REFLECTOSE

By  Joseph Charles

THE wonderful absence of all forms of life

That is found some places under the sea perhaps

Or out in space

Gives me the pleasure of feeling okay not thinking

About anything

And not needing to think of anything

For anyone but myself

And so leads me to the feeling

That it's all right to think

Being that it is not forced on me.

This permits me a wonderful vast freedom to know that I am

And that I can feel

But there is nothing I need to feel

Only wish to feel

When I know I can feel things one at a time

In my own mind at my own rate

Perceiving them all

And therefore one at a time understanding things

So as to enjoy having and being and doing

Here in this world.

This affords me pleasures

And enables me to communicate feelings

Sensations and ideas with others

Making myself part of the Universe

And the Universe a part of me

With the intention of surviving well

As myself

With my family and group and mankind

In a good relationship

With the physical things of the Universe

And God and all Life

So as to contribute to Life

And experience Life

Which is living and thinking and being.

Arranging the moments of time

In such order that there is is-ness

And was-ness and will-ness

I make up a personal plan

That has not come before

But which is my own creation and contribution

Bringing to where there had once been absence

A now presence of thing

With form and duration

So adding events to Life

Which may be viewed and admired

So creating my share

Of the various presences and absences

And scarcities and abundances of Life.

My ways

Are not to look on others as good or bad

Beautiful or ugly

But only to notice considerations of form

And beingness

Which are held in agreement or disagreement

By each individual

Because of differences or similarities of viewpoints

On subjects pertaining to the real Universe

As well as to thought and spirit

As is real to them

Each by their own experience.

They move through the Universe

Holding some common agreements

Which bind them together

And enable them to communicate

So as to have affinity for one another

More or less in differing amounts

Expressing intentions and counter intentions

Enforcing or denying agreements

While I watch and observe

And sometimes enter

And play the game myself.

I follow the rules sometimes

Not follow them other times

Going by my own reality

On issues and importances

Experiencing and refusing to experience

According to my own tolerance

And willingness to be affected.

I remember and forget

And know and not-know

And cause things

Where I'm willing to be responsible for the effects created

For others have intolerances too

As important to them as mine are to me

Due to experiences they have had

Which by consideration must not happen again

To them or to others.

They seek pleasures in acceptable creations

And shy from unacceptable creations

By covering them up when possible

Or replacing them with other things

In their effort to bring order to the physical universe

As well as to the mind and spirit

Where each man knows deep within himself

Is need for order

To have peace between people

And further conquest of mind

Over matter

And spirit over mind.

It is possible

That Life and Livingness can get along

Harmoniously

Life being persons

And Livingness being the actions of persons

So as to enjoy existence

And to further create

More pleasurable existence.

It is also possible

To go the wrong way down

And further differentiate from Life

And from one another

To such an extent that one

Can ever again understand another

Or have communication

Or affinity or agreement with anybody or anything

By continuing to create against each other

And continuing to refuse to confront the products of others

However insisting

Sometimes even by force

That others must ever confront the products of self

So driving people further and further apart

Making them more and more individual

And more and more separate

And more and more out of communication

With each other

The physical universe

And Life itself.

Having these two possibilities

Provided there is an understanding of the mechanics of Life

There is a choice of futures

Upward or downward

Which can be made by each individual

Depending upon his own abilities

And willingness to experience and be responsible

For himself and for others

For his actions and theirs

Within his realm and sphere of influence

So as to become totally aware

Of the complications of Life

The freedoms and barriers

Which to him are at hand

And of his own abilities to resolve problems

Imposed upon Life

Through past misunderstandings.

Pondering Life

And recreating my past experiences for myself

So as to inspect every detail within my view

Where I have won and also where I have erred

For each is as important as the other to confront

Both where I have been responsible

And where I have been irresponsible

I understand to a greater and greater degree

What Livingness is

A series of actions taken by living beings

Capable of causing

And an interplay and exchange of effects.

In such a way

I can work out for myself gradiently

The importances of issues

Pertaining to communication and beingness

And goodness and badness

In relation to all Life and beings

And to promote the true factors of Livingness

And grant beingness to people and forms

In such a way that all are benefitted

Through gaining a reality and agreement

Which more can understand and communicate

So achieving for Man a higher state

Which is so high that he can be high or low

Without liability

And therefore experience and understand all of Livingness

Without becoming fixed at one point or another

Thus permitting an abundance of viewpoint

And an abundance of creative ability

And abundance of admiration

Between people.

Joseph Charles Belotte