The Word is Immanent

The word is immanent.

It comes from the inside.

It exists in it.

The universe creates itself.

The universe is creating itself.

New combinations of molecules are just now

coming together in new environments.

New trees are spreading roots,

new flowers are blooming just today.

There are stars now traveling through the edges of space.

The universe is creating itself.

It comes from the inside.

It exists in it.

The word is immanent.

The knowledge to be is inside.

The seed contains the knowledge it needs to grow.

It knows what it needs.

And it knows what to do.

Pushes a shoot down just when the

temperature and moisture are right –

Such intelligence!

I could never tell it how to do that.

What genius!

It exists in it.

It comes from the inside.

But! not quickly learned.

What would you say – millions of years?

Learned. Nevertheless.

Imagine the investment.

All this diversity of plant, animal, solid,

liquid, gaseous forms—

The creative intelligence in each.

Responding,

Adapting,

Adjusting,

Learning.

I might call that intelligence God,

or not.

But it exists in it.

It comes from it.

The word is immanent.

THE NEWS IS THAT THE

CREATIVE INTELLIGENCE THAT WAS

ONCE THOUGHT TO BE OUTSIDE THE

UNIVERSE HAS NOW BEEN DISCOVERED

TO BE DISTRIBUTED THROUGHOUT IT.

And, the absentee God,

who judged the quick and the dead,

who preferred one race and tribe over another,

who handed out diseases as punishment,

who ordained and approved that humankind should

dominate and subjugate the earth and all its creatures,

who rewarded hard work and good living with

success in business,

and who, given a quick prayer, would help the local

basketball team beat the opponent,

has been dismissed.

THE NEWS IS THAT THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING

IN THIS UNIVERSE THAT MUST BE PURGED EXCEPT FOR

THE PURGING ITSELF.

Therefore, the armies now standing for the purpose of

killing Jews, Arabs,

Christians, Muslims,

Catholics, Blacks, Gays, Leftists,

Rightists, Immigrants, Aliens,

the Homeless, the Poor,

the Rich, and all other perceived enemies,

may now go home to their families.

THE NEWS IS THAT AFTER LONG SEARCHING, WE

HAVE FOUND THAT IN FACT WE ARE ALREADY HOME.

We did not come into this world.

We came out of it.

Our mother’s mother’s mother’s mother’s

mother’s mother’s mother…

The Earth is our mother’s mother,

our home’s home.

We come from it.

We exist in it.

The word is immanent.

Where do you find the source of your being?

Look at trees; look at birds; look at flowers.

Look at streams, valleys, mountains.

Look at the earth.

We are in it.

We came from it.

In the beginning was the word.

And the word was immanent.

© Les Kleen

April 22, 1995