AWOKEN

Waking up to a world so many are asleep to. Gazing out oer the limitless sky, filled with the sounds of beating drums and blazing horns, the guttural pitch of the monks' deep voices chanting in a foreign tongue, filling the air with a reverberating energy.

Shedding ourselves. Stripping back our vanities, our egos. Uncovering precious gems of wisdom, discovering what it means to be human. Or are we? Just sentient beings trying to escape the perpetual cycle of rebirth. Whatever faith you subscribe to, we are all trying to escape something. The pain and torment of getting older and sicker, closer to an imminent and certain death. The cycle of attachment, recycling the same unrequited desires again and again, always on the cusp of some pursuit or something or someone that will temporarily fill the void inside of us. Cover the darkness. That bellyache that mourns the loss of our childlikeness- that period of innoncence and wide-eyed wonder that gripped every moment with a sense of splendid curiosity.

Yet, as I look out and see my kin all around me, the ones I use to call strangers, I see in their eyes an openness, a willing to go beyond the world we've constructed and to discover a spiritual path.The path that leads to awakening, an inner thirst for truth, a release from our material bondings. We are all on that same journey, trekking over an unpaved road that may not offer comfort or convenience, but promises an infinitely more beautiful view at the top of the summit. Here we are, here I am. NOW.