04

It takes active participation with--
intentional identification with--
the center and ground
of our original nature,
our life and being,
to live in accord with the Tao--
doing things in the right way,
at the right time,
in aligning ourselves with rhythms
and movement of nature's energy
moving through and directing our lives.

Our bodies are natural extensions
of the earth,
as much as trees and streams,
oceans and whales.

We are one with the forces of nature,
and live best when we nourish and nurture
a faithful presence in the world of nature,
being with nature in a regular and recurring way.

And when there,
we are to listen,
feel,
attend,
be aware
of how our bodies react
to the allness of our experience.

We have to consciously "be here now,"
seeing what we look at,
hearing what is being "said"
around us, within us,
noticing what is happening,
and what we are "picking up on"
beyond the range of sight and sound.

Nature is pure intention
toward life and being--
toward realization,
incarnation
and expression.

Nature's sense of what is 
and what needs to be
is as true as the turn of the tides
and the orbits of the stars and planets.

Our lives are a part of that choreography, 
of that orchestration,
and go so much better
when we consciously cooperate
with that which calls our name
and knows the time and place
of our presenting the gifts we carry
to the need that even now is in the making.

It only takes listening to our intuition
and paying attention to our instincts
to know that it is so.

–0–

03

We've been on the wrong track for so long
we will never get the light turned around
as a culture.
Only as individuals do we have a chance
of making the switch.

The switch I'm talking about
is the one Joseph Campbell preached
his entire life:
Symbols and metaphors are not facts.

Symbols and metaphors do not refer
to things Out There,
but to things In Here.

The betrayal, death and resurrection
of Jesus is symbolic/metaphorical
of our own personal experiences
with betrayal, death and resurrection.

To say, "The cup of suffering
is the cup of salvation.
The bread of affliction
is the bread of life,"
is to invite us to explore in our own life
places where suffering was the door to salvation,
where affliction was the threshold to life.

The question is always and forever,
"Where have you experienced the truth
of this symbol/metaphor
in your own life?"

That is the ground of true religion--
religion without theology/dogma/doctrine/creeds/catechisms
but with the ever-present experience
of life's impact on us
and our path for dealing with it.

The place of true religion
is providing us with a perspective
for finding our way
to the life that is ours to live
and living it with joy
as full participants in "the sorrows of the world."

Symbols and metaphors point us to ourselves!
We use symbols and metaphors as guides us, 
as Campbell might say,
"To what electrifies
and enlightens your own hearts, 
and wakes you up
to the work that is yours to do,
and the life that is yours to live!"

Symbols and metaphors do this for us
when we approach them as portkeys
into the Mystery from which we come
and into which we return,
ask of them, 
"What can you show me about life
and how to live it?"

"Ah," say the symbols and metaphors,
"I'm so glad you asked!"
And the light comes on.
And lights our way through the darkness
of "working on mysteries without any clues."
(Bob Seger).

The symbols and metaphors are the clues!

–0–

02

What does it for me are
reading/writing
seeing/hearing
looking/listening
seeking/finding
asking/searching
exploring/imagining
feeling/thinking
knowing/doing...

I just want to know what's what
and what needs to be done about it
and what makes me think so
and who says so
and what makes them think so
and what does being right about something mean
and how long does it take before being right 
becomes wrong
and how knowing leads to doing
and how doing leads to knowing more
and knowing more leads to doing differently,
and how far have we come actually
from living in the caves
and in the jungles
thinking fire was the coolest thing?

We're playing the game as though it matters,
and what matters is playing the game
as if it matters,
because that keeps the game going,
and that's better than not playing the game,
because that just leads to a quick death,
or to being dead a long time before we die,
and the game is fun when played knowing
we are playing the game of playing the game
as though it matters
because it matters that we don't die
before our time
because it is a game we play through time,
and everybody who has ever lived,
or ever will lived,
has played/will play the game,
because the game is all there is.

Here we are.
What are we doing here?
Now what?
We all ask the same questions.
We all come up with the same answers.
Joseph Campbell said, "It's all the same mythology!"
It's all the same game!
"Working on mysteries without any clues"
(Bob Seger).

Everybody thinks they have the formula,
the angle,
the recipe,
the plan.
They are all playing the game,
being played by the game.
Gaming the game is being gamed by the game.
It's a game.
How can we play it, 
knowing we are playing it,
and play it really well?

"It's not whether we win or lose,
but how we play the game"
(Grantland Rice).
We are not going anywhere,
we are not getting anything,
we are playing at playing the game
of seeing/hearing,
knowing/doing,
feeling/thinking
looking/listening...

Waking up and being here, now.
Doing what needs to be done here, now.
The way it needs to be done.
In each situation as it arises.
All our life long.

That's all there is to it.

"Get in there and do your thing!
and don't worry about the outcome!"
(Joseph Campbell's summation
of the Bhagavad Gita).

Don't even keep score.
Just play your heart out.
And when it's done,
let it go.

