02

There is how things are,
and there is how we feel 
about how things are.
And that is how things are.

And that is where we have to get to work--
being conscious of how easily two things
become one thing
in their impact on us,
and intentionally preventing that from happening.

How we feel about how things are
is different from how things are.
It is up to us to separate them,
and deal with two things,
not one thing.

Emergency room personnel 
have to keep their feelings
from interfering with their response
to what comes through the door.

What's happening
and what needs to be done
about what's happening
has to be realized and done
on a level different from
how we feel about what's happening
and what needs to be done about it.

The same thing applies
to the dog throwing up on the carpet,
or the baby's diaper
needing to be changed,
or all of the 10,000 things
happening at once.

Our response to what is happening
has to be to what is happening,
and not to how we feel about what is happening.

We process the impact of what happens
at a time and place
different from the time and place
in which what is happening happens.

At the time of the happening,
we realize the horror,
or the inconvenience,
or the outlandish absurdity, etc.,
without being sidetracked by any of it--
in order to do what needs to be done about it
here and now.

We note it and tuck it away in our awareness
to be revisited when that is appropriate,
in order to give our full attention
to the present moment
and what is called for now.

This is called
"Walking two paths at the same time."
It is a life skill we all need to master
by the time we are, say, six years old.

–0–

01

Adjustment and accommodation,
Negotiation and compromise,
Acceptance and realization,
Growth and recognition,
Peace, balance and harmony--
Are all stages on the way,
Hallmarks of The Way.

Growing up is the only form of growth.
We grow by growing up.
We grow up against our will,
in recognition of how things are.

"This is the way things are,
and this is what can be done about it,
and that's that.
That is how things are!"

Letting things be because they are--
letting come what's coming 
and letting go what's going,
and bearing consciously the pain
of realization and acquiescence--
is the price of being alive.

When Jesus said,
"Pick up your cross everyday
and come along with me,"
this is what he was talking about--
bearing consciously the pain
of being alive.

Conflict,
contradiction,
polarity,
dichotomy,
dissonance,
duality,
incongruity,
antipathy, 
opposition,
agony,
anguish,
and pathos
constitute the lived experience
of incompatible,
mutually exclusive,
wants,
interests
and needs.

Life Eats Life!

How's that for the fundamental refutation
of all we consider to be good and right?
Yet, that is the basic requirement
for life in the world.

Growing up is coming to terms 
with the terms required for life and being--
and consciously bearing the pain of being alive
in acquiescence to the realization at the heart of life:

"When you meet an elephant coming toward you on the path,
Get off the path!!!"

Do not insist on your principles
in the face of necessity,
or accept the fact that some principles
require us to die on the cross we carry.
And let it be so,
because it is.

03

"It's not for everybody."
Nothing is.
Well, maybe, breathing.
But, we are not here
to be guided by "everybody."
What's your shtick?
Whatever it is,
"It's not for everybody."

We can't let that become a factor
in whether we stick with our shtick.
Being true to ourselves
means being true to that
which sets us apart.
Fitting in cannot be so important
that we sacrifice our gifts, 
our genius,
our knacks and our fancies
in order to have a place in the crowd.

What do you do best?
What do you enjoy doing the most?
How often do you do it?
How long has it been since you've done it?

Take care of your shtick.
Allow it to guide you along the way.

–0–

02

The photographer's burden
is wanting to take the best photograph ever.
Ever meaning past and future.

It is a burden because it is impossible.
For one thing,
it is impossible because every photograph
is limited to this here, this now.
This time.
This place.

Photographs are snatches,
glimpses,
of time and place.

Photographs are moments captured between shutters.
1/225th of  second, say.
or 1/30th of  second.
or 10 seconds.
It doesn't matter.
However long it is,
it comes and goes like that.
And that's that.

And then, it is a different scene.
And the longer between scenes,
the more different is the scene.

Even the best photograph at that time in that place
is problematic.
The best we can hope for
is a good-enough photograph
of a particular scene
at a particular time.

Change the time, we change the scene.

A good-enough photograph is the best we can do.
A good-enough photograph is the best photograph.
Improving it is taking a different photograph
that we like better.
Doing that with a landscape photograph
is iffy at best.

