01

The Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, Donald Trump crowd
cannot tolerate anyone who doesn't see/think
the way they do.

They have only contempt, ridicule and disdain
for those not like them.

And that is the one characteristic preventing
the realization and implementation
of mutually beneficial ways of living together.

They cannot enjoy life
thinking that there are those
Not Like Them who are also enjoying life.

It is people like those not like them
who make people like them
abhor/hate/despise/demolish/destroy
people not like them.

The anti-abortion crowd can only abhor/etc.
women who cannot carry their pregnancy to term.
They cannot hold those women
in their compassion,
honor their position
and allow them to have a necessary/essential abortion.
Their position is that there are no necessary/essential abortions.

This is called the exclusion of opposites
and opposition.

White supremacists will not, cannot, allow 
the existence of anyone not like they are.
They exist to exterminate everyone 
they declare to be different,
and will not rest until the entire population
of the planet walks lock-step with them
toward goals and ways of living
they admire and esteem.
If you are outside of their range of acceptability,
you must die.
If you look different, 
you are different, 
good-bye, good-bye, good-bye.

How do we all live together
in ways conducive to the life
of all of us?

When one of us lives to make 
life for the other impossible,
how do we live together at all?

We need some ground of being together
that does not exist.

If I had the power,
I would arrange the world in such a way
that made our breathing
contingent upon our compassion for one another,
so that as our hatred for the other increased,
our ability to breathe decreased.

We would be forced to work sincerely together
for the good of each of us individually.

If the world had been that way from the start,
it would be way different by now
from the way it is.

As it is, 
we are stuck with keeping ourselves safe
from those who just want us dead.

If this is the best God could do,
God should be fired.
If this is not the best God could do,
God should be fired.
A God who lets things play out
until everyone who is different is dead
is a God whose breathing
needs to be linked with compassion.

That is a link
that would solve a lot of problems.

–0–

02

Our original nature expresses/exhibits itself
in what is naturally right for us,
in the things we do spontaneously
out of our center
in responding to the moments of our day.

We have natural propensities and predispositions
that show themselves
in what we are drawn to
and what we are repelled by.

Our natural way of life
is how we would live
if it were up to us.

How far apart is the life you are living
from the life you would be living
if it were up to you?

That disparity is reflected in 
your emotional response to your life.

What is your predominant emotion?
If you could change your life in a way
that would better reflect who you naturally are,
your predominant emotion would change
in response to the change in your life.

We are here to guide our living
toward our natural bent and drift.
We have to be intent on serving 
our original nature
in the decisions and choices
that are ours to make.
We negotiate compromise solutions
between what is required of us to pay the bills
and what we are paying the bills to do.

We have to bring our life to life 
in the life that we live.
That is our role and our dharma/duty
to ourselves.
We are the steward of our life,
and if we aren't taking care 
of our original nature,
and working into our life
the things that are naturally ours to do,
we are paying a price,
and need to rethink what we are doing,
and how we might change what we are doing
in order to work ourselves back into our life
as we were at the beginning.

There are three things that matter:
Our original nature.
Our balance.
Our harmony.

We live to balance our original nature
with the conditions and circumstances
of our life,
and to live in harmony with 
both our nature and our circumstances.

We make the peace.
We negotiate the conflicts and opposition.
We are the champion of our original nature
within the inorganic demands of daily life.

That is our part in this framework.
It matters how we live
within the choices that we get to make.
Our place is to bring us to life
within the life we are living.
We are to live in order to be alive.

Be good to you.

–0–

03

No one can give us our path.
We discern that for ourselves
using "the eyes of the heart."

Only we know what is right for us
and what is wrong,
what resonates with us
and what grates our soul
and sets our teeth on edge.

We do not trust other people
to order off the menu for us,
or tell us when we have had enough to eat.

Our life is up to us
to live for ourselves.
There are no black foot prints to follow.
No one-size fits all pattern
for each of us
on the way to the realization
of what we are capable of.

Our quest is for the authenticity
of our own original nature.
It is an individual quest
for a life lived out of our own center--
a life that is true to ourselves,
a natural outpouring of who we are
in the world of concrete and steel,
rocks and trees and buzzing honey bees.

Listen to the silence 
and attend what arises there
to call, compel, entice, and excite.
And summon the courage
to follow what beckons
along a path that appears
as you start walking,
into all that awaits
along the way.

