01

We pay a price to be who we are.

Negotiation.
Compromise.
Adjustment.
Readjustment.
Steady companions along the way.

If we aren't going to be who we are,
who are we going to be?

We pay a price to not be who we are.

"All we ever wanted was smooth and easy!"
(An AA slogan)

Smooth and easy aren't so smooth and easy.

We bear the pain of being alive
one way or another--
consciously,
mindfully,
deliberately,
intentionally,
courageously,
or
unconsciously,
mindlessly,
accidentally,
unintentionally,
symptomatically.

It begins with taking the time 
to know who we are.
Everything else falls into place around that.

The Native American Vision Quest
was not about envisioning a future,
conjuring up a life-goal,
imagining a destination
(Understand this:
There is no destination!).

It was about seeing who we are.

The most important relationship
is our relationship with ourselves--
with our Self.
With our Original Self.
With The Face That Was Ours Before We Were Born.
With The Self Who Is The Source And Guardian
Of The Virtues,
Values,
Character
that define us,
guide us,
illumine us,
direct us
and accompany us
along The Way.

We are never alone,
but we live as though we are,
because we do not take the time
to know who we are.

Marianne Moore said,
"The cure for loneliness is solitude."

In solitude we meet who we are,
who we also are.

Carl Jung said,
"There is, in each of us,
another, whom we do not know."

The heart of every vision quest is the silence
that transports us 
from aloneness to solitude.

The silence is alive with moods and memories,
feelings and thoughts,
reflection,
recognition,
realization.

How long has it been
since you sat, 
still and quiet,
watching and waiting
for something to stir to life in the silence,
something that has been waiting all this time
for an audience with you?

This is the vision the quest seeks.

It is the vision of our own depth and potential--
the gifts, genius, daemon, qualities, virtues
that comprise our identity
and yearn to be incarnated, exhibited, expressed, made actual
and brought to life in the life we are living.

We carry within us the treasure of the gods
as a blessing to humankind
(That would be to one another,
and all others)
and is waiting to be born
in the way we live our life.

Even yet.
Even still.
Even now.

02

Take care of the moment. 

Everything turns on how well
we take care of the moment.

We throw moments away 
by the bushels,
by the metric tons,
by the sanitary landfills.

We treat moments 
as though they are 
in our way
keeping us from where we want to be
and what we want to be doing.

We drink whiskey
and do drugs
to compensate ourselves
for having to deal with all these damn moments
of nothing endlessly stretching out the distance
between the times of our glory and our bliss.

The high times are our way of compensating ourselves
for missing the point of our life.

We want our life to be bigger,
better,
finer
than a life can be.

A life that is alive to the moment of its living
is as alive as it ever gets.

A cat with a ball of twine.
A baby with a spoon and a pie pan.
Are doing moments the way moments are to be done.

It is called taking care of the moment.

Doing what the moment is calling for. 

Extending the moment,
making it last.

Jazz does that.
And dawdling around with a sunset,
or a thunder storm.

How long since you dawdled around with anything?
Lingered with the moment
as though it is sufficient for your needs?

Why do we need more than the moment has to offer?
From whence cometh our emptiness?
Our hunger?
Thirst?
Our desperate query,
"Is this all there is?"?

Hold on to your moments.
Relish them.
Savor them.
Do not let them go
until they have graced you
with their gifts
and the abundance of their stores.

And revealed to you the wonder
of a life lived fully
one moment at a time.

–0–

01

Look until you see what's what.

Listen until you hear what is called for.

In each situation as it arises.

Moment-by-moment.

Day-by-day.

Do what needs to be done.

As best you can.

With the gifts,
genius,
daemon,
virtues,
character
that came with you
from the womb
and constitute your Original Nature--
"The Face That Was Yours Before You Were Born"--
that you are here to incarnate,
express,
exhibit,
bring forth
and serve
with liege loyalty
and filial devotion
all your life long.

And let everything fall into place around that.

Flowing into the next situation
in the next moment
in which you will do the same things
throughout the time left for living.

That's all there is to it.

03

"Oh, I see what your problem is."
The Buddha was talking to those gathered
to discover the secret path 
to eternal happiness.
"You care too much about what happens to you!
You will never be happy
until you care less about what happens,
and care more about doing what you can
in every situation
to make things as good as they can be
for yourselves,
one another,
and all others--
and let that be good enough!"
      --From "The Undiscovered Discourses of The Buddha" 

–0–

02

Move toward what resonates with you.
Move away from what repels you.
Simple and fundamental rules for life.

The things that resonate with you
are your guides through all that lies ahead.

Just as "One book opens another,"
so the things that resonate with you
will lead you to other things that resonate with you,
and you will discover wonders
in the most unlikely places,
and come alive in the life you are living
in ways you could have never imagined,
or created,
on your own
by thinking about it
through careful planning.

