Tag Archives: past

EQUANIMITY

Posted on February 5, 2023 by Universal Octopus

Looking with dispassion,with equanimity,doesn’t it shine brighter than a thousand suns?The broken wing,the severed finger,the uncompleted life‘the smyler with the knife’the smell of fearspirochaetes, viruses and germsand the ever-chewing sepulchral worms? And don’t we see a thousand times and morethat … Continue reading →

Posted in Blondin | Tagged betrayal, breath, breeding ground, build, death, dispassion, empty, equanimity, eternal, Evermore, fear, germs, past, shine, store, vanishes, worms | Leave a comment

WAITING

Posted on January 25, 2023 by Universal Octopus

Magdalen’s groundsare full of life,full of space. Space, which is mownand cleared,tended and enclosed,its waterways unchoked,brown and sparkling clear. It is home to ducksand coots,to dragonflies and deer. Grass and paths and gatesand streamsand yesterday’s undergraduatesare waiting. Not for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Oxford Blues | Tagged being, bless, deer, dragonflies, empty heart, eternal sigh, future, genius, letting go, Magdalen, Oxford, past, peace, space, undergraduates, waiting, Yes! | Leave a comment

SHADOWS

Posted on January 11, 2023 by Universal Octopus

We peer into the shadowswhere yesterday’s sunlight glows,trying to capture and holdyesterday’s sunlit gold. We peer into tomorrowto predict and plotwhere that sun will likely go(but where, perhaps, it will not). Today’s sunshine still blazesits disc ever overhead.Past and future … Continue reading →

Posted in Blondin | Tagged darkness, future, land of the dead, light, past, predict, shadows, sunlit gold, today, tomorrow, yesterday | Leave a comment

EMERGENCY EXIT

Posted on December 15, 2022 by Universal Octopus

I must be present nowbefore I can have a past;I must be present nowto create a future then. If I still my present mindand exchange present thoughtsfor nothing at all,I have escaped past and futureand achieved a timeless peacewith no … Continue reading →

Posted in Bamboo Leaves | Tagged Abraham, emergency, escape, Exit, future, I, I am, mind, past, present, thoughts, timeless peace | Leave a comment

FREEDOM

Posted on December 14, 2022 by Universal Octopus

Freedom from the Pastis the Present.Freedom from the Futureis the Present. The Presentis a crack that runsthrough the universe.Into it everything disappearslike snowflakesinto a bonfire. For Māra’s people,the Presentis a mental spacefilled with memories,thoughts of the Future,sense impressionsand a random … Continue reading →

Posted in Bamboo Leaves | Tagged blazing, crack, freedom, future, memories, past, present, sense impressions, snowflakes, sun, thoughts, universe | Leave a comment

WHERE ARE YOU NOW?

Posted on July 19, 2022 by Universal Octopus

It was different in the past.Especially in the village. Before you could readBefore there were newspapersBefore there was radioBefore there were telephonesBefore there were filmsBefore there was TVBefore there were computersBefore there were smartphonesBefore there was the endless whisperingof global … Continue reading →

Posted in Gnomonic Verses | Tagged body, Brian Taylor, Church, computers, face to face, friends, future, global gossip, Hey, Imagination's Daughters, market, neighbours, Now, past, present, smartphones, suffering, TV, womb-tomb | Leave a comment

PEACE

Posted on June 2, 2022 by Universal Octopus

Freedom from the Pastis the Present.Freedom from the Futureis the Present. The Presentis a crack that runs through the universe.Into it everything disappearslike snowflakesin a raging furnace. For most peoplethe Presentis a mental spacefilled by memories of the Past,thoughts of … Continue reading →

Posted in Waves Talks & Poems | Tagged Brian Taylor, clear sky, crack, freedom, future, memories, mental space, past, peace, present, sun, thoughts, universe | Leave a comment

HOPE AND DESPAIR

Posted on August 8, 2021 by Universal Octopus

In the Presenteverything gets donehere. From the window of the mind,the Future is therewhere the consequences wait. The mind invents this Futurein order to see consequencesthere, not here,and move towards them. If these consequencesare seen as essentialand realisable,the mind is … Continue reading →

Posted in Gnomonic Verses | Tagged consequences, DESPAIR, future, here, hope, mind, past, present | Leave a comment

NOT TO BE BORN IS BEST

Posted on July 15, 2021 by Universal Octopus

Looking with dispassion,with equanimity,with detachment,doesn’t it shine brighter than a thousand suns?And in every minute particular? The broken wingthe severed fingerthe uncompleted life‘the smyler with the knife’the loss of all things dearthe smell of fearspirochaetes, viruses and germsand the ever-chewing … Continue reading →