Emotions - the ephemeral and the transcendent

In spontaneity, in merriment, I rejoice.
In fulfillment, in self-delusion, I take solace.
In ignorance, in avoidance of pain, I forget reality.

Like a river, flow, my emotions.
Like an uncontrollable violent storm do they take form.

The storm subsides when I release myself.
For I was the originator of it and its maintainer too.

People ask, "Is being emotionless even human?"
"No" would be the answer.
But investing one's emotion in trustworthy objects is human.
Being transcendent to the ephemeral is human.
And so too is being swayed away by the ephemeral.
As sways the mind by the ephemeral, so too sways the poor life that follows the mind.

But breaks free the soul from its shackles, when it finds itself shackled.
Ah, how do we long for that moment of discovery for all that lives on the earth!

But nay, discovery is the first step.
Will the soul give up its attachment to the shackles that bound it for so long?
Will it be able to give up the notion that the shackles are its friends?
Wildly searcheth the soul for a new set of shackles, when the current one becomes loose.
Finds the soul, a better shackle, to bind itself firmer to the ephemeral,
Thus there waiteth it, till it loses affection for the shackle it holds dear now.


Will thee ever see past the ephemeral?
"But what is there that is transcendent, in an ephemeral world?"
Life is transcendent in its whole when it is based on transcendent principles.
Art is transcendent, compassion is transcendent, the drive to live is transcendent.
Human relations are not, short-term goals are not, fleeting pleasures definitely are not.

To gather one's focus, one first has to be shaken from a storm.
That leads to disbelief in the ephemeral.
No one that is complacent in their positions can understand what I speak of.
No one that is enjoying  the ephemeral now will understand until comes the storm.

"Will the storm come definitely?"
It will. Would you expect not the waves of an ocean to recede once they hit the shore?
Permanence is in the grace of art, in principles that are eternally true and in the drive to continue life.

Will it be justice, to my conscience, if, after knowing this, I still desire to take pleasure in the ephemeral?
What good will my actions be to the ones I seek to serve?
Will it not also have the touch of temporariness?
Pain will it not bring to the ones whom we sought to help with our imperfect understanding?

Service is by nature permanent, but what giveth thee? Give that with the message of permanence.
Pleasure you may partake of the ephemeral, but what thinketh thee? Think of the eternal, not to be swayed in the course of it.

Pain is a trigger - a signal, that thou art placing your faith in the ephemeral.
Pain is the storm which I have been talking of. The alarm clock that wakes the soul.
The powerful god that wreaks havoc in the lives of the complacent.

"Will the complacent be able to accept the storm? "
Yes and no.
If the drive to live is valued, pain is seen as a trigger to wake up to longer-lasting shelters.
But more often, just the shackles are changed. Just so that the time to wake up can be delayed.
The alarm clock of the conscience can be snoozed.


The one that wakes up is the enlightened one. For he knows how to traverse the course of life.
Permanence he preaches, permanence he delivers, permanence he worships.
Steady, but not dull. Patient, but not complacent. Satisfied, but not selfish.
In perfect knowledge, but never proud. Loud are his words, but louder are his actions.
Subtle is his vision, unshakable is his will.
When comes the storm, he stays steady, for stands he on another planet, entirely transcendent.

He does act externally exactly as one attached to the ephemeral would act, but there is a gulf of difference in their intentions.

Let us aspire to become a preacher of permanence in an age where the ephemeral tends to take prominence.