01

The ruthlessness of fascism
has to be met with
the ruthlessness of compassion.

Compassion has to be as ruthless
in the service of the good
as fascism is in the service of evil.

Fascism has turned compassion 
against itself
by telling people of color,
for instance,
that they "just have to be patient."

Compassion has to call BS
instead of meekly turning the other cheek
for the 10 billion billionth time.

Now is the time for equity across the board,
skin color-wise,
gender-wise,
sexual preference-wise,
etc.,
across all divisions
and bases of discrimination and prejudice,
culture-wide.

Let the fine people on both sides
come together in denouncing inequality,
misogyny,
racial hatred and injustice,
religious hatred and injustice,
GBLT-ETC hatred and injustice,
and all other forms of hatred and injustice--
and declaring themselves to stand for
the liberties and justice the Flag stands for
every time they stand for the Flag.

And let them work together
for the good of all people everywhere
in the spirit of the one who said,
"In as much as you have done it,
or not done it,
to the least of my brothers and sisters,
you have done it,
or not done it,
unto me!"

And let there be no concessions extended
to those who refuse/fail to live in good faith
with one another and all others,
who add to the burden of others,
torment and malign others,
shame, belittle, ridicule, denounce and exclude others
from the common rights and services
of society,
but let that society expect, demand and insist upon
kindness and compassion
in the relentless service 
of doing right by one another
and living toward the end
of the true good of all humanity,
now and forever.

–0–

02

We walk two paths at the same time.
And, we have to do that consciously,
intentionally, deliberately, conscientiously,
reliably, relentlessly,knowingly
every day.

We do that by mindfully separating the two paths,
and keeping one eye fixed on the other path,
while our other eye is fixed on the path we are on.

We have to have something that serves
as a decompression chamber
as we move from one path to the other.

I spend most of my time driving 45 miles an hour
taking care of business,
running errands,
on the secondary roads
connecting me to my destinations
in rural South Carolina
and urban Charlotte, North Carolina.

When life calls me and my wife onto
the interstate highways,
I have to consciously "put on
my Interstate Driver Face"
as I accelerate down the ramp
into another world.

We move between worlds 
on a regular basis,
and change "faces" all the time.
We have to do that with full awareness
of what we are doing and undoing,
ramping up and slowing down
as is appropriate to the occasion.

Coming down from,
or out of,
the fast-paced word
into the slow-paced world,
requires its own decompression time,
as we move ourselves back in to 
being able to breathe slowly and deeply,
relaxing and restoring our connection with
the peace of balance and harmony.

It is a physical, emotional, psychological
and spiritual adjustment
from one world to the other,
and without taking the time
to detach from one and attach to the other,
we live at a pace out of sync with our surroundings.
And that makes for disharmony and imbalance.

We have to be where we are
in ways that are fitting and proper
to our curcumstances
on all levels of our existence
all of the time
by consciously making the transition
every time it needs to be made.

01

Think of each of us
as not one but two.

There is the visible Ego-I,
and there is the invisible Other-I
to each of us.
And it is the place
of the visible Ego-I
to acknowledge,
recognize,
accept,
embrace
and enter into a life-long
conscious and collaborative relationship
with the invisible Other-I--
for the good of the whole.

The good of the whole understood
in a corporate way.
The good of the whole whole,
of one another and all others
and the entire cosmos.

Each of us is a part of 
"the web of life."
We are life becoming "real,"
actual, 
tangible,
concrete,
visible,
physical,
corporeal,
material...
capable of being seen,
held,
weighed
and measured.

We are life becoming alive
for the sake of being alive--
for the sake of the experience
of being alive.

We are life being life
in all the ways life can be life.
Just for the hell of it.
The wonder of it.
The amazing, fascinating, thrill of it.

And, as life being conscious of itself,
we are uniquely positioned 
to be a partner with life
becoming life
by being conscious of life becoming life
in and through us,
and participating in the process
for the good of the process
and the good of the whole.

We do that by walking two paths 
at the same time.
And being two "people" at once.
To do so is to engage fully
in the experience
of the adventure of being alive.

That's what we are here for.
Why not open ourselves fully
to the wonder of the Wonder
by getting to know our Other side,
and seeing what we can do together
while we still have the time?

–0–

02

I am assuming that Jesus was "of one mind" with God,
probably more often than not.
I take this to be what he meant 
when he said, "The Father and I are one."
And by "God" I mean "That Which Has Always Been Called "God."

That which has always been called "God,"
has also always been called "Tao,"
and about 10,000 other things--
"Flow," for example.

It is the guiding, directing, confirming,
comforting, etc. reality
at the heart, core, center, ground, foundation, source
of our experience of the experience of being alive.

It is the movement of life
"in which we live and move and have our being."

We all have had moments in which we were One
with the way things ought to be/needed to be
in the time and place of our living,
and things "clicked"
and "fell into place,"
and everything was "just right,"
for a time,
and then the flow was disrupted,
and things "fell apart"
and we had to find our way "back to the center,"
back to "balance and harmony,"
back and forth,
back and forth,
more or less,
throughout our life
and here we are.

We, too, have been "one with the Father,"
"one with That Which Has Always Been Called "God."
That is where we belong,
and it is only a matter 
of laying aside our ideas 
of how things ought to be,
and opening ourselves 
to the way things need to be--
doing what needs to be done,
when it needs to be done,
the way it needs to be done,
where it needs to be done,
moment-by-moment,
in each situation as it arises,
all our life long.

But we want what we want,
and we want our way most of all
all of the time.
So, we stand between us and "God,"
and only have to get out of the way
in order to be "one with the Father/Tao/Flow/etc."

We are of "two minds" (At least two)
too much of the time.
And our work is to realize that,
and step aside
in order to align ourselves
with our "Other Self,"
and live in accord with "the Tao,"
with liege loyalty
and filial devotion
"all our life long."

It is never more difficult than that.
And that is always a possibility
in every moment
of every situation
that comes along.

–0–

03

There is where we belong,
and where we have no business being.

There is what we need to do,
and what we have no business doing.

There is how we need to live,
and how we have no business living...

Our place is to know what our business is
and what our business is not,
and tend our own business,
and have nothing to do
with that which is none of our business.

We have to know where to draw the line,
and draw it--
every time and place it needs to be drawn.

That is all there is to it.

I say that a lot
because it needs to be said a lot.
It is not so difficult,
being who we need to be.
It is never more difficult
than knowing and doing 
what is ours to do,
in each situation as it arises.
All our life long.

What is hard about that?
What is keeping us from doing it?

01

We need help with the tasks of life,
and we need to be helping one another
with the tasks of life.

And we have no idea what the tasks of life are.

The primary task of life
is knowing who we are
and what we are about.

