January, 2023

Wetlands Sunrise 12/26/2011 Oil Paint Rendered — Four-mile Creek Greenway, Charlotte, North Carolina
We live our life 
in and through and with
things that make no sense.

It is an utterly senseless world
as far as I can see.

And we make it work.
We bring balance and harmony
to bear on the absurdity of existence.
We make loose ends meet.
We square circles of confusion
time after time.
We take it in stride.
We keep going as though
everything is perfectly sensible
just as it is--
when nothing is sensible at all.

We take the appalling contradictions
of religion (and everything else)
and build our life around them

(For instance: "God loves us unconditionally
and will send us to hell
if we don't believe it
and come back next week"
to hear the preacher tell us
that "God loves us unconditionally,
and will send us to hell 
if we don't believe it
and come back next week"...).

This trick we do with managing 
mutually exclusive contradictions
is done unconsciously,
instinctively,
in an "Oh, I see," kind of way,
and we have been doing it all our life.

This is the life-art that is at the heart
of Taoism and Zen.

We cannot explain it.
We cannot make sense of it.
But.
We can live with it in ways 
that honor the opposites
and blend them into balance and harmony,
doing what needs to be done,
anyway/nevertheless/even-so,
and it works!

We don't have to make sense of it.
We are doing just fine as we are
in a "Life must go on,
I forget just why," kind of way.

I love that about us.
No one teaches us to do this,
we just do it,
naturally, spontaneously, intuitively.

We are beautiful, wonderful people.
I love us all.

Happy New Year!

–0–

December 31-B, 2022

Purple Dawn 11/03/2002 Oil Paint Rendered — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina
Denial trumps everything.

Speaking of Trump,
Donald is a wonderful example
of denial at work in the world,
living proof that you can
fool some of the people
all of the time.

And there is no convincing 
the true believers
that they have been duped
and are wrong to their core.

No evidence can be presented
that cannot be denied.
"The theory expands to explain away
(or incorporate)
all facts presented to expose the invalid
nature of the theory."

And we believe what we believe
because we believe with complete conviction
the truth of what we believe.

And are beyond correction,
awakening,
realization,
enlightenment,
satori...

People argue about opinions!
Fascism is grounded solidly upon opinion!
Life is lived (and taken) around the world
based on ideas that have no foundation
and zero merit!
Science is dismissed, denounced, despised
in favor of fiction,
fantasy
and fabrication.

Apparently intelligent people 
refuse vaccines
because they think
they will make them stupid.

And the rest of us have to live with that.

And, the world is purported 
to have intelligent design.

The Goths and Vandals 
are always at the gates 
of civilization, 
it seems,
with no re-set in sight.

Happy New Year!

–0–

December 31-A, 2022

Cedar Rock Falls 10/13/2011 Oil Paint Rendered — Pisgah National Forest, Brevard, North Carolina
We are lazy
and easily bored.
That's a mix for trouble.

The only way out of the morass
is to schedule long
Come To Truth talks with ourselves
on a regular basis.

"You say you want something to do,
but you don't want to do anything,
is that it?"

What to do is always right there:
THE NEXT THING THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE!!!

Not what we have in mind.

We are Adam and Even in Eden.
We have to die to our idea
of how our life ought to be
before we are fit to live.

That's the message of Gethsemane.
"You can live the life that is yours to live,
but you have to die to the life you want to live."

That's the message tucked into,
"Pick up your cross and come along with me,"
as Jesus said,
on his way to Golgotha.

Dying to our idea of life
is the way to life pouring over,
spilling out,
eternally--
which begins here and now,
the moment we say,
"Okay. Let's do it!"
And start walking.

Say it and start walking,
and your life will transform itself
before you get to the door.

But.
You have to mean it.
With all your heart.

–0–

December 30-C, 2022

Lake Haigler 36 Oil Paint Rendeed 11/17/2016 — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Fort Mill, South Carolina
There is no uniformity,
no consistency,
no homogeneity,
no regimentation,
no orthodoxy,
no systematic theology,
no systematization, 
no orchestration,
no choreography,
no imposed, inorganic, ordering
of life upon the living.

Only death is static, unchanging, unmoving,
rigid, frozen, the same forever.

Jesus was inconsistent.
So was the Buddha.
And don't even think about
their disciples!

Taoism
Zen
and Ch'an
are different
in ways that do not make a difference.

Buddhism and Christianity
are different from them, 
and from each other
in ways that make a difference,
if inconsistencies and discordances matter.

Why would inconsistencies and discordances matter?

Sitting zazen is Buddhism, not Zen--
but does it matter?

Why the push for consistency, accord, agreement?

Why not strive for congeniality, 
concurrence and forbearance?

Within and without?

People who are focused on seeing/doing
the right thing,
at the right time,
in the right way,
in the right place
can call themselves anything they wish--
and be cheered on by the rest of us--
is my take,
and I reserve the same right
in my own case as well.

