Finding our way to The Way one situation at a time. I don't know how great it will be, but I expect it will be interesting, and I look forward to it going on past all reason because wonder is just that way. Are you coming or not?
Great Egret at Black Lake 07/18/2009 Oil Paint Rendered — Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana
Making our peace with our life
and living in the service
of what is meaningful for us
is a reasonable
and attainable goal
for each of us.
Most of us want more than that.
We don't know what it would be
except that it would be
more than that.
And the distance between what we have
and what we aspire to
keeps us discontented
and at odds with our life.
The idea is to be aligned
and in accord with our life.
What that would take
is giving up our idea
of how our life ought to be.
We don't know what it would take
to make us happy,
but we know this isn't it,
and we think it has to be
out there somewhere.
But, we don't know where
and we don't know how to know.
Here's a suggestion for you:
Quit thinking in terms of being happy,
and start thinking in terms
of doing what is meaningful,
here and now.
Go toward what has meaning for you
here and now,
and happy will fall into place
around that,
or not.
And if it doesn't,
it won't matter.
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01
Yoho River Oil Paint Rendered — Yoho National Park, Field, British Columbia
The ideal I live in light of,
and the purpose for which we are born,
is to live out our life
in the service of becoming who we are,
incarnating/expressing/exhibiting
all of the qualities and characteristics
gifts/genius/virtues/spirit/energy/life
that came with us from the womb
in a balanced and harmonious way--
in communities of other people
who are living in the same ways,
so as to become who we are capable of being
as individuals and as The Collective,
over the course of our life
as a person and as the species.
We live on to pass it on
(Martin Hägglund in This Life).
That is hard enough if we were all into it,
doing it.
We make it impossible
by the way we respond to it,
in having nothing to do with it.
We have our eye on bigger and better things:
Fame, Fortune, Glory!
Which leads us down the path
to the way things are,
with it only getting worse
as we continue along the way.
Three to five thousand years
before Jesus was born,
voices were raised in favor
of The Way
and against the trend
of ignoring The Way
(In The Yin Convergence Classic
of The Yellow Emperor),
and here we are,
resolutely refusing
to have anything to do with The Way,
preferring instead to do it our way.
While The Way waits
for us to see the light,
or come to the end of our rope
(Which is too often the same thing)
as individuals
and as a species.
Yellowhead Mountain 09/24/2006 Oil Paint Rendered — Lucerne, British Columbia
What we see is a function of how we look.
How we look is influenced
by our expectations
and our past experience.
We don't walk fresh upon anything
and know what we are looking at.
Reality is an extension of our expectations
and our experience.
We cannot make sense of anything that is
absolutely new to us.
We see everything in relation to something else.
It is always appropriate to ask,
"What influences me to see what I am looking at
the way I am seeing it?"
"What makes me think I know what I am looking at?"
"What makes me think
that what I think is so,
is so?"
Our opinions about things
are just our opinions about them.
Everything exists as opinion.
Nothing exists as fact.
We treat everything as fact.
It would transform our life,
and the world,
if we started thinking about things
as opinion.
Of course, that is just my opinion.
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02
The Watchman Oil Paint Rendered — Zion National Park, Springdale, Utah
All it takes is being right about what is important.
Being right about what is important
is the best trick in the Book of Best Tricks.
The first thing to know
is that we do not know.
The second thing to know
is that there are different types of knowing.
The third thing to know
is that delusion and illusion
are powerful forces
at work in our lives,
and we cannot dismiss,
discount,
disregard,
ignore or deny
the possibility that
we are failing to see
what we are looking at.
The fourth thing to know
is that what is important
changes from moment-to-moment,
situation-by-situation,
day-by-day,
year-by-year,
generation-by-generation,
eon-by-eon...
The only thing that is static
and rigid,
unchanging over time
is that it is important
to know what is important
at all times,
in all places.
That's it.
Get the ratios right
among these things
and there it is:
what is important,
here and now.
Once we know that,
comes the question
of what to do about it.
That is the next most important thing.
Know what is important,
and be right about it,
know what to do about it,
and be right about it.
That only leaves doing it--
the way it needs to be done,
when it needs to be done,
where it needs to be done,
for as long as it needs to be done.
That's it.
No one could do better than that.
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01
South Shore 09/21/2004 Oil Paint Rendered — Lake Louise, Banff National Park, Alberta
Marriage is the easiest thing in the world.
All it takes is cooperation.
If you aren't getting the cooperation promised
at the start,
you can't be married
no matter what you do.
All cooperation takes
is doing what needs to be done
regardless of how we feel.
People who don't feel like being married
and let cooperation go
kill the marriage
by breaking the first rule of marriage:
Doing the right thing
requires you to do the right thing
whether you feel like it or not.
It is no different with marriage
than it is with anywhere else in our life.
Wherever we are,
we are asked to do what the situation requires
whether we feel like it or not.
In this sense, being married
is just like being alive.
Our life asks us to do what life demands:
To live like we mean it,
whether we fee like it or not!
This is the foundational commitment
to marriage and to life.
We can think of our life
as being married to our life,
and living our life as it ought to be lived,
is practice for being married
the way we ought to be married.
Doing one helps us with the other,
and it is practice either way.
The practice of being alive
is doing what needs to be done,
the way it needs to be done
when it needs to be done
for as long as it needs to be done
whether we feel like it or not
all our life long.
