We thread the needle
between Scylla and Charybdis,
moment-by-moment
through each situation as it arises
all our life long.

We walk along the straight and narrow,
with all its twists and turns,
on the slippery slope,
the dangerous path,
like a razor's edge
every step of the Way--
circumambulating the center,
the core,
the Source
the Self--
growing up some more again day-by-day.

Or not.

It is entirely up to us.

Every day.

The eye of the needle
is "the still point of the turning world"
(T.S. Eliot),
in the midst of the conflicts and contradictions
that define our life
within the context and circumstances of our living.

We can care too much
and we can care too little.

Between those extremes
(and all the others)
we find the middle way,
the balance point,
and dance with the music of the spheres
throughout our life.

This is our work.
It is the work of Sisyphus
rolling his rock up the hill
and following it down the hill
to roll it back up the hill
day after day.

Threading the needle between the extremes
all the time.

We have to be invested in our work
without taking it seriously.
It has to matter to us what we do
without it mattering so much
that it interferes with our being able to do it.

We have to know what is important
without being owned by what is important,
lost in what is important
unable to set what is important aside
when the situation calls for it to be set aside
because something else is more important.

There are no doctrines.
There is no dogma.
There are no laws
or recipes.
There is only seeing,
hearing,
knowing,
understanding
what is called for here and now--
and doing that as best we can
with what we bring to the moment,
every moment. 

We step into every moment 
fresh for the adventure,
without the burdens of past or future,
looking around,
seeing what's what
from the vantage point
of the stillness
and the silence,
waiting for the Way to appear before us
and allowing what needs to happen
to "just happen."

If you think that's easy,
plop yourself down
on the big bull's back,
fasten your grip onto the rope,
and tell them to open the chute.

Remember to enjoy the ride.

That's the most important thing.

You do you!

The way only you can do you!

In ways appropriate to the occasion.
In every situation as it arises.
All your life long.

How long has it been?

Do you even remember?

Do you even remember how to do you?

What happened to you?
Were you shamed out of doing you?
Was it just not paying off?
Was it not worth it?
Was it getting you in trouble?
Was it in your way?
Was it an embarrassment?
     To yourself?
     To others?
Was it pointless?
     Futile?
     Absurd?
Did you get tired of excusing what you were doing?
     Explaining?
     Justifying?
     Defending?
Did you merely grow up
and leave it behind
with your Binky and your Passie?

Would you even know where to start?
How to begin?
Doing you?

Your nighttime dreams would be a good place to look.
And your daydreams.
Your flights of fantasy.

You could start with being aware 
of the white rabbits
that appear out of nowhere,
catching your attention
with a wink and a wave
before hopping around a corner
hoping this time you will follow.

You are everywhere you go,
everywhere you look,
everything you think about doing,
but don't.
Why not?

You finding you,
getting back to you,
being you,
doing you
are the only things worth doing.

Why wait one second longer?

01

Robert Ruark, writing in The Old Man and The Boy
had the Old Man say, about fishing,
"A fish is only a fish.
If you make too much of it,
you lose the whole point of it."

Robert Ruark missed the essence
of his grandfather's sutra,
and failed, throughout his life,
to apply the fish as an analogy 
to everything in his life.

His grandfather was saying,
"Listen to me, dammit, Robert--
if you make too much of anything,
you lose the whole point of it!"

Success, for example.
Or happiness.
Or meaning and purpose.

Alcoholics Anonymous preaches the same sermon
with different words:
"Acceptance is the solution
to all of my problems today."

Acceptance is the refusal
to make too much of any of it,
even acceptance.

Robert Ruark became an alcoholic
because he made too much of the wrong things,
and not enough of the right things,
which is one thing all alcoholics have in common,
along with all the people
who take their disappointment
with themselves and their life
to some different manifestation of The Bottle,
and "get by with a little help from their friend."

