01

We bring morality and ethics
to bear on nature and the psyche.
This is our role to play
in the evolution of the species.

Our specialty is knowing right from wrong,
good from evil,
and applying that to what is happening
in order to create something that was not there
before we came along,
namely a moral order.

Without us, it is only nature's way,
and that is the Law of the Fishes
at work in the world,
where the big fish eat the little fish
and the little fish hide,
or slip through the nets that haul
the big fish to the cannery.

We bring the high values to live in the world,
liberty, justice, equality, truth, compassion, etc.
We articulate the feelings already in play
in the lower mammals, 
Saying straight out what the whales and dolphins, 
porpoises, orcas and elephants know
and express as they are able--
and making laws that bring order to bear
upon the way of the jungle.

Ego is capable of knowing what is right
and doing it
in the service of the good of the whole.

And ego's relationship with psyche
completes the pattern
and forms a partnership
that is capable of knowing what time
is at hand,
and what is called for
in order to do what is right,
at the right time,
in the right place 
and the right way,
because it is right and we know it.

It is a perfectly matched collaboration
for the employment of good
as a counterweight to evil
throughout the universe.

Except that we allow what we want,
and don't want,
and what's in it for us 
to get in the way,
and we begin to play games
with the situations that arise,
negotiating our profit and gain 
at the expense of everyone, and everything, else,
and what could have been 
a perfect world,
becomes a wasteland
in no time at all on the geologic clock.

And here we are, 
trying to redeem what we have done,
and turn things around
before the climate collapses
and the sixth extinction leaves
only the life forms at the bottom
of the chain
to start over for the umpteenth time
in an effort to make it work
even yet, even so, even now.

Maybe it will, who knows? 
What we do know
is that we have work to do
in the time that is at hand.
Right here. Right now. 

–0–

02

Our place is to manage the extremes.
We are nature's thermostat,
restoring equilibrium
and maintaining balance and harmony
throughout the times and places
of our living.

We step into each situation as it arises
and make everything better
just by being there
as a calming, reassuring, presence,
living in accord with the Tao,
seeing what's what
and what needs to be done about it,
and doing the right thing,
at the right time,
in the right way--
seeing to it that all is well,
and moving into the next situation,
where we do the same things.

It is the way.
And it is our place
to serve the way,
through all times and places.

We do that 
by our engagement with
the right kind of emptiness,
stillness and silence,
in conjunction with integrity,
sincerity and spontaneity,
serving our original nature
and the gifts/genius/daemon/shtick/virtues/etc.
at our disposal
to counterbalance the forces of disruption and chaos
at work in the time and place of our living 
and bring balance and harmony to life
with spirit, energy and vitality,
as a blessing and grace upon the moment
and all gathered there.

It all happens naturally,
without force or planning,
simply as an expression 
of our alignment with the heart
of life and being
and what is being called for here and now--
which is enabled, not by thinking,
but by being in tune with the moment
and what is happening there.

It is like approaching an intersection
as the light changes
and stopping or speeding up
as the occasion requires.
Sometimes we do it one way,
and sometimes we do it the other way.

Just so, we live to make responses 
appropriate to every occasion,
knowing only what we know,
and trusting ourselves to do 
what needs to be done,
time after time.

–0–

03

One of the 10,000 Laws of Photography states,
"The more equipment you have,
the fewer pictures you take."

It applies globally 
throughout our life.

The more of anything,
the less of something else.

Aim for just enough
of what is right for the occasion.
And trust yourself 
to do what is needed
with what you have on hand.

Or, with what came with you
from the womb.
We come packed with more than
we will ever use,
and are more than capable
of rising to meet any moment
just as we are,
as "one thus come,"
as a blessing and grace
to this time and place.

Trust that it is so,
and act as though it is.

Taking your cues from
The Mystery that is the source
of the best we have to offer.

And letting nature take its course.

–0–

01

What does wanting know?

Why can we only want what we want,
and not what we ought to want?

Why do we so often want 
what we ought not want?
What we have no business wanting,
and certainly no business having?

Why is wanting/not-wanting 
and ought/ought-not
(Or should/shouldn't),
the only available guides
for piloting our boat on its path 
through the sea?

What is there besides want and ought (should)?
How else can we determine/decide/discern what to do?

Whatever it is,
it sure better get here quick.
We have ridden this horse
as far into the wasteland 
as it can carry us,
and there is nothing but
more of the same
as far as we can see
in any direction!

Here's a suggestion for you:
Dismount and let the horse
find its own way to wherever it is going,
then sit down and shut up.

