We owe ourselves intrinsic loyalty,
filial devotion,
love and duty.

How do we think of our foundation,
of our core,
of our source
and the ground of our being?

Our life is the testimony 
of our allegiance
to our original nature
and the innate virtuosities
(The things we do best
and love/enjoy doing most).

To betray them is to leave the path,
to depart from the way,
to wander from the course
into the wasteland of our discontent.

The way back 
is the way of emptiness,
stillness and silence,
and waiting there
for the mud to settle
and the water to clear
allowing a guide to appear
in the darkness 
to bring us back to life.

How these metaphors appear
in our own case,
what shape they take
and what form our life takes
under their tutelage 
will be different for us all.

Our place is to intuit guidance
when it beckons
and to follow where we are led--
seeing with hindsight
what progress we have made.

–0–

If we aren't yet Jesus and the Buddha,
we are the closest thing to both
that a lot of people will ever get,
and it would behoove us to realize this,
and do our best Jesus/Buddha imitation
when we are going about our business
in the world.

Our business is very much Jesus' business,
is very much the Buddha's business,
and how we carry ourselves while doing it
tells the tale we are here to tell.

Being ourselves as Jesus would be us.
Doing our thing as the Buddha would do it.
And consciously being us 
being Jesus and the Buddha being us,
puts us on a different plane
than if we were unconscious
of our association with either
while being us doing our thing.

–0–

A couple of Bible verses,
"Time and chance happen to us all,"
"It rains on the just and the unjust alike,"
put the hiatus on the idea 
that everything that happens is God's will
that it happens.

We need a rest from that nonsense,
a lengthy break.

That and the idea that if God didn't will it,
"God let it happen."

God did this as punishment for that,
and did that as reward for that over there.

We need a hiatus from all of this.
Forever would not be long enough.

"Circumstances beget circumstances!"
That observation may go back to before 500 BCE.

We prefer the idea of a God that punishes and rewards.
Like Santa Claus with ashes and switches or presents
for those who have been naughty or good
(So be good for goodness sake!
But, it is really for the sake
of presents and the promise of more).

The stuff we believe/know to be so
that isn't so
makes life much worse than it needs to be.

I wish we would stop it.
It gives me the wanderlust. 
Like wandering over yonder 
to see if they are free of the nonsense
that is so abundant hereabouts. 

–0–

How do you maintain
your balance and harmony?

We need a regimen,
a process,
a program,
a routine
that we engage in regularly
to clear our vision,
regain our perspective,
recharge our resolution,
reorient our direction,
reclaim our determination,
revitalize our incentive
put ourselves back on track
and get underway again.

Finding things that need to be done
that we can do
wholeheartedly is a great way
to get underway
and stay there.

Maintaining our balance and harmony
sustains us for the journey
one day at a time.

–0–

Theology and spirituality are mutually exclusive, 
theology being the product of the Left Hemisphere, 
and spirituality being the steady state of the Right Hemisphere.

Theology is thinking/logically/reasonably knowing, 
and spirituality being seeing/hearing/realizing/grasping/comprehending/understanding/etc. knowing. 

Theology’s knowing is content with knowing, 
spirituality’s knowing must express/exhibit/reveal/etc. itself in doing—the right thing in the right way at the right time in the right place. 

And it doesn’t have to think what is right, 
it knows what is right, spontaneously, intuitively, telepathically/etc. 

And with spiritually, what is right here/now, 
may not be right then/there, 
and so Jesus could say, 
“The spirit is like the wind 
that blows where it will,” 
meaning the spirit doesn’t know 
what it is going to do next, 
and may not know what it is doing now, 
in a “Don’t let the left hand know what the right hand is doing” kind of way 
(And the only way we can do that 
is to not know what we are doing 
(from the Left Brain’s standpoint).

We are the balancing agent 
between our brain's hemispheres,
which represent different ways
of perceiving/responding to
apparent reality,
and our place is to bring awareness/mindfulness
to play
in choosing how to see/respond to
what we perceive in each moment
of every situation as it arises.

