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?
This is the parent page for the first quarter of 2021. I hope you like what you find here, and may 2021 be a blessing to all who know a blessing when they see one!
Ginkgos 03 11/27/2021 — Ballantyne Ginkgo Park, Charlotte, North Carolina
We are in a hurry
for things to be
as we want them to be.
Magic wands were invented
to rush things along--
in a "Serenity NOW! DAMNIT!!!"
kind of way.
We do not want to wait
for what we want!
Because it might not be
what we want!
And we want to be SURE
it is what we want.
NOW!
And here we are.
Nothing changes until we do.
And we don't change
until we change our mind
about what is important.
Nothing will be different
until we are different.
Which means handing over control.
Surrendering what we want
in the service of what needs to happen-
in a whole-hearted,
total commitment,
"Thy will, not mine be done,"
kind of way
(With "Thy" being the way things need to be
for the good of the whole
in each situation as it arises,
throughout the rest of time).
It is amazing how well things work together
when nothing is striving to have its way
at the expense of everything else.
Colt Creek Cascades 02 04/14/2014 Oil Paint Rendering — Pierson’s Glen, Saluda, North Carolina
Our life is uniquely equipped
to lead us to the heart
of what matters most.
The problem is
that we have our own ideas
about what that is.
And our life has to get us
to abandon our idea
of what matters most
and to embrace our life's idea
of what matters most,
and live in the service of that
with all our heart.
This is the story of Adam and Eve
in the Garden of Eden,
and the story of Jesus of Nazareth
in the Garden of Gethsemane.
This is the story of humankind.
We live to know what is important
and live in light of it,
serving it with our life.
And we interfere with that process,
with the process of life,
by forcing our idea of what is important
on our life.
Ideally, we live to comprehend--
and pledge our liege loyalty to--
the meaning of:
"Thy will, not mine, be done!"
with "Thy" understood as
"The flow of life and being,"
or "The Mystery of Life and Being,"
or "What needs us to do
what needs to be done
here and now."
It would help to have this
explained to us at the start,
and to be reminded of it often.
Our life is not ours
to do with as we will!
We belong to our life
to do what it needs us to do!
This is the call of Destiny
to acquiesce to it's demands.
Everything rides on our response.
–0–
03
The Bench 09/05/2017 B&W — Charlotte, North Carolina
Consequences are the only teacher.
Experience is the experience of consequences.
Reflection on experience
leads to new realizations.
Realization takes the past
and constructs the future.
Yesterday's wrong
is tomorrow's right.
It takes getting it wrong
to get it right.
Doing it wrong
to do it right.
We learn to make really good
chicken noodle soup
by making a lot of very bad
chicken noodle soup
with our eyes open,
seeing what we look at,
reflecting on our errors
to the point of new realizations
and informed hypotheses
and additional experimentation
all the way to perfection.
We live boldly,
courageously,
toward doing it better,
toward getting it right.
Right Soup,
according to our taste,
exists "out there."
We only have to find our way to it,
and trust ourselves
to know it when we get there.
It is the same
with every aspect of our life.
We are making soup constantly.
The idea is to make really good soup,
to live a really good life,
one mistake at a time.
We get it right
by getting it wrong
with our eyes open,
seeing what we look at,
reflecting on what our experience
is telling us,
to the point of new realizations
leading to different ways of doing things,
all the way to perfection.
Throw away all of the rule books,
all of the doctrines,
creeds,
theology,
and live with your eyes open
to what is happening
and what the consequences
have to tell you
about what you need to do differently
in light of what needs to be done
to make things as good as they can be
as assessed by the majority of people
evaluating your life over time.
–0–
02
Adams Millpond Mirror Panorama 11/10/2014 Oil Paint Rendering –Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina
Fraser Snowden said,
"The only true philosophical question is
'Where do you draw the line?'"
Where do you draw it?
Only you can draw the line
where you draw it.
Where do you think it goes?
Only you know that.
What keeps you from drawing the line
where you think it goes?
Get to the bottom of that question.
Who draws your lines for you?
When we stop drawing our own lines,
it is all over for us.
Joseph Campbell said it all comes down to
drawing our own lines.
To having the courage
to draw our own lines.
His exact words are:
"The aim of individuation requires
that one should find
and then learn to live out of
one's own center,
in control of one's own
for and against."
In control of where one
draws the line.
That is what makes us human.
Drawing the line where we determine
it needs to be drawn!
Oh, and we have to be right about it!
That's the catch with being human.
We have to say so,
and not so,
and be right about it.
Being right about it
is where philosophy comes in.
Who is to say
what is right and what is not?