We can never go back to the same scene.
It's like stepping into the same river twice.
It's always changing. 
The weather.
The lighting.
The tourists-- 
or other photographers--
in the way...

Taking another photograph
that we like better
is a never-ending quest for satisfaction.
At some point,
we have to be satisfied enough.

We have to lay aside the idea of the best,
and come to terms with the idea
of being satisfied enough
to sleep well at night,
and to stop thinking about going back again
and making it better.

We will only make it different.
Better is a matter of finally being satisfied enough
to let it go.

The only thing photographers ever really want
is to be in all of the right places
at all of the right times.

That is the photographers real burden--
being unable to have what we really want.

Everybody carries that burden.

–0–

01

Contrivance is the foundation 
of the world as we know it.
Everybody is contriving to have
their best possible future.

The future is "where it's at."
The present is where we contrive
to get to the future
where we all will have it made
(On our terms, of course).

The present is no place to be!
Ask anybody.
Everyone hates their life in the present!
Everyone is contriving 
to get as far away from the present
as it is possible to be.

(We have people seriously dreaming
of colonizing space
because that is where new life begins!
New life always begins somewhere else.
And we have to get there to have it made.

Having it made is where all our dreams come true.
Nirvana.
The Elysian Fields.
The moons of Jupiter, perhaps.
Somewhere as far away from here and now
as we can get.)

Boy oh boy, do I have bad news for you,
and you,
and you,
and, yes, you!

You. Are. Dreaming.
You are drowning in denial.
You are dead to the world,
hanging out,
until you actually die
and  some undertaker
makes it official.

Life is nowhere other than here. Now.

But.

You have to stop contriving to have something better,
and start being where you are.

And.

Everybody (Ask them) hates where they are.

There you are.

Contrivance and denial are "all we got"
here, now.

When you get to the end of your
contrivance/denial rope,
come sit down.
We'll talk.
I'll wait (winks).

02

It is about how well we live our life. 
How well we face what faces us in each moment.
How well we deal with what we have to deal with.
How well we square up to the reality of time and place,
context and circumstance,
moment-to-moment,
situation-by-situation,
day-after-day
over the full course of our life.

Seeing what is called for,
offering what is missing,
doing what is needed,
when it is needed,
the way it is needed,
for as long as it is needed,
here and now,
for as long as there are here's and now's.

It is about our body of work
compiled throughout our days upon the earth.

We live to engage the moment--
not to escape the moment--
not to deny the moment--
not to dismiss, discount, disregard, ignore the moment--
but to engage the moment,
to meet the moment on the moment's terms,
rising to meet the occasion
on every occasion,
being brought forth,
born again,
deepened,
enlarged,
expanded,
developed,
grown up
through the process of living our life,
blessed by the trials and ordeals
of the life that is ours to live
in ways beyond imaging or believing.

We become what is "in it for us."
We are it.
We are the fruit of our own labor.
The product of our own work in the service 
of what is good for the time and place of our living,
in each time and place of our living,
over the times and places of our life.

What we have to show for it
is who we show ourselves to be
by being who we as that changes over time.

What helps us with that?
What makes it possible?
What do we need
in order to do what needs us
to do it?

That is our quest:
Finding what we need
to do what needs to be done!
There is nothing beyond that
to want, 
or seek,
or desire!

–0–

01

Anybody can believe in Jesus.
The tricky part is being Jesus
the way only we can be Jesus,
so that no one watching
can tell where Jesus stops
and we start,
or vice versa.

But.

There is a hack for cutting 
straight to the heart of the matter,
skirting all that thinking,
reasoning,
proof-texting
and doctrinal-testing
to come up with the perfectly precise formula
for knowing what Jesus would do when,
where, 
why
and how.

It's called,
"Don't know what Jesus would do!"

Jesus didn't know what Jesus would do.
He waited to see what he did,
and said,
"So, that's what Jesus would do.
How about that!"

That's the only way to do it.

Not knowing what to do is the way
to purest doing.
That's straight from the heart stuff,
the things we do without contriving,
or being able to explain,
defend,
justify,
and excuse
on the basis 
of one thing after another.

What do we do without thinking about it?
That's what Jesus would do!

