April 24-B, 2023

Moonset 02 11/19/2019 Oil Paint Rendered — Edisto Beach State Park, Edisto Island, South Carolina
Transcendentalism appeared in New England
in the 1830's--
with Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau
serving as its most recognizable proponents.

It did not last as a movement,
because it wasn't interested in lasting,
as in making disciples,
telling people why they ought to belong,
and competing for market share
via oratory and theology wars.

Their basic stance was to hold up a flower,
as the Buddha once did,
and say, "You can look at this flower
and see it,
or not see it.
That is up to you."

For them, transparency to transcendence
was everywhere
all the time.
It was only a matter of seeing or not seeing
what is "right there."
And doing or not doing
what needs to be done about it.

They realized that no one can be
talked into seeing,
or told how to see--
and certainly that no one can be told
what is to be seen,
or how it got there,
or what it means.

We "let the mystery be" (Iris Dement),
and do what we think needs 
to be done about it,
knowing that thinking 
we can say anything about it
is completely absurd,
because it is transcendent,
don't you see?

The transcendent is like the Tao,
about which Lao Tzu said,
"The Tao that can be said/told/explained/talked about
is not the eternal Tao."
Or, as Martin Palmer said,
"The path that can be discerned as a path
is not a reliable path."

That's Transcendentalism for you.
We see it or see it not.
And that's all we can say about it.

See?

–0–

April 24-A, 2023

October Corn Oil Paint Rendered
Our Psyche is here to ground us
on the adamantine foundation
of our original nature
and the innate virtues/specialties
(The things we are good at/do well).

These form our character
and represent the boundaries,
the limits,
within which we live
in carrying out the business of life.

They are our anchor stone,
and serve as the source
of our confidence and strength,
our resiliency and our courage.

They are where we turn
when we have nowhere else to turn.

Our gifts are with us always,
and connect us at the level of the heart
with the transcendent reality
that shines through us
when we are being who we are
in the day-to-day affairs
of the same-old-same-old.

We are "transparent to transcendence"
when we are most like ourselves,
spontaneously,
in response to what is called for
in each situation as it arises,
sincerely,
naturally,
out of our own integrity,
our own nature.

There, we are god-like,
as Jesus was god-like,
and could say,
"When you have seen me,
you have seen the Father."

That is who we are
when we are being who we are,
moment to moment,
here/now.

The key is that we cannot live like that
in the service of motives and agendas,
purposes and goals,
that take us away from serving 
our original nature and innate virtues
in conjunction with our Psyche.

When we do that,
when we live with eyes
on the life in Gay Paree
(Or its equivalent),
we are with Adam and Eve
in the Garden of Eden,
with eyes only for what we want,
and it is over our being 
one with the Father.

So we have to be focused,
and our Psyche is our invisible friend
to assist us in remaining grounded
in our Anchor Stone,
and at one with the gifts
that came with us from the womb,
in being and doing what is ours to do
in the time left for living.

–0–

April 23-B, 2023

Peyto Lake 01 Oil Paint Rendered — Banff National Park, Canadian Rockies, Alberta
If the good we call good were good,
and if the right we call right were right,
societies around the world 
would be equitable,
racism and sexism, etc.
would not exist,
and everyone would live 
in the service of the best interest
of one another.

Third World countries
would not be ransacked and vandalized
by the rich and powerful nations,
and the dregs of humanity
would fare much better
at the hands or the well-to-do.

We don't have to look closely
to expose the fraudulent nature
of the good we call good
and the right we call right. 

Who are we kidding?
Only ourselves.
What do we do about it?
Who are we kidding?
We like things just as they are.

Turning things around
begins with seeing things as they are.
When it doesn't pay to look.

–0–

April 23-A, 2023

Dogwoods and Redbuds Oil Paint Rendered — Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, Greensboro, North Carolina,
The Psyche is sometimes referred to
as "our unconscious mind,"
(Because we are not conscious of it).

One of its functions
is to regulate/harmonize/balance
our conscious life
in conjunction with our unconscious
nature and virtues (specialties--
the things we do well).

Our nighttime dreams are one of the places
our Psyche addresses the excesses
and deficiencies of our conscious life,
lowering the peaks and raising the valleys,
so to speak,
of our life in the day-to-day world.

We can easily overwhelm our unconscious/psychic
needs and interests
with our bevy of fear and desire
and our dedication to serving our idea
of how out life ought to be
at the expense of all other concerns.

The Psyche compensates for our one-sided
(self-centered) tendencies
with dreams and symptoms that counter our
fascination with having/getting our way,
with signs and conditions
restricting our overbearing ways
and calling us back to the center
of life within the scope of our design
and capabilities.

It is wise to listen to our body
in terms of what it is saying and doing,
as a way of putting ourselves right
with ourselves,
and serving the ends which we are equipped 
to exhibit and express
through the way we live.