Get that down
and we have it made
wherever we are.
And, in marriage,
our partner has to be doing it, too.
No one can be married by themselves.
It takes cooperation.
And we take up the work of cooperating
with one another
in producing the miracle of marriage
at the very beginning,
by taking our vows seriously,
and living to carry them out
no matter how we feel.
In this, marriage is a lot like
the Velveteen Rabbit,
becoming real over time,
and once it is really real,
nothing can take it from you.
It lasts forever.
Sandy Stream Pond Morning Oil Paint Rendered — Baxter State Park, Millinocket, Maine
I thought I wanted to be a therapist
for about fifteen minutes.
Not quite as long as thinking
I wanted to be a third-grade teacher.
But with the same outcome:
A quick and permanent end
to thinking those things.
Reality is all the guide we need.
Ever.
With the therapy thing,
it became clear that everybody
wants to feel better,
and nobody wants to get better.
Everybody wants everyone else
to change in relation to them.
Everybody wants to know
how to get their way.
Forget about giving up their way.
They are going to have it or
make the world real sorry
for not giving it to them.
Getting better is changing
our relationship with ourselves,
and with other people.
Getting better is changing
our mind about what is important,
and being right about it this time.
Getting better is changing
the way we think,
the way we see,
the way we act.
Getting better is changing.
No one wants to change.
No one ever grows up without changing.
Everyone who grows up,
grows up against their will.
Therapy is not holding hands
in a circle
and passing love around the circle.
Or attracting positive energy
and becoming wealthy
by deserving money.
The My Way Now movement
fuels the Prosperity Gospel movement
and the If-You-Want-It-You-
Ought-To-Be-Able-To-Have-It mentality
which spills over into
You-Ought-To-Get-It-Now,
and that's where we are as a country
and as a world.
The Dali Lama said,
in response to the Chinese
takeover of Tibet,
“If, in any situation,
there is no solution,
there is no point in being anxious.
If the forces at work
have their own momentum,
and what’s going on now
is the product of what went before,
and if this generation
is not in control of all those forces,
then this process will continue.”
And if "this generation"
is actively aligned with "those forces,"
it will be a long time
before reality grinds the truth
into their pores
and they realize the lie
they are living.
In the meantime,
we wait for "those forces"
to play themselves out
and for people to wake up
to what fools they have been.
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02
Picture Window Oil Paint Rendered — Oxbow Bend, Mt Moran, Grand Teton National Park, Jackson Wyoming
I regret 10,000 things
that I am too ashamed of
to mention,
much less, talk about.
You will have to take my word for it.
I am comforted by Joseph Campbell's confession
of a similar burden of his own past.
His view was that one of the ordeals
of growing older
is the task of continuing to grow up
by confronting our failures
and the missed opportunities
of our youth,
and coming to terms with them
in a "Okay, I will take from them
what they have to offer
in helping me be aware of
what I am doing here and now
and making better choices/decisions
in the time left for living," kind of way.
We have much to wish we had done differently,
or not at all.
But.
Here we are.
And we are here by virtue
of all of the choices/decisions we made
along the way from birth to here and now.
Our work is always to apply what we have learned
in living the remainder of the journey,
in hopes that our worst errors lie behind.
I am also glad that retirement
gives me fewer opportunities
to stumble over myself
in finding my way through each day.
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01
North Shore 09/26/2006 Oil Paint Rendered — Lake Louise, Banff National Park, Alberta
Everyone is born to die.
Everyone dies.
And everyone is in charge
of their own dying,
and the circumstances
that lead to it.
Our dying is always the result
of who we are in conjunction
with our circumstances.
And everything up to our dying
is the result of the same mysterious/secret--
The Mysterium Coniunctionis--
between ourselves and our circumstances.
The "mysterious union"is not so much
between man and woman,
or yin and yang,
but between us and our circumstances.
The relationship of us
with our circumstances,
is roughly the relationship
of the stream with its channel,
of the ocean with its shoreline,
and its bed.
We are all where we are,
here and now,
as the result
of how we have responded
to where we have been.
Given who we are
and what we have been through,
and what we have done about it,
we could not be anywhere else
but where we are, here and now.
And that will remain true
everywhere we are between now,
and, including,the moment of our death.
We are living to arrange our dying,
without being aware of what we are doing.
But--being aware of it would simply be
another aspect of it,
leading to it.
Jesus' death on the cross
was a direct consequence
of the larger circumstance
he created by being who he was
in relation to the moment-to-moment
circumstances of his life.
There is an inevitability to our living
as well as to the fact of our dying.
Our living is the precursor of our dying.
"The secret cause" of our dying.
Carl Jung said, "We meet our destiny
on the road we take to avoid it."
What I'm saying is: Embrace that!
An live the life that is yours to live--
moment-to-moment,
situation-by-situation,
day-by-day--
doing in your life,
with your life,
what is yours to do,
exactly as you would do it,
being you as only you can be you,
as best you can,
and die when it is done
as the hero going to meet her,
going to meet his,
final test.
How we live is how we die.
"Where we stand
is where we fall"
(Steven Moffat, Doctor Who).
Do that consciously,
knowingly,
intentionally,
willingly embracing
the cross at the end of the road--
in a "This is what I am going to do
even if it kills me!"
kind of way!
Knowing what we would die for,
and dying for it,
is a very important thing to know
and to do.
Don't just die!
Die with a purpose!
