This Category contains all of my posts made in the month of December of 2020
November 30, 2020
03
Our mythology consists of the things we tell ourselves to adjust ourselves to the world, to life as it is, to the way things are. What do you turn to when you have nowhere to turn? What do you say to yourself about your losses and your sorrows? How do you find your way forward? What are the stories? The pep talks? The the slogans and mottoes? The mantras and the sayings? There is a world of things we turn to when this world flattens us, overwhelms us, disappoints us... We talk ourselves back to life, back to functioning. What do we say? That is our mythology. Our mythology is a collection of metaphors that help us make sense of things and find meaning in what happens or fails to happen. Scraps of songs, pieces of poetry, movie lines, inspirational quotes, stories of the heroes of the past, baseball quips... all come together in the moment and what needs to be done about it, in response to it and help us find our bearings, get our feet under us, stand up and make our way. What is our grounding mythology? When we identify it, we can consciously amend it, elaborate it, add to it, improve it, perfect it, shape it, form it and formally make it out own-- and be better prepared to meet what is coming, and find our way through whatever is waiting around the next curve in the road, and the one after that.
–0–
02
"All things work together for good for those (who are on the beam)." Being on the beam is the key factor in a life well-lived. Beyond that, there is no advantage whatsoever to being on the beam. Staying on the beam under those circumstances is the true test of our resiliency and willful determination to be faithful and loyal liege servants of our destiny. Our relationship with our destiny is the central point around which everything coalesces. Living aligned with our destiny means one thing for us, and living at odds with our destiny means another. Here is the interesting thing: Either way, it is all the same with our destiny. Our destiny is such that it can use whatever we bring it to realize itself through us. It goes better for us in terms of our peace of mind and our being true to ourselves, living from our center and grounded in what matters most, whose life is a blessing and a grace upon all who come our way, but we are only going to be able to count on having what we need to do what needs to be done. Extravagance and indulgence are not going to characterize our life, and there will be days when we have to talk ourselves into getting out of bed and doing the thing that calls our name. It comes down to sacrificing ourselves, again and again, in the service of our destiny, doing what is ours to do, the way it should be done, when it should be done, as best we can for as long as we are able-- with compassion and sincerity, and without contrivance or exploitation. Once contrivance and exploitation, personal gain and advantage, enter the situation, the flow is destroyed and we are on our own. When we walk away from the beam to serve our own purposes, we die in a wasteland of our own making every time.
–0–
01
I dreamed last night-- or was it a vision-- that some place in the world had been cordoned off because a strain of COVID-19 had been discovered that is 25 times more deadly than the original version, and all known vaccines are useless against it. Whether it is real or not is not the question. The potential exists no matter how unlikely. Our mindset worldwide leaves us vulnerable and reduces our chances, regardless of what those chances are. A mindset is something we can do something about. Let's divide mindsets between Stupid and Savvy. Stupid wears a MAGA hat and refuses to wear a mask. Savvy does the reverse. But, Asymptomatic people belong to both groups, and skew the profiles. Plus, all Stupid people will not get the virus and all Savvy people will not avoid it. After the mud settles and the water clears, there will probably be about the same percentage of Stupid and Savvy in the world as before. And the vulnerability of Savvy people will be about what it was before. But. Everyone can increase their chances at a long, centered, balanced and harmonious life (Probably forgetting for some time happy, joyous, carefree and giddy) by learning to be mindfully aware and self-transparent. Jon Kabat-Zinn's YouTube videos (The shortest ones first) are a helpful path to both those outcomes, which is really one thing, Mindfully-Aware-Self-Transparency. If it takes a pandemic to ground us forever in Mindfully-Aware-Self-Transparency, it is our own stupid fault.
2020
I migrated from FaceBook to WordPress in June, 2020, so this collection is for the last six months of the year. I hope you enjoy perusing the posts!
