January 05-C, 2023

Sea Level at Sunset 10/23/2012 Oil Paint Rendered — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Pamlico Sound, Ocracoke Island,
North Carolina, Ocracoke to Swan Quarter, 7:00 PM
We come with the tools required 
to do our work:
Our original/essential nature,
the innate virtues/traits/characteristics
that are ours from conception,
our perceptions,
perspective,
judgment,
courage,
heart/soul,
mind/intelligence,
art/creativity/imagination,
seeing/hearing/understanding/
knowing/doing/being.

We lose connections
with these aspects of ourselves
in the churning chaos
of aspiration,
ambition,
desire,
fear,
anxiety,
jealousy,
incentive,
intention,
aims,
purpose,
drives and dreams...

And so, the unending/eternal work
of returning to the center,
the core,
the ground,
the source
of life and being--
the emptiness, 
stillness,
silence,
nothingness...

Waiting 
to see/hear/know/understand
what's what
and what's called for,
and doing the right thing,
in the right place,
at the right time,
in the right way,
and letting that be that
in each situation as it arises
throughout time.

It as easy--
and as impossible--
as that.

–0–

January 05-B, 2023

Tree Tops 10/17/2012 Oil Paint Rendered — Just Down the Street, Greensboro, North Carolina
The day has a mind of its own.
Give yourself to the day,
trust yourself to the day,
and to the emptiness,
stillness
and silence
that await the day
and its peculiar alignment
of conditions and circumstances
which set it apart from 
every other day,
making it unique,
special,
one-of-a-kind,
though it might look
on first glance
exactly like every other day,
with nothing special
to make it matter.

That's where we come in.
We are here to see the day as it is.
To separate the ordinary
from the un-ordinary,
and invite it to open itself to us
in ways commensurate with adventure,
wonder and miracle.

And wait,
watching for a door to open
where we would never expect 
a door to be--
and when it does, 
walking right through
to treasures and marvels untold.

Every day is like that
if we are ready.

–0–

January 05-A, 2023

The White Blaze 06/17/2012 Oi Paint Rendered — Roan Mountain Highlands, Carver’s Gap, Tennessee
Today is the first day of my 79th year.
I hope to be more settled into who I am
this year,
more still,
more empty,
more silent,
with less at stake
in what is going on.

More balanced and harmonious,
less anxious and uncertain.

More stable and flexible,
less stressed and fearful.

More content with nothing,
less worried about something.

More at peace with whatever is,
less insistent on how things need to be.

More available to see and hear,
know and do,
and less available to noise,
complexity and drama.

More resilient and confident,
less weary and heavy-laden.

More humorous,
less serious.

More savvy,
less confused and unclear.

More awake and mindful.
Less certain and asleep at the wheel.

More contradictory
and less fearful of being so.

And always glad to be a part
of your path
as companions on the way.

January 04-B, 2023

Summer Idyl 05/26/2012 Oil Paint Rendered — Blue Ridge Parkway, Peaks of Otter, Abbot Lake, Bedford, Virginia
The conditions and circumstances
of our life 
impose themselves upon us
against our will
and require us to make 
concessions and accommodations
appropriate to the occasion
from birth to death.

The water that falls in my backyard
flows roughly from south to north.
The water that falls in my front yard
flows roughly from north to south.
And my yard is less than 1/4 acre,
with just enough elevation 
for me to be able to watch the water
without swimming in it.
And I have no control in the matter.

Consider all of the things in your life
that affect/effect your life
over which you have no control.

We do not get to choose our choices,
and therein lies the rub.

Being in accord with--
living aligned with--
the Tao,
with the flow of life and being,
means being able to take "NO!" 
for an answer,
and go on about our business
as best we can,
to the extent that we are able,
with an outlook/attitude/manner/style
that remains congenial and good-spirited,
balanced and harmonious,
while we are being tossed about
by "the heaving waves of the wine-dark sea."

Being able to take "NO!" for an answer
means being able to say "YES!" to life
just as it is.