Empty yourself of everything.
Even the desire to be empty.
Not this! Not this! Not this! Not this! ...
Until there is just you,
sitting in the silence.
Now wait.
Empty. Still. Silent.
Watch.
For what stirs in the silence.
For what appears unbidden
as a gift from our imagination
that we do not consciously create.
For what arises out of nowhere.
To call, beckon, invite.

Follow as bidden.
Go as directed.
Do as told.
And if that goes against 
all that you stand for and value,
call a parley.

And engage the Unknown Source of Direction
in an imaginary conversation,
you asking questions
and waiting on the answers to occur to you
as a spontaneous response to your inquiry.

Ask all of the questions that beg to be asked.
Say all of the things that cry out to be said.
Do not let anything go unstated, unexplored.
With you talking to the Unknown Other.

See where it goes.
At the very least,
it will take you to possibilities
you have been unaware of 
all this time.

Possibilities that have no connection
with what you want/don't want,
or with what you ought-to/ought-not-to do.

–0–

02

What are you about?
What are you up to?
What interests you?
What is meaningful to you?

Explore these things!

Let exploring what interests you
and exploring what is meaningful to you
be what you are about!
Let them be what you are up to!

You could do worse.
So much worse.
Don't do that!

–0–

03

Toward the end of his life,
Carl Jung said, "I call Divinity
that which flings itself violently
across my path,
and alters the course of my life
for good or for ill" (Quoted by
James Hollis in an interview with
Laura London on "Speaking of Jung").

The Divinity is the Mystery of Life
inserting itself into our life,
as if to say, "What are you going to do
about this?"
--Perhaps for its own entertainment, who knows?

We rock along,
and something happens 
that rocks our world.
Now what?
Where do we turn when we have nowhere to turn?

I recommend 
Emptiness,
Stillness
and Silence.

You will be amazed to discover
what you will find there--
other aspects of the Mystery at the heart
of Life and Being, 
I assure you.

Once you step into the encounter with Mystery,
there is no turning back.
You are in it all the way.
And there isn't a greater adventure to be found!

One discovery leads to another,
and who knows here it is going?
Or cares?

"The game is afoot," as Sherlock Holmes likes to say.
He loved the Mystery as much as anyone ever has!
Compete with him for the title!
It will bring joy to your life,
and put a spring into your step!
And who could ask for more?

–0–

04

The right kind of life
requires the right kind of dying
again and again
throughout the span of abundant living.

We live between Ego and Psyche.
The interests/demands of one clash
with those of the other.

Our place as conscious/aware human beings
is to moderate the conflict of interests
and die the death the circumstances require,
knowing our highest allegiance and felty
belong to the psychic source of life and being,
requiring ego to grow up some more again
all along the way.

Ego's way is giving way
in trusting the way of Psyche
and sacrificing itself and its interests
in the service Psyche's idea
of what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises
at the expense of Ego's self-aggrandizement,
profit, and gain every time.

We stand between Ego and Psyche,
negotiating Ego's loss and Psyche's gain
time after time.

This is the place of the cross in our life,
the one Jesus requires us to pick up
and carry through our days
just like he did,
dying to what needs to be died to,
and living to what needs to be lived to
day in and day out.

The Sisyphean task as Jesus interpreted
and implemented it,
and ours to will and to do through time and place,
one day at a time.

–0–

05

What must you do?
What must you not do?

Our life is lived
between these two poles.
We have no choice about either.

What we must do
and what we cannot do
are thrust upon us
from beyond us
as carryovers from our experiences
with life as we have lived it. 

There are those of us
who must be pleasing, for example,
and those who cannot help talking all the time,
(or never saying anything
to draw attention to ourselves).

We all have our limits.
I can "do" cocktail parties
and family/high school/etc. reunions,
but not really.

And I must sit by the door
in all meetings and lectures
in order to leave discretely
when I have had enough
(And generally must avoid 
meetings and lectures altogether).

I lean toward hermitude,
and away from social gatherings
of all types and every occasion.
And have long since made my peace
with the complexes controlling 
these aspects of my life.

I know where my lines lie,
and am not motivated to move them,
being perfectly comfortable
to leave them where they are.

What are complexes
and what are free choices,
and where does that line lie,
I do not know,
and don't care.

I freely choose my complexes,
trusting that there are good reasons
to be the way I am,
and seeing no reason to override
my tics and preferences,
wondering what's the complex
involved in having to be complex free? 

It would be different if I felt the need
to be other than I am,
or if I had a job that required me
to pretend that I liked parties and 
lite conversations.

As it is,
I am perfectly content
to be the turtle 
dragging its tail through the mud,
allowing "really living," 
or "real life," 
pass me by.

And wish you well in working out
your relationships with the must's
and the can-not's operating 
as they do in your life,
and making your peace with the way things are.