Here’s one to get things started:
We wake up in some life in some time in some place in a "Here we are, now what?" kind of way. How we answer that question tells the tale. The tale we tell with our life-- the tale our life tells through us. Getting ourselves together with our life is what our life is all about. We take our cues for living by living in tune with our life. By aligning ourselves with our life. By living in accord with the impulses, with the current, with the flow and movement of our life. Our life takes the lead. We collaborate and assist as its faithful companion in the wonder of being alive. Seeing what we look at, listening to what we are hearing, reading the signs and sensing the rhythms of the times, so that we know what's what and what is called for in each situation as it arises, in order to do what is needed when it is needed the way it is needed because it is needed for nothing more than the joy of doing it, and the satisfaction of having done it, moment by moment all our life long is the way that is The Way, which we make up as we go, and realize after we have done it at the end of our days. May it be so for each of us, always and forever!
November 29, 2020
02
–0–
What pulls you off course? What attachment is stronger than the call from your center for expression and service? If we are not going to live to incarnate what is deepest, truest and best about us, what are we getting that will offset that betrayal? The story of the Garden of Eden is the story of the betrayal of our center. The story of the Garden of Gethsemane is the story of faithful loyalty to our Center. Both stories are about our dying. Only one is about our being restored to life. Our center is the source of life. It is our vital core of life and being. When we live from the center, we are as alive as we can be. When we fail to guard the center, and live to serve some other promise of gain, delight and well-being, we choose a path that leads directly to the depths of the wasteland. Joseph Campbell said, "The crucial thing to live for is the sense of life in what you are doing, and if that is not there, then you are living according to someone else's notion of how life should be lived." And, "I know that I am on track when everything is in a harmonious relationship with what I regard as the best I have in me." When we sacrifice our best on the altar of our wants and desires, we sell ourselves for the equivalent of glass beads and silver mirrors.
01
The moment we have something at stake in a situation, or a relationship, a disturbance is created in the flow, and we are living with our self-interest at heart and not the interest of the situation, or the relationship. Then we are in a "Get My Way At All Costs" mode of operating and the true good of ourselves, the other person, or the situation as a whole goes out the window. Getting our way is not always what the time and place of our living is calling for. And, even if it is what is called for, it still creates a disturbance in the flow by virtue of putting us in the position of calculating where to draw the line-- where does what is good for us become what is bad for us, in terms of the price we are willing to pay to have our way. There is no price we will not pay when serving the good of the situation as a whole. Men/women sacrificing themselves on fields of battle, are examples of people paying the ultimate price for the good of others. Jesus died in service to his cause as a model to all his followers of what was to be/is to be expected of them in their service to the same cause-- that is to say, "The truth of what matters most in any situation." This is the "Love of Fate" put forth by Fredrich Nietzsche as the ideal way of embracing one's circumstances with a bold, "Yea!" and letting nothing stop us from doing "what we are here for" in the places with the worst likely outcome. Or of "participating in the suffering of another to such a degree, that we forget ourselves and our own safety and spontaneously do what is necessary" (Joseph Campbell)-- "in service to the truth of what matters most in any situation." Our life is always moving toward our death. "The Secret Cause" (James Joyce)-- that is, what we are living in the service of-- directs our steps toward our final breath. And, through 10,000 psychological/emotional deaths at every transition point (where we are asked to "grow up some more again" all along the way), "dying to our idea of how things ought to be in the service of how things actually need to be." The trick is to die the deaths that lead to new births and not dying the deaths that just lead to our being dead. That is living in the flow of our life all the way to our last breath.
November 28, 2020
02
If our heart isn't in what we are doing, it shows. We can't fake heart. Better that we listen to heart-- and do what heart says do, and not do what heart says don't do. We make our biggest mistakes not listening to heart. Or confusing heart with Eros, and waking up in some version of the Wasteland, wondering how we got there. Well. It is too bad we aren't born with experience. Because it takes listening with experience to know what we are hearing. But no one is keeping score, and it doesn't matter how long it takes, and all it takes is waking up, and all waking up takes is experience, so, what's the problem? There is no problem! Live on! Live on!