In order to know what our Psyche knows,
we have to attend our dreams,
our intuition,
our instincts,
our feelings,
our moods,
and spend time 
consciously and intentionally
with emptiness,
stillness
and silence
in a routine and regular way.

Making ourselves present with
what is present with us,
is putting ourselves 
on track with our life,
and committing ourselves
to a lifetime of alignment,
allegiance
and alliance.

–0–

April 22-B, 2023

Road to Botany Bay 12/04/2014 Oil Paint Rendered — Botany Bay Historical Preserve, Edisto Island, South Csrolina
In the natural world,
a lot of time is spent waiting
for the time for acting
to come around again.

In the artificial world,
there is no time for waiting--
there is nothing but action,
in a "Don't just stand there!
DO something!" kind of way.

In the artificial world
of normal, apparent, reality,
we act out-of-time
all of the time,
doing things that do not need to be done,
whether they need to be done or not,
because we need to be doing something
constantly.

If we aren't doing something,
we are talking about something 
we have done,
or something we are going to do.
We don't do anything
we can't talk about having done.

The artificial world is action oriented.
Doing is The Thing.
If we aren't doing,
we are wasting time,
and prove our value
by the amount we get done in a day.

Looking out the window
doesn't count.

–0–

April 22-A, 2023

Rockport Harbor 01 10/13/2009 Oil Paint Rendered — Rockport, Maine
We all face situations 
that call for a response from us.
Some are serious situations,
some are recurring situations,
some are trivial,
some are life changing...

Our place is to know what is called for
and to respond as well as we can
out of the gifts of our original nature
and the innate virtues/specialties
that are outs from birth,
doing what needs to be done
the way only we can do it,
situation after situation,
dealing with what arises in a day,
day after day,
and letting that be that.

That is all Jesus and the Buddha did,
and it is all that is asked
of each of us.

We all get up and meet the day,
and do there what is called for,
and do it again tomorrow.

There is a certain rhythm and flow
to meeting the day,
knowing what is called for,
doing what we can as best we can,
and doing it again tomorrow.

If we can just meet the day
without expectations and opinions,
agendas and plans
getting in the way--
without trying to make the day
do what we want it to,
and, instead, do what the day
needs from us--
things go better,
more smoothly,
in a gentler, kinder,
kind of way.

And the emotional stress
that goes with striving
to wrestle the day
into what we want it to be,
diminishes and disappears,
as we just dance with the day,
seeing what it needs from us
and doing what is needed,
day by day.

–0–

April 21-B, 2023

Rockport Harbor 02 10/03/2009 Oil Paint Rendered — Penobscot Bay, Rockport Maine
Orthodox Christian Theology has been around
from well before the beginning
of this country.
"God" is assumed to be,
taken for granted as,
the background prop
holding things together.

"The Father Almighty."
"The Maker of Heaven and Earth."
"Garden of Eden,"
"Sin,"
"Atonement,"
"Forgiveness,"
"Hell,"
"Blah, Blah, Blah..."

All of it has been invented/inherited 
through the ages
as the way things are.

Sin was made up to explain the collapse
of The Chosen People,
their defeat by the Babylonians (609 BCE)
and the deportation of the upper levels
of society to Babylon until their release
and return (538 BCE).

"It is the punishment of God because we sinned!"

Heaven and hell developed over time
to explain the deaths of righteous people of God
in wars with pagan forces
as places where the good would be rewarded
and evil people punished.

All of theology has been created
to make us feel better about the way things are,
to help us reconcile ourselves
to the bitter contradictions
in our life experience
("Truth forever on the scaffold/
Wrong forever on the throne" --
James Russell Lowell).

Extending the time period in which Right
will be rewarded and Wrong will be punished,
manages the incongruities between
a loving God and the inequities of life.

We have been at it so long
that it has become the backdrop 
of the culture worldwide,
and we are not free to explore 
alternative possibilities
as the foundation for life
between the visible and invisible
"worlds" of our experience.

We are left with taking up the Quest
for making sense of the nonsense of life
on our own,
seeking ways to accommodate ourselves
to the dichotomies/polarities/contradictions
at work in our lives
and providing ourselves with a grounding
perspective for interpreting
the contraries and incompatibilities
of our umwelt,
maintaining our balance and harmony.
keeping ourselves on "The Path,"
and guiding ourselves along "the way."

Being conscious of the importance 
of this work,
and going about it in a deliberate/intentional way
keeps us centered and focused
on the task of mindfully adjusting
ourselves to the requirements
of here/now reality
throughout the days of our life.

–0–

April 21-A, 2023

Roan Mountain State Park Oil Paint Rendered — Pisgah National Park, Bakersville, North Carolina
"We are on the brink of something great!"

What a difference for our country and the world
if the Republican Party 60 years ago
had made that the foundation of every Platform
in every election cycle!
And lived to make it happen!

But it was not to be.

