01

What do you need in order to 
find your life and live it?

What do you need to find what you need
to find your life and live it?

We all have an original nature,
unique to us,
embedded in our DNA,
packed with all of the virtues
that are ours to serve and to share
in the work of finding our life
and living it.

We were born into circumstances
that were supposed to receive us well
and prepare us for the work
of finding and being who we are.

But.
Something happened.
And we were born into an environment
ill-equipped to connect us
with ourselves 
and the work that is ours to do,
the life that is ours to live.

Not only that, but it also works
to separate us from ourselves,
telling us that we are evil, 
sinful and lost from the start.

We hear that we must not trust ourselves,
but be careful to walk the straight and narrow
and do what we are told,
or hell will punish us eternally for sure.

This is not at all what it is supposed to be!
And we have to find our way to ourselves
on our own all the way.

But. We are not entirely alone.
Our Psyche/Soul is loaded 
with our original nature
and all the virtues we need
to make our way to the Way,
if they will just get out of our way
and allow us to empty ourselves
of all the noise
and trust ourselves to the stillness
and the silence,
waiting for the mud to settle
and the water to clear
so that we might know what we know
but have forgotten.

We live to learn what we know is so
in seeking and finding the life that fits us
like our shoe size and our hat size
and what we enjoy for breakfast.

Our dreams and symptoms are guides
letting us know when we are on the beam
and when we are off of it--
and we get a sense of on-and-off in our body.
The uh-oh feeling,
the gut feeling,
the feeling in our bones
when something is wrong for us,
and the ahh feeling when something is right for us.

We have ways of knowing what is us
and what is not us.

Reducing the noise and complexity in our life,
and emptying ourselves of our fear and anxiety
so that we might listen in the stillness and silence
for what we know
and for what is calling us
back to the life that was to be ours
from before we were born--
and move toward what fits us
over what remains of the life to be lived.

It is never too late 
to be right about who we are
and what is ours yet to do.

–0–

02

Do not look for meaning, purpose, 
and the reason for it all
beyond the joy of doing it
and the satisfaction of having done it.

We make it all up.
Everything we see and do
came right out of someone's imagination.

Invention and technology
is all imagination at work.
It is all imagination at work.

Philosophy,
Art,
Dance,
Music,
Manufacturing...
Imagination at work.

We have produced and destroied
everything
using nothing more
than our imagination.

We are the authors of our own
life experience.

There is no one here but us.

That being the case,
we might re-think war
and retribution,
and converting people
to our way of thinking
and see what cooperation
and compassion can produce
in the service of the best
we are capable of imagining.

Forget profit and gain!
Profit and gain do not produce
meaning and purpose--
they are just ways of diverting
our attention from the emptiness of our lives.

We cannot buy joy and satisfaction.
The more money we have,
the more insecure and defensive we become.
Look around.
See if this isn't so.

Putin could be the richest man alive
and he is threatened by the freedom
of the Ukrainians next door.
He cannot buy freedom from the fear
of losing everything.

And at the end of the line,
death is waiting.

If we are going to make something up--
and we have no choice in the matter--
why not make up something worthy of us?
Something good and glorious?
Something replete with joy and satisfaction?

Celebrating, serving and sharing our original nature
and the virtues that come with us from the womb
is my idea of the best idea in the world.

But, I will gladly stand aside,
sit down,
and listen to what everyone else has to say.

–0–

03

On one hand,
I hate it has taken being where I have been,
to be where I am.

On another hand,
having been where I have been
and having dealt with what I have dealt with,
I have no reason to think
that I cannot deal with whatever comes along.

I wish it were an easier, softer, trip
to confidence and self-assurance.

I know and like who I am,
and trust my foundational nature.
My past has been exactly what I needed
to be here, now.

So, let the future come!
I'll find a way of accommodating myself to it,
and being just fine--
anyway, nevertheless, even so!

May it be that way with you, as well!

–0–

01

What would be helpful?
What would be an acceptable substitute?
How would a change of mind/perspective
work as an acceptable substitute?

We are looking at things in one way,
seeing problems.
Why not look at things in a different way?
Why not experiment with different ways
of looking at things?

