02

It is possible to live from the center of knowing what to do
in response to the situation as it arises,
just as tennis players (etc.) respond spontaneously 
to situations as they develop on the court,
knowing what to do,
without knowing how they know.

It is possible to live like we are playing tennis (etc.).
But.
There is a catch.
We have to quit living 
in the service of contrivance
and insincerity.

Living from the Center means
giving up our attachment to the outcome,
and serving an outcome 
that is good for the situation as a whole--
and that is an expression of the integrity
of us as a whole.

We live as an integrated whole
ourselves,
individually,
in relationship with other selves
living with us as integrated wholes 
themselves,
individually.

This is possible when everyone 
within the community
(The Community of Innocence
in which everyone is seeking 
the best for all concerned,
with no agenda or plans
for themselves alone--
or for anyone else in the community)
is living "transparent to transcendence"
(Joseph Campbell),
so that everyone is reflecting/exhibiting/incarnating
the ineffable wonder at the heart of our life together.

This is the experience
of That Which Has Always Been Called God
and is present whenever two or three, or more, 
people live truthfully together from the heart.

Living truthfully together from the heart
is a lost art
that can be revived simply by living from our center
in relationship with others living from their center.

Doing that is merely a matter 
of being still and quiet
and waiting in the silence
for all the bluster to fall away,
and getting to know what remains.
Then stepping back into our life
with the truth of who we are now
as a very present companion,
enjoying our company
and glad to be with us knowingly at last.

–0–

01

Our circumstances evoke our character
when we rise to meet them on their terms,
understanding them to be 
exactly what we need 
at this point in our life
to come forth
and be born again.

Death and resurrection, Kid.
Death and resurrection.

Trials and revelations, Kid.
Trials and revelations.

Ordeals and realizations, Kid.
Ordeals and realizations.

Consciousness is transformed--
we change our minds--
only through the death experience
of our trials and ordeals.

Getting up and doing the thing 
that most needs to be done,
the way it needs to be done-
anyway,
nevertheless,
even so,
in each situation as it arises
can be like dying.
And it can be the doorway,
the threshold,
to a new way of seeing,
a new way of being
a new way of life.

How we meet our circumstances
is the crucial element
in influencing our circumstances
toward life, away from death,
or toward death, away from life.

"The bird is in our hands."

We grow through the very things
that appear to be the absolute end
of all things good--
if we meet them in a way
that takes what is given
and looks for the hidden passage
to what also is there.

Joseph Campbell said,
"Where we stumble and fall,
there lies the treasure."

And the old Taoist tale
"The Lost Horse Returns"
(Googleit)
reminds us that things have a way
of turning over time
if we give them time
to show us what else may be coming--
to see what other doors may be opening--
for those who wait,
watching.

The stone the builders reject
becomes the chief cornerstone.
The junk jewelry conceals
the priceless gem.
And these circumstances
are the very thing we need
to take the next step
toward whom we are yet to be.

It only takes believing it is so
for it to be so.

04

Schopenhauer said that when we look back over our life
it seems as though everything fits together
like a life-size jig saw puzzle,
with all those chance meetings
and events
working together to create
the harmonious whole
that has us right here,
right now.

And he posits that the director,
the choreographer, 
of the wonderful whole
that is our complete life
is none other than
the mysterious center of ourselves,
pulling rabbits out of a hat,
dancing this way with that,
and that way with this, 
in producing the opus we have lived
without being aware
of what we were doing.

"There is a center,"
he would say,
and 10,000 others with him,
"at work to coalesce a lived history
around itself
through our choices
and reaction to events
and circumstances
that have only us (and our center)
as the one influential constant
responsible for the majestic creation
of the life we have lived.

Our life is the product
we have produced without intent or purpose.
Joseph Campbell, thinking about this, said,
"None of us has lived the life we intended." 

But, we can trust ourselves to The Mystery
of our own unfolding.
We can rely on the center of our own being.
There are at work within us
forces we cannot imagine,
or begin to control--
but we can pledge ourselves to them
with filial devotion
and liege loyalty,
letting what happens be what happens,
and looking forward to how that
 contributes to the marvel of the whole
in response to the prayer of the people
throughout the ages:
"The work of our hands--
establish, Thou, it!"

–0–

03

Carl Jung thought we live
to bring ourselves to life.
Joseph Campbell would say the same.
And, he would say that all the mythologies
from the beginning say the same.

We are forever seeking ourselves.

T.S. Eliot, in "The Four Quartets," said,
"We shall not cease from exploration, 
and the end of all our exploring will be 
to arrive where we started 
and know the place for the first time."

The Old Taoists held that the Quest we are on
is to find our Original Nature,
and know "the face that was ours
before our parents were born."

Jung saw the task before us
as one of "Individuation,"
whereby we become who we are
by the life-long process 
of "circumambulation,"
an ever tightening spiral
around and around
the center that is the Self,
gradually realizing,
knowing,
becoming,
being,
incarnating
who we are
over the full course of our life.

We think we are here to make a lot of money
and "pass a good time."

We are living on one track
when we need to be living on another track.
We are going in one direction
when we need to be going in a different direction.

I don't know how 
we are going to get things
turned around.

I do know the old Taoist Masters
understood their sole task to be
"turning the light around."

Now it is our turn
to do the turning.

Turning, turning, turning,
along the path Jung laid out before us:
"We are who we always have been,
and who we will be."

