We are in the grip of forces 
quite beyond us--the economy,
the weather, earthquakes, war...
and have to negotiate our way
through the possibilities and choices
available to us
on a daily basis
in the service of balance and harmony,
peace and sanity--
and can do that as long as we live
in a normal range of options and alternatives.

Tip the scales beyond reasonable and customary
and push us into the area 
beyond accommodation and adjustment,
and we sit staring at the wall
for lack of anything better to do.

We all have our limits,
and we owe it to ourselves 
to recognize that and treat ourselves
and one another with kindness and grace
as we deal with conditions getting out of hand
worldwide.

The systemic breakdown of structures
holding things together--electricity,
gas and water, for example--quickly
crumbles into chaos and anarchy
that no one is prepared to handle.

(It is a routine occurrence for me
to drive through Charlotte, North Carolina
without seeing a police vehicle due to
a shortage of police officers--how long
before garbage pickup falters, etc.?) 

Making the best of it then becomes
indistinguishable from saying
the hell with it,
and laughing is as appropriate
as anything else--and far more sensible
and responsible (The terms hold through it all!)
than shooting up neighborhoods because why not?

Mutual commiseration and therapeutic interaction--
where we intentionally become each others therapist--
will ease what can be eased
under the burden of life at the breaking point.

We can take up that practice right now,
so that we become proficient in the work
of balancing/harmonizing what can still be 
balanced/harmonized 
through what remains of life to be lived
as well as it has to be lived,
where laughter makes as much sense as can be made
of what's what,
with worse looming near at hand.

What engages you
beyond sex/drugs/alcohol/eating/shopping/money?

Engagement is the key to LIFE.

Without engagement there are only boredom
and lethargy.

And entertaining pastimes
until death takes us mercifully away.

Being engaged in seeking engagement counts
for engagement.

What catches your eye?

Start there.

Where do you enjoy spending time?
What do you love to do for its own sake?
What can you do to lose all track of time?
Where is home for your soul?

I call that engagement.

How long has it been
since you were so engaged? 

–0–

The path to "having life and having it abundantly"
is always right here right now.
We are standing on it,
in the dead center of it.
It is waiting for us to open our eyes,
see what we are looking at,
and do what needs to be done about it
when/where/how it needs to be done
in each situation as it arises,
out of our own balance and harmony,
at one with ourselves,
our original nature
and our innate virtues/character.

Being ALIVE starts with and flows from
and leads to
balance and harmony,
sincerity and integrity,
spirit, energy and vitality.

Live from there and do what is called for
moment-to-moment,
and you will be as ALIVE as you can be
in each situation as it arises,
all your life long.

–0–

s

We all are searching,
more or less desperately,
for some reason to be here,
for some compelling, driving force
pulling us into
and driving us through our life.

Our life is--and has to be--
a vehicle of LIFE!
An experience of LIFE!
A path to LIFE!

Our life has to bring us to LIFE!

When and where is that, has been,
the case in our life?
Where has life brought us to LIFE?

How often have we been ALIVE in our life?

How far away from being ALIVE here and now,
at this point in our life?

On a floating scale from dead-or-mostly-dead
to ALIVE-fully-completely-absolutely-totally-
wholly-ALIVE,
where are we right now?

How long has it been since we were ALIVE?

What's going on?
Why the separation from LIFE?
What is keeping us from,
making it difficult for us to be,
ALIVE right here, 
right now?

Most of what we do for LIFE 
is a substitute for LIFE.
Is a diversion/distraction/substitute,
and we are in denial
regarding how ALIVE we are
throughout our day,
every day.

Why?
What are we doing to keep from being ALIVE?
Why?

The culture is a diversion/distraction itself.
A substitute for life.
Filled with entertaining pastimes.
Drugs. Sex. Alcohol. Money. Vacations. Movies...

What is anyone doing to bring themselves to LIFE?
What are they doing to compensate themselves
for having no LIFE at all?
To take their mind of having no LIFE at all?
What are we doing?

What are we going to do about that?

–0–

This photograph reflects an abiding truth of life:
Luck--also called "Grace"--is the foundation of life.

An hour earlier or later and this photo isn't there.

Every photograph is like that,
we walk into a scene with a camera
and greet what greets us there
as a sheer coincidence of grace/luck and timing.

In five minutes the tourists will descend,
or the wind will pick up/die down,
or the light will change...

