Image sketched by Vanessa Mitchell after a dream

Being and Becoming

For as long as I can remember
I have wondered
about the meaning behind
‘the meek shall inherit the earth’

On the face of it 
this statement appears counterintuitive
because, after all 
is it not the strong who thrive;
survival of the fittest 
and all that?

Yet there is another story
In the process of
the never-ending interaction between
organisms and the environment 
with each changing the other;
sometimes quickly
sometimes imperceptibly,
but always changing.

And it is I believe,
in the acceptance,
some might say, 
the willing embrace of 
this continuous process
Of change
That the meek inherit
All that the Earth 
And this life
Has to give.

On reflection
I have heard this acceptance
variously described as
‘Letting Go, Letting God’, or
‘giving it up to God’, or
‘Living in the moment’, or
‘Nonattachment’.

All so easy to say, but 
seemingly so hard to do; and yet
if I can surrender 
with unconditionality, to 
this never ending,
being and becoming,
then truly I will inherit 
All that the Earth 
And this life
Has to give.

Roy writes: I wrote the attached poem some years ago now, prompted by an increasing feeling that trying to attain or keep control over all the parameters and circumstances of my life and being, was an act of foolishness; like tilting at windmills.  I feel that ‘meekness’ asks for  a different kind of strength – a belief in and trust and faith that the vessel that is me (or the collective us) will  in time come to know how, or be shown how, to stay afloat and survive bouts of stormy weather and eventually be brought safely to a harbour we perhaps can’t yet envisage.

I  hope the poem conveys some of this and perhaps provide a different kind of hope in our current stormy times.