Happy trails,
fellow travelers!
I'll keep an eye out for you
along the way!

–0–

02

Only those who can bear the pain of,
and dance with,
the contradictions
of life as it comes
have what it takes 
to see what's what
and do what can be done about it
with the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues/character
that comes with them from the womb
in each situation as it arises
moment-by-moment
all their life long.

Everybody else takes refuge
in their dreams
of how life should be,
or retreats into their favorite way
of dismissing,
discounting,
disregarding,
ignoring
the reality of the way things are,
and lives in denial,
dead to the world as it is,
all their life long.

If you are going to be alive
in this world,
and it is the only world there is,
you are going to have to live your life
on your life's terms--
without pausing to curse,
moan,
groan,
or complain.

Coming to terms with life's terms
and accepting the fact of:
This is the way things are,
and this is what you can do about it,
and that's that,
every day.

–0–

01

We cannot see/hear/know/understand/do/be/become
before the time for seeing/hearing/knowing/understanding/
doing/being/becoming.

But.

We can delay seeing, etc.
long past the time for seeing, etc.
by being distracted/lost
in pursuit of the wrong goals
in the service of the wrong ideas
about what is important
and worth our time.

Quoth the prophets:
"O Land, Land, Land!
HEAR the Word of the Lord!"

"How long am I to bear with you?
How long do I have to put up with you?"

"There are none who do what is right!
No!
Not ONE!"

And so it is said by those who know,
"Neanderthal got it.
Cro Magnon didn't.
And here we are."

Waiting,
watching,
for those who can hear
what is to be heard,
and do what must be done.

Like Obi wan Kenobi
wondering what is keeping
Luke Skywalker.
And Master Yoda
napping in the swamp
between Jedi's.

We cannot hurry the time 
of its arrival.
And we must be ready 
when it comes.

That is the paradox of the times.

The time between times
can seem eternal,
but it is the most important time.
How we spend it
tells the tale.

And the joke of all jokes is on us,
waiting for the day of the Lord's return
while the Lord is waiting for us
to show up--
seeing and hearing
what has been right before us
all along.

03

When we do what is called for 
situation by situation,
everything falls into place around that,
and we find ourselves 
in the process of being ourselves
in the day-to-day proceedings of our life.

There is a problem.
We want more 
than being who we are
in the moment-to-moment transactions
one day at a time.

With the lights and action
of Gay Paree in our eyes
we will never settle for the routine business
of life on the farm.

"The best is the enemy of the good,"
and we are off to find our place in the Big Time,
or the biggest time we can arrange,
with our idea of How Things Ought To Be
leading the way.

Except. But. Only. 
We have no idea of how things truly ought to be.
Our idea is how we want things to be.
That's how we think things ought to be.
And that's the problem.

We spend our life trying to hammer our life into shape,
but our life has a mind of its own,
and we learn too late--
if at all--
where our place is in the life we are living:
Looking/Listening,
Seeing/Hearing,
Doing What Needs To Be Done.
One Situation At A Time.

The shift is equivalent to the one that took place
when Obi wan Kenobi placed the helmet
on Luke Skywalker and said,
"Listen for the Force."
That is the shift that changes everything.

–0–

02

Poor Donald Trump cannot take "No!" for an answer.
He missed that initial induction into the Developmental Tasks.
And there is no moving forward
without moving back
and starting over
with learning to take "No!" for an answer.
That is elemental.

Poor Donald Trump does just what we wants to do,
and nothing that he doesn't want to do.
No one explained to him
that we grow up against our will
all along the way,
and learning to do that
is essential to everything that follows.

That we bear the pain of "No!" uttered in 10,000 ways
throughout the long course of our life.
That we die again and again
in the service of rising to the occasion
and doing what needs to be done
for the sake of the good of the situation
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.

"Death and resurrection, Kid.
Death and resurrection."

No one ever said those words
to Poor Donald Trump.
Or, if they did, they were never heard
as they needed to be heard,
with full comprehension,
absolute acceptance
and resolute obedience 
in compliance with the task at hand,
namely, dying to himself
in service to the situation 
and a good greater
than his own personal good.

And, here we are.
Awash in the refusal of Poor Donald Trump
to grow up
and do what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises
whether he wants to or not.
Because nothing worth happening
can happen
until that does.

–0–

01

"Go in search of your father--
your mother--
your life!"

The instructions are opaque,
obtuse,
muddled,
contradictory.

Contradiction is everywhere.

Our work is making sense of the contradictions
that clog our day.
We do that best by saying,
"That, too! 
That, too!"
To every one.
And dancing with them all.

Is it our father,
or our mother,
or our life 
that we are to find?

Yes,
yes,
and yes!

And then what?

"Kill your father!
Kill your mother!
And let your life eat your life!
For breakfast,
lunch
and dinner!"

You are kidding, right?

"Of course, I'm kidding!
Nothing is literal!
It is all metaphorical!
Metaphors are the only way
to deal with the contradictions!
If you take it all too seriously,
you curl up and die!
It's metaphor all the way down!"

If you don't die,
you will never live.

Death and resurrection, Kid.
Death and resurrection.

And the Kid walks away,
shaking her/his head.

"Come back here, Kid!
I'm not through with you!
Sit down!
Count all of the ways you have already died
to live to this point in your life!
There have been many,
don't tell me there have been none!
And there are many more
yet to come!
Embrace them all!