By living meaningfully
on the service of that which
is worthy of us!
As a knight in filial/liege service
to his Lady/Lord--
or a Lady/Lord
in filial/service to her/his calling/duty.
Mt. Rundle Oil Paint Rendered — Vermillion Lakes, Banff National Park, Alberta
The single most important thing you can do
to improve your chances
of living well upon the earth
throughout the time left for living
is to become accomplished
in taking "No" for an answer.
By "accomplished" I mean
taking "No" for an answer
when, where, and how it needs to be done
the way it needs to be done
every time it needs to be done,
with grace and aplomb
in the moment and over time
(That means no pouting,
sulking,
resentment
or keeping score).
Begin practicing by asking people
ridiculous favors,
knowing they will have to say "No,"
and taking it like the Ace
you are working to become!
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02
Medicine Lake Bed 09/28/2006 Oil Paint Rendered — Jasper National Park, Alberta
Doing what is not-meaningful
better be supporting what is meaningful
by providing us with the wherewithal
to do the things that make our little heart sing
and our little toes dance
with the rest of the time
that is ours left to live.
If we are doing what is not-meaningful
in order to do what is not-meaningful,
we have to sit ourselves down
and have a come to your senses
and get your feet under you
and start living from your center talk.
And, if you don't know what your center is,
remain seated until the mud settles
and the water clears
and you know beyond doubt or hesitation
what is and is not your center,
your still point,
your adamantine foundation stone
upon which you and your life are anchored.
Your life is your responsibility.
What you do with it is up to you.
Waiting for some magical motivation
to pull it all together for you
is waiting for Godot,
who doesn't exist
and will never arrive.
Stop living magically,
and start doing what is meaningful to you.
That is all the magic anyone needs
to live the life that is waiting to be lived!
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01
Into Golden Canyon 03/15/2007 Oil Paint Rendered — Death Valley National Park, California
I wish Republicans would tell me
what the good is they call good,
and what the evil is they call evil.
One-on-one, I mean.
Not some senator speaking
for all Republicans everywhere.
I want to know from the people
who are proud to be Republicans
what they are so proud of.
What values/principles/standards
are guiding their boat
on its path through the sea?
And, while we are at it,
I want to know what yours are.
I want to know how clear you are
about them,
how well thought out they are,
and how they are reflected
in your daily life,
how they impact the people around you.
In what specific,
concrete,
tangible ways
do they guide your boat
through each day?
How would I know they are important to you
by watching you live your life?
What is the good you call good?
The evil you call evil?
Good for whom?
Evil for whom?
Whose life is better for it?
Whose life is worse for it?
And, while we are at it,
I'll say that the good I call good
is best described by the terms
Freedom!
Equality!
Justice!
Truth!
And by the principle of
doing the right thing,
in the right way,
at the right time,
moment-to-moment,
situation-by-situation,
day-by-day.
I can't do better than
living in ways which
serve those terms
and that principle.
And I endeavor consciously,
willfully,
intentionally,
deliberately
to do that
in the way I live every day.
Dune Walker 02 03/12/2007 Oil Paint Rendered — Mesquite Dunes, Death Valley National Park, California
The ideal human being,
from my point of view,
does what is theirs to do,
and steps back,
letting nature take its course.
The ideal human being
would not see money
as the path to power--
asking, "Power over whom?
In the service of what?"--
but as a means of providing
the tools necessary
to do their work.
The ideal human being
would not impose anything
on anyone,
but would assume good faith
on the part of everyone,
and would trust everyone
to do their part
in serving the good of the whole,
with sincerity,
non-contrivance,
balance and harmony
being the highest interests
of culture and society.
They would spend their time
in devotion to their cause
of integrating opposites
by being present with,
and aware of,
their current circumstances,
living from their center,
which is the center of the whole,
and doing their thing
in response to the needs of the moment,
in each situation as it arises.
Dune Shadows Oil Paint Rendered — Star Dune, Mesquite Dunes, Death Valley, California
If heart could be coached,
everyone would be LeBron James.
Books on how to play chess,
and tennis,
and on like that forever,
are published and sold
every year.
Books on how to play anything
(or live)
with heart,
are hard to come by.
What is it with heart,
that only a few people get,
and everybody else wonders about?
Well.
I don't know.
I take photos with heart.
I work with photos in Photoshop with heart.
I read and write with heart.
And, by that I mean,
nothing is going to stop me.
"Not no way.
Not no how"
(The Wizard of Oz).
And, I would bet you $20,
if I still did that kind of thing.
That each one of you
has something
no one can talk you out of
or scare you away from.
I would bet there is something
you all do with heart.
But not everything.
LeBron James doesn't do everything with heart.
Probably a lot of things.
So, rather than tell you
how to live with heart,
I'm going to ask you
to be aware of
where in your life
you live with heart.
And suggest that you
increase the amount of time
you spend in those places,
doing those things.
The more time we spend with things
that are meaningful to us--
the things we do with heart--
the happier we are
and the happier other people are
to be around us.
It works out well for everyone!
Let your heart tell you what to do
and you will catch yourself
smiling for no reason
throughout the time left for living.
–0–
03
Jordan Pond 09/23/2012 Oil Paint Rendered — Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, Maine
I wish the people I was born into
had known what they should have known--
and that I had grown up
knowing what I should have known--
and that even now,
I knew what I should know,
just by virtue of being alive,
and having been alive,
all these years.