We have to see our seeing
and think about our thinking
all of the time.

–0–

I remind us of this a couple of times a year.
Here it comes again:

It's all useless, pointless, hopeless,
meaningless,stupid and absurd--
and coming to a very bad end:
We all are going to die!

And, we can't let that stop us,
or even slow us down!

Because in the meantime
we have work to be done!

We have to show them what it means
to live with our heart on the line
invested in what we are doing
in each situation as it arises
ANYWAY! NEVERTHELESS! EVEN SO!

So what if it doesn't matter?
Who cares if no one cares?
What difference does it make
if it doesn't make a difference?
Why not give it the best
we have to offer?
Even now?
Even here?
Even yet?
Even still?

We have to pick ourselves up,
dust ourselves off,
and get back into action
as though everything is riding
on the effort we put forth
in doing what needs to be done
when/where/how it needs to be done
because it needs to be done
when all we get out of it
is the joy of doing it
and the satisfaction of having done it
no matter what
all our life long.

Why not?

Can you think of anything better to do?

If so, do it!

Now, this meshes nicely
with my Wailing Wall metaphor.

The Wailing Wall is our hope
and our salvation,
just waiting for us to grasp that
and smile,
turn around with our backs to the wall
and say to all that is 
useless, pointless hopeless, meaningless,
stupid and absurd,
"Show me what you got!
Because I got something for you!"

And, as it rushes us, 
there with our backs to the Wailing Wall,
we grab it with both hands
and heave it over the wall.

On the other side of the Wailing Wall
is nothing but the Void.
And we send all that
Boo-hoo, woe is me stuff
straight into the gaping abyss of oblivion
where it belongs.

And step into the day,
to see what we can do with it
and what it needs from us
like it makes all the difference,
because it does.

He said, with a wink and a smile.

–0–

You know how the way things are? 
Putin destroying Ukraine while we watch.
Much like Hitler destroyed Europe,
and Alexander the Great destroyed the known world.
And how what's going on
has been going on from the beginning.
And is going to be going on
long after we have stopped going at all. 

Well, there is nothing we can do about that
except take it to the Wailing Wall
with all of the grief and remorse
it brings up within us.

As a way of finding the strength
and resilience required to get up
and do the next thing that needs to be done
when, where and how it needs to be done
anyway, nevertheless, even so.

It is ours to bring as much humanity to life
in the world as we are capable of bringing to life
in the world,
and let that be that.

It is the Native American way
in light of and response to
the atrocity the U.S. Government
and citizens have committed against them
throughout history.

And the descendants of slaves in this country
and around the world.

And the Tibetan response to the Chinese massacre
in our lifetime.

We do it like they have done it.
We respond to the horror of our time
like they have responded to it in their time.

It is our turn now.

–0–

We can't help how we see things,
but.
We are responsible for how we see things.
Which means, of course,
that we can help how we see things.

It starts with seeing how we see things.
Seeing our seeing 
is the most important thing to see.

The second most important thing to see
is seeing that how we see things 
IS NOT HOW THINGS ARE!!!

It is only how we see things.

The third most important thing
is to stop taking seriously
the way we see things. 

It is only the way we see things.

The fourth most important thing
is to see how we see things 
impacts/controls/determines
how we act/what we do.

The fifth most important thing
is to see how the way we live
expresses/exhibits/reveals
the values at the heart of our life.

I think Liberty, Justice, Equality, Truth
are the core values at the heart
of the Constitution of the U.S.
and that we cannot stand for the flag
without standing for the values
the flag stands for,
therefore these four values
must be part of the core values
of every U.S. citizen.

In addition to these,
my other core values in no necessary order are:

Emptiness, Stillness, Silence,
Balance, Harmony, Integrity,
Sincerity, Vitality, Spontaneity, Compassion,
which are held in place by
our service to
our intuition,
our body's felt sense,
our nighttime dreams
our habitual practice of focusing/awareness/mindfulness,
in service to original nature
and the innate virtues (virtuosities)
which comprise what we do best
and what we love/enjoy doing most.