01

Each of us has our own talents,
interests,
specialties,
daemon (sounds like "diamond"),
gifts,
genius,
knacks,
shtick,
proclivities,
nature,
virtues,
trajectory,
path,
etc.
and our adventure
is finding and being
who we are.

The culture and social order
are allied against us
with their "Thou Shalts"
and "Thou Shalt Nots,"
and we have to grow up into 
being our own authority
in recognizing who we are
and what we are being called to do
with our life.

Living within the tension between
who society/culture says we must/must not be,
and who we know who we must/must not be,
is the dangerous path,
the slippery slope,
like a razor's edge--
and how well we negotiate the passage
is the tale our life tells
in the living of it.

The mystery we serve
is the unfolding of our own unique nature,
the living of the life that is right for us,
and no one can tell us how to do this.
We are the only one who knows
what is IT for us,
what fits for us,
what resonates with us,
what IS us.

We find the way that is our way,
by taking our clues where we stumble upon them
to the unveiling of ourselves.

This is our work.
It is the work of our psychological/spiritual
transformation/illumination.

This is the gold of spiritual realization
and fulfillment.
We are the Philosophers Stone,
turning our base physical body into
the precious metal that is hidden away
within our own heart and spirit.

We transform ourselves
by bringing out who we are capable of being
over the full course of our life,
and not resting until we are done.

You are it.
I am it.
We are that which we seek.
It's been right here with us
all along!
Hiding out in you and me!

Now it is up to us to bring it forth,
and "let our little light shine,"
wondering in amazement
how this could be us.

–0–

02

The true church has no theology.
Real religion has nothing to say.

If you understand this,
you have all you need
to find what you need
to do what needs to be done
at the right time,
in the right place
and the right way,
because it needs to be done.

And that is all you need to do
throughout the time left for living.

–0–

03

Heinrich Zimmer said,
"The best things can't be told,
and the second-best things are misunderstood,
and the third-best things are the facts
like news, weather and sports."

The best things are experiences
with the Numen,
with the numinous,
with the ineffable,
the sublime.

The second-best things are
the Bhagavad gita,
the Tao te Ching
and the Sermon on the Mount.

We spend our time with 
the third-best things
because it is easier that way.

And so, the importance
of asking all of the questions
that beg to be asked,
and saying all of the things
that cry out to be said.

Anyway,
nevertheless,
even so.

Do not be quiet
just because no one gets it,
or is interested!

Someone is listening.
Someone cares.

Say what needs to be said
to those who need to hear.

Without pause,
without letup,
without ceasing,
without end.

–0–

04

Carl Jung said the world is in the mess it is in
because people do not have a place to tell their stories.

Who listens to what you have to say?

How much do you say in a week
that is not a repetition
of something you have said that week?

How many new things do you say in a week?
How many new thoughts do you think?
How many new ideas do you have?
How many realizations come to you?

Where do you go to be heard?

We do not know what we have to say
if we do not have a place to be heard.

We have our best chance of being heard
by working to create an environment
in which it is safe to say 
what needs to be said.
We do that by listening 
to what others are saying to us.
We do that by listening
to what we are saying
in response to what is being said to us.

We cannot listen to others
without hearing ourselves.
As we begin to hear ourselves,
we will attract others 
who can hear themselves,
and, therefore, can listen to us.

We create places to say what we have to say
by listening to what others have to say.
And everyone is better off
because we started listening
to ourselves
listening to others.

Be what you seek.
It's the oldest wisdom in the book of wisdom.

–0–

05

All the Bible we need consists of:
The Sermon on the Mount,
The parables of the Prodigal Son
and the Good Samaritan,
and the bit about
"Inasmuch as you have done it,
or failed/refused to do it,
to the least of humanity,
you have done it,
or failed/refused to do it,
unto me."

That's it.
No theology.
No doctrines.
No dogma.
Just straight out
and to the point:
"This is the way it is,
and that is all there is to it.
What you do about it
is up to you."

There is no discussion.
There is no debating.
There is no believing or not believing.
There is only doing or not doing.
What's it going to be?

–0–

06

Here is one thing we have to come to terms with:

All religion has a mystical center
beyond theology.
"The path that can be discerned
is not a reliable path"
(Martin Palmer).
"The Tao that can be said/told,
is not the eternal Tao"
(Lao Tzu).
The more you say about God,
the less you know about God.

