July 01, 2023 – B

We have to learn how to be balanced and harmonized 
in the neighborhood of the clashing rocks
on the heaving waves of the wine dark sea.

The way there is a simple shift in perspective.

Life is an optical illusion.
We can look and see hopelessness and despondency,
and we can look again and see peace and tranquility
in the midst of hopelessness and despondency.

We can live in the midst of depressing circumstances
and be depressed.
Or not.

The way we respond to any circumstances/situation
can make things better or worse.

The Supreme Court has just made things 
ridiculously bad for students and gay people, etc.
The Supreme Court and Republicans/Fascists
represent the heaving waves and the wine dark sea.

Here we are. NOW what???

NOW, we adopt an attitude
that makes us impervious to the impact
of the Supreme Court and Republicans/Fascists--
by grounding ourselves in this moment
and seeking what we can do here/now
to make this moment a better place to be
by seeing what needs to be done here/now
and doing it when/where/how it needs to be done.

Sometimes, breathing is all we can do.
Breathing with our mind focused on breathing.
Breathing is the path to balance and harmony
by connecting us with 
emptiness/stillness/silence.

Breathing in for a count of five,
breathing out for a count of five,
pausing between breaths for a count of ten,
breathing in for a count of five...
for five rounds,
puts us in the presence
of emptiness/stillness/silence.

Remaining there in the emptiness between breaths,
puts us in the position of waiting quietly
for what arises/appears/emerges in the emptiness,
just waiting, just watching,
without engaging anything.

There, we are empty of all thoughts/emotions,
just watching, just waiting,
letting the noise/clutter/complexity/anxiety/etc.
pass by without allowing it to hook us into engagement.

Seeing what occurs to us 
in the way of finding what needs to be done
here/now,
what we are being called to do,
then moving into action doing what/when/where/how
it needs to be done,
still disengaged from the noise/clutter/etc.,
free to be and to do
as our circumstances need us to be and to do.

In this way, we transcend the turmoil of life 
and position ourselves to live
with what must be lived with
as the vehicles of transcendence
we are capable of being--
grounded in the transcendent foundation of existence,
anchored to the adamantine essence
of life beyond life,
and living here/now as the source of hope
amid the hopelessness of it all.

This is the optical illusion
that we live to shatter
by being what we seek--
an oasis in the desert,
a shelter amid the torrential emotional storms
of life
for all those who come our way.

Breathing our way to balance and harmony,
to spirit/healing/wholeness/life beyond fear/anxiety
by just being here/now
with a smile and 
an indomitable hold on transcendent reality,
anyway,
nevertheless,
even so.

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