The following are raps people wrote about their “ways (not) to be”—the litanies of their shrunken selves. Part of spiritual practice is learning how we operate when we are not fully conscious; this process is detailed in two earlier blog posts titled “The Way Not To Be” and “Not the Way To Be.” These raps helped their authors gain clarity and nonattachment.
The Way (Not) To Be Rap 10…
I am a loser, and that’s a fact:
I will fail in every single act;
So spiritual practice is a device
To confirm how profoundly I am deprived.
Still you don’t fully understand?
Then let me take you by your hand.
Take sadness as “the way to be”
And twist the world accordingly;
And suddenly—within this scheme,
Cowardice is cautious, being a doormat is good,
Transparency it is! (formerly called ineptitude).
Anger is being alive, or not even recognized,
And even if it is it is immediately intellectualized.
True caring is indulgent and too much work,
And work is not fun, nor is the effort it worth;
Fun is to set your heart on its (selfish) desires,
Better to fully pursue what it really admires!
Did you recognize the not-so-subtle twist?
Honesty is now unfiltered filth!
Love got substituted for Yohei’s impulses;
The garbage got divinized and exalted.
All of this fosters the emergence of sadness,
A miserable wheel, forever spinning in drabness
And to never end the misery,
Just never forget “the way to be”;
And to perpetuate the misery,
Never depart from “the way to be”;
And to forever stay in the misery,
Always pursue “the way to be”;
We now understand it so easily
How sharing can be losing identity!
The Way (Not) To Be Rap 11…
I am miserable,
I cannot lie;
I act a slave (call it devoted)
And don’t know why.
They ask me to do stuff
And it’s a drag,
But I always do it
And it makes me mad.
Then I get so sick
And cannot go.
It’s my favorite,
I love it so.
The Way (Not) To Be Rap 12…
Rubber Ducky, you’re the one
That makes suffering so much fun.
Rubber Ducky, I’m awfully fond of you.
Rubber Ducky, pain of pain.
When I hold on to you again and again;
Rubber Ducky, when I think you’re my friend I’m screwed.
Every day, as I make my way through each hour.
I find that when I’m with you, each and every moment seems dour.
I love having no power.
Rubber Ducky, fear of fears.
With you I’ve wasted so many years.
Rubber Ducky, why do I still play with
Rubber Ducky, I need to get rid of
Rubber Ducky, you’re no friend of mine. It’s true.
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