–0–
01
Everything is moving all the time. The only still point in the entire cosmos is at the very center of ourselves. Finding the core of who we are-- "the face that was ours before our parents were born"-- the qualities, character, virtues/characteristics, proclivities/interests/enthusiasms gifts, genius, spirit/life/vitality that are as our fingerprints and the cones of our irises, unique among all humans who have ever lived, or will ever live, and living out of our individuality in ways that incarnate, express, exhibit, and make plain the person we are in the way we live our life is the Opus we are here to compose, orchestrate and bring forth in the time and place of our living. How are you coming along with that? What would help you with your work?
November 27, 2020
04
What is meaningful about your life? How often do you do it? How often would you need to do it to say without hesitation that you are living a meaningful life? A life that has meaning for you is the only meaningful life there is for you. If what do has meaning for 10,000 people, but now for you, how meaningful is that? You could still drink yourself into oblivion every night and feel that you had wasted your life because it was not fulfilling for you. And it is not self-indulgent to live in the service of our highest/deepest enthusiasm, "it is vital," as Diane Osbon has said. Do not merely think about what is meaningful to you-- do it--as often as possible, for as long as possible! Make it your thing to do your thing, as often as possible, for as long as possible, throughout what remains of the time left for living!
–0–
03
Everything is a portal into mystery and unknowing. The Hindus, and before them, the Dravidians of the Indus Valley (2500 BCE - 1500 BCE) held that the world as always been just as it is. And always means always to them. It means there has never been a time when the cosmos was not. No beginning, no ending-- like the tides on the seas. The tide comes in and the tide goes out, and between coming and going, the tide turns around. So it is with the universe, coming and going always. It is a different way of looking at things. We think of the creating event as the Big Bang. Before then there was only tiny bits of matter coalescing over a long period of time. We do not ask, "How many Big Bangs have there been?" We think in terms on only one. Why only one? Before that one, what? Those of us in the Christian West, like to think there is only one God who has always been. We do not ask, "Before God, what?" or, "Where did God come from?" We grant eternal and everlasting existence to God. Hindus grant it to the Cosmos. And it all is shrouded in mystery. We do not know where it all came from, or how we got here, or by what means there is something and not nothing. Our Sunday school teachers told us a nice, pat, little story that answers nothing. That creates more questions than it resolves. And leaves us stuck with not-knowing half of all there is to know, or even half of one millionth of one percent of all there is to know. We live in mystery. We swim in mystery. We are awash in mystery. And we don't give it a thought. We should be staggered by the wonder of it all. And we spend our time complaining about the weather, or wondering where we can find a really good pizza. When everything is a portal into mystery and unknowing, and it is wasted on us. Absolutely wasted.
–0–
02
We are ice dancing here. Dancing with our life, at one with the music no one can hear, to the flow of time and place and the wonder of everyone, ourselves most of all-- for the glory of it, like a moth dancing with the flame, for the hell of it, for the joy of it, for the rapture of it, and the beauty of being in sync with the moment, having the time of our life. And, if not, why not? What are we waiting for? Step onto the ice, and dance! While you can!
–0–
01
There is more to it than meets the eye. This is the grounding hope at the bottom of it all. Karma and Grace and the Tao are all a part of the More. Synchronicity and the magic of Timing, and the wonder of Flow, and whatever goes into setting one Time and Place apart from all other times and places, always and forever... There is Mystery at the Heart of Life and Being. Mystery that is to be trusted and relied upon past all logic and reason. To be aligned with the Mystery is to be on track, on the beam, at one with the moment and in touch with the Unknown and Unknowable-- without being able to use it for our personal gain or benefit in any way. The Apostle Paul said it this way: "Have the same mind among you that you find in Jesus of Nazareth, who did not count equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself and became faithful unto death, even death on a cross." To live in this way is to be the Christ in each situation as it arises, in each moment of our living, by getting ourselves and our interests out of the way, and doing what needs to be done for no other reason than that it needs to be done, and having nothing to gain or lose because we are serving the Secret Cause beyond sight and sound, and are glad to be spent in that service, knowing it is better and more than anything we could ever imagine. If you are going to take anything on faith, let it be this, and live in every moment as though it is so.