–0–

01

What we can hear
at any point in our life
is not commensurate 
with what we need to hear.

We always need to hear
more than we are able to hear
because of our wants, dreams,
ambitions, desires, interests, 
expectations, agendas, opinions, 
plans, hopes, fears, assumptions, 
inferences, etc.

We get in--and stay in--our own way.
"We are our own worst enemy"
(Common folk-observation).

We have no right to expect things
to be different than they are.
Yet many forms of depression
are grounded on the ever-present reality
of unfounded expectations.

Growing up is the solution
to all of our troubles today.

Growing up is coming to terms with,
"This is the way things are,
and this is what I can do about it,
and that's that."

We want more than we can have,
and therein lies the problem.

Adjusting ourselves to the reality
of how things are
and what can be done about it,
is the sine qua non of maturity.
And maturation is the name of the path
tread by those on The Hero's Journey.

Growing up is all there is to it.
Is what it is all about.
Is the ultimate goal of being alive.

When we can't think of anything else to do,
there is always growing up some more again.

When we have nowhere to turn,
we can always turn to the tasks of development,
and grow up some more again.

The tasks of development
get practically no press whatsoever.

It's all about having/getting what we want.
What we want is always coming to grief
on the rocky shoals of what we can have.

We can always want more than we can have.
We always need to hear 
more than we are able to hear.

What we are able to hear
is always restricted by
what we want to hear.

Knowing what we want to hear,
and being aware of the discrepancy,
discordance, disparity
between what we want to hear
and what we need to hear--
what the situation demands/requires
us to hear--
is the sit-me-down-shut-me-up-and-
open-my-eyes-to-the-truth-of-my-situation-
requirement
for hearing what we need to hear,
and, yes, growing up some more again.

The primary tool/weapon/grace 
of The Hero's Journey
is knowing what we want to hear
and how that is preventing us 
from hearing what we need so hear--
and using the Holy Trinity
For The Return To (and Maintenance of)
Balance And Harmony:
Emptiness, Stillness and Silence,
in order to hear what we are hearing
and what we need to hear instead.

Those who can hear this,
can hear what else, what all,
they need to hear
in each situation as it arises.

Those who cannot, cannot.

And that makes this the fulcrum
separating those who can hear
from those who cannot hear,
and setting the tone 
for the rest of our lives,
for better and for worse.

For worst, actually.

–0–

01

What kind of democracy is it
that cannot pass a voting rights bill?

A paper democracy!
A democracy that doesn't 
have the heart to be a democracy!
A pretend/fake/ersatz democracy
that wants the world to think
it is a democracy
without having to go to the trouble
of actually being a democracy.

An empty-in the worst sense of the word-democracy.
A democracy that took itself for granted.
A democracy that did not understand
the basic, fundamental, principles
of being a democracy.
A democracy that failed to be true to itself.
A democracy that did not have what it takes
to be who it says it is.
A democracy that believed its own bluster,
and took it to be the truth.
A democracy that betrayed its own soul.
A democracy that was not a democracy at all.

Eisenhower saw it coming.
He was a Republican,
and knew it was over.
He knew we did not have what it takes even then
to be who we say we are,
to sustain the illusion over time.
Eisenhower saw the future
and realized it was a "military/industrial complex."
Not a democracy.

Capitalism bought democracy out.
With today's equivalent of thirty pieces of silver.
Politicians today want nothing more than being wealthy,
owning yachts and private jets,
and islands and throwing parties.
Everything is for sale.
Nothing is sacrosanct. 
You know what I mean.

The fall point of democracy
was taking itself seriously.
Was thinking that it was what it said it was.
Thinking that it was right when it said,
"We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men (people) are created equal,
that they are endowed, by their Creator, 
with certain unalienable Rights, 
that among these are Life, Liberty, 
and the pursuit of Happiness."

Was missing the deeper truth
that these truths are NOT self-evident.
Not to those with a fascist bent,
outlook, point of view, way of seeing.

The Founders of this Republic
were so enamored with their view of The Good,
that they could not entertain the idea
that there was a competing view of the Good,
which was/is evil to the core,
and did not take seriously all or the signs
that pointed to the contrary truth
at work within the democracy they created
from the beginning,
which was tucked away within themselves.

The Founders (or enough of them) owned slaves!
How democratic can a slave owner be?
How democratic can a fascist be?

We have come as a nation as far as we can come
without taking ourselves seriously,
looking into our own heart,
knowing who we are and what we are capable of,
and sacrificing our inner,
very much undemocratic tendencies,
like Jesus in Gethsemane,
over and over again,
throughout our individual life,
for the sake of the life of the nation--
which is more than we have any chance of being on our own,
but can be together
by maintaining an environment
that is everything the Founders envisioned,
a place of Liberty and Justice for ALL!