–0–

December 30-B, 2022

Carolina Thread Trail 37 11/20/2016 Oil Paint Rendered — Waxhaw Access, Union County, North Carolina
What guides our boat
on its path through the sea?

Where do we turn
when we have nowhere to turn?

What do we have to do
regardless of the cost,
no matter what the price?

What feeds our soul?
What causes our little heart to sing
and our little toes to dance?
Our eyes to light up?
Our inner juices to flow?

How consciously,
deliberately,
intentionally,
willfully,
often,
do we serve
what we are here to serve?

What do we do with fealty?
Liege loyalty?
Filial devotion?

We live to do what
with our life?

Who is our Mama?
Who is our Daddy?
Who/what owns us?
Feeds us?
Guides our boat
on its path through the sea?

–0–

December 30-A, 2022

Whitewater 01 09/25/2012 Oil Paint Rendered — New River Gorge National Park, Lansing, West Virginia
The catch with living aligned with the Tao
is that you have to be sincerely okay
with things being as they are.

Every here/now is just right 
exactly as it is.

You can't have opinion or will in the matter.
Your way is one with The Way,
or it's a no-go.

The Way is how things are
and how they need to be.

In every situation,
there is how things are
and there is what is called for.

Our place is to be sensitive
to what is happening
and to what needs to happen
from the standpoint of the energy/vitality
of the situation,
and to assist the coming to be,
the coming forth,
the birth,
of what needs to happen
in light of where things need to be going,
with the gifts of our original nature,
our perspective,
and our innate personality characteristics
(our virtues)
in the service of the good of the situation.

We assist,
cooperate with,
collaborate with,
the coming-to-be of the here/now.

The here/now is fluid,
moving,
alive and changing,
constantly in flux,
like the current in a river,
especially like the one in the image above,
that is not the same between steps--
and what we do is in sync 
with that movement,
with that being-and-coming-to-be,
moment-to-moment.
Dancing to music that changes
from one minute to the next,
we are one with the Tao
as dance partners are one with themselves,
each other 
and the music,
even as it changes,
all day,
every day,
forever.

What a life!
You can't touch it with 
five-year-plans,
multi-homes,
brilliant investment strategies,
a yacht and a private jet.

–0–

December 29-C, 2022

Mistaya Canyon 09/26/2009 Oil Paint Rendered — Jasper National Park, Alberta
The way that is the way
is like snow melt 
finding its path to the sea.

Like a baby knowing what to do
with a nipple.

Like a duckling taking to water.

Like people naturally being 
who they are,
liking what they like,
laughing at what pleases them.

It is not like following a recipe
for snickerdoodle cookies
or wondering how to tell
when they are done.

It is like making them for 
the 500th time without a recipe
and taking them from the oven
when it is time to do so,
not because someone tells you
but because you know when it's time.

The way that is the way 
is like this
in every situation as it arises.
See if you can sense it,
know it,
feel it
and act in response to it
in ways appropriate to the occasion.

Practice doing so in every situation.
Become expert at reading the times
and responding to them
like ants finding the picnic.

–0–

December 29-B, 2022

Whitewater 02 09/24/2011 Oil Paint Rendered — New River Gorge National Park, Lansing, West Virginia
Circumstances initiate consequences,
begetting responses to circumstances,
producing new circumstances,
creating complexity,
noise
and drama--
all brought on 
by things just being what they are,
which leads to
conflict,
confusion
and chaos,
with intermittent periods
of peace and tranquility
while circumstances gather themselves
for another round of disarray.

It is all quite ordinary
and predictable 
in its unpredictableness,
and leads to a wide variety
of unlikely possibilities,
including blue whales
and continental drift.

All because circumstances 
produce circumstances,
and here we are,
saying,
"All this couldn't possibly just happen!
Particularly by things
just being what they are!"

When, in truth, that is all it takes.

The difference between nothing
and apparently nothing
is staggering
over time.

–0–

December 29-A, 2022

Sandstone Falls 08/25/2012 Oil Paint Rendered — New River Gorge National Park, Lansing, West Virginia
Trying to know who is saved
and who is not,
who is enlightened
and who is not,
who is in and who is out,
who has it and who doesn't...
is contrary to the spirit
of "just being,
just seeing,
just knowing what is called for,
just doing what is needed,
when, where and how it needs to be done."

There is no trying to be loving.
There is only being loving
or not being loving.

Or, as Yoda said,
"There is no try!
Do or do not!"

The test of anyone's quality of life
is their ability 
to do the right thing
at the right time
in the right place,
in the right way.

And our ability to do that
hinges on our ability
to live attuned to the moment
in each situation as it arises
so that our response to the moment
arises itself 
out of our essential emptiness,
stillness and silence--
just listening,
just hearing,
just looking,
just seeing
spontaneously responding
to the need of the moment,
moment-by-moment.

