June 04, 2021

01

Englehard Mooring 10-30-2015 04 Oil Paint Rendered — Outer Banks, North Carolina
Our motive for most of our action
is what's in it for us.
What we stand to gain.
What we can keep from losing.

Since Adam and Eve,
we have been seeking better.
Our motto through the ages
has been:
"NOT This! THAT!"

Ambition, aspiration, incentive,
drive and desire
are the motivating forces
of humankind.

The Buddha and Jesus said,
"Enough of that!"
It didn't get them very far.

The Buddhists sold Buddhism
on the basis of 
the accumulation of merit,
and the Christians sold Christianity 
on the basis of 
getting to heaven and avoiding hell.

Both the Father Shore 
and Heaven/Hell were invented
in order to improve market share,
and provide leverage 
to those hawking the advantages
of their point of view.

The Bottom Line is the only line.
It is certainly the only thing that matters.
The thing that matters most.
Increasing the Bottom Line
is the only reason for living
for too many people.

It is the way government and business are run.

Increasing the bottom line
for everyone that counts
at the expense of everyone else
is the way you get things done.

And, of course, everyone
in government and business
thinks they count
and it is okay to stiff everyone else.

I present you: The World!

My standing with the Buddha and Jesus
doesn't improve my chances.
It is a sad indication of my prospects.

I'm selling sincerity and non-contrivance
in a world grounded on polar opposites:
"Promise them anything to get what you want!"
Or:
"Promise them anything and do what you want!"
Are the mottoes of business and government.

We cannot live like that and be
fully, 
wholly,
vibrantly,
radiantly,
alive.

We cannot live the life
that is our life to live
without changing our relationship
with life the way it is being lived.
And with the people who are 
living that way.

"What does light have to do with darkness?"

What does life have to do with death?

We do it our way
and pay the price.
and they do it their way,
and pay the price.

We all pay a price 
for the way we live our life.

How we live 
in light of what
is the choice
that tells the tale.

–0–

02

Epidonax Flycatcher, Eastern Phoebe, 05/02/2019 — Noxubee Wildlife Refuge, Starkville, Mississippi
We cannot begin to live--
as in the sense of being fully,
wholly, radiantly, alive--
until we begin to live truthfully.

Living truthfully is living aligned
with our original nature,
from a position of sincerity
and non-contrivance,
responding appropriately to our circumstances
without a motive beyond
doing what needs to be done,
the way it needs to be done,
here and now
in each moment that comes up.

Living truthfully is living motive free.
We aren't trying to get anything,
gain anything,
we are simply rising to each occasion
in ways fitting to the occasion.

When we live from motives,
we introduce complexity into the situation,
and move away from the center
in striving to force our way onto the moment
instead of simply responding to the moment,
offering what the moment needs
instead of trying to get what we want.

The work to have our way
brings disharmony to life in the here and now,
as we attempt to use the moment
to serve our ends, 
and do not live in the moment 
as an agent of what needs to happen there
which may be apart from 
what we want to happen there.

We are then "out of the flow" of the moment,
inserting our own will for the moment into the moment,
and keeping us from living "in troth" to the moment,
at one with the moment.

Two tennis players are inserting their will for the moment
onto the moment,
but they are living/playing aligned with the here and now
which calls for them to do that very thing.
They are living truthfully in the moment,
aligned with the moment,
being one with the moment--
and the better they can do that,
responding to the moment as it develops
around them,
they are more likely to win the point
than if they allow their will to win
to put them in the position of over-hitting 
their shots,
or trying for a more precise placement
than may be possible in their particular situation.

Their willfulness has to be responsive to the moment,
and cannot get outside the moment, 
beyond the moment,
to force something to happen 
that is inappropriate to the shot 
that is available at any point in the game.

They have to "take what the game gives them,"
and make what they can of it
without overdoing it,
being "too fancy,"
or "too cute."

We have to read the time that is at hand,
and respond to what is called for
in ways appropriate to the moment,
without trying to "push the river,"
and make happen what would be out of time and place.

Living truthfully is living at one with the moment,
with no motive beyond living at one with the moment,
and seeing where that goes.

Experiment with living without a motive
and living sensitive to--
aware of--
each moment and what is called for in each moment,
noticing when you are trying to "over power the moment"
and force to happen
what you want to happen there.

Learn to dance with your moments
in ways that are truthful to the moment,
living there with sincerity and non-contrivance,
and with the good of all concerned at heart,
moment by moment.

Dancers who do that, create together something
neither dancer could manage on their own,
neither asserting their will,
but both willing alignment to drift and flow,
producing radiance and wonder,
moment by moment.

June 03, 2021

01

Cypress Stand 11/06/2005 Oil Paint Rendered — Private Preserve, Down East, North Carolina
It is a psychological saw
that we need to stand out
and fit in,
and between those polarities
lie all of our problems.

Fitting in is being like those
we aspire to be like
(Or are afraid to not be like).

Standing out is expressing
our natural self
in the way we go about our life.

W.B. Yeats called fitting in
our "Primary Mask,"
the one handed to us by parents
and culture.

And standing out,
he called our "Antithetical Mask,"
the one contrary to the way
society thinks we ought to be.

And so begins the dance
with these two pardners,
by walking two paths at the same time.

How much can we get by with?
How unlike who we are expected to be
can we be?
We answer a question
in the way we live our life.
And, like all such questions,
we answer it best by being conscious of it,
and keeping one eye
on each path
as we choose our choices
in light of what's in it for us.

It takes reflection
to come to new realizations.
But, to think,
particularly about our thinking,
is to stand out--
something fitting in does not allow.

Already we are not being
who we are supposed to be
just by wondering if we are
and considering being "other,"
by being "I."

Where do we stop and our overseers,
exemplars, start?
Who is living the life
we walk around in?
How different can we be
and still "belong"?

How different do we need to be
in order to be who we are?

Where does the line lie
between who we are expected to be
and who we must be no matter what?

