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Introduction to Story Time
The nine stories in this collection originated as sermons in Amory, Mississippi. There were seventeen in all, before the congregation had enough and asked me not to do that anymore, but to return to the old comfortable way of telling them what they had already heard, and fully expected to always hear, as a confirmation of all they hoped to be so.
The fact that Jesus told stories and never said anything about doctrine, theology, creeds or catechisms did not deter them in their quest for these things. And so it was that I was led to other ways of shaking up the Just So world of my congregations in Amory and Batesville in Mississippi, and at the Presbyterian Church of the Covenant in Greensboro, North Carolina, and introducing them as I was able to a world waiting for them to live the life that they alone were capable of living, in redeeming, atoning for and transforming their world as those “thus come” to be “the way, the truth and the life” in their time and place as Jesus was in his.
My success rate in achieving that outcome was probably the same as Jesus’ was.
However that may be, here are nine stories for your consideration.
One Minute Monologues 058
August 10, 2020 — September 20, 2020
- 08/10/2020 — Coming to terms with how things are
is the unending task of life.
In every moment,
there is how things are now
and how we feel about how things are now.
If it didn’t matter to us how things are,
we would have no problem
with how things are.
That’s how the Buddha recommended
peace and serenity:
“Life is suffering.
Don’t let it bother you.”
Jesus advised something similar:
“Let today’s trouble
be sufficient for today.”
(“Don’t be looking for trouble
by trying to have it made tomorrow–
or in the next five minutes!”)
Here we are, now what?
One moment at a time.
Just recognizing the difference–
and the distance–
between how things are
and how we feel about it,
is a step toward reducing the burden we carry.
“This is how things are,
and this is what we can do about it,
and that’s that!
And that’s how things are!”
How we choose to feel about it
is up to us.
But, no one ever tells us
that we can choose our feelings!
We have to find out so many
of the important things
for ourselves!
It would help if there were a book,
and if we read it.
But, there is only the moment,
and we have to live it.
It helps to live it with our eyes open,
paying attention–
everything is improved through paying attention!
Awareness is the solution
to all of our problems today.
Coming to terms with how things are
is seeing things as they are,
doing what can be done about it,
and letting it be
because it is.
We can reduce our suffering
by refusing to add to it
while we seek solutions
that change the things
that can be changed.
Willing what cannot be willed
is the bane of human existence.
Being right about what can–
and cannot–
be changed,
and knowing when to take “NO!”
for an answer,
is the essence of wisdom,
peace,
sanity,
balance
and harmony. - 08/10/2020 — Davidson River 10/13/2011 Panorama 01 — Pisgah National Forest near Brevard, NC — October 13, 2011
Look at everything
as a Rube Goldberg device
that your soul has put together
to wake us up.
Everything that has happened,
and is happening,
and will happen
is as it is to wake us up.
To shake us awake.
To stir us to life.
So that we might be consciously alive
in the time left for living.
It’s all about us coming to life
in the time left for living.
Our life is the Truman Show,
and the real point is Truman leaving the show,
leaving his life,
and stepping courageously into his life.
We are Truman.
Our life is waiting. - 08/10/2020 — Hail Mary Full of Grace — Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Charleston, SC, April 21, 2014
The breakthrough to the other dimension,
from physical to metaphysical,
is only a slight perspective shift away
at all times,
in all places.
The visible world is everywhere
a doorway,
a threshold,
a portkey,
to the invisible world.
Anything can transport us there
at any time.
A brush by angel wings
is as easily arranged
as changing our mind
about what is important.
Always start there–
with what is important.
With what is so important,
right here, right now.
What’s so important right here right now
anchors us in this moment,
weights us down
like an albatross,
bears down upon us like a cross,
keeps us from breathing,
keeps us from living,
keeps us from being alive,
because it is so important
we cannot look away
or go on,
or change our mind about it,
and are anchored in place
by what we believe to be
hopeless,
useless,
futile,
empty,
pointless,
and absurd–
because IT IS!!!
Freefalling through the abyss,
we shift into bliss
with the blessed return
to the Source of our Original Nature
and the confidence that has grounded
our kind upon the eternal rock of the ages
through the ages
via the vehicle of the music of the spheres
across time:
“AUM!”
Anyway!
Nevertheless!
Even So!
“AUM!”
Opening the door,
walking through.
“If the doors of perception were cleansed
every thing would appear to man as it is,
Infinite.
For man has closed himself up,
till he sees all things thro’ narrow chinks of his cavern.”
— William Blake The Marriage of Heaven and Hell - 08/11/2020 — Hatteras Sunrise 10/26/2003 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, October 26, 2003The word “occult” simply means “hidden,”
and is an aspect of our experience
that we label as “paranormal”
or “metaphysical,”
meaning that it lies beyond the range
of rational, logical, Aristotelian
(A is A and not Not-A) categories.
Religious and mythological symbols
bridge the worlds
so that when Jesus, for example,
talks about death and resurrection,
or dying in order to live,
or when Buddha talks about oneness
and the illusion of duality,
they are talking about the same experience,
using metaphorical language
to communicate something that cannot be said directly.
Sheldon Kopp said
“Some things can be experienced,
but not understood,
and some things can be understood,
but not explained.”
In the presence of those things,
we can use the approach of poetry and metaphor
to say indirectly what cannot be said directly,
implying “like,”
or “as if,”
or “as though,”
so it is “like/as if/as though”
we die yet live
or move from a world where duality
is the foundation of reality
and things are either/or,
and into a word where duality disappears
and things are both/and
and all are one.
Something can be true paranormally
that is false normally,
and it is a shift in perspective
that makes it so.
Walking two paths at the same time,
or living with a foot in both worlds at once,
is the task of the artists and poets,
the seers and prophets
who bridge the worlds,
and speak to us in this world of that world,
bringing the hidden things to light and to life
in this world of normal, apparent, reality.
What is true here is not so much true there,
and what is true there is not so much true here,
but to get the most out of this world,
we have to learn to live as if/as though
the other world is as real as this one is,
and bring the other world to life in this one
as fully as possible–
and that means laying aside the goals and values
of this world which lay waste to
the goals and values of that world.
Ancient people lived in this world in light of the other world.
Their sacrifices acknowledged their dependence
on the other world for balance and harmony,
but they were sacrificing the wrong things.
They killed their first born sons
and their virgin daughters
in order to live the way they wanted
and have what their hearts desired,
instead of sacrificing their wants and desires
and living in ways that honored oneness
and decreased duality.
We talk of equality and justice
and of living in ways that honor the natural world,
and we live in ways that destroy the natural world
and make a mockery of equity and justice.
And the other world is not to be mocked, or tricked, or fooled.
We are living in ways that work against the things
that enable us to live together,
enjoying one another
and all that life affords–
and our life is anything but joyful and abundant.
Because we try to create abundance
through buying, spending, amassing and consuming
instead of sharing and restraining our insatiable appetites.
And the other world is not to be mocked, or tricked, or fooled.
Balance and harmony,
spirit, energy and vitality
are the products of oneness,
not duality.
All of the old manuscripts say so.
They knew what they were talking about
in the old days.
No one was listening.
And here we are. - 08/11/2020 — Cape Lookout 05/23/2009 01 Watercolor Rendering — Cape Lookout State Park, Tillamook, Oregon May 23, 2009
We are here to live our best life possible under the circumstances,
understanding that our circumstances are necessary
to bring us forth in utilizing all of the gifts/genius/daemon/spirit/virtues/character
that we bring with us from the womb,
because we are fundamentally lazy and lethargic,
and will opt for the course of least resistence
in all matters great and small,
and have to be challenged to bring forth our best
in all the times and places of our living.
So we are here to do what we can with our circumstances.
That is just the way it is.
Every time we want to quit
because it’s just not fair,
and besides that it’s hopeless,
pointless,
futile
and absurd,
we have to remember that we are born for this,
and cannot refuse to be–and go on being–
who we are
and do what is ours to do
just because it’s hard and we don’t feel like it,
or aren’t in the mood for it,
and are tired of it
and want to lie back and rest until we die.
And then, get up and do what needs to be done.
The way it needs to be done.
When it needs to be done.
For as long as it needs to be done.
Because it is our place to do it,
and if we don’t do it,
it won’t be done,
and we will have failed in our mission,
and everything depends on us doing our part.
(Whether it does or not doesn’t matter–
we have to live as if it does
and that it all goes to hell if we don’t,
in order to get up and go meet the day every day,
and it is important to those who depend on us
that we live like it matters that we live
because it matters to them!
And, besides, bringing our best to bear
on our circumstances gets our best out there,
and who knows what will happen
in response to that?) - 08/11/2020 — Katahdin Panorama 10/29/2009 — Mt. Katahdin range, Sandy Spring Pond, Baxter State Park, Millinocket, Maine, October 29, 2009
We don’t have to be right about the meaning of life.
We only have to know what is meaningful to us about our life–
and live in ways which serve it
to the best of our ability.
And we have to be right
about it being to the best of our ability.
Doing our best in the service of what means the most to us
will put us on the path to what is truly meaningful.
Meaning has a way of leading us to meaning.
Meaning grows us up,
transforms us,
brings us to life.
Start anywhere with what is most meaningful to you,
and you will wind up somewhere else.
Actually, you won’t “wind up” anywhere.
You will always be “on the way” in the service
of what is most meaningful to you at the time,
and, over time that changes in the most amazing ways.
At one time, fishing was the most meaningful thing I could think of.
But, as the old alchemists would say,
“One book opens another,”
and fishing led to nature photography,
and nature photography led to experiences
with ineffable wonder,
and that led me to explorations into mythology
and religion,
and philosophy,
and meaning,
and now I am awash in things to explore.
All because I liked to fish.
We start somewhere,
with something,
and take off,
not knowing what we are doing,
or where we are going,
or where it will lead,
or what will be next.
It is an adventure that unfolds before us
as we start walking.
It is called “Being alive to the life we are living.”
If you can find something better than that,
do it! - 08/12/2020 — Day’s End 10/27/2008 — Pamlico Sound, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, October 27, 2008
Facts are not always what they appear to be.
Seeing things changes things.
What was good in our grandparents’ day
may not be good at all today.
Truth itself is on the block.
What truth means changes with the clock.
Ortega y Gasset might say,
“True and false meet at the edge of the coin.”
Everything is relative to something else.
How we see things depends
on how we look at them.
Maybe yes, maybe no.
Time will tell.
In the mean time,
we have to go with
the time that is at hand,
even though the times are a’changin’
as we speak.
But, here and now are the operative concerns,
and what the situation calls for
here and now
may never be the same e’er again.
Here and now, we make our best guess
about what matters most,
and what needs to be done about it,
and do it.
And let that be that,
as we step into the next here and now
and repeat the process forever.
I wish I could do it all over again,
some days.
Other days I think I couldn’t make it
much better with 10,000 tries.
Because improving this,
worsens that,
and better is just a ratio
between good and bad.
And it takes time to tell.
And some people never learn
to tell time.
And no two people are going to
always agree about what’s what,
much less which is better
and which is worse.
People are funny that way.
Only you can make up your mind,
and only you can change it.
Even though no one changes their mind
by trying to.
If you don’t think so,
just try it.
But how we see things changes all the time.
And what determines that?
There is more to everything
than meets the eye,
and the hidden stuff
is just a perspective shift away.
We all are our grandparents,
saying, “This is good and that is not!”
And time will tell.
And more time will tell something else.
Time is funny that way. - 08/13/2020 — Lotus Light —
Nothing is wrong with us
that growing up some more again
wouldn’t help.
Growing up some more again
is the solution to all of our problems today.
And every day.
Too few people world-wide
ever get beyond the third stage
of spiritual development
(As devised by the Yogis, Hindus, Buddhists of lore,
and which can be found a few days back here).
And it’s a problem because no one
can grow someone else up some more again,
or at all.
Jesus couldn’t do it,
and they killed him for trying.
They always kill you in one way or another for trying.
Growing up is our responsibility.
It is really all we have to do.
If we are committed to growing up some more again
for as long as it takes,
we have everything it takes
for our life-experience (and our life)
to be as good as it can be.
Our life is never as good as we would like for it to be,
and thus, the need to grow up some more again.
But we insist that our life be what we want it to be NOW!
And it will never be what we want it to be ever.
We have to grow up some more again about it.
Which we refuse to do.
And here we are.
The only “solution” (And it solves nothing,
just makes things as livable as they can be)
is for those of us who can
to grow up some more again as we are able
throughout our life
and let that be that.
Salvation is an individual accomplishment.
Nobody can save the world.
Nobody can “make disciples of all nations”
(And Jesus of all people would have known that,
so those words were put in his mouth
by those who felt they needed leverage
for what they were doing–which is how
the entire Bible got to be as it is,
but that is for another time).
Each of us is on our own.
Our life is our responsibility.
And growing up some more again
is all we have to do.
Everything will fall into place around that.
It is another term for the spiritual journey,
the Hero’s Journey,
the spiritual Quest.
And it waits for us to take it up.
Every day.
For the rest of our life. - 08/13/2020 — Rockport Harbor 10/15/2009 02 —
The Hero’s Journey and the heroic task
await us all.
But we are always confusing metaphor with reality,
and think, “Oh, but there are no more dragons to slay!”
There were never any dragons to slay.
All that heroes ever did
through all the ages
was simply what needed to be done.
Simply what the situation called for.
Every moment has its dragon
and is desperate for its hero
to rise to the occasion
and do what needs to be done about it.
That’s where you and I come in.
To act as liege servants
with filial loyalty
in doing what needs us to do it
“Without hope,
without witness,
without reward”
(Steven Moffat).
Moment-by-moment,
situation-by-situation,
day-by-day,
all our life long.
Not what we have in mind.
We are here for bigger things
than mopping the kitchen floor
and taking out the garbage!
Come the words of Jesus:
“Those who are faithful in small things
are faithful in much.”
Those who can be counted on
with the mopping and the garbage
can be counted on.
Period.
Heroes are those who can be counted on period.
Come the words of Jesus again:
“The harvest is plentiful
but the laborers are few.”
We miss the metaphor again
and think that Jesus is talking about
saying what Jesus has done to everybody everywhere.
Jesus is talking about doing what needs to be done
in every situation everywhere.
Every situation cries out for something!
“The harvest is plentiful!”
And people everywhere
are saying, “Not me, not me.”
No one wants to do what is asked of them.
Everyone is looking for a dragon to slay
in order to make the headlines
and reap the rewards
and be accorded Hero Of The Realm!
Superheroes have better things to do
than mop the kitchen floor
and take out the garbage.
The things superheroes spit on
need real heroes to do them.
Somebody?
Anybody? - 08/14/2020 — Stonington, Maine 10/12/2009 02–
What do you call a White Supremacist
who frequents tanning beds
and applies artificial tan
with lotions and creams?
Kidding ourselves is what we do best.
Self-deception in all its myriad forms
has characterized humanity
from the beginning.
We are always fooling ourselves,
looking in the mirror,
never seeing who is looking back.
If you are a member of an organization–
or a group–
larger than three people,
you are a danger to the rest of us.
There are Republicans who are convinced
that Democrats eat children–
literally, actually, in real time.
Witch hunts were conducted by conspiracy theorists.
Nazis and fascists were/are conspiracy theorists.
Qanon never met a conspiracy theory it didn’t like.
Everything is so much better with someone else to blame
for things being the way they are.
And hatred is at the bottom of it all.
“It is people like you
who make people like me
hate people like you!”
Try making peace with people like that.
With people who just want you dead.
After inflicting misery and suffering on you
forever.
What’s the fix?
How do people get to be
the way they are?
What is going on?
“Why can’t we just get along?”
How is hatred masking itself
in the things you believe?
If you aren’t self-aware enough
to see what you look at
when you look at you,
you are a danger to the rest of us.
Self-transparency–
with a particular sensitivity
to denial,
deception
and delusion–
is the solution
to all of our problems today.
And every day.
The fix is found in assuming our individual responsibility
for facing,
squaring up to,
dealing with,
handling
and managing the truth–
particularly, as it pertains to us personally. - 08/14/2020 — Willow 04/06/2006 —
We have to be able to bear the pain
of seeing what we look at
and knowing what we know.
Bearing the pain of life as it is
is the foundational step
toward life as it may be.
The catch is that life as it may be
may be nothing like
life as we want it to be,
as we wish it were,
at least not in our lifetime.
And we have to bear that pain
in doing the work that needs to be done
to make things better than they are
for future generations.
How many generations out
are we
from life as it needs to be?
It doesn’t matter.
What matters is that we do the work
in our time and place
toward life as it needs to be
in all times and places–
without keeping score
or caring what our chances are.
Democracy,
equality,
justice,
compassion,
human rights…
are worth living and dying for
across time and place.
And we have to bear the pain
of service to ends worthy of us
in every time and place,
anyway,
nevertheless,
even so–
because everything depends on that,
and flows from that.
Living as though,
as if,
this is so
makes it so!
And we take our place
in the long line of those
who lived in the service of a good
greater than their own, personal, good,
in light of all that life may yet be
for all who are alive
throughout the time left for living. - 08/14/2020 — A Time for Shadows 02/12/2009 —
We are minding our own business,
going about life as usual,
all our plans are in place,
meeting our responsibilities
and carrying out our duties
in serving our own sense of The Good
to the best of our ability,
when along comes a war,
or a pandemic slams the door on one future
and opens the door to a starkly different one,
requiring us to adapt and adjust in mid-stride.
Transitions are tough to negotiate
even when we see them coming.
When they are thrust upon us
out of nowhere
we have to get our feet back under us
with the world spinning around us
while free-falling through a debris field
of all that once was the world we lived in
thirty seconds ago,
they are a monster,
eating our old life alive
laughing at our prospects
and mocking our chances.
When everything is blown away,
we have to connect ourselves consciously
with the one constant that remains steadily in place
through all the vicissitudes of time and space.
That would be us.
Carl Jung said, “We are who we have always been,
and who we will be.”
We remain constantly and continually ourselves
through all that comes and goes throughout our life.
We have to remind ourselves of that,
and breathe slowly and deeply,
as we recover our sense of our own being,
reunite with our Original Nature,
check to make sure our shadow is where it should be,
and remind ourselves of who we are
and what we bring to this moment
and every moment flowing from this one.
Our task is the same
across all conditions and circumstances of life:
We stop,
take inventory,
assess what is happening
and what needs to be done about it,
determine what is being called for,
in each situation as it arises
and respond to it
with the gifts/daemon/spirit/virtues/character
that came with us from the womb
and accompany us wherever we go
all our life long.
Our work is the same in all times and places.
We stand up,
and step forward,
rising to the occasion
and meeting whatever faces us
as only we can
moment-by-moment,
situation-by-situation,
day-after-day,
time-after-time–
letting things fall into place around that
and adjusting to new realities as they emerge,
responding on the fly
as needed all the way.
Through all that comes,
we maintain our conscious connection
with the source and center
of our Original Nature,
being who we are
when we are,
where we are,
no matter what
every step of the way–
allowing the path to open before us
as we start walking,
and trusting ourselves
to the creative mystery within
guiding us through the choices and decisions
that are ours to make
as though we know what we are doing,
when in truth,
we are only doing what seems to be
the right thing to do at the time,
and letting the outcome be the outcome–
which will be just another situation
where we stand up
and step forward to meet
and deal with as best we can.
Resting and regrouping as we are able,
and doing what can be done
about what needs to be done
all the way.
Each of us is uniquely suited
for the adventure that is ours.
It only takes believing that
and living as if it so
for it to be so
in every day that lies ahead. - 08/14/2020 — The Price Lake Variations V — Julian Price Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, ca, 2004 (with Grandfather Mountain)
Do not have a plan.
Do not think you know where you are going.
Do not have to know where you are going.
Do not need to know where you are going.
Do not know where you are going.
Do not think you know what you are doing.
Do not have to know what you are doing.
Do not need to know what you are doing.
Do not know what you are doing.
Do not think you ought to contrive a future.
Do not think you can contrive a future worth having.
Do not contrive a future.
Do not try to figure your best move,
or seek to serve your advantage,
or strive to gain the advantage,
or think you know what the advantage is.
See what you look at.
Ask the questions that beg to be asked.
Say the things that cry out to be said.
Listen to what you hear
beyond what is said
to what is implied,
to what is meant.
Know what is called for
in each situation as it arises.
Respond with what you have to offer
out of your gifts/daemon/spirit/virtues/character
and let things fall out around that.
Let sincerity,
balance
and harmony
be your traveling companions.
Consult your creative center and source
of your Original Nature,
and allow them to lead you in acting
to incarnate your nature
in all of the times and places of your living,
in each here and now of your existence,
in doing what needs you to do it
within the circumstances that unfold before you.
Receive your life each day
as an adventure waiting for you to live it.
Dance with your contradictions
and bear consciously the pain that is your to bear,
always open to the joy and wonder of being alive.
And your life will teach you
all you need to know. - 08/15/2020 — Crescent Beach 05/24/2009 10, Eola State Park, Canon Beach, Oregon
Forrest Gump is the metaphor for our time.
If you were going to advise Forrest Gump,
what would you tell him?
Sit with that.
Ponder it.
Meditate on it.
Play around with it.
What would you say to Forrest Gump?
What did/does Forrest Gump need to know?
Imagine that you are Forrest Gump.
What do you need to know?
What would help you the most?
If you could ask The One Who Knows
what you need to know,
what do you think he would tell you?
If you were Forrest Gump,
and I were The One Who Knows,
I would tell you,
“Forrest, be right about what you believe is so,
and live as though it is.
Live as if it were.
In every moment
of every situation as it arises,
all your life long.”
And, you being Forrest Gump,
would likely ask,
“But how do I know what is right to believe in?”
I would tell you,
“Your life will tell you what is right to believe in.
Live with your eyes open,
seeing what you look at,
looking at everything.
Your life will teach you all you need to know.”
And, you being Forrest Gump,
would likely say,
“Ah, I already knew that!”
And, I would say,
“Everybody does.
But only you are living as if it were so.”
And, you being Forrest Gump,
would likely say,
“Well then, what do I need you for?”
And, I would say,
“Everybody already has all they need
to find what they need,
to do what their life needs them to do,
but only you and I and a handful of others
know it is so,
and live as though it is.
We are all like you, Forrest.
But only a few of us know it.
And it is good for us to be together
from time to time,
and pal around.
Why don’t we find some popcorn,
or go for a run?” - 08/16/2020 — Blue Ridge Pastoral 09/02/2004 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina
The work is always the same
over time and place.
Wherever we are,
whenever we are,
there is the work to wake up,
be aware,
see what is happening,
do what is called for
in incarnating our Original Nature,
within the context and circumstances
of our life,
with sincerity,
balance and harmony,
energy, spirit and vitality,
in the service of justice and equality,
compassion and peace,
grace and kindness
all our life long.
The old saw goes,
“When Good stands up to be Good,
Evil stands us to be Evil.”
It is an unending cycle of life,
like the coming and going of the seasons
and the rise and fall of the tides.
It means Good cannot quit being Good
just because it is tired
and needs a vacation.
Evil doesn’t sleep.
Good has to be on its toes.
All the time. - 08/16/2020 — Hammock Creek 10/23/2003 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina
Our opinions are killing us.
We have opinions about everything.
If physicians allowed their opinions
to color their living
the way everybody else does,
everybody else would be better off
staying away from physicians.
Police are now partisan in New York.
If you don’t wear a MAGA hat,
don’t expect police to be much help there.
And if you wear a Black Lives Matter tee shirt,
you are soon to be in need
of a physician without opinions.
We got here by being asleep at the wheel.
By being Absent Without Leave from our life.
By not being aware of how our opinions
were carrying us away,
kidnapping us,
hijacking us,
commandeering us,
shanghaiing us
and making us captive
to their narrow point of view
and their absence of grace and kindness,
compassion and bigness of heart.
And we became snarly,
surly,
grouchy,
crotchety,
bad-tempered,
ill-natured
and unsafe to be around,
like that (snaps fingers).
All because we have opinions
about everything.
And, with us, opinions are facts.
The way we see things
is the way things ARE!!!
And everything SHOULD BE
the way we want things to be
RIGHT NOW!!!
OR ELSE!!!
You can look this up,
or trust me when I say,
opinions (ours and everyone else’s) are the cause
of all of our troubles yesterday,
today,
tomorrow
and forever.
And, if you think that is just my opinion,
well, that’s YOUR opinion. - 08/16/2020 — Atlantic Moonrise 09/15/06 – Ocracoke Island, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina
Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell said two things (apiece)
that pertain to us and our work
of transforming our relationship with ourselves
and living a life in accord with who we are.
Carl Jung:
“There is within each of us another, whom we do not know.”
“We are who we have always been, and who we will be.”
Joseph Campbell:
“Where you stumble and fall, there lies the treasure.”
“What you seek lies far back in the darkest corner
of the cave you most don’t want to enter.”
These four statements constitute
the full scope of the work that is ours to do,
which is, transforming our relationship with ourselves
and living to incarnate/bring forth The Other,
who is our True Self,
The Face That Was Ours Before We Were Born,
within the context and circumstances of our life
in the world of time and space–
the here and now of our normal,
day-to-day, existence.
Your assignment is to meditate,
ruminate,
contemplate,
consider,
reflect on,
play with,
dance with,
muse on,
walkabout with,
live with…
these four statements
in your imagination,
and let them take on a life of their own,
leading you down paths you would never think
to explore,
showing you what they have to offer,
and what they have to ask of you–
just allow your thoughts to run off with you
and follow along,
not knowing where they are going…
Do this over a long period of time.
Come back again and again to these four statements
and what they have to show you
that you have yet to see.
The statements will not run out of things to say to you,
to show you,
to ask you,
to require of you.
And they will always be a doorway, a threshold, to you
through all the stages of your life. - 08/09/2020 — Cove Morning 10/16/2003 Watercolor Rendering — Cade’s Cove, Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Townsend, Tennessee
Transforming our relationship with ourselves
is our life-long task.
The Hero’s Journey.
The Spiritual Quest.
Our Opus.
Our Great Work.
We are seeking ourselves
along every path we take.
And, are running from ourselves
at the same time.
So comes to bear upon us
the words of Carl Jung:
“We meet our destiny
on the road we take to escape it.”
And the words of Joseph Campbell:
“We find what we seek
far back in the darkest corner
of the cave we most don’t want to enter.”
Damn if we don’t!
So why make it hard on ourselves?
Why not just cut to the chase?
And save ourselves the trouble
of getting all the way to the end of our rope?
“Okay!”
Why don’t we just stop and say,
“Okay! I know where this is going!
I understand inevitability when I
can no longer deny it!
What do you want with me?
What will it take to make you happy?”?
I can tell you The Four Things Required,
but it is up to you to put them in play,
and you are on your own from this point.
The First Thing is Sincerity.
How long has it been?
No contrivance.
No games.
No seeking your own advantage.
No looking for what’s in it for you.
No feigning interest when you couldn’t care less.
No duplicity.
Your heart has to be in it all the way.
No! Your heart has to be leading the way all the way!
If your heart isn’t in it,
you are wasting your time.
Liege Loyalty.
Filial Devotion.
Go and learn what these things are.
Require.
It is called “Sincerity.”
That’s The First Thing.
The Second Thing is like unto it: Good Faith.
No bullshit.
No chasing after something better
when something better comes along.
No quitting when things get hard.
No changing your mind.
No waffling.
No demurring.
No trying to re-negotiate The Deal.
You are owned by your Word.
You are bound by your Word.
Jesus said, “No one who puts their hand to the plow
looks back.”
Or to the left.
Or to the right.
Or up or down.
A Good Faith commitment to the task at hand
is The Second Thing.
The Third Thing is a Spirit of Play.
Playing is serious business.
Playing is getting yourself out of the way.
Playing unfolds according to its own direction.
Its own inclination.
Its own spur-of-the-moment urgency.
No one plays by the rules!
The Rules kill play!
And suddenly you are back at work.
Keeping the rules.
“All games have their rules!”
Okay, then.
The rule of this game is “No Rules!”
We play by playing,
and that means Getting Out Of The Way.
No winning.
No losing.
No keeping score.
No concern for how well we are doing.
No worrying about “Are we there yet?”
We are just lost in the game,
playing our way along the way.
That’s The Third Thing: A Spirit of Play.
The Forth Thing is The Third Thing.
The Forth Thing is not The Third Thing.
The Spirit of Play is the Third Thing.
The Forth Thing is a different Third Thing.
Play along here.
The Third Thing is a thing,
anything,
that is oblique to the Journey.
The Task.
The Quest.
The Third Thing
has nothing to do with what we are doing.
The other two things are You
and What You Are Doing
(Seeking to transform your life
by transforming your relationship
with yourself).
The Third Thing has nothing to do with that.
The Third Thing could be anything.
Oatmeal cookies.
Sit down with actual oatmeal cookies,
or with the idea of oatmeal cookies,
and see where it goes.
See what you do with oatmeal cookies.
Let oatmeal cookies take over your life.
Write an essay on oatmeal cookies.
Write a letter to oatmeal cookies.
Bake oatmeal cookies.
Experiment with the recipe.
Make the best oatmeal cookies
that have ever been made.
Play with oatmeal cookies.
See where they take you.
Watch how oatmeal cookies open doors
you never expected oatmeal cookies to open.
Doors you never knew existed.
Leading to places you would have never ever
gone on your own.
Oatmeal Cookies become your Guide.
Follow the leader.
The old alchemists had a slogan:
“One book opens another.”
Oatmeal cookies are that way.
The Third Thing carries you away like that.
To what, and what else, and where that will go,
you will discover in good time.
Oatmeal cookies don’t have to be your Third Thing.
Sit quietly and wait for your Third Thing to appear
in a compelling kind of way,
as if to say,
“Let’s play.”
Whoowhoo!
Hang on for the ride! - 08/17/2020 — Day’s End 10/27/2008 02 — Pamlico Sound, Ocracoke Island, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina
Joseph Campbell talks about
Carl Jung’s idea of “Active Imagination”
in Thou Art That: Transforming Religious Metaphor,
and says,” One way to activate the imagination is
to propose to it a mythic image for contemplation
and free development.
Mythic images…speak to very deep centers of the psyche…
without strict game rules defining the sort
of thoughts you must (think),
letting your own psyche
enjoy and develop (the image),
you may find yourself running into imageries,
experiences, and amplifications
that do not fit exactly into
the patterns (you expect or are comfortable with).
What are you going to do?
Are you going to let yourself go, following your own
activated imagination?
Or are you going to cut the run short
at some critical point?
…The world of life speaks within us
when we let the active imagination function.”
We can engage our Active Imagnation
with any image,
or any situation,
or any idea,
letting our psyche take over
and wander where it will.
For instance, you could imagine yourself
standing on a beach,
looking out to sea,
and just stand there,
watching,
waiting
to see what will happen,
that you don’t intentionally will into being.
Just look out to sea
and see what happens next…
At some point,
when your psyche takes over,
you may get to a thought or an image
that so shocks you,
you have to take control
and get yourself out of there now.
If you have ever frightened yourself
with some of the things that come to mind
over the course of a life,
and quickly assumed control of your thoughts
and changed the subject,
you know what Campbell is talking about.
Do we risk seeing what we have to show ourselves?
Say to ourselves?
Or will we dutifully follow the course laid out for us
by society and the culture
and the expectations and duties
that shape, form, limit and restrict
the kind of path we can allow our life to take–
to the point of not even allowing ourselves
to think thoughts that are prohibited by
and anathema to the time and place of our living?
What are we afraid of?
“That which you seek is found far back
in the darkest corner
of the cave you most don’t want to enter”
(Joseph Campbell).
What do we do? - 08/18/2020 — Bass Harbor Moon 02 — Acadia National Park, Bass Harbor, Maine
Our meanings are the most personal things about us.
What something means to us
sets us apart
and makes us unique among
the rest of humankind.
Or disappears us entirely,
and renders us indistinguishable
from all the others
wearing our collective team’s colors
and cheering them on.
Where does meaning come from?
How do we know what is meaningful?
How do we decide “This is,”
and “That is not”?
Getting to the bottom of meaning
and what it does for us,
how it grounds us
and establishes us,
defines us
and gives us our place in the world,
opens us to the depths of existence,
and the doorways of realization.
What means the most to you?
Your life is formed and shaped by what?
Do you live for football?
Ice cream and apple pie?
Your children?
Daddy’s approving smile?
Make a list.
Add to it as things occur to you.
Call it your book of meaningful things.
Carry it with you through all times and places.
How long will it be by the end of the week?
How many meaningful things
do you count in a day?
What do you do that is meaningful every day?
What makes them meaningful?
What/who do they connect you with?
What/who do they protect you from?
What does your association with them
do for you?
What gives them their place in your life?
How do new things get to be added to the list?
What is the newest meaningful thing there?
What are your guides to new meaningful things?
What is your guide to meaning?
What does your collection of meaningful things
tell you about who you are?
Upon what does your life depend? - 08/18/2020 — Mormon Row Barn 06/23/2001 — Grand Teton National Park, Jackson, Wyoming
There are:
our Original Nature,
the Source of our Original Nature,
and the Source of the Source.
When we connect with,
live out of
and express
our Original Nature
within the context and circumstances
of our life,
we are connecting with
and exhibiting,
the Source
and the Source of the Source.
We are one with all things.
In accord with,
aligned with,
in harmony with,
balanced by,
the rhythms
and flow
of nature and life.
What interferes with that,
prevents that,
sabotages that,
keeps it from happening?
Caring about the wrong things.
Not-caring about the right things.
Willing what cannot be willed.
Wanting what we have no business having.
Thinking the wrong things are important.
Our orientation and direction.
Having purposes at cross-purposes with our Purpose.
Living with too much noise in our life to hear.
Living opaque to ourselves.
Turning off, tuning out, shutting down.
What is the fix,
the cure,
the antidote?
Hitting the solid rock wall of reality sometimes works.
Getting to the end of our rope may do it.
Having nowhere to turn
and nowhere to go could do the trick.
Running out of answers might be the answer.
Seeing what we look at
and knowing what we know–
and what we don’t know–
is always a reliable path back to the path.
The catch is that no one can do it for us.
The return to our Original Nature
as liege servants swearing
filial loyalty and devotion forever
is up to us. - 08/18/2020 — Zen Sun Poster — Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, September 03, 2010
Personality is the key to everything.
Who we are is how we respond to our life.
Is what we do in the here and now,
in the time and place of our living,
moment-by-moment,
day-by-day.
And if it is not–
if what we do is not a reflection/expression/incarnation
of who we are–
if how we live is some twisted,
skewed,
distorted,
misshapen,
macabre,
perversion of who we are,
in the service of motives
and desires
that are devouring us
as we pursue them,
like some deranged Ouroboros
gorging itself on itself,
then we only have ourselves to thank
for abandoning our soul
to pursue dreams of everlasting glory.
Everlasting is our Original Nature
brought forth in response
to the circumstances of our life.
When our Original Nature is exhibited
by our personality,
we are a wheel turning out of its own center,
guiding itself by its own inner sense of direction
to ends worthy of its allegiance
moment-by-moment,
day-by-day.
Personality leads us all along the way.
Reveals us.
Unfolds us.
Expands us.
Develops us.
Brings us forth.
Establishes us.
Makes us known as the Real Human Being we are.
Our relationship with our personality
is our primary relationship,
enabling us to be who we are
in ways appropriate to the occasion,
and birthing us anew
again and again,
all along the way. - 08/19/2020 — Peyto Lake in the Snow 09/20/2004 — Banff National Park, Alberta
The people who don’t care
about the impact of their actions
are a threat and a danger
to the people who do care
about the things the people who don’t care
don’t care about.
It takes caring about things working
for things to work.
But, there is a catch.
Just as we can care too little,
we also can care too much.
Caring is a tricky act
of balance and harmony.
Thin is the line
and fine is the balance
among not enough,
just right
and too much.
If we are going to care,
we have to care enough
to get it right.
That means monitoring the moment,
moment-by-moment.
Seeing the nature of our impact
on what’s happening
and what needs to happen,
and adjusting our influence
to moderate/adjust the effect
we are having
on the time and place
of our living.
We have to know what we are doing
and what that is doing,
and what we need to do about that.
We have to pay attention,
we have to be aware,
we have to be alert,
we have to know what’s what
and what has to be done
in response to it,
moment-by-moment,
situation-by-situation,
day-by-day.
And we learn as we go.
The way we live
will teach us how we need to live
throughout our life.
Throw away the rules and the recipes,
and simply see what you look at,
and know what you know,
and let that be your guide
as to how to respond to what is happening
over time.
It’s like learning to ice skate,
roller skate,
walk
and ride a bike.
We don’t find “the sweet spot”
and rigidly remain in place.
We wobble a lot.
Now we have it,
oops, now we don’t,
ah, now we do…
Controlled wobbles,
all our life long.
But.
We have to care enough
to care at all. - 08/19/2020 — Zen Sun 02
Original Nature leads the way.
Relying on our Original Nature to guide us
is simply falling back on who we are
in meeting the requirements of each here and now–
after Carl Jung’s quote:
“We are who we always have been,
and who we will be.”
That is all we need to do
all we need to be,
wherever and whenever we are–
with this caveat:
“In ways fitting to the occasion.”
We cannot impose ourselves
on our circumstances.
We are here to honor Yin/Yang,
to bear the pain of our contradictions,
to bear the pain of the tension
of mutually exclusive opposites,
and incarnate the truth of who we are
within the hostile circumstances
of our daily life.
This is what Jesus did
and it killed him.
Whether we die literally as Jesus did,
or metaphorically as working parents do daily,
as working people do daily,
doing what it takes to pay the bills
in order to do what we pay the bills
to do.
It is a contrary that pushes us to the limit,
and William Blake reminds us,
“Without contrary is no progression.”
Dancing with our contraries
all along the way of life,
is the way of life,
and the way to life.
We live to be who we are
within the time and place of our living,
working to make where we are
more like it ought to be than it is,
becoming ourselves
more like we are than we are yet–
taking our place in the long line of our ancestors
who rose to the occasion every day of their life,
and made things better by the way they lived,
and were a grace and a blessing
upon all who came their way. - 08/19/2020 — Spring Streams, Watercolor Rendering — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Greenbriar District
Musing on our Original Nature,
our Virtues,
and our Character
opens up pathways of reflection
that lead to new realizations.
What are the things that make us us,
that separate us from the crowd,
that stand us apart
and identify us as distinct
from every other person–
that are to our psyche
as our fingerprints are to our soma?
Would you recognize yourself
if you heard someone else
describing you?
Would you say,
“Hey! That’s me you are talking about!”?
Do you know you well enough
to see you through someone else’s eyes?
How do you enhance,
deepen,
broaden,
expand,
your relationship with your psyche-side?
How do you come to recognize
the qualities you possess?
If you were to deliberately
act like yourself,
what would you do?
If you were going to over-emphasize
those things that are characteristically you
(The way you would
if you were doing your best John Wayne imitation),
what would you do?
What qualities,
characteristics,
virtues
are you particularly proud of?
How do you bring them into play
in your life?
Musing on our Original Nature,
our Virtues,
and our Character
opens up pathways of reflection
that lead to new realizations. - 08/20/2020 — Mattamuskeet Moon 01 — Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge, North Carolina
There is only one thing
standing between you
and having it made,
as much as anyone can have it made,
living in a world where life eats life,
and what we want prevents us from having
something else we want,
and our inner conflicts and contradictions
make it impossible for us to have our way
and enjoy our life.
The one thing missing is this:
You have to be able to bear the pain
of living in a world where life eats life,
and what we want prevents us from having
something else we want,
and our inner conflicts and contradictions
make it impossible for us to have our way
and enjoy our life.
You have to be able to bear the pain
of seeing what you look at
and knowing what is called for
in each situation as it arises
and having what it takes
to do what is needed
without worrying about
what it means for you personally
and letting the outcome be
whatever it is
and trusting everything to fall
into place around that,
and trusting yourself
to have what you need
to find what you need
to do what needs to be done
in the next situation that arises
all your life long.
If you can do that,
you have it made.
as much as you can have it made…
as long as you can bear the pain
of being alive.
If you can do that,
the rest is a snap. - 08/20/2020 — Evening Light, Pastel Rendering — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Clingman’s Dome, Cherokee, North Carolina
The energy to be engaged
comes from tending our relationship
with the Source of Rapture,
Ecstasy,
Euphoria
Awe,
Wonder…
that characterize the impact beauty has on us
in art,
music
and nature–
though it also can arise from particular encounters
with The Tao of Grace and Synchronicity.
Whether there is such a thing as the Source of those experiences,
I do not know.
But I do know that if we live as if there is,
it makes all the difference in our life.
All people everywhere have experienced
these things
from the beginning of people,
and they have all seen what they have experienced
as issuing from God, or The Gods,
by whatever name they have called
“That Which Has Always Been Thought Of As God.”
“God” comes entangled,
enshrouded,
bound up in,
theology
and doctrine,
creeds,
dogmas,
beliefs
and assumptions
that go far afield from the Source of Awe and Wonder.
The Source of Awe and Wonder
is all we can say about the Source of Awe and Wonder.
Awe and Wonder happen to everybody everywhere.
No one has to believe any particular thing
or behave any particular way.
We all just go about our life
and are Whammed out of Nowhere by Awe and Wonder.
Positing that as evidence of a Source,
puts us in position to develop our relationship with said Source
by meditating on the experience of Awe and Wonder,
and tracking it to all of the occasions resulting in Awe and Wonder.
One of those occasions is simply ourselves,
and the fact that we could be moved by such experiences
as those which move us.
And the more we explore ourselves,
the more we are open to being moved
by the experience of being moved.
At some point,
we track onto our Original Nature–
“The Face That Was Ours Before We Were Born.”
Who is responsible for that?
How do we come to be who we are?
What an Awe and Wonder that is!
And all of this tracks back to the supposed Source of it all.
However, if we choose to stop here, fine.
We can recognize the Knower Within as The End of the Line.
If we track back to the Source,
the Source will also be recognized to be the Knower Within,
and we will be recognized to be One With The Knower AND with The Source.
So how do you want to count to ten?
By ones?
By fives?
By halves?
We can get to ten in ten thousand ways.
Well, a lot of ways anyway.
Same with the Source.
And improving our relationship with the Source
is a matter of realizing all of the things that bless us
with the Grace of Awe and Wonder–
and putting ourselves on the path to be so graced
on a regular and recurring basis.
Simple! As! That! - 08/21/2020 — First Light on Pyramid Mountain — Patricia Lake, Jasper National Park, Alberta
There is nothing wrong with us
that changing our mind about what’s important
won’t correct.
But.
There is a catch.
We have to change our mind about what’s important
until we are right about it.
Being right about what’s important
is the solution to all of our problems today.
And tomorrow.
Forever.
Why is it so hard to be right about what’s important?
I was hoping someone would ask that question!
Simple.
It is because we want what we want
and not what we ought to want.
Hint:
What we want is not important.
I knew you were not going to like that.
Being right about what’s important
is not pain free.
But.
It is the right kind of pain.
It is the kind of pain that pain is all about.
Carl Jung said,
“Neurosis is always a substitute
for legitimate suffering.”
He also said,
“There is no coming to consciousness
(Waking up)
without pain.”
We experience pain by denying or escaping pain,
and we experience pain by embracing and accepting pain.
But.
It is a different kind of pain.
We have to bear the right kind of pain–
the pain of consciously bearing our pain–
the pain of knowing and doing what’s important,
no matter what.
Our life revolves around escape from pain.
Once escaping pain is no longer our primary diretive
and motivation,
everything changes for the better,
But.
We are not pain free.
Pain is just no longer important.
It is only the price we pay for being alive,
and doing what needs to be done.
People who are alive
and not doing what needs to be done
may as well be dead,
and are dead
to all that is life-giving
and vibrantly alive.
Now.
What you know needs to be done
will probably not be what your mother/father/etc.
thinks needs to be done.
And this is where we came in:
“Being right about what’s important
is the solution to all of our problems today…”
We have to be right about what is important–
about what needs to be done–
about what needs us to do it–
and do it.
No matter what our mother/father/etc. thinks.
Joseph Campbell talked about The Primary Mask
(The one our mother/father/etc. thinks we ought to wear),
and The Antithetical Mask
(The Face That Was Ours Before We Were Born–
the mask we are built to wear,
being right about what is important and doing it).
Being right about what is important
is not pain-free,
but it is the kind of pain that frees us
from the kind of pain that is killing us.
There is the pain of death and dying,
and there is the pain of life and living.
Bearing the right kind of pain
is dying the death that leads to resurrection
and life everlasting on this side of the grave.
Refusing to bear the right kind of pain
is being sentenced to “bear” the wrong kind of pain
(By trying to escape all pain),
and that is to be dead, dead, dead on this side of the grave.
Being right about what is important and doing it is life–
regardless of the price we pay.
We get to be alive all the way to the end of the line.
The kind of life we live
determines how alive we are.
How alive we are,
determines the kind of life we live. - 08/21/2020 — Blue Ridge Moon
There is how things are.
And there is how we wish things were.
And there is how things ought to be.
Our place is to be right
about how things are
and how things ought to be,
put aside how we wish things were,
and work diligently at the task
of making things more like they ought to be
than they are
throughout our life.
We work with the tools we have–
our Original Nature,
the gifts/genius/daemon/spirit/virtues/character/vitality
that came with us from the womb–
with sincerity, compassion and good faith,
without contrivance or deceit,
seeing what we look at,
asking the questions that beg to be asked,
saying the things that cry out to be said,
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.
Doing that much will change the world.
Prove me wrong! - 08/22/2020 — Smoky Mirror — Clingman’s Dome Parking Lot, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Cherokee, North Carolina
Faith-based religion is like an AA meeting
in which everybody declares they are not an alcoholic.
“I’m Jim, and I am NOT an alcoholic!”
“My father was an alcoholic and I wouldn’t touch the stuff!”
“I’ve been a tee-totaler all my life!”
And they pay the preacher to tell them they are all drunks.
Drunk on denial.
And they deny it.
Every church is a denial factory.
Churning it out.
Passing it around.
Giving it away.
You can’t make sense of it.
It defies belief.
The best you can hope for
is to walk away,
shaking your head,
muttering to yourself.
You cannot make people see
who think they see just fine.
Who think you are the one who can’t see.
People who see in the Land of the Blind
are crucified.
Or ignored.
There is no solution.
Leave the dead to bury the dead,
and go off into the west
to live out your life among the forests
and mountains.
At one with the natural world
that is just as it is. - 08/22/2020 — The Sound at Sunset 11/01/2008 — Pamlico Sound, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina
Faith-as-belief is another word for denial.
Belief discounts,
dismisses,
disregards,
ignores
facts
in favor of a different perception of reality.
We believe ourselves out of one world,
into another.
Keeping faith with ourselves,
on the other hand,
enables us to live in this world
exactly as it is,
as those who are not disabled by it,
but are focused on bringing ourselves forth,
on doing-right-by-ourselves,
within the context and circumstances
of each situation as it arises.
Keeping faith grounds us
in what is deepest/truest/best about us–
our Original Nature,
The Face That Was Ours Before We Were Born,
Who We Always Have Been
And Who We Will Be–
integrated/whole/at-one-within
in the work of incarnating
our gifts/genius/daemon/spirit/virtues/character/vitality
moment-by-moment-by-moment
day-by-day
throughout our life.
So, what do we mean by “faith”?
Something we believe?
The doctrines and creeds of organized religion?
Or something we do
in living faithfully to the core and purpose
of who we are?
What do we mean by “being faithful”?
Faithful to someone else’s idea of who we are supposed to be
and what we are supposed to do?
Or faithful to our inner nature
and true to our sense of what is called for
and what we need to do in response
out of our realization of what is asked of us
in the moment of our living?
The one thing Jesus did not do,
for instance,
was to stop and ask what somebody else would do
in the moment of his living.
Faithful to our own Original Nature,
we are free to live spontaneously,
extemporaneously,
improvisationally,
here and now
in light of what is happening
and what needs to be done about it
in the this time and this place of our living.
And that is the kind of faith
that transforms the world. - 08/23/2020 — Green River Canyon 05/13/2020 — Canyonlands National Park, Moab, Utah
When too much comes at us
too fast,
too often,
we need to go “where the wild things are,”
or at least read “The Peace of Wild Things,”
by Wendell Berry.
We need to immerse ourselves in the natural world.
We were born into that world.
We are a part of that world.
We belong to that world.
And when the artificial world
we have constructed
to take the place of that world
and keep us comfortable and safe
becomes unlivable,
we have to regain our balance and harmony
by reconnecting with the rhythms and wonder
of the natural world.
Two things we will notice
are the silence and the noise.
The silence and the noise
transport us from the artificial world and its reality
to the natural world and its reality.
Step willingly into the silence and noise
of the natural world
and wait.
You are waiting to be enveloped by the natural world.
To make the transition.
To belong.
You are waiting for the shift in perspective
that opens your eyes
and makes all things new.
If we spend our time in the natural world
can’t waiting to get back to the Real World,
we are wasting our time
and our opportunity.
We have to learn the trick of being there.
It is the trick of being wherever we are.
Being there is the best trick in the book
(And one of the best movies in my experience,
but that’s for another time).
Being there/here transports us to the place of power–
to the pivot point between past and future,
to the fulcrum,
“the still point of the turning world”
(T.S. Eliot)
where everything waits,
holding its breath,
to see where it all goes from here
with everything hanging on what we do
and how we do it.
When too much comes at us
too fast,
too often,
it is because we have lost the perspective
of The Eternal Now,
where time is suspended
and nothing is happening
because we are present
with awareness and compassion,
seeing all,
and waiting.
Meanwhile,
the tide is coming in,
or going out,
or turning around.
And will continue to do so
until it finds itself doing what it is doing then,
coming in,
going out,
our turning around,
in its own time,
in its own way,
when it suits it to do so,
when the time is right,
and things happen as they need to happen
of their own accord,
with nobody doing nothing.
That is the way of the natural world.
Nothing happens there before it time,
or after its time,
or out of time,
out of sync,
out of place.
That’s the schtick of the Real World. - 08/24/2020 — Lower Antelope Canyon 05/18/2010 — Page, Arizona
Sincerity is the core value–
the essence of being human.
Sincerity is non-contrivance.
We aren’t trying to get anything by it.
We aren’t trying to get anything.
There is nothing to get,
or have,
or own,
or possess,
or want,
or desire,
or do,
or be
beyond being sincere.
If you are going to be anything,
be sincere.
If you think there is anything more than sincerity
to achieve,
acquire,
admire,
aspire to,
go back to the womb
and start over.
If you understand
the central place of sincerity
in our life,
live so that everyone understands
that you understand that.
Sincerity is the basis of humanity,
the ground of both The Individual
and The Collective.
We cannot be an “I”
until we are sincere.
We cannot be a “We”
until we are sincere.
Most of the “We’s” we are a part of
require us to leave our “I” at the door.
We have to scrap our sincerity to join the commune.
We have to say “we believe” what everybody believes.
To be sincere is to be a heretic.
To blaspheme.
To “go rogue.”
Give me a We that is sincere–
particularly about not-knowing
what it doesn’t know.
“What’s best,” for example.
“What’s right,” for another example.
“How things ought to be,” for another.
Give me a We that doesn’t say,
or imply,
“Our way or the highway!”
Give me a We that says,
“You are welcome here!
We are a place where everyone listens
everyone else to the truth
of what they are saying–
which is the truth of who they are–
where everyone is glad to be in everyone’s company,
and to be blessed by everyone’s presence,
without telling anyone who they ought to be,
or what they ought to believe/think/do.
So, come in!
You will know whether you belong here
within five minutes.” - 08/24/2020 — Left Behind 09/20/2010 — Stonington, Maine
Develop an intense curiosity
about what meets you in the silence.
And how you react to it.
Everyone who has thought about it through the ages has said
there are only three things
that impact us throughout our life:
Desire
Fear
Duty.
How we live is how we live in relation
to the mixture of these three elements.
Once we come to terms with them,
it is clear sailing
with “fair winds and following seas.”
In the silence,
you have ample opportunity
to study your response to
Desire, Fear and Duty
over the course of your life
to this point.
Therein lies the key
to living differently
over what remains of your life.
You will also get all the help you need
from your nighttime dreams.
Our dreams are always coming to our aid,
and we are always saying,
“Honey, you won’t believe the stupid dream
I had last night!”
And, stepping back into our traditional ways
of dealing with Desire, Fear and Duty.
Our traditional ways of dealing with them
has us exactly where we are.
Time for review and redirection, don’t you think?
That begins with you developing an intense curiosity
about what meets you in the silence.
And how you react to it. - 08/25/2020 — Fishing Shacks 09/25/2008 Watercolor Rendering– Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia
“The human predicament” is what to do
with our time.
We are born without purpose or direction.
“Food, clothing and shelter”
take care of the basics,
but so does solitary confinement for life.
“Here we are, now what?”
is the perennial question of the species.
“Sex, drugs and alcohol”
seem to be perennially favorite answers.
Anything to take our mind off the problem.
Of time–
and what to do with it.
Here’s an all-weather,
ever-present,
option for you:
Take it to the silence.
Silence is the last place we would ever go.
Silence is reserved for the grave.
Until then,
all we care about is action.
Any kind of action.
Something quick to take our mind off the problem.
We don’t solve any problem
without bearing the pain of the problem.
Without bearing the pain.
BUT!
Pain IS the problem!
The pain of not knowing what to do with ourselves
in the time we have left to do it!
Nothing happens without bearing the pain
of nothing happening.
Sit in the silence,
bearing the pain,
and waiting.
Watching.
Listening.
Awake.
Aware.
The silence is the solution
to all of our problems today/tomorrow/ever and always.
Sit in the silence
long enough
aware enough,
and we find exactly what we need
to do what we need to do
right here,
right now.
Disclosure time:
The silence is not good for five year plans.
Long range solutions are impossible
given the chaotic nature of our circumstances,
with everything at the mercy of something else,
and nothing having any mercy on anything.
What to do with our time
depends on too much
for there to be much more
than provisional,
immediate,
answers.
The over-all purpose/direction of our life
is a function of our Original Nature
and Fundamental Attitude
toward ourselves and our circumstances–
and it depends exclusively
on our ability to face up to what is happening now,
and adjust ourselves accordingly,
in conjunction with our Nature and Attitude.
So.
We are going to spend a lot of time
in the silence
over the full course of our life.
Watching.
Listening.
Awake.
Aware.
If you cannot bear the thought of that,
sex, drugs and alcohol,
or some variation of that version
of escape, diversion, distraction and denial,
are all that is left to choose from. - 08/26/2020 — Sunrise East Fork Overlook 05/30/2011 Panorama — Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina
Carl Jung said,
“We meet our destiny
on the road we take
to escape it.”
And, he said,
“We are who we always have been,
and who we will be.”
The Buddha died from eating bad pork
(How enlightened was that?).
He was betrayed by his disciple who served it.
Jesus was betrayed by all of his followers–
a trend that continues through all of time
and into the present moment.
Live with authenticity,
sincerity,
integrity,
and let the outcome be the outcome.
Do not live to serve your advantage,
corner some market,
cash in on your opportunities,
paint the town
and sit in the cat bird’s seat.
See what is happening
and do what is called for in response,
out of your own center,
with your own gifts/genius/daemon/spirit/virtues/character/grace.
Moment-by-moment.
And let that be that. - 08/27/2020 — Thunderstorm at Sunset 08/11/2011 Panorama — Blue Ridge Parkway, West Jefferson, North Carolina
As long as we are doing “this”
so “that” will happen,
“this” is contingent upon “that.”
And “that” is contingent upon 10,000 things.
None of which are in our control.
Doing “this” so “that” will happen
is called “Willing what cannot be willed.”
“Willing what cannot be willed”
is the source of all of our problems today.
Any day.
Every day.
Depression.
Anxiety.
Fear.
Addiction.
Hopelessness.
Helplessness.
The Wasteland and
The Void.
We will save ourselves a lot of pain,
suffering,
difficulty and
trouble
if
we will only
do “this” so “this” will happen.
Neverminding
what will happen next. - 08/27/2020 — Great Blue Heron 08/04/2011 — Bog Garden, Greensboro, North Carolina
It would be GREAT if we felt like doing
what needs to be done!
Nothing would make the difference
that feeling like
living the life
that needs to be lived
would make in our life
and in the world.
“I don’t feel like it,” is all it takes
to make things exactly what they are.
We have to get over it.
Get over not feeling like doing what needs to be done.
If only we had the power
of Powder Milk Biscuits!
Well, we do.
It’s called “Overriding our feelings.”
We can do what we do not feel like doing.
No kidding.
It’s called,
“Faking it until we make it.”
It’s an old AA slogan.
It means doing what needs to be done
whether we feel like it or not.
Like not-going to a bar.
Not-taking a drink.
Not-buying a six pack…
What do our feelings know
about what matters most?
About what’s important?
About what hangs in the balance
in every moment
of each situation that arises?
We cannot allow our feelings
to guide our boat on its path through the sea.
To direct our actions.
To run the show.
There is more at stake in our life
than doing what we feel like doing,
and waiting to feel like it
before changing the baby’s diaper
or wash the dishes. - 08/28/2020 — Road to Botany 12/01/2014 — Botany Bay National Wildlife Refuge and Preserve, Edisto Island, South Carolina
Joseph Campbell said
“Everyone gets the adventure
they are ready for.”
Which means no one can dial up their adventure.
Dialing up anything is the core problem
with human existence.
“Not This! That!”
Is the bane of humanity.
It is Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
The moral of that story is
“Humans think they can improve Paradise.”
Also rendered as,
“Humans can find something wrong with everything.”
And,
“Humans can’t be happy with anything for long.”
And,
“Dissatisfaction is the heart of being human.”
It goes on,
but you are already getting bored with it by now,
thinking
“This better pick up
or I’m out of here.”
All of which is to say that
no one is ready for the adventure
they are ready for.
Everyone scoops up the adventure they are ready for,
thinking they are on some other adventure,
the one they are ready to be ready for.
Which is the flip side of
“No one can dial up their adventure.”
Which opens the door to all manner of possibilities–
which means ANY door will do!
This is on the order of
“All roads lead to Rome,” and,
“All paths lead to the top of the mountain,” and
“We are never more than a perspective shift
from The Farther Shore.”
Ah, that perspective shift is what we are all seeking.
Thinking it is something else.
(Who would go around looking
for a perspective shift?
Yet, that is all every adventure is good for–
changing the way we are seeing.
Which is another way of saying:
Growing Us Up.
And, since we all grow up against our will,
that requires an adventure we aren’t ready
to be ready for.)
This is great.
I don’t know if you have picked up on that, but.
It’s great.
The paradox.
The contradiction.
The Yin/Yang.
The “We aren’t ready for what we are ready for.”
That’s great.
If you can’t appreciate the greatness of it,
you are exactly where you need to be, thinking,
“What am I doing here?”
And, if you can appreciate the greatness of it,
you are also exactly where you need to be:
On the adventure you are ready for,
when you didn’t know you were on an adventure at all.
The spirit of adventure
is knowing you are on an adventure,
and not-knowing anything else,
not-anticipating anything at all,
sitting on the edge of your seat,
waiting for what happens next,
knowing only that it will be exactly
the right thing needed
to take you on the next step
to wherever it is you are going–
which is only a slight perspective shift
from where you are right now.
The adventure is a journey of perspective shifts
all the way down.
Disclosure:
We are never done seeing all there is to see
the way it needs to be seen.
Which means we are never grown up,
always growing up,
against our will–
which eventually becomes merely surprising,
not shocking,
and certainly not traumatizing,
and more on the order of
amazing,
thrilling and
delightful–
all the way. - 08/29/2020 — Coming In 02/08/2013 — Bog Garden, Greensboro, North Carolina
Serenity is a function of sincerity.
Sincerity lives in light of what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises,
and lets that be that.
No willing what cannot be willed.
No forcing anything out of time.
No pushing things past their limits,
or disregarding boundaries,
or ignoring what fits
and what does not belong.
Just knowing what is called for–
where
and when
and how–
and doing that.
And letting that be that.
Without looking for anything in return.
In a “This is the way things are,
and this is what can be done about it,
and that’s that”
kind of way. - 08/29/2020 — Lotus Flowers 2018 10
Common courtesy and mutual respect
are hard to find these days.
That’s where we come in.
Exhibit it.
Extend it.
Expect it.
Be kind.
Let everything fall into place around kindness. - 08/29/2020 — Spider Web 07/12/2014
Readiness is a function of time and place,
and disposition.
“When the student is ready,
the teacher appears,”
but.
When the teacher is ready,
the teacher waits.
Obi wan Kenobi and Yoda
spent most of their lives waiting.
“When the flower opens,
the bees appear,”
but.
When the bees are ready,
they send out the scouts.
Jesus cursed the fig tree
because it wasn’t ready when he was.
I know the feeling.
So do the bees.
As do the Obi wan Kenobi’s and the Yoda’s
of every generation.
But hurrying readiness is not ours to achieve.
We can send out the scouts
and open ourselves to the lessons
each moment is there to teach
those who are ready to receive
what the time and place of our living
have to offer.
The fig tree was Jesus’s teacher.
If he was ready for the lesson. - 08/30/2020 — Moonrise 10/17/2013 07 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina
We think everyone has to be doing it right
for anyone to be able to do it right.
That everybody has to be on the same page,
serving the same values,
working for the same ends,
or it’s all a waste of time and effort.
We waste a lot of time and effort–
our entire life–
trying to get all people to do it
like we think it ought to be done.
When not even we are doing it
like we think it ought to be done.
We get all depressed and mournful,
woebegone and undone
because They aren’t doing it right,
and we let that keep us from doing it right.
We play the
“Woe is me!
Ain’t it awful!
Everything is hopeless,
useless,
pointless,
worthless,
futile,
empty,
hollow,
senseless
and absurd!
So, so what?
Who cares?
Why try?
What good would it do?
What difference will it make?
Why go on with it?
I’m just going to lie down and die!”
game
without end.
Which lets us nicely off the hook,
and keeps us from having to do anything
we don’t feel like doing,
and who could feel like doing anything
in a world as sorry as this one is,
with no one giving a wet noodle about any of it?
We talk ourselves into doing nothing
beyond complaining about how foolish
it would be to make an effort,
given the nature of our circumstances
and the quality of our situation.
Let me explain:
It is all useless,
hopeless,
pointless,
futile and absurd–
and coming to a very bad end:
We all die!
And:
How we live in the meantime
makes all the difference!
It is all there is!
Ever has been!
Ever will be!
It matters how we live in each moment!
If you are going to believe anything
(And everyone is currently believing
“Nothing matters so why do anything?”),
believe it matters how we live in each moment–
all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding!
And pick yourself up,
dust yourself off,
and do what needs to be done
right here,
right now,
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
situation-by-situation,
day-by-day
throughout the time left for living!
Everybody does not have to be on the same page.
Everybody does not have to be doing it right
before anybody can do it right.
Do it right.
Starting right here right now.
If the dishes need washing,
wash the dishes–
the way the dishes need to be washed.
With the right attitude,
in the right frame of mind.
And so on to the next thing,
all the way to bedtime.
And do it again tomorrow.
Get your feet under you
and on the right track,
and start walking.
Don’t wait for someone else to go first.
Because how we live in the meantime
makes all the difference!
It only takes acting as if it is so
to make it so. - 08/30/2020 — Eagle in Flight 11/05/2014 02 — James River, Roanoke, Virginia
A life without character development
is like a mayonnaise sandwich
without the mayonnaise or the bread.
Character development is the missing ingredient
in life as we know it.
Doctor Who lives 200,000 years with no character development.
Sounds about right.
The Honeymooners had no character development.
Alice would still be getting hers one day
if the show was still on.
Archie Bunker?
Same story.
All of our stories are the same story.
We don’t want our characters changing.
The Walton’s?
Still saying goodnight.
Nobody grows up ever in our world.
Star Wars?
How many episodes until no one is killing anyone?
Who ever grows up in Star Wars?
Yoda?
No growth whatsoever.
That’s because he’s perfect, right?
Perfect means nothing changes throughout time.
Perfect means nothing changes.
What is perfect about nothing changing?
We live to get everything right
and freeze it in place.
Or just freeze it in place.
So that one day is just like all the others.
“There will be no growing up today!”
Or ever.
But growing up isn’t something to achieve–
it is something to be doing forever!
We are never Grown Up.
We are (to be) always growing up.
But Never mind.
No one is ever growing up.
I was a Presbyterian (USA) minister for 40 years and 6 months.
I served 5 congregations.
Each one paid me to talk to them about God.
And none wanted me to tell them anything
they hadn’t already heard.
You can’t make any sense out of this.
And you can do it for 40 years and 6 months
only by refusing to take it seriously,
and telling them something new about God every week.
If anything needs changing it is theology!
Alcoholics Anonymous is the church of the future,
and the best thing it has going for it
is No Theology.
It’s steps need revision, though,
and a 13th step added:
“After Sobriety What???”
With everybody working on that individually
for the rest of their life–
growing up some more again day-by-day.
But this is for another time.
Today’s work is getting used to the idea
of tomorrow being different from today,
and doing what needs to be done today
to make it possible for tomorrow to be different–
and not just “another day.”
Character Development has to be the goal of our life!
The goal of our churches!
The goal of AA!
The goal of politics!
The goal of culture and society!
Can you imagine?
Nothing would be more counter-cultural than growing up.
Nothing would be worse for the economy.
Nothing would be less likely to happen.
Which means it is up to us to make it happen–
by refusing to make Arrested Development
the life goal we are told it should be,
and spend our life in the service of Character Development
By living to see that it happens,
determining to make it happen,
with liege loyalty and filial devotion
to the cause of growing up some more again every day–
and living the pledge into being one day at a time. - 08/30/2020 — Mothball Fleet 10/12/2013 — North Carolina Maritime Museum, Southport, NC
The Christ returns again in each generation.
This is the meaning in Jesus’ declaration,
“This generation will not pass away
(Before the Christ returns).”
And this is what is wrong with theology in every form.
It locks things down.
It takes the metaphorical and the symbolic
and turns them into facts.
But they are not facts.
Ask a believer why they believe what they believe is so,
and they will say they take it on faith.
But.
They no sooner “take it on faith,”
than it becomes an absolutely rock-solid,
indisputable and actual in every way FACT
that everybody has to embrace or go to hell
(Which is also a literal FACT).
None of it is a fact.
God is not a fact.
But.
God is an experience that cannot be denied.
The experience is a fact.
Not God.
What is experienced is called “God,”
but it is only evidence of “More Than Meets The Eye.”
And more than that cannot be said.
Don’t try.
Stop talking.
Ditch theology.
Open yourself to the experience of being alive.
When you open yourself to the experience
of being alive,
you open yourself to yourself experiencing
being alive.
Being open to yourself experiencing
is to experience yourself,
perhaps for the first time.
Experiencing yourself experiencing
is the path to what has been called
“enlightenment,”
“awakening,”
“realization…”
Once we start seeing what we are looking at,
everything is transformed,
and “pickles are green.”
Wow.
Once we start seeing what we are looking at,
the way is clear for the Christ to return again
in each generation.
The Christ is the one who sees.
The one who is come
(Like the Buddha is “The One Thus Come”).
The one who is simply who he, who she, is.
The one who is sincerely,
authentically,
themselves.
In each moment,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
That transforms (you could say redeems) the world.
Seeing the world transforms the world.
Start seeing what you look at
and you will see what I mean.
But this is the end of theology and doctrine,
catechisms and creeds,
because being yourself,
as “The One Thus Come,”
means being you responding to the moment
in its unfolding–
not as you are “supposed” to,
but as you are called to do by the moment.
No one can tell us what to do beforehand.
The moment calls us into being in that moment,
and the next moment may call us to be the opposite
in that moment.
Our Being is a spontaneous,
improvisational,
impromptu,
extemporaneous
exhibition/incarnation/revelation
of ourselves “thus come”
in that moment.
The freedom to live that way is complete freedom.
Which is the meaning behind Jesus’ word,
“You shall know the truth (of who you are)
and the truth shall set you free (to be who you are).”
The end of theology
is the beginning of life.
But you have to know what I mean
to understand what I’m talking about. - 08/31/2020 — Ocracoke Lighthouse 10/20/2013 04 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina
We have spent a lot of time over time
as a species
trying to control what happens to us.
Trying to make happen
what we want to happen,
and to keep from happening
what we don’t want to happen.
Considering that not one of us
intended to be where we are
here and now.
We are no more in control
of what happens and doesn’t happen
than we are in control
of what we will dream tonight.
“Acceptably in control most of the time”
is the best we can hope for.
But.
Acceptability is a floating point on a scale
that is, itself, dependent upon the situation.
We are more accepting
of “out-of-control-ness”
in some situations than others.
If we expanded our acceptability
across all situations equally,
we would be much more in control
of our reactions to our circumstances,
and much less controlled by
our obsessive/compulsive need
to be in control of everything.
Control is an illusion.
A delusion.
It is not what we think it is.
Pick a day in the coming week,
maybe Sunday.
Not much has to happen on a Sunday,
at a particular time,
in a particular way.
We can blow a Sunday off from time to time
and not miss anything important.
So you might try the next Sunday that comes along.
Get up and step into the day
without having to control anything.
Live entirely out of your whim-of-the-moment.
Do what you feel like doing
when you feel like doing it.
Ease into every moment wondering
“What is this moment calling for?”
Not doing anything here in order for anything to happen there,
or to not-happen there.
Live throughout the day
with no thought of doing this so that will,
or will not, happen.
Just do this so this will happen.
See how things go without being micromanaged.
Live for the entire day without contriving anything.
Not-knowing what you will do next,
or why you will do whatever you do.
Waiting to see what is called for–
like going to the l00.
What has an urgency about it
similar to the “call of the loo”?
Wait for that.
Do that.
Moment by moment.
The entire day.
It will shift your perspective of being in control,
put control in its place.
And give you more freedom to be yourself
than you have ever had
anywhere in your life.
You can trust yourself to know
when to go to the loo
and what to do once you get there.
Just so.
You can trust yourself to know
what to do when,
or when to do what,
throughout your life.
Simply wait for the mud to settle
and the water to clear.
And see what calls you to do what when.
If you dare.
And, if you don’t dare,
you might get to the bottom of that,
asking, “Who/what is in control of whom here?” - 08/31/2020 — Going Home, Geese flying past the moon
Seeking the center,
returning to the source,
present in the moment,
alive to the time
that is at hand,
we are ready
to respond as needed
to the occasion as it arises
without anxiety about,
or interference from,
the 10,000 things
afoot in the world.
Like the moon in its course,
or geese in flight. - 08/31/2020 — Garden Spider 08/13/2016
We find the anchor we seek
in the source of our original nature.
We are what we have to work with
in each situation as it arises,
in whatever circumstances
describe our station.
Returning to the Self
is remembering/realizing
the essence of who we are–
reaffirming our allegiance
and loyalty
to the service,
exhibition,
expression,
incarnation
of the grace,
genius,
daemon,
spirit,
character,
virtues,
and vitality
that have been ours
since before we were born,
and constitute our unique identity
among our kind.
Our identity “thus come”
(Which is what they said
about the Buddha,
“The One Thus Come”),
is who we are,
coming forth
to bless the time and place,
the here and now,
of our living,
moment-by-moment,
day-by-day.
If we are living in light
of some other purpose,
in pursuit of some other goal,
we are on the wrong path,
and we need to redirect
by simply returning to the Self
and bringing our Self forth
to meet what faces us
every day.
It is not what would Jesus do,
but what would our Self do
within the occasions
and circumstances
that compose each day.
Let us commit ourselves
to living to discover
what our Self would do
with the day.
Let us live to allow our day
to bring us out
like the drum brings out the drummer. - 09/01/2020 — Water Rock Knob 09/02/2014 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Maggy Valley, North Carolina
The more serious something gets,
the more absurd it becomes.
The Right To Life movement
has proven itself to be unworthy of the title
by embracing Donald Trump
and allowing him to kill as many people as he wants
as long as he makes abortion punishable by death.
“We know he is a snake, but he will make abortion illegal–
and anything else he wants to do is fine with us!”
The position is absurd,
and deadly serious.
We live on a continuum between serious and absurd,
and have to strike a balance
between being serious enough
without being too outlandishly absurd.
Life in the extremes is untenable,
no matter what the continuum connects.
“Live toward the center!”
is the wisdom wrung from the ages.
“Back to the center!”
is the lesson every generation
learns the hard way,
because extremes beget extremes,
and no one knows where the center point is
until well after it is past.
We find the center
by moving back to it,
not by realizing where it is
when we are there.
We are always looking for the center,
though we do not often realize
what we seek.
Joseph Campbell said,
“That which you seek
lies far back in the darkest corner
of the cave you most don’t want to enter.”
That would be the center he is talking about.
Particularly the center of ourselves.
The heart,
soul
and source
of our own being.
Knowing who we are
in a “This is who I am,
and this is what I stand for,
and this is what is most important to me,
and these are my gifts,
my genius,
my daemon,
my spirit,
my virtues,
my character,
my values,
my vitality,
my energy,
my life–
and who are you?” kind of way.
Knowing who we are,
and being who we are,
in relationship with others
who are knowing who they are
and being who they are,
with mutual respect and concern,
acceptance and compassion,
in recognizing and embracing
our differences
and allowing them to be
is the sine qua non of community,
and the single most essential requirement
for living together
in ways that honor everyone’s
right to be who they are
at the expense of no one else’s
right to be who they are.
Robert Frost observed,
“Good fences make good neighbors.”
Knowing where we stop
and our neighbor starts
is essential knowing.
Respecting/honoring the differences
that set us apart,
makes possible the attitude toward each other
that holds us together,
and makes life all it can be
for every one.
If the only way we can live together
is for you to do it like I do it,
or for me to do it like you do it,
we won’t be able to live together
for very long.
Honoring our right to be different
makes life possible for us all. - 09/02/2020 — Goodale 11/04/2018 18 Panorama — Adams Mill Pond, Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina
We can make too much of anything.
Sincerity and authenticity, for instance.
What is called for is the question,
and “Always do it this way!”
is not always valid,
or fitting to the occasion.
“Always do what is called for!”
fits every occasion.
It is the only thing that does.
I have gay friends who are married
with children,
who feel as if they have betrayed themselves
and are being inauthentic and disingenuous,
are living a lie,
and should have come out early on
and been real from the start.
I ask them to look at the life they have lived,
and to imagine who they could have been
better partnered with,
and how the world would be better off
without their children in it,
and consider that “walking two paths at the same time”
is an eternal and everlasting
condition of life
and requirement for living,
and to shut up with their whining
until “the mud settles
and the water clears,”
and they know with unparalleled certainty
that their situation is calling for
them to come out and be real.
No one knows what will be called for.
Everyone lives with the burden of knowing
what that is in each situation as it arises
and of doing what is needed
when the time is right
and letting the outcome be the outcome.
We live moment-to-moment.
We do not know what will be called for
from one moment to the next.
Our responsibility consists of being clear
and courageous–
which is really one thing:
Clarity creates courage.
Clarity is all we ever need,
and it is rarely what we think it will be,
or ought to be.
We are likely to be shocked and surprised
at what is being asked of us.
And walking two paths at the same time
is frequently the best of our available options.
And, what that will mean,
and how we work it out in our life,
is one of the great challenges
and lasting adventures
along the way
of being alive. - 09/03/2020 — Maine Moon 09/27/2012 — Deer Isle, Maine
We walk through scenes everyday
with eyes on something else.
Not looking at what is there,
not seeing what we look at.
Distracted,
allured,
captivated by,
lost in,
inseparable from,
the 10,000 things.
It has always been so for everyone.
It takes Buddha-mind–
Christ-consciousness–
to be here now.
It was realized at the time,
and through all of the ages since then,
that the Buddha was everyone
when they were awake.
It was said,
“If you meet the Buddha on the road,
kill him!”
As a reminder that we are to be the Buddha,
and not to worship the Buddha,
or think for a minute that the Buddha
is more special than,
or different in any way from,
the rest of us
and who we each are asked to be.
Jesus said, “I am in you
and you are in me!”
Which is to say,
“As I am, so you are!”
And, “Why don’t you judge
for yourselves what is right?”
Which is all Jesus did.
And, “Blessed are you
if you know what you are doing!”
Which means seeing what needs to be done
and doing it–
which is all Jesus ever did.
Being awake,
seeing what we look at,
and doing what needs to be done about it,
is all there is to it.
To make any more of it
is to miss the whole point of it,
and the importance of the relationship
we have with it,
with “it” being every moment of our life
through all times and places,
contexts and circumstances.
Seeing/doing what is right,
moment-by-moment,
situation-by-situation,
all our life long.
We have to do something
all our life long.
Why not do what is right?
Here and now?
What is keeping that from happening? - 09/03/2020 — Bamboo Impressions 03
What needs to happen here, now?
That is our only problem:
Here.
Now.
What is pressing in from outside here and now?
Make a list.
Pressure producing items
from near and far.
What am I going to do about the job,
about the relationship I’m in,
about not being in a relationship…
all the things that destroy our peace
and ransack our sanity.
You know the things I’m talking about.
The 2:00 AM things.
The entire list.
Now, find a quiet place
and sit in the silence with the list
becoming fully aware of the list.
Consider each thing one at a time.
Being fully aware of each thing
and how it is bearing down upon you
demanding answers you don’t have.
Become intently, intentionally, aware
of each thing
and tuck it away in your awareness.
You can keep it safe forever there.
Put it in your awareness for safekeeping,
and consider the next thing.
Do the same thing with it.
And with each thing remaining on your list.
Now, bring your awareness to rest
in the here and now.
What is this here and now,
right here, right now,
calling for?
What needs to happen right here right now?
Do it,
and move on to the next thing.
“Now what needs to happen?”
Do that,
and move on to the next thing.
And so on,
until it is just you and the silence.
Tell the silence
about the things in safekeeping
in your awareness,
and see what arises in the silence
to meet your discomfort.
May be an image.
A word.
A realization.
A feeling…
The silence is good for clarity.
A great place for letting the mud settle
and the water clear.
Clarity is the solution
to all of our problems ever.
And we cannot force the water to clear.
But.
We can allow it to clear,
and wait for it to clear.
And simply be with the silence,
off and on,
during the interim.
The silence is the source,
the origin,
of everything.
It is always with us.
Is always happy to see us.
Is always welcoming,
gracious,
benevolent
and kind.
Who wouldn’t want to be
in a place like that? - 09/04/2020 — Rocks and Clouds — Tunnel View, Yosemite National Park, Half Dome and Yosemite Falls, April 26, 2006
We are never more than a slight perspective shift away
from the realization of the wonder and awe
of the mysterium at the heart of existence.
Joseph Campbell was fond of recommending
that we draw a frame around any scene,
or object,
or person,
and sit in its presence,
as one might contemplate
an optical illusion,
until the shift happens
and we are moved to amazement
at the astounding realization
that there is something,
and not nothing!
And we are present to know it,
honor it,
relish it,
rejoice in it,
and hold it as venerable and sacred forever!
From that moment,
we will never be able to look at anything
the way we once looked at everything.
The world will have shifted in its orbit.
Nothing will be what it was.
And we will be startlingly transformed for life.
And live as an agent of the mysterium
at the source,
origin,
foundation
of all that is
for as long as we shall live–
and perhaps beyond,
who knows? - 09/04/2020 — Cone Manor 10/9/2018 02 — Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina
My friend, John Payne, died on August 26 from complications due to Alzheimer’s. He was 77 years old. John was a fellow Presbyterian (USA) minister, whom I met in 1984. John and I were within “coffee distance” when he was in Nettleton, Mississippi and I was in Amory, Mississippi, and again when I was in Batesville, Mississippi and he was in Nesbit, Mississippi.
John was a member of Mensa, but did not want it known, because, he said, “Then they will expect me to be smart.” He had a lot to say about “being smart.”
“Being smart gets a lot of hype, but between being smart and being lucky, take being lucky.”
“Being smart doesn’t know which person to marry, or when to take no for an answer, or what to do when you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”
“Being smart doesn’t help a bit when you have to grow up some more again, and do what you don’t want to do even though it is clearly what needs to be done.”
“Being smart is not as reliable a guide to knowing what to do when as being silent and listening to the source of your own nature, and sensing what resonates with you, and following the drift of your own heart and soul.”
“We all drink from the same well when it comes to instinct and intuition, and that is a different kind of knowing than the kind that comes from being smart.”
“Being smart is no indication of our capacity for being kind–and being kind saves the world.”
The world was a better place with John Payne in it, and I am glad he will always be with me–because as Jim Hollis likes to say, “Death doesn’t end a relationship any more than divorce ends a marriage.” - 09/04/2020 — Corn Field 11/12/2018 Panorama — Lancaster County, South Carolina
Dolly Parton is a current manifestation/embodiment/incarnation
of the Christ among us.
Dolly does Dolly the way Jesus would do Dolly
if we were playing charades.
And Dolly does Jesus the way only Dolly
can do Jesus–
which is what each of us is asked to do:
be Jesus, or the Buddha, or Dolly Parton
the way only we can do them.
We are asked to do them the way they would do them.
By being completely ourselves,
the way they were completely themselves.
The road opens up at this point,
branches off,
and we could go in 360 directions
(Yes, even back in the way we came,
because by now it would be new),
all of them equally interesting,
and all of the leading to the same destination:
The full realization and expression of ourselves in our life.
That is where we are all going.
There is nothing more to ask,
or want,
or seek,
or desire
than that.
Dolly’s on it.
So was Jesus.
But, back to where I’m going to go with this.
Playing.
Playing is the most important thing.
Playfulness.
Full investment in the game.
Total commitment to the game.
Complete awareness of the truth
that we are all playing the game.
Most of us (After R.D. Laing)
are playing the game of not playing a game.
We are serious.
What we do is serious.
Playing is what we do
when we take a break
from what we are doing.
To accuse us of playing
is to accuse us of playing around
and not giving our best effort,
of slacking off
and not trying.
Here, we are in need of Paul Watzlawick’s observation,
“The situation is hopeless,
but not serious.”
The more serious we are
the more immersed we are
in the game we are playing
(of not playing a game).
It is all a game.
“There is only the dance”
(T.S. Eliot).
Dance/game, same thing.
But.
Here’s the thing.
We have to play the game
with our whole heart.
We have to know what we are doing,
and do it completely,
wholly,
as if it were real!
It is as if we were actors playing the part
of ourselves in a movie about us.
We don’t win the Oscar
without being completely who we are!
Even though it is “just a movie,”
“just a game.”
And, comes to mind the Grantland Rice quote,
“It matters not that you win or lose,
but how you play the game.” - 09/04/2020 — Lake Haigler Fall 11/03/2013 — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Fort Mill, South Carolina
If you are like everyone else,
you take the wrong things too seriously,
and the right things not seriously at all.
Growing up is learning to see with right seeing,
and to live accordingly.
All of our problems
that we live seeking to solve
fall into one, or more, of these categories
(Which have been identified as the source
of all ills
since the beginning of thinking people):
Fear
Desire
Duty.
We all are as we are
because we are afraid of something,
because we desire something,
because we think we ought to do something,
or be someone else.
We suffer from Inappropriate Assessment Syndrome.
It is a deficiency afflicting the entire species.
And is probably entirely responsible
for having us where we are today–
by driving us incessantly to be somewhere else.
Having something else.
Doing something else.
The Bane of Neanderthal
was being quite content to be where they were.
Without fear,
desire
or duty,
we would be completely at peace
with ourselves just as we are,
and with our circumstances just as they are.
Which would not be good for the economy. - 09/05/2020 — American Crow 06/20/2018
The Christ is the Antichrist.
Growing up is dying again and again
our whole life long.
We grow up against our will every time.
The old ways of being have to die
in order that the new ways to be
may move in and set-up house.
The developmental tasks require us
to submit to the terror of death
in order to experience the wonder–
purchased with a price–
of new life without end
(Merely interrupted by the next sweeping out
and moving in).
The price is our death on the cross
(Metaphorical and eternal/everlasting)
at every transition point on the path.
“The path” is our passage way from
“The face that was ours before we were born,”
to “The face that was ours before we were born.”
We are The Christ becoming The Christ.
The Christ killing The Christ
so that we might become The Christ
by “Leaving God for God,”
(“My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me?”)
and growing up some more again today
all along the way. - 09/05/2020 — Bamboo Impression 01
Is it better to have things going our way
or not going our way?
Which way opens us to the way things need to go?
Which way shuts us off from the way things need to go?
There is being at one with our life,
and there is our life being at one with us.
Which way is the way of oneness?
No opinion.
No judgment.
Just this.
Now what?
Now what in light of what?
Now what in the service of what?
What are we living toward?
What are we living away from?
When our life is on track,
how is that different
from our life being off track?
I used to stalk photographs
the way a lion stalks an antelope.
I sought out photographs.
I went in search for photographs.
I got up early and stayed out late for photographs.
My life changed without warning.
With no explanation.
Now I take a photograph that happens along.
Why strive to do it like I used to do it?
I am disinclined to make the effort.
Why resist my inclinations?
Where am I better off?
Not getting up for a sunrise,
not staying out for a sunset.
Listening to my inner drift of soul.
Seeing what the situation calls for.
Adjusting to my changing ways.
I bought a drum because it was called for.
A beginner’s djembe.
I may be listening for my inner rhythms.
I don’t know what I’m doing.
I’m playing with playing the drum.
I don’t know why.
And I wish my point of origin
had included people who did things
without knowing why.
But.
My point of origin made it incumbent
upon me
to do things without knowing why.
Are we better off with our points of origin
as they are
than we would be with points of origin
as we wish they had been?
Here we are.
Now what?
Now what in light of what?
Now what in the service of what?
What are we living toward?
What are we living away from?
How do we decide “in light of what”?
“In the service of what”?
“Toward”?
“Away from”?
How do we know what to do?
How do we determine direction?
What is worth our time
and what is not?
What is guiding our boat
on its path through the sea?
What do you do without knowing why? - 09/05/2020 — Jordan Pond 09/23/2012 — Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, Maine
How do you bear your pain?
Everything tends to take shape around that.
Coming to terms with the pain of life,
the pain of being alive,
is one of the primary developmental tasks.
Get it wrong
and we are in a death spiral
until we get it right.
Denial,
escape,
distraction
is getting it wrong.
We have to find ways
of folding our pain into our life,
of allowing our life to be big enough
to receive it well,
make room for it
and learn from it.
Our pain calls into question
our sacred assumptions,
and requires us to come to terms with
unwanted realities that demand our attention.
Where do you turn
when you have nowhere to turn?
What holds you up?
Keeps you together?
Enables you to keep going?
Sees you through?
We have to develop a philosophy,
a point of view,
a way of seeing
that enables us to take
our pain and its source into account,
meet it head on,
square up to it
again and again,
and go right on living–
anyway,
nevertheless,
even so.
We have to tell ourselves something.
We have to tell ourselves the truth
in a way that boldly considers
how things actually are,
and enables us to deal with
what we face with courage and resolve.
What is the source of your courage and resolve?
What keeps you going?
What is the nature of your pain?
How have you managed it to this point in your life?
Pain management strategies abound!
Healing groups and communities.
12 Step organizations.
Compassionate Friends.
Chronic Pain associations.
Internet Searches…
We are not without resources.
Help is available, but.
We have to help people help us.
Putting pain in its place,
and honoring it and its place in our life–
with an appropriate degree of respect
and appreciation for what it can teach us
that will be of value for the rest of our days–
is a step on the way to healing and wholeness
in a world where pain does not sleep.
or take a day off. - 09/06/2020 — Light Rays at Water Rock Knob 09/02/2014 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Maggie Valley, North Carolina
Being smart doesn’t mean you know
what’s worth going to hell for.
That knowledge is there for everyone
who has eyes to see,
ears to hear,
and a heart that knows what’s what.
Knowing what’s what is all we need to know.
And that is the first thing that goes in this culture.
This culture is grounded on
someone else being the authority
over our life.
“What would Jesus do?”
The one thing Jesus would never do
is wonder what someone else would do.
He did not pause to think,
“What would Moses do?”
“What would Elijah do?”
“What would Abraham do?”
Jesus just did what needed to be done
in the moment of its arising.
He knew if we think too much about anything,
the time for doing it is long past
before we act.
Jesus said, “Why don’t you decide for yourselves
what is right?”
That’s what Jesus would do!
Decide for himself what is right!
We have to become the authority determinng
what we do
in each situation,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
And if we are wrong,
we learn from the error
and decide for ourselves
what to do about it.
Where do we go to commune with ourselves?
How often do we go there?
How long do we stay?
Who would be the authority over our life?
Who would tell us what to do when?
Who is interfering with our responsibility
for knowing what’s what?
Stay away from those people!
Find some new friends,
or relatives.
Decide for yourself what is right–
but not because I say so.
Because you know so.
And, if you don’t know that you know so,
go commune with yourself
and see what yourself has to say
about what’s what
and whose judgment you can trust. - 09/06/2020 — Dockside 11/14/2017 14 — Port Royal, South Carolina
We do not know whom to trust–
so we trust ourselves to deal with betrayal of trust.
And, listening to our inner guides,
step into the day.
The key to trusting ourselves
lies in communing with ourselves.
When we “return to the source,”
we are returning to ourselves.
WE are the source of who we are!
In seeking “the face that was ours
before we were born,”
and living out of our Original Nature,
in each situation as it arises,
we live with sincerity
and authenticity,
meeting the moment
in search of what is being called for,
and responding
with the best we have to offer,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
We make our best guess
(Call it “judgment,” if you like)
about what to do
based on the information
available to us at the time
and let that be that.
We make adjustments as necessary
and step into the next moment–
trusting ourselves to see and do
what is called for
throughout all of the times and places
of our life.
We dispel fear and anxiety
by trusting ourselves
to deal appropriately with each situation,
including the situations arising
from being wrong with our response
in any situation.
We have what it takes to meet what meets us
in a day.
Every day.
If you are going to take anything on faith,
let it be that,
and step into the day! - 09/07/2020 — The Limb — Fire Tower Trail, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina
You have to know what I mean
before you can understand
what I’m saying.
Which means, of course,
that my only role in your life
is to articulate what you already understand
to be so.
But.
I recognize that as a vital part
of your awakening to, well, you.
We all have exactly what we need
to find what we need
to do what needs to be done–
what needs us to do it–
in the time and place
(the here and now)
of our living.
And.
The most important thing
anyone can give us
is ourselves.
When we wake up,
we wake up to the infinite value
of us.
And.
Start paying attention to our dreams,
and being aware of our thoughts,
urges,
inclinations,
reactions,
and all of the things
that make us us.
We devote time to nurturing
our relationship with ourselves,
and take ourselves out to lunch,
and listen intently to all we are saying–
cultivating,
nourishing,
nurturing,
our ability to know what we know,
see what we look at,
hear what we are saying
and what is being said to us,
asking the questions that beg to be asked
and saying the things that cry out to be said,
and knowing when we don’t,
and wondering why we didn’t…
The entire world and all of life
open themselves to our
unfolding,
unfurling,
deepening,
expanding,
unending
and infinite
curiosity.
And.
We discover that knowing what we know
leads instantly and directly
to knowing what we don’t know–
to knowing that we don’t know–
and doing the work of finding out,
letting, in the way of the old alchemists,
“One book open another,”
and we are off,
lost in the allness and the wonder
of everything.
And.
If it takes forever for us to wake up,
well, that’s what forever is for.
And.
Once we wake up,
we realize it will take forever
to get to the bottom of all of it,
and, that too, is what forever is for.
But.
Don’t slack up,
knowing you have forever!
There is not a moment to lose!
Not a second to waste!
The game’s afoot!
The chase is on!
And.
It all starts with knowing what you know.
And what you don’t know.
That’s all you need to know. - 09/07/2020 — Lotus Flower and Koi Fish
If we work with our life,
our live works with us.
If we work against our life,
our life works against us.
We can gauge the degree to which
we need to adjust ourselves
in relation to our life
by the way things are going
with us and our life.
The old biblical adage applies:
“It hurts to kick against the goads!”
Our life will tell us
when we are out of accord
with our life.
The trick to getting back in sync
with our life is simple:
Sincerity Not Contrivance!
If we are trying to do this
so that will happen,
we are gaming our life.
If we are frustrated
because our ideas for our life
are not being realized,
we are pushing our life
to be other than it is.
Our place is to listen to our life,
and to align ourselves with it.
Our life has a mind of its own.
It is like any living thing.
A flower turns toward the sun.
A tree leans toward the light.
Our life has a built in cant toward
its preferences
and away from its aversions.
Our place is to learn what our life likes
and do that.
What are we built for?
Do that.
Let everything fall into place
around that.
We are made for our life
the way a stream is made for the sea.
If we are working against our life,
it is as though the stream decides
on a destination different than the sea.
Guess how that would work out. - 09/07/2020 — Moonrise 10/17/2013 01 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Outer Banks, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina
Religion died when it invented theology.
Theology is Substitute Religion.
It is somebody else’s Religion.
Theology is Second-hand Religion.
Theology is equivalent to what the people did
when Moses came down from the mountain,
and his face shone so
with the absorbed Glory of God
that the people couldn’t look directly at him,
and draped him with a cloth
to conceal the reality of God.
Carl Jung said that theology was created
to save people from the experience of God.
Religion is the experience of God.
God experienced as Other and as I.
Religion is the knowledge of Thou Art That.
Moses was one with God
and the people couldn’t handle it.
The Transcendent becomes Imminent
in this here this now,
becomes one with us–
so that we become “Transparent to Transcendence”–
and it is terrifying
and transforming.
It messes terribly with our life.
To save ourselves the trouble of Religion,
we invented Theology,
and we talk about God.
Keeping God at a safe distance.
It is much safer to talk about God
than to be carriers of God,
to be the embodiment of God,
to be the incarnation of God.
Just ask Jesus what it is like
to be able to say, “The Father and I are one.”
We talk about God.
We memorize the books of the Bible in order.
We have Sword Drills
to see who can find a scripture passage the fastest.
We memorize catechisms
and talk at length about our favorite questions
in our favorite catechism.
And read books of doctrine,
putting them to music
and calling them “Hymnbooks.”
It is all very inspiring.
It is almost like being alive. - 09/08/2020 — Goodale 11/04/2018 40 Panorama — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina
With us:
Which will be the last to go?
Joy or sorrow?
Jocularity or despair?
Laughter or wailing?
Why one and not the other?
They are only a perspective shift apart.
Jovial or deathly serious depends upon what?
What leads us to see the way we see?
To ascribe meaning the way we ascribe meaning?
To say “This!” and not “That!”?
What stands between us
and “The icy winds howling up from the Void”?
What is our solace and our comfort?
Our source of resolve and resiliency?
The way we see things
keeps us going.
Or stops us from taking another step.
What governs the way we see things?
How will we approach
“The end of the line”? - 09/08/2020 — Mile Post 244 08/13/2018 04– Blue Ridge Parkway, Doughton Park, Laurel Springs, North Carolina
Here we are.
Caught up in a pandemic,
at the mercy of a crazy (As in certifiably insane) President
and a GOP majority in the Senate,
aiding and abetting his every move,
with the world as we know it
going to hell as we watch,
and nothing more effective to offer
than protest marches
and rants on social media.
The situation has exposed our lack of a foundation–
the absence of a source of guidance and direction,
comfort and confidence,
security and stability,
balance and harmony…
We are in free fall
with nowhere to turn
and nothing to orient us
or assist us in finding our bearings,
in order to make our way through a wasteland
of lost hope
and demolished dreams
to a better perspective,
and a more trustworthy life.
Joseph Campbell would say
there is nothing wrong with us
that finding a valid myth to live by
won’t fix.
He would also tell us not to look for someone
to tell us what our grounding myth is.
His two guidelines for discovering our myth are these:
“Where you stumble and fall,
there lies the treasure.”
“That which you seek
lies far to the rear,
in the darkest corner
of the cave you most
don’t want to enter.”
He would likely add,
“The treasure you seek
is nothing other than the self
you also are.”
Free-falling is a symptom
of being alienated from ourselves,
out-of-sync with our heart’s true purposes,
out of accord with the Tao
of our own spirit
and clueless as to who we also are
and what we are called (by ourselves)
to do with our life.
We have lost the way,
wandered away from the path,
and need to get back on track,
together with ourselves and our life.
The prescribed ritual for accomplishing
this return to ourselves/our life,
to find our myth and live it,
is to stop/look/listen.
To sit down,
be still,
and wait in the silence
“for the mud to settle
and the water to clear,”
and attend what arises/occurs to us/comes to mind there.
The silence connects us with the source
of our own Original Nature–
which is where we find all we need
to find what we need
to do what needs to be done
in the wasteland
of lost hope
and demolished dreams.
But.
It takes doing it
to know it is so.
And it takes trusting ourselves
to the inclination/urge-to-action
that occurs to us in the silence.
We do not think our way to a myth worthy of us.
We live our way there.
By looking/listening within–
by looking/listening to our body
and what it is revealing to us.
And by working with our nighttime dreams
and our flights of fantasy,
to discover what we are saying to ourselves,
hoping that we will pay attention,
and follow where we are being led. - 09/09/2020 — Great Blue Heron 08/13/2013 — The Bog Garden, Greensboro, North Carolina
Our idea of God is not God.
This is the foundational realization.
We can never get beyond our idea of God to God.
In order to approach God,
we must abandon our idea of God.
Theology has to go.
Meister Echart said,
“The final leave-taking
is leaving God for God.”
Our idea of who we are is not who we are.
The final leave-taking
is leaving ourselves for ourselves.
We become God.
God becomes us.
And that’s that.
In the end, we are all one.
All of our divisions are false divisions.
All of our dichotomies are false dichotomies.
All of our dualities are false dualities.
Our idea of reality is not reality.
It is all a joke we play on ourselves.
It all ends in laughter.
That never ends. - 09/09/2020 — Eno River Spring 05/05/2011 — Eno River State Park, Durham, North Carolina
We have to know what moves us
and allow ourselves to be moved by it–
to be owned by it–
to belong to it–
to be possessed,
seized,
dominated and controlled
by the things that move us–
moved against our will–
“Without hope,
without witness,
without reward”
(Steven Moffat)–
to live in the service of,
with filial devotion
and liege loyalty to,
that which moves us!
In the spirit of the old alchemical formula,
“One book opens another,”
the thing(s) that move(s) us
will move us to the thing(s) that move(s) us,
and we will be carried all our life long
from one thing to another
on an adventure that never ends.
This is the Hero’s Journey.
Don’t be a sissy. - 09/09/2020 — Eno River Reflections Panorama 11/09/2011 — Eno River State Park, Durham, North Carolina
Notice what catches your eye,
and look closer.
Move toward that which moves you.
Pay attention to the things
you are quick to dismiss,
discount,
disregard,
ignore,
and stop doing that.
The Most Important Things
are the cornerstones the builder dismisses,
discounts,
disregards,
ignores.
“Nothing good comes from Nazareth!”
The pearl of great price
lies in the bin of costume jewelry
waiting for one who sees
to take notice
and look closer.
Our destiny hangs in the balance,
dangling by the finest thread.
Our name is called
by the faintest whisper.
The first test is the hardest:
Will we see what we look at?
Will we hear what is being said?
Nothing of consequence
is the key to everything that follows.
The path that leads to awakening
and enlightenment
begins with the silliest choices.
Our future life hinges on–
and takes shape around–
our being open to the offerings
of the present moment,
and willing to trust directions
from the unlikeliest of guides.
Having expectations,
strong opinions
and harsh judgments–
being impatient,
insistent
and hard to please–
increase the internal noise level,
and make it difficult
to recognize the grace at work
in our circumstances,
or to allow impromptu shifts
toward uncertain outcomes.
We are always forgetting
that we did not intend to be
where we are,
or plan any of the steps
that led us here.
The future will be an extension of the past
in this regard,
and we can rely
on knowledge beyond reason,
logic
and intellect
to pilot our boat
on its path through the sea.
Those gifts are well-qualified to deal with How,
But.
What,
When,
and Where
are within the purview
of more than words can say.
Choosing the gifts and the giver
puts us in the position
of the moved in response to the mover.
Recognizing what is asked of us
and responding in ways
appropriate to the occasion
are all that is asked of us
in each situation as it arises.
All our life long. - 09/09/2020 — Lake Haiger Fall 11/03/2013 — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Fort Mill South Carolina
Our life does not happen accidentally,
while we are in pursuit of our dreams.
It isn’t what occurs while we are doing something else.
Something more fun.
Our life is the intentional production
of the mutual collaboration
between the conscious
and unconscious
aspects of ourselves.
We are two selves:
Conscious
and Unconscious
(We call it the Unconscious because
the conscious side of us
is not conscious of it,
which makes dealing with it
a full-time operation
requiring our complete attention,
total devotion
and faithful allegiance).
When the old Chinese mystics talked of the Tao,
they were talking about the Unconscious self.
And being in accord with the Tao
was held to be the key to balance and harmony,
stability,
character,
wisdom
and peace.
It still is.
Our Conscious self is good for knowing
how to do something,
relying on intellect,
logic
and reason
to come up with the best,
most efficient,
way of getting things done.
But.
On its own, it has no idea of what to do.
Consciously, we know what we want
and don’t want,
what we like and don’t like,
what is pleasing
what is displeasing,
but we have no notion
of what we should want,
or of what we have no business
even thinking about.
Our Unconscious self is good
for what, when and where,
and has a knack for knowing
what is called for
in each situation as it arises.
When our Conscious and Unconscious selves
are communing with each other,
in full accord,
and on the same page,
our life has a radiance about it
and a flow to it,
that cannot be fabricated
in some other way.
Our duality is dancing
in a manner that declares our unity,
which is something to be relished
and enjoyed
as the purest expression
of the experience
of being alive. - 09/10/2020 — Moonrise 10/17/2013 08 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, Outer Banks, North Carolina
We cannot help the way we see things.
Growing up means seeing things differently.
We grow up against our will–
against ourselves–
throughout our life.
Seeing things differently is like dying.
Growing up is dying.
This is the cross that is central to Christianity.
We die again and again
in the work to see things as they are.
I was standing in a cotton field
talking to a Mississippi Delta planter
about race relations and gay rights,
who was saying,
“Hell, Jim–
this ain’t how I see things!
This is how things are!”
Theology allows us to talk about the cross
without experiencing it–
to talk about growing up
without ever once dying to do it.
Take your cherished ways of seeing things,
your precious rites and rituals
that are central to who you are,
and throw them in the burning barrel.
That’s what Jesus meant when he said,
“If you are coming with me,
pick up your cross every day–
die every day–
to the way you see things,
that the way things are
might have a chance of breaking through!” - 09/10/2020 — Cedar Rock Falls 10/13/2011 — Pisgah National Forest, Brevard, North Carolina
The straight and narrow
is the dangerous path
along the slippery slope
like the razor’s edge
between the dualities
that have to be integrated,
unified,
in a way that takes everything into account
and responds to what is called for
in each situation as it arises
with exactly what is needed at that moment
in that place
without thinking about it
or knowing what we are doing,
by moving in conjunction with time and place,
spontaneously,
improvisationally,
as a dancer dancing with an invisible partner
to music that cannot be heard,
carried away by synchronicity,
grace,
magic,
and transforming the world.
That is what we are living to be able to do.
Living like that,
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
is what life is all about.
How do we get there?
Isn’t that the question, though!
We live our way to the answer.
We do not think our way there.
But.
Thinking about our thinking will do it.
Watching our seeing.
Being intently/intentionally aware of
who we are
where we are
how we are
what is happening
what is happening in response
to what is happening
and what is happening to that–
within us
and outside of us–
receiving it with compassion,
without opinion,
without judgment,
“Just this, just that,”
and simultaneously,
holding it all in our awareness
and allowing it to sink into
our body
and our mind
so that we know what’s what,
and wait to see what we do about it
without consciously willing any response at all
beyond waiting and watching and wondering…
until BOOM! (As John Madden would say)
we find ourselves doing something
we never imagined ourselves doing.
Where did that come from?
That’s were we have to live from!
Call it The Center.
Call it The Still Point.
Call it The Source.
And let ourselves trust it
to be what is needed–
beyond knowing what is needed–
and live from there,
threading the needle
along the straight and narrow
forever. - 09/10/2020 — On Roan Mountain 05/15/14 05 — Carver’s Gap, North Carolina/Tennessee
“It’s only in my (your) imagination,”
is as dismissive and as disrespectful
as we are capable of being.
Everything we have done as a species
came right out of the silence
into our imagination.
Our imagination is the greatest sense organ
at our disposal.
It connects us with dimensions
beyond those we associate with space and time,
and with our unconscious,
and our “other” self at the center of that world
(Carl Jung said, “There is in each of us another,
whom we do not know”–
whom we know through our imagination!).
James Hollis said, “Death does not end a relationship
anymore than divorce ends a marriage.”
And that relationship is maintained and deepened
through our imagination.
Our imagination creates possibilities
for our life in this world
of normal,
apparent,
reality
by enabling us to see things into being.
Writers and artists,
plumbers and carpenters,
musicians and quarterbacks,
scientists and teachers,
and all of the rest of us
regularly experience flashes of realization,
insight,
enlightenment
and creativity
that pop into our awareness
right out of our imagination.
When we meditate,
our imagination stirs to life,
and stirs us to life
with inspirations,
urges,
notions,
visions
and things that occur to us
“right out of the blue,”
and it doesn’t always wait
for us to meditate,
but stops us in mid-stride
with a seizure of “esthetic arrest,”
(James Joyce)
that transforms our life
and propels us into directions
and destinations we would have never planned
or considered on our own.
And Joseph Campbell was fond of saying
that none of us planned to be where we are.
Honor your imagination with the esteem
that is its due.
Devote time to deepening your relationship
with that aspect of yourself.
Serve it with filial devotion
and liege loyalty.
It is the most magical tool at our disposal,
and ‘twould be a shame
to deny it the opportunity
to show us what it can do. - 09/10/2020 — Roaring Fork Falls 09/03/2012 — Pisgah National Forest, Burnsville, North Carolina
Chief Seattle and Black Elk did not have a PhD between them.
Or a Masters Degree.
Or a Bachelors Degree.
Or a high school diploma.
And they were brilliant men of soul,
fit for the company of Gandalf the Grey,
Albus Dumbledore,
Obi wan Kenobi
and Yoda.
Dolly Parton would belong to that group.
And Linda Ronstadt.
And Maggie Smith.
And Mary Oliver.
(The list is long of women who know what’s what)
All the people who know,
know the same things.
They know what counts,
matters,
makes a difference.
Chief Seattle said,
talking about putting himself
in accord with the reality of life and death,
“Why should I lament the disappearance
of my people?
All things end,
and the white man will find this out also.”
Joseph Campbell (also a member
of Those Who Know) said
that we can be at peace with all things
as they are–adding
“This doesn’t mean
that one shouldn’t participate
in efforts to correct the situation,
but underlying the effort to change
one must be ‘at peace.’”
At peace with the “is-ness” of things,
in a “This is the way things are,
and this is what can be done about it,
and that’s that,”
kind of way.
Those who know
know this is so,
and joyfully embrace the terms
governing the game,
giving themselves
to full participation in the game,
and, when it is done,
letting that be that. - 09/11/2020 — Cullasaja River 10/21/2014 01 Panorama — Nantahala National Forest, Highlands, North Carolina
Extremes not only beget extremes,
they also become increasingly extreme over time.
Knowing when to stop and stopping
would be ideal,
but.
Diets go over into anorexia like that (snaps fingers),
and anorexia spins off into bulimia,
and knowing when to stop doesn’t mean stopping.
Having someone explain the danger of excessive
devotion to a cause
doesn’t immunize us against extremism.
Hearing someone advise us
to “Live toward the center!”
doesn’t enable healthy limits.
Vulnerability to being “carried away”
seems to be a human characteristic.
We cannot be trusted to know
where and when to draw the line,
and to draw it.
How often have we heard/said it?
“We are our own worst enemy!”
“No one can save us from ourselves!”
“It’s all up to us!”
“Our safety is our responsibility!”
And we remain a threat to ourselves and others,
walking through our life,
waiting for something to trigger
our Excessive Response Mechanism,
and propel us into action.
Which underscores the danger
of Russian interference in our elections,
and manipulative language exploiting
our tendency to be emotionally hooked
into an ideologically based reactive
way of living.
We are this close (crosses fingers) to being
swept up and away at all times.
Knowing it and being alert to it,
sensitive to,
and aware of,
the ease with which language
inflames and engulfs us,
may be our best defense
against the extremes,
and our best chance
of remaining grounded in the center. - 09/11/2020 — Sanskrit AUM 02 — From my Symbols of Transformation Collection
“Freedom’s just another word
for nothing left to lose…”
I don’t know if Kris Kristofferson
knew what he was saying
when he wrote these words
(To “Me and Bobby Magee”),
or if he was just rhyming words,
but.
He is spot on.
We aren’t free until
we aren’t afraid of loosing anything.
Until we are free from trying/hoping
to gain anything.
Freedom is having nothing to hold onto.
Freedom is letting everything go.
Standing at “the still point”
(T.S. Eliot)
of that place,
there is nothing anyone (or anything)
can do to us.
We are grounded there in a way
that nothing can touch us.
Nothing can knock us off that spot.
We are the adamantine Buddha
seated under the Bo tree,
unmoved and unmovable,
at one with ourselves
and free to do what is necessary
to be what is needed
in each situation as it arises
all our life long,
unafraid of anything.
At that place,
we are our own authority
in determining what we do,
unafraid of going to hell even,
so confident we are in our own ability
to know what needs us to do it,
and free to follow our own sense of direction,
content to live with any outcome
no matter what it may be.
How do we get there?
We are never more than
a simple shift in perspective
from here to there.
We are going to die.
There is nothing to gain or to lose.
All we have is who we are.
And what is that if we do not
live so as to express who we are
in each situation as it arises
all our life long?
Why hold anything back?
What are we saving it for? - 09/11/2020 — Bog River Falls 09/29/2014 01 Watercolor Rendering — Adirondack State Park, Tupper Lake, New York
We pretend it is going to last forever.
We do not look at the score.
We do not look at the clock.
We do not wonder “How much LOOONNNGGEEERRR
as though we need it to be done, NOW!
Our full attention is on the moment,
this moment,
the time and place of our living.
The moment that never ends,
but flows,
uninterrupted into the next moment,
and the one following,
on and on…
Though we will step out of the action,
the moment of our stepping out
will continue without end
through all of time
and beyond.
The universe can disappear
into a Black Hole,
but the moment of its disappearing
goes on and on…
Our place in this “great scheme of things,”
is to shine as brightly as we can
for as long as possible,
bringing ourselves forth
as a blessing and a grace
on all of the times and places
of our living.
Offering the gifts,
genius,
daemon,
spirit,
virtues,
character,
vitality,
energy
and life
that came with us from the womb
to the contexts and circumstances
of each situation that comes our way
over the full course of our life,
in ways that respond appropriately
to what is being called for–
“Without hope,
without witness,
without reward”
(Steven Moffat in “Doctor Who”),
as an expression/incarnation
of our Original Nature
because that is what we are born to do,
and it would be such a shame not to do it.
We discover who we are
in the act of standing up to meet the moment,
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
spontaneously,
improvisational,
naturally doing what needs to be done
as only we can do it,
surprising ourselves by showing everyone
how much more to us than meets the eye.
We begin living that way
by daring to not know what we are doing,
and being curious about everything,
playing at being who we are
as we reveal ourselves to ourselves
to our continuing amazement,
all our life long. - 09/11/2020 — Sailboat Mooring 10/12/2013 Bath Harbor on Bath Creek, Bath, NC
Here is my version of the Chinese classic, “The Lost Horse Returns”:
Once there was there was a poor farm family in the high mountains of China who eked out a living on the slopes with one plow horse and much hard work. One evening the son forgot to fully close the gate of the corral and the horse wandered out and off during the night.
The next morning, the son was distraught. “Oh, Father,” he said. “We are ruined! We cannot work the farm without the horse to plow the field! We are lost, and it is all my fault!” The father replied, “We’ll see.”
The next day, their horse returned to the corral, bringing with him three wild mares and two colts. The son was ecstatic. “Father! We are blessed! Now we can work more land than we ever could before! We can sell a mare and a colt, and have money to buy new equipment! It is a wonderful day!” “We’ll see,” said the father.
The next day, as the son was training one of the mares, he was thrown from the horse and broke his leg. “Oh, Father!”, he lamented. “Now, I won’t be able to help you in the field, and you cannot do the work alone! I can’t believe how things can turn out so badly just when they were looking so perfectly wonderful!” “We’ll see,” said the father.
The next day, the Chinese army came to the house looking for conscripts to fight in its war with the barbarians. The son with the broken leg was passed over. “Oh, Father,” said the son. “If it were not for my leg, there is no telling what may have come of us! This is truly a blessed day!” “We’ll see,” said the father.
And so it goes… But. The one thing I want to make sure you do not miss is that on the day, when the lost horse returned with the mares and the colts, the father made certain that the gate to the corral was securely fastened that night,
and every night following.
It is one thing to “take things as they come,” and it is another to understand the importance of being right about what is important, and living and working in the service of what matters most through all of “the vicissitudes of time” over the full course of our life.
Get that down and you have it made. As much as you can have it made in a world where things are always coming and going, and you never know what you can count on, or what is going to happen next.
Be right about what you take seriously, and keep it to a bare minimum. And be right about what that is. He said, laughing. - 09/11/2020 — Japanese Heart — From my Symbols of Transformation Collection
When people ask me if I believe in God,
I ask them if they believe in Grace.
Most say something on the order of
“Of course!”
I follow up with,
“Why do you believe in Grace?”
Most say something on the order of
“I have experienced it in my own life!”
And I say,
“That’s the difference between
believing about God
and knowing God as directly as we know Grace.”
And, I follow that up with,
“And when you have experienced Grace,
you have experienced That Which Has Always Been Called ‘God.’
And that is all we need to know of God,
and all we can say of God.”
When people ask me if I believe in Jesus,
or, if I have received Jesus Christ as my personal savior,
I respond by holding up my right hand
with my Pointer and Tall Man crossed,
and say, “Jesus and I are just like that!”
And follow that quickly with, “NO!
Jesus and I are just like THAT!“
Taking Tall Man down,
leaving only Pointer standing straight in the air.
At that point, there is nothing left to say. - 09/13/2020 — Sandy Stream Pond Autumn 09/2007 Watercolor Rendering — Baxter State Park, Millinocket, Maine
I do not know where we go
to find what we are looking for
in terms of the best humanity has to offer.
Where would we have to do to surround ourselves
with kindness,
grace,
compassion,
wisdom,
generosity,
forthrightness,
integrity,
sincerity,
humility,
honesty,
truth,
and the rest of the list
we say we admire
and strive to be?
What strata of society
is best representative
of the way
we say
we are
supposed to be?
Where would we be
least likely
to encounter
contrivance,
conniving,
double-dealing,
lying,
greed,
duplicity,
cheating,
and the entire list
of things
held to be deplorable
and despised?
Or, narrow it down to stupidity.
Where would we go to be free
of the burden of stupid people–
with stupidity having nothing to do with
the amount of education a person has
or the degree of their intelligence?
Face it.
“We have met the enemy
and they are us!”
(Walt Kelly).
The people who talk the most about
the importance of
“expanding consciousness”
and “being awake to the moment
of our living,”
are as blind to their blind-side
as any other group of people on the planet.
Their arrogance,
hubris,
duplicity
and lack of self-transparency
(For all their talk about being transparent!),
is as high as that of any other
segment of society.
Where do we go to find
people like the people we say we want to be?
Do not spend much time
with this question.
It will only depress you.
Just devote yourself to the life-long work
of being more like you need to be tomorrow
than you are today,
and step into the day! - 09/13/2020 — Japanese Truth 03 — From my Symbols of Truth Collection
We have to be right about what is important
and live as though it is
in each situation as it arises,
no matter what.
It is never more difficult than that.
It is always that difficult.
In order to pull it off,
we have to be mindfully aware
of what matters most to us
and whether it deserves its rank
in our life.
Are we right about the value
of what we value?
This requires intense self-examination,
objective scrutiny,
ruthless evaluation,
on-going introspection,
seeing what we are seeing,
hearing what we are hearing,
knowing how we are responding,
moment-to-moment-to-moment.
No sleeping at the wheel
for those who think being awake
to being awake
to the time and place of our living
is the most important thing. - 09/14/2020 — Portland Headlight at Dawn 09/26/2007 — Portland, Maine
“Live with sincerity,
in the service of your original nature,
and follow your heart.”
This old adage from
the Age of the Taoists
sounds helpful
until it is read
in light of those stating:
“We grow up against our will.”
“The last leave-taking
is leaving ourselves for ourselves.”
“If you meet the Buddha on the road,
kill him.”
“That which you seek
lies far back in the darkest corner
of the cave
you most don’t want to enter.”
“It took the Cyclops
to bring the hero
out in Ulysses.”
“The only thing standing
between us and the treasure we seek
is us.”
“The people who don’t take the time
to appreciate,
honor,
and dance with
the contradictions
aren’t worth talking to.”
“The slippery slope,
the dangerous path,
the razor’s edge
require us to pick up our cross daily,
dying to ourselves again and again,
and bearing the pain of the journey joyfully
all the way to the end of the line.”
And the ultimate contrary
of them all:
“The Path that is discernible
is not a reliable Path.”
It is called The Hero’s Journey
for a reason.
Realization comes with a price,
paid only by those
who can laugh
shout “YEA!”
and participate wholeheartedly
in the wonder of it all,
seeing the incongruities
and dichotomies,
as antiphonies–
and joining in round after round,
all their life long. - 09/13/2020 — Chinese Tao 05 — From my Symbols of Transformation Collection
People have been missing the point forever.
Thinking they/we are the point,
and that everything here is
for our benefit and enjoyment–
to “fill the earth and subdue it,”
party hardy
and pass a good time.
We plop out of the womb
figuring the angles,
calculating our chances,
contriving,
conning
scheming,
planning…
always with an agenda in hand
and an angle in mind.
God can’t get us out of his mind.
His day revolves around us,
who is in and who is out,
keeping score,
writing everything down in the Book of Life
(So he won’t forget?).
We are the point.
And, thinking that,
we miss the point.
How much silence can you take
before you have to find something
to relieve your boredom,
which is concealing something much worse:
Realization.
In the silence,
we catch the scent of emptiness
stirring in the darkness,
and must lose ourselves
in the noise of our lives
to avoid the truth of nothing.
We are afraid there is nothing there.
That comes with missing the point.
And that gets us to where we are:
Needing to face the truth of nothing to it,
of the Void
and the Abyss,
in order to find our way
to “the still point of the turning world”
(T.S. Eliot).
And know the Other within
whom we do not know
(Carl Jung),
and discover our place
as the Moved to the Mover,
the Seeker to the Knower,
and begin again,
this time in right relationship
with the Heart of Life and Being. - 09/15/2020 — The Viaduct Fall 10/18/2015 03 — Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina
Waking up is growing up,
growing up is waking up.
Everyone has a blind side
keeping them immature and unseeing.
If you are not laughing at yourself,
you are not growing up.
If the tone of your laughter is mean
and vindictive,
you are not growing up.
The quality and degree of our laughter
is a signature sign
of the quality and degree of our maturity
and wakefulness.
Seeing is laughing.
Dancing.
Celebrating.
Crying.
Mourning.
Dying.
Laughter and sorrow
have an antiphonal relationship
with each other,
singing the song of life
to each other
through the ages.
Best friends forever.
Life and death.
Death and resurrection.
It never gets old.
We never outgrow it.
We welcome it again,
and step into the day. - 09/15/2020 — Mouse Creek Falls 11/08/2006 — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Big Creek Campgrounds, Waterville, North Carolina
Our symptoms,
tics,
neuroses,
psychoses,
loss of purpose,
lack of enthusiasm for life,
ennui,
poor posture
and lousy disposition
are all attributable
to the sorry quality
of our relationship
with ourselves in general
and with our Original Nature in particular.
Our lot is not going to improve
until we realign ourselves with ourselves,
and live in accord with our nature.
This does not mean doing whatever we want.
It means doing what is ours to do
whether we want to or not.
“What is ours to do”
is not something someone assigns us.
It is not what parents,
society,
culture
or our desire to succeed and excel
impose upon us.
It is what is ours to do
from before we were born.
You could call it destiny,
but that sounds like achieving something.
It is more on the order
of simply being who we are–
doing what needs us to do it
the way we alone are capable of doing it.
Living our life the way only we can live it.
Whether anything comes of it or not.
The stream flowing to the sea
is fulfilling its destiny
by being what it is,
doing what it does
the way it would do it
in each situation as it arises.
Be the stream.
Flow to the sea.
It has never been
more difficult than that.
Never will be. - 09/15/2020 — South Carolina Icon
What symbols are living symbols for you?
Which ones bring you to life?
Ground you?
Open you to the moment,
and to the wonder of life,
the mysterium tremendum,
the awe inspiring mystery,
at the heart of being alive?
What symbols enable you to face anything?
Serve as a guide through dark times?
A beacon calling us past waves crashing on the rocks
and heaving amid the howling wind
on the wine dark sea?
What symbols do you turn to
when there is no place else to turn?
What symbols are at the heart of your life?
Start with these symbols
and search them for the metaphors they represent.
What are the metaphors behind each symbol?
What are the meanings you attach to each metaphor?
One of my favorite symbols is a ceramic egg,
about six inches high and eight inches in diameter.
a section of the shell has broken away,
and a scaly foot of a baby dragon
has come out of the egg
into the light of day.
I have used this egg as a teaching metaphor
for Easter Morning sermons,
as a different kind of Easter Egg,
with the theme,
“The new life in Christ
will eat your old life alive!”
Using the text from Luke 9:24,
“Whoever wants to save their life will lose it,
but whoever loses their life for that which is greater than they are
will save it.”
What will we lose our life (Metaphorically speaking) for?
What are we willing to go to hell (Metaphorically speaking) for?
Our symbols take us to the truth of who we are.
To the truth of what our life is.
Ask the questions your favorite symbols beg to be asked.
See what they really have to say. - 09/16/2020 — Cullasaja River 10/21/2014 02 — Nantahala National Forest, Highlands, North Carolina
Count the number of times
Jesus says the equivalent of
“To hell with you!”
Or, “To hell with them!”
In the Gospels.
And then take your idea
of “unconditional love”
to the burning barrel.
To love white supremacists unconditionally
is to BE a white supremacist.
To love police brutality unconditionally
is to be a member of the Brutal Police Officers’ Union.
Etc.
And don’t give me the double talk
of “Loving the Sinner
and Hating the Sin”!
Sin and Sinner cannot be separated
any more than Darkness and Light
can be combined.
And, while we are on the subject,
the only Sin is refusing to be who we are
because of our strong attachment
to who we also are.
And the only solution to that Sin
is to walk “the straight and narrow,”
which is “the dangerous path”
along “the slippery slope”
like “the razor’s edge”
between who we are
and who we also are
through all of the times and places
of our living
our entire life long.
Who we are is the Christ.
Who we also are is the Antichrist.
And our burden is the Cross
which connects Heaven and Hell (Earth)
with the crosspiece of the Here and Now.
Or the Star of David
with the apex of one triangle reaching for Heaven
and the apex of the other triangle straining for Hell (Earth)
and the meeting place of us
in the Here and Now of our life.
Or the Yin/Yang
with its border between the eternal opposites
being the individual integrating the opposites
in each here and now of their life
over the long course of time.
When we throw out religion
with its blah-blah about believing
this or that
and step into being who we are
and who we also are
in each situation as it arises
moment-by-moment
through each here and now of our life,
we know the truth whereof we speak
of Alpha and Omega,
Darkness and Light
Death and Life
working their way out
in the contexts and circumstances of our life
by bearing the pain of our contraries
for the joy of participating in the wonder/agony
of being
all our life long. - 09/16/2020 — Dockside 11/14/2017 06 — Port Royal, South Carolina
We don’t know what is going to happen,
but.
We are here, now, because we have dealt
with everything up until here, now,
successfully enough to be here, now.
That is evidence enough for me
to trust myself
to deal with whatever happens
in a way that carries me on
into wherever this is going.
I’m interested in seeing what happens,
and what I do about it.
I’m not the least bit worried,
anxious,
fearful,
concerned.
Something is always happening,
and I am always doing something in response.
So are you.
And here we are.
What’s the problem? - 09/17/2020 — Eno River Fall 11/9/2011 — Eno River State Park, Durham, North Carolina
Joseph Campbell said the Bhagavad Gita
could be summarized with:
“Get in there and do your thing,
and don’t worry about the outcome!”
The outcome is always messing with us.
We live from one outcome to another.
We are always trying to achieve some outcome.
Always invested in some outcome.
Always enamored by some outcome.
Always attached to some outcome.
We do “this” so “that” will happen–
or to keep “that” from happening.
Doing “this” so “this” will happen
is the whole point of playing.
Living is a serious matter
and can only be engaged in
by those who do “this” so “that” will happen,
or not happen.
Doing our thing
“without hope,
without witness,
without reward,
(Steven Moffat)
is, for us, the greatest absurdity.
But.
Doing our thing
for the sole purpose,
entire point,
and complete joy
of doing our thing
is the very essence
of being alive.
Alan Stacell said,
“I paint like a dog wags its tail.”
What do you do
like a dog wags its tail?
How often do you do it?
How long do you do it
when you do it?
Why not do it more often?
For longer periods of time?
Without ever having an eye on the outcome? - 09/17/2020 — Six-point Star O6 — From My Symbols of Transformation Collection
The six point star,
with its two inverted triangles,
one pointing upward to the heavens,
light and enlightenment,
and the other pointing downward to the earth,
darkness and abject cluelessness,
reflects the eternal plight
of human beings,
living out our lives between
the best and worst
we can do, be, become,
in each situation as it arises,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
“We have met the enemy,
and they are us!”
(Walt Kelly) - 09/17/2020 — Around Bass Lake 10/13/2014 10 — Moses H Cone Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina
The fundamental duality,
dichotomy,
koan,
conundrum,
continuum,
polarity,
contradiction
at the heart of humanity
throughout time
is contrivance/sincerity.
Even when we are sincere,
we think we ought to get something out of it.
Sincerity should be good for us in some way.
And we are always shocked and chagrined
to discover that sincerity
means being good for nothing.
Because that is who we are.
Yet, how many of us are that way?
Good for nothing?
Everything is a ploy with us.
A device.
A means of getting something,
or somewhere,
or avoiding something,
of coming out ahead,
of getting what we want–
and what we want is never, ever,
being good for nothing,
for no reason,
“just because.”
Just because that is who we are.
From as long ago as the Bhagavad Gita (200 years BCE)
has come the call:
“Get in there and do your thing–
with no idea in mind of getting anything from it!”
You know,
like a child playing in a sandbox.
Like a dog wagging its tail.
Like a walk in the woods. - 09/17/2020 — Atlantic Moonrise 08/08/2007 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina
This isn’t a competition.
No one is keeping score.
We are not being graded.
Our work is not
to do or be better than anyone else
at anything.
Our work is simply
being as good as we can be
at being who we are.
At being ourselves.
Our work is developing
our relationship with ourselves.
Knowing who we are.
Living in accord with our Original Nature.
Being us.
Doing our life the way we would do it
if no one were watching.
What do we care who is watching?
What is our natural way of doing things
that we don’t do
because it won’t fit where we are?
What is so important about where we are
that our self wouldn’t be comfortable
if we brought him/her to meet our friends?
Whose side are we on? - 09/18/2020 — Cullasaja River 10/19/2000 — Nantahala National Forest, Highlands, North Carolina
Alan Watts said, “When you want things
to be different than they are,
you are wishing for your situation to be different than it is,
and thinking that it should be otherwise.
When that is the case,
shut out any thought
that your situation should be otherwise,
and stop ruining the experience
you could be having
with your life just as it is.
Tell yourself:
‘This is it! This is life!
Look at it! Don’t miss a thing!’”
(Or words to that effect)
Joseph Campbell would add:
“The psychological transformation (here)
would be that whatever was formerly endured
is now known,
loved,
and served.”
Campbell goes on to point out:
“The aim of all religious exercises
is a psychological transformation.”
The “psychological transformation”
Campbell and Watts are talking about
is the slight shift in perspective
that is required
to see the optical illusion “click”
from the haggard old woman
to the beautiful young girl,
from the silhouette of a wine glass
to the silhouettes of two people facing each other.
Our life is an optical illusion.
What we see is a function of how we look–
of what we look for–
of what we expect to see.
Being fully With our life
in each situation as it arises,
moment-to-moment
is to know it is just so
and is asking for “just this” from us.
Why withhold what is being called for?
Why resist the moment
that is unfolding before us?
Why not take “NO!” for an answer to us
from the moment,
instead of declaring “NO!” to the moment?
This doesn’t mean lie down,
become a door mat,
allowing “the moment”
to walk all over us
and wipe its feet on us.
We can participate in the sorrows of the world,
in the agony of the moment
as we work to transform the world
and redeem the moment,
even as we do what is being called for
in any particular situation/moment.
This is dancing with the contradictions,
embracing the polarities,
integrating the opposites,
and bearing the pain of the world “thus come”
with the joy of doing “what is set before us”
in doing what must be done about things as they are.
Our work is the redemption and transformation of the world.
This doesn’t mean demolishing and destroying
the world “thus come.”
It means saying to the world “thus come,”
“Sit with me and tell me your story,
and I will tell you mine…”
The work of redemption/transformation
is the work of participating in the sorrows
of the world “thus come”
as we joyfully do what is called for
in loving that world into all it may yet be.
Our ability to do that
rides on our being capable
of not demanding that the world be otherwise right now!
That it not be different than it is instantly.
How soon things can change
and how quickly we want them to change
have to be seen for what they are.
We have to do what needs to be done
to enable things to be different than they are
without insisting that the world
be what we want it to be immediately.
The pain of transition must be borne consciously,
intentionally,
deliberately,
with awareness
and compassion.
How long has the world been as it is?
That is a lot of momentum!
A lot of inertia!
Do not despair that ours is the Sisyphusian task
of rolling the ball through time!
Put your shoulder to the wheel
and keep it turning!
Our work is to do the work
that needs to be done!
In each situation as it arises!
Waking up those who can be awakened,
without thinking that our prospects should be otherwise
from moment-to-moment-to-moment. - 09/18/2020 — Dorys 09/25/2006 — Rockport Harbor, Rockport, Maine
Wait. A. Minute!
I see what your problem is!
You want things to be different than they are!
If things were just what they ought to be,
you would be fine!
That’s a problem.
We all live in the space
between how things are
and how we wish they were.
We all have the same problem.
How well we deal with it
is a matter of our individual idiosyncrasies.
And a reflection of our degree
of personal awareness
of our situation,
and of the possibilities that exist for us,
and of our opinion of our choices.
How long are we willing to wait
for things to change?
What are we going to do in the meantime?
Is there anything we can do to make things better?
How soon can we expect our actions to have an impact?
“This is the way things are,
and this is what we can do about it,
and that’s that!”
Coming to terms with our situation in life
and the options available to us
is the sine qua non of growing up.
Growing up is the Final Solution
to all of our problems ever.
When there is nothing we can do about it–
any of it–
any of the things that are Really Important–
we can always Grow Up Some More Again.
The Swiss Army Knife fix
for all that we don’t like about our life
and life in general. - 09/18/2020 — Yellow Maple 11/28/2007 Watercolor Rendering
Our work is to respond appropriately
to what is called for
in each situation as it arises.
Each situation calls for something.
How we respond to that call
makes all the difference.
When we are more concerned with
what we are asking for from the situation
than with what the situation is asking for from us,
there is a problem.
Our place is to live in accord with the rhythm of life
in the moment of our living,
in harmony with the ebbs and flows
of the tides of life.
What is it time for here and now?
What is proper for this occasion?
What is happening?
What needs to happen in response?
What we want is irrelevant to what is needed.
We may not want to take
the terrible tasting medicine,
but if it is time to take our medicine,
that takes precedent over every other concern.
We may not want to go to work,
but if it is time to go to work,
that takes precedent over all of our wants and wishes.
Every situation has its needs.
Some of those situations allow for our wants
to be honored,
but not every situation.
Our place is to acquiesce to the needs of the situation
when that is required,
and to serve our own interests
when that is permitted
without damaging the situation.
We have to read the situation correctly
and respond as needed.
Our failure to do that
has things where they are
in all situations great and small
around the world.
As a species,
we are not reading situations correctly
or responding as needed
to what is happening
in each situation as it arises.
And here we are.
We could start turning things around
in the next situation that comes along.
How ’bout we do? - 09/19/2020 — At Buttermilk Falls 09/30/2014 — Long Lake, New York
What is the nature of your pain?
What are you doing with your life?
I think one contributes to,
flows from,
the other.
Our pain forms our life,
our life shapes our pain.
We exist at the mercy of the two,
or as the meeting place of the two,
or as a collaborative partner with the two,
but the three of us are inseparable from birth to death.
Working out the details
of our relationship
with our pain and our life
is ours to do,
or not,
in the time left for living.
Why not?
I’m standing in complete darkness,
looking out at the sound of the surf.
The place has an underground feel to it,
if you can imagine infinity underground.
To my left is a rocky outcropping sloping down
to the water–
which I know without seeing.
I see only the sound of the surf.
I don’t know if the tide is coming in or going out,
or what would happen if I stood there long enough
(I think nothing),
or where I would go and started walking
with the sound of the surf to my back
(I think I would just walk forever).
I’m simply there waiting, watching, listening.
This is the place I go when I enter the silence
and seek the Source.
I think of this place as the interface
with my Psyche.
The water is my Unconscious.
I come there regularly
to receive “gifts from the sea.”
My gifts are in the form of realizations,
awareness,
the things that occur to me,
arise within me,
come to my attention…
As I stand there,
I am also lying in bed at 3 AM,
or sitting in my recliner,
or somewhere equally pedestrian
and nondescript
where I left for the silence at the Source,
to check in
and see whatsup.
Whatsup last night/early this morning
were the two questions I started with,
about the nature of my pain
and what I’m doing with my life.
The nature of my pain at this point is
mostly about regret–
regret mostly about being unaware
of my life and my place in it.
And what I’m doing with my life at this point is
mostly about being aware
of what’s happening
and what I’m doing in response
and what I might be doing in addition,
or instead.
Old age (I’m in the last month
of the third quarter
of my 76th year) for me
is mostly about reflection,
walk-a-bouts,
rumination,
in search of realization,
illumination,
making connections,
seeing/hearing/understanding/knowing/doing/being,
growing up.
Some more/still/again.
I frequently return to the silence and the Source
to see Whatsup,
and enjoy the peace and restorative qualities
of the oasis within.
I regret that I haven’t been doing it all my life,
and redeem that by doing it now.
What is the nature of your pain?
What are you doing with your life? - 09/20/2020 — Curtis Island Headlight 09/19/2006 – Camden, Maine
James Joyce said, “Any object,
intensely regarded, may be a gate
of access to the incorruptible
eon of the gods.” (Buck Mulligan, Ulysses)
Joseph Campbell said, “Take, for example,
a pencil, ashtray, anything,
and holding it before you in both hands,
regard it for a while.
Forgetting its use and name,
yet continuing to regard it,
ask yourself seriously,
‘What is it’
(‘What is it good for?
What is its purpose?
Why is it here?’)…
Cut off from use,
relieved of nomenclature,
it dimension of wonder opens;
for the mystery of the being of that thing
is identical with the mystery
of the being of the universe–
and of yourself.”
(A Joseph Campbell Companion).
It is a simple meditative exercise
that takes you to the heart of the matter
“as straight as a Martin to its gourd.” - 09/20/2020 — Lower Falls 04/25/2007 — Hanging Rock State Park, Danbury, North Carolina
Can you take “No” for an answer?
It comes down to that.
When is the last time you took “No” for an answer?
How often have you taken “No” for an answer?
Hold that thought,
and consider this:
Here’s the way Howard Thurman said it:
“Don’t ask what the world needs.
Ask what makes you come alive,
and go do it.
Because what the world needs
is people who have come alive.”
It can’t be said better.
It’s what those who know
have been saying
since the first one knew.
It’s what people have been waking up to
for as long as people have been waking up.
Life.
Living.
Being Alive.
That’s it.
Where is life found?
What does it take to be alive?
Where does your heart tell you “This is IT?”
You have to spend more time there,
doing that.
The future of the world depends on it.
And within that frame work
of you doing what brings you to life,
you have to know what you are going
to say “No” to
and what you are going to say “Yes” to–
and when you are going
to take “No” for an answer,
and when you are not going to be stopped,
or moved away from your own truth,
by anything in the world
or beyond it. - 09/20/2020 — Monument Valley Sunrise 09/25/2007 — Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, Arizona
I transplanted an Oak Leaf Hydrangea
and a Pink Hydrangea,
and planted a Southern Wood Fern
this morning,
and Jesus couldn’t have done it better.
Jesus and I are one in that regard.
When Jesus said,
“The Father and I are one,”
he was saying,
“The Father couldn’t do it better
than I’m doing it.”
We do a lot of things as well
as Jesus and the Father could do them–
and that’s the idea with all that we do.
The only thing standing in our way
is us.
We get in our way
when we allow our preferences
and opinions
to interfere with our judgment
about what needs to be done
and how to do it.
When we are on the beam,
in the flow,
at one with the Tao,
centered on the path
and in tune with the moment
and what needs to happen there,
no one could do it better than we are doing it.
Jesus is a symbol for being conscious
of what is called for
in each situation as it arises,
and for stepping forward to meet the situation
with exactly what is appropriate
for the occasion,
in all times and places of our living.
When we are on,
nobody could do us better
than we are doing us.
We just need to be better
at getting out of the way. - 09/20/2020 — November Maples 11/06/2005
The fulcrum–the pivot point–from past to future
is to live with nothing at stake in the outcome.
Giving our best to the moment
with nothing to gain and nothing to lose,
intent only on honoring the situation
as it unfolds around us
by responding to what is called for
with the gifts we have to offer
to each here and now,
and letting what happens
just be what happens
to create the next moment
in which we respond to what is called for
with the gifts we have to offer…
So that our life unfolds
situation-by-situation,
with us getting better
at being who we are
offering what we have to give
to each time and place of our living,
with nothing ever to gain,
and nothing ever to lose,
but always with another moment to shine
and show our stuff
by being who we are
to the best of our ability
just for the hell of it,
day in and day out.
What a life this is! - 09/13/2020 —
1-208-867-5320 – Katie Payne
Hi John, This is Jim Dollar. I understand you’ve had better days, and I’m sorry things aren’t better than they are right now.
I want you to know I have enjoyed your company and have been stabilized, and remained upright because of your presence and influence. You have that kind of righting and making right demeanor, and it is a joy to have been a part of your life. I haven’t been more a part of your life, because I took a vow of solitude and silence about 5 years ago, and haven’t had a conversation with anyone outside of my immediate and extended family for that long, or longer. It has been good for me in terms of finding my balance and harmony, but not good for my relationships, so I apologize to you for withdrawing without notifying you, but I didn’t talk and I knew you didn’t type or email, so here we are.
One of the things I always admired about you is your love for people, and the fact that you truly enjoy all people of every variety. It is a beautiful thing, and one of the things those of us who know you love about you. It is wonderful. I also have taken comfort in the fact that you didn’t want anyone to know you were a Mensa member because they might expect the wrong things from you. I’ve kept myself somewhat secluded with your model in mind, and it has served me well.
I’m going to leave you with this story of an old shaman in the Siberian tundra in the 1850’s. He was interviewed by an explorer and made what I believe must be the earliest declaration of faith on record. He spoke the words of a song of his ancestors, going back to 2 to 3,000 BC, and said, “The gods have told us to tell our people, ‘Do not fear the Universe—there is nothing to harm you there.’” I think that same core belief is to be found in the heart of every religion that is or has ever been on earth, and I share it with all those who have shared it through the ages. There is something deep within us, within our Psyche, that resonates with that conviction, and knows that it is so. And with that I can leave you with “Peace be with you, now and forever, John.” I love you. Amen.
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June 23, 2020 — August 09, 2020
- 06/23/2020 — There are so many things that have to happen all at once to transform our life from what it has been to what it needs to be that our old life would collapse and give up under the oppressive weight of utter impossibility. And our new life would delight in the adventure and wonder where to begin.
All journeys–particularly the wonderful ones–begin right here, right now. Orientation and assessment, Kid. Orientation and assessment. The first realization is: We are never going to arrive, anyway, so what’s the hurry? Hurry is the bane of our existence. Hurry keeps things unchanging by its insane insistence that everything change Right Now! Pace and timing, Kid. Pace and timing.
Look around. Take stock. Settle down. Breathe slowly, deeply, quietly. Just be here now. It’s not so bad. Even at its worst, it isn’t so bad. It just takes some getting used to, that’s all. Get used to being here now. It is the only place you will ever be!
“Oh, but I hate it so!” Good thing to know. Start there. What do you hate so about here and now? Sit down with that. Take your time. Make a list. Seriously. Make a list of everything you hate about your life, about being here now. As you write things down, categorize them into two separate lists: Things I want to be happening that are not happening, and Things I don’t want to happen that are happening. This could also be thought of as Things I want to get to and Things I want to get away from. Keep this list going over time, and add to it as things come to mind. This list–these lists–are a grounding, focusing, mirror of you and your life, helping you see things as they are.
This is the first rule of the Journey. See what you look at–look at everything. And the first thing to look at/see is your seeing. No one can see anything without reacting to it in some way. If there is no reaction, there is no seeing. Things are invisible that we do not react to. We literally/actually cannot see them.
Seeing is meaning. We only see the things that mean something to us, good or bad, positive or negative, like or dislike, plus or minus, right or wrong… Distinction is duality and that is the work of consciousness. If it weren’t for distinctions, it would all be a blur of color and texture. We could not see a thing. All of our seeing is evaluative. All of our seeing is feeling. All of our seeing is reactive. In seeing our seeing, we are seeing how judgmental we are. How biased we are. How programed we are to see things in a certain light, in a certain way. We are all products of our culture. Our culture is who we are. Our culture is where we have been, where we have come from, what we bring with us from where we have been into wherever we go. We cannot escape our past. We cannot outlive having had parents, for one thing, and their impact upon us for better and for worse. As with our parents, so with everything. Every influential thing, anyway. We have been impacted for good and for ill from the beginning, throughout our life, and as we begin to see our seeing, we will see the results of that impact over the full course of our life from then to now. We see as we have always seen. Think as we have always thought. Live as we have always lived. And, that is about to change.
It is at this point in our “conversation,” that I have to confess what I am doing to you. I am redeeming you. Saving you. Killing you. Destroying you. Resurrecting you. Death and resurrection, Kid. Death and resurrection. Your new life will eat your old life alive. Everything I say here is really about introducing you to, and inviting you to become a part of, The Church of What’s Happening Now. That is the other half of this web site. “Jim Dollar’s Photography and Philosophy” is about waking you up and bringing you to life by killing you dead, dead, dead to all that has passed for your life up until now.
Transitions are hell. You know all that you hate about your life? You prefer that to what you will have to go through to have another, better, finer life–because better, finer is worse beyond imagining in so many ways. Those of you who are members of AA can relate to this. You have died in a thousand ways in being born again into a life that isn’t killing you. It is a wonderful paradox, as all of our paradoxes are, and it is essential that you realize that, and come along on the Journey from where you have been to where we are going together–insofar as we can go together, because much of the Journey is you alone with the dark night of the soul, trusting me to know what I’m doing and hating me for not leaving you alone by forcing you to be alone, if you know what I mean.