We say things are the way we say they are.
What happens when we think differently about them?

What happens when we think about our thinking?
When we see our seeing?
When we question what we think and how we see?

Whose word do we take for how things are?
How do we evaluate the validity of their assessment?

How do we know that we know
what we are talking about
when we say how things are?

How does our opinion of what things mean
begin to color, limit, become what things mean?

Who is to say what things mean?

What questions might we ask
in order to "get to the bottom of things"?

What would be helpful in determining 
what things mean?

What would be helpful?
What makes us think so?

What do we need to do what needs to be done?

–0–

02

We can’t have it the way we want it,
and that is the source of all our problems.

Can we determine how things need to be apart from how we want things to be?

Can we serve how things need to be at the expense of our desires?

How often do we do that?

Where do we get our idea of how things ought to be?

What guides our boat on its path through the sea?

What makes us think the way we think is the way to think?

How do we evaluate what is important to us?

How valuable are our values?

What we want has no connection with what we need.

We can want what we have no business having.

What are we going to do about that?

Upon our answer to that question sways the future.

Everything is grounded upon our idea of The Good.

How good is the good we call good?

Whose good is served by the good we call good?

We call what we want “good.” And what we don’t want “bad.”

What does wanting know? Yet, wanting is our drive and our motivation. 

Can we assess what needs to happen apart from what we want to happen?

Can we will ourselves to do what we don’t want in light of what needs to be done?

Can we override our wanting by willing what needs to happen over what we want to happen?

Can we will ourselves out of wanting?

–0–

01

Wars are always coming along.
I don't know why.
I'm not saying there aren't people
who don't need killing,
but most of those who do,
start wars,
when it ought to be the other way around.
Make sense of it if you can.

Making sense of things
that make no sense
is one of the many things
humans take on themselves,
when everybody would be better off
if they just made some coleslaw,
and invited their friends over to have some.

Coleslaw parties have fallen out of vogue,
it seems.
No one has them anymore.
It's easier to find a war 
than a Coleslaw party.
And that's something else that makes no sense.

If you start a list of all of the things
that make no sense, 
you will spend all of your time writing,
and never get around to making that coleslaw.

If you are ever so inclined,
and find yourself in need of a recipe,
here is one my Mom dictated to my sister Susan:

Grate cabbage
Add Mayonnaise 'til it looks right
Add chopped onion to taste
Add lemon juice or vinegar,
salt and pepper
Practice a bit 'til it comes out right

However it turns out,
it will be better than going to war.

–0–

02

Two realizations form the ground 
of the Gateless Gate 
and Turning The Light Around:

We are fine right now,
just as we are.

We will be fine no matter what,
just as we are.

"Just as we are" consists entirely
of our original nature
and the virtues that came with us
from the womb.

Our original nature replete
with its virtues
are all we need
to find what we need
to be who we are
in whatever landscape--
in whatever conditions and circumstances--
we find ourselves in
in every here and now that comes along.

We do not need more than we have
in our original natuer
and its virtues.

This is a foundational realization.
It is all of the enlightenment we need.

We are fine just as we are.
But.
There is a catch.
We have to be just as we are
for it to take effect.

For us to be fine just as we are,
we have to be just as we are.
At one with,
in sync with,
aligned with,
in accord with,
our original nature and its virtues.

If we are ever going to be anything,
let it be that.

Aligned with our original nature
and its virtues,
we are in full accord with the Tao,
the Source of the source
of heaven and earth
and all there is and ever will be--
which is to say,
"The way things are
and the way things need to be."

The work of being aligned with
our original nature and its virtues
is the work of managing our contradictions,
in the service of balance and harmony,
conducted in the emptiness,
stillness
and silence,
waiting for the clarity that comes
when the mud settles 
and the water clears,
and the Way opens before us
inviting us to step into
the adventure of being alive.

Just as we are.

–0–

03

Qi is understood by the old Taoists 
to be the vital life force enabling,
sustaining, maintaining
all sentient beings,
all living things.

When we use up our Qi 
it is all over,
good-bye.

Our place is to use our Qi 
in the service of the right things.

This is where the Tao 
comes into play.

To be in accord with the Tao,
we do the right things
in the right place
at the right time
in the right way.