Without judgment,
expectation,
opinion,
grousing and complaining.

"YES!" to life just as it is
is the primary requirement
for a life well-lived,
in accord and aligned with,
the Tao of life and being.

We get plenty of practice.
There is no reason for not 
having this down by now.
And we have no excuse
for not doing better.

Buck up!
Carry on!
No one gets it
like they want it to be
for long,
if at all.

–0–

January 04-A, 2023

The Woods at Springer’s Point 02 10/28/2011 Oil Paint Rendered — Cape Hatteras Seashore, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina
There is no consensus
regarding what is called for,
what needs to happen
in each situation 
as it arises.

We are on our own. 
We hear different things
from the emptiness,
stillness
and silence
regarding what needs to be done,
what is ours to do.

Our place is to heed the call we hear.
To do what is asked of us,
with our particular gifts
of original nature
and innate character components.

Being true to our heart
necessitates different forms of action.
We have different hearts.
We have different interests and specialties.
We are good for different things.

There are no duplications
in the world of human beings.
We are on different paths.
Our traveling companions
are emptiness,
stillness,
silence,
integrity,
spontaneity,
energy,
vitality,
life--
and our life is our own to live
in ways that exhibit the truth
of our heart and soul.

No uniformity.
No conformity.
Each marches to the tune
of a different drummer.
Blazing our own trail,
finding our own way,
singing our own song,
in the joint work
of serving our own gifts
in doing what needs to be done.

–0–

January 03-B, 2023

Appalachian Homestead 12/03/2011 Oil Paint Rendered — Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina
Everyone wants to be "happy."
No one knows what that means.

It means engaging consciously/mindfully
in the process of maturation,
seeing what's what,
rising to the occasion
and doing what needs to be done about it,
day-in-and-day-out,
for no reason other than 
because it needs to be done.

And doing that with the proper frame of mind,
the one that is appropriate to the occasion,
with no emotional reactivity/enmeshment/attachment
beyond what is needed 
to respond appropriately to the situation.

Happy is being reasonably content
with being who we are,
where we are,
how we are,
and at peace with how things are--
to the extent that we can be at peace
with the excesses and deficiencies
at work throughout the world--
on a day-by-day basis.

Saying,
"Here we are.
This is it.
Now what?
What needs to be done about it,
in response to it,
here/now?"
Squares us up with our current circumstances,
and puts us on track
to deal with the day
in the way the day needs to be dealt with,
which means having the frame of mind
necessary to meet the day
as the day needs to be met,
with no grousing, moaning, complaining,
whining, etc.--
no attitude,
no expectation,
no opinion,
no resentment, etc.--
just seeing, 
just doing,
what is called for
and letting that be that.

This is the way wolves, whales
and giant sequoias, etc.,
meet their day.
Every day.

It is the way.

–0–

January 03-A, 2023

Two Moose 10-09-2009 Oil Paint Rendered — Dicey Pond, Baxter State Park, Millinocket, Maine
The universe is a random collection
of events and circumstances.

Cosmic order amounts to nothing more
than settling dust
after a lot of chaotic collisions
among things seeking equilibrium 
and homeostasis,
like water seeking its own level.

We are all like that,
seeking our own level,
searching for our place,
for where we belong,
for what we belong doing.

We mostly know where we do not belong,
what we don't like,
and spend a good bit of our time
out of sorts because things 
are not how we wish they were.

The forces of destabilization are real
and the rest of us have to come to terms
with that.

There is that which likes to tear things down,
blow things up,
screw badly with people
for the lack of anything better to do.

There is no immunity,
no protection,
no safety...
Look at all those old castles lying in ruins.
They couldn't maintain their own
peace and tranquility.
Nothing can.

Everyone is looking for something 
they can count on,
for somewhere to turn in time of trouble.

The age-old remedy
is to become what you seek.

Be the rock!
By finding your inner foundation.
Your fundamental integrity.
"The face that was yours
before you were born."
Your essential/original nature.
Your innate virtues/traits/characteristics/character.