What I mean is: Death and resurrection, Kid. Death and resurrection.
Jump back with me to seeing. We cannot see without evaluating until we begin to see our seeing without judging, finding fault, being disheartened, despairing, desponding, and contemplating suicide. You must promise me you will not take your own life! Actually, dying can seem to be a much better option that metaphorically/abstractly/figuratively/apparently dying. Actual death puts resurrection out of the picture, in spite of what religion tells you. You don’t die physically to be resurrected, you die metaphorically to be resurrected. Metaphorical death means you live to die again and again as you work through where you have been to be where you are. That’s the Journey. We are leaving where we have been to be where we are. And we do that by teaching ourselves to see what we look at without judgment, evaluation or opinion, but with compassion, kindness, good humor, and understanding–letting things simply be what they are because that is how they are, and what do you care, anyway?
Which gets us to caring. But that’s another story. We started this out with, “There are so many things that need to happen all at once…” But, we live in a linear world, or so it seems. We live in two worlds, actually, Yang and Yin. Linear and Non-linear. The actual, physical, tangible, concrete world of logic and reason is Yang, linear, sequential, causal, left-brained… And the metaphorical, abstract, figurative, apparent world is Yin, non-linear, intuitive, creative, holistic, right-brained… And the Journey is from one world to the other, and then, with both worlds simultaneously all the way to the end of the line. We are journeying from where we have been to where we are to where we are going to be when we get there, which is going to be exactly where we are, here and now, only fully aware of where that is and what it is calling for and what we need to do about it–in response to it–moment-by-moment-by-moment, day-by-day, for the rest of our life.
You wouldn’t want to miss that for the world. Because here, now, there is always “another story” and the wonder of that is beyond telling, and can only be experienced to know and understand what it is all about. - Carolina Girl 12/05/2014 Panorama — Shrimp Boat on Battery Creek, Port Royal, SC, December 5, 2014
We are here now and want to be somewhere else. Maybe, just anywhere else, and maybe, a clear and specific THERE! NOW! There are two ways to do it. 1) Leave here and go there. 2) Be here, now and see where it goes.
Which option applies to our current situation depends on what is being called for here and now. If we are in an enclosed space and fire breaks out, we have to get somewhere else (THERE) NOW! If we are in the third grade and decide we need to be a doctor, we have to stay here, now, and see where it goes–always choosing the next choice in light of our ultimate destination (Which won’t be a stopping place, but our chosen here and now, still on our way to other here’s and now’s that will open up from our present here and now.
Here and now can be trusted to get us to a reliable and valid here and now if we trust ourselves to it with filial devotion and loyalty, doing what is called for by the situation as it arises with our idea of who we are and what is us and not us firmly in mind.
Matthew McConaughey says that who we are not and what is not “us,” are easier to know than who we are and what is “us.” And that if we only know what to stay away from, that will be guiding us by default to who we are and what is “us.” As we live here and now in light of what we know about who we are and who we are not, we will be setting Karma in motion to deliver us to us throughout the course of our life.
And that’s the way to do it! - Uptick Red and Bronze Coreopsis 06/06/2020 04 — Indian Land, South Carolina, June 6, 2020
Caring is “a slippery slope,
a dangerous path,
like the razor’s edge.”
But.
Don’t let that stop you–
or, even slow you down.
Joseph Campbell said
when Native American children
left home to find their way in the world,
their parents would tell them,
“When you step into your life,
in service to your vision,
the birds of the air will shit on you.
Do not pause even to wipe it off!”
Slippery slopes are part of it.
We are treading the Way between Yin and Yang,
remember.
Contradictions are everywhere.
Living our life
is learning to dance with the contradictions
in each situation as it arises,
all our life long
(Get used to the phrase,
I use it all the time).
(One of my deepest disappointments
in the Church of Our Experience
is the way it discounts, dismisses, ignores and denies
the place of contradiction in our life.
It will not allow them–
certainly not with God.
[Look up “Do You Believe In God,”
in my book I Call This Poetry
on my http://www.jimwdollar.com companion web site on WordPress].
Contradiction becomes Paradox with God.
I have never understood why God is allowed to have Paradoxes,
but not Contradictions.
“That is a great paradox,” the spokespersons
for the Church of Our Experience say about things they cannot explain.
“We just have to take it on faith that what I’m telling you is so,
in spite of the clear evidence that it is not”).
Contradiction is the heart of Life and Being.
One of the operating principles of existence is:
Truth is found between the hands!
On the one hand this,
and on the other hand that.
Truth is the middle way between
mutually exclusive opposites,
paradoxes,
dichotomies,
contradictions
incongruities–
and the way of dealing with
the dissonance at work throughout our life.
We exist to integrate the opposites,
to resolve the paradoxes,
to explore the dichotomies,
to balance the contradictions,
to acknowledge the incongruities,
and to harmonize the dissonance–
and to bear the pain of all of it
in the service of being true to ourselves
within the context and circumstances
of our life in the world of time and place.
Caring is good place to start.
We can care too much,
and we can care too little.
We can care in the right way,
and we can care in the wrong way.
We can care about the right things,
and we can care about the wrong things…
Finding the right balance between the contradictions
is as tricky with caring as it is with the rest of the 10,000 things
(I want to be the best father in all the world,
and I don’t want to be a father at all–
and the same goes for all of the other roles
I am asked to play).
What is the formula,
the recipe,
the ratios
for perfection?
It changes moment-to-moment,
day-by-day.
We step into each situation as it arises
and feel our way along.
The guiding rule is the same in each one:
Stop!
Look!
Listen!
See!
Hear!
Understand!
Know!
Do!
Be!
Look until you see what you are looking at.
Listen until you hear what is being said.
Understand clearly what’s what,
what is happening,
what needs to be done about it.
Know what the present circumstances
are calling you to do
with the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues
that are yours to serve and to share.
Do what can be done as well as you can do it.
Be ready to repeat this process
in the next moment that is already forming
and about to spring forth.
And don’t take any of it more seriously
than is appropriate to the occasion! - Edisto Beach Sunrise 01/29/2015 04 — Edisto Island State Park, South Carolina, January 29, 2015
The old Alchemists thought they could change the world
to suit themselves
if they could but find
The Philosopher’s Stone,
which was their equivalent
to the Elder Wand,
and would serve them
as the threshold to wonders unimagined,
but (with the Stone in hand)
suddenly possible.
Nobody in all the world,
in all the worlds there have been,
has ever wished for
or tried to concoct
a method of changing themselves
to fit joyfully into their surroundings.
People always want to change the world.
They never want to change themselves.
These days, they want to go to the beach
and party
without wearing a mask
or social distancing.
The only way to be safe
is to stay away from everybody else.
But they aren’t having it.
They aren’t going to live in a world
that isn’t how they want it to be.
And they don’t care how many people
they kill
on their way out the door. - Pine Cones 06/18/2020 03 Panorama — Indian Land, South Carolina, June 18, 2020
Lao Tzu, who wrote the book,
couldn’t say what The Tao is,
beyond “The Way.”
He said it can be experienced/known,
but no one can say what it is.
The same can be said of Grace.
We all have had experiences with Grace at work in our life.
We can say what happened,
but we can’t say what caused it to happen,
or what we can do to influence its happening,
and know we can’t do anything
to get it to happen on schedule,
coming in and out on cue
to the delight and amazement of all.
We can’t say what Dharma is
beyond “The teachings of the Buddha,”
or “The teachings about the Buddha,”
or “Our original nature and virtues,”
but when we are somehow
aligned with it,
things go better —
though not necessarily better for us,
but for the situation as a whole–
than when we are not.
But how that happens,
or what the mechanism is behind its happening,
is a complete mystery.
The same thing goes with Synchronicity.
Carl Jung coined the term,
calling it “a meaningful coincidence,”
and “an acausal connecting principle.”
But, he couldn’t say why or how it happened,
or what controlled the time and place
of its appearance,
or how many times it might be expected
to return in anyone’s life.
Sheldon Kopp said, “Somethings can be experienced,
but not understood.
And, some things can be understood,
but not explained.”
The ground of religion as we know it
is encounters of this kind.
We experience the Tao,
Grace,
Dharma,
Synchronicity,
and tell ourselves things
to make sense of the experiences.
Theology is created in this way,
and doctrine,
and dogma,
and ideology…
It all comes right out of our imagination,
as does every artificial thing in the physical universe.
We make it all up
to suit ourselves,
because we experience things
we cannot comprehend,
and we want to be able
to control the mysterious power
of the Unknown.
We create the rules of creation
and become its Masters.
And, here we are.
What if we had taken a different tack?
Gone in a different direction?
Along a different Way?
Say, by simply sitting with the experience
and waiting to see where it led,
and how our life might unfold
around it over the full course of our living?
Instead of trying to control the experience,
placing ourselves in its service,
and seeking what it might be calling us to do?
What if it is not too late to give that a try? - Socked-in 10/28/2006 — Washington, North Carolina, October 28, 2006
You can start with a game of Solitaire
and create scenarios
that could not have possibly
occurred by chance,
so that the ace of hearts
appears at the very moment
that the two of hearts is uncovered
by the nine of clubs
being moved to cover the ten of diamonds!
Things like that don’t just drop out of the sky!
There is a reason for everything!
Something had to arrange for the precise way
the cards were dealt!
How else can you explain it?
The explanation is that it is a game of chance.
And “chance” is our term
for a course of events that were locked into place
from before we were born.
When did things have to be the way they are?
From the time our parents were born?
Or from the time we picked up the deck of cards?
Or from the time we shuffle them five times for luck?
Or from the time we cut the stack
and started dealing the hand?
When was “chance” determined
by the “ordinary course of events”?
Grace works the same way.
The things that “fall into place,”
“for no reason,”
are the things that could not be
any other way than they are,
given all that has gone before
to bring “grace” to bear on our lives
“out of the blue.”
The way things are
is the way things happen to be
because they couldn’t be any other way.
If they happen to be meaningful,
it is because we make it so–
because of the way we see things,
interpret things,
look at things,
consider things to be “meaningful”
and “meaningless.”
We find meaning (or not) in the way
the cards are played.
In the way two people meet,
fall in love,
and marry,
and say, “It was meant to be!”
By whom?
Why, by God, of course!
(“God” is our way of saying,
“It just happens that way!”).
God arranges everything!
Nothing like love and marriage
could happen by chance!
“It had to be predestined
from all eternity!”
Just like the face that was ours
before our mother and father
were born.
We had rather believe in God
than in chance.
Or strict determination.
If we find meaning in something,
we have to find a reason for it.
We have to posit a long line
of cause and effect with the purpose
of the ace of hearts appearing
exactly when it did.
When it is all a game of chance
that was locked in from–
from when?
The beginning?
Or, before the beginning?
And what we make of it
is up to us.
And for what,
or where it is going,
we do not know.
So, we have to keep playing the game,
to see what happens next!
And it all rearranges itself
according to what we do
on a whim,
out of the blue,
for no reason,
and pick up the deck of cards.
Where do whims come from?
What is guiding our boat
on its path through the sea? - Skeleton Trees of Graveyard Beach 04/03/2020 02
Improving our relationship with ourselves
improves our relationship with our life
and with the people in our life,
spontaneously,
automatically,
naturally.
Carl Jung said,
“There is within each of us,
another,
whom we do not know.”
It is not too late
to begin getting to know
who we also are.
Getting to know who we also are
is getting to know who we are.
We begin by setting aside our opinions
about who we are.
We do that by not doing it.
We do all of the important things
by not doing them.
It’s a curiosity
how to do something
by not doing it.
It is the most important thing
to know how to do.
We do it
by not doing it.
The trick with doing things
by not doing them
is getting out of the way
and letting them happen
in their own time,
in their own way.
Which means allowing them
to not happen at all
if that’s what needs to happen.
The trick is simply being aware
of something that needs to happen
without doing anything about it
beyond being aware of it.
We set aside our opinions
about who we are
by being aware of them
without engaging them.
By being aware of our thoughts and feelings
without being engaged by them,
without being hijacked by them.
Without being emotionally stirred by them.
Without taking them seriously.
Letting them be part of the environment
without taking over the scene.
And, if we are emotionally stirred by them,
we become aware of that
without acting on it,
without doing anything about it
beyond being aware of it.
Not taking it seriously,
Not allowing it to take over the scene.
The situation.
The moment.
Hold it all in your awareness,
and let it be because it is,
and simply be with it,
unmoved and unmoving.
That’s it.
That’s all.
Carry on with your life.
Doing what needs to be done,
while holding in your awareness
your opinions of yourself
and your reactions to your opinions
without permitting either to take control of your actions,
your life.
Go about your business
as though nothing is going on,
tucking everything into your awareness,
going about your life,
trusting that over time
your opinions of yourself
will lessen
and gradually disappear
by “just happening,”
without you doing anything
to make it happen.
You are improving your relationship
with yourself
by not doing anything
to improve your relationship with yourself.
You may find yourself
laughing for no apparent reason,
or smiling more,
or humming as you go about your day.
Signs, perhaps, that things are shifting. - Camden Harbor Morning 09/23/2006 – Camden, Maine, September 23, 2006
I have three questions for you.
They all can be asked in reverse.
So, that’s six questions.
All six are getting at the same thing.
1) What is the nature of your pain?
2) What is the source of your life?
3) What is the source of your pain?
4) What is the nature of your life?
5) What does your pain have to do with your life?
6) What does your life have to do with your pain?
Those six questions are at the heart of Alcohol Anonymous.
And at the heart of what we are seeking.
We are seeking the end of pain
and the beginning of life.
We want to be alive and pain-free.
My favorite Joseph Campbell quote
is one you will hear from me again:
“That which you seek
lies far back in the darkest corner
of the cave you most don’t want to enter.”
Pain is the price of being alive.
My life is my pain.
I live to ease my pain.
My pain requires me to be alive
in the time and place of my living.
I can’t live without facing/feeling my pain.
I can’t face/feel my pain without coming to life/being alive.
My pain necessitates my life/living.
My life/living requires me to face/feel my pain.
I have to live my pain.
I have to live the fear of my pain.
I have to dance with my pain
in order to dance with my life.
The source of my pain
is I want/need to be loved.
The nature of my life
is I Love Me!
The Marianne Moore quote comes into play here:
“The cure for loneliness is solitude.”
We are what we seek.
We are the cave we most don’t want to enter.
We are the answer to all our prayers.
We have what we need
to find what we need
to do what needs us to do it
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.
We only have to trust that it is so
sit still,
wait,
be quiet,
look and listen.
Where do you go to be still,
to sit quietly,
to look and listen?
How long has it been
since you’ve gone there,
done that?
Why has it been so long?
Are you afraid there is nothing there?
Do you hate your own company?
Be done with alcohol and marijuana.
And/or their equivalents.
Stand alone in your company.
What is so hard about your life?
What is the source of your life?
What is the nature of your pain? - Day Lillies 06/03/2020 09 — Indian Land, South Carolina June 3, 2020
Being true to ourselves
requires us to determine–
to decide–
when and where
to move beyond the self
we have been being
into the self we must become.
Growing up is so very hard to do.
And transition points are hell
all the way to the grave.
Who are we?
Who must we be?
Who is the situation asking us to become?
Those are questions fit for a hero.
And so it is called
“The Hero’s Journey.”
We have to recognize what the moment
is requiring of us–
see what needs to be done,
what needs us to do it,
and decide
what we are going to do about it,
here and now.
We grow up against our will all the way.
But.
Is this me,
or not me,
here and now?
Is this the time,
or not the time,
here and now?
We can always do what is not me.
Why Here?
Why Now?
We can always do what is me.
Why not Here?
Why not Now?
These are the choices hero’s have to make,
time and time again.
Stop.
Look.
Listen.
See.
Hear.
Wait.
Watch.
Stay out of the way.
Something will happen.
Something will shift.
Some door will open.
You will find yourself walking through
To a future with your name on it.
Let it be.
Because it is.
No looking back. - Looking Glass Falls 04/29/2007 — Pisgah National Forest, near Brevard, NC, April 29, 2007
What are you doing?
Whatever it is,
stop and ask yourself,
“What am I doing?”
or, “What do I think I’m doing?”
periodically throughout each day.
As a way of grounding yourself in the moment,
and examining/exploring your actions,
intentions,
practices,
and reflecting on
what you are up to,
about,
serving,
in each moment,
each time and place,
each here and now.
Do not go unconsciously,
mindlessly,
unaware
through a day.
Notice what drives you,
pulls you,
calls you,
directs you,
guides you,
leads you
comforts and protects you
through the daily fare.
In light of what do you live?
Check in from time to time
and find out. - 06/29/2020. — Crabtree Falls 09/01/2018 04 — Blue Ridge Parkway near Little Switzerland, North Carolina, September 1, 2018 04
A land where everyone is glad
to be who they are,
and to be doing what was theirs to do,
seeing things as they are,
knowing what needs to be done
and doing it in each situation as it arises,
day in and day out,
all their life long
is found only in the mythical sphere
of the Elysian Fields,
Nirvana,
The Farther Shore,
Shangri-la,
Camelot…
In this world,
we can only catch glimpses
of that world
in individuals
wh0 have made their peace
with their life
and have settled into
their place in it,
and stand out in the memories
of all who know them to be
a comforting incarnation
of the kind of life
that should be available
to everyone
if only, but for…
what?
What is keeping everyone
from having what a few people manage?
The Old Taoists talk about “the ancient ones”
in this light:
the people go back to simple techniques
relish their food,
like their clothes,
are comfortable in their ways,
and enjoy their work.
Neighboring states may be so close
they can hear each other’s dogs and roosters,
but the people have no need
to go back and forth
(From the Tao Te Ching, chapter 80).
But “greed and folly,”
“will and desire,”
“cunning and contrivance”
come along to introduce the idea
of personal advantage and gain
into the daily fare,
and people soon are living
to have what the can’t use
in the service of what they don’t like
to spend what they don’t have
to buy what will be in a landfill in a month or a year…
And it is left to individuals
to separate themselves from the masses
and live from their own core
to honor their own gifts
in building a life around the things
that matter most,
becoming a memory
in the minds of those who knew them to be
a comforting incarnation
of the kind of life
that should be available
to everyone
if only, but for…
what? - 06/30/2020 — Pine Cones 06/19/2020 04 — Indian Land, South Carolina, June 19, 2020
The grounding reality of white supremacy
is white inferiority.
The grounding reality of hatred
is a wasteland of emptiness
born of resentment and rage.
The grounding reality of ruthlessness and malicious intent
is fear and aloneness untouched by,
immune to,
distrustful of,
kindness and grace.
You cannot love someone who cannot be loved.
Or better,
loved enough.
Love is not the answer
in terms of giving someone what they need
when their neediness goes infinitely beyond,
and runs counter to,
the requirements of love.
Love requires that we be capable of being loved
and loving.
You cannot be loved
if you cannot be vulnerable.
Marianne Moore said,
“The cure for loneliness is solitude.”
Solitude requires us
to be capable of relationship with ourselves.
Requires us to be able to love ourselves.
Requires us to enjoy the pleasure
of our own company.
Requires us to be loved and loving
by and of ourselves.
Solitude is no cure for the aloneness of soul
that has its origin in the abandonment of self
and the Abomination of Isolation.
Try to fix that with gentleness and compassion,
a soft heart and tender mercy.
Life cannot make up for
what living has annihilated.
The empty search in vain
for what they do not have
and cannot be given
because they do not have
what it takes to reciprocate
with goodness and love.
We cannot love and be loved
without being loving.
The loving and the loveless
have to acknowledge the nature of their impasse,
and listen to themselves
telling their stories
with no investment,
or even interest,
in the outcome.
If healing happens,
they witness the miracle.
And if it doesn’t,
they keep talking.
Anyway.
Nevertheless.
Even so. - 07/01/2020 — Pine Cones 06/27/2020 11 Panorama — Indian Land, South Carolina, June 27, 2020
Joseph Campbell said
(Quoting James Joyce, I think),
“A mature person
is like a wheel rolling
out of its own center.”
I prefer to think
of a wheel turning
out of its own center–
a gyroscope maintaining
its own balance and harmony
through the turbulence
of time and place.
Living out of its adamantine loyalty
to its relationship with–
and commitment to–
itself.
It knows who it is
and what it is about–
what grounds it,
centers it,
sustains it,
feeds it,
nourishes it,
replenishes it,
guides and directs it
in and through
each situation as it arises
in all contexts
and circumstances
of its existence.
There is nothing that can happen
that will knock it off its foundation
or keep it from its mission
of seeing what it looks at,
hearing what is being said,
knowing what’s what
and what needs to be done about it
and doing it
with the gifts/daemon/genius/virtues
that are inborn and at its disposal
in each moment of its life
that call it forth to meet the day,
day-by-day-by-day.
Our problem is how to get to that place
in our life.
The 10,000 things are arrayed against us.
Nothing in our past experience has prepared us
to deal with our present
or our future–
though everything has,
and we have only to realize it.
To quote Campbell again,
“No one is given a mission they are not ready for!”
Our lives have prepared us for this moment.
It is our time to step forth
and be who we are–
despite all of the fear,
and insecurity
and excuses we could make.
We have all that we need
to find what we need
to do what needs to be done–
we only have to know that it is so,
and act as though it is–
in the strength of the Two Powers
that are always with us:
The Silence and The Source!
Sitting quietly,
seeking The Source
of our Original Nature,
our Essence,
our Virtues,
our Self
our Imagination,
our Ideas,
our Courage,
our Spirit,
our Energy,
our Vitality…
We discover the truth
that has been true from the beginning:
We are not alone,
and we have all that we need.
Bring on the day!
The key here is to step into each day
“Without hope,
without witness,
without reward!”
( Steven Moffat, Doctor Who),
like a wheel turning out of its own center,
not desiring,
not contriving,
not scheming,
not designing,
not planning,
not preparing…
just living moment-by-moment
in the service of what is called for
in that moment,
with nothing invested in the outcome
and no profit or gain or success or motive in mind.
With only the joy of being able to do
what is set before us
to propel us into the day.
Each day. - 07/01/2020 — Red Yin/Yang
One of my favorite questions is
“What would you go to hell for?”
Totally serious.
It may be the most important question.
There are sacred covenants
that require our filial loyalty,
our liege devotion.
What are yours?
I hope you have a long list!
I will put it another way:
What commitments do you honor,
what activities do you engage in,
what relationships do you cherish,
in what ways do you spend your time,
that are so precious to you,
that being unable to engage in them
would be worse than going to hell?
What is the source of your energy,
spirit,
vitality,
balance,
harmony,
LIFE
that to be without it
would be worse than going to hell?
How often do you go there?
How long do you stay? - 07/01/2020 — Cypress Pond – Taken on a Private Preserve in Eastern North Carolina about November, 2004
On June, 25, 2014, I wrote,
Our life is up to us.
We actually have to live it.
Why hold anything back?
Why try to save ourselves from that which can save us?
Only one thing means anything: Living our life
the way it needs us to live it!
At the end of the movie, Jersey Boys,
Frankie Valli,
reflecting on his career,
said, “They ask ya, ‘What was the high point?’
The hall of fame,
sellin’ all those records,
pullin’ Sherry outta the hat?’
It was all great.
But the first time the four of us
made that sound under the street light,
our sound,
when everything dropped away
and all there was,
was the music…
that was the best.”
The challenge for each of us
is to find our music,
and live it—
to let the music live us—
and see everything that happens to us,
both positive and negative,
as an opportunity
to further align ourselves with the music,
dance with what life brings us,
and become who we are.
We are afraid to do that,
and think there is something better than that—
like safety, and security, and never stepping out of line—
because we’ve never stood under a street light
and made the music
only we can make.
But the music is there waiting
for us to show up.
That was written six years ago
and the music is still waiting.
What’s your music?
What is your life?
We don’t have any idea
because we have so many ideas,
all of which
revolve around having money
and having it made.
We want the fame
and the fortune,
but it’s the music.
Ask a musician if they know
what Frankie Valli is talking about.
Ask them if they can remember a time
when it all dropped away
and they became one with the music,
and the music was playing them,
singing them,
and they disappeared into the music,
were lost in the music,
were the music.
Ask them how often it happened.
And what they would give
for it to happen all the time.
Can you remember anything like that
happening to you?
What do you think your equivalent to the music
might be?
Was?
Could be?
What life is waiting
still,
even yet,
even now,
for you to live it?
What’s holding you back?
Why hold anything back? - 07/03/2020 — Blue Ridge Sunset 10/07/2010 01 — Near Mount Jefferson, Ashe County, NC, MP 267 BRP
We thread the needle
between Scylla and Charybdis,
moment-by-moment
through each situation as it arises
all our life long.
We walk along the straight and narrow,
with all its twists and turns,
on the slippery slope,
the dangerous path,
like a razor’s edge
every step of the Way–
circumambulating the center,
the core,
the Source
the Self–
growing up some more again day-by-day.
Or not.
It is entirely up to us.
Every day.
The eye of the needle
is “the still point of the turning world”
(T.S. Eliot),
in the midst of the conflicts and contradictions
that define our life
within the context and circumstances of our living.
We can care too much
and we can care too little.
Between those extremes
(and all the others)
we find the middle way,
the balance point,
and dance with the music of the spheres
throughout our life.
This is our work.
It is the work of Sisyphus
rolling his rock up the hill
and following it down the hill
to roll it back up the hill
day after day.
Threading the needle between the extremes
all the time.
We have to be invested in our work
without taking it seriously.
It has to matter to us what we do
without it mattering so much
that it interferes with our being able to do it.
We have to know what is important
without being owned by what is important,
lost in what is important
unable to set what is important aside
when the situation calls for it to be set aside
because something else is more important.
There are no doctrines.
There is no dogma.
There are no laws
or recipes.
There is only seeing,
hearing,
knowing,
understanding
what is called for here and now–
and doing that as best we can
with what we bring to the moment,
every moment.
We step into every moment
fresh for the adventure,
without the burdens of past or future,
looking around,
seeing what’s what
from the vantage point
of the stillness
and the silence,
waiting for the Way to appear before us
and allowing what needs to happen
to “just happen.”
If you think that’s easy,
plop yourself down
on the big bull’s back,
fasten your grip onto the rope,
and tell them to open the chute.
Remember to enjoy the ride.
That’s the most important thing. - 07/04/2020 — Mormon Row 06/26/2011 03 – Grand Teton National Park, Jackson, Wyoming, June 26, 2011
You do you!
The way only you can do you!
In ways appropriate to the occasion.
In every situation as it arises.
All your life long.
How long has it been?
Do you even remember?
Do you even remember how to do you?
What happened to you?
Were you shamed out of doing you?
Was it just not paying off?
Was it not worth it?
Was it getting you in trouble?
Was it in your way?
Was it an embarrassment?
To yourself?
To others?
Was it pointless?
Futile?
Absurd?
Did you get tired of excusing what you were doing?
Explaining?
Justifying?
Defending?
Did you merely grow up
and leave it behind
with your Binky and your Passie?
Would you even know where to start?
How to begin?
Doing you?
Your nighttime dreams would be a good place to look.
And your daydreams.
Your flights of fantasy.
You could start with being aware
of the white rabbits
that appear out of nowhere,
catching your attention
with a wink and a wave
before hopping around a corner
hoping this time you will follow.
You are everywhere you go,
everywhere you look,
everything you think about doing,
but don’t.
Why not?
You finding you,
getting back to you,
being you,
doing you
are the only things worth doing.
Why wait one second longer? - 07/05/2020 — Blueberries 06/30/2019 06 — The Vine Place, Van Wyck, South Carolina, June 30, 2019, an iPhone Photo
Here come some disparate statements
that I am going to pull together
like a wild rabbit from a hat
in a completely non sequitur kind of way:
1) Jesus was homeless
and he died on a cross.
When we hear him say,
“If you throw in with me,
you have to pick up your cross daily,
and follow me,”
somehow, we never connect following Jesus
with being homeless and dying on a cross.
2) The Dalai Lama’s bodyguards
carry automatic weapons.
When he preaches compassion and peace,
he is also saying,
“If you cross me, I will kill you.”
Which is not at all different from anything
a Mob Boss ever says.
3) If Elizabeth Warren only had
more cooperation,
it would be a better world overnight.
We want a better world
with Big Banks and Wall Street
and all of the distractions and delights
wealth and privilege can produce.
4) A high percentage of the world’s population–
and your county’s population–
is not going to make enough money
to pay their bills.
And that leaves them doing
exactly what with their life?
We have to be able to pay the bills,
but they have to be the right bills,
and we have to know
what we are paying the bills to do.
And be right about the rightness
of what we are doing.
In order to do that,
everything has to change.
Everything has to change.
It all comes down to knowing
what we are doing here
and having the wherewithal to do it.
And “wherewithal” is about
more than money.
“Wherewithal” is about clarity,
balance and harmony.
We have to “run a tight ship.”
We have to exhibit,
express,
incarnate
loyalty and devotion to the cause.
The cause is our life–
the life we are living–
the life that is ours to live–
doing what we are here to do.
Bringing who we are to life in our lives.
Here’s a hint for you:
We are not here to make a lot of money
and pass a good time.
We are here to serve
what we are here to do
with our life.
And, in the words of the woman
who wouldn’t wear a mask
and stay away from the crowds
at the beach,
“That’s asking too much.”
We want to live like we want to
and pass a good time.
Doing what we are here to do
doesn’t factor into that equation.
The economy is based on good times,
not on right living.
And that is the foundational dichotomy
at work in the heaving incongruities
of life as we know it.
And it is the nature
of the cross we have to bear
on the path of finding our life and living it.
It would be easier to keep things as they are
and not pay the price of transition
and transformation.
“That which you seek,
lies far back
in the darkest corner
of the cave you most don’t want to enter”
(Joseph Campbell).
“Pick up your cross and follow me” (Jesus of Nazareth). - 07/01/2020 — Blueberries 06/30/2019 06 — The Vine Place, Van Wyck, South Carolina, June 30, 2019, an iPhone Photo
Robert Ruark, writing in The Old Man and The Boy
had the Old Man say, about fishing,
“A fish is only a fish.
If you make too much of it,
you lose the whole point of it.”
Robert Ruark missed the essence
of his grandfather’s sutra,
and failed, throughout his life,
to apply the fish as an analogy
to everything in his life.
His grandfather was saying,
“Listen to me, dammit, Robert–
if you make too much of anything,
you lose the whole point of it!”
Success, for example.
Or happiness.
Or meaning and purpose.
Alcoholics Anonymous preaches the same sermon
with different words:
“Acceptance is the solution
to all of my problems today.”
Acceptance is the refusal
to make too much of any of it,
even acceptance.
Robert Ruark became an alcoholic
because he made too much of the wrong things,
and not enough of the right things,
which is one thing all alcoholics have in common,
along with all the people
who take their disappointment
with themselves and their life
to some different manifestation of The Bottle,
and “get by with a little help from their friend.”
Everything is analogous to us and our life.
What does “fish” equate to in your life?
What does “the bottle” equate to?
What are you taking too seriously?
What are you failing to take seriously at all?
What are the right things?
What are the wrong things?
Where are you in the flow of your life?
Where are you out of sync with your life?
Where are your expectations in line with your possibilities?
Where are your desires at odds with your chances?
Where are you willing what cannot be willed?
Where are you forcing what cannot be forced?
Where are you consoling yourself in ways
that are contributing to your disenchantment
and dissatisfaction–
making things worse and not better?
Where is your pain so great
that you will escape it at all costs?
We are all we have to work with
in the time left for living.
We have from now to then
to right our boat on its path through the sea,
get on track with our life
put ourselves in accord with our nature and our heart,
trust ourselves to the unfolding
of the life we are capable of living–
even now, even yet–
and see where it goes
(With no destination in mind,
and no opinion about how things are
to obscure what is being called for
here and now, moment to moment,
day to day). - 07/06/2020 — Impatiens 07/05/2020 — Indian Land, South Carolina, July 5, 2020
“The Church of What’s Happening Now”
is the companion blog-page to this page,
and can be accessed through the menu above.
It is offered in light of its absolute necessity
in the work that we are to be doing–
the work that is ours to do–
here and now,
moment to moment,
situation by situation,
day in and day out,
because being both
involved/immersed in,
and aware of,
what’s happening now
is more that any of us
can do alone.
There have always been
communities of the now–
I call them “communities of innocence”
because they are completely sincere
about their work–
and of all the institutions
that have been developed
through the ages of our accession,
they alone stand apart
by having nothing to gain
and nothing to lose,
beyond helping the individuals
they serve in living as those
who, themselves, have nothing to gain
and nothing to lose.
“Sincerity without contrivance”
is the motto of all communities of innocence.
Alcoholics Anonymous separates itself with its
“Attraction not promotion” slogan
and its recognition of “a higher power”
with no theology or doctrine to cloud and conceal
the essence of “that which has always been called God.”
For me, “The Church of What’s Happening Now”
is AA without the Alcohol (or the substance Abuse) part,
helping us to stay focused on being here, now,
doing what is ours to do–
what needs to be done–
what the situation is calling for,
throughout the “Eternal Now” of our existence.
As I say in the introduction to the page,
“The Church of What’s happening Now
is intently focused on,
and involved with,
the present moment,
which, of course, is eternal and unending
because it, in fact, never ends.
It evolves, morphs, transitions
forever into nothing more
than the present moment
right here,
right now,
forever.
The Church of What’s Happening Now
is a Community of Innocence
dedicated to helping its members
maintain their focus and clarity–
their balance and harmony–
while walking two paths at the same time,
being involved with the conditions and circumstances–
the “just so-ness”–
of the present moment,
while being intently aware
of the “also is-ness”
that connects this moment
with all those that have preceded it
and those that will flow from it.
Lawrence Tribe has said,
“Every possible future points back to
and is contained in
this moment in time and space,
and every possible past
culminated in this moment.
So all that ever was or will be
is right here right now
with you and with me.”
The present is eternal.
It is the fulcrum,
the pivot point,
“the still point
of the turning world” (Eliot).
It is the place of our acting,
or of our failing to act,
in the service of what needs us to do it
with the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues
that are ours to share
as blessing and grace
out of filial devotion
and liege loyalty
to the good of the whole. - 07/05/2020 — Cypress Morning 11/06/2006 — Private preserve in Eastern North Carolina, November 6, 2006
What needs to happen in any situation
conflicts with–
and stands in contradiction of–
what we want to happen there.
This is the story of the Garden of Eden
and the Garden of Gethsemane.
It is the story of the Buddha under the Bo Tree
and of Jesus in the wilderness.
It is the story that is repeated ad nauseam
through all of the ages of humankind–
and all the lives of each of us in all those ages.
Truth is found,
and life is lived,
“between the hands.”
On the one hand, this.
And on the other hand, that.
I want this,
and I need to want that.
Which will it be?
The theme is at work
in each situation as it arises
throughout time.
And here we are,
now what?
We answer the question best
when we ask it with full awareness
of what we are doing.
We default instantly
to what we want to do,
to what we want to happen,
without considering what needs to be done,
what needs to happen.
We live to have our way
in each situation that arises
until we die.
We live our life
in a lifelong conflict of interest
with our life.
We want one thing from our life
and our life wants another thing from us,
and it is within this tension
that we live
moment-to-moment,
day-by-day.
But.
Don’t take my word for it.
Simply be still.
Sit quietly.
And wait.
Wait to become aware of
the conflict of interest
at work in this moment
in your own life.
Be clear about what you want to happen.
Become open to what needs to happen–
to what the moment is calling for
beyond what you want for the moment.
Do this with every moment following this one.
And see what you do.
This simple process
calls into question
everything we think and believe
about living our life.
Our sole motivation for living
is to have what we want,
to do what we want.
We talk of Freedom and Liberty,
but it is always the freedom and liberty
to do what we want,
to live our life the way we want to live our life.
And anything that stands in our way
is interfering with our freedom
to have our way.
What does wanting know?
Wanting has led you to this point in your life.
What is your batting average?
How often has your wanting known what it was doing?
How often did you want yourself to a rock wall,
or a cliff edge?
How often did you want yourself
to the end of the line?
And what did you have but more wanting
to lead you to the end of the next line?
Wanting is a very short-sighted guide.
Near-sighted-ness is not a particularly
sought-for qualification
when interviewing potential guardians and guides.
It isn’t what we want that matters,
but knowing what we ought to want,
what we should want,
what we need to want–
and doing what we know needs to be done,
regardless of what we want.
This is the quality that will direct our living
past all concerns for our best interest,
our good,
our gain,
our advantage
and what is in it for us–
and deliver us into the service
of what is crying out to be done
in each situation as it arises,
moment-by-moment,
day-by-day,
all our life long:
“Without hope!
Without witness!
Without reward!” (Steven Moffat)
If you are going to hitch your wagon
to some horse,
let it be that horse,
and give it the reins,
or, better, forego reins and bit entirely,
and just go along for the ride! - 07/07/2020 — Flame Azalea 06/06/2020 06 – Indian Land, South Carolina, June 6, 2020
It is all useless,
pointless,
hopeless,
futile
and absurd–
and coming to a very bad end
(We all die).
And, how we live in the meantime
makes all the difference.
If you are going to take anything on faith,
let it be this!
Believe it is so
with all your heart,
and soul,
and mind,
and strength!
And live as though it is!
Put it into play in your life
by seeing what you look at,
and hearing what is being said,
and not giving a damn what your chances are,
or what’s going to come of it,
or what difference you are going to make,
and step into each situation as it arises,
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
all your life long,
letting things be what they are,
looking at what is happening,
listening for what is being called for,
knowing what needs to be done,
and rising to the occasion
upon every occasion,
in ways appropriate to the occasion,
out of the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues/character
that come with you from the womb
into all of the occasions of your life
as blessing and grace
upon all who come your way–
doing what you came to do,
what is yours to do,
what no one but you can do
the way you can do it–
to startle and surprise,
shock and perturb,
amaze and encourage,
dazzle and delight,
enlighten and confound–
and leave things more like they ought to be
than they were when you arrived.
In order to be able to do this,
you have to spend some time
reworking your relationship
with yourself and your life,
and with the Way that is yours through life–
even as you step into the next situation
and look around.
It is a lifelong process,
redemption and transformation.
It begins with our understanding
this is what we are about,
and finding our way to being
accomplished in the art
one situation at a time. - 07/08/2020 — Bog Stream Reflections 09/29/2014 — Adirondack Park near Tupper Lake, NY, September 29, 2014
Our business expands to fit our life.
We live to find our business
and tend to it.
The entire world is our business.
What goes on everywhere is our concern.
Human Rights,
Gay Rights,
Civil Rights,
Abortion Rights…
Our business is everybody’s business.
So that everybody can be allowed to have their own business
and do it.
“We find these truths to be self-evident…”
Evidently not,
else why do we have to keep saying it?
And insisting upon it?
And reminding people to live like it is so–
because it is so?
Some people–
and a hefty lot of them–
get off on pushing other people around.
Putting other people down.
Being superior.
Being supreme
(As though anyone is supreme
who has to shout,
“I AM SUPREME!
DO WHAT I SAY!”).
What?
What did they miss early on in their life?
Was it a gene?
Or kindness?
Or enough of the right kind of attention?
Or enough of the right kind of anything?
Anyway.
Here we are.
What to do?
Mind our business!
Tend our business!
And trust other people to mind/tend theirs!
And, when it becomes apparent
that they think their business
is minding other people’s business,
it becomes our business
to remind them that it is not.
“Back inside the lanes, please!
Everyone back inside their own lanes!”
That would be the lanes that are legitimately
our own lanes–
“the face that was ours before we were born,”
doing the things that are truly ours to do,
that no one but us can do
the way we can do it.
This world works best only when everybody
is respecting everybody else,
honoring everybody else,
allowing everybody else–
enabling everybody else–
to be who they are,
tending their own business
without worrying about the interference
of those who think they know best,
and that their way is The Way for everyone.
Why is this so hard?
All anyone needs
is to be left alone in the right kind of way,
and be allowed to tend their own business.
But, there are people who like to push people around,
and put them down,
and impose themselves on others,
deciding where people belong
and what they should and should not be doing,
making it necessary for us to stand up
and call them out,
and put them in their place
by reminding them it is not their place
to presume to know what someone else’s place is,
and that we all have to be left to discover our own place for ourselves,
unless we get out of our lane
and into someone else’s
by telling them where they belong
and where they have no business being.
We all have to find our own business,
and be right about it,
and be there doing that,
and trust everybody else to be doing that,
until it becomes apparent that they are not
and are interfering with someone else’s right
to their own business.
Then, we have to call Time Out!
And make sure everyone understands the rule
about leaving everyone alone
to find and mind their own business
with all the help they need to do that,
and none of the hindrances
that some people like to throw in their way.
It is ridiculous that any of this
should ever need to be said. - 07/08/2020 — Fern 07/07/2020 04 Panorama — Indian Land, South Carolina, July 7, 2020
Too many of us think
we have to have a plan,
a map,
a strategy,
a course of action,
a destination in mind,
to know where we are headed
in order to get where we are going.
If we don’t know where we are going,
we could wind up anywhere!
Time for a show of hands.
Here we all are.
How many of us had a plan,
a strategy,
a course of action
for getting right here right now?
Hold them high now.
How many of us knew
we would be right here right now
5 years ago?
4 months ago?
Our future is no more reliable
than our past.
How many 5-year plans are left
before we die?
Since most of us realize by now
that thinking more than two weeks ahead
is pretty much wishful thinking,
I’m going out on a limb here
and saying that 5-year plans are history.
Just as well.
They never were worth the time spent
drawing them up.
Joseph Campbell like to say that
Native American parents
would tell their children
as they set out to find their way in the world,
“When you step forth on your path,
the birds of the air will shit on you.
Do not stop even to wipe it off!”
They didn’t have to talk about
how to know where they were going.
These were Native American youth.
They knew about Vision Quests,
and living from the center,
and knowing a path with heart
when they saw one.
We missed all that.
Because it wasn’t a part of our growing up.
But it isn’t too late to learn.
The first thing that has to go is
knowing what you want.
Wanting is an eternal waste of time.
Wanting never ends.
What does wanting know?
Only that everything it wants
is the most important thing ever.
And all of those most important things
end up in some landfill,
and none of them was the end of wanting forever.
Throw wanting in the burning barrel
and take up listening and looking.
Sit still.
Be quiet.
Listen.
Look.
Wait for something to arise unbidden
that stirs something to life within.
You are waiting for something with life about it
to appear out of nowhere,
in a “Where did that come from?” kind of way.
Something with energy about it,
and the power to pull you into its influence,
the way a white rabbit might catch your eye
before it hops around a corner.
Do you follow?
The rule of the road is:
Always look closer at something that catches your eye!
The second rule of the road is:
The path opens before those who start walking.
That’s all the plan you need for a plan.
When the birds of the air shit on you,
don’t pause to wipe it off. - 07/09/2020 — Spring Flow 04/16/2002 — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Waterford, North Carolina, April 16, 2001
I am more inclined to follow my inclinations
these days
than my compelling urges
and driving passions.
My best advice is to say,
listen to what you have to say
about what you have to say.
Listen until you can hear
what is being said on all levels.
Look until you can see
what you are looking at.
And know what’s what.
Clarity is hard to beat.
Add Balance and Harmony
Sincerity,
Right Action
and Perfect Timing,
and we have all the companions
we need to find our way
through the day
every day.
Lay aside ambition,
aspiration,
willful determination
and the obsession/compulsion
to impose your idea
of how things ought to be
upon how things are.
Simply listen
for what is being called for,
look for what needs to be done,
and wait for the Six Companions
to lead the way. - 07/09/2020 — Linville Falls Panorama 07/13/2012 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Linville Falls, North Carolina, July 12, 2012
Trust where you are
to be exactly where you need to be.
Trust the path you are on
to take you to exactly where you need to be.
Trust seeing what you look at,
and hearing what you listen to–
asking the questions that beg to be asked,
and saying the things that cry out to be said–
to produce the reflection necessary
to promote the realizations required
that enable you to recognize
when the door opens
and provide you with the courage required
to walk through.
So that from here to there
becomes a natural transition
that “just happens”
when the time is right,
and is so obvious
that it is simply a spontaneous shift
in the right direction,
with the path you are on
taking you where you need to be,
one situation at a time–
occasioned by 10,000 unapparent right actions
opening and walking through
all of the doors
that led to The Door,
resulting in you always
being where you needed to be,
doing what needed to be done,
every step along the way.
That is the way it is with The Way.
Break a miracle down into its component parts
and the whole thing is a miracle.
And our life is a wonder in the making. - 07/10/2020. — Hay in the Field — 07/05/2019 03 Panorama, Rembert, South Carolina, July 5, 2019, an iPhone photo.
The way to The Way is The Way.
Jacob Bronowski said,
“If you want to know the truth,
you have to live in certain ways.”
We have to live in truthful ways–
we have to live truthful lives–
we have to live truthfully.
If we want to know The Way,
we have to be The Way.
Which is exactly what Jesus was saying
when he said,
“I am the way the truth and the life,
and no one comes to the Father but by me.”
He is not saying, “You have to believe in me.”
He is saying “You have to be me.”
But more than that,
he is saying, “You have to be me by being YOU!”
The way to God is the way of God.
The way to The Way is The Way.
The Way is the way of Sincerity and Integrity.
Sincerity and integrity are the straight and narrow.
They are the middle way.
They are The Way.
No one comes to The Way without being The Way.
The Way is the way of Sincerity and Integrity.
Harmony and Balance flow from Sincerity and Integrity.
Spirit, Energy and Vitality flow from Sincerity and Integrity.
Life, Virtue and Character flow from Sincerity and Integrity.
Sincerity and Integrity are The Way
and are the way to The Way.
We do not believe our way to The Way.
We do not think our way to The Way.
We do not plan, scheme, connive, contrive
our way to The Way.
We live our way to The Way
one situation at a time
with Sincerity and Integrity
leading the way.
Live with Sincerity and Integrity
and let everything fall into place
around that.
Align yourself and your life with yourself.
Live in accord with yourself.
Be at-one with yourself.
“Know Thyself!”
“To Thine Own Self Be True!”
Everyone who has known
has known the same thing
over time,
through the ages.
What, then, is the problem? - 07/10/2020 — Reelfoot Lake 11/04/2015 03 — Reelfoot Lake State Park, Hornbeck, Tennessee, November 4, 2015
The extremes exist in denial
of each other,
of contradiction,
of conflict,
of opposites,
of duality…
The Middle Way
is “Thou Art That”
in a way that excludes identity,
equivalence,
interchangeability,
and demands mutual recognition
of the “I” in the “Other,”
because the Two are One
“but not the same One.”
And the Dance of Dichotomy
requires the partners
to bear the tension of opposition
through all times and places
of three dimensional,
physical,
reality,
integrating the opposites
on the basis of the interplay
with the Forth Dimension.
Enter Grace.
Also called Tao,
Dharma,
Synchronicity,
and other names in other eras,
but it is Grace,
by whatever name,
“all the way down.”
Grace allows us to bear the pain
of our contradictions–
the pain of Contradiction–
in order to live out our lives
in the service of Grace,
as the servants of Grace,
by being what is needed
(Whatever is needed)
in each situation as it arises
through all of the times and places
of three-dimensional existence,
sometimes being “Thou,”
and sometimes being “That,”
as called for by the context
and circumstances of our life.
We are the children of Grace,
carrying the banner of Grace,
exhibiting the reality of Grace,
incarnating/expressing the truth of Grace
through the ages.
God’s name is Grace.
We are all “chips off the old block.”
Doing our thing
in response to the demands
of the here and now,
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
our whole life long. - 07/11/2020 — The Grove 01/29/2015 01 Panorama — ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge, Hollywood, South Carolina, January 29, 2015
There is always a price to be paid
for doing things out of time.
We are paying that price right now–
individually and personally,
corporately and nationally/internationally.
The world is out of step with the times–
and has been for times past counting.
The only sin is being out of step with the times.
All the talk about repentance,
and awakening,
and “getting right with God…”
all the business about redemption,
and righteousness,
and living “at one with God…”
is about getting our timing back.
About getting back in step with the times.
Karma is about the price to be paid
for being out of step with the times.
The recognition of the importance
of being in accord with the times
is as old as time itself.
“There is a time and a place for everything.”
“For everything there is a season,
and a time for everything under heaven.”
Those who know,
know the same things.
What is to be known
has always been known.
There are no secrets.
No hidden spiritual truths.
No esoteric rituals and beliefs.
There is only the stuff we don’t want to know–
because it would complicate our lives
and require us to decide,
consciously,
knowingly,
if we are going to live out of our own willful desire
for the time and place of our living,
or out of our own willful submission
to what is being called for
in each time and place of our living.
In every moment,
we stand with Adam and Eve
in the Garden of Eden,
and with Jesus of Nazareth
in the Garden of Gethsemane,
and decide whether we will be
in or out of sync
with the time that is upon us,
here and now.
And, that is the choice
“that sways the future
for the good or evil side.”
Made each moment,
impacting all ages to come forever. - 07/05/2020 — Swan Lake 07/05/2019 05 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, July 5, 2019
We have to mean it,
run a tight ship
(That means self-discipline),
straight from the heart,
with sincerity
and no contrivance
(That means without looking for our own advantage, good, benefit in any way),
with no judgment or opinion,
seeking only to serve the moment
in doing what is called for,
moment-to-moment,
in each situation as it arises,
all our life long.
Our only question is
“What does this occasion call for?”
Our only course of action is
to rise to the occasion
and offer what is called for
with the gifts, genius, daemon, virtues/character
that came with us from the womb,
and follow The Way as it opens before us,
inviting us as only we can detect,
and see where it goes.
The old alchemists had a saying,
“One book opens another.”
Our moments can do that as well.
Karma is momentum as much as direction,
carrying us on the current of life
through the doors Grace opens
and a future quite beyond imagining.
We trust ourselves to our life
by asking “What does this occasion call for?”
And rising to the occasion.
Occasion after occasion. - 07/12/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Hunting Island 11/13/2017 36 — Hunting Island State Park, Beaufort County, South Carolina, November 13, 2017
We pay a price to be who we are.
Negotiation.
Compromise.
Adjustment.
Readjustment.
Steady companions along the way.
If we aren’t going to be who we are,
who are we going to be?
We pay a price to not be who we are.
“All we ever wanted was smooth and easy!”
(An AA slogan)
Smooth and easy aren’t so smooth and easy.
We bear the pain of being alive
one way or another–
consciously,
mindfully,
deliberately,
intentionally,
courageously,
or
unconsciously,
mindlessly,
accidentally,
unintentionally,
symptomatically.
It begins with taking the time
to know who we are.
Everything else falls into place around that.
The Native American Vision Quest
was not about envisioning a future,
conjuring up a life-goal,
imagining a destination
(Understand this:
There is no destination!).
It was about seeing who we are.
The most important relationship
is our relationship with ourselves–
with our Self.
With our Original Self.
With The Face That Was Ours Before We Were Born.
With The Self Who Is The Source And Guardian
Of The Virtues,
Values,
Character
that define us,
guide us,
illumine us,
direct us
and accompany us
along The Way.
We are never alone,
but we live as though we are,
because we do not take the time
to know who we are.
Marianne Moore said,
“The cure for loneliness is solitude.”
In solitude we meet who we are,
who we also are.
Carl Jung said,
“There is, in each of us,
another, whom we do not know.”
The heart of every vision quest is the silence
that transports us
from aloneness to solitude.
The silence is alive with moods and memories,
feelings and thoughts,
reflection,
recognition,
realization.
How long has it been
since you sat,
still and quiet,
watching and waiting
for something to stir to life in the silence,
something that has been waiting all this time
for an audience with you?
This is the vision the quest seeks.
It is the vision of our own depth and potential–
the gifts, genius, daemon, qualities, virtues
that comprise our identity
and yearn to be incarnated, exhibited, expressed, made actual
and brought to life in the life we are living.
We carry within us the treasure of the gods
as a blessing to humankind
(That would be to one another,
and all others)
and is waiting to be born
in the way we live our life.
Even yet.
Even still.
Even now. - 07/13/2020 — Spider Web 09/05/2009 08 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, September 5, 2009
Look until you see what’s what.
Listen until you hear what is called for.
In each situation as it arises.
Moment-by-moment.
Day-by-day.
Do what needs to be done.
As best you can.
With the gifts,
genius,
daemon,
virtues,
character
that came with you
from the womb
and constitute your Original Nature–
“The Face That Was Yours Before You Were Born”–
that you are here to incarnate,
express,
exhibit,
bring forth
and serve
with liege loyalty
and filial devotion
all your life long.
And let everything fall into place around that.
Flowing into the next situation
in the next moment
in which you will do the same things
throughout the time left for living.
That’s all there is to it. - 07/13/2020 — Fern 07/07/2020 06 — Indian Land, South Carolina, July 7,2020
Take care of the moment.
Everything turns on how well
we take care of the moment.
We throw moments away
by the bushels,
by the metric tons,
by the sanitary landfills.
We treat moments
as though they are
in our way
keeping us from where we want to be
and what we want to be doing.
We drink whiskey
and do drugs
to compensate ourselves
for having to deal with all these damn moments
of nothing endlessly stretching out the distance
between the times of our glory and our bliss.
The high times are our way of compensating ourselves
for missing the point of our life.
We want our life to be bigger,
better,
finer
than a life can be.
A life that is alive to the moment of its living
is as alive as it ever gets.
A cat with a ball of twine.
A baby with a spoon and a pie pan.
Are doing moments the way moments are to be done.
It is called taking care of the moment.
Doing what the moment is calling for.
Extending the moment,
making it last.
Jazz does that.
And dawdling around with a sunset,
or a thunder storm.
How long since you dawdled around with anything?
Lingered with the moment
as though it is sufficient for your needs?
Why do we need more than the moment has to offer?
From whence cometh our emptiness?
Our hunger?
Thirst?
Our desperate query,
“Is this all there is?”?
Hold on to your moments.
Relish them.
Savor them.
Do not let them go
until they have graced you
with their gifts
and the abundance of their stores.
And revealed to you the wonder
of a life lived fully
one moment at a time. - 07/14/2020 — Lake Crandal 11/16/2016 — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Fort Mill, South Carolina, November 16, 2016
We take what the day gives us
and do what we can with it
with the gifts we have to offer
within the context and circumstances
of our life,
moment-by-moment,
and see where it goes.
We keep our religion to ourselves,
and stay out of other people’s business,
honoring everyone’s ability
to see what they look at,
and hear what is being called for
in the time and place of their living,
being clear about where we start
and they stop,
and only drawing lines
when it becomes apparent
that they are a danger to themselves
and to others,
and then in as kind a way
as the occasion allows,
understanding that no one is in charge
of the way they see things–
but that doesn’t mean that all ways of seeing
are equally valid,
and that some ways must be challenged
when they threaten the balance and harmony
of the whole.
We carry our pain in different ways,
and what we see when we look at one another
is the outward, visible, expression
of how we have carried our inward, invisible, pain
over the course of our life.
And a little compassion means a lot.
So, even when we draw lines
it needs to be done with a compassionate stroke,
a soft voice,
and a gentle tone,
granting the benefit of the doubt to all comers,
and telling ourselves,
“These people would be doing better if they could,”
as we carry out our business
of restoring consonance
and bringing peace
to a torn and broken world. - 07/14/2020 — Trees Blended 11/11/2015 04 — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, November 11, 2015
Move toward what resonates with you.
Move away from what repels you.
Simple and fundamental rules for life.
The things that resonate with you
are your guides through all that lies ahead.
Just as “One book opens another,”
so the things that resonate with you
will lead you to other things that resonate with you,
and you will discover wonders
in the most unlikely places,
and come alive in the life you are living
in ways you could have never imagined,
or created,
on your own
by thinking about it
through careful planning.
We know what we need,
but.
We do not know what all we know.
And so.
We have to develop our awareness
in order to realize what lies latent within
waiting for its chance
to sparkle and astound
when someone–
that would be us–
asks it if it would like to dance. - 07/14/2020 — Silence 03 — Eighth Note Rest and Quarter Note Rest
“Oh, I see what your problem is.”
The Buddha was talking to those gathered
to discover the secret path
to eternal happiness.
“You care too much about what happens to you!
You will never be happy
until you care less about what happens,
and care more about doing what you can
in every situation
to make things as good as they can be
for yourselves,
one another,
and all others–
and let that be good enough!”
From “The Undiscovered Discourses of The Buddha” - 07/15/2020 — Silence 02 — Eighth Note Rest and Quarter Note Rest
Another of the Little Rules of Life:
Don’t decide–KNOW!!!
(Or, one of its infinite variations,
Don’t think–KNOW!!!)
We over-think everything.
Sincerity just is.
Spontaneity just is.
Knowing just is.
You could spend your entire life
(Overstatement is what I do best)
standing before the orange juice section
or wandering up and down the cereal isle–
or the bread isle–
thinking it out.
Don’t think! KNOW!!!
Wake up to your daily struggles to decide.
They are everywhere.
We want to be right about everything
(And being right has nothing to do
with being right–
it is all about being above reproach,
beyond criticism,
having a quick and well-considered reason
for doing what we do,
so that no one can find fault with us ever)
because to be criticized is to be lacking,
and lacking is one thing not one of us
can allow ourselves to be
(Here’s another Little Rule of Life–
they are everywhere
once you start looking for them–
Let Yourself Be Lacking!!!
No kidding.
It is the most freeing thing
you will ever do
[Back to overstating my case]).
As I was saying,
Wake up to your daily struggles to decide,
and stop it.
Just stand not-knowing before whatever it is,
the blue one or the yellow one,
and simply wait to know.
Take your time.
Where does the pressure to “hurry up and make up your mind”
come from?
Who are you trying to please?
Stop it!
Remember your breathing.
Breathe deeply,
exhale slowly.
Wait to know.
Wait to know about everything worth knowing.
Knowing what the Knower knows
is our surest guide
to where the Goer is going.
Stop deciding
and begin knowing. - 07/05/2020 — Silence 01 – Eighth Rest Note and Quarter Rest Note
I am interested in why we see things as we do.
Why we respond to our environment the way we do.
Why we believe what we believe.
How we decide what is important.
How we change our mind about what is important.
What makes us think
that the way we think
is the way to think?
Who says so?
How do we know they know
what they are talking about?
What is the unshakeable,
adamantine,
grounding,
authority
for the way we live?
How do we validate the validity
of that authority?
How do we know
that what we say is so
is so?
What leads us to live the way we do?
Why aren’t these questions
at the heart of everyone’s life? - 07/15/2020 — Living at the Edge of the Woods 07/14 2020 01 — Red Shouldered Hawk, Indian Land, South Carolina, July 14, 2020 — 98 degrees and two weeks with 1/2 inch of rain brings wild things to water wherever it may be found.
Be careful what you believe–
and conscious of it–
because beliefs are self-validating,
and will be confirmed by our experience
as being true beyond question.
This is the foundation of horoscopes,
superstition,
Voodoo
and Black Magic.
Belief/faith elicits corroborating evidence
from our environment and our “felt sense.”
“You ask me how I know–
I know because my heart declares it is so!”
And our experience authenticates it
at every turn.
Brainwashing/mind-control is as commonplace
as advertising promotions
and political propaganda.
Nothing convinces like conviction,
and we can be “carried away”
by personal testimony,
hearsay
and anecdotes
delivered with passion and certainty.
The nature of our life
and the quality of our living
depend on the beliefs
that direct our decisions and choices
regarding how we spend our time
and exhibit our character and values.
How do we fill up a day?
How do our beliefs determine–
and restrict–
what we do?
What beliefs guide and direct our lives?
To what extent are we conscious
of being guided and directed?
To what extent are we conscious
of being conscious?
To what extent do we see our seeing
and think about our thinking?
How mindfully do we live?
“Fair winds and following seas”
are helpful only if we know where we are going
and what we are doing–
following a program,
intent on being guided and directed,
on track and in accord with the path
as it unfolds before us.
What is your work?
What is your Way?
How do your beliefs flow from and lead to–
form and shape–
your work and your Way?
Sit still.
Be quiet.
Breathe yourself into the Silence.
Listen and look.
Follow the reflections that arise
to recognition and realization.
And see where it goes. - 07/16/2020 — Reelfoot Lake 11/04/2015 06 –Reelfoot Lake State Park, Hornbeck, Tennessee, November 4, 2015
Believe in your Work.
Believe in The Way.
Allow them to become
the grounding,
guiding,
forces in your life.
Our Work is The Way!
The Way is our Work!
There is no separation,
no distinction!
But.
We have to understand
our Work
is not necessarily what we are paid to do.
What we are paid to do pays the bills.
Our Work is what we pay the bills to do.
Paying the bills enables us to live.
Our Work enables us to be alive.
Our Work is what we live to do.
Chances are we have no conception
of what our Work is.
There is nothing in our background
that is specifically geared to help us
comprehend the importance
of knowing/finding our Work,
and if we find it,
it is because we stumble upon it.
The concept of The Way
is in a similar state.
No one talks about The Way
in our experience.
Everyone talks about finding Jesus
and going to heaven when we die.
No one says anything about finding The Way
and being Alive until we die.
We are on our own
with regard to our Work and The Way.
But we come well-equipped for the task.
All it takes is being still and quiet,
and knowing what we know–
allowing what we know
to guide us away
from all that is Not our Work
and Not The Way,
and toward what IS our Work
and Is The Way.
Knowing what it is not
is a very helpful thing to know.
Knowing what it is
is a matter of knowing
what attracts us,
resonates with us,
calms us,
centers us,
grounds us
and brings us to life.
Determining the “Life Quotient”
of the things in our life–
the degree to which they spark
something within us
and cause us to smile for no reason–
will help guide us to IT
and away from NOT IT.
There is also a “felt sense”–
a physical sensation–
within our stomach or chest
(A bit like being in love)–
that clues us in on what’s what
when we are in the presence of IT.
The rule is always in play:
“Look closer at the things
that catch your eye!”
And let those things lead you
to your Work
and The Way! - 07/05/2020 — Spider Web 09/05/2009 05 — Blue Ridge Parkway near Blowing Rock, North Carolina, September 5, 2009
“But my FREEDOOM!!!”
The people who protest mask wearing
for the good of the whole
cannot get beyond the idea
of masks being imposed on them
against their will
by the domineering authority of those in power over them.
Sacrificing their idea of freedom
for the common good
is beyond the pale of reasonable and compassionate.
“That’s asking too much!”
they say.
And here we are.
How good is the good they call good?
It is not good at all for anyone but themselves
and those like them.
How wide is our circle of compassion and concern?
What limits it?
Restricts it?
Expands it?
How low,
or high,
is our kindness and consideration threshold?
How easily do we feel “put upon”
and “taken advantage of”?
What can we do about that
in terms of becoming more giving
and less resentful?
These are questions never asked
by those who protest
“But my FREEDOM!!!”
And there is no way to force it upon them.
This is the log jam in the flow of human development.
We cannot be made to grow up against our will–
and yet, and yet…
EVERYBODY grows up against their will!!!
No one volunteers for the experience.
We all go bucking and snorting into the process,
with stiff necks and hard hearts
and stout resistance at the very idea!
And some of us change our minds.
What is that about?
Why do some of us change our minds
and some remain “arrested” in their development
throughout time?
Some of us have the capacity to grow up in spite of ourselves,
and some of us have nothing whatsoever
to do with what is being asked of us ever.
And here we are.
Those of us who have the capacity to be big about it
have to be big enough
to take the pettiness and brutality
of those who will be small and angry forever
into consideration,
tell ourselves, “I’m sure they would do better if they could,”
and try to find some way to work with their
stern refusal to be helpful
as best we can.
We have to grow up
about their failure to grow up
and grieve the fact of things staying as they are
long past their need to change. - 07/17/2020 — Yellowstone Falls 09/26/2001 –The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, Yellowstone National Park, September 26, 2001
Money is the most meaningful thing
in our life–
not only in our life,
but in all our lives.
And yet,
we use money to buy Crack,
if we are poor,
and to by Cocaine,
if we are wealthy,
and to buy Opioids
regardless of our financial status.
Alcohol will do in a pinch.
And there is always Religion.
Money is meaningful
as a doorway to escape.
How meaningful is that?
We are such a sad,
hilarious,
lot.
We are pitiful.
We are a joke.
The joke is on us.
And no one is laughing.
Our life is–
our lives are–
meaningless.
And all we know to do about that
is to find something
to take our mind, our minds, off of it.
We get by with a little help from our friends,
Coke, Cocaine, Opioids, Alcohol, Religion…
Anything to take our mind off our emptiness.
We are people in search of some reason to keep going.
Joseph Campbell asked,
“What keeps you going?
What do you turn to when you have nowhere to turn?”
What enables you to face the complete loss of everything
without succumbing to the futility,
uselessness,
hopelessness
and absurdity of one more breath?
And, he says, “When you have found that,
you have found your myth!”
Our myth is our meaning.
It is the ground of our existence–
the very source of our life and being,
the ever-present wellspring
of balance and harmony,
spirit,
vitality
and resilient joy
in our life.
And we are people who have lost their myth.
Joseph Campbell would say the Quest starts here.
We are searching for the source of our own meaning,
for the reason, the purpose, of our own existence.
As he said, “To find the inward thing
that you basically are.”
All of the myths refer to you, to me, to us,
and are pathways of opening us to the realization of ourselves.
We are what we seek.
“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time”
(T.S. Eliot).
Back to Campbell, “You are God in your deepest identity.
You are one with the transcendent.”
And we throw ourselves away as the source of meaning and purpose,
and look here and there,
hither and yon,
for what is only found by
“Turning the light around,”
and looking within for that which is looking for us.
Campbell again:
“That which you seek
lies far back in the darkest corner
of the cave you most don’t want to enter.”
The first step is the hardest:
We have to bear the pain at the heart of the journey.
Bearing the pain of our life–
of the experience of being alive–
of life itself
is essentially “the divine acceptance of death”
(Thomas Altizer)
–not only at the end of life,
when life is done–
but at every point along the way.
Right here right now
is a dying to all that might be
wished for,
hoped for,
desired,
and is an acceptance of life-as-it-is
in its “just-so-ness”
right here, right now.
Which is made possible through
the recognition that right here, right now,
is the very time and place of our living,
of our being fully,
vibrantly,
alive to the experience of our own becoming
in this moment,
open to,
and overwhelmed by,
the mystery at the heart of being.
Campbell said,
“The goal of your quest for yourself
is to find that burning point
(where the veil of time is burned away,
and we are opened to the realization of eternity)
in your point (here and now),
becoming the thing in yourself,
which is fearless and desireless,
(and forever) becoming.”
We are always becoming something more
than we have ever been!
We are forever being born anew–
a brand new thing–
in the world each day,
in each moment of the day!
We are becoming always and forever!
That is who we are!
We are BECOMING!
Born to life again and again,
each moment,
through bearing the pain of being alive
and opening ourselves to the wonder
of our own becoming.
The nature of the pain is the fear that there is nothing there.
We have to take a chance on ourselves.
But, we think we know there is nothing to us at all.
We are the cave we most don’t want to enter,
and it is the experience of the wonder
of our own becoming
that waits far back in the darkest corner,
wondering if we will have what it takes
to find what it takes
to be fully alive
in the time left for living.
A bit of encouragement at the start:
Everyone starts where we are.
Fearful, doubting,
certain there is no reason to go on.
Campbell said,
“The word religion means religio, linking back, linking back the phenomenon of a specific, unique person to the source.”
To their/our source.
To who they/we are at their/our core.
The old Taoists linked the Tao
with our Original Nature,
with “the face that was ours
before we were born.”
With the Source of Life and Being.
And said, “Thou art That.”
We are It.
We are What We Seek.
Like the man riding his ox
looking for his ox.
Like the woman with her sunglasses on her head,
looking for her sunglasses.
We only have to stop,
look,
listen,
see and hear
to know it is so.
But we are afraid to look,
afraid to listen,
afraid it is not so.
We have to bear the pain,
and take a chance
on the wonder
of our own
unending becoming
coming into being
in every moment,
here and now. - 07/17/2020 — Big Creek Cascade 11/16/2009 — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Waterford, North Carolina, November 16, 2009
Joseph Campbell said,
“We know when we are on the beam,
and when we are off it.”
That is all we need to know.
Yet the 10,000 things interfere with our knowing
even that much.
Distractions abound.
Diversions proliferate.
We lose the way.
Stray from the path.
Wake up–if we are lucky–
at the bottom of some wall,
wondering how we got there
and where we go from here.
We got there by being smart.
Thinking we knew what we were doing.
Knowing what we wanted
and how to get it.
That will do it every time.
Knowing what we want
overlooks the most important thing:
What Does Wanting Know???
Nothing as it turns out.
When we live from the center,
we are not influenced by either
fear or desire,
anger or greed,
but from the Life Point,
like leaves turning to the sun,
we turn toward–
move toward–
exactly what we need at that point,
knowing only that this
is the right thing for us to do
at that particular place in time,
and to not move toward it
would be to do irreparable damage
not just to ourselves,
but to our place in life,
with implications moving outward
like a giant Tsunami in all directions,
altering forever what might have been.
Our task is to live from the center
and not let anything knock us off
the Life Point
because from there
everything flows
for good or for evil. - 07/18/2020 — Reelfoot Lake 11/04/2015 01 — Reelfoot Lake State Park, Tiptonville, Tennessee, November 4, 2015
Don’t give a damn about what your chances are!
That’s my best advice.
If you can do better than that,
why haven’t you?
It is obvious to any onlooker
that if you are here reading this now,
you haven’t done any better than that,
else why would you be here reading this now?
You would be somewhere else,
doing something else
worth more to you.
The fact that you are here reading this now
is hard evidence against your ever have taken any
advice that has been of much value to you.
Your best bet is to stick with me
and stop giving a damn about what your chances are.
Caring about your chances
is the one thing holding you back.
If you want to shoot for the stars,
you have to stop worrying about your chances.
It is like this:
There are two ways of calculating your way to the stars.
The first way is thinking long and hard about it.
Always considering your odds,
covering all your bases,
taking everything into account,
and doing everything people who know more than you do
tell you about what you have to do to reach the stars,
being careful to have everything in place
just waiting for your chance at the Big Time.
The second way is not giving a damn about your chances
of reaching the stars,
and spending your time
listening to your heart
and doing what makes your little heart sing and dance,
listening to your body–
particularly to your stomach
(Your “gut feelings”)
and your bones,
seeing what you look at
knowing what you know,
and doing what the situation is calling for
one situation at a time.
You may not reach the stars any sooner
choosing the second path,
but you will be just as happy
every second along the way
as you would be if you were among the stars
right now. - 07/18/2020 — Bodie Island Light House 10/25/2009 02 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Outer Banks, North Carolina, October 25, 2009
The only sin is being wrong about what is important.
We have our entire life
to learn to be right about what is important.
A life that is entirely wasted on most of us.
Too many of us refuse to change our mind
about what is important
in spite of repeated headlong crashes
into the solid wall of reality.
Some of us will never wake up.
If lived experience won’t teach us
what matters most,
what will?
How many of us are right
about what we take to be important?
That is the only thing worth
being right about.
How much time do we spend
assessing the correctness of our assessment? - 07/18/2020 — Atlantic Dawn 11/01/2010 01 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, November 01, 2010
Our circumstances call us forth,
inviting us to rise to the occasion,
no matter what the occasion.
How well we answer the invitation
tells the tale.
There are no throw-away occasions.
We have to treat every one
as though everything is on the line.
Each moment is the most important moment.
How we treat the housekeeper
is as significant as how we treat the CEO
of the hotel chain.
Every situation calls for something from us.
How present we are in every situation
determines how responsive we are
to the situation.
Here we are.
Now what?
What now?
Right here.
Answering the questions correctly
transforms the world.
Acting as though this is so
makes it so. - 07/18/2020 — Filmore Glen 10/03/2014 01 — Filmore Glen State Park, Moravia, NY, October 3, 2014
Joseph Campbell, quotes Guiraut de Borneilh:
“So through the eyes love attains the heart,
for the eyes are the scouts of the heart.
And the eyes go reconnoitering
for what it would please the heart to possess.”
This not only has to do with romantic love,
which is a mutuality of attraction
brought about by the mutuality of projection,
with each participant projecting
onto the other the characteristics
that each person
most needs to develop within themselves.
It is also true of The Way and The Work
that are ours to walk and to do,
which are the same thing,
The Way being The Work,
and The Work being The Way.
“The eyes are the scouts of the heart.”
When we see The Way that is ours to walk,
and The Work that is ours to do,
we know it,
and then it only remains a matter
of knowing what we know
when we know it,
and having the courage to act on it
when the time for acting is upon us.
And the rule is always valid:
Look closer at what catches your eye!
And another rule is like unto it:
Be aware of everything you are about to:
dismiss,
disregard,
discount,
ignore. - 07/19/2020 — Atlantic Dawn 10/26/2008 02 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, October 26, 2008
Our circumstances evoke our character
when we rise to meet them on their terms,
understanding them to be
exactly what we need
at this point in our life
to come forth
and be born again.
Death and resurrection, Kid.
Death and resurrection.
Trials and revelations, Kid.
Trials and revelations.
Ordeals and realizations, Kid.
Ordeals and realizations.
Consciousness is transformed–
we change our minds–
only through the death experience
of our trials and ordeals.
Getting up and doing the thing
that most needs to be done,
the way it needs to be done-
anyway,
nevertheless,
even so,
in each situation as it arises
can be like dying.
And it can be the doorway,
the threshold,
to a new way of seeing,
a new way of being
a new way of life.
How we meet our circumstances
is the crucial element
in influencing our circumstances
toward life, away from death,
or toward death, away from life.
“The bird is in our hands.”
We grow through the very things
that appear to be the absolute end
of all things good–
if we meet them in a way
that takes what is given
and looks for the hidden passage
to what also is there.
Joseph Campbell said,
“Where we stumble and fall,
there lies the treasure.”
And the old Taoist tale
“The Lost Horse Returns”
(Googleit)
reminds us that things have a way
of turning over time
if we give them time
to show us what else may be coming–
to see what other doors may be opening–
for those who wait,
watching.
The stone the builders reject
becomes the chief cornerstone.
The junk jewelry conceals
the priceless gem.
And these circumstances
are the very thing we need
to take the next step
toward whom we are yet to be.
It only takes believing it is so
for it to be so. - 07/19/2020 — Cedar Island Ferry Sunset 10/26/2011 01 — Pamlico Sound, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, October 26, 2011
It is possible to live from the center of knowing what to do
in response to the situation as it arises,
just as tennis players (etc.) respond spontaneously
to situations as they develop on the court,
knowing what to do
without knowing how they know.
It is possible to live like we are playing tennis (etc.).
But.
There is a catch.
We have to quit living
in the service of contrivance
and insincerity.
Living from the Center means
giving up our attachment to the outcome
and serving an outcome
that is good for the situation as a whole–
and that is an expression of the integrity
of us as a whole.
We live as an integrated whole
ourselves,
individually,
in relationship with other selves
living with us as integrated wholes
themselves,
individually.
This is possible when everyone
within the community
(The Community of Innocence
in which everyone is seeking
the best for all concerned,
with no agenda or plans
for themselves alone)
is living “transparent to transcendence”
(Joseph Campbell),
so that everyone is reflecting/exhibiting/incarnating
the ineffable wonder at the heart of our life together.
This is the experience
of That Which Has Always Been Called God
and is present whenever two or three, or more,
people live truthfully together from the heart.
Living truthfully together from the heart
is a lost art
that can be revived simply by living from our center
in relationship with others living from their center.
Doing that is merely a matter
of being still and quiet
and waiting in the silence
for all the bluster to fall away,
and getting to know what remains.
Then stepping back into our life
with the truth of who we are now
as a very present companion,
enjoying our company
and glad to be with us knowingly at last. - 07/20/2020 — Lotus Blossom 01
We cannot see/hear/know/understand/do/be/become
before the time for seeing/hearing/knowing/understanding/
doing/being/becoming.
But.
We can delay seeing, etc.
long past the time for seeing, etc.
by being distracted/lost
in pursuit of the wrong goals
in the service of the wrong ideas
about what is important
and worth our time.
Quoth the prophets:
“O Land, Land, Land!
HEAR the Word of the Lord!”
“How long am I to bear with you?
How long do I have to put up with you?”
“There are none who do what is right!
No!
Not ONE!”
And so it is said by those who know,
“Neanderthal got it.
Cro Magnon didn’t.
And here we are.”
Waiting,
watching,
for those who can hear
what is to be heard,
and do what must be done.
Like Obi wan Kenobi
wondering what is keeping
Luke Skywalker.
And Master Yoda
napping in the swamp
between Jedi’s.
We cannot hurry the time
of its arrival.
And we must be ready
when it comes.
That is the paradox of the times.
The time between times
can seem eternal,
but it is the most important time.
How we spend it
tells the tale.
And the joke of all jokes is on us,
waiting for the day of the Lord’s return
while the Lord is waiting for us
to show up–
seeing and hearing
what has been right before us
all along. - 07/20/2020 — Blueberries 06/30/2019 06 — The Vine Place, Van Wyck, South Carolina, June 30, 2019
Only those who can bear the pain of,
and dance with,
the contradictions
of life as it comes
have what it takes
to see what’s what
and do what can be done about it
with the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues/character
that comes with them from the womb
in each situation as it arises
moment-by-moment
all their life long.
Everybody else takes refuge
in their dreams
of how life should be,
or retreats to their favorite way
of dismissing,
discounting,
disregarding,
ignoring
the reality of the way things are,
and lives in denial
and dead to the world as it is
all their life long.
If you are going to be alive
in this world,
and it is the only world there is,
you are going to have to live your life
on your life’s terms–
without pausing to curse,
moan,
groan,
or complain.
Coming to terms with life’s terms
and accepting the fact of:
This is the way things are,
and this is what you can do about it,
and that’s that,
every day. - 07/20/2020 — Duggers Creek Falls 07/06/2014 01 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Linville Falls Visitor’s Center, Linville Falls, North Carolina, July 6, 2014
Carl Jung thought we live
to bring ourselves to life.
Joseph Campbell would say the same.
And, he would say that all the mythologies
from the beginning say the same.
We are forever seeking ourselves.
T.S. Eliot, in “The Four Quartets,” said,
“We shall not cease from exploration,
and the end of all our exploring will be
to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.”
The Old Taoists held that the Quest we are on
is to find our Original Nature,
and know “the face that was ours
before our parents were born.”
Jung saw the task before us
as one of “Individuation,”
whereby we become who we are
by the life-long process
of “circumambulation,”
an ever tightening spiral
around and around
the center that is the Self,
gradually realizing,
knowing,
becoming,
being,
incarnating
who we are
over the full course of our life.
We think we are here to make a lot of money
and “pass a good time.”
We are living on one track
when we need to be living on another track.
We are going in one direction
when we need to be going in a different direction.
I don’t know how
we are going to get things
turned around.
I do know the old Taoist Masters
understood their sole task to be
“turning the light around.”
Now it is our turn
to do the turning.
Turning, turning, turning,
along the path Jung laid out before us:
“We are who we always have been,
and who we will be.”
Happy trails,
fellow travelers!
I’ll keep an eye out for you
along the way! - 07/20/2020 — Great Blue Heron 04/20/2014 02 — Audubon Swamp Garden, Magnolia Plantation, Charleston, South Carolina, April 20, 2014
Schopenhauer said that when we look back over our life
it seems as though everything fits together
like a life-size jig saw puzzle,
with all those chance meetings
and events
working together to create
the harmonious whole
that has us right here,
right now.
And he posits that the director,
the choreographer,
of the wonderful whole
that is our complete life
is none other than
the mysterious center of ourselves,
pulling rabbits out of a hat,
dancing this way with that,
and that way with this,
producing the opus we have lived
without being aware
of what we were doing.
“There is a center,”
he would say,
and 10,000 others with him,
“at work to coalesce a lived history
around itself
through our choices
and reaction to events
and circumstances
that have only us (and our center)
as the one influential constant
responsible for the majestic creation
of the life we have lived.
Our life is the product
we have produced without intent or purpose.
Joseph Campbell, thinking about this, said,
“None of us has lived the life we intended.”
But, we can trust ourselves to The Mystery
of our own unfolding.
We can rely on the center of our own being.
There are at work within us
forces we cannot imagine,
or begin to control–
but we can pledge ourselves to them
with filial devotion
and liege loyalty,
letting what happens be what happens,
and looking forward to how that
contributes to the marvel of the whole
in response to the prayer of the people
throughout the ages:
“The work of our hands–
establish, Thou, it!” - 07/21/2020 — Lotus Blossom 04
“Go in search of your father–
your mother–
your life!”
The instructions are opaque,
obtuse,
muddled,
contradictory.
Contradiction is everywhere.
Our work is making sense of the contradictions
that clog our day.
We do that best by saying,
“That, too!
That, too!”
To every one.
And dancing with them all.
Is it our father,
or our mother,
or our life
that we are to find?
Yes,
yes,
and yes!
And then what?
“Kill your father!
Kill your mother!
And let your life eat your life!
For breakfast,
lunch
and dinner!”
You are kidding, right?
“Of course, I’m kidding!
Nothing is literal!
It is all metaphorical!
Metaphors are the only way
to deal with the contradictions!
If you take it all too seriously,
you curl up and die!
It’s metaphor all the way down!”
If you don’t die,
you will never live.
Death and resurrection, Kid.
Death and resurrection.
And the Kid walks away,
shaking her/his head.
“Come back here, Kid!
I’m not through with you!
Sit down!
Count all of the ways you have already died
to live to this point in your life!
There have been many,
don’t tell me there have been none!
And there are many more
yet to come!
Embrace them all!
Go in search of your father–
your mother–
your life!
And do the work of finding,
killing,
dying,
living,
again and again.
It’s death and resurrection
all the way down!” - 07/21/2020 — Barn on Mormon Row 06/24/2011 03 — Grand Teton National Park, Jackson, Wyoming, June 24, 2011
Poor Donald Trump cannot take “No!” for an answer.
He missed that initial induction into the Developmental Tasks.
And there is no moving forward
without moving back
and starting over
with learning to take “No!” for an answer.
That is elemental.
Poor Donald Trump does just what we wants to do,
and nothing that he doesn’t want to do.
No one explained to him
that we grow up against our will
all along the way,
and learning to do that
is essential to everything that follows.
That we bear the pain of “No!” uttered in 10,000 ways
throughout the long course of our life.
That we die again and again
in the service of rising to the occasion
and doing what needs to be done
for the sake of the good of the situation
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.
“Death and resurrection, Kid.
Death and resurrection.”
No one ever said those words
to Poor Donald Trump.
Or, if they did, they were never heard
as they needed to be heard,
with full comprehension,
absolute acceptance
and resolute obedience
in compliance with the task at hand,
namely, dying to himself
in service to the situation
and a good greater
than his own personal good.
And, here we are.
Awash in the refusal of Poor Donald Trump
to grow up
and do what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises
whether he wants to or not.
Because nothing worth happening
can happen
until that does. - 07/21/2020 — Spider Web 11/23/2013 02 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, November 23, 2013
When we do what is called for
situation by situation,
everything falls into place around that,
and we find ourselves
in the process of being ourselves
in the day-to-day proceedings of our life.
There is a problem.
We want more
than being who we are
in the moment-to-moment transactions
one day at a time.
With the lights and action
of Gay Paree in our eyes
we will never settle for the routine business
of life on the farm.
“The best is the enemy of the good,”
and we are off to find our place in the Big Time,
or the biggest time we can arrange,
with our idea of How Things Ought To Be
leading the way.
Except. But. Only.
We have no idea of how things truly ought to be.
Our idea is how we want things to be.
That’s how we think things ought to be.
And that’s the problem.
We spend our life trying to hammer our life into shape,
but our life has a mind of its own,
and we learn too late–
if at all–
where our place is in the life we are living:
Looking/Listening,
Seeing/Hearing,
Doing What Needs To Be Done.
One Situation At A Time.
The shift is equivalent to the one that took place
when Obi wan Kenobi placed the helmet
on Luke Skywalker and said,
“Listen for the Force.”
That is the shift that changes everything. - 07/22/2020 — Lotus Blossom 03
Ancient peoples all knew
that the physical world
is upheld and sustained
by the invisible world.
The physical world
is supported and maintained
by the metaphysical world.
Karma and Grace,
Tao,
Dharma,
Synchronicity,
Transcendence,
The Ineffable,
Flow,
Luck,
Magic and Black Magic…
are aspects of the invisible world
experienced within the visible world.
Sheldon Kopp was talking
about the invisible world
when he said,
“Some things can be experienced
but not understood,
and some things can be understood,
but not explained.”
Religion has always stood
at the cusp between worlds.
Good Religion interprets the invisible world
in ways that enable the visible world
to live in accord with
and in service to
the ends of the invisible world.
Bad Religion interprets the invisible world
in ways that enable the visible world
to command and control the invisible world
in service to the ends, will and desire of the visible world.
Bad Religion thinks in terms
of giving in order to get.
Good religion thinks in terms
of being in order to be–
understanding that there is nothing beyond
being at one with the invisible world
to want, desire, get, have, own, attain or do.
We can understand the worlds of visible and invisible,
of physics and metaphysics,
in terms of the world of conscious,
logical,
rational,
facts,
and the world of unconscious,
illogical,
irrational,
metaphors,
and say that human beings
are capable of living with a foot in each world.
We can move back and forth between the worlds.
We can stand apart from both worlds
and view them as an optical illusion
wherein we see it this way now,
and see it that way then.
Now we see it this way,
now we see it that way.
Which way IS is?
It is both ways at the same time!
And we know there is a “dimension of life
that transcends our experience”
(Joseph Campbell)
of life in the world of normal, physical, reality.
But.
This knowing unnerves a lot of people.
Too many of us “cannot bear to look
upon the face of God,”
and need other people to look for us
and tell us what they see
and what we must do
to be on God’s good side,
to enjoy God’s favor,
without paying the price
of bearing the pain of God’s awful presence.
And in that, Bad Religion is born.
And you get people who have not had the experience of God
talking about God
as though they know what they are saying,
but they are only saying what they have been told
and they are using it to their own advantage.
Their experiences of life are experienced
without opening them
“to the radiance of their divine dimension”
(Joseph Campbell)–
and awe,
wonder,
amazement
and “esthetic arrest”
(James Joyce)
are words that can be said,
but do not serve as
containers of an experience
that is known and understood–
and we are talking about images/experiences
that have no affect, no impact,
that stir no feeling of recognition and identity within.
We are alive but dead to life
because we are lacking eyes that can see
the things that are “transparent to transcendence”
and cannot be shown
“the divine dimensions of life
that transcends our experiences”
(Joseph Campbell).
Everything is “right there,”
waiting to be seen and also seen,
known and also known,
but.
We have to look until we see
what is also there
on “the other side”
of the optical illusion that is our life.
No one can give us the will and the courage
to look until we see.
We have to come up with that on our own. - 07/22/2020 — Sunrise, Outer Banks 10/26/2008 04 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, October 26, 2008
In order to be seen at all,
objective reality has to be interpreted subjectively.
We can pretend to be objective
about objective reality, but.
We can be objective only to the extent
that we don’t give a damn about the object, and.
There is a point at which
not giving a damn about the object
renders it so meaningless
as to effectively disappear it
from our field of vision.
To be seen at all,
an object has to mean something to us,
positively or negatively.
To truly have no opinion about it
is to render it invisible.
Then, our relationship with it
would be like sitting on an ox
looking for an ox.
The ox is right there.
We are sitting on it.
Wondering where it could be,
thinking of something else.
To see the ox,
we have to be with the ox,
and care enough about seeing/finding the ox
to be able to see it.
Caring enough about any object
allows us to see aspects of it
that would escape us entirely
if we cared less about it.
Caring too much about any object
blurs the lines separating us and it,
and we have a hard time distinguishing
where we stop and it starts.
Enmeshment is the polar extreme to objectivity.
Optimal viewing lies in the center
of the bell-shaped curve between the two.
How we see any object depends on what we have at stake
in seeing the object the way we see it–
on what we have at stake in the object
being what it is,
being the way it is,
being what we say it is.
When we look at something,
we see what makes it meaningful to us.
To see anything “as it is”
is to spend more time examining it
than we are likely going to be willing to spend.
We rush past 10,000 things in a day,
in a moment,
that we cannot be bothered with seeing.
We have more important things to do.
Yet we think we are firmly grounded in,
attached to,
“the real world.”
We cannot see God–
What Has Always Been Called “God”–
without stopping to look.
That Which Has Always Been Called “God”–
the divine,
transcendent,
ineffable,
“essence”
on “the other side” of “normal, apparent, reality”–
is always “right there,”
“right here,”
with us in every moment.
It only takes looking
to be able to see.
Looking in a way that is devoid of theology,
and doctrine,
and dogma,
and ideas of what we are looking for,
that keep us from seeing what is there.
To look like that
is to become “transparent to transcendence”
(Joseph Campbell),
and present with what is present with us,
and transformed forever
by “eternity in a grain of sand”
(William Blake). - 07/22/2020 — Bass Lake 05/19/2014 03 — Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock North Carolina, May 19, 2014
Living from the center,
aligned with the Source,
in accord with our Original Nature,
at one with our Energy, Spirit and Vitality,
perfectly incarnating Balance and Harmony,
Timing and Flow,
we are at the top of our game,
moving with the current of the Tao
through the Eternal Now
of Life and Being.
If you think money can somehow touch that,
you never will. - 07/23/2020 — Spiderweb 09/03/2010 02 — Blue Ridge Parkway Near Blowing Rock, North Carolina, September 3, 2020
Everything dries up and blows away
in time.
The things that mean the most to me,
that prop me up
and keep me going,
don’t seem to mean anything at all
to anyone I know.
That isn’t going to stop them
from meaning the most to me.
Love what you love!
Enjoy what you enjoy!
What’s the life span of a spiderweb?
Or of a spider?
Neither of those things
matter to the spider!
Live like it is forever,
you and the things you love!
When I am gone,
and nothing of me remains
anywhere,
and all the things that mean the most to me
have taken their place
with all that is no more,
it,
and I,
will have done our part,
and that will be that.
In the meantime,
there is life to be lived
before it all dries up
and blows away!
Don’t waste a moment
thinking too bad it doesn’t last!
Live every one–
every moment–
for all it’s worth–
for all you’re worth–
as though it is the last moment ever!
Cherish what is here, now!
And live as though you do!
Everything is drying up
and blowing away!
Enjoy it while you can!
Be YOU as long as there is a you to be!
Don’t hold anything back!
Look while the light lasts!
Dance while the music is playing!
This is your LIFE!
Live it like it matters to you
that you are alive–
throughout the time left for living! - 07/23/2020 — Lotus Blossom 04
Each of us has our own life to live.
There is that which assists/helps us with our life,
and there is that which hampers/interferes with our life.
It is our place to know the difference
and be attuned to it,
assisting what assists us,
helping what helps us,
avoiding what hampers and interferes
with us living our life
the way it needs to be lived.
We are not free to live any way
we feel like living .
“We are our own worst enemy”
in a lot of ways.
We are the one who hampers/interferes with
our ability to live our life
the way it needs to be lived.
We have to buy into the program ourselves!
We have to believe in what we are doing–
in what we are here to do–ourselves!
We have to believe in us!
In what is ours to do!
Most of us don’t even know what that is,
and couldn’t care less.
Those of us who belong in that category
have to start there.
We have to square up with that.
Own it.
Decide what we are going to do about it.
Decide how we are going to respond to it.
There is only ourselves and our life
in this picture,
and what we choose to do about
the relationship between us and our life
is going to make all the difference.
No one can do that for us.
We are up to us.
It is all up to us.
What happens next is our call to make.
There is that which helps us live our life,
and there is that which works against us living our life.
Are we with us and our life?
Are we against us and our life?
Whose side are we on?
Are we buying in?
Or selling out?
If we aren’t buying in,
we are selling out.
This is the turning point.
Everything is on the line.
Where are we in relation to our life? - 07/23/2020 — Blue Ridge Fall 10/17/2019 15 — Julian Price Memorial Park Picnic Area, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, October 17, 2019
Nothing will turn things to the good in our life–
your life and mine–
like making our peace with how things are.
Failing/refusing to do that is the source of all of our pain.
And doing it is the solution of all of our problems today.
Every day.
So.
What’s the problem? - 07/23/2020 — Cut and Staked 10/06/2002 — Tobacco in the field, Western North Carolina, October 6, 2002
It takes taking some things on faith–
believing they are so–
in order to know that they are.
The visible world is upheld and sustained
by the invisible world.
Death and rebirth are metaphors
that transform the fact of life
and enable us to live with facts
we could not, otherwise, bear.
Seeing past the facts
enables us to take into account
more than denial would allow,
and opens up worlds for our imagination
to explore, investigate, examine
using analogy, allegory, parable and reflection.
Taking God out of the sphere of facts,
and understanding God to be representative
of more than words can say
about experiences that cannot be explained,
or even understood,
permitting “That Which Has Always Been Called God”
to become real for us beyond theology, doctrine, dogma and creed,
and inviting us to explore
what it means to say,
“There is more to us than meets the eye,”
and what that might offer us as a guardian and guide
through dark places and disquieting times.
We are not alone.
Carl Jung said, “There is within each of us,
another, whom we do not know.”
The Force that is with us as Way and Virtue
comes to life through sincerity
and a return to our original nature.
Grace and Dharma stand by smiling
as “events unfold in mysteriously appropriate ways”
(Joseph Campbell).
However, the invisible world cannot be used
in the service of our egocentric
goals, plans, desires, agendas and schemes.
Contrivance is not a companion of soul.
And sincerity is the prerequisite for all of our interaction
with the Source and Goal of Life and Being.
But.
We are all within a quiet breath
of that “very present help in time of trouble.”
All it takes is
Stopping.
Listening.
Looking.
Waiting.
In the stillness
and the silence
for things to stir to life there
and begin to occur to us
as comfort and direction
in response to what our life situation
is calling for.
What we do about that is up to us.
It may be enough for now
to receive it as an encouraging
disclosure of the fact
that we are not alone,
and that we only have to restore
our relationship with the Other
who resides within
to know that it is so. - 07/24/2020 — Orchard Web 11/23/2013 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, November 23, 2013
We have to do the work.
This is no holiday sight-seeing tour,
no “Show up when you feel like it
and take as much time off as you like”
kind of deal.
This is the Hero’s Journey,
so-called because it actually requires us
to put ourselves out
in its service.
James Joyce (as per Joseph Campbell
in A Skeleton Key to Finnegan’s Wake
and Mythic Worlds Modern Words—
I have to take Joyce indirectly,
with interpretation and explanation,
because reading him is like reading
a foreign language,
so, thanks be to Campbell
for enabling me to do the work
of comprehending Joyce)
says there are two kinds of art:
Proper Art
and Improper Art.
Improper Art is pornographic
in that it either pulls us to desire to possess it,
or pushes us to abhor and be rid of it.
Our reaction to Improper Art
is Lust, Loathing, Fear and Dread.
Proper Art stops us in our tracks.
Stuns us into silent reverence.
Introduces us to awe and wonder.
Makes us forget to breathe.
“Aesthetic Arrest,” Joyce calls it.
Instead of wanting to possess it,
we are possessed by it
and are transformed forever
by our encounter with it.
We can think of religion
the way Joyce thinks about art.
Improper Religion is pornographic.
“My God is an awesome God!”
We possess God.
We own God.
It is “My God this,”
and “My God that.”
And we give God a round of applause.
Not a standing ovation, mind you,
a round of applause.
We offer God trinkets of attention
and loose change
in return for all of the things
we expect God to give us,
including, of course, Heaven for Eternal Life.
What a deal.
And we talk about God all the time.
Proper Religion takes all of our words away.
Turns our life inside-out,
eats our old life alive,
and transforms us forever
by the impact of the shock of its reality–
and conscripts us into its service
by taking over the direction and control of our life.
Our life becomes our work in response
to the call/command that is ours to incarnate,
exhibit,
express,
serve
and do.
What we do is our response
to the wonder of oneness
with the Art of Religion
exemplified in our life.
And we don’t talk about it at all
because the best things can’t be said,
and the second-best things can only be inferred
from the way we live,
and the third-best and lower things
are what we talk about,
news/gossip, weather and sports.
Our life is properly spent
doing the work that being alive
to the truth of how it is really
requires in each moment.
Life lived any other way
is life lived improperly. - 07/25/2020 — Spiderweb 02 11/07/2002 — Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Townsend, Tennessee, November 7, 2002
It all hangs by a thread,
turns on a dime,
It’s all just a product
of chance and time…
And yet, and yet…
I was always going to be a writer,
and a photographer,
a seer seeking expression,
a knower wanting to know.
Carl Jung was never more correct
than when he said,
“We are who we always have been,
and who we will be.”
There is nothing accidental about us.
Time and chance don’t stand a chance with us.
We are going to be who we are!
The pine tree is tucked away in the seed.
The oak is never going to be a weed.
Who we are is right here with us all along.
It only takes looking to see,
knowing to know,
paying attention to understand.
So sit with yourself in some quiet place.
Invite reflection.
Await realization.
Consider the thread of you
playing out over time.
Who have you been showing yourself to be
all along the way
from the beginning to now?
What’s your shtick?
There you are.
Simple.
Now–go be you!
Do what you do! - 07/25/2020 — Cades Cove 02/28/2014 10 — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Townsend, Tennessee, February 28, 2014
When we go off into the world
to find our life and live it,
we do not know where the lines lie,
or where we should draw them.
We can easily care too much about the wrong things,
and care too little about the right things.
Where does the line lie between the wrong things
and the right things?
Where does the line lie between too much
and too little?
Time will tell.
We can trust ourselves to time
and to our life experience over time
to reveal all we need to know
about finding our life and living it.
In the meantime,
there is only taking our time
and paying attention–
seeing what we look at,
feeling what we feel,
sensing what we sense,
knowing what we know
about what’s what,
what’s happening,
and what is being called for
in each situation as it arises,
reflecting and reassessing
all along the way.
It helps to have little in the way
of judgment or opinion–
no more than,
“Oops. Wrong turn!
Back up. Try again,”
would be just fine. - 07/25/2020 — The Train at Morant’s Curve 09/19/2009 03 — Banff National Park, Alberta, September 19, 2009
What are the forces of destabilization in your life?
What are the forces of balance and harmony?
What serves as your grounding foundation?
What do you turn to when you have nowhere to turn?
What keeps you going?
The silence that connects us to the Source is always there.
Both are always there.
The Source is the locus of our Original Nature
which is the grounding foundation of our life
in all conditions,
contexts
and circumstances.
Being who we are
and doing it like we would do it
as an expression/incarnation
of who we are
in each situation as it arises
is all we need to know-do-be.
We are stabilized when we are being who we are.
Our balance and harmony snap into place
when we are being who we are.
What do we need to be who we are?
We need to stop.
Breathe.
Look.
Listen.
Refocus.
And redirect.
Step back into the moment,
see what is being called for,
respond as only we can
out of the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues/character
that are ours to share.
Moment-by-moment.
Situation-by-situation.
All our life long. - 07/26/2020 — Spiderweb 09/05/2009 02 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, September 5, 2009
Bringing ourselves forth
to meet the time and place
of our living,
moment by moment,
situation by situation,
day after day,
is becoming who we need to be
to provide what we have to offer
to the times
as they swirl,
change,
transform
around us,
is becoming who we are.
Becoming who we need to be–
who we are called to be
by each situation as it arises–
is becoming who we are.
There are no steady states of being.
Living is becoming.
Is transitioning.
Is life.
Is being transformed by life.
Accommodation and adjustment, Kid!
Accommodation and adjustment!
In becoming,
we are one with the Flow,
with the Flux,
with the way of The Way–
offering what is needed
when it is needed,
the way it is needed
time after time,
throughout time,
through all times.
And places,
conditions,
contexts
and circumstances.
Dancing with the times.
Dancing with eternity.
Being one with the times over time.
Being one with ourselves in all times.
Nobody can do more than that.
That is all that can be asked of any of us.
To want more than that is to miss it.
Just be who you are becoming who you are
in response to the times of your living
in the place you are now,
no, now,
no, now…
always and forever,
amen.
We take who we are–
who we are capable of being–
in one hand,
and what the situation is asking of us–
is asking us to be–
is calling for,
in the other hand,
and we get the two hands together,
time after time over time.
Over the full course of time that is ours to work with.
Changing by becoming who we are yet to be
in response to the times
all of the time.
We are called forth by our circumstances,
and bring ourselves forth
by rising to meet every occasion
all our life long.
This is the way of The Way
living in us,
living through us
throughout time.
By becoming who we are without ceasing,
we bring something new into the world
all the time.
We break the cyclical cycle.
The old has passed away,
behold the new has come,
every day,
throughout the day,
each day,
just by being who we are,
becoming who we are.
Making all things new.
Again. - 07/26/2020 — Dugger’s Creek Falls 07/06/2015 01 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Linville Falls Visitor Center, Linville Falls, North Carolina, July 6, 2015
“Comfort, comfort my people,” says the Lord to the prophet (Isaiah)
“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and tell her that her hard times are past…”
“But do not under any circumstances
say ‘Peace, Peace’ when there is no peace!”
says the Lord to a different prophet (Jeremiah).
The Bible says opposite things,
top to bottom
all the time.
Because times change.
There is no Word of the Lord for all times and places.
The Word of the Lord
is like the Spirit
that blows where it will.
One time it is like this,
and another time it is like that,
but always and forever it is of the times.
Pertinent,
timely
and uniquely suited
to this here,
this now.
The Word of the Lord is context sensitive.
Situational.
Provisional.
Conditional.
Temporary.
Sometimes it is like this,
and sometimes it is like that.
It all depends.
Which means we can’t count on it
to be anything more that what it is–
what it needs to be–
right here, right now.
And that puts us on the spot.
We are always in the position
of determining for ourselves
what Word of the Lord is apropos
and applicable
right here, right now.
How do we know?
By being attuned to right here, right now.
By being tuned into right here, right now.
By seeing what’s what,
hearing what is being said
and knowing what needs to be said in response,
and what needs to be done in response,
and what the situation is calling for,
and doing it,
right here, right now.
The Word of the Lord comes
not just to the prophets,
but to all of those clued into the moment
of their living.
We are all prophets.
A prophet is someone who sees and hears
and knows and understands
what’s what
and what to do about it.
And everyone is capable of that.
All it takes are eyes to see,
ears to hear,
and hearts to comprehend.
We all have eyes, ears, hearts!
What is the problem?
Could it be that what we
desire,
want,
fear,
loathe,
despise
are in our way?
And that the only thing standing
between us
and That Which Has Always Been Called God
is us? - 07/27/2020 — Lake Andrew Jackson 07/26/2020 02 — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina, July 26, 2020
Turning the light around
means looking within for
What now?
What next?
Then what?
You will likely hear,
“One step at a time–
you are two steps over the limit.”
We hate uncertainty,
insecurity,
not-knowing.
Who?
What?
When?
Where?
Why?
How?
Then What?
We want it to be spelled out.
Written down.
With all contingencies taken into account
and all bases covered.
And, with all that considered,
not one of us intended to be where we are
here and now.
How did we wind up here, now?
By fortuitous (or not)
and unseen turns of events.
That got us here,
and it will take us from here
into the next moment,
and the one after that.
The best we can do is assist the process
by opening ourselves to
the nature of the now,
listening,
looking,
for what is being called for
and what needs to be done about it,
and see where it goes.
All of the guidance and direction we need
is found in listening:
to our body
(Listen to your heart–
What makes your little heart sing and dance?
How often is your heart in what you do?
Listen to your stomach–
What is your gut feeling telling you?
Listen to your bones–
What do you know in your bones?),
To our nighttime dreams
(Our dreams are mirrors reflecting
how things currently are in our life,
giving us a read-out of what’s what
and how it is with us.
What are they telling you?
How do you feel about your dreams
during the dream
and after?
What part do you play in your dreams?
What themes run through your dreams?
What dreams recur?
What message do they deliver?)
To our daytime fantasies
(Where do we go?
What do we do?
What solutions do they suggest?
What situations do they promise to remedy?)
To our recurring advice to ourselves
(What are we always telling ourselves?
Where did we first hear that?
When we listen to ourselves,
who are we actually listening to?
Who are we living to please?
Or to displease?
How dependable has our self-guidance proven to be?
What guides our boat on its path through the sea?).
Experiencing our experience
through awareness and reflection
leads to new realizations.
Knowing what we know
is essential knowing.
And we don’t know
what we do not attend.
Turn the light around! - 07/27/2020 — Leaving Mesa Verde 09/27/2007
Every human being leaves more undone
than they get done.
That is the pathos of being human.
No other life form worries about,
or even thinks of,
getting things done.
All of them do what needs to be done
in each moment as it arises,
and let that be that.
I’d like to know how many other life forms
suffer from self-induced depression.
I know none do so from having done so little,
when so much needs to be done.
It is entirely within the realm of possibility
that a large number of humans kill themselves
because they cannot do enough,
because they cannot change enough
of what needs to be changed,
because they cannot make enough of a difference
in the way things are–
and that others lose themselves in some form of addiction
because they cannot live with doing so little.
I wonder at what point
in the evolutionary development of the species
we began to despair
because we realized nothing we did mattered
in terms of the impact for good
it had on the way things are.
And started telling ourselves
“God is working his purpose out,”
and “it will all be made up to us in heaven.”
I do know that dogs don’t let it get them down.
And cats?
When has a cat ever cared about
not being enough? - 07/28/2020 — Morant’s Curve 09/18/2009 — Banff National Park, Alberta, September 18, 2009
Nothing is just what it is.
Everything points beyond itself
to the 10,000 things.
In any situation,
the 10,000 things are present,
and 10,000 things are going on
representing “the stuff”
each person–
and each living entity–
bring to the situation
out of their/its own lived experience.
It is a complicated world.
Complexes,
memories,
associations,
interests,
desires,
resentments…
Mix,
clash,
tangle,
collide,
collude,
color,
influence,
impact
and create
everything that happens
and happens not
in each situation as it arises
across the board,
around the world.
Try getting a handle on that.
Try controlling that.
It is always a wonder
that things aren’t
in more of a mess
than they are in.
Moment-to-moment-to-moment.
Balance and harmony, Kid.
Balance and harmony.
Starts at home.
Begin here, now.
Stop.
Sit still.
Be quiet.
Breathe.
Listen.
Look.
Until you see,
hear,
what’s what,
what’s happening,
what’s going on,
what’s being called for,
what needs to be done about it,
right here,
right now…
Awareness is our only tool.
Our only chance
at balance and harmony.
“This too, this, too.”
Reflection leads to realization.
Realization leads to
“Thou Art That.”
Seeing our own disparate,
discordant,
dissonance,
disconnection
and dislocation
allows us to be cognizant of others’
and opens the way
to an “I and Thou” reckoning,
and a “What now?” dialog,
with compassion and peace
companions long absent from the conversation
present at last in the room. - 07/28/2020 — Lake Andrew Jackson 07/26/2020 02 — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina, July 26, 2020
We stand before the Cyclops
in any one of his multitudinous manifestations
and recite the mantra
of the hopeless and forlorn
throughout the ages:
“Why take another step?
What good do we think it will do?
We are wasting our time!
What’s the point of even showing up?
Who cares?
What difference will it make?
Why go on with the farce?”
And the Cyclops grins again,
red eye flashing hatred and rage,
stepping forward
to claim his prize.
But, with a slight shift of perspective,
we turn the light around,
and step forward ourselves
to stop him where he stands:
“Why take another step?
What good do you think it will do?
You are wasting your time!
What’s the point of even showing up?
Who cares what you do or say?
What difference do you think you will make?
Why go on with the farce?
You are not scaring us off!
We are in this in spite of the best you can do
for as long as the work
needs to be done!
We are not quitting!
We don’t care what our chances are!
We are locked into what is called for!
We are solidly grounded in service to the Good
whether it does any good or not!
We are glad to be good for nothing!
If you want to tangle with us, come on!
We aren’t stopping–
or even slowing down!”
The Cyclops depends on hopelessness
and dejection
doing his work for him.
When we find what is worth doing
“without hope,
without witness,
without reward”
(Steven Moffat),
there is no reason ever to quit,
or even slow down.
When we know what we would go to hell for,
we know what we will do no matter what,
and are free to live life
as it needs us to live it,
without bothering to even keep score. - 07/29/2020 — Lake Andrew Jackson 07/26/2020 08 — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina, July 26, 2020
How do we know what to do when?
Fear could guide us.
Or desire.
Or loathing,
anger,
hatred,
dread…
We could live at the whim
of emotional reactivity.
But.
What do our emotions know?
Reason and logic have their place.
But.
What guides them through their
carefully plotted deliberations?
How do they know what is best for us
or our situation?
“Best” in terms of what?
In light of what?
How good is the good
reason and logic call good?
“Well,” they would say,
“If you want this,
here is the best path to that end!”
But.
What does wanting know?
How do we know what to want?
How we know what we should want?
How do we want what we ought to want?
How do we know what needs to be done
without contriving our way to a future
where we have no business being?
Where do we belong?
How do we know?
We have to go all the way back
to who we are
to find out.
Carl Jung said,
“We are who we always have been–
and who we will be.”
Living in ways that incarnate,
exhibit,
express,
reveal and make known
who we are
in each situation as it arises,
regardless of contexts,
conditions
and circumstances
is being true to ourselves
and to our place in our life
throughout our life.
It is to work out the conflicts
and contradictions
between who we are
and where we are
through negotiation and compromise,
adjustment and accommodation.
What do we need to be who we are,
where we are,
when we are,
here and now?
It takes sitting quietly,
in stillness and silence,
to find the way
to The Way of Being Who We Are
Here and Now.
Stop.
Breathe.
Look.
Listen.
Wait for the mud to settle
and the water to clear.
Listen to your heart
(What makes your little heart
sing and dance?).
Listen to your stomach
(Those gut feelings).
Listen to your “bones”
(What you “know in your bones”).
Listen to your nighttime dreams.
Ask the questions that beg to be asked.
Say the things that cry out to be said.
Reflect on the things
that have always been true about you
over the full course of your life–
they will always be true about you.
What does that tell you about where and how
you need to be?
About where you belong,
and belong not?
Watch what you find yourself doing
absentmindedly,
unintentionally,
directing yourself to what needs to be done.
See how your sense of direction
forms itself around,
and flows from,
the stillness and silence
of mindful walk-a-bouts. - 07/29/2020 — Barbed Wire 09/03/2010 — Blue Ridge Parkway near Blowing Rock, North Carolina, September 3, 2010
How do we know what is important?
How do we decide what matters
and what doesn’t?
How do we know we are right?
What makes us think we are?
How often do we evaluate our evaluations?
Against what do we check our plumb?
The accuracy of our circle?
The squareness of our square?
We declare we are right,
but.
How do we know that we are right?
How often do we even ask the question. - 07/30/2020 — Lake Andrew Jackson 07/26/2020 05 — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina, July 26, 2020
We live to turn things to our advantage.
As though we know what that is.
Is it better to win or to lose?
Is it better to get what you want,
or to get what you don’t want?
Only time will tell.
And then, time will tell again.
And again…
When do we ever know for sure?
We know for sure that we are better off
in some places than in others,
but which places are which,
and for how long “better” lasts,
we do not know.
And yet, we live to turn things to our advantage.
You might think,
that by now we would have come up with
a different strategy for having it made.
I suggest we start with
forgetting about having it made.
Having it made is such a time-limited matter.
We are going to die!
There is no such thing as having it made
when it is only a matter of time until we die!
You can call it having it made–
I call it dying!
How are we going to live until we die?
That is our only question!
Not, “What is to our greatest advantage?”
Not, “What is the shortest route to having it made?”
But, “How can we live the best life we are capable of living
within the conditions and circumstances
that define our environment
until we die?”
Living to answer the right question makes all the difference.
What questions are you living to answer? - 07/30/2020 — A Flight of Pelicans 11/03/2001 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, November 3, 2001
Scary times.
Made scarier by the fact
that we aren’t in control of what happens.
But.
What’s new about that
is that we have lost access
to our comforting illusions
and ready escapes near at hand.
We have never been in control of what happens.
The best we have ever been able to hope for
is controlling our response to what happens
in light of what is being asked of us
here and now,
in this present moment of our living.
And that remains the case right here, right now!
What is being called for here?
Now?
Respond to that as best you can!
Forget the “big picture,”
the “long term”!
Right here! Right now!
Here we are, now what?
What is necessary right here, right now?
Do that.
The long term is a different matter.
We have to settle ourselves into that,
and make our peace with having to deal with it
for the long term.
We have to grieve what must be grieved,
and bear what must be borne.
We have lost so much–
so much has been lost by so many!
We all have to–must–bear consciously the pain
of all that we/they have lost!
Bearing consciously the pain
of our grief, loss and sorrow
is crucial to our life–
to our ability to live–
over the long term.
We have to feel what must be felt,
grieve what must be grieved,
mourn what must be mourned,
see what must be seen,
know what must be known,
and fully face it all
without discounting,
dismissing,
ignoring,
denying any of it!
Sob, cry, throw-up, scream…
Do. Not. Hold. It. In.
Do. Not. Pretend. It. Away.
Face it!
Feel it!
Vent it!
Express it!
Know it! Know it! Know it!
Several times throughout the day,
for as many days as it takes.
In order to treat our grief well,
we have to master the age-old art
of walking two paths at the same time.
We have to do now what needs to be done now,
and we have to grieve our losses,
feel our fear,
and face the reality of a new world
without the comfort of safe guards and shelters.
We are on our own
like few of us have ever been before.
Well.
Our ancestors have all been here,
where we are,
before us.
We have their genes.
Our Psyche comes from them.
We have built-in to the system–
into our system–
a reservoir or time tested archetypes
for meeting whatever life throws at us.
We only have to find our way back to
our Original Nature to know that it is so.
We do that by trusting it is as I say it is
when I say, “There is more to us than meets the eye.”
All of us.
Every one of us.
And when I say, “We have what it takes
to rise to the occasion–
every occasion.”
We come from good stock.
We are built to take it,
and to find what it takes
to do what it takes
about whatever is before us,
and whatever needs to be done about it.
To find our Original Nature,
we have to “turn the light around”
and seek what we need within ourselves,
and not in our external environment.
To do that:
Stop.
Breathe (Slowly, deeply pausing between exhale and inhale).
Look.
Listen.
Wait (“For the mud to settle
and the water to clear”).
Remember your breathing.
Watch for what begins to stir
in the stillness,
in the silence,
showing you,
reminding you,
who you are,
and always have been,
and will always be–
the core truth of your very own being.
We all have access to the Source of who we are,
of our Original Nature,
and the Source of life itself,
to stabilize us
and ground us
upon the adamantine foundation
of what is unshakable about us–
and to orient us,
guide and direct us,
sustain and encourage us,
in facing what must be faced
and doing what needs to be done about it.
In the presence of the Source,
and possessed by our Original Nature,
we are never alone,
and have all we need
to find what we need
to do what is ours to do.
Return to the Source on a regular basis.
Know what is true about you
in dealing with what is true about your life,
and living appropriately
in response to your circumstances
moment-by-moment,
situation-by-situation,
day-by-day
throughout the time left for living. - 07/31/2020 — Lake Andrew Jackson 07/26/2020 10 Panorama — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina, July 26, 2020
I don’t know where the line lies between
intimacy and vulnerability.
I don’t know if there is a line.
I think it may be one thing.
I don’t know what to call it.
I don’t know where the lines lie among
psychic
and psychological
and physical
and emotional
and spiritual.
I don’t know if there are lines.
I think it may all be one thing.
I don’t know what to call it.
“Me,” perhaps.
But then, where does the line lie between
“me”
and “you”?
I don’t know where the line lies between
intellectual,
rational
and logical.
Or if there is one.
It feels like it would be easier
to draw lines separating these last three entities
from the others,
but there is mutuality among them all,
and we all sort ourselves out
along a continuum containing all people
from all times and places
in a way that enables us to recognize one another
and not confuse ourselves with any one.
We all are different but remarkably similar.
And how trustworthy are the lines
separating these aspects of ourselves
within ourselves,
and separating ourselves
from all other selves?
How do we “get it all together”
in all of these ways,
as individuals,
without being “together”
with one another,
with each other,
throughout the continuum of humanity?
And, could it be,
that the things that keep us separated
into categories of “me” and “you,”
and “us” and “them,”
also keep us separated/cut off/isolated/apart from
all of these aspects of ourselves
within ourselves?
So that the more we identify ourselves
as “us” and not “them,”
the less integrated and whole we are
within ourselves–
and the more whole we are
within ourselves,
the less able we are to think of ourselves
as “us” and “them”?
And that we will not be safe,
individually or collectively,
without being whole
individually and collectively?
So that the work to be safe and secure
in an environment that is trustworthy and dependable,
is the work of becoming healed and whole and one within?
Until we can be an “I”
we cannot be a “We”?
What do you think?
Could it be?
That the work of being safe
is the work of leaving home
and finding our father
and our mother
within ourselves
through the trials and ordeals
of life on our own
in the world?
That growing up
is developing all of the tools of life
mentioned above
in order to be who we are
and be okay
with not knowing
where any of the lines lie–
or even if there are lines?
What do you think? - 07/31/2020 — Athabasca River Valley, Jasper National Park, Alberta, October 2, 2009
There is what happens,
and there is what we do about what happens,
in response to what happens.
And then, something else happens.
And that’s the way it goes all the way.
With luck, we learn from what happens
when we respond to what happens,
and we get better at what is ours to do.
But we must never, ever,
close our eyes to the truth
of what’s happening!
Our only chance is seeing what’s what,
knowing what our choices are,
and trusting ourselves to know
how to make the right ones over time.
The national park motto always applies:
Your Safety Is Your Responsibility!
We come into the world with all we need
to find what we need
to do what needs to be done
in each situation that arises.
It is up to us to learn to use
what we have to work with–
the gifts, genius, daemon, virtues, character
that are unique to us,
and are our Super Powers,
unique to us,
and ready to help us find the way
through all of our trials and ordeals.
Trust yourself to what comes built into you,
and let yourself show you what you can do! - 08/01/2020 — Spiderweb 07/31/2020 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, September 3, 2006
Adjustment and accommodation,
Negotiation and compromise,
Acceptance and realization,
Growth and recognition,
Peace, balance and harmony–
Are all stages on the way,
Hallmarks of The Way.
Growing up is the only form of growth.
We grow by growing up.
We grow up against our will,
in recognition of how things are.
“This is the way things are,
and this is what can be done about it,
and that’s that.
That is how things are!”
Letting things be because they are–
letting come what’s coming
and letting go what’s going,
and bearing consciously the pain
of realization and acquiescence–
is the price of being alive.
When Jesus said,
“Pick up your cross everyday
and come along with me,”
this is what he was talking about–
bearing consciously the pain
of being alive.
Conflict,
contradiction,
polarity,
dichotomy,
dissonance,
duality,
incongruity,
antipathy,
opposition,
agony,
anguish,
and pathos
constitute the lived experience
of incompatible,
mutually exclusive,
wants,
interests
and needs.
Life Eats Life!
How’s that for the fundamental refutation
of all we consider to be good and right?
Yet, that is the basic requirement
for life in the world.
Growing up is coming to terms
with the terms required for life and being–
and consciously bearing the pain of being alive
in acquiescence to the realization at the heart of life:
“When you meet an elephant coming toward you on the path,
Get off the path!!!”
Do not insist on your principles
in the face of necessity,
or accept the fact that some principles
require us to die on the cross we carry.
And let it be so,
because it is. - 08/01/2020 — After Sunset 07/27/2010 02 — Blue Ridge Parkway, West Jefferson, North Carolina, July 27, 2010
There is how things are,
and there is how we feel
about how things are.
And that is how things are.
And that is where we have to get to work–
being conscious of how easily two things
become one thing
in their impact on us,
and intentionally preventing that from happening.
How we feel about how things are
is different from how things are.
It is up to us to separate them,
and deal with two things,
not one thing.
Emergency room personnel
have to keep their feelings
from interfering with their response
to what comes through the door.
What’s happening
and what needs to be done
about what’s happening
has to be realized and done
on a level different from
how we feel about what’s happening
and what needs to be done about it.
The same thing applies
to the dog throwing up on the carpet,
or the baby’s diaper
needing to be changed,
or all of the 10,000 things
happening at once.
Our response to what is happening
has to be to what is happening,
and not to how we feel about what is happening.
We process the impact of what happens
at a time and place
different from the time and place
in which what is happening happens.
At the time of the happening,
we realize the horror,
or the inconvenience,
or the outlandish absurdity, etc.,
without being sidetracked by any of it–
in order to do what needs to be done about it
here and now.
We note it and tuck it away in our awareness
to be revisited when that is appropriate,
in order to give our full attention
to the present moment
and what is called for now.
This is called
“Walking two paths at the same time.”
It is a life skill we all need to master
by the time we are, say, six years old. - 08/02/2020 — Lake Andrew Jackson 07/26/2020 07 — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina, July 26, 2020
Contrivance is the foundation
of the world as we know it.
Everybody is contriving to have
their best possible future.
The future is “where it’s at.”
The present is where we contrive
to get to the future
where we all will have it made
(On our terms, of course).
The present is no place to be!
Ask anybody.
Everyone hates their life in the present!
Everyone is contriving
to get as far away from the present
as it is possible to be.
(We have people seriously dreaming
of colonizing space
because that is where new life begins!
New life always begins somewhere else.
And we have to get there to have it made.
Having it made is where all our dreams come true.
Nirvana.
The Elysian Fields.
The moons of Jupiter, perhaps.
Somewhere as far away from here and now
as we can get.)
Boy oh boy, do I have bad news for you,
and you,
and you,
and, yes, you!
You. Are. Dreaming.
You are drowning in denial.
You are dead to the world,
hanging out,
until you actually die
and some undertaker
makes it official.
Life is nowhere other than here. Now.
But.
You have to stop contriving to have something better,
and start being where you are.
And.
Everybody (Ask them) hates where they are.
There you are.
Contrivance and denial are “all we got”
here, now.
When you get to the end of your
contrivance/denial rope,
come sit down.
We’ll talk.
I’ll wait (winks). - 08/02/2020 — Clouds 07/26/2020 — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina, July 26, 2020
The photographer’s burden
is wanting to take the best photograph ever.
Ever meaning past and future.
It is a burden because it is impossible.
For one thing,
it is impossible because every photograph
is limited to this here, this now.
This time.
This place.
Photographs are snatches,
glimpses,
of time and place.
Photographs are moments captured between shutters.
1/225th of second, say.
or 1/30th of second.
or 10 seconds.
It doesn’t matter.
However long it is,
it comes and goes like that.
And that’s that.
And then, it is a different scene.
And the longer between scenes,
the more different is the scene.
Even the best photograph at that time in that place
is problematic.
The best we can hope for
is a good-enough photograph
of a particular scene
at a particular time.
Change the time, we change the scene.
A good-enough photograph is the best we can do.
A good-enough photograph is the best photograph.
Improving it is taking a different photograph
that we like better.
Doing that with a landscape photograph
is iffy at best.
We can never go back to the same scene.
It’s like stepping into the same river twice.
It’s always changing.
The weather.
The lighting.
The tourists–
or other photographers–
in the way…
Taking another photograph
that we like better
is a never-ending quest for satisfaction.
At some point,
we have to be satisfied enough.
We have to lay aside the idea of the best,
and come to terms with the idea
of being satisfied enough
to sleep well at night,
and to stop thinking about going back again
and making it better.
We will only make it different.
Better is a matter of finally being satisfied enough
to let it go.
The only thing photographers ever really want
is to be in all of the right places
at all of the right times.
That is the photographers real burden–
being unable to have what we really want.
Everybody carries that burden. - 08/02/2020 — Boats at Sunrise 09/30/2010 — Stonington Harbor, Deer Isle, Maine, September 30, 2010
“It’s not for everybody.”
Nothing is.
Well, maybe, breathing.
But, we are not here
to be guided by “everybody.”
What’s your shtick?
Whatever it is,
“It’s not for everybody.”
We can’t let that become a factor
in whether we stick with our shtick.
Being true to ourselves
means being true to that
which sets us apart.
Fitting in cannot be so important
that we sacrifice our gifts,
our genius,
our knacks and our fancies
in order to have a place in the crowd.
What do you do best?
What do you enjoy doing the most?
How often do you do it?
How long has it been since you’ve done it?
Take care of your shtick.
Allow it to guide you along the way. - 08/03/2020 — Crepe Myrtle 08/02/2020 01 — Indian Land, South Carolina, August 2, 2020
Anybody can believe in Jesus.
The tricky part is being Jesus
the way only we can be Jesus,
so that no one watching
can tell where Jesus stops
and we start,
or vice versa.
But.
There is a hack for cutting
straight to the heart of the matter,
skirting all that thinking,
reasoning,
proof-texting
and doctrinal-testing
to come up with the perfectly precise formula
for knowing what Jesus would do when,
where,
why
and how.
It’s called,
“Don’t know what Jesus would do!”
Jesus didn’t know what Jesus would do.
He waited to see what he did,
and said,
“So, that’s what Jesus would do.
How about that!”
That’s the only way to do it.
Not knowing what to do is the way
to purest doing.
That’s straight from the heart stuff,
the things we do without contriving,
or being able to explain,
defend,
justify,
and excuse
on the basis
of one thing after another.
What do we do without thinking about it?
That’s what Jesus would do!
The hack for doing that
is to not think about what Jesus would do,
but to think instead about what is happening
here and now,
in each situation as it arises–
and looking closely,
listening carefully,
for what the situation is calling for
and do that thing
with the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues/character
that came with us from the womb
(Expressing our Original Nature,
The Face That Was
Ours Before Our Parents Were Born
spontaneously,
automatically,
unceremoniously,
matter-of-factually),
and allowing that to create a brand new situation
in which we do the same thing,
through all the situations that spin off
from the first one,
all our life long.
This is called,
“Being you in response to what is happening
all your life long.”
That’s it.
Nobody will be able to guess
where we stop
and Jesus starts,
or vice versa.
Or know what we will do next!
(Not even we will know that!) - 08/03/2020 — Big Creek 11/06/2004 — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Waterville, NC, November 6, 2004
It is about how well we live our life.
How well we face what faces us in each moment.
How well we deal with what we have to deal with.
How well we square up to the reality of time and place,
context and circumstance,
moment-to-moment,
situation-by-situation,
day-after-day
over the full course of our life.
Seeing what is called for,
offering what is missing,
doing what is needed,
when it is needed,
the way it is needed,
for as long as it is needed,
here and now,
for as long as there are here’s and now’s.
It is about our body of work
compiled throughout our days upon the earth.
We live to engage the moment–
not to escape the moment–
not to deny the moment–
not to dismiss, discount, disregard, ignore the moment–
but to engage the moment,
to meet the moment on the moment’s terms,
rising to meet the occasion
on every occasion,
being brought forth,
born again,
deepened,
enlarged,
expanded,
developed,
grown up
through the process of living our life,
blessed by the trials and ordeals
of the life that is ours to live
in ways beyond imaging or believing.
We become what is “in it for us.”
We are it.
We are the fruit of our own labor.
The product of our own work in the service
of what is good for the time and place of our living,
in each time and place of our living,
over the times and places of our life.
What we have to show for it
is who we show ourselves to be
by being who we as that changes over time.
What helps us with that?
What makes it possible?
What do we need
in order to do what needs us
to do it?
That is our quest:
Finding what we need
to do what needs to be done!
There is nothing beyond that
to want,
or seek,
or desire! - 08/04/2020 — Johnson Creek Panorama 11/13/2017 04, Beaufort County, South Carolina, November 13, 2017
Hope doesn’t care what its chances are.
Hope does what is good
whether it does any good or not.
Hope does what is right
whether it makes any difference or not.
Hope does what needs to be done–
anyway,
nevertheless,
even so.
The questions:
So what?
Who cares?
Why try?
Have no impact on hope.
Who cares so what?
Who cares who cares?
Who cares why try?
Why not try?
Hope steps into every situation
and does what is called for
for no reason
beyond being what the situation
is calling for–
doing what in needed here and now
because it is needed here and now.
Hopelessness may be a fact,
but what it means
is a matter of opinion.
Never let the facts stop you
from being who you are,
doing what is yours to do
when that would be appropriate
to the situation at hand.
And if that wouldn’t be appropriate,
what would be?
Do that. - 08/04/2020 — Trees Blended 04 — Adams Mill Pond, Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina
The past doesn’t go anywhere,
the future never comes,
and the present is eternal and everlasting–
it never ends.
The here and now merely
flows into,
and merges with,
the here and now forever.
We are never anywhere other than here and now.
That is why it is called The Eternal Now.
If we are ever going to do it,
we are going to do it here and now.
Why put it off?
Why hold anything back?
Ask the questions that beg to be asked!
Say the things that cry out to be said!
See what is happening
and do what is called for
in every situation as it arises
with the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues/character
we already have!
If we don’t know what to do,
we will find all the guidance we need
in our Original Nature.
We only need to sit quietly
looking into ourselves
as we were in the beginning,
are now and ever shall be,
waiting for the mud to settle
and the water to clear.
We allow ourselves to enter a spirit of play
where we are free for the fresh–
spontaneous and straight from the heart–
act of pure sincerity
in becoming consubstantial with the world,
being of one substance with all of life
through the wonderful,
playful,
invention of AS IF!
Evoking and awakening the gifts we carry within,
and living in the world as if we possess
the very mystery and wonder within us
that are at the source of creation itself,
as though we are of the same mystery and wonder
in our mind and in our body,
and are looking to it to guide and direct,
lead and encourage us,
dancing and laughing,
along the way,
here and now.
(Thanks to Joseph Campbell for initiating
both reflection and realization) - 08/05/2020 — Blue Ridge Spiderweb 09/03/2010 02 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, September 3, 2010
To be transparent to ourselves
is to be “transparent to transcendence”
(Joseph Campbell’s term),
so that in seeing us,
people see That Which Has Always Been Called God.
Then, “the Father and I are One.”
And that is the whole point of the entire show.
Saying anything more obscures the point
and conceals the show. - 08/05/2020 — Dory in the Fog 09/25/2010 02 — Stonington Harbor, Deer Isle, Maine, September 25, 2010
Hope is not what we have.
It is what we do.
Hope is doing what needs to be done
in every situation as it arises,
without caring what our chances are
in any situation.
We are the hope of the world!
How we live matters!
What really matters
is living as though all of this is so!
Living as if the right things are so
is indistinguishable from the right things being so!
Living as if the right things are so
makes them so!
All we have to do is be clear
about what the right things are
and live as if they are so!
Hope does not quit!
Hope does not give up!
Hope does not stop!
Hope does not even slow down!
Hope does not wait for conditions
to be favorable.
Hope sees what is called for
in every situation
and lives in its service
no matter what!
Anyway!
Nevertheless!
Even so!
Joseph Campbell said,
“In certain Native American tribes,
the parents would tell their children,
“As you leave home
to find your way in the world,
the birds of the air will shit on you.
Do not pause even to wipe it off.”
That must be our attitude
as we live in the service of hope in the world.
We do not give our opposition
an opportunity to slow us down!
We have work to do,
and we aren’t stopping
until it’s done! - 08/05/2020 — Lake Andrew Jackson 07/26/2020 04 — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina, July 26, 2020
Everything comes from our imagination
embedded in our psyche.
We have what we need
to find
(or build,
or make/create)
what we need
to do what needs to be done.
We have but to believe that it is so,
and live as though it is.
This is the critical part:
believing and living as if it is so.
We have to stop jamming the signals
from our own body!
There is what is happening,
and there is how we feel about what is happening.
How we feel about what is happening
can be so all-consuming
that we can think about nothing else.
We are overwhelmed.
The intensity of our fear/dread/anxiety/hatred/etc.
is so great that we turn to opioids
or alcohol/etc.
to numb us to the point of feeling nothing.
And that keeps us from doing
what needs to be done
in response to what is happening.
Which puts us on a steep downward spiral,
with bad becoming worse by the minute
until we reach a point of staring blankly
into space until some undertaker
takes us away.
And, all the time,
we had what we needed
to find what we needed
to do what needed to be done
about what was happening.
But we didn’t want to do that.
We wanted things to be smooth and easy
without having to do anything
we didn’t want to do
to have it that way.
At some point,
we have to grow up enough
to do what we don’t want to do
in order for things to be as good as they can be
for ourselves and others–
which may not be at all what we want
things to be.
We have what we need but.
We have to be willing to do what needs to be done
to access it and put it into play.
Negotiation,
compromise,
adjustment
and accommodation
are the tools
we have to become proficient with–
and that means coming to terms
with the fact that
“the best is the enemy of the good,”
and we can have a good-enough life
if we don’t have to have the best life we want,
and refuse to settle for anything less.
We have to be capable of growing up
to have a chance in this world.
If we are capable of growing up,
we have what we need
to find what we need
to do what needs to be done.
We only have to believe it is so
and live as if it is. - 08/06/2020 — Crabtree Falls 04/26/2006 01 — Blue Ridge Parkway near Little Switzerland, NC, April 26, 2006
Our task is to be true to ourselves
within the context and circumstances of our life–
to live out of our Original Nature,
with sincerity
and self-transparency
in all that we do.
And to let that be that.
To let that be enough,
because that is all there is.
The people who realize this,
affirm it,
embrace it,
engage it
and live in accord with it
are real people.
They are just who they are,
doing what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises
all their life long.
They are content with themselves
and their life,
and are glad to be who they are,
doing what is theirs to do.
They live out of their own joy
in the service of the best they have to offer
to meet what is called for here and now,
moment by moment,
and think of that as a good day well-lived.
Their world is quite different
from that of their neighbors
who contrive to improve their life
in the service of personal gain
and advantage
by exploiting their position
to increase their opportunities
for advancement and privilege,
wealth and power,
fortune and glory
without limit or end.
I do not know who is better off,
but I like the idea of mutual respect
for each other
and for legitimate boundaries/limits
that permit individual development
without infringing on the development of others
and without destroying the environment
in the service of unending wealth
and an ever-increasing standard of living.
Greed and folly have forever been recognized
as the source of all of our problems,
and are naturally avoided
by those whose idea of the good
takes everybody’s good into account,
without serving their own good
at the expense of anyone else’s. - 08/06/2020 — Lotus Blossom 06 A
We are the guardian/protector/champion/defender
of our Original Nature–
who we are
and always have been
and will be,
our guiding,
centering,
grounding
identity–
the connection to which
is tenuous,
fragile,
easily lost
and must be carefully kept.
We–our conscious ego-self–
are responsible for nurturing
and nourishing
our relationship
with our Original Nature
with filial devotion
and liege loyalty
by tending the ties that bind us
through our imagination
embedded in our psyche,
and living as if all of this is so.
This is the still point
around which everything turns.
The ineffable wonder and mystery of creation
is at work at the center of each of us.
There is more to us all than meets the eye.
We approach the Source within
in seeking alliance with our Original Nature
and living in accord with it
within the conditions and circumstances of our life.
We incarnate the Source in aligning ourselves with our Nature,
and birthing ourselves in our life
by exhibiting/expressing there
the truth of who we were at the beginning,
are now,
and ever shall be,
being consubstantial and one substance with
the Source of life and being
here and now,
right here right now,
living that out in the time and place of our living,
as if God were living in us and through us
in all that we do. - 08/07/2020 — Rainbow Falls 09/20/2015 07 — Watkins Glen State Park, Watkins Glen, New York, September 20, 2015
There are those who need to dominate,
and there are those who need to be left alone.
And here we are.
I don’t know how we work this out.
We have been “working it out” from the beginning.
And that reminds me.
We all,
whether we need to dominate
or need to be left alone,
think of “The Beginning,”
as though there has been only one.
One Big Bang,
or one “Let There Be,”
however you choose to think of it.
“As it was in THE beginning…”
Well.
That’s presumptuous.
How many have there been?
How are we to know?
10,000 Big Bangs, perhaps.
Coming and going
over long sweeps of time past remembering.
Who would remember?
Or care?
I wouldn’t care to go through
the endless process of caring
or remembering,
but I think it would be instructive
to watch that play out over time
over the entire course of time,
keeping records,
seeing patterns,
drawing conclusions,
devising theories…
Or at least reading some
well-crafted and quite succinct reports
at various points along the way.
I wonder if it would come down to
domination and left alone
every time. - 08/07/2020 — Lotus Blossom 06 B
My favorite all-time heroes,
and my exact idea of how it ought to be
for every one of us throughout time
are Tevya and Golda in The Fiddler on the Roof.
Their life is my ideal life for all people everywhere.
Their life is structured by a particular belief-system,
which amounts to a way of perceiving the world,
all of life,
and how we fit into it,
but.
However we think things are,
if the overall result is life like Tevya and Golda live it,
then it is just fine,
no matter what it is.
It all is just a way of thinking about how things are.
Just a way of finding meaning in how things are.
Finding meaning that enables us to live meaningfully.
And I can’t think of any way of life
that is more meaningful
than Tevya’s and Golda’s way of life.
What more could life offer than they have?
What more could they want than they have?
We get up,
face each day,
do our thing,
don’t keep score
or strive endlessly to “get ahead,”
and let the outcome be the outcome.
“Do our thing”
is the key.
Do we have a “thing”?
Do we do it?
Are we fulfilled/satisfied
doing our thing?
Too many people don’t have a “thing,”
or aren’t doing it.
They are looking for a “thing.”
Wanting some other “thing.”
Wanting “the best thing.”
Wanting to be admired, “thing or no thing.”
Wanting to be admired, envied, for “no thing.”
For “nothing.”
Have a “thing”
and do it,
make enough money
to pay the right bills,
and don’t worry about the outcome.
That’s all it takes.
What would you do with more than that? - 08/07/2020 — Lake Andrew Jackson 07/26/2020 13 – Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina, July 26, 2020
What is the most meaningful (to you personally) thing you do?
How often do you do it?
For how long each time?
How long has
it been since you’ve done it?
What keeps you from doing it?
Or interferes with your doing it?
I don’t know you,
or don’t know you very well,
but.
My hunch about you is
that the most meaningful (for you personally)
thing you can do
over the course of what remains of your life,
is what has been the most meaningful (for you personally)
thing over your life to this point.
Check me out on that.
Get back to me in, say, 5 years. - 08/08/2020 — Lotus Blossoms 09-D
What do you know to be so
because you have lived it
and it has been verified again and again
in your experience,
and nothing or no one can knock you off of it?
These things ground us
at the center of ourselves,
to the center of ourselves,
and form our grounding principles,
our core values/identity,
our guiding force.
They still stand
when all else has fallen away.
What do you trust?
What do you turn to
when you have nowhere to turn?
Upon what do you rely?
What is your sense
of the pulsating line
that connects you
with the heart of life itself?
I know that if I am quiet,
things will occur to me
as realizations
that I could never think of
on my own.
I trust the source
of the things that just occur to me,
or just occur in my life,
that just happen,
out of nowhere
for no reason,
and allow myself
to be shown the way
without knowing there will be a way,
or where it is going,
or why.
I don’t know what the Source is,
or what it is up to,
or what the point is,
or if there is one.
Just here, just now, what?
I wait,
and know what.
The blue one.
That’s all I need to know for now.
How does it work with you? - 08/08/2020 — Green River Canyon 09/23/2007 — Canyonlands National Park, Moab, Utah, September 23, 2007
How truthfully do you live?
How truthfully are you allowed to live?
How are you required to distort yourself
to fit where you live?
What do you do that isn’t “you”?
What do you say that isn’t so?
Where are you mostly “not you” in your life?
When and where do you get to be
exactly who you are?
How often are you there?
How long do you stay?
How do you manage the contradiction?
The dichotomy?
The disharmony?
The discordance?
The dissonance?
The discrepancy?
The lie?
Do you bear consciously the pain?
Do you act out the anguish?
Do you escape in addiction?
Do you encase yourself in denial?
What becomes of the you
you aren’t permitted to be?
What symptoms do you carry
that give voice to the imbalance within?
How do you see healing happening?
What are the forces of integration
and integrity
at work in your life?
If you were to take up the tasks
of becoming whole,
where would you begin? - 08/08/2020 — Jasper Wetlands 09/26/2009 02 Panorama — Jasper National Park, Alberta, September 26, 2009
The Old Yogis/Hindus/Buddhists
held there to be seven stages of spiritual development.
Stage 1 is Living Without Being Alive.
Jesus advised leaving the dead to bury the dead.
The people at this stage are dragons (Joseph Campbell),
Dragging themselves around.
They are just hanging out,
barely making it through each day,
breathing but with no zeal for life.
Stage 2 is Coming To Life Through Sexual Desire.
The Dirty Old Men we know
have been at Stage 2 all their lives long.
Stage 2 is the stage of clueless delight,
but with a faint-just-beyond-awareness-sense
of the godliness present within The Magical Other.
At this stage,
everything revolves around sex
and the sexual orientation.
Stage 3 is the Buy/Spend/Amass-and-Consume stage.
Money, privilege, power and control
are the driving forces here.
The will to dominate,
to have dominion,
to be the richest person in the world.
Money for the sheer joy of money
dominates,
controls,
consumes people at this stage.
Stage 4 is the Awakening of the Heart.
Carl Jung said, “There is within each of us,
another whom we do not know.”
We tune into The Ten Million Year Old Self within
at Stage 4.
We become aware
of “The sound not heard
beyond the range of reason
and causality.”
We sense there is more to us,
and to everything,
than meets the eye.
Stage 5 is Getting To The Bottom Of Things.
We take up the Quest to see what we look at,
to ask the questions that beg to be asked,
and to say the things that cry out to be said,
and find the Source of our own nature and being.
We look past appearances to their origin,
and take up the practice of hearing what is being said
beyond words.
Stage 6 is the Inner Eye/Ear beholding
the ineffable radiance of the divine in all things,
and regularly being “arrested”
by the experience of oneness with
life and beauty on all levels.
Stage 7 is where we “Leave God for God” (Meister Eckhart).
Here we move beyond theology/doctrine/dogma/beliefs/creeds,
past ideas of God
and into the realized presence of more than words can say.
We move beyond duality into oneness with
That Which Has Always Been Called God.
We live “transparent to transcendence” (Joseph Campbell),
in a “Thou Art That” kind of way.
As we consider these stages,
it becomes apparent that meaning changes
through each stage.
What is important varies from stage to stage.
How we think changes.
We become a different person.
The symbols that work on us are different.
How we perceive God evolves.
Life becomes deeper, richer.
The adventure of being alive sweeps us up
and carries us along paths different
from the ones we thought we would be traveling.
And each day has its own joy. - 08/09/2020 — Mount Katahdin 10/09/2009 Watercolor Rendering — Baxter State Park, Millinocket, Maine, October 9, 2009
Absorbed and engaged are the soul’s idea
of having it made.
It gets to be a problem
if we are only absorbed and engaged
drinking beer at the beach,
sitting before a slot machine in Las Vegas,
smoking pot,
gorging on one of sugar’s ten thousand delivery systems,
or lost in any one of the 10,000 escapes and addictions.
Is it an escape/addiction, or is it an avenue of enlightenment?
Where does that line lie?
Since we are never more than a slight shift in perspective
from one or the other,
it could be either/or
with anything,
depending on our frame of mind
and openness to the time and place,
here and now,
moment and mode
of our living.
