Trump owns both houses of Congress, 
the Supreme Court,
and, soon to be, the FBI.

And, he is on the way to owning the military.

He may as well be king
for all the difference being president makes.

And, I'm remembering the words of Genghis Khan,
who is reported to have said,
"It is easier to conquer a nation than to govern one."

Let's see how long it takes Trump to learn this lesson,
remembering that Trump is a very slow learner,
and a very dim wit.

Once we understand 
that life is out to get us--
and will get us eventually--
we can ease into the day
with an eye on our chances
and possibilities,
recognizing the perils
and staying out of harm's way,
making life work for its jollies
by remembering
that we reduce our vulnerabilities
by limiting our exposures,
and using the hand rails
and banisters
when going downstairs,
for example.

Why smoke/drink yourself to death?
Whose side are you on?

Know the difference between
trusting your luck
and pushing your luck,
and stay on the smart side of life
all the way to the end of the line--
remembering that we have a say
about how long that is.

Why not make life work for its joys?

"Peaceful abiding, here, now."
This is the Buddha's description of meditation.
This, and, "Don't listen to me!
Listen to YOU--and make up your own mind
about what's what and what is called for!
(Or words to that effect)"
are for me the only legitimate direct quotes
of the Buddha extant today.
Though ten billion things are said
that the Buddha said, these two will do fine for me.

And this photograph captures perfectly for me
the essence of "Peaceful abiding, here, now."

It all starts from there,
flows from there,
and returns to there.

"Peaceful abiding, here, now,"
is all there is to it.
Once we get that down,
we have it made,
and can remain there the rest of the way,
because once we have mastered the art
of peaceful abiding, here, now,
there is nothing left to do or to be,
and we are the peaceful master
of everything that comes our way.

And, from there, we are able to
arise, meet, and do whatever is called for
in each situation that comes along
for as long as there are situations 
to come along.

And I don't know what could beat that!

There is peaceful abiding as one 
thus come here, now,forever--
and there is constant striving
for more/better/different/finer.

There is meaningful
and there is meaningless.

And that's it.

The difference is turning 
the light around,
flipping a switch,
seeing what's what,
and doing what is called for,
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.

Peaceful abiding
or constant striving.
Where are we here, now?

What would it take
for us to be happily at peace,
with things as they are
here, now?

It takes a regular routine of returning
to a quiet place to open ourselves
to what is calling our name,
seeking to get our attention,
and point us in the direction
of our destiny
and the work that is ours to do.

Be aware of the things that catch your eye,
that pique your interest,
that wink at you and disappear.

We do not think our way to where we need to be.
We feel our way there
with propitious encounters
and accidental turns of fortune,
both good and bad.

We do not control what our life needs us to do.
And must be alert
to what is being offered to us,
asked of us
as we traverse the terrain of our days,
so that we don't keep missing
the gifts that continue to be presented to us,
waiting for us to receive for the hidden blessings
they represent. 

It is appalling, ludicrous, ridiculous, absurd and obscene 
that God would hold everyone forever accountable
for Adam's and Eve's disobeying orders.

Perhaps it was Nestorius who said,
"No one can sin for someone else,
and no one can redeem someone else's sin."

If the writer of the Garden of Eden tale
had been wise enough to shape it
after Jesus' parable of the Prodigal Son,
where the son doesn't have to earn his father's forgiveness,
the world would be a different place,
and we would be different-for-the-better people.

Revising the old tales,
with his, "You have heard it said,
but I say unto you!" style of life
was what Jesus did that was truly freeing,
calling us all to see for ourselves
the truth of what we look at,
and be fully alive in the time left for living--
rising from the dead ourselves
in order to live at last before we die.

But, the Church doesn't take that tack,
telling us that it is Jesus' death that saves us,
when it is our death to all that is shamefully 
wrong about "the old, old story" and our 
resurrection to life that never dies in the
realization of what's what and what is called for
in turning things around, 
finally, at last, seeing what we look at
and turning the light around,
in doing what should have been done ages ago,
even yet, even now, even so.

We are carried along by forces quite beyond us,
into circumstances we cannot imagine.
Our place is to rise to the occasion
without judgment, agendas, or even preferences.
With us one situation is as good as another,
providing us with a context within which
we show our stuff,
doing what is called for where, when and how
it is called for,
using the gifts of our original nature,
our innate virtues (What we do best
and enjoy doing most),
our inherent imagination and intrinsic intuition.