November 26, 2020
04
Is it easier to deceive yourself alone, or in a group? When I look around at the white supremacists, the NRA, the MAGA's, the Qanon's, the Roman Catholic Church, the Evangelical Christian churches, the Protestant Christian churches... the list is really, really, long... I think there is no safety in numbers, and the more people you have, the less likely it is that everyone is doing a clarity/fact/check on every statement that is being made, and that is, at least, a possibility for individuals in the solitude of their own recliner. Deception, delusion, illusion, being fooled are all tricks humans pull on themselves and one another. Avoiding them, or just recognizing them, is a life-long task. And, it is one that we have to recognize as being ours to undertake, and to know we are responsible for, and begin the work on constructing what is generally thought of as a "Bullshit Detector." What goes into an industrial strength BSD? There are books, newsletters, YouTube videos and soon-to-be-surely hotlines and smart phone apps. We would be wise to start our own collection of methods to keep ourselves savvy and up on the latest aids to knowing what's what that are available to those who want to know. It is hard enough staying on the path when the mud has settled and the water is clear. When the propaganda merchants are filling the air with waves of nonsense and idiocy, we have to filter everything we hear and see through micro-strainers to have a chance at a trustworthy interpretation of what is going on. Do everything you can to see what you look at, and understand what is being said. Everything depends on knowing what is happening and what needs to happen in response. Everything.
–0–
03
It is difficult to know where Zen begins and Taoism stops, but. The concept of "turning the light around" is right there. Turning the light around means "Stop looking out there for what is in here!" The Buddha is not out there! The Way is not out there! The Christ is not out there! God in whatever religion is not out there! The Enemy is not out there! It is all in here! When Jesus said, "Love your enemy," and when Paul said, "Wretched man that I am-- who will deliver me from this body of death?" They were both talking about the enemy within, the one who sabotages our best intents and purposes. We do not will ourselves to perfection and holiness, deserving of the rewards of heaven and life-everlasting. We do not beat ourselves into submission, or punish ourselves into sinless living. "Love your enemy" is loving ourselves, and all that is within us that opposes our idea of who we ought to be. Turning the light around means receiving ourselves well, with compassion and grace, the good and the bad, like the Prodigal's father welcoming him home. It is not by striving to be pure and sinless that we become whole and complete, but through compassionate, non-judgmental awareness and acceptance of all that we are and are capable of being-- and by extending this welcoming, gracious, generous and kind receptivity to all others, we participate in the making of a miracle that transforms all of our relationships, by turning the light around.
—–0–
02
Genghis Khan said: "A man's greatest pleasure is crushing his enemies. The greatest happiness is to vanquish your enemies, to chase them before you, to rob them of their wealth, to take their horses, to see those dear to them bathed in tears, to clasp to your bosom their wives and daughters.” Take his enemies, their wealth and horses, their wives and daughters away from him. Put him on an island with water to eat and fruit and vegetables to eat, and watch what happens to him. What does he do with his time? Forever? What would keep him going? What is your greatest pleasure? Your greatest happiness? What would you do without it? Without the hope of it? Without the possibility of it? What would keep you going? Blaise Pascal said, “All of humanity's problems stem from (our) inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” What keeps us going, sitting quietly in a room alone? What makes it worth our time and effort?
