Crossing the Rubicon

I learned that the phrase “Crossing the Rubicon” originates from Julius Caesar’s decisive act of crossing the Rubicon River in 49 B.C., an action that marked the “point of no return” and led to the Roman Civil War. In this poem, the Rubicon is a metaphor for the irreversible journey toward self-realization in nonduality. To cross this river is to relinquish the illusion of the individual self, leaving behind the false sense of identity that binds one to doubt and fear. The journey requires a complete surrender of the familiar, but in this surrender, one finds a profound and liberating truth. Enjoy!

Click the play button to hear Walter read 'Crossing the Rubicon'

If the Rubicon is to be crossed,
one must become utterly lost,
for the point of no return
cannot be discerned
by a person with a name.

Do you wish to ford this river wide
and journey to the other side?
I must forewarn you, of all who’ve tried,
most turn back; the others died.
And yet, in death, they found new breath.

To die in this sense is to clearly see
the false golem of identity.
This entity that one calls ‘me’
sinks below and disappears,
and with it go all doubts and fears.

One who surrenders their name
will not return from whence they came,
their identity now revealed as unreal,
and the river wide shown to be
another mind-made fantasy.