I don't believe in believing. 
I believe in knowing.
If we only knew what we know--
and knew only what we know--
we would be just fine.

As fine as the children Jesus
was talking about when he said,
"Unless you turn and become as children,
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

Children know what they know.
And only what they know.
Growing up is knowing more than you know.
The more you know that you don't know,
the smarter you are,
and the better able you are 
to out-smart everyone else.

And you have no idea of what is called for,
or what's what,
or what to do about it.
And you drink too much
to keep from thinking about it.

We have to forget what we know
in order to know what we know.

"Listen to the flow, Luke!"
(It would be better if it had been,
"Listen to the flow"
instead of "Listen to the Force."
"The Force," suggests something 
overpowering, like Niagara Falls.
While "the flow" is more like Dugger's Creek falls,
a pitiful little thing
that looks like someone forgot to turn the hose off.

The flow of life is that way.
The Tao that can't be said or told,
explained or defined.
Something we know without knowing
what we know, or how we know it.
Like when we are sleepy or hungry.

But our body knows.

Our body knows all we need to know.
If we allow our body to direct us,
we will never stray from the path,
never drift from the Way.
Always be on the beam,
knowing what it is time for,
and doing what is called for,
time after time.

That kind of knowing is the best kind of knowing.
Like knowing "what kind of help
is the kind of help
that help is all about.
And what kind of help
is the kind of help
we all could do without"
(Shel Silverstein).

I will be lost for a while, having to change my web browser and now finding my way around in the new one. Complexity disturbs the flow and disrupts life for as long as it takes to settle into knowing what we are doing, which comes in its own time, and there is no hurrying the return of balance and harmony. We just wait it out, finding our way around in the barren wasteland. Which applies to all of us, whether we know it or not. Most of us, I expect, know it all too well. And here's the hope I have for you: Those who live closely in sync with their intuition are known to be lucky by those who know them. That doesn't mean they get what they want. It means they want very little and make everywhere they are a good enough place to be for themselves and those who share the space with them. Which is really all that Jesus ever did.

1) The Japanese have a saying--wu-wei--
meaning doing-without-doing,
or "getting things done without trying/striving/pushing/shoving.

We need a word or a phrase that means the same thing
only applied to caring.

We need to care-without-caring.
To give our best to what is called for
in each situation,
with nothing at all at stake in the outcome.

We give everything with nothing to lose
and nothing to gain.
Pick ourselves up when it is over,
and give ourselves completely
to the next thing that is called for,
with nothing to lose and nothing to gain.

It is an attitude we all need to have
in the way we live our life--
like children on a playground,
loving what they are doing without keeping score.

Live without keeping score.
No wins. 
No loses.
Just playing the game
with your heart fully in what you are doing,
with nothing lost when it is done
no matter the outcome.

Why not live like that?
Untouchable.
Loving every minute of being alive.
Anyway, nevertheless, even so!

2) 

1) It is difficult enough
being who we are,
doing what is ours to do,
when, where and how it needs to be done
within an environment that supports
and encourages us all along the way.

Doing that work within an environment
hostile and resistant to our living like that
is to live where Jesus lived
against forces starkly opposed to
Liberty! Justice! Equality! Truth!
at every turn.

So we get up and do what is ours to do
anyway, nevertheless, even so,
encouraged by the presence of one another
and devoted to the task of bringing ourselves forth
to meet whatever comes our way
in the service of what is called for,
here, now, no matter what.

It will help if we have regular returns
to emptiness, stillness and silence
in the company of our original nature,
our innate virtues
(What we do best and enjoy doing most)
and our intrinsic intuition
in finding the energy and direction
to be and do as only we can
in each situation as it arises,
day-to-day,
as we work to maintain our balance and harmony,
while restraining our projections
and our emotional reactivity
within a wasteland of shrieking absurdity.

Being grounded in our intuition
is being centered and focused on the Way.
Fear, anger and desire carry us away.

Managing our response to our circumstances
is always the task at hand--
and we do that by simply being here, now
through all times and places.

1) 1) You and your life are meditations awaiting realization.

We are only mindful awareness away from 
aligning ourselves with the Tao--
with the flow of life
moving through situations and circumstances
as a blessing and a grace
upon us and all those who come our way.