–0–
01
What does thinking about sex keep us from thinking about if we weren't thinking about sex? What will Artificial Intelligence think about when it progresses to the point of being self-replicating, self-reproducing? It seems (to me) that thinking about sex is our genes' way of producing more genes. What is the equivalent of "producing more genes" from an AI perspective? It could be that the problem for the Mystery at the heart of Life and Being is keeping the experiment going. So, every living thing thinks about sex in its own way. And Life and Being follows a routine course over time, except for the occasional blips of novelty that make it interesting. Being interested is another problem for the Mystery. What keeps it going? What is the mystery for the Mystery? What does it think about? You can't get away from the fact that the theological creation we call God cannot get us off its mind. God is consumed with, obsessed by its compulsion for us to do right by it. We drive God to distraction. It cannot think of anything else. "What are they doing now?" "What are they doing now?" "What are they doing now?" And writing it all down in the Book of Life. What a life that would be. What keeps AI going? What would keep us going if it weren't for thinking about sex? (And having sex isn't as important to us, as interesting to us, as thinking about having sex, which makes pornography such a hit). What is there, other than sex, to think about? To be interested in? Can we think about it, be interested in it, without thinking there is something wrong with us for not thinking about sex all the time? The culture would have us think about sex all the time. Sex sells. Sex is good for the economy. Sex and money are the foundations of every culture there ever has been-- and where does that line lie? The one between sex and money? Sex is money. Money is sex. What is money good for if not sex? What is sex good for if not more sex? What are we good for, if not thinking about sex? It is what we do best, isn't it? It is certainly what we do most, isn't it? What would we be doing if we weren't thinking about sex or having sex? What will AI be doing with its time?
November 25, 2020
04
Boredom is not a call for "Action, any kind of action!", but an invitation to sit still and be quiet. We are forever passing up silence for action-- and therein lies the problem. "Action, any kind of action," is distraction, diversion, addiction-- addiction to noise, to distraction and diversion. We live for entertaining pastimes, and have no intention of meeting what meets us in the silence, and dealing with what must be dealt with, and doing what needs to be done. We live for the "action, any kind of action," that keeps us going and saves us from the silence that requires us to face the truth of who we are and how it is with us. We don't much like ourselves and do not enjoy our own company-- and seek relief from all that is so unsatisfactory about us in "action, any kind of action!" Living is like dying, any way we look at it. Doing what it takes to be alive is like dying. And refusing to do what it takes to be alive is like dying. One way of dying comes with resurrection attached. The other way of dying is to be dead until we die. I say if we are gong to die either way, we may as well get something out of it, and go with meeting ourselves in the Silence, and doing what is required to be alive. Even though it is like dying, it is the doorway to life. Being fully alive, with life spilling over, pouring out, is "right there," waiting for us to show up and say, "We're looking for action, any kind of action. Can you help us with that?"
–0–
03
There is only knowing what your "thing" is, and doing it. Knowing what makes your little heart sing, and doing it. Knowing what is meaningful for you, and doing it. Knowing what you love, and doing it. How long as it been? How long will it be before you work it into your life? That is your life! The rest of your life consists of what all doing that leads to and what it takes to support your doing it. If your life is renting a horse and jumping obstacles, rent a horse and jump obstacles, and let everything else fall into place around that. Everything. Else.
–0–
02
My best advice has not changed over time: Sit still, be quiet, wait for the mud to settle and the water to clear. See what arises from the silence. What calls you to action. What compels you to act. What you do about it tells the tale that is waiting to be told. At this point, at every point, your future is entirely up to you.
–0–
01
Freedom is not having anyone telling us what to do, what to like and not like, what to see and how to see it... We want to be free to choose, or not, all of that for ourselves. As if. We are not--not one of us is-- free to choose what we like and don't like, what we want and don't want, how we see and how we don't see, what is important and what does not matter at all... Anymore than we are free to choose our destiny, or how we will respond to it, or our taste in pizza, or when we will be in the mood for it, or any of our preferences and proclivities, or our interests and our lack of interests... We have no say in who we are, or how we are. "Free will" is such a hoax. We are not free to will anything other than what we will. "Freedom of choice" is another one. We are not free to choose our choices. We are not free to choose what we want. Or what we don't want. We are not free to live anyway we please because we are not free to choose what pleases us and what does not. We are as bound to who we are and how we exhibit that in our life as a leopard is to its spots and a spider is to the web it spins. Enough of the free will myth! Stop trying to have your way and put your effort into having it not! Real freedom is walking away from your idea of you, and embracing the you that is calling you into its service! We get to choose our masters! It is the only choice we have! Who is guiding your boat on its path through the sea? What is the source of the good you call good? What is the essence of you that you are asked to exhibit, to incarnate, to serve with your life? Our quest is to know these things, to grow up against our will, and to be, at last, who we are-- and have been since before we were born!