Everything is analogous to us and our life.
What does "fish" equate to in your life?
What does "the bottle" equate to?
What are you taking too seriously?
What are you failing to take seriously at all?
What are the right things?
What are the wrong things?
Where are you in the flow of your life?
Where are you out of sync with your life?
Where are your expectations in line with your possibilities?
Where are your desires at odds with your chances?
Where are you willing what cannot be willed?
Where are you forcing what cannot be forced?
Where are you consoling yourself in ways
that are contributing to your disenchantment
and dissatisfaction--
making things worse and not better?
Where is your pain so great
that you will escape it at all costs?

We are all we have to work with
in the time left for living.
We have from now to then
to right our boat on its path through the sea,
get on track with our life
put ourselves in accord with our nature and our heart,
trust ourselves to the unfolding
of the life we are capable of living--
even now, even yet--
and see where it goes
(With no destination in mind,
and no opinion about how things are
to obscure what is being called for
here and now, moment to moment,
day to day).

02

Here come some disparate statements
that I am going to pull together
like a wild rabbit from a hat
in a completely non sequitur kind of way:

1) Jesus was homeless
and he died on a cross.
When we hear him say,
"If you throw in with me,
you have to pick up your cross daily,
and follow me,"
somehow, we never connect following Jesus
with being homeless and dying on a cross.

2) The Dalai Lama's bodyguards
carry automatic weapons.
When he preaches compassion and peace,
he is also saying,
"If you cross me, I will kill you."
Which is not at all different from anything
a Mob Boss ever says.

3) If Elizabeth Warren only had
more cooperation,
it would be a better world overnight.
We want a better world
with Big Banks and Wall Street
and all of the distractions and delights
wealth and privilege can produce.

4) A high percentage of the world's population--
and your county's population--
is not going to make enough money
to pay their bills.
And that leaves them doing 
exactly what with their life?
We have to be able to pay the bills,
but they have to be the right bills,
and we have to know
what we are paying the bills to do.
And be right about the rightness
of what we are doing.
In order to do that,
everything has to change.
Everything has to change.

It all comes down to knowing
what we are doing here
and having the wherewithal to do it.
And "wherewithal" is about 
more than money.

"Wherewithal" is about clarity,
balance and harmony.
We have to "run a tight ship."
We have to exhibit,
express,
incarnate
loyalty and devotion to the cause.

The cause is our life--
the life we are living--
the life that is ours to live--
doing what we are here to do.
Bringing who we are to life in our lives.

Here's a hint for you:
We are not here to make a lot of money
and pass a good time.

We are here to serve 
what we are here to do
with our life.

And, in the words of the woman
who wouldn't wear a mask
and stay away from the crowds
at the beach,
"That's asking too much."

We want to live like we want to
and pass a good time.
Doing what we are here to do
doesn't factor into that equation. 
The economy is based on good times,
not on right living.

And that is the foundational dichotomy
at work in the heaving incongruities
of life as we know it.
And it is the nature 
of the cross we have to bear
on the path of finding our life and living it.

It would be easier to keep things as they are
and not pay the price of transition
and transformation.

"That which you seek,
lies far back
in the darkest corner
of the cave you most don't want to enter"
(Joseph Campbell).

"Pick up your cross and follow me" (Jesus of Nazareth).

01

What needs to happen in any situation
conflicts with--
and stands in contradiction of--
what we want to happen there.

This is the story of the Garden of Eden
and the Garden of Gethsemane.

It is the story of the Buddha under the Bo Tree
and of Jesus in the wilderness.

It is the story that is repeated ad nauseam
through all of the ages of humankind--
and all the lives of each of us in all those ages.

Truth is found,
and life is lived,
"between the hands."
On the one hand, this.
And on the other hand, that.

I want this,
and I need to want that.
Which will it be?
The theme is at work
in each situation as it arises
throughout time.

And here we are,
now what?

We answer the question best
when we ask it with full awareness
of what we are doing.

We default instantly
to what we want to do,
to what we want to happen,
without considering what needs to be done,
what needs to happen.

We live to have our way
in each situation that arises
until we die.

We live our life
in a lifelong conflict of interest
with our life.
We want one thing from our life
and our life wants another thing from us,
and it is within this tension
that we live
moment-to-moment,
day-by-day.

