what does it feel like to belong?
it feels like comfortable clothes
you forgot you were wearing
it is unselfconscious
no striving, no difference
when breathing do you belong to the air?
does the air belong to you?
there’s only breathing
no air, no you, just breathing
no self-consciousness
about accepting the gift of air
nor worry that the exhale will not be welcomed back
when walking do you belong to the earth?
the earth beneath your feet supports you without question
it never hints that you should change
and do the feet not love the earth
the solid ground?
touching, being touched
there is no conflict
no self-consciousness
no question of superiority
no fear of not good enough
there is acceptance all the way around
so the feet have found belonging
and the lungs have found belonging
and the whole body has found
belonging in the vast living web
the body has never not belonged
was and never is separate
it thrives and plays its part
whether young or old, healthy or sick, it belongs
now, what about shame?
what about guilt?
what about rage?
they too belong
like all the colors and all the sounds
these curious emotions
are part of the living web
or would you rather cut them out?
separate them from the whole?
is insight vast enough to say:
“shame, guilt, rage - you i shall cast out.
you do not belong.”
consider how great your mind is at playing chess
then multiply the moves by infinity…
can the mind think through all the permutations
of what would happen if it begins excluding this or that
from the harmonious workings of the living web
tough question isn’t it?
but mind doesn’t like facing infinity for long,
doesn’t like feeling out of control
at the edge of uncertainty…
so it keeps practicing:
separating life into good and bad,
into “this i accept and that will have to change
before it can get my approval”
it keeps practicing all the conditions it has
for others to belong, for life to be as it is
oh foolish, self-important, self-righteous mind
don’t worry about how others play the game
how they cut and separate
you have a much more immediate field of dreams…
like it or not
you belong, as you are
they belong, as they are
nothing and no one is separate
it’s all quite perfect as it is
