Anybody can be Jesus.
Anybody can be the Buddha.
All it takes is getting out of the way.

Jesus and the Buddha got out of the way.
And were one with what was called for,
with what needed to happen,
in each situation as it arose,
without imposing themselves--
in the form of their gain, their profit, their benefit, etc.
onto the situation.

They didn't do what they did for merit of any kind.
They did what they did because it was called for.
Because it needed to be done.

When we live like that--
with intentions that are pure
and unstained 
by our desire, will, good, etc.,
we will be them
and everything will shift to the good of the whole,
and everything will be better
because of the way we live
in each situation as it arises.

Live to be you being the Buddha,
live to be you being Jesus,
as only you can be the Buddha, Jesus,
in each situation as it arises,
by getting out of the way.

And "like that,"
the world is a better place
for everyone to be.

Just because we have gotten out of the way.

Delusion is deception cast by those beyond us
to bend us to their will
in having us purchase their shampoo
or their electric pickup trucks
by having us think we are somebody if we do.

Illusion is deception cast by our own internal
exegesis system
explaining what's what and why 
to our superstitious, insecure, immature
way of thinking.
So that crossing our fingers brings us good luck
and wearing garlic pods keeps werewolves away.

We are at the mercy of eveyone
including ourselves,
and our only chance is our determination
to stop taking anyone's word for how things are
and why,
and start making our own investigations
and conducting our own inquiries,
asking such questions as,
"What makes you think the way you think
is the way to think?"
"What makes you think that what you just said is so?"
"What evidence do you have to support your contention
that what you said is true?
"Who would be most proud of you to hear what you just said?"
Etc.

Do not take anyone's word for anything
including your own!
Get to the rocky bottom of everything.
Don't leave any question unasked?

Your sanity and peace of mind depend on it!

I hate the facts that are the facts!
I can't stand the way things are!
I detest the truth that cannot be denied!
I am abhorred by the things that happen
and keep on happening!

The Civil War.
Racial divides.
School shootings.
War of any kind.
Hatred spilling over, pouring out, unchecked all around.
It is a long list
of the things I despise
and cannot do anything about.

So I do what I can imagine to do,
without caring what my chances are,
or what my impact is,
or what difference I am making.

I keep it up.
Unrelenting.
Without stopping
or even slowing down.

I call it out!
I say what's what!
I don't let it get me down!
I am energized by my abhorrence!
I am spurred on by my disgust!
I am the back-flow!
I am the consequences!
I am unrelenting in my hatred of hatred!
And will take no rest
nor allow the fascist to rest
until the world is as it should have been from the start
and everyone can live and sleep in peace
with Truth, Justice, Equality, Freedom
spilling over, pouring out, forever everywhere.

And you?

We know where we belong
and where we have no business being.
We know what is "us,"
and what is not "us."
We know what is so about "us,"
and what is not "us."

With no idea of how we know,
beyond knowing that no one told us
any of it.

Yet we read "self-help" books
by the gazillion,
hire "life coaches,"
join the congregations of gurus,
seek advice from an endless line of outlets
and spend our life seeking who we are.

While our intrinsic intuition 
languishes for lack of attention,
yet, continues to offer its counsel
through dreams,
body signals,
hunches,
slips of tongue,
and experiences of serendipity 
and synchronicity. 

We will never know about 
the ride we are missing
if we don't get on board.

Acceptance is not saying yes to all things--it is accepting the responsibility of saying no to what needs to be met with no.

Like the Buddha met suffering, and posited the 4 Noble Truths, emphasizing NO SUFFERING!!! 

Equanimity is not being fine with everything. 
It is being fine with doing what needs to be done 
in every situation as it arises--
and allowing the situation to dictate 
what response we make here, now. 

And not reading from some script, 
or acting mindlessly/heartlessly 
doing what we are "spozed" to do, 
when what we are supposed to do 
is decide in the moment 
what needs to be done here, now, 
and do it here, now 
and in every succeeding 
here, now that follows. 

When Jesus said, 
"The spirit is like the wind that blows where it will," 
he was saying that we cannot plot out 
before hand what we will do when and where and how. 

We have to meet the moment free to do 
what is called for then and there 
the way it is called for then and there,
without creating a tradition to serve 
in every moment that follows. 

Do not become a slave to the past! 
Become servants of innovation, 
creativity, possibility, opportunity... 
Alive to the moment, 
free to do whatever 
our intrinsic intuition leads us to do--no matter what! 
That is equanimity!
The freedom to act as needed 
in every moment.
Not bound to act as we are supposed to 
in any moment.

We must be strong
in the service of our intrinsic intuition!
So that our "yes" is "YES!"
and" our "no" is "NO!"

There is no middle ground--
no middle way--
between us and our intuition.

We are at one with,
aligned with,
in accord with
our intrinsic intuition
all the way!

We live to honor our intuition
with fealty,
liege loyalty,
filial devotion
in every situation as it arises,
no matter what,
all our life long.

The allegiance we have been told
belongs to God,
belongs to our intuition.

Our intuition is God!
And our place is to serve it
with all our heart and soul
and will and mind.

There is to be no him-hawing,
no equivocation,
no hesitation
when it comes to doing what needs to be done
from our intuition's point of view.

We have to know YES when we see/feel it.
We have to know NO when we see/feel it.
And live in the service of our intuition's directives
all our life long.

Being mindfully aware enough
of our body/mind/heart/soul
to know YES and NO when it is YES or NO
moment to moment all our life long
is our life long task.

We devote ourselves to it
as we devote ourselves to the experience
of the right kind of emptiness/stillness/silence
all our life long.

Got it?
DO IT!
Starting NOW!

