01

The old Taoists (And Carl Jung, and Joseph Campbell,
and others) would say,
"Get out of your thinking brain
and into your instinctive/intuitive brain!
You are never going to think your way 
into living in accord with the Tao!"

They wouldn't mean that we can live 
separated from our thinking brain.
They would mean we have to live in sync
with both brains to have a chance
in this world.

Getting out of our thinking brain
is a stark reminder of the work that is ours to do
in seeking to harmonize yin and yang
by getting our two brains--the rational, logical, analytical,
thinking brain,
and the metaphorical, symbolic, mythological, sensing, feeling,
instinctive/intuitive brain--
to come together in collaboration
with all of the tasks of life,
particularly in finding and living
the life that is ours to live,
incorporating the virtues/gifts/daemon/abilities/genius/etc.
that came with us from the womb
within the context and circumstances of our life
in the world, as tightly structured and resistant
to non-sense as this world is.

In order to do it,
we are going to have to take up
the practice of emptiness (the right kind),
stillness
and silence--
sitting quietly on a regular basis,
waiting for the mud to settle and the water to clear,
to see and hear
what might arise unbidden "out of nowhere"
to inspire our action in the field of action
and opening paths we never would have Thought
to take.

We have put it off long enough!
Our other brain wants very much
to commune with us now! 

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02

We are here to make the best of it--
and, in so doing,
to make where we are better
than it would be without us.

Any situation can be improved
or made worse
by the way we respond to it.

That's where we come in.
We make the call.
We choose the response
that makes each situation as it arises
better or worse
by the quality of our participation in it,
by the way we respond to it.

We were born with a nature
as unique to us as our fingerprints
or the structure of our irises. 

No one has ever been capable
of doing what we are capable of doing.
Or ever will be.

No one has ever been capable
of being who we are capable of being,
or ever will be.

Life is our one shot at being
who we are capable of being,
of doing what we are capable of doing.

Don't tell me we are going to blow it
on "rye and little darlin's"!

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01

We have to hear what we are saying
in order to know--and be--who we are.

Where do you go 
to hear what you have to say?
To say what needs to be said?
To know--and be--who you are?

We are only allowed to say
what is permissible to say.
We can't say the truth
unless it is a "truth"
that someone else told us is the Truth
and told us to say.

We can only repeat what we have heard.
We never say what we have to say.

Where do we go to say the truth--
the truth that is who we are,
that is what we have to say.
Where do we go to say that?

Where are we not allowed to do that?
To say that?
To say what is so,
what is ours to say?

How long are we to keep it "bottled up"?
What happens to unsaid truth?
Does it "dry up and blow away"?
Do we dry up and blow away with it?
How long before we are gone? 

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02

We do not--cannot--grow up
without changing our mind
about what is important.
And being right about it.

Being right about what is important
and living in ways which honor it
with liege loyalty 
and filial devotion
is growing up.

What do we owe fealty to?
What is that important?

We cannot buy that.
Money is worthless when it comes
to what is important.

The people who think money matters most,
who sacrifice everything in the service of money,
don't have a clue.

Here it is, laid bare:
Living aligned with our original nature
is the most important thing.

In service to the virtues/shtick/genius/daemon/gifts
that came with us from the womb.

In accord with the time and place of our living.

If you do not know what I am talking about,
make it your life to know.

Do not die without knowing.
To die without knowing is to be doubly dead.
We are dead until we know.
We come alive in knowing and doing
what is important.
Make it your life to know and to do
what matters most.

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03

Hope is way over-rated.

Jesus didn't give a damn
about what his chances were.

He came to say what he had to say
and to do what needed to be done
and let nature take its course--
and they killed him for it.

For not knowing his place.
For not minding his manners.
For not caring what his elders thought.
For not stopping just because it was hopeless...

Jesus spoke out of turn
and did what was unthinkable.

"Be a neighbor to everyone,
even Samaritans.
Even women.
Even women caught in adultery.
Even transgender women.
Even women who have to have an abortion.
And to everyone else who needs a neighbor.
YOU are the neighbor!
Go be one to everyone who needs one!"

Whether it does any good or not.

Be good for nothing!

The way Jesus was!

And live to say and do
what you came to say and do.

If you have no idea what is yours to say,
and what is yours to do,
if you are just saying what somebody says
you are supposed to say...
if you are just doing what somebody says
you are supposed to do...
wake up!
Look around!
Find something that needs saying and say it!
Find something that needs doing and do it!
That. Is. All. There. Is. To. It!!!

