Shadows then

Everything there is to know in this world is inside of us.

Listen, and when you hear, listen again. Maybe deeper, maybe not.

See and when seeing, see again. Not to see more but to see better. Not deeper but clearer; without shadows. For one such glimpse ...!
Does one get better at going deeper or does the deeper only become more accessible?

Shadows then. Clouding what is real, true, pure, urgent. The Russian poet Marina Tsvetayeva wrote: 'It may be that a better way/To conquer time and the world/Is to pass, and not to leave a shadow/ on the walls...'.

Shadows then. Ghosts that live in our minds, on our minds. To survive them is the battle. Love and separation from ones own children is not worse than separation from ones own self.

Shadows then. How best to escape their influence? One needs a semblance of a locked room where silence becomes inevitable. Everyday conversation falls away, its superfluity and redundancy revealed. Over time one loses the ability to speak cleverly, to express oneself in well rehearsed ways even platitudes. This falling away of articulation is a gift. It leaves only emptiness and the deep nothingness that is full.