October 07, 2021

01

Our own instinctive/intuitive
sense of what needs to be done--
of what is called for--
here and now,
in each situation as it arises
which is evoked by the moment
eliciting our spontaneous,
sincere, 
response to the time and place
of our living in the field of action,
is as close to the experience of,
and participation in, the Tao
as we can hope to have.

And we cannot box that up
and carry it around with us,
to pull out and produce as needed,
any time, any place.

We can only sense what is happening
in any time, any place,
and get out of the way,
allowing right being/doing to come, 
or not,
according to its good pleasure.

We do not possess the experience,
create the participation,
wield it by will or whim.
We make ourselves available to it
by being empty of motive, 
desire,
interest
and opinion--
stepping aside
and allowing what needs to happen
to happen through us
to bless and grace the moment
with the appropriateness
of our response to the time that is at hand,
by doing the right thing,
in the right way,
at the right time,
without knowing at all what we are doing.

This is the magic of being in accord 
with the moment
for the sake of being in accord
with the moment,
knowing there is nothing more
to seek, or have, or want, or be.

One moment at a time.

–0–

02

Contradiction,
conflict,
complexity
descend upon us
right out of our imagination
to rob us of the moment
and transport us into 
mental scenarios 
in frantic search 
of solutions to problems
that do not exist.

Or, fantasies
and flights of fancy,
take us on journeys 
through wonders
ranging from the preposterous
to the surreal
to the sublime--
robbing us of the moment
by offering us glory
beyond the best reality
has to offer
as the preferred alternative
to what reality does have to offer.

And the moment goes unlived forever.

How much time each day
is lived in our heads
and not in our life?

Living to escape our life
is not living at all.

HERE we are!
NOW what?
What is being asked of us here and now?
What is being called for?
What is it time for?
What do we need to be doing
in response to the context,
conditions
and circumstances of our life?

What do our choices serve?
To what end are we living?

Sit still.
Be quiet. 
Pay attention.
Be aware.

–0–

03

Joseph Campbell said we are often stirred
to find and do "what we absolutely must do
to be who ourselves."

We live to be true to ourselves
whether we realize it or not.

In seeking ourselves,
it is our original nature
we hope to find--
"the face that was ours
before we were born."
Before even our parents,
or our grandparents, were born.

There is a genetic urge to be
tucked away inside each of us.

We live to realize ourselves
as much as a pine tree lives 
to be a pine tree,
and a lion turns out to be a lion--
and not just any lion,
but precisely the lion it
is built to be--
within the context and circumstances,
the here and now,
of its existence.

What is the original imprint
we are called to bring forth
in the time and place of our living?

"We are who we always have been,"
said Carl Jung,
"and who we will be."

My fifth grade teacher
told my mother
in one of those parent/teacher conferences,
"Jimmy spends a lot of time
looking out the window."

I still do.
Suits me "to a T."

We are to realize and express
what "Suits us to a T,"
and enjoy ourselves immensely
as long as life shall last.