Step into any theological/doctrinal/dogmatic debate
with only one question
and you will be the last one standing
when all the others have left the room.

"Who says so?"
Is all you need ask,
and keep asking.

"The Bible says..."
"Who says the Bible knows what it is talking about?"
"All of Christendom throughout the ages!"
"Who says all of Christendom knows what it is talking about?"
"The saints on high! The angels and the very Mother of God!"
"Who says the saints on high...?"
Etc. for on and on.

And at the end of the process the only response left is,
"I say so! I declare it to be so! I am the one who knows!"
"And how do you know?"
"I take it on faith!"
"Which means you don't know.
And all of the pomp and bluster through time
is groundless wishful thinking
passed along by those who don't know
to those who don't know,
And everyone is their own authority
which has to pass the test of its power
to meet the burdens of life head-on
and sustain those possessing it
through all of their trials
on the strength of their own ability
to face their lot
and to do what needs to be done with it.

And if it won't do that,
then we have bet everything
on the wrong horse,
and have nothing but the ragged tatters
of a tale not worth being told.

So, we better have a tale worthy of us
as we step into our life 
with what we say by virtue of our own authority
is valid and able to sustain us
through the long nights and endless days
of the Sisyphean task of meeting 
one situation after another,
and doing in each one
what needs to be done,
when/where/how it needs to be done--
without hesitation or delay--
because WE SAY SO! 

–0–

There is on the path
and there is off the path.

There is seeing what we look at
and there is not seeing anything at all.

There is knowing what we know
and doing what needs to be done about it
and there is diversion, distraction, denial.

Also known as entertainment
and letting the good times roll
along with drugs, sex and alcohol,
grounded on refusing to bear
the legitimate pain of being alive.

The foundation of life and being
is saying "Yes!" to life as it is,
seeing/knowing what's what
and meeting it the way it needs to be met
in each situation as it arises.

This is the fundamental requirement
of being alive,
of growing up,
of enlightenment and realization.

When we wake up and see,
we see what's what
and do what needs to be done about it,
when, where and how it needs to be done
moment by moment,
day by day,
throughout the time left for living.

Which includes asking all of the questions
that beg to be asked
and saying all of the things
that cry out to be said,
which opens the way to knowing what we know
which implies doing what needs to be done about it,
when, where and how it needs to be done.

Theology, dogma and doctrine
are other forms
of diversion, distraction and denial.

Drugs, sex and alcohol for the puritans among us.
Anything to avoid seeing/knowing what's what
and doing what needs to be done about it
in each situation as it arises,
all our life long. 

–0–

Our psyche seems to be the source of all things.
It is the invisible world
that serves as the foundation
of the visible world.

We have access to both worlds,
live in two worlds at the same time,
and project/imagine the psyche
to be a world apart,
heaven,
where God and the angels,
and all the good dead people live. 

Projection/imagination--
the ability to project/imagine--
is our greatest gift (I think).
It enables/produces everything
we have created 
in the 10,000 or so years
since the last ice age
when the weather warmed up enough
for us to be able to show our stuff.

We have a lot of stuff.
We are absolutely amazing.
And dreadful, as well.

I think of the psyche 
as being a body/brain thing.
We are just a bundle of psychic energy
in physical form.

We are born with potential
and become who we turn out to be
by way of our engagement with,
reaction to,
the conditions/circumstances
of our life.

Change our point of origin
and the world that awaited our birth
and we would not be the same person
because we would have used different
combinations of perception/response,
developed different strengths/capacities,
and a different self.

The better able we are to play
with the various aspects of ourselves,
the more of us we bring to life,
and the deeper, fuller, broader, etc.
we become.

Playing is the foundation of civilization
and achievement as a species.

The more playful we are,
the more capable we become
of a wide range of responses
to the conditions/circumstances 
of our life.
The more responses we are capable of,
the more ways we can see/interpret
our experiences,
the better our life will be
(In terms of getting the most
out of the time available to us--
and what we "get" is awareness,
understanding, comprehension,
realization, enlightenment).