It is easier to go at it in reverse--
Knowing who we are not
and what we are not about.

We have to be clear about these things.

The Caste System in India
is an attempt to simplify the task.
Dharma is duty carefully spelled out
according to the class or rank
into which one is born.

That is the wrong way to do it.
Dharma cannot be imposed from without,
according to who our parents were
and what Caste they belong to,
as though who we are, and not,
can be handed to us with our birth certificate.

Our identity is not thrust upon us,
it is innate within us.
We grow into who we are over time--
if the conditions and circumstances of our life
permit it.

In India, people are bound to be
who and what someone else declares them to be.
Talk about death to the soul!
The Caste System kills people 
before they are conceived!

Who we are and what we are about
are organic--
we become who we are,
unfolding from within
according to the blend 
of potential and possibility
developing within the limits
of time and place.

Each of us is a mystery to be beheld
becoming over the full course of our life.
Nothing is preordained,
iron clad,
decreed from above,
declared by the stars
(Or those who "read the stars").

Who we are and what we are about
is time and place dependent.
Who would Michael Jordan 
and LeBron James have been in 1776?
Or you, or I?

"Time and chance happen to us all."
And the primary task of life
is to take what comes with us from the womb
in on hand,
and the context and circumstances of our life
in the other hand,
and get the two hands together,
in ways that bring forth our best
in the here and now of our living.

Who tells us that ever 
over the full course of our life?
All we are handed is
"What do you want to be when you grow up?"
The dumbest question in the encyclopedia of questions.
"What does wanting know?"
is one of the best, 
and is never asked.

We are up against it from the start,
born into a milieu in which no one knows
what needs to be done
to become who we are born to be.

Who are we?
What are we about?
Who are we not?
What are we not about?

Sit with the questions.
See where they lead.
Even now.
Even yet.
Even so.   

–0–

02

The toughest thing is coming to terms
with our choices.

We do not have good-enough choices.

We do not get to choose our choices.

We don't get to tag out
until better choices come along.

Our choices are our choices and that's that.

Squaring up to that is the hardest thing.

We keep trying to give ourselves better choices.

Denial is denying that these are our choices
and that's that.

We want better choices!

Our choices are our choices and that's that.

When we can square ourselves up with this fact,
we can begin the work
of doing what can be done
with what we have to work with.

That comes down to
what needs to happen here and now,
and what can we do about that
with the resources,
internal and external,
at hand?

What can we do 
with the choices
that are ours to choose from?

Moment by moment,
situation by situation?

We can despair
and be depressed 
and despondent because these are our choices,
or we can pick ourselves up
and get to work,
in a "Here we are, now what?"
kind of way.

–0–

03

What do we do for the simple sake
of doing it alone?

With me, it is not wash the dishes,
take out the garbage,
mow the grass,
or dust the furniture
and mop the floor.

I do those things because 
they need to be done.

I do other things because
I am expected to
and other people depend on me
to do them.

And I do other things because
I am paid to do them,
and the cost of living 
requires me to make enough money
to live on.

With whatever time I have left over
in a week,
I get to do what I enjoy doing
for the pleasure/joy of doing them alone.

Naps head the list.
Relishing the wonder
of stillness,
silence
and solitude.
Cooking. 
Eating things I like.
Drinking coffee.
Reading.
Writing.
Photography and working with photographs.
Zooming with the daughters and granddaughters,
family and friends.
Working in the yard with my wife.
Walking through nurseries, buying plants.
Walking through the natural world.
Taking a shower.
Getting out of bed each morning.

How about you?

–0–

04

The mark of a well-lived life
is the degree to which it is
grounded in--
and centered upon--
its original nature,
with balance and harmony,
sincere and non-contriving.

These terms mean absolutely nothing
to contemporary western culture.
And that is a telling indictment 
of contemporary western culture.

"What is the face that was yours
before your grandparents were born?"

If you are like most people alive today,
the question is absurd and meaningless.

If I ask you who you are,
you are likely to talk about 
what you like and dislike.

If I ask you how thinking about what you like
keeps you from thinking about who you are,
what would you say?

These are essential questions.
Our identity is crucial 
to the kind of life we live,
in terms of the degree the life we live
reveals or conceals our identity.

A life well-lived integrates,
incarnates,
serves,
reveals,
expresses
and makes known who we are.

We live to be one with ourselves.

How are you coming with that?

Here's a little twist on this theme
that may rock your little world.

We are comfortable saying, or with hearing,
that Jesus came as the incarnation of God.
He said, "The Father and I are one."

And I'm saying we are here to incarnate ourselves.
As we do that, we, also, incarnate 
that which has always been called "God."

That which is God and we are one,
and we cannot live aligned with ourselves
without also being aligned with God.
And that is what we are here to do.

How did you say you were coming?

01

We have to do it
because it needs to be done,
and not because of what
we stand to gain from doing it.

Intrinsic and extrinsic weigh in 
at this point,
and we cannot be swayed 
by the value the deed 
has for us personally.

We have no stake in the matter.
Is it called for is the question.
Is it necessary/needed is the other question.
Is it important that it be done is the other question.
Am I capable of doing it is the other question.
Is it mine to do is the other question.
What is stopping me from doing it is the other question.
What is urging me to do it is the other question.
What is controlling/influencing my response here ITOQ.
Why the hesitation is the other question.
Why are you taking so much time with this ITOQ.

We are to live so in tune with the moment of our living
that our response to the need of the moment
is automatic,
spontaneous,
accurate,
timely
and sincere,
with nothing contrived or calculated
about it.

See/do.

If we have to think about it,
we are not seeing clearly.
What is in the way?
What is blocking our vision?
What are our concerns/conflicts?
What is preventing us 
from being at one with the moment?

We have to be able to read the moment.
To see what we look at.
To know what is before us.
To sense what is going on.

We have to be able to access the moment
accurately and instantly
and be right about it.

What can prevent us from being right about it?
Make inquiries.
Ask, seek, knock.
Poke, pry, peer.
Get the information necessary
to know what is going on.

Is the moment what it appears to be?
Do we sense that something is amiss?
What is awry?
Who is not here with us in good faith?
Who is playing the game of not playing a game?
Who is lying?
Who is manipulating the situation for their good?

What is needed here, now?
What is being asked of us?

Sometimes,
we have to wait for the mud to settle
and the water to clear.

Perhaps we are being called to sit tight,
to wait and watch,
to sense and see what is going on.

At times, what is called for
is doing nothing.
And, it can be a cop-out to do so.
So, we have to be aware of all things
on all levels
at all times.

It asks a lot of us.
But what is more important
than seeing, hearing, understanding, knowing
in order to be and to do?

Awareness guides action.
Take your time--
there is no time to waste!

Because there is no time to waste,
we take our time
to be sure we are not wasting time,
and to act when the time for acting
is upon us.

