Sitting quietly, waiting for what is called for by the situation at hand to urge us into action in doing what needs to be done, when, where and how it needs to be done, then settling back into the next thing that is called for, etc., is a routine that has little time for anxiety, fear, worry, with no room in it for anything other than seeing, hearing, knowing, doing and being ready to see, hear, know, do again, situation by situation, remembering that maintaining our balance and harmony is one thing that needs to be done all along the way.

The world is filled with places that have no more promise or hope than this scene at the end of a dirt road in North Carolina. But. For all its forlornness and its forever going no-where-ness, I find it to be beautiful, serene, centering, grounding, and an invitation to sit and stay for a while.

There is a sense of divine/sacred okayness about it that comforts me and brings up a smile, making this photograph my grandest piece of art I have ever produced, awaiting a wall in some museum for the lost and broken, going nowhere, good for nothing–except for butts that sit and eyes that see, then there be blessings and grace galore and gladness that life has lasted long enough to bring us here, now and bless us with the truth that comes with seeing what we look at and knowing what we know. There is promise and hope aplenty for those that can do that wherever they are.

Wanting is the biggest block to being there is. Being simply drops into emptiness, stillness and silence and waits for clarity about what’s what and what is called for and what needs to be done about it, when, where and how. Does it, drops into emptiness, stillness and silence and waits for clarity… In each situation as it arises. And that’s that. What does wanting know? When is wanting satisfied? Wanting is a distraction. A sidetrack. A diversion. Emptying ourselves of wanting is a regular routine before moving into stillness and silence.

Getting up and doing what is called for, where, when and how it is called for, in each situation as it arises is just what we do. If we go on vacation, we do what is called for, where, when and how it is called for even on vacation. There are no days off. We go to the Loo every time we need to go to the Loo, even on vacation. We do what is called for all of the time.

Once we settle in to it, it is just a matter of stepping into the moment, here, now, and doing what is called for, just like we breathe every moment all of the time. We don’t get tired of breathing and quit, so we keep doing the right thing at the right time, in the right place, in the right way. It is who we are. It is what we do. ALL THE TIME!

It requires emptiness, stillness and silence to find our way to our intuition. Emptiness is achieved by disengaging ourselves from everything we meet in the stillness and silence. When we sit quietly, we immediately begin to generate internal noise that we escape only by drinking whiskey straight from the bottle. All of the escapes, diversions, distractions that we generate for ourselves are attempts to get away from what we hear, remember, fear, dread, agonize over when we are quiet. Disengagement is essential. We get there by emptying ourselves of everything and refusing to go where usually wind up with nothing to take our mind off the ghosts that haunt us in the silence. We just shut the door. And turn our full attention to “the still small voice” of our intuition–“The Other within,” which we engage by seeking help in shutting out the internal noise by seeking, “What would you have me be aware of here, now?” And focusing in the silence for the awareness stirring on the edges of emptiness, intent on seeing where it takes us with guidance and direction to matters that need our attention and assistance with the gifts that are ours to serve and share in the field of action at the present moment in our life.

This gives me 13 eBooks on Amazon Kindle, and each one is going to be the last one from here on out. I will be interested to see what that number comes to. And the hoot is that I have never written any of them in terms of banging away, working hard at it. I just show up and start writing. Each book has written itself. So, I don’t charge much for them. They came to me for nothing, may as well go from me for nothing.

Writing these last three books on Zen Thoughts has helped me see, understand, know Zen better than I did when I started. Trying to say what we mean helps us to understand what we are attempting to say a lot clearer than when we started.

The main thing I came away with about Zen is the result of being who we are. The closer we live to express, exhibit, be who we are, moment to moment, in each situation as it arises, the more Zen like we are without having to jump through any hoops, or take up any special practices. We just live our life exactly as we would live them and let that be that. Lao Tzu couldn’t do it better. Neither could the Buddha.

Ambition, aspiration, incentive, initiative, etc., are all supposed to be what drives our ability to succeed in our careers, and if we aren’t trying to make it big in the world, what’s the point? The point is to be clear about success from a financial perception being different from success from a spiritual standpoint of knowing who we are and what we are about. This is underscored in two statements of Jesus about money: “The love of money is the root of all evil,” and “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle (A narrow passage way, like an alley in Jerusalem), than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” Statements that the Prosperity Gospel conveniently sidsteps.

So how do we live in light of what matters most when money is the foundation of success in the modern world? The Buddha was a King who ran away from home to sit under the Bodhi Tree. Jesus was a carpenter who lived on help from his followers. How much money is enough is a question no one knows the answer to, but it is clear that wanting is a barrier to doing the right thing in the right way at the right time and in the right place because it tilts the scale toward money as the measure of what is right away from what is called for in each situation as it arises.

We have to limit wanting and its ability to steal the stage, which is personal and individual, and centers on our relationship with emptiness, stillness and silence, and awareness, awareness, awareness.

The essential, primary, value of emptiness, stillness, silence in gaining clarity and realization, enlightenment, awareness, knowledge and understanding regarding what’s what and what is called for here, now, so that twe know the right thing to do when, where and how to do it in each situation as it arises is foundational and absolute throughout our life.

We drop into emptiness, stillness, silence and wait for clarity regarding what is called for and what to do about it, and rise up, enter the field of action in doing what needs to be done. Then we drop into emptiness, stillness, silence…

So that we are living/doing out of emptiness, stillness and silence and doing what is called for over the full course of our life. For the joy of doing it and the satisfaction of having done it over the full course of our life.

What we meet in the silence is our intuitive realization of what’s what and what needs to be done about it, so that we do the right thing, at the right time, in the right way in each situation as it arises. Neither the Buddha nor the Christ could do better than that.

Knowing what is called for, when, where and how it is called for is a matter of seeing what we look at and knowing what we know in each situation as it arises, and that is a is matter of living out of the emptiness, stillness and silence in all times and places. And that is a matter of practice, practice, practice. No?

The Buddha said, “Don’t listen to ME! Listen to YOU!”

Jesus said, “Why don’t you decide for yourselves what is right?” (Luke 12:57)

This leaves us listening to ourselves and doing what we know is called for, and doing what we know needs to be done in each situation as it arises. No?