01

We find the harmony,
and it finds us.
But, we don't go looking for it.
We open our eyes
and there it is,
looking for us.
Waiting on us.

It is there all along,
waiting.
For us to open our eyes
in just the right way,
on just the right day,
And there we are.
Asking, "Where have you been?"

Maintaining the harmony
is also tricky. 
We do it by trusting the harmony
and trusting ourselves,
and dancing with what life brings us,
with what we find in our path,
with what the day delivers.

Chasing after,
and running from,
are equally not recommended.

Just waiting.
Just watching.
Just listening.
Letting curiosity lead us 
along the way.
Looking closer at what catches our eye.
Listening attentively to what sounds
interestingly intriguing,
and perhaps like something 
we have heard before.

Missed chances
and ignored opportunities
tend to circle back around
wearing different clothes,
wondering if we have what it takes
yet.
And hoping we do.

Our place is to keep coming back
ourselves,
until we see/hear what is there at last.
And move on to the next thing,
and the one after that...

There is always more to realize,
more to hear/see,
more to know,
more to do,
more to be.

The boundaries of the soul, you know,
are so deep and wide,
eternity is not long enough to explore it all.
And that is what eternity is for.

Making connections.
Drawing conclusions.
Redrawing conclusions.
Playing hunches.
Waking up.
Waking up some more.
Again.
And again...
All the way.

Better get a move on,
by sitting still,
and being quiet, 
and empty in the right kind of way.

There is no time to waste.
And no time like now to begin.

–0–

02

The wrong kind of emptiness
is filled with arrogance,
and terror,
and self-assurance,
and certainty,
and conviction
and hopelessness,
and futility,
and meaninglessness,
and loneliness,
and on and on like that...

The wrong kind of emptiness
isn't empty at all.
And has to truly empty itself
of everything.
Absolutely everything.

Beliefs,
faith,
hope,
charity,
fear,
hate,
greed...

The right kind of emptiness
is as empty 
as the pause between breaths,
which, if you haven't been with me here
for long,
you get to on about the third breath,
if you take three full breaths,
extending your stomach on a slow inhale
to full lung capacity,
exhaling slowly expelling all the air
by drawing your stomach in toward your spine,
and pausing for a count of ten
before repeating with a slow inhale.

By the time you get to the third breath,
the pause between breaths
will be empty of everything 
but counting.

Be there, still, silent, empty
until some form of noise intrude
and snatches you back to the world
of normal, apparent, reality.

The right kind of emptiness
is as empty as the space between breaths
without noise of any kind.

Practice increasing that time
until you can just be empty
by not thinking about anything.

That kind of emptiness is the fulcrum,
the pivot point,
the place of power,
"the still point of the turning world"
(T.S. Eliot),
"the Axis Mundi,"
where it all begins,
the silent stillness before the beginning...

Being that empty is where it always begins.

At the end of your rope
be that empty,
and wait,
watching,
for something to stir
that you are not responsible for,
and trust yourself to it,
exploring,
reflecting,
wondering,
seeing where it leads.

The right kind of emptiness
is the hope of the world.
And it is the last place
anyone would think to go.

–0–

03

We get ahead of ourselves,
lose our place,
drift away,
wander off,
forget what we are doing,
and have to call ourselves back
to here and now
all of the time,
forcing ourselves to recall
who we are and what we are about
and getting back in the game.

Being clearly focused,
present and accounted for,
is not what we do best.
Yet, it helps.

Knowing what's what
and what needs to be done about it,
and doing it
with the gifts/daemon/genius/etc.
we bring with us to the moment,
this moment,
right here,
right now,
is the key to everything that follows,
that flows from right here, right now.

What is happening?
What is called for?
What are we going to do in response?
The future hangs in the balance
in every moment,
waiting for us to be right
about what we are being asked to do,
and doing it.

Starting now.

–0–

04

See what you look at.

Ask all of the questions that beg to be asked.

Say all of the things that cry out to be said.

Know what you know.
And what you don't know.

Be empty, still and quiet in the right kind of way.

See what's happening in each situation as it arises.
Know what's what and what is called for
and offer what you have to contribute to it
out of the gifts/daemon/genius/etc.
that comes with you from the womb,
in doing what needs to be done,
when it needs to be done,
the way it needs to be done,
to the best of your ability,
no matter what,
for the joy of doing it,
and the satisfaction of having done it,
"without hope, without witness, without reward"
(Steven Moffat in Doctor Who),
and let that be that,
situation after situation 
all your life long.

Everything else is a distraction.