Go in search of your father--
your mother--
your life!

And do the work of finding,
killing,
dying,
living,
again and again.

It's death and resurrection
all the way down!"

03

Living from the center,
aligned with the Source,
in accord with our Original Nature,
at one with our Energy, Spirit and Vitality,
perfectly incarnating Balance and Harmony, 
Timing and Flow,
we are at the top of our game,
moving with the current of the Tao
through the Eternal Now
of Life and Being.

If you think money can somehow touch that,
you never will.

–0–

02

In order to be seen at all,
objective reality has to be interpreted subjectively.
We can pretend to be objective
about objective reality, but.
We can be objective only to the extent
that we don't give a damn about the object, and.
There is a point at which
not giving a damn about the object
renders it so meaningless
as to effectively disappear it 
from our field of vision.

To be seen at all,
an object has to mean something to us,
positively or negatively.
To truly have no opinion about it
is to render it invisible.
Then, our relationship with it
would be like sitting on an ox
looking for an ox.
The ox is right there.
We are sitting on it.
Wondering where it could be,
thinking of something else.
To see the ox,
we have to be with the ox,
and care enough about seeing/finding the ox
to be able to see it.

Caring enough about any object
allows us to see aspects of it
that would escape us entirely
if we cared less about it.

Caring too much about any object
blurs the lines separating us and it,
and we have a hard time distinguishing
where we stop and it starts.
Enmeshment is the polar extreme to objectivity.
Optimal viewing lies in the center
of the bell-shaped curve between the two.

How we see any object depends on what we have at stake
in seeing the object the way we see it--
on what we have at stake in the object 
being what it is,
being the way it is,
being what we say it is.

When we look at something,
we see what makes it meaningful to us.
To see anything "as it is"
is to spend more time examining it
than we are likely going to be willing to spend.

We rush past 10,000 things in a day,
in a moment,
that we cannot be bothered with seeing.
We have more important things to do.
Yet we think we are firmly grounded in,
attached to,
"the real world,"
here and now.

We cannot see God--
What Has Always Been Called "God"--
without stopping to look.

That Which Has Always Been Called "God"--
the divine, 
transcendent,
ineffable,
"essence"
on "the other side" of "normal, apparent, reality"--
is always "right there,"
"right here,"
with us in every moment.
It only takes looking 
to be able to see.

Looking in a way that is devoid of theology,
and doctrine,
and dogma,
and ideas of what we are looking for,
that keep us from seeing what is there.

To look like that 
is to become "transparent to transcendence"
(Joseph Campbell),
and present with what is present with us,
and transformed forever
by "eternity in a grain of sand"
(William Blake).

–0–

01

Ancient peoples all knew 
that the physical world
is upheld and sustained
by the invisible world.
The physical world
is supported and maintained
by the metaphysical world.

Karma and Grace,
Tao,
Dharma,
Synchronicity,
Transcendence,
The Ineffable,
Flow,
Luck,
Magic and Black Magic...
are aspects of the invisible world
experienced within the visible world.

Sheldon Kopp was talking
about the invisible world 
when he said,
"Some things can be experienced
but not understood,
and some things can be understood,
but not explained."

Religion has always stood
at the cusp between worlds.

Good Religion interprets the invisible world
in ways that enable the visible world
to live in accord with
and in service to
the ends of the invisible world.

Bad Religion interprets the invisible world
in ways that enable the visible world
to command and control the invisible world
in service to the ends, will and desire of the visible world.

Bad Religion thinks in terms 
of giving in order to get.

Good religion thinks in terms
of being in order to be--
understanding that there is nothing beyond
being at one with the invisible world
to want, desire, get, have, own, attain or do.

We can understand the worlds of visible and invisible,
of physics and metaphysics,
in terms of the world of conscious,
logical,
rational,
facts,
and the world of unconscious,
illogical,
irrational,
metaphors,
and say that human beings
are capable of living with a foot in each world.

We can move back and forth between the worlds.
We can stand apart from both worlds
and view them as an optical illusion
wherein we see it this way now,
and see it that way then.
Now we see it this way,
now we see it that way.
Which way IS is?
It is both ways at the same time!
And we know there is a "dimension of life
that transcends our experience" 
(Joseph Campbell)
of life in the world of normal, physical, reality.

But.

This knowing unnerves a lot of people.
Too many of us "cannot bear to look 
upon the face of God,"
and need other people to look for us
and tell us what they see
and what we must do
to be on God's good side,
to enjoy God's favor,
without paying the price
of bearing the pain of God's awful presence.

And in that, Bad Religion is born.

And you get people who have not had the experience of God
talking about God
as though they know what they are saying,
but they are only saying what they have been told
and they are using it to their own advantage.

Their experiences of life are experienced
without opening them 
"to the radiance of their divine dimension"
(Joseph Campbell)--
and awe, 
wonder,
amazement
and "esthetic arrest"
(James Joyce)
are words that can be said,
but do not serve as 
containers of an experience
that is known and understood--
and we are talking about images/experiences
that have no affect, no impact,
that stir no feeling of recognition and identity within.

We are alive but dead to life
because we are lacking eyes that can see
the things that are "transparent to transcendence"
and cannot be shown 
"the divine dimensions of life
that transcends our experiences"
(Joseph Campbell).