The hack for doing that
is to not think about what Jesus would do,
but to think instead about what is happening 
here and now,
in each situation as it arises--
and looking closely,
listening carefully,
for what the situation is calling for
and do that thing
with the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues/character
that came with us from the womb
(Expressing our Original Nature,
The Face That Was
Ours Before Our Parents Were Born
spontaneously,
automatically,
unceremoniously,
matter-of-factually),
and allowing that to create a brand new situation
in which we do the same thing,
through all the situations that spin off
from the first one,
all our life long.

This is called,
"Being you in response to what is happening
all your life long."

That's it.

Nobody will be able to guess 
where we stop
and Jesus starts,
or vice versa.

Or, guess what we will do next!
(Even we don't know that!)

02

The past doesn't go anywhere,
the future never comes,
and the present is eternal and everlasting--
it never ends.

The here and now merely
flows into,
and merges with,
the here and now forever.
We are never anywhere other than here and now.
That is why it is called The Eternal Now.

If we are ever going to do it,
we are going to do it here and now.
Why put it off?
Why hold anything back?

Ask the questions that beg to be asked!
Say the things that cry out to be said!
See what is happening
and do what is called for
in every situation as it arises
with the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues/character
we already have!

If we don't know what to do,
we will find all the guidance we need
in our Original Nature.
We only need to sit quietly
looking into ourselves
as we were in the beginning,
are now and ever shall be,
waiting for the mud to settle
and the water to clear.

We allow ourselves to enter a spirit of play
where we are free for the fresh--
spontaneous and straight from the heart--
act of pure sincerity
in becoming  consubstantial with the world,
being of one substance with all of life
through the wonderful,
playful,
invention of AS IF!

Evoking and awakening the gifts we carry within,
and living in the world as if we possess
the very mystery and wonder within us
that are at the source of creation itself,
as though we are of the same mystery and wonder
in our mind and in our body,
and are looking to it to guide and direct,
lead and encourage us,
dancing and laughing,
along the way,
here and now.

(Thanks to Joseph Campbell for initiating
both reflection and realization)

–0–

01

Hope doesn't care what its chances are.

Hope does what is good
whether it does any good or not.

Hope does what is right
whether it makes any difference or not.

Hope does what needs to be done--
anyway,
nevertheless,
even so.

The questions:
So what?
Who cares?
Why try?
Have no impact on hope.

Who cares so what?
Who cares who cares?
Who cares why try?
Why not try?

Hope steps into every situation
and does what is called for
for no reason 
beyond being what the situation
is calling for--
doing what in needed here and now
because it is needed here and now.

Hopelessness may be a fact,
but what it means
is a matter of opinion.

Never let the facts stop you
from being who you are,
doing what is yours to do
when that would be appropriate
to the situation at hand.

And if that wouldn't be appropriate,
what would be?
Do that.

03

Everything comes from our imagination
embedded in our psyche. 

We have what we need
to find
(or build,
or make/create)
what we need
to do what needs to be done.

We have but to believe that it is so,
and live as though it is.
This is the critical part:
believing and living as if it is so.

We have to stop jamming the signals
from our own body!

There is what is happening,
and there is how we feel about what is happening.

How we feel about what is happening
can be so all-consuming
that we can think about nothing else.
We are overwhelmed.
The intensity of our fear/dread/anxiety/hatred/etc.
is so great that we turn to opioids
or alcohol/etc. 
to numb us to the point of feeling nothing.
And that keeps us from doing
what needs to be done
in response to what is happening.
Which puts us on a steep downward spiral,
with bad becoming worse by the minute
until we reach a point of staring blankly
into space until some undertaker 
takes us away.

And, all the time,
we had what we needed
to find what we needed
to do what needed to be done
about what was happening.

But we didn't want to do that.
We wanted things to be smooth and easy
without having to do anything 
we didn't want to do
to have it that way.

At some point,
we have to grow up enough
to do what we don't want to do
in order for things to be as good as they can be
for ourselves and others--
which may not be at all what we want 
things to be.

We have what we need but.
We have to be willing to do what needs to be done
to access it and put it into play.

