A second rule contemplative
for wording: word, and a third rule
like unto it: word what you know
but the first rule for which there can be
no stand-in: look, watch, observe, notice
not alone what's "known" but the whole
lot and with a definite mind that is this:
See but seek naught,
nothing in the least
not achievement, not opinion
Set no goals, draw no conclusions
Let the looking prove effortless
for seeing really and truly demands
there be no demand and no deadline
Sure openness must attend
your coming in, your going out
Sure intimacy must prevail
No hiding, no holding back
no holding on and no holding
To notice you must be utterly
free of the notion "you are there"
There's a fourth rule contemplative:
you'd best word if and only if you must
for the work requires an inner urge,
a duty clear of choice,
a disciplined hunger for ultimacy
that must be seen to be clear
of your seeing or hunger
The underbelly of it all:
total trust absent an object
or subject of trust, a sure faith
so complete, whatever its duration,
that nothing can get between you
and whatever is not you, not
a thing in the least or the most
not even the impression
made on you
by things
clear or
God-like
At land's end
all must go
with ego mind
imagination too
for contemplation
to rise like incense
to word iconographic
