March 17-A, 2023

Red Winged Hawk 04 02/28/2023 Oil Paint Rendered — Scenes From My Backyard, Charlotte, North Carolina
Money is a tool
for making/buying the tools we need
to do what is ours to do
in in serving/expressing
our original nature
and our innate virtues/specialties
in doing what needs to be done
in each situation as it rises.

But who understands our mission
in these terms?

We use money to pass a good time,
to let the good times roll,
to take our mind off our life
and escape the burden
of each situation as it arises.

Money is our primary means
of soothing our pain
and easing our mind
in the service 
of diversion,
distraction
and denial.

How do we get
from the way things are
to the way things need to be?
And, who is interested
in making the trip?

These are the questions
diverting the flow of life
into the eddy comprising
the wasteland of our discontent,
preventing us from exploring/exhibiting
our strengths
in the work
of being who we are,
doing what is ours to do.

Maybe later.
Maybe some other time.
Perhaps some day soon.
When we are in the mood,
and have nothing better to do...

–0–

March 16-B, 2023

The Neighbor’s Tree Oil Paint Rendered — Purple Plum, Charlotte, North Carolina
Jesus said, "It comes down to this:
You have to care without caring.

Here's how it works:
You have to live as though 
you care about everything,
without caring about anything."

(From "The Unsaid Sayings of Jesus, Vol. 1")

He meant that we have to live 
like we have a personal stake
in all that happens,
without having any stake at all
in anything that happens.

This is what the old theologians
were attempting to explain
with their phrase, "Imminent and Transcendent."
We have to be imminently present in/with
everything that goes on,
while transcending all that is going on,
caring and not caring at the same time.

(That is not actually what they
were trying to say.
I flipped the switch on them,
and turned the light around.

Being imminently invested in our life
and being above it all at the same time
is better than what they were saying.

They were talking about their 
idea of God,
but it applies to us as well.
Which makes perfect sense
in that the line between us and God
is non-existent.

Everything is one and not-one at the same time,
if you know what I mean--which is another
of The Unsaid Sayings of Jesus.)

Caring without caring is the foundation 
of existence.

Caring deeply about everything
without being impacted by what happens
to anything
frees us to do what needs to be done
with nothing invested in the outcome,
which allows us to keep doing what needs
to be done
without taking any of it seriously.

We do what needs to be done,
when/where/how it needs to be done
without being undone
when it fails to make any difference
at all in the outcome,
because we don't care about the outcome!
We care about doing what needs to be done
whether it does any good or not!

We change the baby's diaper,
even though we are going to have 
to do it again in about thirty minutes.
We seemingly never get done
changing the baby's diaper,
but we do it every time
as though it is the most important 
thing in the world,
what/when/where/how we do it
matters-doesn't matter
at the same time,
and we do it again
all of the time.

If you get this,
you are ready for anything
that comes along.

It's only another dirty diaper.

–0–

March 16-A, 2023

Charlotte Panorama 02 01/17/2015 Oil Paint Rendered — View from Marshall Park, Charlotte, North Carolina
What do you know of God--
That Which Has Always Been Called "God"--
that you didn't get from someone else,
or from the Bible?

I know that That Which Has Always Been Called "God"
has a wicked/twisted sense of humor,
and spends more of their (Father, Son and Holy Ghost, you know)
time laughing than scowling and seething.

(They don't spend hardly any time
scowling and seething).

I know that God doesn't have favorites.
They don't favor one person 
or one group of people over anyone else.

There are no Chosen People.
(And those who think they are
the Chosen People
have certainly been treated terribly
through the ages.
From that standpoint,
the Chosen People
are not the Favored People).

I know that God doesn't have anything
at stake in the outcome.
They know there is no final outcome.
One outcome spills over into an infinite
number of outcomes,
and they create additional outcomes,
so that nothing is ever final/over/finished/done.

The impact of the American Civil War, for instance,
is still being realized/felt,
and will forever continue to be working itself out.
The Massacre of the Innocents
in the persons of Native Americans
is still being realized/experienced.