–0–

02

There is what we like
and what we do not like,
what we want 
and what we do not want.

We can't have one without the other.

It's like this:
Everything depends upon
our growing up.
And we do not want to grow up.

Growing up means facing,
squaring to and dealing with
what we do not want
and what we do not like.

But we had rather not.

See the problem?

We cannot get to where we want to be
without going through
what we do not want to go through.

This is called The Essential Quandary.
It is also called The Child's Dilemma. 
We never outgrow it.
We never grow up enough
to grow beyond it.

There is always what we do not like
and what we do not want.

We have to get up 
and do
what we do not want to do
whether we want to or not.

Forever.

It is the Sisyphean Task.

Everything flows from how well we do it.

Everything. 

–0–

03

Having nothing to offer anyone
is apparently the sine qua non 
of the bearers of truth in all times and places.

The Suffering Servant of Isaiah comes to mind.
Jesus of Nazareth and John the Baptist are there.
The Buddha,
Lao Tzu,
Gandhi,
Nelson Mandela,
Martin Luther King, Jr...
The list is long.

The hidden, 
the overlooked, 
the ignored,
the despised, 
the disappeared...

They are as truth is,
and become symbols
of truth unseen, unknown,
in every age.

Truth,
and the carriers of truth,
are not flamboyant,
successful,
powerful,
wealthy,
dominant,
controlling...

They are all as one Thus Come.
They are just as they are:
common,
ordinary,
everyday human beings
with nothing special about them
that would separate them
from anyone else.

And they are fine with that.

They do their work,
which no one notices,
because why would they?
And step back,
letting nature take its course,
with nothing at stake in the outcome.

Nobodies with nothing at stake in the outcome.
Just doing their work
and letting that be that.
Letting it be enough to put in a day,
doing what needs to be done
when it needs to be done,
the way it needs to be done,
moment-by-moment,
without fanfare or to-do,
which is the way it needs to be.

We aren't here for what we get out of it.
We are here to do our work
and stand aside.
Doing what is called for
in each situation as it arises. 
And going home for a meal,
a shower 
and to bed.
To rise and do it again the next day.

Simply,
sincerely,
living with balance and harmony
without looking to exploit
their opportunities 
for gain and advantage--
just living for what the moment is worth
and enjoying what is to be enjoyed
about every day.

The secret for having it made.

01

We are always "so close
and yet so far away."

It is the recurring theme 
of our life--
all of our lives,
worldwide--
over time.

All it takes is
a slight shift in perspective.
We are looking at it like this,
and we need to look at it like that.

It is only a matter
of flipping the switch.
Of turning the light around.

And so it is said,
"Fine is the balance,
and thin is the line
between having it made
and having nothing at all."

And you can't explain
the difference to anyone
who doesn't see it.

I tell people,
"You can't understand 
what I'm saying
until you know what I mean."

And I can't understand
why they don't know what I mean.

It is just "right there"
for everyone
all of the time.

But, if your orientation is toward
security,
safety,
hoarding,
being protected,
being seen,
known,
admired,
loved,
adored,
being right,
beyond scrutiny,
always on top,
with a massive layer of wealth
guaranteeing your place in society,
you will never understand,
standing alone,
being safe,
at home with the unknown
and unknowable.

Those orientations are
light years apart.
Yin and Yang.
Mutually exclusive
and incompatible
to the core.

And so it is said,
"You can't change your mind
about what is important
until you get to
the end of your rope--
and maybe not even then."

So, I'm talking to people
who can't hear what I'm saying,
or who already know
what I'm talking about.

I can only keep it up
because that is what is mine to do,
and I have no choice
but to do it.
If you know what I mean.

–0–

02

We cannot get there directly.
"The path that can be discerned
is not a reliable path."

No one can explain it to us.
Spell it out for us. 
Talk us into knowing
what we need to know
to be who we are,
at one with ourselves
and all of life.

It's like a treasure
hidden in a field,
or a pearl of great price
lost among the costume jewelry
in a flea market in the Midwest.

We stumble upon it.
It falls into our lap
out of nowhere.
We are in hot pursuit
of something else,
turn a corner,
and there it is.

Everything depends on
being in the right place
at the right time.
Synchronicity is the heart
of the matter.
And you can't arrange that,
or plan for that,
or factor that into any equation
to make happen 
what is dying to happen
until its time,
and even then we can screw with
the entire setup
by not seeing what is right before us,
or not hearing what is being said.

The whole apparatus hinges upon
"aesthetic arrest."
I think the origin of the term
is/was James Joyce.
Robinson Jeffers called it
"divinely superfluous beauty."

It stops us in our tracks
like an anvil falling from the sky.
Our place is to walk around
waiting for an anvil to fall from the sky.
That is as close as we can come
to arraigning our own awakening.

In the meantime,
we could sit quietly,
watching,
listening,
waiting for the mud to settle
and the water to clear.

And put ourselves in the proximity of beauty
by making pilgrimages to the land
of art, music and nature
in a regular and recurring way.

If we are waiting to be hit by a train,
it helps to nap on railroad tracks.

–0–

03

In order to be successful,
religion has to prostitute itself
and become the very antithesis
of its own center/ground/foundation.

A successful religion 
is a contradiction in terms.

Religion in the truest/best sense
of the word
is personal,
private,
individual,
and incapable of being established
and sustained
on a mass or corporate level over time.

"The Tao that can be stated/told
is not the eternal Tao."
"The path that can be discerned
as a path
is not a reliable path."

"Two Hail Mary's and an Our Father"
will not do it.

There are no formulas,
or recipes,
or methods,
or steps to take
to the heart of True Religion.

Theology,
Doctrines,
dogma,
creeds,
beliefs,
rituals,
practices,
scriptures,
hymns
and prayers of confession,
petition,
intercession,
praise
and thanksgiving
merely stir up the dust
and fill the air with "sound and fury
signifying nothing" (Macbeth).

This is the crux of the matter:
It is one thing to be the church,
and it is another thing 
to be the church and pay the bills.

In order to pay the bills,
"the church"
(Or organized religion in all forms)
has to betray the virtues
at the heart of religion:
Sincerity,
Spontaneity, 
Balance,
Harmony,
Equanimity, 
Integrity,
Non-contrivance,
Self-transparency,
Self-awareness,
and Truthfulness,
to mention a few.

True Religion has nothing to gain
and nothing to lose.
Organized Religion has to
"make disciples" at any price
excusing its excesses and indiscretions
as necessary concessions
in doing "the work of the Lord."

Organized Religion says things
it cannot substantiate,
and promises things
it cannot deliver,
just to gain a following,
using heaven as a reward
and hell as a threat
for embracing or rejecting
its proclamation. 