We know what we need,
but.
We do not know what all we know.
And so.
We have to develop our awareness
in order to realize what lies latent within
waiting for its chance 
to sparkle and astound
when someone--
that would be us--
asks it if it would like to dance.

–0–

01

We take what the day gives us
and do what we can with it
with the gifts we have to offer
within the context and circumstances
of our life,
moment-by-moment,
and see where it goes.

We keep our religion to ourselves,
and stay out of other people's business,
honoring everyone's ability
to see what they look at,
and hear what is being called for
in the time and place of their living,
being clear about where we start
and they stop,
and only drawing lines
when it becomes apparent
that they are a danger to themselves
and to others,
and then in as kind a way
as the occasion allows,
understanding that no one is in charge
of the way they see things--
but that doesn't mean that all ways of seeing
are equally valid,
and that some ways must be challenged
when they threaten the balance and harmony
of the whole.

We carry our pain in different ways,
and what we see when we look at one another
is the outward, visible, expression
of how we have carried our inward, invisible, pain
over the course of our life.
And a little compassion means a lot.

So, even when we draw lines
it needs to be done with a compassionate stroke,
a soft voice,
and a gentle tone,
granting the benefit of the doubt to all comers,
and telling ourselves,
"These people would be doing better if they could,"
as we carry out our business
of restoring consonance
and bringing peace
to a torn and broken world.

02

"But my FREEDOOM!!!"

The people who protest mask wearing
for the good of the whole
cannot get beyond the idea
of masks being imposed on them
against their will 
by the domineering authority of those in power over them.

Sacrificing their idea of freedom
for the common good
is beyond the pale of reasonable and compassionate.
"That's asking too much!"
they say.

And here we are.

How good is the good they call good?
It is not good at all for anyone but themselves
and those like them.

How wide is our circle of compassion and concern?
What limits it?
Restricts it?
Expands it?

How low,
or high,
is our kindness and consideration threshold?

How easily do we feel "put upon"
and "taken advantage of"?

What can we do about that
in terms of becoming more giving
and less resentful?

These are questions never asked
by those who protest
"But my FREEDOM!!!"

And there is no way to force it upon them.

This is the log jam in the flow of human development.
We cannot be made to grow up against our will--
and yet, and yet...
EVERYBODY grows up against their will!!!

No one volunteers for the experience. 
We all go bucking and snorting into the process,
with stiff necks and hard hearts
and stout resistance at the very idea!

And some of us change our minds.

What is that about?

Why do some of us change our minds
and some remain "arrested" in their development
throughout time?

Some of us have the capacity to grow up in spite of ourselves,
and some of us have nothing whatsoever 
to do with what is being asked of us ever.

And here we are.

Those of us who have the capacity to be big about it
have to be big enough 
to take the pettiness and brutality 
of those who will be small and angry forever
into consideration,
tell ourselves, "I'm sure they would do better if they could,"
and try to find some way to work with their
stern refusal to be helpful
as best we can.

We have to grow up 
about their failure to grow up
and grieve the fact of things staying as they are
long past their need to change.

–0–

01

Believe in your Work.
Believe in The Way.

Allow them to become
the grounding,
guiding,
forces in your life.

Our Work is The Way!
The Way is our Work!

There is no separation,
no distinction!

But.
We have to understand 
our Work
is not necessarily what we are paid to do.
What we are paid to do pays the bills.
Our Work is what we pay the bills to do.

Paying the bills enables us to live.
Our Work enables us to be alive.
Our Work is what we live to do.

Chances are we have no conception
of what our Work is.
There is nothing in our background
that is specifically geared to help us
comprehend the importance 
of knowing/finding our Work,
and if we find it,
it is because we stumble upon it.

The concept of The Way
is in a similar state.
No one talks about The Way 
in our experience.
Everyone talks about finding Jesus
and going to heaven when we die.
No one says anything about finding The Way
and being Alive until we die.

We are on our own
with regard to our Work and The Way.
But we come well-equipped for the task.
All it takes is being still and quiet,
and knowing what we know--
allowing what we know
to guide us away 
from all that is Not our Work
and Not The Way,
and toward what IS our Work
and Is The Way.

Knowing what it is not
is a very helpful thing to know.

Knowing what it is
is a matter of knowing 
what attracts us,
resonates with us,
calms us,
centers us,
grounds us
and brings us to life.

Determining the "Life Quotient" 
of the things in our life--
the degree to which they spark
something within us
and cause us to smile for no reason--
will help guide us to IT
and away from NOT IT.

There is also a "felt sense"--
a physical sensation--
within our stomach or chest
(A bit like being in love)--
that clues us in on what's what
when we are in the presence of IT.

The rule is always in play:
"Look closer at the things 
that catch your eye!"
And let those things lead you
to your Work
and The Way!

02

Joseph Campbell said,
"We know when we are on the beam,
and when we are off it."

That is all we need to know.

Yet the 10,000 things interfere with our knowing
even that much.