Everything is "right there,"
waiting to be seen and also seen,
known and also known,
but.
We have to look until we see
what is also there
on "the other side"
of the optical illusion that is our life.

No one can give us the will and the courage
to look until we see.

We have to come up with that on our own.

04

It takes taking some things on faith--
believing they are so--
in order to know that they are.

The visible world is upheld and sustained
by the invisible world.

Death and rebirth are metaphors
that transform the fact of life
and enable us to live with facts
we could not, otherwise, bear.

Seeing past the facts 
enables us to take into account
more than denial would allow,
and opens up worlds for our imagination
to explore, investigate, examine
using analogy, allegory, parable and reflection.

Taking God out of the sphere of facts,
and understanding God to be representative
of more than words can say
about experiences that cannot be explained,
or even understood,
permitting "That Which Has Always Been Called God" 
to become real for us beyond theology, doctrine, dogma and creed,
and inviting us to explore 
what it means to say,
"There is more to us than meets the eye,"
and what that might offer us as a guardian and guide
through dark places and disquieting times.

We are not alone.
Carl Jung said, "There is within each of us,
another, whom we do not know."

The Force that is with us as Way and Virtue
comes to life through sincerity 
and a return to our original nature.
Grace and Dharma stand by smiling
as "events unfold in mysteriously appropriate ways"
(Joseph Campbell).

However, the invisible world cannot be used 
in the service of our egocentric
goals, plans, desires, agendas and schemes.
Contrivance is not a companion of soul.
And sincerity is the prerequisite for all of our interaction
with the Source and Goal of Life and Being.
But.

We are all within a quiet breath
of that "very present help in time of trouble."
All it takes is
Stopping.
Listening.
Looking.
Waiting.
In the stillness
and the silence
for things to stir to life there
and begin to occur to us
as comfort and direction
in response to what our life situation
is calling for.

What we do about that is up to us.
It may be enough for now
to receive it as an encouraging
disclosure of the fact
that we are not alone,
and that we only have to restore
our relationship with the Other
who resides within
to know that it is so.

–0–

03

Nothing will turn things to the good in our life--
your life and mine--
like making our peace with how things are.

Failing/refusing to do that is the source of all of our pain.
And doing it is the solution of all of our problems today.
Every day.

So.

What's the problem?

–0–

02

Each of us has our own life to live.
There is that which assists/helps us with our life,
and there is that which hampers/interferes with our life.
It is our place to know the difference
and be attuned to it,
assisting what assists us,
helping what helps us,
avoiding what hampers and interferes
with us living our life
the way it needs to be lived.

We are not free to live any way 
we feel like living .
"We are our own worst enemy"
in a lot of ways.
We are the one who hampers/interferes with
our ability to live our life
the way it needs to be lived.

We have to buy into the program ourselves!
We have to believe in what we are doing--
in what we are here to do--ourselves!
We have to believe in us!
In what is ours to do!

Most of us don't even know what that is,
and couldn't care less.

Those of us who belong in that category
have to start there.
We have to square up with that.
Own it.
Decide what we are going to do about it.
Decide how we are going to respond to it.
There is only ourselves and our life
in this picture,
and what we choose to do about
the relationship between us and our life
is going to make all the difference.
No one can do that for us.
We are up to us.
It is all up to us.
What happens next is our call to make.

There is that which helps us live our life,
and there is that which works against us living our life.
Are we with us and our life?
Are we against us and our life?
Whose side are we on?
Are we buying in?
Or selling out?

If we aren't buying in,
we are selling out.
This is the turning point.
Everything is on the line.
Where are we in relation to our life?

–0–

01

Everything dries up and blows away
in time.

The things that mean the most to me,
that prop me up
and keep me going,
don't seem to mean anything at all
to anyone I know.

That isn't going to stop them
from meaning the most to me.

Love what you love!
Enjoy what you enjoy!

What's the life span of a spiderweb?
Or of a spider?
Neither of those things
matter to the spider!

Live like it is forever,
you and the things you love!

When I am gone,
and nothing of me remains
anywhere,
and all the things that mean the most to me
have taken their place 
with all that is no more,
it,
and I,
will have done our part,
and that will be that.

In the meantime,
there is life to be lived
before it all dries up
and blows away!

Don't waste a moment
thinking too bad it doesn't last!
Live every one--
every moment--
for all it's worth--
for all you're worth--
as though it is the last moment ever!

Cherish what is here, now!
And live as though you do!

Everything is drying up
and blowing away!

Enjoy it while you can!

Be YOU as long as there is a you to be!
Don't hold anything back!
Look while the light lasts!
Dance while the music is playing!

This is your LIFE!
Live it like it matters to you
that you are alive--
throughout the time left for living!

02

Silence is the origin of all that is.

Before there was anything,
there was silence.

We return to the Source
through the silence.

How often do you sit quietly?
For how long?

The trick with sitting quietly
is to be detached from the noise.
Silence is the nosiest place on earth!
Disengage.
Peacefully coexist.
Let the noise go on (and on) without you.
Thoughts will come along to shanghai you.
Things to do will pop up to hijack you.
Great ideas will drop by to kidnap you.

Let it all come
and let it all go
in a "That, too, that, too" kind of way.
Remember your breathing through it all.
Coming back to your breathing
is coming back to the silence.
Listen for the sound of breathing.
Breathe into your abdomen.
Watch the rising and falling of your diaphragm.  