In this way, 
we bring our best to bear
upon the worst life has to offer,
and surprise ourselves all along the way,
in bringing ourselves forth to meet
what is in our path.

The day's gifts are surprisingly just what we need
to develop our latent powers
and amaze ourselves with talents
we did not know we possess.

This is thought of as the wonder of being alive.

Noise, complexity, trauma, drama,
keep things stirred up
and produce the heaving waves
and clashing rocks
on the wine-dark sea.

Emptiness, stillness, silence
reduce complication
and increase clarity and simplicity.

What is the status of your balance and harmony?
What are the forces of destabilization
at work in your life?

Where to you go for peace, calm, serenity, tranquility?

How intentional and deliberate are you
about managing the stability quotient in your life?

Here's another one for you:
Consume more than 50% of your daily calorie intake
before 5:00 PM.

We make our way along the Way
by doing what is called for
in each situation as it arises.

True to our original nature,
our innate virtues
(What we do best and enjoy doing most)
and our intrinsic intuition,
we have all it takes to be who we are
as "circumstances beget circumstances,"
and we experience the miracle
of no plan/no agenda,
no striving/no desiring
producing a lifetime of amazingly good luck
every step of the Way.

Those who know
know exactly what I'm talking about.

No? 

What guides your choices?
Directs your actions?
Why do you do what you do
and not do what you don't do?

What is in charge of you?
Boss of you?
Telling you what is to be "Yes,"
and what is to be "No"?

Who--okay, whom--
do you live to please?
If you say you do,
who--okay, whom--
would be most pleased
with how you live?

Everyone talks about "freedom of the will,"
but no one is free to choose what they want.
When they say, 
"I am free to do whatever I want,"
they are not free to want what they don't want.

Where does what they want come from?
Why that and not something else instead?
What binds us to our wants?
Repels us from our "don't wants"?

When you get to the bottom of you,
who/what is flipping your switches,
pushing your buttons,
in charge of the way you live your life?
Compelling you to like, or not like, dogs,
and love, or hate, the ocean or the mountains?
Telling you you are free to do whatever you want?

Seeking Buddha. Seeking Jesus. Seeking God. Is seeking ourselves.
We are seeking ourselves.
We are the Buddha. We are Jesus. We are God.
Why do you balk at that?
Sit with it for a while
and you will see that it is so.

You can sit looking into a mirror,
or you can sit in the emptiness, stillness, silence.
As you sit,
you will eventually become quiet enough
for realizations to begin to arise, appear, emerge.
Of their own accord
out of the silence.

One realization will lead to another,
and somewhere in that process,
you will realize that Buddha, Jesus and God
all need to be fired
because if this is the best they can do
they have no excuse for continuing 
to hold the positions they hold.

The world is a complete failure
and they have done nothing to prevent
that development.
It will come to you as a bolt of lightening 
from a clear blue sky:
You could have done better!

What is it about that truth
that compels you to deny it?

What is it that you don't understand?
Sit with that question in the silence
and see what realizations it brings to mind.

What do you need to know that you don't know?
Why do you deny the truth of what you do know?
What are you afraid of acknowledging?

Is it that if you are Buddha, Jesus, God
you will be responsible for things you can now
ignore? That you will be "on the spot"?
And can no longer slide by with being "just you"?

The silence reveals all eventually
if you have what it takes to sit there
"waiting for the mud to settle
and the water to clear."

But then you will have to do something
with what you know,
and we do so relish lethargy and wishing
it were easier.

No?

What do we hope to receive 
from Christianity/Buddhism?
Eternal life?
Nirvana?
Really?

Those two religions have been
(And continue to be)
sold as ways to guarantee 
our eternal-everlasting happiness
for the low low price
of believing what we are told to believe.

Really?

I'm only looking for assistance
with balance and harmony,
serenity, tranquility, equanimity,
integrity, sincerity, spontaneity,
vitality, focus and clarity.

I only want to dispense with wanting,
and know what is called for
in each situation as it arises,
in order to do what needs to be done,
when, where and how it needs to be done,
here, now, all my life long,
and let that be that--
for the joy of doing it
and the satisfaction of having done it.

And being glad to let everything else
fall out around that.

And you?