02

We are the guardian/protector/champion/defender
of our Original Nature--
who we are
and always have been
and will be,
our guiding,
centering,
grounding
identity--
the connection to which
is tenuous,
fragile,
easily lost
and must be carefully kept.

We--our conscious ego-self--
are responsible for nurturing
and nourishing
our relationship
with our Original Nature
with filial devotion
and liege loyalty
by tending the ties that bind us
through our imagination
embedded in our psyche,
and living as if all of this is so.

This is the still point
around which everything turns.

The ineffable wonder and mystery of creation
is at work at the center of each of us.
There is more to us all than meets the eye.
We approach the Source within
in seeking alliance with our Original Nature
and living in accord with it
within the conditions and circumstances of our life.

We incarnate the Source in aligning ourselves with our Nature,
and birthing ourselves in our life
by exhibiting/expressing there
the truth of who we were at the beginning,
are now,
and ever shall be,
being consubstantial and one substance with 
the Source of life and being
here and now,
right here right now,
living that out in the time and place of our living,
as if God were living in us and through us
in all that we do.

–0–

01

Our task is to be true to ourselves
within the context and circumstances of our life--
to live out of our Original Nature,
with sincerity
and self-transparency
in all that we do.
And to let that be that.
To let that be enough,
because that is all there is.

The people who realize this,
affirm it,
embrace it,
engage it
and live in accord with it
are real people.

They are just who they are,
doing what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises
all their life long.

They are content with themselves
and their life,
and are glad to be who they are,
doing what is theirs to do.

They live out of their own joy
in the service of the best they have to offer
to meet what is called for here and now,
moment by moment,
and think of that as a good day well-lived.

Their world is quite different
from that of their neighbors
who contrive to improve their life
in the service of personal gain 
and advantage
by exploiting their position
to increase their opportunities
for advancement and privilege,
wealth and power,
fortune and glory
without limit or end.

I do not know who is better off,
but I like the idea of mutual respect
for each other
and for legitimate boundaries/limits
that permit individual development
without infringing on the development of others
and without destroying the environment
in the service of unending wealth
and an ever-increasing standard of living.

Greed and folly have forever been recognized
as the source of all of our problems,
and are naturally avoided
by those whose idea of the good
takes everybody's good into account,
without serving their own good
at the expense of anyone else's.

03

What is the most meaningful (to you personally) thing you do?
How often do you do it?
For how long each time?
How long has
it been since you've done it?

What keeps you from doing it?
)r interferes with your doing it?

I don't know you,
or don't know you very well,
but.
My hunch is
that the most meaningful (for you personally)
thing you can do
over the course of what remains of your life,
is what has been the most meaningful (for you personally)
thing over your life to this point.

Check me out on that.
Get back to me in, say, 5 years.

–0–

02

My favorite all-time heroes,
and my exact idea of how it ought to be
for every one of us throughout time 
are Tevya and Golda in The Fiddler on the Roof.

Their life is my ideal life for all people everywhere.

Their life is structured by a particular belief-system,
which amounts to a way of perceiving the world,
all of life,
and how we fit into it,
but.
However we think things are,
if the overall result is life like Tevya and Golda live it,
then it is just fine, 
no matter what it is.

It all is just a way of thinking about how things are.
Just a way of finding meaning in how things are.
Finding meaning that enables us to live meaningfully.
And I can't think of any way of life 
that is more meaningful 
than Tevya's and Golda's way of life.
What more could life offer than they have?
What more could they want than they have?

We get up,
face each day,
do our thing,
don't keep score
or strive endlessly to "get ahead,"
and let the outcome be the outcome.

"Do our thing"
is the key.
Do we have a "thing"?
Do we do it?
Are we fulfilled/satisfied
doing our thing?

Too many people don't have a "thing,"
or aren't doing it.
They are looking for a "thing."
Wanting some other "thing."
Wanting "the best thing."
Wanting to be admired, "thing or no thing."
Wanting to be admired, envied, for "no thing."
For "nothing."

Have a "thing"
and do it,
make enough money
to pay the right bills,
and don't worry about the outcome.

That's all it takes.
What would you do with more than that?