Which is all that Jesus ever did.
Which is exactly what Jesus always did.
"The father and I are one," he said,
meaning that he and his life were one,
which is precisely what is possible for each of us--
if we will but only cooperate
and place ourselves in sync with,
at one with, who we are and what we are about
in each situation as it arises
all our life long,
doing there what needs to be done there
with the gifts of our original nature,
our innate virtues
(What we do best and enjoy doing most)
and our intrinsic intuition,
which knows all we need to know
and waits for us to realize what she knows
and incorporate it into our life
for the good of each here, now forever.

We do that by realizing our life is a meditation
awaiting our attentiveness 
and our participation.

Here is how we do that:

Draw an imaginary square, or a rectangle, or a circle
around anything--
an object,
an experience,
yourself,
someone else,
an animal, place or thing,
and let that become for you as a mirror,
or a mandala,
reflecting you to you.

As you look at what is within the frame you created,
you will be seeing your projection of what is there.
It is the thing as you perceive it,
as you take it to be.
And you will now explore it--
explore your experience of it--
in depth,
becoming consciously, mindfully, aware of what you see
when you look at whatever it is.

As you do this, it is your place
to ask all of the questions that beg to be asked
and to say all of the things that occur to you 
to be said
in considering/seeing/experiencing/comprehending/
understanding/exploring/realizing
what is within the frame
in coming to know what is there
and how you are to relate to it,
live with it over time.

This is your meditation for life,
though what is framed may be different,
depending on your situation/circumstances
which will require your attention to your attention
over time,
so that you becoming increasingly aware of yourself
and your responses to your environment
and what that says about you and to you
as it calls you to see/do/be what is called for here,now
in each situation as it arises forever--
which is all Jesus ever did,
and is all that is necessary/needed
in every moment forever.

You will be seeing your seeing
and realizing what that means for you
and the way you live your life
throughout the time left for living.

May it be well with you all the way along The Way!

1) The meaningful things are meaningful
through all times and places.
The laughter of children.
The loyalty of pets.
The colors of fall.
The warmth a fire upon the hearth.
The odor of oatmeal cranberry cookies
fresh from the oven.
The music that makes our little heart sing
and our little toes to dance...

You have your own list.
Remember it well,
cherish it in all times and places.
Honor it's sacredness with reverence
and joy.
Tend it with indestructible allegiance, ,
liege loyalty,
and filial devotion,
no matter what,
throughout the time left for living.

Fealty to what is meaningful
is fealty to life!

2) The United States and the world
have been reduced to the Wailing Wall.
There is no consolation,
nor will there be for the rest of time.

Native Americans and the children of slaves
know what I'm talking about.
And the people who are rejoicing now
will outlive their joy
when the truth becomes undeniable,
yet always were foreseeable, 
in their lifetime.

Those who don't know what they are doing
always fall back on
"If we had only known."

They don't know because they are in denial
and don't want to know,
but this will be beyond denial
in very short order.

And the fallout will be forever.

That leaves the rest of us 
to our grief and mourning,
and our affiliation with 
Native Americans, slaves and children of slaves.
They have lost everything,
never had anything,
and they are still upright,
intact, and making the best
of a thoroughly rotten situation.

They are our comfort and our consolation.
We are their apprentices,
their neophytes, their initiates
for as long as time lasts.

3) Say this out loud and mean it!

I will handle everything that comes my way
in a manner appropriate to the occasion,
and do what needs to be done with it,
when, where and how it needs to be done,
in each situation as it arises,
all my life long!

1) Do what you can do 
and don't worry about--
or even think about--
what you can't do.

Doing what we can do
with the gifts of our original nature,
our innate virtues 
(The things we do best
and enjoy doing most),
and our intrinsic intuition
about what is called for
in each situation as it arises
will set the cosmos in its traces
and create a brand new world.

No kidding.
Why would I lie?

2) Enter emptiness-stillness-silence
(One thing, not three)
regularly,
waiting for what happens there
to deepen your relationship
with your original nature,
innate virtues
(The things you do best
and enjoy doing most)
and your intrinsic intuition.

These are our gifts
to use in the service
of what is called for
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.

In order to make the adjustment
from mind control
to body (nature/virtues/intuition) control,
we have to shift our internal guide
from getting/having what we want
to doing what is called for 
by our situation/circumstances.