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04

Everybody is pissy and snarly
when their life isn't working.

When they don't know what it would take
for their life to be working.

Who are at loose ends,
lost without direction
in the wasteland of their own making.

"Pissy" and "Snarly"
are everywhere these days.

The sure cure for pissy and snarly is simple:
The right kind of emptiness,
stillness
and silence.

Three things pissy and snarly cannot tolerate
are the right kind of emptiness,
stillness
and silence.

All of their loose ends
and their lostness
and the stark, barrenness, of the wasteland
become apparent
in the right kind of emptiness,
stillness
and silence--
and they become doubly pissy and snarly
because they can't stand it.

Because they hate it 
and can't do anything about it,
because the cure is unthinkable.

They are so filled with the wrong kind of emptiness
they can't bear the right kind of emptiness
long enough to be still and quiet--
and listen and look
until they hear and see
what it would take for their life to work.

What it would take 
is the extreme polar opposite
of what they want it to be.

And that what keeps things pissy and snarly.

People don't have what it takes to grow up
and do what needs to be done.

That's all it takes,
and they can't do it
because they want what they want
even though they don't know what that is.
They know it isn't what it will take,
and they are not going to do it.

That leaves pissy and snarly forever.

I recommend giving them wide berth
where that is possible,
and waiting for them to leave
when it is not.

Everybody has to grow up against their will.
Too bad we can't force that on those 
who won't do it.

Growing up cannot be forced on anyone.

That's why things are what they are.

We are all waiting on Pissy and Snarly to grow up.

We are waiting things out 
in the wasteland of their discontent.

In the meantime, we do what needs to be done
when it needs to be done,
where it needs to be done,
the way it needs to be done,
because it needs to be done.

Helps to pass the time while we wait.

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01

Money is in charge.
Politics is the handmaiden of money.
It is a story as old as money.
And we aren't going to fix it 
in my lifetime.

Or yours.

We have to negotiate our terms
as best we can 
and settle for less that we would like,
or deserve.

This is what Jesus had in mind
when he said,
"The poor will be with you always."
He might as well have said,
"We will be poor always."
Relatively poor,
in comparison with the really wealthy.

India's caste system is an official,
state-sponsored form
of an economic and social pecking order,
but something similar
works its way into the way 
all cultures are run.

Equality,
racial,
sexual,
financial,
is more of a dream
than a reality--
and we come to terms with that
as we are able
over the course of our life.

How we work it out
for ourselves and our life
is as much a matter of context
and circumstances
as it is of laws and charters.

It is a matter of chance
that we are where we are 
and not somewhere else instead.
Coming to terms with that,
making our peace with it,
and living the life that is ours to live
within the terms and conditions of our living
is the challenge we all face
upon dropping out of the womb.

Doing what we can with what we have to work with
is the lot of every human being.
It is the Sisyphean Task for us all
seeking to find our life and live it
within the time and place,
opportunities and limitations
of the times that are ours from birth to death.

It is everything vs. money.
It is democracy vs. money. 
Money is the autocracy behind authoritarianism. 
Cutting to the chase, 
dropping the pretense of a democratic government,
and having to buy all those politicians, 
and telling the people to go to hell. 
The people are the source of the money! 
Dry it up!
Buy only the things we need
to do what needs to be done!
Cut out the frivolity,
and get down to business!

The business of being who we are,
doing what needs us to do it,
when and where it needs to be done,
the way it needs to be done,
and let that be that.

We will have enough money
to live the life
that needs us to live it
throughout the time left for living!

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02

Ukraine is at least two generations away
from regaining what Russia has destroyed
just because it could,
and "Why not?"

Russia is a resplendent example 
of who not to be--
of how not to do it.
And there are people high up
in the government of the United States
who want to do it the way Russia is doing it.

Doing it the way Ukraine is doing it
is the way to do it.
With heart and soul!
With compassion and kindness!
With generosity and grace!

Fascism has nothing to do with 
any of the right things.
The power to force its way on the world
is all fascism cares about.
Its way is death and decay
and the heavy odor of rot and filth.

Fascism rolls around in the rot and filth,
singing, "Look at me! Look at me!
Oh, look, look, look at me!!!"

If only it were capable of seeing itself!
Of knowing what's what!
And becoming who Ukraine is!

