01
We have to do it because it needs to be done, and not because of what we stand to gain from doing it. Intrinsic and extrinsic weigh in at this point, and we cannot be swayed by the value the deed has for us personally. We have no stake in the matter. Is it called for is the question. Is it necessary/needed is the other question. Is it important that it be done is the other question. Am I capable of doing it is the other question. Is it mine to do is the other question. What is stopping me from doing it is the other question. What is urging me to do it is the other question. What is controlling/influencing my response here ITOQ. Why the hesitation is the other question. Why are you taking so much time with this ITOQ. We are to live so in tune with the moment of our living that our response to the need of the moment is automatic, spontaneous, accurate, timely and sincere, with nothing contrived or calculated about it. See/do. If we have to think about it, we are not seeing clearly. What is in the way? What is blocking our vision? What are our concerns/conflicts? What is preventing us from being at one with the moment? We have to be able to read the moment. To see what we look at. To know what is before us. To sense what is going on. We have to be able to access the moment accurately and instantly and be right about it. What can prevent us from being right about it? Make inquiries. Ask, seek, knock. Poke, pry, peer. Get the information necessary to know what is going on. Is the moment what it appears to be? Do we sense that something is amiss? What is awry? Who is not here with us in good faith? Who is playing the game of not playing a game? Who is lying? Who is manipulating the situation for their good? What is needed here, now? What is being asked of us? Sometimes, we have to wait for the mud to settle and the water to clear. Perhaps we are being called to sit tight, to wait and watch, to sense and see what is going on. At times, what is called for is doing nothing. And, it can be a cop-out to do so. So, we have to be aware of all things on all levels at all times. It asks a lot of us. But what is more important than seeing, hearing, understanding, knowing in order to be and to do? Awareness guides action. Take your time-- there is no time to waste! Because there is no time to waste, we take our time to be sure we are not wasting time, and to act when the time for acting is upon us.
–0–
02
There is what we like and what we do not like, what we want and what we do not want. We can't have one without the other. It's like this: Everything depends upon our growing up. And we do not want to grow up. Growing up means facing, squaring to and dealing with what we do not want and what we do not like. But we had rather not. See the problem? We cannot get to where we want to be without going through what we do not want to go through. This is called The Essential Quandary. It is also called The Child's Dilemma. We never outgrow it. We never grow up enough to grow beyond it. There is always what we do not like and what we do not want. We have to get up and do what we do not want to do whether we want to or not. Forever. It is the Sisyphean Task. Everything flows from how well we do it. Everything.
–0–
03
Having nothing to offer anyone is apparently the sine qua non of the bearers of truth in all times and places. The Suffering Servant of Isaiah comes to mind. Jesus of Nazareth and John the Baptist are there. The Buddha, Lao Tzu, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Jr... The list is long. The hidden, the overlooked, the ignored, the despised, the disappeared... They are as truth is, and become symbols of truth unseen, unknown, in every age. Truth, and the carriers of truth, are not flamboyant, successful, powerful, wealthy, dominant, controlling... They are all as one Thus Come. They are just as they are: common, ordinary, everyday human beings with nothing special about them that would separate them from anyone else. And they are fine with that. They do their work, which no one notices, because why would they? And step back, letting nature take its course, with nothing at stake in the outcome. Nobodies with nothing at stake in the outcome. Just doing their work and letting that be that. Letting it be enough to put in a day, doing what needs to be done when it needs to be done, the way it needs to be done, moment-by-moment, without fanfare or to-do, which is the way it needs to be. We aren't here for what we get out of it. We are here to do our work and stand aside. Doing what is called for in each situation as it arises. And going home for a meal, a shower and to bed. To rise and do it again the next day. Simply, sincerely, living with balance and harmony without looking to exploit their opportunities for gain and advantage-- just living for what the moment is worth and enjoying what is to be enjoyed about every day. The secret for having it made.