But.

Don't take my word for it.
Simply be still.
Sit quietly.
And wait.
Wait to become aware of 
the conflict of interest
at work in this moment
in your own life.
Be clear about what you want to happen.
Become open to what needs to happen--
to what the moment is calling for
beyond what you want for the moment.

Do this with every moment following this one.

And see what you do.

This simple process
calls into question 
everything we think and believe
about living our life.
Our sole motivation for living
is to have what we want,
to do what we want.

We talk of Freedom and Liberty, 
but it is always the freedom and liberty
to do what we want,
to live our life the way we want to live our life.
And anything that stands in our way
is interfering with our freedom 
to have our way.

What does wanting know?

Wanting has led you to this point in your life.
What is your batting average?
How often has your wanting known what it was doing?
How often did you want yourself to a rock wall,
or a cliff edge?
How often did you want yourself
to the end of the line?
And what did you have but more wanting
to lead you to the end of the next line?

Wanting is a very short-sighted guide.
Near-sighted-ness is not a particularly
sought-for qualification
when interviewing potential guardians and guides.
It isn't what we want that matters,
but knowing what we ought to want,
what we should want,
what we need to want--
and doing what we know needs to be done,
regardless of what we want.

This is the quality that will direct our living
past all concerns for our best interest,
our good,
our gain,
our advantage
and what is in it for us--
and deliver us into the service
of what is crying out to be done
in each situation as it arises,
moment-by-moment,
day-by-day,
all our life long:
"Without hope!
Without witness!
Without reward!" (Steven Moffat)

If you are going to hitch your wagon
to some horse,
let it be that horse,
and give it the reins,
or, better, forego reins and bit entirely,
and just go along for the ride!

–0–

01

"The Church of What's Happening Now" 
is the companion blog-page to this page,
and can be accessed through the menu above.

It is offered in light of its absolute necessity
in the work that we are to be doing--
the work that is ours to do--
here and now,
moment to moment,
situation by situation,
day in and day out,
because being both
involved/immersed in,
and aware of,
what's happening now
is more that any of us 
can do alone.

There have always been
communities of the now--
I call them "communities of innocence"
because they are completely sincere
about their work--
and of all the institutions
that have been developed 
through the ages of our accession,
they alone stand apart
by having nothing to gain
and nothing to lose,
beyond helping the individuals
they serve in living as those
who, themselves, have nothing to gain
and nothing to lose.

"Sincerity without contrivance"
is the motto of all communities of innocence.
Alcoholics Anonymous separates itself with its
"Attraction not promotion" slogan
and its recognition of "a higher power"
with no theology or doctrine to cloud and conceal
the essence of "that which has always been called God."

For me, "The Church of What's Happening Now"
is AA without the Alcohol (or the substance Abuse) part,
helping us to stay focused on being  here, now,
doing what is ours to do--
what needs to be done--
what the situation is calling for,
throughout the "Eternal Now" of our existence.

As I say in the introduction to the page,
"The Church of What’s happening Now 
is intently focused on, 
and involved with, 
the present moment, 
which, of course, is eternal and unending 
because it, in fact, never ends. 
It evolves, morphs, transitions 
forever into nothing more 
than the present moment 
right here, 
right now,
forever.

The Church of What's Happening Now
is a Community of Innocence
dedicated to helping its members
maintain their focus and clarity--
their balance and harmony--
while walking two paths at the same time,
being involved with the conditions and circumstances--
the "just so-ness"--
of the present moment,
while being intently aware
of the "also is-ness"
that connects this moment
with all those that have preceded it
and those that will flow from it.

Lawrence Tribe has said,

“Every possible future points back to 
and is contained in 
this moment in time and space, 
and every possible past 
culminated in this moment. 
So all that ever was or will be 
is right here right now 
with you and with me.” 

The present is eternal.
It is the fulcrum,
the pivot point,
"the still point
of the turning world" (Eliot).

It is the place of our acting,
or of our failing to act,
in the service of what needs us to do it
with the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues
that are ours to share
as blessing and grace
out of filial devotion
and liege loyalty
to the good of the whole.