Aim for 20 minutes twice a day.

You are nurturing the silence.
Seeking the Source.

Our Original Nature resides in the Source.
Our Original Nature
is our authentic,
natural Self.
It is who we are without the artificial affectations 
to fit us in with 
where we have no business being.

Finding our way back to the Source
is finding our way back to ourselves.
On the other side of silence.

–0–

01

We have to do the work.
This is no holiday sight-seeing tour,
no "Show up when you feel like it
and take as much time off as you like"
kind of deal.

This is the Hero's Journey,
so-called because it actually requires us
to put ourselves out
in its service.

James Joyce (as per Joseph Campbell
in A Skeleton Key to Finnegan's Wake
and  Mythic Worlds Modern Words--
I have to take Joyce indirectly,
with interpretation and explanation,
because reading him is like reading
a foreign language,
so, thanks be to Campbell 
for enabling me to do the work
of comprehending Joyce)
says there are two kinds of art:
Proper Art
and Improper Art.

Improper Art is pornographic
in that it either pulls us to desire to possess it,
or pushes us to abhor and be rid of it.
Our reaction to Improper Art
is Lust, Loathing, Fear and Dread.

Proper Art stops us in our tracks.
Stuns us into silent reverence.
Introduces us to awe and wonder.
Makes us forget to breathe.

"Aesthetic Arrest," Joyce calls it. 

Instead of wanting to possess it,
we are possessed by it
and are transformed forever
by our encounter with it.

We can think of religion
the way Joyce thinks about art.

Improper Religion is pornographic. 
"My God is an awesome God!"
We possess God.
We own God. 
It is "My God this,"
and "My God that."
And we give God a round of applause.
Not a standing ovation, mind you,
a round of applause.
We offer God trinkets of attention
and loose change
in return for all of the things 
we expect God to give us,
including, of course, Heaven for Eternal Life.
What a deal.
And we talk about God all the time.

Proper Religion takes all of our words away.
Turns our life inside-out,
eats our old life alive,
and transforms us forever
by the impact of the shock of its reality--
and conscripts us into its service
by taking over the direction and control of our life.

Our life becomes our work in response
to the call/command that is ours to incarnate,
exhibit,
express,
serve
and do.

What we do is our response 
to the wonder of oneness
with the Art of Religion 
exemplified in our life.

And we don't talk about it at all
because the best things can't be said,
and the second-best things can only be inferred
from the way we live,
and the third-best and lower things 
are what we talk about,
news/gossip, weather and sports.

Our life is properly spent 
doing the work that being alive
to the truth of how it is really
requires in each moment.

Life lived any other way
is life lived improperly.

03

What are the forces of destabilization in your life?
What are the forces of balance and harmony?
What serves as your grounding foundation?
What do you turn to when you have nowhere to turn?
What keeps you going?

The silence that connects us to the Source is always there.
Both are always there.
The Source is the locus of our Original Nature
which is the grounding foundation of our life
in all conditions,
contexts
and circumstances.

Being who we are
and doing it like we would do it
as an expression/incarnation
of who we are
in each situation as it arises
is all we need to know-do-be.

We are stabilized when we are being who we are.
Our balance and harmony snap into place
when we are being who we are.

What do we need to be who we are?
We need to stop.
Breathe.
Look.
Listen.
Refocus.
And redirect.
Step back into the moment,
see what is being called for,
respond as only we can
out of the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues/character
that are ours to share.

Moment-by-moment.
Situation-by-situation.
All our life long.

–0–

02

When we go off into the world 
to find our life and live it,
we do not know where the lines lie,
or where we should draw them.

We can easily care too much about the wrong things,
and care too little about the right things.

Where does the line lie between the wrong things
and the right things?
Where does the line lie between too much
and too little?

Time will tell.

We can trust ourselves to time
and to our life experience over time
to reveal all we need to know
about finding our life and living it.

In the meantime,
there is only taking our time
and paying attention--
seeing what we look at,
feeling what we feel,
sensing what we sense,
knowing what we know
about what's what,
what's happening,
and what is being called for
in each situation as it arises,
reflecting and reassessing
all along the way.

It helps to have little in the way
of judgment or opinion--
no more than, 
"Oops. Wrong turn!
Back up. Try again,"
would be just fine.

–0–

01

It all hangs by a thread,
turns on a dime,
It's all just a product
of chance and time...

And yet, and yet...

I was always going to be a writer,
and a photographer,
a seer seeking expression,
a knower wanting to know.

Carl Jung was never more correct
than when he said,
"We are who we always have been,
and who we will be."

There is nothing accidental about us.
Time and chance don't stand a chance with us.

We are going to be who we are!

The pine tree is tucked away in the seed.
The oak is never going to be a weed.

Who we are is right here with us all along.
It only takes looking to see,
knowing to know,
paying attention to understand.

So sit with yourself in some quiet place.
Invite reflection.
Await realization.
Consider the thread of you
playing out over time.
Who have you been showing yourself to be
all along the way
from the beginning to now?
What's your shtick?
There you are.
Simple.
Now--go be you!
Do what you do!

03

"Comfort, comfort my people," says the Lord to the prophet (Isaiah)
"Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and tell her that her hard times are past..."

"But do not under any circumstances
say 'Peace, Peace' when there is no peace!"
says the Lord to a different prophet (Jeremiah).

