03
Treat wherever you are as though it is exactly where you want to be, and do everything that is called for there precisely as it needs to be done for as long as you are there. This is one way of "turning the light around." Turning the light around means finding on the inside what we look for on the outside, and offering from the inside what we expect to come to us from the outside. Turning the light around is turning the tables on our wishes, desires and expectations. Giving instead of receiving. Being rather than wanting/desiring. It is creating a ministry of compassion and service to every moment in each situation as it arises all our life long. Wouldn't that change our life, though? Wouldn't that transform the world, though? All for the low, low price of waking up and turning the light around. And we don't have to wait for anything to start. We can begin wherever we are. Whenever we are. Starting now. Boom! Back in the Garden of Eden. Just like that.
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02
Think of what has always been called "God's will," as being in accord with the Tao, and reflect on the time and place in the history of western civilization when and where "God's will" shifted over into "keeping the ten commandments" and making God happy so that God would bless us and keep us and make us happy. That is the precise point in history when and where it all went to hell-- and where hell came into being. Heaven for those who keep God happy, and hell for those who don't. Ethics has nothing to do with being in accord with the Tao. "God's will" has become "living ethically." Not drinking, not smoking, not playing around, and not reading the comics on Sunday morning. We have lost our bearings, strayed from the path, departed from The Way and have nothing to do with "the Holy One of Israel," which remains the Tao in the Far East to this day. Jesus harks back to this idea of God's will being at one with the Tao in the Sermon of the Mount, the parables--particularly, the Parable of the Prodigal and the Parable of the Good Samaritan-- and the bit about "Inasmuch as you have done it, or not done it, to the least of the people on earth, you have done it, or not done it, unto me." But under such an arrangement, the priests and the religious establishment lose position, power and control, and that, as you might expect, will never do, so Jesus was crucified for being a threat to the system, and the religious establishment built around Jesus has deftly removed the Tao of Jesus from consideration, and placed sin/hell/redemption/atonement/ heaven-everlasting at the center of being saved, and everybody has to be saved, or else. "And the beat goes on" (Sonny Bono). And that leaves us with recovering the Tao-ness of God's will, and understanding prayer as seeking clarity-- of "waiting for the mud to settle and the water to clear," in order to know what needs to be done here and now, and doing the right thing, at the right time, in the right way, moment-by-moment in each situation as it arises, all our life long. Doing what the situation calls for is completely different from imposing some kind of ethical response on all situations regardless of what response is being called for, in a "the spirit is like the wind that blows where it will" kind of way. "Blowing where it will" is no way to systematically impose a religious order on life, but. It is the way to live in accord with the Tao. Whether the Church likes it or not.
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01
Think of the letters GOP as standing for Gone Off Plumb. When some individual, or some group of individuals, or an entire voting block of individuals Go Off Plumb, it creates widening Circles of Confusion throughout the culture and the world. Instability and uncertainty rule, up and down are questionable. Maybe drinking Clorox is a good idea. Maybe there are two-- or more-- sides to truth. Maybe reality can be anything we want it to be. And if enough of us think something is so, it may as well be so, because everyone is acting as though it is. Except for the FACT that PLUMB and OFF PLUMB are not the same thing! You can check it with a plumb bob or a bubble level. The wall is straight vertically or it is not. The photograph is in focus or it is not. Food can be too salty to eat. Wheels can be out of round. Book cases can be out of square. Do an internet search for "Focus, clarity, confusion," and for "Circles of confusion." Read everything that comes up. Ask all of the questions that beg to be asked about what you are reading. Explore the entire area of clarity and confusion until you become an expert on the matter and can talk with anyone about it without losing your focus on what's what and what is not. And sit quietly, meditatively-- another word for this is "prayerfully," though understanding "prayer" as "seeking clarity" will transform your prayer life for the better and change the way you think about religion, but that is another topic of conversation-- and see what connections you can make between the political climate of this country over the past four years and counting, and the difference between clarity and confusion. Add to the mixture the impact a "strange attractor" has on "chaos" and "confusion," and think of money/wealth/power as the kind of attractor that can unbalance a stable system and create uncertainty and instability where truth and reliability should be. And it all begins to make sense. Gone Off Plumb in the service off Money/Wealth/Power. That's the GOP for you in today's world. We can save the world by voting in every election, local, state, and national, and never voting for another GOP candidate ever. That is the only way to bring things back into focus, clarity, square and plumb.
