William Wordsworth nailed it 
with his, 
"The world is too much with us late and soon..."
and its lament regarding
our lost connection with nature
and nature's way of getting things done.

"We have lost the magic,"
he would say,
or better perhaps,
"We have traded the magic
for thirty pieces of silver,
or its modern equivalent!"

The older I get,
the more unfamiliar the world becomes--
and that, I think,
is a common experience among humans
at least since the Industrial Revolution,
though I expect long before,
before the advent of "civilization."

The world is not a trustworthy place to be.

I have seen it in the eyes
of my six-month old great grand daughter,
and regret her coming encounter
with the world beyond mom and dad
and their extended families,
as she enters day care or "preschool"
and the regimen/realities 
that come with it.

Do we ever out-grow what we lose
in that "bargain"?

Barbara Navarro's work in protesting
the loss of life and a way of life
among the indigenous Yanomami people
to gold "miners" in South America
highlights the world of a small tribe
of families where the children
never leave home in our sense of the word,
but live out their lives within the "family"
providing stability and security
with no preschool, etc. to intrude.

The love of money is destroying their world,
and there is no fair exchange in that transaction.

We have lost what they are losing,
without noticing/grieving/knowing
what we do not have.

But something knows within,
and we carry the burden of our alienation
from what something knows
throughout our life,
knowing only that something is not right,
and not-knowing what to do about it.

The old Yogis and Taoist/Zen masters
withdrew into the silence
of the lost world of Yin/Yang,
seeking the balance and harmony,
the stability and security,
of their ancestors way of life.

Aren't we all drawn to the AUM
of union with the source and goal
of life and being?
To know the peace of our belonging
to our place in "the great scheme of things,"
now beyond recovery,
beyond remembering
past the sense that this is not it
and never will be again?

To know this much is to mourn our state,
and follow the old Yogis, Taoist/Zen masters
into silence seeking the way 
to peace and wholeness
through recognition and realization,
walking two paths at the same time
in acquiescing to what has been lost,
while consciously adjusting to what now is
in a "We're not in Kansas anymore" kind of way.

Making the best of what we have to work with
through rituals,
ceremonial objects,
stories,
and small communities of like-minded people,
grounded and centered upon
"Here we are now what?"
as we find our way through this world,
knowing that our place is with that world
before this one became what it is. 

–0–

Reading the situation as it arises
without our own wants and desires,
fear and anxiety
getting in the way,
and responding appropriately
to the occasion,
time after time,
is all there is to it.

That's all Jesus and the Buddha, etc.
ever did.

Reduced to its essence, 
we get: See-Do.

Expanded a bit it becomes:
Listen/Hear, Look/See, Know/Realize, Do.

Drawing lines are appropriate to all occasions,
and our needs carry equal weight
to those of the situation.
We make a judgment call as to who gets what/now
and who gets what/then,
working to be balanced over time.

Drawing appropriate lines
would solve most of the problems
that exist worldwide.

–0–

Nothing is more important 
than finding and living aligned with
the flow of our life--
which means finding and living
the life that is our life to live,
finding and doing our thing
within the circumstances of our life.

My thing is hermenutics,
getting to the bottom of it all,
beginning with this moment,
here and now,
moment after moment,
meeting the moment
and doing what is asked of me by it,
in it--
while dealing with all the things
in the moment trying to knock me off
my thing,
and make me forget who I am
and what I am about,
here and now,
moment after moment.

Our first order of business
is to find our life and live it,
to find what is ours to do
with the skill set we possess,
our original nature
and the virtues/characteristics 
that are built into our DNA,
and do it here/now
all our life long.

Instead, we look for some pay-off,
some benefit/advantage/reward,
and wonder when it is going to be
our turn,
screw the moment and its need of us
to grace it with our presence
here/now all our life long.

And so, the need to find our live
and live it,
to find our thing and do it
with fealty,
liege loyalty
and filial devotion,
here/now all our life long.

–0–

My business is being
empty, still and quiet.
Being busy being
empty, still and quiet.

It helps to have an environment
that supports
emptiness, stillness, and silence.

Try finding one of those
on your next day off!

It's noise everywhere we go--
wherever people are, noise is.
Except for Quaker Meeting Houses.

Even there, it is a rare thing
to find emptiness and stillness
at work in the silence.

As empty as the space between
exhale and inhale.

As still as a cat stalking a bird.
Still and focused.
Not on stillness,
but on the bird.
And the bird's equivalent,
in our case.

Watching/looking/listening
for what arises in the silence,
for what moves in the silence,
with urgency and vitality
and us in mind.

We are but servants
of urgency and vitality,
yet, we think we are 
captains of our own ship,
masters of our own destiny,
responsible for our own
happiness and well-being,
which, of course, 
flow from getting what we want
and having our way,
which leads to having it made,
whatever that means.