Our life hangs by a thread all the time.
What are the chances
that we are here/now/as we are?
Who would have bet on it at our birth,
or ten years ago?
Yet, here we are.

Who would have guessed it?

There is no way of mastering the art of luck/grace
beyond the old saying attributed to about 600 people:
"The harder I work/practice, the luckier I get."

This holds up over time regardless of the work/practice.

The old Taoists and the older yogis before them,
and who knows before them,
relished knowing that it is all luck,
and the harder we work/practice, the luckier we are.

The catch is that we can't be lucky/graced
the way we want to be lucky/graced.

Luck happens all the time
but it happens in its own time,
in its own way.

The Tao is just that way.
Tao is another word for luck/grace.

Those who are aligned with, 
in sync with, the Tao
are luckier than those who are not.
But, they aren't able to predict or determine
the nature of the luck that guides their way
through their life.

It's all a matter of chance,
of luck,
of coincidence,
of synchronicity
(Which is a term coined by Carl Jung
meaning "fortuitous coincidence,"
since some coincidences are not apparently fortuitous).

Living in accord with the Tao
positions ourselves to be lucky
in ways that do not seem to be lucky at the time,
but turn out to be amazingly fortuitous over time,
which makes "synchronicity" meaningless,
in that who is to say what is fortuitous and what is not?

Everything is only apparently fortuitous
or disastrous depending on how things seem to be
at the time that judgment is made,
but, remember, the worst things that happen to us
can turn out to be the best things that happen to us
over time, and vice versa.

So when do we say, "Lucky!" "Unlucky!"?
We just keep living in sync with the Tao
and let our outcomes be our outcomes,
knowing that nothing is ever over
and all of our outcomes are even now
becoming other outcomes,
and will spin out on and on forever. 

All we have to focus on is living in accord with the Tao,
and letting things happen as they will,
trusting that the more successfully we do that,
the luckier we will be.

–0–

Fascism and democracy have been at war from the start.

Fascism is fear, hatred, anger, greed, ruthlessness
trying to find safety and security
by killing everyone not fascist.

Democracy is grace, kindness, justice, truth, peace
trying to find a place
where people can freely be who they are
without threatening anyone.

Amazing how difficult that is
around people who are threatened
by everyone not like them.

We haven't figured out how to live together
in ways everyone likes
for 200,000 years.

The chances of our doing it in our lifetime 
are zilch.

But, like Sisyphus and the tortoise, 
we get out of bed 
and trudge through each day,
bearing what must be borne
as well as we can 
within the circumstances
that greet us day after day.

It is our lot and our calling
to be who we are
anyway, nevertheless, even so, just because,
in each situation as it arises,
doing what needs to be done,
when, where and how it needs to be done,
to the best of our ability,
because that, too, is who we are! 

–0–

Acceptance comes in three phases:
Accommodation.
Acquiescence.
Adaptation.
Which require/flow from
having no opinion
about whatever comes our way
and no attachment to any outcome
or undertaking.

We do what needs us to do it
the way it needs to be done,
when and where it needs to be done,
with the same relationship
with it that Sisyphus had with his rock. 

We are here to use the gifts
of our original nature
and our virtues/character
in the service of what needs us here/now
in each situation as it arises.

Not to impose our wants/desires
on what's happening
in order to arrange outcomes 
pleasing to us.

"Just get in there and do your thing,
and let the outcome be the outcome."
Knowing that there are never
any actual outcomes,
just circumstances flowing into circumstances
for ever.

What we like and don't like,
want and don't want
are inconsequential
to the work that needs to be done
with the skills at our disposal,
and waits for us to do it
the way the rock waits for Sisyphus. 

–0–

It comes down to,
flows from,
amounts to,
shakes out as,
nothing more than hermeneutics.

Hermeneutics is interpretation.
Perspective.
Attitude.
Comprehension.
Understanding.
Enlightenment.
Seeing what we look at.
Seeing how we are looking at it.
Knowing what's what,
and what is called for
in response to it,
and what that means for us,
personally,
here and now
in each situation as it arises--
and what we do about it.

That's all there is to it.
Ever has been.
Ever will be.

Get that down,
and you have it made.

Hermeneutics comes from 
the Greek word "Hermes,"
The Messenger of the Gods,
and, wouldn't you know it,
The Trickster God,
giving Pandora the art of lies,
dubious meanings,
where everything depends on
how we look at it.

The Roman name for Hermes
is Mercury, an element impossible
to pin down,
or pen up,
or wall in,
or hold still,
but is all over the place,
like the spirit 
who is like the wind
that blows where it will.