A religion worthy of the title
would help us ask and answer the question.
That would be a religion of the soul
in the deepest/truest sense.
A bringing up,
bringing out,
bringing forth who we are born to be,
and not the automaton
we become through 
the imposition of social oughts.

Ah, but.
Where is what we need
when we need it?
We have to work out our own salvation,
with fear and trembling
and a sickness unto death.

Or not.
With not being a dying
worse than death.

How we negotiate the turns
between fitting in
and standing out
tells the tale.

–0–

02

Home in the Woods 05/11/2012 Oil Paint Rendered — Grandfather District of Pisgah National Forest at Linville Falls, North Carolina
It is all a lost cause. 
The arctic and antarctic are disappearing.
What lasts over time?
What chance does anything have?

Instead of saying, "What the hell?
Why try?"
and giving up our causes,
we should give ourselves to them
with renewed vigor,
and let nothing stop us,
or even slow us down,
like moths circling a flame,
loving every second
of a dying spiral.

We should give ourselves to our loves
because they are not going to last,
and we only have one short lifetime
to express our loyalty and devotion
to causes worthy of us.

It matters how we live--
to us, if not to eternity--
and we owe it to ourselves
to live as fully as possible
as long as possible,
giving ourselves to those things
that bring out the best we have to offer,
spending ourselves completely
in the experience and expression 
of life in all its radiance and glory.

Why hold anything back?
What is to be gained by refusing
the invitation
to be alive in the service
of what matters most to us?

What matters to you?
How is that evident in your life?
Why wait to show it
that you love it?

June 02, 2021

01

Big Creek 03 Oil Paint Rendered — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Waterville, NC
If you are waiting for things
to make sense,
you are standing in the wrong line.
There isn't a line.
Things do not make sense.

Coming to terms with that
positions you well 
to make it the rest of the way.

Now, you only need to square yourself up
with doing what needs to be done
even if it makes no sense--
doing it anyway,
nevertheless,
even so,
whether it makes any sense or not.

If you can do what needs to be done,
when it needs to be done,
where it needs to be done,
how it needs to be done,
whether it makes sense or not,
you have exactly what it takes
to make it all the way,
no matter what.

And that is exactly what everyone else needs
as a model of how to do it.

You will be saving the world
simply by doing what needs to be done
for no reason.
Because there often are no reasons.

If anyone asks you why you are doing 
what needs to be done
when it makes no sense
even to try,
tell them you are doing it
for lack of anything better to do,
and stay with it,
go back at it,
at doing what needs you to do it
whether it makes any sense or not.

Do not have to make sense!
Do not have to have things make sense!
Just do what needs to be done
for no reason--
and do it the way it needs to be done,
as though everything depends upon it,
because everything does depend upon it!

It all rides on our doing what needs to be done,
when, where, and how it needs to be done,
for no reason beyond its needing to be done,
moment by moment, 
in each situation as it arises.

This is the key to a life well-lived:
Do you live well anyway, nevertheless, even so?
Or do you live well only 
when it makes sense?

Give it your best all the time!
When it doesn't matter!
When it makes no sense!
When no one cares!
For no reason!
For the lack of anything better to do!

This is also to say,
do what your little heart loves to do
for no reason!

Do your thing
for no reason!

Do what you love to do
for no reason!

Serve your gifts,
your specialties,
your talents,
your virtues,
your daemon (sounds like "diamond"),
your shtick,
what you are here to do,
for no reason! 

And don't have to have things make sense!
Be good for nothing!
Do all that you do for nothing!
And do it like you mean it!
Do it like it matters!
Whether it matters or not!

It matters!

–0–

02

Sumac 02 Oil Paint Rendered — 22-acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina
"Live Like It Matters!"

Should be a bumper sticker.
And a tee-shirt slogan.
And what we all do around the clock,
in season and out of season,
for no reason,
especially when it makes no sense.

Do not have to make sense!
Live like it matters
anyway,
nevertheless,
even so!

Be different that way!
All the time!

"Live Like You Mean It!"

That's another one.
Bumper sticker.
Tee-shirt slogan.
What we do around the clock,
in season and out of season,
for no reason,
especially when it makes no sense.

What does "making sense" have to do with
what we do and why we do it?
Why does it have to make sense?
What's the reason we have to have a reason?
Who says so?
How do they know?
Tell them they need to start
doing what needs to be done 
for no reason!
And get back to living like you mean it
for no reason!

Look around and you can't help wondering,
"Why try?"
"Who cares?"
"What difference does it make?"
"What good will it do?"
"What's the point?"

And concluding,
"It's all useless,
hopeless,
pointless,
meaningless,
futile
and absurd--
and coming to a very bad end
(We all are going to die!)!
So why try?"

The answer to that, of course, is
"For the lack of anything better to do!"

Which is to say,
"Who cares if nobody cares?"
"What difference does it make
if nothing makes a difference?"
"What good does it do to insist
that everything be good for something?"
"What's the point 
of having to have a point
to everything we do?"
(A corollary to that one is
"What's the point of ice cream?")
("Or baseball?")

And, 
"So what if it is all useless
hopeless,
pointless,
meaningless,
futile and absurd,
and coming to a very bad end?

"Why should what I do 
and how I do it 
depend upon any of that?

"Now, excuse me,
I have work to do!"

And get back to doing what needs to be done
when, where and how it needs to be done
because it needs to be done
no matter what!

–0–

03

Big Bay Creed Panorama Oil Paint Rendered — Edisto Island, South Carolina
Our life is faith-based
in that we live grounded on things
we take on faith,
without being able to prove,
verify,
explain,
justify,
define,
validate, etc.
And these things always remain
a matter of faith,
and never become facts,
never pretend to be facts.

Not so with the things all religions
take on faith.
No sooner does religion
take something on faith
than it becomes instataneously
an absolute fact,
beyond question,
and necessary for the eternal salvation
of the entire cosmos.