The Path always begins under our feet
wherever they might be.
All it takes is opening our eyes,
seeing what we look at,
and walking with awareness,
absorption
and engagement,
step-by-step,
moment-by-moment,
situation-by-situation,
day-by-day
for the rest of our life.
–0–
My idea of success
is doing what needs to be done
with the resources available–
including those I bring with me
in terms of my Original Nature
and the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues
that are mine to serve/offer–
in each situation as it arises,
in light of all things that need
to be considered,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
I wish I had realized the importance
of this when I was sixteen years old.
–0–
06/27/2020 — Put your best effort into
seeing and hearing
whatever is before you
in each situation as it arises—
knowing what’s what
and what is being called for,
here and now
and doing what needs to be done,
when it needs to be done,
as it needs to be done,
moment-by-moment,
and let that be that!
07/01/2020 — I cannot say enough
about “the joy of being able to do
what is set before us each day.”
This is IT.
It is not about what we get,
gain,
how our advantage is maximized,
what we can have/own
that is our joy.
Our joy is being who we are
doing what we do.
Like a dog wags its tail.
07/02/2020 — History is always coming around.
The times are always changing.
Coming and going.
For better or for worse.
For better and for worse.
Better for whom?
Worse for whom?
Only time will tell.
“The more things change,
the more they stay the same.”
Time tells that much all the time.
“The poor will be with us always.”
Some things never change.
“No matter how things are,
somebody wants it to be different.”
“Everything could be
more like it ought to be
than it is.”
The work in the service of the good
is never done.
“The Good is the enemy of the Best.”
“The Best is the enemy of the Good.”
Perspective shifts see the enemy everywhere.
“Who’s on first?”
“NO! Who’s on second!”
How do we live together
in ways we all like?
It would be easier to live together
in ways we don’t like,
but are, at least, livable for everyone.
How do we live together
in ways that are livable for everyone?
Tax everyone according to their means.
Pay everyone a living wage
adjustable to the cost of living.
A fair and reasonable tax structure
with no loopholes
and no favoritism
and good faith all the way around,
is the solution to all of our problems today.
And every day.
So, why won’t it fly?
Because there are those of us
who want more than we need
to live the life we want to live–
which is different
from the life that needs us to live it.
Greed in the service of unquenchable desire
is the source of all of our problems today.
That is why
“The more things change,
the more they remain the same.”
If you want to change something,
change that.
One Minute Monologues 056
April 20, 2020 — June 22, 2020
- 04/20/2020 — Tao is integrity.
Integrity is the alignment
of ourselves with ourselves
(our Original Nature)
and of ourselves with our circumstances.
When we live at odds with ourselves
for the sake of our circumstances,
we are out of alignment,
out of accord with the Tao.
When we live out of accord with our circumstances
for the sake of ourselves,
we are out of alignment,
out of accord with the Tao.
Integrity is the key
to being in position
to experience
grace/synchronicity/Tao/dharma
in the time and place
(the here and now)
of our living.
When we lose our rhythm,
balance and harmony–
are off center,
out of tune,
living against the grain,
swimming across the current,
and our life isn’t ringing true–
we need to run an integrity check
to see where we are contriving,
scheming,
engineering,
orchestrating,
arranging
outcomes and ends
by being who we are not,
and work to get ourselves back
in conjunction with ourselves
and our circumstances.
Maintaining the connections,
living truthfully at one
with ourselves and our circumstances
puts us “at the still point
of the turning world”
(T.S. Eliot). - 04/20/2020 — Cypress Stillness — Taken at a private preserve in eastern North Carolina around 2004
There is no end in sight.
Compassion is its own reason for existence.
Grace, love, kindness, peace, good will…
are not trying to get something.
Giving does not give to get!
Giving gives.
Period!
Contriving to turn a profit,
to seize the advantage,
to corner the market,
to gain this
and to avoid losing that–
or to dump this
and escape being saddled with that–
is as far from being
spontaneously,
appropriately,
responsive to the situation
as it arises
out of the truth of our own being
for no reason than because
that is what is called for
by the situation as it arises
as it is possible to be.
Contriving to turn a profit,
and conspiring to inflict loss on others
are Siamese twins
joined back-to-back.
When you have seen one,
you have seen the other.
When we live with only
the good of the moment in mind,
we bring ourselves forth
to meet the moment
and receive ourselves
from the moment.
And all is well.
Moment-by-moment-by-moment.
That is the end
that is never acquired/possessed,
but is forever being served,
and is really only a means
to the next moment.
We live to bring ourselves forth.
Moment-by-moment-by-moment.
For what?
For the pure joy of being who we are! - 04/21/2020 — Cypress Fire — Taken on a private preserve in eastern North Carolina around 2004
There is only living
in right relationship
with ourselves,
one another,
the times
and our circumstances.
How many ways can we
screw that up? - 04/21/2020 — Carolina Wren 01/18/2020 02 — Scenes from My Camp Stool, Zen Glen, Indian Land, South Carolina, January 18. 2020
Chinese alchemy and religious theology
have different ways of explaining
how things are
and how they should be.
We all experience grace
and synchronicity.
The grace of synchronicity.
The synchronicity of grace.
What does it mean?
We answer that question as though we know.
As though we are capable of knowing.
“There is more to everything
than meets the eye.”
That is the best we can do.
No.
The best we can do
is meet the day with wonder
and awe.
Each day.
Every day.
Without trying to fit everything
into some box.
With a lid that shuts tightly.
And locks. - 04/22/2020 — Skeleton Tree 01/28/2015 03 — Botany Bay Plantation Heritage Preserve/Wildlife Management Area, Edisto Island, South Carolina, January 28, 2015
When Jesus said,
“Let your ‘Yes’ be yes,
and let your ‘No’ be no,”
he was saying all he came to say.
When he said,
“Why don’t you judge for yourselves
what is right?”
he was saying,
“Let your ‘Yes’ be yes,
and let your ‘No’ be no.”
What he is saying is,
“Do not contrive
to get,
have,
do
or be anything!”
Without our contrivances,
where would we be?
All we know is working the room,
playing the game,
getting what we want,
having our way.
We live strung out between
wanting and wanting-not.
We walk an emotional tightrope
striving to get this
and avoid that.
We are “always so emotional”
because we always have
what we don’t want,
and don’t have
what we do want–
and cannot bear the pain
of not having what we want,
Now!
Immediately!
This very second!
Contriving to have what we want
and not-have what we don’t want
is all we know.
Yet, what does wanting know? - 04/23/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Boneyard Beach 01/28/2015 15 — Botany Bay Plantation Heritage Preserve/Wildlife Management Area, Edisto Island, South Carolina, January 28, 2015
What keeps us going?
What sees us through?
Wendell Berry says,
in “A Poem On Hope,”
“Because we have not made our lives to fit
Our places, the forests are ruined, the fields eroded,
The streams polluted, the mountains overturned. Hope
Then to belong to your place by your own knowledge
Of what it is that no other place is, and by
Your caring for it as you care for no other place, this
Place that you belong to though it is not yours,
For it was from the beginning and will be to the end.”
I would add that as we have not made our lives to fit
our places, so we have not made our lives to fit
ourselves.
And so need to resurrect our duty
to both our place
and to ourselves,
in caring for both,
for both are “from the beginning
and will be to the end.”
Our hope is doing right by our place
and by ourselves
in each moment that is given to us
all our life long.
We cannot fail to do right by our place
and by ourselves
without contributing to,
and urging on,
the collapse hopelessness brings
to the doing of things
that need to be done,
no matter what the chances are
of our realizing the life
we had in mind for ourselves,
contriving as we do
to live in the service of what we want
only so long as the chances favor our having it.
Living as our life needs to be lived–
needs us to live it–
is another matter.
A matter that requires courage
and determination,
and not merely the happy vision
of glory everlasting.
Living as our life needs to be lived–
needs us to live it–
is our commitment to our place
and to ourselves,
in caring for both,
and in serving both
and in doing right by both,
in each moment that is given to us
all our life long.
Letting the outcome be the outcome,
only after the work is done. - 04/24/2020 — Cypress Daylight — Taken on a private preserve in eastern North Carolina around 2004
Theology is the death of the church.
Any time we are asked
to suspend credibility
in service of The Truth
(“Just believe what I tell you
and you will know it is so!”),
we are at the place
of taking someone else’s word
as the only valid ground
of their explanation
(“It is so because I say it is so!
But don’t take MY word for it!
Listen to all these other famous
people from the past and present!
Take OUR word for it!”),
and hand over our responsibility
for determining the validity
of what we see,
hear,
touch,
feel,
taste,
sense,
intuit
in favor of an authority
greater than our own.
This is the basis of psychological/emotional abuse
worldwide.
(“Don’t believe what you see, etc.!
Believe what I tell you to believe!”)
(“Honey, you know your father loves you,
and he wouldn’t beat you
if he didn’t think it was good for you!”)
Any explanation that depends on,
“You can’t prove that it isn’t so!”
is treading water in the deep end
of the pool,
and it is only a matter of time
before it takes its rightful place
among all the other false representations
of reality on the bottom.
“We cannot prove,” goes the old retort,
that the world wasn’t created fifteen minutes ago,
complete with artifacts and memories.”
Theology has taken us as far as it can.
We are left with waiting out The End Of Time,
or The Rapture,
whichever comes first
because it all is in a dim mist
that has to be “taken on faith”
in somebody else’s imagination.
Take away theology
and we are left with our own experience
as the ground of our trust/faith
regarding the things beyond our own experience.
We all interpret The Facts to suit our fancy.
We have to know that we do that,
and hold everything in our awareness,
awaiting further input of additional experience
to confirm or invalidate
our tentative explanations
regarding how things are.
Curiosity and inquiry
are to be the foundation
of our approach to reality.
Certitude is in the way,
and a danger to clear thinking.
If you are going to take anything on faith,
and surely we must as we go along,
let it be faith in our ability
to have what we need
to find what we need
to respond appropriately
to every situation as it unfolds before us,
and step forward to meet the day! - 04/24/2020 — Black Birch 07/2011 04 — Rocky Knob Visitor’s Center, Campground, Blue Ridge Parkway, Floyd, Virginia, August, 2011
When Jesus said,
“Let your ‘Yes’ be yes,
and let your ‘No’ be no,”
he was saying all there is to say.
Everything rides
on what we say Yes to
and what we say No to.
If we say Yes
to the right things
and No to the right things,
guess where that puts us.
If we say Yes
to the things we should say Yes to,
and No to the things we should say No to,
guess where that puts us.
If we get it wrong,
and say Yes to the things
we should say No to,
and No to the things
we should say Yes to,
guess where that puts us.
If we just do middling well
and say Yes to some of the things
we should say Yes to
and to some of the things we should say No to,
and say No to some of the things
we should say No to
and to some of the things we should say Yes to,
guess where that puts us.
But.
How do we know?
I was hoping someone
would ask that question.
It is a great segue
to where we are going!
How do we know what to say Yes to
and what to say No to?
How do we know what to do?
How do we decide what to do?
In light of what do we live?
What here?
What now?
Who is to say?
WE are to say!
How do we know what to say?
These are fundamental religious questions.
The questions that are the ground
of all religions.
They are questions based on our need
to contrive a future better than our present
and our past.
How do we know how to act
in order to achieve our best possible future?
A religion that does not guarantee better
is no religion at all!
If we cannot have better–
or the hope of better–
we will not bother with religion
and will put our money on wealth and power!
Those are certain ways
of having a future better
than our past or present!
Where are we better off?
With religion,
or with money,
or with power,
or with some combination of the three?
What we have here is the ultimate means
of contriving a life worth living!
A life that gives us the best possible future!
And misses the point of being alive!
The point of being alive
is to dance beautifully
with the moment of our living.
“There is only the dance”
(T.S. Eliot).
We aren’t dancing if we are contriving!
And this is the point at which religion parts with life.
We quit dancing
and give ourselves to a life of contriving
a future worth having–
a future that robs us of our present moment,
that robs of us of our life here and now,
which is the only place ever to be alive!
Hold on,
I’m going to take you back
to Wendell Berry’s observation,
“We have not made our lives to fit
our places,”
and my extension,
We have not made our lives to fit
ourselves.
And say,
A life lived at-one with itself
has no trouble knowing
when to say Yes and when to say No.
It is automatic, spontaneous,
improvisational and spot-on
every time.
We have trouble with when to say Yes
and when to say No,
when we are trying to figure our way
to Better Everlasting.
What is our best move?
Hmm that’s a tricky one…
Maybe this, maybe that…
What do we do?
What to say yes to,
when to say no?
So, we just take our chances
and say what seems best to us
at the time,
which creates a new situation
with what to say yes to
and when to say no,
and one follows another,
until we end up at the bottom of some wall,
wondering where we went wrong,
and how to plot our best moves for sure
next time.
But.
To know when to say Yes
and when to say No,
and be right about it,
we have to take ourselves
out of the game
of wrestling our best future
into existence,
and simply look and listen,
feel and sense,
what the situation is calling for,
what the situation needs,
and respond to that
out of the gifts, genius, virtues, etc.
that came with us from the womb,
and see where it goes.
Seeing where it goes
will lead us into another situation
where we follow the same process,
until it becomes clear that we are
on the beam,
on the path,
on the right track,
or off the beam,
away from the path,
in the trackless wasteland
of the wilderness.
At which time,
we have to stop forcing our way
and listen, look, sense, feel
deeper into the silence,
and wait for something to arise,
to occur to us,
to call our name–
and give ourselves to it service,
and see where it goes.
And so on,
like that.
Always living here and now
in light of what is happening
and what needs to be done about it,
without worrying about
how to use this moment
to our best advantage,
but trusting ourselves to be just fine
by looking, listening, sensing, feeling
and following spontaneously
the compelling urges
that guide our boat
on its path through the sea. - 04/25/2020 — Anhinga and Duckweed 04/22/2014 02 — Audubon Swamp Garden, Magnolia Plantation, Charleston, SC, April 22, 2014
We need to revisit
the “compelling urges
that guide our boat
on its path through the sea.”
Alcohol is a compelling urge.
And every other addiction.
Fear is compelling urge.
And every other emotional obsession.
Our life is “nothing but”
one compelling urge after another.
Things we must-do-have-to-do-or-else
drive us,
hound us,
chase us,
without ceasing,
and leave us with no time
to live at all,
existing as we do
to serve all that coerces,
oppresses
and owns us.
How to free ourselves
from all that owns us
in order to give ourselves
to that which has need of us–
and in whose service
we come alive,
at one with ourselves
and in tune
with the times and places
of our living,
is the question
that sets us free
and binds us to ourselves
in an eternal dance
of dying to all that is not-us,
and living to all that is-us,
in each situation as it arises,
world without end.
It is a choice, you see,
the only choice,
our only choice,
choosing the One
whom we serve–
in a “choose this day
whom you will serve”
kind of way.
Joseph Campbell said:
“The myths by which we live must support us through our personal crises in life. They have to sustain us and enable us to go forward with our lives. When we find what sustains us through those crises, we find our myth.
“We have to live out our story in light of a Greater Story that holds things together for us and enables us to make sense of things.
“What is it that supports us in the face of total disaster? To know that, is to know your myth.
“Our myth is what we tell ourselves about the way things are that enables us to live with the way things are.
“What is our mission? For what would we sacrifice ourselves? What is it that ‘works’ for us? To answer these questions is to find our myth.
“The problem is to find within ourselves the thing that moves us, that we are really pushed by.”
Abraham Maslow said that people live for five things: Survival, Security, Personal Relationships, Prestige, and Self Development.
And Campbell said
“These are precisely not the values that a mythically inspired person lives for.
“A person who is really gripped by a dedication, by a zeal, will sacrifice all these things for the sake of his or her own passion.
“These five values are the values people live for who have nothing to live for. Nothing has seized, caught, or driven these people “spiritually mad.”
“These people, aren’t worth talking to.”
The people who are “worth talking to,”
are the people who are living their own life,
out of their personal affiliation with
and commitment to
living their own life
beyond every other consideration.
They are grounded upon the bedrock
of their own virtues and character,
they know who they are
and what is theirs to do,
and they live to do it
in each situation as it arises,
in season and out of season,
and in all weather conditions.
They have chosen to serve
what has chosen them.
And they are highly worth talking to.
Knowing.
Living with.
Being.
If you are going to be anything,
Be one of those people. - 04/26/2020 — Barn on Mormon Row 06/2011 Panorama — Grand Teton National Park, Jackson, Wyoming, June, 2011
Carl Jung said,
“Neurosis is always a substitute for legitimate suffering.”
We refuse to bear the pain of being alive–
and the pain of coming to life
within our own lives.
The agony of the delivery room
is not just the mother’s.
We continue to birth ourselves
long after we are born,
throughout our life.
Or not.
And to refuse to bring ourselves forth
to meet our circumstances,
square up to our inner contradictions,
rise to every occasion,
and be who we are,
no matter what,
again and again,
is to die again and again,
and finally to waste our entire life
by refusing to live it.
Carl Jung said,
“In the final analysis,
we count for something
only because of the essential
that we embody.
If we do not embody that,
life is wasted.”
This “essential”
is our Original Nature.
Our Essence.
Who we are.
Carl Jung said,
“The development of personality
means fidelity to the law of one’s own being.”
“The law of one’s own being”
is our Original Nature,
who we are born to be,
which we sacrifice continually
upon the altar
of success,
or popularity,
or wealth,
or fitting in/belonging…
We neglect/reject who we are
in service to all we have to do
to have the life
we want for ourselves–
neverminding the life our Self
wants for us.
And here we are.
Now what?
It always comes down
to bearing the pain
that must be borne,
to suffering the agonies
that must be suffered,
in allowing our life
to bring us forth
to meet our circumstances/ourselves
and do what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.
Beginning here and now.
Neverminding getting what we want,
and having it made. - 04/26/2020 — Big Creek Cascade 11/09/2006 — Big Creek Campground, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Waterford, North Carolina, November 9, 2006
Everybody wants to feel better.
Nobody wants to do what it takes
to get better.
What it takes to get better
is bearing the pain of how it is.
The culture we have created
is a giant excursion
into the unending possibilities
of pain relief.
Diversion,
distraction,
escape
and denial
come in myriad shapes and sizes.
There is something,
somewhere,
for everyone.
If you are in pain
in this place,
someone will hand you
a pill,
or a drink,
or an injection,
or an experience
that will take you far away
from your anguish
and transport you
to a “land of gentle breezes
where the peaceful waters flow”
(Anne Murry, Snowbird).
Always, always,
at the bottom of our pain
lies a contradiction
that we cannot bear
and, yet, have to bear.
We want what we do not have,
or have what we do not want.
That rules out the possibility of this.
What we want runs afoul
of something else we want.
The song has endless verses
saying the same thing.
Sometimes, we can walk
two paths at the same time.
Sometimes, we have to make
a choice between mutually exclusive options.
Sometimes, we have to adjust
ourselves to having lost
our dearest love.
Always we have to come to terms
with the pain of our life being as it is.
“This is the way things are,
and this is what I can do about it,
and that’s how things are.”
Growing up means coming to terms
with how things are.
Doing that will not be good
for the economy.
But.
It will be the best thing you can do
for yourself and those you love,
though it may take a while
for all of you to realize that. - 04/27/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Boneyard Beach 01/28/2015 02 — Botany Bay Plantation Heritage Preserve/Wildlife Management Area, Edisto Island, South Carolina, January 28, 2015
We are helplessly unable
to do anything about
being the way we are.
How different can we be over time?
Not different enough to make any difference!
We can shave our head,
but we cannot alter the bent of our heart,
the nature of our wants,
the order of what matters most to us…
Start here.
With our inability to be other than we are.
Sit with that.
Sink down to the Source.
Along the way,
trace the development–
the backstory–
of how we got to be this way.
How was our perspective shaped
by the things that happened to us,
and by the things that did not happen?
By the things that were said to us?
By the things that were never said?
How did our perspective shape our perception
of what was happening?
Our response to what was going on?
What needed to be different
in order for us to be different?
At what point in our life
were we locked into who we are?
What help did you need
that wasn’t there?
What influences did you not need
that were there in abundance?
Change what and everything changes?
Through all of the events
and circumstances,
influences
and impacts,
we remain the one constant aspect
of our life.
Where does our responsibility lie
in ferreting out the keys
to our being the way we are?
What part did we play
in the production of us?
How aware were we of what we were doing
with what was being done to us?
How aware are we now
of the part we play in going along
without a whimper of protest
in being the way we are?
How “just fine” is it with us
that we are as we are?
How remorseful,
ashamed,
guilty,
regretful that we have turned out this way?
How interested are we in being different?
Whose side are we on?
Awareness is our only tool
in the work to be more than we presently are.
We begin at the Source.
Back there at the Beginning,
what were the Virtues that we possessed?
What were the strengths
of character, qualities, interests and values
that were unique to us
in their particular ratio and blend?
Who were we capable of being
before the conditions and circumstances
of life separated us from our potential
and thrust Survival Mode upon us,
requiring us to ignore who we might have been
and concentrate solely on being who we had to be?
Sit with your Original Virtues
and become their friend,
their champion,
their liege servant for life–
at first, only in your awareness,
only in your imagination.
Step into your day pretending to be
as you might have been
with your Original Virtues intact
and undisturbed.
Just imagine how that could be.
Live pretending to be different
than you are.
Pretending to be who you originally were.
And if you haven’t learned
all that the Jon Kabat-Zinn YouTube videos
have to teach you about awareness
(Watch the shortest ones first),
you might work that into your day as well. - 04/28/2020 — The Lighthouse 09/2008 01 — At Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia, September, 2008
The old (really old) Taoist manuscripts
talk about “conscious knowledge”
and “real knowledge.”
About “the human mind”
and “the mind of Tao.”
They use the phrase,
“Empty the mind
and fill the belly.”
They mind they are talking about emptying
is the human mind.
The belly they are talking about filling
is the mind of Tao.
This was going on in China
between 2,000 and 500
years before Jesus lived.
They were talking about
the conscious mind
and the unconscious mind
(So called because
we are not conscious of it).
The tools the conscious mind uses
to effect its will
are reason and logic.
The tools the unconscious mind uses
to effect its will
are grace and synchronicity
(Also called Tao and Dharma).
When the conscious mind takes over
things go to hell rather quickly.
When the unconscious mind leads the way
things go miraculously,
remarkably,
smoothly along the path.
When the two minds work together in harmony,
Tao/grace says what
and reason/logic says how
and life has a sense of magic about it.
Carl Jung picked up the work
of the old Taoists
and spent his life
getting our two minds together,
making the unconscious conscious,
“emptying the mind and filling the belly.”
This is not the way of getting what you want.
This is the way of becoming who you are.
Of doing what is yours to do–
what only you can do
the way you can do it.
It is the way of making peace
with yourself
and living the life that is yours to live.
Joseph Campbell came at this same goal
by working with mythology
through all of the ages of human history,
identifying the stories
we have been telling ourselves
from the start–
the unconscious mind talking to the conscious mind,
trying to make things clear
with metaphor and symbol.
“Emptying the mind and filling the belly.”
It is our work.
Our task.
Our calling.
Our duty.
We neglect it,
reject it,
to our shame,
and our eternal loss. - 04/28/2020 — Hunting Island 08/11/2015 10 — Hunting Island State Park, Beaufort County, South Carolina, August 11, 2015
No one just walks into
the right kind of relationship
with themselves.
If we are going to transform
our relationship with ourselves,
we are going to do it slowly,
deliberately,
mindfully,
consciously,
intentionally,
over time.
This is the Hero’s Journey,
the Spiritual Journey,
the Work of Soul.
The Work of Growing Up.
Working with a Jungian analyst will help,
but.
The work was being done
long before Carl Jung came on the scene.
Jon Kabat-Zinn’s guidance
in developing your capacity
for mindful/compassionate/non-judgmental awareness
is essential.
In order to see what is to be seen
(To see what you look at),
you will have to bear the pain
of knowing what you know.
No one can tell you how to do this,
or do this for you,
or make it easier than it is.
This is hell.
This is they dying part
of death and resurrection,
and you have to be able to die
again and again,
without being sure
there will be a resurrection this time,
and you will always walk with a limp.
This is because we grow up
against our will.
And the work of transforming
our relationship with ourselves
is the work of growing up.
And we are always having
to grow up some more again
all our life long.
Learning to stop,
look,
listen,
see,
hear,
understand,
know,
do,
be who you are
in each situation as it arises
is all that is to it.
And it will push you to the limit
of your ability to endure
the truth of who you are
and what you are capable of doing.
This is why it is said
“Your new life
(The one of right relationship with yourself)
will eat your old life alive.”
Again and again.
It is no light thing–
no smooth and easy thing–
to live in right relationship with yourself.
But.
It is the one thing
that is worth doing with your life. - 04/28/2020 — Fly-fishing 04/11/2014 — Oconaluftee River near Cherokee, North Carolina, April 11, 2014
Equal rights sounds just peachy to me.
What’s the problem?
Why is that offensive to so many people?
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Why argue that “men” means “men,”
and not “women and children” as well?
Why not just agree that “men” means “people”?
And whether or not they have a “Creator”
who endows “certain unalienable Rights,”
why not agree that those rights belong to all people–
and that among them are to be found,
“life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”?
What?
Why not live together in ways that honor
the rights of all people
to a life of self-development
and mutual support,
around the table,
across the board
inclusive of everyone
in the entire world?
Why can’t we all live together
as the Good Samaritan
and the Prodigal’s Father? - 04/29/2020 — Pink Wood Sorrel 04/24/2020 — Indian Land, South Carolina, April 24, 2020
A thing means what we say it means,
what it means to us,
and nothing means the same thing to us
over time.
Remember that the next time
you are about to kill yourself.
And give it another day or two.
Maybe six months,
or a year.
Pull up your list of things
you revere,
hallow,
honor,
hold to be sacrosanct,
sacred,
holy,
respected
and sat apart forever.
Canoeing and fishing
used to be on my list.
And long walks in the woods.
Fast dancing never made it,
but I wish it had.
Opera isn’t there yet,
maybe one day.
And you can’t imagine
how God has morphed
through the years.
Or, maybe you can.
All of which is to say
even the sacred changes
with us over time.
What a thing means
is what it means to us
here and now.
So don’t go on about it
as though it is eternal
and everlasting.
Good and bad alike
are just passing through
our life.
Let them come,
let them go.
And allow their presence
change you for the better.
That is called
getting the good
out of everything
that comes our way.
We can carry that to the grave,
and, perhaps, beyond.
I hope fast dancing
is waiting for me on the other side.
I will apologize for taking so long,
and get down to business. - 04/29/2020 — Crescent Beach Panorama 05/24/2009 10 Panorama — Crescent Beach, Ecola State Park, Canon Beach Oregon, May 24, 2009
We only need enough money
to meet life’s requirements
and do the work that is ours to do
(Which is not necessarily the work
we are paid to do).
Which turns everything upside down
regarding what we think about
the so-called “plan for our life.”
Let’s cut to the quick.
There is no plan for our life.
Our life unfolds according to its own
urge in response to its context
and circumstances
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
I know a guy who has been trying
to sail around the world for five years
and things keep happening
to keep that from happening,
but his life is not on hold.
He is still living.
As we all do.
Without a plan!
We all just go from this to that
as best we can.
Now, I’m suggesting that we
allow ourselves to be guided
by our devotion to,
our liege loyalty to,
the things that make our little heart sing.
The things that are truly “us.”
I write these little homilies,
saying things that need to be said.
I read the books that call my name.
I take the photographs that need me to take them.
I cook the things that cry out to be cooked.
My life comes to me in these ways.
I don’t know how your life comes to you,
but,
I do know you have no business doing things
that are not life for you,
unless they pay the bills,
and then you have to tough it out,
remembering that you pay the bills
to do what you love to do
when you are not having to do
what you hate doing.
Find the things that are life to you
and work them into your life.
Every day.
That is all the plan you need for your life. - 04/30/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Hunting Island 08/24/2015 — Hunting Island State Park, Beaufort County, South Carolina, August 24, 2015 — (Hunting Island and Hunting Island State Park are experiencing the brunt of beach erosion in South Carolina. Every high tide, and every hurricane, wash away the shore and topple trees, which litter the beach, creating a scene that will become global as climate change changes everything.)
Carl Jung said,
“We meet our destiny
on the road we take
to avoid it.”
I have expanded his observation
with this addition,
“Just as we meet our pain
on the road we take
to avoid it.”
Our destiny and our pain
are one and the same.
There is no painless
form of living.
How we meet our pain
and bear it
tells the tale.
“You tell me about your pain,
and I will tell you about mine!”
Could be an ice-breaker
or a parlor game.
There is no life without pain,
there is no growing up without pain,
there is no being who we are without pain,
there is no Hero’s Journey
or Spiritual Quest
without pain.
How well–
how consciously,
how deliberately,
how consistently,
how completely–
we bear our pain
says everything
about how well we are living,
about how fully we are alive.
The people who are dead and dying
are the people who are refusing
to bear their pain,
and therefore live in the grip
of illegitimate suffering–
suffering brought on
by their refusal to suffer.
Meeting their pain
on the road they take
to avoid it.
How do you bear your pain?
How do you carry your pain?
What do you do with your pain?
There is the chronic pain of being alive,
and the acute pain of living our particular life.
The pain of being true to ourselves,
or the pain of failing to be true to ourselves.
What is the nature of your pain?
How does it manifest itself in your life?
How symptomatic are you?
And if you aren’t carrying your own pain,
who in your life is carrying it for you?
It could be your dog.
Or your spouse.
Or your child.
Or your parent…
Who is the most symptomatic person you know
in your close circle of people?
Meet the dumping ground of everyone’s pain!
We have to carry our own pain.
Start telling your friends (Your “friends”) that:
“You have to bear your own pain!
Don’t be dumping that stuff on me!
I have plenty of my own!”
And make a life-long project
of bearing your own pain,
consciously,
mindfully,
deliberately,
intentionally,
regularly…
It’s called growing up,
the Hero’s Journey,
the Spiritual Quest.
It is the thing that sets us apart
and enables us to be who we are.
Without it,
we are but empty husks
of a failed molting,
haunting evidence
of a life unlived. - 05/01/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Hunting Island 05/2014 –Hunting Island State Park, Beaufort County, South Carolina, May, 2014
We all could use better choices
to choose from,
and we all could have made better choices
from among the choices
we had to choose from.
How we choose to respond
to the present moment
sets the tone
for all future moments,
and influences
the choices we will have
to choose from
in all the moments
following this one.
The bigness of each here and now
and its impact for better
and for worse
on the rest of our life
is never impressed upon us.
It is never presented
as making any difference
“in the great scheme of things.”
It is the most important moment
in the entire collection of moments.
We create our future
by the way we live
in our present.
Each moment
is the most important moment
of our life.
There are no throw-away moments.
We got where we are
here and now
by throwing away moments.
Where we go next and beyond
depends on the quality
of our appreciation of,
and concern for,
this now right now,
and each now following this one
for the rest of our life.
We start by simply being aware
of this here,
this now.
Paying attention to it
and the choices
that are available to us in it.
And choosing wisely
from among the choices
that are ours to choose. - 05/02/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Hunting Island 12/06/2014 03 — Hunting Island State Park, Beaufort County, South Carolina, December 6, 2014
The Old Taoists came on the scene
about the time Abraham was doing his thing,
roughly 2,000 years before Jesus,
and really got cranked up
about 500 years Before The Common Era,
with the blend of Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism
coming together to spark sparks
and ignite realization/awareness
for all those centuries
of debate
and inquiry,
seeking
and searching
for the way of balance and harmony
up to right now.
It’s been quite a ride.
With the East going one way
and the West going another.
Perspective/Perception is a doorway
to quite different futures,
with how we look determining what we see.
In the West,
Good and Evil dominated the scene
with its claim to be the ultimate duality,
the fundamental disparity,
God and Satan.
In the East,
it was Male and Female,
Yin and Yang.
Now, that is a difference that makes all the difference!
And, here we are?
Now what?
We have to “choose this day”
how we are going to see things,
and live out of that orientation
for the rest of our life.
My life has been the tale
of shucking God and Satan
and embracing Yin and Yang.
Theology is out,
and the lived experience
of day-to-day is in.
Lao Tzu is credited with saying,
“The Tao that can be told/said/explained/expounded
is not the Eternal Tao.”
That phrase can be interpreted as meaning:
“The path that you are on cannot be taken for granted.”
“You cannot pretend to know
that you know what you are doing.”
“You have to pay attention
moment-by-moment-by-moment.”
“What has happened
will not be what is happening
and nothing at all like what will happen.”
“Be ready for anything.”
“We learn as we go.”
“Anything we say is going to be
transformed by the next thing we experience.”
“Be light on your feet
and ride loose in the saddle.”
Etc.
No theology!
No doctrine!
No dogma!
Just here-and-now,
and what is being called for,
and what we are doing about it.
That is all there is.
And, for what it is worth,
Jesus was right in there with Lao Tzu.
Jesus said,
“The spirit is like the wind
that blows where it will.”
And,
“The old has passed away,
behold, the new has come!”
And is coming again and again
the way the present passes into the past.
Get ready!
Here it comes again!
Now what? - 05/02/2020 — Hector Lake Panorama 09/2003 — Banff National Park, Canadian Rockies, Alberta, September, 2003
The distance between
our Conscious Mind
and our Real Mind
(An old Taoist term for our Unconscious Mind),
is the distance between
The Letter of the Law
and The Spirit of the Law.
Conscious Mind is literal,
actual,
tangible,
factual,
specific,
serious,
stern,
no-nonsense,
true-as-opposed-to-false.
Real Mind is figurative,
metaphorical,
symbolic,
abstract,
circular,
winding,
playful,
laughing,
truth-in-relation-to-also-truth.
And we have to work out
all of the contradictions
in living one life
between two mutually exclusive
ways of being in the world.
This is called bearing our cross daily.
We do it by walking two paths at the same time.
And we do that by keeping an eye
on the other path,
while treading this one.
And never, ever, going to sleep at the wheel! - 05/03/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Hunting Island 04/02/2018 18 — Hunting Island State Park, Beaufort County, South Carolina, April 2, 2018
What to do with our life
comes down to
living it in ways
that bring forth who we are–
that bring forth the best we have to offer–
in meeting the circumstances
of our living
in each situation as it arises
all our life long,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
The problem is that we have better ideas
of ways to spend our time.
Those “better ideas”
are all grounded upon,
flow from,
and serve
diversion,
distraction,
escape
and denial.
We want more than our life
has to offer.
Adam and Eve weren’t content
with Paradise.
There you are.
You think we are going to be satisfied
with giving our best to the day,
each day,
when the day doesn’t give anything
back to us?
What are WE getting out of the deal?
What is in it for US?
We want to be sure
our life is worth the effort
we put into living.
And that is the kink in the hose.
Straighten that out
and the water of life
flows freely
throughout the world. - 05/03/2020 — Flame Azalea 03/31/2020 02 — Indian Land, South Carolina, May 31, 2020
If we lived to bring ourselves forth
like a Pine Tree in the forest,
or a Monarch Butterfly emerging
from its chrysalis,
or a Flame Azalea in the spring–
without contriving to parlay
this into that
and that into that over there,
or continually working the room,
constantly seeking our advantage,
and striving to leverage
every situation
to our lasting benefit and personal gain–
it would be a different world. - 05/04/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Hunting Island 05/01/2014 09 — Hunting Island State Park, Beaufort County, South Carolina, May 1, 2014
We have to be right
about what we think is important.
That is the only Rule of Life.
But.
There is a catch.
In order to be right
about what we think is important,
we have to be able
to change our mind
about what we think is important
in light of evidence to the contrary.
Again and again.
Moment-by-moment-by-moment.
All our life long.
This is called Growing Up.
Some More.
Again.
And Again.
It means we can never
take anything seriously.
Especially ourselves.
And what we think is important. - 05/05/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Hunting Island 05/09/2014 03 — Hunting Island State Park, Beaufort County, South Carolina, May 9, 2014.
The tide comes in,
the tide goes out.
And, in between, the tide turns around.
If we have an opinion about that,
it is all on us.
All of our opinions are.
Yet we blame them
on things like the tide,
doing what it does.
Being pleased or displeased
is what we do
in response to
what the tide is doing.
Being pleased or displeased
is what we do
in response to
what something else is doing.
But, the pleasure or displeasure
is on us
and has nothing to do with the thing
we are pleased or displeased with.
The tide doesn’t make us mad,
sad,
happy,
glad…
We crank that out on our own.
We all have opinions
about how things are.
What is the origin
of our opinions?
Why are we so easily influenced
by the circumstances
of our living?
So quickly destabilized
by what meets us in a day?
Why grade what happens?
Why not just do what needs to be done about it?
We waste a lot of time and energy
on things like the tide
coming and going and turning around.
It isn’t as though
we don’t know
how things are.
Why does that impact us so? - 05/05/2020 — Green and Gold 04/08/2020 01 — Indian Land, South Carolina, April 8, 2020
I suggest the you begin
building coalitions of 3-5 people
to explore who each of you are,
and what you think/feel
is at the heart/center/ground/source/foundation/bedrock
of each of you.
How do you decide what to do?
What directs your boat
on its path through the sea?
How do you think of what is good?
Where do your ideas of the good originate?
Who are your guides?
How do you maintain your balance and harmony?
What is your work?
(Not what you do for a living.
What you live to do.)
What would you go to hell for?
What do you know about
what has always been called God,
that you did not get from some other source,
including the Bible?
Where do you go–
what do you do–
to be with what has always been called God?
What are your essential virtues?
The ones that form your essence.
The ones that came with you from the womb.
What is your essential nature?
How do you like to spend your time?
What are the stories that form your bedrock?
Not necessarily things that have happened to you,
but stories that connect you to the truth
of who you are and how it is.
What grounds you so solidly
that nothing can knock you off your foundation?
How do you know what is being called for
in a situation?
Etc.
You all might also commit to viewing all of the
Jon Kabat-Zinn YouTube Videos
(The shortest ones first)
and giving some money
to benevolent causes
throughout the year.
If someone suggests that the group
elect officers,
tell them that is cause for disbarment
and don’t invite them to future meetings. - 05/06/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Hunting Island 12/06/2014 05 — Hunting Island State Park, Beaufort County, South Carolina, December 6, 2014
Your personal coalitions,
and you should have as many
as you can manage,
of 3 – 5 people
will see you through,
and enable you to meet
whatever comes up
with the resolve,
creativity,
resiliency,
spirit
and enthusiasm
that has gotten us
through all that we have faced
as a species
from the beginning
to now.
Our coalitions enable “truth,
the whole truth
and nothing but the truth,”
and, more importantly–
more important because the truth
cannot happen without it–
they enable us to bear the pain
of the full realization of the “truth,
the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth.”
The truth about truth
is that we rarely ever
get all the way to the bottom
of truth.
There is always more than meets the eye.
So, we have to keep looking.
No matter how things are,
there is always how things also are.
This is where sitting in the silence
in the presence of the Source
(However you imagine that to be)
and waiting for whatever arises/emerges
out of the silence,
as realization,
or as urge,
or as urgent call to action,
or as memory,
or as whatever comes up
in the silence to guide/direct
you to action,
comes into play.
Always the need to return to the silence,
to return to the Source,
and wait for whatever revelation
we need to meet whatever we face.
The silence/Source is with us always,
and those who know,
know we all draw water from the same well,
and are connected at the level of the heart
as One throughout all time and space–
and it is our ideas of how things ought to be
that separate us into factions
and divisions
and war parties,
and once we put contriving
and conniving
out of the picture
there is only all of us together
seeking together
what is in the best interest
of all of us together.
And the base unit
of all of us together
is a coalition of 3 – 5 people
speaking straight from the heart
about matters
that are important
to us all. - 05/06/2020 — Cypress Glory — Taken on a private preserve in eastern North Carolina around 2004
The future is not the work of some cosmic mastermind.
And my opinion about that
is no better than that of those who say
it’s all God’s will/purpose
being worked out over time.
In my view,
the future is the work
of the cumulative weight
of all the now’s that go into its creation.
The present moment is the culmination
of all of the influences impinging upon it
from all the now’s leading up to this one.
We are who we can be
given the time and place of our living
and the nature and context of our life,
and the genetic make up
and the physical/emotional umwelt
of our family of origin
and our family’s families of origin.
Our future is the work of all that plays into its construction–
of all that has played out in the past
throughout all of time.
The tides of time come in
and go out
and turn around
between the coming and going.
Our place is to do our part
in influencing our present moments
during the full course of our life
by living in those moments
in ways that faithfully serve the work
that we are uniquely suited to do.
This is not what we do to pay the bills–
it is what we pay the bills to do.
Our life begins to separate us from our sacred work
the moment we are born.
We are not encouraged to find our work,
to find what is life for us.
We are just told to fit in,
get a job,
get married,
have kids,
die and go to our eternal reward.
In so doing, we betray our life–
the life we are born to live and live not–
and fail to do our part
in influencing the future for the good
of all who live there.
There is magic in all of us–in each of us–
doing what is ours to do together.
We save the world,
we save the future,
by living the life that only we can live
in the good faith devotion
to the best we are capable of doing.
The coalitions we are forming
will serve our work
by enabling us to articulate
what is holy/sacred/important/essential to us
and enliven us
by bringing our work forth in us
and through us into the world.
It is crucial to the future of the cosmos
that we do what is ours to do,
and that we do it in the ways it needs to be done.
If you are going to take anything on faith,
let it be this–
and live as though it is so,
moment-by-moment-by-moment
throughout the time left for living! - 05/07/2020 — The Skeleton Trees of Hunting Island 05/10/2014 06 — Hunting Island State Park, Beaufort County, South Carolina, May 10, 2014, 06
It doesn’t matter what happens next,
or ever.
Now is always the same
in that it is the place
we bring forth who we are
in applying our Original Virtues
to our current circumstances
in good faith service
to the true good of all.
Liberty! Justice! Equality! Truth!
Compassion! Mercy! Kindness! Benevolence!
Grace! Patience! Gentleness! Loving Presence!
Etc!
So that whatever is needed
within the present situation
is brought forth in service
to the present situation,
moment-by-moment-by-moment
no matter what
throughout the time left for living!
That is all the present moment
is ever good for.
Our work is the same work
regardless of the conditions
and circumstances of our life.
What is happening?
What needs to be done in response?
What is called for here an now?
How best to bring forth
and apply
what is being called for?
Every Now is where we answer these questions
as well as they can be answered.
No matter what the future brings.
We are bringing ourselves into every future!
That is what matters most! - 05/08/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Hunting Island 12/06/2014 04 — Hunting Island State Park, Beaufort County, South Carolina, December 6, 2014
I suggest that you Google me (Jim Dollar)
and get down to business.
Your business.
Your own business.
You have the time left for living to work with,
and here you are Googling me.
I am only a doorway,
a threshold,
to YOU!
Googling me is a step on the way
to Googling YOU!
What pops up when you Google me
is my work.
Is what I do.
Is what I spend my time doing.
For what?
For me.
Because I know there is no greater purpose
to serve
than doing my work
for me.
If that helps you, fine.
If means so little to you
that you don’t bother googling me, fine.
I will take my work
and go talk about it
with someone else,
until I find the people
whose eyes light up,
and they end the conversation
by standing up
and walking off
in pursuit of their own work,
and know they can’t waste
another second with me and mine.
I gave myself fully
to what you will find on Google
when I retired.
I closed myself off from “the world,”
and gave myself to my work.
I am a year away from being retired 10 years.
If you had Googled me 10 years ago
you wouldn’t have found much.
Chances are,
you are going to live 10 more years.
See what you can do with them,
just by giving yourself to your work
with as much time as you can spare
in a day every day.
First, you may have to discover
what your work is.
I recommend seeking the Source
in the silence
and waiting
for your work to arise/emerge
walk up and sit down with you
and wink.
It’s been right there all the time,
and you have known about it all along.
“We are who we always have been,
and who we will be”
(Carl Jung). - 05/08/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Hunting Island 12/06/2014 08 — Hunting Island State Park, Beaufort County, South Carolina — Here is a wave at high tide during a full moon undercutting a pine tree on the tree line far above the normal reach of the waves. High tides and hurricanes do their work, and by and by there will be no shore line, and then there will be one–on the mainland. The world is remaking itself as we look on.
Grace is also known as synchronicity,
and as Tao,
and as Dharma,
and as Good Luck.
The old saw is credited to a wide range of people:
“The harder I work, the luckier I get.”
“The more I practice, the luckier I get.”
Try it yourself–
it will work for you!
Nothing is easier to confirm.
Just take up the work that is your work.
Decide what is important and be right about it.
And pursue it with all your heart,
no matter what,
and, as Joseph Campbell was fond of saying,
“Doors will open where you didn’t know
doors existed!
Help will come from places
you never expected to find help at all!”
The world will welcome you
until you begin to count on it.
Until you take it for granted.
Your luck will run out
the minute you begin to push it,
to rely on it,
to presume upon it.
Your heart has to be in the right place.
Your attitude has to be 100% sincere.
You cannot kid the Old Man,
the Old Woman,
within.
They are wise beyond even their years!
And onto you from before the start!
When you take up your work,
just do your work,
just be faithful to the work
as a liege servant
with filial devotion
to the tasks that are theirs to perform.
And always be surprised when things
fall into place.
And dance happily around the room,
as though it has never happened before,
and will never happen again.
And not because that is the trick
to getting it to happen again.
No contriving!
No conniving!
Those are the two twin rules of the way!
Keep your eye on them.
They like to sneak up on you
when you aren’t looking.
Remember Adam and Eve.
They were such innocent lambs,
until they weren’t.
What happened?
Conniving and Contriving
became their trusted advisors. - 05/08/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Hunting Island 05/10/2014 06 — Hunting Island State Park, Beaufort County, South Carolina, May 10, 2014
We all drink from the same well.
But time and chance happen to us all.
And the Rouge Wanter has its way with us,
sending us running amok through the world,
wanting this,
No! That!
No! Not That! THAT–over THERE!
Allowing nothing to stand in our way
or keep us from our heart’s true desire,
which has nothing to do with our heart,
or truth in any form.
Oh, what is to be done with us?
How shall we ever find our way back
to the ground of life and being?
We have to reach the end of our rope
before we can change our mind
about what is important.
And, even then,
thin is the thread,
and fine is the line,
from which hope dangles
and our chances
of choosing wisely
turn in the wind.
We have to be right about what is important.
It all comes down to that.
But.
Not to worry.
Every wrong choice about what is important
comes with its on prescribed length of rope,
and when we get to the end of it,
we get to choose again.
How many ropes do we go through
before it all falls into place,
and we see things as they are,
and know without a doubt what matters most–
and give ourselves into its service
with an adamantine bond of pure devotion?
However many it is,
that is how many it is.
And every wrong choice
about what is most important,
is one rope closer to the right choice.
And we are learning what isn’t important all the time! - 05/09/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Hunting Island 11/13/2017 35 — Hunting Island State Park, Beaufort County, South Carolina, November 13, 2017
Being true to ourselves–
to our heart/soul/Psyche/Lodestar/Bedrock/Center/Self–
is the sine qua non
of being in accord with the Tao of Life and Being,
being right about what is important,
and being at one
with what is ours to do
in the time and place of our living.
The Noise of the World
is bent on keeping that from happening,
and makes it hard to hear
what is being said to us
by the Old Man/Old Woman within.
The Dust of the World
swirls up from the aimless stampede
of the 10,000 things,
keeping us from seeing
what is called for
in each situation as it arises.
We have to excuse ourselves
from the press of what’s what,
and take regular retreats
into the silence,
seeking the Source,
finding our bearings,
remembering who we are
and what we are here for
in order to be clear about
the time that is upon us
and how best to respond to it
here and now.
Here we are,
now what?
Stop.
Breathe.
Look.
Listen.
Wait.
To see, hear, understand, know, do, be.
Moment-by-moment-by-moment
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.
Simple.
Difficult.
Necessary.
Day-by-day-by-day.
“And all we ever wanted
was smooth and easy”
(Ogi Overman). - 05/10/2020 — The Grace Zagora Collection 01 — Grace Zagora is our (my wife and I) youngest granddaughter, and has an artistic bent. I have commissioned her to work up a series of Skeleton Trees for me as a way of commemorating the wonderful trees that are losing their lives daily to rising seas and increasingly higher tides–and keeping the reality of global warming before us all. We will be back to keep you company over time.
Those of you who know me well
know that I hate being boxed in.
Trapped.
Walled up.
Cornered.
Locked down.
Hemmed in.
I hate for my boundaries to be violated.
To be invaded.
Presumed upon.
Intruded on.
Seized.
Tortured.
Made to talk.
Forced to do something–anything–out of time
(When it is not the right time to be done
by my understanding of what/when is right).
When I have to go anywhere–
to a meeting, say–
I sit with nothing between me and the door.
I am that way,
at least in part,
according to my own investigation
in the matter,
because my father
left me with no wiggle room,
and had no respect for my boundaries
whatsoever.
Ever.
Maybe you know what I mean.
All of which is to say,
here we are.
Trapped.
Prisoners of war.
Living behind invisible bars.
In our own Gulag.
Even now being forced into labor
to serve The Economy
though it will mean the death
of many of us,
as the rest of us look on,
awaiting our turn to die
at the will of The Fuehrer In Chief.
Trump is my father
magnified times infinity.
We are at his merciless whim of the moment.
We cannot do anything about him.
He is bound by nothing.
He desecrated the Constitution daily.
He spits on the flag routinely,
and burns it, laughing, by the hour,
singing “What are you gong to do about it, huh?”
He has demolished democracy.
He has destroyed the cherished
sacred institutions of our Republic,
and has murdered our citizens
by the tens of thousands–
and he is not done.
He has “only just begun.”
We “haven’t seen anything yet.”
What do we do when
there is nothing we can do?
Where do we turn when
we have nowhere to turn?
How do we make our peace
with the terror of these times?
I suggest we look it straight in the eye.
Call it by name.
Say what it is
without flinching
or looking away.
Stare it–stare him–down.
We know who he is.
We know what he is doing.
We know who calls him Lord.
And we are not afraid of suffering
and death.
We live in the knowledge
of all that is right
and of all that is wrong.
And bear our pain
with the willful determination
of all of those who have
had their rights shredded
and their liberty torched
and their lives ended
by the brutal ruthlessness
and cruelty
of those who did it
because they enjoyed doing it.
We are one with those massacred
throughout time.
Victims all of the Desolating Sacrilege
come to rape, pillage, plunder, torture, eliminate, exterminate
because it liked to watch things burn
and to hear people scream.
We take our place with them in that line
as though we are proud to join their company–
as though there is no better company
in all the world through time.
The Laughing Lunatic can kill us,
but he cannot determine how we die.
We die looking him in the eye,
knowing who he is
and what he has done,
and we will not look away,
even as we join those
through the ages
bearing silent,
knowing,
witness to unspeakable Wrong. - 05/11/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Hunting Island 12/06/2014 07 — Hunting Island State Park, Beaufort County, South Carolina, December 6, 2014
We are born with a unique blend
of qualities and characteristics,
propensities, interests and abilities,
capacities, aptitudes and ways of being,
and who knows what all else.
And we spend our life
expressing,
exhibiting,
serving,
exploring,
using,
cursing,
hating,
denying,
resisting,
etc.
who we are.
Our relationship with our
original makeup
says all that needs be said
about our life.
The more suited our life is
to express, exhibit and serve
our original makeup,
the better our life will be.
A more contentious relationship
between us and all that came with us
from the womb
will result in a life
that is much less
in every way
than it would have been otherwise.
Human beings, it seems,
are alone among all sentient beings
in being able to choose
how we will live with ourselves.
Lions and lambs are just who they are.
With us, things are a bit more complicated.
We can sell ourselves out
for what we take to be
our best interest
just like that (Snaps fingers).
Ah, if we only knew what we were doing!
But we don’t know the most important things:
What is important?
Where are we better off?
What is worth wanting?
How do we want what we ought to want?
Lions and lambs don’t bother with any
of these questions.
They go about the business
of being lions and lambs,
while we are hedging our bets
and playing our cards right
hoping to sit in the cat bird’s seat
with the world on a string,
enjoying the envy of all our peers.
While the life that might have been
wrinkles, fades and turns to dust
in the darkest corner
of our distant possibilities.
Redemption is only realization away.
We can take up the work
of being born anew any time.
All it requires is sitting quietly in the silence
taking inventory.
Thumbing through our memories
looking for our original makeup,
apologizing,
making friends.
And amends.
We have to live to incarnate our virtues.
We have to spend the rest
of the time left for living
exhibiting, expressing, serving, being
who we are
within the context and circumstances
of our life.
Think of virtues as in the sentence,
“This old mare’s virtues
have always included her smooth gait,
and her gentle ways.”
If you were the old mare,
what would your virtues include?
Bring them forth!
Live to make them real
in the world of time and place,
here and now,
as long as life shall last! - 05/11/2020 — Blue Ridge Fall 10/18/2017 15 — Julian Price Memorial Park Picnic Area, Blue Ridge Parkway near Blowing Rock, North Carolina, October 18, 2017
We are born
for the times and places
of our living.
We come into the world
uniquely suited
for the word into which we come.
We step forth–
at birth
and at every day following–
to bring our particular constellation
of genius,
gifts,
talents,
temperament,
knacks,
virtues
and ways of being
to meet the times
and circumstances
of our life,
and dance.
We form a trio
built for living
here and now.
The people who are
ahead of their times,
and behind their times,
are just right for their times,
calling their times
to wake up
to their brand of music.
And so, Jazz comes along
at just the right time
in just the right place.
Etc.
How does that happen?
It is a miracle
of person, place and time.
Every person is a miracle
just like that
waiting to happen.
Living the life we are capable of living
in accord with–
in conjunction with–
the times and places of our living
is the matrix of miracle.
How can we withhold ourselves
from the wonder of being
who we are,
where we are,
when we are,
and dance? - 05/12/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Hunting Island 12/06/2014/06 — Hunting Island State Park, Beaufort County, South Carolina, December 6, 2014
Time and place create a particular rhythm.
a unique blend of balance and harmony–
a matrix of being–
calling for a response
unlike any other.
Doctrine and dogma,
morality and ethics,
are useless
in type-casting,
as they do,
all times and places
as the customary backdrop
against which we wheel and spin
and do our thing–
which is the same thing
we did in the last time and place,
and exactly what we will do again
in the next one
because the script we read from
calls for it.
The whole show
is a boring repetition
of past becoming future forever.
Compare all those staid old Thou Shalts
with the lusty,
daring,
brazenly
courageous challenge:
“A path that can be verbalized
is not a permanent path.”
“A path which can be taken for a path
is not an abiding path.”
“Each time and place–
every here and now–
calls for its own response!”
“Step into the moment
and let yourself go!”
“See what you look at!
Hear what is called for!
Do what needs to be done about it–
regardless of all norms and standards
to the contrary–
in each situation as it arises!”
“Live spontaneously,
improvisationally,
instinctively,
in response to the needs of the moment!”
And let the outcome be the outcome!
Who can be so bold?
Only those living in right relationship
with themselves,
and with the Old Man/Old Woman within!
How did we get to be as old as we are
with no one telling us this
anywhere along the way? - 05/12/2020 — Boone Fork Panorama 06/19/2009 — Julian Price Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, June 19, 2009
Most of the people who pass us in a day
have no money
in the sense of having it on hand,
stored away in a bank
or in investments.
They only have money in order to pass it around.
It comes to them from someone else
and goes from them to someone else,
and is likely to run out
before they receive the next installment.
Money is life in that it pays for the wherewithal for living,
but it is no way to live in that it separates us from life itself.
What is money for?
What is living for?
Money interferes with what living is for,
and becomes a substitute for being alive.
Living for money is no life at all.
How much money do we need
to do what living is for?
What is living for?
For what do we live that money cannot buy?
What is the source and ground of our life?
What do we live to do?
What is life itself for us?
We don’t have time to think about it.
We have to think about making money.
About making enough money
to have money,
though in reality,
money has us,
and we know we are nothing without money.
Before there was money,
how many people thought they were nothing?
In what ways does money
keep us for knowing who/what we are? - 05/12/2020 — Cypress Wonder — Taken on a private preserve in eastern North Carolina around 2004
If you have gotten the good from
the sermon on the mount,
the parables of the good Samaritan
and the prodigal’s father,
and grasped the truth of
“In as much as you have done it
or not done it,
to the least of my brothers and sisters,
you have done it,
or not done it,
unto me,”
you have gotten the best Jesus has to offer,
and now have only to do what
needs to be done about it.
In each situation as it arises.
If you have not gotten the good from
these sources,
go sit in their presence
until you have.
That is all there is to it.
For now
and forever. - 05/12/2020 — Johnson Creek Mooring 11/13/2017/04 — Beaufort County, South Carolina, November 13, 2017
The Old Taoists did not think of good vs evil.
They thought of Yin and Yang.
They did not think of God and Satin.
They thought of Original Nature/Virtue
and of Greed and Folly–
of Spontaneous Sincerity
and The Dust/Delights of the World.
They thought giving ourselves
without motive,
without contrivance,
without conniving,
or scheming,
to the service of the good of the moment–
automatically doing what was called for
by the situation as it developed before us–
was the height of Real Life.
And doing that moment-by-moment
our entire life long
was all that could be asked of anyone.
Taoism existed through many regenerations
over 4,000 years,
and is doing well today.
Taoism sees our circumstances
as being perfectly suited
to bringing us forth
into our Original Nature,
living to express the Virtues
that are unique to us
in meeting the times and places
of our living
and birthing ourselves–
growing up into ourselves–
thereby.
It is not a theology,
but a philosophy of Balance and Harmony,
calling us back to the silence
and to the source,
of our Original Nature and Virtues
in dancing with each here and now
for the good of all concerned.
There is no doctrine to believe,
only the invitation to sit quietly
and experience ourselves
in our essential nature
with our essential virtues,
and rise to meet each day
out of our relationship with ourselves,
living to exhibit/express who we are
in doing what is called for
in each situation as it arises.
If you can find something wrong with that,
by all means,
have nothing to do with it! - 05/13/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Hunting Island 08/24/2015 03 — Hunting Island State Park, Beaufort County, South Carolina, August 24, 2015
We are asked to rise to meet the occasion
by every occasion.
Each occasion pulls us forth,
and invites us to grow up some more again,
by seeing things as they are,
knowing what is happening
and what needs to be done about it,
in response to it–
and doing what we can toward that end
with our Original Nature
and the Virtues that were ours
before we were born.
We are here to do what needs to be done
with the gifts/genius/daemon that are ours to share
in the service of the good of the whole.
Or, as the Lao Tzu might say,
“Do your work and step back.
Let nature take its course.” - 05/13/2020 — Cypress Magic — Taken on a private preserve in eastern North Carolina about 2004
How do you do it?
Live-moment-to-moment?
What guides your boat
on its path through the sea?
Through time?
Through each day?
What leads you to respond to your life the way you do?
To feel the way you feel?
To see the way you see?
To like what you like?
To want what you want?
To choose what you choose?
What is directing you to be the way you are?
What is the source
of your living as you do?
Can you get to the bottom of it?
How close to the bottom can you get? - 05/14/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Hunting Island 12/06/2014 04 — Hunting Island State Park, Beaufort County, South Carolina. December 6, 2014
Our work
is becoming who we are capable of being
in response
to what is being asked of us
in each situation as it arises.
That work depends entirely
on the quality of our relationship
with ourselves
and with our life.
We can live striving
to force our life
to be what we want it to be
(What does wanting know?).
And, we can live striving
to do no harm
in looking to see who we are capable of being–
what we are capable of doing–
in response to the conditions
and circumstances in which we live
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
We can live out of an agenda
designed to serve our purposes.
And, we can live to see what happens
and what we do in response
within the time and place of our living,
day-by-day–
listening to what is called for
in each situation
and responding by offering what is ours to give
as best we can
in light of the good of all things considered.
We can live willfully resolute
rigid,
insistent
and determined–
and we can live willfully soft,
gentle,
pliable
and resilient.
The ratio of firmness with flexibility–
of Yang with Yin–
in each situation as it arises,
and always appropriate to the occasion,
tells the tale. - 05/15/2020 — Adams Millpond 11/10/2015 14 Panorama — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, November 10, 2015
We are left with entertaining ourselves until we die.
Life is just one long Vaudeville Act
and we are the audience.
We have to fill up the emptiness
of our life
and our days
with something–
we have no idea what–
so we look for some action,
any action,
hoping to pass a good time.
Some more.
Again.
I have a doctor’s appointment
on the tenth day of the last month
of the second quarter of my seventy-fifth year.
Let’s say it turns out that I’m in perfect health,
and my doctor can give me the formula,
or a vial of pills,
for maintaining that health
all the way to my dying breath.
What am I going to do with good health?
Can the doctor give me that?
I’ll ask him,
and I will bet you right now
that he will say,
“Why, anything you want!”
He will say that because
he will have nothing else to offer.
Doing what we want is the cultural ideal.
What does wanting know?
Who knows what to want?
Why do we want what we want
and not what we ought to want?
What ought we want?
Who can answer that question
and be right about it?
In every moment,
of every situation that arises
between now and our last breath?
Why are we so clueless
about what we ought to want
and how to want it/do it/serve it
with what remains of our life?
Sober alcoholics are in exactly the same place
they were in before they started drinking.
Now what?
After sobriety, what?
What do we do,
sober and healthy,
with the time left for living?
How do we know?
How does anybody know?
We have all this time on our hands
and going to a football game
is all we have to look forward to
(Or fill in the blank with any of the 10,000 things).
We are ridiculous.
We have a life to live
and don’t know how to live it.
“Any way we want” is no help whatsoever.
Wanting only knows what is bright and shiny
and the latest thing.
Joseph Campbell steps forward with
his deepest wisdom:
“That which you seek
lies far back
in the darkest corner
of the cave you most don’t want to enter.”
The football crowd doesn’t pause
even to ask him what he means.
Wanting may not know much,
but it knows that ain’t it. - 05/16/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Boneyard Beach 01/28/2015 04 — Botany Bay, Edisto Island, South Carolina, January 28, 2015
We get by as best we can.
We get up
and step into the day
and do what we can do.
And, let that be that.
Every day.
The disparity between
life as it is
and life as we wish it were–
or need it to be–
is a fluctuating continuum
that is more manageable
on some days than others,
and is always on the list
of things to do today.
Awareness of our situation
provides the framework
for acceptance of our situation–
in a “This is the way things are,
and this is what I can do about it,
and that’s that” kind of way.
The emotional impact of the way things are
is part of the way things are.
We are living through long days
of grief and mourning,
anxiety, uncertainty, anger, despair, fear,
emptiness, hopelessness, confusion,
sorrow, listlessness, depression…
The list is long.
I find my consolation in,
and draw my strength from,
tending my relationship
with the Old Man/Old Woman within.
Silence is ground of my communion with them,
and the bedrock of my certainty
that we all share the same Source,
we all drink from the same well,
and have, as a species,
come through dark times,
again and again,
on the strength of the firmness and flexibility
we find among the givens
of our inheritance.
Firmness and flexibility form
another fluctuating continuum–
one that we can depend on
to enable us to deal with the disparity
between our experience
and what we want our experience to be
on a moment-to-moment,
situation-by-situation,
basis throughout each day.
In each of us inner-truth
meets outer-truth all day
every day.
We find what we need within
to deal with what must be faced without
by taking the time to open ourselves
to the “very present help in time of trouble”
that has upheld and sustained us
through all times and places,
and is “with us always to the end of time.”
Accessing inner-truth is as simple
as being aware of all the ways
we are being led/guided/directed/comforted/etc.
(Including nighttime dreams,
nudges, realizations, urges, ideas, insight, inspirations,
intuitions, sensing/feeling/knowing…),
and trusting ourselves
to “more than meets the eye”
in the knowledge that we are not alone
in the work of meeting the day
and finding what we need
to do what needs to be done
all our life long. - 05/17/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Boneyard Beach 01/28/2015 B-3 — Botany Bay Plantation Heritage Preserve/Wildlife Management Area, Edisto Island, South Carolina, January 28, 2015
The distance between Adam and Eve
in the Garden of Eden,
and Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane
cannot be measured,
even in light years.
They are infinity apart.
The rest of us are spread out
along the continuum between them,
with most of us crowded together
in the center of the bell-shaped curve,
wondering how we might move toward
the Christ we are all built/called to be,
not sure if we want to be bothered
with it at all.
It is a choice we make
without being aware of making a choice.
Being aware of making the choice
is making the choice–
a choice we make
in becoming aware of making it.
The choice is simply
that of settling into who we are–
not “going” anywhere,
merely “being” who/where we are,
in each situation as it arises,
all our life long.
It is the choice of living in right relationship
with ourselves.
Right relationship with ourselves
instantly,
automatically,
spontaneously
becomes right relationship with other people.
It sets us apart from them
and draws us closer together with them
at the same time.
This is the truth of Robert Frost’s observation
in his poem, “Mending Wall,”
“Good fences make good neighbors.”
Knowing where we start
and other people stop
is essential knowing.
In becoming ourselves,
we move into not-being
who anyone else thinks we ought to be.
We disappoint the world
in a “No Lord! This is NOT
who you are supposed to be”
kind of way.
There are no “spozed to be’s”
for any of us.
There is only who this situation
is asking us to be right here, right now.
And we do not know beforehand
who that will be.
We birth ourselves again and again
in each situation that comes our way.
We make it up as we go.
Living spontaneously in response
to the moment of our living,
with no inkling of what we will do
before we find ourselves doing it–
like choosing to become the Christ.
We become the Christ in being ourselves.
The cross Jesus suffered
was not the cross of universal redemption–
it was the cross of his own integrity,
the cross of living his own life
the way it should have been lived.
And of paying the price of living that way.
Jesus’ cross is our cross.
Our pain is the pain
of living our life the way
it should be lived.
Pain and joy do not cancel each other out.
They are the same thing.
Our pain IS our joy!
Our joy IS our pain!
They are not mutually exclusive!
They are extensions of each other!
We take up our cross daily
in living in each situation
as it arises in ways that rise to the occasion
and do what needs to be done there,
offering what is called for
out of the repertoire of gifts/genius/daemon/virtues
that come with us from the womb–
with nothing to guide us
but our own innate sense of what needs to be done,
of what needs to happen,
here and now,
in every here and now.
“The path that can be discerned
is not a reliable path!”
(Thomas Cleary)
There is no Book of Doctrine
to tell us how to live!
We step into each day
dancing with the day–
not-knowing what we will do next–
just responding to the music
of the moment that only we can hear
in ways that are a blessing and a grace
upon all who share the moment with us,
including ourselves.
The joy of being alive is one
with the pain of life.
The way is the way of agony and grace.
We couldn’t talk Adam and Eve
into understanding/comprehending
what Jesus grasped in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Just like no one can hear
what I’m saying here
who doesn’t already know what I mean. - 05/18/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Boneyard Beach 01/28/2015 04-B — Botany Bay Plantation Heritage Preserve/Wildlife Management Area, Edisto Island, South Carolina, January 28, 2015
Most of the most important things
are outside of our jurisdiction.
We remain forever in charge
of some of the most important things,
and how we handle the responsibility
for choosing among the choices
available to us
is the most important thing
among the most important things
that remain ours to control.
We get to choose our response
to what is happening.
We get to choose the practice we follow
in maintaining our balance and harmony
amid “the heaving waves
of the wine-dark sea”
(Homer, Odysseus).
We get to choose the place of silence in our life.
We get to choose the quantity
and the quality of mindful awareness
with which we go about the business
of living moment-to-moment
and day-to-day.
We get to choose our attitude
and demeanor.
We get to choose the virtues/genius/daemon/gifts
we exhibit in each situation as it arises.
We get to choose the degree to which
we consciously follow our unconscious mind’s lead
in placing ourselves
in accord with the Tao/Dharma/Synchronicity/Grace
that is at work in and through
all of the times and places of our life–
by consciously getting out of the way
and allowing spontaneity and receptivity,
intuition and instinct,
direct our choosing
and guide our boat
on its path through the sea
(Though it be wine-dark
and filled with peril). - 05/19/2020 — Queen Anne’s Lace 05/18/2020 01 — Along Doby’s Bridge Road, York County, South Carolina, May 18, 2020
This is the result of That,
and That, and That…
This did not Have To Be.
This is just the way things are.
Nothing has to be the way it is.
Everything could be different like that
(Snaps fingers).
There is no Divine Plan
working itself out
“as year succeeds to year.”
There is no Celestial Purpose at work.
No Cosmic Direction in play.
Just the accumulated weight
of momentum and precedent through the years,
and the moment-to-moment interplay
between circumstance,
perspective
and perception.
We interpret things in light
of what we perceive to be
our stake in what we take to be
the outcome
of each situation as it arises,
and act in light of all that
to produce this.
And each here and now
is the result of everybody’s interaction
with the circumstances of their life
over time.
It is a miracle.
We started out with nothing
and created everything you see
right out of our imagination
in conjunction with our resources
and our possibilities.
Reality turns the old put-down of evolution
on its ear.
“Put a bunch of monkeys in a room
full of typewriters,
and they would never produce
the works of Shakespeare
in a million years!”
That is exactly what they did!
And they started out with no room
and no typewriters!
But it may have taken a bit more
than a million years.
And it would have been distant cousins
of monkeys
and not actual modern-day monkeys,
but it is still astounding.
Time and circumstance working together
through the ages,
are capable of marvelous,
unbelievable things.
What is the greater miracle?
That all of this is the result
of God’s Purpose and Plan?
Or that none of it is? - 05/20/2020 — Back-lit Begonia 05/12/2020 02 — Indian Land, South Carolina, May 12, 2020
Inner dialogues are essential
for transforming
our relationship with ourselves–
and as we transform
our relationship with ourselves,
we transform our relationships
with everyone,
with life,
with the world
and all that is therein.
We have to talk to ourselves.
We have to catch ourselves
thinking something,
feeling something,
saying something,
doing something
and ask all of the questions
that beg to be asked
about it–
and all of the questions
those questions stir to life.
Our inner dialogues
must deepen our awareness
of ourselves,
must expand the limits/boundaries
of our consciousness,
and must reduce however infinitesimally
the boundaries of our unconsciousness.
We have to teach ourselves
to probe,
explore,
examine,
inquire,
inspect,
investigate,
get to the bottom of
all aspects
of our mental,
physical,
emotional functioning.
Introspection is our best friend Friday
on our trip
through the rest of our life,
for the purpose
of seeing,
hearing,
knowing,
understanding
who we are
and what we are about,
how we got to be this way
and what we are being asked
to do with what we have to work with
in becoming who we might yet be
and doing what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises
throughout the time left for living.
And if you haven’t watched
all of the Jon Kabat-Zinn videos
on YouTube (The shortest ones first),
why not? - 05/20/2020 — Queen Anne’s Lace 05/18 2020 02 — Along Doby’s Bridge Road, York County, South Carolina, May 18, 2020
We are to preserve, protect, defend,
honor, serve, incarnate, express, bring forth and exhibit
the natural order–
with the gifts, genus, daemon, virtues
we have had from the beginning,
and the Spirit, Energy and Vitality
that flow to us
from the Tao, Dharma, Grace and Synchronicity
at the heart of being
and the source of us all.
This is all the theology, doctrine, dogma and creed
you will ever need.
Those of you who know it is so
have always known that it is so.
It has only taken articulation
to stir your knowing to life–
and now that you know,
you will never forget. - 05/21/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Boneyard Beach 01/28/2015 Roots 02 — Botany Bay Plantation Heritage Preserve/Wildlife Management Area, Edisto Island, South Carolina, January 28, 2015
We have to negotiate the impasses
between who we are
(Our Original Nature)
and who we are allowed to be
(Our Social Mask).
We walk two paths at the same time.
We do that by being conscious
of both paths at once.
We keep an eye on this path,
and another eye on that path,
and know who we are being asked to be
within the circumstances
of each situation as it arises–
and work out the conflicts
and contradictions
presented here-and-now,
moment-by-moment-by-moment
all our life long.
The reality of being constrained
by the time and place of our living
and required to do “what is not us”
in order to pay the bills
(For example)
that allow us to be true to “what is us”
in living in ways that bring us to life
in a world that demands
our dying daily
is the cross that is ours to bear
through the days that mark our passing.
How well we do that varies
from day-to-day
and place-to-place.
And coming to terms with having to do that
is the key to life beyond death
in the world of space and time.
This is the myth of Death And Resurrection
being worked out in real time
in our own experience
every day. - 05/22/2020 — Cypress Swamp Mirror 04/24/2019 01 Panorama — Lake Chicot State Park, Ville Platte, Louisiana, April 24, 2019
If we weren’t so stupid,
we would be brilliant.
And we are stupid
because we are ignorant
and afraid.
Ignorance and fear
combine to create hatred
and ruthless opposition
to anything new or different.
Curiosity is not allowed to breathe
much longer than three or four years.
In tribal groups,
children who exhibit individual tendencies
are sacrificed to the gods of conformity and routine.
There is nothing like killing off the thinkers
to create an environment of sameness
for generations.
We do the same thing
in more subtle ways
and punish “free thinking”
(Which is merely normal thinking
gone rogue)
in a number of socially-approved ways.
Schools don’t teach people how to think,
but how to think like the professors think.
It is outlandish how we restrict and restrain
what can be thought.
Climate change and evolution cannot be discussed,
much less taught,
in some school systems.
Let that sink in.
What might we have been
in an atmosphere
that allowed us to be
what we might have become
if it weren’t for fear and ignorance?
The entire world is a provincial,
small-minded,
insular,
intolerant,
dead-end
kind of place.
We are only
as we have been allowed
to be. - 05/22/2020 — Cypress Swamp 04/24/2019 04 — Lake Chicot State Park, Ville Platte, Louisiana, April 24, 2019
If you are going to transform
your relationship with yourself
the following things will need
to be incorporated in that effort.
Introspection:
Regular introspection in an atmosphere
of curious and compassionate wonderment
devoid of judgment or opinion.
You are just being aware of how things are,
and how things connect to,
relate with, one another.
You do “this” when “that” happens.
Why.
Where does “this” come from?
You say “this” is important,
but you don’t act in ways
that would enable anyone to guess
it is important.
What’s going on?
You say “this,” but do “that.”
What is going on?
Dreams:
Your nighttime dreams
are metaphors depicting
how things currently are
in your life.
How do they show things to be?
What themes run through your dreams?
How do you-in-your-dreams
react to what you are dreaming?
What is your role in your dreams?
How does that compare
to how you act in your life?
What is your conscious/waking reaction
to your dreams?
Your Original Nature:
What do you know about your Original Nature?
Your Original Nature includes
your personality types
and here is a website
for the Myers-Briggs way of thinking about that:
https://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/
Your Original Nature also includes
your gifts
your interests (The things that catch your eye)
your knacks and proclivities
your likes and dislikes
your genius/daemon
your virtues
your spirit
your energy
your vitality
How does your life support you
in living in ways that honor/serve
your Original Nature?
How does your life interfere with,
oppose,
override,
deny/contradict
your Original Nature?
Your Relationship With Your Unconscious:
Your Unconscious is the seat of your soul,
the source of your life,
the keeper of your heart
and your guardian/guide/guru/friend.
Your relationship with yourself IS
your relationship with your Unconscious.
Learning to attend your Unconscious
by working with your nighttime dreams,
your intuition,
your inspiration,
your hunches,
your urges,
the things that occur to you out of nowhere,
your musings,
your reflections,
are all evidence of your Unconscious
at work in your life.
Pay attention to the presence of your Unconscious,
and trust yourself to its leading.
It will be as though
Dumbledore,
Obi-wan Kenobi
and Yoda
are joining up with you
on your way through your life.
Your Personal Coalition:
3 – 5 people who you trust
to join with you
in their own quest
to transform their relationship
with their life.
Everybody needs a sounding board,
a source of encouragement,
a Community of Innocence
with nothing at stake in you,
nothing to gain or lose,
nothing riding on you,
nothing to get from you
and no agenda to talk you into,
simply being with you as companions
on the experience of being alive.
If you have all this going for you,
there is nothing left to do
but get to work.
And if the church as we know it
would trade its theology
and its worship services
for something like this,
it would be a different world overnight. - 05/23/2020 — Cypress Swamp 04/24/2019 02 — Lake Chicot State Park, Ville Platte, Louisiana, April 24, 2019
Doing this to get that,
or avoiding this to get that,
is to live out of an agenda
and connive our way through life.
When everybody is living out of an agenda
and conniving their way through life,
the entire world has lost its bearings
and Tao (Dharma, Grace, Synchronicity)
is nowhere to be found.
When this is the case,
we have to order our own life
around restoring the right order of things
and putting ourselves in accord
with the Tao of the moment,
moment-by-moment.
We do that by seeking
what is being called for here and now.
What is it time for here and now?
What is happening here and now?
What needs to happen in response?
What can we do about that
with the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues
of our Original Nature?
Not in order to make anything happen,
just to do what needs to be done!
Do what needs to be done
here and now,
moment-by-moment,
and let nature take its course!
Let the outcome be just another moment
in which we do what needs to be done!
Follow each moment doing what needs to be done,
letting the outcome be the outcome,
allowing nature to take its course,
doing “this” because “this” needs to be done,
and not to get/make/force “that” to happen–
and doing it again in the next moment,
and in the one after that–
and you will be the servant of Tao (Etc.)
seeking what it is time for
and doing it.
When the world has lost Tao (Etc.),
the proper response to make
is to become the servant of Tao,
moment-by-moment,
and let nature take its course. - 05/24/2020 — Cypress Swamp 04/24/2019 10 — Lake Chico State Park, Ville Platte, Louisiana, April 24, 2019
The difference between living
aligned with the Tao
and living lost to the Tao
is the difference between
trusting your luck
and pushing it.
The Slippery Slope
becomes slippery
the instant we begin
to push our luck.
We push our luck
when we begin
to count on our luck,
depend on our luck,
take it for granted.
The trick with being lucky
and living a charmed life
is to forget about it
and never give it a thought.
Because we are lost
in the deep awareness
of what is being called for
moment-by-moment
in each situation as it arises–
and responding to it
as best we can
with the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues
that are ours to use
in the service of the Tao
in each here-and-now
that comes our way
all our life long.
This is the service of pure concentration,
pure sincerity,
pure innocence,
pure spontaneity,
pure energy,
pure vitality,
pure spirit.
We are lost in the service of the Tao.
We are lost in the service of the Spirit
which is like the wind
that blows where it will.
We have no time for contriving,
for conniving,
for thinking of our advantage,
and playing our cards right,
and running the table,
and winner taking all,
and doing only what we want
all our life long.
Living in accord with the Tao
is to be lost to the world.
Living with the lights
of Gay Paree reflected in our eyes
is to be lost to the Tao.
The key to having it made
is not knowing where the action is
or whether the good times are rolling
or not,
but being crystal clear
about what is called for
in each moment
of every day–
and serving it with our life.
Now, that is a wicked trade-off
for some people–
and the world is as it is
because they aren’t willing to say,
“Thy will, not mine, be done,”
and mean it.
Those who do say it and mean it,
and live their life in service to it,
are the hope of the world,
even as it is.
Believe it or not. - 05/24/2020 — Cypress Shadows — Taken on a private preserve in eastern North Carolina around 2004
Two Zen sayings perfectly capture
our situation:
“If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him!”
“If you meet an elephant coming toward you
along the path,
GET OFF THE PATH!!!”
We kill the Buddha
because WE are the Buddha,
and thinking the Buddha is The Buddha
keeps us from doing the work required
to be the Buddha,
and puts us in the position
of listening to the Buddha
expound on Buddha-hood
instead of listening to the moment
in order to see what is being called for
here-and-now,
and doing it as best we can
with what we have to offer,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
We get off the path
when our circumstances
clearly do not allow
the pursuit of our agenda.
Then, we take no for an answer,
and seek to serve
what truly needs to be done
here and now,
with what we have to offer,
as best we can,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
The two sayings
are saying
the same thing.
There is us and the moment,
and how we live there
makes all the difference,
moment-by-moment-by-moment. - 05/24/2020 — Goodale 11/11/2015 02 — Adams Mill Pond, Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, November 11, 2015
The secret key to invincibility
is complete immunity
to everything that happens.
Complete immunity
to everything that happens
means having nothing at stake
in any situation ever.
Nothing to gain,
nothing to lose.
Good and bad
are one and the same.
Who cares about the outcome,
because it isn’t going to last
no matter what it is.
All that matters
is giving our best effort
in the service of what is called for
in the moment that is at hand
in light of all things considered,
with the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues
that are at our disposal
in the service of the Tao/Dharma/Grace/Synchronicity
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.
When we do that,
we are ushered as on angel’s wings
from one moment to the next,
safe from all harm,
protected and shielded
to do the work that is ours to do
in the time and place,
the here and now,
of our living.
And our work in each moment
is to listen to what is being called for
and serve it as best we can
with what we have to offer.
Living like this,
moment-to-moment
enables us to live forever,
or until our time on earth is done,
whichever comes first. - 05/25/2020 — Goose Landing — The Bog Garden, Greensboro, North Carolina
We cultivate a life worth living,
a life worthy of us,
by being of worth
to ourselves an others.
We get there by contemplating
what is worthy,
what is worthwhile,
what is of value–
of dear and lasting value.
Make a list.
Genghis Khan said,
“The greatest fortune a man can have
is to conquer his enemy,
steal his riches,
ride his horses,
and enjoy his women.”
That is his list.
If your list
is anything like
Genghis Khan’s list,
I am not going to be
of any help to you.
There has to be something
about us before our ideas
of value and worth
that enables us
know it when we see it.
Something that recognizes
and resonates
with value and worth
and is right about it
Being “right about it”
would entail what?
Majority vote?
How do we determine
value and worth?
Who says so?
Who is right about it?
Who makes the rules?
The meanest,
cruelest,
most ruthless
and most powerful
among us?
How would they know
if they were right about it?
They wouldn’t care.
What would it take for Genghis Khan
to change his mind?
For it to matter to him
to be right
about what matters most?
Might does not make right,
but what does?
Right exists by its own right.
We recognize it,
or fail to recognize it
or deny it,
but the value of the valuable
exists waiting to be valued
by those who know it
when they see it.
The stone the builders reject.
The pearl of great price lost
in the display case of costume jewelry.
The Picasso gathering dust
in the antique dealer’s basement.
Seeing what we look at
and being right about it
is the auctioneer’s dream come true. - 05/25/2020 — Kisatchie Falls 01/31/2015 05 — Kisatchie Bayou, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, January 31, 2015
It has been said by those
who know what of they speak,
“Young children are excellent observers,
and dramatically poor interpreters.”
Seeing what’s what is one thing.
Knowing what it means is quite another.
What something means
is what it means to someone.
A cow in the field
means one thing to the farmer
who is wondering when to sell it,
another to his daughter
who raised it from birth
and won a blue ribbon for her work
at the county fair,
another to the boy down the road
with a slingshot
and nothing to do,
and yet another to the bull
in the neighboring pasture.
Interpreting the cow
however you like,
taking as long as you like,
leaves more unsaid
than could ever be said.
It helps to remember
that we don’t know
what we are talking about.
To assume “it”–
whatever “it” might be–
is what we think “it” is
is to come up woefully short
of saying anything reasonably intelligent
about “it.”
People who “cut to the chase”
and “get to the point”
are serving their own interests
and guarding the stake they have
in presenting “it” as they do,
and pressing others to go along
so as to not get in their way.
What do we have at stake
in seeing as we do?
What is in it for us?
What do we stand to gain
or lose?
You can bet we are not free
to explore “it”
as those simply gathering information
with no investment
in the process or the outcome.
Racism,
Homosexuality,
Abortion…
Who approaches these
and 10,000 other topics/issues
as merely disinterested observers
with nothing to gain
and nothing to lose?
How can we ever hope to see anything
when everything means so much to us
on so many levels.
How did we become so attached
to our interpretations
that we cannot see
what we are looking at?
Or, see ourselves seeing
what we look at? - 05/25/2020 — Goodale 11/11/2015 30 — Goodale Sate Park, Camden, South Carolina, November 11, 2015
In any situation,
there is that which needs to be done.
All situations are calling for something.
It may be a nap,
or a cup of coffee.
We are ordinary people,
living ordinary lives.
We must learn to do
the ordinary things well.
One moment flows into another.
One moment follows another.
We set the next moment up
for what needs to be done there
by doing what needs to be done here, now.
We transform the world
one moment at a time
by doing what is called for
in this moment.
This is grace at work in our life.
Tao leads the way.
Grace guides our path.
Tao is Grace
Grace is Tao.
Two words for the same experience.
Synchronicity is another word
that belongs to the family
of that experience.
Dharma is another.
The experience is that of moving
with the flow of life,
where everything falls into place,
clicks into where it belongs,
like pieces of a puzzle
working themselves into position
through us.
We experience that occasionally.
We are being asked to make it
a regular feature
of the day-to-day
by paying attention to what time it is
and what it is time for
and what needs to be done
and what is being asked of us
by each situation as it arises.
Putting ourselves at the service
of our situations
is like unto submitting
to the will of God,
except that we do not hear and act,
so much as we sense and respond.
We sense what needs to happen.
That is different from waiting
to be directed by God’s will.
We read the situation.
We see what is going on.
And attuned to the moment of our living
we have the ability
to respond spontaneously,
without thinking about it–
without considering our options
and calculating our chances
and deciding what stands to reason
and missing the time for acting
by being sure that we know what to do–
in doing what needs most to be done
when the time for doing it is upon us.
Here.
Now.
And letting nature take its course,
which presents us with the next moment,
where the same attentiveness,
and the same non-action,
are required,
as we wait to act
when the action is called for,
knowing what to do
when we find ourselves doing it
when the time is right for it to be done.
Transforming the world
one moment at a time.
This is nature’s way.
As it was in the beginning,
is now and ever shall be.
Grace.
Tao.
Synchronicity.
Dharma.
Carrying us along
the great journey of life. - 05/26/2020 — Lake Chicot 10/27/2015 04 — Lake Chicot State Park, Ville Platte, Louisiana, October 27, 2015
Looking/Listening,
Seeing/Hearing
are foundational.
Which is why
the Jon Kabat-Zinn YouTube videos
are so important.
The intentional practice
of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction–
“Paying attention,
on purpose,
without judgment
or opinion,
but with compassion for,
the present moment
just as it is”–
is the bedrock
of looking/listening,
seeing/hearing.
We tend to think,
“Oh, yeah.
Got it.”
And go on with our life
without looking/listening,
seeing/hearing.
Understanding substitutes
for knowing,
and nothing changes
because we don’t see what we look at
or know what we are doing.
See what you look at!
Know what you are doing!
That is the foundation.
That is what Henry David Thoreau
got from Walden Pond.
It is all we need
to find what we need
to do what needs us to do it
in each/every situation as it arises
all our life long.
And that is the only thing
that ever needs to be done. - 05/26/2020 — The Grove 01/29/2015 01 — Ernest F. Hollings ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge, Hollywood, South Carolina, January 29, 2015
Here is The Plan:
1) What does wanting know?
What you want and don’t want
varies with the winds and the tides.
What you wanted has you where you are,
and now you want something else.
That is the way it is with wanting.
Do not look to wanting
to guide your boat on its path
thorough the sea!
And do not allow wanting
to take you off the path!
You have to find a more substantial
and dependable guide,
one who will not forsake you
and abandon you
on the heaving waves
of the wine-dark sea.
You have to be seized by a mythic vision
of cosmic proportions
and thrown into the life
that you alone can live.
The question is not
what you want to do,
but what must you do!
What is it that will not let you go?
That will give you no rest?
That keeps coming back,
and coming back,
no matter how often
you turn away,
slam the door,
and live in the service
of all the things you ever wanted.
Explore that.
And if you have nothing like that
in your life,
be patient,
things may be waiting on you
to be at the end of your last rope.
2) Bear the pain!
The pain of being torn between
mutually exclusive wants.
Wanting brings you to the point
of deepest agony,
where you only know
what you don’t want,
but have no idea
what you do want,
or what to do next/now.
Don’t do anything.
Bear the pain.
Wait it out.
By all means,
do not force anything!
Do not push your way
our of this mess
into some other,
even greater,
mess.
Wait in the silence,
in the pain,
in the darkness of not knowing,
for the shift to happen.
3) Look until you see,
Listen until you hear!
Until you see/hear what’s what
and what needs to be done about it,
when and how.
And continue to bear the pain
that must be borne through it all.
Ask the questions that beg to be asked.
Say the things that cry out to be said.
Live in the tension between
all of the things pulling you apart.
Do not think up solutions.
The solution to your situation
cannot be thought up.
You have to grow into it.
Growing into it
will require you
to change your mind
about what is important.
You cannot bend your life
to your will.
“We cannot make ourselves
without suffering,
for we are both the marble
and the sculptor”
(Alexis Carrell).
We say Yes to our life.
Nothing good happens until then.
4) Wait for the door to open–
when it does, walk through.
Don’t think you know what the door is.
Don’t think.
Look/See,
Listen/Hear.
And trust yourself to what you know
the situation is calling for,
searching for how to serve it
within the circumstances of your life.
You think you have to do this,
but that is in the way.
Bear the pain!
Wait for the door to open!
Do not be in a hurry!
You are the liege servant of time and timing.
You are waiting for the time to be right.
In the meantime do what must be done.
“Chop wood, carry water.”
Pay the bills.
Serve your sense of what your life is to be
to the extent that you can
within the context of the day-to-day.
Wait for the opposites to integrate,
for the contraries to soften,
for something to happen
(You can’t imagine what).
You may have to wait
for the kids to get out of college.
While you wait,
prepare.
Rehearse.
Practice.
Work your life that you must live
into the life you are living.
Walk two paths at the same time.
And keep watching
for the door to open.
When it does,
walk through. - 05/27/2020 — Kisatchie Falls 03/18/2015 01 — Kisatchie Bayou, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, March 18, 2015
“Tao” can be translated
“The right way.”
As in “living the right way,”
“doing the right thing
in the right way.”
Living in accord with the Tao
is doing the right thing
in the right way
moment-by-moment
in each situation as it arises
throughout our life.
This is assisted
by being at one with the “Te.”
Te is translated as “Virtue.”
And understood,
not as “The Seven Virtues”
(Faith, Hope, Charity, Prudence,
Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude),
but as the way we think of “virtue”
when we say,
“This plant has medicinal virtues,”
Or,
“This horse has the virtues
of a soft trot and a smooth gait.”
Our “virtues” are “the gifts of being”
that come with us from the womb–
“Who we are” in being ourselves,
in our natural way of being in the world.
So, “The Tao Te”
is “The right way of being ourselves
in the time and place
(The Here and Now)
of our our living,
moment-by-moment,
in each situation as it arises.”
(“Ching” is an honorary title
for all books considered to be classics.)
When we do that,
when we live that way,
everything is well with us
and all of life benefits
from our presence
and is blessed by the grace
of our being in the world.
This is the way of all things
being themselves in the right way
throughout the time,
and in all the places,
of their living.
It is disturbed,
decimated,
demolished,
destroyed,
by “greed and folly.”
By the pursuit of personal gain.
By living with our eyes
(and mind)
on the wrong things.
By wanting what we have
no business having.
By losing ourselves
in the pursuit
of “the 10,000 things.”
By wandering without direction
through the wasteland
of “the dust of the world.”
We recover our relationship
with the Tao and the Te
by entering the silence,
seeking the source
(Our Original Nature),
and looking/listening
for what is called for
in each situation as it arises,
and how we might best
serve what is needed there
(here, now)
with the virtues
(The gifts/genius/daemon)
that are ours to offer
at the right time,
in the right way.
Doing the right things,
in the right way,
at the right time,
is a matter of laying aside
our personal interests/gain,
and putting ourselves
in filial service
to the good of the moment
in each moment.
We do that through the practice
of mindful, compassionate, awareness
in each situation as it arises
all our life long. - 05/28/2020 — Queen Anne’s Lace 5/18/2020 — Along Doby’s Bridge Road, York County, South Carolina, May 18, 2020
Establishing,
deepening,
developing,
improving
our relationship
with our unconscious
is as simple as
paying attention
to what comes to us
that we didn’t think up.
Balancing our checkbook
is a conscious activity.
Knowing that we just
walked into place
where we do not belong
is our unconscious kicking in.
“The Uh-oh Feeling”
is instinctual,
intuitive,
not something you can explain,
and would be wise
to not ignore.
Things are always catching our eye
(that we can’t explain),
songs are always coming to mind
(out of nowhere),
odors connect us to memories
(triggers are everywhere),
responses to our circumstances
at times happen
“of their own accord,”
slips of the tongue
reveal what we really think/feel,
nighttime dreams reflect
the present state of our life
(and things we need to be aware of)…
Our unconscious knows
more than we know it knows.
Returning balance and harmony
to our life
requires us to know all that we know–
and to work through
the contradictions,
bearing the pain
consciously,
intentionally.
Our unconscious,
our Psyche,
is like a gyroscope,
balancing and stabilizing us
so that we might act
as a well-integrated
response system,
merging our
gifts/genius/daemon/virtues
with the context
and circumstances
of our life
in ways that exhibit/express/incarnate/follow
Tao/Dharma/Grace/Synchronicity
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.
We are perfectly built
for the work that is ours to do,
if only we would stop forcing our way
through the world,
allowing the current of life
carry us
and letting nature take its course. - 05/29/2020 — Bodie Island Lighthouse 10/25/2009 02 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore near Nags Head, North Carolina, October 25, 2009
What is the most important thing?
The thing upon which everything else depends?
Flows from?
Revolves around?
The thing that is the bedrock of your life.
The thing which centers you,
grounds you,
shapes you,
molds you,
forms you,
guides and directs you?
The thing with which you are
and without which you are not?
The thing that is the source
and goal
of you?
What do you live for?
What do you live to serve?
What are you here for?
What is yours to do,
and leave behind?
There is a saying:
“Sailors with no port,
no compass,
no bearings,
can’t tell a favorable wind
from an ill wind.”
I say:
“Sailors with no port,
no compass,
no bearings,
don’t care where the wind
takes them,
and are just along for the ride.”
I’m saying we are just along for the ride,
and everything depends
on how well we sail
through all winds
and every sea.
And all of that hinges
on knowing
what’s the most important thing.
If you are forming your coalition
of 3 to 5 people
who are a Community of Innocence
for one another,
devoted to the cause
of enabling and sustaining
balance and harmony
within each other,
the group
and the world at large
through serving
and articulating what’s important
in each situation as it arises,
you have to make the articulation
and service of what’s important
and how that is incarnated,
made evident,
in your lives
the central feature
of your coming together.
If you aren’t forming that coalition,
why not?
What is more important to you than that? - 05/30/2020 — Day Lily 05/29/2020 01 — Indian land, South Carolina, May 29, 2020
The Just Society
has bitten the bullet,
agreed to bear the pain
of being alive
within the context
and circumstances
of their living,
and committed to living together
in ways that benefit everyone
in a one for all,
all for one kind of way.
People are taught to serve
their souls–
their Psyche–
and to live in good faith
with everyone else.
Economic extremes are rejected
in favor of everyone having what they need
to live the life that needs them to live it.
And no one needs to seek escape
in diversion,
distraction,
denial.
It is a meditative,
introspective,
mindfully aware,
compassionate,
non-judgemental
society,
with everyone seeing
what they look at,
hearing what is being said–
verbally and non-verbally–
knowing what’s what
and responding appropriately
in each situation as it rises.
With everyone rising to the occasion
and doing what needs to be done
with the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues
that are theirs to work with
and share.
There is no contriving/conniving.
There is no agenda-serving-directed living.
There is no trying to get ahead.
There is no striving to have more
than anyone else.
There is no ambition
in the service of individuals,
only ambition for the good
of the whole.
Everyone is content
with being who they are,
and happy to “do their work
and step back,
letting nature take its course.”
And, of course,
nothing like this will never be
instituted in the lives of human beings.
Which leaves us with each of us
doing what we can
to shift things in this direction
in our own life
moment-by-moment
throughout each day,
all our life long. - 05/30/2020 — Day Lily 05/29/2020 06 — Indian Land, South Carolina, May 29, 2020
What is the most important thing in your life right now?
This question lives unasked a great deal of the time.
When you meet someone you haven’t seen in a while,
you never lead off with, “What is the most important
thing in your life right now?”
It’s always, “How have you been?”
Or, “How’s it going?”
Or, “What’s happening?”
Or, “How are you doing?”
You are wasting your time.
We are all going to die,
most of us sooner than we think,
and we burn daylight
talking in the most inconsequential ways.
Nothing we say matters!
Our conversations do not deepen us,
enlarge us,
expand us,
grow us,
require us to stop and look,
and listen,
and wonder,
and seek,
and search,
and be alive in the moment right now.
We have the same conversations
we had the last time,
and the ones we will have the next time.
So much for being engaged with our life
here and now
in every moment
throughout the day.
How often are we present?
How often are we adrift
in some fog of being?
We go through the motions of living
without having to be there
for any of them.
And we are going to be dead
before we know it.
When does life begin?
It certainly isn’t before birth.
It isn’t even, as all the traditions proclaim,
at the first breath.
It is when we wake up
and realize we have been dead all this time.
And decide to live our life
as those who are alive
to the moment of their living
from that point on,
as liege servants to
The Most Important Thing.
The catch is
that we have to be right
about what that is.
And, don’t take someone else’s word for it. - Back-lit Begonia 05/12/20 01 — Indian Land, South Carolina, May 12, 2020
The purpose of the physical body
is to give shape and form
to the Reality Body.
Said the old Chinese Buddhists.
“The Reality Body,”
sometimes called “The Reality Mind,”
is set opposite
to “The Conscious Body,”
and “The Conscious Mind.”
They were talking about
what we refer to
as “The Unconscious Mind,”
or “The Psyche.”
They understood “The Reality Mind”
to be the source of all that is.
Carl Jung said that everything we see
is the product of the Psyche.
Perspective and perception
are psychic phenomenon.
The Psyche is a filtering mechanism
and the origin of our ideas
and our inspiration–
of revelation,
insight,
intuition,
comprehension…
Life.
We are alive to the extent
that we are conscious extensions
of the Psyche.
We are here to bring the Psyche
alive in the life we are living.
The old Chinese Buddhists would say,
“To incarnate the Reality Body
and give birth to the spiritual–
to the Reality Mind/Body,
to the Psyche/Unconscious–
in the world of physical reality
is what Bodhisattvas do.”
It is what Buddha did.
It is what Jesus did.
It is what the Taoist sages did/do.
It is what you and I
are here to do.
Some things do not change.
And, the work is never finished.
It is time it was begun. - 06/01/2020 — Day Lily 05/29/2020 05 — Indian Land, South Carolina, May 29, 2020
Making a place
for ourselves
and for one another
is the perennial task of life.
It is the work of being human.
Look at all we say no to:
NO Abortion!
NO Right-To-Lifers-Unless-You-Really-Truly-Mean-It
(And I’ve never met one who did)!
NO LGBTQ-ETC’s!
NO People of Color!
NO Vaxers!
NO Anti-Vaxers!
NO Foreigners!
NO People With The Wrong Religion!
NO Democrats!
NO Republicans!
NO Libs!
NO Anti-Libs!
NO Facists!
NO Anti-Facists!
NO …
NO Body Not Like Us!
E V E R!!!
Try to build a world like that.
Nothing but land mines
and electric fences all the way around.
Here’s one for you.
Genocide has been a thing
ever-since Cro-Magnon
wiped out Neanderthal.
Exclusion in all forms
has genocide at its heart.
Who is not welcome
in your company?
And don’t think I’m talking about anybody–
I excluded myself from everyone
when I took the vow
of solitude and silence
and moved into my hermitage.
I have genocide in my heart.
Killing all of my relationships
is pretty much in the same corner
with killing everybody not like me,
and that’s everybody.
And everybody has a little of me in them.
“If everyone only thought like I do!”
Or, “If everyone only left me alone
to be as I am!”
How much do we all give up
to live in even distant association
with other people?
How much of us do we conceal
for the sake of appearances
in order to not upset anyone
and to “just get along”?
How can we all live together
in ways conducive to the life of us all?
We are all here to bring ourselves forth
in the life we are living.
How can we do that with all the NO!’s
afloat in the world?
We have to consciously embrace
Social Distance as being six feet apart
on more than one level.
And we have to stop taking ourselves seriously.
We have to see that not one of us
can change the way we see things,
can change the way we think about things,
can change the way we feel about things,
can change the way we believe things are,
can change anything fundamentally essential
about us–
without doing significant psychic damage
to ourselves.
Force somebody to be who they are not–
or even not-yet–
and you kill something vital about them.
We all drink from the same well,
and we all grow up against our will
to see things as they are
in much the same ways.
But.
We are on different time-tables,
and different paths
all the way.
And.
We all have to be true to ourselves
all the way.
And.
We all have to make room for–
have to make a place for-
The Other in all the others
who are finding their own way
to being who they are
within the context
and circumstances
of their life.
We are all the same.
And we are all different.
And we all have to make it work.
Together.
Hating/killing one another is no solution.
I withdrew from community
in order to create community,
not knowing what I was doing.
I only knew I had to get away,
be alone,
and hear what I am saying to myself.
And here I am,
talking to you.
It works for me
because I am talking to you
one-on-one,
and in the privacy
of my own home.
But, I am talking to you–
and understand the importance of you
in my life,
and do not think for a moment
that I can be me without you–
all of you–
balancing me,
engaging me,
enlarging me,
growing me,
drawing me forth,
pulling me out,
enabling me
to be more than I could ever be
on my own
without all of the opposites
you all represent
challenging me to grow up
and become who I am capable of being
before I die.
We all offer this kind of community
to all of the rest of us.
We have to understand this
and create an environment in which
it can be done.
Everything depends on it. - 06/02/2020 — Pink Flame Azalea 06/01/2020 01 Panorama — Indian Land, South Carolina, June 1, 2020
Democracy is now always
one election away
from being rejected.
The Koch Brothers,
Dark Money,
Special Interests,
Citizens United,
Super Pacs,
Rupert Murdoch
and Fox News
have made it so.
In 1968 the foundation was laid for 2020.
The Tea Party was the Coming Out Party.
By then,
the structure was in place
for the complete takeover of the country.
It was a masterful coup,
founded upon the simple formula,
“They are taking your freedom away!”
repeated constantly
without letup or alteration
over 52 years.
In the run-up to the 2016 elections,
Lindsey Graham told South Carolina audiences,
“Donald Trump may be the most vile
person you will ever vote for,
but at least he won’t take your guns away.”
That has been the Republican game plan
for 52 years,
while the courts were being packed
with hand-picked judges,
and the airwaves were being filled
with unending rounds of Fox “News”
and talk show propaganda.
Hatred,
fear
and greed
came together
to serve the ideology
of white supremacy
and end democracy.
And here we are.
We are one election away
from becoming a fascist state.
And always will be.
Because democracy is a threat
to fascist goals
and likes to believe
“Everybody wants to be free.”
Not everybody.
A lot of people want to be in control.
And a lot of people don’t mind being controlled.
And a lot of people hate and fear
certain other people,
and don’t want them being free in any way.
Creating the perfect fascist petri dish.
Now what?
Know what’s what!
Nurture the core principles of democracy
in your life
and in the world around you.
Live in liege devotion and allegiance
to those principles
and the institutions that serve them,
keeping Liberty, Justice, Equality, Truth
vibrantly alive in the life of the nation–
and vote in every election,
local, state and national,
as though democracy rides on the outcome,
because you know it does. - 06/03/2020 — Day Lily 05/29/2020 08 — Indian Land, South Carolina, May 29, 2020
Walk around in a bubble of awareness.
See what you look at.
Know what it means.
Knowing what it means
means knowing what it means
to you/for you–
means knowing what it is asking of you,
means knowing what it is asking you to do,
requiring of you.
Means knowing how it is interfering
with your life.
Means knowing what needs to happen
in response to it.
Means knowing how to
balance it,
harmonize it,
with the way things ought to be,
moment-by-moment.
And see where it goes…
Seeing what we look at
will change our life.
Will transform our relationship
with ourselves.
And with one another.
Will ask hard things of us,
and bring us face-to-face
with the hard truth
of “Here We Are, Now What?”
Which is why we don’t see what we look at.
And, that asks hard things of us, too.
Which is why we don’t see
that we don’t see
what we look at.
“All we ever wanted
was smooth and easy”
(Ogi Overman). - 06/03/2020 — Catawba Crossing 04/02/2011 01 B&W — Catawba River, York County, South Carolina, April 2, 2011
The most important commandment
in the Bible
did not make the top ten.
“Thou shalt not remove
thy neighbor’s landmark.”
Which is another way of saying,
“Good fences make good neighbors.”
Which underscores the essential nature
of our primary task:
Knowing where we stop
and our neighbor starts–
with “our neighbor” understood to be
every other human being on the planet.
All of the institutions we have created
exist to remove our landmarks
and make us all one
in our devotion to
The Right Way of
Seeing,
Thinking,
Understanding,
Knowing,
Feeling,
Believing,
Doing,
Being.
Our neuroses rise
to the extent to which
we are separated from ourselves
and cut off from the source and goal
of our life.
The life we are living
is too often
at odds
with the life that is ours to live.
We are the only ones
who can restore the Tao,
putting things back in the right order,
balancing the scales
and harmonizing the contradictions,
restoring the current,
reestablishing the connections
and making peace.
We are the Lost Boys
gathered around Peter Banning (Robin Williams)
in the sandbox (In the movie “Hook”)–
and we are Peter Banning
(“The sculptor and the marble”)–
we are looking,
peering,
seeking,
searching,
waiting,
hoping
for the moment in which we,
seeing ourselves at last,
exclaim,
“Oh, there you are, Peter!”
And take up the work
of living the life that is ours to live
that flows out of and around
our central,
bedrock
undeniable,
inescapable
true identity. - 06/03/2020 — Dawn Comes to Hunting Island 12/06/2014 — Hunting Island State Park, Beaufort County, South Carolina, December 6, 2014
The two things we need,
emotionally,
for proper functioning
in the world
are, I believe,
comfort and safety.
Our comfort,
we seek in the company
of the right kind of others–
the tribe,
the family,
like-minded friends
and associates.
Safety, we seek in our weapons.
We take comfort
in the right kind of company.
We find safety
in the right kind of weapons.
We ignore the fact that our nuclear missiles
have the power to destroy all of life on earth.
We feel safe knowing we have them.
That is how the mind works.
Our mind tricks us into feeling comfort
in the company of those who are like us
though they may not have our best interest at heart,
or prove themselves to be reliable in any way–
and feeling safe with weapons
that can eradicate life world wide.
Our mind is the source
of our comfort
and of our safety.
So.
Go to the source!
Go to the source knowingly,
intentionally,
purposefully!
Seek the source!
We all draw water from the same well!
We all live from the same source!
Our minds are connected at the source
with all other minds!
We all have Mind in common!
Mind is the source
of insight,
intuition,
instinct,
realization,
resonance,
knowing,
feeling,
sensing,
hunches,
ideas,
visions,
and all that we need
to find what we need
to do what needs us to do it
with the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues
that come with us from the womb!
We are not alone!
Carl Jung said,
“There is within each of us
another whom we do not know.”
We meet our Other
in the mind we share.
Everlasting comfort and safety
reside in our relationship
with the Other within
whom we do not know.
The path forward
is a path the two of us walk
together.
We start by getting to know
the one we do not know. - 06/04/2020 — Pink Hydrangea 06/01/2020 01 — Indian Land, South Carolina, June 1, 2020
Jesus said it over 2,000 years ago.
I don’t know how many times
it had been said before,
or has been said since.
It sounds like something his mother
might have said,
and his father.
“You have eyes! Let them see!”
Some things never change.
People still have eyes.
People still need to let their eyes see.
We look at the same things
and see something different.
What’s with the differences?
What is to be seen is right there,
in front of every one.
Donald Trump, for instance.
What is so hard about seeing Donald Trump,
just as he is?
Why is that difficult?
How can there be so many ways
of seeing Donald Trump?
What. Is. Going. On?
I would really, really, like
for everyone to see clearly
to the bottom of their seeing–
and know exactly why they see as they do.
And take full responsibility for it,
and the implications of it,
and the impact of it,
and what seeing the way they see
means for the way they live their lives
and how that creates the world they live in
and what it means for the lives of others.
I would like to see people own their seeing,
and know what they are doing,
and how everything hinges on everyone seeing rightly–
on seeing things as they are
and being right about it,
and doing what needs to be done
in response to it.
And how not doing that
keeps life from being what it needs to be
for everyone. - 06/05/2020 — Pink Flame Azalea 06/01/2020 02 — Indian Land, South Carolina, June 1, 2020
We walk two paths at the same time.
We do that best
when we do that consciously,
well aware of the other path
while negotiating this one.
One path is what we do to pay the bills.
The other path is what we pay the bills to do.
One path is yang.
The other path is yin.
One path is firm, solid, unyielding, certain.
The other path is flexible, responsive, perceptive, knowing.
One path is rock.
The other path is water.
One path is Self 1.
The other path is Self 2.
One path is conscious willfulness.
The other path is unconscious realization.
Etc.
Our place between the paths
is to live within the tension
and integrate our opposites.
We act out of what?
Toward what?
What is the origin of our doing?
The motivation behind our actions?
What guides our boat
on its path through the sea?
Why do we do what we do
and not something else instead?
In light of what do we live?
We live to find out.
To know who we are
and who we also are
and who we are capable of being
within the context and circumstances
of our life.
We live to find our way back to Eden
with the knowledge
of the road to Gethsemane
uppermost in our mind–
and start out again
with a foot firmly planted
in both gardens.
Walking two paths at the same time. - 06/06/2020 — Pink Flame Azalea 06/03/2020 03 — Indian Land, South Carolina, June 03, 2020
Taoism arose from the murky,
ancient age of shamanism
of the tundra
that existed on the land bridge
between Russia and Canada-Alaska.
And that shamanism was the remnant
of the religious practices
that grew up in the merged worlds
of physical and spiritual reality
from our earliest moments of consciousness
on the African plains and in its jungles.
Taoism has roots in the beginning of the species.
And declares,
“The way that can be designated/explained/told/said
is not a reliable way.”
Because we live/feel our way
into truth.
We do not think/reason our way there.
The two worlds,
physical and spiritual,
are forever united
in the lived experience
of the people.
We live with a foot in each world.
We walk two paths at the same time.
And nobody can tell us how it is to be done.
But everyone who knows
can tell us how it is not to be done.
Today I begin the third month
of the second quarter
of my 76th year.
Before COVID-19,
I had a reasonable expectation
of living 10 more years
of relatively competent
mental and physical functioning.
Now, I can never assume more
than 14 days at a time.
So.
If I am going to get everything said
that I have to say,
I have to talk fast.
And the wonderful irony of it all
is this:
All I have to say
is that nothing helpful can be said.
You have to figure it out on your own
by living with your eyes open
and your ears attuned
to what’s what.
On the plains,
in the jungles,
on the tundra,
the shaman
had to see/feel/intuit/apprehend everything
on a day-to-day,
moment-to-moment basis.
The shamans held the future
of the tribe
in their hands.
They had to live between the worlds,
so attuned to both here and now,
as to be able to offer their people
tomorrow.
Religion was a daily matter of life and death,
of survival or the end of the line.
Theology was about how to do it,
or else.
The people who survived
were the people who knew
what the shamans knew,
and lived by instinct and intuition
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
That filtrated down to
the bare essence of knowing:
“The path that can be declared
to be the path,
is not the dependable path.”
Therefore, we are on our own,
and everything rides on our
seeing what we look at,
knowing what it means,
and what it is calling for,
doing what needs to be done about it,
in response to it,
and being right about it all.
This is the Way of the Shaman. - 06/06/2020 — Dogwoods 04/17/2008 01 — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tremont, Tennessee, April 17, 2008
The Tao comes down to
doing the right thing
at the right time
in the right way,
and, more precisely,
It is the attitude necessary
to accomplish that.
Taoism is no more involved
than working out the details
required to put ourselves
in the right frame of mind
to do the right thing,
at the right time,
in the right way.
Having something at stake
in the outcome has to go.
(A Taoist observation states,
“The ability of the archer
to hit the bullseye
varies in inverse proportion
to the size of the prize
for doing so.”)
Greed and folly have to go
Distractions and diversions have to go.
“The ten thousand things,”
and “the dust of the world,”
have to go.
We have to “be here now”
in every situation as it arises,
see what we look at,
know what is happening
and what needs to happen in response,
be clear about what the circumstances
are calling for,
be ready and able
offer what we have to give to the moment
from the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues
that come with us from the womb,
at the right time
and in the right way,
spontaneously,
automatically,
without contriving,
or having an eye on what is in it for us,
and be ready to do the same things
in the next situation
that develops out of this situation.
Situation-by-situation-by-situation
all our life long.
That is all there is to it. - 06/07/2020 — Daisies 06/06/2020 01 — Indian Land, South Carolina, June 6, 2020
The key is bearing the pain.
The pain of being alive.
The pain of the contradictions
inherent in being alive.
On the one hand, this.
On the other hand, that.
William Blake (“The Marriage of Heaven and Hell”) said,
“Without contrary, there is no progression.”
He is saying we grow up
through the pain
of the contradictions
of being alive.
Contradictions are everywhere.
We want mutually exclusive things.
We have to give up this to have that.
Trade-offs are everyday stuff.
The stuff of life.
Can we take it?
And go on taking it?
How well can we take it?
Can we come to terms with it?
Can we be fine with it?
We hate our job but it pays the bills.
Can we do our job
the way it needs to be done,
anyway,
nevertheless,
even so?
Can we find a different job?
If we hate every job we ever have,
maybe it isn’t the job.
Maybe it is having to work.
Can we come to terms with having to work?
Can we come to terms with our life?
With who we are
and what is ours to do?
The Garden of Eden is our story.
Saying yes to this is saying no to that.
What’s it going to be?
The Garden of Eden is the Garden of Gethsemane.
Staying or going,
it’s hell either way.
What will we go to hell for?
Can we come to terms with
hell being the price we pay
for being alive?
This is the crux of the matter.
Growing up requires us
to come to terms
with the hell of having to grow up.
And paying the price.
Growing up by going to hell.
Again and again.
Moment-by-moment.
Sisyphus rolling his rock.
Why? Why? Why?
Like the answer to the question
will change anything.
The best reason in the world
doesn’t change the fact
of hell to pay
and the rock waiting
at the foot of the hill.
The shift has to be internal.
“Oh. So that’s how it is. Okay. Fine.”
We bear the pain, smiling,
and put our shoulder to the rock.
What is your rock?
How many rocks do you have in your life?
How well can you bear the pain?
Once you come to terms
with rock,
pain,
you have it made,
and can laugh all the way,
up and down the hill,
inventing games,
holding lengthy conversations
with your rock
in the absence of your pain.
The pain was about our attitude.
Not about our rock.
Our rock grows us up.
We grow ourselves up.
By changing our attitude
about our rock. - 06/07/2020 — Dogwoods 04/17/2008 02 — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tremont, Tennessee, April 7, 2008
The path that can be discerned
is not a reliable path.
We step unknowing onto the way,
feeling our way along the way,
wondering if this is the way.
Moment-by-moment.
Do we press forward?
Do we turn back?
Do we step aside?
Do we abandon all hope?
What now?
What next?
How do we know?
Why value knowing?
Why trust knowing more than not-knowing.
Remember your first marriage?
And your second one?
We thought we knew for sure
about our third one!
What does knowing know?
What does wanting know?
What can we trust to be
what we need it to be?
Where is certainty to be found?
Donald Trump is certain.
The GOP is certain.
Evangelical Christian Preachers are certain!
What does certainty know?
What can we trust to be so?
Who can we trust to point the way?
Who knows with right knowing?
How do we know we can trust ourselves to know
whom to trust?
No matter how we twist and turn.
No matter what we do.
No matter where we look for the answers.
We come to grief upon not knowing.
Upon not being able to know.
Who’s on first.
What’s for sure.
What’s what.
What to do.
When to do it.
Whether we are right about any of it,
or wrong about all of it.
What do we do?
Stop.
Sit quietly.
Open yourself to the silence.
Seek the source of your questions.
The ground of your uncertainty.
The bedrock of your fear.
The foundation of your anxiety.
And wait.
You are waiting for the shift.
You are waiting to see.
To hear.
To understand.
To know.
We are all we need.
We were born with everything we need
to find what we need
to do what needs to be done
to rise to every occasion
and do what needs us to do it
to do what is called for
in every moment
in each situation as it arises
regardless of our circumstances
all our life long.
And if we make a mistake,
we still have everything we need
to rise to the occasion…
etc.
all our life long.
Remember your first marriage?
You got through that.
And all the other marriages.
And here you are.
What are you afraid of?
What are you worried about.
You have everything you need
to find what you need
to do what needs to be done
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
Oh. Wait. I think I see…
You want Mamma to take care of you.
You want Daddy to make it go away.
You don’t want to have to be the one
to live your life.
Remember the shift I mentioned?
The shift is a change in attitude.
Just wait there in the silence
for the shift to happen.
When the door opens,
walk through.
Into the rest of your life
lived one moment at a time. - 06/08/2020 — Uptick Red and Bronze Coreopsis 06/03/2020 02 — Indian Land, South Carolina, June 3, 2020
It comes down to
being right about
what is called for
in each situation
as it unfolds before us,
rising to the occasion,
and offering what
we have to give
in the service
of what needs to be done
as best we can,
situation-by-situation-by-situation,
all our life long.
Jesus couldn’t do better than that.
Nor could the Buddha.
That is all that can be done ever.
And it is our turn to do it.
Why hold anything back? - 06/09/2020 — Daisies 06/06/2020 02 — Indian Land, South Carolina, June 6, 2020
Your life is exactly what you need it to be,
precisely as it is.
You are the man sitting on his donkey,
looking for his donkey.
The woman holding her car keys,
looking for her car keys.
Standing in your life
wishing you had a life.
Can’t waiting to get out of
this old life
into a life that is worthy of you,
finally,
at last.
Everybody starts exactly, precisely,
where they are.
Your life got you here, now.
Your life will take you
to wherever you will be
when you get there.
You don’t need something you don’t have.
You need exactly, precisely,
what you have right here,
right now.
You only need to open your eyes
and see what that is,
waiting on you to open your eyes,
and start living the life
that is yours to live,
right here,
right now,
smack in the middle
of the life you are living.
What is stopping that from happening?
What is holding things up?
Why are you holding back?
Waiting on what to happen
before you begin really living
and come alive?
Here’s one for you:
You are never going to come alive
without coming alive
in the life you are living.
It all starts right here,
right now,
with things just as they are.
What are you waiting for?
Living our life within the life we are living
is always our only option.
It is always our only door into life.
We come out of the womb
with our life tucked neatly away
inside of us,
and step into circumstances
we never would have chosen.
Some things we don’t get to choose.
Our choices, for instance.
“Do you want to wear the red one
or the blue one?”
“Is this all there is?”
“Yes, honey. This is it.
Which will it be today?”
We step into which one it will be today
every day
and see where it goes.
We influence where it goes
by consciously choosing
the choice that needs to be chosen–
that calls us to choose it–
in each moment that comes along,
day by day.
Here’s another one for you:
How many moments are there in your day?
Start counting them.
Noticing them.
Knowing when a moment is upon you,
and when the next one elbows this one
out of its way,
and you have a brand new moment
to work with,
one that is asking you to choose
the right choice here, now.
See how many right choices
(The red one or the blue one)
you are being asked to make in a day.
Start making the right one.
Your life will be transformed overnight. - 06/09/2020 — Dogwoods 04/17/2008 03 — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tremont, Tennessee, April 17, 2008
We all are Adam and Eve,
trashing our chances
at the life that is ours to live
with agendas and plans,
formulas and schemes,
contrivances and connivings,
games and tricks
of our own devising
guaranteed to deliver us
to the life of our dreams.
What do dreams know?
Dreams set themselves up
as the ticket to fortune and glory.
Hijacking, shanghaiing, kidnapping
and carrying us away into
the Dreadful Awfuls
with nothing but
dead ends and wrong turns
all the way to the end of the line.
Laughing and shouting,
“Dream your way out of this one, Sucker!
If you can!”
If you ever find yourself living
that kind of nightmare,
here’s the way out:
Sit down.
Be quiet.
Listen.
Look.
Wait.
See what the moment,
this moment,
right now,
is offering you.
Every moment calls for something.
See what this moment is calling for.
Maybe it’s a nap.
Or a cup of coffee.
Or a walk around the block.
If it is offering you something
that is going to interfere
with your functioning,
see that as a test
and say no.
Look for an offering
that will ease your functioning,
calm your spirit,
restore your soul,
be good for you right now,
provide stability,
balance and harmony,
and a sense of well-being,
hope,
confidence,
assurance,
safety
and peace.
Go with that.
See where it leads.
Every moment is a doorway
in to some other moment.
Moment-by-moment
we are being led along
by forces quite beyond us
along paths we would never consider
or choose on our own
if we were making up
a worthy life to live.
Live the adventure.
Of being alive.
Not-knowing what’s next.
Trusting yourself
to yourself.
Doing what is called for
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
If you screw up,
and find yourself at another dead end
from taking another wrong turn,
so what.
Same plan.
Sit down.
Be quiet.
Listen.
Look.
Wait.
See what the moment,
this moment,
right now,
is offering you… - 06/10/2020 — Day Lily 05/29/2020 07 — Indian Land, South Carolina, May 29, 2020
Grappling with our life
comes down to coming to terms
with the moment of our living,
moment-by-moment.
Our life is determined
by the quality of our moments,
and the quality of our moments
has very little to do with
the quality of our moments–
and very much to do with
the quality of our attitude
regarding the quality of our moments.
How we feel about our life
has very little to do with our life,
and very much to do with
our attitude about our life.
Our attitude has to do with
our expectations
and our capacity
for dealing with disappointment.
And is a reflection
of our degree
of emotional/psychological maturity.
The more grown-up we are,
the better our attitude is about our life
and everything else.
Things aren’t going to get better
until we develop a practice
that enables us to be more grown-up
at the end of the month
that we were at the beginning.
That practice involves being aware
of how grown-up we are
in reacting to what is happening now,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
We have to be aware
of our expectations
and our emotional/psychological/physical
reaction to disappointment
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
We have to pay attention–
not only to how our life is going,
but also to how we are reacting
to how it is going.
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
Our ease of functioning
throughout our life
is enhanced
by the attitude we have
about what is happening
moment-by-moment-by-moment
throughout our life.
We can do more about our attitude
than we can do about our circumstances.
And attitude changes circumstances,
one day at a time. - 06/10/2020 — Crabtree Falls 09/01/2008 04 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Little Switzerland, North Carolina, September 1, 2008
I keep an eye on my
balance,
harmony
and stability,
on every level:
cellular,
systemically
(digestive system,
circulatory system,
etc.)
personally
(my relationship with myself)
socially
(my relationships with others)
philosophically
(my relationship with my life
and life generally).
Things are always coming along
to disrupt the flow
and destabilize
my balance and harmony,
and it is my place/role
to take it into my awareness
and see what’s what
and what needs to be done about it
and do it
in order to bring things back
into accord and congruity.
It’s like the clown on a unicycle
juggling plates and bowling pins,
and someone off stage
keeps throwing in odd items
for the juggler to include
in the routine.
Here comes a fiddle,
and a lawnmower,
and a refrigerator,
and a grand piano,
and a Mac truck…
We are the clown on the unicycle
doing our best to fold it all in
and keep it going,
before the curtain comes down.
We do it by realizing that
we are not actually on a unicycle,
and that we can sit quietly
processing the day each day,
doing a “Day Scan” in our awareness,
letting the events of the day pass in review,
seeing what’s what
and how we might best deal with it,
even now.
We can seek the help of The Other within
in sorting things out
and sizing things up
and seeing what might be done
in the service of balance,
harmony
and stability.
We can look to our nighttime dreams
for guidance in coming to terms
with our circumstances,
including our options
and our possibilities.
And wait for the shift in perspective
that opens doors
where we thought were no doors,
and offers alternatives
we never considered
(Like saying “No”).
Awareness is an outstanding tool,
and Jon Kabat-Zinn is an excellent guide.
And we would be savvy
to invite him into our Circle of Shaman
(He has books to offer,
and his YouTube videos are free). - 06/11/2020 — Uptick Red and Bronze Coreopsis 06/01/2020 01 — Indian Land South Carolina, June 01, 2020
Our primary weapons/tools
in the work of balance
and harmony
and stability
are:
awareness and perspective,
silence and solitude,
sincerity and spontaneity,
innocence and integrity
in living from the source
with our mind centered,
grounded,
focused,
intent
and locked in
with adamantine loyalty,
liege devotion
and filial faithfulness
to the bedrock principle
of responding to the moment
by doing what is called for
in ways appropriate and fitting
to the occasion/circumstances
moment-by-moment
day-by-day
throughout our life. - 06/12/2020 — Pink Hydrangea 06/04/2020 02 — Indian Land, South Carolina, June 4, 2020
There is what we do to pay the bills,
and there is what we pay the bills to do.
We can pay the bills
to drink whiskey and smoke pot,
and we can pay the bills to plant flowers
and walk in the woods,
or any of the 10,000 things.
How we choose what we pay the bills to do
is a reflection of our relationship
with ourselves,
our life
and other people,
and says all there is to say
about who we are,
and how well we deal with “the facts of life,”
and what matters most to us.
We are all responsible
for self-awareness,
self-evaluation,
self-correction,
self-discipline
and self-direction.
We can be on our own side,
and we can work against our best interest.
The quality/direction/value/worth of our life
depends upon how well
we hold up our end of the bargain
with ourselves,
other people
and our life.
The bargain requires us to do our best
with what we have to work with
in fashioning a life we would be proud to live.
That is what is asked of each of us
when we emerge from the womb.
The “fabric of society”
depends upon each of us
doing what is ours to do
the way it needs to be done
all our life long.
Doing what needs to be done
the way it needs to be done
moment-by-moment
day-by-day
is the hardest thing.
That is our rock.
We are Sisyphus.
The hill is each day.
How well we do what is ours to do
depends upon the attitude
we have toward ourselves
and our life’s tasks.
The attitude Sisyphus carries with him
to the rock and the hill
makes all the difference.
There is nothing ever wrong with us
that a better attitude wouldn’t improve.
Here are six ways to evaluate your attitude:
Balance,
Harmony,
Stability,
Vitality,
Energy,
Spirit.
Give yourself a number between one and ten,
with one being low and ten being sky high,
on each of these six items.
Your combined score
is your Quality Of Life Quotient.
We all are somewhere
on the scale between 6 and 60.
The lower our score,
the more in need we are
of an attitude adjustment.
And, as Alexis Carrel reminds us,
“We are the sculptor
and we are the stone.” - 06/12/2020 — End of the Trail 12/17/2013 B&W — Sculpture by James Fraser in the Brookgreen Gardens Sculpture Collection, Murrells Inlet, SC, December 17, 2013
How do we know
that what we think is so
is so?
What is the source of how we see?
The origin of the way we think?
The ground of what we believe to be
the way things ought to be?
The term “self-evident”
suggests that some things
are equally evident to all selves,
yet.
What is self-evident to some selves,
is not evident at all to other selves.
And the phrase,
“Everybody knows”
is as inaccurate as it is wrong.
We dismiss the search for the source of our seeing
by taking refuge in the experts
and the authorities.
“Jesus said…”
“The Buddha said…”
“Mohamed said…”
Etc.
But.
How do we know that they knew
what they said was so
was so?
And.
What is our life worth
if we are going to take someone else’s word
about what matters most
and what ought to be done about it,
when,
where,
how
and why,
because they say so,
because someone else says we should?
And what are we doing
just going through the motions
of being alive
by stepping in the black footprints
of the Masters
that someone else has cut out
and laid down for us
to follow throughout our life?
The search for the wellspring,
the headwaters,
of our seeing,
thinking,
believing
and doing
is the search for the bedrock
of what we see
and think
and believe
and do.
And leads us into the realm
of heart
and soul
and mind
and psyche–
and the inevitable brush
with the ineffable mystery
at the center of ourselves. - 06/13/2020 — Day Lily 06/06/2020 10 — Indian Land, South Carolina, June 6, 2020
That which has always been called “God”
is found in the unlikeliest of places,
and very rarely found in the places
“God” is supposed to be.
Where have you stumbled upon
that which has always been called “God”
in your life?
Where do you go to find “God”?
I put quotation marks around “God,”
because the “God” we discover
is not the “God” of theology,
doctrine,
dogma–
and the more we talk about “God,”
explaining,
defining,
extolling,
selling,
hawking,
parading about,
the more we are left
with ideas about “God,”
and the less chance
of being godly we have.
It comes down to being godly.
To living as extensions of “God.”
Quotation marks are as close to “God”
as we can get,
and always remind us that,
like the Tao,
the “God” that can be discerned/designated
as “God”
is not a reliable “God.”
Being godly is as much of “God”
as we can muster into being,
as close to “God” as we can be.
It is our place
to bring “God” to life
in our life,
and to be as “God-like”
as we can possibly be.
So that finding “God”
is no more difficult
than finding yourself.
Where do you go to find/be/exhibit/express yourself?
There is “God”!
(Without the theology) - 06/14/2020 — Flame Azalea 06/05/2020 04 — Indian Land, South Carolina, June 5, 2020
Do you have conversations
with yourself?
I don’t mean,
“Do you talk to yourself?”
I mean,
“Do you have dialogues with yourself?”
Do you ask yourself questions
that yourself answers,
perhaps with another question?
Do you ponder and probe and pursue
lines/tracks/trails/paths of thought?
Like, “What’s worth thinking?”
Or, “What characteristics separate people
who can bear the pain of life
from those who cannot?”
I find inner dialogues to be
the single most important tool
in the work of finding the path,
staying on the beam,
knowing what matters
and being true to myself.
All I have to do
is start talking
in order to stumble upon
things worth talking about.
Carl Jung said a hermit is
“A primitive person who trusts their unconscious.”
I would add,
“And has inner dialogues
on a regular basis.” - 06/15/2020 — Daisies 06/06/2020 03 Panorama — Indian Land, South Carolina, June 6, 2020
We want our way
and are determined to have it.
We want what we want
and live to get it.
What else is there to live for?
Without something to want
and the means to achieve it,
there is no reason to go on!
Where do we get that idea?
Here is a hint for you:
It is very good for the economy.
Do you think you have a purpose
other than being a slave
to the economy?
Where does the drive
to “Buy! Spend! Amass! Consume!”
come from?
Do you think we are born
wondering “What can I buy today?”
Or, “Now, what do I want?”
Meet a baby’s basic needs
and the baby goes to sleep.
Or empties the pots and pans
out of the cabinet.
And, try buying the baby
the newest,
latest,
blanket.
See how far you get with that.
The old one will last beyond
the rag stage.
That’s the last thing
the baby has
that lasts that long.
The old passes away
as soon as it is unwrapped,
and the search for new
is on.
And is never finished.
Where does wanting originate?
How long can we live without wanting?
If it weren’t for satisfying our desires,
what would we live to do?
Nothing, we think.
Wanting.
Getting.
Having.
Wanting…
Is the rhythm of life.
We think.
The 10,000 things to want
keep us from tending
the deeper urge
to be,
and bring forth,
and serve.
Nothing they can possess or acquire
surpasses the fulfillment
and satisfaction
derived from
the poet becoming the poem,
the dancer becoming the dance,
the musician becoming the music,
the singer becoming the song… - 06/15/2020 — Beaufort Fall 11/13/2017 11 Panorama — Beaufort, South Carolina, November 13, 2017
The Way that can be discerned
and designated–
said to be–
the Way,
is not a reliable Way.
The Way in,
and through,
each moment,
is to be discovered,
found,
revealed,
uncovered
in each moment.
The Way in,
and through,
this moment,
may,
or may not,
be the Way in,
and through,
the next moment–
though the next moment
may appear to be
an extension of,
and identical to,
this moment.
Each moment
has its own Way
of being dealt with,
responded to,
honored,
respected
and served.
To do all moments the same Way
is to betray
the individuality,
the uniqueness,
the just-so-ness,
of each moment,
and to do irreparable harm
to the Essence
of the Natural Order
seeking expression,
realization,
in each here and now of being
in the physical reality
of time and space.
The Way in and through
each moment
depends upon the nature
of each here and now.
The fitting response
to each moment
must be a spontaneous movement
to serve
what is being called for
right here,
right now.
We dance our way
through our life,
attuned to the rhythm
and flow
of the times and places
of our living. - 06/15/2020 — Athabaska Valley 09/26/2009 01 — Jasper National Park, Alberta, September 26, 2009
In any,
in every,
situation,
we see the situation
as we are influenced
to see the situation
by the wholeness
of our life experience.
None of us–
not one of us–
is equipped
to see the situation
just as it is.
Every situation
is part projection
of our bias,
our bent,
our cant,
our drift
based on
where we have been,
what has happened to us,
what has failed to happen to us,
in all of our past situations–
and is part reflection
of our disappointments,
and hopes,
and desires,
and fears,
and dreads…
None of us–
not one of us–
comes fresh to any situation,
free from the impact
of the other situations
we have met
and survived.
And each of us–
based on our interaction
with all that has gone on
with us to this point–
steps into the situation
with our own sense of rhythm
and flow,
our own feeling for timing
and pace,
our own degree of sensitivity to,
and awareness of,
intuition
and instinct,
and we each
determine for ourselves
what is happening,
what is called for,
what needs to be done
here and now
with the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues
that come with us
into every situation,
and which are all different–
in kind and in quality–
from everyone else’s.
And we all act in the situation
as only we can act there
in being true to ourselves
in service to the good of the situation
as we understand that to be.
We do not do the same thing
in the same way
at the same time.
There is no one way to be
and/or to do
in any situation.
And every situation will be
more or less blessed/graced/benefited
by all of us doing our best together
for the good of the whole.
And then we move into
the next situation
as it evolves out of the previous situation,
where we all act
to do our best together
for the good of the whole then,
there.
We are all dancing with our life together
and when the rhythm and flow,
pace and timing,
instinct and intuition
are in tune and in harmony
it is a wonder to behold,
and takes our breath away.
And we are left with the memory of its passing,
and the dream of its return.
But our work is to simply be true to ourselves,
and our own sense of what needs to be done
here and now,
moment-by-moment,
and let nature take its course–
without contriving,
or scheming,
or directing,
or planning…
Just seeing,
just hearing,
just knowing,
just living,
here and now,
moment-by-moment. - 06/16/2020 — Pink Flame Azalea 06/06/2020 06 — Indian Land, South Carolina, June 6, 2020
The world is full of opinions these days.
White supremacy is the ugliest of the lot.
Loud,
white,
ignorant,
hateful,
vicious,
violent,
ruthless
wrong
opinions
blaming
other races
for their own failure
to have a life worth living.
“It’s people like you,”
they say,
“who make people like us
hate people like you!”
“If it weren’t for you,”
they say,
“We would be better off
in every way!
It is your fault that our life is hard,
and we can’t have what we want!
We hate you!
We hate you!
We hate you!
We cannot be happy
until all of you are dead!”
The poor white people
who feel this way
are egged on by the rich white people
who benefit financially and egocentrically
from fanning the flames of racial hatred
and “leading” their followers
to the pure land of supremacy and superiority
where they will live forever
in the splendor and glory
of their mutual greatness.
It is a lie, of course,
but everything is always better
with someone to blame.
And blaming someone
who is not at fault
for the way things are,
keeps those who are at fault
safely concealed and out of sight,
where they fan the flames of racial hatred
and keep the profits from their own corruption
pouring in.
Who benefits from racial hatred?
Start there.
Explore the relationships
among elected politicians
and their donors,
and the network of financial gain
profiting from racial hatred.
It is big business
keeping white people
hating people of color.
If you want to know what is behind racism,
look there. - 06/17/2020 — Uptick Red and Bronze Coreopsis 06/05/2020 03 — Indian Land, South Carolina, June 5, 2020
Enthusiasm is a worthy guide.
Vitality,
spark,
energy,
life,
light,
delight
and zest
know what they are doing.
How long has it been?
What is taking the life right out of you?
Could it be the people you are hanging out with?
How good for you is the company you keep?
Do you come alive in their presence?
Do you dread the very idea?
In what ways is your environment sapping your enthusiasm?
How draining is your regular routine?
Your life-long habits?
What do you need to do to get your Umpf back? - 06/17/2020 — Catawba Trestle 04/02/2011 — Catawba River, York County, South Carolina, April 2, 2011
You can practice living in accord with the Tao
simply by being aware of a situation as it arises,
and entering it consciously intending
to not intend anything throughout the duration
of the situation.
You will not operate out of an agenda.
You will not have a plan.
You will not strive to achieve a particular outcome.
You will not endeavor to turn the situation
in a particular direction.
You will not try to make something happen.
You will not try to keep something from happening.
You will not push, force, shove, your way into being.
You will not have a way.
Etc.
You will merely be curious.
You will simply be interested.
You will try only to get to the bottom of things.
You will strive just to understand what’s what.
You will ask the questions that beg to be asked,
and say the things that cry out to be said.
You will probe assumptions.
You will nose out contradictions and paradoxes.
You will investigate, explore, examine, look into
everything that warrants closer inspection.
You will lay everything out in the open.
Every. Thing.
And you will wait to see what “just happens.”
What occurs.
What arises.
What shifts.
What changes.
Where things go.
That is all there is to it.
Do all of this in each situation as it arises
and you will transform your life
and change the world. - 06/18/2020 — Day Lilies 06/06/2020 12 — Indian Land, South Carolina, June 6, 2020
The Now is always changing
influenced by the 10,000 things
being done in response to
each situation arising
in the life of every sentient being
and all inert things,
simultaneously,
around the world,
throughout the cosmos.
Everything is adjusting
to everything else
all the time
creating chaos
everywhere,
We deal with that
by striving to impose order
on all the disorder
according to our idea
of how things ought to be–
as though there is a blueprint
for how everything should work,
and if we can just enforce
the laws
and the regulations
and the requirements
and the rules
and the routines
and the standards and codes
of the Moral Order
it will all click into place
and be just fine.
Here is the problem with that:
There is working
and there is our idea of
how things ought to work.
Chaos is working.
The ocean is working.
The jungles are working.
The savannas and plains,
the tundras and the high mountain plateaus
are working…
It is all working toward balance and harmony,
toward homeostasis,
toward ecology
toward stability and equilibrium…
But.
It is not as we want it to be.
So.
We improve it
according to our timetable
and our work schedule
and the deadline by when it must be done,
and it goes all to hell.
We have failed to learn
the art of the gentle touch,
which mostly means
not touching at all.
“First, do no harm,”
calls us to know where the lines lie,
and cautions us to not over-step them–
which interferes with the profit motive
and the drive to have things
the way we want them to be
NOW!
We fail to understand that NOW
is not a fixed point in time,
but time in constant flux and motion,
morphing as we watch
into something we had not foreseen.
The Apocalypse is chaos forgotten,
ignored,
dishonored,
unseen…
Karma making a house call. - 06/19/2020 — Awaiting the Party 06/14/2020 — Indian Land, South Carolina, June 14, 2020
Being true to ourselves
is the second most important thing,
and it has nothing to do
with doing what we want
in the sense of
“Nobody is going to tell me what to do!
I’m not wearing a mask!”
Growing up is the most important thing,
and that has everything to do
with doing what needs to be done
at the right time,
in the right place,
in the right way,
whether we want to or not.
We can grow up with integrity,
in full accord with the roles
our life is asking us to play
in the time and place of our living.
And be true to ourselves
by living out those roles
as only we can do it.
Our life requires us to live
in good faith,
with complete sincerity,
appropriate transparency
and compassionate,
non-judgmental
mindful awareness.
And we can do that
while being true to ourselves–
by knowing what we know
and setting ourselves aside
in rising to the occasion
doing what the situation is calling for,
and getting back to serving
our needs and interests
when that is fitting to the occasion.
Being true to ourselves
has nothing to do with what we want.
It has everything to do with who we are.
Growing up is being who we are
in the time and place of our living,
in ways that take the time and place of our living
into account
and honoring it with our attention
and service–
whether we want to or not,
In so doing,
we often walk two paths
at the same time,
always bearing well the pain
that comes with being alive.
Part of that pain involves
saying “No” when “No” needs to be said,
and saying “Yes” when “Yes” needs to be said.
Get that down,
and we have it made. - 06/20/2020 — Pine Cones 06/19/2020 04 — Indian Land, South Carolina, Juneteenth, 2020
It matters how we live our life.
We have to take that on faith–
and live as though it is so.
Things become so
when we live as though they are so.
And things become not-so
when we live as though they are not-so.
We make things so
by living as though they are so–
moment-by-moment,
day-by-day,
in each situation as it arises,
all our life long.
It matters how we live our life. - 06/21/2020 — Birds in a Tree 04/07/2020 — Indian Land, South Carolina, April 7, 2020
Anything that takes the present moment
away from us
is evil.
Anything that brings the present moment
vibrantly alive to us
is good.
Anything can take the present moment
away from us.
Anything can bring the present moment
vibrantly alive to us.
Anything can be evil.
Anything can be good.
The present moment
is all there is.
Our relationship with it
is the only thing that matters.
Our relationship with the present moment
is the pivot point,
the fulcrum,
the place of greatest leverage,
shifting us,
positioning us,
into the center of The Way–
carrying us into the current of the flow
of time and place–
opening us to what the situation
is calling for,
and enabling us to be the pivot
between what has been
and what will be.
Our role is to integrate the opposites.
To assimilate the polarities.
To harmonize the world.
We are the Third Way
between mutually exclusive contradictions.
How well we do that
depends upon the quality
of our relationship
with the present moment.
The more we have at stake
in the present moment,
the less responsive we can be
to what is called for
and the more invested we will be
in serving a particular outcome
at the expense of all others.
And that is the kink in the hose. - 06/22/2020 — I do not know of any of AA’s slogans
that I take exception to.
And, If I did,
or ever do,
I would/will take that as evidence
of my having not lived long enough
under the right conditions,
and that with a little more time
and a shift in circumstances,
I will see the sharp truth of that one as well.
Which gets us to
“Acceptance is the solution
to all of my problems today.”
Now, I have fun with this one
because 10,000 things
are the solution to all of my problems today.
Growing up, for instance,
or more of the right kind of help,
or less of the wrong kind of help,
but none of this removes the place
of acceptance on the list.
Acceptance is the right kind of help.
Acceptance is evidence of growing up.
Acceptance is front and center
in the long list of things
that would solve all of my problems today.
Which gets us to
nothing happens until we accept things as they are.
“This is the way things are,
and this is what can be done about it,
and that’s that–
and that is how things are!”
We walk into a situation
and get to work
seeing what’s what
and what is called for
and what we can do about it
with the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues
we bring to the moment,
rising to the occasion
and doing what needs to be done,
moment-by-moment,
situation-by-situation,
all our life long.
And we cannot do that without acceptance
on all levels.
Acceptance is non-judgmental.
Acceptance is without bias.
Acceptance is allowing things to be
what they need to be
and doing what is called for
by the circumstances at hand–
regardless of what that means for us,
or what the neighbors will think,
or any one of the world full of things
that would stop us from doing
what most needs us to do it.
Acceptance is the Prodigal’s father
running to welcome his son home.
Acceptance is the Samaritan
going to the aid of the stranger
in the ditch.