The Bible says opposite things,
top to bottom
all the time.
Because times change.
There is no Word of the Lord for all times and places.

The Word of the Lord
is like the Spirit
that blows where it will.

One time it is like this,
and another time it is like that,
but always and forever it is of the times.
Pertinent,
timely
and uniquely suited
to this here,
this now.

The Word of the Lord is context sensitive.
Situational.
Provisional.
Conditional.
Temporary.

Sometimes it is like this,
and sometimes it is like that.
It all depends.

Which means we can't count on it
to be anything more that what it is--
what it needs to be--
right here, right now.

And that puts us on the spot.
We are always in the position
of determining for ourselves
what Word of the Lord is apropos
and applicable
right here, right now.
How do we know?

By being attuned to right here, right now.
By being tuned into right here, right now.
By seeing what's what,
hearing what is being said
and knowing what needs to be said in response,
and what needs to be done in response,
and what the situation is calling for,
and doing it,
right here, right now.

The Word of the Lord comes 
not just to the prophets, 
but to all of those clued into the moment 
of their living.
We are all prophets.
A prophet is someone who sees and hears
and knows and understands
what's what
and what to do about it.

And everyone is capable of that.
All it takes are eyes to see,
ears to hear,
and hearts to comprehend.

We all have eyes, ears, hearts!
What is the problem?
Could it be that what we 
desire,
want,
fear,
loathe,
despise
are in our way?

And that the only thing standing 
between us
and That Which Has Always Been Called God
is us?

–0–

02

Living sincerely,
transparent to ourselves,
without contriving to land a better deal
moment-by-moment-by-moment
would make the world a better place instantly.

Living transparent to ourselves
would make us "transparent to transcendence"
(Joseph Campbell),
create occasions of "aesthetic arrest"
(James Joyce),
and open the way to The Way
for those capable of finding it worldwide.

And we don't have to buy something 
we don't have to do it.
We have all we need
but the one thing required.

Turning the light around.

–0–

01

Bringing ourselves forth
to meet the time and place
of our living,
moment by moment,
situation by situation,
day after day,
is becoming who we need to be
to provide what we have to offer
to the times
as they swirl,
change,
transform
around us,
is becoming who we are.

Becoming who we need to be--
who we are called to be
by each situation as it arises--
is becoming who we are.

There are no steady states of being.
Living is becoming.
Is transitioning.
Is life.
Is being transformed by life.

Accommodation and adjustment, Kid!
Accommodation and adjustment!

In becoming,
we are one with the Flow,
with the Flux,
with the way of The Way--
offering what is needed
when it is needed,
the way it is needed
time after time,
throughout time,
through all times.
And places,
conditions,
contexts
and circumstances.

Dancing with the times.
Dancing with eternity.
Being one with the times over time.
Being one with ourselves in all times.

Nobody can do more than that.
That is all that can be asked of any of us.
To want more than that is to miss it.

Just be who you are becoming who you are
in response to the times of your living
in the place you are now,
no, now,
no, now...
always and forever,
amen.

We take who we are--
who we are capable of being--
in one hand,
and what the situation is asking of us--
is asking us to be--
is calling for,
in the other hand,
and we get the two hands together,
time after time over time.

Over the full course of time that is ours to work with.
Changing by becoming who we are yet to be
in response to the times
all of the time.

We are called forth by our circumstances,
and bring ourselves forth 
by rising to meet every occasion
all our life long.

This is the way of The Way
living in us,
living through us
throughout time.

By becoming who we are without ceasing,
we bring something new into the world
all the time.

We break the cyclical cycle.
The old has passed away,
behold the new has come,
every day,
throughout the day,
each day,
just by being who we are,
becoming who we are.

Making all things new.

02

We stand before the Cyclops
in any one of his multitudinous manifestations
and recite the mantra
of the hopeless and forlorn
throughout the ages:

"Why take another step?
What good do we think it will do?
We are wasting our time!
What's the point of even showing up?
Who cares?
What difference will it make?
Why go on with the farce?"

And the Cyclops grins again,
red eye flashing hatred and rage,
stepping forward 
to claim his prize.

But, with a slight shift of perspective,
we turn the light around,
and step forward ourselves
to stop him where he stands:

 "Why take another step?
What good do you think it will do?
You are wasting your time!
What's the point of even showing up?
Who cares what you do or say?
What difference do you think you will make?
Why go on with the farce?
You are not scaring us off!
We are in this in spite of the best you can do
for as long as the work 
needs to be done!
We are not quitting!
We don't care what our chances are!
We are locked into what is called for!
We are solidly grounded in service to the Good
whether it does any good or not!
We are glad to be good for nothing!
If you want to tangle with us, come on!
We aren't stopping--
or even slowing down!"

The Cyclops depends on hopelessness
and dejection
doing his work for him.
When we find what is worth doing
"without hope,
without witness,
without reward"
(Steven Moffat),
there is no reason ever to quit,
or even slow down.

When we know what we would go to hell for,
we know what we will do no matter what,
and are free to live life 
as it needs us to live it,
without bothering to even keep score.

–0–

01

Nothing is just what it is.
Everything points beyond itself
to the 10,000 things.

In any situation,
the 10,000 things are present,
and 10,000 things are going on
representing "the stuff"
each person--
and each living entity--
bring to the situation
out of their/its own lived experience.

