Tag: poet

Lessons from Nature

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You can now listen to this poem in audio format in the link below.

Lessons from Nature – A Life of Virtue: Philosophy as a Way of Life

https://alifeofvirtue.ca/2020/10/27/lessons-from-nature/

A poem I wrote inspired by the key themes of the Tao Te Ching.

Nature, teach me how to live

To embrace change and

Flow effortlessly like the steady stream

To embody the wisdom of the trees

Who shed their leaves in the fall

Scattering their vibrant colours and

Peculiar shapes across the forest floor

So to can I

Learn to let go

Liberate and regenerate

For refresh and renewal

Nature, you do not judge

Night from day

Calm from storm

Chaos from order

What seems split in two, is all but one

And you do not rush

With time and ease

All that needs to be done is done

Nature, let me learn from you

Let me immerse myself in the vast natural world

For I am you, and you are I

I am you, you-I

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Podcast : To Be Human

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Below is a poem I wrote on embracing the human condition, and all the beauty and terror that comes with it.

Humans such fragile beings
A desire to be heard
A desire to be seen

A vast longing to be loved and understood

Driven by ambitions and lofty goals
Riddled by confusion and anxiety

Grasping, clinging for any sort of certainty
Building great towers to protect our vulnerable egos

Prepare we may, prepare we can
But Nature will not cede to our demands

Where will you take shelter from the storm?
Where will you go when the flood rolls in?

Flow with the current of life
Dance with danger, tango with terror

What else can we do but love our difficulties
Keep them near, let them change you for they are dear

Beware of those who seek refuge in digital utopias
Seduced by the grand illusions of fame and fortune

Ignore the screens, those cold machines
With perfect bodies, perfect smiles, perfect lives and perfect teeth

What is a human but a flawed being in search of transcendence?

We can still embrace and overcome
We can rise above rough waters and high tides

We can still be human – after all

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Lessons from Nature – A Life of Virtue: Philosophy as a Way of Life

https://alifeofvirtue.ca/2020/10/27/lessons-from-nature/
  1. Lessons from Nature
  2. A Meditation on Silence
  3. To Be Human
  4. The Real of Becoming
  5. Hope: A Poem

New Podcast: The Realm of Becoming

Lessons from Nature – A Life of Virtue: Philosophy as a Way of Life

https://alifeofvirtue.ca/2020/10/27/lessons-from-nature/
  1. Lessons from Nature
  2. A Meditation on Silence
  3. To Be Human
  4. The Real of Becoming
  5. Hope: A Poem

All security is false security

All that can be known is the unknown

Attempts to grasp onto the static, the stable, are short-lived

Echoing the words of Heraclitus, “you cannot step in the same river twice”

One’s life is always in a constant state of change, of flux

Terrified of this uncertainty, many of us desperately try to restrict our freedom

We turn to the world of ‘isms’ and ideologies

Narrowing our identity down to a role

We put on a mask and set fixed boundaries

Longing for this illusive hope of security, we cling to the past

Hold onto the ordinary

But the artist, the great innovators and heroes of the past, live in the realm of becoming

Nothing is set in stone

They embrace uncertainty, and leave the world of the known for the unknown 

Through this risk, they transcend their past selves, and strive towards a new path

For them, life is not a predefined set of rules

Rather it’s a blank canvas awaiting to be explored with one’s vivid imagination

Living on the edge of existence, these architects of the world pave the way forward  

They leave an open invitation awaiting all of us

A portal from the finite and into the infinite

A blank page

You can check out the original blog post for this poem here