May 17, 2012
A Bird Not in the Hand

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:05 AM | Comments (0)

May 16, 2012
Prem Rawat Coming to Milan

Time to visit Milan!
Graphics: Birger Pohl

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 08:52 PM | Comments (0)

May 15, 2012
The Seed Once Sown, the Rune

I talk too much, too loud, too soon,
like one who pulls a sword from stone
and speaks
before the King has had his turn.

My words are ghosts of moments gone,
the poetry you want to hear '
is not my own,
but yours, the sacred sound
long buried in your bones --
the seed once sown,
the rune,
something born within you to be told.

This is what you want to hear,
the perfect eloquence of one
upon the throne,
whose prayer, these words, are heard
before a single word is said.

Live there! Breathe deep! Fly!
Free the priests and, if the angels die,
know you'll be dancing in the air.
That's the poetry you want to hear!

What you really want is this:
The lyrical flood of fullness within,
the drowning in bliss,
the letting down, like mother's milk,
of all there ever is --
the place where all the poets you have ever loved
are riding homeward on a train, alone,
looking out a window on a perfect summer day.

What they see is only their reflection
and, just beyond, golden fields of hay.
Somewhere, in between them both, their breathing slows,
they close their eyes and pause,
clear they never have to write again or think.
This is the poetry you long to hear,
when all the poets turn for home
and all their blood has turned to ink.

Help me name my next book of poetry

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 01:02 AM | Comments (0)

May 13, 2012
Where It All Begins

More

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 09:06 AM | Comments (0)

May 11, 2012
No Synonym for Thesaurus

Did you know that there's no synonym in the thesaurus for "thesaurus"?

And while the eskimoes may have 52 words for "snow," the rest of us are left howling in the wind when it comes time to expressing what we really mean by "love."

That being said, here goes -- what it feels like, to me, whenever I get to listen to the person who inspires me the most in this world, Prem Rawat, talk about his message of peace.

1. Coming home

2. Being rebooted

3. Going back to Square One, only to discover there is no square -- only wide-open space.

Continue reading "No Synonym for Thesaurus"

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:10 PM | Comments (1)

May 10, 2012
Prem Rawat in Spain

Wonderful "musical slide show" video invitation to Prem Rawat's upcoming events in Barcelona (May 27) and Madrid (June 10). Music by Manuel Iman. Produced by Stuart Hoffman. Please forward to any one you know who might be interested in attending.

More (in English)
More (in Spanish)
Barcelona Facebook page

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 07:03 PM | Comments (0)

May 09, 2012
Go Beyond Your Imagination

OK, movers and shakers, lovers of Knowledge, humbled ones, happy ones, gopis, fools, lunatics, learners, Luigis, and other assorted humanoids sometimes bummed by a crumbling economy, shaky world order, and the rising price of cappuccino -- it's time to realize that whatever difficulties you're experiencing these days are actually gifts -- each lovingly wrapped with silver linings beyond anything you can imagine.

Really. There's something in it for you. Know that everything happens for the best.

Say goodbye to the old. Let it go. The old forms are dying. Their time has come and gone. But YOU are still here -- YOU, the crown of creation!

Continue reading "Go Beyond Your Imagination"

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 12:03 AM | Comments (5)

May 07, 2012
HAFIZ: What Happens

What happens when your soul
begins to awaken your eyes
and your heart
and the cells of your body
to the great Journey of Love?

First there is wonderful laughter
and probably precious tears
and a hundred sweet promises
and those heroic vows
no one can ever keep.

But still God is delighted
and amused you once tried to be a saint.

What happens when your soul begins to awake in this world
to our deep need to love and serve the Friend?

Oh, the Beloved will send you
one of his wonderful, wild companions --

Like Hafiz.

Excerpted from I Heard God Laughing
Photo

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:23 PM | Comments (1)

May 05, 2012
Something Good

Geoff's website

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:30 PM | Comments (1)

May 04, 2012
There Is a Fabulous Underground Club Not Far From You

There is a fabulous underground club
not far from you
where all the ecstatic musicians,
since the beginning of time,
are playing -- eyes on fire.

They speak a thousand different languages,
but understand each other completely,
having endured long winters,
several times a day,
with no one near enough to listen
or bring them tea.

None of this matters now.

Here in this cave of pure delight,
calling on muses
spinning in great circles around them,
they are free,
holding a high note,
together,
in perfect harmony,
like the hand of God.

Photo

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 01:22 PM | Comments (3)

May 03, 2012
A Six Pack of Kabir

Friend, hope for the Guest while you are alive. Jump into experience while you are alive! Think... and think... while you are alive. What you call "salvation" belongs to the time before death.