Wait, wait...
faith is faith
and facts are facts,
and faith doesn't make anything factual.

I take it on faith
that it matters how we live,
but that will never be a fact,
although it can be substantiated
in a number of ways.
How we all ought to live
will never be a dogma upon which
eternity depends.

I take it on faith 
that doing what needs to be done,
when it needs to be done,
where it needs to be done,
how it needs to be done,
because it needs to be done,
moment by moment
in each situation as it arises
is all that needs to be done
to live balanced and harmoniously in tune
with ourselves 
and the context and circumstances of our life.

That will never be a fact
that anyone could go to hell
for not embracing,
though they might all create hell on earth
by refusing to honor it with their life.

Religion with its false claims to facts
that are not factual--
and cannot be factual--
adds unnecessary complexity
to our existence
and encumbers us with rules
and conditions that have no basis
in reality,
distracting us from the necessary work
of seeing what's what,
and what needs to be done in response,
squaring ourselves up to life as it is
and stepping forward to meet it
with the gifts,
talents,
virtues,
characteristics,
specialties,
shtick,
daemon (Sounds like "diamond"),
and our original nature--
all of which came with us
from the womb
(Think Original Nature!
Not Original Sin!),
in doing what needs to be done,
the way it needs to be done,
where it needs to be done,
when it needs to be done,
because it needs to be done,
in every moment
throughout our life.

No one can do more than that,
and everyone needs to be doing it
for the sake of themselves
and of all the cosmos
(Which is not factual statement,
but a faith-based one).

June 01, 2021

01

A Path Through Wonder Oil Paint Rendered — Trail to Rough Ridge, Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina
There is a price to be paid
for doing it--
and for doing it
the way we do it.
Whatever "it" is.

Democracy carries a price tag.
"Freedom isn't free,"
as the popular catch phrase goes,
though the people saying it
rarely apply it to themselves.

It applies to wearing masks
during pandemics
as much as it applies to
serving in the armed forces
during times of war and times of peace.

It means doing our part
to serve democracy to the best
of our ability
around the clock.

Democracy is 
Freedom/Liberty!
Justice!
Equality!
Truth!

Too many people think democracy
is making as much money as you can,
as fast as you can,
any way you can.

They make a big deal about
"Standing For The Flag,"
without standing for the things
The Flag stands for--
Freedom/Liberty!
Justice!
Equality!
Truth!

They want to be free
to do whatever they want,
when they feel like it,
for as long as they feel like it,
without being bound to anything
by being free.

Freedom isn't free.

Only those who are grown up,
and growing up,
have what it takes
to pay the price of freedom.

"We pay the price to ride the ride."

Tell some people that
and they don't want democracy any longer.
They want nothing to interfere
with their ability to live their life
the way they want to live it,
no strings attached.

No unwanted consequences!
No unwanted implications!
No unwanted anything!

They want the freedom to have what they want
without paying any price at all.

Freedom isn't free.

Tell them that for me, please.
They quit talking to me years ago.

–0–

02

Cedar Scene Oil Paint Rendered 05/02/2021 — Charlotte, North Carolina
Jesus had a plan.
So did John the Baptist.
It was the same plan.
It called for the reformation
of religion as it was being practiced,
and society as it was being done.

They were missing a plan
for the implementation
of their plan,
and had no way to negotiate
its adoption
by the controlling powers
of their day,
which "disappeared" them
the way authoritarian regimes
have "disappeared" opposition
throughout the ages.

And that was that.
Life went on the way
life always goes on,
tilted toward the rich and powerful,
and away from everyone else.

Integrity and good faith,
compassion, 
kindness,
justice, 
equality and truth
have such a hard time of it
in every generation.

You would think they would all give up
and throw in with 
greed and ruthlessness--
which somehow manage to
rule the day,
every day.

It is a strange world
in which people pay homage
to "Liberty and Justice for All,"
and live in ways which deny
liberty and justice to all
who aren't deserving
the way the favored ones
define "deserving."

And there has always been 
a voice crying out:
"In the wilderness of this world,
Prepare The Way Of The Lord
Of Liberty! Justice! Equality! Truth!"

The idea won't go away,
and its realization is always
as far away as ever.

What do you make of that?

How do we implement the plan
for "Liberty and Justice for All"
within the "Might Makes Right"
nature of the world as it is?

How do we get everyone on board
in doing the right thing
in the right way
at the right time
moment by moment
in each situation as it arises,
no matter what,
all our life long?

How do we even get ourselves 
to do it--
whether anyone else 
joins us or not?

–0–

03

Big Creek 11 Oil Paint Rendered — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Waterville, North Carolina
What is your art?
Your specialty?
Your shtick?
Your joy?
Your life?

Seriously.
What do you do best?
What do you enjoy doing most?
What do you have to do right--
the way it needs to be done?

In what ways do you honor that?
Celebrate that?

In what ways do you exhibit
your liege loyalty
and filial piety and devotion
to it?

In what ways do you accord it
the central place in your life,
letting everything else
fall into place around it,
and serving it with your time 
and attention?

If you have assigned it 
to the shadows,
and are living your life
in ways that dismiss it,
discount it,
disregard it,
denigrate it,
ignore it,
you are paying a terrible price
for your neglect--
and it would be a really good move
for you to apologize, 
and give it the attention
and the place in your life
that it deserves.

Whether there is any money in it or not.

Money is not the highest value.

Your heart is the highest value.

If your heart isn't in what you are doing,
money can't buy what you are missing out on.

All you need is enough money
to do what you do best,
what you need to do most.

Wake up and get with the program
that you have rejected for too long.

May 31, 2021

01

Big Creek 12 Oil Paint Rendered — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Waterville, NC
It is best to wake up slowly,
gently,
over a long period of time.

There is no hurry,
and the transition is 
life-changing.

The transition is part 
of the process.

Waking up requires us 
to completely transform
our relationships with 
our life,
our self,
other people--
and we do not do that overnight.

