THERE ARE TRUTHS YOU CAN DISCOVER IN THE GUTTER - John Shane - written while traveling the world with Chogyal Namkhai Norbu & noting the pile of dirty shoes outside every meditation hall or temple
CLICK BELOW to watch & listen to a reading of the poem. You can also listen to three of versions of the traditional gospel song ‘ALL GOD’S CHILDREN GOT SHOES’.
Above is a screenshot from a video I shot of the late Dzogchen Master, CHOGYAL NAMKHAI NORBU, at a retreat in Hawaii, where - while we were traveling around the world on a teaching tour - he was presented with an inflatable globe in lighthearted recognition his commitment to working for the benefit of all who live on planet Earth.
When I travelled around the world the late Dzogchen Master, Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, often acting as his translator at public talks and retreats, we went to a lot of different types of venues, including meditation centers, churches, and temples of all kinds of religious and spiritual denomination. At every one the centers we visited there was a ‘no shoes inside’ rule, and, on those travels, thinking about the shoes outside the door and the teaching of ‘one taste’ or ‘same flavor’, I wrote this poem.
CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON ABOVE to watch and listen to John Shane read ‘There Are Truths You Can Discover In The Gutter’. You can read the text of the poem below.
CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON ABOVE at the right hand side of the page if you would prefer just to listen to the poem.
As we travelled around the world, went to so many types of temple and centre, and each of them was focused around, its own religious tradition, its own particular spiritual teaching, and its own particular teacher.
But, no matter what denomination the centre or temple belonged to, no matter how different they were, there were always shoes outside the door.
The people at the temples or centres might have different views about the nature of reality, about the sacred, or about many other issues, but the one constant was the pile of shoes outside the door.
That made me think about the old traditional gospel tune, ‘ALL GOD’S CHILDREN GOT SHOES’, and you can click to listen to it below, after the text of my poem.
THERE ARE TRUTHS
YOU CAN DISCOVER
IN THE GUTTER
John Shane
The wind blows
I hear the banging
of an upstairs window shutter
I go to the foot of the stair
and call out
‘Is there anybody there?’
Like a bird caught in a trap
in my breast, my heart
begins to flutter
If I were to die now
would anybody know or care?
‘When a tree falls in a forest
and there’s no one there
to hear it
…..does it make a sound?’
Nothing is ever lost
nothing needs to be found
and freedom itself
has never, ever, been bound
When you come to the holy of holies
and stand outside the innermost door
take a good look around you
and you'll see a pile of dirty shoes
left outside on the floor
Those who begin
to seek the truth within
always seem to think
that if they are to win
they must pretend
that they are somehow
free from sin
But sometimes it's through
what we think of
as our worst failures and
transgressions
that life teaches us
the most important lessons
- there's so much you can learn
from all the broken bridges
you have burned
You have to go
beyond your limits
- as every wise fool knows -
if you want to grow
There are truths
you can discover
in the gutter
as profound any that a saint
or holy man would ever utter
Say it loud and say it clear
say it again and again and again:
the essence of the sacred
is always present
in the midst of the profane
The dark and the light
arise together
like a child and its mother
like joy and sorrow
like pleasure and pain
If you seek the one
without the other
your search will
always be in vain
Say it loud and say it clear
say it again and again and again:
the essence of the sacred
is always present
in the midst of the profane
There are truths you can discover
in the gutter
as profound as any
that a saint of holy man
would ever utter
And if you look with pure perception
you will see through
all your false conceptions
and as you learn to let go more and more
- in the end of seeking -
you will find
in your own heart
and mind
what every seeker
who has gone before
has always
been looking for
When you come to the holy of holies
and stand outside the innermost door
take a good look around you
and you'll see a pile of dirty shoes
left outside on the floor
There are truths
you can discover
in the gutter
as profound as any that a saint
or holy man would ever utter
Say it loud and say it clear
say it again and again and again:
the essence of the sacred
is always present
in the midst of the profane
CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON ABOVE to listen to THE STAPLES SINGERS sing ‘I GOT SHOES’.
CLICK ON THE LINK ABOVE to watch and listen to ‘ALL GOD’S CHILDREN GOT SHOES’ from the album ‘Freedom is Coming: Songs of Freedom, Resistance & The Underground Railroad’, produced by the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park, in 2011.
‘All God’s Children Got Shoes’ is based on an African American spiritual of the same name, sometimes written as “All God’s Chillun Got Shoes” or simply “I Got Shoes.” The song can, in part, be read as a form of protest. The lyrics describe various things that the enslaved individuals may not have had, such as shoes, that they would get once they got to Heaven:
“I got shoes, you got shoes,
All God’s children got shoes.
When I get to Heav’n gonna put on my shoes
Gonna walk all over God’s Heav’n, Heav’n, Heav’n,
Everybody talkin’ ’bout Heav’n ain’t goin’ there,
Heav’n, Heav’n, Heav’n,
Gonna walk all over God’s Heav’n.”
CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON ABOVE to listen to ‘The Man In Black’, country music legend JOHNNY CASH - who always styled himself as an outlaw and someone who would stand up for the the ‘underdog’ (as in, for example, his song ‘Fulsom Prison Blues’) - sing ‘ALL GOD’S CHILDREN GOT SHOES’.