We have to believe in that vision, that dream,
that foundation,
more than we believe in our own, personal, right
to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Just as we have to be the Christ Jesus was,
and not let ourselves get by with
believing he was the only Christ ever,
carrying the cross and dying on Golgotha
for us all.

We die to ourselves again and again
in living to serve the vision
of One Nation Under God Indivisible
With Liberty And Justice For All!

And if we will not do that,
we make a mockery of democracy,
and betray all that is good 
and decent
and loving,
and live a lie,
playing a game of pretending
we are not pretending.

–0–

02

People sometimes ask me if I am a Christian,
and, sometimes they ask me 
if I have accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior.
Sometimes, I answer by saying,
"I am a Christian in the same way Jesus was a Christian."
And, sometimes I answer by 
holding up an index finger 
and saying, "Jesus and I are just like that!"

Anybody can believe in Jesus.
What it takes is being Jesus.

How many people do you know,
or, have ever known,
who make it a regular practice
to be Jesus
in each situation as it arises,
day-by-day?

That is how many Christians you have known.
The word "christian" means "little Christ."
The idea is to grow from being a "little Christ,"
into being the Full Monty.

If you think you are a Christian
and live in ways that would keep people 
from ever seeing the Christ in you,
you are on the wrong track.

Chuck all of your theology
and take up the work of being the Christ
by exhibiting the spirit of Christ
in all you do.

You don't have to be perfect,
just be making a sincere effort
in living to exemplify the parables of the Prodigal
and the Good Samaritan,
the Sermon on the Mount,
and Matthew 25--
knowing what you will do and won't do
in being true to yourself
as much as being true to Jesus
(Jesus was true to himself,
and not to Moses or Abraham).

It would be a good idea to chuck all your theology,
whether you take up the practice of being Jesus or not.

–0–

03

I trust everyone,
up to a point.
I don't trust anyone
beyond that point.

This comes, I think,
from having had an abusive father,
and a childhood devoid
of a reliable source of stability
and dependability.

I had to find what I needed within.
It did not exist without.
I grew to depend on myself,
to trust my own take on things,
and my own ability to respond appropriately
to things,
even though I did not know what I was doing,
because I knew I could rebound quickly,
pick up the game in mid-course,
alter my response-ability accordingly,
make the necessary adjustments,
and come out okay in the end.

It is a human trait,
making things up as we go,
and finding what we need by not giving up,
but continuing to search for what it takes,
even if it means writing our father off
as someone who isn't going to be pleased
no matter what we do,
and go right on,
finding substitute fathers when we need one.

The point beyond which I do not trust anybody
is the point where comes to pass
the wisdom of the old spiritual,
"Nobody knows the trouble I've seen."
And nobody's going to know,
because nobody can be trusted 
to know what I know,
if you know what I mean.

I guard the inner core and keep it safe,
trusting it to see me through what will be
as it has with what has been.

–0–

01

Everybody has as much right to be here, now,
as anybody does.
White privilege is a fantasy
created in the minds of those
who need to feel better than
someone else
because they have no grounding
foundation of their own.

White privilege is evidence
of the fear of inferiority,
insecurity and insignificance.
Of being on the brink of disappearance
and non-existence.
Of not mattering.
Of becoming invisible.

We have to feel viable,
worthy, important--
and to reassure ourselves
that we are,
we defiantly proclaim ourselves
to be supreme because we are white.

How ridiculous is that?

Taking refuge in the color of our skin,
which we had nothing whatsoever to do with,
as our saving grace
is a blatant admission
that there is nothing about us worth having.

The work, which white supremacists are not doing,
is to be who we are
in the sense of bringing forth,
expressing, exhibiting and serving,
the qualities, virtues, gifts,
daemon, genius, traits, knacks,
shtick, etc.
that are packed in our DNA--
in everyone's DNA--
to be shared with everyone else
as blessings from the species 
to itself and the world.

We are The Gift!
Come not to "be served,
but to serve,"
and to give our life in the work
of making wherever we are 
a good, safe, secure, welcoming, gracious,
generous, kind place
for all others to be.

When we refuse to do that,
we betray our purpose 
and fail to our part
in making each moment
more like it ought to be 
than it is.

Together we thrive.
At odds, we dissolve
in isolation and despair.

–0–

02

Someone has to be the grown-up
in the room.

How would a grown-up do it?
Do that!
In each situation as it arises!
All our life long!

–0–

03

Here is the solution to the mess we are in:

Keep showing up every day 
and doing what needs to be done 
to the extent that it can be done, 
and let that be that.

