“Infinite Instance” by: rob kistner © 1997
to lift then step beyond
to see that which
is not shown us here
on this side
of that gossamer veil
unable as we are
in this manifestation
to comprehend
the incomprehensible
the infinite secret
the truth that bursts to light
but when I push beyond
will I ride that light
in all ways through time
simultaneously at once
in that eternal instant
of forever’s open door
existance will be no more
will I be absolute
indivisible from time
absorbed by all of space
a joy so profound
as to be pure energy
…if so, I am ready
~ ~ ~
rob kistner © 2019
_____________________
Gina is hosting at dVerse today. She asked us to think of a background “hum”, currently present in our life, that may be informing our creative vision. This is what appeared for me. On April 13th of 2017, an event occurred in my life, that since has been ever presnt in my mind. It drifts back and forth between the back of my mind and the forefront. My heart stopped while in the hospital on that night, while I was recovering from a heart operation. It led to an urgent implantation of my current Pacemaker. The memory of that episode lingers. It has put me profoundly in touch with my mortality. It also has left me intensely curious about those moments when I was essentially dead, and of which I have no memory. Where was the light which is so often mentioned? I now frequently ponder what the “crossing over” might be like. This is an ecstatic imagining of that.
Beautiful.
Thank you S, I am glad you liked it.
i read with interest and also some tears, i want to know that my loved ones had a smooth and safe crossing over and look for answers, though my Christian faith says I must have confidence in the salvation at the end of times that does not stop me from pursuing answers now. your poem is so candid and gentle, a reverent appreciation of life that is so fleeting time can just snap it away. your last line about being pure energy spoke deeply to me, as a physicist I believe we never disappear just become a different form of energy, you said this profoundly, love your poem with all my heart, it comforts me this morning. be blessed Rob and take care of your heart.
Gina, I understand, or certainly appreciate your feelings, to the degree I am able. Certainly I don’t know what is beyond, but I can never abide that it is something dark or sinister, intended as punishment. I do not know the heart of another nor do I know what hell on earth may envelop the perpetrators of human cruelty – but I embrace the balance of karma. I am not a physicist, and my spiritual sense is more agnostic, given that I am not certain about the profound realities. But I have become increasingly aware that there is an essence, an energy, that exists seperate from, and is not dependent upon the material. That being true, it will not dissipate when the material falls away. This knowing has been present with me for a while now. Thank you for your gracious words Gina, I appreciate your enduring kindness.
I don’t think an experience like that could ever leave you.
The experience has deepened my appreciation of life Ken, and expanded my awareness of its precious fragility.
If so, I am ready too – love this.
I am pleased this resonates for you VJ… 🙂
It is good to always be ready.
And I believe, ready without fear Frank…
What an experience that is. I have only read about those near death experiences and can only imagine what happens when we cross over. I hope for that joy and happiness from pure love and energy.
We will all know the great mystery eventually Grace!
A great poem Rob. I love the idea of being pure energy free from all of the earthly restraints of time and being. A really great write. Love your picture as well … Beautiful!
Thank you Dwight! I am very pleased this touched you. Thank you also for your generous compliment regarding my art work. I have a series of 8 pieces, similar to this, that I call my infinte abstractions. They were a contemplative series created over a period of two years, following the death of my 18-year-old son Aaron. I began the work about 6 months after his passing.
Beautiful poem, Rob.
Thank you Jim! 🙂
Absolutely stunning write, my fellow traveler! So much we don’t know. I’m reminded of an aha moment in my life. My husband died in September. The following February, in the middle of the night on my birthday the smoke alarm he never got around to installing and was on his closet shelf suddenly began to emit its end of battery beeps. Perhaps that energy of which you speak or perhaps coincidence? …….I also liked the art a lot!
Thank you Bev! Yes, there is so much we can never be certain of until we step through that curtain. Many theories, but someday we will all know. Glad you enjoyed my art! 🙂
If that is what the end of this life is, a curtain to lift, ride the light and profound joy at being pure energy, there’s nothing to be scared of. I’ll keep that thought close to my heart, Rob.
