03
Starkville, Mississippi
The Dalai Lama, speaking about the Chinese occupation of Tibet, said: “If, in any situation, there is no solution, there is no point in being anxious. If the forces at work have their own momentum, and what’s going on now is the product of what went before, and if this generation is not in control of all those forces, then this process will continue.” Some things have to play themselves out. A lynch mob, for instance, is not going to be talked out of doing what it came to do. Force is the only valid form of persuasion in situations like that. And "if this generation" lacks the wherewithal to force compliance with the rules of decency and order, "this process will continue." And China remains, after all these years, in control of Tibet. We can wring our hands and wail, "Why doesn't anyone DO SOMETHING?" but the "process will continue" until it plays itself out, or something shifts in the situation. The Republicans in Congress are the force that would put the country back on track. But, they demur. Look away. Feign shock and consternation. They disappear. And become Trump's invisible means of support in the attack on democracy and the foundations of government. Without the force to compel compliance with customary norms and standards of behavior, the country is swept by the current of the times into the clashing rocks and heaving waves of the wine-dark sea. And as it is with Tibet, so it will be with the USA, without a miraculous intervention to disrupt "the process."
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02
This tree is doing all it can-- doing its best-- doing all it knows to do-- with the resources at its disposal and the gifts that came with it from the acorn all those years ago, without wondering what's in it for it, or thinking it isn't good enough, or that it is something really special, or wishing it were a school bus, or a diesel locomotive, or... This tree is, as all trees are, just what it is: A tree thus come. Where it is, when it is, how it is, for as long as it is, as a blessing and a grace upon all who come its way, without striving to be more than it is, or something it is not. Trees know where to draw the line. They know the difference between trusting their luck, and pushing there luck, and live to see what they can do with what they have to work with in the time and place of their living. And they exhibit their original nature in everything they do. And are content to sincerely be who they are, with balance and harmony, through all the days of their life.
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01
Each one of us is an embodiment of The Mystery at the heart of life and being. And it is our place-- our role, our duty and responsibility-- to consciously, mindfully, intentionally and willfully, incarnate The Mystery that is who we are. When Jesus said "The Father and I are one," and when he prayed, "And may they all be one, even as we are one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us," he is talking to The Mystery, calling it "Father," as it is, indeed, the Source of life and being throughout the cosmos. We all carry within us The Mystery, the Father, and are called to exemplify the truth at the heart of who we are in everything we say and do. Jesus and the Buddha did that very well. So did Eleanor Roosevelt and Helen Keller. As are Dolly Parton and Taylor Swift. Beautiful works of art, every one! And it is our place to join them as vehicles of, for and to The Mystery in the time left for living. How well we do that determines the extent to which we transform the world by living in each moment as conscious, mindful, intentional, willful extensions of The Mystery in the times and places of our living, moment-by-moment, situation-by-situation, by seeing what is called for and responding in ways fitting to the occasion with the gifts that are ours to share, sincerely and without contrivance, and nothing at stake in the outcome, all our life long.