Our psyche's interaction with 
the terms/conditions/circumstances
of our life
produces our way of life,
our way of living our life,
who we are,
and who we are capable of becoming.

Our place is to become conscious
of our unconscious,
to be cognizant of our psychic-side
and capable of communing with
the invisible world
accessed by our mind/body interaction.

There is more to us than meets the eye,
and it is our business 
to know as much of us as we can
and to live as fully alive as possible
in the time left for living.

Why waste any time not exploring
our inner world?

–0–

Looking back,
I see that all of my yes's and no's
were spot-on.

Even when I said yes to something
I should have said no to,
and no to something that should have been yes,
they were exactly proper and fitting
for what they led to 
and what happened next.

For instance,
I said yes to deer hunting
long past its appropriate-to-me-ness,
but it took every hunt
to cement me in the wrongness
of what I was doing,
and provided a quality of clarity
that would not have been there
if I had said no straight away.

My yes's and no's grew me up
to the extent that I have grown up,
and that is, after all,
what we are all about--
growing ourselves up
over the full course of our life.

If enlightenment doesn't do that for us
it is wasted on us
and we are no better for it
through all the years of fooling ourselves
into thinking we are all grown up now.
Which is exactly the problem
with all of the adults who crowd into
bars, and churches, and sporting events
throughout the world.

Thinking we are grown up
and enlightenened
when we don't have a rock's insight
into what is going on
and what needs to be done in response.

What is going on is the adventure
that is unfolding about us
in and through our yes's and no's,
and we are too dense to recognize
what is happening 
and what it has to do with us.

We are all in the middle 
of the story of our life,
and we are lost in news/sports/weather/opinion,
refusing to wake up
and see what's what
and what is being asked of us
and what we have to do with/about it all.

–0–

We walk through our days
looking for what catches our eye,
calls our name,
invites us to tag along
for a trip through wonderland.

We seek that which moves us
and fills us with a sense of
vitality and enthusiasm,
life and purpose,
so that we live in its service
with filial devotion
and liege loyalty--
for the joy of doing it
and the satisfaction
of having done it,
knowing that we found the secret
to abundant life
in doing that which
engaged our essential nature
and our innate virtues/specialties,
brought out the best in us
and provided us with joy and gladness,
radiance and bliss
all our days upon the earth.

And, if we haven't been living
toward that end,
today is a good day to start.

–0–

Each of us sees things in ways unique to us.
The way we see things is how they are to us,
and they are not that way to other people.

My guess is that the way we see things
is as distinctive to us as our fingerprints.

And, we are not in charge of the way we see things.
The way we see things is in charge of us.

We don't decide how to see things,
we just see things how we see things.

And then we get into arguments and shoot-outs
over who is right about the way they see things.

It's blatantly ridiculous.
To my way of seeing.

And we all huddle together in groups
that see things in similar ways, 
but even in those groups we do not see things
in identical ways.

We may use the same words to talk about how we see things,
yet, how do we know we all mean the same things
by the words we use?

I am no longer taking anything seriously
about the way I see things,
or about the way anybody else sees things.

I'm just going to settle on asking questions
about everything anybody, including myself,
says they see.

What makes it easy for you to see that way?
How do you know it is so?
What makes you think it is so?
Why not see some other way instead?
What is so holy about the way you see things?
How many times have you been wrong 
about the way you see things?
How many times have you changed
the way you see things?
Yet you are all overwrought and seething
about the way you see things now?
How do you know you won't see differently tomorrow?
Etc. forever. 

–0–

We live with what there is to do,
with what we will do with it,
with what we have done,
and what we have failed to do.

The ultimate doing
is making our peace with all things.

Balance and harmony
require us to make our peace
with all things.

"This is the way things are,
and this is what we can do about it,
and that's that."