November 24, 2020
03
What is your predominant mood? What is your overriding feeling? What is the nature of your outlook? Of your viewpoint? Of your disposition? How does your body carry anxiety, anger, hopelessness, depression, grief, mourning, fear, worry, concern...? What is not working about your life? Where are your needs and expectations being disappointed? What is the nature of your betrayal? Where do you turn when you have nowhere to turn? When you know you are "on the beam," what is the nature of the beam? What are you doing? What happens to knock you off "the beam"? What is the nature of your dissatisfaction? How would you go about changing what you tell yourself about what has happened/is happening in your life? How does your "narrative" need to be changed? Are you your own best friend? If you were your own best friend, what do you think you most need to hear? On a low to high scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your response-ability to disappointment? to beauty? to good news? to bad news? to wonder? to excitement? to opportunity? to invitations? Questions for self-reflection.
–0–
02
Our way of living creates waves upon the surface of life, making it impossible for us to see into the depths in order to perceive the truth of our essence, and live out of our original nature and our natural rhythms, in meeting the requirements of the here and now as we move through each day. In order to live out of the truth of our center within the time and place of our living, we have to make the concerted effort to stop at regular intervals throughout the day to remember our breathing and shift into self-realization, by sitting still and being quiet to calm the waves, allow the mud to settle, and clear the water to connect with the deep core of our being and the Source, the Mystery, at the heart of life. Being thus centered and grounded, we can step back into the moment as those capable of seeing what is happening and what needs to happen in response-- what is being called for and how we can rise to the occasion with the gifts we have to offer, with sincerity and non-contrivance, in each situation as it arises. Transforming the world one situation at a time.
–0–
01
A Community of Innocence is a group of 3 to 5 people who come together with no agenda, and nothing at stake in each other, beyond serving as a sounding board for one another in helping everyone in the group find their life, and live it with allegiance to their individual destiny, through establishing their contact with, and living from, their own center by way of self-transparency and awareness, mindfully exhibiting sincerity, non-contrivance, balance, harmony, and spontaneity in response to what is happening, and what needs to be done in response, in each situation as it arises. We do not live to answer the question, "What do I want to get from my life?" Or, "What am I getting from my life?" But, "What do I have to offer my life and the situations that comprise my life, out of the gifts I have to share, for the good of the situations as a whole?" And, "How can I best live from my center in serving my destiny and my essence, by being true to my original nature and my natural rhythms, situation-by-situation?" Our Communities of Innocence (And we can have as many as we can fit into our life) listen us into hearing what we have to say, and offer a regular reminder of the importance of finding a place for stillness and silence in each day for self-reflection, examination, exploration and realization in order to know what we know and what is being called for in the here and now of our living. That is all we need to find what we need to do what needs to be done in the times and places of our living. And no one can do more than that.
November 23, 2020
03
We are to live out of the center of who we are-- "Like a wheel turning out of its own center," (Friedrich Nietzsche). In order to do that, we have to spend time nurturing and nourishing our relationship with our center. Our center is the contact point with our original nature, our natural rhythms, and the Source-- the Mystery at the Heart of Life and Being. It is no light thing to return to the center! And it is an absolute essential thing to live from there! At the center, there is stillness and silence and a perceptible, though faint, sense of "AUM" in the air. And we know we have what we need to find what we need to do what needs to be done in each moment, moment-by-moment, situation-by-situation, day-by-day, throughout our life and beyond. Return regularly to the center, and everything will fall into place around that. We have to understand, however, that "falling into place" doesn't mean "having our way." We will have to adjust our expectations, aspirations and ambitions to align them with the center's aims, and our destiny's interests, which is necessary to turn things around and create the framework for a life lived from the center, transforming all things.