It is a complicated world.

Complexes,
memories,
associations,
interests,
desires,
resentments...
Mix,
clash,
tangle,
collide,
collude,
color,
influence,
impact
and create
everything that happens
and happens not
in each situation as it arises
across the board,
around the world.

Try getting a handle on that.
Try controlling that.
It is always a wonder
that things aren't
in more of a mess 
than they are in.

Moment-to-moment-to-moment.

Balance and harmony, Kid.
Balance and harmony.
Starts at home.

Begin here, now.
Stop.
Sit still.
Be quiet.
Breathe.
Listen.
Look.
Until you see,
hear,
what's what,
what's happening,
what's going on,
what's being called for,
what needs to be done about it,
right here,
right now...

Awareness is our only tool.
Our only chance
at balance and harmony.
"This too, this, too."

Reflection leads to realization.
Realization leads to
"Thou Art That."

Seeing our own disparate, 
discordant,
dissonance,
disconnection
and dislocation
allows us to be cognizant of others'
and opens the way
to an "I and Thou" reckoning,
and a "What now?" dialog,
with compassion and peace
companions long absent from the conversation
present at last in the room.

02

How do we know what is important?
How do we decide what matters
and what doesn't?
How do we know we are right?
What makes us think we are?
How often do we evaluate our evaluations?
Against what do we check our plumb?
The accuracy of our circle?
The squareness of our square?
We declare we are right,
but.
How do we know that we are right?
How often do we even ask the question?

–0–

01

How do we know what to do when?
Fear could guide us.
Or desire.
Or loathing,
anger,
hatred,
dread...

We could live at the whim 
of emotional reactivity.

But.

What do our emotions know?

Reason and logic have their place.

But.

What guides them through their
carefully plotted deliberations?
How do they know what is best for us
or our situation?
"Best" in terms of what?
In light of what?

How good is the good
reason and logic call good?

"Well," they would say,
"If you want this,
here is the best path to that end!"

But.

What does wanting know?
How do we know what to want?
How we know what we should want?
How do we want what we ought to want?

How do we know what needs to be done
without contriving our way to a future
where we have no business being?

Where do we belong?
How do we know?

We have to go all the way back
to who we are
to find out.

Carl Jung said,
"We are who we always have been--
and who we will be."

Living in ways that incarnate,
exhibit,
express,
reveal and make known
who we are
in each situation as it arises,
regardless of contexts,
conditions
and circumstances
is being true to ourselves
and to our place in our life
throughout our life.

It is to work out the conflicts
and contradictions
between who we are 
and where we are
through negotiation and compromise,
adjustment and accommodation.

What do we need to be who we are,
where we are, 
when we are,
here and now?

It takes sitting quietly,
in stillness and silence,
to find the way
to The Way of Being Who We Are
Here and Now.

Stop.
Breathe.
Look.
Listen.
Wait for the mud to settle
and the water to clear.

Listen to your heart
(What makes your little heart
sing and dance?).
Listen to your stomach
(Those gut feelings).
Listen to your "bones"
(What you "know in your bones").
Listen to your nighttime dreams.

Ask the questions that beg to be asked.
Say the things that cry out to be said.
Reflect on the things 
that have always been true about you
over the full course of your life--
they will always be true about you.
What does that tell you about where and how
you need to be?
About where you belong,
and belong not?

Watch what you find yourself doing
absentmindedly,
unintentionally,
directing yourself to what needs to be done.

See how your sense of direction
forms itself around,
and flows from,
the stillness and silence
of mindful walk-a-bouts.

02

Scary times.

Made scarier by the fact
that we aren't in control of what happens.
But.
What's new about that
is that we have lost access
to our comforting illusions
and ready escapes near at hand.

We have never been in control of what happens.
The best we have ever been able to hope for
is controlling our response to what happens
in light of what is being asked of us
here and now,
in this present moment of our living.
And that remains the case right here, right now!

What is being called for here?
Now?
Respond to that as best you can!

Forget the "big picture,"
the "long term"!

Right here! Right now!

Here we are, now what?

What is necessary right here, right now?

Do that.

The long term is a different matter.
We have to settle ourselves into that,
and make our peace with having to deal with it
for the long term.

We have to grieve what must be grieved,
and bear what must be borne.

We have lost so much--
so much has been lost by so many!
We all have to--must--bear consciously the pain
of all that we/they have lost!

Bearing consciously the pain
of our grief, loss and sorrow
is crucial to our life--
to our ability to live--
over the long term.

We have to feel what must be felt,
grieve what must be grieved,
mourn what must be mourned,
see what must be seen,
know what must be known,
and fully face it all
without discounting,
dismissing,
ignoring,
denying any of it!

Sob, cry, throw-up, scream...
Do. Not. Hold. It. In.
Do. Not. Pretend. It. Away.
Face it!
Feel it!
Vent it!
Express it!
Know it! Know it! Know it!

Several times throughout the day,
for as many days as it takes.

In order to treat our grief well,
we have to master the age-old art
of walking two paths at the same time.

We have to do now what needs to be done now,
and we have to grieve our losses,
feel our fear,
and face the reality of a new world
without the comfort of safe guards and shelters.

We are on our own
like few of us have ever been before.
Well.
Our ancestors have all been here,
where we are,
before us.
We have their genes. 
Our Psyche comes from them.
We have built-in to the system--
into our system--
a reservoir or time tested archetypes
for meeting whatever life throws at us.
We only have to find our way back to
our Original Nature to know that it is so.