–0–

01

There are those who need to dominate,
and there are those who need to be left alone.

And here we are.

I don't know how we work this out.

We have been "working it out" from the beginning.

And that reminds me.
We all,
whether we need to dominate
or need to be left alone,
think of "The Beginning,"
as though there has been only one.

One Big Bang,
or one "Let There Be,"
however you choose to think of it.

"As it was in THE beginning..."
Well. 
That's presumptuous.

How many have there been?
How are we to know?

10,000 Big Bangs, perhaps.
Coming and going
over long sweeps of time past remembering.

Who would remember?
Or care?
 
I wouldn't care to go through
the endless process of caring
or remembering,
but I think it would be instructive 
to watch that play out over time
over the entire course of time,
keeping records,
seeing patterns,
drawing conclusions,
devising theories...
Or at least reading some
well-crafted and quite succinct reports
at various points along the way.

I wonder if it would come down to 
domination and left alone
every time.

03

Look at everything
as a Rube Goldberg device
that our soul has put together
to wake us up.

Everything that has happened,
and is happening,
and will happen
is as it is to wake us up.
To shake us awake.
To stir us to life.

So that we might be consciously alive
in the time left for living.

It’s all about us coming to life
in the time left for living.

Our life is the Truman Show,
and the real point is Truman leaving the show,
leaving his life,
and stepping courageously into his life.

We are Truman.
Our life is waiting.

–0–

02

The breakthrough to the other dimension,
from physical to metaphysical,
is only a slight perspective shift away
at all times,
in all places.

The visible world is everywhere
a doorway,
a threshold,
a portkey,
to the invisible world.
Anything can transport us there
at any time.

A brush by angel wings
is as easily arranged
as changing our mind
about what is important.

Always start there--
with what is important.
With what is so important,
right here, right now.

What's so important right here right now
anchors us in this moment,
weights us down
like an albatross,
bears down upon us like a cross,
keeps us from breathing,
keeps us from living,
keeps us from being alive,
because it is so important
we cannot look away
or go on,
or change our mind about it,
and are anchored in place
by what we believe to be
hopeless,
useless,
futile,
empty,
pointless,
and absurd--
because IT IS!!!

Freefalling through the abyss,
we shift into bliss
with the blessed return
to the Source of our Original Nature
and the confidence that has grounded
our kind upon the eternal rock of the ages
through the ages
via the vehicle of the music of the spheres
across time:
"AUM!"

Anyway!
Nevertheless!
Even So!
"AUM!"

Opening the door,
walking through.

“If the doors of perception were cleansed 
every thing would appear to man as it is, 
Infinite. 
For man has closed himself up, 
till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern.”
                         -- William Blake The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

 

–0–

01

Coming to terms with how things are
is the unending task of life.

In every moment,
there is how things are now
and how we feel about how things are now.

If it didn't matter to us how things are,
we would have no problem
with how things are.

That's how the Buddha recommended
peace and serenity:
"Life is suffering.
Don't let it bother you."

Jesus advised something similar:
"Let today's trouble
be sufficient for today."
("Don't be looking for trouble
by trying to have it made tomorrow--
or in the next five minutes!")

Here we are, now what?
One moment at a time.

Just recognizing the difference--
and the distance--
between how things are 
and how we feel about it,
is a step toward reducing the burden we carry.

"This is how things are,
and this is what we can do about it,
and that's that!
And that's how things are!"

How we choose to feel about it
is up to us.

But, no one ever tells us
that we can choose our feelings!
We have to find out so many 
of the important things
for ourselves!

It would help if there were a book,
and if we read it.

But, there is only the moment,
and we have to live it.

It helps to live it with our eyes open,
paying attention--
everything is improved through paying attention!
Awareness is the solution 
to all of our problems today.

Coming to terms with how things are
is seeing things as they are,
doing what can be done about it,
and letting it be 
because it is.

We can reduce our suffering
by refusing to add to it
while we seek solutions
that change the things
that can be changed.

Willing what cannot be willed
is the bane of human existence.
Being right about what can--
and cannot--
be changed,
and knowing when to take "NO!"
for an answer,
is the essence of wisdom,
peace, 
sanity,
balance 
and harmony.

