When "the world is too much with us
late and soon" (William Wordsworth),
we have to recognize it 
and step back.

And when we cannot step back,
we have to recognize that,
and let it be,
because it is,
and live with as it is,
knowing
in a "This cannot be helped,
so let's do what we can"
kind of way.

Doing what we can
with a world that "is too much with us,"
is hero's work,
worthy of song and fable,
and the fact that no one notices
or cares
adds to the value of the work
done "Without hope,
without witness,
without reward"
(Steven Moffat, Dr. Who).

This is the legacy of all 
who know what's what
and do what can be done about it.

It is the Sisyphean Task,
doing the tedious, 
tiring,
boring work
that holds the world together
and must be done,
when and where and how it needs to be done.

And if the world is too much with us,
we still have the stone
waiting for us at the bottom of the hill,
to see what we are made of.

To show us what we are made of.

–0–

We live to find the still point,
the safe harbor,
of balance and harmony.

The catch is that there
are no steady states of life and being.
Now we have it,
now we don't.

Controlling the wobbles
will have to do.

Emptiness, stillness and silence
can help with that.
Reducing noise and complexity.
Diminishing vulnerability
by limiting exposure.

But, prisoners in solitary confinement
are very safe.
Freedom has its downsides,
responsibility being one of them.
How constraining responsibility is!

And so, the flow between extremes,
looking for just right
between too hot and too cold.
The movement of life and being.

Living takes a lot of getting used to.
And flexibility.
And good humor.
Listening, looking, being aware,
doing what needs to be done
in the service of balance and harmony,
and letting looking for the still point
become the still point
while being on the move.
Laughing.
Enjoying the dance.
And the thrill of not-knowing what's next
or what we will do about it.
Looking forward to finding out.
Hoping it never ends.
Weeping when it's done.
And getting back in line
to do it again.
Never tiring of the dance.

We don't have enough wonderful in our life.

We ought to make it our business
to increase the Wonderful Quotient in
each week.

It may be too much to ask of each day,
but adding wonderful to each week
ought to be a doable task.

We owe it to ourselves to make the effort.
Just embracing the intention
will increase the likelihood
of our paying attention to the things
we experience as wonderful,
and heighten the chances of our 
being increasingly aware of wonderful
when it crosses our path.

Let's join together 
in taking the oath:

"I will not miss wonderful in my life this week!"

–0–

Enlightenment is not a matter
of thinking anything up,
but of realizing what just
occurred to us
and connecting that with how
we have always been told things are
by those who know
and are right about it.

Who cannot tell us anything
we don't know when we know 
what we know.

Which is to say,
we cannot be talked into enlightenment,
we can only realize our way there,
which is to live our way there.

Which is to know what we know
and connect that with what
we have always known.

Like, "Money is useless
beyond paying the right kind of bills."

And, "All of the real answers
are found within."

And, "Truth is all twisted nonsense
until you know what's what."

And, "Sit still, be quiet, 
until something occurs to you
that clicks things into place."

–0–

Start anywhere,
any time.

The path begins with the next step,
in any direction.
Just start walking
with your eyes and ears open,
being aware of everything.

There is nothing more to enlightenment
than realization,
and there is always more to realize
than we realize,
so we are always being enlightened,
we are always waking up,
there is always more to know 
than we know.

The Buddha died from eating bad pork!
Shoulda seen that coming, Bro!

There is always something else coming.
Don't be thinking you've seen it all,
or that you know it all.
Always be listening, looking,
being mindfully aware of everything.

It is the way.

–0–