Intentionally approaching child-like simplicity, this poem reflects the essence of the book which is considerably deeper than it appears at first reading. It is intended to be playful.
Yet, it has its serious moments and themes, as In Mango Honey also tells a story ... of how my son Mathew came to be a part of this world.
Sweet and Sour
Mango honey mind is a state
but it is not a place.
It is like a place in that you can go there
and be in the state of mango honey mind.
I enjoy my visits to this non-place known
as mango honey mind.
The world is a big place, yet the whole world
fits into the state of mango honey mind.
That is, you can see the whole world from the state of mango honey mind:
Very large things in the world seem small in perspective.
Problems, for example:
What people perceive as big problems are actually quite small
when you visit mango honey mind.
Many problems, as we know them, disappear altogether!
Already mentioned:
The differences between people disappear quickly in mango honey mind.
But this is not to say one can’t tell an apple from a lime.
You know, rather, they are both fruit.
So it is with people:
You see people as people yet not as tastier people, or sweet or sour people.
Which is not to say that people won’t be sweet and sour.
They are.
But like fruits people can be sour before they become sweet.
This is the way it is and you know this within the state of mango honey mind.
Knowing this, you can bide your time with people:
The longer you observe them the more certain you are
to catch them at the moment they are their sweetest.
Then they are ripe fruit and they are likely to taste good.
This is not to say we should eat people
when they are sweet, or ripe.
It is to say, you can absorb people when they are ripe, or sweet.
You take them in while they are still themselves, and even though
they become a part of who you are once you’ve ingested their sweetness
they are forever who they are as well.
This is not to say that people are forever who they are.
Sadly, some people try to become someone else,
someone whom they are not.
But these people won’t be sweet to ingest because
we all must be ourselves in order to become ripe.
We cannot become sweet otherwise.
We must be our selves in order to ripen.
When in the state of mango honey mind we have a knack for
detecting those fruit which are bitter and those that are sweet.
After all, mango honey is sweet and sweetness flows like honey
and sticks to things, like mangos and people.
Think about this now:
Mango honey flows and it is not a solid that looks like a hammer.
It is a form of sweetness that is fluid and spreads around. It moves.
This means that you can float on a sea of mango honey
when you find one.
In this way you can spread sweetness
like the fluid sweetness it is wherever you go.
You can travel on a sea of mango honey.
If you do this chances are very great you will arrive at the state of mango honey mind.
It is a fluid state of mind.
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