Hermes.
Hermeneutics.
Perspective.
Perception.
Meaning.
Understanding.
Comprehending.
Enlightenment.
Seeing.
Knowing.
Doing.
And being right about it.

This is the art of 
a life well-lived.
Master it and all is well.
The ground of prosperity
and wellbeing
that has nothing to do with money
and wealth as we commonly understand it.

Just seeing what we look at,
hearing what we listen to,
knowing what's what 
and what to do about it
time after time.

More valuable than the Elder Wand.

And we don't give it a second thought.

But, second thoughts lead the way.

When is the last time you had one?

–0–

I've sold all of my proper camera gear
and will take the photos I take
with my cell phone,
and spend my time going through
70,000 + images on compact disks
to see what I can find hiding there.

It has been apparent for a while
that this was necessary and inevitable.
I could no longer get my camera
into scenes worthy of it,
and wasn't interested in another sunrise
or a bird in flight, etc.

And I am intrigued with what AI
(Which I think of as "Artists' Inspiration)
is able to do with images,
or even pieces of images,
and look forward to playing
with multitudes of renditions of images
while looking out the window
from my recliner,
and talking to you 
about the things that come to mind.

Like what you consider to be your strengths.
What do you do best?
What do you like most about yourself?
And your weaknesses.
What do you do poorly?
And like least about yourself?

Once you are clear about these things,
play the opposite game,
and consider how your strengths are weaknesses,
and how your "lesser skills"
are also additional primary skills in disguise. 

The things we like most about ourselves
can prejudice us regarding the things we like least,
and the things we do poorly,
can convinces us that we can't do anything well.

When it is all a matter of time and place,
circumstances and perspective,
how we allow ourselves to shine,
and how we prevent ourselves from shining.

One we begin exploring our "strengths"
and "weaknesses,"
things begin to shift,
new worlds open up,
new possibilities present themselves,
and the adventure begins!

Dancing with life is all there is.

–0–

We should be like ourselves,
caring what we care about,
loving what we love,
enjoying what we enjoy,
doing what needs to be done
the way only we can know and do that.

That's the way real people do it.
They are themselves
doing it the way they would do it.

In order to be that way,
we have to spend time with ourselves,
attending ourselves,
being attentive to ourselves,
knowing what we know,
seeing how we see what we look at,
feeling what we feel,
reflecting on our experience
and on our experiencing our experience,
and being comfortable
with who we know ourselves to be.

How much time do you spend with yourself?
Listening to yourself?
Knowing what you know?
Feeling what you feel?
Seeing how you see?

Without judgment or condemnation?
Just being at one with yourself?
Knowing what needs to be done 
and doing it the way you would do it?

–0–

Who is better off because of you?
In what ways?

How does your generosity and kindness,
compassion and grace,
manifest themselves in the lives of others?
In the life of someone else?

Who do you think about 
other than yourself?

Who are the people who are safe 
in your presence?

Who do you care for?
Protect?
Defend?
Befriend?

I think these are differentiating questions
in the lives of people worldwide. 
They separate us,
set us apart.
Declare who we are
and who we are not.
Say more about us 
than anything else
that might identify us
to one another
in ways that matter.

We can't be somebody
without being somebody
in the life of someone else.

We cannot matter
without mattering to someone
other than ourselves--
without doing it to matter.

–0–

We most need to hear
what we most have to say.

How often do we listen to what we are saying,
and, more importantly,
to HOW we are saying it?

What subjects do we pursue?
Return to?
What do we repeat?
Time after time?

How often do we hear ourselves
saying something new?
Something we have never said before?

Who are our best listeners?
Who allow/encourage us to talk
so that we might hear what we are saying?

Who ask us questions for clarification,
forcing us to think about what we are saying,
what we mean?

Where do we go just to hear 
what we have to say?

When do we talk just to hear
what we have to say?

How often do we surprise ourselves
with what we say,
and/or how we say it?

Automatic writing,
where we just start writing,
not-knowing what we are going to write/say
is an excellent exercise 
in opening an inner door
and listening/seeing what comes out.

It is what I do here every day,
and in other places throughout the day.

I am amazed at what I have to say.
And expect you will feel the same way
about what you have to say.

I don't know of a better way
to spend our time
than listening to what all we have to say--
and invite you to take up the practice,
and see where it takes you
in the time left for living.

–0–