02
It is possible to live from the center of knowing what to do in response to the situation as it arises, just as tennis players (etc.) respond spontaneously to situations as they develop on the court, knowing what to do, without knowing how they know. It is possible to live like we are playing tennis (etc.). But. There is a catch. We have to quit living in the service of contrivance and insincerity. Living from the Center means giving up our attachment to the outcome, and serving an outcome that is good for the situation as a whole-- and that is an expression of the integrity of us as a whole. We live as an integrated whole ourselves, individually, in relationship with other selves living with us as integrated wholes themselves, individually. This is possible when everyone within the community (The Community of Innocence in which everyone is seeking the best for all concerned, with no agenda or plans for themselves alone-- or for anyone else in the community) is living "transparent to transcendence" (Joseph Campbell), so that everyone is reflecting/exhibiting/incarnating the ineffable wonder at the heart of our life together. This is the experience of That Which Has Always Been Called God and is present whenever two or three, or more, people live truthfully together from the heart. Living truthfully together from the heart is a lost art that can be revived simply by living from our center in relationship with others living from their center. Doing that is merely a matter of being still and quiet and waiting in the silence for all the bluster to fall away, and getting to know what remains. Then stepping back into our life with the truth of who we are now as a very present companion, enjoying our company and glad to be with us knowingly at last.
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01
Our circumstances evoke our character when we rise to meet them on their terms, understanding them to be exactly what we need at this point in our life to come forth and be born again. Death and resurrection, Kid. Death and resurrection. Trials and revelations, Kid. Trials and revelations. Ordeals and realizations, Kid. Ordeals and realizations. Consciousness is transformed-- we change our minds-- only through the death experience of our trials and ordeals. Getting up and doing the thing that most needs to be done, the way it needs to be done- anyway, nevertheless, even so, in each situation as it arises can be like dying. And it can be the doorway, the threshold, to a new way of seeing, a new way of being a new way of life. How we meet our circumstances is the crucial element in influencing our circumstances toward life, away from death, or toward death, away from life. "The bird is in our hands." We grow through the very things that appear to be the absolute end of all things good-- if we meet them in a way that takes what is given and looks for the hidden passage to what also is there. Joseph Campbell said, "Where we stumble and fall, there lies the treasure." And the old Taoist tale "The Lost Horse Returns" (Googleit) reminds us that things have a way of turning over time if we give them time to show us what else may be coming-- to see what other doors may be opening-- for those who wait, watching. The stone the builders reject becomes the chief cornerstone. The junk jewelry conceals the priceless gem. And these circumstances are the very thing we need to take the next step toward whom we are yet to be. It only takes believing it is so for it to be so.
