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Matter Doesn’t Matter

Matter seems to be here but
the first law of thermodynamics
is that something
cannot come from nothing,
so therefore matter
did not create itself.

What was before matter?
Ever-present Spirit was there,
which is completely unlike matter
and could not create anything
so antithetical to itself.

Matter, contrary to appearances,
is not solid at all
but a whirling buzz
of jumpy suggestions
like untouchable specks
playing musical chairs
without any seats.

Matter is unreal,
even as it is defined materially
to be made up of subatomic particles
which are surrounded by vacuums,
with another inside,
like layered Russian dolls,
nesting successively,
each one also couched
in an innocuous void,
while we search for substance,
they diminish on down the rabbit hole…
and we never get to anything real.

Matter defined spiritually is
limitation, impotence,
delusion, impossibility,
obduracy, or blockage.
We don’t want more of this.
We want less.
Thankfully, it is only
a pesky insinuation
to be surely overcome.

Matter is built on
the shaky foundation
of terminal concepts
like ignorance,
anger, doubt, envy,
which are uncomfortable,
and eventually unsustainable.
We require escape,
release, and rescue
from such restricting
mortal miasmas.

Matter is merely
a transitional symbol
a placeholder, a mirage,
a suppositional speculation,
thoughts made visible,
nothing seeming to be something,
at best, sacramental,
at worst, sacrilege.

Matter is like a cymbal,
sometimes festive,
as it crashes rhythmically
attempting to assert itself.
But for all its noisy,
brassy clamor, it is
ephemeral, temporal,
seeming to exist
only to be silenced.
It has to stop, and we are
gratefully relieved when it does.

Matter is not imperative.
Reject the belief
that we are bounded
and hedged in by it
or that our life is made up
of this erroneous projection
of confining, fleeting,
impermanent thoughts.

When consciousness replaces
a material sense of identity
with the full spectrum of
eternally good qualities,
regeneration is assured,
and we find freedom, peace,
joy, and increasing strength.

Essentially,
matter doesn’t matter.
However, exercising the
attributes of Spirit, does.
Aligning correctly with what
we and our world
are actually made up of
satisfies best,
quenching our thirst,
like fresh, cool water
on a hot, active day.

by Polly Castor
2/18/19

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