01

The Unfinished Circle represents
all that is broken about us,
incomplete,
unfinished,
imperfect,
undeveloped,
missing,
impaired,
out of order,
unpolished,
malfunctioning,
insufficient,
lacking
and unready
about us all.

Every one of us
comes "just so"
to each situation as it arises,
and steps into it
ready to do what needs to be done
as well as we are able,
bringing the best we have to offer
in the service of our original nature
and the virtues that are ours from birth
to bear on the here/now of our living,
looking to get better at it
over time.

May it be just that way
with all of us!

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02

The Incomplete Circle
and The Gateless Gate
are my two favorite symbols/metaphors
at this time and place 
of my life.

They are two aspects of the same thing.
I am unfinished
and I am whole--
and all it takes is a shift in perspective
to see that it is so.

The Incomplete Circle is my unfinished/whole state,
and The Gateless Gate is the requisite shift in perspective,
that completes the incomplete circle,
and brings me wholly into the here/now of my living.

And here/now like that
I can do what needs to be done
about anything that comes along.
Rising to every occasion.
Offering what I have to give
from the storehouse of my original nature
and the spring of living water
in the form of the virtues 
that are mine from birth.

I am well-equipped to meet each moment
in every situation as it arises
all my life long.

So are you!
The Incomplete Circle,
and The Gateless Gate
declare it to be so!

As they have through all the ages
from the beginning
to right now!

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03

Our symbols ground us,
center us,
focus us,
guide and direct us,
enable us to recover
and regroup
and find our way
back to the here/now
ready and able
to step into the present situation,
make out what's what
know what is called for
and do what needs to be done
when, where and how it needs to be done
no matter what,
for the joy of doing it
and the satisfaction of having done it,
regardless of the outcome,
and onto the next situation
already arising from the present one.

Chances are, 
you have no idea
of what your grounding/directing symbols are.
We are tuned into many things,
but the symbols that are uniquely our own
are likely to be not among them.

Oh, and here's the thing.
Our symbols are like magic wands.
Just as "the wand chooses the wizard,"
so the symbol chooses the sojourner,
and blesses their way with assistance
from invisible hands.

Open yourself to the symbols present
in your life,
and be alert to those winking and nodding
in your direction.
Look closer at those
and see what glows and grows
to claim you and make you its own.

–0–

04

Japanese art (And tea ceremonies,
which is, in Japan, a high form of art),
are big on leaving out small details.
Imperfections are the sign of the real thing.

Reality is imperfect.

Chickens are born without wings,
or feathers.
Squirrels are born without tails.
Geese are born without feet,
or lose them to turtles.
The world in general appears to be lovely
and fine (From space, for example).
The closer we get to life
the more gaps and cracks
we find in lovely and fine.

And art, in Japan anyway, reflects life.
And life exhibits truth,
the truth that no one is perfect,
and that to strive for perfection
is to reject something fundamental,
and even essential,
about ourselves.

We have to make room
for the unlovely
and the not-so fine.
Because that is who we are,
un-lovely and not-so fine.

And we have to let that be,
because it is,
and smile knowingly,
stepping into the moment,
into the situation as it arises,
and making the best of it,
anyway,
nevertheless,
even so.

It is nature's way.
It is the way.
All the way.
Along the way.

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01

We cooperate -- collaborate -- with our life
just to see where it will take us.

We are not serving some hidden purpose,
fulfilling a plan that was laid down
before we were born.

We are relishing wonder,
creating a life that has never been lived before,
pursuing joy and satisfaction,
allowing our interests and curiosity to lead us
down paths that are more like animal trails,
into strange places and different ideas.

None of it was intended by some heavenly power.
The spirit is like the wind that blows where it will,
and has no idea itself where it will blow next,
or what any of it means.

Meaning is what we make of things,
not what things possess.
We imagine meaning into being.
Coincidences would mean nothing
without us making the connections
that make us go "Wow!"

Without us, the world is meaningless.
We see the patterns and tell the stories.
That is what we do.
Our gift to the universe.
Right out of our own imagination.

We are just along for the ride,
and can't wait to see what happens next,
and how we respond to it,
and what that brings about...

It keeps us on the edge of our seats,
if we are alert at all,
with anything like a heart for adventure,
straining to see around the next corner.