If you don't break your rope while you are alive, do you think ghosts will do it after?

The idea that the soul will join with the ecstatic just because the body is rotten -- that is all fantasy. What is found now is found then. If you find nothing now, you will simply end up with an apartment in the City of Death. If you make love with the Divine now, in the next life you will have the face of satisfied desire.

So plunge into the truth, find out who the Teacher is, believe in the Great Sound!

Kabir says this: When the Guest is being searched for, it is the intensity of the longing for the Guest that does all the work. Look at me, and you will see a slave of that intensity.

(Translated by Robert Bly, from Kabir, Ecstatic Poems)

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 03:55 PM | Comments (2)

April 30, 2012
Prem Rawat Coming to Europe

If you find yourself in Europe between the dates of May 27th and June 24th, you are in the right place at the right time. Prem Rawat will be speaking at events in the following cities:

May 27 -- Barcelona
May 31 -- Munich
June 10 - Madrid
June 13 - Porto
June 24 - Copenhagen

Other events in Europe are possible. Dates are pending. Admission is free and the events are open to everyone. If you would like to request an invitation, click here.

Here's what people in my town of Woodstock, NY, had to say about seeing Prem Rawat for the first time.

More

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:53 PM | Comments (0)

April 28, 2012
Taking the Fifth

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 12:56 AM | Comments (0)

April 27, 2012
Puppet-Ji On Non-Attachment

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 12:12 AM | Comments (1)

April 25, 2012

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 12:26 AM | Comments (0)

April 23, 2012
This Thirst

There is an aching deep within my heart
that cannot be explained.
It wakes me in the middle of the night
and write these lines,
a kind of fishing in a great sea
I cannot find by day.

This escapade
is not the search for something new,
it is not the need to find.
More it is the being pulled
by an unseen moon,
how small birds, when days get cold,
make their way across dark skies,
how a feather falls to earth
and a child, finding it, looks up,
why dogs pace back and forth
before a door
as their master turns for home.

Ah, this restlessness,
this thirst,
this ache,
this silent undertow inside
that takes me back
to the hidden spring
where lions come to drink
and snakes,
why birds sing when they are all alone,
and the long ride home on an empty train
often feels like an arrival.

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 02:50 PM | Comments (2)

April 19, 2012
Reading Between the Lines

I just read my entire book of poetry
and was amazed to discover
that what I wanted to say
actually never made it to the page.
Odd.
I thought I had written it down.
I even have memories of it,
me late at night in my room,
with only the moon
and a few wolves howling inside me.
But I couldn't it find it anywhere.
Oh sure, there were lines,
but they were
more like the ones you find in a bank,
lines that barely moved,
filled with fidgeting people
waiting to get something.
I think someone must have stolen it
when I was out to lunch.
The good lines were missing.
They were definitely gone,
though I did find a few
interesting spaces between the lines,
really good spaces,
open spaces,
spaces that seemed as if
they were just about to be filled
with what I really wanted to say.
You know, the good stuff --
like the moment when your child,
thrilled you have just returned home,
runs headlong into your arms.

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:40 PM | Comments (2)

April 17, 2012
Are You Interested in Attending the Amaroo Event in September?

If you are interested in attending the September 10-14 Amaroo event (Ivory's Rock Conference Centre, Ipswich, Australia), and have learned the techniques of Knowledge, click this link to declare your interest by April 22nd.

The global team who is planning the event wants to know how many people to expect in order to make the right kind of preparations. All the info about registration and costs etc. will be forthcoming within the month, but for now it will really be helpful if you can simply note your interest -- even if you're not 100% sure you can attend.

Thanks! And please forward this posting to any people you know who have learned the techniques of Knowledge, so they also have a chance to respond.

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:17 AM | Comments (2)

April 16, 2012
Humbled

Does anyone really understand
the work of a Master?
I don't think so.
Even those who say
they love him deeply
are only looking through a pinhole,
a crack in time and space,
tourists peeking
through a very high fence.

Dazed by the light that finds its way through,
they spin endlessly
around the axis of an unexpected ecstasy,
their sudden expression of joy,
over which they have no control,
now witnessed by a few locals
out for a stroll and a smoke
and asking each other just a little too quickly,
why these people are dancing for no reason,
eyes on fire,
their words like painted rocks,
plummeting to the bottom of a very still pond
on a night no one wants to end.

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 09:45 PM | Comments (3)

April 15, 2012
The Gospel of This Very Moment

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 08:58 PM | Comments (0)

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