–0–
02
It takes returning regularly to stillness and silence in maintaining our connection with the center and the Source-- with the Mystery at the heart of life and being. When we lose that connection, we are on our own, without guardrails or guidance, lost in the wasteland of fear/desire/duty, with nothing to stabilize or orient us beyond the next thing to want, and all the things to hate, despise, loathe and detest to keep us going. Groundless living is drifting-- free-falling-- through our life, hoping to find something to make it worthwhile, and settling for one addiction after another as an acceptable substitute for being alive. All the time ignoring the life that is "right there," "right here," waiting to be recognized, acknowledged, embraced and engaged. Like the man holding the butter, looking for the butter. Like the woman with her glasses on her head asking, "Has anybody seen my glasses?" We walk past our life, through our life, seeking our life, when all it takes is stopping, seeing what we are looking at, hearing what we are listening to, knowing what we know and doing what needs to be done about it.
–0–
01
"I believe, help, thou, my unbelief!" Means, "I know who I need to be, help me be who I am!" Means, "I have the mental part down! Help me incarnate that in my life!" Means, "I know what needs to be done! Help me do it!" "In each situation as it arises! All my life long!" We live to put it into action. We live to live the truth of who we are in the midst of the 10,000 things. In the whirling Dust of the World. Amid the heaving waves of the wine-dark sea. If you think that is easy, back it out of the drive way and take it round the block a time or two. It takes focus, clarity, concentration, dedication, stillness and silence, and practice, practice, practice to live without contrivance, with sincerity, spontaneity, compassion, awareness, balance, harmony, acceptance of-- and compliance with-- how things are and what needs to be done about it in each situation as it arises, throughout our life. But. Once we get that down, it is clear sailing all the way.
November 22, 2020
03
What are the things keeping us from being the person we are capable of being, doing the things we are capable of getting done? Really--what is holding us back? Standing in our way? If it weren't for what, we would be doing what? Sit quietly with those things in your lap. Meditate on those things. Contemplate those things. See what stirs to life in so doing. See what comes to light. See where you are being led, and don't fail to go where you are being directed. Your life needs you to live it the way it needs to be lived. To serve your destiny. To be who you were born to be. In each situation as it arises all your life long. Beginning right here right now.
–0–
02
We are here to serve our destiny-- to be who we are, naturally, spontaneously, doing what is ours to do, without contriving to have our way, or to get what we want, or to turn things to our benefit, profit, gain or advantage-- just to be who we are and do what is ours to do for no other reason than because that is who we are and that is what is ours to do. Period. In each situation as it arises, all our life long. Our destiny is the rough equivalent of a caste system, the only difference being that no one can tell us what our destiny is by virtue of the circumstances of our birth. No one can tell us what our destiny is. That is ours only to know for ourselves. Only I know what is "me." And "not-me." Only you know what is "you." And "not-you." Joseph Campbell said, "We know when we are on the beam, and when we are off of it." We know what is ours to do when we see it. We know it is talking to us when it calls our name. Of course, most of us have other ideas. We have our preferences and our dreams for our life. The trouble is that our life probably has other ideas for us. This gets us to the heart of, "Not my will, but thine, be done!" Our life's will for us can be like a crucifixion, a self-sacrifice, acquiescence, surrender, submission, death, dying to our wants/wishes for ourselves in swearing filial allegiance and liege loyalty to our destiny and our life's will for us. This is the story of the Garden of Eden and the Garden of Gethsemane. Who is the final authority determining how our life is to be lived? Is it us? Or our life, our destiny? Our answer to that question determines everything that follows.
–0–
01
If everyone would sit still and be quiet until The Shift happened the world would be instantly transformed. Shift happens. It happens regularly throughout our life. But we cannot schedule it. It doesn't happen when it is convenient. It doesn't happen at the same time for anyone, much less for everyone. It can be assumed, and even expected, and looked forward to, but it cannot be predicted, and if it is controlled, it is artificial, and cannot be relied upon to be as dependable and trustworthy as the real thing. When The Shift happens, our life "clicks" into place, and things take shape around that. We know what is important, see what needs to happen, hear what is being called for in each situation as it happens, and live in the service of our destiny in responding spontaneously to the need of the moment in each situation as it arises, with sincerity and non-contrivance, compassion and acceptance, balance and harmony, day-in and day-out, all our life long. This is the attitude, and the approach to life, that changes the world. And it arises on it own out of the stillness of the silence.
