Come into the light Here where Home is bright Let us exchange insight With the same intensity With which we sometimes fight Let Honesty be our Propensity At the very Height Of our Intimacy It will feel right, it will feel so right Without a shred of complacency. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Of Leadership
THE GOD OF THE WILLING
We cannot use God to hide away from the world. Rather we should use God to engage with, decipher and overcome the world. Above all, the world within us. God is not for cowards or weaklings. God is for the brave, the bold, the adventurous, the determined, the open, those who are ready to use the earthlife for that for which it was granted to them: to experience, and to grow through this experiencing.
The form or the content of the experiencing is different for each person. For some it is a quiet thing they need to experience, for others it is a loud thing; for some it is a popular thing they must dare, for others it is an unpopular or even a seemingly inconsequential thing; for some it is a controversial thing, for others it is a safe and boring and therefore annoying and unbearable thing; for some it is personal love, for others it is objective love.
Everybody has those things that will call their heart deeply – and running to God will still not free you from them. There is no escape because it is inside you. God is not there to hide you from yourself or from your challenges. God is there to help you to deal with them. That is why HE granted you this earth life, because HE knows you will need every second of whatever length of time you earned for yourself in this current incarnation.
So, get to work! Go for it. Set off with the business of living by experiencing. God will help you if you are brave and honest.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
JUST THE TWO OF US
If it’s just the two of us, let it be just the two of us. Don’t believe what anyone from outside tells you.
If I open myself to you then, believe me, nobody knows me better than you do.
Trust your heart and trust me. The exclusive magic at the core of our love will see us through.
But if you fail to bring up the courage to believe, or if you yield to outside influence, you damage our super glue.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
PARALLEL UNIVERSES
When a person just doesn’t know how to tell you the truth, they simply stick to the lie. From start to finish. Even if they want to tell you the truth, they don’t know how to, they don’t know where to start because the truth runs on a completely different storyline and separate lifestyle, opposite reality and parallel universe. It will hurt you deeply and completely overturn your view of life and of them. Or so the person thinks. But if only they would try you, to see a new person emerge and a new powerful authentic relationship form.
Starting with a lie is always a slippery slope, a rollercoaster ride. It is nervousness and heart palpitations from start to finish. It can be exciting and exhilarating, until it becomes human and personal. Then it becomes a chore, a nightmare, a heavy load, and a puzzling sphinx, a difficult riddle to solve. Tell the truth and shatter the other person’s reality? Or maintain the lie and allow it to eat you inside and gnaw at the other person’s gut instincts, and prevent both of you from ever forming a true bond? And yet, only the truth liberates.
There will be a humanity one day of honest human spirits who live, share and relate in the light of truth always and in all things. Deeply and simply. Inside and out. Individually and as a society. The most fundamental truth we owe ourselves as human beings is the truth of how we really are as a person. This is the basis of all relationships and of society and of a possibility to one day have a reflection of Paradise on Earth. A home away from Home.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
SHOW YOU
Show people who you are So that those who want to go will go And those who want to stay will stay And those who want to come will come And those who want to keep away will keep away. And when they show you who they are You will be hurt by some who go And be pleasantly surprised by some who stay, You will be amazed by some who come And you will not even notice those who keep away. Show people who you are And they will show you who they are. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
I WISH YOU WELL
Though you hurt me I wish you well I pray that true love Lift you where you fell I pray that God’s Light Illuminates your heart I pray that good things Line up your travel chart And may it be well with you In everything that you do. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
THE INNER STREET
The people on the street The street on the people Weighing them down… The people in the street The street in the people Lifting them up… What we push down Will one day rise back up. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
TRUTH IS THE REFEREE OF TRUST
Truth is the referee of trust. Truth and truthfulness, not perfection. Nobody is perfect and everybody does wrong sometimes or makes mistakes. Trust does not hinge on perfection and it cannot do so. Trust hinges on truth and truthfulness. You trust people, not because they are perfect, but because they are honest to you.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
RE-CODING MANHOOD
I never again want to be that man, the one that a woman is lying to another man in order to come and spend time with me. Because I will always think of that other man and know the excruciating pain he will feel if he ever suspects something he cannot prove. And if he doesn’t suspect anything and thinks he is with a loyal partner, then I will be the one to feel the excruciating pain on his behalf. I never want to be that man, the one that encourages or condones a woman lying to another man in order to come and spend time with me. For humanity to grow, the code of manhood has to change and become noble and knightly, boldly honest and full of dignity. I want to be the man who speaks the truth and to whom the truth is spoken. Any woman who deceives someone else in order to come and give herself to you, is not a good woman. She has given you a poisoned chalice. Be a man whose most intimate communication is truth, who speaks truth and to whom truth is spoken. Re-code the manhood within you, so we can lift up this world again.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
NICE PEOPLE LIE TOO
Nice people lie too And when they do They defend it with determination For fear of losing their reputation. Once you start with a lie You have no choice But to continue to deny Using your false voice And you become hard And you become cold And you put up your guard And you grow old It was worth it, I guess, To have wrongly said Yes - It would be sad to have killed your soul For nothing, and miss your true goal. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 