Consider the infrastructure required
for this bridge to do its job
at optimum efficiency.

Optimum efficiency demands balance and harmony,
whether it is a bridge in question
or you
and all the things that keep you running
at optimum efficiency.

Each of us is this bridge,
dependent upon our sitz im leben 
to keep us going.

How's your balance and harmony these days?
What can you do to improve it?
What is beyond your control
that you need to help you maintain and sustain
your balance and harmony?

These are essential questions to answer.
Everything depends upon our balance and harmony.
We have to do our part,
and the larger world has to do its part.

Toilet paper and electriity
are important elements
in the maintenance of my balance and harmony.
And a hot shower.
And the right cup of coffee...

We hang by a thread.
Start messing with our balance and harmony
and it all goes to hell like that (Snaps fingers).

We live to serve our balance and harmony.
Our balance and harmony
live to serve us.

Being aware of the tenuous nature of our position
may lead us to stop taking it for granted,
and honor it with our attention,
and guard it with our life.

How might you tend your balance and harmony
today?

–0–

There has to be an accounting,
a reckoning,
an awakening,
a realization,
a full knowing 
of who we are
and what we have done.

This is basic 12-Step stuff.

Squaring up to our lapses,
failures,
excesses and deficits--
and letting it be because it is,
learning from it,
and living to redeem it,
making amends where amends can be made
without making things worse,
and carrying the awareness 
of what we are capable of
with us all along the way.

We have to put things right--
as right as they can be put--
with ourselves and others,
and endeavor to keep things there
by keeping our eye on what's what,
within and without,
in each situation as it arises
throughout the time left for living.

This is the ground of compassion and kindness,
granting to others the same kind of
generosity that we extend to ourselves
in "letting be what is,"
and going on together
into whatever comes our way
over time--
over long stretches of time
in our mutual commune with ourselves
and all others all the way.

–0–

Now is now everywhere.
If everyone wherever they are
would only do what needs to be done now,
where and how it needs to be done,
and follow that
into the next now flowing from this one,
the transformation would be instantaneous.

And since there is nothing but now
in which to experience being alive,
we would have a taste of all there is to have 
now 
forever,
now.

And, even if we only do our part,
that would impact our immediate circumstances
in ways that will be transformative
right here, right now,
and who knows where that will lead!

We transform our part of the whole
just by doing what is called for,
where and how it is called for,
now.

Let's do it!

–0–

The people in Stonington, Maine
eke out a living as best they can,
like 99% of the world's population
from the beginning--
and, if they are lucky,
foster an inner life
that enables them to live
with joy, resolve and resiliency
amid the ebbs and flows 
of their outer life.

How many world-wide through all of time
have been that lucky,
and have known and benefited from
the inner peace, calm, balance, harmony
of a vital inner life?

How many live in the outer world
out of the vitality and vigor
of their inner life?

Returning regularly to the silence
in order to "recover from the past
and store up for the future" (Robert Ruark),
and do what needs to be done
amid the noise of the day-to-day? 

How many live daily out of the vibrant secret
of an adamantine foundation in their inner life?

And if we did not have that,
where would we go to find the way
of developing our capacity for it
and maintaining our connection with it
throughout the time left for living?

–0–

Hate, fear and greed are the primary motivators.
Peace, love and compassion have no chance against them.

"The Woke masses are going to take your guns!
And the people of color are going to eat your babies!"

Repeat that over and over from the pulpits
and the talk shows
and you have recreated Hitler Germany
and its unrelenting attacks upon the Jews.

What's the antidote?
You will not like the idea:
The right kind of emptiness,
stillness and silence.

Waiting for the mud to settle
and the water to clear.

While the other side stirs up the mud
and brings the water to a boil.

Which is to say there is no antidote
and that is why the world is as it is,
rolling in hate, fear and greed,
as it has from the beginning,
is and ever shall be.

And those who know have to live
as though they know
in a world that doesn't know
and doesn't care to know,
because it thinks it knows
and that's that.

But.

"The light shines in the darkness
and the darkness cannot put it out."

Children of light have to be children of light,
and let nature take its course.

It is the way.
The only way.

Being who we are,
when and where and how we are,
not caring what our chances are,
anyway, nevertheless, even so.

Finding our solace, our strength
and our courage
in the right kind of emptiness,
stillness and silence,
and the right kind of company--
and living on, living on.

The Sisyphean Task
of being the light in the darkness
through the ages.

–0–

We know more than we know we know.
Let's spend the rest of our life
discovering what that is!

