It’s Okay to Be Human
It’s Okay to die;
To cry,
To sigh,
At a pink gold open sky
Of day’s dawn and
At the diminishing light of its demise.
It’s Okay to be old;
To mold, to lose hold,
To feel cold so deep in the bones
That they crack open; reveal the gold.
It’s Okay to be sick;
To hear the click of
Thick phlegm in the lungs,
Feel the prick of fever
And to know the wick, longing for body’s ease.
It’s Okay to be born;
To be torn from womb,
To be shorn of worn raiments of the stars,
So earth may adorn with her radiance.
It’s Okay to desire;
To be mired in the fire of passion,
To admire and acquire
Until greed and clinging expire
Under the weight of nothing.
It’s Okay to avoid;
what has annoyed,
To avert, to push away,
To even hate until the efforts exhaust
And dissolve in pure love’s void.
It’s Okay to be deluded;
For awareness to be muted
Secluded from the present,
Ignorant of the mind
When it’s denuded of thought.
It’s Okay to suffer;
To not buffer
From the rougher patches on the path
Or acquire tougher boots
To protect the soles
Already untouched by stony obstructions.
It’s Okay to be enlightened;
To experience nothing as heightened and
This life untightened, lightened and brightened,
To not be frightened
By suffering
By delusion
By hatred
By greed
By birth
By sickness
By old age
By death
To be all or none in just this.
It’s Okay to be Okay
With being just me and thee and we
As is
It’s Okay to be human.
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With these words I pay homage to all buddhas, bodhisattvas, sentient beings, and the totality. May these words not confuse, bring doubt, or harm, but bring ease and warmth and an end to suffering for all beings.
William
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Practice
Practicing in sangha, even virtually, supports the practice of meditation differently than practicing solitarily. The members of the Sangha of the Pandemic, invite you to practice with us. No experience is required. There is no cost. Everyone is welcome.
We practice on ZOOM: Notice weekday morning sit time is changed to 6:30 instead of 6.
- Mondays – Calm abiding and insight meditation. 6:30 AM Pacific Time
- Tuesdays – Body awareness. 6:30 AM Pacific Time
- Thursdays – Tonglen, 6:30 AM Pacific Time
- Sundays – Brahmavihara. 7 AM Pacific Time
ZOOM Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89989680789 Please Note. We will be putting the afternoon practices on hold for a bit. We look forward to seeing you in the morning sessions! Please feel free to reach out with questions or insights. Please also feel free to forward this post and invite others to join the sangha. You may find more reflections, poetry, art at sanghaofthepandemic.org . If you would like to comment or offer feedback and insight you may do so in the comment section on the website or by email to wrgentner@gmail.com