern human culture. I cannot argue with those whose habitual inattention to innermost receptivity prevents them from acknowledging natural inclusion.
There is a world-view of difference between the acquisitive or isolated self/ego, which exploits and/or cuts itself off from its neighbourhood, and the receptive-responsive self/ego, which dwells in reciprocal relationship with its neighbours and surroundings.
…
Admission
If you truly wish to unlock the door
To a wide-open new paradigm of love in life
And life in love
Stop looking for the key!
.
First find the keyhole-
The innermost receptivity
Around which the key revolves
To reveal those different aspects
That come into life when admitted
.
Receptive love
Invites and welcomes in;
Responsive love
Moves towards and flows around;
Reciprocal love
Dynamically embodies each in the other
Receptive stillness within responsive circulation,
Hearts within minds
Within the wide-openness
The ever-present grace of endless space
.
There’s no admission without admission
…
Biophilia and Biophobia
No, I do not feel excluded from Nature
On the contrary
Nature is a source of joy, inspiration, wisdom and life itself
For me
Not to mention danger, pain and death
.
Yes, I do feel that all I have lived and loved and worked for
Is excluded by human abstraction
Which appears in many guises
Overt and covert
Pedantic and romantic
In part and as a whole
Separately and connectively
As a source of great dismay, ostracism and utter nonsense
For me
Not to mention danger, pain and death
In this topsy-turvy land
Where human success is natural failure
.
So you may not find my self-expressions
To be entirely delight-full
Does that surprise or repel you?
Or could it be that in your heart of hearts
You feel the same way
Should you dare enough and care enough
To admit it?
…
Dead Loss
How does it feel
To be written off
To write your self off
As a dead loss?
.
To be the story
You most dreadfully feared
Back in those earnest days
Before the haze
In which you now drift
In this maze
Round blind corners and bends
Wishing you could make amends
Find restoration
For all that went wrong
In the midst of your song
.
It’s a strange place to be
That’s for shore
At this shifting horizon
Between sand, waves and wind
In fading light
Where you are no more
Than desolate figure surrendering to ground
.
But, just look what you’ve found!
Deep in this distress
What’s seldom been cared for
But cares none the less
…