Play the cards that can be played. 
Do the things that can be done.
The way they need to be done.
Day by day.

DO IT!

This holds the world together.
This restores balance and harmony
to the degree they are capable 
of being restored.
This keeps things in their place
insofar as they can be kept in place.

We each have to do our part.
When the center fails to hold,
we have to do our part--
Anyway!
Nevertheless!
Even So!

The shoe repair person has to repair shoes.
The cooks have to cook.
The barbers have to cut hair...
We each have to do what is ours to do--
and more than that,
look to see what else there is that needs to be done,
and do it,
with the gifts, genius, daemon, shtick, talents, abilities, etc.
that we bring with us from the womb,
expressing, exhibiting, being who we are
in the mess we are in,
bringing a little order to bear,
a little clarity to light,
a little compassion/love/kindness to life,
in each situation as it arises,
day by day. 

Don't even stop to think about it!

JUST DO IT!

01

I write a lot and say very little.
Very little that is different
from what I've been saying 
for a lot of years.
Since 1985,or earlier.

How much did Jesus say
that was different from
what else he said?
Or the Buddha?
Or the Dali Lama?

Chuang Tzu was a contemporary
(Probably/maybe) with Lao Tzu, 
and said, basically,
"Be the old turtle
dragging its tail through the mud
that you are,
and not the movie/rock/political/social star
you aspire to be."

There is not much to be said
that hasn't been said.

"Be who you are
and do what needs you to do it
in each situation as it arises,
without thought of profit or gain."

That is the summation
of everything I have to say.
Everything I say is a variation
of that theme.

If anyone tells you anything 
contrary to that,
walk on by,
and keep walking.

–0–

o2

It is not about getting to heaven
when you die.

It is not about being rich 
and having it made.

It is about doing what needs to be done,
the way you--and only you--can do it,
when it needs to be done,
where it needs to be done,
how it needs to be done,
because it needs to be done,
no matter what,
without thought of profit, gain, or merit.

Sincerely, spontaneously, with integrity
and zeal for,
and dedication to,
the task at hand:
Doing what needs you to do it
here and now
within the terms and conditions,
context and circumstances
of the situation as it arises,
with the gifts/daemon/genius/etc.
of your original nature
in ways appropriate to the time and place
of your living.

Moment-by-moment,
day-by-day.

What do you need to do that?
Find it.
Do it.

–0–

03

All of us who are bustin' it
in the service of what needs
to be done/said
in the time that is upon us
throughout the time left for living
have to take our courage and determination
from each other, 
for they be many,
and not from our successes and achievements,
for they be few.

There are more of us
who see what needs to be done/said
in this moment of our time together
than there have ever been
in the history of the world.

Look at Elizabeth Warren
and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez!
Sarah Kendzior and Andria Chalupa!
Barbara Crane Navarro!
And the men! Don't forget the men!
The list is long!

People are doing what they can imagine doing
with the gifts that are theirs to work with,
working as hard as they can
in fighting against fascism and Big Money,
and fighting for Liberty! Justice! Equality! Truth!
in each situation as it arises
all day long
every day.

And they aren't stopping because
fascism and Big Money have the momentum,
and the leverage,
and the power to tilt the table 
in their favor
to the detriment of all that is right,
and good, and essential
in all times and places forever.

Jesus is on the list.
And the Buddha.
And the Dali Lama.

We pick each other up
with a word of encouragement,
and a smile and a wink,
and step back into the fray.
Every day.
All the way.

It's what we do.

–0–

01

The fundamentals consist of:
Emptiness,
Stillness,
Silence,
Integrity,
Sincerity,
Spontaneity,
Balance,
Harmony,
Spirit,
Energy,
Vitality.

Practiced regularly and routinely
in the service of
Our Original Nature

Within the 
Context and Circumstances
(The Here and Now)
of our life
in each situation as it arises.

In conjunction with 
our dedication to the work
of doing the right thing
in the right place,
at the right time,
no matter what,
without interest in,
or thought of,
profit, gain or merit,
for the simple joy of doing it
and the delight/satisfaction
of having done it,
all our life long.

If you can find a better life plan
than this,
buy into it
and live to implement it
every day for the rest of your life.

–0–

02

We do not need to posit
a creator god to explain
the existence of everything.

All we need is time and something
on the order of matter.
The smallest kind of matter will do.
Even dark matter 
if that's the best you can manage.

Time and matter can source
attraction and repulsion,
magnetism and gravity.
And light.

If electrons can create electrons
by crashing into each other,
well then, 
you can see how it would only be
a matter of time
before we get exactly what we have,
more or less,
just as it is.