Why don't I know what was there
to be known
from the start--
and at every step along the way
from then to now?
Why don't I know all I do know,
right now?
Like what I don't know,
for example.
Why don't I know what I don't know?
Everything would be better
with some mindful awareness,
with some attention to what's what,
with some attentive presence
in every moment
of every day.
We are all somewhere else
most of the time.
We all think we would be better off
somewhere else,
and drift away from here
into what we dislike about here,
and how we wish we were there,
no there,
no there-over-there...
I ache to just be here.
Fully here.
Fully now.
Fully present to life
as I am living it.
To be there.
Not here.
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02
First Light on Bow River 09/21/2009 Oil Paint Rendered — Banff National Park, Alberta
I have to orient myself
in time and space,
moment-to-moment.
In a "Here I am, now what?"
kind of way.
I have to get my feet under me,
remember who I am and what I am about,
find my foundation stone,
live from the center,
again and again
throughout the day.
There is no carry-over
from one moment to the next,
from one situation to the next.
I cannot live from my memory
of how I just did it.
I have to start all over,
begin anew,
as though I just plopped out off the womb,
and have to find my way
through the first moment of my life
from the very beginning.
I have been taking photographs seriously,
that is intentionally,
consciously,
with purpose and knowledge of how to do it
for over twenty years.
And I step into every scene,
and it is the first scene.
I have forgotten everything--
or all of the important things--
since the last scene.
I am assuming that because I just did it,
this scene will be just like that one,
and I don't check the focus.
Etc.
Back in the film days,
I would forget to put film in the camera
starting out.
Or the film wouldn't "catch" on the clip,
and I wouldn't remember to see
if the rewind knob on the camera was turning
as I advanced the film.
You can't miss a detail!
I don't know what the equivalent
of film in the camera,
loaded and working properly,
is for you,
but I know there is one.
There is one for everybody.
We cannot do it, whatever it is,
like we have always done it,
and do a very good job of doing it.
We have to do it
as though we have never done it, ever.
We have to be new at it.
This has to be the first time.
We have to live as though this is our first day
on the job.
We have to see with fresh eyes.
Hear with fresh ears.
Be alert to our assumptions
and inferences,
and expectations,
and all the things we are taking for granted.
The world is new in some sense
every moment.
We cannot sleepwalk through our life.
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01
Schwabacher Landing 06/15/2001 Oil Paint Rendered — Grand Teton National Park, Jackson, Wyoming
How to be in the moment.
How to do right by the moment.
How to live for the sake of the moment.
These are the lessons of life.
You think it is about getting somewhere.
About attaining something.
Everybody is out for what they can get.
What they can get is determined
by what they want.
They don't know what to want.
They want everything.
They are kids at the candy counter.
What does wanting know?
What informs wanting?
Where does wanting come from?
What are we hungry for?
Starving for?
Dying for?
What is it going to take
to satisfy us?
Wanting drives us through life
searching for what we want,
for what is worth wanting,
for what is worth our time.
No one can tell us.
No one knows.
It is all up to us.
Enter The Silence.
Seek The Tao.
They work in tandem.
Together.
I think they are the same.
They are on the same side
of the coin.
The other side of the coin
is Yin and Yang.
They also work together.
They also are the same.
The coin is The Source
of what we seek.
The coin is what we seek.
We live to serve the coin.
We belong to the coin.
Silence.
Tao.
Yin.
Yang.
In possession of the coin,
we are possessed by the coin.
We are the coin.
"The Father and I are one"
(The Mother and I are one).
There is only one.
We are it.
It is we.
For what?
For Life!
It is all about being alive--
but more than that:
Being alive to being alive!
Living at one with all things!
Particularly ourselves!
Living at one with ourselves!
Moment-by-moment.
Situation-by-situation.
Day-by-day.
If you think that's easy,
give it a spin.
First, we have to get out of the way.
We don't even know what that means.
We think there is only us here.
How could we be in the way?
Kidding ourselves is what we do best.
No.
Lying to ourselves is what we do best!
No!
Telling ourselves what we want to hear
is what we do best!!
NO!
Shooting ourselves in the foot
is what we do best!!!
We excel in sabotaging ourselves.
In being in our way.
We are not even one with ourselves.
Where do we start?
What do we do?
Enter The Silence.
Engage/Live in accord with the Tao.
Integrate Yin/Yang.
Live with sincerity,
balance and harmony.
Know what you know.
See what you look at.
Be transparent to yourself.
Which makes you transparent to transcendence.
And one with all things.
Alive to the moment of your living.
Alive to being alive.
To the wonder of being alive.
To the wonder of all things.
The work of a lifetime.
Begins here and now.
The Beaver Hut Oil Paint Rendered — Schwabacher Landing, Grand Teton National Park, Jackson, Wyoming
If you cannot be vulnerable,
you will be symptomatic all your life,
and crazy as well.
We are surrounded by vulnerabilities!
There is no way we can be protected
from them all!
Everything worthwhile about us
and about our life
is strictly dependent upon
our vulnerability threshold.
The more vulnerable we can be,
the more mature we are capable of becoming,
the more relaxed and natural
we are able to be in relation
to the world,
and the more capable we are gong to be
in responding appropriately
to each situation as it arises
throughout our days upon the earth.
If you are going to take anything on faith,
let it be your capacity to be vulnerable
and be just fine
with whatever life throws at you.
