There is the way things are,
and the way things need to be,
and the ways things are said ought to be.
and the way we want things to be,

If we can apprehend the way things are
and live in service to the way things need to be,
dismissing the way things are said to be
and the way we want things to be,
we will be doing what needs to be done
when/where/and how it needs to be done
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.

No more can be asked of us than that.

However, the worldwide trend 
is to what is said ought to be
when it coincides 
with how we want things to be--
discounting,
dismissing,
denying,
ignoring 
the way things are
and the way things need to be
to our own detriment
and that of everyone/everything else
no matter what
forever.

Until things become what they need to be,
it's going to be like bathing hogs
in the barnyard 
with a short hose
for the rest of time.

–0–

We do not see
what we cannot articulate.
Articulation is the hidden source of seeing.
Taking up the work of saying
what needs to be said
is also the work of seeing
what needs to be seen.
The less we have to say,
the less we are capable of seeing.

Where photography is concerned,
the scenes that speak to us, 
speak to many of us, 
maybe most of us. 

What is it there 
that isn't everywhere? 
Why some scenes and not others?
Why some scenes for some people,
other scenes for other people,
and other scenes for no one at all?

I ask as "the moved" in response to "the mover." 

What moves us to awe, rapture, wonder? 
The old Taoists might answer, 
"The Tao that can be said is not the eternal Tao." 

What ever it is, 
we know it when we see it, 
even if we cannot say what it is. 

Our work as photographers 
is to show what can be seen even if
we cannot say what it is. 
To be "transparent to transcendence," 
and allow our silence to express 
our highest honor and deepest admiration.

And whether we are photographers or not,
our struggle is to say what needs to be said
and trust that to enable us to see
what needs to be seen--
always aware that we cannot say
what cannot be said,
so we talk about "transcendence,"
for instance,
without saying anything about "The Transcendent."

We owe it to ourselves to say as much as we can
about what can be said,
and to "talk without ceasing"
until we see at last what we have been
trying to say all this time.

–0–

The only thing between us
and what has always been called "God"
is sin.

But not sin as action or state of being.

It is sin as concept or idea.

It is the belief in sin as a human condition
that is the problem.
Dump it immediately--
and, POOF, like that, sin is gone,
and we are free from its burden, guilt and shame forever.

All acts and deeds work more or less well
to get things done as they need to be done,
and it only takes doing things properly
and in reasonable order to meet customary 
standards of behavior worldwide.

Which is normally enough to keep us out of trouble
with the authorities and our neighbors in most cases.

"When in Rome, do as the Romans do,"
is generally all it takes to get us by--
and saves us all the issues with confession,
repentance, redemption, penitence,vindication,
absolution, pardon, forgiveness, exoneration,
dispensation, deliverance, clemency, amnesty,
exhortation, and being put right with all those
we have wronged.

Which brings us to getting over things
being put right by us,
and simply focusing on doing what needs to be done,
when, where and how 
the way it needs to be done
here and now in each situation as it arises
all our life long
no matter what.

We square ourselves with the world every day
and do what is called for,
letting that be that
and growing up some more again
all the way.

–0–

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
with its four pairs of opposites:

Thinking/Feeling
Extraversion/Introversion
Sensing/Intuition
Judging/Perceiving

is one way of conceptualizing 
the eight fundamental/foundational forces
shaping the way we are,
and therefore, the way things are,
worldwide through the ages.

Life is but a dance of opposites
clashing over how things are.

How things are is a reflection
of how we are,
and how we are is beyond our power
to shape or control.

The way we see things 
is just the way we see things,
and even the input we may have in that
is, itself, shaped by the way we see things.

To see/think/feel differently
is to BE different
and that is quite beyond us.
We can only be who we are
pretending to be different.

Invisible forces arrange our lives
apart from our intents and purposes.
And those invisible forces 
are who we are, 
and also are.
Without us being in charge of
and determining,
the ways we see, think, feel and do.