The Mystery/The Mystical is the heart of religion.
And our task is to associate ourselves with it--
to collaborate with The Mystery 
at the heart of Life and Being.

We have to enter the mystery
in order to relate to the mystery.
We have to be open to the mystical
in order to recognize and perceive the mystical.

Meister Eckhart said, 
"The final leave-taking 
is leaving God for God."

Leaving the God of Theology and the Bible,
for the Mystery at the Heart of Life and Being.
Which is at the very center of each one of us.
WE are the Mystery!
And the deeper into us we go,
the less of us we know!

And the kind of knowing we are moving into
is a "knowing knowing,"
and not a "thinking knowing."

We move from a "thinking knowing"
when we are learning to play tennis,
or the piano,etc.,
into a "knowing knowing" as we master
the game or the instrument, etc.

Moving into The Mystery is like this.
First we think our way forward,
and then we move beyond "thinking knowing"
into "knowing knowing."

Oneness with The Mystery is a "knowing knowing" thing.

Joseph Campbell often referred to The Mystery
as "the Transcendent,"
and said that we are to "move into the Transcendent."
That is what we are doing
when we "leave God for God."

And Campbell said, 
"That entails leaving the life you had planned on having,
in order to have the life that is waiting on you."
Discovering that life is finding the Mystery,
and entering the Transcendent.
And that is the adventure of a lifetime!

01

Henri Bergson talked about "élan vital" (in 1907)
being the vital force moving us
through our life 
to what matters most,
to what means the most,
to us.

It is a magnetic force
that pulls our heart
past 10,000 "not its"
to IT.

It is like falling in love,
though it might be a camera
we fall in love with,
or a piano.

The Troubadours thought of 
the eyes as "the scouts of the heart,"
searching, searching
for that which we are built to serve
with our life.

Joseph Campbell said that if a person
resonates with something and ignores
or dismisses the attraction, and 
remains locked into their career plan
because it is a sure thing,
and is safe and secure,
like having Daddy take care of you
all your life,
and stays true to a risk-free life, 
then things "dry up,"
and they may have all the accoutrements 
of life,
but the closest they ever came
to being alive
was when that special thing caught their eye,
and they kept walking.

What do you do then?

Well, if your intentions are pure
and you still can summons the will
and the courage to live sincerely,
spontaneously,
in the service of your heart,
you might well recover the quest--
but, you will have to be a little bit
reckless and foolhardy,
take some chances
and put everything on the line
in the service of adventure,
with allegiance/loyalty to 
the directions of your heart.

Seek the source of your heart's
true desire
and build your life around it,
trusting things to be what they 
need to be
to bring you forth
into the life that remains to be lived.

(Being brought forth
is the secret cause for which we live.
It is not "to be happy,"
but to be fully ourselves
within the context and circumstances
of our life.
It is to hold nothing back
in being who we are
in service to what it takes/requires
to be who we are,
doing what needs us to do it
with the life we are living).

"Columbus took a chance,"
as the old saying goes,
and so must we all
in the work to be who we are
fully, finally, at last.

Cheating hell at the very end,
and laughing at the wonder
of doing what always needed to be done
while there is still time
for laughter and life.

–0–

02

We are the balancing agents of the cosmos.
Without us everything is chaos and devastation,
with nothing but clashing rocks
and heaving waves
everywhere we look.

We introduce peace in to the mix,
integrating the opposites,
bearing the tension of yin and yang,
finding The Middle Way between
mutually exclusive polarities,
making all things one.

Sadly, tragically,
we have become the warring dichotomies 
we are here to neutralize.
It happens when we choose sides
and play favorites.

We cannot choose sides
and play favorites.
This is what "Do Not Judge" means.
No choosing sides.
No playing favorites.

The balancing agents must be balanced!
The harmonizing influences must be harmonious!
That means No Opinions!

Stop it with the Right/Wrong!
No more Good/Evil(Bad)!
No more We/Them!
Stick strictly to what needs to be done,
here and now,
in light of all things considered,
in service of the optimal functioning of the whole!

What is needed for the optimal functioning of the whole?
Live in light of that!
Do that!
Everything serves the optimal functioning
of everything else!

What is it time for?
Do that!
(Which might mean Get Out Of The Way!
Or, Wait It Out!)

