Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, was actively 
persecuting Gnostics for their beliefs
around 150-180,
but there was no official bible
for the first 300 years, or so,
following Jesus' death.
The Old Testament was settled around 250
and the 27 books of the New Testament
were deemed to be authoritative by 363-397.

Which is to say,
it has been a mess
from the start,
and executions and assinations
were instrumental in securing agreement
as to what should and should not be believed.

Being right was a matter of opinion
all along the way.

If you could get by with burning people
at the stake,
or drowning them,
you could set the boundaries rather clearly,
otherwise they were vague and disputable.
And so it has been all the way to here/now.

We make it up to suit ourselves
as long as there are no heresy hunters
we have to suit.

Which gets us to the "freedom of religion"
the Founders though was important.
It was freedom FROM religion
they were after,
meaning "No heresy hunters allowed!"

And now we have heresy hunters
stalking the halls of Congress
working to have their views of Christianty
declared to be official 
and enforced by the Supreme Court
as the law of the land.

It is crazy beyond imagining,
yet, it comes straight from the imaginations
of those who proclaim themselves to be
the True Believers of the day.

And Democracy is always up for grabs
by those who can garner enough votes
to have their way imposed upon the Republic,
which gets us to the place of money
in buying influence,
and to the art of propaganda and persuasion,
which depends upon ceaseless repetition
and the constant proliferation of lies
to blur the lines and open the way
for anything goes.

When Trump can interpret the Constitution
as giving a sitting president 
the power to destroy the Constitution,
we have reached the point were anything goes
has to go.

Whether it will or not is the thread
upon which dangles the future 
twisting in the wind.

–0–

Belief is another word for opinion.
All beliefs are nothing more than strongly held opinions.
What kind of God is it
that has to be believed in
or we are going to hell
which we also have to believe in?

It is easier for us to believe in hell
than to believe in God,
so we are told if we don't believe in God
we are going to hell. 

It is all opinion.

We don't have to believe in gravity. 
Gravity is a fact that exists beyond belief
and opinion.

A fact is something that is there
whether we believe it or not,
and that is not my opinion.

God is not a fact.
Hell is not a fact.

The world as we know it is more opinion
than it is fact.
In my opinion.

If we could separate the facts from the opinions
it would be a better world
in my opinion.

Begin listening to the things you are saying
that sound like facts
but are, actually, opinions.

Start separating your world 
into facts and opinions.
And inviting those around you 
to do the same thing.

See how long it takes
before they get really pissed off.

–0–

We find meaning
in a haphazard universe
by the way we look at/see 
what is happening.

We find patterns,
or impose them
as though they were there
before we found them,
just like it is impossible to say
what Christianity, for instance, was
before it became Christianity.
Or to say what Buddhism was
before it became Buddhism.

Where are the patterns
before we impose them upon what we see?
They aren't there
until we say, "There they are!"
We create what we look at
just by looking.

And call it meaningful or meaningless,
and it becomes what we say it is.

And God, for instance, is who we say God is,
and does, or doesn't do, 
what we say God does, or doesn't do.

With all this power to determine what we look at
you  might think we would be more careful
about what we say and leave unsaid.
But, just by looking around,
we can clearly see that this is not the case.

As with all the other problems of existence,
silence is the solutions to all of our problems today.

Sit tight,
be still
and quiet,
and empty of all thoughts and feelings,
and wait in the silence
for something to stir to life
that you don't think into being.
Yes it can work like that!
Just prove it to you,
try this:

Imagine that you are standing on a beach
with your bare feet in the surf,
looking out at the ocean.
Hold that position until something happens
that you don't make happen.
It will surprise you what it might be.
And you are not surprising yourself.
Your self is surprising you.
Keep watching to see what happens next.

There are worlds in there waiting for you 
to sit down, shut up, and tune in.
It is time to start exploring
what you have been ignoring!
And to see where it goes!

–0–

We are on our own
in dealing with what's coming,
but we are not alone.

The silence connects us with one another
and all those 
who are wise to the silence
and trust themselves to it,
waiting,
watching,
listening
for what comes,
arises,
emerges,
appears,
occurs to us out of the silence
via our innate imagination
to provide what we need
to do what needs to be done here/now
in response to what is happening
and to what is called for
one here/now after another
in each situation as it arises
through all the days ahead.

So, we can take heart in the company
of one another in the silence that we share,
in the here/now that we share,
in the life we share,
in the world we share,
one here/now at time.

I'll keep an eye out for you.

Speaking of eyes, 
my second one (the one on the left)
was done yesterday via cataract removal,
and I'm doing well.
I am a week of being careful away
from being released back into my
normal and customary reality,
and seeing without glasses since the 70's
(Though I expect to make my way 
with a pair of "blue light" specs
to ward off UV rays and make this cataract surgery experience
my last one).

I'll keep two good eyes out for you! 

–0–

The winter months will offer a glimpse of winters to come
as the impact of global warming becomes an irreversible reality,
as most realities are. 

And how we respond to an experience
is more important than the impact of the experience. 
We pick ourselves up
and do what? 

Everything hinges upon that,
hangs on that,
flows from that.

Practice your comebacks
until you are pleased with the way
they say who you are in the face of anything,
everything.

It is called "Being as ready as we can be
for the unknown that is on the way."

–0–

There is no way 
of securing,
of devising and nailing in place,
the kind of world we would like to live in.

