Living Zen Life

The unexamined life is not worth living.*
To know others is to be wise. To know oneself is to be enlightened.**

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Stepping away 
solitude opens hidden stores 
forgotten self awakens
true self buried to the neck
in this earthen vessel.***

Solitude has broken the seal
cracked the buried vessel 
released aromas of quickened life
light revealing unquestioned assumptions
beliefs creeds rituals unveiled as hollow.

I'm no enlightened one
my thoughts turn to self inquiry
see what I might find
what I lost through neglect
what will help me find my way.

Mornings in Seattle cool and gray
afternoons give way to warm blue skies
nowhere to go or be
evening sun has set
laughter from the tavern below.

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*Socrates, in Plato's, The Apology
**Lao Tzu, TaoTeChing (33)
***Paul of Tarsus, 2 Corinthians 4:7

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