The unchanging, eternal, everlasting
aspects of yourself.
What you can count on to be 
the central truth, truths, of your existence.

Start there by being that,
consciously, mindfully, deliberately
in the way you live your life.

Become the anchor!
Practice staring things down.
Living unflinching.
Reacting slowly.
Responding intentionally.
Diminish your reactivity.
Increase your resiliency. 

Become the bough bending beneath the snow
and springing back into place
when the burden slides off
or melts.

Outlast the crap.
Be untouched by it
by having nothing to gain or lose,
nothing at stake,
and yet, living with everything on the line,
giving your best to each situation as it arises.

Master this ongoing,
eternal and everlasting contradiction!
Living as though you care deeply
about the things that need to be cared about
while not caring at all 
about any of it--
crazy as it sounds! 

It's the life of emergency room personnel.
They bust it at their job,
and let it go on their way home.
To be back at it the next day.

You can look at it as faking it,
and you can look at it as maintaining
your integrity the best way you can.

Perspective is the only superpower.
Learn to flip yours as needed
in order to rise to any occasion,
meet all circumstances,
and do what needs to be done 
no matter what.

"Singing and dancin' in the rain."

–0–

January 02-C, 2023

Rock Castle Gorge Creek 04 11/02/2011 Oil Paint Rendered — Blue Ridge Parkway, Tuggle Gap, North Carolina
We don't seem to have what it takes,
consistently,
dependably,
reliably,
to do what needs to be done,
when,
and where,
and how it needs to be done.

When it happens,
it is a marvel.

It is a pity
that it doesn't happen 
all of the time.

We could transform the world
just by doing what needs to be done,
where, when and how it needs to be done,
just because it needs to be done--
and for the joy of doing it
and the gladness of having done it.

Set the world right
by doing it once a day
for the rest of January.
Twice a day for February.
Three times a day for March.
Working up to twelve times a day for December.

See what a difference
that makes in your life.

But, don't do it to make difference.
Do it just to see what an impact 
it has beyond just doing what's right,
at the right time,
in the right place,
in the right way.

Call it the 
"Anybody Can Do This
Why Don't We All? Challenge."

And wash out that soup pot,
and put it away.

–0–

January 02-B, 2023

Coming Out 05/06/2007 Oil Paint Rendered — Out the backdoor, Greensboro, North Carolina
Everything is grist for the mill--
and we are milling ourselves
on the way 
which is the Way,
and the only way,
from Eden to Gethsemane.

Everything is food for the journey,
leading us--
if we let it--
to the truth of who we are
and how things are with us--
and what's what,
and what needs to be done about it,
when, where and how.

Circumstances are always producing circumstances,
and we are always responding to them
in ways that produce more of them,
for good or ill,
for good and ill,
over time.

What we do here creates conditions
that lead straight
in the most convoluted
and round-about,
up-side-down
way possible.
to what needs to be done there,
and there,
and there,
throughout our life.

We are molding our destiny,
or our fate,
with each choice/decision/act/refusal to act.
Free to will and to do
whatever we will and do
moment-to-moment,
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.

Living out
and producing
who we are
all the way.

How consciously do we do what we do?
How mindfully aware are we of the process?
How cognizant are we of doing anything at all?
Enlightenment leads the way.
Seeing/hearing/knowing/doing/being--
or not--
day by day.

Fate?

Or destiny?

Is what we do with our circumstances
every day.

Carl Jung said,
"We meet our fate 
on the road we take to escape it."

Joseph Campbell said,
"That which we seek
lies far back in the darkest corner
of the cave we most don't want to enter."

On his way to Golgotha,
Jesus of Nazareth said,
"If you are going to do it
the way it needs to be done,
you have to pick up your own cross
and follow me"
(Or words to that effect).

What we do with our life
tells the tale.
Is the tale.
Of who we are
and what we do about it.

Everything is grist for the mill,
food for the journey,
for those with eyes to see,
ears to hear,
and a heart--a Noble Heart--
that understands.