True Religion "is like beggars
telling other beggars
where they have found food,"
and leaving it at that,
letting nature take its course,
with nothing but its experience
to offer as helpful suggestions
for dealing with the world.
 

–0–

04

Getting older means we don't have 
as much time as we once had,
and while that has always been the case,
having fewer days left
means more at 76 and counting
than it meant at 23.
Or 55.

And that means I have to consciously
prioritize how I spend my time.
"How much does this mean to me?"
I ask of everything.
"How much do I love doing it?"
"What would be a better way 
of spending my time?"

Silence and stillness
are a part of every day.
Reading and writing.
Taking photos 
and processing images.
Working in the yard,
cooking
and eating meals,
taking a walk,
time with family,
errands,
a nap,
a shower
and going to bed
are the way most days go.

And I call that a good life.

You caught no TV, I'm sure.
And no Facebook.

Asking me to attend a meeting,
or even to meet you for lunch
or dinner
would get a polite
"I'd love to, but."

If you persist,
it becomes, "Maybe one day,"
"maybe some time,"
"maybe soon."
Said laughingly and meaning, "No."

And if that doesn't do it,
I end with,
"I wish I would, but I won't."

We are stewards of our own time.
And that means we have to know how
to spend it.
And how not to.

The earlier we take up the practice
of being good for ourselves,
the better it will be for us
over the long haul,
which gets shorter by the day.

01

What is the nature of your conflict?

William Blake reminded us,
"Without contrary, there is no progression."

Yin and Yang go back to the beginning of time,
if not beyond.

We live to integrate,
incarnate,
express,
exhibit,
bring forth,
know and make known
the contradictions which define us
and make us known.

On the one hand this,
and on the other hand that,
and truth is found between the hands.

What are your conflicts,
contradictions,
contraries?

Most of us live to deny them,
hide from them,
repudiate them.
Too few of us embrace them,
relish them,
love them,
dance with them.
Yet, that's the way to do it.

Bear your conflicts graciously,
and gracefully.
They are who you are.

And stop thinking 
that you have to be
one way only!
Consistent!
Harmonious!
True!
Nonsense!
We walk two paths 
at the same time--
truthfully!
We feel torn between,
or among, 
two or more things 
practically all of the time.

I want to be the best father/husband
in all the world ever,
and I don't want to be a father/husband
at all!

Which it is?
It is BOTH!
I am conflicted to the core.

So is God.
This "unconditional love"
you hear so much about 
is balanced by sending
everyone to hell who doesn't
believe it and joyfully embrace it.
How unconditional is that?

And "freedom of the will"?
How free is our will 
when we cannot will what we want?
We just want it!
Often against our will!

Conflicted,
contradictory,
contrary,
polarized
and mutually exclusively oppositional
all the way down.

Sound like anybody you know?
If not, 
it is because you are locked up
in terminal denial
and can't see the truth
for all the lies you are living with.

So.

What's the nature of your conflict?

It all begins here.
With our making our peace
with the way things are.
And also are.

And walking two paths at the same time
together, 
knowingly,
laughingly,
joyfully--
Yinning and Yanging 
in full accord with the Tao,
all along the Way.

–0–

02

I am amazed and fascinated by
the impact people have on my life,
and the way I am able to use
them and their impact
as a meditative, reflective, icon
for immersion in the wonder and awe
of life.

Amazement, fascination, wonder and awe
are the ground and essence of worship.

I revere and worship certain people
and their impact
upon me and my life--
which I continue to refine and explore
after all the years that have passed
since they came and went.

I continue to be blessed,
deepened,
enlarged,
made whole
by their kindness and grace,
and by my on-going reflection
of them and their place in my life.

Joseph Campbell said that reflection
is the path to new realizations,
and that is certainly the case with me
and my wandering around in my memories
of them,
expanding my understanding of them
and their influence on me
and my continuing development
through the years.

They very definitely "passed on" to me
gifts that are continuing to be
"very present helps in time of trouble,"
and helping me even yet,
even now, to find my way.

Their gifts were those of presence,
acceptance,
insight,
comfort,
safety,
humor,
confidence
and a sense of the goodness
and trustworthiness of life,
and our ability to take life as it is
and make of it what can be made of it
with what we have to work with
in our nature and character.

We are enough!
It is only a matter of trusting that
to be so
and exploring what we have
that might be useful to our time and place,
our conditions and circumstances,
and experimenting to see 
what can be done.

It is a matter of playing confidently
with the possibilities,
and dancing with the days
that mark our time upon the earth,
enjoying the wonder of life,
and living,
and being alive! 

Thanks, gratitude and appreciation
to all who made this the reality
it is in my life!

–0–

03

Jesus said, "Why don't you
decide for yourselves what is right?"

We are afraid we might be wrong.
We don't want the responsibility.
We crave reassurance and certitude.
We can't take the chance.
Just tell us what to do!
Just tell us what to believe!
Just tell us how we can be happy
and have it made!

Lao Tzu said, "The path that 
can be discerned/designated 
as a path,
is not a reliable path."

That means there is no one but us
to tell us what to do.
We are the only ones who can know
which way is the way for us,
what is right for us,
what the moment is asking of us,
what the situation is calling us to do.

The path that someone else
tells us is the path
is not a reliable path.
We are the only ones who can be trusted
to know what we need to do,
where we need to do it,
when we need to do it,
and how it is to be done.

The catch is we have to be right
about it.

That is why we sit in silence,
watching,
waiting,
confirming...
and even then,
we can be wrong,
or circumstances can change,
but we continue to return
to the silence
to see what arises,
emerges,
unfolds,
beckons,
directs...

And to consider whether
to do its bidding.

Learning as we go
to read the signs,
attend the signals,
and know what is calling our name.

–0–

04

Let the silence guide your boat
on its path through the sea.

Have no preferences,
no desires,
no opinions,
no ambition,
no agenda,
no intention,
with nothing to gain 
and nothing to lose,
just curious,
just interested in seeing
where you go and what you do
without trying to exploit
and control,
manipulate and direct
situations and opportunities,
but just watching,
just seeing,
just experiencing,
doing what needs to be done
the way it needs to be done
when it needs to be done
and letting nature take its course.

Simply relax into the silence,
attend the silence,
serve the silence,
by waiting and watching
what arises,
emerges,
occurs,
beckons,
directs,
leads,
calls...
and continuing to wait
for the mud to settle
and the water to clear.

Then, wait some more
for the right time to act,
in the right way,
in the right place--
dancing with the moment
as it responds to you,
living from the silence
(Which by now has become
a part of the matrix of life,
and you have learned 
to be quiet in the midst 
of the dust/noise 
of the 10,000 things).