Distractions abound.
Diversions proliferate.
We lose the way.
Stray from the path.
Wake up--if we are lucky--
at the bottom of some wall,
wondering how we got there
and where we go from here.

We got there by being smart.
Thinking we knew what we were doing.
Knowing what we wanted
and how to get it.

That will do it every time.

Knowing what we want
overlooks the most important thing:
What Does Wanting Know???

Nothing as it turns out.

When we live from the center,
we are not influenced by either
fear or desire,
anger or greed,
but from the Life Point,
like leaves turning to the sun,
we turn toward--
move toward--
exactly what we need at that point,
knowing only that this
is the right thing for us to do 
at that particular place in time,
and to not move toward it
would be to do irreparable damage
not just to ourselves, 
but to our place in life,
with implications moving outward
like a giant Tsunami in all directions,
altering forever what might have been.

Our task is to live from the center
and not let anything knock us off
the Life Point
because from there
everything flows
for good or for evil. 

–0–

01

Money is the most meaningful thing
in our life--
not only in our life,
but in all our lives.

And yet,
we use money to buy Crack,
if we are poor, 
and to by Cocaine,
if we are wealthy,
and to buy Opioids
regardless of our financial status.
Alcohol will do in a pinch.
And there is always Religion.

Money is meaningful
as a doorway to escape.

How meaningful is that?

We are such a sad,
hilarious,
lot.

We are pitiful.
We are a joke.
The joke is on us.
And no one is laughing.

Our life is--
our lives are--
meaningless.
And all we know to do about that
is to find something
to take our mind, our minds, off of it.

We get by with a little help from our friends,
Coke, Cocaine, Opioids, Alcohol, Religion...
Anything to take our mind off our emptiness.

We are people in search of some reason to keep going.

Joseph Campbell asked,
"What keeps you going?
What do you turn to when you have nowhere to turn?"

What enables you to face the complete loss of everything
without succumbing to the futility,
uselessness,
hopelessness
and absurdity of one more breath?

And, he says, "When you have found that,
you have found your myth!"

Our myth is our meaning.
It is the ground of our existence--
the very source of our life and being,
the ever-present wellspring
of balance and harmony,
spirit,
vitality
and resilient joy
in our life.

And we are people who have lost their myth.

Joseph Campbell would say the Quest starts here.

We are searching for the source of our own meaning,
for the reason, the purpose, of our own existence.
As he said, "To find the inward thing
that you basically are."

All of the myths refer to you, to me, to us,
and are pathways of opening us to the realization of ourselves.

We are what we seek.
"We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time"
(T.S. Eliot).

Back to Campbell, "You are God in your deepest identity.
You are one with the transcendent."

And we throw ourselves away as the source of meaning and purpose, 
and look here and there,
hither and yon,
for what is only found by
"Turning the light around,"
and looking within for that which is looking for us.

Campbell again:
"That which you seek
lies far back in the darkest corner
of the cave you most don't want to enter."

The first step is the hardest:
We have to bear the pain at the heart of the journey.
Bearing the pain of our life--
of the experience of being alive--
of life itself
is essentially "the divine acceptance of death"
(Thomas Altizer)
--not only at the end of life,
when life is done--
but at every point along the way.
Right here right now
is a dying to all that might be
wished for,
hoped for,
desired,
and is an acceptance of life-as-it-is
in its "just-so-ness"
right here, right now.

Which is made possible through
the recognition that right here, right now,
is the very time and place of our living,
of our being fully,
vibrantly,
alive to the experience of our own becoming
in this moment,
open to,
and overwhelmed by,
the mystery at the heart of being.

Campbell said,
"The goal of your quest for yourself 
is to find that burning point 
(where the veil of time is burned away,
and we are opened to the realization of eternity)
in your point (here and now), 
becoming the thing in yourself, 
which is fearless and desireless, 
(and forever) becoming."

We are always becoming something more
than we have ever been!
We are forever being born anew--
a brand new thing--
in the world each day,
in each moment of the day!
We are becoming always and forever!

That is who we are!
We are BECOMING!

Born to life again and again,
each moment, 
through bearing the pain of being alive
and opening ourselves to the wonder
of our own becoming.

The nature of the pain is the fear that there is nothing there.
We have to take a chance on ourselves.
But, we think we know there is nothing to us at all.
We are the cave we most don't want to enter,
and it is the experience of the wonder
of our own becoming
that waits far back in the darkest corner,
wondering if we will have what it takes
to find what it takes
to be fully alive
in the time left for living.

A bit of encouragement at the start:
Everyone starts where we are.
Fearful, doubting,
certain there is no reason to go on.

Campbell said,
"The word religion means religio, linking back, linking back the phenomenon of a specific, unique person to the source."
To their/our source.
To who they/we are at their/our core.

The old Taoists linked the Tao
with our Original Nature,
with "the face that was ours 
before we were born."
With the Source of Life and Being.
And said, "Thou art That."
We are It.
We are What We Seek.
Like the man riding his ox
looking for his ox.
Like the woman with her sunglasses on her head,
looking for her sunglasses.