03

We don't have to be right about the meaning of life.
We only have to know what is meaningful to us about our life--
and live in ways which serve it
to the best of our ability.
And we have to be right
about it being to the best of our ability.

Doing our best in the service of what means the most to us
will put us on the path to what is truly meaningful.
Meaning has a way of leading us to meaning.
Meaning grows us up,
transforms us,
brings us to life.

Start anywhere with what is most meaningful to you,
and you will wind up somewhere else.
Actually, you won't "wind up" anywhere.
You will always be "on the way" in the service
of what is most meaningful to you at the time,
and, over time that changes in the most amazing ways.

At one time, fishing was the most meaningful thing I could think of.
But, as the old alchemists would say,
"One book opens another,"
and fishing led to nature photography,
and nature photography led to experiences
with ineffable wonder,
and that led me to explorations into mythology
and religion,
and philosophy,
and meaning,
and now I am awash in things to explore.
All because I liked to fish.

We start somewhere,
with something,
and take off,
not knowing what we are doing,
or where we are going,
or where it will lead,
or what will be next.

It is an adventure that unfolds before us
as we start walking.

It is called "Being alive to the life we are living."
If you can find something better than that,
do it!

–0–

02

We are here to live our best life possible under the circumstances,
understanding that our circumstances are necessary
to bring us forth in utilizing all of the gifts/genius/daemon/spirit/virtues/character
that we bring with us from the womb,
because we are fundamentally lazy and lethargic,
and will opt for the course of least resistence
in all matters great and small,
and have to be challenged to bring forth our best
in all the times and places of our living.
So we are here to do what we can with our circumstances.
That is just the way it is.

Every time we want to quit
because it's just not fair,
and besides that it's hopeless,
pointless,
futile
and absurd,
we have to remember that we are born for this,
and cannot refuse to be--and go on being--
who we are
and do what is ours to do
just because it's hard and we don't feel like it,
or aren't in the mood for it,
and are tired of it
and want to lie back and rest until we die.

And then, get up and do what needs to be done.
The way it needs to be done.
When it needs to be done.
For as long as it needs to be done.
Because it is our place to do it,
and if we don't do it,
it won't be done,
and we will have failed in our mission,
and everything depends on us doing our part.

(Whether it does or not doesn't matter--
we have to live as if it does
and that it all goes to hell if we don't, 
in order to get up and go meet the day every day,
and it is important to those who depend on us
that we live like it matters that we live
because it matters to them!
And, besides, bringing our best to bear
on our circumstances gets our best out there,
and who knows what will happen
in response to that?)

–0–

01

The word "occult" simply means "hidden,"
and is an aspect of our experience
that we label as "paranormal"
or "metaphysical,"
meaning that it lies beyond the range
of rational, logical, Aristotelian
(A is A and not Not-A) categories.

Religious and mythological symbols
bridge the worlds
so that when Jesus, for example,
talks about death and resurrection,
or dying in order to live,
or when Buddha talks about oneness
and the illusion of duality,
they are talking about the same experience,
using metaphorical language
to communicate something that cannot be said directly.

Sheldon Kopp said 
"Some things can be experienced,
but not understood,
and some things can be understood,
but not explained."
In the presence of those things,
we can use the approach of poetry and metaphor
to say indirectly what cannot be said directly,
implying "like,"
or "as if,"
or "as though,"
so it is "like/as if/as though"
we die yet live
or move from a world where duality
is the foundation of reality
and things are either/or,
and into a word where duality disappears
and things are both/and 
and all are one.

Something can be true paranormally
that is false normally,
and it is a shift in perspective
that makes it so.

Walking two paths at the same time,
or living with a foot in both worlds at once,
is the task of the artists and poets,
the seers and prophets
who bridge the worlds,
and speak to us in this world of that world,
bringing the hidden things to light and to life
in this world of normal, apparent, reality.

What is true here is not so much true there,
and what is true there is not so much true here,
but to get the most out of this world,
we have to learn to live as if/as though
the other world is as real as this one is,
and bring the other world to life in this one
as fully as possible--
and that means laying aside the goals and values
of this world which lay waste to 
the goals and values of that world.

