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the exact course.

one day, you’ll look back to see the exact course you charted from exile to existence to essence to presence to impermanence. and guess what? you made it enviable.

that’s why no one turns to you; no one chooses you for the team. because we can’t admit that the only way to win the game is to leave. we play to the death. each day a fresh turn at extracting perfume from the wilting rose.

you’ll have friends for the task and it’s ok when they can’t stay. connection is not belonging; it’s merely a glimpse. friends become family but family is not home. your life is the house that becomes a home through daily devotion. you sweep the floors and wash the dishes and make the bed and tend to your meat suit. this is where the soul comes to live on planet earth. not among men, but in this body. and in this body, your body, is the entire universe experiencing itself and longing for more, for the other, for another.

exile is the illusion. existence is now. essence is how. presence is the breath beneath perception. and impermanence is everything running away from you; as soon as it arrives, it’s already gone. the only way to have is to become.