We only have to stop,
look,
listen,
see and hear
to know it is so.

But we are afraid to look,
afraid to listen,
afraid it is not so. 

We have to bear the pain,
and take a chance
on the wonder
of our own
unending becoming
coming into being
in every moment,
here and now.

04

Joseph Campbell quotes Guiraut de Borneilh,
“So through the eyes love attains the heart, 
for the eyes are the scouts of the heart. 
And the eyes go reconnoitering 
for what it would please the heart to possess.”

 This not only has to do with romantic love, 
which is a mutuality of attraction 
brought about by the mutuality of projection, 
with each participant projecting 
onto the other the characteristics 
that each person 
most needs to develop within themselves.

It is also true of The Way and The Work 
that are ours to walk and to do, 
which are the same thing, 
The Way being The Work, 
and The Work being The Way.

“The eyes are the scouts of the heart.”
When we see The Way that is ours to walk,
and The Work that is ours to do,
we know it,
and then it only remains a matter
of knowing what we know
when we know it,
and having the courage to act on it
when the time for acting is upon us.

And the rule is always valid: 
Look closer at what catches your eye!

And another rule is like unto it:
Be aware of everything you are about to:
dismiss,
disregard,
discount,
ignore.

–0–

03

Our circumstances call us forth,
inviting us to rise to the occasion,
no matter what the occasion.
How well we answer the invitation
tells the tale.

There are no throw-away occasions.
We have to treat every one 
as though everything is on the line.
Each moment is the most important moment.
How we treat the housekeeper
is as significant as how we treat the CEO
of the hotel chain.

Every situation calls for something from us.
How present we are in every situation
determines how responsive we are 
to the situation.

Here we are.
Now what?
What now?
Right here.

Answering the questions correctly
transforms the world.

Acting as though this is so
makes it so.

–0–

02

The only sin is being wrong about what is important.

We have our entire life
to learn to be right about what is important.
A life that is entirely wasted on most of us.

Too many of us refuse to change our mind
about what is important
in spite of repeated headlong crashes
into the solid wall of reality.

Some of us will never wake up.

If lived experience won't teach us 
what matters most,
what will?

How many of us are right
about what we take to be important?

That is the only thing worth
being right about.

How much time do we spend
assessing the correctness of our assessment?

–0–

01

Don't give a damn about what your chances are!

That's my best advice.

If you can do better than that,
why haven't you?

It is obvious to any onlooker
that if you are here reading this now,
you haven't done any better than that,
else why would you be here reading this now?

You would be somewhere else,
doing something else
worth more to you.

The fact that you are here reading this now
is hard evidence against your ever having taken any
advice that has been of much value to you.
Your best bet is to stick with me
and stop giving a damn about what your chances are.
Caring about your chances 
is the one thing holding you back.
If you want to shoot for the stars,
you have to stop worrying about your chances.

It is like this:
There are two ways of calculating your way to the stars.
The first way is thinking long and hard about it.
Always considering your odds,
covering all your bases,
taking everything into account,
and doing everything people who know more than you do
tell you about what you have to do to reach the stars,
being careful to have it all in place
just waiting for your chance at the Big Time.

The second way is not giving a damn about your chances 
of reaching the stars,
and spending your time
listening to your heart
and doing what makes your little heart sing and dance,
listening to your body--
particularly to your stomach
(Your "gut feelings")
and your bones,
seeing what you look at
knowing what you know,
and doing what the situation is calling for
one situation at a time.

You may not reach the stars any sooner
choosing the second path,
but you will be just as happy
every second along the way
as you would be if you were among the stars
right now.

02

It is possible to live from the center of knowing what to do
in response to the situation as it arises,
just as tennis players (etc.) respond spontaneously 
to situations as they develop on the court,
knowing what to do,
without knowing how they know.

It is possible to live like we are playing tennis (etc.).
But.
There is a catch.
We have to quit living 
in the service of contrivance
and insincerity.

Living from the Center means
giving up our attachment to the outcome,
and serving an outcome 
that is good for the situation as a whole--
and that is an expression of the integrity
of us as a whole.

We live as an integrated whole
ourselves,
individually,
in relationship with other selves
living with us as integrated wholes 
themselves,
individually.

This is possible when everyone 
within the community
(The Community of Innocence
in which everyone is seeking 
the best for all concerned,
with no agenda or plans
for themselves alone--
or for anyone else in the community)
is living "transparent to transcendence"
(Joseph Campbell),
so that everyone is reflecting/exhibiting/incarnating
the ineffable wonder at the heart of our life together.

This is the experience
of That Which Has Always Been Called God
and is present whenever two or three, or more, 
people live truthfully together from the heart.

Living truthfully together from the heart
is a lost art
that can be revived simply by living from our center
in relationship with others living from their center.