Squaring ourselves up
with the difference between
the way we are
and the way we are asked to live,
and what we are being asked to do,
in each situation as it arises
is the big destabilizing factor
in each day.

We reduce our vulnerability
by limiting our exposure,
yet, even monks,
even hermits,
even recluses,
come to the crossroads
and have to give up this
to have that.

Balance and harmony
come and go
with the situations
and circumstances
of each day.

No one can sit zazen forever,
and why would they if they could?

Life calls us onto the field of action!
Doing what needs to be done,
when/where/how it needs to be done,
moment to moment throughout the day.

Which makes for a lot of squaring up
and making our peace
with the disparity
between how things are
and how things need to be.

Awareness and attentiveness make for clarity,
and clarity calls for coming to terms with
"This is the way things are,
and this is what can be done about it,
and that is the way things are!"

All day long.
Every day.

–0–

"The path that can be discerned as a path
is not a reliable path" (Martin Palmer/Lao Tzu). 

We know the path that is our path,
the way that is our way,
only by way of hindsight,
and by way of being open to the here/now
through emptiness--
as empty as the space 
between breaths--
stillness and silence.

Seeing what we look at,
listening to what we are hearing,
asking all of the questions
that beg to be asked of everything,
saying what cries out to be said
about everything,
and trusting ourselves
to the flow of energy/vitality
throughout our time upon the earth.

Everyone is moved by something.
Toward something.
Away from something.

Following the movement 
of the things that move us.

Being aware of what moves us
and moving with it,
in accord with it,
in tune with yes and no
in each situation as it arises.

Aware of balance and harmony.
Aligned with original nature
and innate virtues/specialties,
allowing the path to unfold before us,
letting the way be the way
of being moved by what moves us,
amazed at how simple
and wonder-filled
life can be.

–0–

Jesus raised the dead
and left the dead to bury the dead.

He forgave a guilty woman
and cursed an innocent fig tree.

He forbade praying on street corners
and said, "Let your light shine before others."

He said, "Do unto others as you would have them
do unto you,"
and told a parable about a land owner
paying his workers the same wage
for different hours of work.
And another one about the wise bridesmaids
saying, to the foolish bridesmaids,
"We didn't take you to raise! 
Go get your own lamp oil back in town!"

He said, "Do not think I have come 
to set aside the law and the prophets,"
and, "You have heard it said,
but I say unto you."

From all of this,
I can easily conclude
that truth is contradictory
and paradoxical,
and there are no formulas
or recipes for determining beforehand
what will be required by,
and necessary in,
each situation as it arises.

And that we have to "sit loose in the saddle"
and be "light on our feet,"
and quite free to do anything 
that is appropriate to the occasion,
and do the polar opposite
in the next occasion 
regardless of its similarities
to the last one.

In other words,
we don't know what we are doing
or will do next
from situation to situation.
But trust ourselves
to see what is called for
and respond appropriately
from situation to situation,
and have nothing to do with people
who insist that abortion is always wrong,
and that killing people we think need killing
is always right.

For example.

Got it?

Get with it!

And don't let being on your own stop you,
or even slow you down! 

–0–

The 13th Step of Alcoholics Anonymous
is "After sobriety what?"

After sobriety is remarkably the same
as Before Addiction.

We couldn't handle it then,
how do we handle it now?

What has changed between
then and now?

Sobriety is about the right kind of 
perspective/perception.

Addiction is the path to seeing appropriately.
Which is to say,
addiction is the path to enlightenment.

To seeing what's what
and what needs to be done about it
in each situation as it arises--
and having the courage to do it,
time after time,
for the joy of doing it
and the satisfaction of having done it.
Period.

That is the adamantine ground/core of life.

If we cannot do that,
we live for diversion/distraction/denial,
i.e., addiction.

Because life is about seeing/doing
what needs to be done,
when, where and how it needs to be done
in all of the situations
and circumstances of living.

For no other reason
than because it needs to be done.

If we cannot/will not do that,
it's addiction to something all the way.