In this way,
context,
conditions,
and circumstances
blend to form the umwelt
within which you live,
and move and have your being,
directed by your service
to the silence,
led by your sense
of "Yes," and "No,"
coming from the place
of instinct and intuition,
communicated to you
through your body,
your nighttime dreams,
and the things that occur to you
out of nowhere--
out of the unconscious milieu
of psyche/soul/self/who-knows-what-else
that is part of the invisible world
sustaining and supporting this world 
of concrete and steel,
visible, tangible, apparent reality.

Become a citizen of both worlds,
walking two paths at the same time,
attuned to what time it is,
and to what it is time for.
Living Here as a surrogate of There
in an "in the world but not of it"
kind of way,
as a full participant
in the Great Adventure of Being Alive.


 

01

--0--

02

–0–

03

04

–0–

05

–0–

This is from 11/26/2007:

I do so much better 
when I'm not forced to do 
what I'm doing. 

Bet you do, too. 

The "natural self" 
is what socialization and acculturation 
take away from us 
during the early years of childhood, 
and it's what we spend our adult lives 
trying to get back to. 

Living "from the heart," 
"following our bliss," 
letting our "passion guide us," 
allowing our life to "flow from the center," 
all sounds good, 
but. 

Life tends to get in the way 
of our living. 

Even if we shuck it all 
and join a monastery, 
there are rules at the monastery. 
Requirements. 
Obligations. 
Duties.

We are expected to arise 
at 4 AM to sit. 

It's a happy fantasy 
to think that we can avoid 
being forced to do things 
we don't want to do. 
But. 

Living to be less forced 
and more natural 
is an opening 
to intuitive and creative possibilities, 
a path to who-knows-where--
opening before us in each moment
to eyes that see,
and ears that hear.

–0–

06

It is always time for something.
Being right about what that is
and doing it
is the key to a life well-lived.

Knowing what is called for
and being right about it
are functions of living a long time
with intentional awareness
of our experience 
on all levels.

We are capable of knowing things
that we don't know how we know.

Sitting still,
being quiet,
and waiting
to see what arises,
emerges,
beckons,
calls,
urges,
occurs,
nudges,
compels, 
in the silence
is a path to knowing
that has no rational/logical basis.

We all come packed
with intuitive,
instinctive,
innate,
inherent,
natural,
spontaneous,
unconscious
powers of perception,
guidance,
direction
and realization
that flow from 
"listening to the Force,"
or the Source,
or the Center,
or the Core,
or the Foundation,
or the Tao,
or whatever term you prefer
for "That Which Cannot Be Named
But Can Be Known"
that is available to all of us
and all sentient beings
in all times and places
of our existence.

So teach yourself
to sit still
and be quiet
and sense what it is time for,
and do it.

The Call to Adventure
is that close at hand. 

–0–

07

You can't spend much time in AA 
without hearing about the necessary trip 
from "White Knuckling It" 
to "Faking It Until You Make It." 

Just about everyone comes to AA 
after a lengthy bout with 
"White Knuckling It," 
thinking they can lick their drinking problem 
just by standing up to it. 

Their drinking problem is merely 
the surface manifestation of depths 
of denial and self-deception without end. 
You can't stand up when you are sinking. 

AA comes in to "turn the light around." 

"Look, Jim," they say, 
"You have been thinking one way, 
and now you have to start thinking a different way—
The right way." 

They are bearers of the First Spiritual Law: 
"We are never more than one 
slight perspective shift away from having it made." 

And they begin to talk about the difference between 
"white knuckling it" and "faking it until you make it." 

Faking it until you make it is 
acting as though you do not have 
a drinking problem, 
knowing that is as close as you can come 
to not having a drinking problem. 

And "making it" is not graduating from alcoholism, 
but realizing that you are never more 
than the next drink away 
from knowing you are an alcoholic. 

Faking it until you make it is 
remembering you are an alcoholic 
without taking that next drink. 
It is pretending to be what we wish we were. 

White knuckling it is 
proving you are not an alcoholic 
by going without a drink for two months, 
or six months, 
or a year. 

It's walking into a bar without buying a beer. 

"See! I can do without it! I'm not a drunk!" 

You are the next drink away from being a drunk. 

Faking it until you make it is not even driving by a bar. 
It's not going to a beach where they are drinking beer. 
It is knowing better than to think 
that not-drinking means you are not an alcoholic. 

Now for all of us non-alcoholics 
in the audience, 
white knuckling it and faking it until we make it 
applies to a host of denial-based behaviors 
that have nothing to do with alcohol. 

Denial-based behaviors are 
commonly referred to as "addictions," 
and that is a shame, 
because most of us think 
we don't have any addictions, 
like going to church 
and listening to the preacher tell us 
we are going to hell if we don't come back next week 
and listen to the preacher tell us we are going to hell 
if we don't come back next week and listen... 

Right. What's addictive about that? 

Alcohol at least forces us to confront 
our denial-based behavior. 
We are awash in similar denial-based behaviors 
that allow us to trick ourselves into thinking 
we are just fine as we are, 
and it is everyone else who is doing it wrong. 

And we can get by with it because 
we aren't wrecking cars or losing jobs. 

But what is the standard by which we measure 
a life well-lived? 

How truthfully do we live? 
How mindfully aware? 
How self-transparent? 

How right are we about what is truly important? 
How completely does our life reflect 
what is truly important in the way we live? 

What are the subjects we never discuss? 
What are the fears we never address? 
What are the habits that drive our life? 
Who are we kidding about being "just fine"?

05

Live to be free of wants and wanting. 

What does wanting know? 
Does wanting know where we are better off? 
Where we are best off? 

Does wanting know what is in our best interest? 
Does wanting care about our best interest? 
Could wanting make a winning case for itself 
when it comes to serving our best interest? 
To being the champion of our lasting good? 

How many bad choices has wanting 
forced on us over the years? 

How many divorces? 
Wrong turns? 
Lost hopes? 
Dead ends? 

We think we would be lost 
without knowing what to want. 
Put it to the test. 

Go for a week without seeking any advantage. 
Without exploiting any situation. 
Without trying to get anything 
or have your way anywhere. 

Live without wanting for a week. 

Instead, consult the silence 
for what needs to be done 
in every moment. 

Listen in each situation 
for what is called for—
with no preference regarding any outcome. 

Rather than think about what you want, 
ask the silence what it is time for—
and be on guard against influencing the response 
with a finger on the scale. 

Want to not-want—
as though it is the most 
desirable thing in your life. 

It is far more valuable than that! 

The greatest advantage stems from 
seeking no advantage at all. 

Run the experiment for a week. 
See how it goes.

–0–

04

I said this on 22/12/2007:

Beauty grounds us 
in the reality of present experience. 

The magic of "aesthetic arrest" 
wakes us up to the wonder 
of this here, this now, 
and redirects us to the way 
of the simply profound. 