02

Sincerity and awareness are prime tools 
in the work
of bringing ourselves forth
within the time and place,
context, conditions and circumstances
of our life.

We cannot fake either.

And we don't have to feel like doing either.
We don't have to be in the mood. 
Sincerity requires us to be the mood we are in.
Everything else is a lie.

And awareness pulls us beyond moods.
There is no mood for seeing things as they are.
Once a mood,
or an emotion,
enters the room,
awareness begins to dim,
and sincerity has to deal with
the conflict between seeing
and being afraid to see
(for instance)
into account.

And everything slows down,
waiting for us to get our feet back under us,
and settle ourselves into how things are,
so that we can begin listening/looking
for what is being called for,
and assist whatever arises within
to meet the moment 
with what we have to offer.

There is no thinking/planning/scheming/conniving/contriving here.

We see-hear-know-do.
Spontaneously,
naturally,
automatically,
sincerely.
The dog needs to go out,
and we let the dog out,
or take the dog out. 

Every situation is calling for something.
Our place is to know what that is
and see how we fit into what is needed.
What are we being asked to do?
How might we best respond to the needs of the moment?

We do not think out the answer,
we live it out.

It is like knowing what to do with the ball coming toward us
on a tennis court.
No thinking!
Just seeing-knowing-doing!

Carry a tennis ball with you into each moment
as a reminder of how to handle the moment.

Sincerely present,
with awareness.

–0–

01

It is all useless,
pointless,
hopeless,
futile
and absurd--
and coming to a very bad end
(We all die).

And, how we live in the meantime
makes all the difference.

If you are going to take anything on faith,
let it be this!
Believe it is so
with all your heart,
and soul,
and mind,
and strength!

And live as though it is!

Put it into play in your life
by seeing what you look at,
and hearing what is being said,
and not giving a damn what your chances are,
or what's going to come of it,
or what difference you are going to make,
and step into each situation as it arises,
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
all your life long,
letting things be what they are,
looking at what is happening,
listening for what is being called for,
knowing what needs to be done,
and rising to the occasion
upon every occasion,
in ways appropriate to the occasion,
out of the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues/character
that come with you from the womb
into all of the occasions of your life
as blessing and grace
upon all who come your way--
doing what you came to do,
what is yours to do,
what no one but you can do
the way you can do it--
to startle and surprise,
shock and perturb,
amaze and encourage,
dazzle and delight,
enlighten and confound--
and leave things more like they ought to be
than they were when you arrived.

In order to be able to do this,
you have to spend some time
reworking your relationship
with yourself and your life,
and with the Way that is yours through life--
even as you step into the next situation
and look around.

It is a lifelong process,
redemption and transformation.
It begins with our understanding
this is what we are about,
and finding our way to being
accomplished in the art
one situation at a time.

02

 Too many of us think
we have to have a plan,
a map,
a strategy,
a course of action,
a destination in mind,
to know where we are headed
in order to get where we are going.

If we don’t know where we are going,
we could wind up anywhere!

Time for a show of hands.
Here we all are.
How many of us had a plan,
a strategy,
a course of action
for getting right here right now?

Hold them high now.

How many of us knew
we would be right here right now
5 years ago?
4 months ago?

Our future is no more reliable
than our past.
How many 5-year plans are left
before we die?

Since most of us realize by now
that thinking more than two weeks ahead
is pretty much wishful thinking,
I’m going out on a limb here
and saying that 5-year plans are history.

Just as well.
They never were worth the time spent
drawing them up.

Joseph Campbell like to say that
Native American parents
would tell their children
as they set out to find their way in the world,
“When you step forth on your path,
the birds of the air will shit on you.
Do not stop even to wipe it off!”

They didn’t have to talk about
how to know where they were going.
These were Native American youth.
They knew about Vision Quests,
and living from the center,
and knowing a path with heart
when they saw one.

We missed all that.
Because it wasn’t a part of our growing up.
But it isn’t too late to learn.

