Here is the essence of the 10 minute presentation I am going to make during this month as part of the training process at IITD. The first part is a poem by Walt Whitman which is the core of the presentation. The concluding bit is Neale Donald Walsch’s thoughts on awareness. The rest is all mine.
There was a child went forth every day, and the first object he looked upon and received with wonder or pity or love or dread, that object he became and that object became part of him for the day or a certain part of the day…… or for many years or stretching cycles of years. -Walt Whitman In the isness of Now……..The child sponged in elder’s certainties, trustingly Of God, nation, language, money, duties, winning all… Ran a thousand movies in his mental screen at once With stories scripted in hollow sound and fury Where people wore masks, and played games…. He asked why for a while, then bowed to reality. And these he became, unknowingly, unaware. The child bequeathed to the man A fragmented, twisted past of images that Imprisoned him in their moulds and Played a thousand movies on his mental screen Wore his status with a false, pompous air Became loneliness, pain, strife, despair, fear… Then the man birthed the child in him bit by bit He cradled his feelings in acceptance and love And listened. And watched. Attentively. With gratitude he watched the sun, rise and set, Cuddled his loved ones smiling fresh and warm Played with them in the beach like mad, free…. He ceased becoming anything, Just lived, immersed in the isness of NOW. Thank you, God, for allowing me to feel, right now, the peace that comes with gratitude for what is, replacing the yearning for what is not. Thank you for bringing me the understanding that from the isness comes all that is now not, but will surely be. Let me stay, then, in the isness. -Neale Donald Walsch