Live

I recently updated a poem originally written in 2009. I wrote it in fifteen minutes sitting in a conference room while waiting for a job interview. It now aligns with my physicalist/absurdist belief. We only control ourselves. This is all there is. Live now while you may, not like a rehearsal for paradise. This is the only paradise you will ever know. Make it so.


The past is there & then.

The present is here & now.

There is no future, no higher up, no deeper in.

There is only this place right now.

Live at peace with yourself.

#

Draw all things to yourself.

Experience all things but linger not,

For consciousness is corruptible.

Dysfunction can overtake it.

Live in honesty about this plight.

#

Master yourself; you will master your plight.

Consciousness dwells in an earthly frame;

Generated by your human brain.

When it ends, so will you.

Live to the fullest while you may.

#


The 2009 original:

#

The past is there and then.

The present is here and now.

There is no future, no deeper in, no higher up.

There is only this place right now — eternity.

Live at peace with all things.

#

Draw all things to yourself.

Experience all things but do not linger with them.

Eternity is incorruptible.

You are eternity.

Live in harmony with all things.

#

Master yourself; you will be the master of all.

All that is, dwells within you.

You are all that is.

There is no separateness only the illusion.

Live as one with all things.

#