Beauty is the ultimate balancing agent. 
Our excesses and deficiencies, 
fears and dreads, 
losses and sorrows, 
resentments and misplaced affections 
are all transcended 
and naturally put aside for a while 
in the aura of a splendid thing. 

We are centered without thinking about centering, 
at one without seeking integrity, 
peaceful, relaxed, 
without intending or striving to be either. 
We are restored and renewed 
by the unaccountable grace of beauty.

Still so after thirteen years.
And will still be so after thirteen hundred years.

Seek out beauty in art, music and nature
in a deliberate and regular way.
Think of it as aerobics 
for the soul.

–0–

03

What do you do with all your heart?
How many things do you do with all your heart?
How often?
How long has it been?

Start there in improving 
your quality of life.
Your satisfaction with life.
Your joy of life.
Your enthusiasm for life.

Begin with the things you love.
Begin with doing the things you love.
With all your heart.

Let your life fall into place around that.

Too often,
we settle for 
working it in as we are able
when our life allows--
and like that
that becomes never doing it at all.

–0–

02

I believe in about a cabillion things, 
like the value of what I'm doing for instance— 
in the absence of any validation or verification whatsoever. 
It is all intrinsic with me. 

"I" am intrinsic. 
My world is entirely subjective. 
All objective reality
has to be interpreted subjectively.
We say what it is,
and what it means,
and what it means to us.

What is important to me is important because I say it is—
who can know what is important to me better than I do? 
And if I don't live to serve what is important to me, 
then upon what basis do I go about my life? 

I make it all up! 
So do you!

And, there is a catch! 

The catch is we have to be right about it. 
We have to be right about 
What is important to us.

What is important to us has to be really important to us. 
We can't be wrong about that. 
Our motivation for life has to be flowing directly 
from what matters most to us. 
We can't be kidding ourselves, 
fooling ourselves, 
not knowing what is important to us 
and living like a nuclear powered pin ball 
ricocheting off rubber bumpers 
throughout the time we have for living, 
with no direction 
or purpose 
beyond bouncing from one thing 
to the next 
forever. 

We have to be absolutely anchored to,
and living out of, 
what is the center, 
ground, 
foundation, 
core and source 
of our own life and being. 

We can't be living disconnected from ourselves! 
What kind of life would that be? 
It would be a lie. 

We would be conning ourselves. 
We would be straw persons. 
Empty human beings.
Going through the motions of life 
without ever once being alive. 
The dead Jesus left 
to bury the dead. 

We have to be right about what is valuable, 
and live our life around that, 
at all costs, 
no matter what. 

And this gets us straight to the heart 
of what I believe in most of all: 
Silence. 
Sitting still, 
being quiet. 
Listening, 
looking. 
Letting it all pass in review. 
Constantly. 
Relentlessly. 
Dependably. 
Even while we are doing something else. 

Always examining, 
evaluating, 
searching for contradictions, 
polarities, 
dichotomies, 
incompatibilities, 
contraries, 
opposites, 
to acknowledge, 
accept, 
balance, 
integrate, 
harmonize, 
atone for, 
redeem, 
welcome, 
incorporate, 
dance with, 
live out. 

Silence is the ground of life and being, 
transforming everything, 
birthing everything, 
all the time. 

We can't be anything 
until we can be quiet 
in the right way, 
all the time.

–0–

01

Living can take the life out of us—
if we let it. 

It starts with who we are 
and what we are living for. 

With what our motivation is, 
and what our expectations are,
and what is in it for us, 
and why we get out of bed each day. 

The words extrinsic and intrinsic 
come to mind. 
They are the difference 
between what we get 
and who we are. 

If what we get for being who we are 
is what motivates us to be who we are 
we are in trouble from the start. 

What we get for being who we are 
can be not very much at all. 

The question is: 
Upon what does being who we are depend? 
What keeps us going? 
What does it take to stop us? 

Basketball players play basketball. 
Is their heart in playing or in winning? 
If they are not winning 
do they lose the edge in their playing? 

Does their playing drop off? 
Do they quit? 

What kind of basketball player 
stops playing because they aren't winning? 
Or because if they aren't playing 
for a chance at the national championship, 
they aren't going to play at all? 

Because it just isn't worth it? 

Where does "worth it" come from? 

A basketball player who plays 
only when it is "worth it" 
isn't much of basketball player. 

What will you do your best for, 
day in and day out 
because you are you 
and you love what you do 
and you live to do it 
because that is who you are, 
and nobody can pay you to do it 
or reward you for doing it 
because you simply have to do it? 
Because you MUST do it? 

What is so much LIFE for you 
that nothing can take it from you? 
Find it. 
Do it. 

And when you get old and decrepit 
and can't do it any more, 
dream of doing it. 
of having done it. 
Imagine doing it. 

Don't ever stop doing it 
in your mind 
until senility takes your mind away 
or you stop breathing. 

That's being a basketball player. 
Or a whatever-you-are player. 
Live your life to play 
whatever your life has to play 
because it is who you are. 

If it is the alto saxophone, 
play the alto saxophone like you mean it 
whether you are playing for some big prize or not—
whether you have an audience or not.

Find what you love and do it 
because it is you 
and you must do it 
because that's what you are here for, 
and being who you are 
is doing what is yours to do 
until you die.

02

The way we go about our business impacts, 
for better or worse, 
the way other people go about their business. 

The way we live 
encourages or discourages 
those around us. 

We live for one another 
as well as for ourselves. 

We have responsibilities that extend far beyond us, 
to encompass the entire planet. 
What we do
—and how we do it—
matters! 

We owe it to each other to grow up, 
bear the pain of being alive, 
and do what we can 
with what we have to work with 
in offering what we have to give 
to the context and circumstances 
of our lives 
moment-by-moment, 
situation-by-situation, 
day-in-and-day-out, 
regardless of how we feel, 
or what we want, 
or how we wish things were.

Whether we want to or not 
for no other reason than because 
everything depends on it—
and if we don't, 
it creates reverberations 
that influence the way things are 
throughout the cosmos. 

And if you don't believe that, 
why don't you? 

Everything turns on our believing that 
and living as though it is so! 
Every. 
Single. 
Thing. 

We carry that much power with us 
into every single day. 

–0–

01

We have an idea—
a model—
a template—
a paradigm—
a mock-up in our mind—
of how things ought to be. 

And we keep trying to arrange reality 
to fit our ideal for reality. 
And the two don't mesh. 
And here we are. 

The disparity between how we want things to be 
and how things are is the reason 
for the way things are—
and for all of the addictions 
that have ever been 
or will be. 

