Strange autumn light,
green appears between the rains,
as evening approaches,
lets see all its sweetness,
behind my eyes,
always now,
life awaits me
A ritual
accomplished
without any goal
is a ritual performed
In reality
the objective is the support of the self
the self exists through the lens
mushotoku: nothing else
the only teaching
Simplicity of mind
is its pacification,
the diminishment of the self
the complex mind, intelligent calculation, strategy
reveals a powerful self
hitting the wood, the bowl,
lighting on, putting out,
incense, candle
without why
When the self fades,
The underlying beauty
appears to our eyes
©FJ July 2024
Recueils / Participation/ Groupe
Notes & Silence 
To my mind, a ritual with no goal best encompasses the intrinsic meaninglessness of ritual.
Perhaps, to walk away from ritual is, itself, a ritualistic act. A ritual assertion of independence of self from toys and distractions?
Perhaps, the day will come when performing no ritual will be your daily observance?
J’aimeAimé par 1 personne
I do not perform rituals.
I live them.
therefore, they become transparent.
It is precisely the ‘performing’ aspect which bothers me the most.
I love the ritual of non-rituals to assert independence..that you are suggesting.
Still, I cannot refrain from thinking that, should independence be real, there would not be any necessity to assert it…
Shouldn’t confidence be rooted deeper ?
Aren’t you the one who said there is no escaping from rituals ?
(as behavioral patterns…Even breaking patterns becomes a pattern eventually)
J’aimeAimé par 1 personne
Therefore, avoiding ritual is a ritual.
It is difficult to live without performing, when all the world’s a stage, or to speak of independence without assertion.
Confidence is most elusive in the confident, I tend to suspect.
All of which betrays me as a somewhat anarchic contrarian, perhaps.
J’aimeAimé par 1 personne
You’re just in love with freedom, that is all.
( I guess there is independence without assertion,
Assertion is always asserting the opposite of what it claims, for he who has ears.)
J’aimeAimé par 1 personne
Which leads to the oddity that whether independence is, or is not, asserted depends…
J’aimeAimé par 1 personne