Friday, August 11, 2006

Beyond You
By Don Iannone

It's about you
and what you do
to get beyond yourself.
It's about your true nature
and whether you align with it,
and in so doing,
get beyond yourself.
It's about you--
giving up your front row seat
to someone else
who needs it more.
It's about you
forgetting everything
your ego ever learned,
just so you can remember
who you really are,
beyond who you think you are.
It's about you--
stripped naked
of all your thoughts and feelings
and resting in your own emptiness--
filled with possibilities
ready to come to life,
as soon as your attention
fixes upon them.
It's about you
letting go of you,
and in so doing,
finding true happiness.

29 comments:

Margie said...

Amazing poem Don!
It says it all!
You are amazing!
Take care!
Margie:)

Romeo Morningwood said...

OK, I have to admit that this one really encapsulates the most important message that our uber-moi generation needs to heed. Excellent.
I would make school children of all ages recite this every morning from the time that they start kindergarten to the moment that they are finishing their PHDs.
Bravo!

J. Andrew Lockhart said...

Wow! It makes you look in the mirror.

gP said...

bringing out the true nature of a person.e

Mike said...

Hi Don,
I love the lines "stripped naked / of all your thoughts and feelings / and resting in your own emptiness-- / filled with possibilities / ready to come to life, / as soon as your attention / fixes upon them."

That is a wonderful truth to contemplate, right there.

Pat Paulk said...

What??? It's not all about me. Wow, that's a lifestyle change. Kidding, loved it!!

Kathleen said...

Lovely Don! it's about You! :)

Dan said...

Great one, Don. A complete teaching, wisdom and compassion together.

Don Iannone, D.Div., Ph.D. said...

Thanks Dan, HE, Mike, Pat, Kathleen, Margie, GP, Andrew. Really appreciate all your comments and insights. Like most of my poems, I talk first to myself.

Unknown said...

A very nice poem Don. But personally, I sensed a bit of Kabbalah in it, or am I wrong?

It's beautiful as it touches the heart where it needs to be touched.
A gentle hand that knows when to be an angel while realizing his/her humanity.
The heart, the wonder of humankind that reveals its true nature when the soul has been given the ability to reveal the wisdom from above, healing the one from below to a height where only angels do come.
No more feeling alone, always surrounded by a light, the light that never leaves you once you have given it the freedom to give you freedom, the freedom we all do aspire when we are ready to face the reality of who we are and where we have to go to if we want to survive, and with us nature as well.
A true happiness indeed when we succeed individually as well as collectively as a community, a nation of peoples with one common goal, namely sharing responsibility by respecting the Divine as how it has always been, just as we ask to be respected for whom we are as how we are and have always been when we throw away our façade, our maskerade of who we are not and have never been.
It's also having the courage to oppose the majority and unleash another world into an old dying one as it is empty of essence, of substance that would keep it alive, it's nature and dying while the other one gives us hope, hope of finally finding what we always have searched for, so that we all can enter the world to come in Peace not with a mask, but a Peace that is what it has always been since creation, the world of the Divine.
It deserves our respect as it has never given up on respecting us the way we are, even when we rebelled.

Don Iannone, D.Div., Ph.D. said...

Bernadette...thank you ever so much. A lot to think about here, and yes there is a Kabbalah-like quality to the poem. My course on the Kabbalah is very interesting.

Blessings.

serenity said...

Don:
Beautifully written as always, and such a powerful message for all of us to constantly be reminded of. Thank you for that reminder today. Amazing insight.

Don Iannone, D.Div., Ph.D. said...

Thanks Serenity. Appreciate you saying so. I have been enjoying your blog too. You have a great gift of coupling insight and compassion.

floots said...

look to the self to see others

nice piece
cheers

Don Iannone, D.Div., Ph.D. said...

Floots...thanks. Been enjoying your photos and poems. nice!

Dusty said...

If you are stripped of all thought and feeling, we lose love, empathy, and compassion.

How can we have possibilities if we don't have the desire to strive for them?

True happiness... From the best I (again evil pronoun which depicts my lesser soul) can decipher, happiness comes from being instead of the search for happiness. Every time I search for happiness, it makes me miserable because it was unhappiness that caused me to start looking for it. How very chicken or the egg situation.

Happiness doesn’t have a shelf life but it’s taken for granted if given in large doses. You’re happy, you’re happy, you’re happy; you’re bored which makes you unhappy.

When someone asks you what makes you happy… kittens, fluffy bunnies, butterflies, smiling people… The really happy moments are random happenings. When I get a fortune cookie which sounds like me, a moment of joy. When my best friend says “Hi I was thinking of you”, I’m elated. Packing up the homeless box (this contains a few dollars, bottles of water, fruit snacks, a huge sweat shirt, a few can goods AND a can opener) because I can’t save the entire homeless population but I can do something one person at a time. When I quit kicking myself for not being able to do it all, bliss.

Maybe because I like myself, its hard to see beyond me. If I didn't like myself, it might be easier... Maybe not, I'm still smoking and I don't like that!!

Anonymous said...

this is great

and thank you so much for your kind and thoughtful comments. they mean a lot.

Don Iannone, D.Div., Ph.D. said...

Frida...thanks. I hear what you're saying. Each of us must find the way that works for us. The Buddhist concept of emptiness refers to "empty of individual personality or conscsiousness." Buddhists define emptiness as a state of one's mind. Once one's mind is empty then one can know the world clearer, deeper, and better. That's where I'm coming from.

Baxter...thanks for stopping by. I enjoyed your poetry.

Angela said...

great thoughts -- would serve as a great thought for the day to be read each morning before starting the day!

Anonymous said...

To reach others,
one must forget oneself
truly listen, feel
and watch -
that is empathy

Don Iannone, D.Div., Ph.D. said...

Thanks Angela...Great idea. Do it!

Silvermoon...thanks. Lovely play back.

polona said...

i can relate to what you're saying.
thank you for another nice poem.

Don Iannone, D.Div., Ph.D. said...

Thanks Polona. Glad you enjoyed it.

CE said...

Yes, without identifying with it. Then there is only pure being and no self.

Don Iannone, D.Div., Ph.D. said...

Thanks Imemine. Yes there is.

serenity said...

Don:
I wanted to stop back as I have re-read this poem several times in the last couple of days and it has been an immeasurable gift to me. Thank you for these words, and for your kind comments, and for being a sharer of the light. It is on those occasions when I empty my mind that it is truly filled. When thoughts return, these are the thoughts I fill it with.

Don Iannone, D.Div., Ph.D. said...

Serenity...welcome back. Glad this poem speaks to "you." Your kind words are very much appreciated. Have a wonderful weekend!

dumbdodi said...

"It's about you
and what you do
to get beyond yourself"
We all ought to get beyond ourselves.

"It's about you
letting go of you,
and in so doing,
finding true happiness."
We all also ought to let go some part of ourself to become a whole...to find real happiness.

Each poem of yours is a life lesson to me.

Don Iannone, D.Div., Ph.D. said...

Dumbdodi...thank you. Spirit works through all of us. My poetry is not mine in that sense. It is an outgrowth of what is shared by all: Spirit.

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