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02

A lot of U.S. citizens,
and more members of Western Civilization
have fallen under the influence
of gurus from India, China and Japan,
and are of the staunch opinion
that the only thing standing between 
them and enlightenment is their darned old ego.
If they could just get Ego out of the way,
all would be enchantment and bliss.

Well, not so fast.

Joseph Campbell spends a lot of time
saying "Don't cast off the Primary Mask
of your culture!
Don't think you can quit being who you are
just by chanting a few 'Om Mani Padme Hum's.'
You cannot do it the way the people of the east do it.
These are different worlds,
and you have to become enlightened 
in your world, not some other world."

In particular, where ego is concerned,
the people of India for certain,
and of China and Japan to a lesser degree,
have no ego to speak of.
They have no ego to be rid of.

Until sometime in the 80's I believe,
it was customary for a widow in India
to cast herself on her husband's funeral pyre.
She could do that because she was no one
apart from her husband.

People in India to this day are no one
apart from their caste. 
They do not have the ability to decide
for themselves what to do,
their caste tells them what to do
and what not to do.

It is their Dharma/Duty to be who their caste
requires them to be.
They are not an ego, 
they are not a self,
they are their role,
they do not act their role,
they are not playing a part,
which they can put on and take off at will.
They are who they must be,
who they were born to be.

Their marriages are arranged marriages.
They do not know the person they marry.
They do as they are told all their life long.

The old Marlboro Man would never fit in anywhere
in the culture of the east.
And Americans can waste a lot of time
trying to fit in to that culture,
taking Yoga classes
and sitting Zazen,
but it won't take.

And, after a while, the fad fades
and something else takes its place.

The important thing is to be yourself.
To be who you are.
To live a life that is authentic, 
genuine,
just as you are,
expressive of your own original nature
and of the virtues that are particularly your virtues.
Loving what you love,
and doing the things that generate a resonance within you,
and bring you deep joy and satisfaction.
And earn just enough money
to pay the bills,
and make sure you are running up the right kind of bills.
Bills that keep your real life going,
the life of your heart and soul.

If you don't know what constitutes your heart and soul
in terms of activities and involvements in the world,
there isn't enough money to make you happy
with your life.
And you have to sit quietly
in the right kind of emptiness,
stillness
and silence
until you realize what you need to do
to be true to yourself
in the time left for living.

And then, go do it!

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03

Everybody wants a better life,
only a few are willing to do 
what it takes to have one.
And, that's the story of the species.

Lethargy keeps us where we are
on every level.

Maybe we feel guilty about it
and we stay where we are.

What would it take for us
to get up and do what needs to be done?

If only Powder Milk Biscuits would do it!
It will take something other than that.
It will take stepping through the Gateless Gate
and Turning The Light Around!

That is to say, changing our mind 
about what is important,
and shifting our perspective enough
to allow for a different point of view.

It has never been any more difficult than that.

What's it going to take
to change our mind 
about what is important?

Changing the metaphors
directing how we think and live.

What are the metaphors
directing how we think and live?
We don't even know what they are!

They are so embedded in 
the way we think and live
that we have no idea of how 
we are being bound and controlled.

We know what we think is important,
but we don't know what is actually so,
or what truly needs to be so.

How do we get to the bottom of it?
How do we get to the bottom of who we are?
How do we get to the bottom 
of what is directing our life,
requiring us to think the way we think,
see the way we see,
feel the way we feel,
and do the things we do?

Who says we ought to do it the way we do it?
Who are we trying to please?

What are our dreams saying about these things?
What is our body saying?
What are our symptoms saying?

How many ways do we attempt to show ourselves daily
who we are and what we are doing,
only for us to dismiss the obvious
and continue doing what we have always done
the way we always have done it?

What excuses do we make
that allow us to go on doing
what we have always done
the way we always have done it?

Whose side are we on?

–0–

01

Marianne Moore said, 
"The cure for loneliness is solitude."

The trick to managing our solitude 
is emptiness,
stillness
and silence.

The trick to emptiness 
is no expectations,
no agenda,
no opinions,
no engagement
with anything that comes up,
so that nothing sticks.
Everything just flows on by.