We cannot bear the pain of our dismay, 
and medicate our agony 
with any of the 10,000 
(And by now there must be 10 billion, 
or a billion billion, 
distractions/diversions—
and war is a great one) 
addictions that keep us going 
under the weight of the burden that cannot be borne: 

We cannot have what we want. 
And we can't stand it. 

Of course, the alternative is growing up. 
Brushing it off, 
and stepping back into the next moment 
as though nothing happened. 

And, that's easy because 
with a slight shift in perspective, 
nothing did happen. 
We just can't have our way. 
So what? 
Happens all the time. 
Throughout the natural world. 

"The big fish eat the little fish, 
but the little fish swim 
through the mesh in the nets 
that take the big fish to the cannery." 

That is the fundamental law of life. 
Everything has its comeuppance. 
We all meet our Waterloo, 
our Russian Winter. 
There are no free rides to Glory Land. 
We all pay the fare to ride the ride. 

Grow up. 
Get over it. 
Flip the switch. 
Turn the light around! 

Which means: Change Your Perspective! 

Growing up is nothing more than a shift in perspective. 
We were looking at it like that, 
and now we are looking at it like this. 
That. Is. All. There. Is. To. It. Ever. 
So, what's so hard about that? 

We want our way NOW! 
That is what is so hard about our life. 

It is the stupidest thing about us. 

And it is the only thing 
standing between us 
and the life that might yet be. 

But. 
We have to stand up. 
Brush it off. 
And get back in the next moment 
as though nothing happened—
because nothing did happen. 
We just grew up some more again. 

"Nothing to it but to do it" 
(Maya Angelou).

04

Regardless of the concern,
dilemma,
problem,
question,
uncertainty...
sit with it quietly,
waiting,
watching,
to see what arises,
emerges,
beckons,
calls,
occurs,
dawns,
summons,
demands,
insists,
requires...
out of the silence.

What you do with it
is entirely up to you.

–0–

03

Do not look beyond the moment.
Live to be what the moment needs you to be.
Do this moment right.
Do this moment better
than Jesus could do this moment.

What is happening?
What is being called for?
How can you be of help?

Live this moment as though
this is the moment you were born for.
This moment is why you are here!
Listen to the moment.
See the moment.
This is your moment.
Your time to shine.
Nail it!
Knock it out of the park!
Do the moment exactly 
as it needs to be done!

Moment-after-moment.
Situation-by-situation.
Day-by-day.

That.
Is.
All.
There.
Is.
To.
It.

Ever.

–0–

02

Beauty in art, music and nature
has always been restorative,
grounding and centering--
enabling us to recover
our balance and harmony,
reorienting and renewing us
for the work
of being who we are,
where we are,
when we are,
how we are
within the conditions and circumstances
of this here and this now,
seeing, hearing, understanding, knowing
what's what,
what's happening
and what needs to be done in response,
and doing it
with the gifts, genius, daemon, virtues, 
character, perspective, talents, and nature
that came with us from the womb
and are ours to offer
each situation as it arises
throughout our life--
enabling us to pick ourselves up
and get back in the game
as servants of Justice, Equality,
Liberty, Truth, Compassion and Peace,
integrating opposites
and bearing the tension of contradiction
and polarity 
in honoring Yin and Yang
in accord with the Tao
and the Mystery at the heart 
of life and being
for the pure wonder of the entire experience
and the joy of the radiance
at play through it all.

Mind how you go,
and do not go far away from beauty
in art, music and nature,
at any point along the way.

–0–

01

We have to make our peace with life--
with our life--
with our lot in life--
with who we are,
what we are,
where we are,
when we are,
how we are,
and why this and not something else instead.

In an ongoing, recurring, everlasting, 
never ending, way.

It is always,
"Now this--what?"
"Now that--what?"

We need a working philosophy
that grounds us,
and steadies us,
and readies us
to do the work of balance
and harmony,
adjustment,
acquiescence,
accommodation
through all of the stages
of our life.

Letting come what's coming
and letting go what's going,
all along the way.

Living for what?
Living to do what?
Living to be what?
In each stage of life.

What's worth having?
What's worth doing?
What's worth being?
What's worth our time and attention?
Who is to say?
How do we know?

What keeps us going?
What do we enjoy?
What do we love?
What is our shtick?
What revives us?
Enlivens us?
Restores us?
Renews us?

What do we do well?
What do we look forward to?

Where do ambition,
achievement,
accomplishment,
acquisition,
accumulation,
aspiration,
incentive,
motivation
fit in?

Are they distractions?
Diversions?
Noise?
Static?

What is clutter?
What is the heart of the matter?
What matters most?
What is a waste of time?

What questions are worth asking?
Who is/would be worth talking to?

05

We are here to love life
and pass it on.

We love life by doing what we love.
We pass it on by helping others
do what they love.

Is this simple, or, as they say, what?

"How can I help?"
is the question we ask
of each situation as it arises.

What will likely help the most is two things:
Hearing what is being said in the situation,
and hearing how it is being said.
The how is more important than the what.

In each situation,
we are being asked 
to respond to the what
and to the how.

Respond to the how first.
The how conditions the what.

What is being said with the how?
Anger?
Sadness?
Joy?
Excitement?
Depression?
Hope?
Hopelessness?
The list is long,
but it won't take you long
to identify the what of the how.

Once you get a sense of that,
acknowledge it appropriately,
and see where that leads.
Address the how first
because that may alter the what,
shifting the focus of the situation
in an entirely different direction
from what it would have been
if you had made the what
your first order of business.

Situations are rarely what they appear to be.
The how is a clue to what is behind the scenes--
to the what hiding in the what--
to the what else is there
besides the apparent what.

You are already helping the situation,
and you just got started!

The key to all of this 
is turning the light around,
the light being your focus
as you go about your life.

Enjoying your life just as it is
right here, right now,
is your proper focus--
loving your life "thus come,"
"as it is,"
and helping others love their life
in the same way--
and this is a shift in focus
from the normal way of living 
to exploit every situation as it arises
for what you take to be your advantage,
your good,
your profit,
your gain...

We think we are a failure
if we don't have more at the end of the day
than we had at the beginning.

We are a failure if we don't enjoy the day
just as it is from start to finish!
Day after day,
year after year.

That's turning the light around.
It is all we need to do 
to transform our life 
and help everyone toward
a better life than the life 
they are living.

Mind how you go!

–0–

04

I don't have any idea why I like what I like.
Do you?
And if you do, ask "Why?" of every answer,
and you will eventually get to the point of saying,
"I don't have any idea."

I don't know why I see things the way I do.
Do you?
Same thing about "Why" after every answer.
Same outcome: "I don't know why."

I don't know why I feel the way I do;
why I have the opinions I have;
why I believe what I believe;
why I do what I do;
what is guiding my boat
on its path through the sea...

And on, and on, and on...

We are held in place and motivated
by forces we cannot imagine.