The first thing that has to go is
knowing what you want.
Wanting is an eternal waste of time.
Wanting never ends.
What does wanting know?
Only that everything it wants
is the most important thing ever.
And all of those most important things
end up in some landfill,
and none of them was the end of wanting forever.

Throw wanting in the burning barrel
and take up listening and looking.
Sit still.
Be quiet.
Listen.
Look.
Wait for something to arise unbidden
that stirs something to life within.
You are waiting for something with life about it
to appear out of nowhere,
in a “Where did that come from?” kind of way.
Something with energy about it,
and the power to pull you into its influence,
the way a white rabbit might catch your eye
before it hops around a corner.

Do you follow?
The rule of the road is:
Always look closer at something that catches your eye!
The second rule of the road is:
The path opens before those who start walking.

That’s all the plan you need for a plan.
When the birds of the air shit on you,
don’t pause to wipe it off.

–0–

01

Our business expands to fit our life.
We live to find our business
and tend to it.
The entire world is our business.
What goes on everywhere is our concern.
Human Rights,
Gay Rights,
Civil Rights,
Abortion Rights...

Our business is everybody's business.
So that everybody can be allowed to have their own business
and do it.

"We find these truths to be self-evident..."

Evidently not,
else why do we have to keep saying it?
And insisting upon it?
And reminding people to live like it is so--
because it is so?

Some people--
and a hefty lot of them--
get off on pushing other people around.
Putting other people down.
Being superior.
Being supreme
(As though anyone is supreme
who has to shout,
"I AM SUPREME!
DO WHAT I SAY!").

What?
What did they miss early on in their life?
Was it a gene?
Or kindness?
Or enough of the right kind of attention?
Or enough of the right kind of anything?

Anyway.
Here we are.
What to do?
Mind our business!
Tend our business!
And trust other people to mind/tend theirs!
And, when it becomes apparent 
that they think their business 
is minding other people's business,
it becomes our business
to remind them that it is not.

"Back inside the lanes, please!
Everyone back inside their own lanes!"

That would be the lanes that are legitimately
our own lanes--
"the face that was ours before we were born,"
doing the things that are truly ours to do,
that no one but us can do
the way we can do it.

This world works best only when everybody
is respecting everybody else,
honoring everybody else,
allowing everybody else--
enabling everybody else--
to be who they are,
tending their own business
without worrying about the interference
of those who think they know best,
and that their way is The Way for everyone.

Why is this so hard?

All anyone needs
is to be left alone in the right kind of way,
and be allowed to tend their own business.

But, there are people who like to push people around,
and put them down,
and impose themselves on others,
deciding where people belong
and what they should and should not be doing,
making it necessary for us to stand up
and call them out,
and put them in their place
by reminding them it is not their place
to presume to know what someone else's place is,
and that we all have to be left to discover our own place for ourselves,
unless we get out of our lane
and into someone else's
by telling them where they belong
and where they have no business being.

We all have to find our own business,
and be right about it,
and be there doing that,
and trust everybody else to be doing that,
until it becomes apparent that they are not
and are interfering with someone else's right
to their own business.

Then, we have to call Time Out!
And make sure everyone understands the rule
about leaving everyone alone
to find and mind their own business
with all the help they need to do that,
and none of the hindrances
that some people like to throw in their way.

It is ridiculous that any of this
should ever need to be said.

02

Trust where you are
to be exactly where you need to be.

Trust the path you are on
to take you to exactly where you need to be.

Trust seeing what you look at,
and hearing what you listen to--
asking the questions that beg to be asked,
and saying the things that cry out to be said--
to produce the reflection necessary
to promote the realizations required
that enable you to recognize
when the door opens
and provide you with the courage required 
to walk through.

So that from here to there
becomes a natural transition
that "just happens"
when the time is right,
and is so obvious
that it is simply a spontaneous shift
in the right direction,
with the path you are on 
taking you where you need to be,
one situation at a time--
occasioned by 10,000 unapparent right actions
opening and walking through
all of the doors 
that led to The Door,
resulting in you always
being where you needed to be,
doing what needed to be done,
every step along the way.

