June 16, 2026

It is up to us to make of it what we will and to do with it as we will, “it” being what greets us on arrival. It is a common mistake to rush to judgment, wondering, “Is this all there is?” Sitting with it, open to it, brings different aspects into awareness. The Yin/Yang symbol opens us to the depths rather nicely. Nothing is what it appears to be. Life is not a steady state of being. “Now we see it, now we don’t.” Koans and optical illusions are everywhere. Nothing can be taken for what it is, or for what it also is. And before long it is clear that nothing is clear and we don’t know what to make of anything, because, “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.” And, “Those who know don’t say, and those who say, don’t know.” The only appropriate response to the whole show is roaring laughter and a standing ovation. It is a wonderful joke that keeps getting better with age. It is all such a marvelous, wonderful world. The Buddha died from eating poorly cooked pork. How enlightened was that? Isn’t that exactly as it should be? Wonderful, wonderful in every way!