Nothing is ever concluded.
It all goes on and on.

I know that God doesn't pick sides.
The lamb means the same to them
as the lion does.

Up is on the way down,
down is on the way up,
there is no final reckoning,
it is all coming and going.

The endless nature of the path
evens everything out over time.

There is no steady, lasting,
state of being.
The winners are on their way to the grave
just like the losers are.
There is not winning or losing.
There is only living and dying,
and being glad to have lived and died.
Being honored to have lived and died.
And there is as much honor 
in being a loser 
as there is in being a winner.
As much to celebrate.
As much to be thankful for.

What do you know about God
that no one told you?

–0–

March 15-B, 2023

Turkey Buzzard 01 02/28/2023 Oil Paint Rendered — Scenes From My Backyard, Charlotte, North Carolina
At any point in time,
there are several thousand
to several million people
who know the truth when they see/hear it--
who are genetically disposed 
to be bearers of truth
from generation to generation.

They do not always fare very well
at the hands of those 
who don't have a clue,
and learn from an early age
to keep their views to themselves,
but, as it is with alcoholics,
they can recognize each other
from across the room,
no matter how crowded the room is.

Servants of truth
share the same two powers--
the power of perception 
and the power of suggestion.

Beyond that,
they are at the mercy 
of the time/place/circumstances
of their living,
and in complete accord
with everyone else in the world,
are "just lucky to be here"
all along the way.

The work of truth seers/hearers/knowers
is simply to be who they are,
seeing/hearing/knowing
what's what
and what can be/needs to be 
done about it
in each situation as it arises,
maintaining the balance and harmony,
Yin/Yang,
of life within the circumstances of living,
and helping things remain
within the normal distribution curve
between chaos and stagnation
(Where life is best lived)
throughout time.

We all vary in our ablity
to know the truth 
when we see/hear it,
and owe it to one another
to be as truthful 
as our circumstances allow
in seeing and saying what's what,
and seeing who sees with us,
and who does not,
that we might encourage and sustain
one another
in the work of seeing/being/doing
truthfully
in all the times and places
of our living--
for the joy of doing it,
and the satisfaction of having done it,
now and forever.

–0–

March 15-A, 2023

Atlantic Morning Oil Paint Rendered — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina
Our primary concern needs to be
doing what is called for 
in ways appropriate to the occasion
in each situation as it arises,
regardless of what we want to happen!!!

We cannot allow our wants/desires
to lead us along the way!

It doesn't matter what we want!
It matters what we do--
and how closely that matches up with
what needs to be done
moment by moment
throughout our life.

How well we live in service to the here/now
using the gifts of our original nature
and innate virtues (The things we are best at)
is the measure of the quality of our life.

We cannot live to have our way
and get what we want
and think we have done anything
worth doing.

Spoiled children do as much.

It is our place to live in ways
that bring forth what we have to offer
the circumstances of our life.

Our character is coded into our DNA.
We champion it in allowing it complete
freedom of movement
in rising to meet the moment
and do there what needs to be done.

When we toss that aside in deference
to our wants and wishes,
we betray our capabilities
and our heart isn't in 
anything we do.

The cure for that 
is to do what we are built to do,
letting heart lead the way--
regardless of what our head has in mind.

This is the recipe for the kind of success
we are capable of having
by living the life we are capable of living.

–0–

March 14-B, 2023

Zen Moon 04/11/2009 Oil Paint Rendered — Grandfather Mountain and Price Lake, Blue Ridge Parkway,
Blowing Rock, North Carolina
That Which Has Always Been Called God
comes packed in our DNA,
is written into our genetic code.

When Jesus said,
"The Father and I are One,"
he was speaking for all of us.

The Johannine Prayer
(That they may be one 
as we are one: I in them 
and you in me),

Jesus' statement,
"The Kingdom of God is within you,"

And, "In as much as you have
done it, or failed to do it, to/for
one of the least of my brothers
and sisters,
you have done it to/for me,"

All point to the classical definition
of "sacrament,"
"An outward, visible sign,
of an inward, visible grace,"
whereby we become one with 
that which is God.