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01

What we need to hear at any point in or life
is contingent upon the nature of our situation
and circumstances at that point--
and upon how we have responded to all of our situations
and circumstances up to that point.

What we need to hear now
is contingent upon what we have heard
up to now.
And how we responded to it.

We cannot hear what our life
has not prepared us to hear.
And, how we respond to our life
assists or inhibits that preparation.

We can cooperate with our life,
and we can work against our life in every way.

The quality of our life in this moment
reflects the quality of our relationship
with our life up to this moment.

If our relationship has been adversarial
that will have an outcome/impact
different from a relationship
that has been congenial and collaborative.

"We reap what we sow" in this regard.

We may need to change our relationship
with our life if we want to alter
the outcome of our living
in the time left for living.

In order to hear what our life is saying, 
is calling for,
we have to upgrade the quality of our listening--
and the quality of our response to what we have heard.

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02

Every photograph worth 
the time it takes to view it
had to be taken at the exact time
and place
it was taken.

Coming back tomorrow,
or in ten minutes,
wouldn't do it.

HERE AND NOW!!!

Makes all the difference.

This is the Tao being lived out
in our life.

Doing the right thing
at the right time
in the right way
is the Tao in full bloom.

Photographers,
and writers,
and poets,
and artists,
and musicians,
and baseball players,
and farmers
and surgeons...

The list is long of all the people
who live in accord with the Tao
in doing what they are doing with their life.

One time is not as good as another.

The moment matters.

When the time for acting is upon us,
we have to act,
or live with having failed to act
for the rest of our life.

That's the Tao for you,
and why it matters to be attentive
to the time and place of our living,
and to know what is being called for
here and now
and do it the way it needs to be done
all the time.

If what you do matters to you,
the Tao has a central place in your life.

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01

The way of the child is innocent wonder
at the experience of being alive.

And spontaneous sincerity in response 
to that experience.

There is no sense of seeking advantage and gain.
Just being wrapped in the radiance of splendor
and mystery is gift enough. 

Why look for more when each moment is a blessing,
and a thunderstorm is a day's worth of amazement
in a fifteen minute display of lightening and thunder?

What becomes of the child?
How much can we recover with a walk in the woods?
Or sitting on some porch watching the rain?

What paths remain that may still be walked
in the spirit of the child?

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02

We must say
"Yes. Isn't that the way it is, though?"
to ruthless brutality
as we take whatever steps
need to be taken
in opposition to it--
in the work to triumph over it.

Fascism is the other side of 
Truth,
Justice,
Equality,
Liberty!
Just as darkness 
is the other side of light.

It is the business 
of light
to keep on shinning. 
Anyway,
nevertheless,
even so!

"Yes. Isn't that the way it is, though?"
says Sisyphus,
walking around the boulder,
doing the work that is his to do.

Some people might call it punishment.
Some people might call it a curse.
Some people might call it job security.
Some people might call it
the very thing I was born to do.

I call it,
"That which desperately needs to be done--
and needs us to do it!"

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03

Sunflowers have become The Gateless Gate
as we have become engaged in the transformation
from flower to symbol of hope
and relentless determination 
in the service of the Light.

"Turning the Light Around" is another term 
for "The Gateless Gate"
in the Taoist tradition.

It is the process whereby one thing becomes another
by the way our perspective shifts
in the work of transcendence and transformation.

We experience something similar 
in the presence of optical illusions,
where one thing becomes another
before our eyes.

The old Buddhist designation of reality as "Illusion,"
is a perfect example of one thing,
not only becoming,
but also being, quite another.

This is caught up in another reference to enlightenment
with the phrase,
"The way to the Way is also the Way,"
meaning that everything is a doorway,
a threshold,
a Gateless Gate,
instantly transporting us from here and now
to the wonders of the Farther Shore,
Sweet Beulah Land,
Nirvana,
the Elysian Fields,
the Promised Land
and all the other designations 
available on the other side of
"the doors of perception."

All it takes is seeing in order to see.

We will never see a sunflower
the same way we have seen sunflowers
now that we have finally, at last,
seen a sunflower for what else it also is!

The Gateless Gate!

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04

My friend Bill Hamilton
came upon his friend Alan Stacell
throwing stretched canvases 
of his artwork into the bed of his pickup.

Bill asked him what he was doing.
Alan said he was taking the canvases
to the dump
in order to make room in his art shed
to store more.

Bill confessed to not understanding
throwing art way to make a place for more art.

