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.