I would like to talk things over with strangers just to get their take on things. But they don't seem to welcome my inquiries. There should be places for conversation like libraries are for books and magazines. Maybe AI will develop along these lines. 

I can imagine talking to people long dead, brought to life by their AI equivalent in Seri-form. And they wouldn't have to be dead at all. Just dial up anyone, anytime, as an AI voice on the other end of the line. This could be the next great offering of civilization. Zoom calls to people we have always wanted to talk to, without them being inconvenienced in any way. I can't wait. The potential benefits to society are enormous. And we could give AI the task of setting up AI conversations world wide, and we could buy monthly subscriptions to the service as with HULU and Prime. My first call will be to George Carlin.

Money means power and control. In the service of what? Toward what end? What is controlling the controllers?

They create chaos, noise, complexity–in the service of what? Having their way? Getting/having what they want?

They serve the joy of pushing things around, burning things down? Destroying, decimating, all things good? Anger unleashed upon civilization? A theme that runs through the ages, no?

We see it everywhere. Madness in the service of Fear, Loathing, Anger, Greed, and, you may not be ready for this but, Theology. Theology being the most insidious brand of Fear, Loathing, Anger, Greed there is. Madness in the guise of Goodness. What evil theology serves through the ages, right?

And we all are caught up in the playing out of forces quite beyond us. Psychic forces at work in the world–for what purpose? Toward what end? What controls what is in control?

And were do balance, peace, harmony, silence, emptiness, stillness, fit in? Belong? 

There was no Garden of Eden.
There was no Adam, no Eve.
There was no Original Sin.
There was no need of atonement/redemption.
There was no need for Jesus to die on a cross.
Etc.
It was all made up by people with nothing better to do.

What are we going to do now?

I recommend growing up.
Facing the truth of how things are
in a "Here we are, now what?" kind of way.

Throw belief/faith into the burning barrel,
and sit in emptiness, stillness, silence,
reflecting on what we know to be so 
out of our own experience,
trusting our intuition and our intellect 
to work together at the task to know who we are
and what is ours to do with the gifts that are ours from birth:
Our original nature,
our inherent virtues--the things we do best 
and the things we enjoy doing most,
our intrinsic intuition,
our instincts and imagination,
our ability to see/sense what's what,
what's happening,
and what needs to be done about it, here, now,
in each situation as it arises,
and get busy doing what is called for here, now
when, where, and how it needs to be done, no matter what
all our life long.

It's easy and fun once we get the hang of it.

We are in the presence of something at all times.
It is hard to miss a sunrise like this,
and we have to look more closely at other things,
but. Everything waits to be seen for what it is, where it is, when it is, how it is, and that is what we are here for--
to see what we look at and know it for what it is and is capable of being. Including when we look in the mirror.

We are here to see, know, honor, respect, worship and adore what is here with us in all times and places.

Seeing things brings things forth. Knowing things for what they are and also are brings things to life. Latent possibility is everywhere all the time. It takes us to see, hear, know and understand. That is our role in life. An aspect of being who we are, doing what is ours to do.

I Googled it.

There have been 267 popes in 20 centuries. That is about 40 popes per century.

There were 4 centuries when the Church of Rome (and the other Orthodox Christian Churches which were in the background) was basically calling the shots for 400 years about what was Orthodox Christianity and what was not.

What should the Bible say? That’s what they were saying for 400 years.

I’m saying the Popes of Rome had 400 years to compose a Bible that gave the Church a solid financial foundation for its future.

“You are going to go to hell, You SINNERS, if you don’t do it like WE say do it!” Can’t beat that for the most solid of foundations, if you’re the Church, no?

That has been the message of the church forever. Based on the Bible the Church of Rome created in 400 years. The Reformation stopped too soon!

We take the wrong things too seriously, no? 
It is one of the hardest things, living in ways appropriate to the occasion.

I think that means we are in too much of a hurry too much of the time.

We jump to conclusions and rush to judgment and fail to take our time some more again every day. Or, is it only me? That's a good one--It's never me. I'm late to every party and slower than refrigerated syrup.

But, I am doing better with the things I take seriously, reducing their number and laughing at the very idea of them being somehow important.

There is much to laugh about these days, and for one who has no more power and control, or even influence, than I do, laughter is my only way of discounting the horrors of the day and being somewhat balanced and in the flow, such as it is, each day. And that much is something, at least.

Signing with the Photo Agency was my most brilliant move to date
in that it forces me to relive all the old photographs. My life with the craft began in 1997, or 8, or 9.

It began with me telling my congregation in Batesville, Mississippi, "Don't send me to the Holy Land" (Which is something congregations sometimes did to their preachers)--"Send me to Yellowstone!" Which is what they did when we left Batesville for Greensboro, NC.