The foundation of every platform
in every election cycle was,
"This country is going straight off the edge
into oblivion
thanks to the Democrats and their give-away-entitlement-programs,
and their social justice spiel,
and their abortion and gun control stands!
Be terrified of the Democrats!
They are the end of Democracy!
They are the end of the world!
Elect Republicans!
We will keep you safe!"

Republicans created a terrified electorate
who cannot own enough guns
and who shoot at everything that moves.

Scaring their constituents with every interview,
every speech, is their only plan/platform. 
It is easier to control people who are afraid.
Trump said, "No one can save you but me!"
"I am your savior!"
"I will build a wall and keep you safe!"
Keeping them frightened keeps them voting
for Republicans who continue to keep them frightened
in order to stay in office
on nothing more substantive than,
"Elect us and you will be safe!"

Lindsey Graham said, stumping for Trump in SC,
"Donald Trump may have done some terrible things,
but at least he is not a Democrat,
and he won't take your guns away!"

Keep them scared and they will vote for you
like their life depends on it.

–0–

April 20-B, 2023

Rockport Harbor 01 10-13-2009 Oil Paint Rendered–Penobscot Bay, Rockport, Maine
Some ways of being in the world
are better/worse than other ways 
of being in the world.

Being Jesus is being ourselves
with a particular spin on it.

Being Jesus is also being the Buddha,
and being Lao Tzu,
and Chung Tzu,
and Lei Tzu,
and Wen Tzu...
and all those who have known
what is to be known,
and who have done
and what is to be done about it.

That is the spin that transforms reality
by seeing/being/doing what's what
and what is called for
in each situation as it arises,
and is, therefore,
"transparent to transcendence,"
and IS transcendence
the way the path to The Path
is also The Path.

Which is to say that
everything reveals transcendence,
discloses The Path,
to those with eyes to see,
and nothing does
to those with eyes incapable of seeing.

Those who are incapable of seeing
kill those who see.

Dying is the price of seeing
and the price of not-seeing.
But.
It is only a transition point
for those who see,
and it is the end of the line
for those who do not see.

Seeing transitions into transcendence,
not-seeing disappears into
Poof You're Gone That's That.

At least, that is how it would be
if I were writing the script.

As it is, 
it is all waiting to be seen,
or not-seen.

See?

–0–

April 20-A, 2023

Rockport Harbor 03 10/13/2009 Oil Paint Rendered — Penobscot Bay, Rockport, Maine
By upgrading our grace quotient--
that is, the amount of grace 
we exhibit in our life day-to-day--
and making in depth inquiries into
how graciously we live,
with kindness and compassion
for all that comes our way,
we will be setting in motion
a way of life
that receives well all things
in our path,
and creates an atmosphere of generosity
and benevolence
surrounding us,
and what we do,
and how we do it,
adding elements
largely missing from the daily experience
of human beings worldwide,
and making the world a better place
just by the way we conduct our affairs
throughout each day.

What is keeping that from happening?

–0–

April 19-B, 2023

Schoodic Wave 10/02/2008 Oil Paint Rendered — Sch0odic Point, Acadia National Park, Schoodic Peninsula , Maine
We can easily make things worse
trying to make them better,
and we can make them worse
being afraid to try making them better.

What to do cannot
depend on thinking it out.
We have to act
when the time for acting 
is upon us
and work things out 
as well as we can
in the aftermath.

No one is smart enough 
to avoid making things worse.
Everyone has to know 
when things are bad enough
to do something now
even if it makes things worse.

When things are bad enough
we have to look for better
and take our chances.
When it gets bad enough again,
move again!

Keep dancing until the band
quits playing!
Or, until we find good enough,
whichever comes first.

–0–

April 19-A, 2023

Smoky Moon 05/19/2005 Clingman’s Dome (Parking Lot) — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Cherokee, North Carolina 
Everything is coincidental/accidental,
and, "The more we practice,
the luckier we get,"
but expectations and plans
still get in the way
because things do not often go
the way we expect and plan.

Each day we step into circumstances
that are the result of prior circumstances
and culminate in consequential circumstances
which generate additional circumstances,
and there is no end to it,
unfolding,
emerging,
developing,
evolving,
evoking,
eternally,
everlasting,
world without end.

And we do what we can with it.
Make what we can of it.
With no control over any of it.
Yet, we expect things to be
what we want them to be,
and strive to have that be the case.

If we got rid of wanting/expecting
and simply cooperated with our circumstances
to see what can happen here/now
and working with that to achieve
a state of equilibrium with what is happening,
we would be doing what the whales
and lions, 
octopi and eagles
do on a daily basis,
with no opinions
and no judgments
to get in our way.

The difference between cooperating
with our circumstances
and controlling our circumstances
is quite substantial,
and we would do well to explore
the differences,
seeing how we might adjust our
goals and methods
in ways that enhance our well-being.

Wanting/expecting would take a hit,
and our motivation for living
might have to be rethought, 
but cooperation not control 
could have benefits and pleasures
worth exploring.

It is an experiment
that could become an adventure!

–0–