I would say, "By which we recognize
and remember that
we are one with that which is God."

We ARE that which we seek!

All it takes is turning the light around
to know that it is so,
and has always been so.

This is the knowledge--
the Gnosis--that orthodoxy 
was intent on stamping out
because it does away with 
any need for the church,
any church,
and destroys the foundation of power
Irenaeus of Lyons and his cronies 
were creating for themselves
in the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE.

Gnosticism is no heresy.
Orthodoxy is the heresy,
killing, as it did, its enemy
rather than loving them
as Jesus commanded.

And now, it waits for us
to set the record straight.

That Which Has Always Been Called God
and we are one.

And it is on us 
to make real what is real
in the way we live,
and move,
and have our being.

Beginning here/now.

–0–

March 14-A, 2023

Big Creek 04-14-2002 Oil Paint Rendered — Great Smoky Mountains National Park,
Waterville, North Carolina
We are not free to be anybody, 
to do anything.
We are bound to our genetic make-up,
to our nature
and our traits--our virtues,
our specialties,
our knacks and proclivities--
our particular ways of seeing/doing/being.

That simplifies things for us.
We can stop thinking we should be 
more like someone else than we are,
and start thinking about who we are
and how to be more like that
in the time left for living.

I am more like a hermit
(Carl Jung said that a hermit
is a primitive person
who trusts their unconscious)
than like a "hale fellow well-met."

More inward than outward,
and am not attracted to crowds
and noise.
The silence of woods and streams
comforts my soul. 

So find your pace and your rhythm,
your direction and you way,
and enjoy being who you are,
when you are,
where you are,
how you are,
all the days of your life!

–0–

March 13-B, 2023

Goodale State Park 01 11/01/2013 Oil Paint Rendered — Adams Mill Pond, Camden, South Carolina
I am sorry that it has come to this.
I blame it all on money.
On Capitalism.
On the profit at any price orientation
of society as a whole worldwide.

"The love of money/power
is the root of all evil,"
is an ancient realization
that changes nothing over time.

Money is power.
With money we can do anything we want.
That's the catch.
We don't know what to want.
And what to not-want.
We want it all.
We want everything.
Right Now!
No matter the outcome.

Moneyed people cannot take no 
for an answer.
They will have their way
despite the cost.

All of those Russian oligarchs 
who fall off balconies
and out of speedboats
are in somebody's way
who wants to have their way
at somebody else's expense.

People with money
do not have any idea
of what to do with money.

They just love the idea of money
and the power to do what they want,
and they want something 
all the time.
Mostly more money,
more power
for no reason.

And here we are.
With people using politics
to get more money for themselves,
and more power
for no reason.

The snowball is rolling
down a steep incline
and the end
will not be pretty.

When things are out of control,
out of anyone's control,
as this is,
the only thing to do 
is to get as much out of the way
as possible
and wait it out.

Waiting it out generally means
waiting for some door 
to something better opens,
and walking through.

Knowing the right door
when it opens
is the trick.

People get tired of waiting
and rush through any door
that looks promising,
thinking anything is better than this,
only to find out not so.

There is the frying pan
and there is the fire.
The real trick is to avoid both.

Good luck with that! 

–0–

March 13-A, 2023

November Orchard 03 11/02/2013 Oil Paint Rendered — Springs Farm, Fort Mill, South Carolina
The articulation of experience
deepens,
enlarges,
expands
experience.

Talk about what you have experienced,
are experiencing.
Write about it.
Dance it out.
Draw/paint it out.
Play it out on the musical instrument
of your choice...

Translate the impact of experience
into words,
music,
forms and shapes,
colors,
motion...

Experience your experience!
Look at it from all sides!
Explore its meanings,
its implications,
its possibilities...

Know what you know--
your reactions/responses,
your fears/hopes/dreams/dreads...

How is that preventing/enabling/allowing/
requiring you
to be alive to the moment of your living?
And doing there what needs to be done there?
And stepping back,
allowing nature to take its course?