Acceptance holds no grudges,
Plays no favorites.
Does what needs to be done.
We all need to be more accepting
than we are
of our place in life
and of the path before us.
A lot rides on that being the case. - 06/21/2020 —
xx
04/22/2020 — Alcoholics
and those like them
gather in bars,
or pot parties,
or crack houses,
or back rooms,
or front porches…
to feel better
about things
they can’t do anything about.
The pain is too much.
Though the price of escaping the pain
be more pain,
we can at least delay it
for a while,
and pay a later price.
Who knows?
By then, maybe,
it will have gone away.
04/22/20 — There are no pain-free paths
to the reality of God-with-us.
There are no pain-free paths.
And, “The fastest way through
is the long way around!”
(Ancient commonplace.)
If you can come to terms with these things,
you have it made–
as much as you can have it made,
living with the reality of these things.
04/22/20 — To those who say,
“Help us, Lord!”
“Save us!”
Jesus says,
“Come to me
all who are weak
and heavy-laden,
and I will give you rest.
“Take my yoke upon you
and learn from me,
for I am gentle
and humble-hearted,
and you will find rest
for your souls,
for, my burden is easy,
and my yoke us light.
“But.
There is a catch.
You have to pick up
your cross,
and walk along with me.
“For my path is your path,
and it winds through the heart
of Gethsemane
and across the face
of Golgotha.
“And, I expect no more of you
than I ask of myself.
“Are you coming
or not?”
05/13/2020 — Whenever you find yourself “just doing” something,
Keep Doing It!
Do it “just thinking” about doing it
until you find yourself doing something else,
then Keep Doing That!
If you wake up and you are cold,
pull up the blanket,
or get up and get a blanket,
or go back to sleep.
Do whatever needs to be done!
How do you know what needs to be done?
Just lie there and wait to see what you do!
May 15, 2020 — If you want to be born again,
you have to die again.
You have to pick up your cross every day
and walk your path,
knowing that if it is a discernible path
it is not a reliable path
(Lao Tzu).
Knowing that what you seek
lies far back
in the darkest corner
of the cave you most don’t want to enter
(Joseph Campbell).
Knowing that your new life
will eat your old life alive
(Jim Dollar).
This is called dying again.
And again.
All the way
along the way
that is The Way.
If you can do that,
you have it made,
if you can make your peace
with the fact
that having it made
has nothing in common
with what is generally thought of
as having it made.
And laugh,
knowing what you know
about having it made,
and thrill with the prospect
of dying again,
again,
and again,
in the service
of the life
that is your life to live.
May 15, 2020 — There are people
in the grip of their emotions
who want what they want
whether they should want it or not.
And not caring whether
they have any business
wanting what they want
are given to anger and rage,
or depression and despair,
because they cannot have
what they want.
This is called being stupid.
There is no fix for stupidity.
No cure for it.
The only fitting response to it
is to allow it to run its course.
People who go about
possessed by stupidity
will either wake up or not.
About them it is to be said,
“If you meet an elephant coming
toward you along the path,
GET OFF THE PATH!!!
05/17/2020 — There is something completely freeing
about absolute bondage.
Complete mind control
relieves us of the responsibility–
of the burden–
of thinking for ourselves,
of deciding for ourselves
what it means to be alive
and what we shall do with out life.
Just follow the herd
from the barn
to the pasture
and back to the barn!
Talk in clichés!
Speak in war chants!
Repeat what Dear Leader
tells you say.
Think what Dear Leader
commands you to think.
Heil Hitler!
Lock Her Up!
MAGA! MAGA! MAGA!
Takes a lot of the agony
out of the day-to-day.
Smooths things out.
Simplifies everything.
Mindlessness is such a comfort
in times of stress and trouble.
05/17/2020 — It is always easier to die
in one way or another.
How may ways does death come
to those who remain 98.6
and breathing?
How many ways are they to die
and remain 98.6
and breathing?
How many dead
do the dead
live to bury?
The first thing we die to
is the fact we are dying.
That we are dead.
Waiting to be buried.
05/19/2020 — How is it going with the
coalition establishment?
Three-to-five people
coming together
to explore
the questions that beg to be asked
and answered
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.
What is important?
How do we decide?
What is good?
What is evil?
What is right?
What is wrong?
Toward what shall we live?
What are our gifts?
Our genius?
Our daemon?
Our virtues?
How shall we live in light of them?
In the service of them?
In ways that incarnate them?
Express them?
Exhibit them?
Bring them forth?
Make them real in our life
and in the world?
How do we maintain
our balance and harmony?
What destabilizes us?
Distracts us?
Causes us to forget who we are
and what is ours to do
Who ARE we?
What IS ours to do?
How is that related
to our gifts, genius, daemon, virtues?
To our Spirit, Energy, Vitality?
With our gifts, genius, daemon, virtues,
Spirit, Energy, and Vitality as guides
what else do we need
to maintain our balance and harmony,
find our life and live it,
and make our way in the world?
Etc.
05/19/2020 — Back to the coalition-creating…
This is not a discussion!
This is not what we think!
This is an exploration of our own personal experience.
It is experiencing our experience.
It is probing the depths of our own being,
seeking what motivates us,
what grounds us,
what sustains us,
what guides us,
who we are,
what we are about.
We ask/answer the questions
that beg to be asked
out of our experience,
out of our essential/primary nature,
seeking the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues
Spirit, Energy, Vitality
that forms the basis of us/ourselves/who-we-are
that is ours to serve,
incarnate,
bring forth
in the way we live our life.
In asking/answering the questions
that beg to be asked,
we are unveiling/disclosing/seeking/seeing/finding
ourselves.
We are always looking for what influences us
to ask/answer the questions
the way we do.
What leans us toward these questions?
Toward these answers?
In doing so,
we are forming,
changing,
transforming
our relationship with ourselves–
discovering and becoming who we are.
Which is the heart of the matter,
and the foundational/fundamental ground
of religion at its best.
Enlightenment is Realization is Revelation–
is Religion At Its Best–
and calls us into the service
of more than words can say.
Here, we encounter
the Ineffable,
the Numen,
and are in the presence
of that which has always been called God.
What is it?
It is beyond words.
And is the absolute ground of primal experience,
which enfolds us
and confirms us
in the essence of our own being,
of our own original nature,
and our own calling to become
and to be
who we are.
05/20/2020 — What do you want? Make a list.
What robs you of your peace? Make a list.
What are your sources of balance and harmony? Make a list.
In what ways are you kidding yourself? Make a list.
How does the life you are living
separate you from your original/essential nature?
Make a list.
What needs to change
to bring your life into accord with your nature?
Make a list.
When you stop, why do you stop? Answer out loud.
When you go, why do you go? Answer out loud.
What is the primary motivation of your life? Answer out loud.
What questions do you wish I had asked? Make a list.
What questions are you glad I didn’t ask? Make a list.
Return to this exercise as needed
over the course of your life.
05/20/2020 — All we have to work with is today
with its moments
unfolding one after another,
and its situations stirring to life
as we step into them
until we go to sleep tonight.
This is how it is every day.
What is the source of the feeling-tone–
the preponderant emotional tone–
we carry with us
and operate out of
each day?
What makes it easy for us
to feel the way we do about our life?
What is the relationship
between how we feel about our life
and what we think about our life?
What makes it easy for us
to think the way we think about our life?
What is the origin of the thinking/feeling tone
we carry with us through each day?
How does the fact of how things are
impose automatic thoughts/feelings
about how things are?
How would changing the way we think
about the way things are
change the way we feel
about the way things are?
How would that change our ability
to respond to how things are?
Who says we have to think/feel
the way we do
about the way things are?
Who is in charge of our thinking/feeling?
How free are we to think what needs to be thought?
To feel what needs to be felt?
How bound are we to think what we have always thought?
To feel what we have always felt?
To do what we have always done?
How do we move from bondage to freedom?
05/21/2020 — What do you think about?
What themes run through your thoughts?
How often do the old thought patterns return?
How does your thinking repeat itself day after day?
What consumes your “down time”?
What does thinking about
what you think about
keep you from thinking about?
What do you always think about?
What do you never think about?
How often do you have new realizations?
How often do you arrive at different conclusions?
What is your most recent new thought?
What is your latest new idea?
What things do you not allow yourself
to think about?
What governs what you allow yourself
to think about?
How does what you think about
impact your living?
How does your life impact your thinking?
How long has it been since you have done
something new?
How frequently do you do new things?
What holds you back?
05/21/2020 — Timing is knowing/doing
what it is time for
and when it is time for it.
That is Tao–
knowing/doing
what it is time for
when it is time for it.
The people who live
in accord with Tao
are ordinary people
doing ordinary things
when they need to be done,
the way they need to be done.
When we live in response
to the time that is at hand,
we rise to the occasion
and do what is called for
in the situation as it arises–
“chopping wood and carrying water,”
“eating when hungry
and resting when tired.”
When the baby’s diaper needs changing,
we change the baby’s diaper.
When the cow needs milking,
we milk the cow.
Everything in its own time,
according to the needs of the moment.
Aspiration,
fear,
anger,
greed
and folly
interfere with our ability
to read the times,
and we act out of tune
with the situation,
creating disturbance and chaos
in the field of flow,
and it all goes to hell
rather quickly.
We have to recover
our balance and harmony,
restore our connection
with the source and core of our being,
return to our original nature
align ourselves
with our spirit,
energy
and vitality,
relax into
Tao/Dharma/Grace/Synchronicity
and wait,
watching,
listening,
for what needs to be done
without imposing our idea
of how things ought to be
on the context and circumstances
of our life.
What is happening?
What needs to be done in response?
How can we assist that
with the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues
that are ours to offer?
We cannot think our way to the answers
to these questions.
We wait to know as it arises within,
calling us to action
when the time is right.
05/23/2020 — Shel Silverstein said,
“Some kind of help
is the kind of help
that help is all about.
And some kind of help
is the kind of help
we all could do without.”
Being helpful in the right way
at the right time
is one of the primary duties
members of the species
have to themselves
and to one another–
and that would be
to ALL others!
The good Samaritan
did not stop to consider
whether to help the Jew
in the ditch.
He saw what needed to be done
and did it.
There is nothing the Prodigal
could have done
to make his father say,
“You are no son of mine!
I do not care what your need is!
May you die in your miserable life
and spend eternity in the torment of hell!”
When we are living
as the good Samaritan
and the Prodigal’s father lived,
we are offering the kind of help
that help is all about.
May it be said of us
that we lived so well!
05/24/2020 — Jesus said,
“Leave your hopes
and dreams,
and plans,
and schemes
at the door,
and come walk with me
along the way
that is completely agenda-free.”
And we said,
“But we have cookies
in the oven
and clothes on the line–
we would really like to,
But, Oh, look at the time!”
05/24/2020 — When Jesus said,
“Come follow me,
and I will make you
fishers of men,”
he was using
the perfect metaphor
for what he was about.
Fishing all depends
on the fish.
If the fish aren’t cooperating,
it’s a bad day at the office.
When Lester Maddox
was Governor of Georgia,
he said,
“The only thing wrong
with the Georgia Penal System
is that we just need better prisoners!”
Jesus needed a better audience.
Every performer knows
what that is like.
All you can do is sing your song,
and hope for the best.
And leave the dead to bury the dead.
05/25/2020 — Perspective is a magic wand
transforming the world.
When we change the way we see things,
we change the meaning
the things have for us.
When the meaning of a thing changes,
everything changes.
We are not here for what we get out of it,
for what we can make of it.
We are here to be one with the moment,
doing what is called for
in ways appropriate to the occasion,
and letting nature take its course.
Live like that and all will be well with you,
spilling over,
pouring out,
as a blessing and a grace
upon all who come your way.
Without your doing anything more
than dancing with the moment,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
Put aside your agendas.
Lay down your plans.
Be done with conniving
and contriving.
Just dance with your moments,
one-by-one.
05/25/2020 — Rumi said,
“If you aren’t here with us
in good faith,
you are doing terrible damage.”
Good faith and hidden agendas,
or just plain agendas,
are incompatible from the start,
and make life together
something to be not-missed
when it is gone.
05/26/2020 — With (just) a little cooperation,
we could do anything.
We could certainly do everything
that needs to be done
moment-by-moment
in each situation as it arises
all our life long–
and who could ask for more than that?
The cooperation I’m talking about
is everyone doing their bit,
their part,
in being who the moment
is calling them/us all to be.
No moaning,
whining,
complaining,
blaming,
finding fault,
condemning,
shaming,
etc.
No bad faith!
No contriving/conniving
in the service of personal gain
or grievance!
No littleness!
No pettiness!
No narrow-mindedness!
No living unconsciously!
No mindlessness!
No taking things personally!
No getting your feelings hurt!
No seeking retribution!
No victimization!
No nastiness!
Just being the kind of person
the times are calling us all to be!
Just being kind!
Generous!
Compassionate!
Empathetic!
Helpful (In the right way)!
Moment-by-moment
in each situation as it arises,
our whole life long.
This is not asking too much.
05/26/2020 — It is amazing how evil
in the person of Donald Trump
is so easily
denied,
ignored,
accepted,
justified,
excused,
explained,
defended,
condoned
by roughly 45%
of the adult population
of this country.
There is nothing he can do
that these people
cannot gloss over.
What is going on?
Why can’t they see what they look at?
What is it about the evil of Donald Trump
they are compelled to embrace,
adore,
relish,
worship?
Why Donald Trump?
Why not Jeffrey Dahmer?
Why not Charles Manson?
If you are going to fawn over evil,
why not all evil everywhere?
Why draw lines
and gush over Donald Trump
and not gush over everybody
who exhibits not one redeeming feature?
Could it be that Donald Trump
is the purest form of raw evil
that any of the 45% have ever experienced
(Or that has ever lived),
and they are drawn to him
as the King Of Pure Evil?
I would love to know.
05/26/2020 — We have always hoped for
The Golden Age.
It is time we settled for–
and started living in–
this one.
They illusion/myth of a Golden Age,
where everything is just dilly
for everyone like us,
is a distraction/diversion
from the real time truth
of here and now
where conflict and contradiction
slug it out
through eternal rounds
of ebb and flow,
with the good times
coming and going
and the wolf never being
very far from the door.
Buck up!
Dealing with the chaos
is what we do best!
We have what it takes
to find what it takes
to do what needs to be done–
and why want more than that?
Look at everyone
who had more than they needed
and nothing ever
needed to be done!
With no valid work,
they were devoured by
pastimes and entertainment,
goths and vandals,
Huns and Mongol hordes.
Better to meet the day
on its terms
and settle into responding
to the moment
by offering what is called for
moment-by-moment.
We stay young and fresh that way,
and live forever,
led on by the suspense
of what happens next.
05/28/2020 — I hate edge-of-my-seat
movies and books.
Suspense is not my go-to mode
I am a
let’s just get to the point
person.
Cut the drama.
Spell it out.
Tell me what’s what.
That’s my schtick.
I will sit with it
for a while,
and then get up
and do what
needs to be done.
And, if nothing can be done,
I will do what can be done
about that.
Nothing can be done
about all of the nasty
problems of existence.
Greed, for example.
Ruthlessness.
Cruelty.
Racism.
Misogyny.
Homophobia.
Xenophobia.
…
The list is long.
And we are left
with doing what we can
about being unable to do anything
of substance
to change what needs to be changed
in the service of the good
of a lot of people.
Call it out.
Oppose it at every turn.
Expose it for what it is.
Meet it with truth and justice.
Extend compassionate presence,
kindness
and care
to the victims.
And counter-balance
the evil at work in the world
with every tool at our disposal.
In every situation as it arises.
All our life long.
05/29/2020 — The heart of ideology
of every variety
is racism.
Ideology is the essence of racism.
Racism reduced to its purest form.
Complete and utter exclusivism.
“If you aren’t like me/us,
you are without hope of redeeming value,
and I am/we are totally justified
in treating you that way.”
05/29/2020 — I don’t see going back to normal
as though nothing happened–
as though nothing is happening.
The old is gone forever.
Behold, the new has come,
and will be coming,
forever.
And the new reality
demands deliberate,
intentional,
willful
adjustment on our part.
We have to cooperate
with the process
of our own maturation.
We have to grow up some more again.
Stop belittling people who wear masks.
Ware masks ourselves.
For example.
Stay away from people
and crowded places–
beaches, concerts, attractions–
where there be crowds of people.
Eating in restaurants
is risky business.
Wake up.
Do right.
Be safe.
Stay well.
05/30/2020 — Futility and hopelessness
are the Scylla and Charybdis
of today,
keeping anything from happening,
holding everything suspended in amber,
with nothing happening
until something else does
and the status remaining forever quo.
Well.
Here is the fix for that:
Do Not Let Futility And Hopelessness Stop You–
Or Even Slow You Down!
The proper response
to futility and hopelessness
is “So What?
Who Cares?
What Difference Does That Make?”
Do what needs to be done–
what is crying out to be done–
in each situation as it arises,
No Matter What!
For As Long As It Needs To Be Done!
With No Attachment To,
Opinion About,
Or Interest In
The Outcome!
This is the attitude
that fuels Sisyphus
throughout his eternal task.
This is what keeps us going
in the service of that which
needs to be done–
and needs us to do it–
in each situation as it arises,
no matter what,
all our life long.
The results/outcome
cannot determine our response
to what needs doing!
What needs doing
is all the motivation we need–
is all the reason we need–
for doing what must be done,
anyway,
nevertheless,
even so!
Do what needs to be done,
and keep on doing it,
for as long as life lasts!
What else is life for?
Being frozen forever
suspended in tree resin
because there is nothing we can do
about what needs to be done
with any chance for success?
Don’t care what your chances are!
Do what needs to be done,
the way it needs to be done,
for as long as it needs to be done–
and then do the next thing
that needs to be done.
Forever.
05/30/2020 — When white supremacists
use protests
to conceal their acts
of terrorism,
and white supremacists
in police uniforms and badges
bully protesters,
and the white supremacists
in the White House
are egging things on
with calls for violence
and shooting,
it’s time to stop.
And I don’t mean stop the protests.
I mean stop.
Shut down the nation.
Nobody move.
Until things are sorted out,
the thugs arrested
and jailed,
order is restored,
an environment of safety
is in place,
people are free
from the threat of brutality
from any direction,
and justice is done.
Gandhi did it in India.
It is time to do it again.
Here.
Now.
05/31/2020 — What are you looking for?
Searching for?
Seeking?
Start there.
Explore that.
Intently.
Thoroughly.
Exhaustively.
See where it goes.
05/31/2020 — Here is one way
of getting out of the way
and taking your directions
from your innate sense
of what is called for
in any situation:
1) See what you are looking at.
What is happening?
Experience the difference
between being focused on what is happening
and thinking about being focused on what is happening.
Do. Not. Think.
SEE!
2) Quiet your mind.
No thinking,
evaluating,
judging,
and no anxiety about being judged,
worrying,
trying,
etc.
When all these things
stop jamming the signals
from your Unconscious (Psyche),
sincerity and spontaneity
come into play.
Sincerity is simply being who you are,
when you are (now)
where you are (here)
with the welfare of the moment at heart
(Without contriving
because you have nothing at stake).
3) Not judging is not valuing.
It is seeing the suchness of things
without evaluation or opinion.
What’s it to you?
What do you have to gain or lose?
You are just here to do
what is called for
in ways appropriate
to the occasion.
We can see things as they are
only when evaluation/opinion
is now a part of how things are.
Let judgment go and see what happens.
Non-judgmental,
compassionate,
mindful awareness
is essential
to seeing/feeling what’s what.
4) Knowing what is happening
and what needs to happen
produces what happens.
Moment-by-moment-by-moment.
And you don’t do anything–
intentionally,
deliberately,
consciously,
purposefully.
Sincerity and spontaneity,
instinct and intuition
can be trusted to rise
to any occasion
if we allow it to happen.
5) Mindfulness holds everything
in awareness,
and selects where to place
the focus of our attention
in each situation as it arises.
Having nothing at stake
in the situation,
with nothing to gain or lose,
making no judgment,
having no opinion
allows the freedom to do
what needs to be done
in response to what is happening
in the moment.
Now is always here,
and it is only we who leave.
Things happen as they need to happen
when we stay here, now–
trusting sincerity and spontaneity
to guide the way.
06/01/2020 — If we are not aligned
with the Tao,
we are living pathologically.
Cut-off from ourselves,
at odds with ourselves,
contradicting ourselves
with every choice,
each decision.
“There is within each of us
Another, whom we do not know”
(Carl Jung).
It would be in our best interest
to get to know this Other,
and live in accord with the guidance
conferred thereby.
06/01/2020 — My problem with comedians,
now and then,
is that too many of them
have no sense of humor.
Too many of them take themselves seriously.
Their humor is at the expense of those
not like them.
I want them to find
what they take seriously
and uncover the humor in that.
To find the humor
in taking anything seriously.
We cannot work with anything
we take seriously.
In order to work with things
we have to see them as they are
and as they also are.
We have to live in the tension
between how they are
and how they also are
and bring their extremes together
in a way that is optimal
in each situation as it arises,
in the time and place of our living,
for right now.
Not forever and ever.
We cannot create balance and harmony forever.
Balance and harmony is right now.
Nothing is forever.
We work right now with what is at hand
and do what is sensible
with no sacred notions
of what ought to be
and ought not to be.
We don’t take anything seriously!
We just take everything as it is,
and do what needs to be done with it,
about it.
We do what the situation calls for,
and do something differently,
perhaps,
in the next situation,
in the service of balance and harmony
moment-by-moment.
And we don’t even take
balance and harmony seriously!
Balance and harmony are achieved
by wobbling!
Wobbles correct off balance out of harmony!
There is no static balance!
There is no rigid harmony!
Life is moving.
Life is dancing.
Let go of seriousness
and see what happens!
And laugh!
Please!
Laugh!
A lot!
06/02/2020 — Enemies of democracy control the government,
destroying individual liberty
and constitutional rights
while shouting their slogan,
“They (meaning Democrats and libs)
want to take your freedom away!”
All the while doing what they accuse
Dems and libs of doing.
Essence of Evil.
06/02/2020 — Seeing what you look at,
knowing what’s what,
doing what needs to be done about it
in ways appropriate to the occasion–
moment-by-moment.
It doesn’t get more basic than this,
or more necessary.
06/02/2020 — Savvy counts for a lot.
But.
Where is savvy found?
Don’t you wish, though?
Pick up a five pound bag at Wal Mart,
or a six-pack at 7/11.
Or a recipe for Savvy Muffins.
Anything to make it accessible
to ordinary people.
Savvy is to be wise beyond our years,
as though years have anything to do with it.
There are as many old fools
as there are young ones.
Right seeing.
Right hearing.
Right interpretation.
Right knowing.
Right doing.
Right being.
I’m dreaming now, aren’t I.
Walking about in Dreamland.
Making no sense whatsoever.
Why can’t we see what we look at
and know when we are being snookered?
Why give anyone the benefit of the doubt?
That could be the shortcut to savvy.
06/03/2020 — Money is for tools and resources.
And for sustaining/maintaining us
and our family
over the course of our life.
Period.
Tools and resources
are for doing the work
that is ours to do.
The work that only we can do.
The work we are born to do
and are uniquely equipped to do.
If we have more money
than we need,
we can support people,
and support causes that are supporting people,
helping others
do the work that is theirs to do.
Money is for doing the work
that needs to be done,
by paying the bills
that help us do the work.
Everything serves the work.
And everything comes down
to how we understand the work
that is ours to do,
and how much time and effort
we put into doing it.
Our work is who we are.
Who we are is what we do.
What we do is who we are.
If what we are doing
is not who we are,
we have to do the work
of healing the division,
and start doing the things
that are who we are.
There is what we do to pay the bills,
and there is what we pay the bills to do.
If what we do to pay the bills is not us,
then we have to start running up the right bills
that enable us to do the things
that are who we are.
That way,
we do what is not us
in order to do the things that are us.
And bear the pain
of harmonizing and balancing the contradictions
at work in our life.
Negotiation and compromise, Kid.
Negotiation and compromise.
06/04/2020 — There is nothing in it for us.
No heaven for doing it.
No hell for not doing it.
There is only doing it
or not doing it.
Why would we do it?
Why would we not do it?
Live in accord with the Tao, that is.
We would do it to live in accord with the Tao.
We would not do it to live like we want.
Living in accord with the Tao
is the essence of “Thy will, not mine, be done,”
without the theology–
without heaven if we do and hell if we don’t.”
Why would we do it?
Why would we not do it?
To have reasons for doing it
is to serve an agenda,
to have a plan,
to use the Tao
as a means to some end
greater than the Tao.
Health, perhaps.
Fame, fortune, glory, living forever…
Agendas, plans, goals,
aspiration, acquisition, achievement,
profit, gain, advantage…
are all in opposition to the Tao.
We cannot serve a motive
and serve the Tao.
The Tao is agenda-free.
Aligned with the Tao,
there is nothing to gain,
and nothing to lose.
There is only being in the moment,
living in the moment,
to serve the needs of the moment
by doing what is called for
in each situation as it arises,
and letting the outcome be the outcome.
In living in accord with the Tao,
we trust ourselves to the Tao,
and let nature take its course.
Why would we do that?
Why would we not do that?
06/04/2020 — You can give me a recipe
but you cannot tell me
how to know
when I have kneaded
the dough enough.
I can give you a camera,
but I cannot tell you
how to know
where to stand,
or when the light is right.
Words are worthless
when it comes to knowing
when, where, how.
We have to live for a while,
sometimes, a long while,
with our eyes open,
to know that.
And the important knowledge
goes with us to the grave.
Each generation–
and each person
within each generation–
has to find the way
their own way.
Read the Bible, etc., all you want,
but the secrets that make the difference
cannot be said.
We live our way to them
over the full course of our life.
If we are paying attention.
If we are only believing and doing
what someone told us to believe and do,
well.
We are wasting our time.
06/05/2020 — The older I get,
the less time I have
to work with.
I can’t afford
to play around.
I have to know
what needs to be done
and do it.
I have to know
what needs to be said
and say it.
And let nature take its course.
If I’m wrong,
I’m wrong.
If I’m right,
I’m right.
I can’t waste time
keeping score.
Every moment
is calling for something.
Can we know what that is?
Can we offer it
as best we can
out of the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues
that are ours to use/share/incarnate/express/exhibit?
It all comes down to this
in each situation as it arises.
Anything else is a distraction/diversion.
The older we get,
the less time we have
for those things.
Do you think
we are here to be entertained
until we die?
And all we have to do
is find some
action?
Every day?
For the rest of our life?
06/07/2020 — Can you take it?
Our life wants to know.
Our life isn’t going to waste its time on us
if we can’t take it.
It needs to know
that we are going to be with it
all the way,
and can be counted on
to not let it down
when everything is on the line
and it is time
for us to show up
and do our thing.
06/07/2020 — Those who know
know nothing can be said
that can be understood
by those who don’t know,
but that doesn’t stop them
from talking.
They talk and laugh about talking.
They are the only ones in on the joke.
Everyone else thinks they are crazy.
That makes it all even funnier.
Anybody who takes any of this seriously
is the funniest person who ever lived.
It all comes down to this:
This moment right now–
what are you going to do with it?
What are you going to do in response to it?
What is the moment calling for?
What are you going to do about it?
Moment-by-moment-by-moment.
That is all there is.
If you think there is more to it than that,
you are taking things too seriously.
And you are the funniest person who ever lived.
How long has it been since you laughed?
About yourself?
And what you take seriously?
06/07/2020 — The path that can be designated
“The Path,”
is not a legitimate path.
It will not take us anywhere
we have any business being.
We find The Path
by following our own sense
of what needs to be done–
of what is being called for–
of what is evoking
our spontaneous sincerity,
and eliciting our action,
our automatic, unthinking,
response to the need of the moment,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
That is the Way of Tao.
It is always available to everyone,
but those who walk it are few.
06/07/2020 — We cannot help the way we see things.
We cannot help the way we think about things.
We cannot help the way we perceive things to be.
We cannot help the way we believe things are.
We cannot help what we hold to be important.
or repulsive.
And we cannot will our mind to change about any of these things.
We are imprisoned in our own view point.
And our mind changes all of the time.
On its own.
Alcohol matters most to a lot of us.
And then it doesn’t.
I loved fishing for a long time.
And then I didn’t.
We are helpless to change a lot that needs to be changed
about us.
We are at the mercy of forces quite beyond us.
Free will is a fantasy.
We are not free to will our wants and our want-nots.
We are not free to will what we love and love not.
Or what we like and don’t like.
Why do you like what you like
and not something else instead?
You have nothing to do with it.
And you cannot force any of it to change–
or keep any of it from changing.
You are just along for the ride.
06/08/2020 — The things that need to be said
cannot be said enough.
The things that need to be heard
cannot be heard too much.
The things that need to be done
cannot be done too often.
The life that needs to be lived
cannot be lived a little here,
a little there,
as though we are saving ourselves
for when it really matters.
The moment that is upon us
is the only moment that matters.
The time that is at hand
is the time to do what needs to be done.
Time after time after time.
06/08/2020 — All there ever is
is this moment
right here
right now,
and what it is asking of us.
Faithfulness to our duty to the moment
is the most important thing.
Do right by the moment,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
06/09/2020 — Healthy functioning
is all there is to want.
Being healthy enough
to function normally.
Easily.
Spontaneously.
Without thinking about it.
On all levels.
How many levels are there?
Physical.
Mental.
Emotional.
Spiritual.
Cellular.
Personally.
Socially.
Consciously.
Unconsciously…
Healthy functioning
throughout our life.
Get that down
and everything else
will fall into place
around that.
How many levels do you have in place?
How many do you have to go?
06/09/2020 — Everybody has to pay the bills.
That immediately puts us in a bind.
What we do to pay the bills
crimps/cramps our style
and interferes with our ability
to do what we pay the bills to do.
We have to work it out.
Negotiation and compromise, Kid.
Negotiation and compromise.
There is what we do to pay the bills,
and there is what we pay the bills to do.
We have to walk two paths at the same time.
We do that by doing it consciously,
with mindful awareness,
every step along both paths.
Did somebody say,
“Mindful awareness?”
That’s quite a coincidence!
I was just thinking about mindful awareness!
And that brought up
the importance of Jon Kabat-Zinn’s
YouTube videos
for developing our ability
to be mindfully aware
of our life
moment-by-moment
and walking two paths
all along the way.
06/09/2020 — We cannot contrive
coincidental.
Coincidental is the foundation,
the bedrock,
the source and the goal
of life,
of being alive
in the life we are living.
Coincidental is grace at work in our life.
The Tao carrying us in the flow of our becoming.
Synchronicity stunning us with the unlikelihood of wonder.
Dharma breaking into here and now out of nowhere
to startle, transform and amaze.
We cannot devise an agenda
or a five-year plan
for magic.
Or create a formula for awakening
to the truth at the heart of it all.
We cannot contrive
coincidental.
Or live without it.
06/10/2020 — There are the facts.
And there is how we feel
about the facts.
And there is what we do
in response to the facts.
And that results
in additional facts–
and how we feel about them,
and what we do about them.
And all of that comes together
to produce the life we are living
here and now.
We are in control
of two of the three factors
creating the life we are living.
You might say
there is a sense
in which it is all up to us.
06/10/2020 — If I ask you
“What do you believe,”
I believe the chances are good
that you will answer
with someone else’s words,
or with a rephrasing of words
you heard from someone else.
I believe our beliefs are mostly communal,
with their origin in some group
that is “our kind of people,”
our “tribe.”
If I ask you
“What would you go to hell for?”
I believe the chances are good
that what you say will come
straight from your heart
and will reflect your deepest commitment:
“My spouse,
my children,
Constitutional Rights,
Democracy,
etc.”
We believe what we are told to believe.
We would go to hell for what means the most to us.
What would you go to hell for?
06/10/2020 —a We have to stop thinking
in order to start seeing and hearing.
Our conscious mind
is a generating plant
of ideas,
fears,
plans,
schemes,
dreads,
memories..
It is always coming up with something else to do,
or not do,
or avoid doing,
or daydreaming about,
all of which distracts us
from attending our unconscious mind
and its direction and guidance.
To break the domination of our conscious mind,
we simply engage in some monotonous task.
Count our breaths up to ten
and count our breaths up to ten again,
and again…
Or sit down and watch our thoughts
without thinking them–
without getting lost in them–
without engaging them.
See how many thoughts
you can catch yourself thinking
in a minute.
Or three minutes.
Or five.
And look for the things that just occur to you,
that pop into your mind,
for no reason,
out of nowhere,
but come with a particular energy/urgency/reality.
Learn to recognize visitations
from your unconscious mind,
to distinguish them
from the regular ramblings of your conscious mind.
We have all the direction/guidance/help we need within.
We need to learn to recognize it,
access it,
trust it.
And see where it leads.
06/11/2020 — Laughter requires a certain degree
of distance/detachment
from our situation-in-life.
The more seriously we take things,
the less funny they are.
In order to deal appropriately/effectively
with what is happening,
we can’t take it seriously.
We have to have “perceptive distance”–
we have to be far enough away–
from the matters at hand
to be able to see what’s what,
and what needs to be done about it,
and be able to do it
with the gifts/resources available to us.
Laughter has to be appropriate
to the occasion,
and cannot be forced
before its time.
Comedians kill themselves
because their situation has become
too serious to laugh at.
We all have to be on top of
the extent to which
we are taking things seriously,
and know the difference
between seriously
and too seriously–
and refuse to step over the line.
Take nothing more seriously
than the situation warrants.
06/11/2020 — I expect we will always be working
to counteract terrorism
and racism.
Somebody will always hate us
for reasons they hold to be sacrosanct.
It is people like us
who make people like them
hate people like us.
Terrorism and racism are aspects
of the rock we roll like Sisyphus
up the hill
for the rest of time.
Our work is to not let them lie
as though they are an inevitable
and unmovable part of the landscape.
They do not belong here,
and we will not accept them here.
It doesn’t matter that we cannot eradicate them.
Jesus said, “The poor will be with you always.”
He didn’t mean not to minister unto the poor and homeless.
We feed the hungry,
and we call out and oppose terrorism and racism.
And we are not burdened
by making no progress.
06/11/2020 — I’m living two weeks at a time
for the rest of my life.
I’m settled in with
not seeing past 14 days out
for the duration.
No restaurants,
no movies,
no elevators,
no hotels.
Curbside pick-up/carry-out,
a mask everywhere in public.
Lots of soup,
gumbo
and red beans and rice.
I’m in the third month
of the second quarter
of my seventy-sixth year.
My wife is close behind.
Everything rides on us
staying away from everybody.
You can test negative
and be non-symptomatic,
and still be a carrier.
I can’t trust anybody
to be a safe place to be.
Neither can you.
Two weeks at a time.
Stay away from people
It’s the perfect time
to discover
what Marianne More
meant when she said,
“The cure for loneliness is solitude.”
06/12/2020 — People who do not see facts
for what they are
do not see truth
for what it is,
and we have anti-vaxers
and white supremacists
waxing eloquent
about conspiracies and plots
beyond all feasibility.
About 4 seconds into their spiel,
I have to look for my shadow
to see if it is still working.
They remind me of arguments
I have overheard in nursing homes
between Alzheimer patients.
This conversation is going nowhere.
I have to take my shadow and leave.
We are creating that kind of exchange everywhere.
Soon, there won’t be anywhere to go.
We will be stuck in a world
with AM talking to FM
And VHS squealing at DVD.
And me looking for the door.
I don’t know how we got here,
and I certainly don’t know
where we go from here.
I watched a video of citizens opposed
to face masks
talking to the Orange County Health Care Agency.
It was exactly what I take “surreal” to be.
Scary so.
And they prevailed.
Face masks are no longer mandatory.
That makes them potential killers.
If they don’t wear masks,
they are a threat to everybody they meet.
Give them a gun
and tell them to start shooting.
But they weren’t invited to see themselves as a threat.
They were interested in talking only
about their freedom being taken away
and being force to wear masks
against their will.
Seat belts are mandatory.
Stopping on red
and going on green
are mandatory.
Driving on the right side
of the center stripe is mandatory.
The list is long.
What’s the deal with face masks?
What’s the deal?
Where is the door?
06/14/2020 — I need help
with being savvy
moment-to-moment.
Savvy here and now
is the most important
thing for me to be.
If I could just be savvy here and now,
it would be possible
for me to be
balanced,
harmonious
and stable.
And that would position me
to act in ways
that served the good of the moment
and were appropriate to the occasion.
Jesus couldn’t do better than that.
I wonder what Jesus’
secret to being savvy was.
Moment-to-moment, I mean.
Present and savvy.
That would do it for me!
06/14/2020 — There is nothing wrong with us
that growing up wouldn’t fix.
“Growing up is the solution
to all of our problems today.”
That would do for a new AA motto,
replacing “Acceptance is the solution…”
Accepting that I am not grown up enough yet
is not nearly as helpful
as being grown up enough now.
Oh, if we could all just Grow Up!
But, if growing up were that easy,
we would all have it made.
There is only one way to do it.
Moment-by-moment,
day-by-day.
AA is right about that.
06/14/2020 — We moved away from
Sheriff Andy Taylor
with the militarization
of the police.
Whose idea was that?
Robocop?
That was a bad idea.
As militarization goes up.
Humanization goes down.
Robots are programed.
Humans can wing it
in response to the situation
as it develops–
and can discern what is called for
and deliver it on the spot
without calculating,
contriving,
conniving,
or worrying about
Official Police Procedure.
If kneeling is called for,
they kneel.
Being free to make the call
means being responsible
for being right about it.
Robots don’t have to worry
about being wrong.
06/16/2020 — We have to decide where we stand–
that is to say, what we stand for–
and be right about it.
We have to be right about what we stand for–
it has to be the right thing to stand for–
given the context and circumstances
of the situation/occasion at hand.
We have to be astute readers of the moment,
knowing what is happening
and what needs to be done in response,
with the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues
we bring to the time that is at hand.
We have to know what’s what
and allow ourselves to be moved to do
what needs to be done
as it arises within us
in spontaneous response to the time and place
of our living.
We have to be tuned into the moment
and to ourselves,
our body,
our heart,
our soul,
our just-so-ness,
right here,
right now,
in every here and now.
And get out of the way.
And see where it goes,
going where it takes us,
the Tao (Dharma, Grace, Synchronicity)
leading the way.
06/16/2020 — We get up and do the day
exactly as the day
needs to be done,
and then we get up and do it again
tomorrow.
You can get through anything like that.
Just by doing what needs to be done
moment-by-moment,
day-by-day.
That’s the AA Sure Cure For What Ails You.
06/17/2020 — Settling ourselves into the here and now,
and doing what it needs us to do,
the way it needs to be done,
when it needs to be done,
for as long as it needs to be done,
and then stepping back
and letting the outcome
be the outcome,
where we settle ourselves into the here and now,
and do what needs us to do it…
Is living in accord with the Tao forever.
This is immortality
lived one moment at a time.
06/17/2020 — The now is eternal
because it never ends,
it constantly evolves.
Everything is changing
leaving us with the questions:
“Are we changing with the changes?”
“Are we clinging to a time
that has moved on
and left us behind the times?”
Refusing to wear a mask
hearkens back to a time
a few months ago
when we didn’t need a mask,
but the time has moved on.
Black lives have always mattered,
but they didn’t matter to as many people
as they do now.
The times have changed.
The people who don’t change
with the times
hold on to a past
and a way of being
that is out of sync
with the movement of time,
and create dissonance
and disharmony
within the flow–
let it go,
let it go,
catch up,
catch up,
before you
get caught
in the karma
and Tao/Dharma/Grace/Synchronicity
of time out of time,
past time,
behind the times.
No one can help you then.
06/20/2009 — I cannot change the way you think.
Nobody can change the way you think.
Not even you can change the way you think.
Only the way you think can change the way you think.
You can assist that,
or oppose that,
but you can’t stop it
or keep it from happening.
The way we think has a mind of its own.
We are at its mercy.
Or, so it seems.
Actually, the people we run with
have the biggest impact
on the way we think.
We think the way the people we hang out with think.
In order for the way we think to change,
we have to change the people we call “our people.”
Alcoholics can’t quit drinking
until they stop going to bars
and hanging out with people who are drinking.
And start going to AA meetings,
and hanging out with people who are sober drunks.
Makes all the difference.
On every level.
Hang out with the people you want to be like.
And not with the people you don’t want to be like.
The way you think will change like that
(Snaps fingers).
All about me…
I’m retired, but we never quit finding our way–but in retirement (and sometimes before), we don’t have to pretend that we know what we are doing.
Before retirement, I spent 40.5 years as a minister in the Presbyterian Church USA, serving churches in Louisiana, Mississippi and North Carolina. I graduated from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana, and Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Austin, Texas.
My wife, Judy, and I have three daughters, three sons-in-law, and five granddaughters–and are enjoying our retirement as much as we have ever enjoyed anything.
What I’m doing here…
I’m posting photographs, mostly of the natural world, because I think nature is a key aspect of our ability to find our ground and foundation, our balance and harmony, our spirit, energy and vitality, who we are and the life we are here to live.
I post photographs with words in free verse, as a way of articulating/sharing what I find to be helpful in that work, hoping that you will find that to be helpful in doing your own work in those areas of your life.
What now?
Clicking on “June 2020” in the header will drop down a menu of dates that I have posted photos and verse for you to peruse at your pleasure. Thanks for visiting!
Flip Wilson’s comedy role as Reverend Leroy of The Church of What’s Happening Now is the perfect precursor for the Church as it Ought To be. For one thing, he is comedic and doesn’t take himself seriously. For another, the Church of What’s happening Now is intently focused on and involved with the present moment, which, of course, is eternal and unending because it, in fact, never ends. It evolves, morphs, transitions forever into nothing more than the present moment right now.
The present moment has everything we need to find what we need to rise to the occasion and do what the situation is calling for in every situation as it arises–with the gifts, genius, daemon, virtues that came with us from the womb. To know that it is so, we only have to trust that it is so and act as though it is.
The moment is equipped to bring us forth. Joseph Campbell said, “It took the Cyclops to bring out the hero in Ulysses.” Our moments do that for us. The Now is all we need to discover who we are and find what is ours to do.
But, of course, there is a catch. We cannot impose our ideas for the moment on the moment. We have to enter each moment, and each situation as it arises, as innocent and as sincere–as empty of designs, and plans, and agendas–as a stream looking for the sea.
The wonder is that every moment is in search of something. Every situation calls for something to be done. Our place is to know what’s what and what needs to be done about it and how we might best respond with what is ours to give.
This requires us to see what we look at. To hear what is being said to us. And to leave contriving, conspiring, conniving, desiring and having to have at the door. We have to approach each new now, each moment, each situation, wondering what is needed here, now, and how we might be of help.
This positions us to respond spontaneously, without thinking, to the need of the moment, like the Prodigal’s father welcoming him home, or the Samaritan helping the man in the ditch. This attitude of sincerity and spontaneity is the center and ground of right seeing, right hearing, right knowing, right doing and right being. And it is the heart and soul of the Church as it Ought To Be.
Living in the moment, with the moment, for the moment, moment-by-moment-by-moment, is what the old Taoist meant by “living in accord with the Tao.” Living in accord with the Tao is being true to ourselves within the context and circumstances of our life. When we live like that strange things happen, “for no reason.”
Ulysses defeats the Cyclops, for instance, and David defeats Goliath. The moment opens before those who are open to the moment–without “being open to the moment” as a secret strategy for getting the moment to open before them. Miracles of pace and timing are always happening, but they cannot be manipulated into being or made to happen with a certain outcome in mind–having anything at all in mind destroys the innocence and sincerity that is at the heart of oneness with the Tao. We cannot do anything with an eye on what’s in it for us and be one with the Tao.
“Tao” as another word for “Grace,” and “Dharma,” and “Synchronicity.” They are all words for the experience of things happening that we would never expect to happen, as if by magic, for no reason, out of the blue. They happen regularly in the presence of those who live innocently, sincerely, attuned to the time and place of their living, responding to what the moment is calling for with the gifts that are theirs to share for no reason. And Grace happens for no reason. There is a connection.
And that is all we can say.
That is what Lao Tzu said about the Tao. “The Way that can be discerned and designated as The Way is not a reliable way.” Trying to define it, explain it and set up rules to govern it is to ruin any chance we might have had of experiencing it.
There is something else about the Tao that has implications for us and the way we live our life. We cannot live our life as though our life belongs to us. We are born with a purpose, with a task, with a work that must be done.
Martin Palmer says, “The Tao Te Ching lays out a cosmological view of the universe wherein the Tao is not just the path of heaven; it is not just the purpose of heaven; it is not even the origin of all life within the universe; it it the origin of the Origin.
The Tao gives birth to the One;
the One gives birth to the Two;
the Two gives birth to the Three;
The three give birth to every living thing.“
Palmer says, “The Tao begets the One–the Origin. From this, according to later classical Chinese cosmology, come the twin opposite forces of Yin and Yang. From this come the Three, Heaven, Earth and Humanity. And from these flow all creativity.” (Palmer is writing in “The Illustrated Tao Te Ching)
Human beings are from the beginning The Middle Way between the Yin of Heaven and the Yang of Earth.
One Minute Monologues 055
February 29, 2020 — April 19, 2020
- 03/01/2020 — Our heart is never far away.
How attentive we are to heart,
how well-suited we are
to the service of heart,
how faithful we are
in our devotion to heart,
all depends upon our concern for–
and infatuation with–
the 10,000 things.
(“The 10,000 Things”
are also called
“The Dust Of The World”)
What do we allow to come between
us and our heart?
Duty?
Responsibility?
Desire?
Fear?
Gaining the advantage?
Revenge?
Jealousy?
The possibilities are many…
Heart is always taking
a back seat to something.
Something is always
more important than heart.
Adam and Eve thought
they could improve on Paradise.
So do we.
“Better is the enemy of the good.”
We are always one more tweak
away from having it made.
Billionaires can never stop turning a profit.
“Enough” is not a steady state of being.
A pact with heart
realizes all of these things,
and keeps an eye on them all,
while taking up the practice
of fidelity and loyalty
in each situation as it arises,
moment-by-moment-by-moment
all our life long.
Being able to pay the bills
that need to be paid
in doing the things that need to be done
in living out of our heart,
as liege servants of heart,
is all it takes to do the work of heart.
Letting everything fall into place around that
is the discipline required
of the champions of heart. - 03/01/2020 — Cotton in the Field 11/22/2019 07 — Hwy 267, Lone Star, South Carolina, November 22, 2019
Safety, security and stability
are essential requirements
in being what the situation
needs us to be
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
And they are the first things to go
in the grip of a mythic vision
(That would be a vision
of Mythic proportions).
The Way winds through
the Garden of Gethsemane
and across the face of Golgotha.
Living grounded upon the bedrock
of deepest/highest value/virtue
puts us at risk
in each situation as it arises.
We take a chance
in following our heart,
in responding spontaneously,
intuitively,
improvisationally
to what is happening,
in trusting ourselves
to our felt-sense
of what needs to be done
and letting things fall into place
around that.
The Way runs along
“the slippery slope,
the dangerous path,
the razor’s edge.”
It is called “The Hero’s Journey”
for good reason. - 03/01/2020 — Lake Haigler 11/24/2019 07 — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Lake Haigler Access, Fort Mill, South Carolina, November 24, 2019
Timing recognizes the right time
and apprehends the wrong time
and bides its time
between the times.
Knowing what time it is
is essential knowing
that has nothing to do
with clocks and calendars.
Peaches ripen in their own time,
but only during peach season.
The Developmental Tasks
are essential for our own “ripening,”
and we can experience “arrested development”
at any stage of our life’s path.
What is it time for now?
Are we assisting,
or resisting,
what is being called for,
what our life is asking of us,
from us?
Life is not a matter of arranging
what we want to happen
when we want it to happen,
but a process of offering
what is needed to the time and place
of our living–
whether we want to our not!
We grow up against our will
all our life long.
Our place is to realize that,
and cooperate with the times
that are upon us,
perhaps at the expense
of our own wants and wishes. - 03/02/2020 — Lake Crandall 11/19/2019 13 — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Adventure Road Access, Fort Mill, South Carolina, November 19, 2019
*Bear the pain.*
The pain of seeing what you see.
Knowing what you know.
Feeling what you feel.
Being where you are.
Being how you are.
Being who you are.
With only the resources
you have available to you
to work with.
Etc.
*Enter the silence.*
It doesn’t have to be quiet
to enter the silence.
You can be in the middle of a crowd.
In an elevator filled with people.
At a concert or football game.
You carry silence with you
wherever you go,
and are never more than
a perception-shift away
from entering the silence.
*Observe your situation.”
Your situation is what is happening
outside you,
around you,
within you.
It is everything that is going on
within the range of your sense perception,
memory
physical and emotional reactivity.
Right here.
Right now.
In this present moment.
*Bring everything into your awareness.*
Receive everything with compassion,
without judgment,
without opinion,
like you are taking inventory
in a grocery store.
So many cans of green beans.
So many cans of sliced carrots.
Etc.
With no emotional involvement
with any of it.
*Be fully present
with everything that is present with you.*
Spend time in the silence
just being aware of all
that is in the silence with you,
including the feelings, memories, etc.
being aware of it
stirs to life in you.
*Receive it all into your awareness.*
Your awareness can contain the universe.
And more.
Hold everything in your awareness.
You are “bigger on the inside
than you are on the outside.”
Invite it all in
in a “This, too. This, too.”
kind of way.
Spend some time just being with
all you are aware of.
*Ask and Say.*
Ask all of the questions that beg to be asked,
including the questions that are generated
by the questions you ask.
Say all of the things that cry out to be said,
including the things that need to be said
in response to the things you say.
*Breathe and Go.*
End the exercise
with a deep “belly-breath”
in through your nose,
blowing it out through your mouth.
Step back into your life,
and be well.
Repeat as you are able,
and particularly when you are
emotionally hooked
by something,
an event or a memory,
throughout your day. - 03/02/2020 — A Walk in the Woods 11/23/2019 13 — The 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina, November 23, 2019
Don’t get too far ahead of yourself.
Jesus advised,
“Let the day’s own trouble
be sufficient for the day.”
He could have been a Zen Master.
Live lived day-to-day,
and moment-by-moment-by-moment
within each day,
provides us with the opportunity
to be-here-now
throughout the day.
There is a lot going on
right here,
right now,
if we but stop and listen,
and look,
and see,
and hear.
And if we do right by the moment,
seeing what the moment needs of us,
and offering what we have to give
out of the reservoir
of gifts,
genius,
talents,
proclivities,
interests,
abilities,
etc.,
that come with us into each moment,
we will find enough to keep us interested
in each moment of every day.
And, no day can ask more of us than that. - 03/02/2020 — Bloodroot and Trout Lilies 04/2006 — Bog Garden, Greensboro, North Carolina, April, 2006
Truth is not established by faith.
Faith is an opinion awaiting confirmation.
I believe in my ability
to rise to any occasion–
and to find what I need
to do what needs to be done
about each situation as it arises,
but.
Each situation validates
or refutes
my opinion about myself.
Truth is borne out in our experience.
Everything else is an opinion
hoping to become fact.
And, superstition is also borne out in our experience,
until it is not.
For all those centuries,
first born sons
and virgin daughters
were sacrificed at the winter solstice
to appease the sun God
and turn the sun around
on its flight away from earth
and bring it back to warm the earth
and grow the plants
that kept human life alive.
And, for all those centuries,
the sacrifices worked each year.
Horoscopes work by the same principle.
Believe something is so
and it will be verified by your experience.
“You ask how I know?
I now because my heart says it is so!”
And self-deception keeps
the con-men and women in business.
Truth is the bed we slept in last night,
and the world we woke up to this morning.
Truth is the elephant-ness of the elephant
and the monkey-ness of the monkey.
The me-ness of me
and the you-ness of you.
Our life is the truth of who we are
expressed in the way we meet our circumstances
in each situation as it arises.
Who we are capable of being
came with us from the womb,
to be called forth
by the times and places of our living.
We live to discover what we love
and what we are capable of doing
and being in our encounters
with the realities of our life.
Let’s see what today has to show us
about the truth of who we are!
That is the quest that sends us forth
every morning,
and serves as the backdrop
of our dreams at night. - 03/03/2020 — Trout Lily 03/02/2020 01 — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina, March 2, 2020
We walk two paths at the same time.
On an infinite number of levels.
The foundational two are these:
We live aligned with our Original Nature
(That is the Just-So-Ness,
the “just as we are-ness,”
the “such as it is-ness,”
the “true as it gets-ness,”
of who we are and also are
in any given moment—
and we live in accord
with the way things are
(In light of how things need to be
and in light of how things can be)
in the time and place of our living,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
Or, to put it another way,
We are about influence,
not control.
We live best when we live in harmony
with the flow of life in the moment of living.
Our place is to align ourselves–
our personal influence,
our Original Nature,
our Te–
with the outer natural order,
or the Way,
of things,
the Tao.
To be in accord with, at one with,
the Tao
in each situation as it arises.
Oneness within (Te)
meshes with oneness without (Tao).
And it is beautiful.
Our place,
our Te,
also includes our Original Nature–
who we are in our essential self–
and who our circumstances
are asking us to be.
Two paths at the same time.
You see this on the basketball court
at various points in all of the games played well.
You see it in a restaurant
with the service staff
flowing in and around the tables,
taking orders,
cleaning tables,
sweeping floors,
cooking,
helping each other
with trays
and water re-fills…
The entire dance is amazing,
happening in response to what is needed
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
spontaneous,
of itself,
exactly as it needs to be.
When we live like that
in our own life,
it is what being alive
is all about.
It is what we live toward,
strive for:
Laying striving aside
and simply being who/what
the moment is asking us to be/do
out of the gifts/genius
that are ours to share/serve.
You cannot beat that with anything. - 03/03/2020 — Landsford 11/25/2019 05 Panorama — Landsford Canal State Park, Catawba River, Catawba, South Carolina, November 25, 2019
We have to know our Original Nature–
what is “us”
and what is “not us”–
what makes our little heart dance,
and what we live to avoid at all costs–
where we belong
and where we have no business being…
And we have to be able to read
our circumstances.
We have to know what’s what,
what is happening,
what needs to happen
and what can happen
in each situation as it arises.
We have to know what time it is
in the sense of what is it time for,
and what is it not time for–
what is called for
and what is prohibited–
in each situation as it arises.
We have to live in light of who we are
and in light of how things are
here and now
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
And, dance with the moment,
each moment,
in a way that enables things to work there
as well as things can work there,
in light of all things considered
for the highest good of all concerned.
And Fraser Snowden is with us
in every moment
to remind us,
“The only true philosophical question is
‘Where do you draw the line?’” - 03/03/2020 — Zen Moon 04/11/2009 — Price Lake, Blue Ridge Parkway, Julian Price Memorial Park, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, April 11, 2009
Enter the silence
(And you can do that anywhere.
Mowing the lawn,
washing the dishes,
walking the dog…)
and wait to see what occurs to you.
Occurrences are ideas,
inspirations,
connections,
realizations,
notions,
intuitions,
solutions…
“What-comes-of-itself,”
“out of nowhere,”
“for no reason.”
When you are between things,
see what occurs to you.
When you are in the shower,
see what occurs to you.
Open yourself to what occurs to you,
and decide if it is worth pursuing,
or how best to pursue it.
Openness to occurrences
is one way of making ourselves available
to our unconscious mind,
and deepening our relationship
with the invisible world. - 03/04/2020 — Trout Lilies 03/02/2020 02 Panorama — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina, March 2, 2020
The person who first said,
“Principles fly in the face of necessity,”
raised the question,
“What, exactly, is necessary?”
Is a profit at any price necessary?
Is winning at any price necessary?
Is living like kings necessary?
Is liberty and justice for all necessary?
Is personal integrity necessary?
Is our word and our honor necessary?
Are principles necessary?
The Houston Astros were willing
to win at any price.
The Republicans in the House and Senate
are willing to sell out the country
in order to do what Trump says
with the hope of living like kings.
The Founders of this country
put their lives on the line
in the service of the idea
of liberty and justice for all
(They knew first-hand
what kings were good for).
What is necessary?
What do we let anything,
everything, go
in order to save and serve?
What is the overriding necessity
upon which our life is built
as a nation
and as an individual within the nation?
What do we serve forsaking all else?
What is it about us that is not for sale
at any price?
What will we sacrifice ourselves to serve?
Where are the places in your life
that you have actually done that?
Sacrificed yourself in order to serve? - 03/04/2020 — Aspen 09/29/2009/01 — Jasper National Park, Alberta, September 29, 2009
I live to harmonize the world.
I live to serve symmetry,
balance,
stability,
utility,
harmony,
homeostasis,
equilibrium,
peace,
wholeness,
health,
wellness…
I am off-set–
harmonized–
by those whose life
is based on disharmony,
destruction,
violence,
disruption
and devastation.
There are people
who like to burn things down.
I wonder what those people call evil.
They clearly do not like
for their things to be burned down.
Mobsters are really riled
when other mobsters move into
their territory.
Even within the darkest evil
there is a sense of rightness,
an idea of the good
and of how things ought to be.
Sauron doesn’t want Mordor destroyed.
Lord Voldermort doesn’t want
the Death Eaters to be eradicated.
Devastation has its limits.
Disharmony is not universal.
The Dark Side has its own idea of Right.
Everything calls something “Good.”
We all seek to harmonize with something.
To have things like we want them to be.
And we are at odds over what that means
for the whole.
How good is the good we call good
in light of everyone else’s idea of the good?
Somebody’s good is somebody else’s bad.
What is good for the lion
is not so good for the antelope.
And here we are.
How are we going to work this out? - 03/04/2020 — Round-lobed Hepatica 03/03/2020 01 — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina, March 3, 2020
The bread of affliction
is the bread of life.
The cup of suffering
is the cup of salvation.
No one is spared anything.
Believing will not get us into heaven,
not believing will not send us to hell.
We are not here to avoid the pains
and inconveniences of life in the world.
Vulnerability is the legacy of Jesus.
Birth in a manger, death on a cross
is exactly the portion we can expect
for ourselves.
We have our life “as a prize of war.”
“Time and chance happen to us all.”
Between birth and death
We have the option to suffer
the agony of being here
in service to the good of one another
and all sentient beings.
This is as far from Buddhism
as it is possible to be.
And, it is as Zen-like as it gets.
“Zen Buddhism” is a contradiction
in terms. - 03/05/2020 — Round-lobed Hepatica 03/02/2020 02 — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina, March 2, 2020
Do not disturb the flow!
This Zen-like directive means
pay attention to the time and place
of your living
and do what needs to be done there
in light of what is happening
and what needs to happen in response.
It doesn’t mean
keep things calm and smooth,
harmonious and well-balanced,
and don’t rock the boat
or make any waves.
In some places,
the times call for rocking boats
and making waves!
Always live at one with the time
of your living!
When the times call for this,
do this.
When the times call for that,
do that.
Watch the flow of any stream.
It always changes to match
the time and place of its flowing.
No stream flows steadily,
constantly, the same
throughout the duration of its path.
Confluence,
rapids,
turbulence,
placid currents…
It is all a part of the journey.
Everything is necessary
in its own time.
Each place along the way
calls for a different response–
all in accord with the need of flow.
Be the stream!
Let the time and place
of each situation as it arises
call forth your response
in sync with the need of flow
of the here and now.
Do not impose your idea
of how things ought to be,
or live out of your agenda
as the self-appointed choreographer
of life under your supervision.
Stop. Listen. Look. Hear. See.
Respond to the occasion
in ways appropriate to the occasion
on every occasion.
What could be simpler,
or more helpful? - 03/05/2020 — Trout Lily 03/02/2020 03 — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina, March 2, 2020
The popularity of Zen/Taoism in the height
of their existence
forced organizational changes
in response to popularity
and in an effort to maintain
and increase popularity–
the very thing that the spirit
of their perspective was solidly against
(Nothing to attain!
Nothing to acquire!
Nothing to desire!
Nothing to interfere with the awareness
of the flow of the moment!).
Sitting meditation became a tradition–
because 5,000 disciples
in a monastery/temple/center
had to have something do do with their time!
Requiring a teacher/master
insured disciples/followers.
“Dharma Battles” were mental chess matches
pitting master against master
to the delight of their students
and the enhancement of their reputation.
Competition between “schools”
kept interest among the wider population high
in the minds of the people.
“This is the way it is done!
That is the way it is not done!”
Completely obscured the fundamental realization:
“The finger pointing to the moon
is not to be taken for the moon!”
Over time (Say, 1,000 years), the “Original Nature,”
the “Original Essence,”
the “Original Face,”
Of Zen/Taoism
became lost amid the 10,000 concerns
of the ebbs and flows,
Sturm und Drang,
of culture and politics,
survival and adaptation.
What began as The Way
to live in accord with The Way,
as we went about the business
of simply paying the bills
and meeting the day,
became doctrinal and dogmatic,
rigid and systematic,
schools of thought
with the smugness and elitism
of Ivy League universities
or NCAA sports champions.
The Original Truth of Our Experience
remains the truth of our experience.
There is nothing but us
and the reality of our experience.
And our place is to clear the way
to The Way of living aligned with our own nature
and in accord with the flow of time and place
within the ordinary day-to-day of our life.
And how we do that is nobody’s business
but our own! - Landsford 11/25/2019 07 Panorama — Landsford Canal State Park, Catawba River, Catawba, South Carolina, November 25, 2019
There are two primary questions
in each situation that arises:
What is being called for here and now?
How might I best respond to it?
These questions align us with the situation
and with our original nature,
which is what we have to offer
any/every situation.
Anything that interferes with
our assessment/appraisal of the situation
and what is being asked of us by it,
is preventing us from exhibiting
the face that was ours before we were born
in that situation,
and disrupting the flow
between ourselves and the situation–
keeping us from being who we are
when we are,
where we are,
and blocking our realization of oneness
with self and life,
which is the essence of the experience
of being alive.
When we try to willfully
determine what happens in a situation,
forcing our way upon the situation,
or serving our advantage in the situation–
or when we are intimidated by the situation
so that we are afraid to be who we are there–
or when we are so infuriated by the situation
that we are unable to offer what is needed
the way it is needed…
we are separated from the situation
by our own personal needs and interests,
and cannot be present for the good of the situation.
And cannot be fully alive in that situation.
When we are fighting for our life,
literally or figuratively,
in a situation,
we cannot be present for the good of that situation.
We have to be able to enter each situation
grounded on the bedrock of our gifts and values,
standing on our own two feet,
and capable of responding to the situation
without emotional investment in the situation
or in the outcome of the situation.
The degree to which we have something to gain,
or to lose,
in a situation determines the degree of our
ability to be present in that situation
for the good of the situation as a whole.
Freedom is the working distance between
ourselves and the situation,
allowing us to be who the situation
needs us to be
in the dance with circumstances
toward the best outcome that is possible
in that situation.
Freedom is the freedom of self-expression,
of self-realization,
within the time and place,
the here and now,
of our living.
Until we are that free,
we may be upright and intact,
98.6 and breathing,
but we are not fully alive. - 03/05/2020 — Looking South from Lakies Head 10/01/2008 — Cabot Trail, Nova Scotia, October 1, 2008
In any situation,
it helps to enter the silence,
Stop. Look. Listen. Hear. See.
And wait to see “What arises of itself,”
of its own accord,
spontaneously,
occurring to us on the spot,
“out of nowhere,”
leaving us nonplussed
and wondering,
“Where did that come from?”
That is the path forward.
Embrace it fully
and start walking together,
toward what you do not know.
If you dare. - 03/05/2020 — Landsford 11/25/2019 06 — Landsford Canal State Park, Catawba River, Catawba, South Carolina, November 25, 2019
In stepping into each situation as it arises,
we are not looking for ways
to enhance our position in the world,
to improve our lot,
to work the situation to our advantage
or to benefit ourselves in any way.
Living meaningfully in each situation
is living out of what is meaningful to us.
Meaning is not something we find in the situation,
but something we bring to life in the situation,
something we live out in the situation.
We share what is meaningful to us
with the situation
for the good of the situation.
What is meaningful to you?
What brings you to life?
What makes your little heart sing,
and your little toes dance?
What is your joy and your delight?
We relate to all of our situations
on the basis of–
in light of–
what what is meaningful to us,
of what is important to us,
of what means the most to us.
Our Original Nature comes to life
in doing the things that are a natural fit
in terms of stirring its interest to life
and expressing,
exhibiting,
incarnating
its signature characteristics
in what we do.
What we do has to be/reflect/disclose
who we are.
If our doing is divorced from our essential being,
there is trouble
in the form of symptoms
and addictions
and denial at the heart of our life.
Our task then is to live our way back
to who we are,
to our original nature,
one step at a time.
One day at a time.
Moment-by-moment-by-moment.
Which is, of course, the work
of Alcoholics Anonymous.
The most Zen-like organization
I know of. - 03/06/2020 — Round-lobed Hepatica 03/02/2020 04 Panorama — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina, March 2, 2020
An elephant that has grown up
among other elephants
in the jungles of India,
or on the planes of Africa,
knows how to be an elephant
in those locations.
And so it goes with all the other species
across time and space.
I know how to be me
because of who I grew up with
and where that growing up took place.
Take any of us,
remove us from the place
of our growing up,
introduce stress into our life
and ask us to find our way,
or to know who we are,
and we sit in a corner,
or on a bed,
and look at the floor.
We are lost,
without hope in the world.
We know what we know
because of where we have been.
Put us somewhere we have never been,
in a war, say,
or in a foreign country,
or in a world where we are out of place,
and we are of no help to anyone,
especially ourselves.
If we are to function competently,
we have to be in an environment
that supports and encourages us
to be and do in ways that fit into
that environment
while we slowly learn to adjust to,
and fit in with,
a different environment.
We are always changing living environments,
expecting instantaneous adaptations
of ourselves and our children,
and, perhaps, our parents.
Transitions are hell.
And they are unending.
Take an elephant from the jungles of India
and place it on the planes of Africa,
or in a traveling circus,
and yell at it for not doing better,
and see how much that helps.
We have to give our transitions
all the time required
for us to make the shift
into a new world.
It is not easy being us,
even on a good day.
Let it be as hard as it is,
as you come to terms
with what is,
and what isn’t any longer.
Take all the time it takes
to make the shift
from where you have been
to where you are.
And comfort yourself
as best you can
through the process. - 03/06/2020 — Carolina Wren 01/18/2020 07 — Scenes From My Camp Stool, Zen Glen, Indian Land, South Carolina, January 18, 2020
No one knows how to be
who we are
better than we do.
When we put our attention
and energy
into being who someone else
wants/expects us to be,
we cut ourselves off from
the Source of Life and Being,
deny our Original Nature,
and live without hope in the world.
That is true even if we are the one
whose wants and expectations
we are trying to fulfill.
Wanting and demanding
get in the way of realizing and being.
Entering the silence
and waiting to see
what occurs to us–
or exploring our nighttime dreams–
are excellent ways
to get to the heart of the matter.
That would be our heart.
And its desires for us.
We are born knowing
what is right for us
and what is wrong for us,
what is good for us
and what is bad for us.
We resonate with the things
that call our name.
Musicians resonate with music.
Mathematicians resonate with numbers.
Mechanics resonate with wrenches…
Where do our interests lie?
We all know,
but we all don’t know what we know.
We have to sit down with ourselves,
and listen.
And live toward the things
that call us forth
and express who we are
in the times and places
of our living. - 03/07/2020 — Adrift, Too, 10/15/2009 — Deer Isle, Maine, October 15, 2009
Growing up is growing into
how things are with us here and now.
And things are always becoming
what they weren’t.
Living takes some getting used to.
Water seeks its own level,
but.
Water hates being level.
Level water isn’t going anywhere.
When water doesn’t go anywhere,
it stagnates,
becomes stagnant.
Stagnant water isn’t water any more.
Stagnant water is water
becoming what it is not.
A petri dish.
A bog.
Land.
A desert.
Everything is becoming what it is not.
We are becoming dead.
Life is dying.
One transition at a time.
And our place is to adjust ourselves
to all of it.
Every bit of it.
Because “that’s the way it is.”
And growing up
is growing into how things are here and now.
And things are always changing.
What is being asked of you
that is not what has been asked of you
up to this point?
Whatever it is,
it might be your new normal.
Growing up is letting go what’s going,
and letting come what’s coming
all our life long.
My favorite method of growing up
is adopting the philosophy/outlook of Zen:
Here we are. Now what?
Here and now is the only time there is.
Everything else is memory and potential.
Now is what we have to work with,
and it isn’t going to last long.
Welcome the moment
and see what you can do with it,
see who you need to become
because of it.
What is being asked of you?
What does the moment need from you?
How might you assist the moment
in becoming what it needs to be?
Why would you want to?
Because it is by far your best move
going forward.
We are being carried along through our life
one moment at a time.
Where we are going
depends on how participate
in the journey–
on how open we are to,
and how cooperative we are with,
what is being asked of us
moment-to-moment.
What we say yes to,
and what we say no to
determines where we go from here.
Understanding the moment
and what it is asking of us,
and what its possibilities are
from this point on,
and how we can assist it toward
livable options
and away from dead-end options
is our gift to the moment,
and to what remains
of our time left for living.
It behooves us to be aware of the moment,
and what it is offering to us,
and the part we play here and now
in making our life what it can be
in the moments that lie ahead. - 03/08/2020 — Lobster Boats 10/19/2009 — Rockport Harbor, Rockport, Maine, October 19, 2009
We can’t think about playing the piano (etc.)
and play the piano (etc.).
Thinking about playing the piano (etc.)
is what we do
when we are learning to play the piano (etc.)
Once we get it,
we are done with thinking.
The same rule applies
to riding a bicycle
and every other thing we do.
We think about it until we get it
then off we go.
And there are some things
we have to get
without thinking about them.
Cold showers.
You can think about a cold shower for days,
but it takes stepping into one
to get it.
I thought smoking a pipe
would be so cool.
I liked to fly fish,
and I’d seen pictures
of fly fishermen smoking a pipe,
and thought it would complete my image
to smoke a pipe while fly fishing.
There was nothing in any of the pictures
about the difficulty of keeping a pipe going
while fly fishing.
Or about after-taste.
Upon waking up.
Every morning.
Thinking leaves a lot out of the equation.
We have to live our life into being.
We cannot think our way there.
We cannot think rhythm.
We cannot think harmony.
We cannot think timing.
We cannot think flow.
We cannot think love.
The important things live
on a level thinking cannot reach.
Feeling-knowing,
being-knowing
tasting-knowing
sensing-knowing
intuiting-knowing
doing-knowing
are all levels of knowing
beyond thinking.
Learning to listen on all levels
is foundational
to being alive on all levels. - 03/09/2020 — Corn Stalks 10/16/2009 B&W — Near Camden, Maine, October 16, 2009
Carl Jung said, “The greatest and most important problems of life are all fundamentally insoluble. They can never be solved but only outgrown.”
He is saying, “Growing up is the solution to all of our problems today.”
Jacob Bronowski said, “You cannot know what is true unless you act in certain ways.”
I take that to mean “In order to know the truth, we have to live truthful lives.”
And we cannot understand what that means unless we are already living truthfully.
We can only talk about what we already know to be so.
We live our way to truth—we are not talked our way there.
Until we reach a certain level of experience/maturity/grace, all conversations on topics related to truth and wisdom will be like AM talking to FM.
We have to have a certain level of experience/maturity/grace before we can enter the silence and face ourselves and what meets us there.
To know more than we already know about truth, we have to grow up some more.
And we cannot grow up without bearing the pain
of knowing what we know
and of what there is yet to know.
If we are looking to escape the pain of life,
we cannot take flight into truth.
The truth will eat us alive. - 03/09/2020 — Day’s End 10/11/2009 — The View From Cadillac Mountain, As a cruise ship cruises by, Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, Maine, October 11, 2009
Jesus could have lived much longer
if he had not gone to Jerusalem
for Passover.
He made a point to die when he did
the way he did.
Did he have a “Messiah Complex”?
Was he trying to manipulate some
imaginary “Celestial System”
to arrange the “End of Days”?
His disciples certainly bought into
the messiah spin,
and played “The End Is Near”
thorough the ages,
to right here,
right now–
no closer to the end than ever.
With that realization in mind,
how are we to pass the time?
“Doing what is good for us
and for one another,” I say.
“Doing what is helpful to us
and to all,” I say.
“Being a safe place for all to be,” I say.
“Find something that needs doing
and do it,” I say.
What to do with our time
is the bane of existence.
How we solve that problem
will tell the tale.
What are you going to do
with the time left for living? - 03/09/2020 — Trout Lily 03/08/2020 05 — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina, March 8, 2020
We cannot be willfully,
deliberately,
intentionally
enlightened.
We cannot will realization.
We cannot will maturity.
And deliberate grace and compassion
are more affectation than reality.
We can allow the shift in perspective
that results in enlightenment,
realization,
grace
and compassion,
but we cannot will it.
The trick is to reside at the center point
between all extremes.
At the center point,
there are no dualites,
there are no desires,
there are no advantages,
nothing to gain or lose,
nothing to want or have,
etc.
There is simply being here, now,
wondering what needs to happen,
and how we might assist into being.
We reside in the moment curious
about what is next,
and wait or something to occur to us.
When the right thing arises in the silence,
we automatically,
spontaneously,
naturally
respond to it
with the right action,
rising to the occasion
in the most magnificent kind of way,
without being able to take credit
for any of it
because we are only the moved,
living in response to the mover. - 03/10/2020 — Swift River 10/2001 — White Mountains, New Hampshire, October, 2001
There is a way
of getting out of the way
that flows from knowing
when we are in the way,
which stems from
paying attention,
on purpose,
with compassion for,
and no opinion of,
the present moment
and our place in it,
our response to it,
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
all our life long.
When we get out of the way,
we open ourselves to the way
in a way that allows the way
to carry us along
like a leaf on the water,
or a train on the rails,
“past houses, farms and fields,”
enabling us to be
what the situation needs us to be,
spontaneously dancing
with the music of the moment
in ways that serve the true good
of the whole,
and make wherever we are
an epiphany of grace
in the lives of all others,
all because we got out of the way. - 03/10/2020 — Trout Lily 03/08/2020 07 — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina, March 8, 2020
The key to archery is the same
as the key to pancakes,
though it takes longer to get it.
It goes like this:
Start making pancakes,
start shooting arrows.
After a while, you are an expert
at pancake making
and at arrow shooting.
You shoot arrow after arrow,
for 10,000 arrows–
being mindfully aware of each shot
letting the outcome of this shot
“suggest” corrections for the next shot.
Soon, you will be hitting the target,
and then, the bullseye,
without knowing how you are doing it.
You will probably only need to make
100 pancakes.
Maybe 1,000.
This is the way you learn to do everything.
Remember how many times you fell
learning to walk?
And ride a bicycle?
And roller skate?
Or ice skate?
Give yourself the equivalent of 10,000 arrows
to do anything.
Nothing to it. - 03/11/2020 — Tree and Moon 03/11/2020 01 — A blended photograph, with the moon from 3/9/2020 and the Skeleton Tree from Boneyard Beach at Botany Bay, SC on 01/28/2015.
If you are reading this,
I am the doorway,
threshold,
portal,
portkey
to you.
We spend our life
seeking ourselves,
so that we might “throw in”
with us,
and form the partnership
we were born to serve,
bringing ourselves to life
in the time left for living
and being who we are
while we can
before we die.
Speaking of dying,
the Coronavirus seems to be intent
on killing all of us over 60,
so many of us don’t have as much time left
as we would like,
and have none to waste,
so if you are over 60
and haven’t made finding you
your whole-hearted driving passion,
today would be a good day to start
to finding you
and being your own best friend,
keeping yourself safe from the Coronavirus!
Everybody is a potential source
of what is trying to kill you.
Give them all a wide berth!
Don’t let them close!
Back to my place in your life.
Whatever attracted you to me
is leading you to you
and is using me to get you to you.
You cannot understand a thing I’m saying
if it were not already there,
incubating in you,
stirring to life in response
to what you are hearing from me.
We are all like a labor room for each other,
finding in one another
what is waiting to be born in ourselves.
We bring each other to life
by saying what is true for us
and sparking a flame to life
in someone else.
We are all kinsmen, kinswomen, kins-ters,
in this way.
We all draw water from the same well,
and offer what we have to give
to each other
as a way of mutually encouraging one another
to take up the work
of consciously seeking and serving ourselves.
You have been following the bread crumbs
laid down by you
from the day you were born,
leading you to your invisible partner
in the work to be who you are,
consciously, deliberately, intentionally
incarnating yourself in your life
while you can.
I’m glad to be a part of your journey, but.
It isn’t about me.
It is about you. - 03/12/2020 — Lotus Blossom 05/31/2010 — Bass Lake, Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina May 31, 2010
All of the important things
are out of our control.
If we can make our peace
with that,
we have it made,
as much as we can have it made
with all of the important things
being out of our control. - 03/13/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Boneyard Beach 03/11/2020 — A blended photograph, with the moon from 3/9/2020 and a Skeleton Tree from Boneyard Beach at Botany Bay, SC on 01/28/2015.
The complete shutdown of life as we know it
for two, or more, weeks
will be hell for everyone
who lives in the service
of diversion and distraction.
And a wonderful opportunity
to wake up and come to life
in ways never imagined
or considered.
This bears out my First Law of Realization:
Bear The Pain!
Until we can bear the pain,
we do not have what it takes
to see what we are looking at
and do what needs to be done
about it.
These are the Second and Third Laws of Realization:
See What You Are Looking At!
Do What Needs To Be Done About It!
Everything else flows from,
and falls into place around,
the Three Laws of Realization.
Bearing the pain
enables us to take up the work
of finding and living out of
our Original Nature.
My directions for doing that
are found on my WordPress site
under “Blog Posts,”
and can be reduced to:
“Ask all of the questions
that beg to be asked,
and say all of the things
that cry out to be said.”
Following that exercise out all the way
will lead you to your Original Nature,
to who you are
and what is yours to do.
Which will fill up the next two (or more) weeks
rather nicely.
The catch is that you have to
bear the pain!
The culture we live in
was created around the service
of distraction and denial
because we cannot bear the pain.
And, whoops, here we are! - 03/13/2020 — Jenny Adams Panorama 08/26/2015 — Harbor River near Beaufort, South Carolina, August 26, 2015
There are a lot of things
we do not know about the Coronavirus.
The most disconcerting thing for me
is that we don’t know who to avoid.
We all can be carriers without symptoms.
Without knowing it.
And no one else can know it.
Meaning that we have to stay away
from everyone.
Indefinitely.
I’ve been doing that for quite a while,
having taken an oath of solitude
(No social intercourse with anyone
other than close family members)
shortly after retirement in 2011,
so, no problem for me–
but it will be a terrible burden
for a lot of people.
And, I am of no help to any of them.
It is AM talking to FM.
I could say,
“It is like camping out in the deep forest
without mosquitoes,
and with WIFI and central air/heat,
running water,
flush toilets,
stoves and refrigerators!”
But, they would be wondering,
“Why camp out in the deep forest?
How could that be fun?”
The next few weeks
will be a test of the spirit
of the nation.
It is “solitary” confinement
for the good of the whole.
Surround yourselves
with entertaining escapes
from the reality of social distancing,
and hope it will be shorter
than you are afraid it will be,
even though it is likely to be longer
than you want it to be.
And I’ll highly recommend viewing
all of Jon Kabat-Zinn’s YouTube videos,
and practicing what he is preaching.
It will help pass the time,
and transform your life
on the other side of solitude! - 03/14/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Boneyard Beach 03/11/2020 03 – A blended photograph, with the moon from 3/9/2020 and a Skeleton Tree from Boneyard Beach at Botany Bay, SC on 01/28/2015.
My life has lived me from the start.
I have simply followed where I am led,
in the sense of the old alchemical formula,
“One book opens another.”
I am quite taken by,
and interested in
(Marveling at)
all of my entrances and exits.
They have all come at the right time,
with me doing nothing to manufacture
any of them.
The door opened and I walked through.
As though I was following Lao Tzu’s advice,
“Do your work and let nature take its course,”
without being aware of what I was doing.
Entrances and exits bring with them transitions,
and I have found my way through them all
simply by doing what needed to be done
without forcing anything,
“Like a cork on the water.”
Though, knowing when to leave
and where to go,
are a part of exits and entrances,
I have always known those things,
and waited,
looking,
for the “where” to present itself
when the “when” was apparent.
I have my preferences,
and serve them as best I can.
No noise, is one.
No trauma/drama, is another.
Lead time.
Space.
Consideration.
Grace, mercy, peace…
All squirrels look alike to me.
And Robins.
But, people stand out.
I see people as individuals,
even though too many of them
behave like a herd.
I always wonder, “Why is that?”
Everybody is unique in special ways–
why do they take their cues for living
from someone else?
What is with “crowd mania”?
Everybody knows what is “in” and “out” but me.
How do they all know that at the same time?
I’m clueless about a lot of things.
It hasn’t gotten in my way.
“What next?” has a way of taking care of itself.
“What now?” is mine to answer,
and even with that,
I wait to see.
Watching what I will do
with the time that is at hand.
Curious about where I am being led,
here and now. - 03/14/2020 — Round-lobed Hepatica 03/02/2020 05 — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina, March 2, 2020
There is our life,
and there is what to do with it.
Those two things are basic to everyone.
We all need help with them.
That’s a third thing basic to everyone.
We all need a cushion between ourselves
and “the bare necessities.”
We are all responsible for our own health
and safety,
and for paying our own bills,
and we all need help getting our feet under us,
getting our balance,
finding our way.
And finding our way to the intangibles
upon which our life depends.
Bill Moyers asked Joseph Campbell in their conversation
about “The Power of Myth,”
“Joe, don’t you feel sorry for those who have
no invisible means of support?”
“Invisible means of support.”
What are your “invisible means of support”?
What guides your boat
on its path through the sea?
How do you know, “What now?”
“What next?”
What keeps you going?
What directs your steps?
How do you know what to do?
How do you decide what to do?
We have to pay the bills.
And we have to know
what we are paying the bills to do.
There is our life, which we have to sustain
by being able to pay the bills
living requires us to incur.
And there is what to do with our life.
And we need the right kind of help
in both areas
until we reach the point
of being able to stabilize ourselves
and pay our own bills,
and find our own way.
People without any visible and invisible
means of support
are as lost and helpless
as a bird fresh from the egg. - 03/15/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Boneyard Beach 03/11/2020 07 — A blended photograph, with the moon from 3/9/2020 and the Skeleton Tree from Boneyard Beach at Botany Bay, SC on 01/28/2015.
We own our life.
We own our experience.
We own our interpretation/perception
of our experience.
We own what we do about it,
how we respond to it,
where we go with it,
and where we are because of it.
It is all on us.
And it all starts over
in each moment.
Here we are, now what?
We are alone with our life,
our experience,
our interpretation/perception of our experience,
in every here and now.
What we do about it,
how we respond to it,
where we go with it,
and where we are because of it,
all depends on us
in every here and now.
We are never more than one moment
away from redemption.
12-step programs
and Jungian analysts
are the best guides to redemption
I know of.
If being alone with your life
isn’t working so well,
plop yourself down into a 12-step program,
or down with a Jungian analyst,
and watch how things change
by changing the way you look at things.
Everything hinges
on changing the way we look at things.
What is the situation calling for?
How best can we respond to it?
Being right about those two things
is all that is ever asked of us.
What we see depends on how we look. - 03/15/2020 — Trout Lily 03/02/2020 04 — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina, March 2, 2020
My maternal grandmother
would have been better off
with someone other than
my maternal grandfather.
My mother would have been
better off with someone
other than my father.
My brother and sisters and I
live to make their suffering
worthwhile.
As with us,
so also with many of you.
Carl Jung said he lived
to ask the questions
his ancestors never raised.
We all are the hope of our lineage.
We carry the weight of our ancestral tribe
on our shoulders.
We have to free ourselves
from our circumstances
in order to bring forth
what they lived and died
to pass along.
The family treasure
is buried in us.
And it up to us to dig it up
and bring it forth.
We betray all those who went before us
if we fail in our task
of being who we are–
of being who we have it within us to be.
There is no work
other than being true to ourselves–
true to the self that lives
at our center
and waits for us to clear the way
between us,
and call her,
call him,
forth to join us in the work
that is ours to do together. - 03/15/2020 — Delta Sunset, September 1977, Concordia Parish, Louisiana
My wife and I have two Thursdays to go
to be through 14 days
of self-imposed quarantine.
If we make it with no symptoms,
that would mean we are asymptomatic.
We could still be carriers.
Without a test
and without symptoms,
we won’t know if we are infected
with the Coronavirus.
And we will be as vulnerable
to contracting the virus
as we were before self-quarantine.
So, we will be very little better off.
The quarantine works if it is generally
observed by everyone,
to break the momentum
of new case development,
and give hospitals a chance
to recover,
resupply
and regroup.
It will help researchers predict trends
and potential “hot areas,”
so that preparations can be made
for spikes to occur there.
And it will give the overwhelmed
medical response systems
a chance to plan for the long-term,
and give the labs working on a vaccine
time to do what they can do.
But.
My wife and I will still have to be vigilant
and alert,
smart and careful
when we step outside
to run errands and take care of business.
There will be potential danger
on every side.
We will have to think about
what we are doing.
And know we are taking a chance,
and putting ourselves in harm’s way.
That will be the new normal
for everyone in the world. - 03/16/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Boneyard Beach 04 — A blended photograph, with the moon from 3/9/2020 and the Skeleton Tree from Boneyard Beach at Botany Bay, SC on 01/28/2015.
Joseph Campbell said,
“A wheel turning out of its own center–
that’s what you get in a mature individual”
(Or words to that effect).
We have no idea of what he is talking about.
We–even the “mature” ones among us–
have no idea of what constitutes our center,
or if we have one,
or how to find it.
We are as divorced from ourselves
as it is possible to be.
When thrown back on ourselves,
as in a situation of forced solitude/isolation,
we are stupefied.
If we can’t hang out with our friends
(Or crowd into a bar with people we don’t know),
we are lost,
at loose ends,
with nowhere to turn
and no idea of what to do with ourselves
with time on our hands.
Our life is directed by–what?
What somebody else is doing?
What somebody else tells us to do?
We have to pack around with other people
to know what to do?
Where do we find our cues for living?
For knowing what to do with our life?
What directs our boat on its path through the sea?
How do we decide what to do?
We have nothing but our wants to guide us.
We all yearn for the freedom
“to do whatever we want,”
as though we know what to want.
How do we know what to want?
We only know what we want.
We don’t know if we ought to want it.
We don’t know if we have any business wanting it.
We don’t know where our wants come from,
or why they are never satisfied,
always wanting something else,
something more.
What is the deal with wants and wanting?
Why do we want what we want
and not something else instead?
And not something better?
And not something actually good for us?
Why don’t we want what is healthy?
What is fulfilling?
What is satisfying?
What is wise?
We want to go to a bar and get drunk!
Brilliant!
We want to get laid!
Twice as brilliant!
Getting drunk and getting laid
is the best we can imagine ever having.
or ever wanting.
And bragging about it to our friends.
That is really all friends are for,
to brag about getting drunk and getting laid.
That is as close to “a wheel turning out of its own center”
as we are able to be.
And that says it all,
who we are,
what we are good for,
what we can expect of ourselves,
what we are capable of,
what wanting is worth,
what wanting knows.
If we are going to do anything beyond
getting drunk and getting laid
in the time left for living,
we are going to have to wake up,
wise up,
stand up,
grow up.
And take up the work
of finding our way back to ourselves
and the life that is ours to live,
and the things that are ours to do.
We are going to have to
Stop! Look! Listen!
until we
See! Hear! Understand! Know! Do! Be!
finally,
at last.
Knowing, finally, at last,
what we know–what all we know.
Doing, finally, at last,
what is ours to do.
Being, finally, at last,
who we are capable of being.
Grasping finally, at last,
what it means to be
a wheel turning out of its own center
on a path we are making as we go
on a journey that is ours alone to make
to the truth that is ours lone to live out,
incarnating/expressing/exhibiting
finally, at last,
who we are
in doing what is ours alone to do
before we die. - 03/16/2020 — Trout Lily 03/08/2020 06 — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina, March 8, 2019
Think of the “wheel turning out of its own center”
as a gyroscope.
Our center is a gyroscope.
It serves to square us up,
to balance us,
side to side,
front to back,
top to bottom,
inside and out
and on track–
on course–
aligned with our mission and purpose,
at one with our life’s goal
of living in ways
that incarnate the qualities,
the virtue/character/characteristics,
that make us who we are
in each situation as it rises,
regardless of our circumstances,
all our life long.
Living out of our own center
is to be solid,
unmovable,
resolute,
at one with who we are,
no matter what.
We have to do the work
of aligning ourselves
with our own center,
and living out of it
day-to-day,
moment-to-moment,
situation-by-situation
for as long as we are alive.
To do that,
we have to
Stop. Look. Listen. See. Hear. Understand.
Know. Do. Be.
moment-to-moment…
We have to be aware of our center–
we have to know of our center,
and seek it out,
consciously,
deliberately,
intentionally,
placing ourselves
in the possession of the gyroscope,
feeling it take over the control
of our living in the moment,
and trusting ourselves to it
at all times,
in all places,
responding to what is happening,
not by thinking about it,
but by feeling it assume control,
speaking words
and doing acts,
that are appropriate to the occasion,
but are spontaneous responses
to the here and now of our living
that skirt our usual rational/logical/intellectual
way of living and doing in the moment.
The center is real.
The gyroscope is trustworthy.
We have to believe it
and trust ourselves to it
to know that it is real and trustworthy.
Our work is to believe in our work
and in our innate capacity to do the work
that we are here to do,
and get out of the way.
We carry the camera
and drive the car,
but the gyroscope directs us
to the location and tells us where to stand
and when to take the picture.
Etc. with everything
in every moment
every day.
If you are going to bother
with taking anything “on faith,”
let it be this! - 03/172020 — Skeleton Trees of Graveyard Beach 05 — A blended photograph, with the moon from 3/9/2020 and the Skeleton Tree from Boneyard Beach at Botany Bay, SC on 01/28/2015.
I consider myself a shaman of sorts,
a Yoda with hiking boots
and a walking stick,
only it’s a forearm crutch,
and I use two of them
on walks longer than
the grocery store requires.
I talk to whomever is listening
about things I think matters,
and whomever hears is who hears,
and whomever doesn’t, doesn’t,
and I don’t have anything to gain
or lose
either way.
It’s the business of shamans/yodas
to say what they have to say
and let nature take its course,
with no investment in the outcome.
Today’s word at the top of the day
is “impermanence.”
Nothing lasts.
Don’t think that matters.
“Nothing lasts,” is not permanent.
The fitting response is,
“Okay. I got it. Nothing lasts. So what?”
Everything is temporary.
That’s permanent.
Temporary lasts forever.
But that doesn’t matter either,
because we are temporary,
and that’s what matters most.
Because we are temporary,
everything falls out around that.
We have to do it while we can
because we don’t have much time
to work with.
Do what? Do what we do best!
Do what we are here for!
Do what we need to do!
Do what is ours to do!
Do what satisfies us,
fulfills us,
brings us forth,
incarnates our Original Nature,
makes us Real in the time left for living.
So that what we do is Really Us.
Start with a dependable Order of the Day.
Break the day into periods in which you do YOU.
Do not just slop through the day
being bored looking for something to entertain you.
Bring YOU forth in the day,
each day,
every day.
Live to serve YOU daily,
doing the things you do best–
wholeheartedly,
enthusiastically,
joyfully
expressing YOU in each one.
Don’t think about it.
Listen. Look.
What wants to come forth?
You are here to do it.
Listen for what needs to be done.
What needs to be expressed?
What needs you to bring it forth?
You are the servant of YOU.
Give YOU the reins
and see where you are led.
You have to learn how to listen to YOU–
how to read the signals,
how to sense the signs,
how to follow the drift of your own body/heart/soul.
See what occurs to you.
What urge beckons you.
What calls you.
Pulls you.
Catches your eye.
Makes your little heart sing
and your little feet dance.
Do not have to defend,
excuse,
justify,
explain
whatever you do.
Just trust YOU and go with the leanings
of your body/heart/soul.
Do this relentlessly,
reliably,
every day.
Really.
Work YOU into each day!
For the rest of your life!
This is from ME to you.
If you can hear it, great.
If you can’t, fine. - 03/18/2020 — Round-lobed Hepatica 03/08/2020 06 — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina, March 8, 2020
Tomorrow, my wife and I begin
our second week
of self-quarantine,
and we heard last night
that the next fifteen days
are crucial for the U.S.
to turn things around
and have a future that is better
than Italy’s present.
So 14 days for us
is going to be 21 days.
And, after that, what?
Until there is a reliable vaccine in place–
probably a year and a half from now–
we all will be self-quarantine-ing.
A Coronavirus test is like
a blood test for VD.
It only lets us know we were virus-free
at the time the test was administered.
Nothing about now.
Or tomorrow.
We will live forever as potential threats,
seeing all others as potential threats.
Doing our grocery shopping in surgical gloves.
Disinfecting the mail.
Longing for the days of good meals
in favorite restaurants…
A new way of life will emerge with time.
In the meantime,
there is wondering how much time we have.
This isn’t going way.
It is changing who we are–
as individuals,
as a nation,
as a world.
And the spirit with which
we go about the work of transformation
will make all the difference.
I recommend absorption
in Taoism and Zen,
and adoption of their attitude
for each day:
Here we are,
now what?
Letting go what’s going,
and letting come what’s coming,
and being invested in our life each day,
without being attached to it,
enmeshed with it.
“It’s a new world, Golda.”
A brand new world. - 03/19/2020 — Thanks to Charon Ray for sharing this memory from March 18, 2013 — Truth never gets old or goes away, but is always coming back around, calling us to remember it anew, and share it with one another, because, while things appear to be constantly changing, on a foundational level, they are always remaining the same, and the community of innocence forms around what grounds us all, and always has, from the beginning of people being aware of what holds us together, and enables us to go on…
The Howling Owl From Hell 04/17/2013 — The Bog Garden, Greensboro, North Carolina,
“The degree to which we live the life that is ours to live depends to a large extent on the way we respond to the life we are living–to life as it comes at us like some wild, howling, owl from hell so that we forget what we are doing and everything we ever thought was good, and suitable, and right. What we do then tells the tale.
You better write yourself a script and memorize the thing. You better rehearse the scene 10,000 times, until you can recite your lines like you mean them, until you can remember you have a camera in your hands, and you are here to take photographs of howling owls from hell and anything else that looks interesting–until you can do the thing that is yours to do no matter what life throws at you all your life long.
When you can respond to your life without taking your eyes off your LIFE—without forgetting who you are and what you are about–without casting about all hopeless and forlorn, looking for meaning and purpose and a reason to go on, as though those things live somewhere outside of your own heart and soul—and can remember your business and be about it no matter what is going on around you, then your LIFE knows it has a keeper in you, and snuggles right up to you and says, “Let’s me and you go show them what we’re made of,” and the fun really begins. - 03/19/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Graveyard Beach 06 — A blended photograph, with the moon from 3/9/2020 and the Skeleton Tree from Boneyard Beach at Botany Bay, SC on 01/28/2015.
How do you know what you love?
Does thinking about it tell you?
Does asking someone else tell you?
Does flipping a coin tell you?
Does reading books on love tell you?
Does listening to lectures/sermons tell you?
How do you know what you love?
How do you know when you are sleepy?
When you are hungry?
Whether it is time for a cup of coffee
or a cold beer?
How do you know what resonates with you?
How do you know what clicks with you?
How do you know what is “you” and what is “not you”?
How do you know what is right for you
and what is wrong for you?
How do you know where you belong
and where you have no business being?
This kind of knowing is something you feel,
sense, within.
It is intuitive knowing.
Instinctive knowing.
It is knowing that is central–
centered in the heart of our original nature.
Of the nature that came with us
from the womb.
As natural as our genetic makeup,
as our unconscious mind.
We call it “the unconscious”
because we are not conscious of it–
but can tune into it,
sense it,
intuit it,
instinctively align ourselves with it,
feel it,
know it.
The Unconscious Way
is called the Tao.
It governs how we do what needs to be done,
when and where it needs to be done,
as it needs to be done,
within the circumstances/situation of its doing.
To know what to do,
when,
where,
and how,
we have to learn
to Stop. Look. Listen.
to our Unconscious Mind,
know what we know,
and trust ourselves to its guidance.
We cannot think our way there.
We live our way there,
learning over time
how to read the signals coming up
from the center,
from the source,
of our original nature–
and how to align ourselves
with the directives from within. - 03/20/2020 — Along NY Hwy 30 09/28/2014 02 — An unnamed pond in Adirondack Park on the way to Long Lake and Tupper Lake from Johnstown NY, September 28, 2014
Awareness that is invested
in the situation as a whole
without being attached to
or immeshed with the outcome,
and so is free to be
nonjudgmental and compassionate
with regard to everything
in the situation
is the pivot point
levering the situation
from where it is
to where it might be
in the service of the true good
of all concerned.
If you want to assist the way things are
toward the best they are capable of being
start with seeing clearly
and taking stock
with nothing personally at stake
in the outcome
beyond the true good of the whole.
Which is, of course, a complete
cultural shift away from where we are,
with “What do I stand to gain?”
and “Profit At Any Price!”
being the sole source of direction
and motivation throughout the world.
Which gets us to the place
where Christianity parts ways with Taoism.
Christianity is the religion of the culture
of “What’s In It For Me-ism.”
Heaven if you believe what someone
tells you to believe,
Hell if you don’t.
Christianity is the heart of militarism,
industrialism,
consumerism,
and commercialism,
where we do this in order to get that,
have that,
possess that,
conquer that,
defeat that,
and make this happen.
Everything is done/created
with making/getting/having
something else in mind.
With the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
and the Promised Land,
and the New Heaven and New Earth
behind it all.
Taoism, on the other hand,
is aimless wandering,
purposeless movement,
and undirected growth–
like a tree growing from a seed,
or a stream flowing to the sea–
for nothing beyond the experience
of the wonder of destiny unfolding
in its eternal dance
with the circumstances of existence.
And, here we are,
with the world as we have known it
being transformed before our eyes
into what-we-do-not-know-
and-cannot-imagine.
We do not know what to do
to make what happen.
In this situation, Taoism would advise:
Stop. Look. Listen.
Find your core,
your bedrock,
the things that are truest,
deepest,
and best
about you!
Find your Original Nature–
the essence of who you are,
the things that make you you–
and seek the guidance
that comes from within
your own heart and soul,
in light of who you have always been,
and who you will always be.
Live out of that–
live toward that–
live true to that,
in service to that–
doing what the circumstances
in each situation as it arises
are asking you to do
in light of that,
holding the truth of you
in one hand,
and the truth of your circumstances
in the other hand,
and working to get your two hands together
in ways that honor the truth of both hands.
Moment-by-moment-by-moment.
In the eternal dance
of life and being. - 03/21/2020 — Trout Lily 03/08/2020 09 — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina, March 8, 2020
Donald Trump (and his Cabinet)
knew about the Coronavirus in December
and did nothing about it
because he didn’t now what to do
because he had fired the people who did know
shortly after he took office
because they reeked of Obama
and he hated anything Obama.
He had no idea of what he was up against,
and had never been up against anything
in his entire life
that somebody else didn’t take care of for him.
He had never actually been solely responsible
for anything.
He didn’t even write the checks.
He had someone else write the checks
to pay someone else
for taking care of whatever
needed to be taken care of,
while he went on doing whatever he did,
which never actually amounted to anything
beyond strutting around,
sounding off
about anything
that got attention.
All Trump ever did was get attention.
The was great at getting attention.
Showing off.
Doing anything he wanted to do.
Letting someone else take care of it.
When he heard about the Coronavirus in December,
he said, “It’s only a virus,”
and figured someone would take care of it
while he focused on The Numbers.
The Numbers were all that mattered to him.
A Stock Market staying high
kept him in business.
No one could touch him
as long as the economy was good.
His donors were happy.
Everything was fine.
And he could flirt with the idea of,
and fantasize about,
being President forever,
like a king,
like royalty,
strutting around,
sounding off
about anything,
with everybody telling him
how wonderful he was.
And then, things begin to happen
that no one could control,
because he had no control mechanisms in place
to provide for the necessary goods and services
to meet the demands that were suddenly
coming from everywhere.
“We aren’t shipping clerks!”
he said.
“I have no responsibility for anything!”
he said.
Nothing he said made sense,
panned out,
was true.
And here we are.
Now what?
No one is in charge.
It’s everyone for himself/herself.
Godspeed and good luck.
We still have electricity at our house,
and running water.
But.
When the death rate reaches 2 million
how many of those will have had something
to do with electricity and water
running to our houses?
How long before the infrastructure breaks down?
How long before it all goes to hell
in a major kind of way?
It seems to be a race now
between The Complete Loss Of Everything
and the development of a reliable vaccine.
And we have no control over either.
What can we do?
Stay safe and wait it out.
Staying safe means being smart.
Being alert and aware.
Keeping our distance from one another.
Being kind to one another.
Tending our relationship with ourselves.
As a species,
we have been here before.
We have the genetic makeup to respond
to the unknown and unknowable.
The process is a simple regular routine
of listening
to our body–our heart, our stomach, our bones–
to our nighttime dreams,
to our Original Nature–our Virtues
(With “virtue” understood in the sense of
“This plant has medicinal virtues.”
What Virtues do you have?
Sit with the question
until you begin to gain clarity
of the things that are true about you.
Listen to, rely upon, those things.
Bring them forth to meet what meets you
in a day.).
If you are going to take anything “on faith,”
take this on faith:
We have what we need
to find what we need
to do what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises,
regardless of our circumstances,
all our life long.
And this:
How we respond to what is happening
moment-by-moment-by-moment
makes all the difference.
Believe these things are so
with all your heart, mind, soul and strength,
and live as though they are
all day every day.
Taking one step at a time. - 03/21/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Boneyard Beach 08 — A blended photograph, with the moon from 3/9/2020 and the Skeleton Tree from Boneyard Beach at Botany Bay, SC on 01/28/2015.
Don’t worry about the future!
We will do exactly the same thing there
that we do here–
live to do what the situation calls for
in each situation as it arises,
regardless of what our circumstances are,
situation-by-situation-by-situation,
day-by-day-by-day
for as long as we are alive.
We live to do what is called for
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
We live to be what the situation needs us to be.
We live to do what the situation needs to be done.
We live to honor the moment
with our attentive presence.
We live to serve each here-and-now
with compassion and grace.
Whether we want to or not,
whether we are in the mood for it or not,
whether we feel like it or not,
around the clock,
in all weather conditions,
no matter what.
In any future that comes along.
We are built to do that.
We have what it takes to do that.
This is our moment!
We were born for this!
Lay aside your fear and anxiety
and put on your Original Face,
the one that was yours before you were born,
and step into what’s coming
bent on showing it what you can do–
and discovering yourself
what you are capable of doing,
by rising to every occasion
and offering what is called for
out of the gifts,
genius,
virtues,
character
and values
that came with you from the womb,
looking for a place like this
to show your stuff!
And know that I am proud,
and glad,
to be with you in the work
that is ours to do
from this point on
all the way along the way! - 03/22/2020 — Lenten Rose 03/20/2020 02 — Indian Land, South Carolina, March 20/20/20
“Well, that’s that.”
Is all we need to say
at the transition points,
as we wait for
“What now?”
“What next?”
to be revealed to us.
Transition points
are where we recognize
the end of life as we have known it
and the beginning
of a new way of doing things
which we will discover
as it unfolds before us,
around us,
within us
over time.
The old has passed away,
and the new is coming
moment-by-moment,
day-by-day.
And we have to adjust
to the time that is at hand–
between what has been
and what will be.
The “times in-between”
are the hardest times
in the entire catalogue of times.
They are times of uncertainty,
unknowing,
disorientation,
confusion,
fear,
anxiety,
terror,
turmoil
turbulence,
etc.
for as far as we can see.
Everything is up in the air.
Nothing is for sure.
Stability,
security,
confidence,
contentment,
peace
and serenity
are nowhere to be found.
These are those times.
And awash in “the heaving waves
of the wine-dark sea”
of these times,
it comes down to three things:
Bear the pain!
Trust in yourself!
Wait it out!
Ours has to be the adamantine certainty
of the reliability
of the bedrock foundation
of the core
of our own nature–
expressed so beautifully
by the blind Greek poet Homer
when he has Odysseus
say the words that were at the heart
of his, that is Homer’s, own life
and had been borne out in his experience
over the full course of his life:
“I will endure through suffering hardship!
And when the heaving sea
Has shaken my raft to pieces,
Then I will swim!”
That is who we are!
And that is what grounds us
through all of the transition points
of our life.
We are one with Homer
and with Odysseus,
and all who have faced
the agony of the Unknown and Unknowable–
and stepped forward
to meet what lies ahead
as it is revealed to us,
moment-by-moment-by-moment
forever.
“And when the heaving sea
has shaken our raft to pieces,
then we will swim!” - 03/22/2020 — Cypress Fall — Down east North Carolina, any November ever.
Take the New Testament.
Remove all the doctrine,
dogma,
and theology.
What you have left comes down to
the sermon on the mount,
the parable of the prodigal’s father,
and the parable of the good Samaritan.
That is all the religion anyone needs
to build a life
worthy of accolade
and commendation.
And that much religion
is found at the heart
of all religions
honored and esteemed
by people through the ages.
When a religion sets itself apart
from what is common to humanity
and is contrary to human nature,
it will not be maintained
for long generations.
What is good about the religions
that last for long generations
is good enough
to be recognized as good
by people everywhere.
And that good is enough
to overshadow
what is absurd about them all. - 03/23/2020 — Adams Mill Pond 11/12/2014 01 — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, November 12, 2014
Everything depends upon our being right
about what we say is important,
and about what is being called for
in each situation as it arises.
You know how the Mayan civilization
was wiped out by disease in no time at all?
You know how people *en masse*
are scoffing at the order to “Stay inside!”?
It is the same “disease” that kills us all:
Arrogance. Ignorance. Stupidity. Greed.
Those are the big four “bugs”
against which there is no immunity,
only awareness.
It may have been scarlet fever
or small pox for the Mayan’s
and the Coronavirus for us,
but it’s really
Arrogance, Ignorance, Stupidity, and Greed
that does it for everyone throughout time.
Stupidity and Ignorance have no connection whatsoever
with a lack of intelligence.
The most intelligent people
are often the most Stupid and Ignorant people.
And Greed and Arrogance
follow us around like our shadow’s twins.
You can spot the Fabulous (Not Really) Four
in the ease with which you
fail to see what you look at,
or know what matters most
in any situation.
Seeing what we look at
and knowing what matters most
are the only things that matter!
And what keeps that from happening?
We are the only thing standing in our way!
What are you dismissing?
Disregarding?
Discounting?
Denying?
Ignoring?
About your life right now?
We do not know
what we do not know.
Although it is always right there,
dancing before us,
waving its little hands,
yelling at the top of its little voice
trying eternally and uselessly
to get our attention.
We will not attend
what we do not consider
to be important,
and therefore worthy
of our consideration.
Try talking to a white supremacist
about the importance of treating
EVERYONE with honor, dignity and respect,
and living with equality and justice for all people.
And ask yourself where you are
as blind to truth as they are.
Sit down with yourself
on a regular basis
and call into question
everything you think is important,
and explore how that
is keeping you
from hearing/doing
what is called for
in each situation
as it arises.
How are you getting in your own way?
What do you think is important
here and now?
How is that keeping you
from seeing/knowing what is important
here and now?
Nothing of value is going to happen
in your life
until you can answer those questions
in each situation as it arises.
In every here and now that comes along.
Do not let what I am saying here and now
be like someone telling you to “Stay Inside!” - 03/23/2020 — Adams Mill Pond Mirror — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, November12, 2013
Our life depends on us
staying away from other people.
Other people are threats to our life.
They can be contagious
without being symptomatic.
We don’t know whom to avoid,
so we must avoid them all.
We stay alive to the extent
that we live apart from others.
Everybody’s entire way of life
has to adjusted to take this reality
into account.
Restaurants have to deliver
and/or offer curbside pickup/carryout.
Businesses have to adjust to employees
being separate from each other
(Hello Zoom!).
Everything changes overnight.
We remake our lives
and our culture
in six months,
or less.
We do not know if this will be permanent,
or how long it will be before we know
it will or won’t be.
We have to live now as though it will be.
How do we structure our life
to live apart from others?
All others?
Who can we trust to be “people free”
except for us?
Who cuts our hair?
Who cleans our teeth?
How do we pay our rent?
Etc.
All to be determined.
And we don’t have to bother
with any of it
if a vaccine is developed,
or if, as with the Black Plague,
“It just goes away.” - 03/23/2020 — Watkins Glen 10/03/2014 04 — Watkins Glen State Park, Watkins Glen, New York, October 3, 2014
People generally try to make sense of things
until they encounter contradictions.
“How can this be true
if that is true?”
they ask,
and are told either, “It is a Great Paradox,”
as though that is all there is to say about it,
or, “It all will be clear when you get to heaven.”
Contradictions end all inquiry,
and people settle down with
worn old formulas
and phrases
for wiling away the hours
until they die.
The only way to life
is through wrestling and dancing
with the contradictions!
Confronting the contradictions
exposes some to be frauds,
false contraries.
How can a Just God be Loving?
How can a Just and Loving God allow Evil?
Those problems disappear
when you realize that isn’t your problem
and start looking for what is worth doing
and how do you know.
It doesn’t take long there
before you decide
to do whatever you think needs doing
and see whether it was worth doing or not.
You become the authority of your own life.
You live like you say you are going to live
and see what happens.
Living to see what happens
if you just start living
takes you through all sorts
of interesting twists and turns,
fixes,
pickles,
dead ends
and tight places.
With all things being resolved
by you being your own authority
in determining what you are going to do
about what you have to deal with
in each situation as it arises.
You make it up as you go.
Start by not knowing anything
and see how much you find out
by the time you die. - 03/24/2020 — Round-lobed Hepatica 03/08/2020 07 — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina, March 8, 2020
Here and now is the balance point
between what has been
and what has yet to be.
What’s next is up to us.
Everything depends on
what happens here and now.
We are the pivot point,
the fulcrum,
between worlds.
How we receive,
interpret,
evaluate,
consider,
judge,
perceive,
see,
reconcile,
understand,
react to,
respond to,
interact with,
think about,
what has happened
and is happening,
impacts,
influences,
transforms,
conditions,
limits/expands,
amends/alters,
shapes/forms,
directs/redirects,
integrates/enables,
permits/allows,
moderates/modulates
the direction and flow
of what is happening
and will happen.
The seeds of the future
are sown,
cultivated,
fertilized,
watered,
grown,
harvested,
processed,
packaged,
cooked
and eaten
here and now.
There is a lot going on
in the blink of an eye.
Take care of the moment
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
Live aligned with the time at hand–
as a grace and a blessing
upon times yet to be–
centered upon
and at one with
“the still point of the turning world.”
(T.S. Eliot) - 03/24/2020 — Six-mile Creek Road 07/12/2014 01 — Indian Land, South Carolina, July 12, 2014
We have to know when we are
“pushing the river,”
and forcing things to be
what we want them to be,
when they have no business
being what we want.
Things have their own
rhythm and harmony
and it is our place
to be sensitive
to the rhythms and harmonies
of the time and place
of our living.
Dancing with the moment
means being aware
of what the music
is calling for,
and moving with the beat
and the flow
of the here and now.
Tuning into the moment
is putting ourselves
in accord with the Tao,
and aligning ourselves
with the center/core
of our Original Nature,
and letting things happen
as they need to happen–
without trying to depict
what that is,
but allowing it to come forth
in its own way,
in its own time.
03/25/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Boneyard Beach 09 — A blended photograph of sunrise at Bolder Beach in Acadia National Park, ME. and Skeleton Tree 01 from Botany Bay, SC
When Carl Jung said,
“We are who we always have been,
and who we will be,”
he was declaring the validity
of the assumption
that there is an unconscious ground
(Unconscious because we are not–
and cannot be–
conscious of it,
anymore than a fish
can be conscious of the sea)
of existence,
which I allude to
when I say,
“We all drink water
from the same well.”
Not only that,
but “Who we have always been”
goes back beyond our physical birth,
and “who we will be”
extends beyond our physical death.
Just guessing here,
but guesses are allowed
in putting together a gestalt
for harmonizing the disparate parts
of our experience.
There is more to us than meets the eye.
Any eye.
Or, as Heraclitus would say,
“You would not find out the boundaries of the soul,
even by traveling along every path,
so deep a measure does it have.”
This is the “unconscious ground of existence.”
The “Tao of life and being.”
There is a “drift of soul,”
a “way of being/doing,”
that is one with “the unconscious ground of existence,”
and there are “ways of being/doing”
at odds with “the unconscious ground of existence.”
Things go better when we live “in accord with the Tao”–
not only for us,
but also for all of everything.
Every situation calls for something.
It is our place to know what is called for
here and now,
and live here/now
in ways that serve the call
as best we can
one situation after another
all our life long.
The catch is
that we have our own agenda,
our own way of doing things,
our own ideas of how things ought to be.
and we have to be mature enough
to stand between ourselves and ourselves
and make the peace
by bearing the pain
of the dissonance,
and reconciling ourselves to ourselves
in a “Thy will not mine be done” kind of way,
and doing what the situation needs to be done
no matter what
all our life long.
Our work is growing up
so that we can do the work
of being who we are,
where we are,
when we are,
how we are–
bringing ourselves forth
to meet whatever meets us
all day every day forever.
We are called forth by our circumstances.
“It took the Cyclops
to bring the Hero out in Ulysses”
(Joseph Campbell).
We meet each day’s own version
of the Cyclops
upon getting out of bed.
How we handle the day every day
says all that needs to be said about us.
I don’t care what you believe,
or how much money you have,
or what positions you have held,
or what all you can list on your dossier.
All that matters is how you meet the day,
how you deal with what meets you in the day,
every day.
Do you push your own agenda?
Do you live in accord with the Tao?
What guides your boat
on its path through the sea?
- 03/26/2020 — Foggy Morning 03/18/2020 02 — Indian Land, South Carolina, March 18, 2020
You don’t have to be a seer
to see what is happening
and what is going to happen
in response to what is happening.
$1,200 delivered once
to a certain percentage of the population
in May
won’t help anyone.
The people–
that would be every adult person–
need a living stipend
with health insurance
immediately.
Barring that,
within two weeks,
there will be flash mobs
forming spontaneously,
carrying signs reading,
“I Have The Virus!”
robbing grocery stores
in “broad daylight.”
People at the end of their rope
do whatever it takes.
When the leaders fail to lead,
the followers refuse to follow.
This will not end well. - 03/26/2020 — Reelfoot Lake 11/04/2015 08 — Reelfoot Lake State Park, Hornbeck, TN, November 4, 2015
In any situation,
there are people
who can’t be helped.
Donald Trump cannot be helped.
He cannot help himself.
He is beyond being helped.
And the people who think
Donald Trump is wonderful,
great,
beyond fault or criticism
can’t be helped.
They all,
Donald and his minions,
are stuck
where they are.
Everyone of us is stuck where we are.
Jesus was nailed to the cross.
Jesus could not be helped.
Jesus could not help himself.
Everyone of us
is on some cross.
Nailed to some cross.
We are where we are
because we cannot be
anywhere else.
We see what we see the way we see it.
We do what we do the way we do it.
We are stuck where we are.
My only advice
is to recognize how it is with us
and play it out
as best we can,
letting the outcome be the outcome.
What other choice do we have?
If you can see the humor in this,
you have what it takes
to throw yourself into the work at hand:
Being who you are
all the way to the end.
And maybe it doesn’t end,
and we pop out on the other side,
saying, “Wow! That was some ride!
Let’s do it again!” - 03/26/2020 — Cypress Trees 11/11/2015 01 — Goodale State Park, Camden South Carolina, November 11, 2015
The face that was ours
before we were born–
before our parents were born–
is all we can hope to be–
is the best we can hope to be.
There is nothing more to be
than who we have always been,
and who we can only be,
who only we can be,
forever!
Our original nature,
with the qualities,
characteristics,
virtues
that are ours to unfold,
realize,
incarnate,
exhibit,
express,
display
in the way we live our life
day-to-day,
moment-by-moment,
in each situation as it arises,
is all there is to it–
is all there is to do.
And we spend our life
wishing we could be
someone else.
This is called
“Missing the point.” - 03/26/2020 — Cades Cove Panorama 02/28/2014 10 — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Townsend, Tennessee, February 28, 2014
This is how it works:
We size-up each situation as it arises,
determine what is being called for there,
and rise to the occasion
as best we can.
Situation by situation,
day by day,
all our life long.
Jesus couldn’t do better than that. - 03/27/2020 — Four-mile Creek Wetlands 02/03/2020 03 Panorama — Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation, Four-mile Creek Greenway, Charlotte, North Carolina, February 3, 2020
Every theology is false theology.
Every dogma,
every doctrine,
is false dogma,
false doctrine.
How do I know?
Exactly the question.
Ask it of every theology,
every dogma,
every doctrine.
The exponents will tell you
they “take it on faith.”
Ask them why they take that on faith
and not something else instead
and they will say
“God has laid it on my heart,
to know that this is so.”
Or words to that effect.
The self-validation of belief,
any belief,
every belief,
all belief
is the foundation of belief.
We believe it is so
because we know it is so.
We feel it in our heart.
It is the foundation of Voodoo,
black magic,
horoscopes,
lucky charms,
astrology,
superstition,
the I Ching,
roulette wheels,
horse/dog race betting,
and every con
in the entire encyclopedia of cons.
We make it all up
and decide it is true,
and live as though it is true,
and it is validated in a thousand ways.
Until it is not.
We overlook the not’s,
or explain them away,
and believe against all evidence
to the contrary.
Because we are just that way.
Experience validates our expectations.
We look for the supporting facts,
and ignore the contradictory facts.
How much that has been
held to be the Gospel Truth
by previous generations
has been debunked by the experience
of later generations?
This is because every objective fact
has to be interpreted subjectively.
A fact means nothing in/of itself.
It comes to life in the mind of those
who look at it in a way
that allows it to become alive.
It means something to them.
They can use it in some way.
Sometimes, what they see
is a feature of the fact,
and sometimes it is a projection
that is entirely the product
of those doing the looking.
Religion deals with projections,
science deals with experiments
designed to lay their projections to rest.
Religion will not allow any of its projections
to be questioned,
much less examined and laid to rest.
And therein is found the Achilles heel
of theology/dogma/doctrine:
They cannot bear the scrutiny
of disinterested observers,
and are professed to be so
only by those who have an investment
in the validity of their claims.
So if you ask me,
“Why should I determine
what the situation is calling for
and strive to meet/serve that
to the best of my ability
out of the gifts/genius/virtue/abilities
that are mine to offer,
situation after situation after situation?
I’ll say “Give it a six-month experiment
and see what value you find in living that way
for that amount of time,
and then decide how you will live
for the rest of your life.”
Nothing to believe.
Just a way to live.
Moment-to-moment-to-moment.
If you can find a better way to live,
have at it!
But, by all means,
know what guides your boat
on its path through the sea!” - 03/27/2020 — Four-mile Creek Wetlands 02/03/2020 04 — Four-Mile Creek Greenway, Mecklenburg Parks and Recreation, Charlotte, North Carolina, February 3, 2020
Everything changes,
shifts,
transforms
as perspective changes,
shifts,
transforms.
Perspective creates everything.
Everything “just as it is”
is nothing but a fascinating
swirl of color,
before perspective.
It’s all background.
A photograph
with everything blurred
beyond recognition.
“Is this the beach
or a soccer field?”
A baby fresh from the womb
doesn’t see mama and daddy,
doctors and nurses,
floor and ceiling…
It is just a frightening shock
of not what it used to be.
The work of being a new born
is making sense of the world
as it is.
‘Cept, but, only.
It is never the world as it is.
Always the world as the baby-becoming-adult
perceives it to be.
Perception creates our worlds–
and we all live in different ones.
Trump is wonderful beyond compare
in some worlds,
and the evil perpetrator
of crimes against humanity in others.
Sit with anything,
looking at it–
a rock,
a refrigerator,
a rhinoceros–
it will not be exactly what it is
over time.
How long can you keep it from changing?
How different can you allow it to be?
Nothing IS what it is.
It is all perception/perspective.
How we look determines what we see,
what we see depends on what we expect to see–
what we are capable of seeing.
So what?
So take it easy!
See what you look at
without judgment or opinion!
Without expectation or desire!
Without emotional investment or reaction or response!
Without extending the meaning of the thing
into Good and Evil,
Right or Wrong,
Yes or No,
Acceptable or Unacceptable,
Favored or Disfavored,
Approved or Disapproved…
So just get up and do what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises
without pausing to love it or hate it.
Just. Do. It. Period.
And, after it,
do the next thing that needs to be done,
one thing after another,
in each situation as it arises,
all your life long,
without judgment or opinion,
expectation or desire,
attachment or repulsion,
exactly as it needs to be done,
always and forever. - 03/28/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Boneyard Beach 10 — A blended photograph, with the sunset from Charleston Harbor on 12/05/2017 and the Skeleton Tree 03 from Boneyard Beach at Botany Bay, SC on 01/28/2015
There is a psychological law that states:
“It takes two people to have an argument,
but it takes only one person to keep a bad situation
from flashing instantly and insanely
into Armageddon and the absolute end of everything.”
As Doctor Who would say,
“That’s where we come in.”
In every situation,
it is our place to be that person.
We do it by having nothing to gain
and nothing to lose
in any situation.
We have to care enough about the right things
to have nothing at stake in anything.
“Well, that’s that,”
has to be our sincere,
honest,
uncontrived
opinion about every outcome.
If we win the lottery,
we say, “Well, that’s that,”
and take up the business
of what to do now about that.
If another Great Depression comes along
and results in the complete loss of everything,
we say, “Well, that’s that,”
and take up the business
of what to do now about that.
In every situation,
our role is the same one:
Taking up the business
of what to do now about that–
with “that” being whatever faces us
in the situation.
Caring enough about the right things
to not care at all about anything,
enables us to be what is needed
in every situation as it arises.
What are the right things?
Time and place
and what is being called for
in this time and this place.
Those are the three things that matter:
What is being called for
Here,
Now?
Timing is crucial.
Everything happens in its own time
but not all the time,
not any time.
What needs to happen here, now?
We have to be sensitive to that,
and aware of that,
and sense that,
and know that,
and do that–
with nothing at stake in the outcome.
And it takes a certain degree
of maturity
to be able to do that.
We have to grow up
to let things come and go
as the situation requires/demands.
In any situation,
some things can happen,
and some things cannot happen,
and it is our place
to recognize that
and to serve our sense
of the best that can happen
and allow what does happen
to just be what happens
in a “Well, that’s that,
now what?” kind of way.
Growing up is the solution
to all of our problems today.
And tomorrow.
And all days thereafter. - 03/28/2020 — Adams Mill Pond 11/10/2014 09 Panorama — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, November 10, 2014
Our work is that
of transforming our relationship
with ourselves,
our circumstances
and other people.
When our relationships
in all three areas of our life
are what they need to be
in each situation as it arises,
like that,
the kingdom cometh.
What kingdom would that be?
The kingdom of peace and harmony–
regardless of what is happening
in the moment.
The heaving waves
of the wine-dark sea
cannot disrupt the peace and harmony
of those who are at-one
with themselves,
their circumstances,
and one another.
They take it all in stride,
do what they can do about it,
and let that be that.
And it stems from right-relationship
with self,
others
and circumstances.
And right-relationship on all three levels
is a function of our on-going maturation.
Nothing happens apart from
our continuing to grow up.
Growing up is the solution
to all of our problems every day.
Where is your lack of maturity and grace
showing up
in your life?
What are you going to do about that? - 03/29/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Boneyard Beach 12 — A blended photograph, with the sunrise from Cape Hatteras National Seashore and the Skeleton Trees from Boneyard Beach at Botany Bay, SC on 01/28/2015
Our life is contrived from the start.
The grounding foundation of our with life
is having our way with life.
How to have our way in each situation
as it arises–
in every here-and-now that comes along–
it our prime motivator.
How do I get/have what I want today?
And keep from getting/having
what I don’t want?
All day?
Every day?
If we are ever thrown into a life
where we cannot ever hope to have
what we want
exactly like we want it,
we wonder why go on.
“So what?
Who cares?
What difference does it make?
What’s the use?
What’s the point?
Why try?”
become the burdens we bear
every day.
And it isn’t just us.
It is everyone.
It is the entire culture.
It is the entire world of cultures.
We are in it for what we can get out of it.
And we bend,
shape,
form,
contort
our bodies
and our lives
to have the best chance
of getting what we want.
We do whatever it takes
to have what we want.
Our life is contrived from the start.
NO CONTRIVANCES!
NOTHING CONTRIVED!
STOP IT NOW!
That would change everything.
And to live the life at the heart of life,
we have to do that very thing:
No contrivances!
Nothing contrived!
Stop it now!
And replace it with what?
We have no idea.
We are so lost
to the true center and ground
of our living
that we are completely clueless
as to how to go about life
without getting, having, keeping
as the directing force of our living.
Getting, having, keeping
is what guides our boat
on its path through the sea.
Without that,
we drift,
flounder,
capsize,
sink.
Poor, pitiful, us.
What to do?
When we don’t know what to do,
the one thing that is always best to do
is grow up some more again.
We always grow up against our will,
so no growing up ever happens
until we are at the end of our rope.
At the bottom of some wall.
Wobegon and woeful
“on the heaving waves of the wine dark sea.”
There is always one more door to open.
It is the one that leads to ourselves.
To the Self that has been with us
through it all.
The Self that knows the way
to life without contrivance.
But.
“That which we seek
lies far back
in the darkest corner
of the cave we most
don’t want to enter”
(Joseph Campbell).
To live without contrivance
is to live with complete,
utter,
vulnerability.
Jesus was born in a manger
and died on a cross.
How’s that for vulnerability?
Jesus said, “If you want to be
my companion,
you have to pick up your cross each day
and come with me.”
They don’t talk about this
on Easter morning.
It’s all resurrection and life
and Jesus died for us
so that we don’t have to.
BS. BS. BS.
Jesus died as a way of saying,
“This is how it is.
The path to the empty tomb
winds across the face of Golgotha.
In the service of life,
we die every day.
Are you coming or not?”
The Way is the way of vulnerability.
And the power of vulnerability
is that once you say yes to that,
understand that,
embrace that,
nothing can harm you ever.
You walked right into the cave
you most don’t want to enter.
You strode all the way
to the darkest corner
far in the back.
You seized the treasure
that has been waiting on you
all these years,
embraced your vulnerability
and walked out of that cave
completely immune
to the worst life can do.
You are Ulysses
smiling up at the Cyclops,
spitting into its ugly red eye,
saying, “Show me what you got!”
And, in that moment,
you know the secret
of facing every day,
every moment of every day,
each situation as it arises
in the strength and confidence
of one who knows
you have what it takes
to find what it takes
to do what needs to be done
in all circumstances,
no matter what,
all your life long–
and that it comes to you
in your moment of need,
in the darkest place,
in the most hopeless hour,
in the here-and-now
comes “the still, small, voice,”
suggesting the way,
the right way,
the right response,
the right reply,
the right deed,
the right action
for this time,
this place,
right here,
right now,
arising from within–
spontaneously,
unbidden,
unthought,
unimagined,
but undeniably
occurring to you out of nowhere,
offering in the darkness
resurrection and life.
And like that,
contrivance gives way
to occurrence.
And it is a new world, Golda.
A brand new world. - 03/29/2020 — Foggy Morning 03/18/2020 01 — Indian Land, South Carolina, March 18, 2020
What is called for by the situation?
Do that!
Exactly as it needs to be done!
In each situation as it arises!
All your life long!
Jesus couldn’t do better than that! - 03/30/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Graveyard Beach 04 — A blended photograph with the skeleton tree from Grace Penn Private Preserve and the sunset from Charleston Harbor, 12/05/2017
It is our place
to know what is important–
to know what matters most–
and live in the service of it
in each situation that arises,
to the point of our own death,
understood both figuratively
and literally.
To the point of going to hell,
both metaphorically,
and actually.
And so, the importance
of not only knowing what is important–
of not only knowing what matters most–
but of also being right about it.
How important are the things
we declare to be important?
How significant to our life
and to life as it is being lived
around us
is the thing we say matters most? - 03/30/2020 — Lenten Rose 03/20/2020 01 — Indian Land, South Carolina, March 20, 2020
We are responsible
for our own life.
We determine what is important
and what is not.
We decide what needs to happen
and what does not.
We are aware of who we are,
and who we are not,
of what is “us”
and what is “not us.”
We align our living
with our life–
with the life that is required of us
in light of who we are,
what is important,
and what needs to happen.
Enough of this living
to be seen,
to be loved,
to be adored,
to be popular,
to be wealthy/prosperous,
to do what we want,
to have it made…
It is time to live solely
in the service
of who we are,
what is important
and what needs to happen.
This is aligning ourselves with,
living in accord with,
our Original Nature,
the “face that was ours
before we were born,”
and with the circumstances
and their demands
in each situation as it arises–
integrating the opposites
and bearing the pain
of the contradictions,
the polarities,
the dichotomies
that are mutually exclusive
and cannot be integrated,
as best we can,
situation-by-situation-by-situation,
all our life long. - 03/31/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Graveyard Beach 03 — A blended photograph with Skeleton Tree 03 from Grace Penn Private Preserve and a sunrise from Ocracoke Island, Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
We are a perspective shift away
from having it made–
with “having it made”
understood as being
in the center,
on the bedrock,
of life lived
aligned with ourselves
in conjunction with the circumstances
of each situation as it arises.
The trick in each moment
is to take ourselves,
with our Original Nature
(That would be who we are being
when someone else says,
“That is so like you!”)
in its full glory
in one hand,
and our circumstances,
no matter what they are
in the other hand,
and get the two hands together
with a response
that honors the truth of who we are
in a way that is appropriate
to the situation.
True to ourselves
and true to the time and place
of our living.
That is having it made.
And we are never more
than a perspective shift away
from that place
at any point in our life.
The perspective that needs shifting
is the one that honors
having/getting/wanting/desiring
above all else.
Once we get that out of the way,
we are free
to be who we are
in light of–
in appropriate response to–
the circumstances we face
in this here and this now,
no matter what they are.
Having/getting/wanting/desiring
screws with everything,
and throws us into
compelling/coercing/conning/contriving/conniving
our way through
all the moments
that comprise our day.
Every day.
Which is to say,
we are free to be who we are,
where we are,
when we are,
how we are
in ways appropriate
to the occasion
as long as we have
no attachment to the outcome.
Once we start trying
to make something happen
other than what is best
for the situation
in light of the interests
of all concerned,
having it made
is out of the question,
and we are scrapping
for the best we can get.
So.
Sit yourself down
with having/getting/wanting/desiring
and come to terms
with how that has you
where you are,
and commit to being aware
of how that interferes
with your ability
to be true to yourself
in ways appropriate to the occasion
moment-by-moment-by-moment
all day every day.
What you do about it
will be up to you. - 03/31/2020 — Cherry Blossom 03/21/2020 01 Panorama — Indian Land, South Carolina, March 21, 2020
Do not put your faith in anyone,
or anything,
other than yourself.
Believe in you!
Believe that you have what you need
to find what you need
to do what needs you to do it–
to do what needs to be done–
in each situation as it arises
all your life long.
The guidance you are looking for
comes from within,
emerging as something
that simply occurs to you,
a silent wisp of almost nothing,
easily ignored,
dismissed,
forgotten.
Always notice what you are throwing away.
And pause.
Reconsider.
See if it is alive
and worthy of your attention.
Stop. Look. Listen. See. Hear.
Knowing that fooling ourselves
is what we do best.
NO!
Telling ourselves what we want to hear
is what we do best!
NO!
Letting ourselves off the hook
is what we do best!
NO!
Shooting ourselves in the foot
is what we do best!
NO!
Painting ourselves into a corner
is what we do best!
NO!
Talking ourselves into what we have no business doing
is what we do best!
…
The list is really long.
The entire list can be summed up
in one word:
Self-deception is what we do best!
And because we cannot trust ourselves
to know what we are doing,
we have to believe in ourselves
to have what we need
to find what we need
to do what needs to be done,
to do what needs us to do it.
By stopping,
looking,
listening,
seeing,
hearing,
and waiting for the urgency
to spring from the source,
as something that just occurs to us
with a life all its own
that will not let us go,
even when we throw it away.
We know what we have done.
We have to go back to our discard pile,
dig through the rubble,
to find the stone the builder rejected
and make it the chief cornerstone
for the life we are building
one reclaimed stone at a time. - 04/01/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Boneyard Beach 15 — A blended photograph with the Skeleton Trees of Boneyard Beach at Botany Bay, SC, and the sunrise of Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, NC
Dying is easy,
living is hard–
until we come to terms with dying,
and joyfully,
delightfully,
exuberantly,
live until we die,
with every day
being “a good day to die”
and a great day to be alive!
Coming to terms
with how things are
is the work of being alive.
The work of maturity.
The work of growing up.
The Hero’s Journey.
We bring ourselves forth
to meet the day,
every day,
and do there
the work
of coming to terms
with how things are
some more
again,
today.
It is the same work,
day-after-day.
It is the work of being fully alive
here and now,
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
no matter what,
regardless of our circumstances,
for no other reason
than because this
is what the situation calls for,
and we are here to rise to every occasion,
bringing ourselves forth
again and again
to meet what meets us,
and show ourselves
what we are made of.
Bearing the pain of being alive
ushers us into the wonder
and joy of living.
We do not run from life!
We step into life!
And live here and now,
doing what is called for.
“Without hope,
without witness,
without reward”
(Doctor Who/Steven Moffat).
Because that’s what we are here to do–
and what is the point
of not doing what needs to be done,
especially since that is what we do best? - 04/02/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Graveyard Beach 05 — A blended photograph with a skeleton tree from the Grace Penn Private Preserve and a sunset at Charleston Harbor, Charleston, South Carolina
Doing what is necessary
in a situation is doing
what is called for
by that situation.
Doing what is called for
in a situation
is not always necessary
in that situation.
It is not always acceptable
in a situation.
Jesus was called a blasphemer,
a heretic,
and beyond parental control
(or, a “son of Satan”),
for living in ways appropriate
to the occasion
on every occasion.
Which is to say,
who is to say?
You are.
I am.
We are.
We see and say for ourselves
in every situation
what is called for
in that situation.
We cannot look for anyone else
to tell us,
or even to agree with us.
We live our own life
in response to our take
on what is happening
and what needs to happen in response
in each situation as it arises
throughout our life.
There is no hiding from,
or avoiding,
that responsibility.
It is the burden
of those who know.
Knowing means knowing
what’s what
and what needs to be done about it.
Those are the two most important
things to know,
and everybody is responsible
for knowing them.
We don’t get that knowledge
from books or lectures,
videos or seminars,
sermons or round table discussions.
We know what is called for by:
Stopping.
Looking.
Listening.
Seeing.
Hearing.
What we do then
is up to us.
The whole thing
is up to us.
“That’s where we come in!”
(Doctor Who/Steven Moffat). - 04/02/2020 — Cherry Blossoms 03/21/2020 01 — Indian Land, South Carolina, March 21, 2020
My idea of a
Circle of Shamans
is a group of people
I could visit as individuals
from time to time
to talk things over,
air things out
and explore what we have to say
on the matter,
about any matter
that was important
to either of us.
We would never meet
as a group,
as a Round Table of Shamans.
When we meet as a group
the group takes over,
takes possession
of each individual within the group.
We have a “group mind,”
and are less likely
to say what we have to say,
or even to be aware
of what we have to say,
and spontaneous conversation
is out of the question.
We speak one-at-a-time,
perhaps,
in a “pass the talking stick”
kind of way,
but.
The naturalness of personal
communion with one another
in conversation with one another,
going where that conversation
takes us
without bothering
to “stay on topic,”
or “keep to the agreed upon agenda,”
is lost in groups of more than three,
and we are not free to go
where the conversation takes us.
Jesus said, “Wherever two or three
are gathered, I’ll be in the background”
(Or words to that effect).
Beyond three,
we are on our own. - 04/04/2020 — Foggy Morning 3/20/2020 03 B&W — Indian Land, South Carolina, March 20, 2020
Everything is improved
by paying attention.
It won’t feel like improvement.
Paying attention
means paying the price
of paying attention.
The only thing worse
than knowing how things are
is not knowing how things are.
We have to bear the pain of knowing
in order to be able to know.
Not knowing is oblivion.
The blessed ignorance/irresponsibility
that comes with being told what to do,
what to think,
what to believe,
what to wear,
what to say,
what to leave unsaid…
Paying attention is the path of freedom,
and the path of assuming personal responsibility
for our life
in each situation as it arises.
That is a lot to ask of people
who are afraid to think for themselves,
because they are afraid of being wrong,
because they are afraid of going to hell.
The road to liberation
is being willing to go to hell if necessary
in following your own sense
of what needs to be done
in any situation.
If you won’t go to hell for your own convictions,
you are doing what somebody else
tells you to do,
and gets you to do it
by telling you
you will go to hell
if you don’t.
You aren’t free
until you can walk right into
the gaping maw of hell,
saying, “Show me what you got!”
When you are able to do that,
you are able to pay attention
to what’s happening here, now
in every here and now.
And that’s when it all begins
to get better. - 04/02/2020 — Flame Azalea 03/29/2020 01 — Indian Land, South Carolina, March 29, 2020
Let’s lay Christianity to rest
and move into where do we go from here
with one simple declaration:
There is no such thing as free will!
Free will is a fantasy!
Free will is wrongly identified
as the sole basis of sin,
and the reason we are all condemned
eternally to hell
if we don’t believe in Jesus Christ,
God’s only Son, our Lord,
who died the death we deserved to die
because of sin rooted in free will.
There is no free will.
We are not free to will whatever we want to will.
We cannot will ourselves to want something
we do not want!
Ever tried giving up potato chips and ice cream?
Tobacco?
Alcohol?
Ever tried taking up dieting and exercise?
We cannot see things differently than we see things.
Take a Boston Red Sox fan
and see if they can will being a Yankee fan,
or vice versa.
Free will is not the problem!
Sin is not the problem!
A gross abundance of immaturity
is the problem!
And we can’t will ourselves to grow up!
We can only grow up *against* our will!
By doing the things we don’t want to do
exactly the way they need to be done–
so that no one can tell
that we don’t want to do them!
“Fake it ’till you make it,” says AA.
And faking it until we make it
puts the onus on us.
That should be a bumper sticker.
“The Onus Is On Us!”
Which is where we go from here.
Jesus lays the whole thing out.
Jesus did what needed to be done–
what the situation called for–
in every situation as it arose
all his life long.
He bore the pain of living
as a servant of the need of the moment,
saying what needed to be said.
Asking the questions that begged to be asked.
Doing what cried out to be done.
Day-by-day-by-day.
That’s all there is to it.
Heaven and hell have nothing to do with it.
Just getting up each day
and taking care of the business of the day.
Doing the things we don’t want to do
but which need to be done,
the way they ought to be done,
exactly the way they need to be done,
so that no one can tell
that we don’t want to do them.
Day-by-day-by-day.
That’s where we go from here. - 04/03/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Graveyard Beach 02 — A blended photograph with a skeleton tree from Grace Penn Private Preserve and a sunset at Charleston Harbor from Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina taken on December 5, 2017
Awareness is our primary tool/weapon.
Our secondary tools/weapons
come into play
and can be used effectively,
in a timely and fitting fashion,
only when we are aware
of what is going on
and what response needs to be made.
You’ve heard,
“Trust the Force,”
and,
“Let the Force be with you!”
Although the last one
was not used in the movie,
it is accurate and applies.
“The Force” is our awareness
of what is happening,
what needs to happen,
and what we can do about it
with the secondary tools/weapons
at our disposal.
Those tools/weapons
are the gifts,
genius,
talents,
proclivities,
interests,
etc.
that came with us,
packed into our DNA,
from the womb.
We have what we need
to find what we need
to do what needs to be done
in each situation
as it arises.
But.
It takes awareness to know
what we know,
and when to apply it,
how and where.
Our awareness is blocked
by The 10,000 Things.
Wants/Wishes/Desires.
Fears/Dreads/Anxieties.
Fantasies/Dreams/Delusions.
Ambitions/Plans/Aspirations.
The list is long.
When I am preoccupied,
troubled,
worried,
afraid,
nervous,
agitated,
at loose ends,
etc.
I am not paying attention.
When I am lost in
“What if this happens?”
“What if that happens?”
“What if this or that doesn’t happen?”
“What if?”
“What if?”
“What if?”
“What then?”
I am not paying attention.
When I don’t pay attention,
I cannot be aware.
When I am not aware,
I am catapulted directly/instantly
into “The heaving waves
of the wine-dark sea.”
At night.
With no one around.
Lost without hope in the world.
When I am aware,
I know that hope is just another sidetrack,
another pleasant distraction,
another happy fantasy,
keeping us from doing
what needs to be done,
here and now,
whether anything comes of it or not!
Change the baby’s diaper!
Don’t worry about the outcome!
Hope is all about what might happen.
What needs to happen now,
is the question.
What needs us to do it now,
is the question.
Anything that keeps us
from asking/answering
those questions
in in our way
and is leading us away
from “Trust the Force!”
and “Let the Force be with you!”
And that is to miss the mark,
lose our way,
and not be who we are needed to be
by the time and place
of our living.
And that is the whole point
of our being here
in the first place.
So live to be aware,
and trust the Force! - 04/03/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Boneyard Beach 11/16/2013 01 — Botany Bay, Edisto Island, SC, November 16, 2013
I see my place in your life
as being that
of keeping you grounded
upon the bedrock
of you.
In order to do that,
I have to be grounded
upon the bedrock
of me.
Other ways of thinking
of the bedrock
are the Source,
the foundation,
the center
of who we are
and what we are (to be) about.
All of these terms
are ways of talking about
our Original Nature,
The Face That Was Ours
Before We Were Born–
Before Our Parents Were Born.
The essence
of our particular,
unique,
individual
combination
of gifts,
genius,
proclivities,
interests,
abilities,
etc.,
packed into our DNA.
Our place is to align ourselves
with that,
live out of that,
live that out
in the way we conduct ourselves
and tend to our affairs
in the here-and-now
of our daily life.
Day-by-day-by-day.
Trusting that to be enough,
because that is all there is to it.
We live to be true to ourselves
within the circumstances
of our life,
moment-by-moment-by-moment–
bearing the pain of the contradictions
between who we are,
and what is asked of us,
and what is allowed/permitted
in the time and place of our living.
That is our cross to bear
and the call we live to serve.
And we do that by maintaining
our relationship/connection to/contact with
the bedrock,
the center,
the Source of Life and Being–
and of our life and our being–
which is our Original Nature.
Who have you always been?
That is who you always will be!
That is who you are always being asked
to honor
and to bring forth
within the circumstances
of the time and place
of your living,
day-by-day,
moment-by-moment,
as a grace and a blessing
upon all who share the times and places
of your living
for as long as you are alive.
And it is my place to be with you
to remind you of that.