Tomato plants and cats--
and all sentient beings
other than human beings--
are in accord with the Tao
and use their allotment of Qi
wisely.

Humans interfere with Tao and Qi
by having ideas of how things ought to be
that are not how things ought to be.

How things ought to be
is all things doing the right things
in the right place
at the right time
in the right way.

Forget how we want things to be.
How do things need to be?
That is the question we must
know how to answer
if we are to make the best use of our Qi
and live in accord with the Tao
of life and being.

How do we know?
We know through the quality 
of our relationship
with the right kind of emptiness,
stillness and silence,
while maintaining the balance and harmony
among the contradictions/dichotomies/polarities
at work in our life,
in the service of our original nature
and its virtues.

The Way (Tao ) is a natural extension/expression
of our original nature and its virtues
being exhibited in the right place,
at the right time,
in the right way.

Spontaneously,
naturally,
sincerely--
without agenda, opinion or motive
beyond seeing what needs to be done
and doing it
for nothing more than the intrinsic joy
of doing it
and the satisfaction of having done it.

And we do it by not striving/trying/endeavoring
to do it. 

Which is wu-wei meaning achieving 
without trying to achieve--
as a by-product of Qi and Tao 
at work in our life. 

To live in right relationship with 
Qi, Tao and wu-wei
we have to turn the light around,
enter through the Gateless Gate,
shift our perspective,
flip our typical way of thinking and doing,
and open ourselves to the world
of what needs to be done here and now
in each situation as it arises
through all the days of our life.

It is as simple 
as it is out of the question.

–0–

01

What are the destabilizing influences
in your life?

How do you balance your contradictions?

Harmonize your opposites?

Integrate your polarities?

How conscious are you
of the importance
of living from the center?

What do you do to reduce the noise,
diminish the complexity,
decrease the clutter,
minimize the drama,
increase the emptiness,
stillness
and silence in your life?

Marianne Moor said,
"The cure for loneliness is solitude."
Being alone,
being isolated,
being shut off, 
shut out,
are not the same things
as being in solitude.

We have to learn the difference
for ourselves--
just like we have to learn the difference
between the right kind of emptiness,
stillness
and silence,
and the wrong kinds of those experiences.

No one can tell us the important stuff.
We find that out for ourselves.

What is your original nature?
How apparent is it in your life?
What are the virtues that came with you at birth?
How often to you bring them forth in your life?

We cannot live at odds with ourselves
and be happily at peace with our life.

If that's you (Out of sorts with yourself),
you have to get back on speaking terms with you,
and then work on being best buds.

Asking yourself, "Is this me or not-me?",
and living to answer "Me," more often than "Not-me"
(With "Me," being not what I want but who I am
[Not wanting to be who we are is the source
of much that ails us]),
is the path.

We think it is about doing what we want.
It is about being who we are--
original nature and virtues, you know.

Nothing good happens until that does.

And balance and harmony,
emptiness, stillness and silence
are tools for the journey.

Mind how you go.

–0–

02

Living out of our original nature,
serving as sharing the virtues
that come with us from the womb,
is Buddha-hood,
is Christ-centered,
is being who we are.

Babies come out of the delivery room
being who they are,
and spend the rest of their lives
trying to get what they want.

Ask any guru worthy of the title
and they will tell you 
that leaving what we want at the door
is the price we pay
to be who we are.

The way back to Eden 
is guarded by an angel with a flaming sword.
To get back in,
we have to die.

Dying here is metaphorical,
just like dying with Christ on the cross
is metaphorical,
and the death/resurrection motif
around Jesus
is also metaphorical.

We "die" to having our way
in order to be "resurrected"
in being who we are.

All good religion is grounded
on metaphor.
All bad religion is grounded
on facts.

And so, we have to be saved
from those who would save us
in order to be restored to ourselves,
living out of our original nature
and serving/sharing the virtues
that come with us from the womb.

The path to doing that
is the path to life,
is the Way of Life,
is all there is.

Turn the light around!
Enter through the Gateless Gate!
Transform your perspective!
Transcend the way you think is the way,
and take up the way that is the Way.

By being who you are
at the expense of what you want.