Negotiation,
compromise,
adjustment
and accommodation
are the tools 
we have to become proficient with--
and that means coming to terms
with the fact that
"the best is the enemy of the good,"
and we can have a good-enough life
if we don't have to have the best life we want,
and refuse to settle for anything less.

We have to be capable of growing up
to have a chance in this world.

If we are capable of growing up,
we have what we need 
to find what we need
to do what needs to be done.

We only have to believe it is so
and live as if it is.

–0–

02

Hope is not what we have.
It is what we do.

Hope is doing what needs to be done
in every situation as it arises,
without caring what our chances are
in any situation.

We are the hope of the world!
How we live matters!

What really matters
is living as though all of this is so!

Living as if the right things are so
is indistinguishable from the right things being so!

Living as if the right things are so
makes them so!

All we have to do is be clear 
about what the right things are
and live as if they are so!

Hope does not quit!
Hope does not give up!
Hope does not stop!
Hope does not even slow down!

Hope does not wait for conditions
to be favorable.
Hope sees what is called for
in every situation 
and lives in its service
no matter what!
Anyway!
Nevertheless!
Even so!

Joseph Campbell said,
"In certain Native American tribes, 
the parents would tell their children,
"As you leave home
to find your way in the world,
the birds of the air will shit on you.
Do not pause even to wipe it off."

That must be our attitude 
as we live in the service of hope in the world.
We do not give our opposition
an opportunity to slow us down!
We have work to do,
and we aren't stopping
until it's done!

–0–

01

To be transparent to ourselves
is to be "transparent to transcendence"
(Joseph Campbell's term),
so that in seeing us,
people see That Which Has Always Been Called God.
Then, "the Father and I are One."
And that is the whole point of the entire show.

Saying anything more obscures the point,
conceals the show.

02

We are the guardian/protector/champion/defender
of our Original Nature--
who we are
and always have been
and will be,
our guiding,
centering,
grounding
identity--
the connection to which
is tenuous,
fragile,
easily lost
and must be carefully kept.

We--our conscious ego-self--
are responsible for nurturing
and nourishing
our relationship
with our Original Nature
with filial devotion
and liege loyalty
by tending the ties that bind us
through our imagination
embedded in our psyche,
and living as if all of this is so.

This is the still point
around which everything turns.

The ineffable wonder and mystery of creation
is at work at the center of each of us.
There is more to us all than meets the eye.
We approach the Source within
in seeking alliance with our Original Nature
and living in accord with it
within the conditions and circumstances of our life.

We incarnate the Source in aligning ourselves with our Nature,
and birthing ourselves in our life
by exhibiting/expressing there
the truth of who we were at the beginning,
are now,
and ever shall be,
being consubstantial and one substance with 
the Source of life and being
here and now,
right here right now,
living that out in the time and place of our living,
as if God were living in us and through us
in all that we do.

–0–

01

Our task is to be true to ourselves
within the context and circumstances of our life--
to live out of our Original Nature,
with sincerity
and self-transparency
in all that we do.
And to let that be that.
To let that be enough,
because that is all there is.

The people who realize this,
affirm it,
embrace it,
engage it
and live in accord with it
are real people.

They are just who they are,
doing what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises
all their life long.

They are content with themselves
and their life,
and are glad to be who they are,
doing what is theirs to do.

They live out of their own joy
in the service of the best they have to offer
to meet what is called for here and now,
moment by moment,
and think of that as a good day well-lived.

Their world is quite different
from that of their neighbors
who contrive to improve their life
in the service of personal gain 
and advantage
by exploiting their position
to increase their opportunities
for advancement and privilege,
wealth and power,
fortune and glory
without limit or end.

I do not know who is better off,
but I like the idea of mutual respect
for each other
and for legitimate boundaries/limits
that permit individual development
without infringing on the development of others
and without destroying the environment
in the service of unending wealth
and an ever-increasing standard of living.

Greed and folly have forever been recognized
as the source of all of our problems,
and are naturally avoided
by those whose idea of the good
takes everybody's good into account,
without serving their own good
at the expense of anyone else's.

03

What is the most meaningful (to you personally) thing you do?
How often do you do it?
For how long each time?
How long has
it been since you've done it?