Practice raising your vulnerability quotient
by deliberately putting yourself
in situations you don't control,
letting yourself be free to make it up as you go.
Like dancing to tunes you have never heard,
or finding your way around in a strange city,
or driving down unfamiliar roads
to see where they go.
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04
Upper Waterfowl Lake Oil Paint Rendered 09/22/2007 — Banff National Park, Alberta
Living in accord with the Tao
is listening to our unconscious,
is immersing ourselves in a situation,
waiting for the mud to settle
and the water to clear,
and seeing what emerges
as the way to respond to what is called for
over time,
as we tweak our response
to take additional information
into account,
balancing and harmonizing
the contraries and contradictions,
complexities and contingencies,
as they become apparent
in the eternal dance
with what can happen
and what needs to happen
through the ages
throughout eternity.
There is no steady state
of "peace at last."
There only/always living in the moment
in light of what needs to be done there,
in light of what is called for,
in light of what can be done there,
in light of what we need
to do what is needed there,
all our life long--
all life long.
Growing up is adjusting ourselves
to the requirement
of having to adjust ourselves to something
all our life long.
If we are not growing (up),
we are dead.
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03
The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone Oil Paint Rendered — Canyon Village, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
In the story of the woman taken in adultery,
Jesus takes a time-out,
squats and draws in the dust with his finger,
then he rises and says,
"Let the one without sin cast the first stone."
Beautifully done.
Rising wonderfully to the occasion.
Responding to the moment
directly,
without consulting the authorities,
taking a poll,
or asking his mother what he should do.
Jesus speaks from the source of sincerity,
balance and harmony.
"Like the spirit blowing where it will."
Who knows what it will come up with next?
And, in order for it to happen then and there,
Jesus called time-out,
and sat drawing in the dust.
He was withdrawing from the moment of action,
to center himself,
put himself in accord with the Tao,
listen within,
open to the wisdom of the heart/soul/unconscious/psyche
waiting for the shift
that urged him to rise and speak
out of the truth of what was called for
in the time that was at hand.
In order to do that,
he had to have been there before.
Going there is called "prayer."
It is also called "meditation."
"Reflection."
"Contemplation."
"Connection."
"Communion."
If you don't know what I'm talking about,
sit still,
be quiet,
and watch what happens.
And repeat this over time.
"Over time" being
regularly for the rest of your life.
And stop trying to cover all of your bases
by carefully thinking things out in advance.
Trust yourself to know what you know
in the moment that is calling for it,
to be known,
by listening through some equivalent
of drawing in the dust.
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02
The Bud Ogle Cabin Oil Paint Rendered — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Gatlinburg, Tennessee
It's a snap
to think the wrong things are important,
to leave the path,
stray away from the way,
and have nothing to do
with the things crying out
for us to do them.
Being clear.
Being focused.
Being grounded and centered.
Being present and accounted for.
In the service
of what is ours to do.
Is not a snap at all.
We have to be awake
and mindfully aware
at all times.
Self-transparent.
In accord with the Tao.
Attuned to the moment
and to ourselves.
Alert to what is happening
and what is called for
moment-by-moment.
Caring so much about
being who the moment
needs us to be
that we distance ourselves
from all other concerns
in order to act sincerely,
without contrivance,
spontaneously doing
what is appropriate to the occasion
one occasion after another
all our life long
and being right about it
every time.
Doing the right thing.
At the right time.
In the right way.
All the time.
Is not a snap.
And, if we aren't doing it,
we are letting ourselves
and each other
down.
All the time.
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01
Cullasaja Cascade Oil Paint Rendered — Cullasaja River Gorge, Nantahalia National Forest, Highlands, North Carolina
From prison, John the Baptist
sent his disciples to ask Jesus,
"Are you the one who is to come,
or shall we wait for another?"
Jesus replied, "Go and tell John,
'I am who I am,
doing what is mine to do--
no one can do better than that!'"
What would it take for us
to be who we are,
doing what is ours to do--
And letting the outcome be the outcome?
Not trying to pivot ourselves
into some luxurious,
privileged,
glorious ever after--
but just meeting the moment,
moment-by-moment,
doing what is called for
in each situation as it arises,
just being who we are,
doing what is ours to do
throughout each day,
throughout our life?
Mt. Robson Oil Paint Rendered — Mt. Robson Provencal Park, British Columbia
Living to do what the moment
needs us to do
is to put ourselves in the service
of that which is greater than we are.
It is the most spiritual thing on the planet,
serving the moment,
being alive to the here and now,
being aware of the here and now,
being present to what is present with us.
Mostly, we pass through the here and now,
on our way to somewhere else--
somewhere more important,
more interesting,
a better place to be.
We are either alive now or not.
If not now, when?
When are we ever alive?
When are we ever doing what the moment
needs us to do?
It is always something else.
Something else is always in the way.
Of being here, now,
looking, listening,
attuned, aware, alive
to the moment
and what it needs from us.
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01
Mormon Row Barn 06/23/2001 Oil Paint Rendered — Grand Teton National Park, Jackson, Wyoming
Living in each moment
as though it is the most important moment ever
would radically transform the world.
We throw moments away,
looking for the moment
we have been waiting for.
And we miss all the ones
that had been waiting for us.
Showing up and living truthfully
isn't about the Boy Scout Law.
It is about being present
and seeing what's what--
what is happening
and what needs to be done in response,
and making the response
the moment is calling for
out of our repertoire
of gifts/genius/virtues/character/etc.
that come with us from the womb.
