Finding our way to The Way one situation at a time. I don't know how great it will be, but I expect it will be interesting, and I look forward to it going on past all reason because wonder is just that way. Are you coming or not?
We come equipped with three guides to lead us along the way.
There is what we do best. And what we enjoy/love doing most. And there is our intrinsic intuition as our ever-present help in all times and places.
Our place is to know what we do best, and what we enjoy/love doing most, and to develop our relationship with our intuition by simply watching/listening for what arises in the emptiness, stillness and silence as realization/awareness/knowledge.
In the company of the three guides, we are ready to meet every situation as it unfolds before us with the confidence of those who know we have what it takes to do what is called for throughout what remains of the time left for living.
Blue Ridge Mountains in Price Lake — Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina
There is a rhythm and flow to our life and to all of life. When we cooperate with that rhythm and flow, all is well. When we co-opt that rhythm and flow and try to direct it toward ends that are pleasing to us, it all goes to hell.
Cooperating with the rhythm and flow of life begins with our looking to our intuition for guidance and direction and help with what to do now.
Our place in response to our life is to understand that we are the moved living in response to the mover.
Our intuition is the mover.
Aligned with our intuition and living in accord with her wisdom and her grace, we are one with life, and all is well.
May we embrace that as our work to do and live so as to implement that in our life through each situation as it arises as long as life shall last.
Peggy’s Cove’s Clutter — Nova Scotia It’s the local’s idea of Charlotte Traffic to get through to work on the Bay.
The most important thing has always been doing what's called for in the moment at hand.
The here, now is always calling for something, and we are always having to rise to the occasion with the right response to meet the circumstances, rhythm and flow of the times that always "are a'changing.'"
"Wake up and meet the day," day after day. is the way of seeing how, and where, it goes everyday.
It is best to be "loose in the saddle and light on our feet."
Little River at the Sinks — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Gatlinburg, Tennessee
We don't need to know anything that we do not already know. Another Bible study isn't going to make any difference in the way our life is lived.
Neither is another sermon. Or another book.
It comes down to us and our intuition, and the emptiness, stillness and silence.
And our being clear about our original nature, our inherent virtues-- what we do best and what we love/enjoy doing most-- and our inherent intuition.
We stand/sit between our wants/wishes/desires/fears/dreads/anxiety and what our intuition is calling us to do in response to what is happening in each situation as it arises.
And we say/decide/determine when and where and how often to say, (To our intuition), "Okay, thy will, and not my will be done."
And. That. Is. It.
It comes down to nothing more than that time after time.
We can believe anything we want/decide/choose to believe as long as it enables us to do what is called for, when it is called for, where it is called for, how it is called for, time after time.
Adams Mill Pond Mirror Mirror — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina
We don't need more information.
We don't need to know something We don't know.
We only need to establish and develop our relationship with our intuition.
Understanding/comprehending/knowing that we exist to serve our intuition, not that your intuition exits to serve us.
We are Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, where the right relationship with our intuition is simply, "Thy will, not mine, be done."
The plus in this arrangement is that living aligned with, in accord with, at one with our intuition is the best thing we can do for ourselves, and our life will get a lift like that (snaps fingers).
And it will only ask us to do what is called for in each situation as it arises.
Hawk’s Bill Sunrise — Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina
The key to a well-lived life is learning to ride the waves-- to read the currents-- of life, and comprehend the signs of the times.
It is all about the flow, and the signs of the times.
You can be in accord with the flow, or you can be swimming against the current, your entire life long.
Intuition reads the flow and goes with it.
The willful pursuit of success is the salmon's return to the breeding grounds. They get there and then what?
With the flow or against the flow is the primary choice of life.
But first comes the ability to read the flow, the knowledge of the flow.
We talk about flow all the time, but there are few experts in the field guiding people in the process of alignment with the flow.
I'm thinking that is because success, acquisition, acquirement, triumph are all the rage.
Tevya (in "The Fiddler On The Roof") was a master at being one with the flow. And a total failure at mastering success (Understood as being at the top and retiring at forty).
Living well is about understanding what life is about and being in full accord with it.
A View of the Valley — Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, Arizona
All the sitting, all the attention devoted to the dharma, all the talk, talk, talk… is not doing it the way the Buddha did it.
The Buddha saw what he looked at and did what was called for in each situation as it arose. Without consulting a manual of how to do it.
Seeing what we look at entails seeing HOW we are looking at it and HOW we have to get outside our own eyes/brain/experience in order to SEE what we are looking at without all of our expectations, assumptions, presumptions, judgments, etc., getting in the way.
Sitting is just sitting/reflecting/realizing/reflecting… There is nothing to know/understand beyond the eternal work of knowing/understanding. And that is nothing more than sitting/seeing/reflecting… Because of the projecting/denying/self-delusion/etc. that goes on within us 24/6/12.
And Buddhism continues the nonsense of projecting answers. There is no end to suffering, but Buddhism is always talk-talk-talking about “liberation” and “the end of suffering.”
There is only growing up and doing what is called for in each situation as it arises, where and how it is called for.
Then, sitting/seeing/realizing only to arise and do, only to sit and see, arise and do forever.
Buddhism ought to come clear about this and stop all of the rigamarole regarding how to sit, and how to think, and how to act like a proper Buddhist.
The Buddha never though about how to act like a proper Buddhist.
Just as Jesus never thought about how to act like a proper Christian.
Price Lake Mirror 02 — Julian Price Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina
We do not shape the world/life to suit ourselves. We shape ourselves to fit what is called for in the world/life.
The world/Life asks certain things of us, we negotiate how much for the world/life, how much for us, but it is very much a negotiated settlement and not something we can insist/demand/require of the world and of life, that they serve us and keep us happy.
Each situation as it arises asks things of us. What do we say no to? What do we say yes to?
We have to be aware of our yes's and no's. Of where we are pushing/forcing our way, of where we are refusing to cooperate with what is being asked of us, of how we are negotiating our way through the world/life.
We get up and face the day-- and then what?
We have to pay attention to the "Then what?"
What is asked of us? What demands are we making? How aware can we be of the situation as it is arising?
Of each situation as they all arise? Toward what are we living in each one? It only takes looking/listening to see/hear.
See if you can tell what is called for in each situation as it arises.
NOT what you want to happen in the situation!
What the situation itself is calling for.
Live to know what is called for in each situation as it arises.
Practice, practice, practice knowing what is called for in each situation as it arises.
When you watch movies, read novels, ask yourself constantly, "What is called for here, now?" "What does this situation call for?" "What are the characters missing about what is called for?"
Knowing what is called for when and where and how is the missing element in human relations around the world.
We can begin to remedy the situation by paying attention to what is called for situation by situation, beginning with the next situation that comes our way.
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 