What keeps you from doing it?
)r interferes with your doing it?

I don't know you,
or don't know you very well,
but.
My hunch is
that the most meaningful (for you personally)
thing you can do
over the course of what remains of your life,
is what has been the most meaningful (for you personally)
thing over your life to this point.

Check me out on that.
Get back to me in, say, 5 years.

–0–

02

My favorite all-time heroes,
and my exact idea of how it ought to be
for every one of us throughout time 
are Tevya and Golda in The Fiddler on the Roof.

Their life is my ideal life for all people everywhere.

Their life is structured by a particular belief-system,
which amounts to a way of perceiving the world,
all of life,
and how we fit into it,
but.
However we think things are,
if the overall result is life like Tevya and Golda live it,
then it is just fine, 
no matter what it is.

It all is just a way of thinking about how things are.
Just a way of finding meaning in how things are.
Finding meaning that enables us to live meaningfully.
And I can't think of any way of life 
that is more meaningful 
than Tevya's and Golda's way of life.
What more could life offer than they have?
What more could they want than they have?

We get up,
face each day,
do our thing,
don't keep score
or strive endlessly to "get ahead,"
and let the outcome be the outcome.

"Do our thing"
is the key.
Do we have a "thing"?
Do we do it?
Are we fulfilled/satisfied
doing our thing?

Too many people don't have a "thing,"
or aren't doing it.
They are looking for a "thing."
Wanting some other "thing."
Wanting "the best thing."
Wanting to be admired, "thing or no thing."
Wanting to be admired, envied, for "no thing."
For "nothing."

Have a "thing"
and do it,
make enough money
to pay the right bills,
and don't worry about the outcome.

That's all it takes.
What would you do with more than that?

–0–

01

There are those who need to dominate,
and there are those who need to be left alone.

And here we are.

I don't know how we work this out.

We have been "working it out" from the beginning.

And that reminds me.
We all,
whether we need to dominate
or need to be left alone,
think of "The Beginning,"
as though there has been only one.

One Big Bang,
or one "Let There Be,"
however you choose to think of it.

"As it was in THE beginning..."
Well. 
That's presumptuous.

How many have there been?
How are we to know?

10,000 Big Bangs, perhaps.
Coming and going
over long sweeps of time past remembering.

Who would remember?
Or care?
 
I wouldn't care to go through
the endless process of caring
or remembering,
but I think it would be instructive 
to watch that play out over time
over the entire course of time,
keeping records,
seeing patterns,
drawing conclusions,
devising theories...
Or at least reading some
well-crafted and quite succinct reports
at various points along the way.

I wonder if it would come down to 
domination and left alone
every time.

03

Look at everything
as a Rube Goldberg device
that our soul has put together
to wake us up.

Everything that has happened,
and is happening,
and will happen
is as it is to wake us up.
To shake us awake.
To stir us to life.

So that we might be consciously alive
in the time left for living.

It’s all about us coming to life
in the time left for living.

Our life is the Truman Show,
and the real point is Truman leaving the show,
leaving his life,
and stepping courageously into his life.

We are Truman.
Our life is waiting.

–0–

02

The breakthrough to the other dimension,
from physical to metaphysical,
is only a slight perspective shift away
at all times,
in all places.

The visible world is everywhere
a doorway,
a threshold,
a portkey,
to the invisible world.
Anything can transport us there
at any time.

A brush by angel wings
is as easily arranged
as changing our mind
about what is important.

Always start there--
with what is important.
With what is so important,
right here, right now.

What's so important right here right now
anchors us in this moment,
weights us down
like an albatross,
bears down upon us like a cross,
keeps us from breathing,
keeps us from living,
keeps us from being alive,
because it is so important
we cannot look away
or go on,
or change our mind about it,
and are anchored in place
by what we believe to be
hopeless,
useless,
futile,
empty,
pointless,
and absurd--
because IT IS!!!

Freefalling through the abyss,
we shift into bliss
with the blessed return
to the Source of our Original Nature
and the confidence that has grounded
our kind upon the eternal rock of the ages
through the ages
via the vehicle of the music of the spheres
across time:
"AUM!"

Anyway!
Nevertheless!
Even So!
"AUM!"

