Ace - Consciousness

Forget head in the clouds,
Yours is beyond it all,
Beyond the cycle of death and rebirth,
Mortal and immortal,

An all-encompassing understanding,
Ironic'lly, no-mind,
You can leave all the worrisome, fretting,
Self-conscious, boring bull-shit behind,

Of all the cards you can draw from the clouds,
None come close to this one,
This one is not cartoony or troubled,
It's Buddha's conclusion,

Congrats to you!
You're now not of this world,
Actually, you're not part of any,
A final round of applause, boys and girls.

2 - Schizophrenia

We're all schizophrenic,
May sound insensitive,
But that a condition exists at all,
Makes it derivative,

Of behaviour that no one wants to have,
At least in the extreme,
But to be split just 'nough to be docile,
Well, that is Capitalism's dream,

So do not get stuck between yes and no,
Neither answer is right,
You must decide on the terms of your heart,
That follows only light,

No need to know,
The problem's pros or cons,
If both sides simply keep you in the dark,
Then the time has come for revolution.

Page - Playfulness

Unearth your playfulness,
Free the child inside you,
Remember when you had no cares at all,
A purely joyful view,

You claim that this is not possible now,
You must be serious,
For this world was built by serious men,
All who claim different are spurious,

But this is an all hail to arms, my friend,
The universe wants you,
You've the right mix of playful innocence,
For the fresh and the new,

So just let loose,
You will be rewarded,
Don't give  up this chance for a life restart,
Hesitation cannot be afforded.

18 - Past Lives

Have you dug deep enough,
In the lives you have lived,
To unlock the door to understanding,
Your own unconsciousness,

The one conditioned by what you have done,
Then promptly forgotten,
In the cyclic discontinuity,
Of the journey of death's oblivion,

Through the cosmic mother's love opening,
The V of her two hands,
Guarded from a shattering vision by,
The two rainbow dragons?

'cause if you have,
The pattern of your soul,
Re-formed with ev'ry birth to a new world,
Can finally show you how to be whole.

15 - Conditioning

There was once a lion,
That was brought up by sheep,
He grew up thinking he was one of them,
Don't get how that could be,

One day he was captured by one of him,
Again, I don't know why,
For the first time he looked into a pond,
And discovered that he was a lion,

This is the lesson you are meant to learn,
Society wants sheep,
Until you see you are not that at all,
You've no identity,

Look at yourself,
Free of expectations,
Ev'ry structure needs slaves to keep its hold,
The cause of each war waged between nations.

5 - Comparison

Well, here we are again,
Looking for the middle,
This time through the eyes of comparison,
Starting with a riddle,

What does the bamboo envy the oak for?
Not that it's not hollow,
Not for its size or color-changing leaves,
For nothing, for the reasons that follow,

The bamboo is exactly what it is,
It need be nothing else,
To envy the traits of another thing,
Is to abandon self,

To be nothing,
Which isn't a bad thing,
'less you're not talking about finding peace,
You must be sure you know your true being.

5 - No-Thingness

Dick Gregory has died,
Back into no-thingness,
Yet, he returned there many times in life,
In the name of justice,

When he refused to eat for days and days,
So others might be fed,
He must have embraced the gap of pure choice,
Just look at the selfless life that he led,

You can delve into no-thingness, also,
It will do your heart good,
That space where all's equal 'cause nothing's there,
Not even personhood,

Just potential,
Pure and simple being,
Come back to the world's nonsense and croo'lty,
You'll see the pettiness of your naggings.

5 - The Outsider

Look closely at that gate,
It is not even locked,
Your mind convinced you you're an outsider,
Though your reasoning's blocked,

It is deeply rooted in your childhood,
It is in ev'ryone,
But the inclusion your seeking' not lost,
It just requires a change in perception,

The connection you lost with your mother,
Well that was simply fate,
Great awareness is your key to freedom,
Then you can ope' the gate!

Get what you seek,
Don't depend on others,
You must see what's outside is inside, too,
Until you do you'll ne'er have true lovers.

6 - The Dream

You've left your mother's womb,
You will never go back,
Yet so many of us seek out that love,
Of which we feel we lack,

But the happiness you are looking for,
Can't come from someone else,
Being alone is just our condition,
We all must learn to commune with ourselves,

Wake up from the dream of your true soulmate,
No one's found, nor e'er will,
Whether through people, money or power,
You seek to be fullfilled.

Don't look outside,
Look inside, not above,
Then will others be drawn by your richness,
Then can you teach them the true source of love.

Ace - The Source

There's a fire inside you,
Never ending slow burn,
It's the tap of energy for the mind,
Yet has nothing to learn,

It is your grounding and source of self-truth,
Where creativ'ty sits,
Where you can rest after a long ordeal,
Extinguish resentment, fear and regret,

Rest protected from the air's pollutants,
From Beijing to the States,
Forgetting time and space for long enough,
To feel it's not too late,

To energize,
It is in all of us,
A source of strength when one's heart is tested,
A pur'ty 'neath a crust of worldliness.