We are, of course.
But.
We have to be right about it.
This being right
is completely of the moment.
It is ephemeral,
mercurial,
fleeting,
and gone like that (snaps fingers).
Jesus said "The Spirit
is like the wind that blows where it will."
Which means not even the Spirit
knows what it will do next.
Which means nothing can be
written down,
set in stone,
declared to be so for all ages to come.
There are no laws.
No laws of nature.
This is what science has discovered.
There are only hypotheses.
Only best guesses.
Of the moment.
To be verified or refuted
in the next moment,
or one of the ones after that.
There is right.
And there is wrong.
Which can be determined
only later.
In the meantime,
we are left with drawing our lines
for the time being,
and redrawing them again,
and again,
in light of future revelations,
when we are better able
to know what we are doing,
knowing that we will never know
all we need to know
to know what we are doing.
"Sin boldly!"
Said Martin Luther.
"And believe more boldly
in the marvelous grace of God!"
We have to live boldly,
from our own center,
from our own for and against,
from our own yes and no--
and be right about it.
Which means knowing when we
are wrong,
or have been wrong,
and making adjustments,
and re-drawing our lines
in light of the best information
currently available.
Believing in--
counting on--
grace all the way
to the end of the line,
knowing there is no end of the line,
as far as we can tell,
given the information
currently available to us.
–0–
01
Mesquite Dunes 04/06/2006 — Death Valley National Park, California
They want impunity and immunity.
They want a law that puts them forever
beyond the law.
A law that says they aren't liable,
which means they aren't responsible,
which means they can do whatever they like.
The top 1% I'm talking about.
Maybe the top 0.5%.
And also those aspiring to be
among the top 0.5%.
They want the Prince MBS Rule,
which says, "Anything Goes,"
applied to them.
Exclusively.
And they will do anything
for the privilege
of being able to do anything.
They all aspire
to being who Donald Trump is.
Who aspires to be who MBS is.
Donald Trump will do anything
to remain in power.
Power is everything to Donald Trump
and to all of the people
who want to be just like him.
And power means making everyone
afraid to oppose you.
That is Donald Trump,
and MBS,
and all their doting legions.
Don't forget Mitch McConnell.
The Enabler in Chief.
When he says, "No Democrat bill
will ever pass!"
he is exercising the power
he envies and envisions for himself.
Total power.
Absolute power.
The power of God.
Republicans and their keeper/donors
want the power of God.
They want to be God.
They want God to be their toady.
And they will do anything
to have what they want.
If we are going to stop them
it is going to be now.
Every eligible voter in Georgia
has to vote for the Democrats.
If they don't win,
it's over.
Why is this so hard to see?
Peach Orchard Panorama 01/17/2015 — Springs Farm, Fort Mill, South Carolina
Martha Graham premiered Lamentation
on January 8, 1930.
You can participate in her dance here:
Hers was/is the only appropriate response
to her times
and ours.
Metaphors express what words cannot say.
The most important things cannot be said.
The deepest things cannot be said.
The truest things cannot be said.
Yet we have lost the medium of metaphor.
We don't know symbols.
If it isn't a fact,
it isn't real.
What are the meaningful symbols
in your life?
In the life of the nation?
We live in the absence of symbols
like a fish lives out of water.
Without metaphors to speak to us,
and for us,
we are dead people walking,
not seeing,
not hearing,
not feeling,
not knowing...
Plodding through our life
going nowhere.
Oceans of tears exist
just on the other side of silence,
but we will not be that quiet.
Noise is our salvation.
Noise and addiction du jour.
We have to talk, talk, talk,
defend,
explain,
justify,
excuse...
Anything but be still and quiet,
listening,
looking,
because we might see and hear,
and never stop crying.
Let Martha Graham say
what we are experiencing,
without saying a thing.
–0–
03
Maine Moon 09/27/2012 — Stonington, Deer Isle, Maine
Jon Kabat-Zinn is the Father
of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction.
His YouTube videos are not to be missed
(The shortest ones first)
in the work of establishing
ourselves in the practice of mindfulness.
But.
There is one thing he fails to stress
to my satisfaction:
Silence is the source of Good
and Noise is the source of Evil.
Blaise Pascal said,
“All of humanity's problems stem
from (our) inability to sit quietly
in a room alone.”
Being quiet
and paying attention
to the silence,
noticing what arises--
without engaging any of it,
but simply being aware of it,
and watching as one thing
is replaced by another,
with no apparent connection
and no inherent meaning,
and how your emotions
are aroused,
and how your body reacts physically,
to the thoughts that fly about
erratically,
haphazardly,
inexplicably...
