Encounters with God

Hypertext publishes “God” Poems

The HyperTexts

Cosmos 2020 April Poetry Part TwoCosmos 2020 April Poetry Part Two
Cosmic Dreams and NightmaresCosmic Dreams and NightmaresDog’s Life poems about dogsDog’s Life poems about dogs

Note:  I am not particularly that religious a person but I have had several encounters with God,  spiritual encounters with a divine spirit, what I consider to be ‘God” but not in the Christian sense of ” God”.   I used to be a an atheist but after these encounters I realized that there is something out there besides humanity.  Perhaps the whole universe is alive somehow? Who knows? I certainly do not.  Here then are several of my encounters with God.  I’ve had a few others which I will write some day.

these have been published in Scarlet Leaf Review and other journals as well as Hypertext which just published them.

enjoy and drop me a line if you wish.

Meeting God in a Lake

 

 

 

In my 64 years around the sun
I encountered God four times
At least I thought it was God
But could never be sure

The first time I met God
I had taken magic mushrooms
And had gone to a lake

And soon was tripping inside my head
Lost in inner space

Zoning out tuning in
Dropping down the proverbial rabbit hole

And then in the middle of my madness
I felt oneness with the universe
My body melted away

And I joined the universe
All boundaries dropped away

And I knew that the universe was alive
and I was part of the Cosmos
And the Cosmos was part of me

And I wondered at that moment
If I was face to face with God

I asked God to reveal himself to me
And nothing happened

Just laughter as the whole universe
Burst into laughter

And the madness began to fade
And I slowly came down from the high

And became aware of myself
And I was no longer one
With the universe

I felt profoundly moved by the experience
Felt that I had achieved perhaps nirvana
Or felt the presence of God

The feeling faded over time
And my quest to find God resumed

But I knew that I would never again
Come so close to the divine essence
Of the very Universe

The Cosmic Cat from Berkeley

I next encountered the divine
Many years later in Berkeley, California
I had gone home to be with my Mother

While taking leave from my job
in the Foreign Service

I had two weeks there by myself
My wife came later
near the end of the trip

every morning I woke up
had coffee
Did yoga

Spoke to my mother
Who was sliding into dementia
Day by day losing her reason

Then I would go out
And explore the city
Go to a museum
Go to one neighborhood
And just be there

Rediscovering the Bay area
After years of being away

Having dinner with old friends
Seeing movies etc

Every morning a black cat came to visit
The cat was friendly and waited for me
And then would join me in my morning rambles
Following me to the bus stop

I started talking to the black cat
He looked at me with the spark of divinity

In his dark eyes
I called him the cosmic cat

He seemed to like that
He would look at me
And I opened up to me
Told the cat all my dark secrets

As I walked the streets
Of the old neighborhood

Every morning and every evening the cat
Would be there to greet me
And to carry on our endless conversations

Then I had to leave
And in our final conversation
I asked the cosmic cat

Say, Cat are you just a cat
Or are you a demonic cat
Are you possessed by God
Or by Satan

The cat looked at me
And I realized that God
Was indeed residing in the cat

But that god was residing everywhere
All I had to do was open my mind
And the rest would follow

So I said Goodbye to the cosmic cat
And he purred and came up to me
And I felt the comforting presence of the Divine

As I said goodbye to the cosmic cat
And said goodbye to my mother
As this was the last time
That we would be able to really talk

I told my mother about the cosmic cat
She smiled and said that the cat
was there for me and her

to comfort us both in our hour of need
and that the cat
was indeed a cosmic cat

Talking with God in Bombay

Five years later
After I had last talked to God
In the form of the cosmic cat

Who I hung out with in Berkeley
I found myself in Bombay, India

Where I was involved with another women
And contemplating whether to leave my wife
For the promised excitement of the other women

I did not know what to do
So I went to Church
And on the way home

I stopped on the side of the road
And prayed to God
to provide me a sign

What should I do
I asked God
And then I felt it again

God seemed to be everywhere
And nowhere
And I found myself down
the rabbit hole again

I had a vision of an old man
Sitting by the side of a bed
Looking at an old women

And realized that
I was seeing the future
And the women
in my vision was my wife

And then I knew the answer
that God was giving me

I had to find my way
Back to my wife
And rekindle the love
that we shared

I looked up
and saw my wife’s face
In the sky

I went home and wrote
A long poem for my wife

She was in the military
And in Korea
And I was with the State Department
Stationed in Mumbai, India

And I called her up
And began talking to her
For the first time
In a long time

And I told her what was on my mind
And told her that we had to decide
Would we continue as a couple
Or would we continue to drift apart

Somehow I finished the conversation
And fell asleep with the peace and contentment
Of God’s presence filling my heart and soul

The feeling of being connected with God
Faded over the time
But the conviction that God had spoken to me
Never really left me

I asked God
whether God was the God of Jesus
Or Allah or Brahmin
And I realized
that God is God

And the universe is God and I am God
And that was the end of the story
And my last time I prayed to God

The Cosmic Dog from Goa

My final time with God
Happened a year later
I was staying down in Goa
With my wife

Enjoying being with her
After our reconciliation
We stayed at the Taj Mahal Goa
Living like a King and Queen

Just for a few days
High up on a hill
Overlooking the beach

Every morning I went
down to the beach
And did yoga by the water
While contemplating life

And every morning
I saw the same Dog
Not just a Dog
But a cosmic Dog
Filled with the divine spark of God

And the Dog recognized me
And spoke to me and I knew
That God was present once more
In the face of that cosmic dog

Kindred spirit
perhaps to the cosmic cat
that had saved my soul
in Berkeley so long ago

I told the dog everything
And he just looked at me
With those soulful eyes of his
And I knew he knew that I knew
That he was possessed by God

God had sent him to me
To make sure
that I was on the right path

That the reconciliation that God had promoted
Was on track that I was back with my wife
And that everything was the way it should be

Again I asked God
whether he was Jesus or Allah
Or Brahmin or Ganesh or Buddha

God the cosmic dog
just stared at me
I finally asked him directly
Say if you are God the God of Jesus
Bark once

The Dog looked at me and barked
I said well if you are
Allah bark twice
The dog barked twice

Well are you Buddha
then bark three times if yes
The God Dog barked three times

Hmm well are you Satan
The dog growled at me
And I knew I had gone too far

Finally, I was at peace
And for the next three days

The God Dog
was my constant companion
And I knew God for the final time
In my life

Buddha Cat of Edsall Road

 

 

 

I had another encounter
With the divine recently
Another Cosmic cat perhaps

Perhaps not
who knows what cats are

are they aliens
from another dimension
or was he channeling God ?

I called him the Buddha cat
For the cat loved
Sitting in a meditative pose

Not moving
Just starting at me
With his soulful deep eyes
Boring into my soul
exploring all my secret thoughts

the Buddha cat does not move
does not react, as he is so deep
into his interior mediation
truly in tune with the cat universe
and the cosmos as well

the Buddha cat
seems to be one with God
one with Buddha, Allah, Ganesh
and the billion names of God
Known and unknown

The Buddha cat can teach us all
About the art of meditation

As he zones inward
And loses his soul
Joining the cosmos
And becoming the Buddha cat

The Buddha cat
Lives in a modest Town house
In a modest suburb

The Buddha cat reminds us all
To look for God in the everyday
All around us
If we but have eyes
To see God everywhere

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