"DNA" is as close as we can come.
But: "How did it get into our DNA?"
And: "Where does DNA come from?"
Etc. On and on...

We all are
"Working on mysteries without any clues"
(Bob Seger, "Night Moves,").

If you think we are not,
start asking, "What makes me think so?"
and ask that of every answer
you come up with,
and "How do I know that is so?"
and "How do I know they know 
what they are talking about?"

We take it all "on faith."
Because that is where 
all the questions lead.

And we don't know what is beyond that.
Or, if anything is.

–0–

03

I recommend stepping into each day
unarmed and ready for anything--
with nothing to gain
and nothing to lose--
interested only in seeing what happens,
what you do in response,
and where it goes.

Our only guidance and direction
comes from doing right by the moment
in light of all things considered.
What does the moment call for?
What response shall we make?

Don't have a plan beyond
looking and listening,
seeing and hearing,
and asking all the questions
that beg to be asked
by the situation at hand.

Questions lead the way.
"Answers are merely steps
on the way to better questions"
(Author unknown).
Every answer comes packed
with questions to be asked
of every answer.

Do not leave any question unasked!

Don't take anything 
more seriously
than it deserves.

And mind where you go.

–0–

02

All we have is Truth.
Truth is all there is.
Truth is our only weapon,
defense,
comfort,
redeemer,
refuge,
friend
in our confrontation
with deception,
illusion,
delusion,
lies,
fear,
hatred,
terror,
anger,
rage,
violence,
viciousness,
ruthlessness,
hopelessness,
oppression,
suppression,
genocide,
murder,
futility,
absurdity,
stupidity
inhumanity,
darkness
and death.

Truth stands its ground,
unflinching,
unperturbed,
unimpressed
and unafraid.

Truth is the solid rock,
the ground and foundation
of equanimity,
balance and harmony.

The source of the Tao.
The integrating wholeness
of Yin and Yang.
The origin and end 
of all that is.

Truth holds everything together.
And asks all of the questions
that beg to be asked
by everything that is,
and was,
and will be.

It is Truth
all the way down.

Servants of Truth
simply ask the questions
that cry out to be asked,
and let nature take its course,
trusting themselves to Truth all the way.  

–0–

01

The rallying cry of Fascists
around the world is:
"It is people like you
who make people like us
hate people like you! 
And we have to kill you
before you take over
and confiscate our guns
and treat us 
like we treat you!"

Fascists live in fear
of everyone not like them.

Black people and Asians
are most easily identified
as "not like them,"
so they go at the top of their list,
but The Libs are also there,
and anyone with a foreign accent,
or a foreign sounding name,
or anyone wearing a mask,
or not wearing a red cap.

Fascism is terror and hatred
given free rein. 

Fascism is at the heart
of every Pogrom ever launched
for whatever "reason."

And there are not "fine people
on both sides."

Fascists hate fine people,
and murder them in their dreams,
and in real time.

And fascists and fascism
are taking over democracy.
Democracy lends itself to fascist takeovers.
All fascists have to do
is keep people from voting.
Gerrymandering and voter suppression
make it a snap.

Those of us who are not fascist
have to become the enemy of fascism
the fascists think we are.
We have to become vocal,
visible,
calling it out,
making it known,
declaring it to be the evil it is,
giving it no quarter,
no disguise,
no place to hide,
naming it,
denouncing it,
opposing it at every point.

We can start by not calling them "Republicans,"
but Fascists--
because that is who they are. 

03

Joseph Campbell said that aging is a process of refinement.
Over time we settle on what is important,
filter out the nonsense and the drama,
and spend our last years 
with what matters most.

What that is will be different 
for each of us,
but all of us know what is important to us,
and what is not.

I'm for spending what time remains
with what means the most to me.

It was the pirate's life for Jack Sparrow,
it's the hermit's life for me.
Silence and solitude,
reflection and wool-gathering,
walk-a-bouts without leaving home.
Reading and writing
and working things out.
I could do it eternally
and be as eager for more 
at any point 
as I was when I started.

What would do it for you?
What has shown itself to be worth your time?
Make room for it in your life,
while life lasts.

–0–

02

There is the way things are,
and there is the way we feel 
about the way things are.

We can work to change
the way things are,
and we can work to change
the way we feel
about the way things are.

The grounding,
centering,
freeing
realization is
"This is the way things are,
and this is what can be done 
about it.
And that's that--
and that's the way things are."

Recognizing how things are
is a step on the way to 
coming to terms with how things are,
and that is a step on the way
of accepting the fact
that the way things are
is the way things are,
and how we feel about it
isn't going to change it,
and it is going to impact 
how we live in relation to it.

How we live in relation 
to the way things are
is the crucial matter
in determining how well we live at all.

In order to live as well as possible
amid the way things are,
we have to realize 
what can be changed
and what cannot be changed
about the way things are,
and then work on changing 
the way we feel 
about the way things are.

Recognition,
realization,
adjustment,
acquiescence,
accommodation
puts us in accord with
our circumstances
with equanimity,
balance and harmony--
and creates an atmosphere
that supports the best life possible
under the circumstances.

And that is as much
as anyone can ask/hope for
in any circumstances. 

–0–

01

Sit still,
be quiet,
watch,
listen,
wait,
for what arises,
emerges,
occurs,
calls,
beckons,
guides,
directs...

Notice what you are blocking,
ignoring,
rejecting.

"The stone the builders rejected,"
you know...
"Nothing good comes from Nazareth,"
you know...

Insisting on the wrong thing
got Adam and Eve a quick exit
from the Garden.

Refusing to have anything to do with
the right thing
kept them from returning.

The way back to the Garden
is like death.
Where are you refusing to die?
Again and again?

Redemption and atonement
are like death and resurrection,
and are the price we pay
for coming to life
again and again.
The toll on the road
from bondage to freedom.

What is the nature of your bondage?
What is the cost of your freedom?

Squaring up to the truth
sets us free
to do what needs to be done
here and now,
moment to moment,
in each situation as it arises.

Bondage to the truth is freedom.
Bondage to denial, desire, fear
is death.
But it takes dying
to be born again and again
on the path from death to life.

Dying is saying no to the right things,
and saying yes to the right things--
in a world where right is wrong,
and wrong is right,
and where perspective keeps things
as they are,
and flips to turn things
into all they might be.

We are always one slight shift in perspective
away from having it made.

So we sit,
still and quiet,
waiting and watching
for the perspective shift
that is death and life
and the transformation of all things.

Epiphany.
The Day of Atonement.
The Return to Eden.
The Rapture at the end 
of one time
and the beginning of another--
all occasioned
by the way we see
what we look at.

Death and life
as an optical illusion,
realized by turning the light around,
and changing our mind
about what is important,
and what is not.