We live our lives of human passions,
cruelties, dreams, concepts,
crimes and the exercise of virtue
in and beside a world devoid
of our preoccupations, free
from apprehension—though affected,
certainly, by our actions. A world
parallel to our own though overlapping.
We call it “Nature”; only reluctantly
admitting ourselves to be “Nature” too.
Whenever we lose track of our own obsessions,
our self-concerns, because we drift for a minute,
an hour even, of pure (almost pure)
response to that insouciant life:
cloud, bird, fox, the flow of light, the dancing
pilgrimage of water, vast stillness
of spellbound ephemerae on a lit windowpane,
animal voices, mineral hum, wind
conversing with rain, ocean with rock, stuttering
of fire to coal—then something tethered
in us, hobbled like a donkey on its patch
of gnawed grass and thistles, breaks free.
No one discovers
just where we’ve been, when we’re caught up again
into our own sphere (where we must
return, indeed, to evolve our destinies)
—but we have changed, a little.
Sojourns in the Parallel World
You May Also Like
Ancestry
My DNA results came in
Honoring Ohlone Land & Spirit
Video with
Charlene Eigen-Vasquez
Saratoga’s Montalvo Arts Center to experience “A Path Forward: Honoring Ohlone Land & Spirit.”
The Eternal Song – Official Trailer
Video with
SAND
The Eternal Song is a cinematic prayer—a journey across timeless lands, sacred cultures, and the healing currents of ancestral wisdom.
The Dragon’s Charms
Poem by
Joey Carter
This is the last hour / Of the Dragons' Power / Soon he'll be gone away
In April
Poem by
Rainer Maria Rilke
Again the woods are odorous, the lark / Lifts on upsoaring wings the heaven gray
The Conference of the Birds
Poem by
Manteq at-Tair
No one can share the grief with which I seek / Our longed-for Lord, and quickened by my haste
Rewilding A Forest
Video with
Maria "Vildhjärta" Westerberg
Maria was a romantic, animal-loving, dreamy child who, growing up, had a hard time conforming to the demands associated with the trajectory towards "a normal life".
The Closet Sessions | روان روشني – الخزانة
Video with
Rawan Roshni
For The Love Of Music Shared on The Closet Session’s YouTube Connect more with Rawan and her story and music on #116 Echoes of Resistance: Rawan Roshni
Newsletter
Sign up to receive news and updates from SAND.
Your details are strictly confidential and never shared.
Support SAND with a Donation
Science and Nonduality is a nonprofit organization. Your donation goes towards the development of our vision and the growth of our community.
Thank you for your support!