–0–

01

I think it is denial
to think that tough times
won't be with us for a while--
a longer while that we would wish for.

That leaves us with preparing 
for dark times and low spirits.

We could start by creating a sacred space,
not religious so much as a spiritual retreat,
an oasis for our soul,
a place for sustenance and restoration.

I'm thinking of an inside space
where you could collect meaningful objects
and symbols
that connect you with a source of strength
and encouragement,
life and well-being.

I have an Inuksuk in my retreat space,
a small stone-stacked human-shaped figure
that reminds me of our Shaman beginnings,
and connects me with my original nature,
comforting me along the path.

There is a photo of a dandelion
that I see as a mandala of a wild thing
that can grow through asphalt,
and is afraid of nothing.

I have a drum, a Tibetan singing bowl,
a platted riding crop
reminding me not to whip dead horses,
or waste my time with what is not worth my time.
A family of mushrooms, a stone egg
that doubles as an imaginary dragon egg,
suggesting that a new life 
will eat our old life alive.

An owl I carved out of a piece of driftwood,
books that mean the world to me,
a pine-needle basket woven by a 12-year-old
Coushatta Indian girl, connecting me
with the spirit of life alive in us all,
connecting us all as "one in the spirit of life."

Things like these serve as sources
of resolve and dedication
to the task of being what is needed
in spite of our chances--
because that is what it takes,
and it is who we are.   

Our sacred space can be a place 
that nourishes and nurtures our imagination,
and our relationship with our instincts
and intuition.

A place where we are free to roam
among questions and reflect upon experiences
with wonder and awe,
and serves as a doorway/threshold to 
the world of spirit and grace,
where we may receive insight and revelation,
find direction and guidance,
"recover from the past
and store up for the future."

It is a place for finding our way amid our circumstances,
experiencing/exploring the restorative power
of the right kind of emptiness, stillness and silence,
in regaining our balance and harmony,
and sustaining our resolve
"to get up and do what needs to be done."

Which will become increasingly necessary
through the days that lie ahead.

–0–

01

We keep waiting for things to fall into place.

It is not the place of things to fall into place.
Our place is to dance with the tilt-a-swirl
as it moves between the clashing rocks
and the crashing waves,
getting our timing down,
finding the rhythm of
the music of the spheres
clashing and colliding
through the eons
laughing at us
seeking smooth
and easy.

Nature's way is not smooth and easy.
Hermetically sealed,
thermostat controlled,
ordered and regular lives
are our idea
imposed upon a climate
that has its own system
for tides and seasons,
air purification
and disease confinement.

We fit into the flow,
we do not govern it.

We cannot move hills
and fill in valleys
without doing terrible
damage to migration patterns
and spawning practices.

It is not cool to mess with Mother Nature
is an inconvenient lesson
we have no time for.

"Fine," says The Mother.
"Have it your way, then."

Our way is doing what we want,
with no regard for what we ought to want.
And no capacity for what we do not want at all.
Refusing to see how what we want
comes with what we don't want attached
and ignored,
laughing at us seeking smooth
and easy.

–0–

01

Forget being happy.
Forget having your way.
Forget getting what you want.

Live to know what is called for,
to know what needs to be done,
here and now,
and do it
in every situation as it arises,
throughout the rest of your life.

Live to serve the moment,
this moment,
right now.

Moment by moment.
Situation by situation.
For as long as you live.

What is your life asking of you?
Be right about that and do it.
To the best of your ability,
with the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues/
talents/abilities/proclivities/shtick/
knacks/etc.
that came with you from the womb--
your original nature,
who you are and who you
are capable of being
if you would just get out of your way
and trust yourself to be enough
just as you are,
right now,
to be what is needed right now,
forever.

In order to get to this point,
you will have to learn some new tricks.

Emptiness being the most important one.
Stillness and silence being the next in line.
Waiting, listening, looking, reflecting,
hearing, seeing, knowing,
doing, being.
Balance and harmony,
integrity, sincerity and spontaneity,
spirit, energy, vitality.
And trusting yourself to know what to do
and when to do it
the way it needs to be done,
and doing it.

Getting the What? When? and How? down
and doing it
is all there is to it,
but.

In order for that to happen,
we have to get out of the way,
and stop interfering with the flow of life
by imposing our idea of how things ought to be
on how things are.

We hijack the natural way of life
and our way with life
in three ways.

Fear.
Greed.
Lethargy. 

When any or all of those come into play,
our ability to know What? When? How?
disappears,
and we may as well go to bed
for all the good we are going to be
for our life until fear, greed and lethargy
are shown the door and told to leave.

