God
is one.
The world
is division.
This is the defining story,
the shared heritage,
and the unified philosophy,
of all great mystics
of all the great religions.
Words, perhaps different.
But the deeper the voices delved,
the more those words started to sound
one.
As if,
when one lets go of their inner voices,
and searches,
for something,
that isn’t bound by the rules
of the outer voices that have infected their inner voices,
inside,
there was just
one truth.
Shared.
By us all.
As if,
the quieter
we allow ourselves to be,
the louder
that message becomes.
And yet, today,
we don’t have great mystics.
We have men who are distracted by the voices,
both within,
and outside.
The voices that demand they choose
culture,
cultural demands,
popularity,
fame,
purity,
funding,
money,
power,
privilege,
authority,
the legality
of the moment,
the weight
of responsibility,
the fear
of appearing weak,
the seduction
of appearing strong,
the precariousness
of staying in control,
the ability
to abuse.
A list ten miles long
of voices,
whispering,
yelling,
crying,
demanding.
Inside.
Outside.
A list,
because the more those voices are chosen
over the One Voice,
we are led
into the division.
God
is one.
The world
is division.
And so to be a leader today,
is to be an anti-mystic.
A cultural icon
whose job it is to keep your people
running
on a treadmill.
Going nowhere,
but lost in everything.
You are the reflection
of the confusions of your followers.
The story
of their struggle.
The song
of their disharmony.
If only
the mystics would
return,
many of us like to
dream.
If only
unity
could be
restored.
If only
oneness
could be
reunited.
We pray for their return,
we scream for their voices
to bring us back
to a time before
now.
But when we do,
we
forget,
what they told us.
Their very lessons.
God is one.
And so all
is one.
And so the world
is division
only
in
our
eyes.
And the disharmonious song of the leaders
is part of the unity.
A song we can’t hear.
The story of our struggle,
is the story of our triumph.
The confusing reflection the anti-mystic leaders are showing
of us,
is a reflection of God.
The God
within
us.
In other words
While the leaders and their followers fall apart into disharmony,
and we look on,
it is we who
can become the mystics,
see beyond their disfunction,
and towards the inner function
of God’s work,
and towards the truth:
God is one.
And so are we.
And so,
we are the story,
we are the song,
we are the reflection.
And so,
we also have the voice,
the one that spoke to the mystics of old,
the whispering truth that told them what was reality,
and what distraction,
and ultimately,
reminded them that it was all unity.
We have the voice, the same voice,
for that is
the message
and the power
of the mystic.
The historian of God,
who teaches us that once existed,
always exists,
and exists within us.
Right now.
So speak!
Let the inner whisper
become a scream,
let all that you know,
flow through your mouth,
through your fingers,
through your guitar pick,
through your paintbrush,
through your social media account,
into the world.
From within,
to without.
The truth you know! The one beyond all the distractions,
the ones that the mystics warned us of,
the ones that have now been relegated to the people who claim to speak for the mystics who once roamed the earth,
the ones who have taken their names and turned them into confusion.
Take whatever the voice tells you,
that voice of oneness,
and let it speak,
for that is what the mystics did,
and their message
has always been:
you are no different
if only
you would believe.