Happy trails to us all! - 04/03/2020 — Scotland Avenue 12/2013 01 — Indian Land, South Carolina
It will take some time to figure it out.
To see what’s what,
and what can be done about it,
and how to do it.
First the shock,
then the grief,
then the mourning,
then the realization:
Here we are, now what?
Then the work
to do what can be done
with what we have to work with.
We cannot know what to do
until we know what needs to be done,
until we know what we have to work with.
In the meantime,
we wait,
and while we are waiting,
we grieve,
and mourn,
our losses,
and they are great beyond imagining.
And, as with all great losses,
we will bear the burden
of what we have lost forever.
But.
We cannot let that stop us!
Ours is the work of reclamation!
As a species,
we have been here before
countless times.
It is but another,
and it needs us to do what needs to be done,
even now,
even so,
nonetheless.
It will take some time to figure it out.
But.
Figuring it out is what we do best.
In the meantime,
we wait,
and while we are waiting…
I love you each and every one,
and am glad to be with you
in the work to do what needs us to do it–
now and forever!
Because this is what we are here for!
This is our moment!
Why hold anything back?
The need for what we have to offer
will never be greater!
Bring it forth!
Be YOU!
Now and forever! - 04/04/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Graveyard Beach 01 — A blended photograph with a skeleton tree from Grace Penn Private Preserve and a sunset at Charleston Harbor from Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina taken on December 5, 2017
Living can take the life right out of us.
Being fully present with
and alive to
the time and place of our living
is not automatic,
accidental.
We have to gather ourselves,
collect ourselves,
at one with ourselves
and focused
for the task at hand,
and “be here now,”
in order to consciously,
deliberately
and intentionally
step forward
to meet whatever is coming to meet us
in each situation as it arises,
throughout the day,
every day.
“Who am I?
What am I (to be) about?”
are questions we ask regularly
in order to regroup
and refocus,
and bring ourselves back
to right here, right now,
prepared to face what’s up,
right here, right now.
We have to create “focusing spaces”
interspersed throughout every day
in which we consciously/mindfully
breathe and in breathing
center and ground ourselves
on the bedrock of our Original Nature–
and of how we have been honed
through the experience of 10,000+
situations and circumstances
to the point of being able
to stand and face anything
in the confidence of those who know
they have what they need
to find what they need
to do what needs them to do it
moment-by-moment,
day-after-day.
The stress of life
is the unprocessed accumulation
of the daily drain of energy and attention,
spirit and vitality,
depletes and fragments us
to the point of being unable
to respond appropriately
to anything.
We counter this drift into incoherence
and disjointed living
by breathing,
realizing,
remembering
and refocusing
on this moment
right here, right now,
and what it is asking of us,
requiring of us,
and how we might best
step forward to meet it
on its terms,
rise to the occasion
in ways appropriate to the occasion
throughout the day
every day. - 04/05/2020 — The Ghost Trees of Boneyard Beach 01/28/2015 08 — Botany Bay Plantation Heritage Preserve/Wildlife Management Area, Edisto Island, South Carolina, January 28, 2015
We are up against
Ignorance (Which has no connection
with intelligence or education,
but is the most obvious indication
of mindlessness,
cluelessness
and a complete lack of awareness–
the failure to make connections
and put two and two together,
and see what we are looking at),
Fear,
Laziness/Lethargy,
and Greed.
Within and without.
Except for those four things,
life is a snap,
and living is a bowl of absolute delight.
And with those four things
to contend with
in each situation that arises,
we are up against it from the start,
and do not stand a chance.
But, since when do we care
about the odds?
It is our place to know what’s what
and what is ours to do–
and to refuse to let what’s what
interfere in any way
with doing what is ours to do.
We cannot allow not having a chance
to stop us,
or even slow us down!
We look not having a chance in the world
in its bloody red eye
and say,
“You think that is going to stop us?
We have work to do
and you are in our way!
Step aside or wish you had!”
And get down to the business
that is ours to do.
Several thing flow from this:
1) There is no immunity.
2) There is no magic.
3) There are no weapons.
4) There is no safety.
5) There are tools.
6) There is comfort and consolation.
7) We are not alone.
8) We have what we need
to find what we need
to do what needs us to do it.
9) Our bedrock is our Original Nature
which guides our boat
on its path through the sea
(We are who we are
on the way back to who we are).
The tools we have to work with
are uniquely suited
or the work that is ours to do.
Awareness is the primary tool.
Realization.
Being savvy and perceptive.
Seeing what we look at.
knowing what’s what
and what needs to be done about it.
All of which flow
from at one with
our Original Nature.
Everything we need to be who we are
is found in becoming who we are.
This is the meaning of the statement,
“The path appears
before those who start walking.”
It is adjustment
and self-correction
all along the way,
and the route is strangely,
amazingly,
wonderfully,
curiously,
winding,
circular,
wandering,
meandering,
and not at all linear,
not ever straight,
and never direct.
And so comes true the saying,
“The long way around
is the quickest way there.” - 04/05/2020 — Cherry Blossoms 03/21/2020 03 Panorama — Indian Land, South Carolina, March 21, 2020
Grace is the foundation of reality,
just like Synchronicity is,
just like The Tao is,
just like Dharma is.
All of these terms–
Grace,
Synchronicity,
Tao,
Dharma–
describe the same experience.
We are buoyed up
and carried along
all our life
by “invisible means of support”
(Bill Moyers in conversation with Joseph Campbell).
There is a flow to existence.
A discernible movement,
assisting,
directing,
blocking,
opposing,
guiding,
providing,
enabling…
Toward ends we know not.
In ways we cannot begin to explain
or understand.
“The Tao that can be said/told
is not the eternal Tao”
(Lao Tzu).
Our place is to not waste time
bothering about it.
We have work to do,
and our work fits in with,
meshes with,
assists with,
grows out of
whatever is behind
our experience,
which these four words describe.
Our work is to find our work and do it,
“in season and out of season,”
whether we want to or not,
whether we are in the mood for it or not,
in spite of our excuses–
though there be many–
regardless of the stark absence
of reasons why it matters,
doing it because the situation calls for it,
doing it the way it needs to be done,
with vitality,
and energy,
and spirit,
all the way to the end of the line.
It’s our bit.
Our role.
The part we play in our life.
We take it on faith
that it is important,
and we do it as though it is
in each situation as it arises,
moment-by-moment,
all our life long.
No matter what.
And the four words
will be there to buoy us up,
and carry us along,
all the way. - 04/05/2020 — Cypress Swamp 05/03/2019 01 — Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge, Oktibbeha County, Starkville, Mississippi, May 3, 2019
When we take up the work
that is ours to do,
living the life that is ours to live,
by placing ourselves
in the service of our Original Nature,
and trusting ourselves
to the wisdom of Grace,
Tao,
Dharma,
Synchronicity,
in guiding us
to respond appropriately
to each situation as it arises,
and to rise to every occasion
as the circumstances require,
we live out of our own center,
grounded upon the bedrock
of our own virtues,
spirit
and energy,
with nothing to gain
and nothing to lose
in the day-to-day
exchanges with life as it is.
We respond to what each situation
is calling for
as best we can
out of the gifts and genus
we bring to the moment,
and let the outcome be the outcome–
which lays the groundwork
for the next situation to arise,
in which we do the same thing,
and so on throughout our life.
We meet each situation
with the best we have to give,
moment-by-moment,
day-by-day.
Who could do better than that?
Why then the anxiety,
fear,
frustration,
stress,
drama,
trauma,
etc.?
Attending to each situation,
listening/looking carefully
to all that is there,
and responding to it as best we can
is enough!
What happens then is just another situation
in which we listen/look carefully
to hear/see what is happening
and what needs to happen in response,
and offer what we have to give
as best we can.
We do our work in each situation,
and let the outcome be the outcome,
which we meet by doing our work
in that situation.
Trusting ourselves to the wisdom
of Grace,
Tao,
Dharma,
Synchronicity
all the way. - 04/06/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Boneyard Beach 11 — Botany Bay Plantation Heritage Preserve/Wildlife Management Area, Edisto Island, South Carolina, January 28, 2015
COVID-19 and Trump’s ineptitude,
or his deliberate manipulation
of federal response
out of motives too insane
to consider,
is overwhelming
our capacity to respond
on every level.
The lack of equipment and material
needed to supply emergency rooms,
intensive care units
and hospitals
intensify the stress
placed on physicians and nurses
who are working forever shifts
without being able to do
what is theirs to do
because they do not have
what they need to do it.
They are strained past
the limits of human endurance,
often unable to be with their own families,
and are dying themselves
from the virus
as they work to save the lives
of those who have it.
And leadership at the highest
levels of government
is refusing support
the best medical science recommends
in terms of shutting down
non-essential businesses
and issuing shelter-in-place orders
to the general population
across all states–
aiding and abetting the disease
and working against efforts
to contain it.
This is crazy out of all proportions
to what is called for by the situation.
And a text-book case
for what happens in any situation
when those in position
to respond to the situation
fail to do so,
or respond in ways
that are detrimental to the situation.
Everything goes to hell,
devolves into chaos,
when “the center fails to hold,”
“the falcon cannot hear the falconer.”
“The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”
(W.B. Yeats ‘The Second Coming’ 1919)
In that moment,
everything falls to individuals
to recover their relationship
with their own center,
to reestablish their connection
with the grounding bedrock
of their own virtues and values,
and stand unmoved and unmoving
in face of the worst circumstances imaginable
out of their own conviction
regarding what is necessary,
good
and right
in responding to the time
that is at hand,
right here,
right now.
We read the moment
and determine for ourselves
what can be done
about what needs to be done,
here and now,
and do it,
moment-by-moment-by-moment–
without worrying about
what good it will do,
or what difference it will make,
or why try,
or who cares,
or so what?
It is our place to do what we can do
about what needs to be done
as best we can,
here and now,
in each situation as it arises.
And letting the outcome be the outcome–
which will create the next situation,
in which we do the same things.
Trusting ourselves to Grace/Tao/Dharma/Synchronicity
and watching to see what happens
and how we can help happen
what needs to happen,
moment-by-moment,
day-by-day,
all the way to the end of the line. - 04/07/2020 — The Ghost Trees of Boneyard Beach 01/28/2015 02 — Botany Bay Plantation Heritage Preserve/Wildlife Management Area, Edisto Island, South Carolina, January 28, 2015
We are responsible for our own life.
Everything about our life
and the quality of our living
hinges on the way we respond
to our environment
and to each situation that arises
within that environment.
So far, I haven’t said anything here
that you can disagree with.
When we get to the place of disagreement,
we are no longer talking about what is,
but have moved over into
what we think about what is,
what our opinions are about what is,
how we assess and understand what is,
how we interpret and make meaning out of what is.
How we see things,
interpret things,
understand things,
explain things
make things meaningful
or not.
The area of meaning
is where disagreement occurs.
What is meaningful to me
means nothing to you,
sometimes.
What is meaningful to us,
means nothing to “them.”
If things mean the same thing
to us and to them
“they” are us.
We are indistinguishable
when we see the same things
in the same ways–
when things mean the same
to all of us,
we are all one.
We are individuals
to the extent that things mean
something different to each of us.
The more the “important things”
are different,
the less alike we are,
and the more like enemies we are.
We separate ourselves from one another
on the basis of how we see things,
on the basis of the meaning
we ascribe to things.
We are responsible for our own life.
We live more or less well
according to the degree to which
the sense we make of life
accords with our ability to
mesh with life,
flow with life,
dance with life,
be one with life–
ascribing danger to the dangerous things
and safety to the safe things,
for instance.
If we live in the jungle
and think a tiger is safe,
we are going to have a short life.
If we think COVID-19 is a hoax,
or is treatable/preventable
with a malaria drug,
we are going to have a short life.
If we ascribe the wrong meaning
to Donald Trump,
we are going to have a certain life,
and if we ascribe the right meaning
to Donald Trump,
we are going to have a different life.
Everything swings on how we say things are.
Our assessments of life
have to correspond to life.
Where there is little or no correspondence,
it is reflected in the quality of our life.
We have to be right
about how we say things are,
or pay the price.
This means we have to see our seeing.
We have to know what we are doing
when we say “This is good,”
and “That is bad.”
“This is safe,”
and “That is dangerous.”
We have to pay attention.
We have to be alert and aware.
We live in the jungle. - 04/07/2020 — Angel Oak 11/14/2013 02 — John’s Island, South Carolina, November 14, 2013
Some ways of living
are better than others,
but it all depends
on what we call “good” and “bad.”
Survive-ability is good,
extinction is bad.
But within survive-ability
there is a wide range
of quality of life,
with trade-offs beyond counting.
We give up this to get that,
and one person’s idea of the good life
is another person’s idea of hell on earth.
We separate ourselves into groups
of “our kind of people”
based on what we call “good” and “bad.”
How good is the good we call good?
How bad is the bad we call bad?
Who is to say?
“Good” and “bad” hinge on who is talking.
They are very relative things.
What is the origin of the way you think
about good and bad?
What makes you think
you know what’s good when you see it?
And bad?
Pull out your assessor
and examine it in the light.
Where does it get its ideas
of good and bad?
Why does it draw the line
where it draws the line
between good and bad?
This is called self-reflection.
Why do we think the way we think?
Why do we see the way we see?
Why do we feel the way we feel?
Why do we hate what we hate?
Love what we love?
Believe what we believe?
Do what we do?
What makes us think we are right
about what we say is right and wrong?
Good and bad?
What is at the bottom
of our assessment of reality?
Get to the source!
What is there?
Upon what do we base our view of things?
What would it take
for us to be able to
change our mind
about what is important? - 04/08/2020 — The Ghost Trees of Boneyard Beach 11/17/2013 04 — Botany Bay Plantation Heritage Preserve/Wildlife Management Area, Edisto Island, South Carolina, November 17, 2013
We eventually run out of livable options.
We all die.
Thus, the importance
of holding nothing back.
What are we waiting on
to begin being who we are,
doing what is ours to do?
“It is a good day to die”
because all of our days up to this day
have been spent
in the service of being who we are,
doing what is ours to do
each day.
What is being asked of us here, now?
Do that!
As well as we can!
While we can!
Hold nothing back
in the service of being who we are,
doing what is ours to do,
one day at a time! - 04/09/2020 — The Ghost Trees of Boneyard Beach 11/17/2013 05 — Botany Bay Plantation Heritage Preserve/Wildlife Management Area, Edisto Island, South Carolina, November 17, 2013
Get to the bottom of everything
that attracts you.
See what is there.
Get to the bottom of everything
that repels you.
See what is there.
Attraction and repugnance
are twin mirrors of soul.
We cannot peer into them
without seeing ourselves
looking back at us.
Sitting down with attraction
and repugnance
is the best way I know
of getting to the bottom of us.
Of knowing what guides our boat
on its path through the sea.
Of ferreting out
our Original Nature–
of how we got here
from there
and of where we go from here
to there.
When we seek ourselves,
we are looking for our Original Nature.
We are trying
to get back to who we are–
to who we always have been–
to who we will be.
The best way to do that
is to sit down with what we love
and what we hate,
and make inquiries.
Ask all of the questions
that beg to be asked.
Say all of the things
that cry out to be said.
See where it goes.
It will go straight to the heart
of you.
At that point,
you only have to bear the pain,
and see what happens next. - 04/09/2020 — Skeleton Tree Moon 01 — A Blended Photo with Skeleton Tree 01 from Boneyard Beach and the moon from Indian Land, South Carolina
Balance and harmony
position us to meet the moment
on its terms
and live in full accord
with its needs
in doing what is most helpful
toward the good
of the situation as a whole.
Balance and harmony
have nothing to gain
and nothing to lose,
with nothing at stake
beyond the best interest
of all concerned.
And, of course, there be conflicts,
contradictions,
polarities,
mutually exclusive goods
competing with one another
for the coveted
Winner Take All category.
Who wins?
Who loses?
What’s it to us?
We are there to determine
what is called for,
all things considered–
and to live in the service of that
as best we can,
in each situation as it arises.
In order to do that,
we have to enter each situation
balanced and harmonized
within and without.
How do you do that?
How do you maintain your balance?
How do you harmonize yourself
with your circumstances?
How do you live at peace
with yourself
and your place in life?
What is your practice?
What is your program?
Everything hinges on this,
flows from this.
It is the most important thing–
the thing upon which
everything else depends.
How do you achieve and sustain
balance and harmony?
What destabilizes you?
It makes you *Crazy* when what?
Start there.
Make a list.
Over several days.
All the things that make you *Crazy*!
When you are anywhere in the neighborhood of *Crazy,*
you are quite destabilized.
Nowhere near balance and harmony.
You have to deprogram yourself.
You have to step away
from everything you have to have
or have to have nothing to do with.
The more attached you are to having/getting
and avoiding/evading,
the less likely you are to be balanced and harmonized.
Being balanced and in harmony with yourself and your life
is going to require you to transform
your relationship with yourself and your life.
The way you currently live likely depends
on you responding to your life–
and to the people in your life–
the way you do.
When you change that
by having less at stake in what-and-how
things happen,
it will change how you relate to people
and how you spend your time.
We settle into a way with the people in our life,
and with the things we do in a day,
and changing that creates stress–
trauma and drama–
in a number of ways.
And you are going to wonder if it is worth it
to be balanced and in harmony with yourself
and your life.
That’s your call to make.
We choose the life we live.
We say what’s important,
and live in ways that serve it.
Reminds me of the Medical Missionary Sisters’ song,
“I cannot come to the banquet–
don’t trouble me now.
I have married a wife,
I have bought me a cow.
I have fields and commitments
that cost a pretty sum,
pray hold me excused,
I cannot come.”
We do it the way we’re going to do it,
and that’s that.
And, if it is not working,
and we want to change things
we have to bear the pain,
and pay the price. - 04/10/2020 — The Ghost Trees of Boneyard Beach 01/28/2015 04 — Botany Bay Plantation Heritage Preserve/Wildlife Management Area, Edisto Island, South Carolina, January 28, 2015
The beard comes off tomorrow.
It has been a part
of the way I do things
since September of 1999.
I’m getting back
to the face that was mine
before I was born.
Beyond that,
it is an acknowledgement
of death in the wings,
and a recognition of the importance
of dying a little at a time,
of letting things to go
in their own time,
and living to be aware
of when that time is.
I’ve been interested
to note my declining interest
in a number of areas
of my life.
The canoe was the first
casualty/bellwether of age.
Bicycling soon followed.
Arthritic knees entailed arthroscopic surgery,
and a sharp reduction
in the length and frequency
of my hikes and treks.
Airplane travel and long-distance driving
became impractical
and distasteful.
Photography became increasingly restricted
to two-hour sojourns from the house.
And even there,
getting up before dawn to capture a sunrise,
or staying out past dinner
to snare another sunset or moon rise
were no longer priorities,
and quickly became artifacts
of youthful enthusiasm.
Reading,
reflection,
writing,
cooking,
and re-working photos
long taken
currently comprise my days.
The oath of solitute
I took upon retirement
was essential in settling for my self
what matters most to me
and how to best serve that
in the time left to me.
Each day now has a life of its own,
and a direction and flow
of its own making–
and that has become a joy
and a wonder.
What will be the gifts of this day?
How will the day unfold?
What will be asked of me?
How will I respond?
These are much more appropriate questions
at this stage of my life
than rising to wrestle my will into being
one day at a time.
Speaking of will,
I am surprised to discover
how will is a servant of interests,
and to note how interest leads the way.
Where does interest come from?
What spurs us to this and not that?
Try willing interest, if you will.
Tell yourself what you will like today,
or what you will enjoy tomorrow.
Command enthusiasm!
Order up ardor, fervor, passion and zeal!
I recommend not wasting your time.
There is never enough to spare.
Open yourself to what is
and how it is.
Let come what’s coming,
and let go what’s going.
Grieve what is to be grieved.
Mourn what is to be mourned.
Enjoy what is to be enjoyed,
receive what is to be received
and do with it what needs to be done–
every day
for as long as days come and go.
The beard is going tomorrow. - 04/11/2020 — The Ghost Trees of Boneyard Beach 11/16/2013 01 — Botany Bay Plantation Heritage Preserve/Wildlife Management Area, Edisto Island, South Carolina, January 28, 2015
Every day,
and at various points during the day,
we have to
Stop.
Look.
Listen.
See.
Hear.
Remind ourselves to
remember who we are
and what we are about.
We have to rejoin ourselves
in our mission and purpose:
To be who we are,
where we are,
when we are,
how we are,
no matter what.
To be true to ourselves
(Our Original Nature)
in the time and place of our living.
To live in accord with ourselves
(Our Original Nature)
within the nature
and context of our circumstances.
To live as a blessing and a grace
upon each moment,
by offering the moment what it needs
out of the gifts and genius
that are our to give,
whether or not
the moment receives the blessing,
recognizes the grace,
or thinks it needs what it needs.
And so, the work!
Of being who we are
here and now
“without hope,
without witness,
without reward,”
(Steven Moffat).
First, we have to find our way
back to
“the face that was ours
before we were born”
(A Zen saying),
which is our Original Nature,
which the same and different
for each of us,
and is lost in a swirling whirl
having and getting,
desiring and wanting,
avoiding and evading
without end–
which is the work
of getting to the work.
No wonder we have to stop
at various points in the day,
every day,
to remind ourselves
to remember who we are
and what we are about! - 04/11/2020 — The Pond 10/28/2006 — Down East North Carolina, October 28, 2006
We think our way into messes beyond solution.
We have to stop thinking to work our way out of them.
Thinking is good for How.
Feeling is good for What.
Intuition is guiding our boat
on its path through the sea.
Intuition is the handmaiden of Grace
(And Tao,
and Dharma,
and Synchronicity).
Intuition seizes ideas and realizations
that occur to us,
that arise out of nowhere
to lay hold of our intuition
and slam it into gear.
And we begin to play around
with the possibilities,
and imagine potential problems
and ways around them,
thinking up solutions
and applications,
and off we go,
to nobody knows where.
Until thinking wanders off into conniving,
and scheming,
and planning,
and figuring ways to maximize
its profits
and minimize its liabilities,
and we wake up in a mess beyond solution.
Again.
Somehow we have to learn
to never take orders from our thinking brain,
but make sure our thinking brain
always takes orders from our intuiting brain.
The right sequence makes all the difference.
First the jeans, then the shoes.
Things work a lot better that way. - 04/12/2020 — The Ghost Trees of Boneyard Beach 01/28/2015 06 — Botany Bay Plantation Heritage Preserve/Wildlife Management Area, Edisto Island, South Carolina, January 28, 2015
Other people are always telling us who they are.
It only takes seeing what we are looking at
to know what they are saying.
We are always telling other people who we are.
It only takes seeing what we are saying
to know who we are.
Our behavior says all that can be said
about who we are in each moment,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
We remain hidden to everyone
and invisible to ourselves
because no one sees what they look at.
Because it is too painful to know what we know.
We cannot grow up without knowing what we know.
The only people who grow up
are those who can bear the pain of being alive.
As we do that,
everyone knows who we are
because we have nothing to hide.
And we have no friends
because no one can stand to be around us.
And we can’t stand to be around anyone
who can’t stand to be around themselves.
When we tell one another to “Grow up!”
we don’t know what we are saying.
Growing up or not growing up
are different ways of dealing with being alone.
At this point in the conversation,
it might be helpful to remind you
that Marianne Moore said,
“The cure for loneliness is solitude.” - 04/12/2020 — Still Life with Driftwood 11/17/2013 — Botany Bay Plantation Heritage Preserve/Wildlife Management Area, Edisto Island, South Carolina, November 17, 2013
Everyone who wakes up,
wakes up at the bottom of some wall.
Every awakening has a wall to thank.
All those lectures,
books,
sermons,
videos,
discussions,
conversations…
All that meditation,
contemplation,
sitting silently,
searching,
seeking,
waiting…
Comes together
at the bottom of some wall.
Its value being only in hindsight.
Nothing can save us from our walls.
Our walls save us from ourselves.
And rejoin us with ourselves.
We hit the wall as two,
and leave the wall as one.
It’s the same story
with however many walls it takes
to complete the restoration
and enable a full recovery. - 04/13/2020 — The Ghost Trees of Boneyard Beach 11/17/2013 16 — Botany Bay Plantation Heritage Preserve/Wildlife Management Area, Edisto Island, South Carolina, November 17, 2013
The movie Rocky is good for a number of lines,
and the one that stands out for me
is the exchange between Rocky and Mickey
which ends with Rocky saying
(About being “a legbreaker
for a second-rate loan shark”),
“It’s a living,”
and Mickey coming back with,
“IT’S A WASTE OF LIFE!”
We all have to pay the bills.
our “living” can easily become “a waste of life”
if we think “making a living”
is it.
I don’t care how “good-a living we make,”
it is “a waste of life”
if it is about nothing more
than putting money in the bank.
Is it “a living,”
or is it “a waste of life”?
We answer the question
by knowing what we are living for.
By knowing what we are living to do.
Making money is not it.
What is money for?
What are we doing with the money?
That’s it.
What we do with the money is what matters.
The big thing in any age
throughout all of the ages
the world has passed through
is being wealthy.
Wealth is privilege.
Wealth is power.
Everybody wants to be wealthy
so they can “do anything they want.”
Well.
What does wanting know?
What does “Thy will, not mine, be done,”
mean to you?
Who is the “Thy”?
The “Thy” we are here to serve
with our life
is not some gilded god
sitting on some throne
in some temple
in some heavenly dimension
waiting to be pleased or else.
The “Thy” we are here to serve
is the Other who lives within,
the one Carl Jung was talking about
when he said,
“Within each of us there is another
whom we don’t know.”
That is the “Thy”
who is waiting to be pleased, or not.
And, if not,
we have wasted our life.
That is all Hell amounts to.
Living eternally with having wasted our life.
We have from now
until the time we die
to find our life and live it.
Don’t think “It’s too late for me”!
Your best scenes are waiting to be acted!
Your best lines are yet to be delivered!
You are being called to be you
the way only you can be you
for the good of each situation that arises
for the remainder of your life.
Do not walk away from that!
Step into each situation as it arises with
“Thy will, not mine, be done”
leading the way.
Live to see what you are capable of
in the time left for living.
We have to make a living
and we have to live our life–
the life that is ours to live–
the life that is separate from
what we do to make a living.
We have to find our life and live it
in the time left for living.
Everything I have written and said
in the last 50 years
is about finding your life and living it.
You can start there
until you know enough
about what you are doing
to strike out on your own.
But you are never on your own.
You are always in the company
of Another who lives within. - 04/13/2020 — Big Creek 10/2004 — Big Creek Campground, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Waterville, NC, October, 2004
Imagine stepping into the shower,
or a bath,
enjoying the experience of water welcoming you
to the wonder of the moment,
relaxing into the enjoyment of here and now.
After a few minutes of being there,
you reach for the soap…
Why then?
Why not sixty seconds sooner,
or later?
We reach for the soap
when it is time to reach for the soap.
How do we know?
We are in full accord with the Tao of bathing!
We know what time it is!
The way we know it is time for a nap,
or a cup of coffee,
or a glass of water,
or wine.
And, knowing what time it is
flows automatically,
spontaneously,
into doing what needs to be done
in response.
We reach for the soap
without being conscious
of initiating the action.
It is like when the starting gun fires,
the sprinters leave the blocks.
That is being in accord with the Tao of the moment.
Each situation calls for something,
for some response.
The more tuned we are to the situation,
the more in accord we are with the situation,
the more spontaneous our response
to what the situation calls for.
We touch a hot stove,
we do not wait to think about what to do.
The right action is instantaneous.
Be aware of the filters you put
between yourself and any situation
you step into.
What are you tuned into
that removes you from the situation?
What keeps you from being able
to respond spontaneously
to what is happening in the situation?
What keeps you from giving yourself
to the situation
like you give yourself to a shower or a bath?
You break troth with Tao to keep troth with what?
The more we have to think
about how we live,
the more distance there is
between us and ourselves,
between us and our circumstances.
The more distance there is,
the less spontaneous we are,
the less at-one we are with the situation,
the less at-one we are with ourselves.
What are we afraid of?
What are we trying to arrange?
What are we trying to make happen,
or to keep from happening?
The more we contrive the life we are living,
the less alive we are to the moment of our living.
Where in our life,
beyond showers and bathing,
are we free to “just live”
without worrying about how to live
in order to arrange certain outcomes,
or to please certain people?
Live to make your life like taking a shower,
having a bath.
What would you have to change
for that to happen? - 04/13/2020 — Skeleton Tree Moon 02 — A blended photograph with Skeleton Tree 01 from Bonehead Beach, Botany Bay, Edisto Island, South Carolina, and the moon rise from Thunder Hill Overlook, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina
There is only you and your life.
That is one thing,
not two.
You are your life.
Your life is you.
It is imperative/essential
that we realize this,
and stop thinking of ourselves
as the master of our life/destiny,
and start thinking of finding our life
and living it
as the true destiny of each person.
We seek what is “us.”
We seek who we are.
We seek what is ours to do.
Everything either serves these ends
or detracts from them,
opposes them,
subverts them,
denies them.
If we aren’t living,
we are dying,
if we aren’t serving life,
we are serving death,
if we are aren’t doing the things that are life,
we are doing the things that are death.
What is life for us?
Everything else is death.
Death is entertainment,
escape,
distraction,
diversion,
denial.
Life is the truth of who we are
and what is ours to do.
Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden,
Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane ,
stand before death and life,
and make their choice.
Our choice is the same as theirs.
We make it every day.
The catch is that we die either way.
Bearing the pain of our choices
is the requirement of life.
And we walk with a limp
on the Hero’s Journey. - 04/14/2020 — Skeleton Tree Moon 03 — A Blended Photograph with Skeleton Tree 03 from the Grace Penn Collection and the moon from Indian Land, South Carolina
First, you have to be able to
bear the pain of the truth of your life,
of your existence,
of existence.
That is the first thing.
You have to square yourself up
to the truth of how things are,
facing it straight-on,
denying nothing,
ignoring nothing,
pretending nothing,
escaping nothing,
living consciously,
with full awareness,
of the truth of how things are in one hand
and the truth of how you want things to be
in the other hand,
and live in the center
of the pain of the contradiction
between your two hands.
That is the first thing.
Now, you are ready for the rest.
The second thing is being quiet.
In the silence we are vulnerable
to realizations and visions,
terrors and anxieties,
wishes and dreams unending.
We are the Buddha under the Bo Tree,
Jesus in the wilderness.
We have to bear the pain.
And be quiet.
Waiting,
watching
for the shift in perspective
that allows us to sort through
all that arises in the silence,
like the fishermen culling fish
from the haul in the net.
Keeping this for further consideration,
and that for immediate application,
and the rest we send back where it came from.
The third thing is seeing what we look at.
To see what we look at,
we have to have nothing at stake
in what we see.
It is just as it is.
What we do about it is up to us.
Our preferences become desires,
our desires become obsessions,
our obsessions become compulsions,
our compulsions become habitual
and we become servants of wants
become tyrants.
The fourth thing is looking at things
without judgment or opinion,
but with compassion and kindness–
which encompasses our desire
to have things the way we want them to be.
The fifth thing is that we hold all of it
in our awareness,
and wait for another shift in perspective
that allows us to be with the is-ness
of all that is–
and wait for what to do about it,
for how to respond to it,
to arise spontaneously from the depths.
Spontaneity is uncontrived.
It is an honest and truthful,
straight from the heart
response to our situation as it is.
Something is called for in every situation.
How we respond to it makes all the difference.
Every moment that follows this moment
is colored,
impacted,
influenced
by the response we make to this moment.
The sixth thing is understanding/comprehending/knowing
all of this,
and living in light of it
in each situation as it arises,
all our life long. - 04/15/2020 — The Ghost Trees of Boneyard Beach 11/17/2013 03 — Botany Bay Plantation Heritage Preserve/Wildlife Management Area, Edisto Island, South Carolina, November 17, 2013
Who is the safest person you know?
The most secure person you know?
It isn’t the President of the United States.
Donald Trump is the most insecure,
fragile,
vulnerable,
fearful and constantly on guard
person in the world.
He doesn’t trust his own intelligence services.
Or his own armed forces.
He trusts quacks and wacko’s because
they tell him what he wants to hear.
Who do you know,
or know of,
that is the opposite of Donald Trump
in their ability to be safe and secure
in themselves no matter what?
I’ll come at this another way:
There Is No Protection!
We are at the complete mercy
of the completely merciless.
How do you keep going
under these terms?
How do you make your peace
with that?
How do you toss that off
as though it’s nothing?
If the President of the United States
isn’t safe,
what chance to the rest of us have?
Chance at what?
At being safe and secure
in our lives!
What chance do we have at that?
The same chance everyone else
has had throughout time.
“Fat,” as they say, “or slim.”
That means “None.”
So.
We are going to have to do
what everyone else has done:
Learn to live without being safe and secure.
Or, learn to be safe and secure
without any protection whatsoever.
It’s the same thing.
There is no protection.
We have no protection.
We are up against it from the start.
Life can come strolling up to you
and take away your most precious possession
just like that
at any time.
And there is nothing you can do about it.
Except let it be.
Because that is how it is.
There are a thousand,
maybe ten thousand,
versions of the old Chinese fable
“The Lost Horse Returns.”
Do an internet search
and read them all.
The horse’s owner
is the safest, most secure, person
I know of.
Our life’s work is to be that person
in order to do the work that is ours to do
in each situation as it arises
all our life long. - 04/15/2020 — Cypress Morning 11/06/2006 — Down East, North Carolina, November 6, 2006
The only thing wrong with us
is that we want what we want
and not what we ought to want,
not what we need to want,
not what the situation calls for us to want,
not what the moment asks us to want.
Our Wanter knows what it wants,
but it doesn’t care at all
about what it ought to want,
and couldn’t make itself want it
if it tried.
Fix that, and everything is just fine,
around the table,
across the board.
What do you think
“Thy will, not mine, be done?”
It doesn’t matter who or what
we understand “Thy” to refer to.
We are here to comply with a will
that is not our will
This is why it is said,
“We all grow up against our will.”
And why it is said,
“Everyone wakes up at the bottom of some wall.”
Because wanting what we want
and not what we ought to want
leads directly/eventually to some wall.
You could talk to Adam and Eve about that.
Wanting the wrong things
is the essence of sin.
Sin is being wrong about
what is important–
living in the service
of the wrong things.
Repentance is waking up
at the bottom of some wall,
understanding the eternal validity
of “Thy will, not mine, be done,”
and changing our mind
about what is important.
Changing our relationship
with what we want
is the grounding foundation
of a well-lived life–
of a life lived in right relationship
with the will beyond our will
that is operative in each situation
as it arises.
It is the essence of wisdom
to not step into any–
much less every–
situation looking to impose
our will/our wants
upon the situation,
but to wait,
watching/looking
for what needs us to want it
in the situation,
and to give ourselves fully,
whole-hardheartedly,
to the service
of whatever that is
whether we want to or not. - 04/16/2020 — Reelfoot Lake 11/04/2015 30 B&W — Reelfoot Lake State Park, Tiptonville, Tennessee, November 4, 2015. Reelfoot Lake was created when the east side of the Mississippi River caved-in in a massive sinkhole during the New Madrid Fault earthquakes during the winter of 1811/12, and the river filled the “hole.” It took a while for the Cypress trees to grow.
How do we get from “here” to “there”?
(With “here” being where we are,
and “there” being where we need to be)
Awareness. Awareness. Awareness.
Attention. Attention. Attention.
Practice. Practice. Practice.
That is how we change our relationship
with our life.
And with ourselves.
Align ourselves with what needs to happen
in order to do what needs to happen
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.
Put ourselves in accord with the Tao,
with the Dharma,
with Grace,
with Synchronicity,
rise to the occasion
on ever occasion
and be “what the doctor ordered”
in each here-and-now,
in all times and places
of our existence.
We practice
paying attention
with mindful,
compassionate,
non-judgmental
(no opinions)
awareness,
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
day-by-day,
year-by-year…
And, we might start
by watching
those Jon Kabat-Zinn YouTube videos.
Sitting Za-zen,
looking at the wall,
waiting for things to change
on their own,
won’t do it. - 04/17/2020 — Cypress Geese — This was taken on a private preserve in eastern North Carolina around 2004
Everything I’ve said here, or will say,
has been realized before,
said before,
by everyone devoted
to the process of growing up.
Growing up requires us
to see what we look at
and to bear the pain
of knowing what we know.
Growing up requires us
to grow up against our will.
We will do anything
to keep from growing up.
But.
Once we realize that
does not spare us the pain
of not growing up,
we take our chances
with growing up,
and that makes all the difference.
Growing up is the Hero’s Journey,
the Spiritual Task.
Those who take it up
all know the same things–
the things I talk about here.
Everything here is wasted on you–
nothing here means anything to you–
if you are not devoted
to the work
of growing up,
consciously,
deliberately,
intentionally.
If you are engaged in the work
of growing up,
what you find here
is something you have
already realized,
though you may not
have had the occasion
to put it into words.
I simply articulate the obvious
to those who have eyes to see,
ears to hear
and minds to understand.
Nothing I say here is new.
I take “Tao” and “Dharma,”
and equate them
with “Grace” and “Synchronicity,”
and the words represent
the same experience-with-life
that human beings have acknowledged
throughout time.
The work of being human
is the work of growing up.
The Developmental Tasks
are the same in every age,
and the work we do
to avoid doing the work
is also the same.
We can either grow up
or not grow up.
All of our ancestors
faced the same choice.
Here we are.
Now what? - 04/18/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Hunting Island 8/11/2015 — Hunting Island and Hunting Island State Park are experiencing the brunt of beach erosion in South Carolina. Every high tide, and every hurricane, wash away the shore and topple trees, which litter the beach, creating a scene that will become global as climate change changes everything.
Bringing ourselves forth
to rise to the occasion
and meet the circumstances
in each situation as it arises
is quite different
from being a doctor,
or a lawyer,
or a teacher,
or a carpenter…
raising a family,
retiring
and living happily after.
It requires a different orientation,
a different outlook
and a different way of being
in the world.
In the old way of doing things,
everything revolves around
what happens,
what we can make happen,
what we can keep from happening,
and we contrive to bring about the wanted,
and avoid the unwanted,
by the deliberate/skillful application
of strategy and tactics
all our life long.
In the old way of doing things,
we were always working some room,
doing this to achieve that
and to arrange everything just so.
In the new way of doing things,
we don’t do anything
with something else in mind.
We do what is called for by the situation,
and it doesn’t do anything beyond
meeting a particular need in that situation.
We drink water to quell our thirst.
We take a nap to allow our body to recharge.
And we use the skills at our disposal
to incarnate/express/exhibit who we are
in the way we live
moment-to-moment-to-moment.
In this way, we “find ourselves,”
not so much by seeking ourselves,
but simply by being ourselves
in each situation as it arises–
spontaneously doing what needs to be done,
without thinking about it,
or planning it,
or even knowing that we have he capacity
for doing it
before we find ourselves doing it.
We don’t know what we are going to do
before we find ourselves doing it,
wondering, “Where did that come from?”
And, in time,
this results in a clear sense of who we are
and who we are not.
In time, we uncover what our virtues are–
that is, the things we do best,
the things we enjoy doing,
the ways we like to spend our time.
Our virtues fuel our vitality–
our sense of joy and enthusiasm.
Our vitality creates our energy,
our energy in the service of our virtues
unveils our spirit,
and in no time at all,
we are who we are for all the world
to see and enjoy.
What we do to pay the bills
is an extension of who we are,
and what we pay the bills to do
is to be who we are
in response to the situations
and circumstances
that form the time and place
of our living.
And that’s the story of our life. - 04/19/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Boneyard Beach 01/28/2015 01 — Botany Bay Plantation Heritage Preserve/Wildlife Management Area, Edisto Island, South Carolina, January 28, 2015
We ascribe meaning to the facts of life.
It is the human thing about us.
It is what we do
that sets us apart
from the rest of the animal world.
Good/bad.
Right/wrong.
Deserving/Undeserving
and all the rest
comes with us from the womb.
What did Adam and Eve do
that separated their world
from the world of animals?
They ate the fruit
from the Tree of Knowledge
of Good and Evil,
and their eyes were opened
and they knew Good from Evil
and Evil from Good.
They said what things mean.
We say what things mean.
We say what life means.
We say what death means.
We say what living means.
We say what dying means.
We say what fortune means.
We say what poverty means.
We say what everything means.
We say what it all means.
Here’s the catch.
And, of course,
we say what the catch means.
We better be right about it.
We better be right about what we say things mean.
Anything.
Everything.
All things.
We better be right about it.
Everything depends on it.
And, of course,
we get to say what it means
that everything depends
on our being right about
what everything means.
But.
We can be wrong about it.
So.
We have to know what we are doing.
We have to be aware.
We have to pay attention.
Every time we say what something means.
Because.
Everything depends on our being right about it.
Everything. - 04/19/2020 — Skeleton Trees of Boneyard Beach 11/17/2013 04 — Botany Bay Plantation Heritage Preserve/Wildlife Management Area, Edisto Island, South Carolina, November 17, 2013
The solution to the mess we are in
is super simple
and is right before our eyes,
jumping up and down,
waving its little hands
shouting at the top of its voice,
and being ignored completely
by everybody in position
to sweep it up in their arms,
wrap their heart about it
and declare it to be the way
things are going to be done.
The government has to pay everyone’s bills–
at least the biggie’s,
housing and food,
utilities and childcare,
and whatever else is deemed “essential”–
(Or, if you prefer, wages)
until the coronavirus is under control
and our life can assume a comfortable degree
of reliability and dependability,
across the board,
around the table.
And where does the government get the money?
By taxing the people and corporations
that have way more money than anybody needs!
The choice is clear:
Socialism or Chaos, Mayhem and Anarchy
upon The Heaving Waves Of The Wine Dark Sea!
Socialism.
Entitlement Programs.
Egalitarianism.
It is even Biblical.
From Isaiah 40:4,
“Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.”
And, it only has to remain in place
until reliability and dependability
are restored,
and we can return
to the madness/absurdity
of the Have’s and the Have Not’s.
It is right there.
Waiting to be implemented.
What’s the problem? - 04/19/2020 — Cypress Essence — Taken at a private preserve in eastern North Carolina around 2004
We have to be right
about what things mean.
We have to be right
about what is important.
We have to be right
about what it is time for.
We have to be right
about what is called for.
We have to be right
about what’s what.
We have to be right
about can and cannot be done.
We have to be right
about our Original Nature.
We have to be right
about what our virtues are.
We have to be right
about our assessment of things.
We have to be right
about what constitutes the Source–
and about what it takes
to live in right relationship with it.
In each situation as it arises,
all our life long. - 04/20/2020 —
03/06/2020 — The purpose of being here, now,
is to be here, now.
The purpose of seeing is to see.
The purpose of hearing is to hear.
Being here, now.
Seeing what is to be seen.
Hearing what is to be heard.
Leads to doing what needs to be done.
That is all there is to it.
03/06/2020 — Taoism/Zen focuses on the moment,
this moment,
and being aligned with our Original Nature
while living in accord with the Way
in light of the time and place of our living.
Buddhism focuses on avoiding suffering,
escaping the Eternal Wheel
of death and rebirth,
and enjoying Nirvana
and the everlasting delights of the Farther Shore.
03/08/2020 — What Zen calls “enlightenment,” other cultures call “growing up.” All of the goals of Zen and Taoism, letting things be what they are, seeing what’s what, not pushing the river, eating when hungry, resting when tired, etc. are all achieved by growing up. And we cannot hurry growing up any more than Zen masters could hurry enlightenment. It comes in its own time. “When the time is right.” In the meantime, we live our life, tend our business. “Chop wood, carry water.”
03/10/2020. — We cannot be anywhere but where we are,
so, what makes being somewhere else attractive?
What makes this here, this now, unappealing?
What keeps us from simply settling into Now?
Looking around?
Seeing what’s what,
and what needs to be done about it,
and doing it,
as best we can,
with what we have to work with?
Or waiting for the turning,
for a door to open,
for the time to change,
allowing something to be done then
that cannot be done now?
Now spent waiting for then
is time well-spent.
Take nap.
Go for a walk.
Or for a hamburger,
or a bowl of chili.
Do you feel more like a hamburger
for lunch,
or a bowl of chili?
Or something else?
Sometimes, that is all the knowing
you need to know.
Between the times for acting
in response to what occurs to us,
we wait for the urge to arise
to do what it is time to do,
accompanied by a hamburger,
or a bowl of chili,
or something else.
03/10/2020 — What guides your boat
on its path through the sea?
What directs your steps
to the goals you seek?
Why do you do what you do?
Like what you like?
See what you see?
What motivates your actions?
Leads–or drives–you
through the day?
Why do you want what you want
and not something else instead?
What does wanting know?
How did doing what you want
become the boss of you?
Where does your wanting come from?
Who–what–are you seeking to please?
How about you try
just waiting to see what you do?
Not-knowing what you ought to do?
Not-caring what you want to do?
Just waiting to see what you do?
How would that be worse
than being compelled to do what you want
whether you want to or not?
What has having what you want
ever done for you?
03/11/2020 — All doctrine is a theory
about how things are.
All doctrine requires that we
“take it on faith” that it is so.
All doctrine comes to grief upon
the self-validating nature of doctrine.
We take it on faith that it is so,
and immediately, “like that,”
it becomes so.
Our faith in our doctrine
is instantly transformed into a fact
based on the self-confirming nature of faith.
This is the paradox of faith.
Believing something is so makes it so.
Kurt Godel made this the ground
of his *Incompleteness Theorem*
in 1931.
His theorem?
“This statement of number theory
does not have any proof.”
This is the Godel Doctrine.
All facts are faith-based.
Ray Grigg (in *The Tao of Zen*) said,
“Any system of thought creates
its own paradoxes, perpetuates them,
and is incapable of resolving them.”
And, “Paradox is deeper than language.
It is a quality inherent in systems themselves.”
And, “Each self-referential system cannot prove itself because it cannot
get outside of itself to do so… No
consistent system of thought
can verify itself.”
And, “Every statement of truth
is either self-contradictory
or incomplete.”
We are awash in paradox.
We play at making sense,
but it only makes sense
within the system of thought
we call “sensible.”
It is nonsense to everyone else.
That’s doctrine for you.
Is it “good sense” or “nonsense”?
It depends on who you ask.
Or upon what you say.
It cannot be validated
beyond the word of those
who believe it to be so.
The least we can do is acknowledge that,
and refuse to push our beliefs
upon those who believe differently.
That alone would change the way
the world works
for the very much better!
03/11/2020 — One situation leads to another.
How we respond to this situation
influences/impacts/determines
all of the situations
that flow from this one.
Our place in each situation
is instrumental in “setting the stage”
for all that follows.
Individuals being themselves
with their eyes wide open
to who they are
and what their impact
upon all of life is
are the key
to the future
of the collective,
of the whole,
of the entire world.
The way you and I
do our thing
has implications
far beyond anything
we are capable of imagining.
Do your thing as only you can do it,
knowing that what you do
matters to all of us.
03/13/2020 — “Bear The Pain”
is my First Law Of Realization.
Everything leads to that,
flows from that,
is built upon that,
falls out around that…
Until/unless we Bear The Pain,
we are stuck in
diversion,
distraction,
denial–
and suffer all of the symptoms
that hiding from the pain of life
brings to bear
upon those who want to live
without being alive
to the experience of life.
Pain comes in 10,000 forms.
As do pain-avoidance techniques.
What forms do your pain take?
What are your preferred avoidance remedies?
Sit down with your sources of pain
in one hand
and your escapes from pain
in the other hand,
and simply experience consciously
living between the hands–
to the point of realizing
that your escapes
are contributing to your pain.
We meet our pain
on the road we take to flee it.
And here comes,
of course,
the most important question
to answer correctly:
“Now what?”
03/13/2020 — Instinct and intuition
“meet each other
at the edge of the coin,”
(Ortega y Gasset).
Living instinctively
is living intuitively.
We intuitively follow our instincts.
We instinctively listen to our intuition.
Debating which is the most important,
or where the line lies between them,
or when and how one goes over into the other,
keeps us from the essential business
of living instinctively,
intuitively,
intuitively,
instinctively.
and puts logic,
reason,
intellect
where heart and soul belong.
03/13/2020 — Knowing what the situation
is calling for,
and offering it as best we can,
is all there is to it.
03/13/2020 — Here is what I have to offer from Alan Watts,
writing in his 1953, “The Way of Zen”:
“Reasonable–that is, human–people will always be capable of compromise, but people who have dehumanized themselves by becoming the blind worshipers of an idea or an ideal are fanatics whose devotion to abstractions make them enemies of life.”
He said, “Humanness,” or “human-heartedness” was (for the Chinese people with a Confucian-led culture) was always felt to be superior to “righteousness,” since people themselves are greater than any idea they may invent.
Principles and ideas, ideologies, result in one way of living.
Intuition, feelings, instinct, inner urgencies, drifts of soul, and a sense of what is in-plum and out-of-plum, result in another way of living.
If we know what needs to be done in a situation, it doesn’t matter what should be done as a matter of principle or moral code. If we consistently do what needs to be done, and let everything fall into place around that, things, generally will be better off for it.
03/15/2020 — The CDC has issued an immediate mandate
to limit gatherings to 50 people
nationwide for 8 weeks.
There is nothing magical abut 8 weeks,
and we will not be suddenly safe
in week 9.
Until there is a reliable vaccine,
we will not be safe, perhaps, ever.
Suck it up, children,
it’s how it is,
and we have to find ways
of being just fine with it,
because we have things to do
before we die–
no matter what our circumstances are.
Our role is to bring ourselves forth
to meet what meets us
in each situation as it arises.
We step into the situation
looking for what is called for there,
and for how best we might offer it
out of the gifts,
genius,
qualities,
abilities,
interests,
character,
virtue (As in, “It is a virtue
of water that it seeks its on level”),
etc.,
that came with us from the womb.
So, now we have the Coronavirus to contend with.
Okay.
That is a complicating addition,
but.
We have bigger things to deal with.
Namely, knowing and being who we are,
moment-by-moment
day-in-and-day-out.
03/16/2020 — Polarities like + and – in an electric circuit
are not antithetical
or at odds with one another.
They are mutually dependent,
and cannot exist without the other.
Think of all contraries,
dualities,
dichotomies
that way.
Our contradictions are essential
for the well-being of our umwelt,
our lived environment.
Light/dark,
good/bad,
right/wrong,
rich/poor,
life/death
up/down
etc.
are the building blocks
of the universe.
It isn’t as though things would be great
if we could just have all positives
and no negatives.
That would not only be impossible,
but also, ridiculous.
The Buddha’s 4 Noble Truths
and 8-fold path
to end suffering
are fundamentally absurd.
Yin/Yang is much more to be embraced
and perceived as the foundation of life.
Life is one in its two-ness.
Duality makes for solidarity
and oneness.
We live between pairs of opposites,
walk two paths at the same time,
and gently tread the slippery slope,
the dangerous trail,
like a razor’s edge,
along the way of life,
with Scylla and Charybdis
on each side
all the way–
with us balancing the antiphony
and producing harmony.
03/16/2020 — I am here to remind you
that we are here
to do what is called for
in each situation–
as best we can
with the gifts,
genius,
proclivities,
talents,
abilities,
and resources
we have to work with.
And let everything fall into place
around that,
situation-by-situation-by-situation.
Jesus and the Buddha couldn’t do more than that.
God couldn’t do more than that.
03/16/2020 — The old themes repeat eternally.
We need some new themes.
Or fewer of the old ones.
Let’s be rid of greed, for example.
And power.
Or, how about this:
I live my life
and you live yours–
without interfering with each other’s
across the board,
around the table,
up and down the line?
Or this:
Those who need help
should be helped,
and those who can help
should be helpful?
Any of these will be fine with me.
You decide which to go with,
and institute it by breakfast tomorrow.
Great!
Thanks!
03/17/2020 — Living from the center
makes all the difference
and means nothing
and makes all the difference.
Jesus lived from the center,
and was crucified dead and buried.
And lives on in the lives of those he touched.
So did the Buddha
and Mohamed
and countless others,
live from the center,
die and live on.
Live from the center,
and let that be enough.
When you feel like it means nothing,
re-double your effort–
it makes all the difference.
03/17/2020 — Trout Lily 03/08/2020 08 — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina, March 8, 2020
My beliefs are short, simple and to the point.
I believe:
Each situation calls for something.
All we have to do is be right in our perception of what is being called for.
And be right in our response to what is being called for.
And allow everything to fall into place around that.
We could call this The Four Noble Truths Revised.
03/23/2020 — Nothing is more important
than being right
about what is important.
The only sin
is being wrong
about what is important.
How do you know
that what you think you know
is accurate,
valid,
correct,
true?
Arrogance,
ignorance,
stupidity,
greed,
are killing us all.
What are you not seeing,
not hearing,
not realizing,
not knowing,
not aware of?
What are you dismissing,
discounting,
disregarding,
denying,
ignoring?
We do not know
what we do not know
and that is the only thing
worth knowing.
Notice what you are over-looking,
tossing aside,
shrugging off.
Be alert!
Be aware!
Be alive!
In each situation as it arises!
03/23/2020 — When Jesus said,
“If you would be my companion,
you have to bear your own cross
every day
and come with me.”
He is saying,
“The messiah is not the messiah!
I am not here to bear your griefs
and carry your sorrow!
Everyone has to bear their own pain!
And still do the work
that is theirs to do–
in perceiving what is being called for
in each situation as it arises,
and doing what needs to be done there–
situation by situation,
moment by moment,
all their life long!”
Anybody can believe in the Christ.
*Being* the Christ
moment-by-moment-by-moment
is what we are called to do,
who we are called to be.
We are what the situation
is calling for.
We are what the situation needs.
Jesus is saying,
“Don’t hold yourself back!
Come with me!
Be me as only you can be me
in each situation as it arises
all your life long!”
No theology.
No doctrine.
No dogma.
Just seeing.
Just knowing.
Just doing.
Moment-by-moment-by-moment.
03/23/2020 — The most important thing
is doing what is called for
in each moment,
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
all our life long.
We think it is
getting what we want
and being happy.
There isn’t a dichotomy/polarity,
further apart than this one
in the entire history of dichotomies/polarities.
I don’t know what
we are going to do about it.
03/23/2020 — Either you can see
what you are looking at,
or you can’t/won’t.
Either you can do
what needs to be done about it,
or you can’t/won’t.
Either you can be
what the situation needs you to be,
or you can’t/won’t.
Either you can do
what is called for
in each situation as it arises,
or you can’t/won’t.
Can you or can’t you?
Will you or won’t you?
It comes down
to those two questions
in each situation as it arises.
All our life long.
03/24/2020 — We get to where we need to be
by being where we are
with our eyes open–
seeing what we look at
by reflecting on what we see
and on what we think about what we see.
By observing,
thinking,
and thinking about our thinking–
asking all of the questions
that beg to be asked,
saying all of the things
that cry out to be said,
making connections,
recognizing contradictions,
putting two and two together,
holding everything in our awareness,
seeing where it goes.
Joseph Campbell said,
“It is by reflecting on our experience
that we arrive at new realizations.”
Conclusions can never be firm and final.
Everything is tentative,
awaiting additional experience,
experimentation,
examination,
reflection,
contemplation,
consideration,
realization…
Letting one moment lead to another,
carrying us with it
all along life’s way–
leading us one realization at a time,
to where we need to be
and what we need to be doing,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
The Hero’s Journey.
The Adventure of Being Alive.
03/25/2020 — We all come from the womb
equipped with all we need
to find what we need
to do what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises
moment-by-moment-by-moment
all our life long.
Curiosity.
Playfulness.
Inquisitiveness.
Resilience.
…
The list is long
of the characteristics–
the Virtues–
we possess
that are essential
to our development
as full human beings.
What we meet when we arrive
encourages,
supports,
sustains
and develops
those qualities,
or discourages,
discounts
denies,
disallows,
squashes
them.
We walk past people every day
who have no chance
because they were separated at birth
from the self they were capable of being
by a culture that preferred
automatons to real live human beings.
This is abortion in the deepest,
truest,
sense of the term.
Being 98.7 and breathing
after being separated from your life
is to be dead, dead, dead.
Exactly what Jesus meant
when he said,
“Leave the dead to bury the dead.”
Those who have never been allowed to live,
cannot be raised from the dead.
But, as Jesus discovered,
they are quite able to kill every living thing.
Life without the virtues living requires
is a very deadly thing.
03/25/2020 —a There is “getting it,”
and there is “doing it,”
all day long,
every day,
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
in each situation as it arises,
for the rest of our life.
This is enlightenment.
Enlightenment is like maturity
in that we are always growing up
and never grown up.
Just so, we are always being enlightened
some more again forever.
How enlightened we are
is how mature we are.
How mature we are
is how enlightened we are.
The two are one.
We gauge our degree
of enlightenment/maturity
by the quality of life we are living
in the moment-to-moment
day-to-day-ness
of our life.
“Getting it” is “Doing it.”
Get it?
03/27/2020 — Seeing what is happening
and doing what needs to be done
about it, in response to it.
In each situation as it arises,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
All our life long.
“Here we are,
now what?”
Stop. Look. Listen. See. Hear.
As we enter each Here and Now
of our life.
See what is happening
and do what needs to be done
about it, in response to it.
That is your life’s work.
That is the Hero’s Journey.
It is so simple anyone can do it.
It is so difficult no one does it.
We have bigger,
better,
things in mind.
And that’s that.
03/26/2020 — In seeking to find our life and live it,
start with your virtues,
(As in, “The outstanding virtues
of this horse are his gentle nature,
and his smooth trot and canter”),
your Original Nature
(As in the things that
are “second nature” to you,
your identifying characteristics,
what you have a “knack” for–
and it is as much how you do things
as it is what things you do).
Work your virtues
and your Original Nature
into your life.
Live to let your life
take shape around
your virtues and your Original Nature.
Your life will not be something you “find”
so much as the way of living
that “finds” you
as you begin to serve your virtues
and your original nature.
You will be “doing” who you are.
Let everything fall into place around that.
04/04/2020 — Donald Trump’s unique blend
of incompetence
and insecurity
combine with the power
and privilege
of his position
to produce a level of pathology
that is unmatched
in its potential for catastrophic desolation
worldwide.
In demanding loyalty
above all else,
Trump dismisses
expertise,
proficiency,
aptitude
and ability
in any of his supporting cast–
and in the U.S. Government,
that is a lot of people.
We have governmental agencies
that cannot do
what they are designed to de
because the people running them
are so concerned with pleasing Trump
they are incapable of performing
their position as required by their position.
The systems and institutions of government
do not function
because of Trump’s infinite depth of neediness
as a human being.
He cannot be helped.
He can only be removed from office.
Yet, those who could remove him
are incapable of carrying out their duty
because they have to faun over their Fuhrer
and please him at any price,
at all costs.
It is insanity all the way down.
04/04/2020 — Think of Karma as momentum
We create Karma
by what we say “Yes” to
and what we say “No” to.
Our “Yes’s” and our “No’s”
collect,
accumulate,
stack up,
spill over,
impact,
determine
what we say “Yes” to
and what we say “No” to.
So that, in no time at all,
we are saying “Yes,” to
all we have said “Yes” to
in the past,
and “No” to all we have said “No” to
in the past,
and we are merely repeating
days and choices
we have already lived and made,
and will live and make,
forever.
That’s Karma for you.
Be careful what you say “Yes” to
and what you say “No” to.
When you see a trend developing,
don’t say anything for a while.
Go into seclusion.
Take an oath of solitude.
This would be a good time to do that,
given the shut-down
and quarantine.
And, you could watch all of Jon Kabat-Zinn’s
YouTube videos
on Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction.
If we all need anything at this point in our life,
it is stress reduction!
04/04/2020 — Despondency is the perfect response to our present circumstances! If we aren’t going to be depressed and despondent, woe-be-gone and dismayed, etc., at this point in our life and the life of our country and our world, we may as well pack up those emotional responses to life and send them back where they came from, because we will never need them ever! Grief and mourning call for these emotions. They are all appropriate to the occasion. We have to feel what is to be felt, and know what is to be known, and bear the pain of our experience.
And bear it in light of that our experience calls us to do in facing up to it, coming to terms with it AND focusing on what needs to happen in the present moment in responding on that level to what our life is asking of us (Taking the dog outside, preparing dinner, etc). We walk two paths at the same time. We live on more than one level at a time.
And, we have to do that consciously, mindfully, opening ourselves to ALL that the moment is asking of us, and responding as best we can to everything on every level, “This, then that, then that over there,” doing triage moment-by-moment-by-moment. Like emergency room physicians dealing with what comes through the door.
04/07/2020 — The Hero’s Journey
is the Spiritual Journey
and is exactly the distance
from having/getting,
wanting/desiring
to seeing/hearing/knowing
what is called for
in each situation as it arises,
and being those who respond
by doing what needs to be done
as best they can
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
day-by-day
for as long as life lasts.
04/13/2020 — a Life is not automatic,
and it is not something
that just happens to us.
We live it in the service
of our Original Nature,
exhibiting,
expressing,
incarnating
who we are in the way
we respond to the time
and place of our living.
Our life is intentionally,
deliberately,
spontaneous,
as though each day
were a night at the Improv.
04/17/2020 — What do you enjoy doing?
How often do you do it?
When is the last time you did it?
How do you maintain your balance and harmony?
What destabilizes you?
How do you deal with destabilization?
Daily questions for reflection.
One Minute Monologues 054
January 30, 2020 — February 29, 2020
- 01/30/2020 — Knowing what to do
in any situation
is a matter of opening ourselves
to the situation-as-it-is,
to the situation-as-a-whole,
and seeing what arises,
what occurs to us,
within.
Living well flows
from living as objectively as possible
in each situation as it arises.
The more subjective,
judgmental,
opinionated,
insistent on having our way
we are,
the less likely we are
to be taken for someone
who lives well
and does what is right
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
situation-by-situation.
This is not to say that we
never act with our own personal good
in mind.
If we are true to ourselves
and true to the good of the situation-as-it-is,
we will sacrifice the situation
to serve our good
a high percentage of the time.
But, this is to say that our own personal good
is nothing personal,
and we don’t serve it
as a way of having our way
and getting what we want.
We serve it because our good–
our integrity,
our vitality,
our virtue,
our energy,
our spirit,
our identity,
our personhood
our heart/soul/self
is at stake and on the line,
and if we do not take up our own cause,
who will?
Our good is equal
with the good of the situation as a whole.
We serve both,
and when there is a conflict,
we choose where the priority lies,
as objectively as possible.
Which makes us largely unpredictable,
and means that we are often curious ourselves
about what we will do,
and have to wait and see
when the time for acting is upon us. - 01/30/2020 — Thunder Ridge 10/29/2019 07 Panorama — Blue Ridge Parkway, Milepost 74.7, Virginia, October 29, 2019
Culture is the Great Enemy of Truth.
Everywhere I have been,
culture proved to be invincible and immune to Truth.
Culture is “the way we do things.”
“The way things are done.”
“The way things are.”
“The way things are supposed to be.”
Remember the Hippies
and the protests of the 1960’s?
What changed?
The music, a little, maybe.
Slavery gave us the Blues and Jazz,
and the 60’s gave us Rock-and-Roll.
Cotton is no longer King,
but Money still rules with an iron fist.
Money creates poverty,
requires poverty,
and takes no notice of the poor.
The culture is great about looking away.
All cultures have what they look away from.
Ask any member of any culture,
“What do you not look at,
refuse to see?”
The Untouchables and Invisibles are everywhere
in every culture.
Truth will never bring down the culture,
any culture.
All those revolutions that have occurred
throughout history?
They may have replaced the culture,
but they didn’t change it.
And the replacement culture
was as impervious to Truth
as the replaced culture was.
The culture of the church
is impervious to the Truth of the church.
The culture of Buddhism
is impervious to the Truth of Buddhism.
Etc.
Truth doesn’t have a chance.
Truth’s place is never with the culture,
but always with the individuals
within the culture.
The hope of the world are the people
living as individuals,
as single, solitary,
truthful
and Truth-loving individuals
within the culture.
All of the Heroes of history
are truthful individuals
acting out of their own understanding of Truth
in opposition to the culture of their day.
And the culture crushed them,
but.
The light was not extinguished.
The light never goes out completely,
but remains forever alive,
living in the individuals who awakened
to see, and hear, and know,
and carry the light through another generation
in the darkness of the surrounding culture.
So, live on!
In light of what you know to be so!
In light of what you now to be Good!
And True!
And Beautiful!
As we live in the light,
we attract those who are capable
of seeing the light,
and being bearers of the light,
and challenging the Culture of Darkness
at every point
in the eternal dialectic of Good/Evil,
Right/Wrong,
Truth/Culture
through the ages. - 01/312020 — Last Days of Fall 11/03/2019 29 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Bass Lake, Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, November 3, 2019
Everything is worse waking up at 2:00 AM.
That’s because our conscious mind
is still asleep,
and our unconscious mind is running the show.
We live between rational and irrational,
and when our rational mind goes to sleep,
our irrational mind takes over.
You know all those crazy dreams
that are so real
you wake up wondering
if they are so?
Straight out of irrationality.
And the case is so strong,
you live for days in the shadow
of that possibility.
The irrational world was our only world
for thousands of years.
In those days, the gods (or God)
would talk to us,
and say the damnedest things–
and that world
is the world we sleep in every night.
And we cannot
talk our way out of it
at 2:00 AM.
Some of us cannot
talk our way out of it
at all, ever.
Approached rationally,
at, say, 10:00 AM,
the irrational world
can be a healthy balance
to the world of logic,
reason,
think tanks
and 5-year plans.
Consciously engaging our unconscious mind
in a collaborative communion
of equal partners
is a wonderful way
of finding the Middle Way
between two worlds,
and our scariest dreams
are our unconscious mind’s way
of getting our attention
by shouting, “HEY! WE HAVE TO TALK!”
And the work of being helpfully conscious
is the work of learning to talk
to our unconscious mind–
learning the language of soul–
understanding that the unconscious mind
is pre-verbal,
and speaks with images,
symbols,
metaphors
and emotions,
which we have to translate
into conscious concepts
and realizations.
Our unconscious is not a tool
we can use to achieve our conscious desires,
but a vehicle of perception
enabling us to see what we are doing
from a wider perspective
than the one we operate out of
during our waking hours,
where we create the real nightmares
for our soul to have to deal with
when we go to sleep. - 01/31/2020 — Curves 10/29/2019 08 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia, October 29, 2018
We live to serve the Good of the whole–
of the present generation
and of generations yet to be–
as well as we can perceive that good
as best we can.
And when we see that Good
being slighted and denied,
by those intent on serving their own good
and their own greed,
we call it out
and serve the Good of the whole
to the best of our ability,
anyway,
nevertheless,
even so.
And when we fail to do that,
we fail humankind
and all sentient beings–
and gain absolutely nothing
for our refusal to serve that Good.
In so doing, we deserve
the contempt and condemnation
of the ages,
and bear the weight of that judgment
throughout eternity. - 01/31/2020 — James River 10/29/2019 06 — Big Island, Virginia, October 29, 2019
Everyone has to find their own
way of being in the world.
And bear the pain.
Nobody want to bear the pain.
Everybody wants what they want,
with no pain attached.
The fundamental truth of existence–
of being in the world–
is that we have to give up this to have that.
We pay a price for drawing lines,
and we pay a price for not drawing lines.
So, where do we draw the line.
Fraser Snowden said that
“Is the only true philosophical question.”
We each have to answer it for ourselves.
*Have* to.
To not answer it is to answer it.
To not decide how we are going to be
in the world,
is to decide how we are going to be
in the world.
Deciding consciously,
and choosing what pain to bear,
and bearing it consciously,
is a more grown-up,
self-determined,
decision,
than being blown about
through life
by the ways and will of someone else.
We have to summon the courage
to make our own mistakes,
and rectify them as best we can
by finding our own way
of dealing with them.
“Get in there and do your thing!”
said Joseph Campbell,
“and do it again and again
in dealing with all of the outcomes!”
(Or words to that effect).
But, don’t let me and Joseph Campbell
tell you how to be in the world.
Choose for yourself what you need to do,
and do it.
And bear the pain of having done it.
And choose for yourself what you need to do about it. - 01/31/2020 — Goodale 10/25/2019 23 Panorama — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, October 25, 2019
We have to face up to the fundamental fact of life:
It is up to us!
It is all up to us!
What we believe.
How we see things.
What we think.
How we act.
What we do.
How we deal with our life
and the things that happen to us,
or fail to happen to us,
or fail to happen at all…
Our life is up to us.
How we respond to our life is up to us.
What we do about what happens,
or doesn’t happen,
is up to us.
It is all up to us!
We have to stop taking everybody’s word for anything!
We have to face up to everything ourselves!
We have to decide for ourselves what it means,
and what we are going to do about it.
No one can live our life but us!
So here’s what–
do this or do not do it,
it is up to you:
Imagine you are putting everything you have been told
on a table.
Everything you have been told is true.
Everything you have been told to believe.
Everything you have been told about anything.
Put it on the table.
Now, sweep it all off the table.
And put on the table things you know to be so
out of your own experience.
What is worth believing?
What is worth your time?
What is worth having?
What is worth doing?
What is important?
What doesn’t matter at all?
Do this with everything you think
matters enough to go on the table.
Spend some time with this.
It is an imaginary table,
so you can call it up as you go through your day
and add something else to it
that you know to be so out of your own experience.
We are piling everything on the table
that you know to be so.
That you know to be valid.
That you know to be real, actual, true.
If you put God there,
don’t put the God other people told you about
including the people who wrote the Bible.
Put the God there that you know to be God
out of your own experience.
This is your table.
Add to it over time. - 02/01/2020 — Eastern Bluebird 01/27/2020 — Scenes From My Camp Stool, Zen Glen, Indian Land, South Carolina, January 27, 2020
There is no better way of dealing
with what is coming
than by becoming a Zen Master
in our own life
and developing the skills–
“the science of mind”–
that allow us to take what comes
without being knocked off-center
or off the path of our own becoming.
Here are five book recommendations
for facilitating the transition
from where you are
to where you need to be
in order to dance with what you meet
along the way:
Jon Kabat Zinn, “Wherever You Go, There You are”
Jon Kabat Zinn, “Meditation Is Not What You Think”
Thomas Cleary, “Instant Zen, Waking Up In The Present,”
And my book on the end of the church/Christianity
as we know it: “A Handbook for the Spiritual Journey”
And my follow-up book on how the church/Christianity
needs to transform itself to offer what is needed
in a world where instability and uncertainty reign:
“An Old Preacher’s Manifesto”
My books are available for free on my WordPress web site,
https://jimwdollar.com/home/
and as Kindle books from Amazon.
We do not get to a place of balance, sanity, equilibrium, peace, stability, equanimity, composure, etc.
by thinking about it
but by adopting the perspective,
the awareness,
“the mind”
required to be unmoved and unmovable
in a world that changes by the hour.
The sooner we take up that practice,
the better off we will be–
and the better off the world will be
as a result of our being better off.
What we do not want to deal with
is barreling toward us “at the speed of life.”
Get your Dealing Clothes on
and smile at the idea
of living out the rest of your life
on “the heaving waves
of the wine-dark sea. - 02/01/2020 — Road Through Fall 10/28/2019 05 Panorama — Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia, October 28, 2019
If you are not firmly attached
to your Sacred Core,
you are well-past time
to begin making that connection.
Working to establish,
maintain
and live out of our relationship
with our Sacred Core
is the task of life,
the nature of the journey,
the hope of the world.
Our Sacred Core needs our protection
as much as we need its guidance
and direction,
its consolation
and reassurance,
its peace
and safety.
Our Sacred Core is who we are.
It is our Original Nature.
Our essence,
our Essential Self.
It is what remains of us
when all else has been taken away
by the natural erosion caused
by the weight of our circumstances
over time.
Our Sacred Core is what Carl Jung
was talking about when he said,
“We are who we always have been,
and who we will be,”
and,
“There is within each of us
another whom we do not know.”
We owe it to ourselves
to find out who we are at the Core,
and live in ways that affirm and express,
serve and exhibit,
our Core Identity
throughout what remains
of the time left for living.
Hints and suggestions,
evidence and indications
lie all about us.
Anybody who knows us
even reasonably well
can say about us,
“Isn’t that just like Jim?”
They can tell us who we are
at the Core.
It shines through!
Are you more like a trash can
or a bicycle?
A lawn mower or a beach ball?
Make your own list of objects
that you cannot imagine being like,
and you will find that you belong
to one and not the other.
For your entertaining pleasure,
I am more like a bicycle and a beach ball.
This exercise points to our Sacred Core.
We are more one way than another,
across the board,
around the table,
up and down the line.
There is an “I” in there, in here,
that will not be bent,
and shaped,
and formed
into anything other than itself,
and we not only waste our time
trying to bend, shape and form,
but we also lose precious time
in the work to find, serve and be
who we are.
We only have this lifetime to work with.
Everything rides on how we spend the rest of it.
Getting to know and be who we are
is the choice to be preferred and served.
Let those with ears to hear
be listening! - 02/01/2020 — At Mabry Mill 10/28/2019 04 — Blue Ridge Parkway, MP 176.2, near Meadows of Dan, in Floyd County, Virginia, October 28, 2019
No cutting and running!
No hunkering down!
No hiding out!
No sniveling and shaking!
No worrying and fretting!
No seeking refuge and safety!
No turning to alcohol and opioids,
addiction and denial!
Stand up!
Stand grounded on the bedrock
of what is truest,
best,
and eternal and everlasting
about you!
Grounded in the values,
character,
and qualities
that set you apart from all others
and identify you unmistakably as YOU!
Step forward!
Meet what is coming head-on!
Face-to-face!
Eyeball-to-eyeball!
Rise to the occasion!
Every occasion!
Say, “NO!”
to what must be opposed,
and “YES!”
to what must be championed,
defended,
protected and served
with liege loyalty
and filial devotion!
Do not hold back now!
Now is the time to be bold
and assertive
in honor and allegiance
to what matters most
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
day-by-day-by-day!
Live like it all depends on you,
on us,
because it does!
02/02/2020 — Goodale 10/25/2019 22 Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, October 25, 2019
One of the foundational ideas
of Zen is Working Distance.
Working Distance is the 3rd Way,
the path between Too Close
and Too Far Away.
It is the right distance between us
and all that is going on around us
and within us.
It is the correct amount of distance
required for perspective and action,
for seeing and doing,
in ways appropriate to the occasion,
on every occasion.
Zen doesn’t operate out of a list of commandments,
duties, obligations, responsibilities.
It is quite content with doing what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises.
Jesus couldn’t do better than that.
Jesus would have been a wonderful Zen Master
(He said, “Why don’t you
decide for yourselves what is right?”).
When the disciples took over
Christianity took an immediate
shift toward worse
(They said, “Do what we say is right!”).
All that sin and salvation,
deserving damnation
and earning forgiveness!
Zen has none of that.
With Zen it is just seeing and not-seeing,
knowing and not-knowing,
and living appropriately,
spontaneously,
in response to each situation
as it arises.
Too much thinking,
planning,
scheming,
conniving,
contriving
and you have stepped away
from Working Distance
and stopped seeing what needs to be done,
and are acting to get something
or avoid something,
regardless of what needs to happen.
So, Zen is not Christianity
(and it is not Buddhism either),
and would say
“If you go to hell
for doing what needs to be done,
in each situation as it arises,
then go happily to hell–
and live your life knowing
all the things you would gladly go to hell for,
and doing them the way they need to be done,
when they need to be done,
the way they need to be done,
every time they need to be done,
and carry that mode of operating
with you
straight into the jaws of hell!”
- 02/02/2020 — Swan Lake 10/25/2019 26 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, October 25, 2019
I would go to hell for supporting my child’s,
or your child’s,
or your,
right to be gay,
right to have an abortion,
right to be ____
just fill in the blank
with all the human rights
that come down to
the right to be oneself
without interfering with
anyone else’s right to be themselves.
I would gladly go to hell
for supporting/defending those rights.
Including the right to do
what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises–
however “sinful,”
“outlandish,”
“appalling,”
“blasphemous,”
etc.–
it may seem to someone else,
or actually be, for that matter.
Hell is not the worst thing imaginable.
The worst thing imaginable
is refusing to be who we need to be
in the situation as it arises
because being that
would prevent us
from having, getting, attaining, keeping, etc.
something we stood to gain
(or keep from losing)
by ignoring what the situation needs us to do.
Because failing/refusing to do that
time-after-time
in each situation that comes along
in serving our personal good
at the expense of the good of the situation,
makes us more important than any situation,
and creates hell on earth for us all,
making the threat of hell
just an excuse that allows us to justify
creating actual hell
by the way we withhold ourselves
from life in order to have what we want
and avoid what we don’t want.
Living to not go to hell
is the ultimate justification
for conspiring,
conniving,
and contriving
to have our way
at the expense
of what needs to be done
in situations as they arise,
and puts our personal good
over the good of someone else,
or the good of the whole.
And is nothing more than a way
of avoiding living our life
the way it needs us to live it. - 02/02/2020 — Dome Sunset Abstract Panorama — Clingman’s Dome, September 19, 2001
Jesus said, “Why don’t you
decide for yourselves what is right?”
And told a man he saw working on the Sabbath,
“You better be right about that!”
I take it from these two statements
that we have to decide for ourselves what is right,
and be right about it.
And when it turns out that we are wrong,
we have to recognize that,
change our mind about what is important,
and decide for ourselves in this situation
what is right,
then live to see if we were right about it.
We do that with every situation
that comes along.
We decide what the right response is,
and if we are wrong,
we decide what the right response is
to *that* situation…
And follow that pattern
throughout our life.
We live our way to being right,
by deciding for ourselves what is right,
one decision at a time. - 02/02/2020 — Beidler Forest 11/22/2019 — Francis Beidler Forest, Audubon Center and Sanctuary, Four Holes Swamp, Harleyville, South Carolina, November 22, 2019
The Church, every church, all churches
should be more like an AA meeting
where all members are working a program
to be Zen Masters
instead of being sober and saved and going to heaven
when they die.
If we were all Zen Masters,
sobriety and salvation
would take care of themselves.
And if we were working the program
to be a Zen Master,
we would be helping each other
work their program to be a Zen Master,
and everything would fall out around that.
Nobody would be minding anybody else’s business
or telling other people how they ought to work
their program,
or what they ought to believe,
our how they ought to behave.
People would be saying what they had to say
about their experience,
saying what was proving to be helpful to them,
saying what was proving to be difficult,
and no one would be trying to help them
along with advice and direction
beyond saying, “If that were my situation,
I would do such and such,”
and not telling anyone what they should,
or should not, do.
It would be a listening station,
a saying station,
a “This is how it is with me right now” station.
There would be studies of Zen writings
of the Old Masters and the Current Masters,
and discussions about what is helpful
and not helpful about the readings.
Nothing would be sacrosanct.
Everything would be open to question.
Everybody would be asking all the questions
that beg to be asked about everything,
and saying all the things that cry out
to be said about everything,
and working to be clear about
what their practice was asking them
to be and to do,
and spending time in silent reflection
and introspection
in the service of self-transparency
and self-realization.
And nobody would be harping on “the way”
for anybody else.
Everyone would be walking their own path,
their own way,
in the company of everyone else.
That would be my kind of place. - 02/03/2020 — November 4 11/04/2019 12 — Old Saddle Mountain Union Baptist Church, Blue Ridge Parkway, Ennice, North Carolina, November 4, 2019
Zen is not a religion
in the usual and customary
sense of the word, but.
It is the essence of good religion,
in that it sustains,
supports,
and guides us
in the truth of our own experience,
and that is the heart
of true religion
everywhere,
throughout time.
Teva and Zorba the Greek
were Zen Masters,
as were Yoda and Obi-wan Kenobi.
As are Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt.
Though none of them need ever have read
the first word of Zen,
they all have lived enlightening lives
in light of the truth of their experience.
All it takes is seeing what you look at,
hearing what is being said in word and action,
and responding to your umwelt
in ways fitting to the occasion
all your life long. - 02/04/2020 — Four Mile Creek Wetlands 02/03/2020 01 Panorama — Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation, Charlotte, North Carolina, February 3, 2020
Enlightenment,
Realization,
Right Seeing,
Right Hearing,
Right Understanding,
Right Knowing,
Right Being
Right Doing…
Is like playing.
Children don’t cry
because they don’t know
how to play.
They don’t read books on how to play.
Or watch videos.
Or listen to lectures.
Or go in search of the right teacher.
Or spend long hours practicing playing,
hoping to get it right at last.
They do not ask their parents to
“Tell me again how it’s done.”
Or, “Show me one more time!”
They do not wonder, “Is this it?”
“Am I doing it right?”
Enlightenment, etc.
is playing with perception
and perspective,
and possibilities–
asking all of the questions
that beg to be asked,
and saying all of the things
that cry out to be said,
in each situation
that arises.
And waiting for the dawning,
when we know after many falls
how to walk,
or ride a bike
or skateboard…
The dawning comes in its own time
to those who know it takes time,
and requires the right time,
and keep looking,
wondering,
asking,
seeking,
knocking,
with no idea of what they don’t know,
or what it is going to do for them,
or to them,
or ask of them.
In the meantime,
they wait,
and watch,
and wonder. - 02/04/2020 — Last Days of Fall 11/03/2019 28 Panorama– Bass Lake, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, November 3, 2019
Zen provides working distance,
working room
between the impact
of what is happening
and what needs to be done about it.
Zen is a perspective
which allows/demands
the conscious formation
of a perception
that takes everything into account
and listens/watches/waits
for the right response
to emerge from “the din of confusion”
and bless the situation
with action fitting the occasion.
Zen cannot be hurried.
It bides its time,
waiting for the time to be right
for doing what needs to be done.
Any light can be the right light
for some scene,
but any light will not work
for all scenes.
The light chooses the right scene,
the scene demands the right light.
The photographer waits.
Watching.
Looking.
For the time to be right.
That is Zen in action.
Refraining from acting
until the time is right.
Zen is intently aware
of Kairos,
Tao,
Dharma,
Grace–
the elements at work
in every situation
calling forth
the Virtue,
Vitality,
Energy,
and Spirit
of the Zen Masters
present in that moment,
that they might read the moment
and respond appropriately
in a timely manner.
Zen has no agenda,
and no will to impose
on any situation,
but responds to every situation
with exactly what is needed
in the time and place of its living
and serving the true good of the moment
and of all impacted by the moment,
with the right word,
the right deed,
fitting to the occasion.
Zen is a way of life
that is concerned for
the way life needs to be lived
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
no by applying rigid standards
and codes of behavior,
but by listening,
seeing,
knowing,
understanding
what’s what and what is to be done about it
here and now
in each situation as it arises.
Zen is alive to the moment of its living,
responsive to the moment of its living,
dancing with the moment of its living,
knowing that “there is only the dance”
(T.S. Eliot). - 02/04/2020 — Swan Lake 10/25/2019 18 Panorama — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, October 25, 2019
In any now, we don’t know what is next.
In striving to arrange what we want to be next,
or avoid what we do not want to be next,
we step out of the flow of Tao,
which is domain of time (Kairos)
and place (Dharma),
and falls within the sphere of Grace.
And, we operate as a Rogue Predator
in the here and now of our living,
creating karma,
drama,
entanglements,
chaos,
trouble
and woe.
Better to live aligned with ourselves,
in sync with our Sacred Core
and Natural Order,
attuned to the moment,
waiting for the time to act
in the service
of what needs us to do it,
in light of the best interest
of all concerned,
moment-by-moment-by-moment. - 02/05/2020 — Beidler Forest 11/22/2019 20 Panorama — Francis Beidler Forest, Audubon Center and Sanctuary, Four Hole Swamp, Harleyville, South Carolina, November 22, 2019
The trick is to live engaged with our life
without being entangled,
enmeshed,
embroiled.
That is “the slippery slope,
the dangerous path,
the razor’s edge.”
The trick with pulling off the trick
is to be present
without being hijacked,
commandeered,
confiscated,
held hostage
and compelled
to act against
our self-interest
and the best interest
of the situation as a whole.
To be present to the extent
of being able to assess the situation
and live there in light
of what needs to be done
because it needs to be done,
without having anything at stake
in the outcome.
We buy a plant, say.
And put it in the ground
in the flower bed in our backyard
according to established
horticultural procedures,
and water it, fertilize it, tend it,
and it lives two years and dies,
while all the other plants around it
are doing fine.
We replace the plant
until we find one that has what it takes
to flourish where we put it.
All the while,
going on with our life.
And we work to have the same relationship
with the other aspects of our life
as we have with the plants under our care.
There is distant.
And there is close.
And there is too close.
Physicians work out the proper distance
between themselves and their patients.
Teachers do the same thing with their students.
Parents do the same thing with their children.
Etc.
When the fortunes of our favorite football team
take over our life,
it is time to re-examine
our relationship with our favorite football team.
Etc. - 02/05/2020 — Peaks of Otter 10/29/2019 07 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Abbot Lake, MP 86, near Bedford, Virginia, October 29, 2019
We all know what symptoms are.
Symptoms can be physical and/or emotional.
Emotional symptoms will become physical symptoms
over time.
Physical symptoms will become emotional symptoms
over time.
Symptoms can destroy our life.
Symptoms of any kind
at any level of disturbance
to our way of life
(And if we are aware of them,
they are disturbing our way of life–
and they may be disturbing our way of life
without our being aware of them–
denial works that way),
indicate that we need
to change our relationship
with our life.
Symptoms are our body’s way,
our psyche’s way,
of getting our attention,
of saying,
“Houston, we have a problem.”
And it is up to “Houston”
to work with “us”
to fix the problem.
As “Houston” we go about our business
oblivious to “the problem,”
until “we” (our body/psyche)
call out to “us” (our conscious,
everyday,
normal
way of going about our business)
by way of symptoms
to say,
“We have a problem!”
The problem always, always,
can be traced back to
our relationship with our life.
As long as our relationship with our life
is humming right along
with the proper amount of attention
being devoted to all aspects of our life,
and nothing is being neglected
and ignored,
and we are at-one with ourselves
on all levels,
self-aware,
self-transparent,
in touch
and in tune
with ourselves,
and each situation as it arises,
meditatively,
introspectively,
intuitively,
mindfully,
consciously
present with all that is going on
within and without,
alert to what impact we are exerting
on our life,
and what impact our life is exerting
on us,
on top of it all
and tending it all
as it needs to be tended–
close enough but not too close–
things are fine
and we are as symptom-free
as a cloud in the sky
or a wave upon the water.
But.
When we stop paying attention,
and drift off into Fantasy Land,
and begin living in ways
that cut us off from our life,
our life sends us symptoms
to say “We have a problem,”
and it is up to us to read
the symptoms,
not as something to cure/fix
so that we can get back to life
as we want to live it,
but as something pointing out
that we need
to change our relationship with our life,
and get back go living in ways
that represent a collaborative,
united,
good-faith effort
to be consciously at-one with ourselves on all levels
all of the time.
If we aren’t doing that, Honey,
we are going to have problems
until we start doing that. - 02/05/2020 — Parkway Overlooks 10/29/2019 09 Panorama — Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia, October 29, 2019
Clarity and stability have an antithetical relationship
with each other,
and can peacefully co-exist
only in people who are so well-grounded
in their core identity
that they are incapable
of being knocked off-center
by the ebbs and flows,
weal and woe,
of their life.
Clarity destroys stability
in seeing all things as they are,
and rocking the world
of those who “can’t handle the truth,”
sending people “over the edge,”
who cannot bear the full weight
of life as it is.
Stability requires those people
to have steady and reliable
access to denial.
They can be stable
only when they are unclear
about how things stand
and what is going on,
and can be clear
only by being always on edge
and in danger of “losing it”
at any moment.
We can gauge our degree of “groundedness”
by how much clarity and stability
we can maintain
at any particular time,
or knowing how much our stability
depends on not knowing
what is going on. - 02/06/2020 — Mabry Mill 10/28/2019 06 — Blue Ridge Parkway, MP 176.2, near Meadows of Dan, in Floyd County, Virginia, October 28, 2019
In any situation,
there is what can happen,
what we want to happen,
what needs to happen
and what has no business happening.
Our place is to be aware
of the situation
and the dynamics at work there,
and to live in the service
of what needs to happen
in light of what can happen–
putting what we want to happen
and what has no business happening
well outside the realm of consideration.
In order to do that,
we have to grow up some more again
in each situation as it arises.
Trying to force what we want to happen,
not caring what does happen,
and/or living in the service
of what has no business happening,
has our life,
and the world,
exactly where they are today.
We easily,
routinely,
live out of the orientation
of thinking that what we want to happen
is what needs to happen
whether it has any business of happening,
or any possibility of happening.
Forcing our way to what we want
and refusing to be saddled
with what we don’t want,
no matter what the situation needs most
is the sure recipe for symptoms
and suffering
for ourselves and myriad others.
Growing up some more again
situation-by-situation-by-situation
is the only hope
for ourselves
and the world. - 02/06/2020 — Goodale 10/25/2019 21 — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, October 25, 2019
Zen is great for getting to the heart of the matter.
One of its observations:
“When the student is ready,
the teacher appears.”
Which is easily broadened to:
When the student is ready
everything is a teacher.
When the student is ready,
the teacher is everywhere.
When the student is ready,
the student teaches the student.
Etc.
The catch is that readiness
is beyond the reach of the student
and the teacher.
All we,
either as student
or teacher–
and who isn’t both at once?–
can do is wait
for the time to be right.
(On a personal note here,
I spend most of my time
waiting for the time to be right
for the next thing.
So do you.
Whether we realize it or not.)
When the time is right,
magic happens.
The time is always right for something.
Maybe, waiting. - 02/06/2020 — A River Runs Through It 02/06/2020 — Zen Glen, Indian Land, South Carolina, February 6, 2020 — 3 inches in 6 hours looks like this in the Glen.
The primary thing wrong with most of us
is the quality of our relationship with our life.
Improving that relationship improves everything,
like that (snaps fingers).
The quality of our relationship with our life
improves like that (snaps fingers again),
once we become aware of it.
Mindfulness that is compassionate
and non-judgmental
is the solution to all of our problems today,
any day,
every day.
Being aware of the moment
and our response to it
leads to being aware of all moments
prior to this one
and our response to them,
leads to seeing how we got to be
the way we are,
leads to seeing how that impacts
the way things are,
and how that impacts us.
Simply sitting in awareness
of this here,
this now,
leads to expanding our awareness
of all things great and small.
And that changes things.
Seeing things changes things.
We may sense that on some level,
and refuse to look. - 02/07/2020 — Beidler Forest 11/22/2019 — Francis Beidler Forest, Audubon Center and Sanctuary, Four Hole Swamp, Harleyville, South Carolina, November 22, 2019
We live within our circumstances
in the time and place of our living,
and understand “circumstances”
to always be “more than meets the eye.”
We live in a time and place
that has a place
within the times that have their own
nature,
spirit,
vitality,
and energy,
and are driven by
forces that characterize ages
and encompass cosmic
and geological time.
We are carried along
in our individual lives
by the possibilities
available to us
in the time of our living,
and have to come to terms
with that
in adjusting ourselves
to the full context
of “the present moment.”
We live in times
that have their own
thrust,
drift
and direction–
and it is all a mixture
of synchronicity,
grace,
destiny,
fate
and timing.
A little humility,
wonder,
recognition,
realization,
awareness,
awe,
reverence,
amazement
and regard
for the all-ness
within which is nestled
this time and this place
of this particular here and now
would certainly be
an appropriate aspect
of our response to it–
and would temper our
arrogance and our tendency
to be disgusted with,
and undone by,
the inconveniences
and vexations
of the everyday.
Recognizing our place
within the times that are unfolding
according to necessities
even they do not comprehend,
opens us to the importance
of cooperating with the moment
on all levels,
and allowing ourselves to be led
along paths that open before us
to what is beyond all imagining
and to adventures that have to be lived
in order to be believed. - 02/07/2020 — Four Mile Creek Greenway/Floodplain/Wetlands 02/03/2020 02 Panorama — Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation, Charlotte, North Carolina, February 3, 2020
How we meet the day,
day-after-day-after-day,
says all there needs to be said
about us–
all there is to say about us.
How we get up
and go again,
day-after-day-after-day,
is our opus,
our work,
our lived expression
of who we are
in the day-to-day unfolding
of our life.
How we carry ourselves
through the day,
every day.
How we bear the weight
of having lived up to this point,
this day,
every day.
How we square up to
the facts that define the day,
every day.
How we face up to
how things are
and how we have contributed
to their being as they are,
and what we do about it
all day,
every day.
How we work
with the hope
that is ours,
with the prospects
that are ours,
with the options and choices
that are ours
every day.
How we go about the business
of being who we are today,
every day.
Says all there is to say about us
each day.
Want to know who you are?
Look at how you live each day.
Want to change who you are?
Change how you live each day.
Most of us want to change
what happens to us.
Few of us want to change
how we deal with what happens to us.
Few of us want to live better
with what we have to live with
every day.
We want our life to be better,
while we stay the same.
The road to a better life
is walked by those
who are becoming a better person
day-by-day-by-day.
Better how?
Better how we meet the day.
Day-after-day-after-day. - 02/07/2020 — Cotton in the Field 10/25/2019 01 Panorama — Back roads, South Carolina, October 25, 2019
It is all absurd,
outlandish,
ridiculous,
extreme,
appalling,
atrocious,
abhorrent,
abominable,
disgusting,
etc.
And everybody is saying
“It isn’t MY fault!”
And they all are right.
We are awash in circumstances
that have no discernible cause
and no available solution,
remedy,
fix,
cure.
The disease will have to play itself out.
The affliction of the times
will have to run its course.
In the meantime,
our work remains
what it always has been,
and always will be:
To see what is happening
in each situation as it arises,
and to do what can be done about it
with the gifts and resources we have to offer
in light of the old prescription:
Those who need help
should be helped,
and those who can help
should be helpful.
While we wait for the tide to turn,
we do the work that needs to be done
whether the tide is coming in
or going out,
or turning around.
Our work remains our work
through the ebbs and flows
and the slack periods in between.
Our work never changes.
It is the stable constant in our life,
holding things together
when things are falling apart. - 02/07/2020 — Curves 10/29/2019 01 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia, October 29, 2019
If you were to change your relationship with your life,
and live aligned with your Original Nature,
which I understand to be equivalent
to your Core Identity,
the Source of who you are
and who you are called/meant to be,
you might begin
by sitting quietly
with compassion
and non-judgmental acceptance
for everything that arises in the silence,
and observe all that comes to mind.
Do not engage any of it.
If you find yourself responding emotionally,
or being carried away
on a train of associations,
bring yourself back to the silence
by remembering your breath,
and breathing slowly and deeply,
pausing for a count of 5 between exhale and inhale,
until you have restored your composure,
and can resume simply observing
what arises in the silence.
Hold everything in your awareness,
and end the session when you are ready.
Carry the memory of this exercise
with you through the day,
and as other things come to mind,
add them to all that you are collecting
in your awareness
to reflect on as you have time.
This is called “Listening To Your Life.”
The things that come to mind
are “food for thought,”
for reflection,
exploration,
investigation.
The key to this
is to reduce your emotional reactivity
and to increase your curiosity.
Your role is to ask all of the questions
that beg to be asked,
and to say (to yourself)
all of the things that cry out to be said.
And to ask all of the questions that arise
from your questions and statements.
You are airing out the things that arise
for your consideration.
You are interviewing your Core, your Source.
You are listening for what you need to hear.
Do not take any action of any kind
beyond listening, inquiring, exploring,
seeing, hearing, knowing, understanding,
putting two-and-two together,
seeing how things interrelate
and impact one another.
Sit with the realizations that arise
and explore the experience.
You may want to write things out,
or paint things out,
our dance things out,
or give physical expression
to the emotional experience
of hearing what you have to say.
Your nighttime dreams may present
additional material for you to explore,
and this process has no end.
You are listening to what you have to say to you,
and listening to what needs to happen
in response to hearing it,
knowing and understanding what’s what with you.
Responding to all of this with compassion
and non-judgmental acceptance
creates a space for on-going reflection
and realization–
which will have implications
for the way you live your life,
and change your relationship with your life.
And, it will be a process you engage in
for the rest of your days. - 02/08/2020 — Road Through Fall 10/28/19 06 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia, October 28, 2019
The U.S. Park Service has posted signs
around Yellowstone National Park
that read: Your Safety Is Your Responsibility!
As the conscious, aware aspect
of your physical existence,
you have two responsibilities.
Your first is keeping your whole self safe
in the physical world
of normal, apparent, reality.
The other is living in the physical world
aligned with your invisible Core,
Core Identity,
Original Nature,
Inner Self.
You have to learn to do both
of those things at the same time!
To connect with your Core
and keep yourself safe,
I recommend watching
all of the Jon Kabat-Zinn YouTube videos
(the shortest ones first).
Become a Master of Mindfulness,
living mindfully,
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
and you will be keeping yourself safe
and bringing yourself forth
in living your life
aligned with your Core Identity.
Jesus couldn’t do it better!
No one could do it better!
It is all anyone could ask of you!
In simply being who you are
at your Sacred Core,
in each situation as it arises,
you are providing
each situation exactly what it needs,
and you are being exactly
what you need most to be.
Merely being you here and now
is the Superpower most essential
for life on the planet.
Why would I lie?
02/08/2020 —
Last Days of Fall 11/03/2019 27 — Bass Lake, Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, November 3, 2019
Where do you go to experience–
and what do you do to maintain–
a grounding sense of harmony,
balance,
confidence,
peace,
serenity,
tranquility,
at-one-ness,
at-home-ness,
all-right-ness
and well-being?
How often do you go there?
Do that?
The Old Zen Masters
spent a lot of time
talking about the importance
of virtue and sincerity.
They understood these terms
to mean “living in relationship
with our Sacred Core–
with our Original Nature,
our Vital Center,
our Bedrock Identity.”
The Old Greek Oracle at Delphi
advised, “Know Thyself.”
Shakespeare got into the act
(Act 1, as a matter of fact,
scene 3, *Hamlet*),
saying, “To thine own self be true!”
Jesus said, “Why don’t you
decide for yourselves what is right?”
When we live in harmony with ourselves,
with our Core Self,
nothing can knock us off
that ground of our being.
Live from there.
Instant peace of mind–
of mind at-one with itself.
- 02/08/2020 — Last Days of Fall 11/03/2019 20 — Linville River, Linville Falls Visitor Center, Linville Falls, North Carolina, November 3, 2019
We think we know ourselves.
We know what we want
and what we don’t want.
We know what we like
and what we don’t like.
We know what is important
and what is unimportant.
We know how we see things,
and what we think about things,
and where we stand on things…
But. We don’t know why or how
we know any of these things.
What makes us think that the way we think is the way to think?
What makes us think that we are right about how we see things?
What makes us think that our opinions are worth having?
Where do our ideas come from?
Why do we think the way we think and not some other way instead?
How different can we be?
Why can’t we want what we ought to want?
Why can’t we change our mind about what is important?
Why are we stuck with thinking the way we think,
and feeling the way we feel,
and believing what we believe,
and liking what we like,
and living the way we live?
We talk about being free to do as we please,
but, we are not free to choose what pleases us.
We talk about being free to do what we want,
but, we are not free to choose what we want.
Why are we pleased with what pleases us?
Why do we want what we want and not something else instead?
Why are we the way we are and not some other way instead?
What is the source of our tastes,
and interests,
and attractions,
and enthusiasms?
For all that we know about ourselves
there are more things that we don’t know about ourselves.
So, how can we think we know ourselves?
There is more to be known than is known.
And so begins the Quest:
To know and to be who we are! - 02/09/2020 — Last Days of Fall 11/03/2019 26 Panorama — Bass Lake, Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, November 3, 2019
How much do you enjoy about your life?
How much kindness do you express in your life?
Enjoyment and kindness are the basic elements
in my consideration of a life well-lived.
My paternal grandparents were the exemplars
of those qualities,
and graced their world with exhaustible displays
of both.
They had no more reason for joy and kindness
than anyone else on the block,
in the town,
in the country,
or the world.
They were simply joyful and kind.
For no reason.
Joy and kindness seem to have a plastic quality
about them in my current experience of life,
as though people have to remember
to be joyful and kind.
Have to think about it.
It isn’t second-nature to them.
Artificial,
contrived,
joy and kindness
as a way to something
more important than joy and kindness
is a sad substitute for the real things,
and the legacy of lifeless living.
How many people do you know
who are joyful and kind for no reason–
and certainly not because they “ought to be”?
Spontaneous joy and kindness
erupting without warning
from souls glad to be alive
is evidence of a life well-lived
and a blessing upon all other lives.
What is blocking it,
do you think,
from bursting forth in those other lives? - 02/09/2020 — Curves 10/28/2019 05 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia, October 28, 2019
We can talk ourselves
into and out of doing anything.
“Why am I doing this?”
“Why am I doing that?”
“I ought to be doing something
better with my time!”
Why *do* we do what we do?
And not do the things we don’t do?
We have to find good-enough reasons
to justify spending time the way we do.
Why?
Why does it matter “Why?”
What would we just do,
spontaneously,
autonomously,
if it weren’t for keeping score
and trying to please unknown critics?
Whose business is it
what we do and why?
In retirement, I have the luxury
of uninterrupted free time
in which I can do whatever
I determine needs to be done.
I spend a lot of time waiting to see
what I will do now.
Something always arises.
And, it’s time to go to bed before I know it.
The best thing is
that I don’t have to justify
doing or not doing to anyone.
I just do or not do as the occasion requires.
The occasion required this piece of writing.
I don’t know why. - 02/10/2020 — At Mabry Mill 10/28/2019 05 Panorama — Blue Ridge Parkway, MP 176.2, near Meadows of Dan, in Floyd County, Virginia, October 28, 2019
Some people do things
the way they are supposed to be done.
Some people do things
the way they need to be done.
Some people do things
the way they feel like doing them.
Some people do things
any-old-way-at-all
just to get them out of their way.
What we do and how we do it
makes all the difference–
in the outcome of the moment
and in our own personal outcome
of all the moments we live.
How we do things impacts our life
by virtue of casting a certain “stigma”
or “aura,”
or “scent,”
or “indicator,”
or “finger print,”
or “signature,”
like the Lone Ranger’s silver bullet,
and being the eternal representative
of who we are
long after we have “left the scene.”
We create karma,
not only by what we do,
but also by how we do it.
By what we intend,
by what and how we do things.
Think of karma as “momentum,”
or “attitude,”
or “style,”
which generates an environment
that conditions us to continue
the “mood” we cast by the way we live,
and shapes/creates our future
by being the extension of our past acts.
We impact the world
by the way we live,
and we impact our life
by the way we live.
And this gets us to the Bahgavad Gita
and to Zen.
Joseph Campbell said
that the moral of the Bahgavad Gita is
“Get in there and do your thing,
and don’t worry about the outcome!”
The relationship between “us,”
and “our thing,”
and “the outcome”
in each here and now of our living,
is the story of our life.
We impact that story
by the way we live
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
Zen frees us to live *our* life
by connecting us with the Dharma
of our Original Nature
(“The Face That Was Ours
Before We Were Born”),
and calling us to live out our Original Essence
(To do “our thing”)
in each here and now,
each time and place,
of our living.
This becomes a problem for us
by bringing up in each moment
the contradictions,
the conflicts,
the dichotomies,
the agonies
between who we are
and who our circumstances
would have us be.
How we bear the pain of that impasse
through all of the times and places
of our living
tells the tale.
This is the cross Jesus is talking about
when he says, “If you are coming with
me you have to bear your own cross
every day!”
We bear the pain of being who we are,
where we are,
when we are,
every day.
“Get in there and do your thing,
and don’t worry about the outcome!”
What we do and how we do it,
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
makes all the difference.
Savvy? - 02/10/2020 — The Last Days of Fall 11/03/2019 25 — Bass Lake, Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, November 3, 2019
“I plight thee my troth,”
would do well
as a pledge to one another
across the board,
around the table,
around the world,
up and down the line,
and to the planet as a whole
and all living things
as long as I live.
I promise you my loyalty,
devotion,
fidelity,
unending care,
tender mercy,
truthfulness,
good faith,
good will,
best effort,
continuing presence,
abiding love,
enduring faithfulness,
forever.
Enough of this forsaking
one another
and all living things
in the unending pursuit
of personal profit at any price!
We all are together in this time and place!
Why not live as though we are? - 02/10/2020 — Beidler Forest 11/22/2019 18 — Francis Beidler Forest, Audubon Center and Sanctuary, Four Hole Swamp, Harleyville, South Carolina, November 22, 2019
There is only this moment
and what needs to happen
here and now.
Who can tell us what that is?
Who knows better than we do
what is happening
and how we need to respond to it
out of our own gifts,
and knacks,
and resources,
and interests,
and abilities
and ways of doing things,
ways of being “us”
in ways appropriate to the occasion
in every occasion that arises?
Who can be “us” but us?
We see what is happening
here and now
and we respond to it
as only we can.
We don’t follow any code,
or commandment,
or law,
or duty,
or rule,
or direction.
No doctrine.
No dogma.
No theology.
No ideology.
Just us.
Here and now.
We do not do what anyone tells us to do.
We live out of our own heart,
out of our own Original Nature,
out of our own alignment with the Tao,
the Dharma,
the Virtue,
Vitality,
Spirit
and Energy
of our being who we are
in the time and place of our living.
Each moment is the Great Conjunction
of what needs to happen
here and now
and how we are capable
of reading and responding to
the moment of our living.
This is where we shine.
This is where we were born to be.
We were born for this moment!
It is ours!
Moment-by-moment-by-moment.
All our life long. - 02/11/2020 — Cotton in the Field 11/22/2019 02 — Hwy 267, Lone Star, South Carolina, November 22, 2019
Hope is over-rated.
What keeps us going is service to the Core
when things are favorable
and when things are unfavorable,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
What is called for here and now?
Do that–
without any consideration
of what we stand to gain or lose,
and no contrivance involved
in trying to arrange a future
grounded on what is advantageous to us,
at the expense of whatever is in our way!
How often do we live like that?
Who do we know who lives like that?
Everybody is always taking polls
to tell them how to present themselves
to gain the greatest advantage
over all those they are competing with
for the greatest advantage
over everyone else.
No one has any concern
for what needs to be done,
much less for what needs them to do it.
Where is the advantage?
Where is the profit?
Where is the gain?
What’s in it for me?
No wonder “the center does not hold”!
The center is ignored and forgotten!
Talk of our Sacred Core,
of our Original Nature,
of “the face that was ours before we were born”
is nonsense.
All that matters is what we stand to gain
or lose.
“Houston, we have a problem.”
Bill Kristol quotes a friend of his as saying,
“Donald Trump is to modern conservative politics
what the prosperity gospel is the Christianity.”
And what that is is “Live for the Gain!”
“Profit At Any Price!”
“Hope” is based on our chances
of achieving a favorable outcome.
If we have no such chance,
we have no hope.
We turn this around when we become
the hope of the world
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
The hope of the moment,
living for the good of the moment,
in each moment that comes our way.
Trusting that if we take care of the moment,
the moment will take care of us–
to the extent that we find what it takes
to live moment-by-moment,
day-by-day.
We like to think of having a guaranteed future
for as long as we can see.
But here is the absurdity of “guaranteed futures”:
Billionaires have more money than they can spend,
and they are afraid they do not have enough,
so they arrange a life
in which they do not pay taxes
and make investments
that guarantee more money tomorrow
than they have today.
When is is possible to relax?
Never!
Billionaires have no hope
of ever being able to relax
and be generous
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
They worry about having enough
as much as homeless people do.
Who has the best chance
of becoming the hope of the moment,
moment after moment?
What chance do we have
of becoming the hope of the moment,
moment after moment? - 02/12/2020 — Goodale 10/25/2019 12 Panorama — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, October 25, 2019
It doesn’t matter what happens.
What happens next matters most.
How we respond
to the events and circumstances
shaping our life
makes all the difference
in light of what the moment needs,
and in light of the shape our life
will take over time.
We are molding who we are
moment-by-moment-by-moment
by the way we respond
to what is happening
in each moment
all our life long.
Here is the crucial point here.
Pay attention.
There are two factors at work
in every situation
which determine the meaning
and impact of each situation.
We have to live there in ways
that are true to our Original Nature,
to our Core Identity,
to our Essential Self,
to “the face that was ours
before we were born.”
AND
We have to live there in ways
that acknowledge and acquiesce to
the nature of the times,
governing what is allowed to happen
in each situation.
We have to know what time it is
in terms of what is called for,
demanded,
required–
and in terms of what is prohibited,
forbidden,
impossible.
We cannot force a situation to be
what is out of the question
in that time and place.
“There is a time for every matter
under heaven.”
But. That time is not just any time.
It is not all the time.
We have to be sensitive to,
alert to,
aware of,
what these times
in this place,
sanction
and what they forbid.
And, walk the slippery slope,
the dangerous path,
the razor’s edge–
being true to ourselves
while acknowledging the reality
of the time and place of our living.
This is the agony
that grows us up
against our will.
The contradiction
we never out-grow.
The cross we must bear
if we would be the blessing
we are born to be
across all times and places,
through all situations and circumstances,
of our living.
We bide our time
according to the times,
and walk two paths
at the same time
all of the time. - 02/12/2020 — Swan Lake 10/25/2019 17 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, October 25, 2019
We wake up to how things are
with us
and around us
all of the time.
Waking up here, now
is always a pertinent possibility.
There is no better place to do our waking up.
We are always and forever
waking up
some more
again.
And we cannot wake up
some more
again
without growing up
some more
again.
Waking up and growing up
are the same thing.
We cannot wake up without growing up.
We cannot grow up without waking up.
Waking up is growing up.
We are no more “enlightened”
that we are “grow up.”
We are always and forever
waking up/growing up.
Some more.
Again.
There is always more to know
than we know.
More to see than we see.
More to understand than we comprehend.
The work is never done.
Uncertainty is lack of clarity.
All things become clear over time.
Just wait.
Just watch.
Just wonder.
Ask the questions that beg to be asked.
Say the things that cry out to be said.
And wait.
And watch.
Allowing things to emerge
in their own time,
in their own way.
There are no final,
absolute,
realizations.
Except for this one. - 02/12/2020 — Peaks of Otter 10/29/2019 13 — Peaks of Otter 10/29/2019 07 – Blue Ridge Parkway, MP 86, near Bedford, Virginia, October 29, 2019
In acting in the here and now,
we do so in alignment
with ourselves
and with the moment.
We are at-one with ourselves
and with the moment of our living.
This oneness is shattered
with having something at stake
in the outcome of our acting–
with have something to gain or lose
based on what we do.
To have an interest in the situation
beyond being at-one with ourselves
and at-one with the situation
is to lose the center
between the good of the self
and the good of the whole,
and introduces conflict,
contradiction,
disharmony,
chaos,
trauma
and drama
into the moment,
and it all goes to hell right quickly.
We live from the center
by acting with Virtue/Truthfulness
(Being true to ourselves
and to the situation),
Vitality/Creativity
Energy/Enthusiasm
and Spirit/Mindful Awareness,
aligned with the good of self/situation.
And when the good of one
interferes with the good of the other,
we sit
and wait for the muddy water to settle
and for the way to appear.
When the door opens,
we walk through. - 02/12/2020 — Last Days of Fall 11/03/2019 24 — Bass Lake, Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, November 3, 2019
I have a friend who sailed during the years
between college and marriage.
He told me he became a sailor
when he realized the sea was out to get him,
and it was up to him
to not allow that to happen.
Here’s one for you:
The world is out to get us.
It is up to us to not let that happen.
We have to devote ourselves
to the art of living our life
in an adversarial environment.
Stop expecting life to be fair
and do not think the “Universe”
is going to be on your side!
Start honing your skills
of perception and awareness.
Concentrate on reading the signs,
listening to your body,
and your heart,
and your nighttime dreams,
knowing what’s what
and what you are being asked
to do about it
in each situation as it arises.
Be clear about what resonates with you,
and what is telling you
to get yourself turned around
and walked right out of
places you have no business being.
Don’t miss the signals!
Trust yourself to know things
you don’t know how you know.
Look at everything
until you can see
what you are looking at.
If you aren’t clear about
what to do in a situation,
stop and listen.
Wait for guidance to emerge
from the silence,
a “holy nudge,”
a slight pull toward one particular option.
Trust your sense of direction
until it becomes apparent
that you made the wrong choice,
and then trust your sense of direction
in deciding what to do about that.
Grace is certainly a part
of our life experience.
But.
Grace is more likely to bless those
who know the difference
between trusting their luck
and pushing their luck–
and live in ways that do not cross that line. - 02/13/2020 — Earth Shadow 12/18/2012 — Lake Brandt, Bur-Mil Park, Greensboro, NC — December 18, 2012
Things are not as they appear to be,
and it is our work
to see things as the are–
and to respond to them
in ways that are appropriate
to the occasion.
The “such-ness” of things,
the “such-as-it-is-ness of things,
the “just as it is-ness” of things,
the “lion-ness” of lions,
and the “whale-ness” of whales,
and the “Jim-ness” of me,
and the “You-ness” of you…
Jim being Jim,
You being You,
all subjects,
all objects,
being just what they are,
completely transparent to every observer
and to themselves…
How would that change
the way things are done?
We change the way things are done
by seeing things as they are
and responding to people and things
as though they are who they are,
what they are.
No bullshit that isn’t seen as bullshit
and acknowledged to be such
by everyone seeing it for what it is.
That would change the world.
And that is what we are to be about.
That is our work.
Ripping the facade off the world
and showing it to be what it is–
treating it as though it is what it is–
responding to it on the basis
of the truth of what it is.
Saying what is so.
Getting to the heart of the matter.
Revealing the truth of the situation
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.
Looking at what we look at
until we see what we are looking at.
Asking the questions that beg to be asked.
Saying the things that cry out to be said.
Changing the world
by the way we see the world,
by the way we respond to the world,
one situation at a time.
The trick is to do it with kindness and compassion,
as an accepting presence
in the lives of others.
Which is a great movie,
by the way.
“The Lives of Others.”
It is about kindness and compassion
changing things as they are
by responding to them as they are
and not as they pretend to be.
The work we are all called to do.
In each situation as it arises.
All our life long. - 02/13/2020 — Last Days of Fall 11/03/2019 22 — Blue Ridge Parkway near Grandfather Mountain, North Carolina, November 3, 2019
Doing what Jesus would do
is such the cop-out.
We have to do what WE would do
in each situation as it arises,
and if it becomes clear
that we goofed and did the wrong thing,
we have to do what WE would do
then, in that situation.
It’s like this:
Jesus raised the dead
and Jesus left the dead to bury the dead.
Jesus forgave a woman guilty of adultery
and cursed a fig tree for not bearing figs out of season.
Jesus said, “Whoever is not with me is against me,”
(Matthew 12;30)
and, “Whoever is not against us is with us.”
(Mark 9:40)
With Jesus it is always,
“Sometimes it is like this,
and sometimes it is like that.”
How do we know when is which?
We decide!
It is all on us!
In each situation as it arises,
we size things up,
we see what’s what,
and what needs to be done about it,
and do it.
What do we say?
What would we do?
Or, as Jesus liked to say,
“Why don’t you decide for yourselves what is right?”
(Luke 12:57). - 02/13/2020 — Adams Mill Pond 11/2014 06 — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, November, 2014
We know how to find a comfortable sleeping position.
We know when we are hungry
and when we have had enough to eat.
We know what is right for us
and what is wrong for us.
We know what it is time for,
and what it is not time for.
Etc. ad nauseam.
And we do not now how we know
any of this.
Nor can we say what we know,
only that we know,
and do not know the process
for arriving at what we know.
It is an unconscious,
intuitive,
communion
between our body
and our conscious mind.
We trust our body to know things
we do not know
and do not know how our body knows.
This same kind of knowing
can be counted on for guiding us
throughout our life.
Our conscious mind has to be still
while we wait to know what we know.
The Knower within communes with us
by way of feeling/sensing,
like knowing a comfortable sleeping position,
and knowing when to change it.
At times, we can be so focused
on some task
that a foot, or leg, can “go to sleep”
without our knowing it,
so we can not-know what we know.
We have to attend our body
and tune into our feeling/sensing
to know what the Knower within
would have us know.
What we need to know and trust
is that we have a knowing-function
that is capable of leading us through the day
if we will take the time
to listen to what is being said to us
on the feeling/sensing level. - 02/13/2020 — Last Days of Fall 11/03/2019 19 Panorama — Linville River, Linville Falls Visitor Center, Blue Ridge Parkway, Linville Falls, North Carolina, November 3, 2019
It depresses me to know
how close we are to,
and how far off we are from,
having a country
we all could comfortably share
and live in.
All it would take
is an equitable tax structure
and a good faith commitment
among all concerned
to live together in ways
that honor and serve
the Constitution
and its Bill of Rights.
That is ridiculously easy
and impossible.
And, here we are.
02/14/2020 — November 4 11/04/2019 04 — Goshen Creek, Blue Ridge Parkway, near Boone, North Carolina, November 4, 2019
My hates and loves come in pairs
and stretch into infinity
(For instance,
I hate hate and fear,
I love kindness and compassion).
I am repelled by and attracted to
a lot of things.
Which is another reason
to retreat into solitude.
There is much less extremism here,
and I can be moderately balanced
and in harmonious accord
with my life.
In the best moments
of my good days.
Marianne Moore said,
“The cure for loneliness is solitude.”
Solitude is also a nice fix for over-stimulation–
which is where the culture we have created
to keep us from confronting the truth
of our own silence
keeps us
to save us from the pain
of knowing who we are
and how it is with us.
But.
Realness and authenticity
“lie far back
in the darkest corner
of the cave
we most don’t want to enter”
(Joseph Campbell).
“Hello Darkness, my old friend…”
(Paul Simon).
“Darkness is the cradle of light…”
(Rumi).
And we are left with looking into it all,
to see,
and know,
what is there,
what’s what,
what we are all about,
and how it impacts our living,
and what we might do about it.
“Hold it all in awareness,”
Jon Kabat-Zinn says.
Recognition and realization
are the heart of enlightenment,
and transform our life
just by being present
with us
forever.
We don’t have to *do* anything
to be awake/aware/alive.
It’s more like we have to stop doing
all the things we are doing
to avoid being awake/aware/alive.
Ah, but.
That would be to enter the cave
we most want to have nothing to do with.
It’s called “The Hero’s Journey”
for good reason.
- 02/14/2020 — Thunder Ridge 10/29/2019 08 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Milepost 74.7, Virginia, October 29, 2019
We cannot do anything about most of it.
Carl Jung said that none of the important problems
can be solved–
they can only be out-grown.
We have to wait it out.
And, if we run out of time,
it can’t be helped.
While we are waiting,
we tend to our business
and do what we can,
and let that be enough
because it is all we can do.
Two more things I hate:
Impotence and Immaturity
02/14/2020 — Parkway Overlooks 10/28/2019 21 — Blue Ridge Parkway near Roanoke, Virginia, October 28, 2019
There is a sense in which there is nothing to gain
and nothing to lose.
And, there is a sense in which there is everything to gain
and everything to lose.
As perspective changes,
everything shifts,
nothing,
everything,
nothing,
everything.
Which way is it?
Nothing.
Everything.
That is the way it is.
We have everything to gain
by understand we have nothing to gain
and nothing to lose,
and we have everything to lose
by failing to understand that.
Which is beautifully,
wonderfully,
paradoxical and contradictory–
which makes it the essence of truth,
and meets the essential requirements
of a good joke,
which is also the essence of truth.
And, Yoda was a highly advanced spiritual being
who lived in a hole in the ground–
so what is enlightenment good for?
What do we hope to gain?
What are we afraid of losing?
- 02/14/2020 — Goodale Mirror Panorama 01 — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina
Our life improves
with fewer opinions.
That is a proposition
you can easily validate
for yourself.
Notice how often you have an opinion
about what is happening
in the situations that develop
during a day.
And notice how your opinion
about what is happening
creates more turbulence
in the situation
than what is happening generates.
And notice how different
things are in the next situation
when you refuse to react
with an opinion
regardless of what happens.
If someone asks for your opinion,
say, “I don’t have an opinion about that.”
If they ask, “Why not?”
say, “I have an opinion
about having opinions,
and my opinion is they give you worms.
Or worse.”
If they ask you, “What could be worse than worms?”
Say, “I’d rather not say.” - 02/15/2020 — Parkway Overlooks 10-29-2019 Panorama 10 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia, October 29, 2019
The Rule of Law is grounded upon
the good faith allegiance of the people.
Without filial devotion
and liege faithfulness
to a cause greater than their own,
personal,
good,
no rule is valid,
no power is supreme.
To find favor with the King
is no mean thing–
for it we will go to war.
We will lay down our lives,
and sacrifice
all we ever loved,
and more.
But, the King’s broad appeal
only manages to be real
because of those
who call him Lord.
His great personal power
disappears in the hour
the enchanted ones
perceive the fraud. - 02/15/2020 — Last Days of Fall 11/03/2019 18 — Linville Falls Picnic Area, Blue Ridge Parkway, Linville Falls, North Carolina, November 3, 2019
What is the foundation of your life?
The bedrock of your existence?
The unmovable center,
core,
essence of your identity?
What does it all come down to
with you?
Upon what does your “you-ness” depend?
What are you grounded upon
to such an extent
that nothing can knock you off of it,
shove you aside from it,
pay you to betray it,
prevent you from honoring it?
What goes with you everywhere?
Is true about you in all times and places?
Conditions and circumstances?
Contexts and situations?
Make that consciously,
intentionally,
deliberately
and unashamedly,
evident
in the way you conduct yourself,
transact your business,
do what you do.
Live there defiantly,
determinedly,
proudly,
boldly,
unwavering.
Be.
Who.
You.
Are.
Or, as Joseph Campbell said,
in talking about the moral
of the Bahgavad Gita,
“Get in there and do your thing–
and don’t worry about the outcome!” - 02/15/2020 — Swan Lake 10/25/2019 10 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, October 25, 2019, an iPhone Photo
It is not enough to be who we are.
Two-year-olds in the throes
of the Terrible-Twos
are being who they are.
Who we are must always be
considered in light
of who we also are–
in light of who we are capable
of becoming
in rising to every occasion
and dealing appropriately
with the contexts
and circumstances
of our life.
Joseph Campbell said,
“It took the Cyclops
to bring out the hero
in Ulysses.”
Who we also are
is a mystery
waiting to be revealed
by the nature and conditions
of our life
in the moment-by-moment
experiences of our living.
We live to see,
to discover,
to realize,
to recognize–
all of which are characteristics
of enlightenment–
and to be
who we also are
and what we are capable of doing,
who we are capable of being,
in response to
what we are asked to do
by the here and now
in each situation as it arises. - 02/15/2020 — Beidler Forest 11/22/2019 16 Panorama — Francis Beidler Forest, Audubon Center and Sanctuary, Four Hole Swamp, Harleyville, South Carolina, November 22, 2019
I want you to understand this
on a level as deep as you can go:
The racists,
and the white nationalists,
and the Trump supporters,
and the enemies of democracy,
and the GOP,
and the descrators of the Constitution,
Etc.
cannot help being who they are.
They cannot help seeing as they see.
They cannot help feeling the way they feel.
Their life and their perspective,
and their way of being in the world
is not their fault.
They were raise to be who they are,
or the tilt of their circumstances
and the context of their life,
made it easy, if not inevitable,
that they are who they are.
And the same can be said
of each one of us.
We look eyes that see what they see,
but why do they see the way they see
and not some other way in stead?
I lean toward compassion and kindness,
my father was an angry,
insecure, bully during my childhood and youth.
How much am I the way I am
because he was the way he was?
I did not make me the way I am.
I am no more responsible for me
than Donald Trump is responsible for himself.
Our responsibility is limited to
seeing who we are and how we are canted
to respond to our circumstances,
and willingly–willfully–assisting,
or resisting,
our natural bent.
We have to make it easier for ourselves
to do what is helpful for everybody
and difficult for ourselves
to do what is harmful to anybody.
We have to live in light of the true good
of all concerned.
Everything depends upon it.
We have to wake up!
Wake up!
Wake up!
But we cannot hold it against those who don’t.
We can only make it easier for them to wake up,
and difficult for them to remain asleep.
And we have to know,
they cannot help being who they are.
Neither can we. - 02/15/2020 — November 4 11/04/2019 08 — Doughton Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Milepost 238.5 – 241, Virginia, November 4, 20129
Our perceptions of reality
have nothing to do
with reality as such–
with reality as it is.
Reality’s “as such-ness,”
its “such-as-it-is-ness,”
is independent of us
and our perceptions of it.
We impose our perceptions on reality,
and live as though things are
the way we consider them to be.
“Hell, Preacher!
This ain’t the way I *see* things!
This *is the way things ARE*!”
Our lives are awash in reality,
but.
Our judgment,
interpretation,
understanding,
impression,
perception
of reality
is what positions us
to deal with it
the way we do.
Perception (What we see)
is a function of perspective (How we see).
A shift in perspective
changes our perceptions,
changes our world.
Seeing ourselves as a conscious perceiver
and an unconscious perceiver
sharing the same body/brain,
with the joint task of communing
and communicating
with each other
as we make our way through reality
and bring who we are forth
in the process of meeting “the world,”
will help considerably
in our work to “meet the world.”
We have a partner!
A lifelong companion!
We are a little like Don Quixote
and Sancho Panza.
If you can buy into this way of looking
at reality,
your perspective is shifting,
and your perceptions will take on a new quality
as you begin to think about “the world”
as two people and not one person. - 02/16/2020 — Peaks of Otter 10/29/2019 10 — Peaks of Otter 10/29/2019 07 – Blue Ridge Parkway, MP 86, near Bedford, Virginia, October 29, 2019
We cannot help how we see things.
We see everything in ways peculiar to us.
We get along together
by agreeing to grant one another latitude
with regard to the way we see things,
and by agreeing to do some things
the same way regardless of how we see them.
We don’t have to agree about
how we see coffee
or how we like to drink it.
We do have to agree to stop on red
and go on green
no matter how inconvenient that happens to be
or how incensed we are about it being in our way
to stop when we want to go.
Marriage is an arrangement
we enter into with another person
agreeing to live together
in ways that enable both of us
to live the life that is unique to us–
which means a lot of flexibility
on the part of each of us
with regard to the differences
between us in how we see things
and what we think is important.
When children are born,
parents and children have to work out
the differences between how they see things
and what is important,
and what they have to do
no matter what they think about it
or how they see it.
We are all here to help one another
live the life that is peculiar to each individual
without interfering with the life
that is peculiar to each individual.
We do not have to agree
about how we see things,
or about what is important,
but we have to agree about
what we will do
and when and where and how we do it.
Agreeing about what we will do
is the most important aspect of living together
in ways that are good for the life we each are living.
We cannot impose restrictions on others
in areas we all agree are private
and solely up to the individual alone.
Not even people who are married
can force the other to do things
that are contrary to their inner sense
of what is right for them.
We grant each other the latitude
of determining what is right for ourselves
within certain categories,
designated “Your Business,”
“My Business,”
“Our Business,”
“Everybody’s Business.”
And there have to be broad common agreements
as to what belongs in each category,
with the highest, over-arching, agreement
being that we are all here
to live our own peculiar life
and help each other live their own peculiar life
without interfering with the way
each other lives their life.
We respect each others’ right to their own life.
What is personal?
What is private?
We have to work it out
in ways we all agree to.
No one can impose their idea for my life on me.
I cannot impose my idea for someone else’s life on them.
The most important commandment
in the Old Testament did not make it into the Top Ten.
“Thou shalt not remove thy neighbor’s land mark.”
It remains throughout the ages
as the most important commandment there is. - 02/16/2020 — The Bridge at Baxter Creek 11/07/2007 — Big Creek Campground, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, NC/TN, November 7, 2007
The work of the artist
is not to pave the way of the artist,
but to serve, perhaps save, the world.
We cannot abandon our work
because it isn’t paying the bills,
or even meeting expenses.
Our work is our work.
If we don’t do it, what will we do?
Our work is our gift–
the gift we receive and the gift we offer.
If we neglect, or abandon, it,
what will take its place?
Our art is in the service,
not of ourselves,
but of beauty and truth.
We bring beauty and truth to light,
to life,
in our art.
We are mediums through which
beauty and truth are realized,
recognized,
acknowledged by those
who live with us in this place.
We wake people up to
what is all around them.
We open eyes that are blind.
We raise the dead.
We bring life to life in the world.
When the times are bare
and darkness settles over the land,
the artists tend the flame
that warms the souls,
cheers the hearts,
and makes life possible “between the times.” - 02/16/2020 — Thunder Ridge 10/29/2019 08 Panorama — Blue Ridge Parkway, Milepost 74.7, Virginia, October 29, 2019
There is only so much that can be done
about any of it.
The best goal I can imagine
is to position ourselves
to respond appropriately
to the moment
of our living.
What happens after that
and where that leads is all there is.
We position ourselves to respond appropriately
to the moment of our living.
Everything falls into place around this.
This approach nicely dispenses
with our agendas,
our schemes,
our plans to retire by 45
with no financial worries for the rest of time.
We can’t take care of the moment
and take care of our future.
But, I’m sure you have noticed
that we don’t seem to be able
to take care of our future
no matter how we strive
to achieve that end.
Maybe we should try taking care
of the moment
and letting our future be our future.
It comes down quite nicely to this:
Do what you are doing
and see where it goes.
One thing will lead to another,
and like that (Snaps fingers),
it will be done. - 02/16/2020 — Swan Lake 10/25/2019 04 — Swan Lake Iris Garden, Sumter, South Carolina, October 25, 2015
What does a pencil,
a tree frog
and Donald Trump
have in common?
This isn’t a joke.
It’s a question about seeing
and meaning.
If everyone in the U.S.
answered the question
for themselves
out of their own experience,
what are the chances
that any of their answers
would be exact?
Add a house cat,
a Sunday School teacher,
and a hubcap
to the list,
and what chances
would there be to that?
I’m suggesting here
that we are incredibly different
in our ability to ascribe meaning
to experience.
I’m saying that we find meaning
to our experience out of our experience.
Having someone tell us what the meaning
of a pencil,
or a tree frog,
or Donald Trump is,
and how they are all alike
in some way
is not going to be what
the three of them mean to us
and how we find them to be similar.
We make our own meaning,
and live out if it in ways that are meaningful.
We can all look at the same things,
say a pencil,
a tree frog,
and Donald Trump,
and see different things.
Yet we wonder how we cannot
see Donald Trump for what he is.
It’s easy.
We are seeing Donald Trump
for what he is to us–
for what he represents to us.
How we see Donald Trump
says more about us
than it says about Donald Trump.
The same thing goes
for the pencil
and the tree frog.
When we talk about any of the three
we are talking about ourselves,
about our perceptions,
about our inferences
and our values.
We respond to our world
based on what is important to us,
based on what we are afraid of,
based on what we desire/want/cherish.
When we talk about anything,
we are talking about our reaction
to the thing.
We are talking about
what the thing means to us.
We are the subject
of all of our discourse.
Listen to your conversations.
Meet yourselves,
perhaps for the first time. - 02/17/2020 — Peaks of Otter 10/29/2019 11 — Peaks of Otter 10/29/2019 07 – Blue Ridge Parkway, MP 86, near Bedford, Virginia, October 29, 2019
I have no idea of what
would be truly helpful
in this situation.
I lean toward looking and listening,
seeing and hearing–
and bearing the pain
of knowing what’s what,
and how things are.
So much of our culture–
and our life–
is geared to not-looking
and not-listening,
and not-seeing,
and not-hearing,
and most certainly,
absolutely,
definitely,
and utterly
not-bearing-any-pain-ever.
It sickens me to know
where we are as a nation,
and to know how many people
don’t see what they look at,
don’t hear what they are listening to,
don’t put two and two together,
but repeat their mantras
and embrace their addictions,
dismissing,
disregarding,
denying
the truth of their experience every day.
Because to do the opposite
would be too painful to bear.
Bear The Pain!
Is the foundational step in AA.
The other 12 are contingent
upon that one.
Every one of us would do well
to join AA
because we all are addicted
to avoiding the pain–
some how, some way all the time.
“I’m Jim,
and I can’t handle
the pain of the truth
of knowing how things are!”
It helps just to write that out.
Bearing the pain
means talking about
how difficult it is
to bear the pain–
in the company of those
who know what I’m talking about.
We pick up our pain–
the cross Jesus was talking about–
and carry it with us through every day.
And do there
what we can imagine doing
to help one another
carry the pain they are carrying.
One day at a time. - 02/17/2020 — Thunder Ridge 10/29/2019 09 Panorama — Blue Ridge Parkway, Milepost 74.7, Virginia, October 29, 2019
In any moment,
there is what the moment
needs of us,
which is what we need to do
in order to do right by the moment.
In any moment,
we only need to be clear
about what that is
and do it.
Moment-by-moment-by-moment.
Savvy?
Oy?
What stops that from happening? - 02/18/2020 — Glade Creek Mill — Babcock State Park, Clifftop, West Virginia, October, 2005-ish
Seeing/hearing is exhausting,
depressing,
inadequate,
frustrating,
demoralizing…
The list is long.
Everybody who sees
has enough
after a while.
Jeremiah broke out with,
“Land, Land, Land!
HEAR what I’m saying!”
(Or words to that effect)
Jesus came out with,
“How long am I to be with you?
How long am I to bear with you?”
Lao-tzu just said to hell with it,
and went off into the wilderness
to get away from it.
I process each day’s experience
by ending the day early,
at 4 PM,
and writing what I write here,
reading what is helpful
in settling myself down
and coming to terms
with the truth of how things are,
and opening myself to my nighttime dreams,
listening to what they have to say
to me about me,
and getting up early
to square myself up with it all,
and start over again with another day.
I do not find much of what I need
outside of myself,
so I have to bring it up consciously,
intentionally,
mindfully,
from within,
relying on The Other Within
to help me to know what I need to hear/see
and come to terms with how thing are with me
and with my life.
I don’t know how you do it,
or will do it,
but I trust you to find your own way
of bearing the burden of seeing/hearing,
a way that enables you to know what’s what
and what to do in response to it,
to restore your harmony,
your balance,
your relationship with the bedrock
of your life,
enabling you to face each day
standing on your own two feet,
grounded in who you are
and what matters most to you,
and able to live out of that foundation
in meeting all that comes your way,
processing it as you go,
tucking it all away in your awareness
to consider,
look into,
see/hear/know,
and fold into being who you are
contemplating who you are,
“circumambulating” around
who you are becoming
toward who you have yet to be,
through each day,
all your life long. - 02/18/2020 — Otter Lake 10/29/2019 02 Panorama — Blue Ridge Parkway, Milepost 60.9, Virginia, October 29, 2019
Notice what catches your eye,
what stirs an emotional response
(positive or negative),
what stands out about your day,
about the moment.
Make a point of sitting with it
when there is time.
Calling it to mind,
turning it over,
mulling its meanings,
seeing what train of associations
it brings to mind,
how your mind leaps about around it,
what it stirs to life within you,
what memories come to life,
what feelings awaken,
allow it all to flow through you,
holding it all in your awareness,
just watching,
just seeing,
just noticing what impacts you,
what realizations dawn,
what connections you make,
where the ruminations take you,
what other ruminations they spawn…
The smallest thing
is a doorway to 10,000 things,
each of them a doorway itself
to 10,000 more things.
All of which need an audience with you.
Be their audience.
They have come to tell you
things you need to hear.
To disclose things
you need to know. - 02/18/2020 — Swan Lake 10/25/2019 06 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, October 25, 2019
We cannot do anything
about the things that matter most.
What do we do about that?
Come to terms with it!
Let it be
because it is!
Don’t take it seriously,
just like we don’t take seriously
the other facts in our life.
It’s raining,
or it’s not raining.
Etc.
We note it,
and go on with our life,
and go about our business,
in light of the facts,
but not controlled,
mastered,
owned
by the facts.
We cannot do anything
about the things that matter most.
What can we do?
Racism has been with us how long now?
How long have we talked about equality?
Women’s rights?
LGB-ETC rights?
Human rights?
How much closer are we to realization
of what ought to be anywhere
than we were when we started talking?
Democracy was to be the place
where everyone had an equal opportunity
to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
How did that work out?
What can we do?
Live in the service of what matters most
to us individually and collectively–
without thinking that everybody
has to do it like we do it.
Stand for what is right.
Do what is right.
Live in the service of what is right.
As you understand what is right.
Be unflagging and relentless
in your work for what is right.
And let that be that.
We are here to do what is right
as we understand what is right.
Not to achieve Nirvana
or impose our idea of what is right
on everyone else.
We cannot use the fact that no one else
cares about what is right as we understand it
as an excuse to be lax
or to quit
in our service of what is right
as we understand it.
The outcome of our work
cannot influence the effort
we put into our work.
We do not gauge the value of our work
on the basis of the successful realization,
completion,
of our work.
The work is never done.
We are always doing it.
That’s it.
Carry on! Carry on! - 02/18/2020 — Parkway Overlooks 10/29/2019 20 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia, October 29, 2019
Zen Koans put an end to the conversation,
in service to Sheldon Kopp’s observation,
“Some things can be experienced,
but not understood,
and some things can be understood,
but not explained.”
Carl Jung said,
“None of the important problems
can be solved–
only outgrown.”
The same rule applies to the important questions–
they cannot be answered,
only outgrown.”
Zen is an orientation to experience
that sees and understands and knows
what’s what
and what can be done about it,
that cannot be understood or explained.
After awhile,
if you are awake enough,
you “get it,”
you see what is happening,
and know how to respond to what is happening
in ways that are appropriate to the occasion,
in each situation as it arises,
forever.
You “get it,”
but you can’t “tell it”
to anyone
in a way that enables them to “get it.”
Get it? - 02/18/2020 — Thunder Ridge 10/29/2019 10 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Milepost 74.7, Virginia, October 29, 2019
How many have there been?
How many are yet to be?
Gimmicks, I call them.
Quasi religious/spiritual/kooky/woohoowoohoo…
ideas for turning our life around
and ushering in “Serenity Now.”
I remember Glossolalia/Speaking in Tongues/Tongues,
and “The Prayer of Jabez ,”
and “The Law of Attraction,”
and “The Book of Miracles,”
and “The Power of Positive Thinking,”
and “Astrology,”
and “Crystals,”
and “The Rapture,”
and currently there is “Gratitude”
and “Ascension”
…
The list is endless and on-going.
All serving up denial,
buffering reality,
giving us something to do,
to think about,
other than the things
we don’t want to do,
or think about…
How much religion
is escape
from a life–
a way of living–
that is traumatic
and unbearable?
“Pie in the sky by-and-by.”
“Anything but here and now.”
Life is bearing the pain
that must be borne
in the service of the things
that need to be done.
Life is squaring ourselves up
with how things are
in order to deal appropriately
with what’s what
with the gifts, genius, abilities
that are ours to share
in the service of the best
we can imagine
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.
What helps with that work?
What hinders that work?
What takes our mind off that work?
What keeps that work from being done?
What enables us to be who we are?
What prevents that from happening? - 02/18/2020 — Beidler Forest 11/22/2019 17 — Francis Beidler Forest, Audubon Center and Sanctuary, Four Hole Swamp, Harleyville, South Carolina, November 22, 2019
There is an assumption,
particularly popular among
those belonging to Left-leaning political groups,
that if people “just had what they needed,
everything would be fine.”
Everything would not be fine.
If people had what they needed,
they would still want more.
“More” is the never-ending quest.
Billionaires attest to that.
People can’t get enough
of what they don’t have.
Jerry Seinfeld had to buy
another parking garage
for his antique car collection.
Where does it end?
In the grave, it is said,
but who knows even that much?
What we can surmise,
based on what we observe,
is that there is a greed-gene
within us.
We are possessed by the desire to possess.
We are born seeking something,
we don’t know what,
but, we are insatiable
and dissatisfied,
and always one acquisition
away from happy at last.
What would it be like
having nothing left to want?
Like being dead, no?
Maybe that’s the origin
of the idea of the grave
being the end of wanting,
though it is the reverse that is
more likely so:
The end of wanting is the grave.
As long as we are wanting something else,
we at least know we are still alive. - 02/19/2020 — Swan Lake 10/25/2019 07 Panorama — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, October 25, 2019
It has been called
God,
Our Original Mind,
Our Natural Self,
Our Essential Self,
The Two Million Year Old Man/Woman/Self,
Our Buddha Mind/Nature/Self,
Our Christ Mind/Nature/Self,
Our Original Essence,
Our Higher Power,
The Tao,
The Way,
The Face That Was Ours Before We Were Born,
The Face That Was Ours Before Our Parents Were Born,
The Unconscious,
The Psyche,
The Self At The Center,
Our Sacred Core,
The Center,
The Bedrock,
The Ground,
The Foundation,
Herman,
Martha
and Cedric.
Just to mention a few.
Living out of our relationship
with whatever name you prefer
makes all the difference
in our life.
It only takes believing it is so
to know that it is. - 02/19/2020 — Beidler Forest 11/22/2019 01 — Francis Beidler Forest, Audubon Center and Sanctuary, Four Hole Swamp, Harleyville, South Carolina, November 22, 2019
Three stories from the Old Testament
capsule who we are
and how we got here.
Adam and Eve.
Cain and Abel.
Jacob and Esau.
All of the other stories ever
are extensions
and elaborations
of these three.
Donald Trump and the GOP
are merely repeating
the age old themes,
worn bare with retelling.
New generations
have been coming along
for eons.
Not one has been new.
“What to to? What to do?”
Take care of your business each day.
Rise to meet every occasion.
Bring your best to bear
on each situation as it arises.
“Do justice,
love kindness.”
See what you look at,
know what’s what
and what can be done about it,
and do what you can do
as best you can,
moment-by-moment,
day-by-day.
No one can do more than that
in any context or circumstance.
The times come and go.
Some are better and some are worse,
but the response of the people to the times
is always the same:
Stop and see what is happening
and respond in ways
that are fitting to the time and place
of your living.
Moment-by-moment,
day-by-day. - 02/19/2020 — Cotton in the Field 11/22/2019 03 — Hwy 267, Lone Star, South Carolina, November 22, 2019
When we know what’s what,
and what’s happening,
and what needs to be done about it
in each situation as it arises,
we know all we need to know–
and nobody told us any of it.
We didn’t get the knowledge
from reading books,
or listening to lectures,
or being preached to,
or memorizing doctrines
or sutras.
We received our knowledge
of the moment
and what is happening there
and what needs to be done in response
by stopping to listen,
to look.
By seeing and hearing,
right here,
right now.
That is all we need to know.
How to respond appropriately
to the occasion
in each situation as it arises.
Savvy?
Oy? - 02/20/2020 — Thunder Ridge 10/29/2019 11 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Milepost 74.7, Virginia, October 29, 2019
Everyone who knows
this kind of thing,
knows how hard Steph Curry works
to be Steph Curry.
And they know how hard LeBron James works
to be LeBron James.
These guys don’t just show up at game time,
shooting 3’s,
making steals,
creating the flow of the game.
Dak Prescott joins them
in putting as much–
if not more–
into preparation
as he puts into playing.
How hard do you work at being you?
You have to work harder at being you
than anybody you know
works at being who they are!
I have to work harder at being me
than anybody I know
works at being who they are!
That is, as they say,
the key to the game.
Any game.
Every game.