Opening the door,
walking through.

“If the doors of perception were cleansed 
every thing would appear to man as it is, 
Infinite. 
For man has closed himself up, 
till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern.”
                         -- William Blake The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

 

–0–

01

Coming to terms with how things are
is the unending task of life.

In every moment,
there is how things are now
and how we feel about how things are now.

If it didn't matter to us how things are,
we would have no problem
with how things are.

That's how the Buddha recommended
peace and serenity:
"Life is suffering.
Don't let it bother you."

Jesus advised something similar:
"Let today's trouble
be sufficient for today."
("Don't be looking for trouble
by trying to have it made tomorrow--
or in the next five minutes!")

Here we are, now what?
One moment at a time.

Just recognizing the difference--
and the distance--
between how things are 
and how we feel about it,
is a step toward reducing the burden we carry.

"This is how things are,
and this is what we can do about it,
and that's that!
And that's how things are!"

How we choose to feel about it
is up to us.

But, no one ever tells us
that we can choose our feelings!
We have to find out so many 
of the important things
for ourselves!

It would help if there were a book,
and if we read it.

But, there is only the moment,
and we have to live it.

It helps to live it with our eyes open,
paying attention--
everything is improved through paying attention!
Awareness is the solution 
to all of our problems today.

Coming to terms with how things are
is seeing things as they are,
doing what can be done about it,
and letting it be 
because it is.

We can reduce our suffering
by refusing to add to it
while we seek solutions
that change the things
that can be changed.

Willing what cannot be willed
is the bane of human existence.
Being right about what can--
and cannot--
be changed,
and knowing when to take "NO!"
for an answer,
is the essence of wisdom,
peace, 
sanity,
balance 
and harmony.

03

We don't have to be right about the meaning of life.
We only have to know what is meaningful to us about our life--
and live in ways which serve it
to the best of our ability.
And we have to be right
about it being to the best of our ability.

Doing our best in the service of what means the most to us
will put us on the path to what is truly meaningful.
Meaning has a way of leading us to meaning.
Meaning grows us up,
transforms us,
brings us to life.

Start anywhere with what is most meaningful to you,
and you will wind up somewhere else.
Actually, you won't "wind up" anywhere.
You will always be "on the way" in the service
of what is most meaningful to you at the time,
and, over time that changes in the most amazing ways.

At one time, fishing was the most meaningful thing I could think of.
But, as the old alchemists would say,
"One book opens another,"
and fishing led to nature photography,
and nature photography led to experiences
with ineffable wonder,
and that led me to explorations into mythology
and religion,
and philosophy,
and meaning,
and now I am awash in things to explore.
All because I liked to fish.

We start somewhere,
with something,
and take off,
not knowing what we are doing,
or where we are going,
or where it will lead,
or what will be next.

It is an adventure that unfolds before us
as we start walking.

It is called "Being alive to the life we are living."
If you can find something better than that,
do it!

–0–

02

We are here to live our best life possible under the circumstances,
understanding that our circumstances are necessary
to bring us forth in utilizing all of the gifts/genius/daemon/spirit/virtues/character
that we bring with us from the womb,
because we are fundamentally lazy and lethargic,
and will opt for the course of least resistence
in all matters great and small,
and have to be challenged to bring forth our best
in all the times and places of our living.
So we are here to do what we can with our circumstances.
That is just the way it is.

Every time we want to quit
because it's just not fair,
and besides that it's hopeless,
pointless,
futile
and absurd,
we have to remember that we are born for this,
and cannot refuse to be--and go on being--
who we are
and do what is ours to do
just because it's hard and we don't feel like it,
or aren't in the mood for it,
and are tired of it
and want to lie back and rest until we die.

And then, get up and do what needs to be done.
The way it needs to be done.
When it needs to be done.
For as long as it needs to be done.
Because it is our place to do it,
and if we don't do it,
it won't be done,
and we will have failed in our mission,
and everything depends on us doing our part.

(Whether it does or not doesn't matter--
we have to live as if it does
and that it all goes to hell if we don't, 
in order to get up and go meet the day every day,
and it is important to those who depend on us
that we live like it matters that we live
because it matters to them!
And, besides, bringing our best to bear
on our circumstances gets our best out there,
and who knows what will happen
in response to that?)