Living to serve our circumstances
is quite different from
living to serve ourselves.
Our orientation from inner to outer concern
makes all the difference
in how we live our life--
and in the quality of the life we live.

The focus of the time we spend in silence
is in this area of what we are living for,
what we are doing with our life,
how good is the good we call good
and whose good is served by the good 
we call good.

In the silence, we conduct an inner scan
to see what is in charge of our choices
and what direction our choices determine.

Living to do what is called for
is quite different than
living to do/get what we want.

It is the difference that makes the difference.

And we get there in the emptiness-stillness-silence.

3) Joseph Campbell said, "Myths are public dreams
and dreams are private myths."

And, "Myths are the mental supports of rites;
rites the physical enactments of myths."

It amounts to trying to say
what cannot be said,
so we project what we are trying to say
on pictures, animals, drawings, sacred stones
and objects, dancing and enactments, music
and vocalizations, or just, "AAAUUUUUUMMMMMMM..."

When it comes to The Mystery,
we don't know what to say,
or how to say it,
or what to do,
or how to think about it...

We are at a loss for words,
for words can never do more
than news, weather, sports,
gossip and conversation.

And are left with
entering the emptiness-stillness-silence
and waiting there
to experience The Mystery
and ponder it for the rest of time.

4) 

1) I don't have enough scenes close-by.
So I keep returning to the scenes I do have,
hoping to see it with new eyes.
And, of course, that always works to charm me
again.

Fall is my favorite season.
Spring is next.
Summer and winter are equally boring for me,
and spring is getting difficult,
with knees that make getting low to small spring flowers
out of the question,
and the flowers themselves being indistinguishable 
from last spring's offerings.

Which makes Fall my go-to season.
Anne Springs Close Greenway will afford another trip or two,
and the Carolina Thread Trail
(Connecting all of the locations of cotton mills in the area)
will offer another.
Beyond that, I will await inspiration.

The Blue Ridge Parkway and its trails have been rendered
inaccessible for me due to the damage caused by Hellene,
and I expect my time there is done
due to the effort of getting there being not worth 
the benefit of being there.

I sold all of my proper camera gear last year
in preparation for the inescapable arrival of the truth
of the consequences of 80 and beyond. 
And I incorporated a Halide camera in my iPhone
to ease the transition from the old to the new.

I find my present landscape needs being nicely met
by the new camera, and I don't miss the weight
and unwieldyness of the old system at all.

And I expect to go on "making the best of it"
all the days of my life.

2) Think of all the people
who have a right to be angry...

Native Americans,
People of color,
LGBTQ people,
Homeless people...
The list is long.

And who are the angriest?
Wealthy white people.

I need to think about this for a while...

3) College basketball starts tonight.
One of my favorite forms of distraction!
I am fascinated by the way basketball teams
are able to generate and maintain 
the pace of flow and attention--
and lose focus and presence "like that."

And how some coaches seem to be able 
to keep teams flowing together,
and some coaches don't have a clue
about how to do that.

I would like to follow the top coaches--
men and women--throughout their life
and quiz them about how they keep 
themselves there.

4)

1) Wanting is the source  
of all of our problems.

To be free of wanting
is the ultimate in liberation.

To be free of wanting
is to be open to what is called for
here, now.

What is it time for?
What is the situation asking for?
What needs to be done 
in the time and place of our living?

Questions that are lost 
in the wanting/getting/having/wanting...
whirl of life lived to the tune
of the latest commercial comeon
coming at us from all sides now.

It takes emptiness-stillness-silence
(One thing, not three)
to ground us in the hush of just being
who we are,
where we are,
when we are,
how we are
with nothing to distract us
from the business of being present
with all that is present with us
waiting for the mud to settle
and the water to clear
so that we might know what's what
and what needs to be done about it,
in response to it
in a "chop wood, carry water," 
"when the dishes need washing,
wash the dishes," 
kind of way.

2) Life began in retirement for me.
With retirement came the freedom to live
as I realized life needed to be lived,
rather than living as someone else expected me to live.

I listened for instructions from within,
and did as I was directed by invisible sources.
And came to see over time
that my entire life had been lived that way.

I have been led,
governed by,
and cared for 
by The Mystery
from the very beginning.

"Darkness within darkness,
the threshold (the gate) 
to Mystery."

That is how Lao Tzu described the Tao.
Our life is the unfolding of the Tao
through our choices and decisions,
our preferences and our loves.