–0–

01

One of the primary, recurring, experiences
of humanity is that of 
Betrayal - Death - Resurrection.
We are born to be betrayed,
to die,
and to be born again.

We are all one with Jesus,
and repeat his experience
throughout our life,
learning, one would hope,
as we go,
so that Resurrection
increasingly means New Life
that takes the Old Life
into account,
knows what is coming,
and is ready for it
in the way of not taking it seriously,
and building a life around it
that is replete with good humor,
wisdom,
kindness,
compassion,
and all of the values
that are called forth
to meet the reality
of the human experience.

Meeting the reality of the human experience
in ways that deepen, broaden, 
lengthen, heighten, enhance
that experience,
and make it truly,
unbelievably wonderful--
wonder-filled,
marvelous,
awesome,
fascinating,
sublime,
radiant,
resplendent, 
transcendent,
"an awe inspiring mystery,"
worthy of our fullest possible participation
"in the sorrows of the world,"
is the story of religion
in the best and truest sense of the word.

Religion (and it's precursor, mythology)
help--enable us--to meet the world
on the world's terms,
providing us with the metaphors
("Betrayal, Death and Resurrection")
to make sense of it
and initiate us into it,
telling us,
in the words of the Native Americans,
sending their children off 
to seek their fortune,
"When you live in the service 
of your vision,
the birds of the air will shit on you--
do not stop even to wipe it off!"
And,"When you leave in the service 
of your vision,
you will come to what appears 
to be a great chasm.
Jump!
It is not as great as it seems."
(Both stories related by Joseph Campbell)

We all need help squaring ourselves up
with the realities of our life.
Good religion is metaphor/mythology
that has not been concrete-ized,
made literal/historical
as Christianity has done 
with the Christ myth.

We are all, each one of us is, the Christ
finding our way to the self-realization 
of our calling.
We are all The Anointed One
come to wake each other up
to the truth of our destiny:
Being awake to the wonder 
of meeting life head-on!
To the wonder of being alive!
Being awake to the joy
of perceiving the world as a portkey
to wonder, awe, fascination 
and mystery beyond words!
Dying figuratively in the process 
of realization and of life,
so that by the time our dying
becomes literal,
we are ready to Jump the Chasm,
knowing it is not as great as it seems.

02

Wealth, power and privilege seem to have it all,
until we see how it interferes with
seeing what needs to happen
in each situation as it arises,
and doing it with the gifts at our disposal.

Buying it done won't do it,
when our destiny is calling us
to step forward
and rock the baby,
or clean up after the dog.

We spit on destiny
on our way to call someone
to do it for us,
whatever the "it" is 
that is ours to do.

Money is a way of skirting 
our responsibilities,
enabling us to devote ourselves exclusively
to making more money.

Our destiny knows Karma's first name,
and has her phone number.

And the distance between where we are
and understanding
what is ours to do 
and doing it
is called The Hero's Journey.
It is also called Growing Up.

We think with enough money
we won't have to bother with it. 
With growing up.
And having money is better 
than being a hero.
Buy them all a round or two.
They will love you just as much.

Lost in all of this
is the life that is ours to live.
The destiny that is ours to serve.
The emptiness that is ours 
to try and outlive.

The truth is that money is meaningless
except as a means
to buy the tools we need
to do what is ours to do.

We learn that lesson a bit late in the game
to do much more than regret what we missed
in our effort to make up for lost time
before we die.

If we learn it at all.

–0–

01

The Tao is not good for the economy.
The Tao is as counter-cultural as it gets.
The same can be said for any spiritual practice.
The aims and activities of spiritual practice
are contrary to those of the culture--
any culture--
even the culture that is created
by the spiritual practice!
The more the spiritual practice
promotes itself,
the less self-aware,
self-transparent,
it becomes
(Which makes AA unique in the field,
with its "attraction not promotion" slogan),
and self-transparency is the sine qua non
of spirituality,
and the essence of counter-culture-ism.

Seeing what we are doing
transforms what we are doing.
The culture--any culture--is unconscious
to the core
(Commercial advertisement depends upon
its "marks" being unconscious of the truth
being concealed by the hype they are hearing,
and religions that are self-promoting,
don't allow questions they can't answer).

Taoism stands apart here,
with it's,
"The Tao that can be said
is not the eternal Tao,"
"The Path that can be discerned
as a path
is not a reliable path,"
"Darkness within darkness,
the gateway to understanding."

That kind of language is no way
to make converts!

A self-transparent spiritual practice
sets up an immediate barrier 
to cultural absorption,
and distances itself automatically,
spontaneously,
from the ends and means of the culture.

The more a practice embraces and serves
those ends and means,
the less spiritual it is.

The more we live out of our own heart,
grounded upon the source of our Original Nature,
and in tune with the drift of our soul,
the more we will distance ourselves 
from the cultural practices
and assumptions
at work in life around us.

There will be a natural separation,
an "in the world but not of the world"
ambiance will surround us,
without any rules or guidelines
or effort being extended
to set us apart.

The ends are not the same ends.
The means are not the same means.
The way is not the same way.