And yet, the one thing they have in common
is you.
Watch for patterns to develop.
For themes to emerge.
For a story to take shape.
We do not think "just anything."
Our "monkey mind" is not swinging
wildly from tree to tree.
The chaos is ordered precisely,
and presents a clear picture
of how things stand with us
at this particular moment in our life.
Our mind is shouting,
"Listen! Look!
This is how it is with you!
Pay attention to the apparent madness!
This is the mud
you must allow to settle,
so that the water can clear
and you can see what is interfering
with your ability
to live your life as it needs to be lived,
moment-to-moment,
day-to-day!"
Being aware of the noise
in the silence
allows us to distance ourselves
from the turmoil
and just see, just know, just be
in the moment with it all
in our awareness.
Returning our attention to our breathing,
allows us to hold it all in awareness,
just watching,
just seeing,
just knowing,
just breathing...
And things shift.
Without our doing anything
beyond watching, seeing, knowing, breathing...
Wu-wei, as the Zen Taoists might say.
Make a regular routine
of sitting with the Silence,
and be amazed at how that simple act
transforms the way you live your life
over time.
–0–
02
Beaufort Fall 13 11/13/2017 Oil Paint Rendering — Beaufort, South Carolina
We are the final authority
in all matters of faith and practice.
We are the one who says so.
We are responsible
for all of our decisions and choices,
and the burden of our outcomes
remains ours alone to bear
throughout all eternity.
Our life is our responsibility.
Life is constantly throwing things at us--
and that is where we come in.
We respond to each thing as it comes,
and the way we do that
is the teller that tells the tale.
No matter what happens to us,
we say what it means,
and we say what we do about it.
If we yield our position
and allow someone else to tell us what to do,
we choose to yield and to submit to the other.
Our choices and our actions are inescapable.
We carry the weight of having lived
up to this point,
and will carry it forward
from this point on.
We are the authority
by which our life is lived.
That being the case,
you might think we would
be more diligent about
our approach to the moment at hand--
more aware,
more intentional,
more alert,
more awake,
completely present
and accounted for--
and ready to deal with
what is ours to manage
as only we can.
Instead,
we allow ourselves to be swept along
by our circumstances,
with no idea
of what is guiding
our boat on its path
through the sea.
It is time
we take up the work
of getting to the bottom of it--
and assert our authority
over what we do about
what is happening
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.
Our life is what we do
in response to our circumstances.
What we do is our call to make.
Moment-by-moment-by-moment.
If we aren't making the call,
we are making it by default
in a "Not to decide is to decide"
kind of way.
We are Luke Skywalker
with the training helmet on,
having to learn what it means
to trust the Force,
which is also the Source,
which is also the Mystery
at the Heart of Life and Being.
Moment-by-moment-by-moment.
How well we do it is dependent
on how intentional and aware
we are about what we are doing.
It is all up to us.
For better, for worse.
All our life long.
–0–
01
Watkins Glen 07 09/20/2015 Oil Paint Rendering — Watkins Glen State Park, Watkins Glen, New York
The Christ I am
wishes a Merry Christmas
to the Christ you are.
If the Christ is anything,
the Christ is iconoclastic to the core.
No theology!
No doctrine!
No ideology!
No creeds!
Just being right about what is important,
and seeing what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises--
doing it without considering
our advantage,
or what we stand to gain or lose,
with no interest in the outcome,
just giving the best we have to offer
to the true good of the moment,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
Of course,
the outcome of this moment,
will set up the next moment,
where we will again offer what is needed,
so that our work is never done,
which always gives us something to do,
so what's the problem?
Well, one problem is being right
about what is important.
We get better at that over time,
bringing our experience into play
with our imagination,
and our intuition,
and our instincts,
and our sense of what's what,
but throughout time,
consequences remain our only teacher,
and we are always learning what is important,
and getting better at reading situations,
and having less at stake
in what is happening,
and becoming more aware of ourselves
responding to what is going on,
and what's pushing our buttons,
and yanking our chains,
and engaging our complexes,
as we work things out slowly
over time,
reflecting continually
in the service of new realizations
and an increasingly better alignment
with the Tao,
and a deepening accordance/resonance
with the Mystery at the heart of Life and Being
throughout our life.
The Christ is always becoming The Christ--
and we are always
incarnating/embodying/expressing/exhibiting
the Christ in all that we do.
And my Christ wishes your Christ
the merriest of Christmases
with good faith
and courage for the journey
through all that is before us
all along the Way!
Steele Creek Trestle Panorama 02/13/2014 Oil Paint Rendering — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Fort Mill, South Carolina
It is Christmas Eve.