Of course, it could be much different
than it is in Oh, so many ways,
but the difference would be 
in the details,
and there would be some configuration
of something here
because that is what time and matter do.

Can't help doing.
Must do.
It is their nature to do it.
And then watch the show,
high fiving one another,
and shouting 
"Can you believe we did all this???"

Wooping and hooraying far into the millennium.

And then, doing it again.

–0–

01

When Jesus said,
"I will be with you always
to the end of the age,"
He was stating what had always
been the case.

He meant that his spirit 
is One with our spirit
throughout the ages.
from beginning to end forever.

The spirit of the Christ
is the spirit of our original nature,
spilling over, pouring out,
being true to itself
no matter what
through the ages--
reflected in the Buddha,
and Lao Tzu,
and Dolly Parton,
and Betty White,
and Helen Keller,
and FDR & Eleanor Roosevelt,
and all those like them 
in every generation
from the beginning
of time and action.

From the beginning 
of the right time
and of right action.

The right time
is the time of seeing and doing
the right thing,
in the right place,
in the right way.

The Christ within us--
the Christ we all are,
and always have been,
not because we believe anything in particular,
but because of who we are
and how we live our life--
seeing what needs to be done
and doing it the way it needs to be done
when and where it needs to be done
in each situation as it arises,
moment by moment,
day by day,
time after time,
always and forever,
because it needs to be done,
with no thought of gain or merit
beyond the joy of doing it
and the delight/satisfaction 
of having done it.

That was Jesus when 
he was being the Christ.
It is me when I am being the Christ.
It is you when you are being the Christ.
It is being aligned with the Tao,
and living in accord with the Way,
in all times and places,
everyday.

That is the Christ 
that will be with us always,
in all times and places,
in every here and now,
always and forever.

The Christ is with us
to the extent that 
we are with the Christ,
being the Christ,
doing the Christ,
by seeing and doing 
what needs to be done,
the way it needs to be done,
here and now
throughout the time left for living.

–0–

02

Knowing what is meaningful to us
and doing it
is the track to take
in living the life that is ours to live,
in sync with,
aligned with,
in accord with our original nature,
within the context and circumstances
of the here and now of the everyday.

To not do that is to betray ourselves
in the deepest way,
and fail the destiny 
that is ours to live,
and wander in the wasteland
of our discontent,
having never been who we are,
having never done what is ours to do.

–0–

01

We all are victims
of false advertising,
empty promises,
scams,
cons,
come-on's
and lies--
wanting, 
as we do,
what we have no business having,
looking for
fortune and glory,
smooth and easy,
in one sure thing.

It takes a lifetime of living,
or two,
to know what's what,
and what matters most,
and what needs doing,
and how things ought to be.

No one can tell us anything
we need to hear.
Because everyone is still
searching for it themselves.

What does
"Sit down, shut up,
be still and quiet,"
do for you?

There has to be more to it
than that.

What has being quiet
ever done for anybody?

The silence is the source
of all that is.
Everything we have produced
came out of the silence
of someone's imagination/realization.

Even the scams, cons,
come-on's and lies.

Knowing what is good
and being right about it
depends on experience
beyond imagining,
producing things we would 
never think of
sitting still,
being quiet.

The field of action
is the proving ground
of all our dreams.

Does it work?
Under what conditions?
For how long?
With what side-effects,
by-products
and unintended consequences?

Back-and-forth we go,
improvising and perfecting,
taking a lifetime of living,
or two,
to figure it out.

–0–

02

In the beginning,
we are all in the same boat,
starting out with our original nature
and the luck of the time and place
of our living
to work with
in finding our way through
what becomes of our life.

We could all use more help
and better choices.
Our place 
is to see to it
that the best we can do
under the circumstances,
is really the best we can do.

It starts with listening to our heart,
our body--
our symptoms,
and what we know "in our bones,"
and our "gut feelings"--
and our dreams
(Our dreams always show us
how it is in our life,
and ask what we are going to do about it,
as a way of assisting us
in restoring our balance and harmony,
and finding our way).

It helps to keep our happiness
and desire 
from running "the show,"
and to stay away from
the extremes of greed/hatred/anger,
and in the mid-range between
our opposites/polarities/contradictions,
moving the balance-point
as necessary to maintain our harmony
and accord with our original nature
and the requirements of our circumstances
all the way to our last breath.

There needs to be a lot of awareness
going on at all times.

And "all we ever wanted was smooth and easy"
(Ogi Overman).

–0–

03

Wait for the invitation!
Do not push your way into the moment!
Don't crash the party!
Don't force your way onto The Way!
Do not act out of time!
Wait for the door to open
before walking through!