At this point in this little soliloquy, 
you have all you need to know
to do what needs to be done
when it needs to be done,
how it needs to be done.

And now it is up to you.
Mind how you go.
Fair winds and following seas.
Moment by moment.
Situation by situation.
Day by day.
All the way.

–0–

02

Look/listen,
listen/look,
the two are one,
enabling
see/hear,
hear/see,
producing
know/do
do/know.

And that's all there is to it.

The people who see,
see the same things.

The people who hear,
hear the same things.

The people who know,
know the same things.

The people who do,
do the same things.

And live out of the depths
of their own heart 
and soul
and mind
and strength--
grounded on their own adamantine 
connection with themselves
and their own authority
to size up a situation,
know what's what
and what needs to be done in response
and doing it
when it needs to be done,
the way it needs to be done,
because it needs to be done,
in each situation as it arises,
for the joy of doing it
and the satisfaction of having done it,
no matter what,
all their life long.

Live to be one of those people.

–0–

03

How we look determines, or strongly influences,
what we see.

How we look itself 
is determined, or strongly influenced by
what has happened to us in the past
and what we have done in response
and how that has impacted us--
physically/emotionally/psychologically/philosophically--
and by the stake we have in,
and the importance we place on,
what we are looking at.

If we could see what we look at
without any stake in,
or attachment to,
what is before us,
we might not see it at all.

I can walk through an entire
department, or store, of women's shoes
and be unable to tell you anything
specific about what I "saw."

Put me in the Joseph Campbell section
of a bookstore
and I can tell you the titles 
of all the books there.

Our past evokes/dampens/shapes our interests,
and positions us to respond as we do
to our present circumstances.

How well-adjusted we are to our life experience
depends upon what that experience has been
up to now.

No one is free to look without prejudice
upon the present moment,
coming, as we do, upon the present
under the combined weight
of all our past moments,
and conditioned by all that has impacted us
to this point.

We cannot help seeing as we do,
given all we have seen
and how that has affected us.

It is a wonder 
that we are as balanced as we are,
given where we have been
and what has happened to us.

Squaring up to that
and making our peace with it,
enables us to see how that modifies 
how we see,
and seeing our seeing is as close
to objectivity as we can hope to be.

–0–

01

The way forward
is that of stepping into each situation
and taking care of
the What and the How.
When is now.
Where is here,
Why is generally irrelevant
or cloaked in mystery
too dark and deep
to waste time on,
and reveals itself in time,
if at all, ever
(I have never had a motive
I fully understood,
and, probably, the same is true with you),
so it is nothing we need to explore.

Who is you.

That leaves the What and the How.

Take care of them--
get them right--
and the situation 
will have what it needs
to be what is needed
by the times that are at hand.

Live like this through 
each day of the new year,
and it will be a new world
by year's end--
one day at a time.

Get the What and the How down
and it's a walk through the park
the rest the way.

–0–

02

What needs to be done,
here and now,
and How?

Get those two questions right
in each situation as it arises
and your life will be as complete
as any life has any business being.

What here?
What now?
How?

That's all there is to it.

And we get there best,
I think,
through the right kind of emptiness,
the right kind of stillness,
and the right kind of silence.

We do not go get it.
We wait for it to come to us.

What, here, now and how, that is.

When they brought
"the woman taken in adultery"
(What about the man???
Why do men get off free
as a new-born breeze???
This is a problem still today,
and it throws me up 
just thinking about it--
just so you know)
to Jesus and asked him,
"Do we stone her to death, or not?"
The story goes,
"And Jesus squatted on the ground
and drew lines in the sand,"
before he rose and delivered 
his utterly brilliant,
"Let the one who is sinless
cast the first stone" line.
And the crowd (Of men)
drifted away one by one.

Squatting on the ground,
aimlessly drawing in the sand
was Jesus' way of waiting
for What and How to come to him.

Being empty.
Being still.
Being silent.
Allowing the noise of the world
to drop away,
so the light might arise
on its own.

We assist the light
by getting out of the way,
"clearing a space,"
and waiting for clarity.

The words surprised Jesus
as much as anyone else.

When in doubt,
which, with me, 
is most of the time,
Be empty.
Be still.
Be quiet.
And wait for the path
to come to you.

Of the three,
emptiness is the hardest 
to achieve,
and takes the most practice
to perfect.

Empty is empty of everything.
Every.
Single.
Thing.
Including the desire to be empty.

If you think that is easy,
give it a spin.
You will find that it is a way of life
more than a momentary exit from life.
It is a way of being in the world,
apart from the world.

Tricky.

Takes practice.

–0–