Curiosity leads the way!

Being curious about our nighttime dreams.

About the things that spontaneously occur to us,
or call us to action,
out of nowhere, for no apparent reason.

About questions that arise unbidden,
books that pique our interest,
movies and songs and photographs 
that draw our attention...

About our motives and incentives
and why we do what we do,
think what we think,
believe what we believe,
see the way we see,
say what we say...

About why we cry when we cry,
laugh when we laugh,
become angry when we become angry,
become sad when we are sad,
and happy when we are happy...

About what guides our boat 
on its path through the sea.

About how we know what to do when,
and why we care about what we care about
and don't care about what we don't care about...

About what we always say,
and never say,
and what we always do 
and never do...

About what we pay attention to,
and dismiss,
discount,
ignore...

Despise,
denounce,
detest...

Revere,
honor,
admire...

Get it?
Get with it!
And remain there,
curious,
inquisitive,
intrigued
with/about YOU!

We are always looking,
pleading,
for divine assistance,
when all the help we need
is "right there,"
right here,
right now.

We are born with what we need
to find what we need
to do what needs to be done
here/now.

And, we will not be abandoned
and left bereft. 

So, what's with all the empty eyes
and the woe-be-gone appearances?
They all belong to those who 
want more than they have any business having
and are eternally displeased
with things as they are.

All of the addictions
have their foundation
in attitudes that don't like
what they have to work with
and how things are.

In light of them,
I give you the fictional character Tevya
(from "The Fiddler on the Roof")
and the real life example of Helen Keller.
And I repeat:
We are born with what we need
to find what we need
to do what needs to be done.

All we are lacking is Anne Sullivan.

In her place we get Jimmy Swaggart
and Jim and Tammy Faye Baker, etc.
And the world is as it is 
because of the guides we embrace
and the ones we ignore--
and the responses we make
to the world as it is.

And what I have to offer
in response to that
are the right kinds 
of emptiness, stillness and silence.

The turn-a-round starts with taking stock,
with seeing the truth of how things are,
and offering,
"Okay, now what?"
to the emptiness, stillness and silence,
and waiting for what stirs to life,
arises,
emerges,
appears,
occurs to us
from within.

Without the equivalent of Anne Sullivan,
we turn to ourselves
and say, "Okay, let's see what we can do
about this."

And see what we can find within
our own original nature
and the virtues/characteristics
that come with us from the womb
to do what needs to be done
with what we have to work with here/now.

Which may have nothing to do 
with what we want.

The ability to do what needs to be done
regardless of what we want
is all that separates Adam and Eve in Eden
from Jesus in Gethsemane.

–0–

Believe whatever it takes
in order to do the right thing
at the right time
in the right place
in the right way
in each situation as it arises
all your life long
no matter what it means
for you personally.

That's what Jesus did,
and that's what Jesus calls us to do.

This nonsense about Jesus dying for us
so that we don't have to die
but can zip straight to Glory Land
when we die if we believe Jesus died for us, etc.,
completely denies and covers up
the truth of the significance of Jesus' death.

He died as an example to show us
what he had been talking about
all his life.

No one can die for us.
We each have to die for ourselves,
over and over again
until our actual, physical death.

This metaphorical dying is what Adam and Eve
(And all of us like them)
refused in the Garden of Eden,
in choosing to not do what they
most did not want to do,
and to do what they most wanted to do.

To not do what we most want to do,
and to do what we most do not want to do,
is like dying.
That is the death Jesus died
in the Garden of Gethsemane,
with his "Thy will, not mine be done."

That was him dying, again, metaphorically,
which, that time, meant dying actually, physically,
on the cross
which was arraigned by Joseph Caiaphas,
the High Priest of the Temple
during the life of Jesus,
with Pontius Pilate,
the Roman governor of Judea,
after Jesus turned over the tables 
of the money changers in the courtyard
of the Temple during the time of Passover.

Jesus knew the likelihood of that
in Gethsemane,
and died two deaths,
the metaphorical/symbolic death
of doing what was called for
that he most did not want to do,
and the actual/literal death on the cross.

Sometimes it works out that way,
but, usually, we just die metaphorically 
again and again until we actually die,
usually of natural causes.

This is also called "growing up."

Jesus' life and death were about growing up.
Doing what needs to be done--
doing what is called for--
in each situation as it arises
regardless of what it means
for us personally.

That was what Adam and Eve refused to do,
which lead to their "dying" long before
they were actually dead.