Learn to read the times
and do what the times call to be done--
without imposing our idea of how things
ought to be
on things that have no business
being that way!

Here we are, now what?
What is happening?
What needs to be done in response?
What is motivating our action?
Are we living to align ourselves
with The Way,
or to impose our will 
upon The Way?

Are we striving to have our way
at the expense of every other consideration?
If so, that is going to have 
an unpleasant outcome for all concerned.

No sides, remember.
That means having nothing personally
at stake in any outcome.

What needs to be done
in light of the situation as a whole?
Be clear about that.
Do that.
And if it isn't clear,
wait for clarity.
And if you don't have the luxury
of being able to wait for clarity,
then, "strive to do no harm."

–0–

03

Joseph Campbell said that if we repress
the impulse of our nature,
the quest fails.
Vitality shrivels.
The land wastes away.
Rivers dry up.
Birds quit singing.
Shadows lengthen.
And hope wains.

All because we lacked the courage
of our sense of what needed to happen,
and did not walk through the door
that beckoned,
thinking,
"Maybe later."
"Perhaps tomorrow."
"Possibly some other time."

01

Imbalance and disharmony
are the signs of the times.

When it is all useless,
pointless,
hopeless,
meaningless,
futile
and absurd,
what do you do?

The next thing!
As it needs to be done!
When it needs to be done!
And then, the thing after that!

And, care about the things
you care about--
anyway,
nevertheless,
even so!

Doing the next thing well
and caring about what you care about
center us,
ground us,
anchor us,
guide and direct us
through all of the turmoil
and chaos
the clashing rocks
and heaving waves
can bring to life in our life.

And, if you are too demoralized 
and dejected to care about anything,
simply act as though you do.
Pretend you care about something,
anything--
and act like you do.

Fake it until you make it--
so that you can't tell the difference
between caring and pretending to care.

And do what you (pretend to) care about
really well--
with careful attention to detail,
the way it ought to be done.

Moment by moment,
day by day.
Bringing balance and harmony
back into your life,
around living the way 
life needs to be lived,
anyway, nevertheless, even so.

Because that is the way 
life needs to be lived
in all times and places!
And we do not have to have everything
just so in our life,
or in our world,
in order to do it.

We only need to do the next thing well.

And watch how all things begin to
coalesce around that.

When we live from the center,
we create a still point in the turning world,
and become "a strange attractor,"
bringing light to life in the darkness,
and making things more like they ought to be
than they have been in a while.

Balance and harmony create
balance and harmony.
An oasis forms.
Comfort stirs.
Consolation revives.
Hope comes to life.
Goodness and mercy appear
out of nowhere.
Kindness finds a place to rest.
Community is born,
and the trend gains momentum.

All because we started doing
the next thing well.

–0–

02

What kind of business are you in?
What is your business
and what is none of your business?
What defines you,
identifies you,
sets you apart,
and lets everyone know
this is who you are,
and that is who you are not?

Where do your lines lie?
What landmarks announce
where you start and stop?

What interests,
competency
and abilities
coalesce around you,
to reflect your essence
and shape your life?

How do you go about 
being who you are
in the world?

What orients you
and directs you
toward the life
that is yours to live--
and away from where
you have no business being?

What guides your boat
on its path through the sea?

Who are you?
What are you about?

–0–

03

Reduce complexity,
avoid noise,
invite the silence
and the stillness
into your life.

I understand that it cannot be done,
but.
Move relentlessly in its direction.

There are places in your life
where you can reduce complexity--
and refuse to encourage its proliferation.

There are places in your life
where you can avoid noise.
The remote even has an "off" button.

There are ways to invite the silence
and the stillness
into your daily routine.

You can begin to reclaim the time
that is yours on the earth--
to redeem the lost opportunities
to recognize and embrace 
the wonder and radiance
of life and being,
simply by being aware 
of the moment as it is being lived
by "being here, now."
Throughout the day.

Encounters with the ineffable,
with the numinous,
with the That Which Has Always
Been Called "God,"
are everywhere,
waiting to be seen/felt/welcomed/received.

It only takes being alive to the moment
and open to what meets us there
to startle,
amaze,
arrest,
and invite us
into reflection and reverie,
on the way to realization
and new life,
amid the same old same old
of the everyday.

