Fixations,
distracting us from this clear light,
this amazing brilliance,
this Enlightenment Mind,
this gem beyond subject and object,
our most precious jewel,
our gift from Source,
this aspiration to awaken
that will liberate us at last;
Through infinitely expanding
beginningless beginnings,
origins without a true beginning,
we have wandered, to our dismay,
we have found no way to liberate ourselves
from this insanity,
despite our best intentions,
despite trying everything in this world,
despite our great yearning to be done
with this insanity without end;
We find, just when we begin to see
with clarity,
BAM! Just like that,
Disturbances come our way to keep us distracted;
So, if you know these obstacles
are coming your way, seemingly
keeping you in darkness,
Why fret about it?
Remain at ease, weary traveler,
Remain undistracted,
Remain with your aspiration
to awaken, just like an old friend
who will never fail you
when they are needed;
Nurture your own
Enlightenment
In all that you do!
A poem by Robert Aho © 2025
Sometimes people get angry when they are disturbed while meditating. This is a common problem that people mention among others who meditate. It can be frustrating at times. It is, perhaps, a very common reason that people move to remote places when they are very serious about awakening and nurturing all the benefits that can be derived from that.
I’m actually one of those people who did this. I started having some difficulty living in the city because of the constant distractions. Even if it was relatively quiet, the activity of many people nearby started to become too much for me. So, I moved out into the sticks. This helped for a little while, up until I no longer needed such quiet with my Spiritual Practice. It can be a good thing at times; but, one should definitely not rely on seclusion for too long. It’s useful for maybe three years at most.
When one aspires to awaken, we need to anticipate distractions. This is life. This is the planet Earth. When you are here, you are under a barrage of distractions. You need to know what to do with those distractions. I have told many people that I spent many years riding the city bus, meditating for a half hour in both the morning and afternoon during my commute, being jostled around by people, potholes and crazy bus drivers. It was glorious, my meditation became very efficient and unaffected by the world around me.
During these years, I would seek out busy places, sitting in meditation on street corners or during public events. People would come up to me, wondering just what I was doing, or thinking that I was a friend they hadn’t seen in a long time. I can’t really explain why I had this sort of attraction to people in these places, other than I obviously didn’t fit expectations. Everybody else was very busy, sometimes quite agitated; and, here I was as an island of calm, just remaining at ease in those chaotic circumstances. This is very good Spiritual Practice.
When we aspire to awaken, we need to be ready to adapt to everything and anything that comes our way. No matter what happens, we train our mind to remain at ease. If we can do this, then we can develop greater insight into mind, we can find ways to awaken. We need to find a way to bring mind into our Real Nature, which is empty cognizant bright clarity, awareness beyond description, beyond what we can conceptualize. The reason we need to remain at ease is because it is too much for us to fathom as mere humans. We need to go beyond our physical constraints, our limitations of mind. We need to go beyond in such a way that we are no longer distracted.
When our lives end, when we enter the death bardo, it is best to be prepared for this. Although aspiring to awaken is the main point of Spiritual Practice, preparing for death is extremely important as well. If we enter the death bardo without preparation and are easily distracted, we will have little chance of having a fortunate rebirth. The death bardo will be entirely too disturbing to us, mainly as the turbulence of the energetic dimension starts to become revealed, and we might not even notice that amazing brilliant bright light that I talk about so often. Our liberation depends upon us being able to realize our Real Nature, that bright condition, and remain within that awareness that has no bounds.
So, if you aspire to awaken, you are actually preparing for death, not just this idea of removing your constraints of cyclic existence. Our eternal suffering, which we may or may not truly understand at first, is dependent upon our eternal distraction, our eternal fixations, our eternal actions that keep us bound, our eternal grasping at meaning itself. When we really look at all appearances of mind, everything we encounter in life, everything we imagine, it becomes rather absurd very quickly. Life has no meaning other than those ideas we fabricate. We create the world in each and every moment.
When all is lost, within empty cognizance, we can still maintain our aspiration. Aspire to awaken!
Blessings in Light,
Robert Aho
This beautiful. restful reading, both poem and article are just what my spirit needs today. I am living in synchronism with the world. I am neither focused or at ease. I am open to the flow of how and why... the questions that are regularly answered and need not be questioned. The radiance of accepting that there is a flow, that I'm part of the majestic, the reality that hides from expectation.. the new normal that cannot be bought, sold, conquered or kept.
The idea that does not serve anyone, it serves all, all at once and never stops.
I do create my existence and i choose how to enter the stream of conscious action.
I expect to be surprised, elated, reassured and comforted.. at any given moment, as i am not alone in this world. The separateness is a falsified tactic to convince us that we need what others want, and I don't subscribe to ego, to manipulation. I surrender to the I AM, the inclusiory L O V E of the DIVINE NATURAL ORDER AND INTERDEPENDANCY that is our living forested earth. I am provided for and I am loved beyond any understanding that I'm presently capable of.
In the original instructions of Creator, we were led to understand that all we need is to care for the earth, and we will live in a heavenly place under our feet, and all around.
We can choose to stop paving paradise, we can emit the confidence in each other that we are a family of Guardians and that is our strongest resolve.
We are so gifted to live.
To Love.
To be of Service to share this incredible message of hope, resiliency, and underlying truth.
I am the light being, the Healing LIGHT Being, that others need to see what contentedness can be without a judgement, a cause, or agenda.
I AM is the defining attribute of the humanness we all find wholesome goodness in.
Thank you for your wonderful newsletter.
I feel blessed by it today and as writer it inspires me.
Blessings to you Robert and thank you so much for sharing your light - hoop with the world.
This beautiful. restful reading, both poem and article are just what my spirit needs today. I am living in synchronism with the world. I am neither focused or at ease. I am open to the flow of how and why... the questions that are regularly answered and need not be questioned. The radiance of accepting that there is a flow, that I'm part of the majestic, the reality that hides from expectation.. the new normal that cannot be bought, sold, conquered or kept.
The idea that does not serve anyone, it serves all, all at once and never stops.
I do create my existence and i choose how to enter the stream of conscious action.
I expect to be surprised, elated, reassured and comforted.. at any given moment, as i am not alone in this world. The separateness is a falsified tactic to convince us that we need what others want, and I don't subscribe to ego, to manipulation. I surrender to the I AM, the inclusiory L O V E of the DIVINE NATURAL ORDER AND INTERDEPENDANCY that is our living forested earth. I am provided for and I am loved beyond any understanding that I'm presently capable of.
In the original instructions of Creator, we were led to understand that all we need is to care for the earth, and we will live in a heavenly place under our feet, and all around.
We can choose to stop paving paradise, we can emit the confidence in each other that we are a family of Guardians and that is our strongest resolve.
We are so gifted to live.
To Love.
To be of Service to share this incredible message of hope, resiliency, and underlying truth.
I am the light being, the Healing LIGHT Being, that others need to see what contentedness can be without a judgement, a cause, or agenda.
I AM is the defining attribute of the humanness we all find wholesome goodness in.
Thank you for your wonderful newsletter.
I feel blessed by it today and as writer it inspires me.
Blessings to you Robert and thank you so much for sharing your light - hoop with the world.