One time is not as good as another.
Every time is the right time for something.
Most likely, waiting.
We wait for the time to be right,
for the time to be fulfilled,
"at hand."

The propitious time,
the favorable time,
the opportune time, 
the appointed time,
is the time to act.

Wait, watching.
You will know it
when it comes upon you
like labor pains,
or time to go to the loo.

In the meantime,
seek out what needs to be done
here and now--
and do it as it needs to be done.

Doing the right thing,
in the right way,
at the right time
is always appropriate
and timely.

–0–

01

Dedication to the task
is the foundational requirement
for a life well-lived.

The task being what needs to be done,
the way it needs to be done,
when and where it needs to be done
in each situation as it arises,
no matter what,
for the joy of doing it
and the satisfaction/delight in having done it,
all our life long--
regardless of what we want
of whether we feel like it.

That is all there is to it.

(PS. Find the Pied-billed Grebe in the photo)

–0–

02

Here we are. 
Now what?

We need a reset.
A Do-Over.
Things have gotten out of hand.

"The center cannot hold,
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world...
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity...
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?"
(William Butler Yeats, "The Second Coming").

Find/create/return to your Inner Circle
of people who have proven themselves to be
a safe place,
and settle in with them--
though you may not be physically present
with any--
to ride out these times
which weigh heavy upon us all.

Where do you find warmth
and light
and life?
In what do you draw comfort?
Take refuge?
Where do you turn in times of trouble?

I dreamed last night of soup
and Mexican cornbread.
I'm going to start there,
and see what comes after that.

–0–

03

Be Jesus the way only you can be Jesus.
Live from your center,
from your heart,
grounded in your own authority,
expressing/exhibiting/bringing forth
your original nature
to meet the moment that is at hand
in each situation as it arises,
doing what you know needs to be done
because you know it needs to be done,
the way only you can do it.

Let your actions guide your acting,
direct your living,
change your mind.

Learn how to do what needs to be done
by doing what you think needs to be done
and allowing your experience
to shape your life.

The trick to making good soup
is making a lot of bad soup
with your eyes open.

Adjustment and alteration, Kid.
Adjustment and alteration.

That's how Jesus did it.
Living out of his own sense of direction,
and going where he felt he needed to be,
never-minding the instructions
of parents,
peers,
culture and tradition.

You do you the way Jesus did Jesus.
And let the outcome be the outcome.
The way Jesus did.
In an "Okay, this," kind of way.

–0–

01

The tasks of life cannot be ignored.
They must be served
with our life--
our way with life--
all our life long.

The five most important relationships
are with ourselves,
with our work,
(which is not the work we are paid to do,
but the work we are born to do,
the work we are equipped to do),
with one another
and with our life
(Which is the life
that is our life to live),
and with dying.

What I am telling you 
with these little soliloquies 
is not something someone told me,
though it is a compilation
of what a lot of people have said,
with my own spin on most of it,
particularly on the implications of it,
and what we are to do about it,
but it is all available to each one of us,
bubbling up constantly beneath the surface
of us all--
as that "wellspring of living water" 
that is the source of all we say and do.

None of you could be here now reading this
if it were not corresponding,
resonating,
with something already there in you,
which stirs to life in hearing
what I have to say,
and carries us into the company of all
who are saying what we need to hear.

We know the truth when we hear it.
Which means, of course, that
we know bullshit when we hear that,
and a lot of people read what I write
and say, "That's bullshit," and quit reading.

I say that those people are out of touch
with themselves
and haven't had an original thought
in years,
and everything they think
they get from someone else,
someone who is their guru in the worst
sense of the word.

Joseph Campbell, who is one of my gurus
in the best sense of the word,
talks about the Official Gurus in India
being, so to speak, "a clear pane of glass"
through which their disciples can see
back through long generations of gurus
to the very first guru
who was such a source of truth
that he didn't need a guru,
and all they say is what has always been said
in a dharma-is-the-way-things-are-and-ought-to-be
kind of way.

Which is not to say that there is not
a way things are and ought to be,
but to say those things cannot be told/said,
only realized/recognized,
in the way of Martin Palmer's translation
of the Tao Te Ching's "The Tao that can be said
is not the eternal Tao" line:
"A path that can be discerned as a path
is not a reliable path."

We have to feel our way along reliable paths.
No guru can tell us where to step.
But there is a path,
the way things are and ought to be,
and we each have to find it for ourselves,
and become like beggars 
telling one another where they have found food
(But not like Gurus telling their disciples
what food to eat and how to prepare it).