–0–

01

The word "occult" simply means "hidden,"
and is an aspect of our experience
that we label as "paranormal"
or "metaphysical,"
meaning that it lies beyond the range
of rational, logical, Aristotelian
(A is A and not Not-A) categories.

Religious and mythological symbols
bridge the worlds
so that when Jesus, for example,
talks about death and resurrection,
or dying in order to live,
or when Buddha talks about oneness
and the illusion of duality,
they are talking about the same experience,
using metaphorical language
to communicate something that cannot be said directly.

Sheldon Kopp said 
"Some things can be experienced,
but not understood,
and some things can be understood,
but not explained."
In the presence of those things,
we can use the approach of poetry and metaphor
to say indirectly what cannot be said directly,
implying "like,"
or "as if,"
or "as though,"
so it is "like/as if/as though"
we die yet live
or move from a world where duality
is the foundation of reality
and things are either/or,
and into a word where duality disappears
and things are both/and 
and all are one.

Something can be true paranormally
that is false normally,
and it is a shift in perspective
that makes it so.

Walking two paths at the same time,
or living with a foot in both worlds at once,
is the task of the artists and poets,
the seers and prophets
who bridge the worlds,
and speak to us in this world of that world,
bringing the hidden things to light and to life
in this world of normal, apparent, reality.

What is true here is not so much true there,
and what is true there is not so much true here,
but to get the most out of this world,
we have to learn to live as if/as though
the other world is as real as this one is,
and bring the other world to life in this one
as fully as possible--
and that means laying aside the goals and values
of this world which lay waste to 
the goals and values of that world.

Ancient people lived in this world in light of the other world.
Their sacrifices acknowledged their dependence 
on the other world for balance and harmony,
but they were sacrificing the wrong things.
They killed their first born sons
and their virgin daughters
in order to live the way they wanted
and have what their hearts desired,
instead of sacrificing their wants and desires
and living in ways that honored oneness
and decreased duality.

We talk of equality and justice
and of living in ways that honor the natural world,
and we live in ways that destroy the natural world
and make a mockery of equity and justice.
And the other world is not to be mocked, or tricked, or fooled.

We are living in ways that work against the things
that enable us to live together,
enjoying one another 
and all that life affords--
and our life is anything but joyful and abundant.
Because we try to create abundance
through buying, spending, amassing and consuming
instead of sharing and restraining our insatiable appetites.
And the other world is not to be mocked, or tricked, or fooled.

Balance and harmony,
spirit, energy and vitality
are the products of oneness,
not duality.
All of the old manuscripts say so.
They knew what they were talking about
in the old days.
No one was listening.
And here we are.

01

Facts are not always what they appear to be.
Seeing things changes things.
What was good in our grandparents' day
may not be good at all today.
Truth itself is on the block.
What truth means changes with the clock.

Ortega y Gasset might say,
"True and false meet at the edge of the coin."
Everything is relative to something else.
How we see things depends
on how we look at them.

Maybe yes, maybe no.
Time will tell.

In the mean time,
we have to go with 
the time that is at hand,
even though the times are a'changin'
as we speak.

But, here and now are the operative concerns,
and what the situation calls for
here and now
may never be the same e'er again.

Here and now, we make our best guess 
about what matters most,
and what needs to be done about it,
and do it.
And let that be that,
as we step into the next here and now
and repeat the process forever.

I wish I could do it all over again,
some days.
Other days I think I couldn't make it
much better with 10,000 tries.
Because improving this,
worsens that,
and better is just a ratio
between good and bad.
And it takes time to tell.

And some people never learn
to tell time.
And no two people are going to 
always agree about what's what,
much less which is better 
and which is worse.

People are funny that way.

Only you can make up your mind,
and only you can change it.
Even though no one changes their mind
by trying to.
If you don't think so,
just try it.
But how we see things changes all the time.
And what determines that?
There is more to everything 
than meets the eye,
and the hidden stuff
is just a perspective shift away.

We all are our grandparents,
saying, "This is good and that is not!"
And time will tell.
And more time will tell something else.

Time is funny that way.