The Dawning of a New Mind

About the Book

When writing verse in my early twenties, the poems had a stream-of-consciousness quality to them. I struggled to direct this motivating drive into something coherent, but the ideas were partially obscured by a mind that did not have the necessary insight. Examples of these earlier efforts can be found in the section titled Pre-Dawning. In my early forties, life began to make more sense and the stream-of-consciousness structure began to feel more like a conscious effort, with a thoughtful reflection of themes that made greater sense. Examples of this later writing are in the section titled The Dawning. These works have a more coherent structure, and all reflect a growing effort to understand my relationship to life, to a spiritual dimension greater than myself, and to God. In the process of the new dawning, I comment on mundane real-life situations while becoming aware of the slow-developing truth of my being.

About the Author

J. Pineda uses poetry to describe what is complex, beautiful, indescribable, and sometimes ineffable. Writing poetry has taught him that truly seeing, hearing, feeling, and thinking leads to a quieting of the mind, from which a new mind can emerge. This new mind has an intrinsic joy in being; a deep and uncompromising dedication to what is true and real; exudes love and empathy towards plants, animals, humans, the planet; glimpses the unity of being; does no harm; desires to help others; feels noncompetitive; experiences joy in the good fortune of others; has an enhanced appreciation for pleasure, beauty, rest, life, this moment; shows unbounded gratitude; has no desire to stand out, to obtain things; no desire to do what is expected; shows no fear; has an approach as opposed to an avoidance impulse; shows an eagerness to experience the world and human psychological reactions. This is the poet’s mind.