Speaking of "by," 
by and by, 
you won't notice anything.
It all fades into the background
and emptiness becomes
like the space between breaths,
relishing the stillness
and the silence.

That kind of emptiness
is the source of all it takes
to do what needs to be done
on the field of action,
starting with knowing 
what needs to be done.

You've heard of automatic writing,
perhaps you practice it.
It is the source of everything I write,
and all the photos I take.
With enough practice
(and the practice consists of
getting out of the way--
no expectations, agenda, opinions)
we live automatically,
doing what needs to be done
spontaneously, 
with sincerity and integrity,
by knowing what to do when,
where, why and how,
without thinking about it,
certainly without scheming,
planning, arraigning, conniving, etc.

Automatic living is straight
from the heart,
moment to moment
in each situation as it arises,
doing whatever needs to be done,
no matter what,
understanding that principles fly
in the face of necessity,
and things can be necessary
that have to be made up on the go,
and we have to do what is called for
without flinching, 
hesitating,
or looking back.

Not looking back is the hardest part.
Be empty of it
so that nothing sticks,
and it just flows on by,
with us concentrating on this here/now
and what needs to be done there.

–0–

02

There is a town in Louisiana named Delhi.
And, there is a town in India named Delhi.
In Louisiana, it is pronounced Del-HI.
In India, it is pronounced DelE.
How you pronounce Delhi depends on where you are.
And you don't think about it
unless you move around,
or talk to people who have moved around, 
at least in their minds.
Who have been somewhere else in their life.

I lived 22 years without ever encountering 
the word "cognac."
I didn't move around much,
or associate with the right people.
Every one of us is limited
by the places we have been
and the people we have associated with.

Reading books can help,
but it won't tell you how to pronounce
Delhi or cognac.
We have to live a long time
and move around a lot
to know anything we don't already know.

Knowing things we don't already know
is essential knowing.

I spent 40.5 years as a minister
in the Presbyterian Church U.S.A.
In that time I served 5 churches
in three southern states,
and all of those churches 
hired me to talk to them about God
and their relationship with God.
But.
They didn't want me telling them anything
they hadn't already heard.

Make sense of that if you can.

I did not give into their orthodoxy,
and banged away at it,
saying things they couldn't make sense of
because it didn't connect in any way
with what they expected to hear.

They didn't run me out of town
because they liked me,
and you can tolerate a lot
about someone you like,
but they dismissed me
with "that's just the way he is,"
like they did with their alcoholic uncle,
and their multi-married sister-in-law.

So, my time spent saying what
they did not expect to hear
grew me up
whether it impacted them or not.
Opened "doorways of perception"
for me, whether it did for them or not.
And I became who I am 
by being who I was.
While they remained pretty much
who they always were.

Things remaining pretty much 
what they always have been
is just how it is,
across the country,
around the world.

Don't let it get you down.
You aren't going to change the world.
But you can be different over time yourself.
Work on that.
Be different over time.
See how different you can be
from one year to the next.

Move around.
At least in your mind.
Associate with people who do.
Ask a lot of questions--
ask all those that beg to be asked!
Let your curiosity guide you
into worlds beyond your world.

Don't think anything that has always been thought.
Or, do anything that has always been done.

–0–

01

Living with sincerity and integrity
out of our original nature
and the virtues that are ours from birth,
in touch with The Mystery at the Heart of Life and Being,
with a regular practice
centering on emptiness,
stillness 
and silence,
concerned with doing what is needed,
when, where and how it is needed
in each situation as it arises,
no matter what,
for the joy of doing it
and the satisfaction of having done it
is the way to The Way,
and therefore is The Way,
and being aligned with The Way,
in sync with The Way,
in accord with The Way
is as much as anyone can be expected
to do with their life
in all times and places.

This is the foundation 
of all good religion,
without theology,
without doctrine,
without dogma
without loud music
and bad preaching.

And it is there for each of us
to take up on our own
without stepping outside our house,
unless we want to go for a walk in the woods
or along the shore of a body of water.

–0–

02

Carl Jung's idea of individuation
is identically equivalent
with the age-old idea of maturation.

There is not an individuated individual
who is not mature,
and there is not a mature individual
who is not individuated.