A wonderful time
for re-evaluating your relationship
with your life.
We know all about what
needs to be changed about the world.
What needs to be changed about you?
About your relationship with you?
About your relationship with the world?
It is a week until New Year's Eve.
The New Year is the traditional time
to consider what needs to be new about us
in honor of a new year,
a new beginning,
replete with resolutions and high hopes
for "this year being different."
We have a week to focus on our relationship
with our life and the world.
Not to think,
but to listen.
We do not get anywhere we need to be
by thinking,
but by listening,
by looking,
by seeing,
by hearing,
by reflecting/connecting
and forming new realizations.
What do we need to realize?
We have no idea.
So thinking cannot get us there.
Spend your time in the next week,
sitting still,
being quiet,
listening,
looking,
open to what comes up in the silence,
waiting for things to arise
with a particular "charge" about them
that "catches your eye,"
and "calls your name,"
and demands that you pay attention.
Look closer at those things,
just watching,
just seeing,
just hearing,
holding everything in your awareness,
writing down what needs to be written down,
and continuing to sit still,
be quiet,
and listen,
look...
And see where you are in a week.
Perhaps the mud will settle,
and the water will clear,
and you will know what
you are being called to do.
Then there is doing it.
Throughout the New Year,
and beyond!
Adams’ Millpond 11/10/2015 — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina
"What should I do?
What response should I make?
What is being asked of me?
What is being called for in this immediate situation,
here and now?"
We only have to know what is being called for
in the situation that is most pertinent
in any moment,
to know what we should do.
What is your most pressing situation
right here, right now?
Only you can decide that.
What is being called for?
Only you can decide that?
If you are being paralyzed,
or held hostage,
or rendered hopeless,
by the absence of acceptable outcomes--
if everything you can think of doing
is useless in terms of its impact
on the situation as a whole,
think smaller,
think here and now.
Share cups of cold water,
or hot coffee,
or room temperature wine,
and talk of better days,
or of what would help to get through
these days,
or simply share the warmth
of each other's company...
You know,
like that.
–0–
01
Charlotte Skyline 08/23/2017 Oil Paint Rendering– Charlotte, North Carolina
Enlightenment,
Illumination,
Reflection/realization
all result in
awakening to what is important--
that is,
knowing what we know to be important--
and being right about it,
so that we live out of that knowing
in each situation as it arises.
This is all it takes to put ourselves
right with ourselves
in the life we are living,
and with the world in which
we are living.
And that shifts the world on its course,
and puts the world in alignment
with itself.
And that transforms everything.
Be right.
Do right.
Make right.
Get that down,
and we all have it made!
In the Beginning 07/28/2016 — Indian Land, South Carolina
We care too much
about the wrong things,
and we care too little
about the right things.
Consider what you care about,
and what you don't care about.
All of the time.
–0–
01
In The Marsh Panorama 08/22/2015 — Beaufort, South Carolina
We are on our own.
No one can do it for us.
Teachers, at best, can only offer
their experience as a guide,
and, at worst, can only tell us
what someone told someone who told someone
who told someone...
who told them.
Too many spiritual guides
and religious leaders
only know what they got
from someone else.
Ask around:
"What do you know of God
that you did not get from
some other source,
including the Bible?"
Ask the people who claim to know
more than you know,
"What do you know of God
that you discovered on your own,
without help from anyone else?"
The old Taoist Masters
cut to the chase, saying:
"Seek the Source
in the Silence!
Live with sincerity
and spontaneity
out of your own sense
of what is called for
in each situation as it arises,
incarnating/expressing/exhibiting
the face that was yours before your
grandparents were born!"
No theology there!
No doctrine there!
No creedal formula there!
Only personal experience at the core!
And your personal experience
will be different from everyone else's!
Their slogans,
for example,
"Eat when hungry,
rest when tired,"
mean "Live out of your own sense
of what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises!"
True to our own sense
of what needs to be done,
we gradually learn to read
our situations with a perceptive eye,
and get responding to them appropriately
down to a fine art--
and no one can tell us how to do that!
So, "Get in there and do your thing,
and let the outcome be your teacher
in knowing how to apply your thing
to each situation as it arises!"
That is all there is to it!
Today is the Winter Solstice,
the shortest day in the year,
and the day the sun turns back toward the earth.
The day all those human beings were sacrificed
through the ages
to bring The God back--
and it WORKED!!!
All of our ideologies "work" the same way!
"Let it be!" said the Beatles.
You can't beat that
for a life-giving attitude.
Let the sun go
if it's going!
Let it come back
if it comes back!