Doing that is merely a matter 
of being still and quiet
and waiting in the silence
for all the bluster to fall away,
and getting to know what remains.
Then stepping back into our life
with the truth of who we are now
as a very present companion,
enjoying our company
and glad to be with us knowingly at last.

–0–

01

Our circumstances evoke our character
when we rise to meet them on their terms,
understanding them to be 
exactly what we need 
at this point in our life
to come forth
and be born again.

Death and resurrection, Kid.
Death and resurrection.

Trials and revelations, Kid.
Trials and revelations.

Ordeals and realizations, Kid.
Ordeals and realizations.

Consciousness is transformed--
we change our minds--
only through the death experience
of our trials and ordeals.

Getting up and doing the thing 
that most needs to be done,
the way it needs to be done-
anyway,
nevertheless,
even so,
in each situation as it arises
can be like dying.
And it can be the doorway,
the threshold,
to a new way of seeing,
a new way of being
a new way of life.

How we meet our circumstances
is the crucial element
in influencing our circumstances
toward life, away from death,
or toward death, away from life.

"The bird is in our hands."

We grow through the very things
that appear to be the absolute end
of all things good--
if we meet them in a way
that takes what is given
and looks for the hidden passage
to what also is there.

Joseph Campbell said,
"Where we stumble and fall,
there lies the treasure."

And the old Taoist tale
"The Lost Horse Returns"
(Googleit)
reminds us that things have a way
of turning over time
if we give them time
to show us what else may be coming--
to see what other doors may be opening--
for those who wait,
watching.

The stone the builders reject
becomes the chief cornerstone.
The junk jewelry conceals
the priceless gem.
And these circumstances
are the very thing we need
to take the next step
toward whom we are yet to be.

It only takes believing it is so
for it to be so.

04

Schopenhauer said that when we look back over our life
it seems as though everything fits together
like a life-size jig saw puzzle,
with all those chance meetings
and events
working together to create
the harmonious whole
that has us right here,
right now.

And he posits that the director,
the choreographer, 
of the wonderful whole
that is our complete life
is none other than
the mysterious center of ourselves,
pulling rabbits out of a hat,
dancing this way with that,
and that way with this, 
in producing the opus we have lived
without being aware
of what we were doing.

"There is a center,"
he would say,
and 10,000 others with him,
"at work to coalesce a lived history
around itself
through our choices
and reaction to events
and circumstances
that have only us (and our center)
as the one influential constant
responsible for the majestic creation
of the life we have lived.

Our life is the product
we have produced without intent or purpose.
Joseph Campbell, thinking about this, said,
"None of us has lived the life we intended." 

But, we can trust ourselves to The Mystery
of our own unfolding.
We can rely on the center of our own being.
There are at work within us
forces we cannot imagine,
or begin to control--
but we can pledge ourselves to them
with filial devotion
and liege loyalty,
letting what happens be what happens,
and looking forward to how that
 contributes to the marvel of the whole
in response to the prayer of the people
throughout the ages:
"The work of our hands--
establish, Thou, it!"

–0–

03

Carl Jung thought we live
to bring ourselves to life.
Joseph Campbell would say the same.
And, he would say that all the mythologies
from the beginning say the same.

We are forever seeking ourselves.

T.S. Eliot, in "The Four Quartets," said,
"We shall not cease from exploration, 
and the end of all our exploring will be 
to arrive where we started 
and know the place for the first time."

The Old Taoists held that the Quest we are on
is to find our Original Nature,
and know "the face that was ours
before our parents were born."

Jung saw the task before us
as one of "Individuation,"
whereby we become who we are
by the life-long process 
of "circumambulation,"
an ever tightening spiral
around and around
the center that is the Self,
gradually realizing,
knowing,
becoming,
being,
incarnating
who we are
over the full course of our life.

We think we are here to make a lot of money
and "pass a good time."

We are living on one track
when we need to be living on another track.
We are going in one direction
when we need to be going in a different direction.

I don't know how 
we are going to get things
turned around.

I do know the old Taoist Masters
understood their sole task to be
"turning the light around."

Now it is our turn
to do the turning.

Turning, turning, turning,
along the path Jung laid out before us:
"We are who we always have been,
and who we will be."

Happy trails,
fellow travelers!
I'll keep an eye out for you
along the way!

–0–

02

Only those who can bear the pain of,
and dance with,
the contradictions
of life as it comes
have what it takes 
to see what's what
and do what can be done about it
with the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues/character
that comes with them from the womb
in each situation as it arises
moment-by-moment
all their life long.

Everybody else takes refuge
in their dreams
of how life should be,
or retreats into their favorite way
of dismissing,
discounting,
disregarding,
ignoring
the reality of the way things are,
and lives in denial,
dead to the world as it is,
all their life long.

If you are going to be alive
in this world,
and it is the only world there is,
you are going to have to live your life
on your life's terms--
without pausing to curse,
moan,
groan,
or complain.