This is where emptiness comes in,
as empty as the space between
exhale and inhale,
empty of want and desire,
fear and anxiety.
Waiting, watching, looking, listening
for urgency and vitality
never mind the cost to us personally.

"If you would be my people,
pick up your own cross daily
and come with me."

Oh, yes, the cross.

Death to our way of life,
resurrection to life abundant,
flowing over, pouring out,
in each situation as it arises,
as servants of urgency and vitality,
calling us,
claiming us,
in the emptiness, stillness, silence.

Life calling us to life.
Past all of our ideas
of how life should be.

The path from Eden 
leads to Gethsemane.
We are Adam and Eve
on our way to becoming Jesus--
via emptiness, stillness, silence
and grace.

The grace that is a natural confirmation
of life being lived.
Wonder, amazement and mystery,
ever-present companions
where life is being lived.

–0–

Sit down,
be quiet,
and watch what occurs to you
without being engaged by it.

Notice the things that keep coming up
with a particular urgency about them
and tend to those things.

Allow yourself to respond to the urgent matters
and to take care of the routine
affairs of the day in their own time.

I've known the car has to be serviced for weeks,
but other things were more urgent,
and now the car gets its turn.

Everything according to its own urgency.
All in due time.

–0–

Our luck improves
when we stop pushing it,
and simply attend what needs
our attention,
doing what is called for
in each situation as it arises,
and relaxing into trusting our luck
to be what it needs to be
when we allow things to go
the way they need to go.

Pushing,
shoving,
forcing,
striving,
create resistence
in an "equal and opposite force" sense,
and we produce opposition to our way
by trying to have it.

The trick is to not have a way,
just see what needs to happen
and what can happen,
and assist what needs to be
in becoming what can be,
and let that be that.

Allowing things to be the way they are
is the biggest contribution we can make
in helping things become what they need to be. 

–0–

Two Canadian researchers writing a philosophy of health
defined health as "ease of functioning."

I have expanded that definition by adding
"in the service of the joy of life."

We have to be doing
what brings joy to life in our life
if we would be healthy.

What would that be for you?

For me it would be writing myself into being 
each day,
and taking/toying/playing with the images
that I include with my writing.

Reading the right kind of book,
listening to the right kind of music
(Not while reading)
and engaging in the right kind of conversation
are also joys.

Drinking the right kind of coffee
and eating the right kind of food,
looking out the window,
etc.

The list has to be adapted to my ease of functioning,
and as the aging process
reduces my physical abilities,
my joy of life will dwindle
to the point of being ready
for death when it comes.

Being able to talk--and laugh--
about the way things are,
helps me accommodate myself to them
as time goes by.

And that means having the right kind of people
in my life
to hear what I have to say
and laugh along with me
all the way.

I think the right kind of companionship/company
is essential to our health 
and well-being,
and I appreciate your playing that role 
in my life!

–0–

Seeking the still point
at the center of the path
that can only be recognized
as the path in hindsight
is the balance point
between past and future--
the here/now 
in each situation as it arises,
through all of the circumstances
of our life,
the transition point
between then and not yet,
where we are most alive,
most awake,
most aware,
when we open ourselves
to what's what,
and what's happening,
and what's called for,
and dance with the time and place
of our being,
knowing "there is only the dance"
(TS Eliot).

–0–

"Let your mind wander in simplicity,
blend your spirit with the vastness, 
follow along with thing the way they are,
and make no room for personal view--
then the world will be at peace with you,
though perhaps not with itself" --
From The Complete Works of Zhuangzi
(Translations from the Asian Classics
by Burton Watson).

Staying out of the way,
yet assisting what needs to happen
in each situation as it arises
calls for balance and harmony,
and alignment with the flow of life,
at one with what is calling our name
past all the reasons not to.

We cannot live like that apart from
emptiness/stillness/silence/reflection/
realization built into every day.

The core of the still point
is the center of the path
that can be recognized as a path
only in hindsight.

How do we find it?
Only with the right kind of
emptiness/stillness/etc.
Seeing what we look at
and hearing what we listen to,
and doing what needs to be done
in response.

Too much noise leads to the Wasteland,
where we wake up some more again
and allow emptiness/etc. to lead us
back to the path
until we have had enough
and shut noise out forever.

–0–

Sex is a way of avoiding intimacy.
Revealing is concealing.
Concealing is revealing.
What are we revealing by what we conceal?
What are we concealing by what we reveal?
What are we hiding?
What are we hiding from?

Conversation is the most intimate form 
of human activity,
and it is mostly noise.
There are people who talk all the time
and never say anything.