It takes hard work–
conscious work–
mindful work–
compassionate,
kind,
unrelenting work–
to be who we are
in each situation as it arises,
looking/listening,
seeing/hearing,
knowing/doing
what needs to be done
in bearing the pain
that must be borne,
and rising to the occasion
with exactly what is needed,
time-after-time-after-time.
Reflection,
contemplation,
concentration,
introspection,
non-judgmental,
compassionate
awareness,
awareness,
awareness
and application,
application,
application–
throughout each day
all our life long.
I have to distance myself
from the trauma and drama
of life to do it.
I don’t know what your
approach and regimen
will be.
We each have to work that out
for ourselves,
on our own.
Trial and error, Kid.
Trial and error! - 02/20/2020 — Swan Lake 10/25/2019 09 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, October 25, 2019
Zen doctrine is as convoluted,
contradictory,
and self-destructive
as Christian doctrine is–
as any doctrine is.
You know how it is with doctrine.
It all rests on “faith.”
“You just have to take that part ‘on faith’!”
is the shut-off to all inquiry
into the impasses
and incongruities
and one thing canceling out another.
The Zen formulation of taking things “on faith,”
is, “The master’s intuition is the final authority”
And, everyone has to “take that on faith.”
There is no Final Authority!
It is all open to question and revision!
The ground is what we,
or someone,
says the ground is,
but it is being held up by “faith.”
It comes down to “what we take on faith.”
I propose that we ground our faith
in our ability to know what’s what
and what needs to be done about it
out of our own experience with our life
as we live it.
Our life shows us what works
and what does not work,
and in what situation it works
and does not work.
First our pants,
then our shoes.
Through our everyday doing
of what needs to be done,
when it needs to be done,
where it needs to be done,
how it needs to be done,
we find authentic values,
direction,
guidance
and our original nature–
what our gifts,
genius,
knacks,
talents,
abilities,
proclivities, etc.
are.
Just doing what we are doing
with our mind on what we are doing
and our eyes open
to how that is working,
and how it might be better done,
or what else might be done instead…
And letting that be that.
And moving on to the next situation,
where all this is repeated,
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
situation-by-situation
all our life long.
Savvy?
Oy? - Goodale 11/22/2019 02 — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, November 22, 2019
The moment is packed with a blueprint
for the future.
When we take care of the moment
the way the moment needs to be
taken care of,
we are laying the foundation of a future
that is crying out to be realized.
In each moment,
there is a future crying out to be realized.
We think moments are throw-a-ways,
in-our-ways,
standing between us
and the future we want for ourselves.
Or, we are Adam and Eve
in this regard.
David and Bathsheba.
Throwing away the future
for what we want in the moment.
We are for the moment.
The moment is not for us.
How we live in the moment
positions us for the future
that is crying to be realized.
And we have to take the chance
that our position in that future
will be better than our position
in the future we create
by living for ourselves in the moment
or by disregarding the moment
in trying to arrange a future to our liking.
It is always just us and the moment,
this moment,
the present moment,
here and now.
How we live in it tells the tale.
Putting ourselves in right relationship
with the present moment
creates the potential
for the future that is crying out to be realized.
In taking care of the moment,
we are taking care of the future.
And trusting that we will be fine,
no matter what.
As all the old Zen masters liked to say,
“Columbus took a chance.” - 02/21/2020 — Swan Lake 10/25/2019 21 B&W — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, October 25, 2019
There is no carry-over
from moment-to-moment
except in the realization
that nothing learned
in this moment
can be assumed in the next moment,
and in the sense that it is the same
in every moment:
Stop and see.
Stop and hear.
Ground yourself on the bedrock
of your own identity.
Know what’s what
and what is happening
and what needs to happen in response.
And serve the moment
as though it is your last.
Read And Respond, Kid.
Read And Respond.
Moment-by-moment-by-moment.
It doesn’t get easy.
We can’t fly on auto-pilot
in any moment.
We can’t take a moment off.
No matter what happened
in the last moment,
get up,
get ready,
here comes the next one,
get set,
GO! - 02/21/2020 — The Viaduct Variations 10/15/2008 03 — Blue Ridge Parkway near Grandfather Mountain, October 15, 2008
Desire fuels fear and anger,
terror and rage–
and throws us into calculating,
conspiring,
conniving our way
through our life.
“If we only do this,
and that,
like so,
we can avoid this
and achieve that,
and acquire that over there!”
And that is the formula
for creating the heaving waves
upon the wine-dark sea.
Desire complicates everything.
We have a stake in all of it.
There is something to gain or lose
in every moment.
We cannot see the moment
for being afraid and angry
in response to the threats
posed by the moment
to our sense of well-being
and our peace of mind.
Seeing the moment
means having nothing
on the line in the moment.
EMT’s can triage the situation
and assess what needs to be done first
as long as they don’t have a family member
in the wreck.
It goes all to hell
when we have a vested interest in the outcome.
Our desire for a situation
leads us to manipulate the situation
for our own good
in stead of responding to the situation
in light of what needs to happen
for the good of the situation as a whole.
The subjective overrides the objective.
The partisan rules out the non-partisan.
And we live like the beasts in the jungle
to have what we want
at the expense of every other thing.
We have to grow up
and be aware
of all that is at work within us
and with the situation at large–
and act in light of it all.
Growing up and living with (non-judgmental,
compassionate) awareness
is the solution to all of our problems today–
and to many of those that don’t belong to us.
It is the crucial first step
to being the change that needs to happen
in the here-and-now of daily life. - 02/21/2020 — Baxter Creek Bridge Panorama 11/11/2008 — Big Creek Campground, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, NC/TN, November 11, 2008
My short history of Zen
The Bodhidharma was a Buddhist missionary who brought Buddhism from India to China at the end of the 5th Century and the beginning of the 6th. He died in 540 C.E. His teaching was called Ch’an Buddhism indicating a filtering process through its encounter with the Confucianism and Taoism that were entrenched in the Chinese people.
The Great Anti-Buddhist Persecution reached its height in 845 C.E., and it was after that that the remnants of Ch’an were further molded into what became Zen in China and Japan. And, thus, it is said that “Zen is what happened when Buddhism met Taoism.”
Three excellent summations of this process are to be found in Thomas Hoover’s two books, “The Zen Experience” chronicles the development of Buddhism, Ch’an and Zen from India to Japan through the lives of the people who were instrumental in its transmission. This book is not to be missed (as are the remaining two!) and the best thing about it is that it is free!
All of Hoover’s books are free on the Kindle Store at Amazon. And Amazon provides a free Kindle App for Android or Apple/Mac operating systems. So you can download the free App, and download the free books (this one and the next one). The third book will cost you.
Hoover’s other Zen book (He has written a number of free historical novels, said to be good (I’m saving those for my really old age)) is “Zen Culture,” wherein he discusses Zen philosophy and its history in Japan.
The third book is “The Tao of Zen,” by Ray Grigg, $7.47 Kindle price. It’s an excellent book on both Taoism and Zen, and I re-read it annually just for the pleasure of revisiting Grigg’s writing.
That’s it. You are three books away from a shift in the way you look at your life and your place in it. You are standing on the brink of a “new world, Golda”! Happy trails! - 02/21/2020 — Thunder Ridge 10/29/2019 Panorama 12 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Milepost 74.7, Virginia, October 29, 2019
My favorite Zen story
has a master and one of his disciples
crossing a bridge
when the disciple asked,
“What is Zen?”
The master picked up the disciple
and threw him in the river–
and shouted:
“That is water!
Swim in it,
bathe in it,
drink it
or drown,
but don’t talk about it!
To talk about water
is to not-know water!”
The same would apply
not only to Zen,
but to any religion
there has ever been.
Talking about the moon
is not the moon.
Don’t think you know the moon
until you have camped there
and watched the Earth rise and set. - 02/22/2020 — Swan Lake 10/25/2019 25 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, October 25, 2019
There are two things that are absolutely critical:
Being who we are
from the ground up
and the inside out
in each situation that arises,
And being who,
doing what,
the situation needs us to be/do
in each situation as it rises.
We have to be true to ourselves
and we have to do what needs to be done.
All of the time.
There are a couple of catches here.
It is very often that what the situation requires
is for us to not be true to ourselves.
Anybody who has ever been married
or had children,
or worked for a living,
or had parents,
knows what I’m talking about.
We sacrifice ourselves 10,000 times
between getting out of bed
and brushing our teeth!
The other catch is
that we don’t know who the hell we are–
which one of us is the true us?
We can’t decide what to order for lunch!
What chance do we have
of being who we are
in every situation that arises?
There are 10,000 of us in here
at war with each other.
It is no simple matter
to be true to ourselves
and do what needs us to do it.
And it is absolutely critical.
How we do it is a three-step process.
Stop. See. Hear.
That’s the first step.
Negotiation and Compromise, Kid.
Negotiation and Compromise.
That’s the second step.
Bear the Pain.
That’s the third step.
In every situation that arises.
All our life long. - 02/22/2020 — Cotton in the Field 11/22/2019 Panorama 04 — Hwy 267, Lone Star, South Carolina, November 22, 2019
The number of moments
contained in a situation
is a function of the situation.
Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner–
or a cocktail party, etc.–
is a situation that lasts forever
and presents an infinite number of moments
requiring us to be awake, aware, alive,
when the default position
is to be dead, dead, dead.
We have to bear the pain.
Suffer the occasion.
And respond to what is being asked of us
in ways that bring the best we have to offer
to the time that is at hand
(Which includes excusing ourselves
and getting ourselves walked out of there
as quickly as possible
to a better place to be).
We make the call regarding
what is being asked of us
and how best to deal with it
moment-by-moment-by-moment
in each situation as it arises.
Which means being attuned to
ourselves and the moment
constantly, continually.
It isn’t as exhausting as it sounds.
It is simply a matter of awareness.
Of being here/now,
taking everything into account,
and receiving it into our awareness,
and letting ourselves respond to all the input
spontaneously,
naturally,
impromptu–
dancing with the moments
and the conflicts and contradictions
that come with them
throughout our day.
We might think of ourselves
as emergency room staff
receiving everything that comes
through the door
in an eight or twelve hour shift with:
Awareness.
Assessment.
Action.
Review.
Revision.
And, thus, the importance
of rest, relaxation, recovery,
proper nutrition and hydration,
care and maintenance
of mind and body,
virtue, vitality, energy and spirit.
Day-to-day-to-day
throughout our life. - 02/22/2020 — Chester State Park 11/25/2019 09 — Chester County, South Carolina, November 25, 2019
Wealth and prosperity seem to have
The Purpose Of Life thing
“Roped, tied and branded.”
Game over.
The problem is wealth and prosperity themselves
are far from being “roped, tied and branded.”
Everybody dreams of wealth and prosperity,
but starting salaries in the $28-35,000 range
bring reality to bear.
It takes two of us at that rate
to make a house payment
and a car note,
and start a family.
And then,
how do we cover the down payments?
So, we dream of winning the lottery,
and settle for opioids,
because apart from wealth and prosperity
what are we left with?
It’s time the culture sits itself down
and rethinks meaning and purpose.
But the culture is here to soak us
to the limit–
not to help us live purposeful,
meaningful lives.
We have to understand,
the economy looks to us
to keep it going,
and stokes the idea of wealth
and prosperity
to fuel the gerbil-in-the-cage
burn-the-candle-at-both-ends
effort to chase down
wealth and prosperity
in our lifetime
as a way of keeping
the grande illusion going.
What if we stopped chasing
the empty promise?
What if we got our own feet under us
and realized for ourselves
what we are here to do?
And how much it will take
to pay the bills
that enable us to do it?
And forgot about wealth and prosperity,
and lived in the service
of what is ours to do?
What is ours to do?
Where do our interests lie?
What makes our little heart sing?
What gets our little toes a-tappin’?
Think along those lines,
and re-think the whole
meaning and purpose thing. - 02/23/2020 — Landsford Canal 11/25/2019 09 Panorama — Canoe/Kayak Launch, Landsford Canal State Park, Catawba, South Carolina, November 25,2019
Everybody seems to be living
to get what they can while they can.
Wealth and prosperity
are things we acquire, amass, flaunt
and fear we will lose.
Everything about us is this way.
We strive to get it and worry about losing it.
What a way to live.
Let me have some of that!
No! Wait! Stop!
We do not have to live this way!
Living To Get/Have does not have to be
our default mode of operation.
We can Live To Be And To Do.
No kidding.
Talk about changing our relationship
with our life!
This would do it!
This would be the shift heard ’round the world!
Being who we are.
Doing what needs us to do it.
In each situation as it arises.
All our life long.
Doing what needs US to do it
means acquainting ourselves
with the gifts/genius that are ours
to offer to the time and place
of our living.
They are going to be associated
with what we love most to do.
We love to do what we can do well–
with all our heart.
How long has it been since you’ve done that?
Let’s live to make-up for lost time!
Shall we?
We have all the time left for living
to excel in being who we are,
doing what we do,
moment-by-moment-by-moment!
Batter Up! - 02/23/2020 — Lake Crandall 11/19/2019 02 Panoama — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Adventure Road Access, Fort Mill, South Carolina, November 19, 2019
Growing up is squaring up
to how things are
and what can be done about it.
Our vulnerability is at the top of the list.
Brooks Vance told his wife Louise,
“Don’t consider the odds, Louise,
or you will never get out of bed”
(Or words to that effect).
We all ether find our way
to making our peace
with our lot in life,
or we hide out in the 10,000 addictions
to feel better about our plight
or deny that things are as they are.
Life is out to get us.
We can be smart,
see what’s what,
and be as safe as we can reasonably be,
and it is still going to get us.
We can’t let that get us down.
“Don’t consider the liabilities, Louise,
it will only depress you.”
Until Life gets us,
we go about our business,
doing what we can
with the things that come our way
offering assistance to those with us
along the way,
being as good a sport about it all
as we can manage,
and letting things fall into place
around that.
We partner up with our vulnerability
and step into the day.
Every day. - 02/24/2020 — Thunder Ridge 10/29/2019 Panorama 13 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Milepost 74.7, Virginia, October 29, 2019
Balance is balance.
Harmony is harmony.
Homeostasis is homeostasis.
Living aligned with ourselves,
at one with our life,
in full accord with the time and place
of our living
is all there is to it.
What’s the problem?
Where are you off-center?
Out of plumb?
Off the path?
Away from the way?
Out of sync
with the time that is at hand?
Out of touch
with the ground of life and being,
with the sacred core
at the heart of all living things?
When the path requires you
to go where there is no path–
when the guide says,
“You know the way,”
what do you do?
Always the Golden Rule:
Stop. See. Hear.
Why are we always
running through stop signs,
with our eyes closed tightly
and our fingers pressing in our ears,
saying, “I don’t know!
I can’t see!
I can’t hear!?
when we know
we aren’t looking,
when we know we
aren’t listening,
when we don’t care?
What directs our boat
on its way through the sea?
Who is at the helm?
Who is checking the compass,
reading the constellations?
Seeing?
Hearing?
Feeling?
Sensing?
Intuiting?
Knowing
when it doesn’t know
how it knows
what it knows?
Who is listening?
Who is the guest?
Who is the host?
Who is the student?
Who is the teacher?
Who are you?
What is yours to do?
Who is to say?
How do they know? - 02/24/2020 — Landsford One 11/25/2019
Looking north, Catawba River, Landsford Canal State Park, Catawba, South Carolina, November 25,2019
Everybody has something to say.
Has something else to say.
Has something more to say.
There is no last word.
We speak/write
to hear what we have to say.
Only we know what needs to be said
because only we know what needs to be heard.
People who talk all the time
without saying anything
know they cannot bear to know
what arises in the silence.
People who never have a thing to say
and never say anything that hasn’t been said
know if they start talking
they will never stop
and say things they cannot bear to hear.
The first rule of life is
Bear The Pain!
The second rule of life is
Ask All Of The Questions
That Beg To Be Asked!
The third rule of life is
Say Everything That Cries Out
To Be Said!
Keep the rules
and you will be just fine.
And, you will walk with a limp. - 02/24/2020 — Landsford Two 11/25/2019 — Looking south, Catawba River, Landsford Canal State Park, Catawba, South Carolina, November 25,2019
We do not get there by thinking about it.
No matter where “there” is
as long as it is somewhere
we have never been.
As long as it is somewhere–
some thing–
new.
We do not get to anywhere,
anything,
new
by thinking our way there.
We play our way there.
We play with ideas.
We play with possibilities.
We play with absurdities
and obscenities,
and monstrosities,
and ludicrous,
outlandish,
preposterous,
impossibilities!
That’s how new comes to be.
Playfully.
Not rationally.
We do not play around enough.
And, it is showing. - 02/24/2020 — Landsford Three 11/25/2019 — Looking south, Catawba River, Landsford Canal State Park, Catawba, South Carolina, November 25,2019
What governs your response?
That is what leads you along the way.
What do you have at stake in the outcome?
That is the source of your motivation.
What are you trying to get or avoid?
There is your reason for living. - 02/24/2020 — Lake Crandall 11/19/2019 03 Panorama — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Fort Mill, South Carolina, Adventure Road Access, November 19, 2019
Can you agree with this?
People should be able to live their own life
without interfering with
other people living their own life.
If you agree,
we have common ground,
and can proceed.
If you do not agree, we will have to talk about that.
Assuming you agree,
what do we do about the people
who say they agree,
but refuse to abide by the agreement–
and about those
who refuse to agree?
This is the pivot point
upon which the future
of the world turns. - 02/24/2020 — Chester State Park 11/25/2019 01 Panorama — Chester County, South Carolina, November 25, 2019
The elephant walks through the high grass.
The monkey swings through the tall trees.
Everything flows from this.
How can the elephant
justify,
defend,
explain,
excuse
walking through high grass
to the monkey
who can only think
in terms of swinging through tall trees?
How can the monkey
justify,
defend,
explain,
excuse
swinging through tall trees
to the elephant
who can only think
in terms of walking through high grass?
Must the elephant try to convert the monkey?
Or, the monkey the elephant?
Do they hate one another?
Make the other their mortal enemy?
Declare war?
Drop bombs?
How does the monkey
allow and begin to comprehend,
appreciate, honor, respect
the “elephant-ness” of the elephant?
The “just-so-ness” of the elephant?
And the elephant with the monkey?
Could you do that with your father-in-law?
With your father?
With Donald Trump?
And they with you?
How do we live together in ways that allow
our differentness to stand
without demonizing,
dehumanizing,
denigrating,
or interfering with the right of the other
to live their own life,
while honoring the “just-so-ness” of the other
and without impacting the other’s life for ill?
How does Trump’s “base,”
and Sander’s, say, “base”
do that?
How do we all do that
across the board,
around the table,
up and down the line? - 02/24/2020 — Day’s End 10/28/2008 — Pamlico Sound, Ocracoke Island, Outer Banks, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, October 28, 2008
Our Ego comes in two manifestations,
the unconscious Ego
and the conscious Ego.
As a conscious Ego,
we work to develop our relationship
with our Unconscious Mind,
or Soul,
or Psyche.
We have no way of knowing
what’s what with what
we cannot be conscious of,
but we can experience
our Unconscious
(So called because we are unconscious of it)
at work in dreams,
urges,
realizations,
synchronicity,
etc.
I think of the Unconscious Source
of my life/awareness
as my Sacred Core,
my Spirit Center,
and as a conscious Ego,
I work to align my conscious self
with my Unconscious Spirit,
and trust that alliance
with filial devotion,
liege loyalty,
and faithful allegiance.
Forming an intuitive bond
creates a bedrock foundation
that grounds me in all situations
and circumstances,
and provides a perspective
enabling me to see what’s what
and allow things to be as they are,
which offers a significant degree
of leverage in the moment
by having little or nothing at stake,
and permitting me a “this means that”
objective take on whatever happens.
I don’t have to have things one way
or another,
but can respond appropriately
to whatever happens
without trying to force the moment
to have an outcome that is
advantageous to me in some way.
“I” am a conscious “I”
and a very present “Spirit I”
which “I” can be aware of
in an intuitive sense
from moment-to-moment,
often in an
“Okay, now what?” kind of way.
We do not work to realize or will
particular outcomes,
but to serve our preferences
(We enjoy solitude and silence)
and see what happens.
I think we all share a physical body
with an invisible, spiritual, self,
and the more conscious we can be
of our relationship
with our “Invisible Friend” within,
the more interesting our life becomes
like that (Snaps fingers, and winks). - 02/25/2020 — Thunder Ridge 10/29/2019 14 Panorama — Blue Ridge Parkway, Milepost 74.7, Virginia, October 29, 2019
Finding what we need
to meet the day,
day after day
can be a test of our mettle
some days.
Then what?
Trial and error, Kid.
Trial and error.
What works depends upon
factors beyond counting.
What worked the last time
might not work this time.
Breathing is important
all the time.
Maybe we make it our goal
to just keep breathing
until the shift occurs.
The shift when everything
that was so undoable,
becomes doable
like magic.
A shift in perspective–
which we do not control
or command–
snaps everything into place,
and it is as though
the constellations realigned their orbits
and our day becomes
just another normal day.
How does that happen?
Now we can do it,
now we can’t do it,
now we can do it…
To be at the mercy of can and cannot
is something no one can understand,
comprehend,
who hasn’t experienced it.
And, may no one experience it ever!
But, a lot of us do way too often.
What helps?
Besides breathing and waiting?
Everybody whose life includes
the experience of the ebb and flow
of normal living
has their own personal repertoire
of what helps.
Walking, talking, writing, hot showers, chocolate…
Or, just watching our perspective,
our attitude,
our frame of mind.
Just being curious about what it emphasizes
and what it ignores-dismisses-discounts-disregards…
What is going on with our perspective?
It is as though it has a mind of its own.
What are you up to?
What is your game?
Whose side are you on?
Perspective!
I’m talking to YOU!
Putting perspective under the microscope
and getting to the bottom of what’s what
with our perspective,
making inquiries,
launching an investigation,
interviewing witnesses…
can be an entertaining
bit of comic relief,
and perhaps all the help we need. - 02/25/2020 — Blue Ridges 06/26/2009 Panorama — Roan Mountain, Tennessee, June 26, 2009
When the norms
and standards,
codes and practices
that hold society together disappear,
and “the center fails to hold,”
we are left with living
out of our own center,
out of our own sacred core,
out of our own bedrock foundation
of principles,
chracter
and value.
So, we better be firming up
our relationship
with the grounding,
guiding,
truth
of what we know to be right,
and just,
and good.
It comes down to us
and the Sermon on the Mount
before theology got to it–
just doing right by one another,
doing justice,
loving kindness
and walking humbly
with that which has always been called God.
Good people have always lived
in light of what they know to be good.
We can count on that always being so,
and do our part in making sure that it is so
by committing ourselves to living in ways
that make it so
in our service to the good that is forever good
regardless of our circumstances
or how life is being lived around us.
We can form and find communities
of like-minded people
who know the good and do it,
and live as sources of blessings and grace
in the lives of all who come there way.
In so doing,
we can hold things together,
no matter how they seem to be
flying apart,
doing what is good
whether it does any good or not,
and finding our strength and courage
from the source of life within us
for the work that is ours to do
in each situation as it arises
all our life long. - 02/25/2020 — Clingman’s Dome Sunrise 10/15/2006 — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Cherokee, North Carolina, October 15, 2006
Fear and desire give rise to
hatred and greed
and here we are.
This is the real
“old, old, story.”
It is as old as Adam and Eve,
Cain and Abel.
And as old as the refrain
that goes with it:
“When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?”
A coke bottle is tossed
out of an airplane
in “The Gods Must Be Crazy,”
and war breaks out
in the Kalahari tribe that finds it,
over who gets the prize.
Everyone is crazy.
And, we are not going to fix it.
The best we can hope for
is to be intently aware of it,
to keep our eye on it,
or, oops, there we go again. - 02/25/2020 — Lake Crandall 11/19/2019 08 — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Adventure Road Access, Fort Mill, South Carolina, November 19. 2019
If you are waiting for things to make sense,
you are standing in the wrong line.
That line forms in another dimension.
Here, things do not make sense,
and the contradictions
are thresholds to new perceptions
and astounding realizations.
Contradiction is the doorway to enlightenment.
Back in the day
when I was reading the Bible,
I looked for contradictions.
They were everywhere.
It was the work to live between the contradictions
that expanded my awareness
and stretched my boundaries
and woke me up
to the truth of how things are
and also are.
Now that I’m reading Zen,
I follow the same strategy.
Look for the contradictions!
They are everywhere.
Zen makes much of duality,
as in denying it
and demanding that “all is one.”
Well.
Only in a sense.
All is also not one.
As Zen knows very well,
pointing out the difference
between our Reality Body
and our Celestial Body,
our Ordinary Mind
and our Buddha Mind, etc.
Zen makes much of attainment and acquisition,
as in denying them.
“There is nothing to attain,
nothing to acquire!”
But.
Everybody is after enlightenment,
satori,
nirvana,
Buddha Mind,
dharma, etc.
Look for the things that make no sense,
and stand among the contradictions,
waiting to see what they have to show you. - 02/26/2020 — Chester State Park 11/25/2019 19 Panorama — Chester County, South Carolina, November 25, 2019
There is our experience
and there is our interpretation
of our experience.
There is seeing clearly what’s what
and there is self-deception and denial,
illusion, delusion, hallucination,
paranoia and pretense.
“Is it real or is it Memorex?”
Con men and women
are masters at creating false reality.
Alcoholics trick themselves always,
and their spouses, sometimes,
with, “I swear, Honey, I’m never drinking again!”
“You can fool some of the people all of the time,
and all of the people some of the time,
but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.”
What is the difference?
Why do some people catch on to the act?
And why do some never get it?
It is the ruse of sincerity.
I watched a boy
stick a juicy wad of bubblegum
in a girl’s hair.
She shrieked and named him
as her attacker on the spot.
The authorities were quick to react.
His tearful denial was so sincere
and his protests were so genuinely heartfelt,
I began to question my own sense of reality.
Had I really seen
what I thought I had seen?
Fathers beat their children,
and their mothers say
“You know your father loves you!”
Donald Trump lies with gleeful abandon.
His minions create diversions,
and accuse Democrats of false accusations.
“You know the President wouldn’t lie to you!
And you know the Democrats would!
So, who are you going to believe?”
Every con counts on sincerity to seal the deal.
Every mark is an easy sell.
There is our experience,
and there is our interpretation of experience.
And the difference between the two
is how things are the way they are. - 02/26/2020 — Blue Ridge Rhododendron 06/26/2009 –Lindville Falls, Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina, June 26, 2009
What do you need?
You will know it when you see it.
What then?
That’s the question.
What happened the last time
you knew what you needed? - 02/26/2020 — Cotton in the Field 11/19/2019 06 — Hwy 267, Lone Star, South Carolina, November 22, 2019
Think equilibrium.
Let equilibrium be a goal.
Live toward equilibrium.
Imagine a pendulum,
hanging perpendicular to the horizon
and perfectly still.
Let that be absolute equilibrium.
Decide how much movement
you feel is necessary
for appropriate equilibrium
in all circumstances.
The arc of the pendulum
will need to be greater
in some situations,
and lesser in others.
Equilibrium is a function
of time and place,
and you determine what
is appropriate
in each time and place
of your living.
Being aware of your responsibility
for living with appropriate equilibrium
in each situation as it arises
increases your chances of doing it.
Think across all of the situations of your life.
Where are you most out of your own idea
of what constitutes a “Normal Equilibrium Response Arc”
in each situation?
Where do you go,
what do you do,
to bring your response level back
to an appropriate response arc?
How do you maintain your equilibrium
at an appropriate level
across all situations?
How will you remain appropriately
composed and responsive
to each situation as it arises?
How will you remain aware
of your response arc
in each situation as it arises?
How will your awareness moderate
the swing of your response arc?
How will you restore your equilibrium
to a level appropriate to the situation? - 02/26/2020 — Lake Crandall 11/19/2019 09 — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Adventure Road Access, Fort Mill, South Carolina, November 19, 2019
We have to be able to bear the pain
in order to face what must be faced,
see what’s what
and what can be done about it–
in response to it–
and what we can do about that
with what we bring to the time and place
of our living,
such as we are,
in each situation as it arises,
all our life long.
This is our role,
our duty,
our bit,
our place.
To see what needs what we have to offer
and to offer it as best we can,
and let that be that,
here an now,
because another situation is on the way,
and we will be meeting that situation
on its terms,
seeing what it needs to offer,
and offering it as best we can,
and letting that be that,
then and there,
because another situation is on the way…
We meet the situation
with what we have to offer.
And that is all anybody can do.
Jesus could not do better.
The Buddha could not do better.
It cannot be done better.
Stop. Look. Listen. See. Hear.
Ask the questions that beg to be asked.
Say the things that cry out to be said.
Do what needs to be done
out of what you have to offer.
And let that be that.
Because another situation is on the way…
We are emergency room technicians,
and we live in an emergency room.
And we have a specialty
that is exactly what some situations need.
And not at all what other situations need.
We have to read the situation,
see what’s what,
and what can be done about it…
Etc.
Forever.
That’s it. - 02/27/2020 — Thunder Ridge 10/29/2019 15 Panorama — Blue Ridge Parkway, Milepost 74.7, Virginia, October 29, 2109
We have to believe in ourselves
and we have to believe in our work,
and we have to believe in the 10,000 things
that support,
encourage,
enable,
create
and sustain
us and our work.
We are not alone.
The experience of meaningful coincidences
throughout our life
is relentless evidence
of our being nestled
and nourished
by more than meets the eye.
It takes only looking to see.
It takes only listening to hear.
It takes only asking the questions
that beg to be asked
and saying the things that cry out to be said
to know that it is so.
We run from the questions.
We hide from the statements.
We cover our eyes,
jam our fingers in our ears,
and have nothing to do with ourselves
or the work that is ours to do,
and live alone,
cut off from the world of wonder and bliss,
because we refuse
to take the chance
of believing it is real. - 02/27/2020 — At the Dock 02 11/01/2002 — Silver Lake, Ocracoke Island, Outer Banks, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina, November 1, 2002
My world is shrinking with age.
“I don’t get about much anymore.”
Not as much as I used to, anyway.
But.
I have more to say than ever.
The words of Heraclitus come to mind:
“You will not find the boundaries of soul
by traveling in any direction,
so deep is the measure of it.”
Nor will you say all there is to say,
or ask all the questions
that beg to be asked!
It is enough that we say
all that is to be said
in a day.
That we ask all the questions
that beg to be asked
right here,
right now.
I can do that sitting by the fire,
drinking coffee. - 02/27/2020 — Lake Crandall 11/19/2019 10 — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Adventure Road Access, Fort Mill, South Carolina, November 19, 2019.
We have to change our relationship
with our life.
Alcoholics start drinking
because their relationship
with their life isn’t working.
Alcohol takes the edge off
their pain.
It is a way of refusing to suffer
the pain of their life.
Then alcohol becomes a greater pain,
so they sober up.
But.
Their life still isn’t working.
Now what?
Bear the pain!
And let the pain guide us
into transforming our relationship
with our life.
Here’s the catch.
It all has to go.
Everything.
Every. Thing.
Everything we ever thought
about the way things are.
Has to go.
We have to sit in the silence,
and trust ourselves to the questions.
You know the ones I mean.
The ones that beg to be asked.
All of them.
We ask the first one or two
and stop
because the pain is too great,
and we are terrifying ourselves
asking questions
we think we know the answers to.
“What’s the point?”
We ask it,
assuming there is no point.
It’s too much.
We stop asking the questions.
Asking the questions gets us to
“What’s the point of having to have a point?”
“Why bother with this–it’s all meaningless anyway?”
gets us to the question,
“If it is all meaningless, meaning is meaningless,
so why bother with being upset
over a lack of meaning?”
“And if it is meaningful that everything is meaningless,
everything is clearly NOT meaningless,
so why not explore what else might be meaningful?”
Asking the questions that beg to be asked
changes our relationship with our life
by calling into questions our grounding assumptions
about our life,
ourselves,
all of life,
and opening us to new possibilities,
and inviting us to play with all of them.
We play our way to healing and wholeness.
We do not think our way there. - 02/28/2020 — Thunder Ridge 10/29/2019 16 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Milepost 74.7, Virginia, October 29, 2109
Taoism is unique among spiritual practices
in having no myth about the afterlife
to encourage its practitioners on
through the hard truth
of their daily grind.
Taoism talks about things being easier
when we are in accord with the Way,
and focuses on “being here now”
in a way that honors the contradictions
(Yin/Yang) and seeks harmony and balance.
Hinduism gave rise to Buddhism
over the difference in their views
on suffering–
Hinduism with its Caste System
and eternal cycle of karma and fate,
Buddhism with its Four Noble Truths
offering an escape from suffering
through its Eight-fold Path.
When Buddhism met Taoism,
Zen was produced
and the Way became the way
to Nirvana,
and the Pure Land,
and the Farther Shore,
and the Celestial Body, etc.
But, at its core Taoism
is just about getting through the moment,
the day,
the month,
the year,
the life–
by simply “being here, now,”
and living here/now
in accord with the Way
of being who we are,
when we are,
where we are,
and letting that be that.
No theology.
No doctrine.
No dogma.
Just the experience of the moment
and of ourselves in the moment,
allowing the moment
to call forth our response
out of our repertoire
of gifts, genius, talent, proclivities, etc.
in “chopping wood/carrying water,”
“eating when hungry, resting when tired,”
from the eternal depths
of our original nature.
We are built to meet the moment,
any moment,
every moment.
To rise to any, every, occasion.
To do what needs to be done
as it needs to be done
with what we have to work with.
So, what is all the whining about?
Why the moaning and complaining?
What do we have to be afraid of?
There is only trusting ourselves
to ourselves,
in doing what is ours to do,
the way only we can do it.
And letting that be that! - 02/28/2020 — Lake Haigler 11/24/2019 06 — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Lake Haigler Access, Fort Mill, South Carolina, November 24, 2019
What do you expect to get
from a life well-lived?
What is the point?
The purpose?
The outcome?
The reward?
Why live well?
What are we living well for?
I put my best effort into every photograph I take.
Why?
Every homily I write every day
is the best I can do.
What do I get out of it?
So what? Who cares? Why try? What difference does any of it make?
Why bring forth our best to meet the moment,
moment-by-moment-by-moment?
What do we stand to gain by doing so?
What is in it for us?
What do we care?
Why should we care?
What do we expect to get?
What do we expect to come from it?
Peggy Lee’s “Is this all there is?”
Begs the question,
“What did you expect?”
What do you expect? - 02/28/2020 — Chester State Park 11/25/2019 20 Panorama — Chester County, South Carolina, November 25, 2019
What do you do with all your heart?
How often do you do it?
What do you do halfheartedly,
or with your heart not in it at all?
How often do you do it?
What is standing between you
and wholehearted living?
Make a list.
What binds you to the list?
What keeps you from being alive
in the life you are living?
What are you sacrificing yourself to serve?
Do you see an end-point
to that sacrificial service?
Live to increase the amount of time
and the frequency of occurrence
that you spend doing things with all your heart. - 02/28/2020 — Castle Mountain 09/21/2009 — Banff National Park, Banff, Alberta, Canadian Rockies, September 21, 2009
Our mindset,
our culture,
our way-of-being-in-the-world
is linear,
sequential,
first-this-then-that,
one-step-at-a-time,
from-here-to-there,
to the end of the line
and the full realization
of our dreams.
How else would you get there?
Know what you want,
know how to get it,
Goal
Strategy
Tactics.
Mission accomplished.
Job done.
Heaven?
Ten Commandments.
What’s next?
That’s how we do things.
And, we assume,
that is how things are done,
and are to be done.
Not so.
Becoming who we are
is nothing like that.
Incarnating who we are built to be
lies in an entirely different dimension.
There are no Ten Commandments
for that project.
No instruction book.
No step-by-step guide.
We dream our way there.
We play our way there.
We feel our way there.
We listen to our body.
We listen to our heart.
We listen to our bones.
We listen to our stomach.
We listen to our nighttime dreams.
We listen to whatever catches our eye.
We listen to what we are saying.
We listen to everything.
We read the signs.
We dance to the music.
We see what’s what
and what needs to be done about it.
Awareness, awareness, awareness!
Connecting the dots.
Putting two and two together.
Getting it.
Like a joke.
“Oh, NOW I see!”
What’s the strategy for getting to
“Oh, NOW I see!”?
It is not a straight line for here to there,
from now to then,
from who we are
to who we are built to be.
It is a wobbling, curving, bumping, jagged, ragged,
circular, spiraling, up-and-down-and-sideways,
back-and-forth, circumambulation
of where we are going.
We don’t know where we are going,
or what to do next,
or when we will arrive.
We never will arrive.
Always the path which is no path.
We each make our own path.
None of us walks another’s path.
Only we know what fits us.
Only we know what we are built for.
What we are made for.
Only we know what it means
to do it our way.
To do it the way we have to do it.
And we have to do it in our own way,
in our own time,
however long it might take.
Whatever you say is right
is something you say is right.
You are the authority of your own life.
What is right is what you say is right,
no matter who else may be saying it is right,
it doesn’t become right for you
until you say it is right for you.
If you are doing what your mother says do
with your life,
you are doing it because you say it is right
for you to do it that way.
You decide what is right for you.
The catch is that you have to be right about it.
If you are doing what is wrong for you
because someone else tells you it is right for you,
and you say, “Okay, what the hell?”
Or if you are doing what is wrong for you
because someone tells you something else is right for you
and you aren’t going to do it just because they said to,
the burden is on you.
You have to be right about what is right for you.
Stop. Listen. Hear. Look. See.
Ask the questions that beg to be asked.
And don’t stop until there are no more questions.
There will never be no more questions ever,
only no more questions for now. - 02/28/2020 — Lake Crandall 11/19/2019 11 — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Adventure Road Access, Fort Mill, South Carolina, November 19, 2019
The Way that is the way
to who we are and also are
is the way of improvisation,
spontaneity,
intuition,
and play.
It is the way of knowing
when it is time for a cup of coffee,
and when we have had enough coffee.
The way of knowing
when it is time for a nap,
and when it is time to wake up from a nap.
No book can tell you these things.
We do not go to the toilet
by looking at our watch.
We don’t choose our friends
by using some formula
in a book on How To Find Your Friends.
How do we know what matters?
What is important?
What we need to do?
Need to do not?
We don’t know how we know.
But.
We know that we know.
We need to know what we know,
and allow that to lead us into what we do
about it.
That would be to follow the Way
to being who we are,
and also are,
and incarnating that
in the way we live our life. - 02/29/2020 — Thunder Ridge 10/29/2019 17 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Milepost 74.7, Virginia, October 29, 2109
Stop. Look. Listen. See. Hear.
Inquire. Inspection. Introspection.
Exploration. Examination. Evaluation.
The eleven steps to realization.
Apply them throughout the day.
Start with your nighttime dreams.
See what they have to say.
How do they impact you?
How do you perceive them?
What do you make of them?
What is their overall tone?
Their residual feeling?
Their theme?
Their message?
Do this with the things that attract you,
that repel you,
that catch your eye,
that stir your emotions,
that bring up a reaction,
that initiate a train of associations,
that trigger memories,
that hijack you
and carry you away,
that interfere with your life in some way.
Do this when your mind wanders,
when you day-dream,
when you drift off into flights of fantasy,
when you get stuck in trauma/drama.
Your life is a source of meditation,
reflection,
contemplation.
You are attempting to commune,
to communicate,
with you all day every day.
Start paying attention.
And engaging the eleven steps to realization.
Put two and two together.
Make the connections.
You are a mirror
waiting to reveal who you are
to you–
if you will only stop.
And look.
And see.
02/03/2020 — Life traditionally, throughout the ages, begins with the first breath.
A heartbeat without a brainwave is nothing.
A brainwave without a heartbeat is nothing.
A brainwave with a heartbeat without breathing are nothing.
Life does not begin hooked up to machines.
Life begins with a cry of protest for having to do it all on our own.
And if we don’t do it on our own,
we never have a life of our own.
Life begins when we come to terms with the fact
that it is up to us
and we are on our own.
Life begins when we live our life
the way it needs us to live it.
Until then, we are only faking it.
02/09/2020 — Enlightenment is over-rated.
Awareness has much more going for it,
and is available to all of us
without the investment of years
seeking the source of seeking
and the mysterious origin
of our Original Nature.
Awareness is interested in what’s what.
What’s happening here and now?
What needs to be done about it?
What is the situation-as-it-arises
asking of me?
How am I being asked to rise to the occasion at hand
and offer what I have to give
out of my stash of resources and knacks?
Enlightenment that cannot respond
appropriately to its circumstances,
is just another way of weaving and dodging
in the service of diversion and denial.
02/12/2020 — We set ourselves free from being white
by realizing how white we are
and how that shapes us unconsciously
and prevents us from being true
to the democratic values
of liberty,
justice,
equality,
truth
that we profess
and pretend to embody.
The Civil War continues to be fought
over the question
of how white we will be
and at whose expense.
Those who can wake up
and be aware,
and live with awareness,
must wake up,
be aware,
and live with awareness–
at the expense
of waking up,
being aware
and living with awareness.
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December 23, 2019 — January 29, 2020
- 12/23/2019—
It is easy to feel as though
nothing we do matters.
This is called,
being in the trough,
which is the low point
of a wave.
When we are in the trough,
we have to recognize it,
and wait it out.
The trough is the turn-a-round
between crests.
The tide comes in
and the tide goes out,
and, in between,
the tide turns around;
The wave goes up
and the wave goes down.
The point between up and down
(Crest and Trough)
is called “Sea Level.”
Waves are in constant motion.
There is no steady state
to a wave.
A trough is just a trough.
A crest is just a crest.
Sea level is just a point
between the two.
What a wave does
at every point
is the work of being a wave.
The next time we find ourselves
thinking that nothing we do matters,
that it is all useless,
pointless,
hopeless,
futile
and there is not reason to go on,
we have to say,
“Aha! These are the signs
of being in a trough!”
And keep on doing the work
of being who we are
even in a trough.
The work of being a wave
is what a wave does,
without thinking it is
a wondrous wave at the crest,
and ought to end it all
in the trough.
A wave doesn’t give
stuff like that a second thought.
It just goes on doing the work
of being a wave.
Take a lesson from the wave,
and go on doing the work
of being you,
without giving how you feel
about your work
a second thought.
Our work is why we are here.
Our work is who we are.
We do our work best
when we aren’t stepping away
from it to grade it,
judge it,
opine about it,
grouse and whine,
moan and complain.
We have to believe in our work
even in the trough,
and do it through all the stages,
in each situation as it arises,
all our life long.
As though it makes all the difference,
even when the evidence
seems to suggest otherwise.
We are to do our work
the way it ought to be done,
no matter how we feel about it,
because it is our work,
and where would it be with out us?
What would the ocean be
without waves? - 12/24/2019— McAlpine Creek 12/23/2019 01 Panorama — McAlpine Creek Greenway, Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation, Charlotte, North Carolina, December 23, 2019, after 2.5 inches of rain in less than 24 hours. There is a foot bridge somewhere under there. Maybe. Still.
We all operate under
the illusion/delusion/conviction
(And where *does* that line lie?)
that we know what’s best for us,
and that we would be better off
somewhere else,
with something else.
The United States had its beginning
with a small group of immigrants
thinking they would be better off
not being economic slaves
to their British “owners.”
Members of every caste system worldwide
feel this way.
Our ancestors went from
being better off not being slaves
to being better off having slaves
in no time at all–
not bothered a bit
by the incongruous nature
of that shift in logic.
“There is nothing incongruous about it!”
our ancestors–
and many of their descendants–
would say,
“It isn’t slavery that is bad.
It is *being* a slave that is bad.
*Owning* slaves is great!”
This “blind spot,”
reflects a basic motivating principle
operating within the species
(Which all people sufficiently sensitive
and aware
are increasingly ashamed of–
the species,
I’m talking about–
over the course of their life),
namely:
We don’t care if what is better for us
is worse for someone else.
We know what is better for us,
and we are going to die in its service!
And sex slavery
(AKA “Human Trafficking”)
and the drug business
(Legal and illegal)
are booming businesses
these days.
As a species,
we never reach a place
or a stage in life
where we wouldn’t be better off
somewhere else,
with something we don’t have
and without something we do have.
The quest to have this
and be rid of that
keeps us going.
And we are certain
we know what we are doing.
Say what you will,
you will never talk us out of it.
Striving to get
and to get rid of
is the fundamental thrust of life.
And we think we are going to be,
not only serenely happy,
but also completely satisfied and content,
in heaven
for all eternity.
There are two chances of that happening,
as the old saying goes,
“fat and slim.” - 12/24/2019— December Shoreline 12/14/2012 — Lake Brandt from the Lake Brandt Greenway, Bur-Mill Park access, Greensboro, NC — December 14, 2012
We have gotten away from
relishing our food,
liking our clothes,
being comfortable in our ways,
and enjoying our work
(Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching).
And the way back
is lost in the dust of the world
and the noise of the 10,000 things.
Cultivate silence.
Keep faith with yourself
and with one another.
Wait for right action to arise
and follow where it leads,
without trying to guide things
to serve your ends,
or to impose your agenda
upon any situation.
12/25/2019— Lake Haigler 11/24/2019 08 — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Lake Haigler Access, November 24, 2019
In each situation,
there is
how things are,
how we think things are,
how we pretend things are,
how we want things to be,
how things ought to be,
how things can be.
How we respond to it
tells the tale.
- 12/25/2019— Peaks of Otter 10/29/2019 03 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Lake Abbot, MP 86, near Bedford, Virginia, October 29, 2019
Everybody should spend one day annually
being totally dead,
from Midnight to 6 PM.
Then come back to life.
Let go completely
of all the things you tend to in a day,
that keep you wrapped up in the drama of life,
that demand your attention
and your care.
When you are actually dead,
you will not tend those things,
or anything else.
All of your obligations,
duties,
responsibilities
will disappear then,
so disappear them now
for 18 hours.
Once a year.
What you do about
eating and drinking
is up to you.
Let your family and friends
know what you are doing.
Invite them to join you.
Spend 18 hours in silence,
paying attention to everything
in each moment.
Write down your thoughts,
describe what you experience,
record all of the questions that occur to you,
note all of the things that arise in your imagination,
that come to mind,
that emerge,
arise.
Reflect on these things
and note what occurs to you
in your reflections.
Take walks.
Silent walking meditations.
Notice everything.
Notice your responses to everything.
Attend what is happening
and what you do in response.
Come to life in your death.
See what being dead
has to teach you
about being alive.
Be dead for 18 hours
once a year. - 12/26/2019— Parkway Overlooks 10/28/2019 04 — Blue Ridge Parkway near Roanoke, Virginia, October 28, 2019
Insight is the child of conflict,
contradiction,
paradox,
anomaly,
pain,
agony,
anguish,
opposition,
limits,
boundaries,
dead ends,
grief,
loss,
sorrow…
We don’t just sit quietly
in the comfort
of soft reflection
and gather insight.
Insight is pounded into us
by circumstances beyond
our control,
or our imagining.
We wrestle with demonic powers,
struggling for life against unseen forces
and rise up
with only realization
to show for our effort.
Nothing changes but our perspective,
and that transforms everything.
But not without extracting
a terrible price.
Every new way of seeing
eats our old way of seeing alive.
12/27/2019— Lake Haigler 12/26/2019 06 — Lake Haigler Falls (Spillway), Anne Springs Close Greenway, Lake Haigler Access, Fort Mill, South Carolina, December 26, 2019
Helping people find what they need
to do what needs to be done
is keeping faith with ourselves
and with one another.
Using anyone to get what we want
at the expense of troth,
truthfulness,
transparency,
goodwill,
and common decency
is breaking faith with ourselves
and with one another.
Treating anyone in ways that demean,
disregard,
disrespect,
dishonor them
is a betrayal of trust
and a failure of our inherent duty
to do right by all people.
And our refusal to call each other out
in this matter
and demand the best we have to offer
to all others
in each situation as it arises
is why we are where we are
as a nation
and a planet.
Demand the best of yourself
and each other,
and don’t let anyone get by
with less than that,
under any circumstances,
ever.
- 12/28/2019— Boat House 12/26/2019 01 Panorama — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Lake Haigler, Lake Haigler Access, Fort Mill, South Carolina, December 26, 2019
Jesus pissed people off.
Not only that,
but also, Jesus pissed the right people off.
At one point,
or another,
in his life,
Jesus pissed everybody off.
The moral of this story
is that if you call yourself a Christian,
and are not living in a way
that pisses people,
especially the right people,
and occasionally all the people,
off,
you have no business calling yourself a Christian.
Of course, it follows here
that being the church
and paying the bills
is more than a little bit iffy.
Throughout my 40.5 years
of ministry in the Presbyterian Church (USA)
I could never figure out
how to be the church
and pay the bills.
Jesus paid very few bills.
He did not pay his disciples,
he had no administrative expenses,
he never paved a parking lot,
or repaired a roof,
or painted a building,
either inside or out,
he never bought an organ,
or a baby grand piano,
or any piano…
The list is long of expenses
Jesus never incurred.
Jesus could afford to piss people off.
Pissing people off is the sine qua non
of being in the business
of being the church.
The church is in the business of growing people up.
Of squaring people up
to the reality of what needs to be done,
and of what they will have to give up
to do it.
No one ever–
you could Googleit–
grows up
without growing up
against their will.
It is forced on all of us
by our circumstances
and our values.
The people who choose to please
their circumstances
over their values
never grow up.
The people who choose to please
their values
over their circumstances
grow up through the agony
of their choices
over the full course
of their life.
You can’t be the church
as the church needs to be the church
without growing up.
And that means pissing people off.
So if you are a member of some church,
no matter how large,
that is paying the bills,
you aren’t doing it correctly.
You cannot be the church–
as Jesus was the church–
and pay the bills.
You are already splitting hairs aren’t you?
“Jesus didn’t have a CHURCH!”
A little accommodation here.
Jesus didn’t do it the way it needed to be done
and pay the bills.
How’s that?
If you are going to do it like Jesus did it,
you are going to piss people off.
If you aren’t pissing people off,
you aren’t doing it like Jesus did it.
How many people,
particularly the right kind of people,
have you pissed off today?
Or even, recently?
Try growing yourself up
and see if you can’t improve your numbers. - 12/28/2019— Boat House 12/26/2019 02 Panorama — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Lake Haigler, Lake Haigler Access, Fort Mill, South Carolina, December 26, 2019
What can we legitimately expect from God–
or from That Which Has Always Been Called “God”?
The answer is not going to sit well with you:
“Exactly what we need
to do what needs us to do it
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.”
No more.
No less.
What we get from God,
or from TWHABCG,
is the ability to rise to the occasion
on every occasion,
and offer there
what needs to be offered
for the good of the occasion.
For the good of the Whole.
PERIOD!
Who is going to be content with that?
Only those of us who recognize what’s what
and make their peace with it,
taking it on faith
that they will be able to make out
with no more than that
all their life long.
The rest of us are strictly on their own. - 12/29/2019— McMullen Creek 12/28/2019 01 Panorama — McMullen Creek Greenway, McMullen Creek Flood Plain, Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation, Charlotte, North Carolina, December 28, 2019
*Don’t build houses, offices, shops and deli’s in a flood plane! Build Greenways!*
–0–
The right to self-determination
shall not be infringed!
This is the foundational ground
to all democracies.
Our liberty is limited only
by the Constitutional rights of others
(Barack Obama).
Until we all get behind this fundamental premise,
we struggle with how to be free and bound
at the same time.
Freedom is binding.
The right kind of bondage is freeing.
We bind ourselves to one another
by our pledge to serve the true good
of the situation as a whole.
It all rides on good faith–
on our keeping faith with ourselves
and with one another.
The bondage of freedom
is knowing where the lines lie,
and living within the limits
imposed on us
by the rights of others.
The single most important commandment
in the Old Testament is:
“Thou Shalt Not Remove Thy Neighbor’s Landmark!”
In the New Testament it is:
“Thou Shalt Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself.”
Stay on your side of the line!
It is as simple as that. - 12/29/2019— Cascades 04/22/2011 Panorama — The Cascades, E.B. Jeffress Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Milepost 272.5, Wilkes County, North Carolina, April 22, 2011
There is how things are,
and there is what we can do about it,
and that is how things are.
Coming to terms with how things are
is called growing up.
Growing up is all that is left to us
more often than we want to admit.
Carl Jung said
“None of the important problems of life can be solved.
They can only be out-grown”
(Or words to that effect).
Part of growing up
is waiting for the shift to happen
that allows us to do more
about our circumstances
than the present situation
allows us to do.
We bide our time,
sit in the stillness,
wait in the silence,
watching/listening,
for the Way to arise,
emerge,
occur to us
and call us to action.
What needs to happen
to allow us to do what needs to happen
about the circumstances
we are facing?
Too often, we have no idea,
and have to wait to see even that,
trusting ourselves to know
the right idea when it comes,
and act spontaneously in its service
when the time for action arrives.
Waiting,
watching,
listening,
is doing what can be done
in situations that allow nothing more.
“When the flower opens,
the bees appear.”
“When the student is ready,
the teacher appears.”
“When the tide turns,
the water rises or recedes.”
Until then, we wait.
Watching.
Listening.
When the door opens,
we walk through. - 12/29/2019— Earth Shadow 12/18/2012 01 — Lake Brandt, Bur-Mil Park, Greensboro, NC — December 18, 2012
It is no accident
that Donald Trump
is the architect
of hatred,
ruthlessness,
violence,
brutality
and inhumanity.
He is perfect for the role.
Insecure,
impotent,
ignorant,
terrified,
alone,
unloved
and unlovable,
he must lash out
at everyone
he perceives to be threatening.
Trump must demean and attack,
or better,
torment and kill,
the media,
his political opponents,
the helpless,
the marginalized,
the disenfranchised,
the destitute
and depleted–
in order to experience
the thrill of potency and power–
the power of vindictiveness and destruction.
He is at the mercy of his own vulnerabilities,
and cannot bear the truth
of his inability to face the just-so-ness
of who he is.
And he speaks to,
and attracts,
and is attracted to,
those like him.
He was elected by those
who feel what he feels,
who fear what he fears,
who hates what he hates,
and want nothing more
than to kill what he wants killed.
Which leaves the rest of us
to devise strategies
and implement them
in the service of defending
and protecting
the victims of his rage–
by taking up their cause,
speaking out in their behalf,
denouncing and condemning
his intolerance
and his inflammatory tweets
and orations.
And working against his re-election
and that of Republicans.
in all levels of public office,
to bring an end to the insanity–
the inhumanity–
and restore the institutions
devoted to effecting and enhancing
liberty and justice for all. - 12/30/2019— McMullen Creek Slough 12/28/2019 07 Panorama — McMullen Creek Greenway, McMullen Creek Flood Plain, Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation, Charlotte, North Carolina, December 28, 2019
Truth is always right there,
waiting to be seen
by those open to its presence
and ready to do its bidding
no matter what.
That’s the catch.
“Eyes to see,
ears hear,
hearts to understand”
depend on
not having to have things
a certain way.
Seeing how things are
and knowing what’s what
ask hard things of us,
and require us to do what needs to be done.
In each situation as it arises,
all our life long.
Everything that can be known
is right there waiting to be known.
There are no secrets.
The information is quite available
“to the mortal man,”
and woman,
and anyone else who cares to look.
With their eyes open to what’s there,
unafraid of what that might mean,
or ask of them,
in every situation that arises,
every day of their life.
We all access to the same data.
All of the time.
Step into a moment,
look around.
It is all right there.
Where do you get your news?
You are choosing to not-know
what is going on
by not getting your news
from multiple sources.
You are closing yourself off
from what’s to be seen,
heard,
known,
understood,
comprehended,
assimilated,
used as grist for the mill.
We are milling ourselves here.
Bringing ourselves to life
to meet the situation,
and handle the circumstances,
of our living
all our life long.
We need to know all there is to know,
and know what to do with it,
about it,
and know what needs us to do it,
and know how to go about doing it,
in each moment
of every day.
But we want to glide along
Smooth And Easy Street,
following the cows
from the barn
to the pasture
back to the barn.
So, we are careful
to not ask the questions
that beg to be asked,
and to not say the things
that cry out to be said,
and to not know the truth
that sets us free,
and breaks our heart,
and binds us to the service of truth
in every moment
of every day
forever.
What kind of freedom is that?
We want to be free
to not do a damn thing
we don’t want to do.
Ever.
And that keeps us
from seeing how things are,
and knowing what’s what,
and living in light of that,
with all it implies
every day
for the rest of our life.
What are we not seeing
that is right there
waiting to be seen?
Right here.
Right now. - 12/30/2019— High Falls 04/12/2011 01 Panorama — DuPont State Forest, Transylvania County, near Brevard, NC — April 12, 2011
Let’s start with this fundamental premise:
I love you.
I take that to mean
I have no interest in you
beyond connecting you with your life
and getting out of your way.
Anything more than that,
other than that,
is messing with your life.
Is sabotaging your life.
Is destroying your life.
The most loving thing
anyone can do for us
is to enable us to live our own life.
Everything we need is right there
in our life–
the life we are responsible for living.
Whatever bumps us off that track
interferes with our ability
to follow our own hunches,
rely on our own intuition,
listen to our own guide,
and live our own life.
It is appalling how easily distracted we are,
how easily un-tracked we are,
how easily we drift off the path,
lose the way,
and wander through the wilderness
wondering how we got there
and what do we do now.
We are responsible to ourselves,
for ourselves,
and have to listen intently
for what we have to say,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
We cannot do that
with someone else talking to us,
directing us,
telling us what to do and not do,
or just offering us options
that are not compatible
with the interests
and directions
we need to be following.
Here is the best advice
you are ever going to receive:
Listen to what resonates with you
without thinking it is forever and always.
Be alert to the way
“One book opens another,”
and dance with the music
only you can hear.
I love you, but.
What your life needs of you,
I do not know,
and I have to get out of your way
so that you will know–
and trust yourself to the guidance
tuned to the frequency of your particular life. - 12/30/2019— Lake Haigler 12/26/2019 01 Panorama — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Lake Haigler Access, Fort Mill, South Carolina, December 26, 2019
The tide comes in and goes out,
and the world is just as it is
And if we were who we say we are
over the generations,
instead of saying one thing
and doing another,
pretending,
posing,
posturing,
playing games,
and serving a hidden agenda,
we could add a measure of stability
and balance to the wild swings
of extremes over time.
Harmony and equilibrium
are evidence of
virtue and integrity.
Has anyone seen either of those of late?
We do what we can
to restore lost peace
by returning to the silence/stillness
and putting ourselves in accord
with the source of life and being,
one person at a time.
Peace is not imposed from without,
from above,
but arises from within.
Who can be at peace in these times?
Be that person!
Each of us–
be that person! - 12/31/2019— McMullen Creek 12/282019 02 — McMullen Creek Greenway, McMullen Creek Flood Plain, Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation, Charlotte, North Carolina, December 28, 2019
“Oz never did give nothing
to the Tin Man
that he didn’t,
didn’t already have…”
(America, lyrics)
And we can’t be looking
for somebody else
to give us what is ours
to do and to be.
There is no one
to deliver us.
We have only ourselves
to call upon
to get us out of the messes
we make
and allow to be made
by failing/refusing
to be what the situation
is calling us to be
in the time and place
of our living,
in ways appropriate
to the occasion.
It takes practice,
and believing in ourselves.
Having faith in anything but ourselves
is delusional
and a failure of nerve.
But that doesn’t mean
I could sing at your wedding,
or dance in even a poor
rendition of the Nutcracker.
The Renaissance Man/Woman
is a fiction.
There is what we can do,
and what we have no business doing.
Ours is to play the roles
assigned to us
wearing the face that was ours
before we were born.
Donald Trump is no President.
And I couldn’t play
centerfield for the Yankees
or the Mudville 9.
When we try to rise above
our rightful place,
and live beyond our means,
we create a disturbance in the flow
that takes years to abate.
History is the story of the world
trying to right itself
from the impact of roles gone wrong,
with singers trying to be golfers,
and doctors wanting to be lawyers,
and mechanics pretending to be CEO’s.
It goes back to seeing and being who we are,
and resisting the attraction
to be who we are not.
Living aligned with ourselves,
in accord with the gifts
and genius
that are ours to serve,
in harmony with the frequency
that resonates with our soul,
is a blessing and a grace
upon our life and the world.
Being out of tune
is the discordant chaos
of an orchestra in warm-up mode. - 12/31/2019— Scrapping Fall 12/10/2019 04 — 22-acre Woods, Indian Land, South Caroling, December 10, 2019
If kindness,
compassion
and integrity
are your guiding principles,
you will be able to trust yourself
to respond spontaneously
to the situation as it arises
in ways appropriate to the occasion,
without having to delay your response
in order to think carefully
through your checklist
of should/shouldn’t,
ought/oughtn’t
must/mustn’t
and be able to defend your action
based on what is normal,
prudent
and expected
within the circumstances,
while missing the door that opened
and closed
while you were being distracted
by your work to be pleasing.
Be improvisational!
Take your chances
with doing right by the moment
even if what you do
has never been done before,
or may never be done again.
Life is improv,
dead is safe. - 12/31/2019— Lake Haigler 12/26/2019 03 — Spillway Falls, Anne Spring Close Greenway, Lake Haigler Access, Fort Mill, South Carolina, December 26, 2019
What needs you to do it?
How long have you been avoiding it?
What is at work here?
There is nothing but your life to live
as it needs to be lived–
not as someone else thinks it needs to be lived,
but as your life knows it needs to be lived.
Our life is not ours to do with as we please.
We belong to our life to do its bidding.
When I write these words,
or any words,
or all words,
I am only endeavoring to write
what needs to be written.
When I live my life,
I am only striving to live what needs to be lived,
what needs me to live it.
I go where I am led,
I do as I am directed–
as I intuit,
feel,
perceive where I am being led,
how I am being directed.
It is like the “Hot/Cold Game”
we played as children.
“Now I’m getting warmer,
now I’m getting colder…”
I wait for an impulse,
for something to catch my eye,
for something to draw my interest,
to announce my next mission–
which could be nothing more
than what to have for lunch.
I wait for clarity,
direction,
inspiration,
motivation–
for the next thing to call my name.
How do you do it?
Pay attention to how you determine
what is next.
How do you know what you need to do?
How do you know your life needs to be lived? - 01/01/2020— Lake Haigler 12/26/2019 10 Panorama — Anne Spring Close Greenway, Lake Haigler Access, Fort Mill, South Carolina, December 26, 2019
If we do not do what can be done
about any situation that arises,
we deserve exactly what we get
from the fallout
and aftermath.
If we are failing to oppose Donald Trump,
Stephen Miller,
Mitch McConnell
and the rest of the Republican/Fascist coalition
that is in charge of Congress
and the country,
and refusing to vote Trump
and all Republicans
out of office in 2020–
and to never vote for another Republican ever,
we are sitting tight
with our fingers crossed
and our eyes closed
hoping for the best
while the very worst is happening
all around us
and is quickly becoming
long past turning around–
and we are likely telling ourselves
the GOP mantra
over and over,
“No matter how bad it gets under Trump,
it would be unimaginably worse
under the Democrats.”
That is Fascist propaganda jargon!
You have been deafened and blinded
to the reality that is destroying the world,
and if you do not wake up
and get to work
opposing what must be opposed
and voting it out of control of the country,
you bear full responsibility
for the destruction of the climate,
the destruction of democracy,
and the end of life as we know it
in this country
and around the world. - 01/01/2020— Fort Buhlow 01/25/2017 13 Panorama B&W — Fort Buhlow Spanish Moss 2017 13 B&W — Alexandria, Louisiana, January 25, 2017
We are seeking ourselves.
What attracts us in others
are aspects/reflections of ourselves.
What repels us in others
is what must be recognized,
resisted,
and integrated within ourselves.
Our reaction to others
is a doorway to meditation
on who we are
and what we are to be about.
Other people
are mirrors reflecting
our own soul
back to us.
When we look at them
we see ourselves.
They show us who we are
and what is ours to do.
Without them,
where would we be?
Without understanding this,
where would we be?
Seeing this is seeing all we need to see.
Knowing this is all we need to know.
From this point on,
everything is up to us.
What we do about it/with it
tells the tale
we are composing
with the life we are living.
Where we go from here
makes all the difference. - 01/01/2020— Tree Tops 12/10/2019 03 B&W — 22-acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina, December 23, 2019
My work as a servant
of hermeneutics
(From Hermes,
the Messenger of the Gods,
the God of Meaning and Interpretation)
is to get to the bottom of things,
to see what’s what
and what that means,
and what it calls for for us
in terms of an appropriate response,
one proper and fitting the circumstances,
in rising to the occasion,
doing what needs to be done
with the skills, talents, gifts, genius, etc.
that we bring to the moment
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.
I did not set this as a goal,
or pick this out as what I wanted to do
with my life,
it has been my life from the beginning.
It is who I am,
what I do,
in Gerad Manley Hopkins sense of,
“What I do is me,
for that I came.”
Our work shines though.
Our work is what we find our selves doing
without intending to,
without trying to,
just automatically,
spontaneously,
responding to our circumstances.
Our work is what we can be counted on to do,
what people expect us to do,
what people make fun of us for doing,
what people see as characterizing us
and our life,
what they mean when they say,
“That is so like you,” or,
“That sounds just like you.”
Thinking about these things,
and looking back over your life,
what stands out for you about you
that could be classified as “Your work”? - 01/01/2020— Woods Stream 12/26/2019 — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Lake Haigler Access, Fort Mill, South Carolina, December 28, 2019
My bedrock principle of interpretation,
assessing/ascribing/understanding/declaring/stating
meaning is this:
“Do not ever think you have said anything–
and never, ever, under any circumstances
think you have said the last word about anything–
and always, always, remember
there is always more to say about anything
that has been said,
or can ever be said!
Taking this as your own bedrock principle
will put the Bible
“as the absolute word of God,
never to be questioned,
certainly never to be expanded,
or questioned in any way ever”
in its place.
And, it will put those who proclaim
the absolute truth of the Bible,
and claim that designation
for all they say about the Bible,
and anything else,
in its place.
And free you to make your own determination
about the Bible,
and those who talk about the Bible,
and all other aspects of reality as it is,
or may ever be,
perceived to be.
You are free to think your own thoughts,
and think about your thinking,
to see what you see,
and think about your seeing,
and decide for yourself
what you think is right,
and re-evaluate that in light of
what else you think is right,
or will, in time, think is right…
Always, always, working to say
what needs to be said
about all aspects of experience.
And to ask the questions that beg to be asked
about all aspects of experience.
And never, ever, thinking you have said anything,
certainly not the last word,
about anything.
This is the most wonderful,
and tantalizing,
aspect of life,
living,
and being alive
that I know of–
and I relish it with all my heart,
and mind,
and body,
and soul.
This is the path that never ends!
The stream that always flows!
The song that goes on and on! - 01/02/2020— Springer’s Woods 10/28/2011 02 — Springer’s Point, Ocracoke Island, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Outer Banks, North Carolina
Trial and error, Kid. Trial and error.
Shirley, by now,
you have had plenty of time
to watch the Jon Kabat-Zinn
YouTube videos
(the shortest ones first)
on Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
(MBSR),
and are practicing being intentionally
present in and aware of the current moment,
here and now
without being engaged with,
or kidnapped/hijacked by,
anything that is there,
just noticing everything
and holding it in your awareness,
breathing slowly and deeply,
and when your mind wanders
into some area of memory or imagination,
you simply become aware of that,
and bring your focus back to the moment
without judgment or opinion,
and continue to be aware
of what is here, now.
And all the rest of you have surely
joined Shirley in her watching the videos
and practicing being present in this moment
right now.
And all of you know that patience
and compassion are the keys
to being present with the present
and what is happening there
without involvement or engagement,
just watching,
just listening,
just seeing,
just hearing,
just knowing,
just being,
at the pivot point of perceiving
what is happening
and what needs to be done about it
and being called spontaneously to action
at the right time in the right way
when your intervention is most necessary
to the unfolding of events
within the circumstances you are observing
for the good of the situation as a whole.
And that all of this is an eternally continuing
matter of trial and error,
learning as we go
in the dance with the circumstances
of our living
in the time and place of our life.
Shirley (etc.), I am right about that.
Right? - 01/02/2020— McMullen Creek Slough 12/28/2019 06 Panorama — McMullen Creek Greenway, McMullen Creek Flood Plain, Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation, Charlotte, North Carolina, December 28, 2019
The old Taoist and Zen masters
understood enlightenment to be
realizing “the face that was ours
before we were born,”
and living in ways that aligned
ourselves with it,
exhibiting our “original nature”
and being in accord with who
we are built to be.
Carl Jung saw “individuation”
as the process of aligning
ourselves with ourselves
over the full course of our life,
and said the goal
was to live so that
“who we are is who we always have been
and who we will be.”
Jung and the Taoist/Zen masters
would agree that the Way
to who we are/have been/will be
consists of “stopping and seeing”
throughout each day.
Being aware of the moment
to the fullest possible extent,
transparent to ourselves
and clear about what is happening,
within and without,
and what needs to happen,
and offering what is ours to give
to the work that needs to be done,
moment-by-moment-by-moment–
without concern for,
or interest in,
our advantage,
our gain,
our good,
but solely for the good of the whole
of which we are a part.
Bringing ourselves forth,
birthing ourselves,
and being who we are
is what’s in it for us.
There is nothing beyond
knowing and being ourselves
to want,
or have,
or be.
Enlightenment is knowing that,
and doing it. - 01/03/2020— Lake Haigler 12/26/2019 07 — Spillway Falls, Anne Spring Close Greenway, Lake Haigler Access, Fort Mill, South Carolina, December 26, 2019
We are only safe with ourselves,
and we are not safe at all with ourselves,
and therein lies the problem.
We want to be safe.
In order to be safe,
we have to change our mind about safety.
And security.
And learn to love living on the edge.
Free-falling.
Not knowing what is going to happen next
or what we are going to do.
We have to trust ourselves
to find what we need
to do what needs to be done
in rising to the occasion
on every occasion
and dancing with
our circumstances
no matter what they are.
It’s like this.
Look around.
You cannot deny the fact
that here you are–
here we all are!
We came from nowhere
with nothing,
not one thing,
and through the years,
over time,
we have violins
and grand pianos.
Hiking boots
and cellphones.
How did that happen?
We did it.
Everything you see
came right out of our own imagination.
We have nothing to be afraid of.
We are afraid
because we do not trust ourselves.
And because we are lazy.
And want Mamma
or some Mamma substitute
to take care of us forever.
We are on our own.
It is up to us.
Our life is our responsibility.
The way we do it
is the way
of establishing Right Relationship
with ourselves.
We have all we need
to find what we need
to do what needs to be done.
It only takes believing it is so
to know that it is so.
It only takes faith in ourselves
to know that we can deal successfully,
appropriately,
with whatever comes our way.
My proposal is that
we stop and look into
the proposition
that we have what we need
and are what we seek.
And all this time
we have been riding the donkey
looking for the donkey.
Holding the keys,
searching for the keys.
Wearing our glasses
wondering where our glasses are. - 01/03/2020— Lake Haigler 12/26/2019 07 — Spillway Falls, Anne Spring Close Greenway, Lake Haigler Access, Fort Mill, South Carolina, December 26, 2019
We are only safe with ourselves,
and we are not safe at all with ourselves,
and therein lies the problem.
We want to be safe.
In order to be safe,
we have to change our mind about safety.
And security.
And learn to love living on the edge.
Free-falling.
Not knowing what is going to happen next
or what we are going to do.
We have to trust ourselves
to find what we need
to do what needs to be done
in rising to the occasion
on every occasion
and dancing with
our circumstances
no matter what they are.
It’s like this.
Look around.
You cannot deny the fact
that here you are–
here we all are!
We came from nowhere
with nothing,
not one thing,
and through the years,
over time,
we have violins
and grand pianos.
Hiking boots
and cellphones.
How did that happen?
We did it.
Everything you see
came right out of our own imagination.
We have nothing to be afraid of.
We are afraid
because we do not trust ourselves.
And because we are lazy.
And want Mamma
or some Mamma substitute
to take care of us forever.
We are on our own.
It is up to us.
Our life is our responsibility.
The way we do it
is the way
of establishing Right Relationship
with ourselves.
We have all we need
to find what we need
to do what needs to be done.
It only takes believing it is so
to know that it is so.
It only takes faith in ourselves
to know that we can deal successfully,
appropriately,
with whatever comes our way.
My proposal is that
we stop and look into
the proposition
that there is more to us
than meets the eye,
our eye,
any eye,
and we have what we need,
and are what we seek.
And all this time
we have been riding the donkey
looking for the donkey.
Holding the keys,
searching for the keys.
Wearing our glasses
wondering where our glasses are. - 01/04/2020— Four-mile Creek Greenway 12/23/2019 01 Panorama — Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation, Charlotte, North Carolina, December 23, 2019
Democrats are _______(fill in the blank)_______
Republicans are _______(fill in the blank)_______
Black people are _______(fill in the blank)_______
Gay people are _______(fill in the blank)_______
Mexicans are _______(fill in the blank)_______
Muslims are _______(fill in the blank)_______
Evangelicals are _______(fill in the blank)_______
Liberals are _______(fill in the blank)_______
Fascists are _______(fill in the blank)_______
White Nationalists are _______(fill in the blank)_______
Rich people are _______(fill in the blank)_______
Poor people are _______(fill in the blank)_______
… And so on, like that,
with everything.
Every. Thing.
Now, look deeply into everything on the list.
Every. Thing.
See all of the things you did not see
about everything.
See everything completely,
just as it is.
See all of the things about everything.
Every. Thing.
Look into everything
until you can see all things
about Every. Thing.
Do not talk about anything
until you can say all things
about Every Thing.
Look into
everything,
everybody,
you look at.
Do not say anything
about anybody
until you have looked into everything
about everybody.
If you are not going to see everything
about anybody,
why look at all?
Look into why you look
without seeing all there is to see
about what you look at.
Look into why you talk
without being able to say
what else there is to say
about the things you talk about.
If you aren’t seeing everything,
you aren’t seeing what you look at.
You are only seeing what you want to see.
You are not even looking at
what you don’t want to see.
Your seeing is partial.
Minute.
You don’t see half of all there is to see
about anything.
Yet, you sound off like you are an authority
about everything.
Look into that.
What do you see? - 01/04/2020— Lake Haigler 12/26/2019 02 — Spillway Falls, Anne Spring Close Greenway, Lake Haigler Access, Fort Mill, South Carolina, December 26, 2019
If you aren’t going to say everything
about anything,
why say anything at all?
Why stop with what you have to say about it?
Why say only what you have to say?
Why say what you have to say?
Why say that what you have to say
is all you need to say about it?
What makes what you have to say about it
the only thing that needs to be said about it?
What are you up to?
What are you doing?
What are your motives?
What moves you to say what you have to say,
and only what you have to say?
What ends are you serving?
Who are you trying to please?
Who would be happy to hear what you have to say?
Who would be happy with you for saying it?
Whose favor are you courting?
Who are you afraid of displeasing?
What possesses you?
Controls you?
Limits you?
Restricts you?
Insists, demands, that you only say “this”
and not “that”?
Look into it.
Explore it.
Examine it.
Make inquiries.
Ask the questions that beg to be asked.
Say the things that cry out to be said.
About why you see what you see
and only what you see
about the things you look at
and refuse to see anything else.
Look into it. - 01/04/2020— Tree Tops 12/10/2019 02 B&W — 22-acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina, December 10, 2019
Enlightenment is simply
seeing what we see,
hearing what we hear,
knowing what we know
and being transparent to ourselves.
What are we looking at and not seeing?
What are we blocking out and not hearing?
What are we knowing but not knowing that we know?
Where are we kidding ourselves?
Where are we not paying attention
to all that is going on?
When we wake up,
we wake up to all of that. - 01/04/2020— Helping Hand 07/03/2009 — Crabtree Falls, Blue Ridge Parkway, near Little Switzerland, North Carolina, July 03, 2009
Our favorite way of dealing with the truth
is by distracting ourselves
from having to deal with it.
Reality is not where
we want to spend our time.
The 10,000 addictions exist
to take our minds off reality.
We think about the things we think about
in order to keep from thinking about the things
we don’t want to think about.
We fill our time with attractive diversions
to avoid the dreadful realities.
Opioids “save” their users
from lives they cannot bear to consider,
only to wallop them with a “fix”
that is worse than the horror
they were trying to escape.
The truth of reality
is that we all have to pay up eventually.
“We meet what we cannot face
on the road we take to avoid it.”
Bearing the pain
and doing what must be done
is the two-pronged strategy
for dealing with the unwanted.
Make reality your best friend.
Run to meet it
as it makes its rounds.
Learn to look forward
to its daily deliveries
and what they can show you
about yourself,
and the skills you can develop
in letting come what’s coming
and letting go what’s going.
We grow up against our will,
in the work of coming to terms
with the conflicts and contradictions,
the adversity and opposition,
the grief, loss and sorrow
that shatter our world
and break our hearts.
Joseph Campbell said,
“Where you stumble and fall,
there lies the treasure.”
Learn what he means
by standing your ground,
welcoming the moment
and opening yourself
to all it brings with it.
Campbell also said,
“It took the Cyclops
to bring out the hero in Ulysses.”
Invite the unwanted into your life–
it is going to be a part of your life anyway,
be glad to have it
and receive it as a gracious host,
looking forward to seeing
what it brings forth in you,
what it has to show you about yourself,
and to discover what you are made of.
And, if it overwhelms your coping ability,
forget the lonesome hero approach,
and see what help is available–
ask for it!
Be thankful for it!
And see where it takes you.
And take your time with recovery.
Spend your time seeing everything,
asking the questions that beg to be asked,
and saying the things that cry out to be said.
Notice what emerges from the silence,
and take note of what occurs to you unbidden.
We are often led by unseen hands
to where we most need to be,
and find help where we wouldn’t expect
anything helpful to be.
You are learning to trust yourself
to find what you need
to do what needs to be done.
You are growing up,
against your will,
and joining the great body
of those who have walked
the path you are waking.
And they have all
walked with a limp. - 01/04/2020— Fall on Little River 11/10/2006 01 — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tremont, Tennessee, November 11, 2006
Carl Jung said,
“The reason for evil in the world
is that people
are not able
to tell their stories.”
The reason this results
in evil being in the world
is that in telling our stories,
we hear them ourselves
for the first time.
In saying what is so,
we hear what is so,
we realize what is so,
we recognize the truth
of how it was with us,
of how it is with us,
we know what’s what
and how things got to be
the way they are.
We wake up to the truth
of the life we lived,
the truth of what we have done
and the truth of what was done to us,
and come to terms
with the nature
of what we have had to work with.
Telling our story is redemptive,
and cathartic,
and enlightening.
We see how we have lived,
how we might have lived,
how we might yet live,
and may,
with the right kind of audience,
find the courage
to live toward the best we can imagine
in the time left for living.
Without being able to tell our stories,
we are alone with the weight
of unexamined experiences,
with only moods and emotions
we do not understand
to direct our actions
and shape our lives
in the service of seeking release
and acting out any way we can. - 01/05/2020— McMullen Creek Slough 12/28/2019 05 — McMullen Creek Greenway, McMullen Creek Floodplain, Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation, Charlotte, North Carolina, December 28, 2019
All we need is a sounding board.
Someone to tell our story to.
Someone to listen us to what’s what,
what it takes
and what to do about it.
Once we are clear about what’s what,
what it takes
and what to do about it,
we are free to live,
or to not live,
the life that is ours to live
in the time left for living.
Jim Hollis says there are two things
keeping us from doing that:
fear and lethargy.
We are afraid of what might happen,
and we are lazy–
and our situation is not quite bad enough
to motivate us past knowing what’s what
into doing what needs to be done about it.
Finding excuses is what we do best.
No! Telling ourselves what we want to hear
is what we do best!
No! Kidding ourselves is what we do best!
No! Shooting ourselves in the foot
is what we do best!
No! Letting ourselves off the hook
is what we do best!
No! Changing the subject
is what we do best!
No! Looking the other way
is what we do best!
No! Doing what it takes to feel better
about not doing what it takes to get better
is what we do best!
No! . . .
It is “a long and winding road,”
a “slippery slope,”
a “dangerous path,”
“like a razor’s edge”
from knowing to doing.
Just because we see the way
is no guarantee that we will
actually take it.
And pay the price
of growing up
some more
again
all the way along the way
to being who we are
where we are
when we are
how we are
no matter what.
It’s called the Hero’s Journey,
after all. - 01/05/2020— Yellowstone Falls 09/06/2001 — Yellowstone River, Yellowstone National Park, Canyon Village, Wyoming, September 6, 2001
Today is the first day of my 76th year.
Since we can never be sure
of how many of those
we have left,
we cannot afford to be flip
and casual
and careless
about how we live any day ever.
No matter how many may remain,
there aren’t enough,
and our place is to make the most of–
by doing right by–
each one that dawns
and invites us to step into it
and do what we do best throughout it.
So, we begin each day
listening for what needs to be said
the way only we can say it,
looking for what needs to be done,
the way only we can do it,
facing what needs to be faced,
the way only we can face it,
and being who we need to be,
the way only we can be it–
moment-by-moment-by-moment
throughout it.
Creating karma,
serving dharma,
in accord with the Tao,
at one with Kairos,
wearing our original face,
expressing our original nature,
looking into everything along the way,
awash with the wonder of it all
every day.
May it be so with us all
all the way! - 01/05/2020— Trail to Triple Falls 10/14/2011 01 — DuPont State Forest near Brevard, North Carolina, October 14, 2011
There is more to everything
than meets the eye,
and so the need
to look into
whatever we look at
in order to see what’s what,
what’s there,
and what else is there,
moment-by-moment-by-moment
every day
for the rest of our life.
And then,
the matter of doing what needs to be done
about it
with the gifts,
genius,
daemon,
spirit
of our original face
and our original nature
no matter what.
When we get that down,
we have it made,
not that that matters
to those who know what’s what
and are doing what needs to be done
about it
(Having it made
just means we keep doing
what we are doing–
seeing and doing–
forever,
being brought forth
by our circumstances,
and growing up
some more,
again,
all the time). - 01/05/2020— The Swimming Hole 11/06/2006 — Midnight Hole, Big Creek, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Big Creek Campground, North Carolina/Tennessee, November 06, 2006
There is no time to lose!
Not a second to waste!
So.
Do we hurry up
in order to not miss anything,
or,
do we slow down
in order to not miss anything?
Sometimes one,
sometimes the other.
We make the call
across all times and places.
What we say, goes.
Oh, we have to be right about it.
Try threading that needle!
Try walking that slippery slope,
that dangerous path,
that razor’s edge,
all the way.
That is where we are,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
Damned if we do,
and damned of we don’t,
at all points along the way.
What to do?
Be damned and be done with it!
Listen in the stillness
and watch for what arises
in the silence
to point,
however faintly,
out the way,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
And, if it becomes apparent
that you chose poorly,
listen in the stillness
and watch for what arises
in the silence,
to point,
however faintly,
out the way,
moment-by-moment-by-moment. - 01/05/2020— The Pond 10/28/2006 — Cypress trees, “down east” North Carolina, October 28, 2006
We are not in charge
of the way we see things,
and cannot change how we see
by an act of will,
reason,
logic
or determination.
Yet, the way we see
is subject to change
over time.
We grow into seeing differently,
or not.
We can remain immature indefinitely,
immune to the impact of time,
stuck in a worldview impervious
to circumstance
or experience,
believing,
thinking
and doing
what has always been believed,
thought
and done
by everyone we know
forever.
Growing up,
some more,
again
means seeing things differently
over time.
If the way we see things
isn’t changing,
we may be 98.6 and breathing,
but we are dead to the world,
waiting on some undertaker
to make it official. - 01/06/2020— The Watchman 09/22/2006 — Zion National Park, Springdale, Utah, September 22, 2006
What’s wrong?
What would it take
for things to be right?
What do you care about?
Who cares about you?
Where do you belong
on the list
of those who care about you?
In what ways do you make clearly evident
the fact that you care about you?
What do you care about about you?
What’s wrong with you?
What would it take for things to be right
with you?
How is money a distraction
helping you avoid
coming to terms
with your relationship
with yourself?
Helping you take your mind off
what is wrong?
Off what it would take for things to be right?
With your life?
And with you?
What would it take
for you to like yourself?
For you to be able to like yourself?
Look into these things over time.
Keep an eye on them.
Study them.
Be aware of them
as you go through your life.
See what comes to mind.
See what memories you stir up.
How did things get to be the way they are?
How does the way they are need to be changed?
These aren’t questions to be answered
and put aside,
but questions to be wondered about,
observed.
Lived.
Catch yourself in the act
of answering them
by the way you live,
and look into that.
No judging.
No fault-finding.
Just observing.
Just noting.
Just noticing.
How “this” is related to “that.”
It is all grist for the mill.
We are milling ourselves,
over the long course of our life.
“We are the sculptor,
and we are the stone”
(Alexis Carrel). - 01/06/2020— McMullen Creek Slough 12/28/2019 04 — McMullen Creek Greenway, McMullen Creek Floodplain, Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation, Charlotte, North Carolina, December 28, 2019
Look at any photograph I take,
have taken,
will take,
and you will see
harmony,
symmetry,
balance,
beauty.
I live in the service of these things.
I am always balancing,
harmonizing,
situations and circumstances.
I soften things.
Take the edge off things.
Help things fit,
blend,
merge,
belong.
I work to smooth
your relationship with yourself
and other people
by helping you be aware
of your relationship with yourself
and other people.
I think awareness smooths things out,
fills things in,
reduces disparity,
and discord,
and chaos.
I think if we see how things are,
we will spontaneously
shift our relationship with things
toward reconciliation,
peace
and harmony.
I think we are not naturally belligerent,
hostile,
mean
and ornery.
And, when we are those things,
it is because we are more interested
in having our way
than in having harmonious relationships
with ourselves and others.
It is because we have lost sight
of what is important.
We are out of harmony,
out of flow,
out of sync,
out of accord with the Tao.
And that impacts all of life
in ways that do not support
the fundamental requirements of life.
And that means,
“The harvest is plentiful,
but the laborers are few,”
and I will always have work to do. - 01/06/2020— Lake Haigler 12/26/2019 12 Panorama — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Lake Haigler Access, Fort Mill, South Carolina, December 26, 2019
We do not come into the world
automatically knowing what to do
with our life.
And when we are born
into a society and culture
that doesn’t know any more than we do,
we have a problem:
What to do with our life?
In an ideal environment
we would have what we need
to nurture and nourish us
into the life that is ours to live.
There would be Yodas
and Obi-wan Kenobis everywhere,
talking to us about the Force,
about the Source,
about the Flow,
about being in accord with the Tao,
with the Dharma,
with Kairos
and Grace.
We don’t get any of that.
We get, “What do you want to be
when you grow up?”
No one ever tells us
that no one ever grows up,
but that we are all
always growing up–
into the face that was ours
before we were born,
into our Original Face,
into our Original Nature–
the ones that were taken from us
shortly after birth
by a society/culture that thinks
we come into the world
as a blank slate
and have to be taught right from wrong.
We know what is right for us
and what is wrong for us
from the start.
We need to be taught
how to listen to ourselves,
how to trust ourselves,
and how to walk two paths at the same time,
honoring ourselves
and our own bedrock,
our own North Star,
while fitting into the structure
of society and culture–
how to stand out,
and how to fit in–
how to be an individual
within the group.
The right kind of group
would make that possible,
even joyful.
We are born into
the wrong kind of group.
And do not receive the guidance
we need to consciously
connect with who we are
and what is ours to do
from the beginning,
but have to find our way there–
if we are lucky–
through trial and error
over long stretches of time.
And here we are–
growing ourselves up together,
at last.
Welcome to the Delivery Room! - 01/06/2020— The Fire Pit 10/12/2019 01 — Union County, South Carolina, October 12, 2019
Our Original Face
and Original Nature
come with us into the world
as 100 proof potential,
able to bring us forth
within the context
and circumstances
of our life
as authentic,
genuine,
real
human beings,
creating karma,
serving dharma,
in accord with the Tao,
at one with Kairos,
and agents of Grace.
But.
We are separated from all of that
soon after birth,
and pressed into the mold
prepared for us by the culture
which received us from the womb.
The entire society is arrayed
to tell us who we are
and what life is ours to live.
We get our marching orders
from parents, priests, ministers,
teachers, friends, commercials,
movies and media.
This is who we are supposed to be.
This is what we are supposed to look like.
This is what we are supposed to do…
So much for our Original Nature
and our Original Face.
And yet.
They never go away.
They never give up.
They wait in the silence
for our eventual return.
Just as a tree
is just what it is.
Just as a lion
is just what it is.
Just as a hummingbird
is just what it is
so each of us
is just who we are.
Nature’s advantage
is that no one is telling an oak tree
to be a pine,
or a washing machine.
Our advantage
is that we have a brain
and can think for ourselves.
We all know what is right for us
and what is wrong.
We only have to know what we know,
and what we don’t know–
see our seeing,
think about our thinking,
and teach ourselves to be aware
of the present moment
and all that meets us there,
paying attention,
on purpose,
to this moment right now,
without opinion,
or judgment,
holding everything
in compassionate awareness,
and receiving what arises
in the stillness
as something to look into
for its connection
with the face that was ours
before we were born,
and the life that goes with it,
even now,
even yet,
even still. - 01/07/2020— Goodale 10/25/2019 07 Detail — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, October 25, 2019
Carl Jung said,
“There lives in each of us another,
whom we do not know.”
It is up to us to make acquaintances.
To open ourselves to the presence
of The Other.
To make ourselves available to The Other.
To make room for The Other.
To establish,
nurture,
nourish,
and maintain
a vital relationship with The Other.
To consult
and collaborate with The Other–
as best friends would–
throughout our time together
in the life we are conjointly living.
The Other comes to us in dreams,
in jolts of recognition
and realization,
in nudges,
urges,
whims,
chance occurrences,
premonitions,
experiences of harmony,
balance,
serenity
and peace–
and their polar opposites.
One way of realizing the reality
of The Other
is through The Animal Projection Exercise,
which I call “Your Totem Animal”
in a blog post on my WordPress site
(https://jimwdollar.com/2019/07/10/your-totem-animal/).
We are not alone.
Yoda lives within us all
as The Other within.
It only takes believing it
to know it is so. - 01/07/2020— McMullen Creek Slough 12/28/2019 03 Panorama — McMullen Creek Greenway, McMullen Creek Flood Plain, Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation, Charlotte, North Carolina, December 28, 2019
My idea of having it made
is Tevya in *The Fiddler on the Roof.*
Then, circumstances inserted themselves
into his life situation
and Tevya joined the rest of us
in the work to have it made.
That is how it is
with having it made.
We work to have it made
for longer periods of time
than we have it made.
How did Tevya put things back together?
My hunch is that
he ran out of time.
And if he didn’t run out of time,
his circumstances would have flipped again,
and he would be back
working to put things together again.
That is the rhythm of life.
We no sooner get things in place
than we have to
get things in place again.
And, sometimes,
we never get things in place.
And, have to make our peace with that.
Having it made is completely out of the question
with most of the world’s population.
Most of us don’t have a chance.
How many opioid addicts have a chance?
How many children in the grip
of poverty and hopelessness
have a chance?
How many people in nursing homes
have a chance?
A chance at what?
A chance of life lived fully to the end.
My idea of the end
is as idealistic
as my idea of having it made–
dying with cookies in the oven
and crumbs on the plate.
What are the chances?
And the catch here is
that we cannot let our chances stop us.
Tevya never considered his chances.
He simply did what was his to do
in the time and place of his living,
and let his circumstances change
with the times.
That’s the way to do it.
Our circumstances give us choices,
and our primary choice
is to not let our chances
impact our choices.
We make the best of each situation
that comes up in a day,
doing here and now
what needs to be done here and now,
and letting nature take its course.
Aligning ourselves as best we can
with our life as it needs us to live it,
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
and letting our chances be our chances–
in light of the over-riding fact of life
for every living thing:
Our circumstances
are out of our control.
And our chances depend on our circumstances.
I’m living as well as I can imagine living,
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
hoping for crumbs and cookies,
and not allowing my chances
to show me down. - 01/07/2020— McAlpine Creek Greenway 01/05/2020 01 Panorama — Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation, Charlotte, North Carolina, January 5, 2020
Having it made
cannot be dependent
on our circumstances.
Let that sink in.
Having it made transcends circumstances.
Is immune to circumstances.
Is beyond the reach of circumstances.
Independent of circumstances,
we are free to live our life
moment-to-moment-to-moment
on the basis of our relationship
with our Original Face,
our Original Nature,
and what is available to us
in each here-and-now
of every day.
We are capable of living beyond
our circumstances,
no matter what they are.
If they are favorable,
they are just favorable.
If they are unfavorable,
they are just unfavorable.
We are capable of responding
to all of our circumstances
in ways that are appropriate
to the occasion–
in ways that serve virtue,
harmony,
balance,
integrity,
compassion
and the true good of the whole.
Nothing can happen to us
that destroys our ability
to respond by asking,
“What are these times
calling for?
What is being asked of me,
here and now?”
Kairos,
Tao,
Dharma,
and Grace
are present in every moment
(Carl Jung quoted the Delphic Oracle,
saying, “Invoked or not invoked,
the God is always present”)
to call us into their service,
and to guide us in the way.
Our work is not to despair
because things are happening
that we do not want to happen,
but to align ourselves
with what is happening
and what needs to happen in response
that we can initiate
our of the gifts,
daemon,
genius,
spirit
that are ours to bestow
upon the time and place
of our living.
And we can do that much
in any time and place.
Being true to ourselves
in response to our circumstances
is having it made in that
being who we are,
where we are,
when we are,
how we are,
in light of what
is being asked of us–
no matter what–
is all that is ever asked of us,
and no one could do better than that. - 01/07/2020— McAlpine Creek Greenway 01/05/2020 03 — McAlpine Creek Floodplain, Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation, Charlotte, North Carolina, January 5, 2020
Each situation demands a response
fitting to its needs.
If we spill the milk,
we clean up the milk.
If the dog needs to go outside,
we take the dog outside.
The situation does not wait for a time
convenient to us
to impose its will.
It doesn’t wait until we are in the mood.
Until we feel like it.
Until we want to.
And we aren’t allowed to negotiate
a different response,
or the proper response
at a different time.
We get to say yes or no.
We rise to the occasion
or we walk away.
We do what is asked of us,
or we fail to be
who we are asked to be.
We grow up one situation at a time.
If we grow up at all. - 01/08/2020— McAlpine Creek Greenway 01/05/2020 02 Panorama — McAlpine Creek Floodplain, Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation, Charlotte, North Carolina, January 5, 2020
Rachel weeps for her children
with shrieks of loud lamentation,
and will not be consoled or comforted
for she has lost them
and is beyond consolation.
So are we all.
The consolation of Israel
is said to ride with the Messiah,
because,
where else could it come from?
We certainly are incapable
of generating it among ourselves!
So we long for the one
who will bear our griefs
and carry our sorrows,
and take on himself
the chastisement
that makes us whole.
Look into that.
What does that tell you
about our inability,
our refusal,
to bear our own pain–
to grow up?
And our rejection
of the very idea,
of bearing our pain
and growing up?
There is no growing up
without bearing the pain
of being alive.
You will look in vain
among the pages of the Bible
for anything remotely reminiscent
of Odysseus’ declaration:
“I will stay with it and endure
through suffering hardship,
and once the heaving sea
has shaken my raft to pieces,
then I will swim!”
In the Bible,
we get waiting for Godot.
For somebody to do it for us.
For somebody who has to be appeased,
and placated,
bought off
and mollified,
soothed
and won over.
You can’t read the Bible
without concluding,
“These people have to grow up!”
It is tough everywhere we look.
Where do we get the idea
that we should be consoled?
We have to bear our own pain,
and stop adding to the cumulative pain of life.
The most brutal people I know
are the people seeking some form
of consolation,
and taking it out on everyone else
when they don’t find
what they are looking for.
Enough, already!
We have everything we need
to find what we need
to do what needs us to do it.
Pick yourself up
and step into the day,
every day,
and do there what needs
to be done there.
And when the heaving sea
has shaken your raft to pieces,
swim! - 01/08/2020— Curves 10/28/2019 02 — Puckett Cabin, Blue Ridge Parkway, Milepost 189.9, Hillsville, Virginia, October 28, 2019
We dream of being presidents and princes,
but.
What do presidents and princes dream of?
Apparently, tripping to Jeffery Epstein’s private island
and passing a good time or two.
Everybody, it seems,
would be happier somewhere else.
What is with escaping this
to get/have that–
which soon becomes this,
and really needs to be that?
What does life have to offer?
Where is fulfillment to be found?
Who are we kidding?
Why do we settle so often
for drugs, sex and alcohol?
And settle so rarely
for settling down with this,
just as it is,
forever?
What is it about us
that keeps us casting about
for something more?
What are we seeking?
And how is where we are
different from being adrift
on the high seas,
or wandering through
the trackless wasteland?
What is at the bottom of our lostness?
Why do so many suffer
“from the general aimlessness of life”?
Look into it.
Probe about in your own dissatisfaction
and disenchantment.
Why is happiness always somewhere else?
See what you come up with. - 01/08/2020— Otter Lake 10/29/2019 05 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Milepost 60.9, Virginia, October 29, 2019
The summation of nearly 5,000 years
of Taoist and Zen instruction in the art
of enlightened living
can be summed up as so:
See clearly.
Respond appropriately.
That is all there is to it.
But.
That begs the question:
What prevents us from seeing clearly?
What keeps us from responding appropriately?
Enter the world of 10,000 things
(10,000 is the Taoist/Zen equivalent of infinity).
The work of enlightened living
is the work
of seeing past,
over,
under,
around
and through
all of the things that interfere
with seeing clearly,
responding appropriately.
One of the source books
of Taoism/Zen
(Zen is what happened
when Buddhism met Taoism)
is the I Ching.
The translation I am most familiar with
is by Thomas Cleary.
There, we find these comments:
“Receptivity to reality
is achieved through emptying the mind
of its conditioned subjectivity,
stilling personal predispositions
so that unbiased understanding and action
may take place.”
“Application of the I Ching is accomplished
simply by openness and tranquility.
When open, one takes in all;
when tranquil, one perceives all.”
Seeing clearly
is knowing what’s what
and what needs to be done
about it.
Appropriate action follows spontaneously.
It takes a lifetime of looking
to be able to see. - 01/09/2020— Goodale 10/25/2019 17 Panorama — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, October 25, 2019
I have a strong hunch
that the autobiography
of every human being
who ever lived
could be titled,
“Betrayal, Deceit and Abandonment.”
Who doesn’t have to fight
their way through those experiences
to a life worth living?
Every living thing
has to live
in the service
of what it thinks
is worth having.
The percentage is not high
of those who have
all the help they need
in that work.
Too many are thrown back
on their own devices–
and too many of those
are not told or shown
what their own devices are,
or how to access them
and help themselves.
How have you experienced
betrayal, deceit and abandonment
in your own life?
How have you dealt with it
all along the way?
In what ways have you been
guilty of it along the way?
What do we owe ourselves
and one another
from this point forward
in dealing with what has been done to us
and what we have done to others?
What inner resources
do we not know we have?
How might we begin to find out?
Here is my favorite way
of finding the way forward
in any here and now:
1) Begin with looking into the situation.
Here, that would mean
looking into the matter
of betrayal, deceit and abandonment
as you have experienced it,
perpetrated it.
2) Ask all of the questions that beg to be asked
about it–including the questions
that beg to be asked by the questions
that beg to be asked.
3) Say all of the things that cry out to be said
about it–including the things
that cry out to be said in light
of the things that cry out to be said.
You might find it helpful
to begin a journal
and write all this down.
You will be accessing inner resources
you don’t know you have,
and learning to find your way
along the way
by listening to the guides
who reside within.
We are not as alone as we think we are.
We are not as helpless as it would seem.
We would be wise
to consult the guides
all along the way. - 01/10/2020— Goodale 10/25/2019 18 — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, October 25, 2019, an iPhone Photo
We are born without knowing
good from bad,
right from wrong,
yes from know.
Morality has no meaning for us.
We cannot tell one thing
from another.
We only know what we want
and what we don’t want.
You wouldn’t want us running the world
in that state of being.
Though, a lot of people *do* run the world
in that state of being,
or try to.
What they want is good.
What they don’t want is bad.
What they want is right.
What they don’t want is wrong.
What they want is YES!
What they don’t want is NO!
Never mind what any other concerns
or considerations
may be impacted.
From their point of view
there are no other concerns
or considerations
to take into account.
What they want is all that matters.
We call that immaturity.
With enough wealth and power,
you can get away with it.
Otherwise, you end up dead
or in jail.
Reality is set up to force us
to take other people into account.
Morality is civilization’s way
of creating stability,
security
and predictability
in a natural world run based
on “The Law of the Fishes”
(“The big fish eat the little fish,
and the little fish hide”).
The Rule of Law
is humanity’s contribution
to the process of life,
and a welcome improvement
to the natural order.
But.
Wealth and power
are always at work
to nullify,
ignore,
dispense with,
transcend
The Rule of Law.
And that is one of the dialectics
that shape our life:
Who is governed
by the Rule of Law,
and who is not?
Another dialectic is also at work here:
Morality vs. Individuality.
We are personally responsible
to one another
and to the culture which receives us
from the womb and shapes our life.
And we are bound to the inner drives
and urges which direct us
beyond what we want to have
and to do,
to what we MUST have
and do.
And Fraser Snowden chimes in
at this point
to remind us,
“The only true philosophical question
is ‘Where do you draw the line?’”
It is the task of maturity
to answer the question
in each situation as it arises
and draw the line,
assuming full responsibility
for the outcome
(Which, of course, creates
another situation in which
we are responsible
for drawing the line,
and being right about
where it is to be drawn.
Etc. Forever).
The task of maturity
is to grow up
against our will
forever. - 01/10/2020— Beidler Forest 11/22/2019 13 — Francis Beidler Forest, Audubon Center and Sanctuary, Four Holes Swamp, Harleyville, South Carolina, November 22, 2019
We walk two paths at the same time
all of the time.
We are the peacemakers,
reconciling opposites,
integrating polarities,
dancing with contradictions,
making peace,
every step of the way.
We honor the way of our soul
with the way of Tao,
Kairos,
Dharma,
and Grace,
and balance that with the way of the world,
the way of the culture,
the way things are
in the context
and circumstances
of our life,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
It is easier to say,
“To hell with it,”
and do what we feel like doing.
The obesity rate
and the popularity
of alcohol,
tobacco/vaping,
opioids
and pot
indicate that we do
what we feel like doing a lot.
Bearing the weight of our conflicts
in light of what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises,
is a necessary aspect of growing up
that we neglect
at every opportunity.
Not doing what needs to be done
is what we do best.
How we move from here to there–
to doing what needs to be done?
Awareness, awareness, awareness.
The first thing to be aware of
is how strongly opposed we are
to being aware of anything. - 01/10/2020— Otter Creek 10/29/2019 03 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Big Island, Virginia, October 29, 2019
One of my core beliefs
is that of the crucial importance
of the developmental tasks
in our work to grow up
into being who we are,
doing what is ours to do.
We cannot skip a task.
We cannot decide
we have had it with growing up,
and will not submit to another transition,
will not run through another gauntlet,
will not rise to meet another occasion,
will not pay the price of doing
what needs to be done one more time.
Every stage of our life
comes replete with tasks
appropriate to that stage.
And they are hell.
They ask things of us
we don’t know we have to give.
They ask us to do things
we cannot imagine doing.
“I’m not ready!”
“That isn’t ‘me’!”
“I can’t do it!”
We walk into each stage of life
with excuses at the ready
for not progressing into it
or any of the remaining stages.
Buck up
and buckle down.
Life is a mean horse
and the ride lasts all the way
to the end.
Adjustment and adaptation, Kid.
Adjustment and adaptation. - 01/11/2020— Peaks of Otter 10/28/2019 14 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Abbot Lake, MP 86, near Bedford, Virginia, October 29, 2019
How good is the good you call good?
Whose good is served
by the good you call good?
Whose good is not served
by the good you call good?
Who does your idea of the good
allow you to dismiss as undeserving
of the good?
How good is the good you call good
in light of the Sermon on the Mount,
the Parable of the Prodigal Son,
the Parable of the Good Samaritan?
How good is the good you call good
in light of the Eightfold Path?
How good is the good you call good
in light of the Dalai Lama’s teachings?
Who stands in agreement with you
about your idea of the good?
Who disagrees with you
about your idea of the good?
How do you determine
the goodness of the good
you call good? - 01/11/2020— Peaks of Otter 10/29/2019 25 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Abbot Lake, MP 86, near Bedford, Virginia, October 29, 2019
Although our original face,
and our original nature
can appear to be “lost and gone forever,”
they are never far away.
The Hero’s Journey is the quest
for who we are,
and it is exactly the distance
from our head to our heart,
or from the left side of our brain
to the right side.
From logic, thinking and reason
to intuition, sensing and feeling.
We are led along the way
by our imagination,
not by deduction and analysis.
We catch a glimpse of the white rabbit
and “the game’s afoot!”
The catch is that we cannot think up
the white rabbit.
It appears of its own volition
when the time is right.
In the meantime,
we practice
being still and quiet,
centering on our breathing,
counting breaths,
completing body scans,
being aware of,
and attentive to,
the present moment,
moment-by-moment-by-moment…
Preparing ourselves to see what we look at,
to hear what we are listening to,
and to know what’s what
here and now.
And, when a door opens,
we walk through
into the wonder,
marvel,
and mystery
of the rest of our life. - 01/12/2020— Road Through Fall 10/28/2019 04 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia, October 28, 2019
We want to be able to
sit back
and enjoy the ride
through fall,
and winter
and spring
and summer
and all the way through life.
We don’t want anything
getting in our way.
Smooth and easy
is our idea of how things
need to play out.
Nothing out of its time.
No surprises.
Certainly no shocks.
And definitely no calamities ever.
Just one beautiful landscape after another.
All our life long.
Our life has other ideas.
Our life has a mind of its own.
Our life wants us to live it
the way only we can live it.
Our life wants us to be fully
present and engaged
in the present moment
every step along the way.
Alive to the moment.
Engaged by the moment.
Invested in the moment.
None of this,
“Not now!
I don’t feel like it!
I’m not in the mood for it!
Maybe later,
when I’m ready.
Maybe tomorrow.
We’ll see.”
Our life knows us better
than we know ourselves.
Our life knows we will never be ready
for what it has in store for us.
So it is always throwing things at us
to get us ready
for all that is coming
ready or not.
Our life needs us to be ready for anything.
At any time.
Sharp.
Alert.
Attentive.
Aware.
Our life doesn’t want us missing anything,
because everything matters.
“Everything is grist for the mill,”
and we are milling ourselves.
We are growing ourselves up.
We are learning to trust ourselves,
to rely on ourselves,
to discover ourselves,
to find ourselves,
to be ourselves
by becoming who we are,
and also are.
And every single thing
is a step on that journey.
Particularly the things we hate.
Especially the pain
and agony.
We grow up against our will,
and that means doing
what we do not want anything
to do with.
The right way.
Time after time after time.
Bearing the pain.
The way it needs to be borne.
Learning to separate who we are
from what we want.
Knowing that wanting doesn’t know a thing
about what needs to be,
about what needs to happen,
about what needs us to do it
like we can do it.
Our life is bringing us into focus,
sharpening our edges,
our boundaries,
separating us from not-us,
revealing us to ourselves,
showing us who we are
and what we are capable of,
one step at a time.
We could never get that out of a book.
No one could ever tell us that.
We live our way to who we are,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
Situation-by-situation-by-situation.
Growing us up
against our will
one day at a time. - 01/12/2020— James River 10/29/2019 05 — Big Island, Virginia, October 29, 2019
It doesn’t matter what we do.
It matters that we find ourselves
through doing it.
Finding ourselves
by being who we are,
knowing ourselves
by consciously,
deliberately,
intentionally
being who we are
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
situation-by-situation-by-situation,
day-by-day-by-day
is all there is to it.
There is nothing more than that
to ask, or seek, or imagine.
We can start anywhere,
do anything–
as long as our eyes are open
to seeing,
to finding,
where WE are in it.
What are WE doing here, now?
How did WE get here, now?
What does this have to show us
about who WE are?
Is this more ME,
or more NOT-ME?
Where am I in this?
What am I going to do about this?
What does this say about ME?
What am I trying to show me
about ME?
We are all on the path to who we are.
And we all can expect to meet ourselves
along the way.
The question is whether
we will recognize who we are meeting
and let everything else fall away
in becoming who we are
and living in full accord with ourselves–
consciously,
deliberately,
intentionally–
more and more
the rest of the way.
01/12/2020— Curves 10/29/2019 04 — Blue Ridge Parkway, MP 88, Virginia, October 29, 2019
Oneness with our life,
being in accord with “the other” within,
expressing our original face
and our original nature
in all that we do,
living in sync with the Tao,
with Kairos,
with Dharma,
with Grace,
is a matter of not thinking about what we are doing,
and listening only
to what needs to be done,
to what needs us to do it,
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
situation-by-situation-by-situation,
day-by-day-by-day.
That kind of listening
is characterized by
being present in the time and place
of our living,
being wholly here, now,
being attuned to,
aware of,
fully attending
the context
and circumstances
of our life
as we are experiencing them
in the umwelt of “the eternal now.”
It takes practice.
Jon Kabat-Zinn’s YouTube Videos
and Ann Weiser Cornel’s
PDF downloads from her web site
offer excellent practice material.
If we just know what needs to be done
without applying ourselves
to the work of doing it,
we are only lying on our backs,
watching the clouds
as our life runs out of time
and we think “Maybe tomorrow
we will get started.”
- 01/12/2020— Eastern Bluebird 01/12/2020 01 — Scenes from my Camp Stool, Zen Glen, 22-acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina, January 12, 2020
Things I desire include:
Silence.
Seeing what I look at.
Seeing things as they are.
Hearing what is being said,
verbally and behaviorally,
in all situations
and circumstances.
Knowing what’s what,
and what needs to be done about it,
and what can be done about it.
Getting to the heart of the matter.
All matters.
Not being fooled by appearances.
Not being led,
or swayed,
by my opinions,
judgment,
interpretation,
evaluation,
or what I stand
to gain or lose
in any situation
or circumstance.
It’s a great wish list.
If the Grantor of Wishes
ever drops by,
I’m ready.
How about you? - 01/13/2020— Beidler Forest 11/22/2019 07 — Francis Beidler Forest, Audubon Center and Sanctuary, Four Holes Swamp, Harleyville, South Carolina, November 22, 2019
I think the old Taoists would say
that it all comes down to
timing,
virtue (Which they understood to be
alignment with our original nature/face)
energy
and spirit.
And all of that is contingent
on our engaging regularly
in the right kind of silence
with the right kind of appreciation
for movement and rest.
Everything is either moving or resting.
The tide comes and goes and turns.
The turning is when the tide is resting.
Our life is always moving or resting.
When we refuse to rest
and are always going
in pursuit of,
or service to,
whatever it is that we think
we have to have NOW!,
we deplete our energy and spirit,
trade virtue for achievement
and acquisition,
and ignore the importance of timing
in constant quest of *Victory Now!*
We have to balance activity
and consideration,
replace striving/forcing
with perceiving/sensing,
and allow things to happen
in their own time,
at their own pace,
in their own way.
Which means replacing
wanting/desiring/having-to-have
with seeing/hearing/knowing
in order to do what needs to be done,
when it needs to be done,
the way it needs to be done
in light of all things considered.
In each situation as it arises
all our life long.
It means acting only when it is time to act,
in the service of what needs to be done–
and being right about when-and-what that is.
If we are going to practice anything,
we should practice that. - 01/13/2020— Eastern Bluebird 01/12/2020 01 — Scenes from my Camp Stool, Zen Glen, Indian Land, South Carolina, January 12, 2020
We are all sailing solo on a pathless sea.
All directions are equally possible
and plausible.
All are different,
none are better or worse
than others,
each is capable of bringing us forth
to meet the challenges and disappointments,
triumphs and glories
unique to each.
Good and bad,
better and worse,
are preferences,
opinions,
judgments,
evaluations
in light of what we think we know–
in light of what we think we want–
in light or what we think is good and bad,
better and worse
In light of the end of the journey
that we have in mind for ourselves.
We invent/image the end,
and judge the path from the standpoint
of how soon we want to arrive
and how easy we want the trip to be.
The sea is not only pathless.
It is also endless.
There is only the adventure of the journey.
The unfolding of who we are
over the full course of our life.
We are always becoming who we are.
We are always growing up.
Our view of what is good and bad,
important and unimportant,
is always in flux,
is always being put to the test
by new realizations
brought forth by changing circumstances
and different situations.
What is good here
is bad there.
What is important now
is unimportant then.
What is right and what is wrong
depends on what works
when and where.
A strategy that fits our youth
is laughable in our old age,
and vice-versa.
We are becoming different
all along the way.
And “there is only the dance”
(T.S. Eliot).
There is only the sea.
Sail on!
Sail on! - 01/13/2020— Last Days of Fall 11/03/2019 Panorama — Boone Fork, Boone Fork Trail, Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina, November 03, 2019
Only you know what you need to hear,
see,
know,
realize,
comprehend,
embrace,
integrate into your life
and live in the service of
all the days remaining
in your time
upon the earth.
If you are not listening,
why not?
If what you hear
has to be pushed on you
in a hard-sell kind of way,
it is not what you need to hear.
What you need to hear
resonates immediately,
automatically,
spontaneously,
with you.
If it doesn’t,
you either don’t need to hear it,
or it isn’t time for you to hear it.
It will cycle back around
when you have grown up some more (again).
It is waiting
for you to be ready
for what you need to hear.
You can hurry things up
buy watching the Jon Kabat-Zinn
YouTube videos (The shortest ones first),
and familiarizing yourself
with Ann Weiser Cornell’s writing
and videos on her web site.
If that doesn’t resonate with you,
you will have to wait
for it to cycle around again.
Maybe for several cycles.
But, its recommendation
will never go out of date. - 01/14/2020— Otter Creek 10/29/2019 07 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Big Island, Virginia, October 29, 2019
We have to get out of our heads
and into our lives.
We think we have our life
all mapped out in our heads.
Our life is thinking,
if we would stop thinking
it could show us all we need to know
about being alive.
Being alive is living with Integrity,
aligned with Kairos,
in accord with Tao,
in light of Dharma,
under the care of Grace.
We don’t know
what any of those words
with capital letters mean.
That is because
we have been thinking
about what we want
out of life
instead of thinking
about what our life
wants out of us.
Integrity is living with
outside in sync with inside–
living to serve inside with outside.
Living to be who we are
instead of living to do what we want.
Wants trump everything.
When what we want directs
what we do,
we jerk ourselves around
from one apparently
wonderful thing
to another
throughout our life–
with no guiding sense of direction
keeping us on the path
in the service of our life’s
true meaning
through all contexts
and circumstances
no matter what.
Speaking of “what,”
what does wanting know?
Wanting knows what is desirable
here and now
period.
Wanting mostly knows
it wants out of here, NOW!
Wanting is no help what-
so-ever.
Living with integrity
saves us from the
“What do we want to do now?” trap.
With our integrity at stake,
our doing takes its guidance
from what is right for us as a whole
regardless of the price we have to pay
to do it.
What is right for us as a whole
is not something we think
our way into knowing.
We feel our way there.
Look our way there.
Listen our way there.
Trust our way there.
If you are ever going to have faith
in something,
let it be faith in your ability
to know what is right for you.
And trust yourself to it
with filial devotion
and allegiance,
following it everywhere you go.
This is living with Integrity. - 01/14/2020— Eastern Bluebird 01/12/2020 04 — Scenes from my Camp Stool, Zen Glen, Indian Land, South Carolina, January 12, 2020
Kairos was the Greek God of Luck and Opportunity,
signifying the right time,
the appropriate time,
the appointed time,
the time to act,
the time for birth
and the time for death,
the time for things to happen
the time for things to stop happening…
Chronos was the Greek God of Time
signifying clock time,
calendar time,
What day is it?
What time is it?
Aion was the Greek God of Time
signifying eternity,
eternal time,
the God of the Ages,
the Spirit of the Times…
When we ask,
“Do you know what time it is?”
We are talking about Chronos.
When we wonder,
“Is it time for a nap
or a walk around the block?”
We are talking about Kairos.
When we say,
“Those were the days!”
We are talking about Aion.
Being alive in the moment of our living
is living with Integrity,
aligned with Kairos.
The old Taoists knew the Way
is the way of knowing
what the time right now is ripe for,
and acting in ways that are at one
with the time that is ready
for our action.
We have to read the times (Aion)
and know what is being called for now (Kairos)
no matter what the day, or hour, is (Chronos).
Knowing what Kairos is calling for,
is ready for,
and acting in ways that are felicitous,
moment-by-moment-by-moment
is to be centered in the path
and offering what the occasion calls for
with the gifts/genius/daemon
we are here to serve.
Perfection doesn’t get any better than this. - 01/15/2020— Mabry Mill 10/30/2019 03 — Blue Ridge Parkway, MP 176.2, near Meadows of Dan, in Floyd County, Virginia, October 30, 2019
Being alive in the moment of our living
is living with Integrity,
aligned with Kairos,
in accord with Tao.
Tao is you.
Tao is what is right for you
(Not to be confused
with what you want for you.
What we want is always
keeping us from doing
what is right for us,
which is why it is said
that we always grow up
against our will.
We are separated from
ourselves at birth,
and spend our lifetime
trying to find our way back
to who we are–
fighting it all the way.
Which means we want
nothing to do with Tao.
You see the problem).
Tao is your true,
authentic,
genuine,
natural self.
“The face that was yours
before you were born.”
Your original nature.
The essential truth of who you are.
Carl Jung said,
“We are who we have always been,
and who we will be.”
When we are in accord with Tao,
we are in accord with that aspect
of who we are.
And Tao is more than that.
Tao is how everything is
in its essential nature.
Tao is the entire universe
working together in one harmonious whole.
It is how things are
when they are smoothly functioning
as themselves
in relation to all other things and beings.
When we break troth with ourselves,
with one another,
with other things,
we are out of accord with Tao
and out of tune,
out of harmony,
with all of life.
And all the money,
drugs,
alcohol,
and sex
in the world
will not compensate us
for what we have lost.
The way out of the mess we are in
is the way back to who we are,
to what is right for us
even though it is the last thing we want.
We cannot get there
without growing up.
Some more.
Again.
Forever.
It’s like dying.
That’s the price of being alive. - 01/15/2020— Last Days of Fall 11/03/2019 03 Panorama — Blue Ridge Parkway, Linville River Bridge, Linville Falls Picnic Area, Linville Falls, North Carolina, November 3, 2019
Jesus said,
“Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right?”
I say,
“What would you go to hell for?”
We are asking the same question.
Deciding for ourselves what is right
is saying we will go to hell for it.
For our decision about what is right.
How right can it be
if we aren’t willing to go to hell for it?
How authentically can we live
if we hedge our bets,
tiptoe on egg shells,
carefully refuse to make waves,
or rock boats,
or turn over apple carts,
or the tables of money changers,
for fear of going to hell if we do?
How can hell threaten
anyone who is hellbent on being who they are
and doing what they know to be right–
not because someone else said so,
but because they say so–
no matter what?
No one can judge for us what is right.
That is ours to determine for ourselves.
We say what is right,
and we live as though it is,
in each situation as it arises,
all our life long.
What is right
is what is right here and now.
Who says so?
We do.
And if we are wrong about it?
We will learn from it,
and do better next time.
And if we go to hell for it?
If there is nothing worth going to hell for
in our life,
what kind of life is that?
That kind of life is worse than hell
because we never lived it.
We were too afraid of going to hell.
Which is the moral of the guy
who buried his talent
in a mayonnaise jar
and took no chances with being wrong.
Champ Wilson said,
“Columbus took a chance.”
Are you going to live your life or not? - 01/05/2020— Eastern Bluebird 01/12/2020 05 — Scenes from my Camp Stool, Indian Land, South Carolina, January 12, 2020
It takes being in the right place
at the right time,
being around the right people,
knowing what is right for you
and what is wrong for you,
looking and listening
for what the right thing is to do
in each situation as it arises,
without trying to be smart,
and wily,
and crafty,
and sly,
conniving and contriving
ways to bring about
the agenda you are serving,
attempting to arrange
the future you want for yourself,
no matter what.
Can you do that?
Can you serve a good
at a variance with what
you consider to be your own good?
Can you see and do what is right for you
no matter how much it is contrary
to what you want for you?
Can you sacrifice yourself
for the sake of what needs you to do it?
This is Jesus on the cross.
This is Jesus saying,
“If you would walk with me,
you have to deny yourself
and take up your cross daily
and come with me.”
It takes growing up
some more
again
every day.
It takes seeing what you look at.
It takes looking into what you look at.
Everything you need to see
is always right before you.
Right there waiting
for you to develop eyes that see.
Everything we do is a mirror showing us
who we are
and who we need to be.
Nobody can tell us that.
We have to see it for ourselves.
I’ve told you that every photograph I take
is a picture of harmony,
serenity,
balance,
peace,
beauty,
calm,
symmetry,
synthesis,
oneness,
congruity,
etc.
I am showing myself
who I am to be,
who I am to work toward becoming,
and the degree to which
discord,
disharmony,
chaos,
fear,
uncertainty,
imbalance,
confusion,
insecurity,
instability,
insanity,
meaninglessness
and absurdity,
etc.
dog my heels
and threaten my existence.
I work within what is true with me
to become what is true with me
and all of that is plainly visible
in the things I do
that are most important to me.
We know who we are
and who we also are
by looking at what we are doing
and what that has to say/show us
about who we are
and who we also are.
Mirrors are everywhere
for those who know how to see
what to look for. - 01/16/2020— Thunder Ridge 10/29/2019 06 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Milepost 74.7, Virginia, October 29, 2019
Being alive is living with Integrity,
aligned with Kairos,
in accord with Tao,
in light of Dharma.
Dharma is “the eternal and inherent,”
“uncontrived and inerrant,”
“constant and unalterable”
“nature of reality,”
“cosmic law,”
“universal truth”
running through
and binding
all things,
seen and unseen,
in “the way things are together
and apart.”
It is the way things are in themselves
past all appearances,
wants,
wishes,
desires,
illusions,
delusions,
representations,
pretensions,
etc.
It is who we are at the source,
at the heart,
at the bedrock,
at the foundation stone.
It is who I am
when you say,
“Isn’t that just like Jim?”
It is water seeking its own level.
It is gravity producing,
and produced by,
mass.
Mass producing and produced by
gravity.
It is who we are
and what we do
when we are being
true to ourselves.
The problem is that lions
and great white whales,
gophers and asteroids
have to be true to themselves–
and you and I do not.
We can be whatever we think
will get us what we want,
will work out best for us,
will produce the end we have in mind.
We can create disruption in the flow.
We introduce disharmony
and discord
into “the fabric of the universe.”
We can ignore Kairos,
distort the Tao,
deform Dharma,
lose connection with our original face
and wander through the endless wasteland
cutoff from the guiding pulsation
of our original nature.
We can spend our life
seeking who we are,
instead of being who we are.
Finding the tools,
the path,
the way to The Way
of Being Our Natural Self
is the work of becoming
what we seek.
The keys are awareness,
compassion,
patience,
persistence
and practice, practice, practice. - 01/16/2020— November 4 11/04/2019 01 — Blue Ridge Parkway near Boone, North Carolina, November 4, 2019
Playing the best game of our life
may, or may not, result in victory,
but.
We played the best game of our life.
If we consistently play at the level
we are capable of playing,
wins and losses will balance out,
but.
Wins and losses are minor details.
Consistently playing/living at the level
we are capable of playing/living
in each situation as it arises
is the source of satisfaction,
bliss,
peace,
well-being,
harmony,
serenity,
fulfillment,
completion
and the best
we can imagine,
hope for,
expect,
experience,
have,
enjoy–
and cannot be bought,
or contrived,
or connived,
or conned,
or manipulated into being.
What is keeping us
from playing/living at the level
we are capable of playing/living?
What do we think is better,
or more important,
than that? - 01/17/2020— Parkway Overlooks 10/29/2019 02 Panorama — Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia, October 29, 2019
Being alive is living with Integrity,
aligned with Kairos,
in accord with Tao,
in light of Dharma,
under the care of Grace.
Grace says it all.
“By Grace we are saved.”
Not “by God” from “Hell,”
but “by Grace” from “Chaos,
Apostasy,
and the Desolating Sacrilege”
(Or whatever words
describe for you
the wasted emptiness
of the Void).
By Grace we are saved
from having to live a life
we have no idea how to live.
Grace saves us in the sense
of restoring us to a life worth living–
to the life that is our life to live,
the life that only we can live,
the life that makes us “us,”
who we are,
reunited with our original nature
and the face that was ours
before we were born.
Grace is Irrational Benevolence.
Irrational in that it is
completely unexpected,
undeserved,
shocking to the point
of stunning us into silence
and disbelief,
sitting us down,
shutting us up
and forcing upon us
the work of making sense
of wonder,
amazement
and awe
beyond words–
beyond imagining,
beyond believing.
Grace is serendipity,
synchronicity,
miracle.
“I once was lost,
but now am found,
was blind,
but now I see!”
Enlightenment.
Awakening.
Nirvana.
Deliverance.
Kairos,
Tao,
Dharma,
coming together,
coinciding,
revealing themselves as One,
to create Integrity
and introduce us to US!
It is all Grace.
All the way down.
If you don’t know what I’m talking about,
keep walking around in the dark,
looking for a light switch.
When the light comes on,
that’s Grace
at work in your life,
and you will look back at the darkness
and realize that, too,
was Grace at work in your life.
Realized,
or not realized,
Grace is all there is. - 01/17/2020— Last Days of Fall 11/03/2019 14 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Linville Falls Picnic Area, Linville Falls, North Carolina, November 3, 2019
Throw away your doctrine,
your theology,
your faith in what
somebody has told you is so,
and step into your own life
with your eyes wide open,
looking at everything,
looking into everything,
afraid of nothing
curious about it all,
asking all of the questions
that beg to be asked,
saying all of the things
that cry out to be said,
holding nothing back,
holding yourself back from nothing,
bearing the pain,
seeing clearly,
responding appropriately
in each situation that arises,
all your life long.
That is all there is to it. - 01/17/2020— Eastern Bluebird 01/12/2020 06 — Scenes from my Camp Stool, Zen Glen, Indian Land, South Carolina, January 12, 2020
Sarah Kendzior said
“All we need to do is care about one another”
(Or words to that effect).
We have allowed the internet
and social media
to take caring away from us.
Hostility and anger
quickly become rage,
and here we are.
Don’t act out of anger.
That’s the first rule of caring.
And if it isn’t the first,
it’s high on the list. - 01/18/2020— Parkway Overlooks 10/29/2019 07 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia, October 29, 2019
The profit motive is the essence of sin.
Sin is being off the path,
away from The Way,
lost without hope,
guidance
or direction.
Sin is as far from enlightened living
as we can be.
Sin is being wrong about what is important.
Enlightenment,
deliverance,
realization,
salvation is being restored
to ends worthy of us,
and being right about what is important.
“What’s in it for me?”
is irrelevant
in the grip of what we must do
no matter what.
How many of us live out of a sense
of what we must do,
out of an ever-deepening relationship
with what calls our name,
with the face that was ours before we were born,
with our original nature,
with who we are
and what we are here to do,
serve,
become,
be?
Real Life is about these things.
Physical Life is about
being 98.6 and breathing.
When we are 98.6 and breathing,
our biggest concern
is how to fill up the time
without being bored out of our mind.
Physical Life is driven by a fear of boredom
and a desire for profit,
adoration,
fame
and followers.
“Fortune and glory, Kid!
Fortune and glory!”
Real Life is about living in the service
of that which grounds us,
centers us,
focuses us
in that which we came to do
and for which we live
and move
and have our being–
for that which is life
and imbues us with life
through our association with it,
our relationship with it–
guiding,
directing,
comforting,
calling us
through all situations
and circumstances
in the work that is ours to do
and the life that is ours to live.
Physical Life looks for what is important,
for what matters most.
Real Life flows from what is important
and brings us to life
in the service of what matters most. - 01/18/2020— Mabry Mill 10/28/2019 03 — Blue Ridge Parkway, MP 176.2, near Meadows of Dan, in Floyd County, Virginia, October 28, 2019
Democracy is not automatic.
The Constitution is an ideal for self-government
that offers the best imaginable atmosphere
for personal liberty, freedom and rights
for all citizens,
across the board,
with no exceptions or exemptions
that has ever been instituted
in the history of the world.
Some people don’t like that
because it interferes with their ability
to make the highest possible profit
at the expense of their fellow citizens’
liberty, freedom and rights.
The wealthy are always wealthy
at somebody’s expense.
And the wealthy can never be wealthy enough.
The Founders of Democracy
could not envision the kind of wealth
the wealthy have created for themselves
by buying politicians
to create loopholes,
granting them exceptions and exemptions,
and allowing them special consideration
in making laws that undercut the foundation
of “government of the people,
by the people,
for the people,”
and making corporations “people”
at the expense of actual people.
They get by with their subterfuge and deceit
by managing the perceptions of actual people,
and making actual people think
that they, the wealthy, have their, the actual people,
best interest at heart,
and are protecting them, the actual people,
from the terrible threat to democracy
the true defenders of democracy are
to the interests of the wealthy
but not the interests of the actual people.
It is a scam and a con all the way.
Actual people are surrendering
their liberty, freedom and rights
in the service of the wealthy,
and becoming the toadies and servant/slaves
of the wealthy
because the power of money
is the power of perception,
and those who control perception
control the world.
And destroy democracy. - 01/18/2020— November 4 11/04/2019 03 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Goshen Creek, near Boone, North Carolina, November 4, 2019
We drink ourselves to oblivion.
Or smoke pot,
chew peyote,
sniff coke,
shoot heroin…
“Bread and circuses” do it for some.
Distraction,
diversion,
denial…
Escape comes in many forms.
Addiction to something
(Religion, perhaps),
is our favorite alternative
to being here, now.
Suicide is a close second.
What?
Physical Life has nothing to commend it!
Life is not automatic.
Physical Life is just like being dead,
except for being 98.6 and breathing.
Physical Life is just a step on the way
to Real Life,
but.
We have to keep walking.
Seeking.
Searching.
Looking.
Listening.
Seeing.
Hearing.
And always,
always,
bearing the pain of being alive
in the service of coming to life,
waking up to life,
birthing ourselves
into Real Life
by living our way
into the realization
of what’s what,
and knowing the power
of the shift in perspective
that transforms everything
without changing anything,
which changes everything.
The shift from Physical Life
to Real Life
is the shift from looking for a reason
to go on with it,
to being gripped by a power so compelling
that we cannot get enough
of life just as it is here, now.
This is the power of Real Life.
The power to will and to do,
to know and to be,
to see and to hear,
to realize and to imagine,
to create and to enjoy,
to wonder and to perceive
and to live in the service
of the life that is ours to live
in each situation as it arises,
moment-by-moment-by-moment
all our life long.
Real Life pouring over,
spilling out,
flowing through us
and around us
is there for the living
for each of us.
We get there by looking into
what we are doing.
Stop!
Look!
Listen!
Into what you are doing!
Ask all of the questions that beg to be asked!
Say all of the things that cry out to be said!
Bear the pain of knowing what’s what
into knowing more than you know you know
simply by knowing fully what you know,
and what questions that begs to be asked
until you go over into “I don’t know,”
and continuing to ask about what you don’t know,
and allowing the quest to know
more than you know you know
carry you from Physical Life
into the infinite possibilities of Real Life.
We get from here to there
by living our way there
one moment at a time.
Bearing the pain of the journey
is the key to making the trip. - 01/19/2020— Eastern Bluebird 01/12/2020 03 — Scenes From My Camp Stool, Zen Glen, Indian Land, South Carolina, January 12, 2020
If I were your physician
and you came to me once a year
for a physical/wellness exam
I would ask you,
“What keeps you going?”
And,
“What do you love to do
that doesn’t involve the participation
of anyone else?”
And,
“How often do you do it?”
My best advice would be,
year after year,
“See what you look at.”
“Ask the questions that beg to be asked.”
“Say the things that cry out to be said.”
“Know what’s what.”
“Do what needs you to do it
with the gifts you bring to the table
in each situation as it arises
all your life long.”
No physician I’ve ever had
has said any of this to me.
And, I expect not to you.
Which has as much to do
with where we are
here and now
as anything else
that we have done,
or that has been done,
or not done,
to us. - 01/19/2020— Beidler Forest 11/22/2019 15 Panorama — Francis Beidler Forest, Audubon Center and Sanctuary, Four Holes Swamp, Harleyville, South Carolina, November 22, 2019
We enter the river of life at birth,
with what comes with us from the womb
and what meets us upon arrival
to work with.
And here we are.
This has been going on for at least 200,000 years.
Nothing has changed about the process
in that length of time.
We can’t say it doesn’t work.
It could work better
if the umwelt that receives us
were more conscious,
more compassionately aware,
of what it was doing with us.
As it is,
we plop out of the womb
and are thrown into life
with practically nothing
in the way of an instruction manual,
or any up-to-date
and trustworthy
guidance
regarding what’s what
and what to do about it,
how to deal with it,
manage it and/or our response to it,
handle it
and be better off for it.
The advice we get
is partisan to the core,
and not well-considered
or adequately evaluated
by those doing the advising.
Who can we trust with our life?
Who wouldn’t be better off
with better parenting?
It is an absolute miracle
that we are doing as well as we are!
There is no validity at all
to much/most of the stuff we are told.
We spend as much of our life unlearning what isn’t so
as we spend learning what is so.
We do not get the kind of help we need.
And it is all up to us to figure that out
and find what is helpful
and ignore what is not.
With nothing more to go on
than our own personal experience.
This is wild.
Who can we trust?
Upon what can we rely?
It begins with ourselves.
What can we trust about ourselves?
What can we rely on about ourselves?
The more consciously–
the more mindfully,
compassionately,
aware–
we are of creating/building/maintaining
a relationship with ourselves,
the better of we will be
in finding what we need
to do what we need to do
with what is ours to work with
throughout our life.
And nobody tells us this.
We have to figure it out on our own.
Knowing that much
puts it squarely up to us.
We start with ourselves,
and look for people who are looking for us,
and band together,
drawing comfort and consolation
from each other,
pooling our knowledge,
sharing our insight,
offering encouragement,
support
and caring presence
all the way along the way.
The right kind of company
makes all the difference.
And, in order to find
the right kind of company,
it helps to be the right kind of company.
That is the work
that is incumbent upon us all.
And no one tells us this at the start.
And very few tell us this at all.
Be sure to pass the word. - 01/19/2020— Parkway Overlooks 10/28/2019 02 Panorama– Blue Ridge Parkway, The Saddle Overlook, Floyd, Virginia, October 28, 2019
Neither whiskey,
beer
nor cheap red wine
nor drugs,
legal
or illicit,
nor religion
as it is presently constituted,
can restore
our stability
and harmony,
our peace
and balance,
our serenity,
our foundation,
our ground
and center.
Putting ourselves
in right relationship
with ourselves
and our life
is the work
of integrity–
of integrating ourselves
with ourselves
and with Kairos,
Tao,
Dharma
and Grace.
It is the work
of seeing what we look at
and looking into it
so that we see
all there is to see
about it.
It is the work
of asking the questions
that beg to be asked,
and that beg to be asked
about the questions.
It is the work of trusting questions
more than answers,
and asking all of the questions
our answers generate.
It is the work of saying the things
that cry out to be said,
and asking all of the questions
raised by saying them.
And looking into everything.
And seeing what’s what,
and doing what needs to be done about it
with the gifts that came with us
into the world.
Doing this the way it needs to be done
restores harmony,
puts things back on track,
realigns the mechanisms of life,
reestablishes order,
allows things to naturally
find their place,
brings spontaneity to life,
along with good faith,
kindness,
tenderness
and mercy,
and everything hums along
in tune with the music of the spheres. - 01/20/2020— Brown Creeper 01/16/2020 01 — Scenes From My Camp Stool, Zen Glen, Indian Land, South Carolina, January 16, 2020
I wish things were as they should be,
as we expect them to be,
as we say they are.
I wish equality were real,
actual,
tangible,
true
and experienced it as such
everywhere,
all the time.
I wish corporations weren’t people.
I wish people knew
when they had enough money,
and stopped trying to make
more than they need.
And that people who didn’t
have enough money
had legitimate means
of making what they need.
I wish people who hated people
would change their perception
and their attitude
and give everybody a break.
I wish people cared for all people
they way they care for themselves,
and I wish all people cared for themselves
the way they need to
to be who they are.
I wish we all respected
and honored one another.
I wish we all were straight up
and flat out
who we are,
and content to be exactly that
without airs and aspirations
for more than we need to be.
I wish everybody had what they needed
to be who they are.
And that that was enough.
I do so wish
there were lines we all
could agree were lines
and could honor
and respect
and draw
with full confidence
that they would be honored
and respected by all people.
And that no one lived
to destroy valid lines. - 01/20/2020— Curves 10/29/2019 06 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia, October 29, 2019
“Looking into it” means
“Getting to the bottom of it.”
It means looking until you see all of it.
Do not stop with the surface!
Do not stop with the assumptions!
Do not stop with the presumptions!
Do not stop with the inferences!
Do not stop with the conjectures,
the surmises,
the suppositions,
the uncritical embrace
of “What we all know to be so.”
Do not stop with what
is too shallow to splash!
Look into it!
Ask the questions that are not allowed.
Inquire past good manners
and polite examination,
and social affirmation
of common opinions
long held to be sacrosanct
and beyond through inspection.
Go for the heart of the matter!
Dig for the full reality
of “What everyone knows is true.”
“What is the evidence
that everyone knows
what they are talking about?”
Separate hearsay from the facts.
The world is awash in uninformed opinions.
“What makes you believe
that what you believe
is so?”
“Where do you get your information?”
“What are the assumptions
that form the basis
of your ideas, beliefs, opinions?”
“What makes you think
that what you say is so is so?
“Who says so?
What is their basis for saying so?
How do we know they know
what they are talking about?
What do they have at stake
in seeing as they do?”
“What do we have at stake
in seeing as we do?”
Ask the questions until there are no more questions!
About everything that matters! - 01/20/2020— Last Days of Fall 11/03/2019 10 Panorama — Blue Ridge Parkway near Grandfather Mountain, North Carolina, November 3, 2019
There is nothing to have,
or acquire,
or attain,
or grasp.
There is only to will,
and to do,
and to be
In each situation as it arises,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
There is no steady state of being:
saved or lost,
deserving or undeserving,
blessed or cursed,
safe or in peril…
There is only one thing after another,
through circumstances that change,
and times that are always moving,
like a river through the days.
We move with the currents
and dance with the time,
sometimes like this,
and sometimes like that,
but always, always,
in ways appropriate to the occasion.
Here we are–
now what?
What is happening?
What is called for?
What is being asked of us?
Be still!
Listen!
Look!
Be like the echo
in response to the shout!
Live with everything on the line
in every moment.
Why hold anything back?
Why hedge your bets?
There are a lot of opinions
about what happens when we die.
There is no doubt about this
being our one shot at life.
Why waste a minute
with something that
does not resonate
with something deep within?
We are not here to kill time.
We are here to seek ourselves
and live out who we are
in the time left for living.
“The game is a-foot!”
Be awake!
Be aware!
Something is calling your name! - 01/21/2020— Last Days of Fall 11/03/2019 15 — Linville Falls Picnic Area, Blue Ridge Parkway, Linville Falls, North Carolina, November 3, 2019
We all have a Vital Core
that we must live
to honor,
serve,
explore,
express,
steward,
protect,
and defend.
It is our place
to develop our relationship
with our Vital Core
and to live with it
in ways that bring us and it
to life in our life.
The degree to which we
are able to do this
is reflected
in our vitality,
spirit,
energy
and life.
People who have failed,
and are failing,
in their stewardship
of their Vital Core
are evident on all sides–
as are those who are excelling
in the task.
Our relationship with our Vital Core
is apparent in our eyes,
in our demeanor,
in our behavior,
in our step,
in our tone of voice
and in our relationships
with other people.
We begin the work of tending
our Vital Core
by recognizing its existence
and looking into the reality,
of its presence
and its place in our life.
This is meditative awareness
and introspection
at its best–
and is a process
we can carry out anywhere,
everywhere,
throughout our life.
I call it “Checking In
With The Heart Of Life And Being.”
“Hello!
What’s up?
Are you there?”
Ask it for a sign of its authenticity.
Perhaps a dream verifying its existence,
or an urge pointing direction
or calling for action.
You have to learn how to sense
the stirring of your Vital Core to life.
How to read its signals,
know what its needs are
and what actions on your part
will bring it more fully to life in your life.
Moods might be a place to look
for a connection with your Vital Core.
Explore your moods
for what they might be saying
about the needs of your Vital Core.
Our moods often reflect our response
to what is happening in our life,
but they can as easily reflect
our Vital Core’s response
to how we are responding
to what is happening in our life.
What might it be asking us to do
in responding to what is going on
within our present situation
or circumstances?
What guidance might it be offering?
As we learn how to led our Vital Core
take the lead in guiding our response
to the affairs of our life,
we find a partner in the work
to manage our life
moment-to-moment-to-moment–
and are no longer “up against it alone,”
but have a Consultant Within
with whom to confer
in finding the best response to make
to the here-and-now’s of the day-to-day.
And that is like having all we need
to find what we need
to do what needs to be done
in each situation that arises.
What a source of vitality
and life
that would be! - 01/21/2020— Carolina Wren 01/18/2020 06 — Scenes from my Camp Stool, Zen Glen, Indian Land, South Carolina, January 18, 2020
It isn’t about thinking or believing.
It isn’t about having or acquiring.
It isn’t about achieving or accomplishing.
It isn’t about wanting or willing.
It isn’t about forcing or striving.
It isn’t about contriving and arranging.
It is solely about being and doing.
Right being and Right doing.
In each situation as it arises.
Moment-by-moment-by-moment.
All our life long.
Whether we are in the mood for it or not.
Whether we feel like it or not.
Whether we want to or not.
Whether we need some time off or not.
Through all circumstances,
regardless of the weather conditions.
24/7/12/Forever.
Being who we need to be,
doing what needs to be done,
the way it needs to be done,
when it needs to be done,
for as long as it needs to be done.
All the talk about faith
and theology,
doctrine and dogma,
comes down to this:
Do we have what it takes
to be who we need to be
and do what needs us to do it,
every moment
of every day
no matter what
forever? - 01/21/2020— Otter Creek 10/29/2019 06 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Big Island, Virginia, October 29, 2019
The Buddha died from eating bad pork.
How enlightened was that?
What did the Buddha get
out of being the Buddha?
The Christ died charged
with being a messianic pretender.
What did the Christ get
out of being the Christ?
What do you hope to get
out of being you?
What are you in this for?
If you are looking for a payoff,
what is it?
If you are not looking for a payoff,
what motivates your life?
What are you living for?
What was the Buddha living for?
What was the Christ living for?
What is a good-enough reason
for dealing with the day–
day-after-day-after-day?
What’s in it for you?