We can't do that with The God.
We have to impose our will
with our supplications
and votive offerings
and even human sacrifices.
We are stupid in so many ways.
Let's see how many ways
we can not be stupid any longer.
–0–
03
November Orchard 10 11/03/2013 — Springs Farm, Fort Mill South Carolina, Oil Paint Rendering
Joseph Campbell said,
"One should find,
and learn to live out of,
one's own center,
and be the source
of one's own
for and against."
This cannot be done
without killing the dragon
with "Thou Shalt" engraved
on every scale.
We cannot submit to the expectations
and mores of parents
and society,
and speak with our own voice
and follow our own sense
of what is called for
in each situation as it arises.
What is ours to bring forth
is unique among the ages,
and we cannot give birth to ourselves
following the dictates
of "Those Who Know Best" (Truman Capote).
We are different from everyone else,
and must have compassion
for our different-ness,
and courage to befriend it
by living in ways
that allow it to shine through
and be known
all along the way!
–0–
02
Jenne Farm 04 09/28/2015 — Reading, Vermont
The next time you hear
a politician denouncing/decrying socialism
ask them who pays their salary.
Ask them who pays for their health insurance.
Ask them who pays for their housing.
Their meals.
Their eye glasses.
And all things pertaining to living their life.
Then ask them who pays public school teachers
and employees,
including equipment and facilities.
And who pays law enforcement officers,
including equipment and facilities.
And who pays military service men and women,
including equipment and facilities.
And who pays all politicians,
including their equipment and facilities
on all levels of government,
national, state and local.
And then ask them why it is okay
for taxpayers to pay all these people,
and it isn't okay for taxpayers
to pay for their own health care
out of the taxes they pay
which pays for all these people.
And why isn't it okay to subsidize
their own salaries when a pandemic
forces them into joblessness,
the way their taxes are used to subsidize
farmers when crops fail,
or businesses and corporations,
including air lines,
when their income is disrupted by a pandemic?
Ask them why socialism is okay in all these areas,
but it isn't okay for the people
who are paying the taxes
that support people in all these areas.
Ask them that.
And don't let them put you off
with anything less than
a completely satisfactory answer
that explains clearly
why you are less worthy
than any of these other people
of benefiting from the very taxes you pay.
Don't let them go
until you know why you aren't as important
as all these other people are.
Your taxes benefit them.
Why do politicians oppose your taxes
benefiting you?
–0–
01
Catawba Trestle 05-B 12/21/2015 — River Walk Park, Rock Hill, South Carolina
The term "Truth Commission"
seems to have limitations and restrictions
that would interfere with its implied purpose
of getting to the truth,
so, let's call it
"The Katie Porter Grand Inquisition"
(The very Katie Porter who is
the Representative from California's 45th District),
and authorize her to determine
the most efficient and expedient way
of getting to the bottom of
"Who authorized whom
to do what to whom,
where, when, why, and how--
in regard to everything done
under the Trump Administration
from start to finish,
including what laws were,
or may have been, broken,
and what penalties have been called for
that need to be applied
to see that justice is done
and grievances addressed,
in every instance,
with no exceptions or exclusions."
And have her do it
however she determines it needs to be done.
Beginning on January 21, 2021.
Islands in the Stream 01/11/2013 — Lake Jeanette, Greensboro, North Carolina
Joseph Campbell said,
"The crucial thing to live for
is the sense of life
in what you are doing,
and if that is not there,
then you are living according
to other people's notions
of how you ought to live."
Whenever that describes our current situation,
we have to stop.
Look.
And listen.
We have drifted away from the path,
and have to get back on track
by re-orienting ourselves,
turning the light around,
re-establishing our relationship
with our center,
re-connecting with the guiding sense
of what matters most,
re-aligning ourselves with the force
of our own life-energy,
and seeking ways to express
that which is deepest,
truest
and best about us--
the virtues,
character
and manner
which are the gifts
that came with us at birth
and seek expression,
incarnation,
embodiment
in-and-through us
and the life we are living.
This is our life's purpose,
our destiny:
to be who we are
in the way we live.
Getting back to that,
and living from it,
in service to it,
and letting everything else
fall into place around it,
is to find the sense of life
in what we are doing,
to be one with the Tao,
and to dance with the Mystery of Live and Being.
We can't beat that anywhere.
–0–
01
Making for Home–The Mailboat’s Wake, Stonington Maine
We live to know what owns us,
and to choose to be owned by it
or not.
We choose our owner.
It is the only choice we get to make.
Beyond that,
it is being owned.
Like it or not.
Truth is a harsh taskmaster.