Perspective/perception is/are the key
to seeing/doing what needs to be done.

Enlightenment is the grounding foundation
of life as it needs to be lived,
which is doing what needs to be done
with the right attitude,
always and forever.

The formula is simple:
We get out of bed
and step into our life
and deal with what needs to be dealt with
when/where/how it needs to be done,
every day for the rest of our life.

Which can be shortened to "Deal with it." 

The 13th step.

–0–

The craziest people I've known
were entrenched in their craziness.
I left them the way I found them,
and walked on.

They could not come to terms with life as it is.

One of them couldn't handle road kill.
Went into deep mourning every time
they came upon it.

One of them couldn't handle what they called
"insensitivity,"
And was super-sensitive to all things
that looked like they might some day be
insensitivity.

The first order of business
is to understand how things are
and what can be changed
and what cannot be changed,
and let it be because it is,
always has been,
and will forever be.

"Life eats life."
That's basic.
We can wait for the wheat to die naturally,
harvest it and make bread,
but it had to die in order for us to live.
Something has to die for us to live.
We have to square up with that,
and let it be because it is.

Here is the deal:

1) Accommodation and adjustment, Kid.
Accommodation and adjustment.

2) Yin/Yang.

3) Balance and harmony.

These are the three steps to living
as well as life can be lived.

We are here, you might say,
to serve the requirements
of balance and harmony.

Everything revolves around
and flows from
and leads to 
balance and harmony.

The more consciously and deliberately,
intentionally and devotedly,
we serve the needs of balance and harmony,
the better things are for us and those around us.

The "sweet spot" is in the center
of the bell-shaped ("Normal distribution") curve.

"This is the way things are,
and this is what we can do about it,
and that is the way things are."

Jesus did not know what he was doing.
The Buddha did not know what he was doing.
Both of them did what they needed to do
to balance and harmonize themselves 
with their life,
and what they did was what they were doing.

They did not have a system for 
"The Way Things Ought To Be."
Neither had what it takes to be
King of the Realm.
Neither could have governed 
even a small country.

They lived and died in the service
of their idea of how things ought to be
in conjunction with how things are.

That is all any of us can do.

There is no figuring it out,
getting it down,
and having it made.

There is only dealing with how things are
here and now
in light of the three steps to living well:

Accommodation and adjustment, Kid.
Accommodation and adjustment.

Yin/Yang

Balance and harmony.

Get that down and we have it made,
as much as we can have it made,
on the heaving waves
of the wine dark sea. 

–0–

"The path that can be discerned as a path, 
is not a reliable path" (Martin Palmer/Lao Tzu).

Which begs the questions:
"How good is a path that cannot be discerned?"
"What does 'discerned' mean?"
"How do we find our way,
looking for a path that cannot be discerned?"
"Where does this leave us?"
"What do we do, not knowing
whether or not it is the way,
the right way?"
Etc.

A path that can be discerned as a path
is someone else's path.
We are on our own
when it comes to finding our path.
What do we say is a path
and is not a path?

This question, "What do we say?",
leads us into emptiness
(Where we are empty of all emotions,
especially fear and desire,
all thoughts,
all we have been told
and think we know...
as empty as the space between breaths),
stillness
and silence,
waiting to know what we say,
waiting for it to emerge/arise/appear
uncontrived
to compel us to act,
knowing what is to be done here/now
"Like a person with their hair on fire
searching for a pool of water."

That is what we say.
How do we know?
Where does it come from?
How can we explain/defend/excuse/justify 
our action?

In this, we are like Jesus going to Gethsemane
and Golgotha.

We go without knowing why
in the face of all the reasons to not go
because we know this must be done,
we don't know why,
or how we know,
or what makes us think so.

This is called making our own path,
when we do not know if it is actually a path,
and we don't let that stop us--
on the order of:
"It's the pirate's life for me, Gibbs.
I have no say in the matter. 
Savvy?" 

–0–