04

James Hillman said, "If I do what I really must, it will kill me, yet, if I don't, I will die." We get to choose the kind of death we will die. Our choice is "the secret cause" (James Joyce) of our dying. The life we live is the direct consequence of our death. We bring about our death by our choice of what constitutes our life. If we say, "Yes," it will kill us, if we say, "No," we will die. Which kind of death will we be most proud of? Most satisfied with? Whichever death it is, that will be the death that is "just like us." Will we live consciously, embracing ourselves and the life that will lead to the death that is "just like us"? Or, will we live unconsciously, refusing to make a choice, and saying, "No" by failing to say anything-- and living the life that will lead to the death that is "just like us"? Will we live as we must, or live as we also must because we cannot bear to live as we must? "The secret cause" of our death is our answer to these questions.
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03

We feel balance and harmony in our body. We know when we are in sync, in tune, in the flow, in the groove, and out of it. How do we get back where we belong? By sitting still, being quiet, and finding where we are kidding ourselves. We are naturally built for balance and harmony, for living at-one with ourselves. When that it is not the case, it is because we are seeking ends, or enlisting means, that are not legitimate ends, that are not authentic means. It is because we are trying to get what we have no business having. Living at-one with ourselves is the key to what we are seeking with money and power and the accoutrements of success: peace and well-being, contentment and satisfaction. These things are always "right there," for the low, low price of serving the right ends with the right means. Remaining alert to what our body knows is the way to remaining on the way, staying on the path, living on the beam, through all of the circumstances of our life.
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02

What do you take your time with? Look there for what is meaningful in your life. You may spend more time with something else, like your job, or mowing the grass, but what you take your time with tells the tale. We take our time with the things that matter to us, that are important to us, not only because we enjoy being with them, but also because we want to do right by them, to keep faith with them. These are the things where our spiritual side is fed. We may "go to church" and "talk about/to God," and "study the Bible," and call that being spiritual, but being spiritual is about keeping faith with the meaningful things in our life-- living in good faith with what we love. This is the sine qua non of spirituality. It isn't what we talk about. It is how we live our life. It is where we take our time.
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01

If your ideas, beliefs, opinions, and convictions about reality do not square up with, and flow from, your direct encounters with reality, you are in trouble, and the people around you are being harmed by your presence-- and it is best for all concerned that you go sit quietly and reflect long enough on the discrepancy between how you think things are, and how you wish they were, and how you need them to be, and how things actually are, to be overwhelmed and undone by the disparities laid bare before you, and begin making amends. How we believe things are is never precisely how they are, but it helps to be close. Scientists are closer than witch doctors are. We have to be close enough to do more good than harm with the things we say about reality, and do in response to reality. And we have to have a perspective regarding our perception of reality that takes our perspective into account. We have to see ourselves seeing, and know when we are relying on inferences and conjecture and wishful/magical thinking to orient ourselves in time and space in response to what is happening now. So much of what we tell ourselves about what is so is not so that we need to be cautious and conscious of everything we say about what is so, and take "What makes us think this is so?" and "Who says so?" And "Who says not-so?" into account. If somebody tells you the COVID-19 vaccines will make your children sterile, ask them where they got their information, and why they think it is so, when nobody has had time to test anybody's children's capacity to have children. We live in strange times. Examine carefully the validity of everything you hear and half of what you see. Hold it up to the light and shake it to see if it rattles. Conduct experiments. Make inquiries. Know when you are making assumptions, particularly unwarranted assumptions. And stop doing it!