That is the way it is with The Way.

Break a miracle down into its component parts
and the whole thing is a miracle.

And our life is a wonder in the making.

–0–

01

I am more inclined to follow my inclinations
these days
than my compelling urges
and driving passions.

My best advice is to say,
listen to what you have to say
about what you have to say.

Listen until you can hear 
what is being said on all levels.
Look until you can see 
what you are looking at.
And know what's what.

Clarity is hard to beat.
Add Balance and Harmony
Sincerity,
Right Action
and Perfect Timing,
and we have all the companions
we need to find our way
through the day
every day.

Lay aside ambition,
aspiration,
willful determination
and the obsession/compulsion
to impose your idea
of how things ought to be
upon how things are.
Simply listen
for what is being called for,
look for what needs to be done,
and wait for the Six Companions
to lead the way.

02

The extremes exist in denial
of each other,
of contradiction,
of conflict,
of opposites,
of duality...

The Middle Way 
is "Thou Art That"
in a way that excludes identity,
equivalence,
interchangeability,
and demands mutual recognition
of the "I" in the "Other,"
because the Two are One
"but not the same One."

And the Dance of Dichotomy
requires the partners
to bear the tension of opposition
through all times and places
of three dimensional,
physical,
reality,
integrating the opposites
on the basis of the interplay
with the Forth Dimension.

Enter Grace.
Also called Tao,
Dharma,
Synchronicity,
and other names in other eras,
but it is Grace,
by whatever name,
"all the way down."

Grace allows us to bear the pain
of our contradictions--
the pain of Contradiction--
in order to live out our lives 
in the service of Grace,
as the servants of Grace,
by being what is needed
(Whatever is needed)
in each situation as it arises
through all of the times and places
of three-dimensional existence,
sometimes being "Thou,"
and sometimes being "That,"
as called for by the context
and circumstances of our life.

We are the children of Grace,
carrying the banner of Grace,
exhibiting the reality of Grace,
incarnating/expressing the truth of Grace
through the ages.

God's name is Grace.

We are all "chips off the old block."
Doing our thing
in response to the demands 
of the here and now,
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
our whole life long.

–0–

01

The way to The Way is The Way.

Jacob Bronowski said,
"If you want to know the truth,
you have to live in certain ways.”

We have to live in truthful ways--
we have to live truthful lives--
we have to live truthfully.

If we want to know The Way,
we have to be The Way.

Which is exactly what Jesus was saying
when he said,
"I am the way the truth and the life,
and no one comes to the Father but by me."

He is not saying, "You have to believe in me."
He is saying "You have to be me."

But more than that,
he is saying, "You have to be me by being YOU!"
The way to God is the way of God.
The way to The Way is The Way.

The Way is the way of Sincerity and Integrity.

Sincerity and integrity are the straight and narrow.
They are the middle way.
They are The Way.
No one comes to The Way without being The Way.
The Way is the way of Sincerity and Integrity.

Harmony and Balance flow from Sincerity and Integrity.
Spirit, Energy and Vitality flow from Sincerity and Integrity.
Life, Virtue and Character flow from Sincerity and Integrity.

Sincerity and Integrity are The Way
and are the way to The Way.

We do not believe our way to The Way.
We do not think our way to The Way.
We do not plan, scheme, connive, contrive 
our way to The Way.

We live our way to The Way
one situation at a time
with Sincerity and Integrity
leading the way.

Live with Sincerity and Integrity
and let everything fall into place
around that.

Align yourself and your life with yourself.
Live in accord with yourself.
Be at-one with yourself.
"Know Thyself!"
"To Thine Own Self Be True!"

Everyone who has known
has known the same thing
over time,
through the ages.

What, then, is the problem?

02

We have to mean it,
run a tight ship
(That means self-discipline),
straight from the heart,
with sincerity
and no contrivance
(That means without looking for our own advantage, good, benefit in any way),
with no judgment or opinion,
seeking only to serve the moment
in doing what is called for,
moment-to-moment,
in each situation as it arises,
all our life long.

