REFLECTOSE
By Joseph Charles
THE wonderful absence of all forms of life
That is found some places under the sea perhaps
Or out in space
Gives me the pleasure of feeling okay not thinking
About anything
And not needing to think of anything
For anyone but myself
And so leads me to the feeling
That it's all right to think
Being that it is not forced on me.
This permits me a wonderful vast freedom to know that I am
And that I can feel
But there is nothing I need to feel
Only wish to feel
When I know I can feel things one at a time
In my own mind at my own rate
Perceiving them all
And therefore one at a time understanding things
So as to enjoy having and being and doing
Here in this world.
This affords me pleasures
And enables me to communicate feelings
Sensations and ideas with others
Making myself part of the Universe
And the Universe a part of me
With the intention of surviving well
As myself
With my family and group and mankind
In a good relationship
With the physical things of the Universe
And God and all Life
So as to contribute to Life
And experience Life
Which is living and thinking and being.
Arranging the moments of time
In such order that there is is-ness
And was-ness and will-ness
I make up a personal plan
That has not come before
But which is my own creation and contribution
Bringing to where there had once been absence
A now presence of thing
With form and duration
So adding events to Life
Which may be viewed and admired
So creating my share
Of the various presences and absences
And scarcities and abundances of Life.
My ways
Are not to look on others as good or bad
Beautiful or ugly
But only to notice considerations of form
And beingness
Which are held in agreement or disagreement
By each individual
Because of differences or similarities of viewpoints
On subjects pertaining to the real Universe
As well as to thought and spirit
As is real to them
Each by their own experience.
They move through the Universe
Holding some common agreements
Which bind them together
And enable them to communicate
So as to have affinity for one another
More or less in differing amounts
Expressing intentions and counter intentions
Enforcing or denying agreements
While I watch and observe
And sometimes enter
And play the game myself.
I follow the rules sometimes
Not follow them other times
Going by my own reality
On issues and importances
Experiencing and refusing to experience
According to my own tolerance
And willingness to be affected.
I remember and forget
And know and not-know
And cause things
Where I'm willing to be responsible for the effects created
For others have intolerances too
As important to them as mine are to me
Due to experiences they have had
Which by consideration must not happen again
To them or to others.
They seek pleasures in acceptable creations
And shy from unacceptable creations
By covering them up when possible
Or replacing them with other things
In their effort to bring order to the physical universe
As well as to the mind and spirit
Where each man knows deep within himself
Is need for order
To have peace between people
And further conquest of mind
Over matter
And spirit over mind.
It is possible
That Life and Livingness can get along
Harmoniously
Life being persons
And Livingness being the actions of persons
So as to enjoy existence
And to further create
More pleasurable existence.
It is also possible
To go the wrong way down
And further differentiate from Life
And from one another
To such an extent that one
Can ever again understand another
Or have communication
Or affinity or agreement with anybody or anything
By continuing to create against each other
And continuing to refuse to confront the products of others
However insisting
Sometimes even by force
That others must ever confront the products of self
So driving people further and further apart
Making them more and more individual
And more and more separate
And more and more out of communication
With each other
The physical universe
And Life itself.
Having these two possibilities
Provided there is an understanding of the mechanics of Life
There is a choice of futures
Upward or downward
Which can be made by each individual
Depending upon his own abilities
And willingness to experience and be responsible
For himself and for others
For his actions and theirs
Within his realm and sphere of influence
So as to become totally aware
Of the complications of Life
The freedoms and barriers
Which to him are at hand
And of his own abilities to resolve problems
Imposed upon Life
Through past misunderstandings.
Pondering Life
And recreating my past experiences for myself
So as to inspect every detail within my view
Where I have won and also where I have erred
For each is as important as the other to confront
Both where I have been responsible
And where I have been irresponsible
I understand to a greater and greater degree
What Livingness is
A series of actions taken by living beings
Capable of causing
And an interplay and exchange of effects.
In such a way
I can work out for myself gradiently
The importances of issues
Pertaining to communication and beingness
And goodness and badness
In relation to all Life and beings
And to promote the true factors of Livingness
And grant beingness to people and forms
In such a way that all are benefitted
Through gaining a reality and agreement
Which more can understand and communicate
So achieving for Man a higher state
Which is so high that he can be high or low
Without liability
And therefore experience and understand all of Livingness
Without becoming fixed at one point or another
Thus permitting an abundance of viewpoint
And an abundance of creative ability
And abundance of admiration
Between people.
Joseph Charles Belotte