The Trackless Path

It occurs to me that perhaps I will do more by praise Than ever I could By precept.

In my life, currently, it appears that The work that will yield immediate reward  Is more difficult and pays less, Whereas the projects that promise long-term  And more substantial gains Require less of my already limited physical strength And more mental stamina, more patience, more persistence, But with a larger payoff if I can forestall immediate gratification. So it seems that the task in fron...

When a problem perplexes you, Clear your mind of it and relax completely. To do this, you may need to lie down. Take some time. Make sure to let everything go, Including the problem itself, especially the problem itself. I say let go, but of course, it’s there in the background,  As if your subconscious holds it by a flaxen thread. Then listen for anything that seems obvious. Often we are not look...

I do not have as much drive as I once did. A little work is enough for me. After that, Something begins to shut down Because the soul has asserted itself, And it claims more  Of the bits and pieces of my time  That I once paid for a seat On the Rocket Ship of Life. In short, my one-way ticket to the stars Has been exchanged for a seat  In the slow boat that drifts  Down the lazy lagoon, Because th...

I am surprised at how deep it goes. Just when I think that I can’t leave the tension, I find it in that state that comes just before sleep When I am still awake, but my mind has already begun To dip into the place of dreams. Things get clear there, And my soul finds peace and promise.

I am amazed at the change I feel When I quiet down enough to hear.  I have begun to make it a practice To stop and take a quarter-hour or more  In complete silence and relaxation Before I begin an endeavor or make a decision. And I am amazed at the clarity that comes And the peace and encouragement I feel. It makes me want to find that frame of mind more often.

I went off the road today And dipped into the state trust lands For a place to camp just outside of Tombstone, Town of infamous report turned tourist trap. But I like it - the little shops selling this and that, The dusty street where they tore up the asphalt  To make it seem more real - and it worked. I can’t afford their trappings  Nor their fare or lodgings. But I don’t care. I sit in my box tr...

Step by step it unfurls, The simplicity of a new economy, More slow, more simple, more abundant, Allowing us to relax into the more important things of life. And it begins by looking close, not far away. It is nurtured in the fertile soil  Of gratitude and faith, And best of all, It rounces  The trappings of debt. I see, a few generations off, A generation of simple people Around whom springs ever...

Nearly two miles high it rises  Into the sky above the desert valley. And by night, it blew a hurricane, a monsoon, A late winter rain mingled with snow, So strange.  And I crouched low within my sleeping bag And plugged my ears from the thunder As Joey ducked for cover. A late winter rain mingled with snow, And the mountain shakes its shoulders  In the white draped frock it dons, Showing what it...

An abandoned theatre, One, Two, Three Cinemas, But not enough for the buzzing crowds. They have moved on to busier venues. And as they move out, I move in, Into the parking lot at least. And we sell our wares. We wash the windows left behind For the poor folk that rent in the dilapidated part of town. How I love abandoned, broken, things. How I love the fertile soil From which springs Abundance, A...

Is there ever enough love to make up for all we’ve lost? Yes. But until we die or He appears, we must imagine.

The home that I offer is in my heart, For I myself live in a tent, a car,  The back of a moving van, And I like it that way. But the world would have me put them up in a hotel, To take out a mortgage, to put myself in bondage, So that they can go on living like the world. And I wonder if that was what Christ was trying to say When he said that the foxes have holes And the birds have nests, But the...

Poem 3 And when it sets it shrouds my little camp With velvet black and starry glow. And I, between two cedars, Drift off to sleep In the silence Of a world apart.

Poem 2 - The Sun O’erhead And the sun rises over the open valley down below. It crosses the sky and paints the clouds In white.

Three poems, three days, one picture… Poem 1 - Between Two Cedars My tent is strung between two cedars, Old and wide. And I, alive to the gift, Give thanks.

Unless you go back to the source for an interpretation, And when unseen, seek light through revelation, You will interpret the text, the person, The past the present and even The very thing you worship Through the lens of your ideology  And your particular predisposition. But if you seek the living Truth It will reveal itself to you, And when it does,  You will be shocked to realize That it is not...

Feeling like you have enough Allows you to act today In such a way That provides for unseen tomorrows. The opposite is also true. Feeling like there's not enough Will rob tomorrow  To pay for that  Which you believe you lack today.

This is a recording of The Rise of Silence, A Book of Poems and True Stories read by the author, J.A. McCormick. To get a digital copy of the book or to view more books by J.A. McCormick, go to https://www.thetracklesspath.com/books.html.

Dear Friends, Here it is - my latest book: The Rise of Silence - A collection of Poems and True stories.  Just click the link to access the Digital Version , the Audiobook , and the Easy Print Version . Softbound copies: Amazon and I are parting ways, but I printed 5 copies of the Easy Print (8.5x11) Versions and have 2 left. If you want one, just respond to this email to let me know and we'll...

When you know that a course of action is right, When it meets with the approval  Of your best inner conscience, Don’t complain. Don’t explain. Just act.

Don’t speak everything that comes into your mind. Keep your silence. Let it work its mystery. Act and let your action speak for itself. If you do, you’ll be a mystery And do far less harm If the secret that you keep Is in keeping with the will of the Great Unseen.

Turning the other cheek, Or in other words, Letting the enemy win the war, Take the spoil, And leave you poor,  Puts you in the proper place To receive the spirit of humility. Whereas winning the war breeds pride,  And those puffed up with pride grow fat and weak, And sooner or later they start losing, Not just with outward ememies, But with the inward battle  For unseen things. But not so with th...

In the absence of the ones you love, Imagine that the strangers you meet are them. Love deep into the foreign one And it will seep into the very ones You miss and cannot see.

Corporations and kingdoms, Democracies and fascist regimes, For all their pomp and pretension, In the end, are temporary. They have a beginning, And they have an end. But family is eternal. It is the bedrock of existence. And the family of God is the only order Without beginning and without end. Just think about it,  What are you  When all else is stripped away, But a child of God, So that your de...

I am surprised that the Spirit of Christ Is not a part of any cause that I can find Except the family. It doesn’t seem To take part in debates Of doctrine. It doesn’t argue. It doesn’t try to prove itself at all. In fact, it is most often found  In the unsolicited praise Of those that it inhabits. And when those who have it Try to describe relationships in its context, They inevitably are cast bac...