Coming to terms with life's terms
and accepting the fact of:
This is the way things are,
and this is what you can do about it,
and that's that,
every day.

–0–

01

We cannot see/hear/know/understand/do/be/become
before the time for seeing/hearing/knowing/understanding/
doing/being/becoming.

But.

We can delay seeing, etc.
long past the time for seeing, etc.
by being distracted/lost
in pursuit of the wrong goals
in the service of the wrong ideas
about what is important
and worth our time.

Quoth the prophets:
"O Land, Land, Land!
HEAR the Word of the Lord!"

"How long am I to bear with you?
How long do I have to put up with you?"

"There are none who do what is right!
No!
Not ONE!"

And so it is said by those who know,
"Neanderthal got it.
Cro Magnon didn't.
And here we are."

Waiting,
watching,
for those who can hear
what is to be heard,
and do what must be done.

Like Obi wan Kenobi
wondering what is keeping
Luke Skywalker.
And Master Yoda
napping in the swamp
between Jedi's.

We cannot hurry the time 
of its arrival.
And we must be ready 
when it comes.

That is the paradox of the times.

The time between times
can seem eternal,
but it is the most important time.
How we spend it
tells the tale.

And the joke of all jokes is on us,
waiting for the day of the Lord's return
while the Lord is waiting for us
to show up--
seeing and hearing
what has been right before us
all along.

03

When we do what is called for 
situation by situation,
everything falls into place around that,
and we find ourselves 
in the process of being ourselves
in the day-to-day proceedings of our life.

There is a problem.
We want more 
than being who we are
in the moment-to-moment transactions
one day at a time.

With the lights and action
of Gay Paree in our eyes
we will never settle for the routine business
of life on the farm.

"The best is the enemy of the good,"
and we are off to find our place in the Big Time,
or the biggest time we can arrange,
with our idea of How Things Ought To Be
leading the way.

Except. But. Only. 
We have no idea of how things truly ought to be.
Our idea is how we want things to be.
That's how we think things ought to be.
And that's the problem.

We spend our life trying to hammer our life into shape,
but our life has a mind of its own,
and we learn too late--
if at all--
where our place is in the life we are living:
Looking/Listening,
Seeing/Hearing,
Doing What Needs To Be Done.
One Situation At A Time.

The shift is equivalent to the one that took place
when Obi wan Kenobi placed the helmet
on Luke Skywalker and said,
"Listen for the Force."
That is the shift that changes everything.

–0–

02

Poor Donald Trump cannot take "No!" for an answer.
He missed that initial induction into the Developmental Tasks.
And there is no moving forward
without moving back
and starting over
with learning to take "No!" for an answer.
That is elemental.

Poor Donald Trump does just what we wants to do,
and nothing that he doesn't want to do.
No one explained to him
that we grow up against our will
all along the way,
and learning to do that
is essential to everything that follows.

That we bear the pain of "No!" uttered in 10,000 ways
throughout the long course of our life.
That we die again and again
in the service of rising to the occasion
and doing what needs to be done
for the sake of the good of the situation
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.

"Death and resurrection, Kid.
Death and resurrection."

No one ever said those words
to Poor Donald Trump.
Or, if they did, they were never heard
as they needed to be heard,
with full comprehension,
absolute acceptance
and resolute obedience 
in compliance with the task at hand,
namely, dying to himself
in service to the situation 
and a good greater
than his own personal good.

And, here we are.
Awash in the refusal of Poor Donald Trump
to grow up
and do what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises
whether he wants to or not.
Because nothing worth happening
can happen
until that does.

–0–

01

"Go in search of your father--
your mother--
your life!"

The instructions are opaque,
obtuse,
muddled,
contradictory.

Contradiction is everywhere.

Our work is making sense of the contradictions
that clog our day.
We do that best by saying,
"That, too! 
That, too!"
To every one.
And dancing with them all.

Is it our father,
or our mother,
or our life 
that we are to find?

Yes,
yes,
and yes!

And then what?

"Kill your father!
Kill your mother!
And let your life eat your life!
For breakfast,
lunch
and dinner!"

You are kidding, right?

"Of course, I'm kidding!
Nothing is literal!
It is all metaphorical!
Metaphors are the only way
to deal with the contradictions!
If you take it all too seriously,
you curl up and die!
It's metaphor all the way down!"

If you don't die,
you will never live.

Death and resurrection, Kid.
Death and resurrection.

And the Kid walks away,
shaking her/his head.

"Come back here, Kid!
I'm not through with you!
Sit down!
Count all of the ways you have already died
to live to this point in your life!
There have been many,
don't tell me there have been none!
And there are many more
yet to come!
Embrace them all!

Go in search of your father--
your mother--
your life!

And do the work of finding,
killing,
dying,
living,
again and again.

It's death and resurrection
all the way down!"