Ancient people lived in this world in light of the other world.
Their sacrifices acknowledged their dependence 
on the other world for balance and harmony,
but they were sacrificing the wrong things.
They killed their first born sons
and their virgin daughters
in order to live the way they wanted
and have what their hearts desired,
instead of sacrificing their wants and desires
and living in ways that honored oneness
and decreased duality.

We talk of equality and justice
and of living in ways that honor the natural world,
and we live in ways that destroy the natural world
and make a mockery of equity and justice.
And the other world is not to be mocked, or tricked, or fooled.

We are living in ways that work against the things
that enable us to live together,
enjoying one another 
and all that life affords--
and our life is anything but joyful and abundant.
Because we try to create abundance
through buying, spending, amassing and consuming
instead of sharing and restraining our insatiable appetites.
And the other world is not to be mocked, or tricked, or fooled.

Balance and harmony,
spirit, energy and vitality
are the products of oneness,
not duality.
All of the old manuscripts say so.
They knew what they were talking about
in the old days.
No one was listening.
And here we are.

01

Facts are not always what they appear to be.
Seeing things changes things.
What was good in our grandparents' day
may not be good at all today.
Truth itself is on the block.
What truth means changes with the clock.

Ortega y Gasset might say,
"True and false meet at the edge of the coin."
Everything is relative to something else.
How we see things depends
on how we look at them.

Maybe yes, maybe no.
Time will tell.

In the mean time,
we have to go with 
the time that is at hand,
even though the times are a'changin'
as we speak.

But, here and now are the operative concerns,
and what the situation calls for
here and now
may never be the same e'er again.

Here and now, we make our best guess 
about what matters most,
and what needs to be done about it,
and do it.
And let that be that,
as we step into the next here and now
and repeat the process forever.

I wish I could do it all over again,
some days.
Other days I think I couldn't make it
much better with 10,000 tries.
Because improving this,
worsens that,
and better is just a ratio
between good and bad.
And it takes time to tell.

And some people never learn
to tell time.
And no two people are going to 
always agree about what's what,
much less which is better 
and which is worse.

People are funny that way.

Only you can make up your mind,
and only you can change it.
Even though no one changes their mind
by trying to.
If you don't think so,
just try it.
But how we see things changes all the time.
And what determines that?
There is more to everything 
than meets the eye,
and the hidden stuff
is just a perspective shift away.

We all are our grandparents,
saying, "This is good and that is not!"
And time will tell.
And more time will tell something else.

Time is funny that way.

02

The Hero's Journey and the heroic task
await us all.

But we are always confusing metaphor with reality,
and think, "Oh, but there are no more dragons to slay!"

There were never any dragons to slay.

All that heroes ever did
through all the ages
was simply what needed to be done. 
Simply what the situation called for.

Every moment has its dragon
and is desperate for its hero
to rise to the occasion
and do what needs to be done about it.

That's where you and I come in.

To act as liege servants
with filial loyalty
in doing what needs us to do it
"Without hope,
without witness,
without reward"
(Steven Moffat).

Moment-by-moment,
situation-by-situation,
day-by-day,
all our life long.

Not what we have in mind.
We are here for bigger things
than mopping the kitchen floor
and taking out the garbage!

Come the words of Jesus:
"Those who are faithful in small things
are faithful in much."
Those who can be counted on
with the mopping and the garbage
can be counted on. 
Period.

Heroes are those who can be counted on period.

Come the words of Jesus again:
"The harvest is plentiful
but the laborers are few."
We miss the metaphor again
and think that Jesus is talking about
saying what Jesus has done to everybody everywhere.
Jesus is talking about doing what needs to be done
in every situation everywhere.

Every situation cries out for something!
"The harvest is plentiful!"
And people everywhere
are saying, "Not me, not me."
 
No one wants to do what is asked of them.
Everyone is looking for a dragon to slay
in order to make the headlines
and reap the rewards
and be accorded Hero Of The Realm!

Superheroes have better things to do
than mop the kitchen floor
and take out the garbage.