–0–

01

We find our way to the next thing
by doing this thing
the way it needs to be done.

One thing leads to another this way,
and that's the way
to the Way!

The Way is the way we meet the day--
and each situation as it arises
in the day.

There is nothing more to it than that.

Enlightenment is seeing/hearing/knowing
what needs to be done here and now,
and doing it the way it needs to be done.

If we know that much
and do it,
that's all there is to it.

What makes that difficult
are fear, anger, desire, duty,
drama, complexity, noise--
all of which are sometimes
referred to as "the dust of the world."

Shake it off.

Sit (or stand, or walk) in the stillness
and the silence,
empty of all things,
and wait for the mud to settle
and the water to clear.

With clarity,
it is only a matter of courage
and we are underway on the Way,
seeing and doing what needs to be done,
time after time.

The work that transforms the world
by transcending the world
and becoming one with the world
here and now.

–0–

02

Watching things come and go
begs the question:
"What do we make of it?"

Why this and not that?
Why that and not something else?
What is behind all of the coming and going?
To what end does it come and go?

Who is to say?
How do we know if they know
what they are talking about?
What makes one person's opinion 
more valid than another person's?

What are we going to do about it--
the coming and the going--
in response to it?
What reply do we make?
What impact does it have on us?
What does it call forth in us, from us?
How do we relate to it?
How do we dance with it?
Who do we become by way of it?
Because of it?

What is our relationship 
with the coming and going
as those who are very much a part of it?

What about the coming and going
has made the most difference in our life?

How do we square ourselves up to it?
Embrace it?
Participate in it?
Letting come what's coming,
and letting go what's going?

–0–

03

Cultivating balance and harmony
is cultivating emptiness, 
stillness
and silence,
living aligned with our original nature,
serving and sharing
the virtues that came with us 
from the womb,
and being the Buddha,
the Christ--
the end we seek in 10,000 ways,
not-knowing what we are looking for.

–0–

01

Everyone once knew 
that the spiritual world
of instinct, intuition, imagination, hunches and nudges
was the foundation
of the material world of logic, reason, intelligence, 
morality and ethics.

Then the Age of Reason came along
and all that changed.

Well. 

There is the kind of knowing
that knows facts and figures,
and what time it is,
and there is the kind of knowing
that knows what's what,
and what is called for,
when, where and how,
and what it is time for.

Scientists trust what they don't know
more than they trust what they do know.
The real foundation of science
is finding out more about what they don't know,
and discovering more questions
they don't know how to answer.

This makes science the best religion
of the modern age.
No theology.
And plenty of instinct, intuition and imagination
forms the ground of all worthy equations.

How the carbon atom produced compassion
is the miracle at the heart of the mystery of life.

That gets me every time!
Because all it takes is time.
Which is totally amazing.

–0–

02

Every time is the right time
for something--
if it is only waiting things out
until it is time to act.

Everything is good for something--
if it is only sitting in the stillness
while the mud settles
and the water clears.

We cannot hurry the propitious time,
we can only recognize it
when it is upon us.

In the meantime,
we go about our business as usual,
seeing what we look at,
knowing what's what,
what is called for,
and what needs to be done about it,
doing it as it needs to be done,
in each situation as it arises.

Empty of agendas and opinions,
with only preferences and opportunities
to guide us--
without insisting on anything,
or demanding anything
beyond the fundamental rights
that form the social contract
among all human beings.

And standing firm for those,
for ourselves and all others--
"without hope, 
without witness,
without reward"
(Steven Moffat).
Because knowing where to
draw the line
is the foundation
for all that follows.

–0–

01

We measure progress on the way to The Way, 
which is the way to finding our life
and living it, 
by the quality and amount of 
emptiness, stillness and silence 
we can tolerate in a day. 
And by the number of times 
we get up and 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.

That is the standard of a life well-lived.

Right emptiness,
right stillness,
right silence,
right action.

It has nothing to do with
acquisition,
achievement,
accomplishment,
etc.

It has everything to do with
the spirit,
attitude,
demeanor
that we exhibit
in living to serve our original nature
and the virtues that came with us 
from the womb,
in each situation as it arises,
all our life long.

