SEEDS OF FAITH: Reflections on Desire and Cyclic Existence 

    as trees shed leaves each yea 
    r so we shed memories 
    and eventually no 
    thing is left of us 
    but a few tiny seeds . . . 
 
    as those particles are bl 
    own across the fields of sp 
    ace many become fal 
    low while a few germ in
    ate 
 
    it takes faith to rise 
    in fields of un 
    certainty 
    yet if you ex a mine 
    a forest closely 
    it'll be clear s
    eeds of life 
    spring up 
    continual
    ly


Lex:   (adopting an Indian accent) Unless we extinguish all seeds of desire, rebirth is inescapable.

Lis:   (chuckling in amusement) That's the classic Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, and Sikh doctrine, isn't it?

Lex:   I choose to think of it this way: the real issue is patterned conditioning: the compulsive need 
       for something. In a sense, every desire creates its own cycle of rebirth.

Ron:   Yet patterned conditioning is part of being human: food, air, sleep, sex, and self-worth are 
       things no healthy person can do without. And without patterned conditioning, many tasks would be impossible.

Linda: (nodding) I agree, and that's why moderation is important. Rather than trying to eliminate desire, 
       isn't healthier to accept it without undue clinging? A preference need not be an obsession.


=====================================================================================
from _Last Poems: Lost Poems_ by T Newfields
SUMMARY: Some thoughts about memory, identity, and desire.
KEYWORDS: human identity, changing memories, cyclic desires

Author: T Newfields [Nitta Hirou / Huáng Yuèwǔ] (b. 1955 - )
Begun:  2000 in Nagoya, Japan ✠ Finished: 2011 in Tokyo, Japan
Creative Commons License: Attribution. {{CC-BY-4.0}}

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TRANSLATIONS

ESPAÑOL:  https://www.tnewfields.info/es/fe-semi.htm
NIHONGO:  https://www.tnewfields.info/jp/shinkou.htm
ZHŌNGWÉN: https://www.tnewfields.info/zh/xinyang.htm