The trip to Yellowstone WAS a trip to the Holy Land. And opened the way to all of the other Holy Lands in the form of the National Parks, throughout my life with a camera.

Thank you Batesville!

The Natural World is the Holiest of Lands, and all we need to be healed and whole, saved and well. Just walk through nature, with or without a camera! It will restore us to ourselves, and to one another, and to all that is. Just sit for a while in nature. It will reintroduce us to ourselves. And immersing ourselves in our photographs will bring us to life again and again--what reincarnation is actually about. And what life after birth comes down to. Being with nature is all the church anyone ever needs. Which is what Jesus would say, and did say, with the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, and "the stone the builders reject."

We all are always surrounded by just what we need to wake up to who we are and what we are about, and that is all the realization, enlightenment, anyone ever needs to be who we are, and that is all anyone is ever asked to be. No?

Reflection leads to realization. This was Joseph Campbell's Buddha impersonation. The heart, soul, foundation of enlightenment is reflection leading to realization.

Enlightenment is not a steady state of being. It is one step after another all the way to here, now. 

There is no destination. There is no place to be other than here, now. Once we realize this, we are set. We are done. There is nothing beyond one realization after another.

So, we spend our life dropping into emptiness, stillness, silence, wondering, "What do you have for me here, now?" And "waiting for the mud to settle and the water to clear," in order to see, hear, know, understand, do, be some more again.

The spiritual world has a Psychic foundation. "Spiritual" is another term for "Psychic." We are spiritual to the extent/degree that we are getting to know, explore, grasp, the depth and breadth of the Psyche. Everything worth knowing is tucked away in the Psyche. Dropping into emptiness, stillness, silence is dropping into the Psyche.

We are the meeting place of physical with Psychic. We are physical becoming Psychic. We never have a need to be anywhere other than here, now with our eyes and ears open to what's what and what needs to be done in response no matter what forever.

Our presence can be restorative, healing, uplifting, encouraging, comforting, etc. just by the way we carry, present, share ourselves with the world.

It isn't a matter of trying, but of being--without being aware of being any way at all.

"Just being ourselves," "present as one thus come," as the Buddha and Jesus did it. But this means being without guile or fear, anxiety, dread, anger, hostility, goal, purpose, intention, desire, etc.

Being available to see what we look at, to hear what is being said, to know what's what, what's happening, and what's called for in response, and doing what needs to be done here, now, with no interest or anything at stake in the outcome.

Which in itself would be remarkable and not likely to describe anyone we know.

How often do we encounter stable, balanced, serene, tranquil, harmonious presence in the people who come our way?

And why wouldn't those people be sources of health, healing and wellbeing, righting wrong and restoring calm confidence and goodwill all along their path?

This is a photograph of a postcard I took in the mid-eighties when we were living in Amory, Mississippi. Amory was built as a railroad town, halfway between Memphis and Birmingham, with a wheel house for repairs on locomotives, and it had a train flair with postcards and train fare in restaurants and shops, and this  image caught my eye. I bought the postcard and took a picture of the picture and stored it on a hard drive which I was working with yesterday and discovered this image. Which led me to search for the person to took the original picture, which led me to online train sites which I contacted with this story. I will let you know if my inquiries lead to the photographer. I think their name needs to be associated with the image, and hope to be able to do that. It perfectly captures my idea of how a steam locomotive needs to be pictured for posterity.

The Mississippian 77, and its companion locomotive, The Mississippian 76, were active in the sixties. 77 ran a short route between Amory, Smithville and Fulton, Mississippi, and is probably still active as a tourist attraction somewhere in the US.

As extensions of The One,
we all are The One,
and can easily rely upon 
the power of The One 
to be all we need
to rise to meet 
whatever comes our way
along the way.

The power of The One
resides in such things
as good luck,
curiosity,
humor,
good faith,
resiliency,
forthrightness,
perspective,
attitude,
perception,
projection,
assumption,
observation with detachment/disengagement,
emptiness-stillness-silence,
knowing where/when/how to draw lines,
set limits,
restrict unwarranted intrusions 
into our space/life,
knowing where we stop and someone else starts,
knowing where we belong 
and where we have no business being,
knowing what our business is and is not,
honoring all boundaries great and small,
etc.

The power of The One
is the power of knowing who we are
and what we are about,
and being who we are,
doing what we are about.

Knowing what is called for 
in each situation as it arises
and doing what needs to be done about it,
when, where and how it needs to be done,
doing the right thing,
at the right time,
in the right place,
in the right way--
which is living aligned with the drift
and flow of the Tao from moment to moment
all our life long.