Alan said, "I paint like a dog wags its tail!"

When we make making money from what we do
the point and purpose of what we do,
we lose sight of the importance of doing what we do
for the sake of doing it the way it needs to be done
for experience and joy of doing it--
and the satisfaction of having done it--
alone.

When we do what we do for the sole purpose of doing it,
and doing it well,
getting it right,
doing it the way it needs to be done,
here and now,
we are transformed by it,
become better at it,
and transcend the popular understanding
of motivation,
purpose,
and reasons why we do anything--
pass through The Gateless Gate,
and live to be who we are,
doing what we do,
"like a dog wags its tail."

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01

Changing our mind about 
what is important
is the path to finding 
what is important.

Nothing happens 
until we change our mind.

The way to changing our mind
is to ask all of the questions 
that beg to be asked
about our current frame of mind--
and to say all of the things
that cry out to be said about it.

We investigate/explore
what we currently think is important,
asking all of the questions,
saying all of the things that need to be said,
over time.

We explore our sense of values,
wondering what is so valuable
about the things we hold to be valuable.

How good is the good we call good?
Good for whom?
Bad for whom?

We achieve what we call good
at the expense of whom?

We think we are right about all of the things
we hold to be right and good.
What makes us think so?
Who says so?
What do they know?
What is the ground of their authority?
How does that qualify them
to be right about what they say is right.
And good?

Question everything.
Take no one's word for anything.
Investigate.
Examine.
Explore.

What is good?
What is valuable?
What is right?

Under what conditions and circumstances?
What would have to change for it to be bad?
Valueless?
Wrong?

In order to be able to change our mind,
we have to know what our mind is,
and how it came to be the way it is,
and what makes it (us) think 
that the way it is
is the way it must always and forever be?

Nothing is going to change 
without us changing our mind
about what is important.

In what ways does our mind need to change?
Where would a change of mind be beneficial?

Ask all the questions.
Say all that needs to be said.
Know what's what.
And what needs to be done about it.

The road winds on from there.

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02

"Wu-wei" is a Chinese (Taoist) term
that means "Nothing worth knowing can be taught."

Actually, it means "Nothing worth doing can be forced
into being."

Being right about what needs to be done
is to let the doing be called forth by the moment,
like going to the Lu.
And not forced on the moment 
because it's 7:30 AM and we are supposed
to go to the Lu at 7:30 AM whether we need to or not.

We go to the Lu when it is time to go to the Lu
and not before,
and, hopefully, not too long after.

It matters how we live,
and it doesn't matter at all how we live.

It matters how we live in the sense of 
"letting one book open another."
In the sense of listening for what needs to be done
and doing it the way it needs to be done,
when it needs to be done,
where it needs to be done,
but who is to decide?

Who knows?
We know--like we know when to go to the Lu.
But It doesn't matter what we do
in the sense of not forcing what is done
on the moment whether it is appropriate to the moment
or not.

We allow the moment to unfold 
according to its own needs and purposes,
and assist the moment in doing what it needs
to be done,
but, how do we know?
When "nothing worth knowing can be taught,
or told."

We have to learn to listen to the moment,
to read the moment,
to know what is being called for by the moment,
in the moment, 
here and now.

How do we do that?
By living a long time with our eyes open.

We learn to make good soup
by making a lot of bad soup.
We learn to hit a forehand in tennis
by hitting a lot of forehands.

How do we "tune into the moment"?
By living through a lot of moments
being aware of and attentive to the moment.
What does that mean?
We have to figure it out on our own.

The people who know how to read moments
are like Obi-wan Kenobi or Yoda.
The people who do not know how to read moments
are like Luke Skywalker with the helmet on.

What's the difference between knowing and not knowing?
Knowing when we don't know,
and being aware and attentive.

But, that's asking too much of people 
who just want somebody to tell them 
what time it is for
without having to figure it out on their own.

Obi-wan and Yoda figure it out on their own.
Darth Vader just forces what he wants to happen NOW
on the moment whether it is appropriate to the moment or not.

How do we know what the moment needs?
Ask the moment.
And listen for what is called for.
Keeping an eye on your presumptions,
assumptions,
inferences 
and attitudes.

Maybe in time we will learn 
to dance with the music.

Wu-wei is dancing with the music.

Living in sync with our life
is dancing with the music.
Doing what needs to be done
is dancing with the music
(And not doing what your mother says
needs to be done,
unless it actually needs to be done).

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