03
What does wanting know? Wanting is what got us here! Look around. Take it all in. This is what wanting can do. Think it will get better if we just keep on wanting more? Not! Wanting digs holes no one can live in. We want ourselves into places we can't get backed out of. If wanting is all the guide we have, we have no guide at all. Better we flip coin for a guide. We would have a better chance of living a life worth living. It's time we let wanting go, and took our direction from some other source. The only other reliable source is The Source. The one no one tells us about. Because they don't know about it. We were born into some kind of world. A world that doesn't know a thing about being here, now. Not the best start we could hope for. But here we are. Now what? Sit quietly. Look. Listen. Wait. No kidding. All we need is right there, waiting for us to give it a chance. The only thing we have to do is swear to it our liege loyalty and filial allegiance and devotion, and we are off on the Adventure of Being Alive! You don't have to believe any of this. It will verify its own validity if you give it a chance. You already know it is so-- just know what you know! You know when something is right for you and when it is wrong for you. You know when you are on track and when you are off. When you are in the flow and when you are out of it. You resonate with this, but not with that. Instinct, intuition, gut feelings, hunches, nudges, callings, inner knowing... It is all there and working beautifully. The attending, trusting, consulting, cooperating, collaborating, and aligning could be improved, but the fundamentals are in place, and we know it. So, what is the hold up? We have what we need to find what we need to do what needs us to do it. Once we put wanting in its place, not wanting to do it will no longer be the stop it currently is. How bad does it have to get before we draw a line, say, "Enough of this is enough!" and get with the program for which we were born?
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02
The Law of the Fishes was formulated in the time of the early Taoists in long ago BCE: "The big fish eat the little fish, and the little fish have to be smart." "Have to get out of the way." "Have to hide." Big fish would be Yang. And they "get along" by eating and being smart. They assume their roles, and play their part, and it works in a way that has kept the game going through all this time. It does not "work" by the big fish wining and the little fish losing. It works by balancing the needs of big fish and little fish within the environment (and food supply) available to both groups over time. If some one says, "Oh, you poor little fish! I'm going to take care of you and get rid of those nasty big fish! It would take about a generation for the little fish to consume all the food little fish eat, and they all would starve to death. The natural balance achieved by big fish eating and little fish being smart, creates a harmony of Yin/Yang that is the best that can be produced taking all things to be considered into account. One of the things we have to take into account is the good of the whole, the balance and harmony of the natural order, and how finely things are tuned in the service of the overall health of life on the planet. This is the one thing we ignore entirely in our zeal for wealth and power. Money and greed are the source of all of our problems today. And everyday. "Profit at any price," tilts all the scales, demolishes all the balances, brings discordance and loud shrieks into what was harmony and flow, and there goes the world. If you think the world isn't going, you haven't been paying attention. We get the wild gyrations of life between extremes back into harmonious rhythms by applying the Law of the Fishes to our relationship with money, which will transform our relationship with ourselves, and with our life, and with all of life the world over. Here is how it works: We have to re-think money, and understand it, not as an escape/denial/diversion/distraction from the weight of our life, but as the means of paying for the tools we need to live our life. Enter the real problem of existence: Who Are We And What Are We About? We have no idea, and we do not know how to develop an idea. We are lost and in the lurch amid the heaving waves of the wine-dark sea. And have to lose ourselves in escape/denial/diversion/distraction or take our own life, we see no other option. There is another option: Sit quietly and listen. Simple. As. That. Our life is seeking us! Our original nature/identity is seeking us! All we have to do is stop hiding, running, fleeing, escaping-- and listen/look, and there it is! Oh, but, there is one thing. Wanting stands in the way. We do not want what needs us to want it. This is Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Remember them? They are in Paradise and want more. Wanting more has us where we are today. Wanting this, wanting that, here's something else, there's something else, here it is, there it is, everywhere we look is something else to want, and we want it all. We are consumed by wanting. Wanting controls our every move. Wanting exercises total control over us. Something else to want is on al sides all of the time. What do we need, is the question. And that depends exclusively on who we are and what we are about. To know that, we have to sit still and be quiet. And look. And listen. This is a form of meditation/contemplation that goes with us through the day. We can sit still and be quiet, grocery shopping, working, doing chores and errands. We can be still and quiet anywhere, all the time. All the time listening/looking. Not for anything in particular, but at everything that flows through our mind. Pay attention. Notice what recurs, what returns, what stands out, what catches our eye. Just watch. Just wait. Just see. Just hear. Themes will develop. Patterns will form. Your thinking will revolve around particular scenes/ideas/situations. You are getting to know you here. Just pay attention. Reflection will lead to new realizations. Awareness will shape awareness. You will find yourself creating direction for your life just by observing your life. It is happening to you/through, but you aren't willing it into being, you are receiving a gift. Do. Not. Intrude. Thinking you know what you are doing got you here. Do not hijack the process and go off like someone who has just seen the light and must tell everyone and save the world. Just listen. Just watch. Just see. Just hear. Just wait. And allow your life to form around you. Permit changes in your thinking and living to happen organically, naturally, easily, fluidly, spontaneously, sincerely, automatically, from your heart, your center, your source. And show you who you are, what you are about. It will fit right in with who you have always been. Carl Jung said a couple of things pertinent here: "Within each of us there is another, whom we do not know." "We are who we always have been, and who we will be." And money is a means of buying the tools which enable us to be who we are and do what is ours to do. And that will change everything. For the better. And for the worse. Welcome to the world of Yin/Yang, balance and harmony, day-by-day! For the rest of your life!
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01
Our situation remains the same, regardless of the circumstances we are in. We always have to choose wisely from among what is being asked of us and offered to us. Get that down, and you have it made. Doing it is a matter of balance and harmony, spirit, virtue (character), and vitality, sincerity and spontaneity, and right relationship with Yin/Yang. Let's start with this: How are things working in your life? Do you spend more of your time in accord with the Tao, with the flow of life and being, in tune with the Mystery of Life and Being-- or in the wasteland, out of sync, with nothing in the way of rhythm and meaning to hold things together? If you are dwelling in the wasteland of discontent, you have to take up the practice of transforming your relationship with yourself and with your life. You have to take up the search for yourself and for the life that is yours to live. This is called The Hero's Journey, The Spiritual Quest, and Growing Up. It's the same experience, no matter what it is called. The good news is that you don't have to go anywhere or buy anything to do it. All you have to do is sit quietly and listen. How long can you be quiet? How often are you quiet? What happens when you are quiet? Is the Silence a friend or an enemy? If you see it as an enemy to flee and fear, you are going to have to transform your relationship with the Silence, along with everything else. Here are a couple of strategies for you: Water doesn't force its way, water finds it way. When the water rises, seek high ground. (This can also be stated: When you meet an elephant coming toward you on the path-- get off the path!!!) At stake in all of these is the relationship between volition and wisdom. Most, if not all, of our troubles with life stem from our willing what cannot be willed. From not knowing when to quit, or where to draw the line. Wanting with us is having to have. Wanting is the Master and we are the mastered. What does wanting know? Where does wanting get its power? What guides our boat on its path through the sea? Sit with all of this and get to the bottom of what's what with you and your life. What is the source of you and your life? What is central to you and your life? Who are you and what are you about? Examine the adversarial nature of your relationship with every single thing. It is all win or lose with you. You are playing a zero-sum game. Stop it. Watch all of the Jon Kabat-Zinn YouTube Videos (the shortest ones first), and put his practice into practice. It all begins with seeing what you look at, and knowing what you know. The Adventure, I'm talking about. Of The Rest of Your Life.