By refusing to "die," they "died."
Get it?

And "true life," "real life," "abundant life"
lies on the other side
of our metaphorical deaths.
Resurrection is about "rising to new life"
after every metaphorical "death."
Get it?

If you get it, good for you!
Now, go DO it!
Get it?

–0–

When the structures and systems
supporting society 
fail for lack of attention,
it is a mark against us all,
declaring that someone did not vote
for the right people.

When the right people do not hold
positions of responsibility, 
the rest of the people suffer.

Was it PT Barnum who said,
"No one ever got rich
betting on the intelligence
of American citizens."?

Trump and the MAGA's
are a lynch mob 
looking for a country to string up,
and, look! They found one!

Democracy depends upon the right people
holding office.
And that means the voting public
has to be discerning 
and choose wisely those it elects.

Jimmy Carter was probably the best man
to hold office in our life time,
and he lost to a movie star.

When clowns are elected to office,
even the circuses are in trouble.

It takes the right kind of people
to elect the right kind of people,
and that's where we come in.

A hard look in the mirror
at least twice a day
takes us to the heart of the matter.

Who are we?
What are we doing?
What do we think we are doing?
How do we know that what we think is so,
is so?
Who says so?
What makes us think they/we know what they/we
are talking about?

Time spent in silence
reflecting on these matters
is time well-spent.
Silence is the most important element
in all of our deliberations.

With enough silence in our life,
we all see better who we are
and who we are electing
to keep the right structures and systems
in place.

–0–

It's all a matter of chance.
What we do with it
is what matters.

What we do with the moment,
with the day,
with our life...

With what pilots our boat
on it path through the sea.

Having our way
and getting what we want
is one way to do it.

Seems to be the most popular
over time
through the ages. 

That's what got Adam and Eve
out of the Garden of Eden,
and it's been the driving force
behind kings and despots ever since.

What does wanting know?
Who cares?
We let wanting/willing/having to have
run the table,
and here we are.
Wondering what to want next--
as though wanting knows.

Wanting only knows what it wants to happen.
It has no time for what needs to happen.
And none of the discipline required
to do what needs to be done
at the expense of what it wants to do.

Unrestrained, unrestricted, wanting
is the end of the world.
Every world.
All worlds.

We have to learn to take No for an answer,
and to give No for an answer,
in the right place,
at the right time,
in the right way.

By listening in the silence,
and knowing what we know,
and doing what is called for
regardless of what we want,
or how we wish things were,
time after time.

Trusting the silence
to guide our boat
on its path through the sea
is optimal way 
of getting from here to there,
especially when 
we don't know where we are going.

Playing the Yes? No? Game 
with the silence
is one way of practicing
listening to the silence.

Since it's all a matter of chance,
why not take your chances with the silence?
And if the Yes? No? game 
gets you in a corner,
keep playing it to get
out or the corner!

–0–

Where do you spend your money?
Where do you spend your time?
There you are.

I wander among the exhibitions
of the natural world,
taking refuge in what it has to offer
as a buffer against the goings-on
in the world of normal, apparent, reality.

There is much there I don't like
and can do nothing about,
so, I turn to lotus flowers
and lily pads,etc.--
and reestablish through them
my connection with more than words can say,
taking solace in the presence 
of the transcendent wonders
of space and time
to offset the latest incursions
of hate/fear/greed
which disrupts my balance,
scatters my harmony,
and brings high-level noise
to demolish the silence
necessary for orientation and direction
in the here/now of the day.

Using the tools/weapons at our disposal
to maintain our perspective 
and sustain our attitude
through the circumstances
coursing tsunami-like
through our world
is daily fare 
in the times 
that are upon us.

And we have to do what it takes
to have what it takes
to do what needs us to do it
moment to moment,
without a break
every day. 

–0–

Perspective is the key.
It's all a matter 
of enlarging our perspective,
flipping our perspective,
changing our perspective
about what's important,
and getting up and doing
what needs to be done.

People who see the same things
in the same way over time
may as well be dead
for all the good they are doing
themselves and anyone else.

Spice things up!
Change your mind!
Particularly about what matters most!

When's the last time you did that?
Are you grumbling about today
the same things you were grumbling about
this time last year?

I live with an easy drive 
from a good Greek place,
two good Italian places,
a good Chinese place,
a good barbecue place,
a good hamburger place,
so I get to grumble about
no good seafood place all the time.a 

I changed my mind about that mattering,
and that made things better,
just like that (snaps fingers).

–0–