01

Take everything to The Silence,
sitting quietly,
watching,
listening,
for what arises,
emerges,
dawns,
occurs,
beckons,
calls,
directs,
compels,
urges,
nudges...
out of The Silence.

Allow The Silence
to guide your boat
on its path through the sea.

You could do a lot worse,
and it would be difficult
to do any better.

The Silence is the path
to the latent wisdom/knowledge
that waits within
for your consciousness
to grant access
in order that the darkness
might be the birthplace of light--
and life, and peace.

Consciousness has to open
to ALL there is to be conscious of.

With practice, the stream
is always flowing,
and the communion is constant,
unrelenting
and reliable.

This is the Biblical admonition to
"Pray always"
being realized in our life
without us doing anything more
than being aware of what is always there,
within,
waiting for an opening
to connect us with 
The Way of The Mystery Within.

Listening to The Silence
is connecting with The Mystery
and being led along The Way.

And if you try to make this make sense,
you will be creating a theology
that will close you off from 
the religious experience
of connection with The Mystery,
and you will be thinking your way
to The Way--
and if thinking could work with The Way,
it would have worked
long before
you sat still
and waited quietly,
watching,
listening
for what arises,
emerges...

–0–

02

The companion directive to "sit quietly,"
is "get moving!"

The Silence can be the source
of fear,
sadness,
anxiety,
distress,
remorse,
dejection,
depression...
and an endless cycle
of things to worry about
and agonize over 
without end.

When you find yourself
floundering on this side of Silence,
get moving!

Walk around the block.
Change the scenery.
Weed the flowerbed.
Mow the grass.
Rearrange the furniture.
Anything to get you moving.

Moving breaks the hypnotic cycle
of woe-is-me-I'll-never-get-out-alive.
I-don't-know-what-to-do-
and-there-is-too-much-to-be-done-anyway.
And creates an opening through which
realization can occur unbidden,
and balance and harmony
can reenter your life.
It's amazing.
You just got up and walked to the door
and everything changed.
It all dropped away
and you are "back in the saddle again."

The Dark Side of Silence
is a reality of the inner world,
and one we have to be conscious of
and ready for.

Jon Kabat-Zinn's advice of
tucking everything into our awareness
without engaging any of it,
or allowing it to hijack/kidnap us
and carry us off into the Depths of Despair
is a safety belt anchoring us
to the "still point of the turning world."

We aren't going there.
We are staying here.
And we will get moving if we have to.
And come back later,
when we are less vulnerable
to the satanic temptations of the inner world.

Working things out 
with the realities of The Silence
is part of the process of 
trusting ourselves to the Light Side
of Silence
and protecting ourselves against
the Dark Side.

Both sides are present,
and it is our place to say Yes to one
and No to the other--
and moving is our tool for shutting the door
to the monsters of the deep, 
creating space for reflection/exploration
in becoming aware of our vulnerabilities
and making our peace
(Perhaps with psychotherapy 
or Jungian analysis)
with our psychic wounds incurred
through experiences with abuse/neglect,
grief,
loss
and sorrow.

Moving puts us in position
to consider our options
and to choose among our choices
in finding the best way to enhance
our ability to enter The Silence
and deal with all we find there.

Coming to terms with what resides within
is a necessary/requisite step toward
maturity/illumination.

We do not achieve maturity
without illumination,
and we do not achieve illumination
without maturity.
And The Silence is the path way to both.

01

I think it was G.K. Chesterton who said,
"When Jones follows his inner light,
Jones follows Jones."

To which I respond,
"What choice does Jones have?"

Jones has to follow Jones,
even if he takes the position of,
"I just do what I'm told.
It's easier that way."
Jones is then following
whomever Jones chooses to follow,
but Jones is making the choice,
and thereby "following Jones"
in following whomever 
is telling him what to do.

When Captain Jack Sparrow says,
"It's the pirate's life for me,
Gibbs. I have no choice in the matter!
Savvy?"
He is choosing to have no choice.
Choosing not to choose is choosing
whom/what to choose.

Is choosing.

Jones/we cannot avoid our place
as the sole/rightful authority
governing the life Jones is--we are--
living.

We abdicate/acquiesce at our own pleasure.

What is the equivalent 
of "the pirate's life" for you?
You have chosen it.
You are living it.
What is it?