November 21, 2020
03
We have to be right about what's important. Everything rides on it. But how can we be right about what's important? By being wrong, wrong, wrong with our eyes open. Getting it right the first time is an accident. Getting it right twice in a row just starting out is stupid lucky. Getting it right every time is unheard of. We have to get it right every time. We get there the hard way. By being aware of what we are doing. Nobody can tell us how to be right. We figure it out for ourselves. Books are no help. Recipes are useless. Experience is the only teacher, and we have to be the willing student. The way to make really good soup, let's say, chicken noodle, is by making a lot of really bad chicken noodle soup. And learning as we go. We learn what's important the same way. How do we know what's important? By trying out all of the likely candidates and seeing how it works. We experiment our way through the options. "That's not it!" "That's not it!" "That's not it!" "Nope." "Nope." "Nope." All the way down the line. Learning how to see what we look at, how to evaluate what we see, how to know what's what. Until, bingo, there it is! And when we know "There it is!", we know it. And when we know it, nothing can talk us out of it. It is important because we know it is important. Because we say so. And we will go to hell for it, if need be. Because it matters most. What will you go to hell for? When you can answer that question, you know you have something to hang on to. Hang on to it, and serve it with your life!
–0–
02
We are riding a black horse bareback on a dark night in the pouring rain down a steep trail. Our place is to stay on the horse, and not try to tell her what to do. I recommend leaning forward, with your cheek on her neck and your hands extended down toward her shoulders and your knees pressing into her sides, and letting her find the way. Keep that image/metaphor in mind as you step into each day. And bring it up into consciousness when you encounter turns of events you don't expect, and news you can't handle. We are riding a black horse on a dark night in the pouring rain down a steep trail.
–0–
01
Denial, self-deception, illusion, delusion, diversion, distraction, deflection, and all their spin-offs and relatives, have gotten us this far. I'll bet they keep us going. You can say what you want to about the high values, liberty, justice, compassion, peace... all the things we say we are living for. But we are living out of fear, desire, duty, and their extensions, guilt, anger, rage, hatred, greed, terror, dread... If you want to motivate someone, go for stirring things up in the areas of guilt, anger, rage, etc. area. Forget appealing to their "higher selves." Donald Trump is a case in point. He got 70 million people to vote for him on that basis. And the 73, or so, million who voted against him? Most of them acted out of the same motivation, only directed against him. Everybody voted their fear and rage. So don't give me the humanity is all justice and love at the heart ga ga. Humanity is out for itself at the heart, even though it has no idea of what that means. It thinks what it means is having what it wants and not having what it doesn't want, and that is how it lives-- toward having its way and avoiding all things not its way. And it doesn't like the way that sounds, so it tricks itself with words that conceal its intentions and desires. Telling ourselves what we want to hear is what we do best. Or is it shooting ourselves in the foot? Perhaps, they are the same. If you don't want to be that way, you will be working against the grain, swimming against the current, like up Niagara Falls, but, you could begin by looking in the mirror until you see who is looking back. Self-transparency is the foundation of a super-human life, the life of a Real Human Being. Just looking until we see. Just listening until we hear. Just inquiring until we know. And letting nature take its course. Nature does what needs to be done without looking back in each situation as it arises, not kidding itself. Nature doesn't operate out of fear, desire, duty. Nature is fearless, desire-less, duty free. Think lemmings and the sea. Nature does what is called for without knowing why, or caring about what the gain is. And it doesn't take more than it needs. Or ask for more than it has a right to. And trusts it all to be just fine some how. The difference between us and nature is that we have a bigger brain and can foresee the future, and think we can avoid aspects of it and guarantee other aspects of it, and are future-bound. And we can remember the past want to avoid certain aspects of it and guarantee other aspects of it, and are past-bound. And that plays hell with the present. But here we are. Now what? I'm just going to see what the next moment calls for and strive to do it, with all things considered, insofar as that is possible, and see where it goes, and let that inform what I do in the next moment, for all the moments that remain in my life. And hope for the best. Whatever that may be.
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 