I see this list of values/concepts comprising
essential things to be right about
and incorporate into our life
as the adamantine foundation
of human beinghood.

–0–

Our response strongly influences
what happens next.
We shape the future
by the way we respond to the present.

There is typically more at stake 
in any moment
than getting our way in the moment.

Imagining likely scenarios 
and practicing our response 
to each one
provides us with the experience
of having worked our way through
practice rounds before we go live.

I practice fending off dog attacks
every time I go with a camera
into the woods.

My first strategy is sweet-talking
my assailant,
calling out, "Come on, Mikey! Come on!
Where's the ball! (Bouncing an imaginary ball,
then pretending to throw it).

If that has no effect, I back up slowly,
still sweet-talking.

It it is an all-out attack,
I'll have one or two stainless steel
forearm crutches at the ready.

My targets are: Throat, Chest, Nose, Eyes
in that order.

And may the oldest contestant win.

–0–

The Buddhist concept of "Bodhisattvas" 
beautifully flips the Nirvana/Pure Land,
Heaven/Hell narrative
by positing a shift in perspective
that sees the world as it is,
not as a place of suffering
and meaningless wandering,
with death as a hoped-for escape 
from "the everlasting round
of grief, loss and sorrow,"
but as a place of unending opportunity
to practice the art of healing/helpful presence,
by returning--
not to another round of anguish and agony,
but to another chance to develop
our capacity for compassion,
kindness,
grace
and mercy.

Getting better at being loving
through the practice of being Buddha/Christs
by living and dying
to live and die
again and again.

And, it offers much more interesting ways
of spending our time
than being lost in beatific visions
in heaven/Nirvana forever.

I'm all for being a Bodhisattva 
when I die--
and I don't have to wait until then
to start living the role!

–0–

You remember Tevya,
the superman,
Jesus,
hero
of The Fiddler on the Roof,
coming down the gangplank 
of the steamship that delivered
him and Golda, his wife,
to the hovels and pollution
of New York City--
without his horse and his cow,
and his TRADITION!
To make his way in a new world.

He does that--
WE do that--
by walking two paths 
at the same time.

The path of "Oh, no! Not this!"
and the path of "This, too! This, too!"

We do that in the shadow 
of the Wailing Wall,
which is never out of reach,
and in the ever-present glow
of our original nature
and the innate virtuosities
(The things we do best,
and love, enjoy, doing most)
in each situation as it arises,
wherever, whenever, however we are.

Our original nature
and our innate virtuosities
come to life 
in the company of our 
habitual intuition,
our body's felt sense,
our nighttime dreams--
all three of which
guide our boat on its path
through the sea,
any sea,
even the one boasting the clashing rocks
and the heaving waves,
the one called "the wine dark sea,"
even that one,
in the strength of those who shout,
in the spirit of Ulysses and Tevya,
"I will persevere and endure!
And when these waves have shaken
my raft to pieces,
THEN I WILL SWIM!!!

–0–

There are people 
who do not examine 
their assumptions,
question their convictions,
or inspect what they have heard is so.

Thinking about their thinking,
and seeing there seeing,
and listening to what they are saying,
and to what is being said to them,
are not skills they have developed 
along the way.

Yet they get a vote like they know
what they are doing.
HOW do they know what they are doing?
Someone told them what to do.

This is not what the Founders
had in mind.

Free thinkers tend to think
that everyone wants to be free to think.
I think the people who want
to be free to think
do not constitute a majority
in any size crowd.

Tells you what democracy 
means to the majority of crowds.

It is a wearisome thing,
trying to excite people
about things they aren't excited about.

Or trying to get people to think
about things
they have never thought about.

But, I take heart in what I take to be
a fact, namely that things have always
been this way.

We are always here by the narrowest 
of margins.
Yet, here we are.
Hanging on 
and hoping for the best.

One election at a time. 

–0–