We do that by trusting it is as I say it is
when I say, "There is more to us than meets the eye."
All of us.
Every one of us.
And when I say, "We have what it takes
to rise to the occasion--
every occasion."

We come from good stock.
We are built to take it,
and to find what it takes
to do what it takes
about whatever is before us,
and whatever needs to be done about it.

To find our Original Nature,
we have to "turn the light around"
and seek what we need within ourselves,
and not in our external environment.

To do that:
Stop.
Breathe (Slowly, deeply pausing between exhale and inhale).
Look.
Listen.
Wait ("For the mud to settle
and the water to clear").
Remember your breathing.
Watch for what begins to stir
in the stillness,
in the silence,
showing you,
reminding you,
who you are,
and always have been,
and will always be--
the core truth of your very own being.

We all have access to the Source of who we are,
of our Original Nature,
and the Source of life itself,
to stabilize us
and ground us
upon the adamantine foundation
of what is unshakable about us--
and to orient us,
guide and direct us,
sustain and encourage us,
in facing what must be faced
and doing what needs to be done about it.

In the presence of the Source,
and possessed by our Original Nature,
we are never alone,
and have all we need
to find what we need
to do what is ours to do.

Return to the Source on a regular basis.
Know what is true about you
in dealing with what is true about your life,
and living appropriately 
in response to your circumstances
moment-by-moment,
situation-by-situation,
day-by-day
throughout the time left for living.

–0–

01

We live to turn things to our advantage.
As though we know what that is.
Is it better to win or to lose?
Is it better to get what you want,
or to get what you don't want?

Only time will tell.
And then, time will tell again.
And again...
When do we ever know for sure?

We know for sure that we are better off
in some places than in others,
but which places are which,
and for how long "better" lasts,
we do not know.

And yet, we live to turn things to our advantage.

You might think,
that by now we would have come up with
a different strategy for having it made.

I suggest we start with
forgetting about having it made.
Having it made is such a time-limited matter.
We are going to die!
There is no such thing as having it made
when it is only a matter of time until we die!
You can call it having it made--
I call it dying!

How are we going to live until we die?
That is our only question!
Not, "What is to our greatest advantage?"
Not, "What is the shortest route to having it made?"
But, "How can we live the best life we are capable of living
within the conditions and circumstances 
that define our environment
until we die?"

Living to answer the right question makes all the difference.
What questions are you living to answer?

02

There is what happens,
and there is what we do about what happens,
in response to what happens.
And then, something else happens.

And that's the way it goes all the way. 

With luck, we learn from what happens
when we respond to what happens,
and we get better at what is ours to do.

But we must never, ever,
close our eyes to the truth
of what's happening!

Our only chance is seeing what's what,
knowing what our choices are,
and trusting ourselves to know
how to make the right ones over time.

The national park motto always applies:

Your Safety Is Your Responsibility!

We come into the world with all we need
to find what we need
to do what needs to be done
in each situation that arises.
It is up to us to learn to use 
what we have to work with--
the gifts, genius, daemon, virtues, character
that are unique to us,
and are our Super Powers,
unique to us,
and ready to help us find the way
through all of our trials and ordeals.

Trust yourself to what comes built into you,
and let yourself show you what you can do!

–0–

01

I don't know where the line lies between 
intimacy and vulnerability.
I don't know if there is a line.
I think it may be one thing.
I don't know what to call it.

I don't know where the lines lie among
psychic 
and psychological
and physical
and emotional
and spiritual.
I don't know if there are lines.
I think it may all be one thing.
I don't know what to call it.
"Me," perhaps.

But then, where does the line lie between
"me"
and "you"?

I don't know where the line lies between
intellectual,
rational
and logical.
Or if there is one.

It feels like it would be easier 
to draw lines separating these last three entities
from the others,
but there is mutuality among them all,
and we all sort ourselves out
along a continuum containing all people
from all times and places
in a way that enables us to recognize one another
and not confuse ourselves with any one.
We all are different but remarkably similar.

And how trustworthy are the lines
separating these aspects of ourselves
within ourselves,
and separating ourselves
from all other selves?

How do we "get it all together"
in all of these ways,
as individuals,
without being "together"
with one another, 
with each other,
throughout the continuum of humanity?

And, could it be,
that the things that keep us separated
into categories of "me" and "you,"
and "us" and "them,"
also keep us separated/cut off/isolated/apart from
all of these aspects of ourselves
within ourselves?

So that the more we identify ourselves 
as "us" and not "them,"
the less integrated and whole we are
within ourselves--
and the more whole we are 
within ourselves,
the less able we are to think of ourselves
as "us" and "them"?

And that we will not be safe,
individually or collectively,
without being whole 
individually and collectively?

So that the work to be safe and secure
in an environment that is trustworthy and dependable,
is the work of becoming healed and whole and one within?

Until we can be an "I"
we cannot be a "We"?

What do you think?

Could it be?

That the work of being safe
is the work of leaving home
and finding our father
and our mother
within ourselves
through the trials and ordeals
of life on our own
in the world?

That growing up
is developing all of the tools of life
mentioned above
in order to be who we are
and be okay
with not knowing 
where any of the lines lie--
or even if there are lines?

What do you think?