What do you expect to receive
for your trouble?
Look into it.
What grounds you?
Shapes you?
Directs you?
What are you centered on?
Focused on?
Enchanted by?
What is your purpose?
Your goal?
Your intention?
What makes your little heart sing?
What are you doing here?
What are you doing with your days?
Look into it. - 01/22/2020— November 4 11/04/2019 02 Panorama — Blue Ridge Parkway near Boone, North Carolina, November 4, 2019
Here is the solution
to making life as good as it can be
for all of us:
Want less.
Love More.
Share the wealth.
Starting with a livable minimum wage.
That’s it.
That is where the rest of this is going.
Save yourself the pain of the trip
by stopping now.
Taoism and Buddhism and Zen,
and Hinduism and Islam and Christianity,
and all religion ever
are elaborate systems of denial.
Alcoholics Anonymous is as truthful as it gets.
But even A.A. stumbles with what to be
beyond sober.
Sober alcoholics don’t have a better life
than anybody else.
They are still stuck in some elaborate system of denial.
Because the curse of Col. Nathan R. Jessup rules the world:
“You Can’t Handle The Truth!”
Truer words have never been spoken,
nor will be.
Our need to hide from the truth
is the source of all of our problems today,
and tomorrow and every day forever.
Let’s take mindfulness for an example.
Mindfulness is grounded upon
looking truth in its ugly red eye.
Two things flow from this.
Here is the first.
Mindfulness in one dispensation
is equivalent to and inseparable from
happiness, love, joy, peace, gratitude and bright smiling faces.
You cannot be mindful and depressed,
or sad, angry, guilty, hate-filled, gloomy, moody or real.
Mindfulness is mindless about its own failure
to be reality based.
Mindfulness is in denial,
and is yet another system of denial.
Mindfulness in another dispensation
attempts to get around this dead-end
by telling us to put all of our negative feelings
“in awareness” without being sidetracked
by them and go on attending the present moment.
But we never get back to dealing with
all that we tuck away “in awareness.”
What do we do with all of the negative
realizations and emotions arising
from the realizations?
Our situation is hopeless!
What do we do with that?
And what is with the refusal to face
the hopelessness of our situation?
Why must we all deny hopelessness?
And pretend it is not so?
The truth is that all of us are going nowhere fast.
That is easier for some of us to deny
than others of us,
but it applies to all of us.
Let’s take a person working a minimum wage job,
making, say, $20,000 a year
(but it may be more like $16,000).
Nobody can live on $20,000 a year.
Minimum wage jobs are built for teenagers
working after school with a mom and dad
to take care of food, clothing, shelter and medical expenses.
Military veterans come home from our endless wars
with PTSD, substance abuse addiction
and no marketable skills,
and are killing themselves at a rate
of about 6,000 per year.
Telling them to deposit their feelings in their awareness
is not changing their lived experience.
Feeling better can be a step on the way to getting better
IF the resources are available
for a self-sustaining life with appropriate goals
and the means of achieving them.
For an increasing number of people world-wide
that is not a possibility.
After we put things in awareness, what?
After alcoholics and substance abusers become sober, what?
How do we change the systems that create hopelessness
for more people every year?
No matter where you go with this question,
you will be circling around the inescapable conclusion
that it all hinges on the excessively and super wealthy
sharing the wealth.
And the best way of doing that is an equitable tax system.
Farmers are subsidized.
Corporations are subsidized.
The unemployed and underemployed have to be subsidized.
And we all have to come to terms with the undeniable fact
that we all have to have appropriate life goals
and the means of achieving them.
We cannot “have it all,” or even half of it all.
We cannot sustain an ever-increasing standard of living.
Nobody’s wealth can grow exponentially forever.
Every one of us has to live within limits
in order for all of us to live at all.
Want less.
Love more.
Share the wealth.
Starting with a livable minimum wage. - 01/22/2020— Parkway Overlooks 10/29/2019 22 Panorama — Blue Ridge Parkway near Roanoke, Virginia, October 29, 2029
The deeper we go into any religion,
or philosophy,
or spiritual discipline/persuasion/point-of-view,
the more ridiculous,
absurd,
conflicted,
paradoxical,
outlandish,
insane
it becomes.
I love Zen because it doesn’t
take itself seriously,
it doesn’t try to make disciples,
and it doesn’t care what anyone thinks about it.
The heart of Zen is preposterous,
nonsense,
non sequiturs,
non-answers,
farcical,
idiotic
and laughable.
As are all other religions (etc.),
but they have been known
to kill people
who said that about them.
Zen just says,
“You are right!”
and joins in on the fun.
That’s the best way to be religious (etc.).
That, and inviting everyone
to be a part of the joke,
with no entry fees required
or obligations imposed. - 01/22/2020— Goodale 10/25/2019 08 — Spillway, Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, October 25, 2019, an iPhone photo taken with the Spectre slow shutter app
We live best out of a state of equilibrium,
homeostasis,
balance,
harmony,
calm,
peace,
serenity,
stability,
composure,
tranquility,
equanimity,
etc.
All commercials/advertisements/scams/cons/etc.
are geared to unbalance us in some way.
The easiest way is to play with our
wanting/wanting-not mechanism.
The people who are out to get us
know we cannot be gotten
if we are solidly grounded in the moment,
at one with who we are.
They have to destabilize us somehow
to have a chance at “making the sale.”
Everything that preys on us
has to destabilize us
in order to get to us.
They do that by getting our attention
and then distracting us
into their agenda for us.
“Distraction and Pounce”
is the process of “Owning the Mark.”
Owning your Center keeps the parasites at bay.
Make equilibrium your living quarters.
Learn to recognize when you are “home”
and when you are “away from home,”
and note just how far “away from home” you are
at various points throughout your day.
Home represents invulnerability.
Away From Home represents vulnerability.
The more off balance, out of balance, unbalanced,
we are,
the more vulnerable we are.
When you find yourself Away From Home,
stop and see
how you got there
and what you need to do
to find your way back Home.
And do it.
You will make better decisions
and have a better life
when you live
and work
from Home. - 01/22/2020— Goodale 10/25/2019 16 Panorama — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, October 25, 2019
There are a lot of things
we cannot do anything about.
Important things.
Essential things.
When we come upon those things,
we have to re-think our options.
Having our way is not one of them.
We have to readjust our goals,
revise our priorities,
and make-do with what we have.
This requires maturity on our part.
The immature among us will develop symptoms,
flail about,
scream, moan, whine and shout,
take refuge in substance abuse
or suicide,
and their story will end with a flame-out.
Carl Jung observed that the Big Problems in life
have no solution,
but can only be out-lived.
Perspective changes over time.
We have to wait it out.
Sometimes, we run out of time.
Well, we all do eventually.
Enjoying what remains of our time
begins right now,
in the midst of terrible circumstances
and little hope of better days ahead.
Enjoyment is a perspective shift.
When we cannot do anything else,
we can shift our perspective.
That is an option available to all of us
in all circumstances.
Detachment.
Perception.
Perspective.
The special powers of mind.
Play around with how you see things,
with the words you use to describe
your situation.
Pay attention to how what you say
impacts how you see
and what you feel–
and change the narrative,
the internal dialogue,
you use to say what’s what
and your reaction to it.
The special powers of mind
govern our reaction to what is going on
in our life.
Changing our reaction even a little,
changes our response,
and opens doors to coping and adjustment
that would remain shut without it.
We have to use everything at our disposal
in making our way through a world
like our world.
There may be dark times ahead for us all.
How we perceive them will enable us
to help one another along the path we share. - 01/23/2020— Carolina Wren 01/18/2020 02 — Scenes from my Camp Stool, Zen Glen, Indian Land, South Carolina, January 18, 2020
Anything that stops us,
requires us to take stock
of our situation,
forces reflection and consideration
upon us,
shocks us out of automatic living mode,
makes us orient ourselves
in space and time,
leaves us wondering,
“Now what?”,
invites us to sit down
while we catch our breath,
leaves us pondering
our next move,
and where we go from here,
is the kind of thing
we need to practice
from time to time
in order to be ready for it
when it does happen.
We need to practice
getting our feet under us,
squaring up to the moment,
reorienting ourselves
in time and space,
reacquainting ourselves
with the Bedrock,
regaining our equilibrium,
our homeostasis,
our balance,
and realigning ourselves
with the Source,
the Goal,
and the Vitality of Life.
We live too insulated
from the heart of life.
We are too automatic
and unthinking
in our responses to life.
We are fundamentally mindless
of our way with life.
And rarely pay attention
to what we are doing
or why we are doing it,
and how we might do it better,
or whether we need to be doing it at all,
and what we might be doing instead.
We might pretend,
from time to time,
that we just had a heart attack.
And see how that changes
what we do next. - 01/23/2020— Beidler Forest 11/22/2019 05 — Francis Beidler Forest, Audubon Center and Sanctuary, Four Holes Swamp, Harleyville, South Carolina, November 22, 2019
Our problem is living in ways appropriate to the occasion
in each situation as it arises,
all our life long.
Anything that helps us with that is to be received
with gratitude and appreciation.
Anything else is a distraction at best
and toxic or deadly at worst.
We have to determine
whether we are being helped
or hurt,
and take action appropriate
to the occasion.
In each situation as it arises,
all our life long. - 01/24/2020— Carolina Wren 01/18/2020 04 — Scenes From My Camp Stool, Zen Glen, Indian Land, South Carolina, January 18, 2020
Oblivion and distraction are the twin demons
disrupting the flow,
upsetting the balance
and destroying the harmony
of our lives–
according to the old Taoist and Zen masters.
Substance abuse
and the 10,000 addictions
of the modern world
bring the validity
of the old observation
to life in our lived experience.
We have lost the ground,
the foundation,
the bedrock
of life,
and live searching
for a reason to be alive,
settling for ways
to escape the pain of not-knowing
and the fear that there is nothing
at the bottom of it all,
only free-falling
all the way down.
It is time we stop
and see what’s what.
And know three things:
1) “Where you stumble and fall,
there lies the treasure”
(Joseph Campbell).
2) “What you seek
lies far back in the darkest corner
of the cave you most
don’t want to enter”
(Joseph Campbell).
3) “What you seek
is found within”
(Multiple sources).
Within is the last place
we want to look.
We attend lectures and seminars,
read books and articles,
watch videos and take courses.
We will do anything
but the one thing required
to find the path
and take up the journey.
The path is under our feet.
We only have to look and listen,
see and hear,
to know that it is so.
We have to trust ourselves
and our own sense
of what is right for us
and what is wrong.
And, when we prove to be untrustworthy,
we have to keep trusting ourselves
to make the necessary adjustments
to refine our sense
of what is right for us
and what is wrong.
When trusting ourselves leads us into trouble,
we keep trusting ourselves
to find our way out of trouble,
and trouble becomes our teacher.
Living the lesson
and life is the teacher.
And “We are the sculptor
and we are the stone”
(Alexis Carrel). - 01/24/2020— James River 10/29/2019 07 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Big Island, Virginia, October 29, 2019
Jon Kabat-Zinn said, “What happens now
can influence what happens next.”
He also said, “No one else can wake us up.”
That responsibility is ours alone to bear.
How many now’s will we pass through
without influencing what happens next
in the direction of waking up?
Now is when/where we take the step toward waking up.
By simply being aware
of what is happening here, now.
Now has an internal aspect
and an external aspect
which are interrelated
and capable of modifying
each other in significant ways.
And things are happening
on both levels simultaneously.
Some things are happening unconsciously,
beyond our range of conscious awareness.
And, some things are happening
within our range of awareness,
but outside of our zone of attention.
We do not see things we look at.
We do not hear things that are within hearing distance,
but out of mind.
Now is mostly happening without us.
We live without being alive to the time and place of our living
too much of the time.
Engaging the present moment
influences the next moment.
Not engaging the present moment
also influences the next moment.
How we live now influences how we will live then.
What kind of influence do you want to have?
Conscious/mindful?
Unconscious/mindless?
If we are not mindfully engaged with our life,
we are not so much living our life
as we are being lived by it.
We are “just along for the ride.”
Socrates is said to have said,
“The examined life is not worth living,”
leading Sheldon Kopp to quip,
“The unlived life is not worth examining.”
The place of mindful awareness
is front and center
in both the living and the examining.
If we are not aware of what we are doing,
we are being swept along by the winds,
tides and currents of time and chance.
Which is one way to do it,
but we are pushing our luck
more than trusting it.
We become an active participant
in choosing the tone and direction
of our life–in the living of our life–
by being present in
and aware of
what is happening here/now,
and thereby influencing
what happens next.
Take a ten minute break.
Sit quietly, eyes open or closed,
focus on the moment
and be aware of all that is in the moment with you,
internally and externally,
for ten minutes.
Your attention will drift–
that becomes one more thing to be aware of.
Simply bring it back to here, now
and continue to be aware of the moment.
Take a break for the present
once or twice a day
for the rest of your life.
That’s all there is to it. - 01/25/2020— Last Days of Fall 11/03/2019 30 — Bass Lake, Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, November 3, 2019
Grounding ourselves in our original nature
and living out of our vital core,
positions us to look into who we are
at our center–
and that means stopping and seeing,
listening,
reflecting
on who we have shown ourselves to be
time and again
through all of the situations and circumstances
of our life.
What shines through
all that we have done
and all that has been done to us?
What is the kernel that keeps coming to light?
What have we been able to count on
from ourselves?
What got us to this point?
We could have quit a thousand times,
yet, here we are.
We could have done better, of course,
and we all wish we had,
but, we also could have done worse,
easily.
Yet, here we are.
We owe being here, now, to ourselves.
What got us through all of that
to here, now?
That is a core strength.
Explore all aspects of the qualities
and characteristics
that got us here, now.
Honor them with the recognition
that they are reflections
of your original nature,
of what you can count on,
rely on,
depend on,
believe in
about you.
Live to be aware of all of that
working in your present
to buoy you up,
keep you going,
bounce you back,
call you to life–
and work to develop
your relationship with those aspects
of you
with conscious appreciation of them
and reliance on them.
Sink into them
and live out of them
amid “the heaving waves
of the wine-dark sea.”
And spend time with people
who bring out the best in you
by reflecting you to yourself,
and showing you who you are
by reflecting your core qualities to you
and by recognizing them in you.
We have made it this far unconsciously,
almost accidentally,
without our intentional participation
and cooperation.
Let’s live to see what we can do
as a full partner with our ground
and center
in the time left for living! - 01/25/2020— Mabry Mill 10/28/2019 02 Panorama — Blue Ridge Parkway, MP 176.2, near Meadows of Dan, in Floyd County, Virginia, October 28, 2019
There is a lot of talk about gratitude these days,
as though it is a panacea for all that besets us,
a sure cure for all of our troubles and woes.
If we don’t like something,
we are encouraged
to just tuck it into gratitude
and let it take all our anxiety away.
Nowhere in the gratitude sales pitch
is any attention given
to the fine line between gratitude and denial.
Between spontaneous,
heart-felt appreciation,
and tricking ourselves into feeling better
by refusing to see what there is to feel bad about.
To see how things might be viewed
at the expense of how things are
and also are
is two-side-ism that dismisses one side.
The glass can be seen as half-empty,
and half-full.
And, it can be seen as containing 4 oz of liquid
in an 8 oz glass.
And how we feel about that
depends on how thirsty we are,
and a host of other factors,
all of which are ignored
in the service of gratitude at all times,
above all other considerations.
Denial comes in 10,000 forms
to comfort and console and keep us going.
To see clearly
and access responsibly
and respond appropriately
to what we are being asked to deal with
is essential to managing our life situation
in light of the true good of all concerned.
What we don’t see
because we refuse to look at it
or assess it accurately
can skew our response
and create a make-believe world
with no connection to the actual situation
in which we live.
Being grateful things aren’t worse yet
isn’t helping them get better–
and keeps us from seeing what we look at
and responding to it in ways appropriate
to the occasion.
And there is entirely too much of that
going on in the world
for us to mindlessly assist it in any way. - 01/25/2020— Goodale 10/25/2019 20 — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, October 25, 2019
Jon Kabat-Zinn said,
“Mindfulness has to do
with waking up
and living in harmony
with oneself
and with the world”
(Wherever You Go, There You Are).
Living in harmony with oneself
and with the world
is the hardest of all things.
Living in harmony with oneself
means being in accord
with our original nature,
and that means finding our way
back to our original nature,
which was taken from us
shortly after birth
and replaced with the culture’s idea
(or our parents’ idea)
of who we ought to be.
Left-handed children
have been forced to be right-handed.
Introverts have been required to be extroverts.
Gay people have been denied a place in the world
unless they pretend to be straight
(And is “straight” ever a misnomer!).
The list is long of qualities and characteristics
that are unacceptable
and not allowed in the world
which receives us at birth.
Living in harmony with ourselves
means finding and reclaiming
those aspects of ourselves
that have been rejected,
neglected
and denied their rightful place in our life.
If you think that is easy,
give it a spin.
And there is the “living in harmony
with the world” part!
Living in harmony with the context
and circumstances of our life!
Are You Kidding Me???
*This* world?
*This* context?
*These* circumstances?
*This* is the place that killed Jesus
for being different!
It would kill Jesus today!
What chance do *we* have?
How can *we* fit into *this* world?
Why would we want to?
It is going to be some trip
harmonizing ourselves with ourselves
*and* with the world!
We are going to need a lot of help
with that!
And all we get is
Awareness!
Awareness!
Awareness!
With compassion
and non-judgmental acceptance
of the difficulty of the task before us.
So.
Take a deep breath,
and let’s get to work!
Start with Jon Kabat-Zinn’s
books, “Wherever You Go, There You Are”
and “Mindfulness Is Not What You Think,”
and his YouTube videos (The shortest ones first).
With patience and a good faith commitment
to what is before us.
It is the most necessary journey of our life,
and the most difficult task we could ever undertake.
It is called “The Hero’s Journey” for good reason! - 01/26/2020— Mill Houses 01/25/2020 01 Panorama — Gibson Mill, Concord, North Carolina, January 25, 2020
Wendell Berry’s
“The Peace of Wild Things”
is a poem for these times,
and is to be applied frequently,
perhaps several times daily,
in order to connect
with a truth that sustains us
across all times and places,
grounding us in the realization
of life beyond life–
of life beyond the impact of life–
sealing us in the hope of wild things
and the hope of the natural world
from which we come
and to which we all shall return
in due time.
Taking strength from that association,
that realization,
to go on
through the trials of the present time
grounded in the peace
of our original nature
and in the resiliency it affords.
Googleit. - 01/26/2020— Swan Lake 09/13/2019 01-B Panorama — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, September 13, 2019
We have to preserve our sanity
any way we can.
By “sanity,” I mean our ability to function in the world–
responding appropriately to each situation
as it arises,
rising to meet every occasion,
standing grounded upon the bedrock
of our original nature,
our original essence,
our vital core,
our essential identity,
amid all circumstances
that come our way,
especially including
“the heaving waves of the wine-dark sea,”
and doing right by ourselves
and our umwelt
at every point.
What knocks you off your center?
What flattens you like Wile E. Coyote
in the Roadrunner cartoons?
How much does it take
to send you off
into the Land of Shattered Dreams
and Lost Hope?
How do you recover?
Pull yourself together?
Pick yourself up?
Shake it off
and step back into the ring?
We are absolutely surrounded by people
who are not emotionally/psychologically
stable enough to see/hear/understand/know
what is going on.
All they know is what somebody told them–
somebody who didn’t know
what they were talking about, I mean.
And too many of both sets of people–
the blind and those following the blind–
are running the world.
What chance do the rest of us have?
When have “the rest of us” ever had a chance?
What does “having a chance”
have to do with how well we live our life?
We are here to be who we are no matter what!
To live out of our core identity,
out of our bedrock foundation,
out of our vision/understanding/knowledge
of who we are and what we are about–
serving values and ends
we know to be worthy of us
amid all circumstances
that come our way,
especially “the heaving waves
of the wine-dark sea,”
and doing right by ourselves
and our umwelt
at every point!
What do we need in order to do that?
How do we preserve our sanity?
Knowing these things is our primary work
at this point in our life
and in the life of our world.
Find what anchors you–
what re-establishes you
in relationship with what needs to be done–
and maintain your connection with your anchor
through all that comes your way!
The work to preserve our sanity,
and our spirit,
and our courage,
and our determination
to be who we are,
anyway,
nevertheless,
even so
is our responsibility.
No one can do it for us.
Find where your encouragement lies,
where your peace resides,
where your heart is restored,
and go there often! - 01/27/2020— Tree Panorama 01/08/2020 02 — The Promenade on Providence, Charlotte, North Carolina, January 8, 2020,
The distance between well off
and well-enough off
is worth considering early-on.
But.
It takes a long time
to come to this realization.
We can’t know where we are
well-enough off
until we are old enough
to understand/realize
what we have to do–
with “have” being
what is ours to do
and that we *must* do
what is ours to do.
We generally think we are here
to make enough money
to pass a good time.
For some that means
a case of beer on some beach,
and for others it means
being the wealthiest person in the world.
That all changes when we think
of making enough money
to be who we came to be,
doing what is ours to do.
How much money will it take
to pay the bills required to survive
at a level far enough beyond subsistence
to allow us to buy the tools
to do the work,
that is ours to do?
What is the work that is ours to do?
Once we know that,
it is a matter of doing the work
that pays us enough
to do the work that is ours to do.
I have a friend who is an auto mechanic
who describes his work as “Wrenching it.”
He means using a wrench,
any wrench,
all wrenches.
He is perfectly matched
with the work that is his to do
and the work that pays him enough
to pay his bills that are unrelated
to his work.
It helped knowing that “Wrenching it”
was *It* for him.
Too many of us have no idea
of what we *must* do.
Or, or too lazy/lethargic/fearful
to care about knowing.
Too many of us just want
to be taken care of
and given what we want.
Living to have what we want
is consolation
for refusing/failing to do
what wants us to do it.
Those of us in this position
have no conception of something
beyond us forcing its way
into our life
and compelling us into its service.
“Wrenching it,” or its equivalent,
has no meaning for us,
and we bounce from one want
to another all our life long.
The rest of us have to consciously,
willingly, willfully,
enlist ourselves in the service
of The Wrench (or its equivalent)–
for me it is The Camera and The Typewriter/Keyboard–
and find ways to support ourselves
and our work throughout our life.
We only need to be well-enough off
to pay the bills
that allow us to do the work
we are here to do. - 01/27/2020— Carolina Wren 01/18/2020 05 — Scenes from My Camp Stool, Zen Glen, Indian Land, South Carolina, January 18, 2020
Two stories highlight my understanding
of serving the vision,
doing the work.
I was walking along a greenway in Charlotte
with my camera and tripod
looking for something to catch my eye.
A guy walking with his wife
stopped and asked,
“Who are you working for?”
I laughed and asked him,
“Who are you walking for?”
They joined in the laughter,
and continued walking.
I was sitting at a table in a coffee shop
writing on a little portable keypad,
when a friend who worked for the local newspaper
asked me what I was doing.
“Writing,” I said.
“What are you going to do with it?” he asked.
“Add to it,” I said.
The idea that we can’t just “do something,”
but have to do something that makes money,
or serves some higher purpose than the doing,
is pervasive in the culture.
We have to be accomplishing something,
achieving something.
We can’t just be walking around with a camera,
or sitting at a keyboard.
Why would anybody do that?
I’m proud of the photos I’ve taken
that are stored on some hard drive.
I’m pleased with the things I’ve written
that are keeping the photos company.
I haven’t made enough money
from either, or both,
to pay the mortgage
or make the car payments.
And I will be walking around with a camera,
and sitting at a keyboard,
for as long as I am able to walk and sit.
If you have something similar in your life,
we both are blessed beyond measure,
and unable to explain why, or how,
and don’t have time to try to figure it out.
There is work yet to be done,
and we have to be doing it!
Why is irrelevant to the work. - 01/27/2020— Goodale 10/25/2019 25 Panorama — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, October 25, 2019, an iPhone Photo
Sin is being wrong about what is important.
Our primary sin is betrayal of ourselves
in the service of our idea of what we want.
This is the Original Sin.
Adam and Eve trading paradise
for what they thought was better than paradise.
Us trading our original nature/essence/self
for what we think is better than any of that.
Us launching/lurching off on our own
chasing our dreams/wants/wishes/desires,
sure that we know what we are doing,
and for sure no one else
is going to tell us what to do
or how to do it.
And then waking up at the bottom of some wall,
empty and lost
with no prospects
and very little chance,
casting about,
trying anything that looks like
it might help us forget the fear and pain
for a while,
still ignoring the door
that follows us everywhere we go
waiting for us to open it
and get to work
serving our true heart/soul/self
and their/its idea of who we are
and what is ours to do.
It is a tough path back to where we started.
“What we seek lies far back in the darkest corner
of the cave we most don’t want to enter”
(Joseph Campbell).
And when we get there,
and peer into that corner,
what we find is a dustless mirror
reflecting us to us,
and we meet ourselves at last,
and know us for the first time.
What happens then
is up to, well, us.
- 01/27/2020— Hermit Thrush -0/19/2020 01 — Scenes from My Camp Stool, Zen Glen, Indian Land, South Carolina, January 19, 2020
Satisfaction is peace,
is balance,
is harmony,
is symmetry,
is congruence,
is accord…
It is at-one-ness
with ourselves
and our place in life.
Resting in the just-right-ness
of the moment.
What disrupts our satisfaction?
Disturbs our peace?
Destroys our harmony?
Introduces tension?
Anxiety?
Fear?
Worry?
Grounded in our original nature,
in our essential self,
in the unalterable “is-ness”
of our “I,”
we are unshakeable,
immovable,
anchored in that which does not change
about us–
in that which has been reliably “us”
through all of the ups and downs,
trauma and drama,
of our life.
There is a core identity
at the heart of each one of us
that is immune to the ebbs and flows,
and the “heaving waves
of the wine-dark sea.”
Find the bedrock grounding our “I.”
Live to express the eternal qualities
and character of our own essence.
Be the Woman,
be the Man,
you are,
and always have been,
and always will be.
Be the calm you seek.
The peace you long for.
The eternal source
of the “just-right-ness” of you
in the world. - 01/28/2020— Mill Houses 01/25/2020 04 Panorama — Gibson Mill, Concord, North Carolina, January 25, 2020
If you take up the practice
of thinking of yourself
as a “we” and not as an “I,”
you will begin discovering
what it means to say
“There is more to us than meets the eye.”
We–individually, I mean (“we” mean)
are composed of inherited strengths
(and weaknesses) packed into our DNA
from the entire species.
All of these elements combined
(There is actually no end to the possible combinations)
are lumped into the terms
“psyche,” “unconscious,” “soul,” “heart,” “self,” “mind”…
Our “conscious self” takes care
of the business of life in physical reality,
but, there are other levels of reality,
additional planes of existence–
there is more to us all than meets the eye.
Consciously enlarging our conscious reality
to take into account the portion of “the more”
that we are capable of accessing,
positions us to tap natural resources of awareness
that free us to respond to our circumstances
out of the inherited wisdom of the species,
and gives us a very helpful sense
of not being on our own alone,
up against the terrors of the times
(On “the heaving waves of the wine-dark sea”).
We have help with the task
of finding our way,
if we open ourselves to what is available
in a “Here we are, now what?” kind of way.
Things “pop into mind,”
“occur to us”
that we would never think up on our own.
We discover that we are being
(and have always been)
led all along the way.
And as we take up the role of seeking
to know what we know,
we assist that invisible process
in allowing our feet to follow paths
we cannot see
to destinations (way points, actually)
we would not choose on our own.
This is to say, of course,
that we do not “use the powers”
to achieve goals we think are desirable–
we confess that we do not know what to do
and allow ourselves to be guided
along the way on the adventure of being alive.
We think our way to how,
we feel our way to what.
And we wait to see what’s next,
and what we do about it,
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
in each situation as it arises,
all our life long–
by remembering to listen,
and know we don’t know as much
as we think we know,
and remain open to more than meets the eye. - 01/29/2020— Tunnel View 04/28/2006 B&W 01 — Yosemite National Park, California, April 28, 2006
Musicians are the people I love the most,
respect the most,
admire the most…
I am not a musician,
but.
That doesn’t prevent me
from appreciating them,
being grateful for them
and holding them
in my highest esteem.
Why? Because they know what is important
and are right about it.
Most of them are right about it.
Some of them think money is the most important thing
and music is their way of accessing
and accumulating money.
That works well for some of those
who think this way,
but, for all their money,
they miss the point of music.
The point of music is music.
Most musicians understand this,
and live to serve music with their life.
They are playing or singing somewhere all the time.
Maybe only in their basement.
Musicians love music.
And I love musicians because they love music.
Everybody ought to have something they love
the way musicians love music.
Everything I have to say,
comes down to this:
Find something in your life
you can love
the way musicians love music.
And love it with your life.
Your whole life long. - 01/29/2020— Goodale 10/25/2019 24 Panorama — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, October 25, 2019
The old Buddhists and Taoists
had a notion about “original nature,”
and held that living in accord with it
is Real Life
and living at odds with it is a lie.
Or as they might put it “illusion.”
Our original nature
is our core identity,
our core vitality.
It knows what brings it to life,
and it knows what it takes
to express/exhibit/incarnate it
in the way we live.
We can live more or less aligned
with our original nature,
or more or less out of touch with it–
and the proximity of our lived life
with the life our original nature
is built to live
is the degree of balance,
sanity,
wholeness,
wellness,
integrity,
authenticity,
genuineness
and truth
that we have about us
as we go take care of our business
in the world
day-by-day
and moment-to-moment.
Our place is to own our original nature
and to be owned by it.
To know and love who we are
at the deepest/highest levels.
And to live in ways which reflect
our true identity
as we go about our life.
Now, the problem is doing that
and paying the bills.
Our life may not easily support
the life that is ours to live,
the life that we are here to live.
We have to work it out.
This is called “Walking Two (Or More)
Paths At The Same Time.”
We do that by being mindfully aware
of “the other path”
as we are walking the one we are on.
We don’t kid ourselves about the difficulty
of being true to ourselves
and paying the bills.
We bear the pain,
and do the best we can,
without kidding ourselves about
it being truly the best we can do.
That’s the best we can do.
Jesus couldn’t do it better.
God couldn’t do it better.
We take who we are
when we are being true to ourselves
in one hand,
and we take what it takes
to pay the bills
in the other hand,
and we work to get the two hands together
all our life long.
That is the essence/nature of the Hero’s Journey.
And the essence/nature of growing up.
It is what our life is all about.
We live between the hands,
on the one hand this,
on the other hand that,
and work to get them together
our whole life long.
And that is how things are. - 01/29/2020— Parkway Overlooks 10/29/2019 08 –Blue Ridge Parkway near Big Island, Virginia, October 29, 2019
This marks 5,800 photos and monologues that I’ve posted here. It would be great if there were that many more to go!
We think of our life
in terms of attainment and acquisition,
accomplishment, achievement and success.
Of getting, having, doing, becoming…
All the while,
our life needs us to serve its ends.
We don’t think of our life
as having a will of its own,
but.
Our life has a will of its own.
We are built for a certain life,
and not for others.
We have the temperament,
and the body,
and the drift of soul
for a certain life,
and not for others.
We are not free to will any life for ourselves.
We come with a blueprint attached,
and live to discover how to read it
in order to know who,
and how,
to be.
But.
There are none to teach us.
All those who should know,
ask us!
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
“What do you want to do with your life?”
What does wanting know?
We want sugar,
and alcohol
and tobacco.
And pot,
and opioids.
We don’t know what to want,
or how to know!
And, we aren’t free to want what we ought to want,
even if we could be sure of what that is!
The situation is bonkers from the start.
Why does nobody we know
tell us this at the beginning?
Resonance!
Why does nobody tell us about Resonance?
Or listening to our nighttime dreams?
Or knowing how to read our body’s signals?
Our trusting our feelings–
particularly the “Uh-oh feeling”?
Or the “me/not-me feeling”?
The Way of Life for us is not hiding!
It’s just that no one knows how to spot it!
It is a White Rabbit!
Watch for what catches your eye!
For what takes your breath away!
For what stops you in your tracks!
And. Do. Not. Dismiss. It.
And go right on with your life
as though nothing happened.
When something like this happens,
note it!
Notice it!
Pay attention to it!
And look closer!
See what is there!
And, it will come around again and again.
So, if you remember missing it a time or two already,
it will be back.
Be looking for it.
And listen to your life
when it calls your name. - 01/24/2020—
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- 09/06/2019 — Crape Myrtle 2019-09 01 — Charlotte, North Carolina, September 3, 2019, an iPhone photo
Recurring dreams mean
we aren’t getting what the dream is saying
because we have ideas for our life
that are out of accord
with our life’s ideas for us.
It means we are having to grow up
some more again,
and we don’t want to.
Who does?
The whole thing about growing up
is doing what we don’t want to do
as though we want to do it.
We want a savoir
who will make it all just right for us forever.
So we dream up Jesus
and heaven
to save us from the hell
of having to grow up
and do what we don’t want to do
on our own,
by ourselves,
because there is no one here but us.
No one needs a “Lord and Savior”
who will do the hard work for us
and deliver us from the pain and suffering
of having to do for ourselves
what has to be done by ourselves.
Alexis Carrel said,
“We are both the marble
and the sculptor.”
Joseph Campbell said,
“That which you seek
lies far in the back
of the cave
you most don’t want to enter.”
What are you afraid of?
Go there.
Do that. - 09/07/2019 — The Peacock 2014-04 01 — Magnolia Plantation, Charleston, South Carolina, April 20, 2014
What is worth your life?
This is a question only you can answer.
What would you go to hell for?
This is another one.
No one can tell you the important things.
And you can’t think them up for yourself.
You can only realize them.
All of the things that matter most
come to us
as realizations.
As urgencies.
We turn a corner,
and there they are.
We know what is important.
We know what has to be done.
We know what we have to do.
And nobody can knock us off of it.
But.
We can talk ourselves out of it.
All of the wasted lives
that are being lived around us
are there because the people living them
talked themselves into living them
by talking themselves out of the life
that was worth living.
Happens all the time.
Laziness,
lethargy,
inertia,
momentum,
fear
combine
to deliver us into
a life that is so not worth our time.
And, we know it,
but.
What can we do?
What we can do
is ask the question
without the implied but unstated
yet obvious “Nothing.
It’s all over.
We’re helpless.
Crawl back into the bottle.
Take another round of pills.
Sniff.
Snort.
Inject.
Tune out.
Turn on.
Forget about it.
And hope to die young” attached.
“What can we do?”
Asked in the right frame of mind
opens the door
to the life that is left to be lived.
“Here we are. Now what?”
Puts us in the moment of decision,
and positions us to change our world,
which is the first step
to changing *the* world.
If you aren’t going to believe
there is a life for you
that is worth living,
you may as well continue to wish
for an early death.
If you are going to take something on faith
let it be that there is a life for you
that is worth living–
even now,
even yet–
and live as though it is so.
Once you make that leap of faith,
the rest falls into place around that.
It is only a matter of time,
and patience,
and courage,
and persistence,
and dedication,
and determination.
The way to the way
begins in the silence.
Sit down.
Shut up.
Be still.
Be quiet.
Quit thinking.
Be present
with the silence and the stillness,
and the horrors that dwell there.
The Buddha lived through the horrors.
So did Jesus.
So must we all.
In the quiet,
we face the monsters of the darkness.
The trick is to make them welcome
and to not take them seriously–
in a “Yes, yes. This too, this too,” kind of way.
Invite them to have a place
in your awareness,
and return to the silence,
to the stillness,
and wait for what you are waiting for
to emerge,
to arise,
to occur to you,
to come upon you as a realization,
as an urgency,
that cannot be denied,
calling your name,
enlisting you in its service,
directing you to what’s next.
Take that step
and trust the path to open before you
as you start walking–
without writing the script
or trying to line everything out
in a knowing the eternal plan for your life kind of way.
Trust one step to lead to another
without ever knowing where you are going,
and always being amazed at how you got here,
with the wind of the spirit that blows where it will
forever in your hair. - 09/08/2019 — Hail Mary Full of Grace — Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Charleston, SC, April 21, 2014
Here we all are–
whether we know it or not,
whether we “believe in God” or not,
whether we are “religious” or not.
We are all right here,
right now,
in every here and now,
throughout all here’s and now’s
forever.
This is how “it was in the beginning,
is now and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.”
*This* is the Eternal Now
of our life in the world.
We are at the mercy of things
quite beyond our control.
Presidents are elected
who have no business being president.
Wars come along
that have no business being fought.
Disease, drought, flood, fire, famine…
Catastrophe comes in many ways.
And never stops coming.
It is always just around the corner.
And here we all are.
We are left with kneeling in the silence
and bowing beneath the weight
of life under the conditions
in which life must be lived
all our life long.
And it is our hope
and our salvation–
that we will know that,
and do it.
There are 10,000 things
we have to take on faith.
None of them have to do
with doctrines, creeds, dogmas,
ideologies, theologies, isms and religions.
For me–
and you will be different here–
three things stand above all the others
as things we must take on faith:
The Silence,
The Work, and,
The Source
(Which I also think of as
The Rhizome, after Carl Jung).
I see the Silence
as being that which connects us
with the Rhizome,
and the Work
as that which arises/emerges
from the Rhizome–
to claim us,
call us,
direct us
and immunize us against
all of the terrors of the night
(and day).
Our work is to be true to our work,
to our Body of Work,
through “the heaving waves
of the wine-dark sea,”
and the worst that life can do.
Woe be unto those
who are not connected
by the Silence
to the Source
via their Work
in the day-to-day,
moment-to-moment,
conditions-and-circumstances
of life in the world!
We kneel (or sit, or lie, or stand, or walk…)
in the Silence
and bow beneath the weight
of life as it is,
and connect with the Source
that is with us always
to direct and encourage us
in the Work that is ours to do
even now,
even yet,
even so–
without theology,
without doctrine,
without dogma,
without creeds,
just seeing,
knowing,
doing,
being
servants of the Source
in every situation as it arises
all our life long,
believing in the Work
and doing it
anyway,
nevertheless,
even so,
“without hope,
without witness,
without reward”
(Steven Moffat in Dr. Who).
Standing there,
we can withstand anything.
It only takes believing it is so
to know that it is. - 09/09/2019 — Beidler Forest 2019-06 12 — Four Hole Swamp, Francis Beidler Forest Audubon Center & Sanctuary, Harleyville, South Carolina, June 23, 2019, an iPhone photo
A “modern-day” (1919) equivalent
of the parable of the Garden of Eden,
is the song,
“How’re You Going To Keep Them Down On The Farm
Once They’ve Seen Paree?”
We spend our youth
and middle-age
running through
the “Paree alternatives”
(and there be many)
to silence,
reflection,
realization
and the reconciliation
of ourselves with ourselves
and with the work that is ours to do.
Our “salvation,”
if you will,
is our recognition
of the absence of viable options
to the discipline
of mindful,
compassionate,
non-judgmental
awareness
(Jon Kabat-Zinn’s YouTube Videos),
the art of seeing what we look at,
and knowing what is happening
in each situation as it arises,
and what needs to happen in response,
and offering what we have to give
in that cause
to the best of our ability
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
situation-by-situation-by-situation,
day-by-day-by-day,
in doing the work
that is ours to do,
all our life long.
Being true to ourselves,
and true to our work,
and true to the claims,
of each situation upon us
can be seen
as the vital ground of being
it is,
only after the illusion
of “gay Paree”
has been seen for what it is.
We have to have reached
the Age of Discernment
before we know
what must be known
in order to do what needs to be done
and live the life that is ours to live
and do the work that is ours to do.
And that Age doesn’t arrive
until the emptiness of youth’s
ideas of glory
expose Paree to be the Oz
at the end of the Yellow Brick Road,
and what we get for our trouble
is what we have had
all along. - 09/09/2019 — Cedar Island Ferry Sunset 2011-10 02 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, October 24, 2011
We have changed the world we live in
faster than we have changed
to be able to live in it.
Our inherited propensities are for another age.
We have lived beyond ourselves,
and no longer belong in the environment
we have evolved to fit.
The world once was large enough
to absorb our excesses
and our stupidity.
No more.
Global warming is resulting
in the world’s effort to rid itself of us
because it can no longer assimilate us
into its framework of homeostasis.
We have destroyed the balances
that hold the earth together,
and must pay the price
of our ignorance
and folly.
Our technology–
in addition to melting the glaciers
and poisoning the oceans
and the atmosphere–
has created weapons of war
capable of ending life everywhere.
Our capacity for acquisition
and aggression
comes up against
our incapacity for living
in a radioactive umwelt.
We are not built
for the new world that is on the way.
What do you think we ought to do?
If you said “Change the way we think,”
you would be right.
We have to think about our thinking
by being aware of our thinking
and reflecting on our thinking–
without rushing to judgment,
or jumping to conclusions,
or failing to distinguish among
observations,
inferences
and assumptions.
We have to sit tight.
Be quiet.
Breathe slowly.
Open ourselves to the stillness,
and to everything that comes up
in the silence.
We fold all of it into our awareness,
seeing everything that is happening
and how that relates to what all is happening,
and what needs to be done about it–
denying nothing
but inviting everything into the conversation.
See it all,
hear it all,
hold it all in our awareness
and wait
while connections are made,
and realization dawns,
and the changes that need to be made
become obvious.
What does what we want
have to do with what we need?
How are we frittering away
our resources
for entertainments
and pleasures
that take our mind off our life
and keep us from living a life
that is sustainable
and environmentally friendly?
How does our life need to change
in order to continue to be lived?
How do we coordinate our lives
in order to cooperate
and collaborate
in the work to make life livable around the world?
If we keep living in the immediate future
the way we have lived in the past
none of us will live long.
No, not one. - 09/10/2019 — Heath Springs Gulf 2019-09 03 — Heath Springs, South Carolina, September 2, 2019, an iPhone photo — A roadside, drive-by, museum of sorts, calling forth memories of how things used to be.
How things used to be
failed to prepare us
for how things are,
and leave us completely
on our own
and in the dark
regarding how things will be.
We will have to trust ourselves
to the inner light
to have a chance at all.
GK Chesterton said,
“When Jones follows the Inner Light,
Jones follows Jones,”
as though that is a bad thing.
The catch is that when
Jones follows someone else’s idea
of the Outer Light,
Jones still follows Jones,
in that Jones chooses whom to follow.
Jones is stuck with Jones.
And would be wise to know
as much about Jones
as can be known,
so that he knows when Jones is talking
and when Jones is listening
to a voice that is Not-Jones.
“Know Thy Self” is to be paired with
“To Thine Own Self Be True.”
It takes a lot of practice in the art
of looking and listening
to be able to see and hear.
As things shift from the way they have been
to the way they are going to be,
we make the transition
as smooth and as easy as it can be
by seeing and hearing
what is happening,
knowing what’s what
and what to do in response
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.
Joseph Campbell said,
“Reflection leads to new realizations.”
Reflection is the transom
between looking and seeing,
between listening and hearing.
And reflection is more akin to awareness
than it is to thinking.
As we work to deepen,
expand,
enlarge
our awareness of ourselves,
one another,
and the world in which we live,
we are increasing our chances
of knowing what’s what
and what needs to be done about it–
and that is all the edge we need
to do well with what is coming. - 09/10/2019 — Footbridge Chester State Park 2019-08 01 — Chester, South Carolina, August 22, 2019, an iPhone photo
There is being on the beam,
in the flow,
at one with the Tao,
Kairos,
Dharma.
And there is being off the beam,
out of the flow,
at odds with the Tao,
Kairos,
Dharma.
There is being on the beam,
etc.,
but there is no *staying* on the beam,
etc.
We come and go
as the tide ebbs and flows,
as we inhale and exhale.
Movement is life.
Steady,
static,
states of being are death.
Balance is the art
of counteracting loss of balance.
Riding a bicycle
is constraining the wobbles.
Walking is catching ourselves
as we fall.
Dancing is a miracle.
Don’t make too much
of being spot-on.
Don’t make anything at all
of falling on your face.
We have to receive the kingdom
like a child
because children don’t take anything seriously.
The kingdom least of all. - 09/11/2019 — Goodale 2019-08 12 Panorama — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, August 26, 2019
The eighteenth anniversary of 9/11
doesn’t leave us with much to be proud of
over the course of those years.
I can’t see how we have used the time
to grow kinder,
more compassionate,
more gracious,
more awake,
more aware…
We are not better people.
We are not a better nation.
The world is not a better place.
We have wasted the experience
in cultivating hatred,
dishonor,
rancor,
bitterness,
littleness,
vitriol…
We are more suspicious,
more afraid,
we own more guns,
we kill more of our own citizens,
we have fewer politicians
who are people of integrity and good faith.
Everybody seems to be out for themselves.
Money seems to be all anyone is living for,
and no one seems to know what to do with it.
We are digging a hole for ourselves
in 10,000 ways.
Hiding.
Without hope or direction.
The hole is within.
We have lost our connection
with our heart.
Nothing has heart for us.
We go through the motions of life
without being alive
to the reality of living.
Reality is nothing we care
to spend time with.
We have no vision.
of a life worth living.
We have no horizon.
We don’t believe in anything worth having.
We don’t believe anything is worth having.
We don’t have a long list of things
we would go to hell for.
Things we would die for.
And that is death itself.
Hell itself.
We are into opioids and suicide,
bread and circuses,
escapes and entertaining pastimes.
9/11 exposed us to the truth of our vulnerability.
We haven’t come to terms with it yet.
Don’t know how to do that.
Refuse to look in the mirror
and see what we look at.
Won’t do the work
of bearing the pain
of how it is with us
in order to do what needs to be done
about what has become of us,
about who we are
and where we are going.
We are waiting for a Savior
who is not coming,
and reject all opportunities
to become what we seek.
And tomorrow is always
just another day. - 09/11/2019 — Nation Ford Road 2019-08 01 — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Dairy Barn Access, Fort Mill, South Carolina, August 29, 2019, an iPhone photo.
There is what we want,
and there is what is right for us.
We know what we want.
That clouds the picture,
interferes with our focus,
obscures the way that is The Way,
and allows us to kid ourselves
and do what we want
and tell ourselves it is the right thing to do.
We do not care what is right for us
in our headlong rush toward
what we want for us.
What we want for us.
What is right for us.
Create for us
an internal conflict,
conundrum,
koan,
paradox
that is at the crux
of what is wrong with us.
We have to enter the awareness
of the complexity,
of the chaotic swirl,
of want vs. right
in order to have a chance
of being healed,
and whole,
and well
in the time left for living.
We have to sit before
what we want for us,
and open ourselves to
what is right for us,
and be quiet,
and listen,
and wait.
Here is the guiding truth:
We know when we
are on the beam,
and when we are off it.
We are knocked off the beam
when what we want for us
conflicts with
what the beam is requiring of us,
asking of us,
in the here and now of our living.
When we reach for what we want–
even if it is to stay on the beam–
we are off the beam.
We cannot want and be
centered in,
and grounded upon,
the way that is The Way.
Wanting is the enemy of The Way.
We have to recognize that,
and open ourselves to the conundrum,
the koan,
the paradox,
the contradiction
of what we want for us
and what is right for us,
and wait.
This is what Adam and Eve
did not do in Eden.
It is what Jesus did
in the wilderness
and in Gethsemane.
It is what the Buddha did
beneath the Bo Tree.
It is what all the people
who have ever awakened
and lived with awareness
of themselves experiencing
their life in the here and now of existence,
moment-by-moment-by-moment
have done and are doing–
without wanting.
Just seeing.
Just hearing.
Just knowing.
Just doing.
Just being
at one with the Tao,
the Dharma,
Kairos,
Grace,
“Without hope,
(Because hope is grounded upon wanting
‘Not this! Not this!’)
without witness,
without reward.”
And it is what Jesus meant
when he said,
“Those who would be my disciples
have to pick up their cross daily
and follow me.”
“Follow me into the work
of doing what is right for us–
even if it is also wrong for us–
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.” - 09/12/2019 — Lake Andrew Jackson 2019-08 04 Panorama — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina, August 22, 2019, an iPhone photo
Witch hunts were initiated because some women
were stand-off-ish
and a little strange.
And the larger society
is always looking for a scapegoat
to blame for its troubles
and its woes.
Everything is made better
with someone to blame.
We always blame the weak,
the vulnerable,
the powerless,
the feeble,
the lame,
the stand-off-ish,
and the strange.
The stand-off-ish
are often forced to be so
because they are rejected
and denied a place
in society at large.
Single women experience that.
People of color experience that.
Immigrants experience that.
Jews experience that.
Muslims experience that.
Handicapped people experience that.
The list is long.
It is a short distance
from being excluded
to being thought of as strange
to being blamed
for the troubles
and woes
of society at large.
Different-ness
is easily magnified
and made into a fault.
Now only must we work
to accept different-ness,
we must also work to BE different.
We all are different,
and too many of us
permit society to smooth off our peaks,
and round off our edges,
and fill in our valleys
in order to look like everyone else.
It starts in the third grade.
By the seventh grade
there is a clear line
between those who are “the same”
and those who are “different.”
The line gets darker and thicker with time.
Accepting everyone’s differences
begins with accepting our own,
and enhancing them,
bringing them out,
knowing who we are
and who we are not
and living in ways that declare
what is and is not so about us.
Honoring our own tendencies,
and inclinations,
and dispositions,
and propensities,
and preferences,
and idiosyncrasies,
etc.,
defines us
and sets us apart–
and makes us a part of the whole
which is composed of people
who are just like we are
in being different from everyone else.
And no one is to blame
for anyone’s troubles and woes.
The things we suffer
also make us one–
and everyone is carrying a burden,
and walking with a limp.
And everyone could use more kindness
and compassion than they get. - 09/12/2019 — Steele Creek Swinging Bridge 2019-08 01 — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Dairy Barn Access, Fort Mill, South Carolina, August 29, 2019
Our place in this place
is to off-set injustice and absurdity
everywhere they are manifested.
We serve homeostasis in the world
by bringing balance and sanity
to life there.
When life is mean,
cruel,
heartless,
atrocious,
obscene,
vicious,
brutal,
savage,
ruthless
and inhuman,
we stand up
and step forward.
This is where we come in.
We witness the victimization
of the oppressed.
We bear their grief
and carry their sorrow,
and are one with them
in the experience of sighs too deep for words.
We join them in their anguish
and sit with them in their agony,
and raise our voices with the sound
of weeping and great mourning.
We take up the cause of those suffering
to amend what can be amended,
and restore what can be restored,
and address what must be addressed,
and right what must be made right
in the name of all that is good,
and just,
and widely recognized
as how things ought to be.
This is our place with one another
and our duty to all people.
May we live to fulfill it
with all our heart,
and mind,
and soul
and strength–
now and forever! - 09/13/2019 — Goodale 2019-08 13 Panorama — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, August 24, 2019, an iPhone Photo
“We are all we got–
we are all we need!”
The old football rallying cry
applies to us as individuals
as well as to us as a football team.
We are on our own.
It is all up to us.
In order to manage our life
on our own,
we have to be discovering
who all we are.
There is more to us than meets the eye.
Any eye.
We have depth and breadth
beyond imagining.
We are the doorway,
the threshold,
the portal
to worlds beyond worlds.
We are more than enough
to meet any circumstances
that come our way.
But.
We have to do the work
of aligning ourselves with ourselves,
listening until we hear,
looking until we see–
and trusting what we see and hear
to be the guidance and direction we need
to meet any circumstances
that come our way.
And.
We have to understand
that we-as-conscious-egos
are partners with,
collaborators with,
servants of
our unconscious
(so said because we are not conscious of it/her/him)
Self.
It takes both of us–
all of us–
to be one person in the world.
And we have to do the work
of being one with who we are,
and also are.
Jon Kabat-Zinn
and Ann Weiser Cornell
are helpful guides in this work.
As are Joseph Campbell
and Carl Jung–
but in the old alchemical sense
of “one book opening another,”
you will find what you need
in terms of guardians and guides
when you start looking
for what is helpful
in your own work to find and be
who you are.
Obi wan Kenobi’s advice
to “Trust the Force”
and “Let the Force be with you”
(Though he may have never
actually said those words!)
are operable here.
The work to find and be who we are
is like swimming
in that we have to trust the water
to support us
before the water will support us.
We have to believe it is so
in order to know that it is.
What we take on faith,
and what we are willing
to go to hell for
tell the tale. - 09/13/2019 — Beidler Forest 2019-06 20 — Four Hole Swamp, Francis Beidler Forest Audubon Center & Sanctuary, Harleyville, South Carolina, June 23, 2019, an iPhone photo
Money is so overrated.
All money is good for is paying the bills.
An they have to be the right bills.
When we use money
to pay the wrong bills,
we can’t make enough money
to offset everything that is stinky
about our life.
Then, we need money to take our mind
off our life.
Which is really all money is good for these days.
Money doesn’t help us live our life–
the life that is truly ours to live.
Money entertains us,
distracts us,
diverts our attention
from the life we are living
because that is the really stinky thing
about our life.
That’s where addiction comes in.
Addiction smooths things over,
soothes us
like a Mama in a syringe,
or a bottle,
or some other delivery mechanism.
We have to get ourselves together
with our life–
our real life–
the life that was ours before we were born.
But.
We have no idea where to begin, for one.
And it sounds like way too much trouble, for two.
And we have too much on our plate already, for three.
So nothing can change,
and maybe some kind of miracle
will happen.
Our nighttime dreams have been trying
to right our listing life from the start.
All we have to do is start listening to our dreams.
Our dreams are always showing us how our life is
here and now.
Our place is to enlist our Psyche-Soul-Self
in moving from where we are
to where we need to be.
Back to money.
We think money is all we need,
that everybody is happy with enough money.
But money cannot buy fulfillment.
And we don’t know what would be fulfilling.
But.
Our life knows.
The life that needs us to live it knows.
The life our nighttime dreams are calling us to live knows.
So.
Back to our nighttime dreams
and our Psyche-Soul-Self.
All we have to do is listen–
without being in a hurry to hear.
Without jumping to conclusions
and rushing to fix it.
No Quick Fixes!
Just sit down.
Shut up.
Be still.
And listen.
Practice that twice a day.
Three times a day if you are bold.
For ten minutes at time.
For the rest of your life.
What could possibly be easier?
Nothing!
And nothing is more necessary!
So? - 09/14/2019 — Road Through Fall 2013-11 03 — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Greenbriar District, Gatlinburg, Tennessee, November 6, 2013
I walk around with a camera
until something catches my eye.
My eye knows.
I only know what my eye knows.
This not that.
This in this way not that way.
This like this, not that.
My eye knows where to stand, or sit, or lie.
Where to place the tripod.
When to wait until it’s right.
My role is to do the driving
and carry the equipment.
I get to rule out everything
that catches my eye
when taking the picture
would put me in harm’s way.
My eye gets to inform me
when it looks closer
and changes its mind.
In this arrangement,
there is nothing you can do to help,
and there is a lot you can do to interfere.
It’s just me and my eye.
It’s just me tuning in to what my eye is seeing/saying.
My eye doesn’t like it
when I have someone in tow
who thinks everything is a photograph.
Or asks, “Why are you taking a picture of that?”
Or, “How long does it take to take a photograph
of a waterfall?”
I am easily distracted
and lose the connection
with knowing what my eye knows
like that,
and have to honor the link
by stepping apart from the crowd,
and going where I am led.
This makes photography,
for me,
a metaphor for life.
Our heart is our eye for living.
If we follow our heart’s lead
we won’t be too far off the path.
If head takes over
and thinks our way along the way,
we will be lost like that. - 09/15/2019 — Swan Lake 2019-09-13 01 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, September 13, 2019, an iPhone photo
AR-15/RK-47 owners own them
to keep themselves
and their families
safe.
I know of a guy
who bought three AR’s
in one week.
Some people can’t be safe enough.
And, while all of these AR/AK owners
are being safe,
Trump is poisoning their air and water.
Destroying the foundations of their society.
Tanking the economy.
And inviting the Russians
to take over the country.
I’m thinking they are missing something
fundamental about safety.
No one can be safe
without being secure.
Security comes first.
Once we are grounded
on the bedrock
of our own confidence
in our ability
to square up to,
and deal with,
anything that comes our way,
we are well beyond
needing an arsenal to keep us safe.
The first step
toward that kind
of security
is facing the reality
of our insecurity.
Tracing it back to its source,
exploring the things
that keep it in place,
investigating its needs
and its fears,
comforting it
while it cries,
listening with compassion
as it unveils its false assumptions
and its unfounded inferences,
getting to the bottom of things.
Everybody wants solutions
that are instant
and fixes
that are quick.
Nobody wants to take the time
and go to the trouble
of getting to the bottom of things.
And that’s why we all
are exactly where we are.
Because at the bottom
it is clear
that we are responsible
for the things we think
about the world we live in–
and nothing changes
until we change
our relationship with our life. - 09/16/2019 — Swan Lake 2019-08-13 04 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, August 13, 2019
We are all equidistant
from the rhizome,
the bedrock,
the source,
the core,
which has always been called God,
and is manifested
in our lived experience
as the Tao,
Dharma,
Kairos,
Grace,
Synchronicity,
“Wow!”
This is The God Of The Rock
that grounds,
sustains
and upholds
us all–
quite apart from
theology,
doctrine,
dogma,
beliefs,
creeds
and canons.
Living in right relationship
with the rhizome
transforms our life
and the world–
although we cannot exploit it
and manipulate it
to serve our ends
and purposes.
“It rains on the just
and the unjust,”
as the old saying goes,
but the just suffer more
from the ways of the unjust–
and the just can’t let
that stop them,
or even slow them down.
Right-relationship with the rhizome
implies right-relationship with how things are,
and those two things
constitute the work of being human. - 09/16/2019 — Mute Swans 2019-08 02C — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, August 17, 2019
We are able to live self-transparent
and self-directed lives
only in the company/community
of those who are themselves
living self-transparent
and self-directed lives.
The right kind of community
is grounded upon the individual distinctiveness
of its members–
people who are grounded
in the principles
and in the practice
of self-transparency
and self-direction.
If you don’t have the company
of this kind of community
at work for you
somewhere in your life,
your work in finding
and living
the life that is your life to live
is going to require a lot of quiet time
away from the people
who are built
to keep you from doing that work. - 09/17/2019 — Bewick’s Swan 2019-09-13 01 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, September 13, 2019
What do you love?
What do you love about what you love?
In what ways do you serve
what you love about what you love
with your life?
How is what you love about what you love
evident in how you live your life?
I love self-transparency
and self-determination
in the service of self-realization.
My entire life revolves around,
flows from,
leads to,
serves
these things.
Everything I do has self-transparency,
self-determination,
self-realization
at its core
and as its destination.
I live to be integrated
with myself
and my life.
Hold that thought.
We all live the life we are living
with a perception filter
firmly in place.
Our perceptions–
what we see–
are held in place
by our perspective–
how we see.
What we see
is determined by
how we look.
In order to see beyond our perceptions,
we have to see the perspective
with which we see things.
How does the way we see
keep us from seeing what we look at?
What governs our perspective?
The stake we have in the outcome,
in the results of,
seeing.
Seeing things as they are
has implications for our life
and how we live it.
Once we can no longer kid ourselve4s
about what we look at,
we have to live in ways
that take what we see
into account.
As long as we can kid ourselves
about what we see
and what its implications are,
we can live anyway at all.
Once we stop kidding ourselves,
everything changes,
especially how we live our life.
Hold that thought.
Women,
LGBTQ people,
people of color,
immigrants,
the oppressed and beleaguered world-wide,
have a take on things
that men smoking cigars
and drinking single malt whiskey
in a Real Men Only Club
cannot touch.
Put all of this together,
and you have a path
into the next moment
that did not exist
when you started reading this.
Walk it with your eyes open,
seeing everything you look at,
looking at everything. - 09/18/2019 — Swan Lake 2019-09013 05 — (Australian) Black Swans, Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, September 13, 2019
There is what we want to do,
and there is what needs to be done.
There is what we feel like doing,
and there is what needs us to do it.
There is what we want to happen,
and there is what needs to happen.
Our place is to submit
to what needs to be done,
to what needs us to do it,
to what needs to happen,
in a “Thy will, not mine, be done”
kind of way.
in a “I came not to be served, but to serve,”
kind of way,
and to get up and do the thing,
the way it needs to be done,
when it needs to be done,
as often as it needs to be done,
for as long as it need to be done,
without opinion
or expectation of reward.
When the yard needs to be watered,
we water the yard.
When the dog needs to be walked,
we walk the dog.
When the baby’s diaper needs to be changed,
we change the baby’s diaper.
Like that.
Day in and day out,
all our life long.
The spiritual journey
can also be called
“growing up.” - 09/19/2019 — Bewick’s Swan 2019-09-13 02 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, September 13, 2019
We don’t know where we are going.
We don’t know how we got here.
If we know that much,
we know it does not depend on us.
If we know that much,
we know enough to relax
into the Tao,
the Dharma,
the Kairos,
the Grace,
the Synchronicity
that got us here, now,
and see where it goes next.
If we know that much,
we have it made. - 09/19/2019 — Beidler Forest 2019-06-23 22 Panorama — Four Hole Swamp, Francis Beidler Forest Audubon Center & Sanctuary, Harleyville, South Carolina, June 23, 2019, an iPhone photo
When we sit down
and shut up,
and wait quietly
in the silence,
the first things
we are likely
to encounter
are shame,
guilt
and fear,
in no particular order,
and conflict,
contradiction,
paradox
which loop back
into shame,
guilt
and fear.
We have to suffer it through.
Suffering it through
is the sine qua non
of a life well-lived.
It is the fundamental requirement
of the spiritual journey.
“Those who would be my friends
have to bear their own cross daily
and come with me.”
You think the cross was about suffering.
So is silence.
We are where we are today–
individually and collectively–
because we will not bear the cross
of silence.
Too much meets us there
that we can’t handle.
It is only silence–
and we are doing it
to ourselves.
Let it come.
Let it be.
Receive it all
into our awareness
without being sucked into it–
and if we are sucked into it,
receive it as well
into our awareness–
and allow our awareness
to contain it all
without being engaged with it,
consumed by it.
Our awareness has it.
Our role is to receive
what else is there,
what all is there,
and hold it in our awareness,
and wait in the stillness,
open to all that is there.
Acceptance allows what meets us
in the silence
to be what meets us in the silence–
without opinion,
without judgment,
without emotional reactivity
(And if there is opinion,
judgement,
emotional reactivity,
we accept that as well,
and hold it in our awareness
without opinion about the opinions
without judgement about the judgements,
without emotional reactivity
about the emotional reactivity).
We have to acknowledge
and accept
what meets us in the silence
to meet what else is in the silence.
We have to sit quietly
to receive what all waits
to greet us in the stillness.
“That which you seek
lies far in the back
of the cave
you most don’t want to enter”
(Joseph Campbell). - 09/20/2019 — Wood Ducks 2019-09-13 02 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, South Carolina, September 13, 2019
Jesus came to love, lift up and die for
the people Donald Trump and the GOP
consider to be undesirable
and consign to “the trash heap of history.”
Jesus would not be welcome
in Donald Trump’s
Fascist,
Racist,
White Nationalist,
Xenophobic,
Misogynistic,
Islamophobic,
Homophobic,
Transphobic
world.
Who do we stand with?
Who do we stand against?
Whose side are we on? - 09/21/2019 — Bewick’s Swan 2019/09/13 03 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, September 13, 2019
Donald Trump is a teetotaler,
but you would never know it
by the way he acts.
He acts like a man on a binge.
Which leads me to wonder
about his medication
and his brain chemistry.
Alcohol can mess with our judgment,
but it isn’t the only thing that can.
Warnings against operating heavy machinery
are attached to a lot
of the over-the-counter pills
in any pharmacy.
Which leads me to wonder
about Congress’ capacity
for “sober judgment.”
How are drugs and alcohol
shaping our future?
A three martini lunch
could be shaping it
with a sledge hammer
and a wrecking ball.
This track also leads me
to offer a caveat regarding
my reverence for,
and adoration of,
the place of silence in our life.
Silence is no friend for those
into drugs and alcohol.
We have to approach silence
with our critical faculties intact.
Our ego-self has to be operating
at full capacity
in order to partner with our psyche-self
in the work of creating
a life worth living.
We cannot stagger along the spiritual path.
Good judgment and good faith
are a tandem.
We have to be able to see what we look at,
and assess the value of the voices,
images
and urges
arising in the silence.
Alcohol doesn’t do us any favors,
and does interfere with our ability
to be clear about anything.
How much alcohol do you consume in a day?
How much medication do you take?
Don’t kid yourself about how much
it is interfering with your life.
Don’t kid yourself about it being necessary
to take the edge off your pain.
Your pain is your best friend
highlighting areas in your life that need to change–
highlighting areas in which you need to change.
Get to know your pain.
Bear the pain of getting to know your pain.
Trust it to lead you gingerly
along the way. - 09/22/2019 — Swan Lake 2019/09/13 08 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, September 13, 2019
We like to think
we know where we are going,
but
we don’t have any idea how we got here,
now.
We certainly did not want ourselves here,
now.
We did not say ever,
“I want to be there,
then!”
And plot out the course
and the timing
of our arrival.
Yet,
we think we can do that
with where we are going.
We think we can want ourselves there,
then,
as though our wanting knows.
Wanting only knows what it wants.
It has no concern for what it needs to want,
for what it ought to want.
Wanting cannot want what it ought to want.
It can only want what it wants.
As though it knows what to want.
You would not trust yourself
to what your mother wanted for you,
or your father,
or me.
Why would you trust yourself to you?
Unless there is a you beyond you
who knows what you ought to want
because it knows you
better than you do.
Two yous in one body?
One you who knows what to want,
and one you who only knows what it wants.
And you deciding
which you you are going to listen to.
Three yous in one body?
And you thought you were all alone! - 09/23/2019 — Bewick’s Swan 2019/08/24 03 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, August 24, 2019
It all will not fit.
We have to leave some important things out.
Some things have to go.
It’s the parable of the net of fishes
with the fishermen culling out
the rough fish from the market variety.
We have to do that with our life.
We have to cull out
what is working against us
living the life that is our life to live.
“Ooohhh” (Uttered with a high-pitched nasally whine),
we say, “I can’t do thattttt!”
And that is what separates
those of us who are alive to the life
that needs us to live it,
from those of us who are dead
waiting for some undertaker
to make it official.
If booze and drugs are in our way,
they have to go.
If our routine doesn’t have enough time in it
to allow devotion to the tasks
our life requires,
our routine has to go.
A *meaningful* life is a different kind of life
from the one that is “smooth and easy.”
A *meaningful* life is disciplined.
It revolves around
silence,
reflection,
contemplation,
realization,
inquiry,
study,
exploration,
examination,
work,
reading,
writing,
listening,
looking,
seeing,
hearing…
It is a focused life,
a well-considered life,
a life of few distractions,
diversions,
amusements.
We do not know and serve
our psyche-self
without spending time
knowing and serving
our psyche-self.
All the other little fishes
have to go. - 09/23/2019 — Bewick’s Swan 2019/08/24 02 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, August 24, 2019
We have to be able to dance
with our circumstances,
with our contradictions,
with the time and place
of our living–
In an “Okay,
here we are,
now what?”
kind of way.
“What can we do
about being unable to do
what needs to be done?”
Being frustrated,
shutting down,
losing it
and quitting
is a worse choice
than sitting down,
being quiet,
opening ourselves
to the moment
and waiting to see
what occurs to us.
We don’t always/ever
(Take your pick)
get the kind of cooperation
we need.
We all could use
more help
than we get.
What we do about that
is up to us.
How we assess it,
interpret it,
respond to it,
decide what it means to us,
positions us to manage
what follows.
What follows hinges largely
upon the way we deal
with the here and now.
If we go out and get drunk,
that is going to have one kind
of future.
If we sit down,
shut up,
and listen,
that is going to have
a different kind of future.
The life that is ours to live
is an extension
of the life we are living.
The choices we make now
set the tone
for the choices
we get to make next.
The present moment
is all we have to work with now.
If all we can do is wait,
we can at least wait
with our eyes open. - 09/24/2019 — Bewick’s Swan 2019/08/24 01-B — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, August 24, 2019
Our place as ego-consciousness
enclosed in this body,
in this time and place,
is to coordinate the collaboration,
integration,
and alignment
with our psychic-unconscious,
so that we might unite
and live as one
in the life we are living.
This doesn’t mean using
the Psyche to get what we want,
accomplish our goals
and achieve our idea of success.
It means living the life
that needs us to live it
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.
We hand over our ambition
in the service of a good
that is better than our own good,
in a “Thy will, not mine be done”
kind of way
(With the “thy” being
the Psyche’s sense
of what needs to happen
in each here and now
in light of all things considered).
The Psyche is in charge
of who we need to be
and what we need to do.
Ego-consciousness is in charge
of how to do it.
We negotiate the path
Psyche would have us walk,
taking into account
the demands,
limitations,
requirements
and restrictions
of the physical world.
It is “a slippery slope,
a dangerous path,
like a razor’s edge,”
and we guide The Guide,
so to speak,
with our knowledge
of ethics
and morality,
common sense,
propriety,
protocol,
process
and procedure–
negotiating and compromising
our way
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
through the situations and circumstances
that present themselves each day.
The Native Americans
on their vision quests–
and each of us on ours–
receive a sense of their calling
(Who they need to be,
What needs them to do it),
and they (we) are left to work that into
the possibilities and opportunities
afforded by the situations and circumstances
of the reality of the physical world.
It is a partnership all the way.
We listen in the silence for what occurs to us,
and apply it within the terms and conditions
of life as it is lived,
day-by-day,
all our life long.
In us,
the What and the Who
meet the How,
and when we are humming,
focused
and in the flow,
in the zone,
on the beam,
miracles happen. - 09/25/2019 — Bewick’s Swan 2019-08-24 05 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, August 24, 2019
A countless number of futures
open before us in each moment,
each one contingent upon
what we do in that moment.
Every act–
or failure to act–
comes with a future attached.
What we do now determines–
or strongly influences–
what happens next,
and what we do then
leads to…
Too many of us try to
play the futures market,
not with pork belly prices,
or soy beans,
but with what we think
is the future we want to have.
Stop The Train!
(The train of thought)
And allow me to ask you
the most important question
in the entire library of questions:
WHAT DOES WANTING KNOW?
And the second most important question
is like unto it:
WHERE DOES WANTING COME FROM?
We act like what we want
is the critical key to a future worth having,
to a life worth living.
Remember your first marriage?
How did that work out for you?
How about your second?
Still looking for what you want
in a life-partner, aren’t you?
That’s what wanting knows.
Nothing.
We have an irrational stake
at stake
in having what we want,
as though that is going to be something
worth having.
Even though that has yet to be borne out
in our life.
No matter how often we get what we want,
we are still wanting.
There is never a moment
in which there is nothing else to want.
We can want to stop wanting
but we cannot stop wanting.
We are addicted to wanting.
Wanting drives us through our life
like a mad jockey with riding crop in hand.
Every moment becomes an opportunity
to exploit the situation
for our own advantage,
with our best possible future
firmly in mind.
We play the moment
to beat the odds
and win the game.
There is no game.
There is only the moment
and what needs to happen
here and now.
“In light of what?” is the question.
The good of the moment
is a better answer
than our good in every moment.
When we live to serve our good
in every moment,
we create a future
in which everybody
is fighting everybody
for advantages
benefits,
boons,
and assets…
as though if we can just get
what we want,
we will be happy at last.
But.
Wanting has nothing to do with happiness.
It springs from the desert
of our discontent.
What shall we do about that? - 09/26/2019 — Australian Black Swans 2019/08/24 04 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, August 24, 2019
The pursuit of wealth
cannot be lived
in the service of life.
The requirements of wealth
are at odds with
the requirements of life.
Wealth destroys life,
and then, sometimes,
donates to benevolent causes
to enhance life
and compensate its conscience
for destroying life.
Donald Trump and his “friends”
embody the love of wealth,
and exemplify the qualities
of greed and envy
in all they do.
They are what the pursuit of wealth does
to all who trod that path.
They are what Capitalism does
to those who serve its ends
under the banner of Profit At Any Price.
When there is nothing better than wealth,
there is nothing but the refuse of the wealthy,
who are constantly looking for more resources
to turn into money
at the expense of everything else.
Wealth as the goal of life
is at odds with life itself.
Life lives to be fully alive–not wealthy.
Where the pursuit of money
and the service of vitality,
libido,
life energy,
enthusiasm,
joy of life, etc.
diverge
is where money is used to buy
vitality, libido,
life energy, etc.
Money can buy sex,
but it cannot buy life.
Wealth is just a splashy way
of being dead. - Beidler Forest 2019-06-23 31 — Four Hole Swamp, Francis Beidler Forest Audubon Center & Sanctuary, Harleyville, South Carolina, June 23, 2019, an iPhone photo
Joseph Campbell said,
“The reason for our discontent
is the failure of the vitality
under which we are supposed to live.”
Our life is supposed to be meaningful.
The world that receives us at birth
is supposed to be a meaningful world.
We have, as a species,
outlived the meaningfulness
of the symbols and myths
which are there to receive us at birth.
They have been meaningless
for generations
by the time we are born.
To have a chance at a meaningful life,
we have to create our own meaning
from scratch.
We can do it, of course,
but it will not be easy.
The work will require
all we have,
and are.
This is now the task that is ours
from birth:
Finding what is meaningful
and building a life centered on it,
allowing that life to take shape around it,
as we live in the service
of what is meaningful
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
all our life long.
We begin in the silence.
Sitting.
Listening.
Looking.
For what occurs to us.
For what calls our name.
For what catches our eye.
We are hidden in all that attracts us
and revealed by all that repels us.
We are found all that we enjoy doing,
and in all that we love.
We find what is meaningful
by sitting quietly with those things
until we see ourselves looking back at us.
Then we live to incorporate them in our life.
Find your joy.
discover where your heart loves to be.
Be what you love.
Do what you love–
and what it takes to pay the bills.
There is your life.
Waiting for you to hop in,
and go for a ride.
The ride of your life! - 09/27/2019 — Great Blue Heron 2019/08/24 02 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, August 24, 2019
I am stopped–
stunned–
by the amount of work required
to keep me going.
I am sustained by a vast web
of support,
without which
I wouldn’t last a week.
Just think of all that goes into
getting a can of green beans
onto the shelf of the grocery store
just down the road!
And what it took to get the grocery store
just down the road!
And what it took to get the road in place,
and keep it maintained!
Add to the list my doctor and dentist,
my optometrist and ophthalmologist,
the police and EMT’s on stand-by–
and all of the people and systems
that are in place to keep life as we know it going!
What makes us worth their effort?
What are doing in response?
How do we express our gratitude?
What contribution are we making
to the on-going work of being good for one another?
What is our bit?
Our part?
How well are we doing it?
We owe it to ourselves
and to each other
to bring forth
what is ours to give
to the network of life and being
that connects all of us
to each other
and to the planet
which provides for all our needs.
We honor ourselves,
one another,
all others,
and the earth
which births and sustains us
when we live
with all of this in mind,
and are humbled
by the wonder of it all,
by the grace of Kairos,
Tao
and Dharma,
and willingly–
willfully–
take our place in the scheme of things
in deliberately,
consciously
and conscientiously
living to be who we are
by developing our gifts,
genius,
talent,
ability,
daemon,
proclivities
that are unique to us
and share them
in service to all
in a “take what you can use
and leave the rest behind”
kind of way–
trusting that to be enough,
because it is all we can do.
No one could do more! - 09/28/2019 — Two Geese Flying 2019/09/13 01 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, September 13, 2019
We are all “just lucky to be here.”
Which means there is more
going on with us
than meets the eye.
Any eye.
Our ancient ancestors knew
the visible world
of apparent,
normal,
reality
is grounded upon
and flows forth from
the invisible world
of unconscious,
unimaginable,
incontestable,
reality–
and that the Really Lucky Ones
among us
know exactly how lucky they are.
Oh, and “luck” and “lucky”
are terms that are interchangeable with
Grace,
Kairos,
Tao and
Dharma.
We are all being upheld
and led along
by Invisible Hands.
The Really Lucky Ones
among us
realize that.
There is a sense in which
we can definitely play the Luck Card
to our advantage.
The catch is
that doesn’t mean
what we think it means.
We have no idea
what is to our advantage
and what is to our disadvantage.
“Advantage” from one point of view
is “disadvantage” from another.
From what point of view
are we seeing
when we see what we look at?
That’s the switch
that shifts the tracks
that carry us either
to our fate
or to our destiny.
What does
“Thy will, not mine, be done,”
mean to you? - 09/28/2019 — Steele Creek 2019/08/29 06 Panorama — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Dairy Barn Access, Fort Mill, South Carolina, August 29, 2019, an iPhone photo
I cannot recommend highly enough
the regular practice of interviewing yourself.
Write/type it out.
Sit down with the invisible you
and explore what The One Who Knows knows.
This will focus your self-reflection,
enhance realization,
awareness,
enlightenment,
and develop a process
for putting you in the position
of watching things occur to you
“out of the blue.”
Those are the occurrences
that make all the difference
in our life.
Sit down with yourself
and start asking questions.
Writing it out will give you a record
to refer to
and serve as a guide
for future explorations
for life together
with the you who lives within. - 09/29/2019 — Faires-Colthrap Cabin 2019/08/29 01– Anne Springs Close Greenway, Dairy Barn Access, Fort Mill, South Carolina, August 29, 2019, an iPhone photo
We have to pay the bills
and we have to know
what we pay the bills to do.
What is worth doing?
What is worth our time?
We live for what?
How much of our life
is spent diverting ourselves
from considering
what we are living for?
Who are we?
What are we about?
What is our ground?
Foundation?
Bedrock?
Rhizome?
Core?
Center?
Heart?
Our life is centered on what?
Revolves around what?
We live toward what?
In the service of what?
Sit down with these questions–
and the questions these generate–
and write out the answers
that come to you
in the silence. - 09/30/2019 — Goodale 2019-08-24 14 Panorama — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, August 24,2019, an iPhone Photo
The heart of discipline
is being in command
of how we respond
to not being in control.
How we respond
is the switch
that shifts the tracks
that lead
to all that follows
in each situation
as it arises.
How we respond
to this situation
leads to the next situation,
situation-by-situation forever.
We are here
because of how we responded
to where we have been.
The right kind of discipline
is being in command
of how we respond
to each situation that arises
in light of all we can be aware of
in each here-and-now
of our existence.
We will never be in control
of all the things that matter,
and that is a good thing,
because all we know
is what we want and don’t want.
We have no idea of what to want,
of what we should want,
and if we did,
we wouldn’t want it.
We cannot make ourselves
want what we ought to want.
But.
We can make ourselves do
what needs to be done.
We can sacrifice what we want
in light of what we also want,
in light of the true good of all concerned.
We can get up and go to work,
or to school,
when we want to stay in bed
and go back to sleep.
We are not in control of how we see things.
We cannot make ourselves see things differently
than we see things.
We can concede that things can be seen differently
from the way we see them,
but,
we can only see things the way we see them.
And, we can be in command
of seeing the way we see things
in light of how else they may be seen,
and that, alone, may lead to seeing things differently.
We can question our authority and our ability
to know how things ought to be seen.
We can look closer.
We can make inquiries.
We can adopt “the scientific method.”
We can investigate our hypotheses.
We can change our mind.
We can respond differently
to how things are
by seeing how things also are.
We can examine what things mean to us,
and allow their meaning to change
in light of the full implications
their meaning has for us
and for everyone else
and all sentient beings.
We can allow ourselves
to respond differently
to the events
and circumstances
of our life
in light of all things considered.
We can be in command
even though we are not in control.
And that can make all the difference. - 09/30/2019 — Trumpeter Swans 2019-08-27 03 Panorama — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, August 27, 2019
You hear it a lot,
“Play the hand you’re dealt.”
It also goes,
“Bloom where you are planted.”
I prefer the card analogy.
I like being the player.
I don’t like the idea
of being planted.
Stuck.
Locked in place.
May as well be in prison.
Blooming
or not blooming,
you’re still in prison.
Stuck in the ground.
Deal me in!
The trick about
playing the hand you are dealt
is:
Trust the cards!
Trust the cards
to be exactly right for you!
Give yourself wholly
to the task of playing
the hand you are dealt
to the best of your ability.
If you try to make the cards
serve your end
there be problems.
If you forget exploiting the situation
for your advantage,
to achieve your idea
of what your life ought to be,
and give yourself solely
to the cards,
playing them like they need to be played
in each situation as it arises,
living according to the Tao,
the Dharma,
Kairos,
Grace,
Flow,
in each moment,
there be miracles.
Perhaps not what
you might have in mind
for miracles,
but miracles,
nonetheless.
Trust the cards.
Play for a miracle.
In each situation as it arises.
All your life long. - 10/01/2019 — December Woods 2013/12/29 01 B&W — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Adventure Road Access, Fort Mill, South Carolina, December 29, 3013
Once we align ourselves
with our life,
everything else falls into place
around that.
Where we go to school.
How we pay the bills.
Who we marry.
Where we live.
How we spend our time.
What course we plot
through the conditions
and circumstances
that form the umwelt
of our existence.
Our relationship with our life
determines our relationship
with all the rest.
We typically think
if we can get
all the rest
under control,
our life will take care of itself.
What life do we need to be living?
Start there.
All the rest
will take care of itself. - 10/02/2019 — Swan Lake 2019/09/13 08 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, September 13, 2019
What’s at the bottom?
What grounds us?
What supports us?
What are we here to do no matter what?
What is worth our life?
What some people call success,
I call missing the point.
What I call success,
they call missing the point.
Who knows what they are talking about?
They cannot talk me out of what I think.
I can’t talk them out of what they think.
We all think we know what we are doing.
Are we all right?
We are right to be grounded on what grounds us,
and let nature take its course,
and see where it goes.
We owe ourselves the privilege of being wrong–
and live all-out in the service
of what drives us,
supports us,
and gives meaning and purpose to our life.
Pilate and Jesus.
Hitler and Gandhi.
Donald Trump and Reality Winner.
…
Everyone lives their own life
grounded on what grounds them.
No one can be talked out
of the way they are doing it.
What we call good
determines everything that follows.
What is at the bottom?
What grounds us?
What supports us?
What are we here to do no matter what?
What is worth our life? - 10/02/2019 — We all can look at the same thing and we each will see something different. Look at a potato, abortion, a gay person, a grazing herd of bison…anything. What leads us to see it the way we do?
Where does seeing come from?
What is the source of our seeing?
What causes us to see “this” and “that” the way we do?
We cannot see anything apart from the meaning it has for us. Seeing the thing is seeing the meaning of the thing. We cannot see a thing that is meaningless to us. That’s the reason modern art is difficult for us to see. We don’t know what it means. The more meaningless something is, the more invisible it is.
Seeing is interpretation. We interpret something in the act of seeing it. We decide what it means in deciding what it is.
Seeing is evaluation. Seeing is judgment. Seeing is discrimination. For anything to stand apart from its background, we have to be discriminating. We have to discriminate between things in order to know where one thing starts and another thing stops. “This” is “this,” and not “that.”
We can’t seem to help how we look at what we see. Knowing that doesn’t change anything. As I look at this, it is great, wonderful, beyond imagining, though, in a sense, I am imagining the entire concept!
All of our ideas of “the good” come from the source of inference, intuition, hunches, urges, feelings, notions, awareness… We are seized by visions of mythic proportions and directed by a will beyond our will to do what we infer/intuit/sense/perceive/feel/etc. needs to be done—for better or for worse—no matter what.
What is responsible for our seeing things the way we see things?
It takes a lot of looking to be able to see. - 10/03/2019 — Dairy Barn 2019/08/29 02 — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Dairy Barn Access, Fort Mill, South Carolina, August 29, 2019
The Yin/Yang symbol
is an ancient Taoist rendering
of reality as we experience it.
Opposites/Polarities/Contradictions
everywhere we look.
All of the boundaries separating
and containing
Yin and Yang
are composed
of Recognition,
Respect,
Reconciliation,
Integration
and Transcendence.
That is how Opposites/Polarities/Contradictions co-exist.
Not by being locked into
eternal cycles of war and desolating devastation.
The catch is
that it takes a certain level of maturity
on all sides
to bring this off-
to live together
within the tension
of mutual repulsion.
And that brings us to the heart of the matter.
We have created,
produced,
and live within
a culture that is
superficial,
shallow
and immature.
It is based
on me getting
more money
from you
than you get
from me.
And what we do with our money
is spend it,
invest it,
in ways that assist me and you
in the effort
of getting
more money
from you
than you get from me,
and vice-versa.
It is a scheme of living for money,
but what’s money for?
Making more money.
But for what?
For lording it over those
who have less money than we do.
This is all the culture has to offer.
We are not going to grow up in this culture.
Anyone who grows up
has to withdraw from the culture
and create a counter-culture
which values values
like self-awareness,
self-transparency,
self-discipline,
self-discovery,
self-direction,
self-reflection
self-realization,
self-expression–
all of which are contained
in Carl Jung’s idea of individuation.
Jung was quick to point out
that individuation can only occur
in a community of the right kind of people–
which would be people
engaged in their own coming to be,
and sharing themselves
and their work
with their friends and neighbors,
with all being grounded in the principles
of Recognition,
Respect,
Reconciliation,
Integration
and Transcendence.
If you want to help sift the culture
from where it is
to where it needs to be,
work at becoming the kind of person
who attracts the kind of people
who are capable of producing
the kind of counter-culture
that serves the purposes
of individuation
in an atmosphere of Yin/Yang. - 10/04/2019 — Happy Halloween 2019 01 B — Indian Land, South Carolina, October 3, 2019
We cannot help
seeing things as we do–
and we have to
change our mind
about what is important.
Look around.
Things are as they are
because we see things
as we do.
Change the way we see things
and everything changes.
On every level.
From the way we dress
and walk,
to the health of the environment,
to the way nations deal with themselves internally
and with other nations externally.
It all hinges on how we see what we look at.
Sin in all the religions from the beginning
is being wrong about what is important.
Repentance in all those religions
is changing our mind about what is important.
We cannot help seeing the way we do,
and we have to change
the way we see things.
Everything depends on it. - 10/04/2019 — Great Blue Heron 2019/08/24 03 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, August 24, 2019
Things are the way they are
in our life
because we see things as we do.
When we change the way we see things,
everything changes.
Until we change the way we see things,
nothing changes,
regardless of all of the changes we make
(In terms of spouses,
jobs,
where we live,
what we do, etc.).
Our idea of what is important
and how best to serve it with our life
locks us into the life we are living.
If potato chips,
french fries
and ice cream are important,
our life will reflect that.
Our life is an expression of what we value.
Our priorities are always on display.
How we think about things
has us precisely where we are.
Nothing changes until how we see
what we look at changes.
We have the rest of our life
to teach ourselves
to see things as they are.
And also are.
There is no time to waste. - 10/05/2019 — Happy Halloween 2019 02 — Indian Land, South Carolina, October 2, 2019
We create the future
by the way we respond to the present.
Here and now is the doorway
to everything that follows.
There is no moment more pivotal
to what remains of our life
than right here,
right now.
This is the pivot point
for shifting our past
into our future.
How we make the transition
tells the tale.
That being the case,
you might think
we would be more careful
with the present
than we ever are.
We are here, now,
all the time,
yet we never pay much attention to it.
We are always thinking about
what has happened to us,
and where we are going.
When we throw the present away
our life reflects it.
And we pay the price.
We cannot neglect our place in the present
and have a future
that is what it would have been
if we had been present
to each present.
We blow through the present
in one of two ways:
rationally or emotionally.
We think our way forward,
or we react our way there.
Either way,
what we want
is a ring in our nose
leading us down paths
we don’t want to walk
to places we don’t want to be.
What does wanting know?
Does it know what to want?
Does it know how to want
what it should want?
What it ought to want?
What it needs to want?
What it must want–
with all it’s heart?
If we are going to want something,
why not want what needs us to want it?
What needs to be done?
What needs us to do it?
Never-minding what’s in it for us?
Never-minding what we stand to gain?
Never-minding whether it serves our advantage?
This is the place of awareness
in our life.
Awareness is the way
of seeing/hearing/knowing/understanding
what’s what and what needs to be done about it
in light of the best that can be imagined
in the service of the true good of the situation
in every situation as it arises
all our life long.
What needs to happen here and now?
We cannot think or react our way there!
We perceive our way there
by knowing what we know
about all that can be known here and now.
How to do that is what Jon Kabat-Zinn is all about.
He has YouTube videos that won’t cost you a dime.
Watch the shortest ones first. - 10/06/2019 — Steele Creek 2019/08/29 08 — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Dairy Barn Access, Fort Mill, South Carolina August 29, 2019
Joseph Campbell said,
“Spontaneously living out
of what needs doing now–
that is the play of children.”
Of all of us when we were children.
Now?
Not so much!
All of our “play”
is governed by
how it is supposed to be done.
We grade every move.
and look for approval
at every turn,
as though everyone is watching,
looking for mistakes,
score cards in hand.
Where in your life
are you free
to play–
to live–
as you did as a child?
To be one with the moment,
dancing in delight
with whatever incites us
to laughter
and wonder?
We have lost the way
to that world,
and do not even
allow ourselves
the freedom of our fantasies
about it.
Where does your imagination
roam free and unrestrained?
Campbell recommends that we
“Amplify your own fantasies!”
To allow ourselves to be
“Fascinated by your aspirations!”
And to integrate them into our life.
What are your fascinations?
Your aspirations?
Campbell would remind us,
“They both have to be a little bit insane!”
And, he would call us to
“Play with them!”
And tell us,
“That is the way to find the support for your life!”
How long has it been
since we dreamed ourselves to life? - 10/06/2019 — Happy Halloween 2019 01 — Indian Land, South Carolina, October 6, 2019
I can’t make sense of anything I do.
Truth be known,
no one can make sense of anything.
If you keep asking “Why”
of every “explanation,”
you will eventually get to the point
of “I don’t know.”
Or, “You have to take it on faith,”
which amounts to the same thing:
“I don’t know,
and I am not going to think about it anymore.”
I try to be as aware of my motives
as I can be,
but.
I have never had a motive
that I fully understood.
I can’t get to the bottom of any of it.
And, I think it gets in the way
of what I am going to do next
if I dwell too long
on what I just did,
or on what I did years ago.
Norms,
codes,
standards,
president,
protocol,
rules,
guidelines
and laws
help guide me along the way,
but.
All can be set aside
to take a photograph,
or to eat a piece of Lemon Ice Box Pie.
Leaving me wondering
what I will do next,
and hoping that I will
be better off for it
on every level.
Which would mean it won’t be pie. - 10/07/2019 — Steele Creek 2019/08/28 03 — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Dairy Barn Access, Fort Mill, South Carolina, August 28, 2019
Awareness is the tool
for constructing our response
to each situation as it arises
in the time and place of our living.
Awareness is the primary tool,
the ultimate weapon,
and the time to act,
when it comes upon us,
is a matter of being attuned
to what arises within
as a compelling urgency,
a pronounced impetus,
to action–
and we find ourselves
doing what needs to be done
without knowing why here,
why now.
We do not think our way
to right action
so much as we listen/see
our way there.
When we know what’s what
on every level–
or on enough of them–
we know what to do about it,
and act like that,
as though we are dancing effortlessly
to music no one else can hear.
Sit in the presence of the facts,
the contradictions,
the conflicts,
the polarities,
the paradoxes,
and live within the tension,
open to all that is,
awaiting clarity,
realization,
and the inward push
to do what needs to be done,
perhaps against your will.
10/08/2019 — Bass Lake 2019/10/07 02 Panorama — Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, October 7, 2019
We are on our own.
It is all up to us.
And we cannot do it alone.
You might think
we would be doing
everything possible
to establish the right kind of relationships
with ourselves
and with those who are at least as awake as we are
in order to have our best chance
of coming to terms
with the conditions and circumstances
of our life
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
situation-by-situation,
all our life long.
But no.
We follow the herd
from the barn
to the pasture
back to the barn,
waiting for someone to tell us
what to think,
what to believe,
what to do,
and cannot remember
the last original thought we had,
or the last chance we took,
or the last time
we trusted ourselves
to the guides who live within.
- 10/09/2019 — Bass Lake 2019/10/07 09 — Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, October 7, 2019
We have to have a life
that is bigger than we are–
a life that we serve
in a “Thy will, not mine, be done”
kind of way.
We belong to our life.
Our life does not belong to us.
Our destiny is in charge of us,
we are not in charge of our destiny.
Farmers belong to the seasons,
and to the weather.
Athletes belong to their sport,
and to their training regimen.
We all have our orders of the day.
We rise early
or sleep late
naturally–
and we set those tendencies aside
in service to the requirements
of our job,
or whatever is ours to do
(Taking the dog out,
driving the kids to school…).
Our life has its own shape and form.
We choose the life that owns us,
but we don’t get to live it any way we choose.
We are all ordered and disciplined
by the life we are living.
How right is the fit is the question.
How fully do we belong
to the life we are living?
To what extent is it “us”?
To what extent is it “not us”?
Are we owned by a life
we do not belong to–
that does not belong to us?
If so, how would our Real Life
be different?
What might we do
to incorporate some aspects
of our Real Life
into the life we are living?
How might we
walk two paths at the same time?
The better the fit
between us and our life,
the better we are,
the better our life is.
And it shows.
When things are not right,
we know it,
and our life exhibits it.
When we “live to get it right”–
to more accurately exhibit
the life we are built to live–
things shift into place,
take on a different light,
and we have an air
of belonging to the life we are living,
transforming everything
and making all things new - 10/09/2019 — Happy Halloween 2019/10 04 — Indian Land, South Carolina, October 9, 2019
The center fails to hold
when the government fails to govern,
and the law is flaunted
by the officials with the highest authority,
and the country is free-falling
as in the Great Depression
and in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor.
Where do we turn
when there is nowhere to turn?
What grounds us,
secures us,
when all the structures
and institutions
that have been so reassuring
in the past
no longer work their magic?
We are still breathing.
The silence is always with us.
The stillness is always the source
of comfort and direction
to those who know how
to wait and watch,
look and listen
for the two million year old voice
that has directed the people
who are our ancestors
through dark times
and difficult places,
to these times,
and this place.
We only have to remember our breathing,
and enter the silence,
and embrace the stillness,
to wait and watch,
look and listen,
and know that it is so. - 10/10/2019 — Bass Lake 2019/10/07 04 — Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, October 7, 2019
We have to suffer it through.
Or suffer through refusing
to suffer it through.
Suffering is the common ground
of every path.
How we understand that
and accept it,
embrace it,
acknowledge that suffering *is* the path
and take up what is ours to bear,
bearing it as it should be borne,
transports us to realization,
understanding,
enlightenment,
and the knowledge
that transforms our existence
and makes all the difference.
Suffering it through grows us up.
It is the only thing that does.
Growing up is the path
to wherever it is we think we are going.
The only path.
“If you are going to be my companions,
pick up your cross each day,
and come along with me”
(Jesus, or words to that effect).
We don’t have to go looking
for our cross.
It is everywhere we are asked
to suffer it through.
If we are married,
we have to suffer through being married.
If we are not married,
we have to suffer through being unmarried.
If we are employed,
we have to suffer through being employed.
If we are not employed,
we have to suffer through being unemployed.
And so on,
through all of the states of being
and all of the terms and conditions,
contexts and circumstances,
of our life.
Those who refuse to suffer
have to suffer through refusing to suffer.
The trick with suffering is to welcome it,
invite it into your life,
and dance with it daily–
consciously,
mindfully,
bearing the agone/agona
that comes with being alive.
All our life long.
Suffering is the door to life
and the path to life.
If you can understand that,
laughing,
you have it made–
and qualify for being
the current incarnation
of the Christ.
“Well done, good and faithful master!
Welcome to the joy of the master!” - 10/11/2019 — Bass Lake 2019/10/07 08 Panorama — Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, October 7, 2019
The material world is not the real world.
The ancient ones of all races
in all parts of the world
knew that the visible world
is grounded in,
and founded upon,
the invisible world.
Today, science is the only discipline
that knows what we see,
weigh,
count,
measure
is upheld and made possible
by what we don’t see.
Gravity, for example.
Dark Matter, for another.
Where does direction come from?
Guidance?
What pilots our boat
on its path through the sea?
How did we get here, now?
Grace, luck, providence, Kairos, Tao, Dharma, synchronicity, chance, magic, flow, groove, charmed, cursed…
are all terms pointing
to more than can be known–
to more than our will at work in/upon our life.
And, we no sooner acknowledge that
than we begin to wonder
how we can exploit it,
take advantage of it,
work it to our own personal gain.
But.
Looking back over our life,
what was gain and what was loss?
We don’t know what is good for us,
or how good the good is that we call good.
We are better off in the hands of the invisible world
than in our own hands.
We only know what we want and don’t want.
We don’t know what *to* want.
We may know what we ought to want,
but we don’t know how to want it.
Or where we are well off.
Or what it takes to be there.
We all are Adam and Eve,
trading paradise for the pleasure of the moment.
Sure.
Put us in charge of our life.
We know what we are doing!
The alternative is to align ourselves
with the invisible world,
and to trust ourselves to it
through “the heaving waves
of the wine-dark sea.”
The path there starts
with sitting quietly,
being still
and noticing what occurs to us–
what arises in the silence–
attending our dreams,
listening to our body,
to our “gut feelings,”
to “what we know in our bones,”
to what our heart knows,
to what our feet know,
and allow those things
to lead us along the way,
not knowing what we are doing,
or where we are going.
Trusting ourselves to some spirit
that blows where it will.
You know the one.
It got us here, now. - 10/12/2019 — Bass Lake 2019/10/07 06 — Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, October 7, 2019
We need to be living like we are dying.
Like we are running out of time.
Like we have something to live for–
something to serve–
something to do.
What could that be?
We have no idea,
and conclude there is nothing to live for,
nothing to serve,
nothing to do–
and live as though that is the case.
Take money out of the picture
and there is no reason to live!
Give everybody all the money
they could ever spend
and what would they do
that would not fall
into one or more of the following categories:
Distraction,
Diversion,
Denial,
Addiction?
All we have are entertaining pastimes!
And death only relieves us of the pressure
of what’s for lunch,
and what to do with the rest of our life.
We have no compelling urgency,
no directing vision,
no guiding purpose.
And no idea of what to do about it.
Here’s one:
Empty yourself of all
that might pass for
a reason to live.
Get rid of the noise.
Sit still.
Be quiet.
For as long as it takes.
Wait for salvation.
Salvation is seeing what needs to be done
and doing it
in each situation as it arises
moment-by-moment-by-moment
in light of what is happening
and what needs to be done about it
your entire life long.
After a time,
you will develop
a rhythm,
a style,
take on a shape,
form yourself around
the skills and abilities,
interests and proclivities
that set you apart
and make you you.
You will have a way about you.
You will begin living
out of your own authority.
You will sharpen your own focus,
serve your own sense
of the good,
be responsible
for your own expression,
incarnation,
of your own gifts and genius
in service to the good of the whole.
And there won’t be enough time
to get it all done. - 10/13/2019 — Bass Lake 2019/10/07 03 Panorama — Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, October 7, 2019
Exploitation.
That’s a bad thing.
It locks us into a perspective
that colors our perceptions
and cuts us off
from what needs to be done–
from what needs us to do it–
and focuses us on what’s in it for us,
what are wee getting out of it,
how we can maximize our opportunities
to our full advantage,
all other things notwithstanding.
Here’s one for you,
no, two, no three.
1) Our advantage isn’t what we think it is.
2) We are not here to serve our advantage.
at the expense of all other considerations.
3) We don’t know what is truly advantageous.
We need a certain about of working room.
We need enough resources
to not be consumed with survival.
We need to be secure and comfortable–
*in the service of*
what needs to be done/what needs us to do it
in the service of the good of the situation as a whole.
We are here,
not to serve ourselves,
but to serve the good of the whole,
the good of the other–
in a way that declares unequivocally
*there are no others*!
We have no idea what is to our fullest advantage.
We think in terms of wealth and power.
fame and fortune
(“Fortune and glory, Kid. Fortune and glory”).
That’s the best we can do.
So we try to exploit everything to that end.
And, here we are.
Looking for what, we do not know.
That’s where I come in
with: Sit down,
Shut up.
Be quiet
and still.
Listen.
Look.
Until you can see and hear
what’s what
and what needs to be done about it.
And do not shut things off–
do not shut yourself off from things–
thinking you know what’s what
and what needs to be done about it!
Have you watched all of the Jon Kabat-Zinn
YouTube videos?
One of the things you will learn there
is the importance of distancing yourself
from what you think
in order to see what you look at
and hear what is being said
(In any number of ways,
on any number of levels).
Awareness creates distance
when it sees without emotional
attachment/involvement/investment
in what is seen–
when it sees without opinion or judgment.
Just seeing,
just knowing,
just understanding,
in a “This, too, this, too” kind of way.
When it sees
without trying to possess/exploit
what it perceives to be its advantage
in any way.
Fostering and serving this attitude
is the first step
in becoming who we need to be
in order to live the rest of our life
the way it needs us to live it.
Why would we not want to do that? - 10/14/2019 — Bass Lake 2019/10/07 05 — Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, October 7, 3029
We are looking for what fits,
for where we belong,
for what is right for us.
The only thing wrong with us
is that we are too often wrong
about what is important.
The only thing we need to do
about that
is change our mind
about what matters most
until we get it right.
We will know when that is
by the way things fall into place
around us.
Joseph Campbell said,
“We know when we are on the beam
and when we are off it.”
We simply need to know what we know
and act accordingly.
We know what fits,
where we belong,
what is right for us.
We know what is life for us
and what is not.
What’s the problem? - 10/14/2019 — Happy Halloween 2019 06 — Indian Land, South Carolina, October 14, 2019
We only have to live in each moment
in light of what matters most
in that moment.
It helps to have no ideology,
no theology,
no doctrine,
nothing to impose on the moment–
only an openness to the moment
in light of all things considered.
How do we know what is right?
What is good?
What is just?
Everybody knows these things
as they pertain to themselves.
We know when we are being treated poorly,
and when we are being treated well.
We know what is right for us,
what is good for us,
what is just for us.
Which is to say that
we know what is right,
what is good,
what is just.
We only need to get ourselves
out of the way
and apply what we know
about right, good, just
to the moment–
doing unto others
as we would have them
do unto us–
loving all others
as we love ourselves.
When we treat everyone lovingly
everything falls into place
around that.
We know what it means
to be treated lovingly.
Treat everyone like that.
In each moment.
Change the world. - 10/15/2019 — Bass Lake 2019/10/07 11 — Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, October 7, 2019
Communion is a lost art.
We talk of “communing with nature,”
and of “community,”
but.
The actual *practice* of communion,
anywhere,
on any level,
is largely,
if not completely,
neglected,
and the experience is accidental,
or “stumbled upon,”
if we ever encounter it.
Where are we “one” with anything,
even our life?
Regularly,
dependably,
predictability,
systemically?
A few friendships, perhaps,
but.
As the old biblical text declares,
“If we love only those who love us,
what have we done?”
Where do we go to commune
with those not like us?
Where does Right sit down with Left?
Used to be,
in the old days,
that both sides of the isle
would commune with each other
over dinner
after a brutal day at the office.
Where do opposites get together
to talk about the things that unite them
these days?
What’s it like in your house
over Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner?
How much communion is going on?
What can we do to revive the art?
To be sources of civility
and commonality
in our world? - 10/15/2019 — The Tree By The Side Of The Road — The Mandala Collection, 2019
What drives you,
propels you,
urges you on?
What do you serve with your life?
What do you seek
with all your heart,
and soul,
and mind,
and strength?
What serves you
as your ground,
your foundation,
your source,
your rhizome,
your bedrock?
Where do you go
when you have nowhere to turn?
What do you count on?
Rely on?
Depend on?
What is responsible
for you being where you are? - 10/15/2019 — Happy Halloween 2019 07 — Indian Land, South Carolina, October 15, 2019
We all have exactly the same problem.
Every one of us.
Around the world.
Through time.
It comes in two parts
but it is one problem.
We have to make sense of things.
We have to find a reason to go on with it.
How well we deal with the problem
tells the tale.
How well are you doing with it?
Everything we do is a reflection
of how well we are doing
with dealing with the problem.
My advice is to make it conscious.
The more conscious we are
of doing what we do–
the more conscious we are
of the problem
and how we are dealing with it–
the more likely we are
to actually deal with it.
And that will make all the difference. - 10/16/2019 — Bass Lake 2019/10/07 10 — Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, October 7, 2019
Let’s make a list
of things we can’t help:
We can’t help
how we feel
about making lists.
We can’t help
how we feel.
We can’t help
what we want–
and what we don’t want.
We can’t help
seeing the way we see.
We can’t help
what we are in the mood for–
and not in the mood for.
We can’t help
what we are afraid of.
We can’t help
what our choices are.
We can’t help
what we dream about when asleep.
We can’t help
what we dream about when awake.
We can’t help
where we have been,
and not been,
what we have done,
and not done,
what has been done to us,
and not done to us.
We can’t help
what we like
and what we don’t like.
We can’t help
what makes sense to us,
and what makes no sense at all.
We can’t help
the facts that impinge upon us–
like doing this
means not doing that,
having this
means not having that,
choosing this
means not choosing that,
or that, or that…
We can’t help
how one thing leads to another,
and how everything
has implications for other things,
and how we can’t do anything
without impacting something else.
We can’t help
having to come to terms
with what we can’t help.
Or how ridiculous it is
to talk about free will
when we are not at all free
to will what we will
or what we want–
and what we are going to do about it
is the question
that never goes away. - 10/16/2019 — Beidler 2019/06/23 35 — Banded Water Snake — Four Hole Swamp, Francis Beidler Forest Audubon Center & Sanctuary, Harleyville, South Carolina, June 23, 2019
We need help being who we are.
We can’t help being who we are,
and we need to understand that
in an atmosphere
which encourages
us to experiment,
explore,
examine,
define,
refine,
exhibit
and move through
all of the stages
of our development
in the times and places
of our living,
all our life long.
Who we are is not a steady state of being.
We are fluid,
evolving,
becoming,
growing,
enlarging,
expanding
in relationship with,
and in response to,
the context
and circumstances
of our life,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
We are changing,
in flux,
flowing,
moving,
coming,
going,
losing,
gaining…
And need mentors,
sponsors,
stewards,
friends and supporters
in the work to be who we are
in the times and places
of our life.
Every living thing
needs a nourishing,
nurturing,
environment
to go about the business
of self-development
and self-determination
from birth to death.
And, as human beings,
we owe it to one another
to be what the other needs
to become who we are. - 10/17/2019 — Bass Lake 2019/10/07 01 Panorama — Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, October 7, 2019
The Context,
conditions
and circumstances
of our living
serve as our own personal
labor/delivery room.
We are birthing ourselves
over the course of our life.
The umwelt that receives us each day
and tucks us in each night
forms the matrix
that is perfectly suited
to bring us forth
as the unique individual
we each are.
How well we cooperate
with the process,
align ourselves with it,
and make conscious the work
of becoming who we are
tells the tale.
We have to read the signs,
speak the language,
catch the drift,
and understand the nature
of what we are about
in order to be about it:
Birthing ourselves,
bringing ourselves forth,
growing ourselves up,
being who we have within us to be
in the time and place of our living
by meeting the day
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
and being there
who we are needed to be,
day-after-day-after-day.
It comes down to
what we say yes to
and what we say no to,
and how well we sync
who we are capable of being
with what is needed
in each situation
as it arises
all our life long.
It takes focus,
concentration,
intentional,
mindful,
compassionate,
non-judgmental,
awareness
to be who we are asked to be
and offer what is ours to give
in every here and now
that comes along.
If you think
you have
something better to do,
you are wrong.
You are living
at odds with your life,
and your life is evidence of that,
and will remind you of it,
until you wake up
and take up the process
of birthing yourself
into the face that was yours
before you were born. - 10/17/2019 — Lower Falls 09/07/2011 — Hanging Rock State Park, Danbury, North Carolina, September 7, 2011
Our contradictions,
dichotomies,
polarities
are the crosses
upon which
we are crucified–
and offer us the possibility
of the right kind of dying,
which leads to resurrection
and new life.
And dying again,
and rising again,
again and again
throughout our physical existence.
Life is death,
death is life–
if it is the right kind of living
and the right kind of dying.
This is the process
by which
we come,
over time,
over the full course
of our life,
to exhibit
“the face that was ours
before we were born.”
This is the process
of individuation–
Carl Jung’s term
for the work
of becoming,
of aligning ourselves with,
who we are called to be,
who we are built to be,
who we are created to be,
who we are capable of being.
Which has practically nothing
in common
with who we want to be,
with who we wish we were.
And so the dying in order to live.
We die to the life
we have in mind for ourselves
in order to live the life
our life has in mind for us.
We know what is right for us
and what is wrong.
But, what is wrong
has a lot to offer.
This is the story
of the Garden of Eden,
and the story
of the Garden of Gethsemane.
If you can understand that,
you have a choice to make.
Again and again.
Over the course of your life. - 10/17/2019 — Memory of Notre Dame 08/30/2019 — The Mandala Collection, Indian Land, South Carolina, August 30, 2011
The artists of our times–
of all the times that ever have been,
or ever will be–
are the spokespersons of the times,
telling us,
showing us,
what we need to hear/see
in order to do what needs to be done
and become who we need to be
in the time and place of our living.
They, individually, are expressing
as only they can,
the truth of their experience
in the time and place of their living.
Some of them,
through their work,
resonate with us,
and some do not.
The ones who speak to us
have to be heard by us–
we have to allow them
to guide us into the questions
that we need to be asking,
to the reflections
we need to be considering,
to the realizations
we need to be having
in order to put things together
for ourselves,
align ourselves with ourselves
and be who only we can be
in response to the here and now
of our living.
Artists are the prophets of our times.
We must pay heed
to those who speak to us,
and open ourselves
to what they have to say. - 10/17/2019 — Redbud on the River 04/15/2008 — Oconaluftee River, Cherokee, NC, April 15, 2008
Jesus on the cross
is the metaphor for our time.
For every time.
For all of time.
The Buddha said,
“There is a way out of suffering!”
Jesus said,
“There is a way,
and it is through suffering!”
When John said Jesus said,
“I am the way, the truth and the life,
and no one comes to the Father but by me,”
John meant that Jesus meant
his way was/is the way of the cross.
Not the way it is generally understood–
with Jesus dying for everybody
so that nobody would have to die–
but the way Jesus meant when he said,
“If you want to be Christians,
you have to pick up your cross daily,
and do it like I did it.”
He meant, “Suffer it through!”
He meant, “Die, again and again,
figuratively,
metaphorically,
symbolically,
by dying to our idea of our life,
by dying to our idea of the way life ought to be
by dying to what we want
and wanting what we ought to want,
which is the good of the situation as a whole
in each situation as it arises,
all our life long,
until we die
really,
absolutely,
physically,
at the end of the line.”
On the cross,
Jesus was saying,
“Look! This is the way you do it!
This is the way it is done!
Everybody dies for the sake of the moment,
for the good of the situation,
for the good of one another,
for the good of all others.
By bearing the pain of their own life,
and doing what needs them to do it,
in spite of the cost to them personally,
no matter what,
in each situation as it arises,
all their life long.”
Parents sacrifice themselves for their children.
People sacrifice themselves for one another.
We sacrifice ourselves for the life
that needs us to live it.
Time after time.
That’s the way to do it.
We bear the pain.
We suffer it through.
Now, the church,
even back then,
knew this would not fly.
Who would think this is good news?
So they changed the narrative,
and gave us the church of our experience.
It’s time we call BS on that,
take up the way of the cross,
and step into the next situation
and see what needs to be done there,
and what we can do about it
with the gifts, genius, daemon, etc.
that are ours to share,
and do it–
and keep it up
for the rest of the time left for living. - 10/18/2019 — African House 04/29/2019 — Melrose Plantation, Cane River National Heritage Trail, Cane River National Creole Area, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, April 28, 2019
The worse thing we can do is dismiss,
discount,
discard,
disregard,
dishonor,
deny,
neglect,
ignore,
reject,
betray,
abandon,
nullify and void
the gift.
That leaves us to wander seeking
purpose,
direction,
wholeness,
completion,
fulfillment
and satisfaction
among entertaining diversions,
distractions,
and delights.
What are the chances?
The gift is the path
to all things worthwhile.
Serving it is our salvation.
Salvation is being right
about what is important,
and pledging ourselves to it
with liege loyalty and devotion
all our life long.
The gift awaits our allegiance,
even now.
Even still.
Even yet.
Finding and serving the gift
is as simple
as a shift in perspective.
Repentance is changing our mind
about what is important.
Stop thinking!
Stop evaluating!
Stop judging!
Stop having opinions!
Stop imposing your idea
of how things ought to be
on how things are!
Get out of your way!
Start noticing everything!
Notice your reaction to everything!
Notice what occurs to you!
Befriend your interests and inclinations!
Trust yourself to your leanings
and to the drift of your soul!
You have been ignoring directions
all your life.
Examine your discards.
Dig through your trash pile.
Follow hunches long buried.
And notions not acknowledged.
Wild hares have a lot in common
with white rabbits.
Look closer at the things
that catch your eye.
See how long it takes
to catch yourself smiling
for no reason,
and laughing aloud
at the wonder of it all. - 10/19/2019 — St. Augustine 2019/04/29 09 HDR — St. Augustine Catholic Church, Melrose Plantation, Cane River National Heritage Trail, Cane River National Creole Area, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, April 29, 2019
What drives you,
feeds you,
nourishes you,
sustains you?
Where do you find
what it takes
to go on?
To do what needs to be done?
What is your core?
When did you first
begin thinking about
these questions?
Aniela Jaffe said,
“Those who do not
create meaning,
but wait for it,
end in never-ending
disappointment”
(Or words to that effect).
And those who live
based on someone else’s meaning–
on what someone else says is meaningful–
wind up in the same corner.
This is the difference
between serving
“The Supposed To Be”
and serving
“The IS.”
What is Heart for you?
Spend time with that.
Build your life around that.
Create/imagine ever-new ways
of working that into your life.
Of serving that. - 10/19/2019 — St. Augustine 04/29/2019 13 — St. Augustine Catholic Church, Melrose Plantation, Cane River National Heritage Trail, Cane River National Creole Area, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, April 29, 2019
We save the world
one moment at a time.
A lost life is a string
of lost moments.
The most important time
is right here,
right now.
We have to live this moment well
to have a chance at the next one.
This moment lived poorly
carries over into the next moment,
increasing the chances
it will be lived poorly,
building momentum,
gaining speed
until our whole life is blown to hell.
We stop it by stopping it.
By stopping.
By siting quietly,
being still,
listening,
looking,
sensing,
feeling,
intuiting,
tuning in
turning onto
what is happening
and what needs to happen
in response…
Seeing,
hearing,
knowing,
doing
what needs to happen in response
to what is happening
in each moment,
moment-by-moment-by-moment
in each situation as it arises,
all our life long…
Being what the moment needs.
Offering the gift
that is ours to give.
Loving the moment,
gracing the moment,
cherishing the moment,
gifting the moment,
with our presence,
with our attention,
with our awareness…
Saving the world,
one moment at a time. - 10/20/2019 — St. Augustine 04/29/2091 11 — St. Augustine Catholic Church, Melrose Plantation, Cane River National Heritage Trail, Cane River National Creole Area, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, April 29, 2019
What is to blame for the way things are
is our idea of the way things ought to be.
We want to live in the world we want to live in.
There you are.
Change that and everything changes.
But.
The world we want to live in
is always changing.
We can always imagine a better world
than the world we live in.
And, we can’t stand it.
We cannot bear the pain
of the dichotomy,
of the contradiction,
of the conflict.
We have to have what we want,
at any price.
Consider Adam and Eve.
Paradise wasn’t good enough.
Living in this world
in light of that world–
No! *That* world!
NO! THAT world!
Etc. Forever–
ends this world’s chances
of ever being fit to live in.
We hate this world.
And that is what’s to blame
for the way things are.
Change that and everything changes.
The operative modes of operating
in this world are:
Grace,
Compassion,
Kindness,
Gentleness,
Generosity,
Good Faith,
Good Will,
Benevolence,
Charity,
Devotion,
Transparency,
Integrity,
Forthrightness,
A genuine concern
for the well-being
of all people,
And An innate refusal
to exploit any situation
for our own good
at the expense of the good
of anyone else.
Give me those qualities in every one,
and I will give you a
Brave New World.
You’re laughing, aren’t you?
Well.
That’s what it will take.
Nothing less will do.
Each of us has to do our part
in serving the good of the whole.
It’s called being Christ-like.
And, having Buddha-mind.
All of the holy women and men
through the ages
have lived this way.
Now, it is our turn
to get with the program. - 10/21/2019 — St. Augustine 04/29/2019 14 HDR — St. Augustine Catholic Church Cemetery, Melrose Plantation, Cane River National Heritage Trail, Cane River National Creole Area, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, April 29, 2019
Being aligned,
inner with outer,
in every moment
completely transforms
our approach
to living in the moment,
which is to serve what we want
to happen there
at the expense
of what needs to happen there.
Such alignment
depends upon–
and flows out of–
our awareness of the moment,
of the time and place of our living,
on every level.
Taking everything into account
brings complexity,
contradiction,
paradox,
polarity,
conflict,
contrary,
opposition
into the picture,
and requires us,
too often,
to make an unchooseable choice,
in light of all things considered–
a choice that is assisted by clarity
and confirmed by peace.
Think of Jesus in Gethsemane,
and Abraham with Issac.
That kind of clarity is found
more often by seeing,
feeling,
sensing,
intuiting,
knowing
than by reason and logic
or flipping a coin.
But, who has time for that?
Who has time
to slow things down
in order to look and listen,
see and hear?
Who has time to know what’s what,
and what’s happening,
and what needs to be done in response?
We are where we are
because we did not have the time–
or did not take it–
to be somewhere else.
Time to sit and listen,
see and hear,
feel and know,
what is being asked of us
and how best to respond.
Time that might be thought of
as prayer time–
time to commune with the moment
and see what is there,
and know what to do about it
with the gifts that are ours
in the time that is at hand. - 10/21/2019 — Bamboo 04/29/2019 01 — Melrose Plantation, Cane River National Heritage Trail, Cane River National Creole Area, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, April 29, 2019
Make a statement.
Any statement
about any subject
that you think is so.
What makes you think it is so?
Who says it is so?
What makes you think
they know what they are talking about?
Is it factual?
How would you verify it?
Establish its validity?
What witnesses would you call
who would declare it to be so?
On the basis of what?
Is the statement capable of verification?
How much do you think is so
that cannot be substantiated?
That remains your opinion?
Something you “take on faith”?
“Faith” is an opinion
we are convicted about.
Conviction carries a lot of weight.
But.
“It is a slippery slope,
a dangerous path.
Like a razor’s edge.”
Much of what we believe
lacks any foundation at all.
We cannot take it for granted
that we know what we are talking about
when we say something is so.
How do we know?
Self-awareness
means self-transparency.
It means questioning our
assumptions,
inferences,
premises
suppositions,
conjectures,
surmises
and hypotheses.
And knowing that we don’t know
as much as we think we know–
and don’t know a tenth
of what we do know.
If we know that much,
we will explore everything,
examine everything,
question everything.
And take absolutely nothing
for granted
ever. - 10/22/2019 — Bayou Teche 04/27/2019 01 — Bayou Teche, Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, April 27, 2019 – Bayou Teche was, in its prime, the super highway of the swamp lands of Cajun Country in South Louisiana, transporting goods to market and merchandise from the markets to the people along the Bayou, making life better for some and possible for all.
The time within time—
the time within The Times—
is all we have to work with,
and determines the impact
the times upon us,
and the impact of us
upon the times.
Each of us is—
all of us are—
swept up in,
and swept away by,
the times which
receive us at birth,
and come upon us out of nowhere
throughout our life.
The quality of our life
within the times of our living
depends upon
the way we spend the time
that is ours within the times
that shape and form us.
It is like this:
Luck is entirely a matter of perspective.
The quality of our luck
hinges upon how we see
what we look at.
Good luck or bad luck
turns on our point of view—
on how we frame it,
on how we spin it,
on how we see it,
on what we say about it.
Want to change your luck?
Change the way you see it!
Change the way you think about it!
Change your mind about it!
We change our mind
by being aware of it.
Nothing changes the way we think
faster than thinking about it.
When we spend the time within the times
being aware of everything
we can be aware of,
we change how the times affect us.
When we change the affect,
we change the effect,
and live differently
though nothing has changed
about our life.
Change the way you think
about your life,
and about the times within which
you live—
by being aware of how you think
about your thinking—
and you transform everything
about your life,
and about the way you live
in relation to everything
and everybody.
And that changes everything.
The time within the times
is all we have to work with.
How well we work with it
influences everything that follows. - 10/22/2019 — Cypress Swamp 04/27/2019 12 — Lake Martin, St. Martin Parish, Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, April 27, 2019
I am good for a way
that leads to
compassion,
grace
and maturity.
It is one of many ways–
as many ways as there are people.
The old saying goes,
“Many ways up the mountain,
but one mountain.”
My way is to modify this
and say,
Once at the top of the mountain,
other mountains appear,
and the way continues eternally.
I do not know if that is so,
of course,
but it satisfies my yen
to never cease the quest,
and honors Heraclitus who said,
“Traveling on every path,
you will not find the boundaries of soul by going;
so deep is its measure.”
There is no grace and maturity
without compassion,
No compassion without
grace and maturity,
No grace without maturity
and compassion.
No maturity without
grace and compassion.
What we are living toward
is compassion,
grace
and maturity.
All roads will take us there
if we keep walking.
As stewards and servants
of compassion,
grace
and maturity,
we will be able
to see things as they are,
and also are,
and see what’s what,
and what is happening,
and what needs to be done about it
in each situation as it arises,
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
and offer what we have to give
to do what needs to be done
using the gifts,
genius,
daemon,
qualities
and abilities
that we have from birth
and/or have developed
along the way.
That’s it.
Nothing here
about socking it away
and having it made.
Just getting up
and meeting the day,
one situation after another.
All along the way. - 10/23/2019 — General Store 04/28/2019 01 B&W — Oakland Plantation, Cane River National Heritage Trail/Cane River Creole National Historical Park, Natchitoches Parish, Natchitoches, Louisiana, April 28, 2019
Zen is what happened
when Taoism met Buddhism,
so the phrase should be,
“Zen-Taoism,” and not “Zen-Buddhism,”
but.
That is another fight
I will not win.
Anyway.
Two Zen-Taoist sayings are:
“When the flower opens,
the bees gather.”
“When the pupil is ready,
the teacher appears.”
The point of both
is that we cannot push/force/hurry
realization/enlightenment/waking up.
That happens in its own time,
at its own pace,
in its own way.
No striving allowed!
But.
Preparation is definitely permitted.
We can prepare the way,
and prepare ourselves for the way,
by understanding
we are both the Pupil and the Teacher.
“We are the sculptor
and we are the stone,”
(Alexis Carrel).
We know what catches our eye
and what does not.
No one can tell us that.
We know what resonates within
and what does not.
No one can tell us that.
Our place is to know what we know,
to sense what we sense,
to feel what we feel,
to ask/seek/knock
and to trust the questions
more than the answers,
so that we question the answers
until no more questions remain.
And.
Our place is to
notice when we are
dismissing,
discounting,
disregarding,
overlooking,
rejecting,
ignoring
the Teacher’s attempts
to get our attention.
We cannot push/force/hurry
realization/enlightenment/waking up.
But.
We can delay it,
squelch it,
prevent it
indefinitely
by refusing to be interested
in the things
that are calling our name. - 10/24/2019 — St. Augustine 04/29/2019 07 HDR — St. Augustine Catholic Church, Melrose Plantation, Cane River National Heritage Trail, Cane River National Creole Area, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, April 29, 2019
I’m nearly one month into
the fourth quarter
of my 75th year.
It takes me longer
to get to where I’m going,
and my daily routine
means more to me
than it used to.
I think our Order of the Day
says more about us
toward the end of our days
than it does at the beginning.
We come to know what works
through the years,
and what is important to us,
and what isn’t.
And we spend time with what is.
What is important to me
amounts to very little
when I look at it,
but.
It is very important to me.
If you tried shadowing me
throughout my day,
you would be dead from boredom
by noon,
and I would be thinking
about a nap
to recover from all the activity.
The term “Dancing with the day”
takes on a different meaning
when you’re not striving
to align the day
with your wishes for it,
but are striving to align
yourself with what the day
is asking of you.
That kind of dancing is slow stuff,
built around the rhythm
of sizing things up
and letting go
what needs to go,
and letting come
what needs to come.
And being fine with what’s what.
The aggressive pursuit
of accomplishment,
achievement,
success
and glory
was never my bent,
so I’m markedly successful
in allowing the day the right
to its own course and gait,
and enjoying what that leads to,
and seeing where it goes–
and what I do with it,
and how I become better
at what I do
because of who the day
asks me to be.
It’s all in a day.
Who we are,
and who we need to be.
Day after day.
The practice is the same.
Getting better at who we are,
doing what is ours to do,
here and now.
For nothing more than being and doing.
For having been
and having done.
10/24/2019 — Creole Homeplace 04/29/2019 04 — Cane River National Heritage Trail, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, April 29, 2019
The Five Rules of Life,
which are all over the internet,
are:
Show Up;
Pay Attention;
Be True To Yourself;
Bear the Pain;
and Don’t Take It Personally.
These are fundamentally sound,
and I certainly agree with their importance,
but they are far from complete.
Johnny Carson might have added,
Brush Your Teeth,
Wear Clean Underwear,
and Look Both Ways Before Crossing the Street.
When they were driving back to college,
my wife and I would always go over
the Driving Rules with our daughters:
Buckle Up;
Lock Your Doors;
Don’t Pick Up Strangers;
and If You Have A Flat, Ride The Rim.
It was a Mantra For The Road,
and we couldn’t be comfortable
without reciting it,
though it certainly did not cover
all the contingencies.
No list does.
No matter how many we have,
there are always more rules to live by.
They are everywhere.
And they are all important.
And they soon begin to clash and collide.
Look Before You Leap
Runs into Those Who Hesitate Are Lost.
The Rules rule each other out,
clash,
contradict
and vie for supremacy.
we make ourselves crazy
trying to live by the rules.
At some point,
we have to suspend the rules
and wing it.
We have to “fly by the seat of our pants,”
and “feel our way along.”
We have to trust our own judgment,
and our power to live with–
and through–
whatever mess we might make
in stepping out “on our own,”
and attempting to find
our own way through our lives.
Which makes the Primary Rule
something along the lines of
Do What You Can Do With It Today,
And Do It Again Tomorrow.
- 10/25/2019 — Creole Homeplace 04/29/2019 04 — Cane River National Heritage Trail, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, April 29, 2019
The Five Rules of Life,
which are all over the internet,
are:
Show Up;
Pay Attention;
Be True To Yourself;
Bear the Pain;
and Don’t Take It Personally.
These are fundamentally sound,
and I certainly agree with their importance,
but they are far from complete.
Johnny Carson might have added,
Brush Your Teeth,
Wear Clean Underwear,
and Look Both Ways Before Crossing the Street.
When they were driving back to college,
my wife and I would always go over
the Driving Rules with our daughters:
Buckle Up;
Lock Your Doors;
Don’t Pick Up Strangers;
and If You Have A Flat, Ride The Rim.
It was a Mantra For The Road,
and we couldn’t be comfortable
without reciting it,
though it certainly did not cover
all the contingencies.
No list does.
No matter how many we have,
there are always more rules to live by.
They are everywhere.
And they are all important.
And they soon begin to clash and collide.
Look Before You Leap
Runs into Those Who Hesitate Are Lost.
The Rules rule each other out,
clash,
contradict
and vie for supremacy.
we make ourselves crazy
trying to live by the rules.
At some point,
we have to suspend the rules
and wing it.
We have to “fly by the seat of our pants,”
and “feel our way along.”
We have to trust our own judgment,
and our power to live with–
and through–
whatever mess we might make
in stepping out “on our own,”
and attempting to find
our own way through our lives.
Which makes the Primary Rule
something along the lines of
Do What You Can Do With It Today,
And Do It Again Tomorrow. - 10/25/2019 — St. Augustine 04/28/2019 01 — St. Augustine Catholic Church, Melrose Plantation, Cane River National Heritage Trail, Cane River National Creole Area, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, April 28, 2019
In every situation,
there is what we need,
and there is what needs us.
There is what we want,
and there is what wants us.
And that’s it.
Keep your eye on those four things.
Work out who gets what
in light of all four,
and you will have it made–
as much as you can have it made,
given the nature,
context
and circumstances
of your life. - 10/26/2019 — St. Augustine 04/29/2019 08 — St. Augustine Catholic Church, Melrose Plantation, Cane River National Heritage Trail, Cane River National Creole Area, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, April 29, 2019
On the whole,
we don’t stand much of a chance.
Our life is going to be lived
as it has always been lived.
Our perspective and outlook
are going to be what they have been.
We aren’t going to do better
with our choices and decisions
than the people we hang out with
do with theirs.
(The Rule of Life that applies here is
“If you want to change your life,
you have to change the people
you run with.”)
What would it take to make
a real difference in the way
we think and live?
How different can we be?
For how long?
Stillness,
silence
and solitude
are all I can think of.
We live too loudly to listen.
And spend very little time
thinking about our thinking.
Reflection and self-reflection,
transparency and self-transparency,
realization and self-realization
aren’t high on our list
of things we do in a day.
When we talk,
it is typically in ways
that enhance and strengthen
our opinions and beliefs.
We rarely inquire about our
strongly held views,
“Is that so?
What makes me think it is so?
In what ways is it not so?
What do I have at stake
in thinking it is so?
How do I need to change my mind?”
Nothing is going to change
about our life
until we begin changing our mind. - 10/26/2019 — Goodale 10/25/2019 01 Panorama — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, October 25, 2019
I have a golden rule of photography:
I will not put myself in harm’s way
to get a photograph.
I will not force access
where there is no access.
Yesterday, on a photo safari,
I drove past three outstanding photographs
because there was no parking available.
And I will regret through all eternity
having not stopped for any of the three.
But.
Had I stopped for any of them
and safely added them to my collection
of worthy photos,
I would not have taken any
of the photos I did take
because I would have interfered
with the time of my arrival
for each of them.
By the time I got to this particular amalgamation
of sky and reflections and lighting
it would have been an entirely different photograph,
and I may not have taken it at all.
Changing anything changes everything.
We think changing some things
would leave everything else exactly as it is.
If only we had had better parents
or a different point of origin
(In either time or place, or both)!
We think that would make everything better.
Maybe not.
Probably not.
Absolutely not.
“Everything else being equal,”
is a happy fantasy and a popular delusion.
Here we are!
Now what?
This is the moment everything before it
has produced.
What is the best we can do with it,
here and now?
Do it!
And get ready for the next moment!
Don’t waste time in remorse over
any past moment!
Attend *this* moment,
and what is being asked of you,
offered to you,
by it!
This is the only moment
we can make the most of.
To fail to do that
is to fail all of the moments
flowing from this one.
We cannot calculate our best move
or arrange a future entirely to our liking.
We can only do what needs to be done
in each moment
to the best of our ability,
and let that be that.
And, I am not going to force access
where there is no access! - 10/27/2019 — Swan Lake 10/25/2019 Panorama — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, October 25, 2019 (See the swan?)
Religion as it ought to be
is grounded upon the lived experience
of the people.
There is no room in religion as it ought to be
for Freedom Of The Will and Sin.
We are not free to do whatever we want.
We are *bound* to do whatever we want.
We cannot want what we want.
We cannot help what we want.
Paul said it himself,
“I want what I have no business wanting!”
No kidding.
We want what we want
and not what we want to want–
not what we ought to want.
That is not sin.
That is the truth.
We are up against ourselves
from the start.
It has nothing to do with being sinful
or evil.
It has strictly to do with who we are.
We are at odds with ourselves
at the core.
And.
We have the ability to recognize that,
accept it as an organizing principle
of our existence,
and work with it
in transcending it
and living in the service
of the best interest
of all concerned.
We can put ourselves aside
in serving a good beyond
our own personal good.
There is greed within,
and there is grace within,
and our ego-conscious self
can be aware of both
in light of the true good
of the whole.
We cannot rid ourselves
of our greedy side,
our lazy and lethargic side,
our love for smooth and easy side,
our disdain for whatever
is hard,
painful,
distasteful
and repugnant side,
but,
we can keep an eye on it.
And,
we can do what we do not want to do
out of liege loyalty
and filial devotion
to the best we can imagine.
We can sacrifice the world
to serve ourselves,
and we can sacrifice ourselves
to serve the world.
And we decide which it will be
here and now
in each situation as it arises.
Whose side are we on here, now?
The right kind of religion
assists us with knowing and doing
what is ours to do
in the moment-to-moment
choices of our life.
The right kind of religion
talks to us about
finding the way that is the right way
through the world
of daily decisions.
This is sometimes called
“The Straight And Narrow.”
It is also called
“A Slippery Slope,
A Dangerous Path,
Like The Razor’s Edge.”
The right kind of religion
talks to us
about the importance
of living aligned
with the way
of Grace,
of Tao,
of Dharma,
of Kairos
in the minute-by-minute
crush of circumstances
and options
in each day.
There is no theology
in the right kind of religion.
No doctrine.
No creed.
Only seeing/hearing,
knowing/doing
being/becoming.
This is who we are,
and this is who we also are,
and how are we going
to live this out
here and now?
We choose each day–
each moment
within each day–
whom we are going to serve,
here and now,
greed or grace.
And the cumulative total
of each day’s choices
tell the tale.
And mindful awareness
leads the way. - 10/27/2019 — Goodale 04/25/02 Panorama — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, October 25, 2019
In each moment,
there is what we want
and what we do not want.
There is what is good for us
and what is bad for us.
There is what is good for others
and what is bad for others.
And we stand in the midst
of the swirling conflict of interests
at work in and through
the situations
and circumstances
of our life,
and make a choice
regarding what to do,
here and now,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
How do we decide what to do?
What guides us through the times
of our living?
What leads us along the way?
What pilots our boat
on its path through the sea?
How aware are we of any of this? - 10/27/2019 — Swan Lake 10/25/2019 19 B&W — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, October 25, 2019
I am graced by 10,000 hands every day
helping me along the way.
How many people are responsible
for enabling me to enjoy my day–
from picking the coffee bean
and handling it all along its path
to the grounds I spoon into the filter
to become the cupa
that helps me welcome the day,
to all the people that take up from there
to dress me,
heat and cool me…
all the way to bedtime–
I am carried along by the grace of others.
So are you.
So are we all.
It is grace all the way down! - 10/28/2019 — Goodale 10/25/2019 03 — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, October 25, 2019
What do you have at stake
in any situation?
What do you have to gain?
What do you have to lose?
Where are you most vulnerable?
Where are you most guarded,
defensive?
Where are you most willful,
defiant?
If my seminary had taught me
how to read myself
and the situation–
any situation,
every situation–
instead of how to read the Bible
in Greek and Hebrew,
and how to think like a
Reformed Theologian,
I wouldn’t have wasted
so much time
getting down to the heart of the matter.
If I had known how to see
what gives,
what goes,
what’s what,
what’s happening,
and what needs to happen
in response
in light of the true good
of the situation as a whole–
and how I can contribute to that
out of the gifts,
preferences,
proclivities,
perspective
I bring to the situation–
I would have had what I needed
to be who I am capable of being
in every situation
that comes along.
Jesus couldn’t do better than that.
And I didn’t have any more
than Jesus had.
None of us do.
We all are saddled with the task
of learning to be Pin-ball Wizards
without being able to see.
How do you think we do it?
We don’t know!
We just get in there with what we have
to work with
and see what we can do with it!
What works?
What doesn’t work?
In light of the true good
of the situation as a whole?
We are all forty years in the wilderness!
Learning to size things up
and recognize what’s what
and what to do about it
one situation at a time.
It helps to reflect on our life experience
to the point of forming new realizations.
That is the source of revelation,
enlightenment,
realization,
transformation–
experiencing our experience
and reflecting on it.
That is all anybody has ever had!
It is all Jesus had.
All the Buddha had.
All Lao Tzu had.
All there is to have.
Start with you,
here and now.
What’s what?
See where it goes! - 10/30/2019 — Parkway Overlooks 10/28/2019 01 Panorama — Blue Ridge Parkway approaching Peaks of Otter, October 28, 2019
Jesus was the Christ
the way only Jesus could be the Christ.
The Buddha was the Christ
the way only the Buddha could be the Christ.
Helen Keller was the Christ
the way only Helen Keller could be the Christ.
Harriet Tubman was the Christ
as only Harriet Tubman could be the Christ.
Rosa Parks was the Christ
as only Rosa Parks could be the Christ.
You and I are to be the Christ
the way only you and I can be the Christ.
The Christ is the anointed one,
the coming one,
come to exhibit,
to incarnate,
the concrete,
living presence
of more than words can say
in the day-to-day experience
of all living things.
There is nothing to ask.
or want,
or imagine as being worthy and desirable
beyond being what the situation calls for
in every situation that arises
moment-by-moment-by-moment
all our life long.
To live to exploit the situation
to our advantage
is to live as Adam and Eve,
not the Christ!
To live to serve our personal good
and not the good of the situation,
is to live as countless thousands before us,
not as the Christ!
What is the time that is at hand
asking of us?
Bring that forth out of the gifts
that are ours to bestow upon the earth!
Or as Lao Tzu
(Who was the Christ
as only Lao Tzu could be the Christ)
would say,
“Do your work, and let that be that!”
Day after day,
for as long as there are days! - 10/31/2019 — Thunder Ridge 10/29/2019 01 Panorama — Blue Ridge Parkway north of Peaks of Otter, VA, October 29, 2019
In any situation,
harmony is of higher value
than morality.
Discord.
Pandemonium.
Cacophony.
Disharmony.
Are greater evils
than anything prohibited
by the Ten Commandments
Harmony.
Congruity.
Integrity.
Concord.
Resonance.
Consonance.
In sync.
Aligned.
At-one.
Are evidence of atonement
and reconciliation,
and the very nature–
the essence–
of the path
that is simultaneously
the end of the path.
Everything seeks its own realization.
Its own completion.
Its own fulfillment.
We seek to be one
with who we are
and who we also are
and with all that is.
The old Taoist symbol
of Yin-Yang captures
the tension
of integrated wholeness
as the balance of opposites.
Both/And,
not
Either/Or.
The trick is to live our life
walking two paths at the same time.
The way to do that
is to walk this path
with that one clearly in mind,
holding both paths in our awareness
and carrying in our body
the cross of our contraries,
to the point of transcendence,
laughter,
play,
song
and dance. - 11/01/2019 — Sumac 10/28/2019 01 — Blue Ridge Parkway, near Roanoke, Virginia, October 28, 2019
You are taking things way too seriously!
Lighten up!
Stop trying to make sense of everything!
Of anything!
Give it a rest!
That is the message of Jesus
and the Buddha
and all the Dalai Lamas
and everybody who knows anything.
It don’t make sense!
It’s all useless,
pointless,
hopeless,
futile and absurd–
and it’s coming to a very bad end
(We’re all going to die!).
But, don’t let that stop you!
How we live in the meantime
makes all the difference!
Do not let the facts that it makes no sense
and we are dying
keep you from living
as fully as you can
for as long as you can!
Your problem is not that you are dying,
but that you don’t know what it means
to be fully alive!
The first thing it means is
STOP TAKING THINGS SO SERIOUSLY!
This is the lesson
of everyone of Jesus’ parables.
It is the core lesson
of the Buddhas
and the Dalai Lamas
and the Yodas
and the Obi wan Kenobis
through time.
STOP TRYING TO MAKE THINGS MAKE SENSE!
What is “sense” anyway?
What has making sense of things
ever done for you?
You are still here,
trying to make sense of things!
There is life to be lived!
Stop wasting your time
worrying with meaninglessness
and death!
What would it take for you to be
fully alive today?
In the next five minutes?
Right now?
Within the context
and circumstances of your life
just as it is?
What’s holding you back? - 11/01/2019 — Mabry Mill 10/30/2019 01 Panorama — Blue Ridge Parkway, near Meadows of Dan, Virginia, October 30, 2019
Consciousness is consumed with thinking.
An alternative is awareness.
Things are occurring to us all the time
that we do not think up.
We can realize things
we do not think about.
We would be well-served
to honor, attend, nurture and nourish
our awareness of the threshold
between conscious
and unconscious.
The more conscious we become of,
and the more consciously we serve
the unconscious,
the more attuned we will be
to the time and place of our living,
and the more appropriately
and intuitively,
instinctively,
we will live in relation to our life,
and not to what we think about our life.
Thinking about our life creates
internal narratives
and scenarios,
and generates imaginary realities
that compete with the actual reality
of the here and now,
leading us to react to now
more out of our mind-world
than in response to the
this world right here.
We often live more in our mind-world
than in our here-and-now-world.
We are often more conscious
of our mind-world
that of our here-and-now-world.
Thinking of our mind-world
prevents us from being
in our here-and-now-world.
The trick is to become conscious
of thinking
and to intentionally shift our consciousness
to awareness–
to perceiving this moment right now,
and opening ourselves to the things
that are occurring to us
that do not have their origin
in the thinking process.
Sit quietly and see how long it takes
to be aware of something
you did not think up–
for something to occur to you
that does not originate in your thought process.
Awareness and thinking
are two aspects of consciousness.
Expanding our awareness
will deepen,
enlarge
and enrich our life–
and will provide us
with a wealth of experiences
that are worth thinking about. - 11/01/2019 — Goodale 10/25/2019 15 B&W — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, October 25, 2019
We need some Common Agreements
that we all can stand together and affirm.
Things that we all can count on
from one another.
Norms,
Codes,
Standards,
Principles,
Laws.
If we only had a Constitution!
If we only honored the Constitution we have!
What is so hard about honoring the Constitution we have?
Why has that fallen out of favor?
I trust that we are learning as a Nation
how important that is! - 11/02/2019 — James River 10/29/2019 02 Panorama — James River Visitor Center, Blue Ridge Parkway, Monroe, Virginia, October 29, 2019
What’s money for?
Did someone just ask,
“What’s money for?”?
That’s funny.
I was just thinking,
“What’s money for?”.
I came up with this:
Money is for buying
the tools and resources
(Like food, clothing, shelter, etc.)
required to do the work
that is ours to do.
If we have more money
than it takes to do that,
we have too much money,
and need to give some away
to those who don’t have enough.
In honor of the principle,
“Those who need help,
should be helped,
and those who can help
should be helpful.”
If we put money in its rightful place,
we would be putting ourselves
in our rightful place,
and we would be helping
everyone else find their rightful place,
and all would be right with the world.
Which is clearly something
we can do
and aren’t doing–
like a gazillion other problems
facing us in this time and place
(Littering, for one.
And global warming , for two). - 11/02/2019 — Peaks of Otter 10/28/2019 03 Panorama — Blue Ridge Parkway, Peaks of Otter Lodge, Bedford, Virginia, October 28, 2019
Let things happen
in their own time.
Suffer it through.
Bear the pain.
This is the path of transformation.
We are here, now,
because people think
they can improve on it.