–0–

March 12-B, 2023

Mill Mirror 05/17/2012 Oil Paint Rendered — Mabry Mill, Blue Ridge Park Way, Meadows of Dan, Virginia
I am proud of what 
my life has done with me,
and of the role I played
in assisting that happening,
without knowing what I was doing
beyond trusting myself
to what needed to be done
in the service of ends 
I could not imagine.

At every turning point,
the way was obvious
and I trusted myself to it
beyond all reason and fear,
and here I am,
"talking" to you,
whom I never would have met
if I pushed and shoved
in favor of what I Should Have Done
at any point along the way.

The way our life Should go
is not the way we think it Should go.
Trusting ourselves to the going
and picking up what we need
for the journey
without knowing we are on a journey
is the way it works
when we cooperate with the working
without a clue about what we are doing
by merely being present
with what is present with us here/now.

It unfolds according to its own needs,
carrying us along with it.
To think there is a plan
with stages,
and musts,
and oughts,
and a strict timetable
for being at certain places
at certain times
and we must do it Right
or go to hell,
misses the importance of hellish places
in our life,
where things are gleaned
and learned,
seen, known, understood
that are essential for the journey
when there doesn't appear to be a journey,
and we have to go through hell
to get where we are going,
which is no place at all,
only the experience
of being at one 
with forces quite beyond us,
having a good time with us,
watching us piece things together,
one decision/choice/realization
at a time.

Hatching what we do not know
beyond knowing what must be done here/now
all along the way that is The Way
from one here/now to the next.

The people who live by some book,
any book, miss the magic
and the mystery
concealed in the wonder
of life and being.

–0–

March 12-A, 2023

Mirror-Mirror 04 Oil Paint Rendered — Adams Mill Pond, Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina
Clarity and insight, Kid.
Clarity and insight.

Clarity and insight are essential
in the work of finding our way
to the way.

With enough of the right kind of experience,
we can find our own way
to clarity and insight over time.

We can shorten the length of time
by taking advantage of the experience
of others.

We all need the right kind of sounding boards
in our life--
people who can listen us 
to the point of being able to hear ourselves speaking.

The best psychotherapists
are excellent sounding boards,
and can help us recognize 
our conflicts and contradictions,
and the necessity of reconciling
what can be reconciled,
and reconciling ourselves to 
walking two paths at the same time
with mutually exclusive necessities
that cannot be reconciled or abandoned.

Bearing the pain of our contraries
and living on
is sometimes as reconciled as we can be.

We learn to do that by doing it,
making concessions,
redrawing lines,
finding ways to do what needs to be done,
anyway, 
nevertheless,
even so--
and pressing on,
pressing on.

–0–

March 11-B, 2023

Sumac Oil Paint Rendered — 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina
We all have our specialties.
Mine is playing around,
particularly with words,
perspectives,
meanings.

Looking at things from all sides.
Sizing things up.

The Articulation of How Things Are--
And Also Are--
And What All That Means,
Depending on Our Point of View,
In All Times And Places.

Ask me what the Bible, for instance,
says about something,
and I will ask you 
if you want the Pro or the Con.

The Bible says whatever we want it to say
about all of the issues of the day.
The Bible is self-contradictory.
So am I.
So are you.

We are multi-dimensional.
We are capable of the full range
of perceptions and responses
to bring forth in meeting
the situation as it arises,
in the moment at hand.

And that is how it must be
in a multi-dimensional universe.

Is it order or is it chaos?
It is both at all times!
Depending on our point of view.

And we have to be consciously capable
of multi-dimensionallity
in order to find our way to--
and along--The Way,
which is The Way of doing 
what needs to be done here/now
in each situation,
in each moment within each situation.

Dancing with the music,
rising to the occasion,
as it changes like the wind,
we all are like the spirit
that is like the wind,
blowing where it will,
capable of doing whatever 
is called for,
when/where/how it is called for,
all our life long.

In order to do that,
we have to be able to read
the signs of the times,
and respond appropriately,
as needed,
in the here/now,
all the time.

–0–