Fascists are everywhere all of the time,
and have been from the start.

The American Revolution established
our independence from England,
but the fascists were at our side
through the fight and following it
to this very day.

Ridding ourselves of the fascists
is ridding ourselves of our father,
and, perhaps, mother.
Of our Uncle Carl,
and our brother Mark,
our niece Betty
and our cousin Lois...

There is no end to the line
of fascists opposed to our idea
of how things ought to be.

And fascists don't play fair.
Gerrymandering and packing the courts,
buying US Senators and Representatives
with hefty donations for becoming
shadow fascists...
the list is insanely wrong and long,
and everyone becomes a potential enemy
in the making.

Try living there and liking it.
And realizing there is everywhere
and we can't get away from it.
It is as though we are are Russian citizens
in Russia,
or Chinese citizens in China,
or South American citizens practically 
anywhere in South America..

The world is becoming fascist as we sneeze and breathe.
And the world is suffering from the fascists
wielding power throughout the world.

The world is coming to an end again,
as it has done countless times
throughout its existence,
only it is more intense this time,
and more unified in its
"Say goodbye to Liberty, Justice, Equality, Truth,
because fascism has won
and is coming for you in one way or another!"

And hope has been reduced to a rock
we carry in our hearts
and a wish for deliverance
we drag with us along the way. 

–0–

Yin/Yang is a Taoist symbol
representing the power of contradictions
when they are perceived, 
not as polarities,
but as partners.

All of our dichotomies are false dichotomies!
All of our contradictions are, in fact, complementaries!

Rumi said, "Darkness is the cradle of light."
There you have it.

Opposites befriend one another,
they do not cancel each other out,
or offset each other,
or negate the impact of the other.

Where would electricity be without opposing poles?
Where would we be without the opposites within
enabling us to exhibit the amazing combinations
that make us us?

When we embrace our contraries, 
within and without,
we expand our base of experience
and enlarge our circle of influence
by embracing all we are
and allowing that to enable us to 
enhance our weaker functions
and rounding ourselves out
in light of all that we are
in a "this is who I am,
and this is also who I am,"
kind of way,
rather than trying to overcompensate
for what we take to be negative about us
and overstating what we take to be positive.

Our contraries bring us forth
when we accept them for what they are,
and enable us to be who we are fully capable of being
in situations that call for all we have to offer.

–0–

We are all connected by the silence
and our imagination.
Just sitting in the stillness,
emptying ourselves of all concerns,
thoughts, emotions
by being aware of them 
without being attached to them,
in a "that, too, that, too" kind of way,
allows our imagination to come to life
in the silence
and lead the way to communion with,
and participation in,
"the other side of silence,"
which is astir with all
that needs our attention.

Our place is to be open
to what is called for,
beckoning to us,
calling our name--
to be available without intention
or purpose
and see what appears/emerges/occurs to us,
and where it goes.

Conversations within and around the circle
can happen in this way,
and we find we are never alone
in the silence,
and are able to find exactly what we need
to face what must be faced,
to bear what must be borne
and to do what needs to be done
in the here/now
of each situation as it arises
throughout the day
and all the circumstances 
that come about
in the time left for living.

It is like having access to the Elder Wand,
and to discover that we ARE the Elder Wand
in disguise,
hidden away,
waiting for the appropriate moment
to step forth
and be what is needed here/now
to our amazement,
yet again.

–0–

Everybody sees things differently,
and everybody thinks they see things as they are.

People with something to sell--
commercially,
politically,
ecclesiastically,
personally...--
use the power of persuasion
and deception
to secure agreement among their clientele,
but it is a charade,
a game,
a lie.

And it robs us of our fundamental/foundational right
to our own point of view.

One of the oldest Old Testament commandments
that failed to make the Top Ten
states:
"Thou Shalt Not Remove Thy Neighbor's Landmark!"

Which is violated in 10,000 
(A number representing infinity)
ways every day.

What sets "Thy Neighbor" off from everyone else
is their point of view.
Their way of seeing.
Their way of interpreting/evaluating the world
and their place in it.

To attempt to convince them 
of how they should see
instead of enabling them to see--
and appreciate--
the multitudinous possibilities
of recognizing the multiplicity
within the perceptive range of options
available to everyone at any time,
is to violate their inalienable right
to their own opinions regarding
what's what and how things are
in each situation as it arises,
and also robs them of their responsibility
for wrestling with the contradictions,
polarities, paradoxes, contraries, etc.,
that are inherent in the work to say
anything about the truth of everything,
in that everything is both this way
and that way and that way over there
at the same time all the time 
everywhere,
and nothing definitive and absolute
can be said about any of it ever.

It is all like the spirit that is like the wind
that blows where it will
and cannot be pinned down, 
or penned in,
or locked up,
or nailed in place
just as it is
forever.

And a perspective 
that fails to take itself into account
is a facade.

–0–

What makes us think
that the way we think
is the way to think?

What makes us think
that the way we see
is the way to see?

What makes us think
that what we want
is what we ought to want?

What makes us think
that what we do
is what needs to be done?

What makes us think
that the way we live
is the way to live?

What makes us think
that the way we are
is the way we should be?

Yet, we insist on all of it
like we know what we are doing!

We need to turn the light around
on all levels at once.

That is what repentance
and penitence are all about.

–0–