Think of it as practice
for the Big One
when it comes around--
and treat all of the little ones
as though they are the ones
that matter.
Offer what is needed
when it is needed
where it is needed
the way it is needed
for as long as it is needed
moment-by-moment,
and everything will
fall into place around that,
and the difference
will be amazing.
Hammock Creek Oil Paint Rendered — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina
Living to be what the situation
is calling us to be--
doing what it is calling us to do--
would flip our life around.
Turn it inside out
and upside down,
kill us and resurrect us
in one reality-transforming instant.
As it is, we live to get the most out of
every situation that comes along.
"What's in this for me?"
is the question that guides our life.
"How can I get what I want,
here and now?"
To think that the situation has needs of its own
that we can meet
out of the goodness of our own little heart,
with nothing to gain,
get,
acquire,
amass...
Well that's an unconventional thought!
And one we are not inclined
to consider!
You can see how religion was invented
to keep us safe from the intrusion
of The Mystery of situational neediness
into our happy
(Or soon to be happy,
the minute we get what we want
and have our way throughout eternity)
life.
Religion makes no claims upon us
and our time.
We genuflect,
make the sign of the cross
(Or their equivalents across
all religions)
and go on about our life,
none the worse for wear.
But to throw us vulnerable
and at the mercy of every situation
for as long as our life lasts
is just a monstrosity of a concept!
It's like an invasion of vampires
from Mars,
maybe worse!
Forget it!
We are not going there!
Ever!
And The Mystery settles down
to wait us out.
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02
The Watchman and the Virgin 05/20/2010 Oil Paint Rendered — Zion National Park, Springdale, Utah
Growing up is caring in the right way,
at the right time,
about the right things.
Nobody can tell us how to do that.
We live our way to right assessment,
right interpretation,
right perspective,
right view point,
right seeing,
right hearing,
right knowing,
right understanding,
right doing,
right being.
The key is self-awareness,
self-reflection,
self-examination,
self-exploration,
self-transparency,
self-correction...
all along the way.
This is where Dharma
comes into play.
Dharma is Right Duty.
It is doing what is called for
in the time and place of our living--
doing the right thing,
in the right way,
at the right time,
moment-by-moment,
day-by-day,
all our life long.
We should/ought/must always do
what needs to be done--
what needs us to do it--
in each situation as it arises,
all our life long.
And we cannot know what that will be,
or should/ought/must be,
prior to the moment as it unfolds before us.
This is what Jesus was talking about
when he said,
"The spirit is like the wind
that blows where it will."
The spirit doesn't know where it is going,
or what it is doing next.
It responds to the circumstances
as they develop
in ways that are appropriate/fitting
to the occasion,
and it never knows--
it cannot know--
what that will be
before the time for acting.
In precisely that moment,
we act, the spirit acts,
our spirit acts,
without contrivance,
without concern for our own welfare,
our own profit,
our own gain,
our own benefit,
to do what is called for
with the gifts we bring to the moment,
right here, right now.
And do it again in the next moment
flowing from this one.
Sometimes that means taking a nap
when it is time to take a nap.
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01
Smoky Mountain Winter 03/02/2014 Oil Paint Rendered — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Gatlinburg, Tennessee
What is your response?
That is where you exercise
your only control
in each situation as it arises.
We are in charge of our response.
We are responsible for our response.
"It's people like you
who make people like me
hate people like you,"
is missing the point
of "people like me."
The point of each of us
is to not be yanked around
by "people like you,"
or by any aspect of our life,
and made to do what is against our will
and purpose,
but to live from our own center,
with balance and harmony
in offering what is being called for
moment-by-moment
out of the gifts/genius/talents/abilities/etc.
that we have to offer
the circumstances of our life
in the time left for living.
We are here to be ourselves
in response to our life!
To incarnate ourselves anew
in each moment of each day.
We do that by the response we make
to each moment of each day.
What is your response?
You dream a dream.
What is your response in the dream
to the dreamed situation?
What is your response outside the dream,
as you reflect on it?
Your response, in the dream and out of it,
is what your dream is about.
We dream ourselves into responses
worthy of us.
We grow up--
we grow ourselves up--
by examining,
studying,
exploring,
investigating,
the responses we make
to our dreams
and to our life
throughout our life.
Every situation asks something of us.
How do we respond?
What response do we make?
The first proper response
in each situation,
is to slay the dragon
whose name is Thou Shalt!
(Joseph Campbell)
and live in the moment
fresh from the kill,
free to be exactly
what the moment needs us to be,
however foreign to the shoulds,
oughts,
and musts
at work in every situation
to keep us from responding appropriately
to the needs of the moment
as it opens before us.
What response will we make?
That is our question to answer
in each moment of each situation of each day
for as long as life shall last.
In light of what do we live?
Moment-to-moment?
Blue Ridge Tree on a Hill Oil Paint Rendered — Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina
What is worth doing for itself alone?
Start there.
Give yourself to the actions
that are their own fulfillment
and reason for being.
Horseback riding, perhaps.
Walking on a foggy morning
through the woods.
Reading stories to the grandchildren.
Surely, your life is filled
with things that you do for the joy of it!
Do those things with clarity,
willfulness
and attentive presence!
These are the things you live to do!
These are the sources of meaning in your life!
Do them with reckless abandon!