We have to shift into
a new mode of operating,
with new values,
new response patterns,
new purposes,
goals,
and ways of doing things.

It takes time to settle in
to all that new.
And gentleness,
kindness,
and compassion,
especially with ourselves.

We have to become more reflective--
no matter how reflective we were
at the start.

Everything is a source of meditation,
reflection,
realization--
and we walk in wonder
through radiance on every side,
making connections
and seeing all things
as different and as one
at the same time,
amazed at the beauty
and the sacredness of life and being.

–0–

02

West Prong 01 Oil Paint Rendered — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tremont, Tennessee
Ideally, we would live 
to serve the values of 
Liberty! Justice! Equality! Truth!
with compassion,
and without judgment or opinion.

It is easy to see this 
as a natural extension of
Jesus' words about,
"Inasmuch as you have done it--
or failed to do it--
to the very least 
and most inconsequential
segment of humanity,
your have done it,
or failed to do it,
to me."

Everybody qualifies to be treated
lovingly,
with respect 
and concern.

But.

Everybody doesn't think so.

And the discordance,
the dichotomy,
between those who understand
and apply
the concept of "love thy neighbor,"
and those who comprehend it,
but reject it,
have inhibited the expression
and shared experience
of the radiance and wonder of life
among the living
throughout the ages.

Life is much less than it might be
because of that.

And what is to be done about it?

Mourning and lamentation,
I'm afraid,
mourning and lamentation,
is the best we can do.

Because our life together
is a good faith operation.
And, as Rumi said,
"If you are not here with us
in good faith,
you are doing terrible damage."

And the ones who are not,
do not care how much damage 
they do.
They seem to enjoy doing it,
and relish every opportunity
to do it again and again.

We mourn and lament
the refusal of our brothers and sisters
to live in good faith
with the rest of us--
and do what we can imagine doing
to compensate for their failure
to be who they are needed to be.

May 30, 2021

01

Big Creek 13 Oil Paint Rendered — Big Creek District, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Waterville, North Carolina
The movie "Groundhog Day" is my template,
pattern,
model,
for waking up.

We all wake up the way Bill Murry/Phil Connors
wakes up.

Murry's/Connors' advantage in the movie
is that nothing changes until he does.
With us, everything is changing all the time,
and we have something else to see
before we have seen that last thing.

We don't get 400 years
to learn to play the piano.
We have to learn everything at once,
or close enough to once
to make it complicated.

But our advantage is that
the complications are--or can be--
eye-openers,
waking us up by forcing us
to take the contradictions
and polarities
into account.

The complexities are here
to wake us up.

And what they wake us up to
is/are exponentially increasing complexity.
"Simple" is extremely complex.
(And the movie, "Being There"
with Peter Sellers/Chauncey Gardner,
is a great presentation of 
the complexity of simple).

The more we see,
the more we see
the depth and scope
of what we do not see.

The more we see,
the more there is to see.

Waking up is eternal and everlasting
in its unfolding.
We are never awake,
enlightened,
illumined.

We are always waking up,
being enlightened,
becoming illumined.

There is no end to 
what we don't know.

And, knowing that
is where we all start
the process
of knowing more
than we knew
when we walked in.

And we see
by saying what we see
and asking all of the questions
that beg to be asked
about thinking we see 
what we are looking at.

Questions complicate the situation.
Complication is good
in that it doesn't allow us
to get by with simplifying the process.

Questioning everything
gets to the bottom
of no bottom to anything,
only more questions
about more things.

And that's good.
It forces us to look closer,
to listen more carefully,
and to know that knowing more
is what knowing is all about.

Knowing in the service of what?
Is another question
inviting us to explore
what we think we are here for
and what we are trying to get
through the process of asking questions
and seeking clarity.

What are we going to have
when we get there?
"Full realization"
is going to do what for us exactly?

There is only going on
past "full realization"
to "fuller realization."
And to laughing at the idea of graduation.

What do you think a plausible,
acceptable, reasonable,
end would be?

Where does AUMMMmmmmmm... stop?
Then what?
HUMMMmmmmmm...?

–0–

02

Unity Presbyterian Church Panorama 01-17-2018 Oil Paint Rendered — Fort Mill, South Carolina
No one ever changed anyone
by telling them what they need to hear.

People change by being listened to,
heard, understood--
not by being told.

When people are listened to--
and pushed/encouraged/invited
to explore what they are saying--
to say more than they have ever been
asked to say--
so that they get out of their 
repetitive liturgy of their life
and are forced to search for what they mean
and how that relates to what they also mean--
magic happens.

Realization happens.

Growth occurs.

Telling me how you see things
and how that relates to 
how you see other things,
and how you hold it all together
by refusing to see what things,
produces an inner conflict--
perhaps a conflict of values,
a conflict of interests--
that requires you to adjust
the way you see things.

Adjusting the way we see things
changes the way we see things.

Changing the way we see things
is all that growing up consist of.

We do not grow up until we change
the way we see things.
And we change the way we see things
by seeing the way we see things
in light of the ways we see other things,
all things.

When we listen to people,
and ask the questions that beg to be asked
about the way they see things,
and how that relates to the way
they see other things,
we introduce complexity into their life,
and force them to take into account
things they normally deny,
dismiss,
disregard,
ignore
about their own seeing/positions,
and require them to reconcile
the contradictions within their own constructs
of reality/truth/facts
and that is where the shifts happen
that cleanse "the doorways of perception"
(Aldous Huxley),
and that changes everything.

Reconciling our own opposites
forces us to grow up against our will
and transforms our life
and our relationships with ourselves,
one another,
and our way of living.

Making all things new.

By being listened to
and thereby required to hear
what we are saying
and how that relates
to what we are also saying.

The people who believe in freedom
want to kill/purge/destroy
those whose idea of freedom
challenges them to expand their idea of freedom.

