We have lost the "we-ness" 
that holds things together.

There is no generic "we"
that we can count on being there,
anywhere.

Who comprises the "we" we call we?
Who are we talking about
when we talk about "we"?

I'm talking about the fifteen, or so,
regular readers/responders 
who drop in to see what I have to say
during a week.

We ground one another,
center, encourage, focus
each other
for the work that is ours to do.

We--as in everybody, everywhere,--
need sources of balance and harmony
in out lives
on a regular basis.

Where do we--as in the fifteen or so of us--
find that beyond here?

Music and the arts are a classic source,
nature and conversation from the heart
about things that matter,
poetry and literature.

I read the old (as in 500 BCE to 1,000 CE)
Taoist masters,
who talk about the same things
that need to be talked about here/now
(The important stuff never changes).

Whatever works for you needs to be returned to
on a regular basis.

And if you can enlarge your "we," 
that will help, too!

–0–

Everybody has their own story/stories,
their own way of looking at things,
thinking about things...

It's a wonder.
I cherish a restaurant filled with people
living their own life,
more or less.
And a movie theater,
a football stadium,
a continent,
a planet...

I want to listen to each of them
as they say what's what,
what matters,
what happened to them,
and what they did in response,
and how that impacted their life,
and what their hopes are,
and their wishes were,
what broke their hearts,
what made them smile...

I want to know them all,
and encourage them along their way.

I love the oral histories
that are recorded of the elders
in each generation,
talking about their lives.

John Neihardt's book,
"Black Elk Speaks"
is a record of conversations
with a Oglala Lakota Sioux shaman,
or, medicine man,
that I can only read in short segments,
reflecting, as it does, the pathos
of Native Americans at their trail's end.

Carl Jung said, "All of our problems
are the result of being unable
to tell our stories."

Articulation is clarification,
is confrontation--
all three of which are required
for reconciliation.

Until we are reconciled to ourselves
and our own life experience,
we live out the pathos of our own trail,
without being aware of what is going on.

And that is the saddest end of all.

We are always awaiting the next thing,
wondering how we will respond,
waiting to see,
trusting ourselves to pull 
another rabbit out of the hat
and surprise ourselves again
with the range of our repertoire
and the depth of our capabilities.

We are amazing.
First grade--remember that?
Talk about a shock to our system!
Yanking us out of one way of life,
and hurling us into another,
requiring us to sit still,
be quiet
and do what the teacher said do.

How did we ever get through 
the first month of first grade?

And it has been a steady shock
of old being replaced by new
from then until now--
and beyond now...

We have what it takes
to meet the day
no matter what the day holds/requires.

All it ever requires
is emptying ourselves
of our fear/desire/expectations/judgements/opinions
and waiting to see how we respond
to what is being asked of us/called for
in each situation as it arises,
as we do what needs to be done,
anyway,
nevertheless,
even so.

Wants and wishes notwithstanding. 

–0–

Living to be who we are   
(When we are,
what we are,
where we are)
is much easier than
living to be happy,
wealthy,
successful,
admired,
popular,
etc.

Living to be "one thus come,"
just as we are
in each situation as it arises,
as a sequoia might do it,
or a mountain lion,
or a humpback whale.

Meeting the situation 
as it needs to be met
without aims and purposes,
agendas and plans,
with no contriving,
manipulating, 
exploiting,
controlling...
just being who the situation
needs us to be
in ways appropriate to the occasion,
as only we can do it
is all it ever takes.

Is all that is ever required of us.
Is all that can legitimately 
be asked of anyone.

And we all have the capacity to be 
what is needed,
to do what is called for
within the scope of our original/essential nature
and our innate virtues/character. 

Get out of all your other roles,
and into this one,
and back into all the other ones
as this one would do those.

Transforming your life,
your relationship with yourself,
and with the world.

Just by being you.  

–0–

Jesus was a rogue prophet
in a straight-laced world.

All prophets are.
They are not fit for the culture
they are born into,
and rather than adjust themselves
to the culture,
their task is to adjust the culture
to the truth of what's what.

We are always missing the point,
or missing something about the point,
and have to be corrected by those 
who see what we are missing.

Happens to me all the time.
I say, "Thank you for pointing that out to me,"
and make the adjustments necessary
to see to it that I don't miss that again.

We all have to correct the culture
we are born into,
the culture that we live in.

The entire culture is off track,
and only individuals can live it 
back on track,
by living themselves on track,
one situation as a time.

And by taking correction 
when they need to be corrected,
with appreciation and gratitude
to those who point out what we are missing.