I do not feel the crossing over is to be feared Kim. Onr reason is in those few moments of “death”, there was no fesr that I remembered. I conjecture that our life energy expands upon its release from our material framework, to a level of freedom at which we can only speculate. But that is only my opinion.
Great poem! There is such mystery in the hum that drives us and reigns us.
And one day we will “know” Astrid, and perhaps in an absolutely amazing way, incomprehensible to us in our temporal material form. Fascinating to speculate.
This is beautiful, Rob.
I DO believe our spirits live on and even our bodies will resurrect to glory (we can be certain if we know the Father and his Son)!
I Thank you Lynn. You certainly have the right to, in your chosen path of faith, to believe that scenario as your vision of what is beyond – given no one alive knows, and therefore cannot declare you to be wrong. The “knowing”, in whatever form that may take, will not happen until the moment of crossing over from the material realm. If there is an individusl body for us to remain contained in on the otherside, it will not be like this one. It would likely be a vessel of infinite energy, because these bodies are temporal, and decay to dust. I personally hope in the beyond, we will be liberated from individual vesels that keep us restrained and separated. I desire infinite freedom in an awareness that is elevated from this limited earthly one. Time will reveal. 🙂
I don’t know what to believe, but I want to do the best of my time while I’m here… really
I am agnostic Björn, so I don’t embrace any formal belief system. I have an inclination, and I entertain conjecture for the mental gymnastics of it, like this piece here – but nobody in this temporal realm has a clue what may or may not be beyond.
You have a good philosophy, Rob. To be ready for it, whatever ‘it’ is, is the only way to be. I’m not living my life with the expectation of something better. I’m living it now. If I am completely wrong and there is something more to come, it will be a bonus, a pleasant surprise 🙂
I don’t have personal xpctations beyond here Jane, but as Gina believes from her perspective as a physisist, energy does not disappear, it transforms. This life enegy will not disappear, but what it evolves to become is the great mystery.
beautiful poem, your words seem to be dancing and taking our imagination far away.
Thank you Elizabeth, I hope you enjoy the journey… 🙂
What a fantastic poem Rob. I too, think there must be more than we really know. I have experienced in my lifetime moments with those who have passed beyond the veil. I’ve had visits from their energy, a knowing if you will, that they were still close. These unexplainable events left me questioning.
First, thank you for your gracious compliment Linda, I appreciate your enthusiasm! There are so many mysteries that surround us daily, that challenge our understanding – not the least of which has to do with life energies, and ways in which we sometimes connect in a clear, though non-physical way. We may suddenly say something we are thinking out loud, and at the very same time someone we are near says the identical thing. Or the way people in a developed relationship, can finish each other’s sentences, or discover they are thinking the very same idea. Or what is Déjà vu? Is all this just coincidence? There are explanations offered by others, in attempts to explain these phenomena’s – but they are all conjecture, we don’t really know what kind of energy is at work there. And where does that energy come from, where does it go when the material body dies? Gina here with dVerse is a physisit, and as such, she has learned that energy does not disappear, but transforms to something else. In the case of our our life energy, what does our transformation look like? Many opinions, many belief systems built around this mystery, many with detailed stories, passed down in writing, developed over centuries, repeated over and over, explaining what they believe – all taken as faith, because no one in this temporal realm, truly “knows”. Oral or written repetition of a thing is not truth, it is just repetition. They “believe” without empirical evidence – and that is their right. Given no one actually knows, no one can claim, with proof, that they are wrong. I like to speculate as well. That is what this poem is. An ecstatic imagining of what might happen at the moment our life energy leaves our body, and “crosses over”… to what? Perhaps to what and how I conjecture herein. Who knows?
I especially love the last stanza. It is full of life, hope and infinity. I think no matter our religious or non religious views, most of us hope to continue in some form of energy. This life right here and now is a gift, I believe… and not to be wasted. Thanks for this thought-provoking piece, Rob!
Thank you Mish, and I am pleased this resonated for you! 🙂