They want to be free to ignore
what freedom requires,
and how being free binds them 
to the requirements of freedom,
which extends to everyone 
the freedom they want only for themselves.

Freedom is never freedom from responsibility.
Freedom is freedom for responsibility.
We are all free to the extent
that we are responsible 
for guarding the freedom for everyone,
and giving everyone the opportunity
for exploring their freedom for expression
and the responsibilities freedom imposes
upon all who would be free.

My right to be free has to respect/honor
your right to be free,
and we are both responsible 
for guarding the freedom of each other,
which restrains and restricts each other,
and forces/requires us to be free
within the legitimate/necessary 
limits of freedom.

What are the limits of freedom?
Freedom from what?
Freedom for what?
Freedom from imposed restraint
has to be freedom for self-imposed restraint.
Unrestrained freedom is bondage to want/desire/
irresponsibility/greed/ruthlessness/
and life beyond the boundaries 
necessary for life.

We can't tell people that,
but we can listen them to that,
by finding the contraries
that require us to live within 
the tension of mutually exclusive opposites.
Freedom is bondage to the requirements of freedom.

How do we understand "this"
in light of "that"?

Questions lead to reflection
which leads to realization.
And questions require conversation.
Not yelling.

–0–

03

Electric Peak 01 Oil Paint Rendered — Yellowstone, National Park, Wyoming/Montana
If I could go back as a consultant/guide to myself
I wouldn't.

I wouldn't know what to change
without changing something
I wouldn't want to change.

We have to find our own way
through all of our circumstances/situations,
learning as we go,
as best we can,
to the extent that we are able,
and let that be that.

What would we change about our life
that wouldn't change everything about our life?
How different does our life need to be?
Making anything better
would make what worse?
And how would that impact the lives
of all others who interacted with us
over the course of our living?

What is better?
What is worse?
How fine is the balance?
How thin is the line?
Between how things are,
and how things need to be,
and how things might have been?

How do things need to be?
Who is to say?

All we have to work with is how things are,
and what needs to be done here and now
to make things as good as they can be
within the context and circumstances
of the situation at hand.

How good can this situation be?
How can we help it be so?
What influence do we have upon
the good of this situation,
all things considered?

Good for whom?

How good is the good we call good?

How do we decide what to do?
When to do it?
How it is to be done?

In light of what do we live?
What outcomes are we striving for?
What is acceptable?
What is ideal?
When do we stop meddling
and simply let things be?

When do we allow things 
to unfold according to the 
way of their own becoming?

When do we permit nature to take its own course?

How do we shape our life?
The lives of our children?
The lives of those around us?
How do we know what to do?
What do we think we are doing?
How do we evaluate the effect 
we are having?

I believe in light touches,
and gentle nudges.
And relying on instinct,
intuition,
and spontaneous sincerity
in the service of our natural inclinations
as the most reliable guide
along the way.

And if living in these ways
gets us into a mess,
we have to trust that
continuing to live in these ways
will get us out of it--
and allow how things work out
to just be how things work out.

–0–

04

Falls Pond 01 Oil Paint Rendered — Kancamagus Hwy North Conway New Hampshire
Seeing things the way we do
is the place to start.
Everything flows from there.

What makes us think
that the way we see things
is the way things are?
Is the way TO see things?
Is the way things ought to be seen?
Is the way everybody should see things?

How do we know that what we say is so,
is so?

What makes us the authority
on how things should be seen?
On how things should be done?

What makes us the authority
on saying what is authoritative
and what is not?

And if we are the authority on
saying what is authoritative,
doesn't that make us THE Authority
governing how our life is lived?
Governing how all life ought to be lived?
And isn't that a bit arrogant?
And self-deceiving?

What exactly do we know that is worth knowing?
And how do we know it is so?

Assumption is the foundation
of much that is called "knowing."
It is the same "knowing"
that declared 
the earth to be flat
and that the sun goes around the earth.
And refused to look through a telescope,
saying it was a "delusion."

How we see things 
may have nothing to do
with how things are.

Start there.
And see where it leads.

May 29, 2021

01

Two Barns 08/10/2019 Panorama Oil Paint Rendered — Kershaw County, South Carolina
We live to increase our net worth annually.

It would be better for all concerned
if we lived to maintain our balance and harmony,
in the service of our original nature.

We think nothing of sacrificing
balance, harmony and original nature
in the service of our net worth.

And wonder why we are not happy
with our life 
and at peace with the world.

What robs us of our peace
and happiness?
What destabilizes our life?
What unbalances and disharmonizes us
and cuts us off from 
our original nature?

Do we even know?
Do we even notice?

How long has it been?

Since we were balanced,
and living in harmony with
our natural self?

Being true to our natural self
requires us to be centered,
focused,
aware,
alert,
to all that intrudes,
disturbs,
disrupts,
upsets,
unsettles,
threatens,
impedes,
obstructs
and interferes with
our equilibrium 
and our connection 
with the flow
of the current
of our life.

What resonates with us?
How long has it been
since we resonated with our life?

When we live at odds with
the life we need to be living,
we develop symptoms and twitches,
spasms and convulsions--
and know that something is wrong
without stopping what we are doing,
and finding our way back into the flow
of life and being.

We medicate ourselves with an assortment
of the 10,000 addictions
and disappear into a fog of distraction
and disorientation.

When all we have to do
is get back to the truth 
of our original nature,
and live a balanced life
(no excesses or extremes)
in harmony with who we are.

Babies fresh from the womb
know how to do as much.

And so the saying,
"Unless you turn and become
as children,
you will never enter 
the kingdom of heaven"
(Which is the state of balance and harmony
in accord with our original nature).

–0–

02

Curtis Island Lighthouse Oil Paint Rendered — Camden Harbor, Maine
Everyone is welcome just as they are.
People exclude themselves
based on their refusal to be welcomed
and welcoming.

Compassion is the key to community.
The key which turns every lock,
opens all doors,
ushers in the kingdom,
Nirvana,
The Father Shore,
Awakening,
Illumination,
Realization,
Human-being-hood...