But I ramble.
And rambling is essential.
One thing leads to another.
Just as "one book opens another,"
as the old alchemists liked to say.
And rambling takes us where we are going,
guiding our boat on its path through the sea
(And as Campbell said, "We have to know 
what our boat is and paddle/row/sail it!")

Our boat is our work.
Campbell's work/boat/yoga was "underlining passages,"
mine is that as well,
and saying (to anyone who will listen) 
what the passages mean,
how they all come together 
what they are saying, 
and what they are calling us all to do,
which is to know what our boat is
that will get us there
and paddle/row/sail it with conscious intention
and awareness.
With me, that means rambling.

Without losing sight of where we have been.

One of the tasks of life
is not losing sight of where we have been.

The tasks of life are general and particular,
corporate and individual,
universal and personal.
Dedication to the tasks of life
is immediate and eternal.

The immediate task of life 
is what needs to be done here and now.
What needs to be done next.
What needs us to do it.
Whether we want to or not.

Being happy and doing what we want 
are the first things
that have to go.
The Hero's Journey cannot be lived around
what we want and what will make us happy.
We have to know (And be right about)
what needs to be done and do it,
in each situation as it arises.

And we also have to know and be right about
the tasks that have to be completed
in each stage of life,
tasks that are common to us all,
and are placed on us by life itself,
and by the culture in which we live.
Which have to do with adapting ourselves
to the requirements of living
(Life eats life, for instance),
and what we have to do to make a living,
and how we come to terms with losing
our abilities and having to die.

We live our life around the tasks of life.
And there are certain rituals
that are naturally evoked by those tasks,
so our life becomes a collection of rituals,
and we live according to a particular pattern,
which is uniquely our own
and is generally found among all people everywhere
throughout time.

So be attentive to your tasks of life,
and dedicate yourself to them,
and take care of them regularly.
They can be counted on to get you there.

Happy trails!
Fair winds and following seas!
Mind how you go!
May we travel together
as companions on the Journey always,
whether we ever "lay eyes on one another"
or not--
just because we know what the other knows!
Amen! May it be so! 

–0–

02

All theology is bad theology.
All theology-based religion is bad religion.
Religion that is true religion
is grounded/founded on the truth
of awe and wonder,
and the realization of more than words can say,
confounded/enthralled by the mystical nature
of the heart of life and being.

Good religion cannot be passed along
any more than an affinity for art and music
can be passed along,
and so the saying, 
"God has no grandchildren").

We wake up on our own.
We stumble into wonder on our own.
We look forever unseeing,
and then, like that, we see,
and the world is indescribably alive
with numinous, ineffable, truth/reality,
and our heart beats in sync
with the heart of the universe,
and we are "one with everything."

The best I can do in telling someone
how to find what I am talking about
is to say "See what you look at,
and be right about what needs to be done
here and now,
and do it to the extent that it can be done,
with the gifts/daemon/genius/etc.
that are your natural/original self,
when it needs to be done,
the way it needs to be done,
in each situation as it arises
all your life long,
and allow that kind of doing
lead you to the kind of being
that does the right thing,
in the right place,
at the right time,
in the right way,
in sync with the flow of time and place
always and forever.

And letting that be that."

Being happy, 
and doing what we want,
and having our way
does not fit into this scheme of things
anywhere,
at all.

We hear that and say, "Uh-oh."

That is the story of humankind.
And, here we are.

–0–

03

There is nothing to it.
Really.
There is only the boat 
that is ours to paddle/row/sail
on its path through the endless sea,
and the realization 
that "the farther shore"
is right here, right now,
with the paddling/rowing/sailing,
and there is nothing to it
"but to do it,"
as Maya Angelou would say.

Tell Jesus that he was wasting his time,
that the world is going to be worse
in 2,000 years than it is in his life,
and that nothing he says or doe
is going to make any difference
in the way people think and live over time,
and he would say,
"Oh, well," and get back to work
saying and doing what was his to say and do--
no matter what!

That is all there is to it.

Paddling/rowing/sailing our boat
is a waste of time.
And it makes all the difference.
Doing our work--
doing what is ours to do--
doing what only we can do
the way we can do it--
is essential,
not only to us,
but also to the basic framework of life.
It matters how we live, 
that we live,
doing our thing,
being who we are.

Nothing is more necessary than that.
And, there is nothing to it.

Just "get in there and do your thing!"
Is what Joseph Campbell said
is the summation of the Bhagavad Gita,
the oldest religious treatise of all time,
and let that be that,
in an "Oh well, nothing is going to stop me" kind of way.

This is the easiest thing there is,
and the hardest, most difficult,
most absurd thing there is.

There is nothing to it,
and nothing can make us do it.

It is up to us all the way.

Are you coming, or not?

–0–