till you yourself are a sail

The world's spiritual geniuses seem to discover universally

that the mind's muddy river, this ceaseless flow of trivia and trash,

cannot be dammed, and that trying to dam it is a waste of effort

that might lead to madness. 

Instead you must allow the muddy river

to flow unheeded in the dim channels of consciousness;

you raise your sights; you look along it, mildly, acknowledging

its presence without interest and gazing beyond it into

the realm of the real where subjects and objects act

and rest purely, without utterance.

 

.

The secret of seeing is to sail on solar wind.

Hone and spread your spirit till you yourself are a sail,

whetted, translucent, broadside to the merest puff.

~ Annie Dillard

excerpts from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

art by Olivia Maria Chevallier