We live to be who we are
and to do what needs to be done
when and where it needs to be done,
the way it needs to be done
with the gifts that are ours to offer
the time and place of our living.

Anything else is beside the point.

–0–

02

The way to the Way, and the Way itself,
is not linear, straight, sequential, measurable,
timed, graded, regular, steady, dependable...

It is an aimless, rambling, wandering through the outback,
replete with starts and stops,
hitches and gallops,
missed turns and dead-ends--
and it is all a part of the way.

"The path that can be discerned as a path
is not a reliable path" (Martin Palmer).

It is all just what it is,
as a way "thus come."
Like the Buddha and all those who tread upon it.

We are always waking up,
never fully, completely, awakened.
We are being enlightened,
to the extent that we are gradually maturing.

When we see,
we see only what's what
and what is called for by it--
in response to it--
in each situation as it arises.

How well we do what is needed,
when it is needed,
where it is needed,
how it is needed,
moment by moment,
day by day,
is a testimony to how enlightened we are.

It has nothing to do with 
what we know,
in the sense of intellectual knowledge,
but what we know
in the sense of what needs to be done,
when, where and how.

That is the knowing that rocks.

All other kinds/types of knowing is Meh.

If you are going to know anything worth knowing,
know what to do 
when, where and how.
And do it!

That is the only way of knowing
how well you are doing on the way to the Way,
or on the Way itself. 

–0–

03

Ogi Overman said, 
"None of the alcoholics I've ever known
wanted anything more than
smooth and easy."

And being drunk or high,
or drunk and high,
were the only things that came close.

Growing up is taking it as it comes.
One day at a time.
And doing what needs to be done with it.

This is the work of maturation,
how well we handle
getting up and doing what needs to be done
again
in every damn situation that arises,
for as long as there are situations.

Getting that down,
so that there isn't even a pause
or a hesitation
between seeing/hearing/knowing
what needs to be done
and doing it
is the Way seekers seek.

The Way is smoothly, easily,
going about the tasks
that need to be done,
day in and day out--
because they need to be done,
and not because of what we will get
when we do it.

We get to do it again
is what we get,
in the next situation that comes along,
and one situation always follows another!

Waking up is waking up to that.
Being enlightened is realizing that.
Becoming a sage is doing that.

It isn't what we know and can explain
that sets us apart on the path,
but knowing what needs to be done and doing it.
That is what we are about here,
seeking to know what needs to be done
and doing it.

But everyone thinks it is about
seeing the link--
making the connections--
that causes everything to fall into place,
and life becomes smooth and easy
like that (snaps fingers).

It's only about the smoothness
with which we easily get up
and do what needs to be done.

Making the mental shift
regarding the meaning of 
"smooth and easy,"
turns the light around
and steps through the Gateless Gate
into Beulah Land
in the midst of life here and now.

And that is enlightenment.
Smooth and easy.

–0–

01

The Gateless Gate stands before us in each moment,
inviting us to step through
and flip our perspective
in order to see what we look at,
hear what the situation is calling for,
know what needs to be done
and do it with our original nature
and the virtues that arrived tucked
inside of us at birth.

This is the Sisyphean task of life
waiting for us in all the days of our life.
It is job security,
and we get plenty or practice
in sizing things up,
being right about what is happening
and what needs to be done in response,
doing it
and stepping into the next situation
that flows automatically from this one. 

The trick is mastering the Gateless Gate,
turning the light around,
and switching from a logical/rational/intellectual
approach to knowing what to do when and how, 
to an intuitive/instinctive/imaginative/metaphorical/mythological
approach to living in the moment aligned with the Tao
and living to balance Yin and Yang
through all of the days of our life.

With so much on the line,
you might expect that we would 
be better prepared to meet what faces us
and know how to use the tools 
at our disposal.

But.

Obi-wan Kenobi and Yoda are not to be found,
and we are on our own
in finding our way to enlisting 
in the service of the Force
and meeting the day
as the day needs to be met
every day.

The way opens before us
as we start walking.
Watch for what catches your eye,
and look closer.
Think twice about dismissing,
discounting,
disregarding,
ignoring
what greets you along the way.

