2
Bias, Judgement and the Ever Present Now
Being open to the Present Moment
And what it has to offer
While acting with patience and reserve
Makes your perception more potent
Guiding you to what you deserve
But this requires learning how to observe
Free of egotistical, judgmental attitudes
Which opens the door to Gratitude
And his selfless sister, Charity
To give and receive effortlessly
And through this clarity,
Able to live life with confidence & flair
Becoming more & more aware
Of the real nature of each moment
And all it contains, but be attentive
For each moment is fleeting
And whatever you are seeking
Is forever here, then forever there
Lost in the labyrinths of time
And cannot wait for judgement’s decline
❦❦❦❦
Author’s Commentary 2
Bias, Judgement and the Ever Present Now
Where does the need for judgment come from? Is there a process of judgment that is free from some kind of bias? But does bias itself initiate the need for judgment in the first place?
Some biases are benign and serve to align one’s needs with the resources of the surrounding environment, such as preferences for one kind of food or recreation over other kinds.
The combination of bias and judgment reinforces one’s belief systems thus answering the need for mental and emotional security in a world in which the character of the next moment, and your experience within that moment, may be unpredictable.
However, if bias is the progeny of fear, fear that the target of your bias will make you become less in some way or that which makes you comfortable and safe and attractive to others is in some way threatened, then biases can lead to the shadowy land of prejudice. With prejudice, there is shuttering of the mind in response to a threat to one’s beliefs, beliefs that have been taught or accrued through personal experience throughout life and which provide a sense of continuity and security in life.
As well, bias can also be what disfigures our perception of the present moment, preventing us from seeing the potential and nature of that moment in a clear manner, thus we lose opportunities contained within that moment to become more, to expand ourselves, to connect, and to give and receive effortlessly.
Judgement without bias can be a powerful tool in life. But to be totally open to each moment in life as it arises requires that we go beyond our belief systems which tend to limit our perspective to see something that is perhaps totally new, with clarity. And in that newness might lie opportunities to expand our life and understanding.
This, of course, requires that we allow our belief systems, and the thinking that derives from them to be less rigid and more malleable so belief and thought can constantly adjust toward a set of understandings and perceptions more appropriate for current realities. How many opportunities have you or I missed while blinded by misuse of bias?
The image above filled with the timeless flow of nature underscores the value of just existing within the present moment and letting it fill you without the constrictions of biases, or the judgments required by biases.
❦❦❦❦
Reader’s Reflections 2
Bias, Judgement and the Ever Present Now
Link-in-bio to go to reflections page, add your ‘reflections’ and read other reader’s reflections on this poem and commentary.
3
Traveling in Infinity
How many infinite beings are there
In all the infinite universes?
The traveler wonders tirelessly
While riding the train into eternity
Just to see what there is to see
Wondering where & how infinity might be
In a world made of time that measures every degree
He only knows he is forever moving forward
Endlessly following the urge to be free
While feeling outward in a search for harmony
To connect through love or misery
With others of the same essence, rapturously
And expand that which is within him naturally
As time’s train moves forward with increasing intensity
His awareness grows toward immensity, then infinity
❦❦❦❦
Author’s Commentary 3
Traveling in Infinity
This stanza questions the meaning of infinity, which we cannot observe in our daily life, a life which is measured and defined by finite, discrete moments only visible within the present moment. Can we apply the idea of ‘infinite’ to moments, things, universes, or beings within those universes?
Can we break infinity down into discrete moments as our understanding of time requires? Are there then an infinite number of discrete moments that our awareness passes through? And where do they begin and end? The idea that universes or anything can go on forever defies the human logic surrounding time and the change time measures.
These questions underlie the foundations of our existence. The gods that we create and to whom we give infinite powers are simply an unconditional surrender to the wonders of existence that we ourselves cannot understand with our present levels of awareness.
But perhaps we are missing something here. Perhaps it is in the continued attempt to understand existence that the reason for existence finds itself; that it is the enhancement of understanding and connection that matters, and existence is simply the school in which we learn.
In the final analysis this anomaly between time & infinity demands that we come to a greater understanding of who we are, where we come from and what our purpose is. Whatever and whoever we are, it seems the only limitations upon us are those we impose upon ourselves through our belief systems. How do we go beyond our belief systems to experience Infinity, and are we ready for that experience?
The young person sitting on a train in the image represents all of us on our voyage into the unknown with the wind of life whistling around us, filled with an expectancy fueled by the vision in the sky above, forever on the horizon.
❦❦❦❦
Reader’s Reflections 3
Traveling in Infinity
Link-in-bio to go to reflections page, add your ‘reflections’ and read other reader’s reflections on this poem and commentary.
4
Worlds of Duality
Most people open their eyes in the morning
Thinking past and present will be conforming
So see only what they expect to see
A vision conditioned by previous reality
Taking form in their mind as expectations
Molded around present aspirations
Of love and desire and other excitations
Which binds them to a Self-created reality
And raises the unexpected possibility
That they’re living in a world of duality
And beyond their own Self-created Kingdom
Lies a world of infinite creativity and freedom
That allows them to expand infinitely
Each becoming an unrestrained entity
Able to see reality in its entirety
❦❦❦❦
Author’s Commentary 4
Worlds of Duality
When you are born into this world, you have certain initial physical, social, and cultural experiences that condition you to react in ways which are harmoniously effective within this world thus answering your ‘worldly’ needs. This, however, narrows your focus to only what is important to your immediate life experience, a focus that determines how you see and perceive the world around you.
The boundaries of your personal kingdom are reinforced moment by moment by the cyclical messages in your mind created by your beliefs. Your focused awareness upon these messages narrows your reality but it also ensures that you will be able to exist in this world successfully. But by narrowing your reality to only this world, it also blinds you to a greater reality that lies outside your Little Kingdom.
Various experiences may neutralize this boundary and allow you to see landscapes flying around outside your personal reality. One of these forms of neutralization is the many forms of meditation which focus one’s attention away from the mind, and into unbiased perception of the present moment allowing insights into other realities contained within that moment.
Since it is your attention that energizes the mind, the absence of your attention from the mind denies it continuing activation, leading to a state of mental quiescence, and when the mind becomes quiet, you’re again able to see and experience beyond it, thus expanding, even more, your reality.
In the image these two realities are symbolized by the two halves floating above the person’s head. In one half the light is repressed and in the other, life blazes with color. As wisdom neutralizes the wall between them, each is filled with the other and the two become one, illuminating both realities providing greater insight into your day-to-day experiences.
❦❦❦❦
Reader’s Reflections 4
Worlds of Duality
Link-in-bio to go to reflections page, add your ‘reflections’ and read other reader’s reflections for this poem and commentary.