What is guiding our boat 
on its path through the sea?
The eight happy captains it seems,
and their sixteen different ways
of arranging/expressing themselves
in the situations/circumstances of our lives.

–0–

We are our responsibility.

We are in charge of our balance and harmony,
our integrity,
sincerity,
spirit,
energy,
vitality,
mind,
body,
heart-soul--
within the forces of destabilization,
disruption,
disharmony,
diversion,
distraction,
disinterest,
denial,
chaos
and 
lethargy.

It is as easy as our answer
to the question:
What do we live to do?

There is what we do for a living,
and there is what we live to do.

What do we live to do?

If we are living to make money,
what's the money for?

How does what we live to do
serve our balance and harmony,
our integrity,
sincerity,
spirit,
energy,
vitality,
mind,
body,
heart-soul?

--0--

When Carl Jung was asked
if he believed in God,
he replied,
"I do not believe--I KNOW.

When you KNOW
you know the God beyond Gods,
beyond theology,
beyond sin and redemption,
beyond words
beyond thinking,
beyond reason, logic, intellect, discourse, etc.

And relax into knowing what you know,
and have always known:
The physical world is an expression of,
an extension of,
a reflection of,
a manifestation of
more than words can say.

Transcendent reality
is the source of all that exists
as apparent reality--
more than that cannot be said,
told, explained, described...

Heindrich Zimmer said,
"The best things cannot be said or talked about.
The second best things lead to confusion and debate
because they attempt to say what cannot be said
and disagreement arises.
Which leaves us with the third best things to say,
news, weather, sports, opinion and gossip."
Or words to that effect. 

Empty yourself of all opinions, feelings, emotions,
desires/wants/fear and thought,
and simply know what you know,
and what you do not know--
and let that guide you through
all of the circumstances of your life,
as you respond from the center of yourself
to the demands of the here/now,
knowing what to do 
without knowing how you know,
simply allowing reflection 
to lead to realization
and recognition
of doors opening and closing
along the way,
not to wealth and fame,
fortune and glory,
but to what you need
to do what is needed,
here and now,
day to day.

–0–

Reflection is waiting to see
what occurs to us
in the presence of openness to perception.

What makes us think
that the way we think
is the way to think?

That the way we see
is the way to see?

That the way we live
is the way to live?

That the way we perceive things
is the way to perceive things?

How might we think/see/live/perceive/etc. instead?

What makes us think that the way we see things
is the way things are?

Sit with the questions
and wait for what occurs to you.

We aren't looking for answers 
to the questions,
but for perception shifts
that lead to new realizations
that put the questions in a different perspective.

Looking at/examining what we think,
how we think,
transforms the way we think.

Changing the way we think/perceive
changes the way we live.

Education is not being told
what/how to see/think,
but being asked
what/how we see/think,
and what makes us think
that is the way to see/think.

Curiosity and exploration/examination 
produce the kind of reflection
that leads to new ways of perceiving,
responding to, living in 
the world of "normal, apparent, reality."

And that is what new realizations do for us.

How long since we had one?

–0–

Being among the dunes 
is one of the quietest places 
in my experience.

The sun rises over silence and stillness, 
yet the dunes are moving, 
transforming themselves, 
all the time. 

Constant motion has never been so still. 
So apparently lifeless. 
A place where nothing ever happens here.

It is a wonder to behold, 
and leads us to wonder 
what else are we missing 
when we look at it, 
listen to it. 

What do we walk by not-seeing, 
not-hearing 
all the time?

–0–

Emptiness/Stillness/Silence are the real Holy Trinity.
Ask anyone who knows,
they will all tell you the same thing.

Even the Bible chips in 
with "Good things come to those who wait."

And from Native Red Cloud on "X", quoting 
Chief White Eagle, Ponca,
we get:

“Go forward with courage. When you are in doubt, be still, and wait; when doubt no longer exists for you, then go forward with courage. So long as mists envelop you, be still; be still until the sunlight pours through and dispels the mists – as it surely will. Then act with courage."

It is not just any kind of waiting
that works,
only waiting in emptiness/stillness/silence.