LIVE to do them!
Work them into each day!
Do not be bashful or apologetic!
These things are who you are!
Look to expand their number,
to increase their presence
in quantity and frequency
in your life!
You are here to do what you love to do
for no reason beyond loving to do it!
Do not be slack in doing what you love!
Your life will love you for it!
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03
Four Girls II Panorama Oil Paint Rendered — Johnson Creek, St. Helena Island, South Carolina
There is a right way to do anything,
and a wrong way to do it.
Mozart wrote his symphonies
with the right way to do it in mind.
This is not to say that someone
wouldn't/couldn't come along
with an interpretation
that would blow even Mozart away.
Even though 10,000 people might
present interpretations
that would leave him lamenting
that he wrote it at all.
There are ways of responding to the moment
of our living
that are so right
everyone witnessing it
would respond with a standing ovation.
And ways of responding that are so wrong
that everyone hearing about it
would writhe in shame and dismay.
We stand between--
and offer some variant of--
right and wrong
in each moment of every situation
that arises,
all our life long.
We could be more consciously aware
of that than we are.
We could listen intently
to what the moment is calling for,
realize with clarity
what our role in the moment
requires of us,
and offer it without seeking
to exploit our opportunity
for our good/gain/profit/advancement,
but seeking simply
to offer what is needed,
when it is needed,
the way it is needed to be done
and let that be that.
Without merit or applause,
and nothing arising from it
beyond the next moment,
in which we respond with awareness
and behavior appropriate to the occasion.
Moment-by-moment,
situation-by-situation,
day-by-day
all our life long.
This simple way of living
is well within our reach,
and yet it exceeds our grasp,
day in and day out,
all our life long.
What is that about?
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02
Barn on Mormon Row 06/30/2011 Oil Paint Rendered — Grand Teton National Park, Jackson, Wyoming
It is always right before us.
The Gospel of Thomas says Jesus said,
"The kingdom of God is spread out over the entire earth,
and no one sees what they are looking at."
The stone the builders reject.
The pearl of great price lost
among the costume jewelry at the flea market.
The treasure buried in the field
people walk past every day.
The man sitting on his ox
looking for his ox.
The woman with her glasses on her head,
looking for her glasses.
What can you do with people like that?
Jesus is born anew in every generation.
No one sees him.
Most of the time he doesn't see himself.
John the Baptist sent his people to ask Jesus,
"Are you the one? Or shall we look for another?"
If you have to ask,
maybe you ought to change your expectations.
In order to see what is right before you.
And then, there is the Buddhist take on things:
"If you meet the Buddha on the road,
kill him!"
Because you are what you seek!
Get it?
So be who you are!
Without trying!
What could be simpler?
Or more difficult?
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01
Fall on Little River 11/10/2006 Oil Paint Rendered — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tremont, Tennessee
Our life has a life of its own.
Our place is to find it,
align ourselves with it,
and live out our days
loving our life and enjoying it forever.
The clues to finding our life
and living it
are bread crumbs of meaning--
and by "meaning" I mean
the things we enjoy and do
for themselves alone,
and not because they will lead
to something else.
In other words,
our life consists
of doing what is meaningful
and letting nature take its course.
What is meaningful about
your present life?
Do more of that!
Next question?
Seriously.
What are your questions?
Don't tell me--tell yourself!
Make a list of your questions.
Everything flows from there.
Answers mean nothing.
Questions mean everything.
Let your questions guide you
to a life worth living!
Let your questions lead you
to a life worth having!
We know more when we know
what our questions are
than we would ever know
knowing what the answers are.
Ask your questions,
and the questions they beg to be asked!
That is the way to all things
wise and wonderful!
You are wasting your time
talking to people who have the answers.
Talk to people who have the question--
especially the right questions!
They know what's what,
and what's not.
What are your questions?
Fort Buhlow 01/25/2017 BW Oil Paint Rendered — Pineville, Louisiana
Living aligned with our life
and living in accord with the Tao
is bringing our best to meet the day,
like water seeking its way,
not forcing its way,
by responding appropriately,
at the right time,
in the right way,
to each situation as it arises.
That sounds simple enough.
What makes it difficult?
Why is it impossible?
Carry this with you as a
meditation,
a modern koan,
to resolve before you die.
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02
Crested Dwarf Iris Oil Paint Rendered — Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina
Spiritual has no necessary connection
with religion,
theology,
doctrine,
dogma,
creed,
catechism,
belief
or conviction.
It has everything to do with truth.
With integrity.
With doing the right thing,
in the right place,
at the right time,
in the right way.
Spiritual is living so attuned to,
so in tune with,
so at-one with,
so aligned with,
so in accord with
the moment and what is called for there
that our spontaneous response
is exactly what is most fitting,
proper and appropriate
at that time
and in that place.
The participation in that kind of truth,
of that kind of integrity of being,
and being witness to it,
are both spiritual experiences
that draw forth the spontaneous Yes!
of acknowledging the perfection
of oneness of life and being
with time and place.
Spiritual is being thus aligned
with life and being, time and place.
The old Taoists called it
being in accord with the Tao.
It is the foundation of spirituality
across time and space.
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01
Sourwood 02 11/04/2020 Oil Paint Rendered — 22-acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina
Becoming conscious is our sacred obligation
from birth to death.
We live to become conscious
of life, living, and being alive.
A moment spent being unconscious
is a moment we will never get back.