Our only question is
"What does this occasion call for?"
Our only course of action is
to rise to the occasion
and offer what is called for
with the gifts, genius, daemon, virtues/character
that came with us from the womb,
and follow The Way as it opens before us,
inviting us as only we can detect,
and see where it goes.

The old alchemists had a saying,
"One book opens another."
Our moments can do that as well.

Karma is momentum as much as direction,
carrying us on the current of life
through the doors Grace opens
into a future quite beyond imagining.

We trust ourselves to our life
by asking "What does this occasion call for?"
And rising to the occasion.
Occasion after occasion.

–0–

01

There is always a price to be paid
for doing things out of time.
We are paying that price right now--
individually and personally,
corporately and nationally/internationally.

The world is out of step with the times--
and has been for times past counting.

The only sin is being out of step with the times.

All the talk about repentance,
and awakening,
and "getting right with God..."
all the business about redemption,
and righteousness,
and living "at one with God..."
is about getting our timing back.
About getting back in step with the times.

Karma is about the price to be paid
for being out of step with the times.

The recognition of the importance
of being in accord with the times
is as old as time itself.

"There is a time and a place for everything."
"For everything there is a season,
and a time for everything under heaven."

Those who know,
know the same things.
What is to be known
has always been known.
There are no secrets.
No hidden spiritual truths.
No esoteric rituals and beliefs.

There is only the stuff we don't want to know--
because it would complicate our lives
and require us to decide,
consciously,
knowingly,
if we are going to live out of our own willful desire
for the time and place of our living,
or out of our own willful submission
to what is being called for
in each time and place of our living.

In every moment,
we stand with Adam and Eve
in the Garden of Eden,
and with Jesus of Nazareth
in the Garden of Gethsemane,
and decide whether we will be 
in or out of sync
with the time that is upon us,
here and now.

And, that is the choice
"that sways the future
for the good or evil side."
Made each moment,
impacting all ages to come forever.

01

We pay a price to be who we are.

Negotiation.
Compromise.
Adjustment.
Readjustment.
Steady companions along the way.

If we aren't going to be who we are,
who are we going to be?

We pay a price to not be who we are.

"All we ever wanted was smooth and easy!"
(An AA slogan)

Smooth and easy aren't so smooth and easy.

We bear the pain of being alive
one way or another--
consciously,
mindfully,
deliberately,
intentionally,
courageously,
or
unconsciously,
mindlessly,
accidentally,
unintentionally,
symptomatically.

It begins with taking the time 
to know who we are.
Everything else falls into place around that.

The Native American Vision Quest
was not about envisioning a future,
conjuring up a life-goal,
imagining a destination
(Understand this:
There is no destination!).

It was about seeing who we are.

The most important relationship
is our relationship with ourselves--
with our Self.
With our Original Self.
With The Face That Was Ours Before We Were Born.
With The Self Who Is The Source And Guardian
Of The Virtues,
Values,
Character
that define us,
guide us,
illumine us,
direct us
and accompany us
along The Way.

We are never alone,
but we live as though we are,
because we do not take the time
to know who we are.

Marianne Moore said,
"The cure for loneliness is solitude."

In solitude we meet who we are,
who we also are.

Carl Jung said,
"There is, in each of us,
another, whom we do not know."

The heart of every vision quest is the silence
that transports us 
from aloneness to solitude.

The silence is alive with moods and memories,
feelings and thoughts,
reflection,
recognition,
realization.

How long has it been
since you sat, 
still and quiet,
watching and waiting
for something to stir to life in the silence,
something that has been waiting all this time
for an audience with you?

This is the vision the quest seeks.

It is the vision of our own depth and potential--
the gifts, genius, daemon, qualities, virtues
that comprise our identity
and yearn to be incarnated, exhibited, expressed, made actual
and brought to life in the life we are living.

We carry within us the treasure of the gods
as a blessing to humankind
(That would be to one another,
and all others)
and is waiting to be born
in the way we live our life.

Even yet.
Even still.
Even now.

02

Take care of the moment. 

Everything turns on how well
we take care of the moment.

