July 18, 2020

04

Joseph Campbell quotes Guiraut de Borneilh,
“So through the eyes love attains the heart, 
for the eyes are the scouts of the heart. 
And the eyes go reconnoitering 
for what it would please the heart to possess.”

 This not only has to do with romantic love, 
which is a mutuality of attraction 
brought about by the mutuality of projection, 
with each participant projecting 
onto the other the characteristics 
that each person 
most needs to develop within themselves.

It is also true of The Way and The Work 
that are ours to walk and to do, 
which are the same thing, 
The Way being The Work, 
and The Work being The Way.

“The eyes are the scouts of the heart.”
When we see The Way that is ours to walk,
and The Work that is ours to do,
we know it,
and then it only remains a matter
of knowing what we know
when we know it,
and having the courage to act on it
when the time for acting is upon us.

And the rule is always valid: 
Look closer at what catches your eye!

And another rule is like unto it:
Be aware of everything you are about to:
dismiss,
disregard,
discount,
ignore.

–00–

03

Our circumstances call us forth,
inviting us to rise to the occasion,
no matter what the occasion.
How well we answer the invitation
tells the tale.

There are no throw-away occasions.
We have to treat every one 
as though everything is on the line.
Each moment is the most important moment.
How we treat the housekeeper
is as significant as how we treat the CEO
of the hotel chain.

Every situation calls for something from us.
How present we are in every situation
determines how responsive we are 
to the situation.

Here we are.
Now what?
What now?
Right here.

Answering the questions correctly
transforms the world.

Acting as though this is so
makes it so.

–0–

02

The only sin is being wrong about what is important.

We have our entire life
to learn to be right about what is important.
A life that is entirely wasted on most of us.

Too many of us refuse to change our mind
about what is important
in spite of repeated headlong crashes
into the solid wall of reality.

Some of us will never wake up.

If lived experience won't teach us 
what matters most,
what will?

How many of us are right
about what we take to be important?

That is the only thing worth
being right about.

How much time do we spend
assessing the correctness of our assessment?

–0–

01

Don't give a damn about what your chances are!

That's my best advice.

If you can do better than that,
why haven't you?

It is obvious to any onlooker
that if you are here reading this now,
you haven't done any better than that,
else why would you be here reading this now?

You would be somewhere else,
doing something else
worth more to you.

The fact that you are here reading this now
is hard evidence against your ever having taken any
advice that has been of much value to you.
Your best bet is to stick with me
and stop giving a damn about what your chances are.
Caring about your chances 
is the one thing holding you back.
If you want to shoot for the stars,
you have to stop worrying about your chances.

It is like this:
There are two ways of calculating your way to the stars.
The first way is thinking long and hard about it.
Always considering your odds,
covering all your bases,
taking everything into account,
and doing everything people who know more than you do
tell you about what you have to do to reach the stars,
being careful to have it all in place
just waiting for your chance at the Big Time.

The second way is not giving a damn about your chances 
of reaching the stars,
and spending your time
listening to your heart
and doing what makes your little heart sing and dance,
listening to your body--
particularly to your stomach
(Your "gut feelings")
and your bones,
seeing what you look at
knowing what you know,
and doing what the situation is calling for
one situation at a time.

You may not reach the stars any sooner
choosing the second path,
but you will be just as happy
every second along the way
as you would be if you were among the stars
right now.