The things superheroes spit on
need real heroes to do them.
Somebody?
Anybody?

–0–

01

Nothing is wrong with us
that growing up some more again
wouldn't help.

Growing up some more again
is the solution to all of our problems today.
And every day.

Too few people world-wide
ever get beyond the third stage
of spiritual development
(As devised by the Yogis, Hindus, Buddhists of lore,
and which can be found a few days back here).
And it's a problem because no one
can grow someone else up some more again, 
or at all.
Jesus couldn't do it,
and they killed him for trying.
They always kill you in one way or another for trying.

Growing up is our responsibility.
It is really all we have to do.
If we are committed to growing up some more again
for as long as it takes,
we have everything it takes
for our life-experience (and our life)
to be as good as it can be.

Our life is never as good as we would like for it to be,
and thus, the need to grow up some more again.
But we insist that our life be what we want it to be NOW!
And it will never be what we want it to be ever.
We have to grow up some more again about it.
Which we refuse to do.

And here we are.

The only "solution" (And it solves nothing,
just makes things as livable as they can be)
is for those of us who can
to grow up some more again as we are able
throughout our life
and let that be that.

Salvation is an individual accomplishment.

Nobody can save the world.

Nobody can "make disciples of all nations"
(And Jesus of all people would have known that,
so those words were put in his mouth
by those who felt they needed leverage
for what they were doing--which is how 
the entire Bible got to be as it is,
but that is for another time).

Each of us is on our own.
Our life is our responsibility.
And growing up some more again
is all we have to do.
Everything will fall into place around that.

It is another term for the spiritual journey,
the Hero's Journey,
the spiritual Quest.
And it waits for us to take it up.
Every day.
For the rest of our life.

04

Do not have a plan.
Do not think you know where you are going.
Do not have to know where you are going.
Do not need to know where you are going.
Do not know where you are going.

Do not think you know what you are doing.
Do not have to know what you are doing.
Do not need to know what you are doing.
Do not know what you are doing.

Do not think you ought to contrive a future.
Do not think you can contrive a future worth having.
Do not contrive a future.

Do not try to figure your best move,
or seek to serve your advantage,
or strive to gain the advantage,
or think you know what the advantage is.

See what you look at.
Ask the questions that beg to be asked.
Say the things that cry out to be said.
Listen to what you hear
beyond what is said
to what is implied,
to what is meant.

Know what is called for
in each situation as it arises.
Respond with what you have to offer
out of your gifts/daemon/spirit/virtues/character
and let things fall out around that.

Let sincerity,
balance
and harmony
be your traveling companions.

Consult your creative center and source
of your Original Nature,
and allow them to lead you in acting 
to incarnate your nature
in all of the times and places of your living,
in each here and now of your existence,
in doing what needs you to do it
within the circumstances that unfold before you.

Receive your life each day
as an adventure waiting for you to live it.

Dance with your contradictions 
and bear consciously the pain that is your to bear,
always open to the joy and wonder of being alive.

And your life will teach you 
all you need to know.

–0–

03

We are minding our own business,
going about life as usual,
all our plans are in place,
meeting our responsibilities
and carrying out our duties
in serving our own sense of The Good
to the best of our ability,
when along comes a war,
or a pandemic slams the door on one future
and opens the door to a starkly different one,
requiring us to adapt and adjust in mid-stride.

Transitions are tough to negotiate
even when we see them coming.
When they are thrust upon us
out of nowhere
we have to get our feet back under us
with the world spinning around us
while free-falling through a debris field
of all that once was the world we lived in
thirty seconds ago,
they are a monster,
eating our old life alive
laughing at our prospects 
and mocking our chances.

When everything is blown away,
we have to connect ourselves consciously
with the one constant that remains steadily in place
through all the vicissitudes of time and space.

That would be us.
Carl Jung said, "We are who we have always been,
and who we will be."

We remain constantly and continually ourselves
through all that comes and goes throughout our life.

We have to remind ourselves of that,
and breathe slowly and deeply,
as we recover our sense of our own being,
reunite with our Original Nature,
check to make sure our shadow is where it should be, 
and remind ourselves of who we are
and what we bring to this moment
and every moment flowing from this one.