I have chosen to listen to me,
to follow orders arising from within
my own psyche/center/source/unconscious,
and to know when I am "on the beam"
with that,
and when I am off it.

It's tricky,
knowing who is calling the shots,
directing my own life.
Is it me?
Or my Shadow?
Or my Ego?
Who is in control 
of what I am doing
and what I will do next?

I have to be quiet with that question,
and confess that I do not know.
I am doing what seems to be right
at the time.
And I am ready to do something else
when that seems to be right.

How do YOU know what to do,
when?
What is guiding YOUR boat
on its path through the sea?

Getting to the bottom of us
carries us into The Mystery
of Life and Being.

We are led/guided/directed
by Mystery.
And, at the bottom,
that is all we can say.
And it is a cop-out 
to say that before reaching
the bottom!

We have to know that we do not know
who/what is directing our life!
And listen!
Look!
For what arises within.
For what appears.
Emerges.
Comes forth.
Occurs to us.
Compels us with an irresistible force
into some version of "the pirate's life."

Savvy?

Sail on! Sail on!
Not knowing who/what is at the helm!
But faithful to the task
and trusting who/what we do not know
to the path that unfolds before us
all the way.
All The Way.

–0–

02

There are three of us
within each of us.
We are a Holy Trinity unto ourselves.

There is the Knower,
and the One Who Knows the Knower,
And the Doer.

The Doer is the One Who balances/harmonizes
the Knower and the One Who Knows the Knower,
so that the One Who Knows the Knower
doesn't get the big hat
and think he/she IS the Knower.

The Doer balances/harmonizes the relationship
between the other two
in a way that results in
conjoint,
collaborative,
action in the field of action.

Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit--
which blows where it will--
harmonizing Father and Son
in a way that rises to every occasion
and produces action appropriate
to the time and place of its incarnation.

This Trinitarian view of the Self
comes to light when we consider
the Ego and its tendency to take over
and run the show
with its Should, Ought, Must, Mustn't, 
Want, Want, Want... Way.

Well, who is going to intervene 
and say "Stop It Now!" to the Ego?
Would that be the Ego's ego?
Some Super Ego?
Who has oversight of that ego?
Who is in charge of all of this?

In India they get rid of the Ego entirely,
and become submissive to some guru,
some Dharma/Duty/Caste,
who/that directs their life,
so that no independent thinking is going on,
and everybody is doing what has always been done.

Well, who says so?
Who says we must do what Swami-Guru says do?
What some Dharma/Duty/Caste says do?
Who is giving the order to obey Swami-Guru/Dharma/Duty/Caste?
Who says, "Not my will but thine be done 
(because I say so, because I will it to be done that way)"?

Who is the Ego's Ego?
Who works all this out?

We have Ego,
and we have Not-Ego,
and we have Mediator Between Ego and Not-Ego,
balancing/harmonizing the relationship,
determining what is to be done.

But WHO SAYS SO?
Ego can't get rid of ego!
No matter how hard or how long it tries!
We can only be quiet,
and be aware,
and move according to... What?

What moves us?
What directs our action?
What guides our boat
on its path through the sea?
What determines what we do???

It is a miracle.
Every action is a miracle.
No one is in charge of us.
"We" become, somehow,
through our actions
an independent,
self-reliant,
self-governing,
autonomous
mass of protoplasm,
making its/our way through
the conditions and circumstances
of our environment
as though we know what we are doing,
not-knowing anything
about how we know that,
or what makes us think we know that.

Why do we do what we do
when we do it?

Who says so?

The best we can do is to
be aware of all we are capable 
of being aware of,
and see what we do next.

Awash in wonder.
Astounded and astonished
at the miracle of it all.
Stunned and amazed
at the ridiculous
impossibility of existence. 
Waiting to see what we do next.

Lost in the radiance
of Life and Being.

–0–

03

We have seized the ethical dimension 
of religion,
and have rejected the mystical dimension.
And that is why God is dead.
We killed God
by denouncing the God Within as heretical,
burning that God at the stake
along with the Gnostics,
and all the others extolling 
God's immanence, 
and striving to live "transparent to transcendence."

Just believe the catechisms
and "Live a godly, righteous and sober life,"
was the end of religion.

Joseph Campbell said, 
"Your life has to become a transparency
through which light shines...
the god in you must be allowed
to come through in your life!"

