A method of self-enquiry
pioneered by Douglas Harding

Empty-Head

Where I'm told
I should have a head,
what I see here
is a void instead.

No mere void
here, now, am I,
but full of the life
of land, sea, and sky.

And in the mirror
down there at my feet,
is the head I trade
with the people I meet.

I have their heads,
they have mine,
in the Void at centre -
life's Source, Divine.

And in your Empty-Head
see if it's true -
When you look up at night
the stars are in you!

Robert Penny



Little Bird

Little bird perching on telegraph line
is your view out worldwide just like mine?
From nothingness does your world appear?
And tell me feathery friend, do birds have ears?

Robert Penny



The Spectre

Seduced by the spectre seen in the lake,
I joined with that other, and lost my true state.
Being just that person, with his head and face,
my thoughts and feelings did increasingly grate.

To be What I really am, in my true state,
I see off that spectre, back into the lake.
With my No-Head filled with the world I face,
my thoughts and feelings no longer grate!

Robert Penny

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