What do you never talk about to anyone?
What do you never say?
What do you never hear said?
What do the people you run with never say?
Not allow you to say?

I wonder if our dreams
might be conversations 
about things we don't want to discuss.
About things we never say.
About things we cannot bear to talk about.
Think about.
Face.

Growing up is facing up to what needs to be said/done,
and saying/doing it.

We are grown up to the degree that we will say/do
what needs to be said/done
in each situation as it arises.

What does thinking about what we think about
keep us from thinking about?

What does talking about what we talk about
keep us from talking about?

What is too painful for us to discuss?

What is the truth we can't handle?

What is it that we do not want to face/deal with?

Intimacy is exposing ourselves to the truth
of what matters most.

How often do we do that?

What are we concealing?

What did we dream last night?

–0–

The AI description above ties in smoothly
with how I live generally
in relation with my Inner Intelligence, or II.

I sit/stand/lie aware of what's what,
what is called for,
and what I might do about it,
and visualize/feel/sense various scenarios,
deciding "Yes/No" with each one,
and what that produces in terms of
additional options and choices,
narrowing down the possibilities,
and doing whatever things "boil down to."

It is how I live.
How I decide what to wear,
what to eat,
where to go,
what to do...

Of A/B/C/D... what do I rule out
to get to what I settle on?
So AI is simply a photographic extension
of the way I am accustomed to living.

My II is exceptional where it comes
to sizing up situations,
sensing direction,
and preparing to meet likely developments.

We moved from Indian Land to our present location
based on our (The "we/our" here is me and my wife
and me and my/her II) observations
of the changes in the landscape due to development
in the "neighborhood" we lived in,
and the impact that was having on the roads 
and intersections, etc. of the area.

We took the givens and imagined the therefores
and made the choices that got us from there to here.

We are always making decisions
that lead to amazing coincidences
and acts of timing
all because we see/sense what's what
and act when the urgency of the situation
calls for action.

We are attuned to what is happening in the moment,
and what the most likely outcome is going to be,
and acting to get out of the way of inevitabilities
that can be avoided if we respond as needed.

I see this as the essence of the Tao in action,
seeing/hearing/knowing/perceiving/acting 
in the service of balance and harmony
and enjoying the results of having done so.

Going with the apparent flow,
particularly with the obvious urgency
of acting here/now,
enables us to avoid unwanted situations,
and positions us to be prepared for 
the unknown future
by simply paying attention to our present.

It appears to us as a natural way of doing business.

–0–

If only we could see ourselves
"as ithers see us"!
Even this sunflower,
completely exposed for all to see
cannot get at the heart of 
the inner flower.
All we see of ourselves
is what we exhibit to others to see,
with no way of dropping into
our inner space
in order to get to the bottom
of what is going on with us,
and know who all we also are
and are capable of being.

I chose hermeneutics as my career path
which is a method/process/procedure 
for getting to the bottom of truth
about biblical texts,
but that was subterfuge/evasion,
concealing from myself the real
hunger of heart and soul:
Getting to the bottom of ME,
only to discover somewhere along the way
that there is no bottom to the truth
of truth or to the truth of who we are.

We all are more than meets the eye,
any eye,
all eyes--
an infinite, eternal, absolute mystery
seeking revelation/revealing/comprehending/
understanding/knowing/etc.
And the more we know, the more there is to know,
which makes all of us each other,
expressing/exhibiting/exposing ourselves
to "ithers" in ways that reveal ourselves,
not only to them,
but, more importantly, to us,
if we allow ourselves to see/hear 
what we are concealing in the act of revealing
who we are and also are.

Sex is a way of avoiding intimacy--
the intimacy of knowing and being known,
while all the while,
"wanting so badly for someone to know us"
and concealing while revealing who we are
and also are.

Every night, our dreams expose ourselves
to ourselves,
declaring in the language of dreams,
"This is how it is with you right now!"
And we wake up saying,
"That was some weird dream I had last night!"

The clues are everywhere all the time,
to who we are and also are.
We are "right there" in every act/word,
and those acts not-acted
and those words not-said.

We have come to know who we are and also are.
And need only to pay attention to ourselves
to follow the thread of daily revelations
to the heart of who we are and also are,
which is a heart that expands as we look
as we all become more than we can
"ask, or think, or imagine."

The adventure of being alive!
Following/becoming/being "the spirit
that is like the wind,
blowing where it will."

What a wonderful thing that we are missing out on,
losing ourselves, as we do,
in sex/drugs/alcohol/money/shopping/eating...
And all the diversions/distractions/entertainments
we pursue to avoid seeing/knowing/understanding
who we are and also are.

World without end.

Hallelujah! May it be so! Just as it is!

Let us be off on the journey without end! Amen!

–0–