Jesus' "The Father and I are one,"
is to be everyone's model of life.
We live to be at one with God,
exhibiting the essence of godliness
in the way we live moment to moment,
so that, "If you have seen me,
you have seen God."

That is the meaning of
"The kingdom of heaven is within you."
We bring heaven to life here and now,
by becoming the living presence of God 
in the world,
inviting everyone to experience
the ineffable in us, through us.
So that being with us
is a religious experience.

But.
No church ever said that,
or anything close to that.
And that is the pity and the shame.
So.
Who are you going to believe?
Me?
Or everyone else?

What you do with this is up to you.
Jesus would say,
"Those who have eyes, let them see.
Those who have ears, let them hear."
He is saying,
"What you see, what you hear,
is up to you."

–0–

04

Sin is being wrong
about what is important.

Repentance is changing our mind
about what is important--
and being right about it--
and living in ways 
that are aligned with it,
serve it,
do it,
in the right way,
at the right time.
All the time.

What is so hard about this?
And why would it deserve heaven
when we die?

It's just basic humanity!
Why would we have to be rewarded
for doing the right thing?

And why do we think
God dances and sings
when we do it?

That's just a tiny bit
over on the totally absurd side,
don't you think?

Our mom never got that excited
when we pooped in the potty.
And that's a really big step!

We need to grow up all over the place.

And start behaving--and believing--
as though we are.

01

I maintain my balance and harmony
by writing it out.

That's what I'm doing here each day.
This is my meditative,
therapeutic,
readjustment,
reorientation,
re-grounding,
reformation
exercise.

I remind myself here
what is important,
how things work,
and realign myself
with who I am
and what needs to be done
on a daily basis,
two or more times a day.

Here, I regroup,
face up to my contradictions,
bring myself into focus
and harmonize myself
with the circumstances of my life,
and with the polarities
that confront me on every side
every day--
integrating the opposites,
and squaring myself up
with how things are,
and also are.

I would love to hear how you do it.

We all have to work out
who we are
in relation to our life
and other people,
get our feet under us,
and step into the realities
that confront us every day,
living there as a whole,
united, human being,
clinging to the raft
of our Original Nature
on the heaving waves
of the wine dark sea.

We don't do that accidentally.
Balance and harmony don't just happen.
Our relationship with,
our attachment to,
our Original Nature
has to be nurtured,
tended, nourished,
cared for
and kept intact
through all that comes our way
every day.

How do you do that?
What is your system?
Your routine?
How do you make it conscious,
deliberate,
regular,
like brushing your teeth,
and drinking coffee
(Or whatever you drink 
in the place of coffee)?

How do you remember who you are
and what you are about,
and how to go about it?

How do you do you?
Every day?

–0–

02

Homeostasis, 
equilibrium, 
balance, 
harmony. 
These things are one thing.

We live to integrate 
the opposites of Yin and Yang 
within ourselves 
and between ourselves 
and the conditions 
and circumstances of our life.

This is our work.
It is on-going
and without end.

We make the peace
and live from the middle.
With no agenda or will
beyond making the peace
and living from the middle.

We do not strive always
to win
and to avoid losing,
but to make the peace
and live from the middle.

The big fish eat the little fish,
and the little fish 
swim through the mesh in the nets
that haul the big fish to the cannery.

–0–

03

We aren't going to be asked
about our theology
at the Gateway to Glory Land.

They aren't going to quiz us 
on the Books of the Bible,
or see who's best at Sword Drills,
or who can name the Books of the Bible 
in reverse order.

All this talk about Right Belief
is deception and misdirection.

Theology and the Bible are hindrances,
not help.

Being faithful has nothing to do with
what we believe.

It only has to do with how true we are
to the work of doing the right thing
in the right way
at the right time--
without keeping score
or thinking about accumulating merit.

We can believe whatever we want,
it's the action that matters,
and the attitude that doesn't 
care if it matters.

Being good for nothing
is the only way.
As the man said,
"Don't let your left hand
know what your right hand is doing."

Just do what's right
without thinking about it,
when it's right,
the way it's right,
while looking for
the next right thing to do.

That's all there is to it.