03

Living from the center,
aligned with the Source,
in accord with our Original Nature,
at one with our Energy, Spirit and Vitality,
perfectly incarnating Balance and Harmony, 
Timing and Flow,
we are at the top of our game,
moving with the current of the Tao
through the Eternal Now
of Life and Being.

If you think money can somehow touch that,
you never will.

–0–

02

In order to be seen at all,
objective reality has to be interpreted subjectively.
We can pretend to be objective
about objective reality, but.
We can be objective only to the extent
that we don't give a damn about the object, and.
There is a point at which
not giving a damn about the object
renders it so meaningless
as to effectively disappear it 
from our field of vision.

To be seen at all,
an object has to mean something to us,
positively or negatively.
To truly have no opinion about it
is to render it invisible.
Then, our relationship with it
would be like sitting on an ox
looking for an ox.
The ox is right there.
We are sitting on it.
Wondering where it could be,
thinking of something else.
To see the ox,
we have to be with the ox,
and care enough about seeing/finding the ox
to be able to see it.

Caring enough about any object
allows us to see aspects of it
that would escape us entirely
if we cared less about it.

Caring too much about any object
blurs the lines separating us and it,
and we have a hard time distinguishing
where we stop and it starts.
Enmeshment is the polar extreme to objectivity.
Optimal viewing lies in the center
of the bell-shaped curve between the two.

How we see any object depends on what we have at stake
in seeing the object the way we see it--
on what we have at stake in the object 
being what it is,
being the way it is,
being what we say it is.

When we look at something,
we see what makes it meaningful to us.
To see anything "as it is"
is to spend more time examining it
than we are likely going to be willing to spend.

We rush past 10,000 things in a day,
in a moment,
that we cannot be bothered with seeing.
We have more important things to do.
Yet we think we are firmly grounded in,
attached to,
"the real world,"
here and now.

We cannot see God--
What Has Always Been Called "God"--
without stopping to look.

That Which Has Always Been Called "God"--
the divine, 
transcendent,
ineffable,
"essence"
on "the other side" of "normal, apparent, reality"--
is always "right there,"
"right here,"
with us in every moment.
It only takes looking 
to be able to see.

Looking in a way that is devoid of theology,
and doctrine,
and dogma,
and ideas of what we are looking for,
that keep us from seeing what is there.

To look like that 
is to become "transparent to transcendence"
(Joseph Campbell),
and present with what is present with us,
and transformed forever
by "eternity in a grain of sand"
(William Blake).

–0–

01

Ancient peoples all knew 
that the physical world
is upheld and sustained
by the invisible world.
The physical world
is supported and maintained
by the metaphysical world.

Karma and Grace,
Tao,
Dharma,
Synchronicity,
Transcendence,
The Ineffable,
Flow,
Luck,
Magic and Black Magic...
are aspects of the invisible world
experienced within the visible world.

Sheldon Kopp was talking
about the invisible world 
when he said,
"Some things can be experienced
but not understood,
and some things can be understood,
but not explained."

Religion has always stood
at the cusp between worlds.

Good Religion interprets the invisible world
in ways that enable the visible world
to live in accord with
and in service to
the ends of the invisible world.

Bad Religion interprets the invisible world
in ways that enable the visible world
to command and control the invisible world
in service to the ends, will and desire of the visible world.

Bad Religion thinks in terms 
of giving in order to get.

Good religion thinks in terms
of being in order to be--
understanding that there is nothing beyond
being at one with the invisible world
to want, desire, get, have, own, attain or do.

We can understand the worlds of visible and invisible,
of physics and metaphysics,
in terms of the world of conscious,
logical,
rational,
facts,
and the world of unconscious,
illogical,
irrational,
metaphors,
and say that human beings
are capable of living with a foot in each world.

We can move back and forth between the worlds.
We can stand apart from both worlds
and view them as an optical illusion
wherein we see it this way now,
and see it that way then.
Now we see it this way,
now we see it that way.
Which way IS is?
It is both ways at the same time!
And we know there is a "dimension of life
that transcends our experience" 
(Joseph Campbell)
of life in the world of normal, physical, reality.

But.

This knowing unnerves a lot of people.
Too many of us "cannot bear to look 
upon the face of God,"
and need other people to look for us
and tell us what they see
and what we must do
to be on God's good side,
to enjoy God's favor,
without paying the price
of bearing the pain of God's awful presence.

And in that, Bad Religion is born.

And you get people who have not had the experience of God
talking about God
as though they know what they are saying,
but they are only saying what they have been told
and they are using it to their own advantage.

Their experiences of life are experienced
without opening them 
"to the radiance of their divine dimension"
(Joseph Campbell)--
and awe, 
wonder,
amazement
and "esthetic arrest"
(James Joyce)
are words that can be said,
but do not serve as 
containers of an experience
that is known and understood--
and we are talking about images/experiences
that have no affect, no impact,
that stir no feeling of recognition and identity within.