A life-time of mindlessness
is wasted,
is thrown away.
Living like cows following
the cow in front of them
from the barn
to the pasture
and back to the barn
is life as we live it--
as it has always been lived
by those who have gone before us.
We must live to break the pattern.
Start with Jon Kabat-Zinn's YouTube videos
(The shortest ones first),
and practice Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction
like you practice breathing
throughout the time left for living.
Ask all of the questions that beg to be asked.
Say all of the things that cry out to be said.
Slay the dragon named Thou Shalt! daily,
hourly!
Live to be aware of the moment of your living,
to see what is happening
to hear what is being called for in response,
to do what needs to be done
without contrivance
or self-interest,
with sincerity
and spontaneity,
moment-by-moment.
Live like the stream seeking its way to the sea
with nothing in it for you,
making a path where there is no path,
finding a way where there is no way,
exerting a will that is more than a will
and is not a will at all
all the way to the end,
where you start the journey over,
being water on its way to the sea,
being water all the way,
being who you are,
living to discover who you are,
doing what is yours to do
as only you can do it,
as time and place allow it,
demand it,
require it,
all our life long.
If we are not being conscious,
why not?
What are we waiting for?
Dogwoods Oil Paint Rendering — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Gatlinburg, Tennessee
We live on to pass it on--
to pass life on.
Not only physical life,
but spiritual life as well.
And spiritual life has nothing to do with beliefs,
ideology,
theology,
doctrine,
dogma,
creeds,
catechisms,
words,
thinking,
reason,
logic,
rationality.
Spiritual life has to do with dancing,
playing,
laughing,
singing,
drumming,
poetry,
metaphor,
symbol...
What is a metaphor for you?
You are a metaphor for what?
My father knew nothing of these things.
He could not pass any of them along to me.
Just as his father had nothing
of spiritual substance
to pass along to him.
Just as his grandfather had nothing
to pass along to his father...
My mother was as bereft
as her mother,
as her grandmother...
Not a breath of real life in the whole lot.
The line stretches far back
into the dense fog
of the very beginning.
Nothing but the physical side
from the start.
Our spirit is shriveled
from lack of attention.
Our heart is dried out,
the juices of life are depleted.
Where shall we go to restore our soul?
Who has passed on the secrets
of full life,
pouring over,
spilling out?
I know that some have.
I have found mine in the writings of those
who speak of things
no one in my family knew of.
I have adopted spiritual fathers and mothers
who have nourished me back to life,
who lived on to pass it on,
and where would we be without them?
And now it is our turn,
living on to pass it on--
what do we have worth passing on?
Perspective,
kindness,
compassion,
questioning,
seeking,
playfulness,
laughter,
gentleness,
generosity,
...
How long is your list of things
that need passing on?
Live to add to it everyday,
and pass them around
for all to enjoy
and pass on!
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02
False Hellebore Oil Paint Rendered — Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia
Here is my fool-proof,
never-fail,
method for changing your mind
about something--
anything--
all things
(And by changing your mind,
I mean changing the way you think
about something [etc.],
the way you feel about something [etc.],
the way something [etc.] impacts you,
affects you,
effects you [etc.]
forever.
There is absolutely nothing to it.
All you have to do is start living
as though your mind has changed.
The old psychological saw at work here is
"Feelings follow actions."
If you want to change the way
you feel about something,
change the way you act in relation to it.
Start acting the way you want to feel/think/perceive.
Pretend your way to a different reality.
"Fake it 'til you make it,"
as the folks in AA like to say.
The catch is that you have to fake it
with your heart in what you are doing.
You have to fake it so well
you begin to trick yourself,
and you catch yourself being unsure
how you "really feel."
Of course, you will have to work through
all of the barriers your put in your own way--
the thoughts about not being genuine,
not being authentic,
not being real,
not being true to yourself, etc.
Do not pause to think about it
or to argue the point.
Just get back to work
acting as though you feel
as you wish you felt
about whatever it is
that needs to be changed
about your attitude and your life.
Maybe it's washing dishes.
Start washing dishes
as you would if you wanted
to wash dishes.
Put your whole heart into it.
All the way.
This approach to being alive
will transform your world,
and the world of everyone who knows you.
In no time at all.
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01
Sunwapta Falls 09/24/2006 Oil Paint Rendered — Jasper National Park, Alberta
If it is good for people,
I'm for it--
why is that bad?
Why can't Republicans use
that statement
as their identifying motto/slogan?
What is bad about being good for people?
Why do Republicans not call it socialism
when their taxes pay for roads and highways
and libraries
and the first twelve years of school,
and their own salaries
(If they work for the government),
but call it socialism
when their taxes pay for health care
and the next four or five or six years of school
and unemployment stipends
and child care?
Why don't Republicans want the government
to be on the side of the people?
Particularly when the government's own rules
say it is "of the people,
by the people,
for the people"?
Why would anybody want to be a Republican?
Besides being well-paid
by wealthy corporation
to keep their taxes low--
Or to make their taxes non-existent?
Republicans are in it for the money,
and will promise you anything
to get your vote,
then do what they want to do
when elected.
Republicans are not on the side of the people
because corporations pay them
to not be on the side of the people,
because that would increase corporate taxes.
No one has ever been called
"a bleeding heart Republican"
for as long as there have been Republicans.
Republicans are shepherds of corporation.
They don't care about the people.
Look it up.
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 