We throw moments away 
by the bushels,
by the metric tons,
by the sanitary landfills.

We treat moments 
as though they are 
in our way
keeping us from where we want to be
and what we want to be doing.

We drink whiskey
and do drugs
to compensate ourselves
for having to deal with all these damn moments
of nothing endlessly stretching out the distance
between the times of our glory and our bliss.

The high times are our way of compensating ourselves
for missing the point of our life.

We want our life to be bigger,
better,
finer
than a life can be.

A life that is alive to the moment of its living
is as alive as it ever gets.

A cat with a ball of twine.
A baby with a spoon and a pie pan.
Are doing moments the way moments are to be done.

It is called taking care of the moment.

Doing what the moment is calling for. 

Extending the moment,
making it last.

Jazz does that.
And dawdling around with a sunset,
or a thunder storm.

How long since you dawdled around with anything?
Lingered with the moment
as though it is sufficient for your needs?

Why do we need more than the moment has to offer?
From whence cometh our emptiness?
Our hunger?
Thirst?
Our desperate query,
"Is this all there is?"?

Hold on to your moments.
Relish them.
Savor them.
Do not let them go
until they have graced you
with their gifts
and the abundance of their stores.

And revealed to you the wonder
of a life lived fully
one moment at a time.

–0–

01

Look until you see what's what.

Listen until you hear what is called for.

In each situation as it arises.

Moment-by-moment.

Day-by-day.

Do what needs to be done.

As best you can.

With the gifts,
genius,
daemon,
virtues,
character
that came with you
from the womb
and constitute your Original Nature--
"The Face That Was Yours Before You Were Born"--
that you are here to incarnate,
express,
exhibit,
bring forth
and serve
with liege loyalty
and filial devotion
all your life long.

And let everything fall into place around that.

Flowing into the next situation
in the next moment
in which you will do the same things
throughout the time left for living.

That's all there is to it.

03

"Oh, I see what your problem is."
The Buddha was talking to those gathered
to discover the secret path 
to eternal happiness.
"You care too much about what happens to you!
You will never be happy
until you care less about what happens,
and care more about doing what you can
in every situation
to make things as good as they can be
for yourselves,
one another,
and all others--
and let that be good enough!"
      --From "The Undiscovered Discourses of The Buddha" 

–0–

02

Move toward what resonates with you.
Move away from what repels you.
Simple and fundamental rules for life.

The things that resonate with you
are your guides through all that lies ahead.

Just as "One book opens another,"
so the things that resonate with you
will lead you to other things that resonate with you,
and you will discover wonders
in the most unlikely places,
and come alive in the life you are living
in ways you could have never imagined,
or created,
on your own
by thinking about it
through careful planning.

We know what we need,
but.
We do not know what all we know.
And so.
We have to develop our awareness
in order to realize what lies latent within
waiting for its chance 
to sparkle and astound
when someone--
that would be us--
asks it if it would like to dance.

–0–

01

We take what the day gives us
and do what we can with it
with the gifts we have to offer
within the context and circumstances
of our life,
moment-by-moment,
and see where it goes.

We keep our religion to ourselves,
and stay out of other people's business,
honoring everyone's ability
to see what they look at,
and hear what is being called for
in the time and place of their living,
being clear about where we start
and they stop,
and only drawing lines
when it becomes apparent
that they are a danger to themselves
and to others,
and then in as kind a way
as the occasion allows,
understanding that no one is in charge
of the way they see things--
but that doesn't mean that all ways of seeing
are equally valid,
and that some ways must be challenged
when they threaten the balance and harmony
of the whole.

We carry our pain in different ways,
and what we see when we look at one another
is the outward, visible, expression
of how we have carried our inward, invisible, pain
over the course of our life.
And a little compassion means a lot.

So, even when we draw lines
it needs to be done with a compassionate stroke,
a soft voice,
and a gentle tone,
granting the benefit of the doubt to all comers,
and telling ourselves,
"These people would be doing better if they could,"
as we carry out our business
of restoring consonance
and bringing peace
to a torn and broken world.