We get compassion
by being compassionate.

By acting compassionately,
we become compassionate.

Kindness and compassion
are learned traits.
We act our way into being.

It doesn't matter if we care
about people
as long as we pretend that we do
convincingly.

Act like you care in such a way
that no one can tell you don't--
including you!
Fool yourself!
And then forget that you are fooled!

Why? you say?
Because it is our Dharma/Duty!

Compassion where compassion is called for,
when it is called for!
And kindness!
That is the very least
that is expected of us all.

The result will justify the action.
And the behavior will be
self-sustaining over time.

May 28, 2021

01

White-fringed Phacelia 04/18/2007 Oil Paint Rendered — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Gatlinburg, Tennessee
It all starts with
and flows from
our being in balance and harmony
with our life,
meaning our situation in life,
our circumstances,
our context,
our here and now.

Being in balance and harmony
with here and now,
moment by moment,
in each situation as it arises,
is the most important thing.

That positions us to see/know
what is happening
and what is called for,
and to respond to it
in ways appropriate to the occasion,
out of our genius,
daemon (sounds like "diamond"),
gifts,
talents,
specialties,
proclivities,
interests,
etc.
bound up in our original nature
which comes with us from the womb,
in doing the right thing,
in the right way,
at the right time,
in the right place (here and now),
with sincerity and spontaneity,
without contrivance,
manipulation,
exploitation,
and an eye on what we stand to gain
in so doing.

We live from the heart,
being true to ourselves 
and the time and place of our living,
and let things fall into place
around that.

And it all starts with balance and harmony.

What is disrupting,
disturbing, 
your balance and harmony?

What are the forces of distraction,
destabilization,
complexity and contradiction,
anxiety and uncertainty
at work in your life?

For instance,
can you pay your bills?
Are you physically well,
that is do you enjoy
"freedom of function,"
able "to will and to do,"
to "plan and achieve"?

And, can you square yourself up
with "your lot in life"--
with how it is with you here and now,
in a "This is the way things are,
and this is what I can do about it
(Can be done about it),
and that's that" kind of way?

Too often, most of the most important
aspects of our existence
are out of our control.
Can we make our peace with that,
and let it be so because it is so?

Can we maintain our balance and harmony
and be out of control
at the same time?
Controlling our response 
to being out of control?
Continuing to do what we can
about the things we can do something about?
Which always includes
the way we respond to our circumstances,
no matter what they are?

This is our work
every day 
for the rest of our life.
Maintaining our balance and harmmony
by the way we respond 
to the context and circumstances
of our life
moment by moment,
in each situation as it arises,
all our life long.

–0–

02

Zen Essence 05/06/2007 Oil Paint Rendered
Making our peace with
the way things are
is the perennial task of life.

"Okay. Here we are. Now what?"
is a recurring daily exercise
throughout existence,
for all living things.

Nothing remains stable and secure
for long.
"Time and chance happen to us all,"
is the way the Bible puts it.

We make our peace with that,
let it be because it is,
and do what we can with it
in responding to what the day
is asking of us
over the full course of our life.

How are you doing with that?
What would help with it?

A Wailing Wall would help with it,
and a Community of Innocence--
innocent in the sense
of having nothing to gain
from being our sounding board,
our oasis,
our retreat and sanctuary,
where we can "recover from the past
and store up for the future"
(Robert Ruark)--
would make all the difference.

We need a place where we can 
say what we have to say
(And hear what we are saying)
to those who can receive it
with grace and understanding,
helping us articulate and bear
the pain of life over time.

Articulating the impact of our experience
is the essential step
in coming to terms with--
making our peace with--
the reality of our experience.

This is the therapeutic exercise
of saying what needs to be said
that is critically essential
to maintaining our balance and harmony
throughout our life.

We have to speak the truth
in order to hear the truth,
realize the truth,
and square up to the truth.

Most of our social network exists
to deny the truth
and will not allow the truth to be said.
It responds to truth
with a litany of catch phrases
and truisms as a way of
stifling the expression of truth
and changing the subject.

Not what we need.

We need a Community of Innocence 
that is capable of being both
a Wailing Wall
and an adamantine,
anchoring,
rock of our salvation, 
reminding us by its presence
with us that,
anyway, nevertheless, even so,
we have what we need
to find what we need
to do what needs to be done
about every circumstance of life.

Our Community of Innocence
doesn't need to be more 
than two or three people
who understand their place
in our life
(and our place in their life),
and join us in creating a space
where we all can say what we have to say
and hear what is being said
in balancing and harmonizing us
and squaring us up to the reality
of life in the world
throughout our life in the world.

If you do not have that kind of place,
take up the work of forming one
by "being what you need,"
in listening to others
and being a place where they can 
be safe and accepted
in speaking the truth,
and join you in creating 
what we all need
to find what we need
to do what needs to be done.

–0–

03

Vineyards 39 09/09/2012 Oil Paint Rendered — Sheldon Vineyards, Dobson, North Carolina
We are not here to get what we want
and live the life of our dreams.

We are here to put our gifts,
our genius,
our daemon (Sounds like "Diamond"),
our shtick,
our art,
our heart's true love,
our specialties,
our interest,
our knack
to use in the service
of that which has need 
of what we have to offer--
and stay out of the way.

Staying our of the way
is the really hard part.

And it is really important
that we stay out of the way.

And not try to manage things,
or exploit things,
or manipulate things,
or coerce thing,
or force things,
or compel things
to our advantage, gain, benefit or good.

This is our Dharma/Duty,
to stay out of the way
and let our little light shine.

If we can do that,
we can save the world,
or at least make a real difference
in our part of the world.

And that would have an impact for good
on the rest of the world.

May 27, 2021

01

Sunflowers 03 06/20/2019 Oil Paint Rendered — Draper Wildlife Management Area, Brattonsville, South Carolina
The first rule of life 
is to live truthfully.