Reaping what it did not plant,
harvesting what it did not sow.
Asking us, "Did you think
you were just along for the ride?"
We have to work out for ourselves
how much we can get by with,
and where to draw the line.
That is where we find out
who owns us.
We are who we show ourselves to be.
Regardless of who we think we are,
or who we say we are,
or who we wish we were.
Where we draw the line
reveals the truth of who we are.
What are the lines we live within?
Who draws them?
That is who owns us.
For better and for worse.
Better and worse.
Good and evil.
Those are coins
that have no edge.
Now it is up,
now it is down.
But, both are up and down
at the same time.
Each goes over into the other
like that,
and where does that line lie?
Whomever/Whatever owns us,
there are advantages and disadvantages.
Advantage/disadvantage is already
good/evil,
better/worse,
right/wrong.
Beyond good and evil
is out of the question.
We take the good along with the bad
and let it be
because it is.
Who owns us is who we are.
For better and for worse.
Forget advantage and disadvantage!
Decide this day whom you will serve!
Because that is who you are!
We are to be who we are because we are,
and let that be that,
because it is.
What can you live with,
being and doing,
with full awareness
of who you are being,
of what you are doing?
Be that!
Do that!
And let the outcome be the outcome.
For better and for worse.
Only God can worship God.
Everyone else
is just trying to get something
they don't deserve.
Storm at Sea 09/26/2008 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina
The Holy Grail represents the full realization
of the potentials
that came with us from the womb.
This is the culmination of The Hero's Journey:
Being Who We Are!
Who we are capable of being!
Fully Born,
as one Thus Come,
at last!
The secret ingredient is compassion.
Compassion for ourselves.
Compassion for others.
Compassion for the world as it is.
This is not striving to be anything
beyond compassionate,
not trying to gain anything
beyond being compassionate,
not trying to do anything
but be compassionate--
not in order to attain anything,
but to simply be compassionate.
Knowing/feeling that is enough.
That is Christ on the cross.
The Buddha under the Bo Tree.
The Dali Lama leaving Tibet
without a disparaging word
about the Chinese.
And it is the heart of Motherhood
around the world,
bearing out the truth of Simeon's word,
"A sword will pierce your very soul!"
even so.
Can we say it?
"Bring it on!
Let it be!
Anyway!
Nevertheless!
Even so!"
It requires no attachment
to fear,
desire,
or duty.
And exemplifies the complete freedom
and spontaneous readiness
to do what is called for
in each situation as it arises,
moment-by-moment,
day-by-day,
for nothing beyond the joy
of doing what is ours to do
with the gifts and potentialities
that are ours to share and exhibit
throughout the time left for living.
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01
Mallard in Flight 16 01/29/2013 — The Bog Garden, Greensboro, North Carolina
Where do we go from here?
Or, as it is sometimes phrased,
Here we are, now what?
Now, we wait for the mud to settle
and the water to clear.
It is that simple every time.
Do not be impatient with the future!
It comes in its own good time!
In the meantime,
wait, watch, listen.
Seeing and hearing
come in their own time,
in their own way.
When the door opens,
walk through?
What door?
Which door?
All this will be revealed to us
in its own time.
In the meantime,
wait, watch, listen.
If you haven't watched
Jon Kabat-Zinn's YouTube videos
on Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction,
now would be a good time
to do that (The shortest ones first).
Practice waiting, watching, listening
in each moment.
You will be amazed
at all you have been missing!
And, what's your hurry?
There is only seeing, hearing and understanding.
And you will never get beyond
those things,
even if you lived forever.
There will always be more to see than we see,
more to hear than we hear,
more to understand than we understand,
more to know than we know,
more to do than we do,
more to become than we are.
There is no arriving on the way
that is The Way!
Only the next thing to be aware of.
And that's where we came in.
So be aware of now,
and catch it as it evolves
into what's next!
And do what is called for
in response to both!
Lake Martin Sunset 08 02/07/2014 — Beaux Bridge, Louisiana
One of the first principles states:
"Nothing can happen to us that is so bad
that it cannot be made better--
or worse--
by the way we respond to it.
And nothing can happen that is so good
that it cannot be made better--
or worse--
by the way we respond it."
We hold the key to how well our life goes
by the way we respond to how our life is going.
Our response determines (or strongly influences)
everything that follows.
And so, we
Stop. Look. Listen.
And we
Look Both Ways Twice.
This means before we act/react/respond
in every life setting.
Because our response to what is happening
is much more important
than what is happening.
We set-up what happens next
by the way we respond to what just happened.
If you are ever going to believe anything,
believe this--
and act accordingly.