"Om mani padme hum..."

"The jewel is in the lotus,
and the lotus 
is in the slime
at the bottom of the pond."

"Those who know,
know they can't say
what they know.
Those who say,
don't know."

"You have to know what I mean
before you can understand
what I'm talking about" 
(One of the Lost Sayings 
of Jesus of Nazareth).

–0–

January 02-A, 2023

Two Geese Leaving Oil Paint Rendered — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina
We live for those brushes
with transcendence
that are scattered about
in each day--
the wake-me-ups
that point us beyond
the moment to something
moving us through our life,
calling us to "be still and know"
what's what,
to look into each encounter
with mystery,
wonder,
the unknown
just beyond the threshold
of consciousness
like the name we can almost remember,
but not quite.

Do not dismiss
or hurry past
these interventions,
invitations.

Carry them with you.
Sit with them as you walk,
or drive,
or sit--
turning them over in your mind,
adding them to your collection
of similar such reminders
that there is more about our life
than meets the eye,
inviting us to reverie,
reflection,
introspection,
examination...

Trinkets of the way,
holy nudges from beyond,
calling us to take note,
and take heart,
exploring past sight and sound,
seeking to engage the dimension
that is never more
than a perception shift away
with a wink and a nod
to encourage us in the work
of aligning ourselves 
with that world
in this one,
walking two paths at the same time,
smiling at the very idea,
and sometimes laughing out loud.

–0–

January 01-B, 2023

Sunflowers 07/06/2019 Oil Paint Rendered — Draper Wildlife Management Area, McConnels, South Carolina
We bring God to life in our lives
by the way we live
in seeing and doing what needs to be done,
when,
and where,
and how
it needs to be done,
in each situation as it arises,
all our life long.

Serving God
means serving what is called for
moment-to-moment
all day
every day.

This is also known as
living aligned with--
in accord with--
the Tao, the Way,
the Way things need to happen
in light of the situation as a whole,
and the way we need to live
in light of our life as a whole.

Not as something being imposed on us
from the outside,
but as something that needs to
unfold in our life
from within us.

I take photographs and write,
not because someone told me to,
but because I must.
I need to/have to.

I take the photographs 
that need to be taken,
I write the things
that need to be written.

"I have no say in the matter.
It's the photographer/writer
life for me, Gibbs.
Savvy?" (Captain Jack Sparrow)

It pleases me to be so, 
to do so.

What pleases you to do 
and to be?

Do more of that!

Throughout the New Year,
and far, far beyond,
through all of the New Years
yet to be!

You will be bringing God,
and yourself,
to life in your life
in a "the father and I are one"
kind of way!

To the delight of everyone
who knows what's what
and what needs to be done about it.

–0–

January 01-A, 2023

Grandfather Mountain 02 12/11/2011 Oil Paint Rendered — Price Lake, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina
There are no reasons 
for things being the way they are.
"The interplay of circumstances"
is the best we can do.
Change anything
and we change everything.
It is all so intricately balanced,
like a house of cards,
with nothing having to be the way it is
and everything being the result 
of a series of pinball redirections
bringing this into play,
on the way to what is being set-up
for the next moment,
and we provide the intellectual
framework which puts it all 
into some perspective
that fits it into a time frame
in a sequential way
so that it appears to make sense,
but it makes no sense whatsoever
from another,
equally plausible,
perspective.

It is all in how we look at it.
The Buddhists say "Life is suffering!"
The Taoists say, "Life is a party!
Yin is dancing with Yang!
And we all can sing and dance along!"

If we sit with it,
we realize that we can take anything
life gives us
and work it into a story
that blends everything together
in ways that are wonderful just as they are.

That is what we do!
We make up stories
with the stuff we are handed,
and it becomes intelligible,
even heroic.

Humanity does that!
Humans do that!

We put a spin on things 
that makes them bearable,
even fun,
even delightful.

We are magicians.
Shamans!
Sages!
Everyone!

It is good to be with you all!

–0–