Become expert in that art
and you will move beyond thinking/reasoning
into knowing,
and you will find yourself doing/saying 
things you never thought about
or decided upon--
not impulsively
but responsively,
rising to the situation
in ways appropriate to 
the occasion.

If we walk the path with emptiness/stillness/silence,
we will never go astray.
If we do,
it is because we didn't.

–0–

We are always placing the emPHAsis
upon the wrong silLAble,
as the old saying goes.

We are always fretting about our vulnerability,
and never say a thing about our invulnerability,
when, in all truth, we are invincible.

We may be scared and rumpled
but we are sill ticking.
After all these years.
Ticking is what we do best.
That and whining.
We whine about everything.

"Oh, Woe is me!
Poor me!
Poor, Poor, me!
I'll never get out of this alive!"

So what?
Why let our liabilities get us down?
Why keep score?
Why care what our chances are?
Why not live like we are never
going to die?
Or at least, like we are going to live
all the way until we do?

Here's my case for invulnerability:
We are still here!
You can't deny that.
We have dealt with everything 
that has come our way--
and are still dealing!

Nothing has stopped us!
We keep finding ways to get up
and face the day!

Superman/woman couldn't do more!

Invulnerability is doing what it takes
to get up and face what's next--
and doing what needs to be done about it
with a gleam in our eye
and a spring in our step!

In each situation as it arises
all our life long!

We have been doing that from the start!

And will keep doing it 
until we transition back into the light
that is our source and our goal!

Being who we are forever!
Bear that in mind 
the next time you are tempted
to do the "Woe is me!" thing. 

–0–

We find our own way
to what has life for us--
no one can tell us that.

We know for ourselves what is "Yes!"
and what is "No!",
without knowing "Why?",
or caring "Why?"

And anyone who tries to get us to explain
usually does so 
with the motive 
of arguing us

 out of our position,
turning our "Yes!" into their "No!",
or our "No!" into their "Yes!",
and are best left to their own way
by getting them out of ours.

This makes finding our way
not a collective pursuit
but a solitary one,
knowing our own life and living it.

If we are looking for a corporate
excursion to Wonder Land,
replete with fireworks displays
like a New Year's celebration,
we will be ignoring the "still small voice"
whispering "Yes!" and "No!"
lost in the din of universal delight
and boundless glory--
in which case,
our life will not be so much
ours as the masses'
and we will be looking together
for the next soccer match
or football game,
or concert...
to take our minds off the emptiness
of being by ourselves,
not knowing what to do.

–0–

Staying connected with the flow of life
through the crises, turmoil, noise, drama and trauma of life
is the greatest trick in the Encyclopedia of Tricks.

Something is always coming along
to knock us off-center
into the far-off center of the Wasteland.

We never become accustomed to 
the sister-in-law
(You know the one I mean)
crunching through bag after bag
of fried pork skins
because "They are carb-free
and I can eat as many as I want."

You can think what you want,
but Lao-Tzu went off into the west to die
because of his sister-in-law.

We all have to make peace
with the fact of no peace
being possible 
in some situations of life,
and find our equivalent of "the west"
in realigning ourselves with the Tao
and accommodating the most recent incursion
of fried pork skins into our life.

Regular returns 
to emptiness/stillness/silence
help to reinstate balance and harmony,
and return us to the sate of inner AUM
as our spiritual gyroscope gradually
overcomes the disturbance in the force,
and we come to terms with the other side
of tranquil and are in tune once more 
with the here/now of life as it is
and not as we wish it were.

Life not as we wish it were
is where we live,
and move,
and have our being.

We have to adjust our wants
to take the unwanted into account
and make the best of situations 
beyond our capacity for tolerance
and forbearance,
and hit the wall Jesus hit
with his, "How long am I to be with you? 
How long am I to bear with you?"

And take up the work again
of finding the source,
seeking the center,
and dancing with whatever life brings us
as it crunches through bag after bag
of fried pork skins.

Or its equivalent. 

–0–