04
We are not free to want just anything. We are bound to want what we want whether we want to or not. We live in bondage to our wants as slaves to their master. Freedom is found in freely doing what is called for whether we want to or not. Since we are already wanting what we want, whether we want to or not, doing what is called for whether we want to or not, is a simple matter of shifting loyalties. Wanting to has nothing to do with anything. If the baby's diaper needs to be changed, we change the diaper. If the dog needs to go out for walk, we take the dog for a walk. If it is raining, we walk in the rain. What does the situation require? That is what we do. In the right way. At the right time. Exactly as it ought to be done. Forget what you want. Begin looking for what needs you to do it. Want that, whether you want it or not. Do that. And all that comes after that. This is a shift that will transform your life, and change the world.
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03
It comes down to meeting the moment the way the moment needs to be met-- the way the moment needs us to meet it-- moment-by-moment in each situation as it arises all our life long. We live to do right by the moment we are living in every moment. Baseball teams that do that more often than other baseball teams tend to win the World Series. The number of baseball teams that don't do that are a testimony to how difficult it is to do. But, who needs a testimony? We know how difficult it is to do! How many moments are in a day? How many of those do we do right by, day after day? What happens to keep that from happening in every moment? What interferes with our ability to do right by the moment, every moment? Pay attention to your moments. See what is stopping you from doing right by those you fail to do right by.
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02
We live in each moment to redeem and atone for the ways we have lived in all previous moments. And, if that is a bit of an overstatement, it isn't too much of one. Another way of stating the same thing is to say, "We live to get better-- to do better- to improve. To become more like we need to be than we are. To be more of what the situation needs us to be than we have been thus far." Any way we say it, it comes down to redemption and atonement. Living redemptively is living consciously-- living mindfully, compassionately, aware of what is called for here and now, and how best to respond to what is needed, moment-by-moment. The redemptive, atoning, act is spontaneous sincerity, at one with the music of the moment. We dance with each situation as it arises. How well we do that tells the tale-- to that point-- and provides us with what we need to do it better in the next situation as it arises, day by day, throughout our life.
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01
Being right about what is called for and doing it in each situation as it arises is all that it takes. All it takes to do what it takes is to enter each situation as it arises without will, desire, preference, or opinion beyond seeing and doing what is called for, regardless of the implications for us personally. The only thing standing between us and being right about what is called for and doing it in each situation as it arises is us. What are we going to do about that?