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Coming In 03/22/2013 — The Bog Garden, Greensboro, North Carolina
The symbols that are alive for us
have to square us up
with the life that is ours to live,
and the world in which we live,
so that we find ways to be who we are
in the time and place of our living.
Our symbols call us to life,
and guide us in finding ways
to incarnate the deep truth of our being
within the circumstances of life-in-the-world--
to break into the world
as the Transforming Word,
the Sacred Act,
of Life coming to life
and shattering the expectations
and assumptions of life
in so doing.
Symbols are life and death in the making.
What are the symbols that are alive for us?
To what do they point?
They are doorways opening to what?
What are they calling us to do,
to become?
Two of my favorite "living symbols"
are Yoda and Obi-wan Kenobi.
The two are one.
They stand before me
as projections of my own Inner Guides,
my Mentors within,
reminding me that I have all I need,
if I will be still and listen,
and look,
and write!
When I write it out,
there it is--
exactly what I am looking for!
Calling me to incarnate it
in the way I live
moment-by-moment,
day-by-day.
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Cabot Trail 02 09/27/2007 — Nova Scotia
Life at its best
has an organic flow about it.
There is a time to sleep,
and a time to eat,
and a time to work,
and a time to refrain from working...
A circadian rhythm governs
the planets in their orbits,
and the tides in their cycles,
and the seasons in their traces...
To live in accordance with the times
is to be on track and in tune with the Tao.
In the ancient Greek way of thinking,
this is kairos, the opportune time,
the right time,
the time for acting.
Our lives tend to be more orderly,
more routine,
more predictable,
and are run by the clock
and the calendar.
We eat at noon
whether we are hungry or not.
We go to bed at 10:30
whether we are sleepy or not.
We live buy Chronos, clock time,
calendar time.
The time bills come due,
and school starts and stops,
and the day begins and ends.
Working Kairos in with Chronos
is a balancing act only humans
have to master.
The rest of the natural world
turns when it is time for turning,
dances when it is time to dance,
and naps when a nap is called for.
Eating when hungry,
resting when tired
is the ideal to strive for.
Doing what is needed--
what is necessary--
in the time and place
the call is issued,
is the sine qua non
of a True Human Being.
How close can we come,
and how often do we dare,
are the questions
which, when answered,
tell the tale.
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01
Axis Mundi — From my Symbols of Transformation Collection The Axis Mundi is the Axis of the World, the center of the world and of the universe, the pole, and more than that, the point–the still point–around which everything falls into place, and upon which all things are centered, grounded, united, and become One. The Central Mountain. The Sacred Tree. The heart of the cosmos and all that is. And it is everywhere. Within everyone. Living from that point, all things are One.
We belong in one place,
not in every place.
We belong to one thing,
not everything.
Knowing where we belong,
and what our "thing" is,
is essential knowing.
Honoring what we know,
and living in accord with it,
is essential wisdom.
Allowing where we belong
and what we do
to evolve over time
is essential grace.
Living out of essential knowing,
essential wisdom,
and essential grace
is to compose a well-lived life.
No one can do better than that.
And no one can tell us
how to do that.
No one knows what we know.
No one.
We are the teacher,
and we are the student.
We are the chisel
and we are the stone.
The Fire Place 04/03/2011 The fire pit where the family gathers periodically to sacrifice marshmallows and offer thanksgiving for chocolate bars and graham crackers.
Happy is a state of being,
an aspect of mind.
A perspective,
an outlook,
an orientation,
an attitude,
a point of view.
It is the way we look
at what we see.
Joseph Campbell called for
"The joyful participation
in the sorrows of the world."
And invited us to
walk right into life as it is
and embrace without hesitation
the full pathos of
the Mystery at the heart of Life and Being.
He said,
"The Cosmic Dancer, declares Nietzsche, does not rest heavily in a single spot, but gaily, lightly, turns and leaps from one position to another. It is possible to speak from only one point at a time, but that does not invalidate the insights of the rest."
(The Hero with a Thousand Faces p. 196)
And advised that we "Say 'Yes!' to it all!"
We live as full participants
in the moment of our living
no matter what that entails.
We are here/now for the good
we are able to bring forth
in response to what is being called for
by the situation we find ourselves in--
one situation after another,
all our life long--
without being overwhelmed and undone
by what we have to work with.
We step up and do what needs doing
as the Cosmic Dancer we are,
bringing blessing and grace,
compassion and justice
to bear on where we are,
no matter what.
We live as vehicles of hope and mercy,
anyway, nevertheless, even so--
drawing our strength from,
not the results and outcomes
of our living,
but the foundation,
center,
core
of our life.