Our task is the same 
across all conditions and circumstances of life:
We stop,
take inventory,
assess what is happening
and what needs to be done about it,
determine what is being called for,
in each situation as it arises
and respond to it 
with the gifts/daemon/spirit/virtues/character
that came with us from the womb
and accompany us wherever we go
all our life long.

Our work is the same in all times and places.
We stand up, 
and step forward,
rising to the occasion
and meeting whatever faces us
as only we can
moment-by-moment,
situation-by-situation,
day-after-day,
time-after-time--
letting things fall into place around that
and adjusting to new realities as they emerge,
responding on the fly 
as needed all the way.

Through all that comes,
we maintain our conscious connection
with the source and center
of our Original Nature,
being who we are
when we are,
where we are,
no matter what
every step of the way--
allowing the path to open before us
as we start walking,
and trusting ourselves
to the creative mystery within
guiding us through the choices and decisions
that are ours to make
as though we know what we are doing,
when in truth,
we are only doing what seems to be 
the right thing to do at the time,
and letting the outcome be the outcome--
which will be just another situation
where we stand up
and step forward to meet
and deal with as best we can.

Resting and regrouping as we are able,
and doing what can be done
about what needs to be done
all the way.

Each of us is uniquely suited 
for the adventure that is ours.
It only takes believing that
and living as if it were so
for it to be so
in every day that lies ahead.

–0–

02

We have to be able to bear the pain
of seeing what we look at
and knowing what we know.

Bearing the pain of life as it is
is the foundational step
toward life as it may be.

The catch is that life as it may be
may be nothing like
life as we want it to be,
as we wish it were,
at least not in our lifetime.
And we have to bear that pain
in doing the work that needs to be done
to make things better than they are
for future generations.

How many generations out
are we
from life as it needs to be?
It doesn't matter.
What matters is that we do the work
in our time and place
toward life as it needs to be
in all times and places--
without keeping score
or caring what our chances are.

Democracy,
equality,
justice,
compassion,
human rights...
are worth living and dying for
across time and place.

And we have to bear the pain
of service to ends worthy of us
in every time and place,
anyway,
nevertheless,
even so--
because everything depends on that,
and flows from that.

Living as though, 
as if,
this were so
makes it so!

And we take our place
in the long line of those
who lived in the service of a good
greater than their own, personal, good,
in light of all that life may yet be
for all who are alive
throughout the time left for living.

–0–

01

What do you call a White Supremacist
who frequents tanning beds
and applies artificial tan
with lotions and creams?

Kidding ourselves is what we do best.
Self-deception in all its myriad forms
has characterized humanity
from the beginning.
We are always fooling ourselves,
looking in the mirror,
never seeing who is looking back.

If you are a member of an organization--
or a group--
larger than three people,
you are a danger to the rest of us.

There are Republicans who are convinced
that Democrats eat children--
literally, actually, in real time.

Witch hunts were conducted by conspiracy theorists.
Nazis and fascists were/are conspiracy theorists.
Qanon never met a conspiracy theory it didn't like.
Everything is so much better with someone else to blame
for things being the way they are.

And hatred is at the bottom of it all.

"It is people like you
who make people like me
hate people like you!"

Try making peace with people like that.
With people who just want you dead.
After inflicting misery and suffering on you
forever.

What's the fix?
How do people get to be 
the way they are?
What is going on?
"Why can't we just get along?"
How is hatred masking itself
in the things you believe?

If you aren't self-aware enough
to see what you look at 
when you look at you,
you are a danger to the rest of us.

Self-transparency--
with a particular sensitivity
to denial,
deception
and delusion--
is the solution
to all of our problems today.
And every day.

The fix is found in assuming our individual responsibility
for facing,
squaring up to,
dealing with,
handling 
and managing the truth--
particularly, as it pertains to us personally.

03

Our life will teach us all we need to know--
IF we are willing to change our mind
about what is important.

If we are locked into a certain way of thinking about/seeing reality--
married to some form of doctrine or ideology--
there is no learning from experience,
or anything else.
We are among the dead
waiting to bury,
and be buried by,
the dead.