We cannot think our way out of where we are
to some other, better, place instead.

All of our problems stem from the way we handle
our other problems.

Growing up is the solution 
to all of our problems today,
yet, all of our "solutions"
are built around not having to grow-up ever.

We want things to change
without being different.
Or, to be different
without changing.
The status quo must remain untouched forever.

Slavery goes but inequality and injustice remain.
Etc. throughout society and culture.
There is no evidence of growth and maturity
anywhere throughout the world.

Make it the universe.

Here is the situation that holds throughout the universe:

At birth everyone everywhere is born
exactly at the mid-point between
the Garden of Eden and the Garden of Gethsemane.
Everybody but Jesus, the Buddha, and indigenous peoples 
do it the way Adam and Eve did it,
with what "I" want,
how much can "I" get/have/amass/etc. before "I" die,
what can "I" get away with, etc.
driving our boat on its path through the sea,
and "Thy will not mine be done"
(With the "Thy" being our intrinsic intuition
and our innate, newborn, drift toward
liberty/justice/equality/truth) left to be lost on its own
in the wars and wrath of eternal brutality 
characterizing all expressions of civilization over time.

Only indigenous peoples--
with Native Americans leading the list--
show a propensity for doing it the way it needs to be done,
with those who have being considerate of those who have not
and everybody working together for the true good of the whole.

That's the right way to do it,
which stems from our intuition
and our in-born sense of liberty/justice/equality/truth.
Which is lost and gone forever
in the quest for wealth and glory
at the heart of civilization wherever it is found.

And what chance do we have
of turning things around?

This is where Jesus and the Buddha come to the fore
in not caring what their chances were,
and living in the service of liberty/justice/equality/truth
in each situation as it arose
all their life long,
no matter what.

We are our own authority. 
It only takes assuming the role
to know that it fits us perfectly.

What WE say goes
as far as what we do and leave undone goes.

WE say what matters,
what is important,
what needs to be done 
where, when, and how.

WE chose the clothes we wear
and what's for lunch
everyday.

And we know by listening to ourselves--
by tuning into our own intuition
and squaring things up with our stomach
and the rest of our body,
and our dreams at night.

So that who we are externally
is a reflection/expression
of who we are internally,
given form by listening/looking
regularly and reliably
to what is going on with our body
and with our dreams.

We are built to keep ourselves on the beam
but.
We have to pay attention to the signals
coming to us from us.

How long has it been since we have listened
attentively to our body,
to our dreams?

It has to become a daily/hourly practice,
tuning in to see what is going on with us,
physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually,
and correcting our life's direction
to align ourselves with ourselves
in the time left for living.

But, in truth, we don't have 
anything better to do.

Haiku is a Japanese poetry form
that consists of three lines
and seventeen syllables,
five on the first and third lines,
and seven on the middle line.

Traditionally, it would be about some aspect
of the natural world,
and would typically express/reflect
one of the four seasons of the year.

My fave is by Ryusui:
A lost child crying
stumbling over the dark fields...
pursuing fireflies

The trick is you won't be arrested
for pursuing any subject matter
in Haiku form.

My sister-in-law
brings noise to life in my life,
trashing my silence. 

And the three lines, 
seventeen syllables
will force you to think about
how to say what needs to be said,
focusing you on what needs to be said,
which is a discipline
that will open you to your own possibilities
in surprising and revealing ways.

I invite you to take up the practice
and see where it goes.

Who/what serves as the supreme authority in your life?
Who/what do you live to serve,
make/keep happy with you?
Whose happiness with you 
constitutes the sole purpose of your life?
Who/what do you live to please?
Who/what do you strive to please/serve every day?

The question of authority is the central question.
Get to the bottom of it.

Why do you think the way you think?
Value what you value?
Believe what you believe?
Do what you do?

What is your essential motive?
The primary reason you are the way you are
and not some other way instead?

Who/what is guiding your boat
on its path through the sea?

If you were the only person who mattered to you
how differently would you live?

What keeps you from reclaiming yourself
and living your life
the way you think your life needs to be lived?

What keeps you from declaring 
your own emancipation proclamation?
And being/becoming the person 
you know you need to be
in the time left for living?

Where does courage come from?

There is seeing
and there is projection,
delusion,
illusion,
(Where does that line lie?),
deception,
impression,
perception/misperception
(Where does that line lie?),
gas lighting,
propaganda,
lying,
...
to the point of knowing/notknowing
(Where does that line lie?)
and how do we know we are seeing
what we are looking at
and how much more is there
to what we apprehend/comprehend
than we imagine?

Did someone say "imagine"?
I was just thinking about that.
How do we know where the line lies
between what we think is so,
what we imagine to be so,
and what is so?

And who says so?

And what informs our response
to our life as we experience it?

There is truth
and there is denial of truth.
And where does that line lie?

And who is to say so?

We live on the basis of our impressions
and assumptions,
our presumptions
and our "informed" opinions
about hearsay, rumor and gossip.

It is all smoke and mirrors,
"vanity and chasing the wind,"
"waiting, waiting,
for the mud to settle
and the water to clear."

Where do you go to sit and wait?
How often do you go there?
Low long do you sit?
How do you know what you think you know?
What makes you think so?

Did someone leave it here
and walk away?
Did it drift in pushed
by some long forgotten hurricane?

I want to know all of the stories!
Of every thing, 
every animal,
every person
that ever has been and will be.

That's what I'm going to spend heaven doing.
Forget angelic choirs,
praise and glory.
I'm bored just writing the words.

I want to know the stories!
If there is no place for stories in heaven,
I am going to hell,
because heaven without stories would be hell,
and maybe hell has stories,
and some really good ones at that!
Making it heaven for me forever!