Growth is a paradox
And paradoxes, by definition
Cannot be reduced to mere building blocks Ñ
To spiritual elementals.
The belief in spiritual
building blocks
Implies a belief in spiritual bootstrapping
And brackets the transcendental Ñ
The outside breaking in.
I can, yet not I Ñ
The paradox of paradoxes!
And that itself is a paradox,
The building block
For that which has no building blocks.
I will immerse my soul
In rivers of the spirit
Where still waters run deep
And deep waters run strong.
Sometimes strong, deep waters
Can break loose spiritual sticking points
Where flotsam that still has roots
Can latch tight
To submersed boulders of unreconciled memory
And cling tight for dear life Ñ
An old, dying life they do not want to lose.
Roots of pain
And boulders of memory
Become logjams
Damming and dyking the spiritual flow
Where deep waters run turbulent.
But sometimes violent,
jarring movements
Break the dead wood of the past
And still waters float high,
Rising to the surface And providing the serenity for new growth.
The angry flood, the raging
tide,
Seeks release
To control and balance Where deep waters run both strong and still.
Steve Snyder
Self-examination
Is a vital point
To a vital life.
I can choose to grow not;
I can choose to stagnate;
I can choose to ignore spiritual invitations.
But I am given many opportunities
To choose to look within
Before or after I point without.
My inventory, my daily
reflection,
Is mine.
I donÕt have to berate myself
Or listen to old, condemnatory voices,
Father Gods in my head.
My inventory.
My growth. My willingness. My perception of
What life has to offer.
And my belief
That I am deserving.
My mistakes. My insights. My
solutions.
Listening to inward promptings
And outward advice.
Open to both, wise to both,
Learning from both.
How much do I truly desire
And deeply yearn for
A new life
With no strings or preconditions attached?
How much desire do I really
have
For transformation?
How much openness do I have
For growing on a daily basis?
The unexamined self
Is a self not really living.
Steve Snyder