Birds do it.
Sea lions do it.
Water does it.
It is the way 
of the entire natural world.

It is the way of our being
our natural selves
in ways that are true to our nature.

No one can teach us how to do that.

We know by just listening,
just hearing, 
just looking,
just seeing,
spontaneously responding
to the need of the moment,
moment-by-moment.

–0–

December 28-B, 2022

Mistaya Canyon 01 09/26/2009 Oil Paint Rendered — Jasper National Park, Alberta
An antiphon/antiphony is "a short chant
in Christian ritual"
based on the "call and response"
alternation" between singers.

It doesn't have to be set to music.
It doesn't have to be sung.

It is a fundamental structure,
not only in Christianity,
but in all religions.

It is grounded upon an unspoken reply,
or completion,
to a statement either sung or said.

The most popular one is "God loves you,"
as the call,
with the unsung/unsaid extension/reply/response being:
"If you do what I tell you to do,
and if you don't 
you will go straight to hell."

God doesn't love us
if we don't believe God loves us
and don't do what we are supposed to do
as the spokespersons for God define that.

This is the God Scam
that has been running
from the beginning of human existence,
and maybe before,
since we can't be sure 
of what goes on 
within any other species.

"God is real 
and will do what we want God to do
if we will do something nice for God.
And if we don't,
there is hell to pay."

That is the fundamental religious
approach to life and living.

It is based on people getting 
other people to do what they want
by telling them what God wants,
which is always beneficial 
to the people doing the talking,
or behind the people doing the talking.

Hold this thought
while I explore with you
the alternative.

The alternative is drugs/sex/alcohol.

Because we do not know
what to do with our time,
and left on our own
without some structure
telling us what to do,
we quickly go over into 
stress reduction behaviors
which comes down to drugs/sex/alcohol.

The stress we are trying to reduce
is brought on by having years
of unstructured time on our hands.

We can get a job,
but then what?
How will we entertain ourselves?
We still have time to kill,
yes, kill,
between shifts.

Enter sex/drugs/alcohol.
The God Scam was invented
to give us something to do
between shifts.

Pray/Bible study/evangelism.

Because we are lazy
and lacking in self-direction/
determination/development/etc.

Somebody has to tell us what to do
or it's sex/drugs/alcohol,
because there is nothing else
that we want to do
with time on our hands.

And that is why things are as they are 
here and now.

The church orders our life
because somebody has to
because we can't be counted on
to order it for ourselves.

Six million years or so 
of human existence declare emphatically
that this is the way it is.

Changing it requires us to 
embrace in good faith
the three guardians and guides:
Emptiness, stillness, silence,
with our original nature
and innate virtues (Te),
and allowing that to lead us
along the way (Tao).

What's it going to be?
Where we go from here
is solely up to us.

–0–

December 28-A, 2022

Knife Edge 10/26/2010 Oil Paint Rendered — Katahdin Range, Sandy Stream Pond, Baxter State Park, Millinocket, Maine
If it is not helping you,
be done with it.

If it is not helping you,
it belongs to the category of
noise/complexity/drama.

If it is not helping you,
it is hurting you.

Take an inventory.
Divide your life into
the things that are helping you
and the things that are not helping you.

All the external things that promise
to be of such great help to you--
how many of them are of any help to you at all?

Practically all of the truly helpful things
are internal.

Courage.
Devotion.
Loyalty.
Creativity.
Ingenuity...

All of the things that help you 
rise to the occasion
and do what needs to be done
are there within you.

In a situation in which you need something,
it arises of its own accord,
and you have exactly the word,
the insight,
the vision--
you know exactly what to do,
when, where and how to do it,
spontaneously arising at the moment it is needed.

Nurture that.
Nourish that.
By spending time with that.
In emptiness,
stillness
and silence.

Spend time with what is helpful.
Not with what is not.

–0–

December 27-B, 2022

Into the Shute 02 09/24/2011 Oil Paint Rendered — New River Gorge National Park, Lansing, West Virginia
By 600-or-so BCE, the Old Taoists
had it figured out.

When Yoga and Buddhism came to China,
between 200 BCE and 250 CE,
Taoism folded in the best of both,
and settled into "practice, practice, practice,"
while the rest of the world
stumbled around in the Waste Land 
of 10,000 mutually wasteful opinions--
with things being pretty much today
where they were then,
in terms of having things figured out
and put in place,
with the Waste Land
and wasteful opinions
being everywhere,
and those who know not saying
(Because what is known 
cannot be said),
and those who don't know
talking non-stop all of the time.

The Taoist way is to wait it out,
knowing, as it does,
that nothing can happen before its time,
and that those who know
are jolly well capable of knowing each other,
and winking across the room
with a smile,
as a way of mutual encouragement
and recognition of the Way
that remains the Way
through all of the ages and epochs 
and states of being
there may be.

–0–