01

What I am about to say
has nothing whatsoever to do
with the Eucharist,
The Last Supper,
except that the Eucharist
is an extension of
what I am about to say,
an elaboration,
a deliberate and intentional application,
as though Jesus is saying,
metaphorically, symbolically,
"This is the truth of how things are.
This is the revelation 
of what you (his disciples) are up against.
If you understand this,
and know how to read it,
you have nothing to fear,
because what you fear
is the doorway to a way of life
that is beyond fear,
and is the essence of life itself."

Which is the same thing Joseph Campbell
would say 2,000 or so years later,
with his,
"What you seek lies far back
in the darkest corner
of the cave you most do not want to enter."

Courage is all it takes.
Courage is the ground of life.
Campbell also said,
"It took the Cyclops
to bring out the hero in Ulysses."

The Cyclops did not give Ulysses courage.
The courage was already there,
waiting realization, application.

But, you can't coach courage.
It doesn't come from books,
or Ted Talks,
or PhD tracts. 
It is bought forth by the field of action.

When we stand up and step forward
to do what is called for
in each situation as it arises,
doing the right thing,
in the right way,
at the right time,
within the context and circumstances
in which in needs to be done,
there is courage.

We find what we need 
to do what needs to be done
in the act of doing it.
To hell with the consequences.

That is what the Eucharist is about.
If you think it is about Jesus dying,
you miss the point.
It is about YOUR/MY dying--
again and again,
in each situation as it arises,
for the sake of what is called for
by the situation--
"Without hope,
without witness,
without reward"
(Steven Moffat, Dr. Who).

Here's what I have to say about that,
which is borne out in the lived experience
of every human being across time,
who had what it takes,
to stand up and step forward
and do what needs to be done
in each here and now of existence:

The cup of suffering 
is the cup of salvation.

The bread of affliction
is the bread of life.

Eating this bread
and drinking this cup
is your template
for standing up and stepping forward
into the situation as it arises,
and doing there what is called for,
what needs to be done,
without hesitation or consideration,
for no other reason
than because it needs to be done.

And you will find in the doing
all you need to do what needs to be done,
moment-by-moment,
step-by-step,
day-by-day
all the way.

Life is found in dying
to all that you fear,
in the far back
of the darkest corner
of the cave you 
most don't want to enter.

All it takes is seeing,
hearing,
knowing,
and the courage to do 
what needs to be done 
about it.

Every day.
For the rest of your life.

–0–

02

How we live in response to our life--
both of them--
the one we are living
and the one that is ours to live--
is where we bring ourselves forth--
where we are brought forth--
in the time and place of our living.

The life that is ours to live
is generally the un-lived life
that waits to be lived.

This is the life we were born to live,
the life we are equipped to live,
the life that is sat aside,
much like Adam and Eve sat aside
their life in the Garden of Eden,
in favor of the life we have in mind
for ourselves,
or the life that is selected for us
by the circumstances of our living.

Our parents are poor,
or rich,
or a war comes along,
or a plague,
and that changes everything.

How do we live in light of all of this?
What directs our path?
Guides our steps?
What do we live toward?
Away from?
What governs our response to our life?

How consciously do we approach our life?
The one we are living
and the one that is ours yet--
even now,
even so--
to live?

How aware are we of each life?
Of the choices we make between them?
Who are we living to please?
To be?

How important is it to us
to bring ourselves forth
in the time left for living?

–0–

03

We do not think our way forward,
we feel our way there--
and yet,
there is the difference between
imprudent and prudent action
(Joseph Campbell).

Jesus told the man working on the Sabbath
(in Codex Bezae)
that he had to know what he was doing,
and live intentionally,
directed by the center/source
of life and being.

We are responsible for our actions--
responsible for living out of our own center,
out of our sense of what we must do,
and not be directed by society
or the shoulds and oughts of our parents.

We take our instruction from ourselves
but, we have to be right about its importance to us.
We can't be kidding ourselves.

Photography matters to me.
I'm not just carrying a camera around.
And I've been writing these little treatises 
throughout my retirement,
over ten years now and counting.
That's an indication of what they mean to me.
And I have to do both
the photography and the writing well--
that's a tell-tale sign of what matters to you,
how well you have to do it.

So, we live from our heart,
but our mind and will are in on the effort.
We are united in the action that is called for.
and do it whether we feel like it or not,
whether we are in the mood or not.

We are the servant,
not the master,
and live with our art
in a "thy will, not mine, be done"
kind of way.

And we do not think up what we must do,
we realize it,
and the game is on!