The Banish Trilogy

Apr 21, 2023

Banish Preference

What breeds violence is distinction, the perception of differences.

The sages and mystics say "banish preference."

Like and dislike are diseases of the mind and result in expulsion from the garden.

But even the most austere ascetic knows frostbite from sunburn.

And even if he should become, in all ways, pure vessel, with no reminder of his clay, and no remainder of his pigment,

The world itself will set him apart.

His action-of-n0-action will make him the most distinguished.

And, endlessly in check, but never mated, he must resign.

Unless departed, this world will always win.

Banish Hope

When I hope not to hope

Then I hang from a rope

Which is burning above me

I don’t know whats below me.

Maybe a moat and maybe a boat

But if so, would it catch me (and if so, who would fetch me)?

Or maybe I’ll float as the wind fills my coat

Which would certainly lift me and send me adrift

See,

So long as I hope not to hope I can’t cope

So the answer I see is to set my hope free

Banish Love

Patiently cultivate hate.

Banish words and act with scarring justice.

Condemn acts of tenderness.

Hurl curses at the angels.

Indulge black sensuality.

In the misleading brightness of affection,

The edges of all things appear to be clear and knowable.

Truth is most hidden then.

To know love is to destroy it.

Drawings by author