What do you love?
Go there!
Do that!
There you are!

The freedom to go there/do that
is the highest form of liberation there is.
Wanting to do what needs to be done
has nothing in common with wanting
to do what we want to do.

What we want in this light
has to do with doing what is called for
whether we want to or not!
The freedom to do that is the highest kind of freedom.

3) Jesus said, "The Father and I are one."
Paul the Apostle said, "It is no longer I who live,
but Christ who lives within me."

That makes Paul one with The Father.
As is all who live as the Christ,
and the word "Christian" means "Little Christ."

Insofar as Christians are who they claim to be,
they are the Christ and they are God.
And, if they are not who they claim to be,
they have "taken the name of the Lord in vain."

It's all right there in the Good Book.

4) 

Our problem is finding our way in the world.
We are questing for who we are
and what we are about--
for what is meaningful and necessary
(Or, "meet and right")
for us to do.

The Bible gives us direction when it says,
"It is not across the sea
that you should seek it there,
and it is not hidden in the mountains,
that you should seek it there,
and it is not tucked away in dusty books
that you should seek it there,
but it is in your own heart/soul/body,
waiting for you to sit still and be quiet,
so the mud might settle and the water clear,
and you might know beyond all doubt
what constitutes your original nature,
and your innate virtues 
(Which are the things you do best
and love to do most),
and your intrinsic intuition
by which you know what's what
and what is called for in each situation 
as it arises--
without knowing how you know
or what makes you think it is so"
(Or words to that effect).

That which we seek lies within
waiting on us to trust ourselves to it
and to our own body's knowledge,
in order that we might go where 
we are led
and do what needs to be done.

What do you do 
when there is nothing you can do?
Where do you turn
when there is nowhere to turn?
I'm serious.

What holds you up?
What keeps you going?
Were do you find your "Umph"?
Your spirit?
Your determination?
Your will?

What guides your boat
on its path through the sea?

Odysseus said,
"I will endure and I will press on!
And when the heaving sea 
has shaken my raft to pieces,
then I will swim!"

Where does that come from?

We are still here!
Like Odysseus, we have not caved
to our circumstances!
And we will not!

What keeps us going?

I asked that question to Martha Knott
at her bedside in XYZ Nursing home's intensive care ward.
She had fallen the night before getting out of bed,
and a large dark purple bruise covered her left cheek,
closing her eye.
Her left arm was in a sling.
She has just gone through her litany
of thing she could not do:
"I cannot see.
I cannot hear.
I cannot find my way to the toilet.
I cannot read the paper.
I cannot even drink a cup of coffee.
I don't know what is going to happen to me."

To which I had responded,
"Martha! What keeps you going?"

She paused for at least three minutes.
Turned her head and looked at me with her right eye.
Laughed and said, "I don't know. I just go."

We all "just go!"
May it be said of all of us always!
May it be so!

My sister Susan's suicide three years ago 
was the result of her evaluation of the way things are,
and her choice to not put up with it any longer.

She looked at the same universe Dr. King saw,
and she did not view it as bending toward justice at all.

"Each to their own," as we sometimes say.

However, our interpretation of things
determine--or strongly influence--our response to things.
That being the case,
I would be in favor of taking nothing 
as seriously as we tend to,
and giving every thing a spot of encouragement
and hope for the best
anyway, nevertheless, even so.

Our work is all the same regardless of our assessment
of each situation as it arises.
We are to simply do what is called for
with the gifts that come with us from the womb:
Our original nature,
our innate virtues (The things we do best
and enjoy doing most),
and our intrinsic intuition,
and let that be that
as we step into the situation following
which is already unfolding before us.

To allow our opinions about our chances for success
drag us down
is to reduce the quality of those chances
and the effort we put into doing what is called for.

And so the list:
No opinions!
No judgment!
No expectations!
No plans!
No agendas!
No striving, compelling, forcing, insisting, demanding.

Just doing what is called for moment to moment,
situation by situation.
Whether we feel like it or not.
Whether we want to or not.
Whether we are in the mood for it or not.
Because it is our place
to honor our original nature,
our innate virtues
and our intrinsic intuition
by living in their service for the good of the here, now,
in every here, now that comes our way.

It is called doing our part
all along the path.
May it be so
all day every day!