Zen Master Yun-Men said it like this:
"You should withdraw inwardly
and search for the ground
upon which you stand--
thereby you will discover
what truth is."
And live from there
in the joyful embrace
of all things.
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01
Christmas 12/31/2013
Fear (Anger, Hatred, Jealousy, Ruthlessness, etc.) ,
Desire (Greed, Lust, Passion, Obsession, Compulsion, etc.),
Duty (Responsibility, Obligation, Subservience, Obeisance, etc.),
are forever (since the Buddha's and the Christ's temptations)
listed as our primary motivations,
as the heart of human-being-hood,
and the things we must escape
by taking refuge in illumination (enlightenment, realization, etc.)
and not-caring about the diversions and distractions
of the world.
Well.
That pisses me off.
It places "I Want More Now!"
("And Will Do Anything
To Get It,
Have It,
Keep It,
Increase It!")
at the center of who we are.
And misses entirely the grace
and wonder--
the salvific mystery--
of laughter and tears,
of joy and sorrow.
I watched four episodes of Mandalorian
before quitting at the prospect of
more of the same forever.
The man behind the mask
never laughed or cried.
He just killed whomever
wasn't doing it his way (The Way It Is).
He was/is a weapon
in the hands of Fear/Desire/Duty.
A non-human being.
A non-sentient being.
No actual non-human being kills everything
that doesn't do it the Right Way.
Only human non-humans do that.
Or thinks it can only be happy
when all threats to happiness are destroyed.
Happy is not what we have,
it is who we are.
For. No. Reason.
Happy. Here. Now.
How about that?
It is a different way of thinking
about motivation,
and life.
We don't have to kill anything,
or possess anything,
before we can be happy.
We can just be happy now.
Here.
With things as they are.
Why not?
What is stopping you
from being happy to be here, now,
with things exactly as they are?
Laughing and crying as is appropriate
to the occasion?
Circle 5-A — from my Symbols of Transformation Collection Circles are among the most ancient symbols “transparent to transcendence,” and have been honored, recognized, understood through the ages as a metaphor of wholeness, completion, realization, awakening, enlightenment, awareness, presence, being here/now, being grounded, being immovable and untouchable…the list is long. What does a circle mean to you?
We are not living to have our way.
We are not living to do what we want.
We are living to serve our destiny,
to be who we are capable of being,
to realize our potentiality,
in doing what is calling us to do it--
aligned with our original nature,
in accord with the Tao
(The Mystery),
the mystical flow of time and place--
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.
This puts us in the position of Luke Skywalker
in relation to Obi-wan Kenobi
and Yoda,
as we take up the work
of finding our life and living it,
of discovering our original nature--
our gifts,
our virtues,
our spirit,
our vitality,
our balance and harmony,
our energy--
and incarnating it,
exhibiting it,
expressing it,
serving it,
moment-by-moment,
day-by-day,
throughout the time left for living.
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01
Wetlands Geese Panorama 01/11/2013 — Guilford County, North Carolina
We are not free to chose our choices.
Or to chose our preferences.
Or our disinclinations.
Or our desires.
Or our fears...
The list is long.
Forever long.
Freedom is the greatest illusion ever.
We have to see the way we see,
until we no longer see the way we see,
and we do not determine when that will be.
We have to feel the way we feel...
Think the way we think...
Enjoy what we enjoy...
Be the way we are...
And we talk about freedom.
We should expand it
to be clear about what we mean.
We mean freedom from oppression.
Freedom from somebody else's religion.
Freedom from somebody else
telling us what to do.
Freedom from unwarranted intrusion
into our lives.
Freedom from invasion,
from the demolition of our boundaries,
from someone else's idea
of how our life should be lived.
We want our bondage to be natural,
and not artificially imposed.
But freedom as a way of being in the world
is not ours to possess.
I recall the investment firm's commercial
of a mighty bull trotting along
an endless beach at water's edge,
while the theme song played in the background,
"To know no boundaries,
to let ourselves roam free..."
The bull was bound to run on the sand.
Not swim in the ocean,
or fly in the air.
Our bondage is absolute and inescapable.
Being clear about that
relieves us of the burden
of thinking we can will ourselves
to happily ever after
with just a bit more effort.
And then, there is Snoopy,
reminiscing about his days
at the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm,
lamenting, "Once we got over the fence,
we were still in the world."
It's called the fallacy
of the Garden of Eden.
"One bite of the right fruit
and we are free as the breeze,
blowing where it will."
Another way to think of the breeze
is to say it doesn't know what to do next,
looking as it is,
for the way out of here.
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 