Help is always there
for those who know 
how to avail themselves of it.

Savvy?

–0–

02

Jesus and I spent our entire life
looking for people with eyes to see
and ears to hear.

They are "few and far between,"
as the old saying goes.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

The ground rule of life is
No Agenda!
No Opinion!

How many of you responded instantly
with an internal,
or perhaps, external,
"THAT'S BULLSHIT!"?

What I'm saying.

Practically no one grasps
the importance of 
No Agenda!
No Opinion!

Yet, that's the starting place.
If you have an immediate reaction
to No Opinion!,
you have an opinion,
actually gabillions of them,
and nothing I say is going to shift
you away from them.

And I have to keep walking,
keep talking,
looking for someone 
who can hear what I have to say.

I will add here, in an attempt
to establish some credibility
with those of you who are still here,
that all we are allowed are preferences.

Preferences lead us along the way.
Preferences guide our choices,
direct our action,
in a "One book opens another"
kind of way. 

Preferences are all we have to go on,
but we do not have the stake 
in our preferences
that we have in our agendas and opinions.

We have latitude with preferences.
We can say no to preferences.
We can negotiate with preferences.
They do not compel us 
to shoot ourselves in the foot
10,000 times before breakfast every day.

Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell
made their living
by telling anyone who would listen to them,
"The only thing that matters
is finding your life and living it!"

And that is all that keeps me going.
I am finding and living my life
telling you to find your life and live it.
If you have eyes to see
and ears to hear,
you are encouraging me in my task,
as I am encouraging you in yours.

May we walk without agendas and opinions
together along the way!

–0–

01

Take God out of the equation
and how do we make sense of things?
Without theology, what do we do?
What orders life then?
What structures existence?
What is the ground of morality and ethics?
The purpose and goal of what we do?
The reason for life?

God is a safety net,
catching us when we fall,
upholding us when we fail,
reassuring us that everything is alright,
no matter what.

If God didn't exist,
we would have to make God up
to be the center and ground of our world,
and serve us as "an ever-present help
in time of trouble."

Wouldn't we?

–0–

02

We make it all up as we go. 
All of it.
It means just what we say it means.
Reality isn't what it's cracked up to be.
Illusion is more to the point.
We say what is so and not so.
And we change our mind all the time.
Or never.
However it seems to fit.

We say money matters most of all.
And everything revolves around money.
So, where does boredom come from?
We live in the pursuit of money
and if we slow down for a second,
or godforbid stop,
we are bored,
just like that.

We are bored because we are 
making it all up
and nothing matters more than money.

And what is money good for?
Paying the bills.
And what are the bills worth paying?
We have no idea.
We are just making it up here,
and we do not know what really matters.

Everything is BOORRRIINNNGGG!!!
After a while.
Billionaires are the most bored,
and boring,
people in the world.

They buy governments just to toy around
with them.
They are just manipulating peoples' lives.
For the hell of it.
Because they can.
They don't care.
They are bored.

Because they don't care.

What's worth caring about?
They don't know.
We don't know.

All we can think of to buy with money
are distractions.
Diversions.
To take our mind off being bored.

We don't know what would make 
life worth living.
What we would love 
to spend all of our time doing.

What would we love
to spend all of our time doing?
What would we live to do?
Why don't we know?
Why aren't we doing it?
We would die to know.
We die not knowing.
Why?

Because we cannot make up 
something worth dying for.
Something worth living for.
We can only imagine the boring stuff.
The real stuff is painful.
Like dying.
We don't have anything to do with that.

Silence.
How much silence can you take?

Being still.
How still can you be for how long?

Empty.
We live our life 
trying not to be empty.

Nothing is more real 
than silence, stillness and emptiness.
We can't stand any of that.

Yet, they are the doorway,
or better, the Gateless Gate.
To enlightenment.
Realization.
Recognition.
Awareness.
Knowing what's what,
and what is called for,
and what needs us to do it,
in each situation as it arises.

And we don't make any of that up.
It is just there.
Waiting.
Calling our name.
Asking us to die to ourselves
that we might live to ourselves.
And be who we are.
Serving our original nature
and the virtues that are ours
to share with the world.

What are we going to do?

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