Tejas

Tejas (TEH-jahs) The radiant principle; the glory of the ECK.

You can have the experience of God in many different ways. The people who have these experiences often try to put them into words. Many times the closest they can come is in the form of poetry.

An ECKist wrote these three good poems about his experiences. The first one is about the Tejas, the glory of the ECK. Even though the second and third are written as two separate poems, they actually are part of the first one.

This poem illustrates very well how we carry the Light of ECK into the world in ways that we often don't understand.

                    ==== Tejas ====
     Gazing out across the great expanse of mountains and trees,

     An inner hush calms the sounds of the wilderness.

     I stand here by the babbling stream, as its waves leap into space,

     And crash noisily to their destiny beneath the falls.

     The plight of many Souls, it seems.

     This is your place, O Lord,

     And my hear leaps to Thee in your presence.

     And with the reassuring onement,

     My yearning grows to return to Thee.

     For here is Thy breath of freedom, as seized in rapture of this moment.

     For to be of these heights and survey Thy lands is truly but a great blessing.

     And yet to know is greater still.

     Surrounded by many, yet here I stand alone,

     And silent is the contemplation that is drawn from Thy omnipresence.

     The driving winds rush upon the cliff face,

     Sweeping spray from the falls, upward to fleck upon my face,

     As refreshing now as the winds of heaven to Soul that sustained a special place.

               ==== All giving ====
     A quintessence; a placid moment of still time,

     Captured not here nor there, but everywhere.

     You share this moment, and in your giving I feel Love.

     But what is the fine thing I have done to deserve this great gift?

     The question rings, and Love is the only answer.

               ==== The Answer ====
     What creations unmanifest must I bring to life?

     What breath today must I put to bring forth the Light?

     The strangest thing then happened as someone passed my way;

     I smiled a smile of gladness and saw it carried on its way.