nothing is wanted
because nothing is gained,
all that is,
is all that’s claimed;
that which is
the form of focus
is what appears
though never taught
formation’s causation
is resonating vibration
within a thought,
conception’s dawning
is ne’er retained,
and yet it is known
entirely alone,
still a mystery it remains.
wholeness is an “implicate order”
cause and effect are one and the same
examine the messages inside the water
what is and isn’t has a common name
by K. Osei
be careful with arborvitae
at night, they like food
the willow
she move fast
when you look away,
she try to catch the fire
and kwanzan, she stand still
in spring she show out
after she see calleryana get dressed
everywhere i see maple
and black cherry
they be watching
from the fence line
where i don’t cut
we talk sometimes
talking bout take over,
taking back —
but i been here too.
by K. Osei
Black is not darkness, but shadows of the light — it has never been subject to anything but itself. Its position is determined by its perception. It contains the full spectrum of life. In possessing self it posses its destiny, not by force but placid solitude. It’s origin is itself. power resides where it decides — and still, now is all. The work that needs doing to bring change is always carried out beneath. There is no external power greater than stillness. To change self is to change your world. History is littered with such. Energy confined is a part of mind, the cell is not a jail but where creation is defined. The outer world is a reflection from within. External stride is a fading tide. For even fame, belongs not to celebrity but the crowd. Like fickle fortune and shiny things, all must yield to the dark. You can never possess anything but self – seize that and all else will bowl to it.
by K. Osei
The young man was funny
The old man was cheerful
The young man was talented
The old man was efficient
The young man was quick
The old man was steady
The young man was strong
The old man was sturdy
The young man was polished
The old man was seasoned
The young man was willful
The old man was settled
The young man was savvy
The old man was sound
The young man was calm
The old man was at peace
The young man was polite
The old man was gracious
The young man was clever
The old man was discerning
The young man was sophisticated
The old man was practical
The young man was civilized
The old man was cultured
The young man was excited
The old man was delighted
The young man was scholarly
The old man was sage
The young man was popular
The old man was legend
by K. Osei
In stillness the energy of focus gathers, and brings us home to the present.
These days it seems even a single task arrives with an entourage. There was a time when things were different, at least, for many people. Now it seems we are preoccupied with multiple things at the same time. Which makes it impossible to give complete attention to anything at one time. We seem to be everywhere at once and nowhere completely. The inability to focus has become one of the primary problems of modern life.
In such moments the most crucial things—our relationships with ourselves and others begin to erode. Divided attention produces an incomplete experience, just as a divided mind creates its own waste.
The term garbage in, garbage out (GIGO) was popularized in the 1960s. Though it was originally applied to computer programming, its principle is no less true when applied to the human mind. It is not mere coincidence that so many live beneath their own desire for peace and well-being. Every living system, in some measure, responds to what nourishes it.
How eagerly we often seek to escape the present moment, to avoid our own company, without realizing what we are being distracted from. We may even feel guilty about withdrawing for moments of solitude, as though time alone were somehow a rejection of those we love. Solitude has a peculiar way of restoring gratitude for the things we often overlooked.
The nineteenth century writer Kahlil Gibran captures something of this in The Prophet, when he writes:
But let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Time alone is not a rejection of others but a return to oneself—a preparation and refinement that makes one a better friend, lover, parent, and person. To be comfortable with solitude, to enjoy one’s own presence is to discover a companion that transcends circumstances. What occupies the mind will inevitably shape a life.
Focusing on one thing at a time may be the simplest solution to a fractious life.
Yet mushin begs something even more subtle: What if peace is not merely a matter of replacing one thought with a better one?
What if beneath all thought there exists a mind that does not require thinking?
Mushin is stillness; it is empty like a bellows. But within its emptiness there is capacity—so too is he that can rest in solitude. We often admire the intense focus of an athlete or artist who performs with such poise and rhythm that they seem to merge so completely with their instrument that neither appears to exist—only the outcome they produce.
These are the moments of life we surrender when attention is divided—that seamless transition from one moment to another, one movement to another, without resistance, possession, or anticipation. A lifetime in a single moment.
There is space between every breath.
Within all sound there is silence; for silence is not the absence of sound, it is its birthplace.
As darkness gives birth to light, and stillness animates every motion, so calm is found in the midst of chaos, and peace is not something imposed upon the universe but rather, something discovered within its natural order.
The mind becomes still not by straining to eliminate every rising thought, but when it no longer attaches to every one that does.
And perhaps this is where mushin begins:
to move without letting go of stillness,
to think without identifying as thought,
to act without division
to enter each moment so completely that no one is left observing.
by K. Osei