9 - Sorrow

Once there was Ananda,
Buddha's loyal cousin,
The Zen master's constant companion,
Never was enlightened,

The sorrow he felt when the great one died,
Was not for the world's loss,
But that his eyes ne'er opened all that time,
There was no hope he'd one day be conscious,

Then by morning Ananda reached his goal,
It was the deep, deep pain,
Experienced pure without self-pity,
Then enlightenment came.

That is now you,
When life's easy, who cares?
Embrace the sorrow as a road to life,
True self-understanding may meet you there.

2 - Friendliness

It's time to say good-bye,
To a very good friend,
Not to say that the friendship is finished,
For friendships never end,

Nor do they start any later than birth,
We are all companions,
Sharing ourselves when our paths draw us close,
A direction that we have no hand in,

Only gratitude should mark the parting,
For the pleasures you shared,
Expectation is what brews bitterness,
As if you never cared,

Oh, but you did!
You'll never be the same,
Next you entwine your branches with others,
Be sure to extol your past friends' names.

9 - Ripeness

It might be hard to think,
Through life's heartache and pain,
The debt and grind and suffering around,
That all of this could wane,

That you have been growing into yourself,
Ripening on the limb,
That you will soon be released fully formed,
To follow a new more personal whim,

One that's not prescribed or thrust upon you,
Don't quit your day job, yet,
This card could mean a new relationship,
Or relief of a debt,

Just let it be,
Like fruit falls from a tree,
The ground will absorb you, then you will find,
A whole new world of possibility.

8 - Traveling

There's no destination,
E'en though you think it so,
Life is a journey each step towards death,
Why such a rush to go?

It's like I e'er used to say in the day,
'fyou focus on the ends,
The person you will be is a seeker,
So what you achieve won't make any sense,

To enjoy it, you must be satisfied,
Which is a diff'rent you,
Accomplish things through planning and desire,
That's all you'll ever do,

So ne'er arrive,
All you will do is roam,
The problem with living in the future,
 Is that you have abandoned your true home.

4 - Participation

Time to participate,
To the world as a whole,
Those thoughts you had about how you fit in,
Is what you call your soul,

Its only chance at living is in life,
'mongst other living things,
You form a part of your society,
Or've no right to condemn its happenings,

So raise your right hand so you might receive,
Lower the left to give,
You are now in the current of lightning,
With th'right to say you live,

Congrat'lations!
Soon you'll be called to speak,
While others complain that there's too much noise,
They can't understand because they're too meek.

Queen - Flowering

You are overflowing!
A nexus of bright life,
What y'ingest's better for being eaten,
You are nobody's wife,

But the apex of what is possible,
Shedding seeds from your arm,
Flowers settling on your head and shoulders,
Protecting the world from all fear and harm,

There is too much of you to keep contained,
E'en the climate will bow,
Through the compassion that flows out your heart,
Hate is just not allowed,

So now go out,
While you spread so much good,
On an earth starving from pure extraction,
You're a welcome and needed source of food.

6 - The Lovers

There are three types of love,
From lowest to highest,
Lowest, the love of sexuality,
Is most person's bias,

Exactly in the middle is just love,
It's the flower of the seed of desire,
When th'other's your mirror,
Neither 'xpect more, still you can go higher,

You can become whole and reach compassion,
It's the flower's fragrance,
Moving beyond any needs to giving,
Rise from beggar to prince,

Which do you want?
The choice is up to you,
But only the highest includes them all,
Nor the lowest offer anything new.

Page - Adventure

Come out of the darkness,
Away from restrictions,
Layer 'pon layer like paint through your life,
Mostly built on fictions,

Where not, truth cannot be frozen in time,
It is of the moment,
The unknown, not safe or predictable,
Else it is a distraction of showmen.

Seize fear's dark forest or hope's bright rainbow,
Only you make that choice,
At home, work or relationships you find,
It is all in your voice,

Neither is safe,
The former kills your soul,
The latter has the risk of suffering,
Or realization of your heart's hushed goal.

3 - Experiencing

Be gentle in approach,
With your eyes open wide,
You're connected with all things around you,
Things you sing and deride,

Feel the wisdom of a tree you're hugging,
Calling you to its touch,
The parasites being ravaged by warmth,
Caused by society burning too much,

The protesters kept apart,
For demanding kindness,
The raped, battered, chased and underemployed,
Who will always have less,

Experience,
To the fullest extent,
It means more than reading things in the news,
You must embrace all with loving intent.

9 - Exhaustion

You have built a structure,
To protect how you live,
Blood, sweat and hours of work you have put in,
You've nothing left to give,

But if you walk away it will crumble,
For you're a part of it,
You are born in freedom then cage yourself,
So all of your actions I could predict,

Try your consciousness instead of conscience,
Sounds capricious, I know,
To answer from your heart and not your rules,
Who gave you leave to go?

No one needs to,
Life has nothing on you,
Your choice, tie yourself t'one way of living,
Or do what the moment tells you to do.