Meister Eckhart talked about our 
having to "leave God for God."
Our idea of God gets in the way 
of our experience of God.

Our idea of how things ought to be
gets in the way of our experiencing
how things need to be.

Parents have ideas for their children,
but their children have a life of their own
(And usually, the parents never had a life of their own, 
and the parents' ideas for their children
are their own projected desires
for the life they never lived).

If we have any hope of living the life
that needs us to live it,
we have to refrain from imposing our idea
of the life we want to live on our life,
and allow our life to show us 
how it needs us to live it.

This will come as a new concept 
to too many of you,
the idea that our life has a mind of its own.
The sooner you adjust yourself to it the better.
Our life has a mind of its own.

And we are students of our own life.
Our life is the teacher.
Living is the lesson.
Our life teaches us to live
in accord with the interests and needs of our life

To live like that
is to be a Real Human Being.

–0–

02

What is the nature of your pain?

This is an exercise for meditation,
for exploration,
for examination,
for reflection,
for realization.

We have to be conscious of our pain.
We have to bear consciously our pain.
How we do that tells the tale.

Knowing how we do that 
is the unadvertised first step to--
what would you call were we are going?
Where we are aspiring to be?
The whole point of our being here?
Of our being anywhere?
Of our being alive?
What are we about,
if not to find out what we are here to do?
To be?
To become?

However you envision what we are here for,
bearing consciously our pain
is the first step we have to take on the way there--
and it is something we carry with us all along the way.

"If you would be a companion of mine,"
said Jesus.
"Pick up your cross daily,
and come with me."

The metaphor of the cross--
like all living metaphors--
has to be re-thought,
re-worked,
in every generation

(We hardly ever re-work a metaphor.
Our "metaphors"--the quote marks
indicate they aren't actual metaphors,
just pretend metaphors,
make-believe symbols,
meaning nothing more than 
what they are said to mean).

Our "metaphors" come packaged
with definitions so that we can remind ourselves
of what they mean,
because they are meaningless
and have no connection with us 
and our life.

We breathe new life into old, 
dead,
metaphors,
by re-working them anew in every age.

The cross is more than it is reported to be--
as are all metaphors that are alive and vibrant.
It is not something Jesus died on to save us from our sins.
That is a narrative invented by the Church of the Holy Roman Empire
and burned into the minds of the people
by burning at the stake all the heretics who knew it was a lie from the start.

The people who understood what Jesus meant
about carrying their cross daily
knew their cross was nothing Jesus could bear for them
and it had nothing to do with sin,
but everything to do with living in a world
where life eats life,
and everything comes with strings attached,
and we give up this to get that,
and there are no free lunches,
and no free rides,
and we are damned if we do
and damned if we don't,
and that's the way it is.
And the cross we carry 
is the pain of being alive.
And no one can carry it for us.
We have to do that on our own.

The Buddha said, "Life is suffering."
Jesus said, "Pick up your cross and let's go."
And I say, "What is the nature of your pain?"

We have to bear consciously our pain.
We have to be clear about the nature of our pain.
And we have to know how we carry it,
how we manage it,
how we deal with it,
and what symptoms we have because of it--
or because of the way we are denying it,
escaping it,
hiding from it,
or trying to.

Our pain and how we relate to it
are among the basic truths about us and our life.
We don't take one step toward where we are going
(Which I understand to be becoming Real Human Beings)
without changing our relationship with our pain.

That changes our relationship with our life,
and with ourselves.
And that transforms everything.

So.
What is the nature of your pain?

–0–

01

Forrest Gump is the metaphor for our time.
If you were going to advise Forrest Gump, 
what would you tell him?
Sit with that.
Ponder it.
Meditate on it.
Play around with it.
What would you say to Forrest Gump?
What did/does Forrest Gump need to know?

Imagine that you are Forrest Gump.
What do you need to know?
What would help you the most?
If you could ask The One Who Knows
what you need to know,
what do you think he would tell you?

If you were Forrest Gump,
and I were The One Who Knows,
I would tell you,
"Forrest, be right about what you believe is so,
and live as though it is.
Live as if it were.
In every moment
of every situation as it arises,
all your life long."