Jung said that the way to the self
is not direct.
We circumambulate our way there,
walking around and around who we are,
every so slowly narrowing the circumference
of the circle,
spiraling into the self at the end of our journey.

The same thing can be said about maturation.
Over the full scope of our lifetime,
we find our way to who we are
through trial and error,
pain and suffering,
grief, loss and sorrow.

We could save ourselves a lot of anguish
if we could just come to terms 
with what's what about us
and let all our dreams and happy fantasies go.

The Buddha could have saved us all 
the trouble of the trip
if he had only said,
"Grow up and get over it,"
instead of fabricating
the endless rounds
of steps to enlightenment.

The Zen-Taoists got straight
to the point,
and said, "Just turn the light around!
That's all there is to it!
Instead of looking out there,
over there, up there,
look inside yourself--
it is all right there,
who you are and who you aren't.
And that is all enlightenment
has to show you!"

That is all growing up reveals.

There is what I can do,
and what I cannot do.
What I do best,
and what I have no business doing.
The same is true for you,
and for all of us.

Yet, we spend our lives
trying to will what cannot be willed,
trying to do what is not ours to do.
Individuation and maturation 
are a long time coming
because we will not take "NO!" 
for an answer,
and keep striving to be what/who we are not.

The Hindu Bahgavad Gita cuts straight 
to the heart of the matter
with its, "Get in there and do your thing,
and don't worry about the outcome."

"The outcome," being the profit, gain, merit,
rewards and riches
we hope to realize by doing
what we hope will bring us joy at last,
never mind if it fits us or not.

We all know what fits us.
We all know what "our thing" is,
and what it isn't.

You don't want me singing at your next wedding.
Or changing the oil in your car,
or shoeing your horse...
The list is very, very, long.
And you have a list very much like mine.

But, if you want me to look out your window
for you,
or drink a morning cup of coffee for you,
or take a photograph in the woods behind your house,
I'll be happy to.
And you have a list like this one, as well.

If we stick with the things on our can do list,
and let the things on our cannot do list go,
we will be taking steps off the journey to ourselves,
and lightening our load at the same time.

It has taken me entirely too long
to realize this already.
And probably, you, as well.

–0–

o1

We cannot mature
without changing 
the way we live our life.
That is why we are awash
in immaturity everywhere we look.

No one wants anything 
to be different about their life ever
(Or, everybody wishes their life 
were different, 
with nothing changing).

Hanging on, hanging on,
not letting anything go.
How is that for terminal immaturity?

I don't know what we are going to do.
Maturation changes our relationship
with ourselves, 
other people
and our life.
In dramatic ways.

And it is past time for that to happen
throughout this country,
and the world.

Nothing changes until that does.
And that's asking too much.

–0–

02

What has seen you through
all of your false starts,
missed opportunities,
wrong turns,
dead ends,
lost causes,
bad choices,
dismal showings,
etc.
up to now?

What has kept you afloat?
Why are you still here?
What has been your foundation,
your guide?
What can you rely on,
count on,
depend on
about you?

What is your ace in the hole?
What is (are) your true trait (traits)
that keeps shining through it all?

What is it about you that
won't let you go?

What are the constants
that keep showing up
and coming to your aid?
That are diligent and faithful
to your cause?
That are your best virtues?

Sit down with a cup of coffee
and your cookie of choice,
or glass of wine 
and a suitable munchie,
and have a party
inviting them all to join you
for a toast of appreciation
and gratitude.

Sink into the goodness of their company,
and tell them what they mean to you,
and listen to what they have to say.

Seriously.

We have to treat right
what has been treating us right
all this time.
And listen to their guidance.

The rest of the way.

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03

The three adjustments are:
No Expectations.
No Agenda.
No Opinions.

Which lead to
and flow from
the three tools:
The right kind of emptiness,
the right kind of stillness,
the right kind of silence.

Which incorporate the two sources:
Our original nature.
The Virtues that come with us from the womb.

In conjunction with the two graces:
Sincerity.
Integrity.

All of which combine to provide us
with all that is needed
to find what we need
to do what needs to be done
when, where and how it needs to be done,
in each situation as it arises
no matter what
all our life long.

Which is all it takes,
and it is well within our reach.

Why does it exceed our grasp? 

–0–