We are alive but dead to life
because we are lacking eyes that can see
the things that are "transparent to transcendence"
and cannot be shown 
"the divine dimensions of life
that transcends our experiences"
(Joseph Campbell).

Everything is "right there,"
waiting to be seen and also seen,
known and also known,
but.
We have to look until we see
what is also there
on "the other side"
of the optical illusion that is our life.

No one can give us the will and the courage
to look until we see.

We have to come up with that on our own.

04

It takes taking some things on faith--
believing they are so--
in order to know that they are.

The visible world is upheld and sustained
by the invisible world.

Death and rebirth are metaphors
that transform the fact of life
and enable us to live with facts
we could not, otherwise, bear.

Seeing past the facts 
enables us to take into account
more than denial would allow,
and opens up worlds for our imagination
to explore, investigate, examine
using analogy, allegory, parable and reflection.

Taking God out of the sphere of facts,
and understanding God to be representative
of more than words can say
about experiences that cannot be explained,
or even understood,
permitting "That Which Has Always Been Called God" 
to become real for us beyond theology, doctrine, dogma and creed,
and inviting us to explore 
what it means to say,
"There is more to us than meets the eye,"
and what that might offer us as a guardian and guide
through dark places and disquieting times.

We are not alone.
Carl Jung said, "There is within each of us,
another, whom we do not know."

The Force that is with us as Way and Virtue
comes to life through sincerity 
and a return to our original nature.
Grace and Dharma stand by smiling
as "events unfold in mysteriously appropriate ways"
(Joseph Campbell).

However, the invisible world cannot be used 
in the service of our egocentric
goals, plans, desires, agendas and schemes.
Contrivance is not a companion of soul.
And sincerity is the prerequisite for all of our interaction
with the Source and Goal of Life and Being.
But.

We are all within a quiet breath
of that "very present help in time of trouble."
All it takes is
Stopping.
Listening.
Looking.
Waiting.
In the stillness
and the silence
for things to stir to life there
and begin to occur to us
as comfort and direction
in response to what our life situation
is calling for.

What we do about that is up to us.
It may be enough for now
to receive it as an encouraging
disclosure of the fact
that we are not alone,
and that we only have to restore
our relationship with the Other
who resides within
to know that it is so.

–0–

03

Nothing will turn things to the good in our life--
your life and mine--
like making our peace with how things are.

Failing/refusing to do that is the source of all of our pain.
And doing it is the solution of all of our problems today.
Every day.

So.

What's the problem?

–0–

02

Each of us has our own life to live.
There is that which assists/helps us with our life,
and there is that which hampers/interferes with our life.
It is our place to know the difference
and be attuned to it,
assisting what assists us,
helping what helps us,
avoiding what hampers and interferes
with us living our life
the way it needs to be lived.

We are not free to live any way 
we feel like living .
"We are our own worst enemy"
in a lot of ways.
We are the one who hampers/interferes with
our ability to live our life
the way it needs to be lived.

We have to buy into the program ourselves!
We have to believe in what we are doing--
in what we are here to do--ourselves!
We have to believe in us!
In what is ours to do!

Most of us don't even know what that is,
and couldn't care less.

Those of us who belong in that category
have to start there.
We have to square up with that.
Own it.
Decide what we are going to do about it.
Decide how we are going to respond to it.
There is only ourselves and our life
in this picture,
and what we choose to do about
the relationship between us and our life
is going to make all the difference.
No one can do that for us.
We are up to us.
It is all up to us.
What happens next is our call to make.

There is that which helps us live our life,
and there is that which works against us living our life.
Are we with us and our life?
Are we against us and our life?
Whose side are we on?
Are we buying in?
Or selling out?

If we aren't buying in,
we are selling out.
This is the turning point.
Everything is on the line.
Where are we in relation to our life?

–0–

01

Everything dries up and blows away
in time.

The things that mean the most to me,
that prop me up
and keep me going,
don't seem to mean anything at all
to anyone I know.

That isn't going to stop them
from meaning the most to me.

Love what you love!
Enjoy what you enjoy!

What's the life span of a spiderweb?
Or of a spider?
Neither of those things
matter to the spider!

Live like it is forever,
you and the things you love!

When I am gone,
and nothing of me remains
anywhere,
and all the things that mean the most to me
have taken their place 
with all that is no more,
it,
and I,
will have done our part,
and that will be that.

In the meantime,
there is life to be lived
before it all dries up
and blows away!

Don't waste a moment
thinking too bad it doesn't last!
Live every one--
every moment--
for all it's worth--
for all you're worth--
as though it is the last moment ever!

Cherish what is here, now!
And live as though you do!

Everything is drying up
and blowing away!

Enjoy it while you can!

Be YOU as long as there is a you to be!
Don't hold anything back!
Look while the light lasts!
Dance while the music is playing!

This is your LIFE!
Live it like it matters to you
that you are alive--
throughout the time left for living!