And, you being Forrest Gump,
would likely ask,
"But how do I know what is right to believe in?"
I would tell you,
"Your life will tell you what is right to believe in.
Live with your eyes open,
seeing what you look at,
looking at everything.
Your life will teach you all you need to know."

And, you being Forrest Gump,
would likely say,
"Ah, I already knew that!"
And, I would say,
"Everybody does.
But only you are living as if it were so."

And, you being Forrest Gump,
would likely say,
"Well then, what do I need you for?"
And, I would say,
"Everybody already has all they need
to find what they need,
to do what their life needs them to do,
but only you and I and a handful of others
know it is so,
and live as though it is.
We are all like you, Forrest.
But only a few of us know it.
And it is good for us to be together
from time to time,
and pal around.
Why don't we find some popcorn,
or go for a run?"

03

Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell said two things (apiece)
that pertain to us and our work
of transforming our relationship with ourselves
and living a life in accord with who we are.

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

"We are who we have always been, and who we will be."

Joseph Campbell:
"Where you stumble and fall, there lies the treasure."

"What you seek lies far back in the darkest corner
of the cave you most don't want to enter."

These four statements constitute
the full scope of the work that is ours to do,
which is, transforming our relationship with ourselves
and living to incarnate/bring forth The Other,
who is our True Self,
The Face That Was Ours Before We Were Born,
within the context and circumstances of our life
in the world of time and space--
the here and now of our normal, 
day-to-day, existence.

Your assignment is to meditate,
ruminate,
contemplate,
consider,
reflect on,
play with,
dance with,
muse on,
walkabout with,
live with...
these four statements
in your imagination,
and let them take on a life of their own,
leading you down paths you would never think 
to explore,
showing you what they have to offer,
and what they have to ask of you--
just allow your thoughts to run off with you
and follow along, 
not knowing where they are going...

Do this over a long period of time.
Come back again and again to these four statements
and what they have to show you 
that you have yet to see.

The statements will not run out of things to say to you,
to show you,
to ask you,
to require of you.
And they will always be a doorway, a threshold, to you
through all the stages of your life.

–0–

02

Our opinions are killing us.

We have opinions about everything.
If physicians allowed their opinions
to color their living
the way everybody else does,
everybody else would be better off
staying away from physicians.

Police are now partisan in New York.
If you don't wear a MAGA hat,
don't expect police to be much help there.
And if you wear a Black Lives Matter tee shirt,
you are soon to be in need
of a physician without opinions.

We got here by being asleep at the wheel.
By being Absent Without Leave from our life.
By not being aware of how our opinions
were carrying us away,
kidnapping us,
hijacking us,
commandeering us,
shanghaiing us
and making us captive
to their narrow point of view
and their absence of grace and kindness,
compassion and bigness of heart.

And we became snarly,
surly,
grouchy,
crotchety,
bad-tempered,
ill-natured
and unsafe to be around,
like that (snaps fingers).

All because we have opinions 
about everything.
And, with us, opinions are facts.
The way we see things
is the way things ARE!!!
And everything SHOULD BE
the way we want things to be
RIGHT NOW!!!

OR ELSE!!!

You can look this up,
or trust me when I say,
opinions (ours and everyone else's) are the cause
of all of our troubles yesterday,
today,
tomorrow
and forever.

And, if you think that is just my opinion,
well, that's YOUR opinion.
 

–0–

01

The work is always the same
over time and place.

Wherever we are,
whenever we are,
there is the work to wake up,
be aware,
see what is happening,
do what is called for
in incarnating our Original Nature,
within the context and circumstances
of our life,
with sincerity,
balance and harmony,
energy, spirit and vitality,
in the service of justice and equality,
compassion and peace,
grace and kindness
all our life long.

The old saw goes,
"When Good stands up to be Good,
Evil stands us to be Evil."
It is an unending cycle of life,
like the coming and going of the seasons
and the rise and fall of the tides.
It means Good cannot quit being Good
just because it is tired
and needs a vacation.
Evil doesn't sleep.
Good has to be on its toes.
All the time.

We can rest in peace
when we are dead.