The second rule of life
is to live compassionately.

Until we get those two rules down,
we are only pretending to be alive,
wrapped up as we are
in denial and greed.

The third rule of life 
is to live in the service
of balance and harmony.

We do that in conjunction
with the fourth rule of life:
Live to reduce complexity
and to increase simplicity.

In this way, 
we become a shelter for 
energy, spirit and vitality,
and a champion of 
silence and awareness.

And are ready to step into
each situation as it arises
as those capable of--
and committed to--
seeing what's what,
hearing what is called for,
and doing the right thing,
in the right way,
at the right time,
moment by moment,
as servants of our original nature,
with sincerity and spontaneity,
and no thought of contrivance,
advantage or gain,
one situation at a time
throughout the time left for living.

And that is all there is
to the greatest adventure 
we could possibly hope for--
all for the low, low price
of seeing what we look at
and hearing what is being said.

–0–

02

Mattamuskeet Moon Oil Paint Renderdc — Lake Mattamuskeet, North Carolina
I live by whim and fancy.
I fancy this
and do that on a whim,
and here I am, 
the result of accident and chance,
or coincidence and serendipity,
or synchronicity, as Carl Jung might say.

For lack of anything better to do,
I selected Joseph Campbell's 
Romance of the Grail: The Magic
and Mystery of Arthurian Myth
and Thomas Cleary's
Wen-Tzu, Understanding the Mysteries,
Further Teachings of Lao-tzu,
because I always read more than one book
at a time,
and why not?

And discovered that the two books
are the same book,
saying the same things
separated by a thousand (or more) years.

The truth they extol is timeless/eternal
and relentlessly ignored
through the ages:
"Instinct and intuition lead the way,
innocence and sincerity find it,
resolution in the service of integrity
see it through."

Life experience leads us there,
personal ambition,
desire and fear
push us past it,
and we never stay there long enough
to have it made
and know that we have it made,
and never budge for nothing,
not no way,
not no how,
forget it,
we are where we need to be,
go on without us,
we aren't moving
from the still point
of the turning world.

–0–

03

Sunrise at Portland Headlight 09/26/2007 Oil Paint Rendered — Portland, Maine
I project my melancholy onto the world,
and see what I see through 
the lens of sadness and sorrow.

I read the headlines and sense 
the sadness and sorrow,
and can't see how anyone 
could read the headlines 
and not sense 
the sadness and the sorrow.

And whether the sadness and sorrow
is out there, 
really and truly,
or "just" in here,
really and truly,
is one of those 
"Where does the line lie?"
kind of questions
that refuse all attempts at answering.

Sadness and sorrow are valid ways
of interpreting what I see and hear.
Other people with a different bias,
or an affinity for rejecting 
all invitations to experience sadness and sorrow,
would have different interpretations.

Their different ways of seeing
what we all look at
do not invalidate my ways of seeing
what we look at.

We look at the same world
and see different things,
canted as we are toward
reading things in light
of the impact of our experience,
and evaluating where we are
based on where we have been.

A red and white striped beach ball
will trigger different responses
among people with different experiences
of red and white striped beach balls.

We can't say any of those people
are wrong for seeing things as they do.
They can't help seeing things as they do.
If we can see that,
it will moderate the way
we respond to them and their response
to the beach ball,
and to the beach,
and to the ocean,
and to the world...

And that might enable us 
to work with them
toward responding to the world
in ways that are good for the world,
and for each other,
as we make our way,
our ways,
through our life,
in ways beneficial to the good
of each other
and of the whole.

–0–

04

The Oak at Springer’s Point Panorama 02 11/01/2009 –Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina
How we see things
is a function of 
how we look at things.

When we "read a scene,"
we are also "reading things into the scene,"
based on what we expect to see
and what we assume and infer
about what we see.
We rarely see anything "just as it is,"
but also in light of what we bring
into the scene with us
out of our past experience
with everything that we have experienced.

We "add things" to every scene,
and "miss things" in every scene,
because of the way we look
at what we see.

Everything reminds us of something,
connects us with something,
triggers something, 
some memory,
some feeling,
some response,
which deepens/expands/enlarges,
or reduces/diminishes/disappears,
aspects of what we look at--
bringing into play the old maxim,
"Thou Art That"
in ways unintended
by the originator of the phrase.

Being aware of being "hooked"
by a scene/object/person/place/idea
frees us to explore ourselves,
the "inner,"
as well as the "outer," the "other,"
in each interchange,
and provides an opportunity
for reflection/realization/transformation
that opens us more fully
to the adventure of being alive
by showing us what all
there is to see
for those who see their seeing,
feel their feeling,
think about their thinking,
and know what all they know
and don't know
all along the way.

May 26, 2021

o1

String Lake Reflection Oil Paint Rendered — Grand Teton National Park, Jackson, Wyoming
Think of the Doctrines of Heaven and Hell
as Bribery and Extortion.

It makes sense,
coming as they do 
from the priests 
of organized religion.

It is a rule never mentioned:
First came religion,
then came theology.

Religion's primary motivation 
is not serving its theology.
Its theology is a tool it uses
to keep itself going.
That is religion's primary motivation.
To keep itself going.

Everything you hear from religion
is designed to keep it going.
And, more than that,
to keep those in charge of religion going.

It's another scam.
That plays on the fundamental theme
at the heart of life itself.

We all need to find something
to keep us going.
The people at the driving force
of religion 
keep themselves going
by telling the people things
that keep them going.

The people who are self-directed,
self-propelled,
self-charging,
self-motivating,
self-correcting,
self-aware,
etc.
are a rare find.

Organic,
internal,
intrinsic,
from the inside out,
and the ground up,
living 
finds itself in the category
of unicorns and leprechauns. 

We hear about it,
but we never see it.
People talk about it,
as I am doing now,
but where do you go to witness it?
To buy it?
To possess it?

And why would you?
Or, if you want to be self-directing,
why don't you just be self-directing?
Why is that so hard?
Why is it so difficult that nobody does it?

What is it that keeps us going?

What do you intend with your life?
What do you mean by being alive?
For what are you living?

We are living to be comfortable, right?
To be happy.
To be content.
To be alive.
Why is that so hard?
Why is it a problem to keep ourselves going?

Any religion worth its keep
ought to be able to offer
an intrinsic, self-perpetuating,
ground of life and being.

But, then, that religion
would be out of business
like that (snaps fingers).

And the economy would be dust and ashes.

May 25, 2021

01

Roan Mountain Sunrise Panorama 06/26/2009 — Carver’s Gap, Tennessee
Can you bear the pain?
Will you bear the pain?
Why bear the pain?
For what are we bearing the pain?
What's with the pain?
Why pain?

The pain is the pain of being alive,
Life is pain all the way
from the pain of child birth,
to the pain of child rearing,
to the pain of children living home
to take up the pain of their own lives,
to the death throes of the dying.

We bear the pain because it must be borne.
To refuse to bear the pain,
to numb it with alcohol
or any of the 10,000 addictions
(Religion being a primary choice),
is to live in denial,
is to not live at all,
and we are born to live,
to be alive.

Our dharma/duty is to bear the pain of life,
and bearing it well makes things a lot better
than refusing to bear it at all.

But, why live at all if it only ends in death anyway?
We live to pass it on.
The pain is just a necessary inconvenience.
We live to pass life on,
in service to the radiance and wonder
of the experience of being alive.

For the art,
the poetry,
the beauty,
the majesty,
the glory,
the splendor,
the sublime nature
of being alive,
of bearing the pain,
of having done it
as well as we could do it,
as well as it could be done,
we pass it on.

We pass it on to discover what our contribution is,
what our art is,
what our shtick,
our specialty,
our thing is,
and develop it,
serve it,
share it,
celebrate it,
enjoy it,
delight in it
and pass it on.

We pass on the experience of all of it.
The victories
and the defeats,
the wins and the losses,
the gains and the broken hearts,
the impact of everything,
for better and for worse.

Where are you going to go to beat it?
Bear the pain well,
and pass it on!

It is essential that we do so!
And, in so doing, 
we take our place in the long line
of those who did so,
who passed it along to us,
trusting us to keep it going.

Don't let them down!
Bear the pain!
Keep it going!
For the radiance and wonder of doing it,
and of having done it!
Pass it on!

–0–

02

Spruce Flats Falls 05/15/2007 Oil Paint Rendered — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tremont, Tennessee
Who are you?
What are you made of?
What is yours to be about?
What sets you apart from the rest of us?
What are your loves and your hates?
Your likes and dislikes?
Your specialties?
Your shtick?
Your talents?
Your gifts?
Your genus?
Your daemon (Sounds like "diamond")?
Your knacks?
Your fancies?
...

You are here to find out.
We live to know the answers
to all of these questions,
and all the other questions
pertaining to us and our way of being
in the world.

Live to know!
Find out who you are before you die!
And share it with the rest of us!

You might begin by developing 
a healthy relationship with silence.

Just sitting quietly opens doors
noisy living prevents 
us from knowing anything about.

However you choose to do it,
don't die without knowing who you are,
etc.

–0–

03

The Cathedral Group Oil Paint Rendered — Grand Teton National Park, Jackson, Wyoming
Too many people are living resolutely
in the service of the wrong things.
I don't know what to do about that.

It's the biggest problem we have.
If we could solve that one,
we would have it made.

We have too many wrong ideas
about what is important.
How can there be so many opinions
about that?
Particularly when everybody who feels that way,
can easily see how wrong everybody is
who doesn't feel that way.

How does "Wrong!" apply so often to someone else,
and rarely to ourselves?

What are our standards for discerning
what is right and what is wrong?

How do we know we are right
about what is important?

I remember working my way through
all of the questions
to the rightness of homosexuality
and abortion:

People can't help what their sexual
orientation is.
They have no say in the matter,
any more than anyone can help 
who they fall in love with,
and telling them,
"Oh, if you really tried,
you could fall in love with 
who we choose for you,"
is ridiculous,
and we know it when it is applied to us.

And no one has the right 
to force a woman to be pregnant
against her will.
Even God got Mary's permission!

So, just back off, 
and give people the right 
to their own lives!

Which, of course, means 
giving people the right 
to their own mistakes,
including being mistaken
about what is important!

But, everyone owes it to themselves
and to everyone else,
to be clear about their standards
for determining how they know they are right
about what they say is important,
so we aren't saying it is important
because that is quick/easy/convenient.

We owe it to everyone to ask the questions
that beg to be asked about our selection process.
And to keep a critical eye open
to the possibility of needing to change our mind.

I don't see much of that going on.

Do you?

–0–

04

Emerald Lake 09/24/2006 Oil Paint Rendered — Yoho National Park, British Columbia, Canadian Rockies
Our dharma/duty in each situation as it arises
is to trust ourselves
to our instinctive, 
intuitive, 
sense of what is called for,
and to respond to that call
with the gifts,
genius,
daemon (sounds like "diamond"),
talents,
specialties,
knacks,
shtick,
and spontaneous nature
that are ours from birth.

When Obi-wan Kenobi said,
"Trust the Force, Luke!"
he meant,
"Trust your instincts, Luke!"
"Trust your intuition, Luke!" 
"Do what is called for, Luke!"

We are all Luke,
just as we all are Jesus.
And our practice is to learn 
to read our instincts,
and our intuition,
and to live out of them
in all that we do.

This Duty takes precedent 
over all other duties,
social and religious,
that may try to keep us 
from serving the voice
arising from the silence
to guide our way
and direct our path.

Our work is to sit with 
the silence
until we can hear
what is being said to us
out of our instincts
and intuition,
and the to live the response
that is called for
in each situation as it arises,
and so save the world.