Because we think
we can improve on it. - 11/02/2019 — James River 10/29/2019 03 Panorama — Blue Ridge Parkway, James River Visitor Center, Monroe, Virginia, October 29, 2019
Carl Jung said that the things that truly matter
are never products of “purpose or conscious willing,
but rather, seem to be borne on the stream of time.”
These things, he says, “presented by fate seldom,
or never, correspond to conscious expectation.”
We do not think our way to where we need to be.
Rather, he says that the way there
consists of doing “nothing (*wu wei*)
but let things happen.”
He continues,
“The art of letting things happen–
action through non-action–
(is the) key opening the door to the way.”
And adds, “For us, this actually is an art
of which few people know anything.
Consciousness is forever interfering,
helping, correcting, and negating…
It would be simple enough
if only simplicity were not
the most difficult of all things.”
Learning to accept what comes to us
is the art of letting come what is coming
and letting go what is going.
Upon that, everything depends.
Be like the river.
Letting come what’s coming,
and letting go what’s going.
And see where that takes you. - 11/02/2019 — Swan Lake 10/25/2019 15 Panorama — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, October 25, 2019
We are led by the things
that occur to us
out of the blue.
We do not plan our way
to where we are going.
Or, better,
the things we plan our way to
are more in the way
than they are on the way.
Chance occurrences are not so much chance.
They are turning points
occasioned by factors beyond imagining.
We look around and think,
“This is it and this is how it works.”
But we only see the surface,
with no inkling of all that is going on
beyond our conscious perceptions.
There is an invisible world
at the heart of life
about which we know
next to nothing.
We hear that
and immediately think
of conquest,
exploitation,
domination–
as though the invisible world
is ours to plunder
and use to our advantage.
Our place is to serve,
to cooperate,
to collaborate.
We are Adam and Eve
in the Garden of Eden,
thinking we can be Masters
of Paradise.
And we’ve heard of Jesus
who said,
“I came to serve,
not to be served,
and to give my life
to wake others up
to the role they are asked
to play.”
The future swings
on the quality of our relationship
with the invisible world.
The next move
is ours to make. - 11/02/2019 — Goodale 10/25/2019 04 Panorama — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, October 25, 2019
Freedom is not license
to do whatever we want.
It is the opportunity
to know what to want.
From that point we are liege servants
in filial devotion
to the work
that is ours to do–
to the life
that is ours to live.
Our freedom
is the freedom
to know what to want.
Beyond that,
we are bound
to the legitimate
object/subject of our desire:
the work that is ours to do,
the life that is ours to live.
How do we know what to want?
Sit still.
Be quiet.
Open to the stillness.
See what occurs to us.
See what arises
from the silence.
If our body resonates
in recognition
of the urgency
of the vision,
we give ourselves
to its service
and the adventure begins. - 11/03/2019 — Peaks of Otter 10/29/2019 02 Panorama — Blue Ridge Parkway, Peaks of Otter Lodge, Abbot Lake, near Bedford, Virginia, October 29, 2019
Ruthlessness and greed are the way of nature.
The biggest hummingbird
keeps the rest away from the feeder.
The big fish eat the little fish,
and the little fish hide.
Grace, compassion and kindness (etc.)
are what we bring to the table.
Ethics and morality
are the contribution of humanity
to the laws of nature.
We change the game
to the extent that we resist
ruthlessness and greed
and serve grace and compassion.
The vehicle by which we choose
how we express ourselves in our life
is mindful awareness.
The beast lives within.
We ride the dragon
when we get out of bed
and meet the day.
We could destroy them all
just like that
between breaths
for no reason
just because they are in our way.
But.
Civilization requires that we not do that.
So.
We mindfully mind our manners.
With enough practice,
and enough mindfulness,
it is almost as though
we actually are human beings.
But.
Mr. Hyde is always there,
looking for an opening,
ready to do his thing.
So.
We have to be alert to his antics,
and mindfully aware of our possibilities
at all times.
Or else.
We are that close
to letting the dragon
have the reins. - 11/04/2019 — Last Days of Fall 11/03/2019 07 — Linville River, Linville Falls Picnic Area, Blue Ridge Parkway, Linville Falls, North Carolina, November 3, 2019
Sometimes, I ask it like this:
“What would you go to hell for?”
And, sometimes I ask it like this:
“What would you do,
consistently, dependably, reliably,
for no reason other than you love to do it,
whether it makes any difference or not,
whether it matters or not.
whether it means anything or not,
because it makes a difference to you,
it matters to you,
it means the world to you?”
I hope your list is long.
Both lists.
The things you would go to hell for
and the things you would do
anyway, nevertheless, even so.
The lists are the same list.
Go to hell for the things you love
no matter what!
This gets us to the heart of the matter:
Living your own life
out of your own, personal, authority.
Living your own life
grounded in,
standing solidly upon
the things that mean the most to you,
so that nothing can happen
that will/can knock you off your foundation.
Loving what you love
and doing what you love to do
right up to the end!
If you knew you were going to have
a fatal heart attack tomorrow,
how would you live today
and tomorrow right up to your last moment,
so that the heart attack
catches you completely by surprise,
you are so engrossed in what you were doing?
Be that engrossed in doing what you love
every day!
Work what you love to do into every day!
Do not waste a day living it
without loving something about it!
When you get that down,
through practice, practice, practice,
you will be ready for anything.
And, you will be showing
everybody you know
how to live their life.
Get to work loving your life!
11/05/2019 — Last Days of Fall 11/03/2019 17 — Bass Lake, Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, November 3, 2019
Seeing is the ultimate weapon.
Seeing how things are
changes how things are.
Seeing is a superpower
possessed by all sentient beings.
It lives unacknowledged
and unaccessed in us all
because no one can
bear the pain
of knowing what’s what.
In order to see,
we have to have
no opinion
about what we look at.
The moment we have
something at stake
in the moment,
judgment and greed
come to life,
and grace and compassion
are relegated to the frigid hinderlands
of the Outer Darkness.
Then we care about
what we take to be
our best interests,
and see everything
in light of what it means
to us personally.
Seeing sees only when
we can let things happen
and do what needs to be done
without regard
for what we stand
to gain or lose
by the outcome.
The more the outcome means,
the less we are able to see.
But, what’s the point of seeing
if we can’t exploit it for our own advantage?
What good is a super weapon
if we can’t use it in the service
of our own good?
What does “Thy will,
not mine, be done,”
mean to you?
- 11/05/2019 — Last Days of Fall 11/03/2019 08 — Linville Falls Picnic Area, Blue Ridge Parkway, Linville Falls, North Carolina, November 3, 2019
I’m here by virtue of the books I’ve read
and the connections I made
between what I was reading
and the life I was living.
When I graduated from seminary,
after having received very little
or no help
from any source up to that point
that would position me
to deal with my life
and the lives of others,
I set out upon the quest
seeking what would be helpful.
The old Alchemical formula,
“One book opens another,”
worked well as a guide for living,
and the caveat I would add to the formula is
“for those who are seeking
with all their heart.”
If we are not looking,
nothing is going to show us the way.
After a while, the books begin to
reference each other,
and it seemed to me
that truth was a fairly well-defined circle
with silence and solitude
constituting the perimeter
and stillness at the center.
Zen, as the distilled essence
of Buddhism and Taoism,
remains the clearest,
most playful and nonsensical,
source of direction and encouragement
I know of,
with Jesus’ life and teaching forming
a wonderful koan/conundrum
in that tradition
for pondering to the point
of transcendence,
dancing and laughter.
The situation is hopeless!
So what?
Bear the pain!
Suffer it through!
Live on!
Live on!
In light of the best we can imagine
in each situation as it arises,
offering there what we have to give
out of the gifts and genus,
talents and abilities,
that came with us into the world–
anyway,
nevertheless,
even so,
just because! - 11/06/2019 — Last Days of Fall 11/03/2019 09 — Linville Falls Picnic Area, Blue Ridge Parkway, Linville Falls, North Carolina, November 3, 2019
The secret to having it made
and having it all together
is to be just fine
with not having it made
and not having it all together.
What’s to have that we don’t have
except the perspective
that is just fine
with this right here right now?
People are desperately seeking
something that is not this,
not here,
not now.
But, that is all they know
about what they want,
about what it will take
to make them happy
with this right here right now.
Happy is a frame of mind.
A perspective.
A way of seeing
this right here right now.
What needs to be changed
about your life
that seeing it differently
wouldn’t help?
What can you do to change it?
In the meantime, what?
In the meantime,
change the way you think about it!
Change your mind about it
until the time comes
when a shift is possible,
then make the shift!
When the door opens,
walk through!
In the meantime,
bear the pain,
suffer it through,
wait it out,
with a different perspective.
The perspective shift
is the shift
that enables
the shift we are waiting for.
It allows us to see things differently.
And that changes everything. - 11/06/2019 — Peaks of Otter 10/28/2019 02 Panorama — Peaks of Otter Lodge, Blue Ridge Parkway, Bedford, Virginia, October 28, 2019
There is nothing to see but this moment
and what is going on in it–
what *all* is going on in it.
That kind of seeing
also sees
what needs to be done in response–
and does it.
Seeing is doing
in this sense.
Seeing is knowing and doing.
Practice cultivating a quiet
seeing space
for each moment,
which is, of course,
also a quiet listening space.
Seeing and hearing
are knowing and doing.
When our action flows spontaneously
from our seeing and hearing,
we are one with the Tao,
with Dharma,
with Kairos,
with Grace,
and that is to be
at one with the heart of things.
If you are going to be at one with something,
be at one with that.
It gets crazy
and goes all to hell,
if we begin to think about
what is good for us–
what is advantageous to us,
what is beneficial to us,
what we stand to gain,
and lose.
That disrupts the flow,
and we are no longer
one with the moment.
That is Adam and Eve
in the Garden of Eden.
Strive to be Jesus
in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Live for the moment,
each moment.
Live to be one with the moment.
In service to the moment.
Trust everything to fall into place
around that.
11/07/2019 — Thunder Ridge 10/29/2019 02 — Parkway Overlooks, Blue Ridge Parkway, Milepost 74.7, Virginia, October 29, 2019
People with cameras
treat one day like any other.
People who like to think
of themselves as photographers
take weather systems into account,
and go with a camera
into days when the time is right.
The photos on the trip
to the northern Blue Ridge
were taken on 10/28-29.
The Halloween Bluster
blew through on 10/31,
effectively taking fall with it.
I’ve been calling the people
at Francis Beidler Forest
for three weeks,
asking “Is it right, yet?”
I think it may be “right”
on November 16.
Knowing when the time is right
is crucial knowing.
Letting things happen is one thing.
Letting happen what needs to happen,
when it needs to happen,
is quite another.
The Bible takes Kairos into account.
Jesus came,
as we all do,
“in the fullness of time,”
“at the right time,”
“when the time was at hand.”
No one is born out of time,
though many of us are “behind the times,”
and some of us are “ahead of our time.”
But.
It is all at exactly the right time.
For us,
and the times that need
what we have to offer,
what we bring forth.
And.
We meet the times at the right time best
by developing our sense
of what time it is,
and what time it is for,
and what time it is not for.
The Preacher, Ecclesiastes,
is famous for saying,
“There is a time for everything
under heaven.
A time to be born,
and a time to die…”
Leaving us to ponder,
“What time is it for here and now?”
Jesus’ best saying didn’t make it
into the Bible–
because the people
putting the Bible together
did not think the time was right for it.
They had their agenda,
which got in the way,
as agendas are prone to do,
and they blew their opportunity,
which is the very thing Jesus
was warning against
in the passage they left out
of the scriptures.
Jesus is talking to man
he found working on the Sabbath,
and said,
“Man, if you know what you are doing
(what time it is),
you are blessed,
but if you don’t know,
you are accursed,
and a transgressor of the law!”
The trick with knowing what time it is,
and is not,
is having to be right about it.
You can see why the Formers of the Scriptures
wouldn’t want to confuse things
by leaving this text in,
when they, themselves,
had no idea of how to know what time it is.
It is crucial knowing.
Everything hangs on it.
Kairos is a harsh taskmaster,
reaping where he does now sew,
planting where he does not cultivate,
and leaving us in the lurch.
We are to let things happen.
But.
Do we let having an affair happen?
Or do we let not-having an affair happen?
King David let having an affair happen.
And, several generations later,
Jesus happened.
Did David know what he was doing?
Was he blessed?
Was he accursed?
How do we know what to do?
What it is time for?
I check the weather
before I go out with my camera.
My affairs are another story.
- 11/07/2019 — Goodale 10/25/2019 05 Panorama — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, October 25, 2019, an iPhone photo
Take things as they come,
and do with them
what needs to be done.
That can be done
only from the perspective
of mindful awareness
that takes everything
into account
and has nothing at stake
in the outcome.
The catch is
that no living thing
can have nothing at stake
in every outcome.
All living things have preferences
and disinclinations.
That’s having a stake in the outcome.
So.
We work to perfect the art
of walking two paths at the same time,
by always keeping the other path in mind
while walking the one we are on–
and know at all times
that thinking we know what we are doing
is the “slippery slope,”
the “dangerous path,”
“like a razor’s edge.”
And proceed very carefully
along the way.
With mindful,
compassionate,
non-judgmental,
awareness.
Jon Kabat-Zinn’s YouTube videos
are a help here. - 11/07/2019 — Swan Lake 10/25/2019 02 Panorama — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, October 25, 2019
You know where your enthusiasm lies.
Only you know where your enthusiasm lies.
Why aren’t you trusting yourself
to know where your enthusiasm
is asking you to go,
and asking you to stop going?
Why aren’t you trusting yourself
to your enthusiasm?
It is a better guide than Yoda,
Jesus,
Obi-wan Kenobi,
Gandalf,
and Albus Dumbledore. - 11/07/2019 — Road Through Fall 10/28/2019 01 — Blue Ridge Parkway near Orchard Gap, Virginia, October 28, 2019
Live like it matters!
Live like you mean it!
Live with your heart in what you are doing!
What would you have to be doing
for your heart to be in what you are doing?
What could you do with all your heart?
Why aren’t you doing it?
Why waste your time doing things
you have no heart for?
What does your heart want to do?
Whose side are you on? - 11/08/2019 — Last Days of Fall 11/03/2019 01 Panorama — The Bridge on Boone Fork Trail, Blue Ridge Parkway, near Blowing Rock, North Carolina, November 3, 2019
Everyone is seeking something.
What is missing from your life?
What is the nature
of the emptiness
you carry within?
What is the source
of your dismay?
I’m seeking to square myself
with the disharmony
without and within.
I’m seeking ways
of making peace
with how things are,
and letting be what is.
Squaring up is my daily practice.
Finding peace is my daily work.
I’m able to be a source of peace
to the extent that I have found it
and am in touch with,
if not quite yet in tune with,
the harmonies within and without.
It is all so fleeting.
I am the only constant in my life,
as you are in yours,
and we are all coming and going
like flotsam and jetsam
on a storm-tossed sea.
We need more consistency and stability,
reliability and dependability and sustainability
than we get.
We are seeking the bedrock.
the foundation stone,
the rhizome.
The unmoving center
in a kaleidoscopic world.
Where are the harmonies in your life?
The sources of peace and security?
What restores your soul,
and your sense of groundedness
and constancy?
What can you count on?
When you are out of tune
with your life,
or your life is out of tune with you,
what serves as your tuning fork?
What brings you back into focus,
at one with the flow–
the ebb and flow?
The rhythm of life and nature?
The music of the spheres?
How do you get yourself aligned
with yourself
and the life that needs you to live it?
Wendell Berry speaks of
“The Peace of Wild Things.”
I recommend that you googleit
and sit with his poem,
and perhaps make an excursion
to “where the wild things are.”
Regularly.
xxx
09/10/2019. — My view is that the mental and physical health of women
give them priority over any fetus they may be carrying.
I will support the rights of women to their own body,
and will assist their cause verbally and financially
for as long as I am able.
Surgical abortion and chemical abortion should
always be available to women who have need of them,
and no one has any right to interfere with that
or to condemn women for doing what they must do.
This is where I stand and I’m not moving.
I understand that I will never change any minds with this,
and I don’t intend for this to do that.
I am simply stating what is true for me
and will be true for me forever.
09/17/2019 — What do you know about God
that you haven’t been told about God?
That you haven’t read about God?
What do you know about God
out of your own experience of God?
Where do you go to experience God
as God is–not as God is said to be?
09/17/2019 — If all you know about pizza
is what somebody told you about pizza,
you don’t know pizza.
If you worship pizza,
and sing hymns to pizza,
and pray to pizza,
and listen to sermons about pizza,
and attend study groups on pizza,
and talk about pizza all the time,
but never eat pizza,
you don’t know pizza.
09/18/2019 — All lines are straight
if they are short enough.
All lines are curved
if they are long enough.
That’s how things are.
They don’t need a reason
for being that way.
It is the nature of lines.
You and I have natures
just like lines do.
It’s the way we are.
09/19/2019 — Pay attention to what occurs to you,
“out of the blue,”
“for no reason.”
Do not dismiss it.
Do not discount it.
Act on it.
Expeditiously.
09/20/2019 — If we find and mind our business
and find and do our work,
while helping other people
find and mind their business
and find and do their work–
without confusing ours with theirs–
the world will shift overnight.
09/20/2019 — The people who have no chance
are the people who have none
to help them with their life.
They are like babies
left to die in the desert.
If the Pro Life people were Pro Life,
they would be helping people
with their lives
throughout their life.
Housing,
Clothing,
Food,
Health Care,
Education,
Nutrition,
Jobs that pay a living wage,
Opportunities to discover and be who they are…
People who have the resources
to find and be who they are
have a chance to excel.
People who don’t, don’t.
It is incumbent upon
those of us who have a chance
to help those who do not
throughout their life,
throughout the world.
09/20/2019 — The people who need help
with their life
have to help us help them.
They have to bring with them
the will to do what they can do
to do what can be done
about their life
and their circumstances.
Incentive;
Determination;
Dedication;
The practice of mindful,
compassionate,
non-judgmental,
awareness;
Self-transparency;
Self-direction;
Self-reliance;
Good faith…
The list is long of things
no one can give someone else.
The people who don’t have a chance
have to give themselves a chance
*and* have help
with the work
of finding their life
and living it.
The inner,
innate,
qualities
have to meet the outer
opportunities
in order to come forth
and bloom into the fullness
of life and being.
We all have a part to play
in the making of a life.
No one does it on their own.
No one can make anyone else do it.
This applies all our life long.
Jesus raised the dead,
and left the dead to bury the dead.
09/20/2019 — Success is living a life
aligned with itself–
so that the life we live
is the life that is ours to live,
and reflects/exhibits/expresses
who we are/the face that was ours before we were born.
Jesus was successful.
The Buddha was successful.
Gandhi was successful.
The Dalai Lama is successful.
The list is long.
And.
Everyone on the list
lives to serve an agenda
not their own.
Their agenda
is to live aligned
with the agenda
that is handed to them
moment-by-moment-by-moment
in each situation as it arises
all their life long.
Ah, but!
Who could possibly live in such
a here-and-now way?
Only those who know
the essential nature of,
and practice the art of,
walking on two paths
at the same time!
Successful people walk
on two (or more) paths
at the same time.
There is what we do to pay the bills.
And there is what we pay the bills to do.
And, if what we to pay the bills
is too much at odds
with who we are/the face that was ours before we were born,
we will need to find something else
to do to pay the bills.
Our integrity is the sine qua non
of success.
The more we live with integrity,
the more successful we are,
the less we live with integrity,
the less successful we are.
In order to be successful,
we have to know who we are
and what is ours to do–
and live in ways which reflect,
exhibit,
express,
that in each situation as it arises
for the good of the situation as a whole.
09/20/2019 — I was talking with a deep south farmer in the 80’s
in his cotton field
about racism.
At a point in the conversation,
he said,
“Hell, Jim, this ain’t the way
I *see* things!
This is the way things *are*!”
The moon is 238,900 miles from earth.
That is how things *are*!
Whether or not
“The moon is a white marble
floating on a black velvet sea,”
is how we see things.
We often confuse how we see things
with how things are.
It is one of the things we do best
(Along with kidding ourselves,
shooting ourselves in the foot,
telling ourselves what we want to hear,
and taking ourselves way too seriously).
How we see things
is one of the things about us
that we can do very little about
(Along with our fingerprints
and iris patterns).
We are not in command of the way we see.
Change the way you see sugar,
alcohol,
exercise
and tobacco!
Now!
Change the way you see anything!
The way we see things has us
more than we have it.
The way we see changes
over the course of our life
by the way we are impacted
by our experience.
We come to see things differently,
but.
Not by effort of the will.
We cannot help how we see.
But.
We can begin seeing how we see.
And wondering how we came to see as we do.
And playing around with how many alternative ways
we can imagine seeing things.
And exploring why we prefer one way
over other ways.
What makes it easy for us to see the way we do?
Why do we think our way of seeing is right
and other ways of seeing are wrong?
What do we have at stake
in seeing the way we see?
What do we stand to gain by seeing how we see?
What do we stand to lose by seeing differently?
The stake determines everything.
But that’s another day’s work.
09/21/2019 — Sometimes, all we can do
is wait for the times to change.
In the meantime,
we busy ourselves doing what we do best,
which is usually also
what we enjoy doing most.
And trust one thing to lead to another
the way “One book opens another.”
Then, when the times change,
we will be ready.
If the times don’t change fast enough,
we will have spent our life
in the service of what we do well
and what we love to do.
Either way,
times changing,
or times not changing,
we will be just fine.
“Get in there and do your thing,
and don’t worry about where it takes you
or what is going to come of it!”
(Joseph Campbell talking about the moral
of the Bhagavad Gita, or words to that effect)
09/21/2019 — We self-medicate
with booze and pot.
Eases our way.
Smooths out the rough places.
Lessens our pain.
No physician or therapist
would say,
“You need to smoke pot
(or “more pot,”).
You need to drink alcohol
(or, “more alcohol”).
You need to spend more time
being high.”
But, we prescribe those things
for ourselves.
And, we will not hear
that we are kidding ourselves,
deceiving ourselves,
lying to ourselves,
killing ourselves.
But.
We are.
And we are the only one
who can do something
about it.
“We are the sculptor,
and we are the stone”
(Alexis Carrel).
Our life is up to us.
What we make of it
is ours to do.
We begin by squaring up to the task,
and to our circumstances,
and to the gifts,
genius,
daemon,
spirit,
abilities,
aptitudes,
talents,
interests,
proclivities,
that came with us from the womb–
and the skills
we have developed since then–
and getting to work.
09/21/2019 — 2 billion birds have died
bees and other insects are going extinct
mosquito-borne diseases are increasing
brain-eating amoeba
and flesh-eating bacteria
and toxic algae
and antibiotic resistant viruses
and rising water levels
and dead zones in the ocean
and you know the litany to Global Warming
are all a part of the snowball
that is gaining momentum by the day
and we live at the bottom of the hill.
It’s nature’s way of slapping us back in place,
or at least out of the way,
and starting over.
How many times does this make, I wonder.
Nature starting over.
I think by now it must be what Nature does best.
09/22/2019 — We spend too much of our time
trying to make things be
what we want them to be.
Exploitation,
Manipulation,
Control,
are the words
that define our existence.
There isn’t a situation
we can’t work
to our advantage.
Like we know what that is.
How do we define our “advantage”?
We define it in terms
of whatever we want at the moment–
or whatever we want beyond the moment.
Who would ever do
what they don’t want?
Consistently?
Routinely?
Deliberately?
How do we know what to want?
What is good on one level
is bad on another.
What we want on one level
is not at all what we want on another.
What, then, guides our deciding
and our choosing?
How do we know where,
and when,
we are better off?
When does better
go over into
being worse?
How much of a good thing
is a bad thing?
How good is the good
we call good?
In light of what shall we live?
In light of what shall we live
in each situation as it arises?
What is at stake in each moment?
What hangs in the balance?
To be determined by the choices we make,
and the decisions we decide,
and the actions we take
moment-by-moment-by-moment?
Where do we turn
for guidance in the matter
of how to live our life?
What drives us?
Leads us?
Directs us?
In the service of what
do we live?
If not to our advantage,
to whose advantage–
to what’s advantage?
If not to our pleasure,
to whose pleasure–
to what’s pleasure?
What governs the thoughts we think?
The moods we have?
The things we do?
What are we seeking?
What is optimal?
Where do we belong?
As an alternative to the Three Big Motives above,
exploitation,
manipulation,
control,
I suggest these three conditions of life
as the motivating principles of existence:
balance,
harmony,
homeostasis.
Find the center.
Flow with it as it moves
from moment to moment.
Be one with the moment
in every moment
for the good of the moment.
And trust that to be enough.
09/23/2019 — A lot of us could stand
with Terry Malloy and say,
“I coulda had class.
I coulda been a contender.
I coulda been somebody,
instead of a bum,
which is what I am.”
(Terry Malloy/Marlon Brando,
*On The Waterfront*)
Our circumstances
offer us all the excuses
we need.
Its the decisions
and choices
we make within our circumstances
that tell the tale.
The time and place of birth,
our family of origin,
and our parents’
family of origin
set the stage.
Here we are.
Now what?
How we answer that question
in each situation as it arises
all our life long
is our contribution
to the stew.
No one can answer it but us.
09/28/2019 — “Let’s go bowling, Dude.”
What is the equivalent
of bowling in your life
and mine?
Whatever it is,
it is taking our mind off
living our life.
What do you do to
turn off,
look away,
drop out?
Identify it
and stop doing it.
Instead,
sit down,
be quiet,
look,
listen,
wait
to see what occurs,
arises,
emerges.
Open yourself
to the pain
that waits
in the silence,
and bear it consciously,
holding it in your awareness,
and waiting
to see what else,
what all,
occurs,
arises,
emerges.
It may be hell, but.
It is a hell of a lot better
than bowling.
09/28/2019 — Everyone has access to the same information.
What we do about it tells the tale.
How open we are to it,
how aware we are of it,
what we dismiss,
disregard,
discount,
ignore
has us where we are
in each moment.
Always.
09/29/2019 — Our life calls us forth.
We show ourselves to be who we are
in response
to the terms and conditions,
situations and circumstances,
limits and requirements
of our life
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
The constant through all
of the upheaval and turmoil
of each day’s deliveries
is the unique blend
of character and disposition,
priorities and preferences,
perspective and perceptions,
proclivities and inclinations,
genius and gifts,
traits and tendencies
that set us apart from one another
and reveal who we are
for all to see.
Who we are
is who we can be trusted to be
in the give-and-take,
through the gains and losses,
of each day.
There is a remarkable consistency
about the way we go about our life.
We can be depended upon
to do this if that happens–
to be this way in those circumstances.
We develop a particular gait,
a certain style,
a manner of being,
over time.
Those who know us
know when we are being
“just like ourselves,”
and when we are not.
The “idea” of “us”
goes before us
and trails along after us.
How accurate that “idea” is
depends upon how well we are aligned with
the nature that came with us from the womb.
We live best
when we live to exhibit
“the face that was ours
before we were born.”
The word for that kind of life
is “integrity.”
“Know thyself,”
and,
“To thine own self be true,”
and,
“Love your neighbor as you love yourself,”
are all the instruction we need
to live well upon the earth.
The catch is
we have to heed it.
09/29/2019 — Discipline holds things together.
Discipline is how we do things.
Discipline is doing things that exhibit who we are
in ways that reflect who we are.
When we live undisciplined lives
it all goes to hell like that.
Football teams are built around
a core identity
instilled by the coach:
“This is who we are.”
“This is how we play the game.”
“This is what we do
and how we do it.”
That works fine
as long as the football team
is winning.
When they begin to lose,
badly and frequently,
they tend to forget
who they are,
and begin to play recklessly,
carelessly,
mindlessly.
Then, it is up to the coach
and to the leaders on the team
to call them back to
who they are,
and demand that they
live in ways which serve/display
their identity–
intentionally,
carefully,
mindfully.
It is the discipline
to be who we are
even when we are losing
that keeps a bad situation
from going over into a complete disaster.
We have to play/live aligned
with the vision of who we are
and how we do things.
And when we drift away from that,
we have to find our way back to it,
and play/live grounded in who we are.
Without a coach
and team leaders in our life,
it’s all up to us.
And without self-discipline,
where will we be?
09/29/2019 —a I can’t stack eggs very well.
And you wouldn’t want me
to sing at your wedding.
This list is long.
The things I do well
rank high with me,
but not so much with anybody else.
Naps, for instance,
are among the things I do best.
My grandchildren are not impressed.
I don’t know anybody who is.
Doesn’t stop me,
or even slow me down.
Find what you do well,
and enjoy doing,
and do it.
Why would you not?
09/30/2019 — After we have moaned and hollered,
stewed and cussed,
we still have to get up
and do what needs to be done.
That’s the truth
as clearly
as the truth has ever been told.
Are we going to sit there,
or what?
09/30/2019 — If we live long enough,
we all come around
to the realizations
we don’t want anything
to do with.
Some of us had rather
be dead.
The rest of us
pick up our cross
and stumble toward Golgotha.
And resurrection.
09/30/2019 — A lot of people
want to be president
who don’t have what it takes
to be president.
A lot of voters
want a president
who has no business
being president.
And here we are.
09/30/2019 — Jon Kabat-Zinn has a wonderful approach to vitalizing the connection with our life. Vitality is the other side of transparency. Once we become self-transparent, everything falls into place around that. He has YouTube videos by the dozens. Watch the shortest ones first.
10/01/2019 — We know when we are hungry,
when we are sleepy,
when we have had enough
and need to leave.
No one can knock us off these things.
No one can tell us,
“Don’t tell me when you are hungry!
I’ll tell you when you are hungry!”
That would be ridiculous.
We know what fits us,
and where we fit,
where we belong,
and where we have
no business being.
We know when things are flowing smoothly,
and when the going gets tough.
When things stop going,
and when there is no reason to keep going.
We can trust ourselves to know these things
and others like them.
We don’t have to wait for anyone
to tell us.
We can be secure
in our knowledge
of the basic guiding principles
of our life.
So, what’s the problem?
Not enough cooperation is a problem.
Not enough of the right kind of help is a problem.
Not enough resources
to do what needs to be done
is a problem.
Not knowing where to start is a problem…
And all of these things
are problems
we need to “sound out”–
problems we need to talk out–
in order to hear ourselves saying
what we need to hear.
But.
Once we hear what we need to hear,
we know it.
We have what we need
to find what we need
to do what needs to be done.
Start talking/writing
saying all you can think to say
about what needs to be said,
and then think about what you said,
and what needs to be said
in response to what you said.
Let that work in that part
of your mind
we call “the unconscious”
(Because we are unconscious
of what goes on there).
And see what occurs to you
“out of the blue,”
over time.
10/02/2019 — We are not responsible for how we see things.
We cannot help how we see things.
We cannot force ourselves to see things any other way.
But.
The way we see things has changed
over the course of our life.
What is going on?
It is called growing up.
Maturation.
Maturity.
And we all grow up against our will.
We have no choice but to suffer it through.
All the way.
What needs to change about the way you see things?
Watch what happens there over time.
10/14/2019–The creed at the heart of fascism is
“It’s THEIR fault!”
The belief around which fascists rally is
“Get rid of THEM and all will be fine!”
Both are lies.
Fascism is based on the fallacy of Themism,
which surmises
“If everyone were like US we all would be happy at last!”
And,
“It’s people like THEM
who make people like US
hate people like THEM!”
Which lock fascists into a self-validating conviction
that cannot be refuted
because there will always be
those fascists hate–
those who are not like them.
They cannot change their mind
without growing up
and accepting responsibility
for having created a life
that is incapable of sustaining life
and requires somebody to blame.
The way out of fascism
is the realization
“I and I alone am the one to blame
for my life being as it is!
And I and I alone am responsible
for becoming who I need to be
to make things better than they are!”
“It is all on ME!”
is something a fascist cannot see.
“I would be great if it weren’t for THEM!”
is all a fascist can do.
A Pickle is a place
where nothing can change
until something else does.
Where fascism is concerned,
we are all in a Pickle.
10/17/2019 — It’s so hard!
It’s Too Hard!
We want smooth and easy!
The whole problem in eleven words.
Bear the pain!
Do what’s hard!
Suffer it through!
The solution in nine words.
10/18/2019 — Grace is the foundation of the civilized world.
No one earns their way.
Our way is made possible by the grace of others.
We exist because of the grace of others.
Grace is kindness.
Kindness is grace.
Nothing good happens
apart from grace and kindness.
Grace is unilateral.
It is our gift to the world.
Become a servant of grace.
Lighten burdens.
Spread good will.
For no reason.
That’s grace for you.
10/18/2019 — Carl Jung said, “When one does the next and most necessary thing without fuss and with conviction, one is always doing something meaningful and intended by fate.”
It has an ought-to-be-ness about it that cannot be denied.
If you are seeking a meaningful life, simply do the next necessary thing with all your heart, the way it needs to be done, the way it is supposed to be done. And then, the one after that.
10/19/2019 — The Photographer’s Lament:
“I only wanted to be
in all of the right places
at all the right times.
10/19/2019 — Can we allow our life–
can we allow life–
to be what it is?
Can we allow ourselves
to be who we are?
Can we allow other people–
all other people–
to be who they are?
Can we allow the present moment
to be what it is?
Can we work within the givens
with the gifts we have been given
in the service of the good of the situation
in each situation as it arises
all our life long?
10/19/2019 — What is the motivation
to be who you are?
What’s in it for you?
What do you stand to gain?
How can you parlay that
into something better than that?
What could be better than that?
10/19/2019 — There are a lot of places
I do not belong,
places I have no business being.
It is part of my work
to stay out of those places–
and to be where I do belong,
doing what is my business
to be doing.
We can solve a lot of problems
just by not creating any.
10/19/2019 — There is no time to waste!
If you don’t feel it,
don’t do it!
Wait for the shift to happen.
Wait for the door to open–
then walk through.
Time spent waiting
with your eyes open
is not wasted.
When waiting, wait!
10/20/2019 — When we screw up,
we make amends–
to the extent that is possible–
and bear the pain
of realization
and contrition,
and change what needs to be changed
about our way with life
in order to do better.
If anybody thinks
they don’t need to do better,
they are failing
to see themselves as they are.
If anybody thinks they are
beyond forgiveness,
they need to reckon with
their own refusal
to forgive themselves.
And bear the pain of their guilt
and of their requisite transformation,
and change what needs to be changed
about their way with life
in order to do better.
The work of repentance,
penitence,
atonement
and recompense
is the work of doing better
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
We live this moment better
than the last one
all the way
to the end of the line.
And, if anyone thinks
they don’t need to do that work,
they are failing
to see themselves as they are.
10/28/2019 — Tuned into the time and place of our living, awake, alert, aware—that’s the sure recipe for depression. Or, for enlightenment, realization, revelation. Depending on how we see what we look at. We are the door to our own future. It all depends on us.
11/05/2019 — If you want to know the truth, you have to live in truthful ways. Truth is known through acts of integrity and grace, kindness and compassion, generosity and peace. It doesn’t come by reading it, or being told it. You have to live it, or live a lie.
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07/17/2019 — 09/05/2019
- 07/17/2019 — Mind is the seat of perspective
and perception.
How we see enables/restricts
what we see.
Mindfulness is seeing our seeing–
seeing how we see,
seeing what we see,
seeing what we see-not…
Mindfulness is transparency–
self-transparency–
seeing ourselves seeing.
Mind contains our awareness,
awareness contains all things.
Awareness that is fully aware
is fully aware of all things,
knows what is happening
and what needs to be done in response,
and does it,
and knows what that leads to
and what needs to be done in response…
Seeing is knowing,
knowing is doing,
doing is being,
being is seeing…
This is the dance of life.
See.
Know.
Do.
Be.
See.
Silence is the music of life.
Stillness is the rhythm of life.
Noise and chaos are the fertile field of life.
The dance floor of life.
The playground of life.
Life plays and dances,
dances and plays.
Moment-by-moment-by-moment.
On-and-on-and-on.
“There is only the dance.”
(T.S. Eliot) - 07/18/2019 — Cypress Swamp 2019-07 06 Panorama — Santee National Wildlife Refuge, Cuddo Unit, Wildlife Drive, Summerton, South Carolina, July 12, 2019, an iPhone photo
The KKK
White Supremacist
White Nationalist
Fascist
perspective
has no place in a democracy.
The US Constitution specifically prohibits it
with Liberty Justice Equality Truth.
Yet, we are constantly having
to maintain our vigil
and stand up for the flag–
often by kneeling–
and say NO! NOT HERE!
again and again,
in every generation.
The time is always coming around
for us to declare what side we are on–
and so we must not demur
or resist the call to defend the Constitution
and stand for democracy
at every point
in every place
Liberty Justice Equality Truth
are slighted,
discouraged,
despised,
denounced,
denied.
Be alert!
Be vigilant!
Be bold!
This country is not home to fascism.
It is not welcome here.
If the fascists want someone to leave,
they are the ones who must go,
if they can find a place that will have them. - 06/19/2019 — Field Corn 2019-07 02 — Draper Wildlife Management Area, McConnells, South Carolina, July 06, 2019, an iPhone Photo
How do you spend your money?
How do you spend your time?
What questions do you refuse to ask?
There is your life for you,
laid out before you,
expressing,
declaring,
revealing,
who you are,
what you do,
what you stand for,
what you believe.
What is missing?
What is absent?
What is lacking?
What is not there?
Carl Jung said,
“Life has always seemed to me like a plant that lives on its rhizome. Its true life is invisible, hidden in the rhizome. The part that appears above ground lasts only a single summer. Then it withers away—an ephemeral apparition. When we think of the unending growth and decay of life and civilizations, we cannot escape the impression of absolute nullity. Yet I have never lost a sense of something that lives and endures underneath the eternal flux. What we see is the blossom, which passes. The rhizome remains.”
Two of the questions this quotation
raises for me is,
“What is the rhizome?”
“How do we serve it?”
If we are not serving the rhizome,
we are wasting our lives.
Our life consists of 10,000 ways
to waste our life.
Make a pact with yourself
to serve the rhizome
in the time left for living.
Listen in the silence
to the stillness beyond the silence
for guidance regarding
what serving the rhizome
might entail. - 07/19/2019 — Cypress Swamp 2019-07 08 Panorama — Santee National Wildlife Refuge, Cuddo Unit, Wildlife Drive, Summerton, South Carolina, July 12, 2019, an iPhone photo
“What does *This* have to do with *That*?”
is one of the foundational questions
upon which everything hangs
and from which everything follows,
or flows.
How often do we ask it?
How often do we take the time to answer it?
There you are.
That is why we have the present reality
and not a different one.
Everything changes for the better
when we ask–
and answer–
this question.
*This* and *That*
have to be understood
as mutually exclusive
and completely irreconcilable opposites.
Light/Dark
Conscious/Unconscious
Good/Evil
Rich/Poor
Just/Unjust
Bondage/Freedom
Etc.
And it is at the exact mid-point
between *This* and *That*
that we come in.
We are the meeting place
of contradiction
and polarity,
opposite,
antithetical
and conflicting.
We carry in our body
the marks of the cross.
And damn if we don’t rise
from the death
of unchooseable choices
to resurrection
and new life–
by bearing the weight
of the agony
of Not This! Not This!
to the place of realization
and transformation.
Yes! This!
It is our burden and our glory
to step onto the Field of Action–
into the Arena of Dichotomy
and Division–
and make the connections
that constitute the miracle of oneness,
wholeness,
completion
and peace.
We are all Jesus
come to reconcile the world.
This is the work of maturity and grace,
and it is our gift–
our genius–
to bestow
upon the time and place
of our living.
In the heat of the eternal fires
of hell itself
we see
and everything shifts
into place–
and where there was antipathy
there is sympathy,
and where there was chaos
there is harmony,
and where there was enmity
there is joy
and thanksgiving.
And we are one with ourselves,
each other,
all others
and all things.
Here is how it works:
Cast me,
the proponent
of silence and reflection,
privacy and solitude
into the most hated
and despised hell
I can imagine,
a dinner/cocktail party
or a family/high school reunion.
What does *This*
have to do with *That*?
*I* do!
*I* am the one–the only one–
who can take *This*
and merge it with *That*!
I do it through the discipline
of the transformation
of my attitude.
I take *This*,
silence,
reflection,
privacy
and solitude,
and I walk into *That*,
and live *There*
as *This.*
I look past the noise
and see what’s what,
and speak one-on-one
with individuals
about their life.
I don’t “chit-chat,”
engaging in the predictable
party-talk lines.
I ask, “What do you live to do?”
“What brings you to life in your life?”
“What gives you the most trouble these days?”
“Where do you find peace?”
“What keeps you going?”
“What constitutes your bedrock?”
Etc.
I probe,
explore,
investigate,
reflect
and call forth
new realizations
within me,
and perhaps within others as well.
Embrace contradiction.
Dance with polarity.
Be the source of grace and peace
making oneness
between *This* and *That*
throughout your life.
What does *This* have to do with *That*?
YOU make the connection.
And the peace! - 07/20/2019 — Atlantic Dawn 2008-10 01 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Outer Banks, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, October 26, 2008
We have to set our own limits,
establish our own boundaries,
draw our own lines,
know what is right for us
and what is wrong,
know when it is right for us,
and when it is wrong,
and trust ourselves to know
what we know,
and live out of our own sense of direction
and our own sense of timing,
and live with the consequences.
We learn how we need to live our life
by living our life.
We are all finding our way here.
We all have an internal guidance system,
that has worked through the ages
to get us–
as a species–
here, now,
and we have to learn how to use it,
and use it.
If we dream of driving through stop signs,
or driving downhill with no breaks,
could be our internal guidance system
is telling us
we’ve been ignoring it too much,
and need to listen to what it is saying.
When it puts up a stop sign,
we need to stop.
When it says “GO!”
we need to go.
And when there isn’t
a clear Yes or No,
we take our chances
and see what happens,
or wait to see what happens.
Guidance will always come eventually.
In one form
or another,
and then it will be apparent
what to do now.
If we wait long enough,
the way always appears.
If you don’t know what to do,
wait.
Sooner or later
you will know what to do
about something.
We are becoming clearer
all the time. - 07/20/2019 — Cloud Bank at Sunset 2011-10 Panorama — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Outer Banks, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, October 28, 2011
Whenever Jesus says something about “the Father,”
read it as meaning “Your true and inmost Self.”
“The Father and I are one.”
Becomes, “My Self and I are one,”
and is a call to us all
to become one with our Self.
This is the task of Jung’s idea
of Individuation,
becoming one with our Self,
realizing our “full potential”
to be who we are capable of becoming
in the time and place of our living.
Jesus’ work required him to die
in the service
of reconciling people with their Self,
with themselves.
They chose to kill him
in order to avoid doing the work
he was calling them to do.
Jesus chose to die
being true to his work,
to his Self,
rather than to live a lie
and let everyone go back
to the business
of following the cow
in front of them
from the barn
to the pasture
and back to the barn.
What appears to be death
can be life,
what appears to be life
can be death.
It is no light thing
to take up the work
of becoming one
with the Self within.
And, it is no light thing
to refuse to take up that work.
It could be death ether way.
What to do? - 07/20/2019 — Adams Mill Pond 2014-22 16 — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, November 5, 2014
The life that needs us to live it
in doing what needs us to do it
can be like dying.
It can be easier to die,
which is at the heart
of suicide
and drug addiction,
than to live the life
that is calling us to live it–
than to do the things
that are calling us to do them.
It is no accident
that the crucifixion
is at the heart of Jesus’ message
about abundant life.
First we die.
Actually, we die again and again.
The crucifixion is Jesus
putting his words into action.
“Living your life
is living against the grain
of the culture!
It is living against the grain
of your own ego-sense of direction
and your own ego-driven ideas
of what is good for you!
This cross is what it is like
to follow your own Inner-Self’s vision
of the Good!
Remember me when you take up your life,
and know that in so doing,
you are taking up your cross!
And follow me!”
Living our life–
the life that is truly ours to live–
will ask hard things of us.
All the way
along the way!
We cannot be surprised by that,
or undone by it.
It is to be expected.
We understand how it is,
and do what is required
to be who we are
in the time and place
of our living–
with the right kind of spirit,
and the right kind of attitude
all the way
along the way. - 07/21/2019 — Angel Oak 2013-22 02 — Angel Oak Park, Charleston, South Carolina, November 14, 2013 — Estimated to be 400-500 years old.
There are people who don’t have a chance.
Do not be one of those people.
Everybody who doesn’t have a chance
gives up on themselves.
They don’t give themselves a chance.
They look for somebody else to save them.
Everybody is looking for themselves
in the eyes of someone else.
No one else can give us what we need.
All we need is a chance.
We are the only ones who can give us what we need.
We have to take a chance on ourselves.
And not hold anything back.
We have to go to the mat–
again and again–
in the service of ourselves,
betting on ourselves–
again and again.
Giving ourselves a chance.
We walk past people every day,
all of the time,
who don’t have a chance.
Do not be one of those people.
Chances have nothing to do with money.
We think,
“Oh, if they only had money,
they would have a chance.”
Or,
“Oh, if only I had money,
I would have a chance.”
Donald Trump doesn’t have a chance.
All he has is money,
and he cannot get enough.
All of the people like Donald Trump–
the people he runs with
and aspires to be like–
don’t have a chance.
All they have is money.
Donald Trump and all of his running buddies
are the polar opposites
of Horatio Alger.
Horatio Alger had a chance from the start,
but he had no money.
He only had himself.
He listened to himself.
He allowed himself to direct him.
He wouldn’t have anything to do
with Donald Trump
and all the others like him.
Do not confuse money with chances.
Do not think it is about money.
It is about you.
You loving you.
You caring for you.
You listening to you.
You trusting you.
You taking a chance on you.
You giving you all the chances you need
to be you.
You are the best chance you have.
You are the only chance you have.
Give yourself a chance.
Bet it all on you.
Again and again. - 07/21/2019 — Barn on Mormon Row 2011-06 Panorama — Grand Teton National Park, Jackson, Wyoming, June 26, 2011
If you are going to believe in anyone–
in anything–
believe in yourself.
And live as though you do.
Listen to yourself.
Learn to understand the language
your Self uses
to speak to you.
Your Self uses the age-old language–
the oldest language–
of dreams,
images,
symbols,
metaphors,
feelings,
sensations
and events
to get your attention
and tell you what’s what.
Pay attention.
Attend your Self.
Daily.
Hourly.
Moment-by-moment-by-moment.
We are the servants of our Self.
We are here to incarnate our Self.
To bring our Self to life in the world.
To make our Self visible,
known,
apparent,
real.
In service to the gifts/genius
our Self makes available
to us.
By being who we are
fully capable of being
in the time and place
of our living.
If you don’t believe that–
if you refuse to believe that–
there is nothing I can do for you.
It all starts with you believing
in your Self.
And living as though you do. - 07/21/2019 — Cedar Island Ferry 2011-10 02 Panorama — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Outer Banks, Ocracoke Island, Pamlico Sound, North Carolina, October 26, 2011
Everything that happens
happens in order to wake us up.
Every time you are tempted to ask,
“Why did *this* have to happen *now* of all times?”
sit down.
Be still and quiet.
And see what emerges.
Taking the time to see what emerges
leads us along the way.
If we are in too much of a hurry
to look,
we can’t be surprised
if we don’t see.
Time has to be understood on two levels.
There is clock/calendar time,
and there is “the fullness of time.”
“The right time.”
“The time that is at hand.”
Chronos and Kairos.
The question is not,
“What time is it?”
The question is,
“What is it time for?”
“What is asking to be born
in this time,
in this place,
right now?”
“What is coming forth
here and now?”
“How am I being asked
to assist in the birth
of what needs to happen
right here,
right now?”
The Coming may well
have nothing to do
with what we want to come,
with what we want to happen.
We are not here to live
in the service of ourselves.
God’s declaration to Baruch,
which was Baruch’s declaration to Baruch,
“You will get your life
as a prize of war!”
Is what we all get out of “the deal.”
We get our life.
We get to be alive
in the time and place
of our living.
How can there be more than that?
What did Jesus say?
“I came to bring you life,
overflowing,
pouring out,
spilling over!””
“I came that you might have life,
and have it abundantly!
That’s all we get!
If that isn’t enough for you,
you are standing
in the wrong line!
In *this* line,
the question is not,
“What am I going to get
for all my trouble?”
The question is:
“What is it time for,
and how can I help
with the birthing
of what is trying to come forth,
here and now?”
In every here and now
that we are a part of
forever.
What we get out of it
is life,
overflowing,
pouring out,
spilling over,
here and now.
Abundant life
for as long
as we are alive! - 07/21/2019 — Cloud Bank at Sunset 2011-10 01 Panorama — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Outer Banks, Ocracoke Island, Pamlico Sound, North Carolina, November 26, 2011
When we are in sync
with Kairos
and in tune
with the time of our living–
with the times in which we are alive–
with the moment that is right here,
right now–
alive to what is happening
and what is being called for,
what is striving to come to life
in us and through us
as a blessing
and a grace,
and as a gift
of our gifts,
our genius,
to this time–
to what it is time for
at this time,
this particular time,
and if we don’t do it now,
the time will pass
without it being done,
and nothing will be
what it might have been
if we had acted
when the time for acting
was upon us…
When we are in sync
with Kairos,
we are in accord
with the Tao,
and the magic
comes to life
in the moment
of our living,
and things come together
in ways we could never
have imagined,
clicking into place
beyond all reason,
logic
and understanding
to produce a future
we could never have arraigned
by thinking,
planning,
scheming,
trying,
striving,
manipulating..
The magic
is being in sync
with the time
of our living,
and with what
is being asked of us
here and now,
in every here and now,
forever.
What is it time for?
What gifts/genius of yours
are being called for?
Why hold anything back?
What are you waiting for,
if not for the moment to act–
for the moment that calls you forth
by asking you to be who you are,
here and now? - 07/21/2019 — Dawn’s Light 2013-10 01 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Outer Banks, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, October 28, 2013
Getting ourselves together
with our Self–
*and* with the time and place,
the here and now,
of our living–
is the magic
that brings forth the magic
that transforms reality,
puts the world back
in its traces,
and stuns us
into the realization
of more than meets the eye.
When we get ourselves together
with Self and Kairos
and do the thing that needs to be done
here and now,
in this moment,
because that is exactly
what the moment needs,
and the time is at hand
for us to do our thing
as only we can do it,
doors open where there were no doors,
and things happen
that cannot be explained,
or understood,
only experienced
and received
with awe
and wonder,
amazement,
astonishment
and a sense of the reality
of the *numen*
that will take our breath away
for all of time.
This is the experience
of synchronicity
that Carl Jung saw
as evidence
of being “at one with the Tao,”
of living “in accord with the Tao,”
by aligning ourselves with our Self
and the time (Kairos) of our living.
That’s the magic
that enables the magic.
We are magicians all,
or may be
when the time is right. - 07/21/2019 — Fisherman 2012-10 01 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Outer Banks, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, October 23, 2012
Joseph Campbell said
the message,
the moral,
the lesson,
the teaching,
the essence
of the Bhagvad Gita is:
“Get in there
and do your thing–
and don’t worry
about the outcome!”
The same thing could be said
about The Sermon on the Mount,
and Jesus’ life and teachings.
Doing our thing,
at one with our thing
and the time and place of our living,
can only be done
with no thought about–
or concern for–
the outcome.
“Don’t let your left hand
know what your right hand is doing,”
said Jesus.
Don’t know nothing
but what you have
that the moment needs,
and offer what you have to give
with no concern
for what you stand to gain
or lose.
That is living
as life is meant to be lived.
Who do you know
who lives like that?
That’s why things
are as they are.
And they won’t improve
until people begin to live
with eyes only on
what they have
that the moment needs,
with no interest in
what’s in it for them. - 07/22/2019 — Abstract Sunflower 2019-07 — Nursery Photos, a ceramic vase graphic serves as the foundation of this piece, which I expanded in Photoshop to achieve a more flattened effect, Pike’s Nursery, Charlotte, North Carolina.
I stumbled upon the realization
(Which happens with every realization
any of us ever have.
We stumble our way into them,
and are shocked to discover
that’s how things are,
and have always been,
and what took so long
for us to see it?)
not long ago
that there are no churches,
there are only shells of buildings.
There are no churches
because there are no people
there are only shells of human beings.
Churches are automatic with people.
There have always been churches.
People erect them as a symbol
of the *numen* within us all,
and then forsake the *numen* within
for the God they imagine without,
and it all goes to hell right quick from there.
Church is divorced from the lived experience
of the people,
and it is all talk, talk, talk…
and the people are all empty, empty, empty…
Shells.
Husks.
Hulls.
All.
In order to get the church back
we have to get ourselves back.
We have to get back to ourselves.
Back to our experience of ourselves.
Back to our experience.
How many of us ever experience
our experience?
We spend all of our time
trying to escape our experience!
How much overweight are you?
How much alcohol do you consume?
How much refined sugar do you consume?
How much silence can you tolerate?
How much mood-altering drugs do you take?
How much of your life
is spent getting away from your life?
Ask all of your friends these questions,
and then wonder together
how much of your experience you experience.
It’s too painful, isn’t it?
We can’t bear the pain of our experience.
Carl Jung said,
“Neurosis is always a substitute for legitimate suffering.”
When we square up to our life,
boom, there is God–
but not the God of theology and doctrine and the Bible.
The God at the bottom of it all
has nothing to do with the God we call God.
The *Numen* cannot be contained in a catechism.
Or in all of the catechisms.
The *Numen* cannot be said,
cannot be told,
cannot be talked about.
Can only be accessed
through our experience.
But, we can’t experience our experience.
Boom, here we are. - 07/22/2019 — Swan Lake 2019-07 06 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, July 5, 2019
It comes down to
who we are
and what we are doing
to express/exhibit/incarnate
who we are
in the time and place
of our living.
If we don’t know who we are
because we are trying to be
who we are not
to please someone else
or to fit in
and belong,
or because we reject who we are,
thinking it isn’t good enough,
and if we don’t understand
the way we live
to be solely about
bringing forth who we are
in the practical,
day-to-day,
transactions
of conducting our business
and tending our affairs
within the circumstances
that define our existence,
we are missing the point of it all.
The point of it all
is to be who we are
and to live in ways
that express it.
Live to discover who you are
and to find ways
of demonstrating that
in the way you live your life. - 07/22/2019 — Swan Lake 2019-07 14 Panorama — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, July 5, 2019
There is Mind
and there is Brain.
Mind is knowing without thinking.
Brain is knowing through thinking.
Mind and Brain know
the same things,
and they know different things.
Both are ways of interpreting
our circumstances
in ways that enhance
our survival.
In the natural world
of life forms without much
in the way of Brain,
movement “out there”
means one or two things:
food or danger.
“If it is smaller than me,
I can eat it.”
“If it is bigger than me,
it can eat me.”
We don’t have to think much here.
We only have to know
if it is bigger or smaller than we are.
With more Brain
comes greater discrimination.
With a big-enough Brain,
we can think about our thinking.
We can perceive our perceptions.
We can be Somebody.
And, we can become lost in thought.
Mind is always there
to ground us in the here and now.
“Hey, Brain!” says Mind.
“What does *this* have to do with *that*?”
Brain is great for knowing what is important
and what to do about it.
Mind keeps up with what is also important,
and reminds Brain
to factor that into its equations.
Brain sometimes thinks that is too much
to fool with,
and dismisses Mind
as though Brain is the only show in town.
Think Tanks are famous
for the things they dismiss
and refuse to consider.
So are people.
Don’t be one of them. - 07/23/2019 — Catawba River 2019-06 03 — Landsford Canal State Park, Catawba, South Carolina, June 30, 2019
This is a photo of the remnants
of a hand-stacked stone dam
running out into the river
to divert water
into the Landsford Canal locks structure.
Five locks raised or lowered barges
for two miles
over the thirty-two foot
fall of the river.
The Canal,
built at Land’s Ford,
was completed in 1823
and was in service until 1835.
The State of South Carolina planners
did not take into account
that river traffic was highest
during the fall and winter
when crops were harvested
and shipped to market–
and the water level
on the river was the lowest.
And, they did not foresee
the rapid development of railroads,
which proved to be cheaper
and faster than river travel.
Landsford Canal was an idea
behind its time.
But, it was well-designed
and carefully constructed.
Sections of the granite blocks
lining the Canal
testify to that,
but…
What are the questions
that beg to be asked?
Is the question that begs to be asked
of all of our great ideas.
Politicians are particularly slow
to figure that out.
And the long history of past failures
doesn’t seem to impact
present practice
or the potential
for future duplications. - 07/23/2019 — Road Through Fall 2013-11 01 — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Greenbriar District, Gatlinburg, Tennessee, November 6, 2013
We don’t know
what to do with our life.
We don’t know
where to turn
when we have
nowhere to turn.
We don’t know
any of the important stuff.
So, we load ourselves down
with entertainment,
distractions
and pastimes–
“bread and circuses”–
and hope for the best.
Denying reality
and hoping for the best
is what we do best.
A healthier alternative
is to start with what we know.
We know that we don’t know
any of the important stuff.
Start there.
Sit still.
Be quiet.
Wait in the silence,
in the stillness
beyond the silence,
to see what will emerge.
The stillness beyond the silence
contains all we need to know.
Direction
is as close
as being still
and paying attention.
How long do we wait?
Longer than we want to,
but not as long
as we are afraid we will need to.
If you have a better idea,
hop on it!
But.
Bread and circuses
are not a better idea. - 07/24/2019 — Beidler Forest 2019-06 19 — Four Hole Swamp, Francis Beidler Forest Audubon Center & Sanctuary, Harleyville, South Carolina, June 23, 2019, an iPhone photo.
Jesus didn’t have a chance.
And, Jesus had it made.
And, Jesus didn’t have a thing.
And, Jesus laid everything on the line.
And, Jesus didn’t have a chance.
And, Jesus had it made.
And, if you can get that,
you have it made,
even though you don’t have a chance.
We are the bird
that is in our hands.
And, what we do next
makes all the difference.
We are all Jesus–
as only we can be Jesus.
Just as Jesus was Jesus
as only Jesus could be Jesus.
What we do about it
makes all the difference.
Everything comes down
to what we do next.
To what we do about it all.
To how we handle it.
To whether we sit quietly
in the stillness
and wait for what emerges–
wait for what occurs to us
that has energy about it
that separates it
from all the other stuff
that is emerging and occurring,
or ignore the stillness forever
and go on about our life.
If we sit in the stillness,
we have to do it correctly.
We have to wait,
breathing,
watching,
for what we do not know.
It could be anything,
but it is certainly not everything.
We are waiting for what to do next.
For what to do now.
The emotional charge tells us
this is what we have been waiting for
all our life.
“It’s the green shirt!
Wear the green shirt!”
What??? we say?
The green shirt???
I’ve been waiting
to wear the green shirt???
It makes no sense.
Repeat that aloud:
“It makes no sense.”
You/we will never make any sense out of it.
We will never get to the bottom of it.
We will never know why wearing the green shirt matters.
Until later.
Maybe much later.
When we see that it is all
part of the pattern,
and that everything fits together
like atoms in a molecule.
Like electrons in an atom.
And everything has to be exactly
what it is as it is
for anything to work.
And wearing the green shirt
is symbolic of everything,
in that none of it by itself
makes any sense at all,
and it has to be seen all together
for us to be able to say,
“Oh, wow.”
We have to trust ourselves
to the silence,
and to the stillness beyond the silence,
and wear the green shirt.
And do the next thing after that
that occurs to us
out of the stillness,
which also will make no sense.
Jesus dying on the cross made/makes no sense
until the resurrection
which wasn’t an actual resurrection at all,
but the realization that we all are Jesus
as only we can be Jesus,
having it made
without a chance
and laying it all on the line
again and again.
Dying and rising from the dead
again and again.
Saying, “Oh, wow,”
again and again.
Living in accord with the Tao
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
At one with Lao Tzu.
Being Lao Tzu as only we can be Lao Tzu.
Dancing with contradictions,
and dichotomies,
and polarities.
Dancing with Kairos.
Holding the bird in our hands.
Laughing.
Saying, “Oh, wow.”
All the way.
Wearing the green shirt. - 07/24/2019 — Veins 2019-06 03 — Nursery Photos, Pike’s Nursery, Charlotte, North Carolina, June 23, 2019, an iPhone photo.
People rarely–
so rare I might as well say never–
talk about their work
to align themselves
with the Tao,
with Kairos,
with themselves,
with their Self,
with their circumstances,
with the here and now of their living,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
They rarely (never)
say what they have found to be helpful
in that work,
what makes it difficult,
or ask you how it is going
with you and your work
to be so aligned.
But those who have known
have known
there is not much more to say. - 07/25/2019 — Ocracoke Lighthouse 12-10 06 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Outer Banks, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, October 26, 2012, an iPhone photo.
At first, we oscillate between fury and fear.
Angry and enraged one minute,
anxiety-ridden and terrified the next.
Exhausted by that Hell Bender of a ride,
we settle into numbness and addiction
which carries us into hopelessness and futility.
Joseph Campbell said,
“That which we seek most desperately
lies far in the very back
of the cave we most don’t want to enter.”
We know what doesn’t work,
and we know what does,
and we don’t want anything to do with it.
“We will take hopelessness and futility, thank you.
A double shot of both, every day forever!
We aren’t going into that damn cave!”
We have always had
everything we need
to know what we know
and do what needs to be done.
But.
If it takes going into that cave
to retrieve it,
forget it.
If we go into that cave,
we aren’t coming out alive
in the same life we had
when we entered.
The cave is a tomb.
And we don’t trust it
to be more than that.
Like the threshold
to life everlasting.
“Are you kidding me?
It’s a hole in the ground!
People go in and they don’t come out!
That’s because they go through!
“The only way out is the way through.”
“The shortest way through
is the long way around.”
It takes a long time
just to enter the cave.
But the entrance is everywhere.
The kitchen table will do.
Sit down.
Be quiet.
Listen.
Look.
Until you begin to see and hear
all the things that emerge in the silence.
It’s all there.
Waiting in the darkness
of that cave
for its turn at you.
Read Rumi’s “The Guest House”
for guidance on how
to handle the experience.
Here’s the short version:
Welcome it all
to come have a seat
at the table.
Make a place for everything,
“This, too. This, too…”
No more hiding.
No more denying.
“This, too. This, too…”
The grief,
the regret,
the losses,
the mistakes,
the wrong turns,
the bad choices,
the betrayals,
the failures,
the disappointments,
the pain,
the pain,
the pain…
Who you were
and who you were not,
what happened to you
and what did not happen at all…
And your guardians,
and your guides,
and your friends…
The surprising assists
when you had no reason to expect help
from anywhere.
The resilience that has kept you going
through all the reasons to quit.
The core truth of your own validity
and value
that keeps vying for your recognition
and allegiance…
Bring it all into your awreness
of the cave,
of the table.
Here we all are,
now what?
Listen, look…
See, hear…
From this point on.
We take the cave,
the table,
with us wherever we go.
We listen to our body,
to our heart (What makes your little heart sing?)
to our stomach (Those gut feelings.)
to our bones (What we know in our bones
is essential knowing.)…
We listen to our experience,
we listen to our pain,
we listen to our nighttime dreams…
We acknowledge our contradictions,
our conflicts,
our dichotomies,
our polarities,
the paradox of who we are
and also are…
We see what we look at.
We ask the questions that beg to be asked,
and say the things that cry out to be said.
We trust ourselves to do what needs to be done,
even though we don’t know why.
We follow the lead
of tugs and pulls we don’t understand,
and obey stop signs and signals
that pop up out of nowhere
without warning
or explanation.
We check with the Inner Guide
on all matters,
great and small.
We attend the silence
and the stillness,
and the emerging urges,
ideas
and realizations
that come up from the depths.
We see the cave,
the table,
as the source of life,
and know that we are not alone,
but carry the wealth of lived experience
with us wherever we go,
a well-spring of living water,
an eternal source of wisdom
and grace
for every situation
and circumstance of life.
We are many!
We are one!
All that we have feared
and hated
is with us for our good
and the best we are capable of being
and doing
throughout the time left for living.
What we thought was death
is life!
And that is not the last
of the surprises
the rest of the way
has to offer!
The cave,
the table,
is a portal
to magic unimaginable.
But.
It takes believing it is so
to know that it is. - 07/25/2019 — Catawba River 2019-07 03 — Landsford Canal State Park, Catawba, South Carolina, July 25, 2019
Kairos and Chronos are Greek words for time.
“What time is it?” is Chronos.
“What is it time for?” is Kairos.
We spend all of our time (Chronos)
wondering what time it is,
what day it is,
how much longer do we have,
etc.,
and practically none of it
wondering what it is time for.
What time (Chronos)
is the Right Time (Kairos)
to take a photograph,
go for a walk,
have a cup of coffee,
take a nap?
It all depends.
Knowing what it is time for,
and what it is not time for,
requires a kind of knowing
that comes from listening
with mindful awareness
to all things
on all levels–
and has nothing at al to do
with looking at our watch. - 07/26/2019 — Wagon Road 2019-07 01 — Landsford Canal State Park, Catawba, South Carolina, July 25, 2019 — “The Great Philadelphia Wagon Road” was first “The Great Indian Warrior Trading Path.” Let that sink in. It all began before anybody had any idea of what was beginning. It is that way with every real beginning. We never know what we are doing or where things are going. Let that sink in.
We don’t take the time
to let anything sink in.
We are always thinking and doing.
We are never looking/seeing,
listening/hearing,
reflecting/connecting
realizing/knowing
being/becoming.
We are always thinking/doing,
but rarely
thinking what needs to be thought,
or doing what needs to be done.
Our moments are consumed
by our schedule,
by our calendar,
by the clock,
by Chronos.
We have no time for Kairos.
But Kairos knows
what Chronos has forgotten.
Only the tomato knows
when it it is time to be ripe.
Only the baby knows
when it is time to be born.
We cannot schedule those things.
All of the important stuff
happens in its own time.
It would be so convenient,
wouldn’t it,
if we could make ourselves
go to sleep
when it is time to go to sleep.
Who says what time it is for sleep?
We would like to.
Like we know.
We know very little
that is worth knowing.
Like what is worth our time.
Like what is worth our life.
We are living as hard as we can
100% away from
how we need to be living.
Evidence of it is on every side–
which we ignore
and take pills
to keep going. - 07/26/2019 — Girl on a Wall 2012-12 B&W– Charlotte, North Carolina, December 18, 2012, an iPhone photo
What would it take?
What do you need?
What is missing?
What needs to disappear?
How would arrange things
in order to be content
with the way things are?
Visualizing yourself
at the center of your life,
and your zones of influence
extending outward in concentric circles
to infinity,
how far out do your circles
of contentment extend?
At what point does your life
become in need of adjustment?
At what point do changes
need to be made?
What needs to happen?
Is *that* what needs to happen?
What needs to happen? - 07/26/2019 — Anhinga 2019-05 04 — Cypress Wetlands, Port Royal, South Carolina, May 19, 2019
What is missing?
What are you seeking?
Your heart is restless,
until it rests, *where*?
How do you know
you don’t already “have” it,
and just aren’t listening/seeing?
You had it once,
and then what happened?
And, if the Bible,
and all of the other spiritual guides,
can be trusted,
“It” is seeking you!
“It” is not far off,
you don’t have to cross the sea,
or sleep on nails,
or crawl on your knees
on a pilgrimage to some holy place.
“It” is right here,
right now,
as close as your next breath.
All you have to do is breathe,
with your eyes open,
with your mind open,
sit still,
be quiet,
and wait.
For what emerges.
For what occurs to you.
Nothing could be easier.
Why is it like dying?
What are you afraid of?
What is so terrifying
about “the cave you most don’t want to enter”?
Reflect on that.
See where it takes you.
Boost your courage
and go for the ride! - 07/27/2019 — Atlantic Dawn 2010-11 01 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Outer Banks, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, November 1, 2010
The Tao is Kairos.
Kairos is the Tao.
And, both are Dharma.
And Dharma is each.
And we all are one slight
perspective shift away
from wallowing in the wonder
of all three-that-are-one
forever.
Doing the Right Thing
at the Right Time
in the Right Way.
What is it time for
here,
now?
What is keeping you
from doing it,
the way it needs
to be done?
What is trying to be born
in you–
through you–
in each moment?
When too many things
crowd into one moment,
which thing wins?
How do you determine
your priorities?
What gets your attention?
What did you dream last night?
Our dreams always
have something to say
about how we are living our life.
Dharma, Tao, and Kairos
try to get our attention
even in our dreams. - 07/27/2019 — Penobscot Bay Mooring 2010-10 01 — Stonington, Deer Isle, Maine, October 26, 2010
There are plenty of guides along the way,
but there is no one
to tell us what to do.
The bird is in our hands.
We say what it is time for now.
We say what we will do.
We say what we will think.
We say what we will believe.
We say who we will be.
And, we don’t have to be right
about any of it.
Except, but, only…
We pay for being wrong
in 10,000 ways.
And we reap the benefits
of being right
in ways past counting.
But.
We are going to do
what we are going to do.
And that’s that. - 07/27/2019 — Hatteras Sunrise 2003-10 01 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Outer Banks,
Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, October 24, 2003
Inauthentic urges
are driving the world.
Every addiction is an inauthentic urge.
Money is the addiction of the day.
No one has enough money.
Everyone wants to be wealthy.
And not just wealthy.
Wealthier than everyone else.
Addiction drives the world.
Do we know an authentic urge
when we have one?
An urge that is conducive to life?
Sunflowers turn toward the sun.
That is an authentic urge.
Authentic urges drive life.
We live in the service
of authentic urges.
Compelling urges.
I knew a camera was it for me,
and a typewriter,
from the start.
They are still a driving force
in my life
after all these years.
Authentic urges
supply us with more energy
and enthusiasm
than they demand of us.
Inauthentic urges
leave us wrung out
and hungover.
Empty,
devoid,
of life.
“You can tell ’em how it is,
Preacher,
but preaching ain’t gonna
keep ’em from having
to hit the wall.
And, how many walls it takes
depends on how hard
their head is.” - 07/28/2019 — Goodale 2015-11 01 — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, November 11, 2015
What compelling urgency
drives your life?
What compelling urgency
drives you through life?
Fear and boredom
are two popular ones.
And lethargy.
Fear is their common core.
Anger, rage and hatred
have anger as their common core.
Fear and anger couple
with the thirst for power
to drive most of what we see
going on in the world.
Power is money,
money is power,
serving fear and anger.
Wasting lives.
A life that is not wasted
would be doing what?
Serving what?
Being driven by what?
What is at the core
of a well-lived life?
I’m going for awareness
and compassion
and wonder–
with compassion at the core.
I could be wrong about that
but.
If you put me in a group
of people driven
by compassion,
awareness
and wonder,
I would be just fine forever. - 07/28/2019 — Beidler Forest 2019-06 26 Panorama — Four Hole Swamp, Francis Beidler Forest Audubon Center & Sanctuary, Harleyville, South Carolina, June 23, 2019, an iPhone photo.
Rational minds can look at the same facts
and draw different conclusions–
because they serve different interests,
because they have different reasons
for seeing as they do.
Rational minds can kid themselves
as easily as irrational minds.
Having a rational mind does not
make us self-aware,
self-transparent,
and interested in the highest good
of all concerned
with all things considered.
Rational minds can be
as greedy,
racist,
bigoted,
fascist
and addicted
to wealth and power
as irrational minds–
and better at hiding
their motives
and justifying their positions–
as/than irrational minds.
Rational-mindedness is no guarantee
of good choices
and right decisions.
The weight of the evidence
doesn’t offset our stake in the outcome.
Where can we go
to find people
who see themselves seeing
and can be up-front
about their motives
and agendas
and what they stand to gain or lose
with regard
to the decision being decided?
I want to live there!
And be like that! - 07/29/2019 — Upper Lifting Lock 2019-07 01 — Landsford Canal, Landsford Canal State Park, Catawba, South Carolina, July 25, 2019, an iPhone photo.
Paradox is the Paradigm!
We are awash in opposites
throughout our life!
The trick is to seek out our paradoxes
and bear the pain of our contradictions.
Do not hide from them!
Do not deny them!
Do not avoid them!
Walk straight into them!
They are the doorway
to the path we search for.
Remember Joseph Campbell’s maxim:
“That which you seek
lies far in the back
of the cave
you most do not want to enter.”
That’s the paradox of the cave.
All of our paradoxes
are paradoxes of the cave.
We do not want to do
what we most need to do
for reasons concealed from us.
It is only in hindsight that we see.
We drive looking in the rear-view mirror.
Saying, “Oh, wow!”
Truth is found between the hands.
On the one hand, this.
On the other hand, that.
And we make it work.
We find the way.
That is the way of The Way.
We stand it.
We take it.
We live with the weight of the agony
of “Not This! Yes This!”
And let it be
because it is.
We accommodate our irreconcilable differences.
We make our peace
with being unable to make peace
among the hostile parties
within and without,
and go about our business
as best we can–
burdened as we are
by not being able
to go about our business
because it is our business
to wrestle with opposites
all day long!
We live the conundrum.
We are the koan.
We breathe in Yin
and exhale Yang.
We ply the waters
between Scylla and Charybdis
all day every day!
And we learn to laugh,
and dance
and sing–
because, why not?
*We* are the paradox!
*This* is The Way!
And we are making our way
along The Way!
As crazy as it sounds,
and seems,
and is!
Sit with your paradoxes,
and walk two paths
at the same time! - 07/29/2019 — Silver Lake Sunset 2010-10 21 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Outer Banks, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, October 31, 2010
Living attuned to the moment
and responding appropriately
to the needs of the moment
in each moment that arises
will make the biggest difference
in the lives of others
and the life of the world
that we could possibly make.
“Eat when hungry,
rest when tired,”
means,
“Do what needs to be done,
when it needs to be done,
the way it needs to be done,
in every moment.”
“Chop wood,
carry water,”
means,
“Do what needs to be done,
when it needs to be done,
the way it needs to be done,
in every moment.”
What is it time for here, now?
That’s the only question
we need to ask,
and answer,
in every here and now,
for the rest of our life. - 07/30/2019 — Two Boats Moored 2010-09 01 — Isle au Haut, Maine, September, 2010
Carl Jung said, “There is no linear evolution;
there is only a circumambulation of the self.”
(Memories, Dreams and Reflections).
We think there is somewhere to go,
some place to get to.
There is only someone to be,
namely ourselves,
the self we are capable of being—
and we don’t become who we are directly,
but tangentially,
even accidentally,
in response to the time and place
of our living
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.
We are shaped by our circumstances–
as we shape our circumstances–
and are in relation
to the time and place
of our living
as a river is to its channel.
We are not in charge here.
We are not captains of our ship
or masters of our destiny.
We are doing our best
to discover what needs
to happen here and now,
and trusting that to lead use
to what needs to happen next,
all the way to the end of the line
which has no end.
“There is only a
circumambulation
of the self.”
Just as “one book opens another,”
so we become who we are
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
as one moment opens another.
We assist our progression
toward ourselves–
toward our Self–
by being mindfully,
compassionately,
non-judgmentally,
aware of all that is available
to our awareness
in each moment
of our living.
Waking up is being aware
of what is happening now,
and what needs to happen in response,
and doing what we can do
toward that end–
allowing that to lead us
into the next here and now,
where we do the same thing.
One moment at a time. - 07/30/2019 — Fall Reflections 2010-11 03 — Guilford County, near Greensboro, NC, November 11, 2010, the bridge is part of one of the greenway trails around Lake Brandt.
Being tuned into the moment,
this here,
this now,
positions us at the swing point,
the tuning point,
the still point,
the fulcrum,
between past and future.
Seeing the moment,
as it is–
what is happening
and what needs to happen in response–
and responding in the moment
to do what needs to be done there,
shifts the future into place
and transforms the past.
We always stand between worlds,
for better or for worse.
How well we read the moment
and respond to it,
tells the tale.
Our place is to serve the moment.
We think the moment–
and all those before and after–
is here to serve us.
We step into each moment
looking to exploit and manipulate,
dominate,
prevail
and control
in the service
of our advantage.
What needs to happen
is whatever benefits us.
Sin is being wrong
about what is important.
Repentance is
changing our mind
about what matters most.
The good of the moment
hangs in the balance
in every moment. - 07/31/2019 — Looking for Home 2010-10 2010-10 01 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, Outer Banks, North Carolina, October 27, 2010
Embracing your paradoxes
is the solution
to all of your problems today.
Everybody is awash in paradox.
On the one hand this,
on the other hand that.
All the way down.
Yin/Yang to the core.
The core is Yin/Yang.
And the Cross.
Crucifixion is the ultimate paradox.
Paradox is the ultimate reality.
Facing that truth is like death.
And, it is the doorway to life everlasting.
And, we can’t live without dying.
Again and again.
Death is life.
Life is death.
Like I said.
But.
Paradox is the key.
In embracing paradox,
we die,
and we are raised from the dead.
The people who die
with no hope of resurrection
are the people who die
refusing to face the paradoxes
at the heart of life.
Here’s one for you:
White Supremacy.
How supreme are you
if you have to kill everyone not like you
because they are a threat
to your existence?
“We gotta kill the immigrants
because they will dilute the blood.”
Oh, brother.
I have to stop and go throw up for a while.
They talk about “Blood and Soil,”
but.
It’s all symbolic of nothing.
White blood is no different from black blood.
The “soil” of white nationalism
is, theoretically, a country,
a land,
where everybody is just like them.
They have a fantasy of “just like me.”
How many times have they been married?
Or, can they find someone who will date them?
“Just like me” is a dreamland
I create because the truth is
nobody likes me,
and people “just like me”
are people nobody likes–
and truth be told,
they don’t like each other.
Put them in a dorm,
make them be roommates,
see how long it lasts.
“Soil” is dreamland.
Only in their dreams is anybody “like them.”
So, they are left with killing everybody
who is not them.
They are left alone.
That’s dying without hope
of resurrection.
That’s just death.
That’s being really dead.
When we refuse to embrace
our paradoxes,
being really dead
is all that is left.
Paradox is at the heart of life.
Life eats life.
We cannot inhale
without exhaling.
We are all looking for something
we can’t have:
A life without paradox,
or conflict,
or contradiction.
Like this sea creature,
crawling parallel to the ocean,
seeking the ocean.
So close, yet…
demanding that it be
where and what
we want it to be.
It’s “right there,” but.
We have to change our mind
about what’s important
in order to make the turn required
to find it.
We have to open our eyes,
embrace our paradoxes
and die the deaths that entails
in order to live the lives that enables. - 07/31/2019 — Stonington Harbor 2010-09 05 — Deer Isle, Maine, September 30, 2010
Nothing can happen
until silence does.
Just sit quietly,
waiting,
watching.
Silence will teach us
everything we need to know.
our place is to receive
all that comes to meet us
in the silence
with compassionate,
non-judgmental,
awareness,
in a “Well, that’s interesting,”
kind of way.
It is all grist for the mill,
and we are milling
our relationship with our Self
and our life.
If our future is to be
the redemption
and fulfillment
of our past,
we will have to change
our relationship with our life
and our Self.
That happens
as we enter the silence
and see what occurs to us–
what shifts,
what emerges,
what changes,
and what response we make.
Awareness leads the way,
and it begins in silence. - 08/01/2019 — Atlantic Sunrise 2010-10 01 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, Outer Banks, North Carolina, October 27, 2010
The story of Adam and Eve
has remained alive through the ages
because it is the story of all of us,
of each of us.
We are Adam and Eve,
and theirs is the original sin.
The only sin.
And Jesus’ death on the cross
is the atonement of that sin
and the path to redeeming it
and transcending it
throughout our future.
But.
That has nothing to do
with believing in Jesus
and being baptized in his name.
It has everything to do
with seeing things as they are
and paying the price
of a different outcome
in the Garden of Eden.
Eden is every moment.
Every moment gives us
the choice of Adam and Eve.
Do we exploit the moment,
manipulate the moment,
serve our advantage in the moment?
Or,
do we open ourselves to the moment,
listen until we hear,
look until we see,
ask the questions that beg to be asked
in order to know what’s what,
and what is happening,
and what needs to be done about it,
and summons the courage to do it
because that is what needs to be done
right here, right now,
in this moment
because Kairos
and Tao
and Dharma
declare it to be so?
In the Garden of Gethsemane,
Jesus served Kairos.
Tao
and Dharma.
And, for his trouble,
he paid for his actions
with his life.
But.
His was a death
that led to life.
If he had made a different decision,
he would have died a different death–
the death Adam and Even died in Eden–
the death that leads to just being dead.
In each moment,
something needs to happen,
and something needs to happen-not.
And we are uniquely equipped
to meet the moment
and offer what it needs us to offer
out of the gifts,
genius,
daemon,
Self
that is who we are
and what is ours to give.
Eden or Gethsemane?
In every moment,
we make the choice.
And pay the price. - 08/01/2019 — Nags Head Sunrise 2010-10 06 — Nags Head, North Carolina, Outer Banks, October 24, 2010
Everybody loves a shortcut.
Everybody is in a hurry to get there–
As though there is somewhere to get to,
something to get.
Everybody is always circumventing the Tao,
replacing the Dharma,
telling Kairos it doesn’t know what it is doing,
and installing their own version
of how things ought to be
in place of how things ought to be.
And wondering why things
are in such a mess.
“Be still,”
comes the eternal refrain,
“and know what’s what,
what is happening
and what needs to happen in response–
and summons the courage
to do what needs to be done
with the gifts,
genius,
daemon,
Self
that are yours to deploy
in the service
of what needs
what you have to offer
in each situation
as it arises,
all your life long.”
“Listen for what is being called for,
know what it is time for,
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
and act accordingly.”
“The shortest way through
is the long way around.”
“That which you seek,
lies far back
in the cave you most don’t want to enter”
(Joseph Campbell).
Hold everything in your awareness,
and see what emerges
to lead the way. - 08/02/2019 — Swan Lake 2019-07 13 — Trumpeter Swans, Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, July 5, 2019
Jesus was a walking contradiction.
Jesus raised the dead,
and Jesus left the dead
to bury the dead.
Jesus forgave a guilty woman
and cursed an innocent fig tree.
Jesus knew keeping the spirit of the law
meant breaking the letter of the law.
Jesus did what needed to be done
in one moment,
and did what needed to be done
in the next moment,
even though that may have meant
doing entirely opposite things.
“Sometimes it’s like this,”
said Jesus.
“And sometimes it’s like that.
All you have to know
is what time it is”
(Or words to that effect).
Dance with your contradictions!
Embrace your paradoxes!
Do what needs to be done–
moment-by-moment-by-moment!
That’s what Jesus meant
by having life
and having it abundantly! - 08/01/2019 — Isle au Haut 2010-09 01 — Deer Isle, Penobscot Bay, Maine, September 29, 2010
We think our problems would be solved,
and our troubles would be over,
if we knew what we wanted
and how to get it.
That’s close,
but.
Not it.
Our problems would be solved
and our troubles would be over
if we knew what TO want
and how to get it.
Knowing what TO want
is not to be confused with
what WE want.
How to want what we need to want
is not on our list
of things to want.
But, it is the only thing on the list
of what we have to want
if we want the path to open before us
and the way to lead us
to peace and joy everlasting.
Of course, there is a catch.
We will have to not mind
dying again and again
over its entire course.
So, there will be Cyclops’s,
and Sirens,
and Medusa’s
and Minotaur’s
and Scylla and Charybdis’
around every turn.
It’s the Hero’s Journey,
get it?
Hero’s get the journey
they are cut out for,
and they live to serve ends
beyond their own.
If we are looking
for smooth and easy,
we have to opt
for diversion and denial.
Peace and joy everlasting
are not our cup of tea. - 08/03/2019 — Silver Lake Sunset 2010-01 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Outer Banks, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, October 31, 2010
Something is always coming along.
The handsome stranger is always
riding into some town.
The fearsome dragon is always
making off with some precious something
(And the stranger
and the dragon
can be the same entity).
The hero in all of us is always
being stirred to life
by the situations
and circumstances
of our life.
We settle into our routines,
thinking we have everything in place,
and can sit back
and tinker around,
and the phone rings.
Hell comes calling just like that.
And our life will never be
what it was.
When the devil asks us to dance,
we dance with the devil.
We rise to meet our life
in its new configuration–
and do what can be done with it
as it now is.
We do that best
when we have cultivated
a relationship with the hero within
to the point of being grounded
on the bedrock
of resolute value
to the point of knowing
“This is who I am
and I am not going anywhere.”
If we haven’t done that work
prior to the devil ringing our doorbell,
we have to take it up
as we pick ourselves off the floor.
Who are we?
What are we about?
What is the unshakeable truth
about our life?
What about us
has always shined through?
Who have we shone
ourselves to be
through the process
of living our life?
It’s time to do it some more again.
Start in my favorite place.
Be quiet.
Sit still in the silence.
Wait,
watching,
for something to stir,
emerge,
arise.
And let that be your lodestar
guiding you through
this dark place
to some refuge
for the torn and tattered.
Where the phone will ring again.
Something is always coming along.
If we can adjust ourselves to that,
we have it made. - 08/03/2019 — Silver Lake 2010-10 02 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, Outer Banks, North Carolina, October 31, 2010
Do NOT be in a hurry—
there is no time to waste!
No time to waste
in the service
of the wrong ends,
charging in the wrong direction,
fervently doing the wrong things.
Take all the time you need
to be clear about what’s what,
and what is happening,
and what is being called for
in response.
Always the same questions:
Here we are, now what?
What needs to happen here, now?
What is it time for?
How can we assist its coming forth
with the gifts,
genius,
daemon,
perspective,
qualities,
interests,
proclivities
we possess
as a blessing and a grace
upon the time and place of our living?
These are the questions.
Not
How can we exploit this situation for our good?
Manipulate it to our advantage?
Dominate it to our everlasting glory?
But
How can we be what is needed
here and now—
in each here and now—
forever? - 08/04/2019 — Atlantic Sunrise 2010-10 01 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Outer Banks, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, October 27, 2010
I’m here to sell you on you.
Not everyone is interested,
but.
It is my business to mind your business
to the extent that I am capable
of selling you on you.
The way to you is four-fold,
thus, I call it, “The Four-Fold Way,”
or “The Four Practices.”
Silence
Stillness
Self-transparency
Mindful Awareness
The Four Practices
produce Solitude.
Solitude is not isolation.
You can experience Solitude
in the middle of a crowd.
Marianne More said,
“The cure for loneliness is solitude.”
Solitude is being alone with yourself.
It is opening yourself to yourself.
It is welcoming yourself into your awareness.
It is being aware of you.
It is embracing your paradoxes
and your contradictions,
your experiences
and your reaction to your experiences,
and all there is about you.
Compassion
and non-judgmental awareness
are the *sine qua non*
for being alone with yourself.
From solitude so experienced
flows everything.
We find everything we need in solitude
to find what we need
to be who we are
and do what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.
This is what I am selling.
And I am selling it
for the low, low, price
of taking what I have to offer.
That’s my spiel.
Take it or leave it.
You are entirely up to you. - 08/04/2019 — Nags Head Sunrise 2010-10 04 — Outer Banks, North Carolina, October 24, 2010
What are the meaningful aspects
of your life?
How often do you work them
into your life?
How fully do you allow yourself
to enjoy them?
What might you
be refusing to allow yourself
to explore
that might also be meaningful?
A day without meaning
is like,
Why? - 08/05/2019 — Nags Head Sunrise 2010-10 02 — Outer Banks, Nags Head, North Carolina, October 24, 2010
The natural world spends a lot of time waiting.
Dogs and cats and turtles, etc.
like to lie around.
When it is time
to take a break,
they take one!
We feel guilty.
Productivity is important to us.
We have to be doing something.
We don’t want to be caught
slacking off.
The Yellowstone Caldera
last blew about 630,000 years ago.
That’s taking its time.
And, it won’t blow again
until the time is right.
When it is time to take a nap,
take a nap!
Productivity is way over-rated.
How long has it been
since you’ve given yourself
a break? - 08/05/2019 — Ramsey Creek Bridge 2008-11 01 — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Greenbriar District, Cosby, Tennessee, April 17, 2008
Servants of Kairos understand
that the times
may require us
to be ahead of the times.
Prophets (Including Jesus)
called the times into question
by being ahead of their time.
They lived and spoke “out of time,”
and were thought to be crazy,
blasphemous,
heretical–
and were crucified,
burned at the stake,
tarred and feathered…
Some had doubts
about their own sanity,
second-guessed themselves,
were shunned by friends
and relatives.
To be out of step with the times
is to pay a price,
yet to be a servant
of the time that is at hand
requires exactly that.
It is a beautiful example
of paradox and contradiction
at work in our life.
The way out of paradox and contradiction
is decision.
We make a choice.
Accept the consequences.
Relax the tension.
Live in the service of our deepest loyalty
and pay the price.
If you think you can live
without paying a price
for the life you are living,
you are already paying it,
and are blaming something else
for the way things are. - 08/06/2019 — Silver Lake Sunset 2010-10 04 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Outer Banks, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, October 26, 2010
Here we are, now what?
What is it time for?
How will we deal with the day?
Out of the silence!
Out of the stillness!
In the silence of the stillness
we find all that we need
to find what we need
to do what needs to be done,
to do what needs us to do it,
In the time,
and place,
and manner
of its doing.
Solitude is a perspective
that allows/enables us
to be comfortable
with that which makes us comfortable
and with that which makes us uncomfortable,
so that we might see into the heart of things
and know what is before us
and what we need to do in response.
Solitude is “the still point of the turning world,”
the seeing-place
of mindful,
compassionate,
non-judgmental,
awareness,
where we just see,
just hear,
just know,
just understand–
and respond
with acts appropriate to the occasion.
This is to be aligned with Kairos,
in accord with Tao,
at one with Dharma,
and exactly what the moment
needs us to be.
08/07/2019 — Atlantic Sunrise 2010-10 04 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, Outer Banks, North Carolina, October 27, 2010
White grievance
is the logical extension
of white entitlement,
which is the flip side
of white privilege.
Racism in the US
is the dark side of being white.
It is as natural to white people
as not knowing
what it is like to be white.
We ARE white–
but we don’t know
what it is like to be white
because white is all we know.
And we cannot
get out of our own skins
to know what we don’t know.
Just so, we don’t know
what it is like to be racist,
because we are racist–
and cannot walk through
the world knowing
what we don’t know–
and not knowing
that we don’t know.
So.
It is best that we shut up
and listen.
And look.
And see.
And hear.
For a really long time.
The evidence is everywhere.
But.
We have to sit with it
to be able to see what we are looking at,
and hear what is being said.
To think we know
is merely being white.
- 08/08/2019 — Nags Head Sunrise 2010-10 05 — Nags Head, Outer Banks, North Carolina, October 24, 2010
We have to see what we are made of.
We have to see what we can do.
We birth ourselves every day.
We step naked into the world,
as vulnerable as a baby from the womb,
and see what will come our way today,
and see what we will do with it today.
But.
We are not alone.
We have 200,000 years
of ancestors packed into our DNA.
That’s a lot of people!
Whose experience we can draw on
in coming to terms
with our own life situation.
We have an unconscious
(So-called because we
are not conscious of it)
that encompasses all of life.
We could spend more time than we do
getting to know who all we are,
and learning to rely
on our instinct and intuition
in finding our way through each day.
The stillness
and the silence
are filled with the wonder
of what has always been called “God.”
We have a Circle of Shaman within,
primed to meet whatever challenge
the day throws at us.
It only takes sitting still
and being quiet
to access the inner guides
and feel our way
into what needs to be done
here
and now–
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
Kairos,
Tao,
Dharma,
Flow,
Grove
and Grace
are the grounding forces of life
moving within us,
living through us,
asking us to dance with them
every day.
As it was in the beginning,
is now
and ever shall be.
Do we dance with it or not? - 08/09/2019 — Mormon Row Barn 2011-06 12 HDR — Grand Teton National Park, Jackson, Wyoming, June 26, 2011
Things are as they are
because it would be too painful
for them to be different.
Look around.
What you see is the compromise
between what we want
and the price we are willing to pay
to have it.
Sit down for this.
The price of the spiritual journey,
the price of growing up all the way,
the price of our maturation,
the price of our wholeness,
wellness,
fulfillment
and completion,
is more than we are willing to pay.
Let me put it another way.
The price of the spiritual journey, etc.,
is the reconciliation of our opposites,
paradoxes,
contradictions
and conflicts–
and the integration of those
that cannot be reconciled,
but must be borne
in conscious, painful, awareness,
every step along the way.
I want to be the best father
in all the world,
and I do not want to be a father
at all.
Etc.
Let me be blunt.
We are the source of good and evil.
In the world before human beings,
that is before thinking beings,
that is before beings who could
think about their thinking,
and live transparent to themselves–
before conscious beings
being conscious–
there was neither good nor evil.
Things were just what they were.
There was better and worse.
Better for the lion
was worse for the antelope,
but nobody cursed the lion for being evil,
or praised the antelope for being good.
We brought those concepts into play
when we entered the picture.
We divided the world into dichotomies,
into categories.
We created judgement and classification.
That is what thinking does.
Thinking thinks about “this”
in relation to “that.”
If “this” weren’t different
from “that”
we could not think about it.
We could not see it.
“This” would BE “that.”
We think by way of analogy
and comparison,
and by making associations.
We see by finding the differences
between things,
the edges,
the boundaries–
by separating things
and sorting things
according to what makes them
similar or unique.
Better and worse
easily become good and evil
because easy does it for us.
We like our distinctions sharp
and crisp.
We don’t want blurry lines.
Our enemies are EVIL
and we are GOOD.
We say of our enemies,
“It’s people like you
who make people like us
hate people like you!”
And we ignore the traits
in our friends,
and in ourselves,
that we hate in others
but dismiss in our friends
and in ourselves.
All of our dichotomies are false dichotomies.
“There is so much bad in the best of us,
and so much good in the worst of us,
that it doesn’t behoove any of us
to talk about the rest of us.”
But talking about *them* is what we do best.
What would we talk about
if it weren’t for *them*?
What does thinking about *them*
keep us from thinking about?
Racism is seeing *them*
as fundamentally different from *us,*
and evil, as well.
People of color are denigrated,
disparaged
and derided as being less than human.
We say they are invading “our” country
and taking over “our” world.
They are denied rights and privileges
that belong only to people like “us,”
who are good and deserving
of everything we want.
Our enemies save us from seeing ourselves.
Good and evil exists within
and is projected without
because it is painful
and too much trouble
to deal with the mixed feelings,
the ambivalence,
the contradictions within.
We cannot become whole
without integrating what cannot be reconciled
within ourselves.
We have to resolve our paradoxes
by deciding how we are going
to live our life–
by choosing what we do–
regardless of how we feel.
The human thing about us
is our ability to transcend
how we feel
in order to do what needs to be done
in light of the best that can be imagined–
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.
This is called
“Living Transparent To Ourselves–
And In Light Of The Values
That Make Us Human.”
Raw evil has no vestige of good within,
and cares not for anything other
than its own wishes and desires,
at the expense of whomever
is in its way.
The best people know exactly
what they are capable of,
and override their worst tendencies
in service to the true good
of themselves AND all others.
The best people love their neighbors–
all their neighbors–
as they love themselves,
knowing all the time
who they all also are.
And they are always, always,
aware of the slippery slope,
the dangerous path,
the razor’s edge
they walk on
in balancing the opposites
that live within.
Bearing our pain
is carrying our cross,
is saving ourselves and the world.
And we all would gladly do it,
if it weren’t so hard. - 08/09/2019 — Rockport Harbor 2009-10 01 — Rockport, Maine, October 10, 2009
Enlightenment is putting two and two together.
Putting two and two together
is also seeing where two and two diverge,
split,
separate,
assert their individuality,
their uniqueness,
their independence–
and, yet, holding two and two together
nonetheless
in the field of awareness
where all things are one.
This is called
“Integrating The Opposites.”
It is also called,
“Balancing The Contradictions.”
And, it is also called,
“Walking The Slippery Slope,
The Dangerous Path,
The Razor’s Edge.”
And, it is also called,
“Bearing The Pain Of Self-Transparency–
Which Is The Pain Of Being Alive.”
This is why even people
who seek enlightenment
don’t want to have anything
to do with it. - 08/09/2019 — Caterpillar Hill 2009-10 01 — Sedgwick, Maine, October 14, 2009
The situation dictates
our response to the situation.
There is no plan
for defeating our enemies,
ushering in the Kingdom of Everlasting Peace,
and sleeping well through every night.
The people with a plan
are Those Who Know Best,
and if everyone would only listen to them
it all would be well.
But.
They don’t have a plan
for getting everyone to listen to The Plan.
And that is the kink in the hose.
We step into each moment
and listen to the moment.
What is happening?
What needs to happen in response?
What *can* happen in response?
What is keeping that from happening?
How can we assist that in happening?
Do it.
That will lead to,
or flow into,
the next moment,
where we repeat the same process
through all the moments
left in our life.
If you can find a better plan
than having no plan,
knock yourself out. - 08/09/2019 — High Tide 2009-10 01 HDR — Deer Isle near Stonington, Maine, October 14, 2009
We see what we see
because of what we have seen.
We are who we are
because of who we have been.
Where we come from
makes all the difference.
No!
What we do about it
makes all the difference.
But, we are always who we are
because of it.
We cannot erase it,
or escape where we have been.
We live today to redeem the past
and transform the future–
by being conscious,
by being mindfully aware,
of where we have been
and how it has impacted us.
and deliberately living against the grain
of built-in,
automatic,
responses.
How consciously—
how mindfully,
compassionately,
non-judgmentally
aware—
we are of our place
in each moment
between what has been
and what will be
has an impact far greater
than we can imagine.
As we live as servants of Kairos,
in accord with the Tao,
aligned with dharma,
aware of what it is time for,
here, and now,
we become agents pf change,
radically altering the possibilities
and transforming the circumstances
flowing from the moment in each moment.
We can only trust that it is so,
and live as though it is. - 08/10/2019 — Pamlico Sound Sunset 2011-10 01 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, Outer Banks, North Carolina, October 26, 2011
We have to suffer it through!
It is a variety of childbirth
men can experience.
It is hell.
It is death and resurrection.
And death and resurrection.
Are we dying to live,
or living to die?
Birth and death,
birth and death.
Death and birth,
death and birth…
The spiritual journey.
AKA the hero’s journey.
AKA the path to maturity.
AKA Growing Up.
When do we stop traveling?
When do we just relax
and enjoy our life?
What’s it all about?
It’s about the rhizome.
The flowers think
it is all about the flowers.
It is all about the rhizome.
The flowers think
it is about the trials
and ordeals
of life.
Gotta have water!
Where is the rain!
Why is it taking so long?
Gotta have sunlight!
Why is there nothing but clouds?
Where is the sun, the sun?
All these bugs!
They are eating my leaves!
Spider Mites!
Whose idea was Spider Mites?
Oh NO!
They are coming to pick our blossoms!
Oh, life is so short!
What’s it all about???
Season after season,
it’s the same song and dance.
Flowers seeking meaning and purpose,
a reason to go on.
Wilting, dying, going to ground.
Coming, going.
Coming, going.
Year in and year out.
Why?
Why?
The rhizome knows.
The rhizome has its reasons
the flowers know not of.
The flowers have their place,
the rhizome has its place.
The flowers have their business,
the rhizome has its business.
The flowers work their side of the street.
The rhizome works its side of the street.
The flowers have to trust themselves
to the rhizome–
of which they know nothing–
by doing what is theirs to do,
season after season,
year in and year out.
What is yours to do?
Do it!
The way it needs you to do it!
The way it needs to be done!
Through all of the
trials and ordeals,
the births and deaths,
of your life!
In each moment of your living!
What is being asked of you
here, now?
Do it!
But, the bugs! The bugs! - 08/10/2019 — Lake Mattamuskeet 2010-10-01 — Hyde County, North Carolina, October 24, 2010
It’s the body of work.
That is what we are here for.
That is what we are about.
We are assimilating
a body of work.
Throw us into
any combination
of situations and circumstances,
and we get to work,
being,
expressing,
exhibiting,
bringing forth,
discovering
who we are
through what we do
and how we do it
within the situations and circumstances
of our life.
“What I do is me/for that I came.”
(Gerard Manley Hopkins)
In all of the situations and circumstances
of our life
up to this point
we have shown ourselves
to be who we are.
We are the one factor
in the equation
that is our life
through all of the fluctuating
turmoil and upheaval
of the times and places
of our living.
We shine through.
We stand out.
“We are who we have been,
and who we will be.”
(Carl Jung).
We are our body of work.
You might think we would be
more consciously,
intentionally,
deliberately,
mindfully,
faithfully
at work in the production–
in the creation–
of what we add
to the moment
of our living.
We are going to add something
to each moment.
Why not do it with purpose?
Consideration?
Deliberation?
Why live mindlessly?
Why not be the active agent
in composing and arraigning
the body of work
we leave behind? - 08/10/2019 — Goodale 2019-08 07 Panorama — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, August 10, 2019
“Synchronicity” is Carl Jung’s term
for “meaningful coincidence.”
You miss your flight,
and standing in line
for a cup of coffee,
you meet your spouse-to-be.
The old word for synchronicity
is “grace.”
We are “graced” by events happening
“out of the blue”
to lift us above the mayhem
and transport us to the wonderful world
of Who Would Believe It?
Synchronicity/grace are characteristic
of lives lived in accord with the Tao,
aligned with Dharma,
at one with Kairos.
What is it time for?
If we live to answer that question
instead of powering our way
through every moment
to make things happen
like we want them to happen,
we will get a cup of coffee
instead of haranguing the airline
to get us on the next flight NOW! - 08/11/2019 — Two Barns 2019-08 02 — Kershaw County, South Carolina, August 10, 2019
We live in different places,
economically,
socially,
culturally,
spiritually…
We are separated
by the 10,000 things.
We will never see eye-to-eye
about everything,
or even every important thing.
Getting us together
means getting us “together.”
But.
“Together” is good.
I don’t have to like baseball
to support your right to like baseball.
You don’t have to like
grilled cheese and dill pickle sandwiches
to support my right to like
grilled cheese and dill pickle sandwiches.
In spite of our differences,
we are bound together
by the other 10,000 things.
And can grant each other
the right to be different
in the other 10,000 ways.
That is one of the ways
we are the same.
No matter how different we are,
our work is the same work.
When we are properly engaged
in that work,
we all step into the next moment
and do what needs us to do it there,
the way only we can do it.
If the baby’s diaper needs to be changed,
we change the baby’s diaper.
In order to do the work that needs
us to do it,
we have to be alike
in how we approach each moment.
We have to see the moment.
We have to be present in the moment.
We have to be open to the moment.
We have to receive the moment
with compassionate,
non-judgmental,
mindful awareness,
so that there is nothing
between us and the moment,
and we are available to the moment
as the moment is available to us.
This is to live aligned with Kairos,
in accord with the Tao,
at one with Dharma.
The degree to which we are able
to do this
in every moment
positions us to do right
by the moment,
and that positions us
to do right by one another,
no matter how different we are. - 08/11/2019 — Nooks and Crannies 2019-08 01 — At the edge of the 22-acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina, August 02, 2019
We all have our own associations.
Our associations are unique to us.
Our associations set us apart,
and make us who we are.
Our associations are what they are
because we are who we are.
We are to our associations
as the river is to its channel,
as the river’s channel is
to the river.
Our associations to the word “mother,”
have a lot to do with who we are,
and who we are not.
Our associations determine
what something means to us–
*is* what something means to us.
If we have no associations with something
that something means nothing to us.
What do we associate with the word “mother”?
Ask that question of every word.
Answer it fully.
There you are.
What something means to us
depends exclusively upon
the associations we make with the thing.
When we examine our associations,
we see the thing differently
just because we are looking at it
in terms of its associations with us.
We are “getting a handle on it.”
We are seeing it
as though for the first time.
When we see a thing
*and* see our associations with the thing,
we *see* it
and *see* ourselves seeing it,
and we respond/react to it differently
than we have always responded/reacted to it.
Nothing is the same
once we see it
in light of our associations with it.
We generally walk through
the world of things
carrying ten billion associations
with us about a lot of the things,
completely unaware of how and way
we are being impacted
by the things we walk past
seeing-without-seeing.
Seeing-without-seeing
is the source of all our problems.
Invisible associations
are making a mess of our life.
If you want to get to the bottom
of something,
get to the bottom of all of your associations.
Boom!
Like that,
all things are new!
Did I just say, “Boom!”?
What do you associate with that word? - 08/11/2019 — Francis Beidler Forest 2019-06 15 — The Meeting Tree, Four Hole Swamp, Francis Beidler Forest Audubon Center & Sanctuary, Harleyville, South Carolina, June 23, 2019, an iPhone photo.
No matter how different we are,
there are common agreements
that hold us all together.
For instance,
we have to agree
to step beyond ourselves–
beyond our wants, wishes, preferences, desires, interests, etc.–
in doing what needs to be done,
in doing what needs us to do it.
The laws of living well bind us all.
Here is one of them:
Joseph Campbell put it in these words,
“That which you seek
lies far in the back
of the cave you most don’t want to enter.”
We grow up against our will.
If we aren’t growing up,
we are dead
even though we are 98.6
and breathing.
We grow up throughout our life,
until we are no longer 98.6
and breathing.
We have to do what we do not want to do
in order to do what needs us to do it.
If we refuse to do what needs us to do it,
we betray ourselves,
fail to serve the purpose for which we were born,
reject the role that is ours to play
and the life that is ours to live.
The good news is
that we can turn all of that around
by changing our mind
about what is important,
and entering the cave we most want to avoid.
Again and again,
throughout our life. - 08/12/2019 — Bison Morning 2011-06 02 — Mormon Row, Great Teton National Park, Jackson Wyoming, June 26, 2011
Two principles,
when fully understood
and faithfully applied,
will transform your life
for the better
in no time at all,
geographically speaking.
1) The river flows best
when it remains in its channel.
Find what your channel is
and stay in it.
2) All rivers are constantly
altering their channels.
Attend your channel
and allow it to change
as needed
to carry your flow.
What is your channel?
What is your flow?
Where do you think you are going?
Where is your life carrying you?
Are you in your channel
or out of it?
How long has it been
since you altered your channel?
What are you doing with your life?
Is what you are doing with your life
commensurate with your business,
or at odds with your business?
Where do you belong?
Where do you have no business being?
What business are you in? - 08/12/2019 — Three Girls Swinging 2012-12-18 01 B&W — Ballantyne Park, Charlotte, North Carolina, December 18, 2012, an iPhone photo
Once the fear of losing our advantage
takes hold of us,
we have lost our advantage.
An advantage is a burden
and a deficit
when we have to guard it,
protect it,
and try to use it
to gain an even greater advantage.
The only advantage
of an advantage,
from this perspective,
is to parlay it
into an ever-increasing advantage.
“The best becomes the enemy of the good”
when it prevents us
from serving any end
beyond the total accumulation of everything.
We are capable of seeing logically
how absurd this is,
but emotionally,
we are forever trapped
in the cycle
of endless gain.
We hold back,
waiting for a more opportune time
to make our move.
There is always the possibility
of an even greater gain,
if we only wait for additional
factors to fall in place.
This is the Gambler’s Dilemma.
We avoid it by refusing to see ourselves
as a gambler with something at stake
beyond the good of the moment,
here and now.
What is the moment calling for?
What is it time for?
What time is at hand?
What is crying out
for what we have to offer?
Pay the fare.
Ride the ride. - 08/12/2019 — Beidler Forest 2019-06 04 — Four Hole Swamp, Francis Beidler Forest Audubon Center & Sanctuary, Harleyville, South Carolina, June 23, 2019, an iPhone photo.
For over 75 years
we have known
that we cannot get
to the bottom of any of it,
physically or spiritually.
We do not know the primary cause,
or if there is one.
All we know are appearances.
We know what we see,
what we sense,
what we intuit,
what we imagine,
but.
The more we probe our instincts,
or the instincts of any life-form,
the more we know
that we don’t know.
There is more to us
than meets the eye–
any eye.
Where did it originate?
We don’t know.
We don’t know if it originated at all.
Perhaps it always “is.”
We can calculate how many
billions of years it has been
since The Big Bang, but.
We have no way of knowing
how many Big Bangs there have been.
It could be there have always been Big Bangs.
And always will be.
What are we trying
to get to the bottom of?
What do we hope to know?
How will that help us with our life?
What help do we need with our life?
What are we to do with our life?
How do we know?
Instead of thinking about it,
I suggest that we simply listen to it.
That we listen to our life.
Take up the practice
of listening to your life.
Regularly,
consistently,
dependably.
Be faithful to your life.
What would that mean?
How would we practice
being faithful to our life?
What would “Due Diligence” mean
with regard to our life?
What does our life need from us?
That is what we need
to be figuring out.
Not where we come from,
but where we go from here.
Here we are–
now what?
And what resources are built-into
each of us
that we can count on
in answering the question
of what to do with our life?
Birds pop out of the egg
knowing how to build a nest
and how to find their way
to wherever their breeding grounds are.
They come equipped for the life
they will live.
Human beings come equipped
for the life they will live.
We only have to tune into
the resources packed within our DNA
connecting us to the universal mind
at the bottom of it all.
And get to work.
Living our life. - 08/13/2019 — Goodale 2019-08 05 Panorama — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, August 10, 2019
Being right about what is important
is the most important thing.
Being right about what is important
is as easy
as realizing when you are wrong
about what is important,
and changing your mind.
Joseph Campbell said,
“We know when we are on the beam
and when we are off the beam.”
That’s all the guidance we need.
Knowing we are off the beam
is a signal
indicating that we are wrong
about what is important.
It’s time to change our mind
about what is important.
And get back on the beam.
What is hard about this?
Why aren’t we just sailing right along?
And if it is difficult for us,
all we have to do is what is hard.
We’ve been doing that for some time now.
We just keep doing it,
change our mind about what is important,
get back on the beam,
and sail right along.
What? - 08/14/2019 — Beidler Forest 2019-06 28 Panorama — Four Hole Swamp, Francis Beidler Forest Audubon Center & Sanctuary, Harleyville, South Carolina, June 23, 2019, an iPhone photo
Art Linkletter’s daughter
died from jumping out a window,
but
was it suicide,
or was she high,
thinking she could fly?
We don’t know.
But
we do know
she told her therapist
a few days before her death,
“I want so bad for somebody to know me!”
And Joseph Campbell steps into the scene
with, “That which we seek
lies far in the back
of the cave we most don’t want to enter.”
Money, sex, drugs and alcohol
are popular ways
of avoiding the cave.
Death lies in the back of them all.
Every escape leads
to what we most want to avoid.
“We meet our fate
on the road we take to evade it.”
What is the hunger that drives us
to money, sex, drugs and alcohol?
What are we trying to find
in every way other
than the cave
we most don’t want to enter?
Could it have something to do with
“I want so bad for somebody to know me!”?
But
It isn’t as though we know ourselves
and want to share the goodness of who we are
with somebody else,
is it?
*We* want so bad to know who we are,
don’t we?
But
We don’t want to go into the cave
containing what we seek.
What do we fear we will find?
What do we hunger for?
What are we afraid of?
Could it be the same thing?
We are what we seek.
But.
We are afraid of what we will find.
It comes down to this:
*We have to bear the pain.*
All of our problems stem from
refusing to bear the pain
of our life,
of living a life that is not our life to live
because we are afraid of the pain
of knowing who we are
and what life needs us to live it.
We are afraid we won’t measure up,
that we will be disappointed,
that there is nothing there.
We are the yeast in the dough,
the light under the basket,
the seed in the earth…
the pearl of great price,
the treasure hidden in the field,
the cornerstone tossed onto the pile of rubble.
It is all there,
tucked away inside
of each of us,
waiting for us to take the chance,
to risk it all,
and step into the cave
we most don’t want to enter. - 08/14/2019 — Beidler Forest 2019-06 30 Panorama — Four Hole Swamp, Francis Beidler Forest Audubon Center & Sanctuary, Harleyville, South Carolina, June 23, 2019, an iPhone photo
What do you hate, despise, detest about your life.
Not about your neighbors,
your country,
your circumstances,
your situation,
but your life.
What do you hate, etc., about
the things that are asked of you
by your life–
that are required/demanded of you
by your life?
What do you hate etc., about
what it takes to get through a day?
Here’s what you do about it:
Bear it graciously.
Bear it gallantly.
Deal with it,
do it,
without moaning,
complaining,
hating it,
even noticing it.
Is it mowing the grass?
Just mow the grass.
Is it cleaning the toilet?
Just clean the toilet.
Is it going to the dentist?
Just go to the dentist.
Just do all of the things
that must be done in a day,
in a week, month, year, lifetime.
Make no noise about it.
Make no faces about it.
Make no hand gestures about it.
Do it graciously,
gallantly.
Starting now. - 08/15/2019 — Beidler Forest 2019-06 33 — Four Hole Swamp, Francis Beidler Forest Audubon Center & Sanctuary, Harleyville, South Carolina, June 23, 2019, an iPhone photo
We have to come to terms
with new limits and restrictions,
conflicts,
contradictions
and paradoxes
all our life long.
We are always having to negotiate compromises
between how things are
and how we want them to be–
and figuring out
how to live with things we don’t want
anything to do with.
It helps to be crystal clear
about what keeps us going.
We serve the bedrock,
the rhizome.
If we don’t have a clue
about what that is,
we have to change
our relationship with our life
to find out.
Life is not where we get what we want,
have what we want
and do what we want.
Life is where we shine though
no matter what.
Life is the context
in which we show our stuff.
It can’t get so bad
that we can’t be who we are.
The worse it gets,
the quieter we become,
strengthening our ties
with the bedrock,
with the rhizome–
with the source
of meaning and purpose
which upholds us in,
and carries us through,
all the conditions
and circumstances
of our life.
There is that which sustains us
in the absence of all reasons
to go on–
but.
It requires an unflagging faith in,
and faithfulness to,
“the undefined and undefinable”
to know that it is so.
This is the bedrock,
the rhizome,
that is at the core
of life and being,
which supports and encourages us
beyond all logic and reason,
but is grounded upon
and flows from,
a source of knowledge
that defies explanation.
We “just know”
that nothing can happen to us
that we can’t meet straight-on,
standing on our own two feet
with nothing to lose
and everything riding
on how we respond
to the experience
of being awash
upon the heaving waves
of the wine dark sea.
This, from Homer,
writing 2,500 years ago.
In the Odyssey, he has Odysseus say:
“I will stay with it and endure through suffering hardship–
and once the heaving sea has shaken my raft to pieces, - then I will swim.”
Words from the bedrock–
from the rhizome–
from one who knows
whereof he speaks. - 08/16/2019 — Girl on a Bull 2012-12 02 Ballantyne Office Park, Charlotte, North Carolina, December 18, 2012
97% of all of our problems would just disappear
if we sat tight long enough
for the shift to happen.
Everything changes eventually.
Can we wait it out
is the question.
We will have to suffer it through
one way or another.
Every solution has ramifications.
Our dilemma is usually
trying to decide
which choice is less bad.
Sitting tight is one choice
that doesn’t always get its due.
There are some things
we can’t sit through,
and some things we can.
Knowing which is which
is the key.
Savvy comes from sitting
with things
until we can see them
for what they are.
Then the way is clear.
We can depend on ourselves
to act spontaneously
in the service of the good
once the good is plain before us.
We can trust ourselves to act
when the time for acting
is upon us.
If we can sit tight,
sit tight.
We kid ourselves a lot about the good.
We talk ourselves into a good
that isn’t good at all
way too often.
Sitting tight helps the good stand out.
When we find ourselves acting
without even thinking about it,
we can trust ourselves
to know what we are doing
even when we don’t know
what we are doing.
If we can sit tight,
sit tight.
If we have to act,
act.
We will have to suffer it through
one way or another.
Once we can settle ourselves
into suffering it through,
we can deal with anything.
It is trying to avoid suffering
that is the real problem. - 08/16/2019 — Beidler Forest 2019-06 32 — Four Hole Swamp, Francis Beidler Forest Audubon Center & Sanctuary, Harleyville, South Carolina, June 23, 2019, an iPhone photo
I have noticed that people generally speaking
have a certain way of saying,
“That’s not the way I want you to be!”
Maybe, you’ve noticed the same thing.
People have their ideas about
how I should be,
and I have my own ideas
about how I should be,
and we are always
negotiating the differences.
Or not.
Since I retired,
I have enjoyed
being able to reduce
the number of places
I have to negotiate the differences.
That enables me
to devote more time and attention
to “just being,”
without having to spend
so much time and attention
to “being pleasing.”
The fewer people I’m engaged with,
the less pleasing I have to be.
That leads me to wonder
why more people don’t
realize how much they require
other people to please them,
and simply stop needing to be pleased.
We all might enjoy being with people
who didn’t need us to please them.
I don’t know how to tell them that
without displeasing them. - 08/16/2019 — Mormon Row Barn 2011-06 02 — Grand Teton National Park, Jackson, Wyoming, June 24, 2011
When I think of my life,
I think,
“What are the chances?”
It is all such a wondrous collection
of propitious events.
I couldn’t have designed it.
It is completely beyond being
agendaized.
The more agendaized our lives are,
the less worth living they are.
The more things are
as they are “supposed to be,”
the less they are as they need to be.
Live it as it needs to be lived,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
And let the outcome be the outcome.
With little in the way of opinion
and nothing in the way of judgment
and degradation.
We have our ideas for our life,
and our life has its ideas for itself.
Which set of ideas
has our unwavering support
tells the tale. - 08/16/2019 — Girl on a Bull 2012-12 01 — Ballantyne Office Park, Charlotte, North Carolina, December 18, 2012
Instead of trying to keep myself safe,
I trust myself to deal appropriately
with whatever comes along.
Donald Trump and his minions
are of the opinion
that the only way keep ourselves safe
is to build a wall
and get rid of all the Undesirables,
and then arm everyone with two dozen guns each.
Then, and only then, will we be safe.
A note on the Undesirables.
The Undesirables are also called the Untouchables
throughout history.
Jesus said, “In as much as you have done it,
or failed to do it,
to the least of the Undesirables,
you have done it,
or failed to do it,
to me.
Jesus identified himself with the Undesirables,
with the Untouchables,
and said, “Come, follow me.”
If you are one of Donald Trump’s fans,
you can follow Donald Trump,
or you can follow Jesus,
but you cannot follow both.
Now, back to being safe.
The only way to be safe
is to be confident that you can handle
whatever comes your way.
Life is always throwing things at us–
always throwing unexpected things at us.
Our place is to get up,
go meet it,
and dance with it.
We can do that only
if we are grounded in our own truth,
our own values,
our own identity,
knowing “what is me”
and “what is not me,”
and responding to everything
out of the way “we would do it,”
out of our own authority,
out of our own sense
of what needs to be done.
And trusting ourselves to respond
to the situation that flows there.
If we screw up,
we trust ourselves to fix it up,
as best we can,
and go on from there.
Right is what works.
And we are all perfectly capable,
else we would not have made it
this far in our life,
of figuring out what will work
in a situation
and doing it–
and if we are wrong,
and it doesn’t work,
then we can trust ourselves
to figure out what will work
in *that* situation,
and do it…
With that orientation
and attitude
we can dance with anything
our life brings us,
and live safely in any circumstance
that comes along. - 08/17/2019 — Nursery Photo 2019-08 01 — Pike Nursery, Charlotte, North Carolina, August 3, 2019, and iPhone photo
We cannot be intimate
if we will not be vulnerable.
Our refusal to be vulnerable
is the cause of all of our problems.
We cannot be alive
if we will not be vulnerable.
What? Us be vulnerable?
Vulnerability implies the willingness to suffer.
“Thou Shalt Not Suffer!”
is our No. 1 Commandment.
“No Pain! No Pain! Ever!”
Everything about us is
about pain avoidance.
That is a problem
because our life
requires us to suffer it through.
One thing after another.
There is no growing up
without suffering.
“Trials and ordeals, Kid,
trials and ordeals.”
That means no growing up for us.
“You can take your growing up
and toss it in the burning barrel!”
And where does that leave us?
With bearing the pain
of our refusal to grow up.
We will suffer through something.
That is the fundamental law of existence.
“Life is suffering,”
said the Buddha.
“Man is born to trouble
as the sparks fly upwards,”
said Job.
We will suffer through to something.
We will suffer through our life
to life or to death.
Refusing to suffer means suffering.
We can do what is hard,
or we can do it the hard way.
It is going to be hard,
one way or another.
How we choose to suffer
makes all the difference.
Do we suffer by embracing suffering,
by accepting suffering,
and suffering through
the legitimate suffering
that comes our way?
Or,
do we suffer by refusing to suffer,
by running from suffering–
and suffer through the suffering
caused by our escaping suffering
with denial, diversion, distraction
all our life long?
“You can pay me now,
or you can pay me later,
but pay me you will.”
Suffering is the price we pay to be alive.
How alive we actually are
during the time of our living,
depends on how willing we are
to pay the price,
shoulder our burden,
accept our lot
and live the life that is ours to live
as fully as possible
moment-by-moment-by-moment
all our life long.
No. Matter. What.
Jesus was talking vulnerability
when he said,
“Pick up your cross every day,
and follow me.”
How vulnerable we are willing to be
is the measure
of how alive we are going to be. - 08/17/2019 — Beidler Forest 2019-06 23 Panorama — Four Hole Swamp, Francis Beidler Forest Audubon Center & Sanctuary, Harleyville, South Carolina, June 23, 2019, an iPhone photo
From the beginning,
human beings have sought
to escape the reality of their life.
The slippery slope,
the dangerous path,
like a razor’s edge
runs along the line
separating how things are
from how we want things to be,
from how we wish they were.
Col. Nathan R. Jessup nails us with his,
“You Can’t Handle The Truth!”
Who have you known
who has walked into life as it is,
straight up,
every day,
laughing,
saying,
“Come on! Show me what you got!
I’m still here!
I’m still laughing!
You haven’t touched me yet,
and you are never going to touch me ever!”?
There have been a few in my lifetime,
but.
Not nearly enough.
Why not?
Why do we run
from the experience of being alive?
Why don’t we step into the day,
each day,
and see what we can do with it,
and let that be that?
Why do we take pain and suffering
so seriously?
Why do we let them
have our life? - 08/18/2019 — Lotus Flowers 2019-08 01 — Nursery Photos, Pike Nursery, Charlotte, North Carolina, August 3, 2019
If sex is all you have to look forward to,
you can fill in the rest of this sentence
in 10,000 ways–
none of which are going to change your mind
about the place of sex in your life.
I have never changed anyone’s mind
about what is important,
and do not expect to do so ever
in what remains
of my time left for living.
Those of you who know that awareness
of all that we are capable
of being aware of,
without judgment
and with compassion,
in each situation as it arises
is the most important thing,
live in a world
that is completely different
than those of you who think
sex is the only thing that matters.
I am disgusted
that sex is the only thing that matters
to so many people
in position to make
the kind of difference
that needs to be made
in the world-as-a-whole
and who dismiss that
for sex at any price
with the sexiest partner
they can find
as often as possible.
If sex is all you have to look forward to,
there is no point in finishing this sentence
because you are lost to the possibility
of anything mattering
more than sex.
And that is as inexcusable
as it is disgusting. - 08/18/2019 — Beidler Forest 2019-06 34 — Four Hole Swamp, Francis Beidler Forest Audubon Center & Sanctuary, Harleyville, South Carolina, June 23, 2019, an iPhone photo
Stephen Miller needs to hear-with-understanding two things:
“I desire mercy and not sacrifice!”
“Strive to do no harm!”
If mercy (compassion) is God’s highest value,
we have no excuse for thinking anything else
is acceptable as our highest value.
If doing nothing to make things worse
has been the operative goal
of those whose life
is the good of all living things
for nearly 3,000 years,
we can’t do better than living
to serve it ourselves–
and anything less than that
is a blight upon the world.
People in position to make things better
have to strive to make things better–
and certainly have to make nothing worse–
for all living things.
Stephen Miller may well be
beyond being able to grasp that
and apply it in his position in his life,
but.
The rest of us have to grasp it
and apply it
as we are able
throughout our life
in the time we have left for living. - 08/19/2019 — Susans 2019-08 01 — Nursery Photos, Pike Nursery, Charlotte, North Carolina, August 3, 2019
My life improved immensely
with retirement,
primarily because I was able
to reduce complexity and complication.
Taking a vow of solitude
helped with that significantly.
My social obligations disappeared
along with my employment responsibilities,
leaving family
and the day-to-day interactions
required to tend
the business of the day
as all I have to attend.
Television is also a thing of the past,
leaving me
with cooking,
reading,
writing,
photography
and watering the lawn
for ways I spend my time.
Complexity and complication
are not so much a problem
these days.
And I relish that.
Drama has also fallen away,
except for that revolving
around the political circus
and the “What Are We Going To Do Now?”
wheel of fortune and pain.
So, I am able to consider my prospects
and bide my time
without being pushed or pulled
while juggling more than I can manage.
Which offers the freedom
and opens the possibility
of reflecting regularly
upon what I take to be
the most important question
of existence:
What to do when?
This is quite different
from the press
of the work-a-day-world
where everything
has to be done NOW!
What are the complexities
and complications
that keep you from considering
what needs to be done when,
in terms of your own
internal stability
and well-being?
What do *you* need to do when?
Awareness of these things
is a gyroscope,
assisting you in balancing
your needs
with the needs of your life
and your world.
Awareness goes with you on the go,
simply by being aware
of yourself going,
and helps to slow down
the things coming at you
by allowing you to see what you look at
and dance with the flow of the day,
while you wait
for the grace of retirement,
when time can become
the waters of life
in a parched
and barren land. - 08/19/2019 — Goodale 2019-08 09 — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina, August 10, 2019
When I look at you,
I see me.
This is a fundamental psychological law.
You do not see me.
You see you.
I do not see you.
I see me.
The failure to understand
what we are seeing
when we look
is the underlying cause
of divorce world-wide.
We go into marriage
thinking we are marrying ourselves
without being aware
of what we are doing,
and discover too late
that we did not marry ourselves.
We do indeed need to marry ourselves
before we can marry someone else,
but.
No one tells us that,
and how are we to know
without someone to interpret for us
what’s what
and what needs to be done about it?
Here is what’s what:
We need to marry ourselves first,
and actually be who we are
in order to be able to marry anyone.
What attracts us in another
is what we need to bring to life
in ourselves.
We need to “marry” that!
We need to become what we seek,
what pulls us,
draws us,
compels us
to marry it in someone else,
before we marry anyone.
Our life’s work is to be who we are.
We do not know who we are
by thinking about it.
We know who we are
by thinking about
what we find attractive
in other people–
and understanding that
is who we are,
and who we are to be.
And they need to know
that we are who they are,
and put us into place
in their life
before we say, “I Thee Wed.” - 08/20/2019 — Sunflowers 2019-08 02 — Sandy Ridge, Marvin, North Carolina, August 19, 2019
The truth of the Cross
is that eventually–
and ever so often–
there comes along
what Carl Jung called
“a collision of duties,”
where “obligation is pitted against obligation,
and will against will.”
We want what we want
an what we also want,
and our wants
are mutually exclusive.
We want to be the best father
in all the world,
and we don’t want to be a father
at all.
We want to be true to ourselves,
and we want to be elected
to public office.
We want this and that
and we can only have
this or that.
We “cannot serve God and Mammon.”
Thus, comes the Cross into our life,
where doing “this”
means dying to “that.”
We are in a pickle,
and the only way out
is to die to something.
And the preliminary death
is dying to the idea
that we don’t have to die.
Once we die to that idea,
all the other deaths
fall in line
and the agony
is lessened over time.
When we are damned if we do
and damned if we don’t,
the solution
is to be damned and be done with it–
and bear the agony of it
(of the Cross in our life),
and consciously,
mindfully,
suffer through it,
again and again
over the course of our life.
Dying and rising from the dead,
to die and rise from the dead again,
to die again,
and rise again–
but with a difference over time.
The difference being
that once we understand
what the deal is,
and see how things work,
and know what is required of us,
we begin to die
with a gleam in our eye,
and a smile on our face,
and a spring in our step,
already looking forward
to the next time.
This is Life!
This is Really Living!
This is Life As Only Life Can Be!
The Cross is at the heart of Life!
The only way to live
is by dying!
Again and again!
Oh, what a ride! - 08/21/2019 — Sunflowers 2019-08 08 Panorama — Sandy Ridge, Marvin, North Carolina, August 20, 2019
Tell me about the life
you would be living
if the demands of life
didn’t get in your way.
I don’t mean the life of your dreams
and happy fantasies.
I mean the life you are built to live,
the life you are here to live,
the life that is yours to live.
The life that waits for you to live it.
Tell me about that life.
That is the only thing
worth talking about.
How to find that life and live it
are the only things worth knowing.
Everything else falls into place
around that.
We are here today–
the world is as it is today–
because we are separated
from ourselves
and from the life that is ours to live.
Everything is transformed dramatically
overnight
when we are living in right relationship
with ourselves
and the life that we need to be living.
In order to do that,
we have to change our relationship
with ourselves,
and with the life we are living.
What is your relationship with yourself?
What is your relationship
with the life you are living?
Sit down and write out your answers
to those questions.
That will initiate the process of awareness
of your in relationships with yourself
and your life.
Nothing happens until awareness happens. - 08/21/2019 — Bo Fisher 2019-08 01 — Sandy Ridge, Marvin, North Carolina, August 28, 2019
This is Bo Fisher. He was mowing weeds growing outside the fence enclosing the sunflower field next to Providence Road, enlarging a parking area for passersby to stop, park, walk through the open gate, enjoy the wonder of sunflowers and photograph them to their heart’s content.
Bo had stopped mowing to answer a phone call, and I took advantage of that opportunity to approach him when his call was over. “Did you plant these sunflowers?” I asked him.
“I planted them for the man that owns the land,” he said.
“What becomes of them besides people enjoying them?”
“Nothing,” he said. “We plant them here for the public to enjoy while they are blooming.”
“That’s wonderful,” I said. “I don’t find much of that spirit
as I walk through my day. And I appreciate more than I can say what you are doing for us all.”
“I’ll pass that along to the man who owns the land,” he said.
Then he went back to mowing, and I went back to taking pictures. - 08/21/2019 — Sunflowers 2019-08 10 — Sandy Ridge, Providence Road, Marvin, North Carolina, August 20, 2019
Our relationship with our life
can be described as adversarial,
manipulative,
disjointed,
turbulent,
stagnant,
vitally alive,
cooperative,
collaborative,
invigorating,
…
and in 10,000 other ways.
What are the words,
the symbols,
the images
that describe your relationship
with your life?
When you think of your life
what do you think of?
What image or object
comes to mind?
Your life is like…what?
What is your relationship
with sugar?
Salt?
Tobacco?
Marijuana?
Alcohol?
Television?
Books?
Movies?
News?
Drugs–prescription, over the counter, illicit?
Your job?
Your co-workers?
Your friends?
…
With every aspect of your life?
Mindful, compassionate, non-judgmental awareness
takes everything into account,
without opinion.
Just seeing what is to be seen
with all things considered
is all we need to do
to do what needs to be done.
No thinking involved, or allowed.
Just seeing.
Just hearing.
Just knowing.
Will lead to spontaneous,
automatic,
natural
adjustments,
shifts,
alterations,
transformations,
and a new relationship
with our life.
No planning.
No agenda.
No resolutions.
No schedules.
No grades.
No reporting.
No coaching.
Just seeing, etc.
The more we know
with compassion
and without judgment
or opinion,
the better our relationship
with our life becomes.
And that transforms the world. - 08/22/2019 — Sunflowers 2019-08 05 — Sandy Ridge, Providence Road, Marvin, North Carolina, August 20, 2019
Good has to suffer evil.
Evil is incapable of suffering good.
Good separates itself from evil
by suffering evil–
not by trying to eradicate evil,
but by balancing it at every turn.
Good is the counterweight to evil.
Good reflects evil back to evil.
Good shows evil who it is.
Good calls evil out, asking:
“Is this who you are?”
“Is that what you just said?”
Good demands that evil justify itself to itself.
Good shows evil who it is.
Good suffers the evil within itself.
Good calls itself out.
“Is this who I am?”
“Is that what I just said?”
Every parable Jesus told was autobiographical.
He is the sower who went out to sew.
He is the woman with the jar of meal
He is the guest without a wedding robe.
He bears all things–
even the radical abandonment of God–
even the evil of God.
No one talks about the evil of God
but.
There is the Book of Job,
and the Book of Revelation.
And there is the Conquest of the Promised Land.
God acts throughout the Bible
in ways that are not God-like.
Good suffers the evil of God.
Good calls God out.
“Is this who you are?”
“Is that what you just said?”
Good is the counterweight of evil,
calling all things–even itself–
back to the center,
to the ground,
to the bedrock
to “The still point of the turning world.”
(T.S. Eliot)
“Is this who we are?”
“Is that what we just said?” - 08/22/2019 — Beidler Forest 2019-06 01/02 Panorama — Four Hole Swamp, Francis Beidler Forest Audubon Center & Sanctuary, Harleyville, South Carolina, June 23, 2019, an iPhone photo
You know who you are
and who you are not.
You know what is YOU
and what is NOT-YOU.
Your only task/concern
is to ground yourself on YOU,
to stand on the bedrock of YOU,
to lived rooted in the rhizome of YOU
to stand on the foundation of YOU
so that nothing can come along
that can knock you off YOU–
ever, no matter what!
You be YOU always forever
in every situation
and all circumstances,
all times, places and conditions
of your life!
That is your mission,
your work,
your journey!
But.
There is a catch.
You have to be able to set YOU aside
in light of what needs to happen
in the time and place of your living.
Photography is ME.
It is my thing.
But.
When the children came along,
I put the camera on the shelf
because we could not afford film
and diapers.
And the camera stayed on the shelf
until the children
graduated from college.
But.
I never lost sight of the camera,
and was always aware of its place
in my life,
even though,
at the time,
its place was on the shelf.
This is called
“Walking Two Paths At The Same Time.”
It is also called,
“Suffering It Through,”
and “Bearing The Pain.”
Joseph Campbell talked about
the Primary Mask
and the Antithetical Mask.
The Antithetical Mask is YOU (ME).
The Primary Mask is all of the roles
we are required to play
in carrying out our duties
within our family,
our society,
our culture,
our world.
What is required of us by our station in life
is NOT US.
We have to walk two paths at the same time.
We have to suffer it through.
We have to bear the pain.
By always keeping an eye on who we are
while we live in ways that take
the time and place of our living
into account.
Here is where Carl Jung’s
“Collision of Duties”
comes into play.
We are caught between the Primary Mask
and the Antithetical Mask,
in all times and places,
and have to walk two paths at the same time.
This is the Hero’s Journey.
The Slippery Slope.
The Dangerous Path.
The Razor’s Edge.
This is our life lived well–
consciously,
mindfully,
fully aware,
in light of all things considered.
It is our work.
Our sacred duty.
Our liege loyalty
is to the path that is before us.
To both paths that are before us. - 08/23/2019 — Lake Andrew Jackson 2019-08 01 Panorama — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina, August 22, 2019
Life is suffering.
That realization is the foundation of Buddhism,
and of Capitalism,
and of all the other “isms.”
That’s because we can’t stop
with “life is suffering.”
We immediately flop over into “therefore.”
“Life is suffering”
leads instantly into all that follows.
It led the Buddha into “the end of suffering.”
That’s where it leads practically everyone else.
Everybody has their favorite idea
about ending suffering.
Money does it for a lot of us.
Depression does it for some of us.
Social Work does it for some of us.
Drugs/Alcohol/Sex does it for some of us.
Religion does it for some of us.
And all of these things
are capable of being combined
with each other
in a Super Soup
of “You Can’t Get Me Now Ha Ha!”
The “Ha Ha” is the funny part
because suffering gets us all eventually.
Life is suffering.
Therefore, what?
I say, “Therefore suffer it!”
“Suffer it through.”
“Let it be!”
“Take it in stride!”
“Dance with it!”
“Work with it!”
“Don’t take it seriously!”
“Do what you can with it
and let that be that!”
And certainly,
“Do not build your life
around trying to avoid it!”
That’s what I would have told the Buddha.
It’s the best I can do. - 08/23/2019 — Chester State Park 2019-08 01 Panorama — Chester State Park, Chester, South Carolina, August 22, 2019, an iPhone photo.
Our life is on us.
I don’t care what happens to us
that is beyond our control,
how we respond to it
is within our control.
How we respond to what happens to us
tells the tale.
What we do with what is done to us
says it all.
What is your pattern of response?
How predictable is it?
How do you always react?
What is your “go to” position
when something you don’t want to happen
happens?
Start there.
Sit with that.
Examine that.
Listen to that.
How does that contrbute
to where you are,
to how things are,
in your life as it is?
We are where we are,
not because of what has happened to us,
but because of the way
we have responded
to what has happened to us.
Want things to be different?
You have to change your relationship
with how things are.
You have to be different.
You have to do things differently
than you are accustomed
to doing them.
It is all on us.
That’s the bad news.
How we deal with it,
what we do about it,
determines everything that follows. - 08/23/2019 — Lake Andrew Jackson 2019-08 03 Panorama — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina, August 22, 2019
We are being led.
How well we follow tells the tale.
We swim in Psyche.
We are immersed in Psyche.
We emerge from Psyche.
We live in Psyche.
And when we die,
we return to Psyche.
We all are visible vestiges of Psyche
which is invisible and unknown
to us all.
How conscious we are
of all that we are unconscious of
tells the tale.
The tale is the life we live.
The life we live
is the “Visible form
of an invisible grace”
(Augustine, talking about sacraments).
We all are sacramental
in that way.
Our life is sacramental.
How conscious we are of that
tells the tale.
How conscious we are
of all that we are unconscious of
determines how closely aligned
we live with all that we are unconscious of,
which determines how alive we are
to all that lives within us
and around us–
and how well we live
with the context and circumstances
of our life–
how well we live
in relation with all that we live with.
Mindful,
compassionate,
non-judgmental,
Jon-Kabat-Zinn-like
(Watch his YouTube videos!)
awareness
connects inner with outer–
connects us with ourselves
and the time and place of our living,
and assists the alignment
of ourselves with ourselves
and with our life and being.
And awakens us to the full reality
of our being led. - 08/23/2019 — Beidler Forest 2019-06 08 Panorama — Four Hole Swamp, Francis Beidler Forest Audubon Center & Sanctuary, Harleyville, South Carolina, June 23, 2019, an iPhone photo
The foundation of good religion
is not faith in the precepts
of doctrine and theology,
or in what someone else
tells us to believe–
but in the experience
that grounds us
in knowing what we know.
There is more to us–
to everyone and everything–
than meets the eye.
And we cannot say
more than that
about the more.
We cannot think our way
to what is important.
The important things
in our life
find us
as much as we find them.
We cannot say why
the things that matter to us
matter to us.
We can lose the Mojo
by trying to figure it out,
or make it appear,
or make it last.
We cannot make just anything
be meaningful to us–
any more than we can make
ourselves go to sleep,
or like what we don’t like.
We cannot “make up our mind”
about something on command.
We can say we “made up our mind,”
but we are kidding ourselves.
Making up our mind is more like
realizing what is already so,
and has been so for some time,
and we are just know catching up
to what is going on.
Our mind was made up for us,
by what,
we do not know.
And, once our mind is made up
in this way,
we are solid and steadfast
in the matter,
and cannot be moved.
We cannot be knocked off
the things that are important to us.
The heart of true religion
is one of those things.
It isn’t a matter of believing,
but of knowing.
Our religion is not what we believe,
but who we are. - 08/24/2019 — Sunflowers 2019-08 06 — Sandy Ridge, Providence Road, Marvin, North Carolina, August 21, 2019, an iPhone photo
Carl Jung knew what the Oracle at Delphi knew before him:
“Invoked, or not invoked, the God is always present.”
And, we are always being led,
often against our will,
along the slippery slope,
the dangerous path,
the razor’s edge,
to ourselves.
To who we are
and what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises
in ways appropriate to the occasion
as only we can do it
with the gifts,
genius,
daemon,
character
and values
that are ours to work with
for as long as we are alive.
Nothing here about everlasting happiness
and eternal bliss.
Nothing here about personal gain
and the adoration of the masses.
All this is about
is seeing,
hearing,
knowing,
being,
doing–
in the service of the best we can do
in light of the true good of all.
We serve the God
who is always present,
leading us along the path,
often against our will.
And so, the Bible counsels,
“It is a fearful thing
to fall into the hands
of the living God.”
If we knew what we were doing,
would we do it?
That’s the question that tells the tale.
What would we go to hell for?
That’s the other question that tells the tale. - 08/25/2019 — Wood Duck 2019-08 01 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, August 24, 2019
“The good is the enemy of the best.”
We hear it all the time.
We stay in bed five minutes too long
on a cold, frosty, morning,
and miss the photo of the sunrise
that would have grounded our career.
“The best is the enemy of the good.”
The idea of photo of the sunrise
that will ground our career,
pushes us past the puddle of water
where we parked the car,
reflecting the pastel colors
of the early pre-dawn sky,
and we miss the photo of the pre-dawn sunrise
that would have grounded our career.
Carl Jung talks about
“The collision of obligations,”
but.
It would have been just as well
if he had used the phrase,
“The collision of the goods.”
How good is the good we call good?
Whose good is served
by the good we call good?
Jesus could have said,
“I came to bring an end
to the good as you know it,
and as the beginning
of the good you will be
hesitant to call good.”
Every person who stands
at the crossroads
of competing goods
could say the same thing:
What is good here and now?
How do we know?
How certain can we be?
When everything rides
on the choices we make?
Sometimes it is this way,
and sometimes it is that way–
and that means
all times require us
to listen to what is being said,
to follow where we are being led,
and to know
that we don’t know
what we are doing.
To bear the agony (the agone)
of the cross(roads)
again and again
throughout our life,
not-knowing again and again
what to do here and now,
and having to wait
in the stillness
for the way to emerge,
beyond thinking,
as realization
and conviction–
and we put everything
into its actualization,
even if we are wrong,
trusting ourselves
to That Which Leads Us
to know better than we know
what needs to happen,
because when does the outcome
of a choice
become fully apparent
anyway?
We do our best
to serve the apparent good
of the situation at hand,
and let that be that.
But.
It has to be our best
in the service of the good
we take to be
the actual good.
For better or for worse
From this time forth,
forever. - 08/25/2019 — Great Blue Heron 2019-08 01 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, August 24, 2019
Miscalculations and blunders
have us where we are today.
We THOUGHT ourselves here.
We think thinking is the path
to where we need to be.
Listening/Seeing/Feeling is the path
to where we need to be.
We Hear/See/Feel our way to What/Where/When,
and we Think our way to How.
We Hear/See/Feel our way to What To Eat.
We Think our way to the recipe.
“I think, therefore I am,”
dismissed Hearing/Seeing/Feeling,
and took over the show.
The Age Of Reason
brought us
The Chaos Of Perfect Means And Forgotten Ends.
And here we are.
All of our equations for
The Perfect Life
leave Hearing/Seeing/Feeling
out of consideration.
The things that cannot
be quantified,
counted,
weighed,
measured,
validated
and certified
don’t count.
We don’t see anything wrong
with destroying the village
in order to save it.
Of course.
Miscalculations and blunders exist
by failing to take all things into account.
Things like Listening/Hearing,
Looking/Seeing
and Attending Our Feelings
are not invited to the table.
Think Tanks
do not See/Hear/Feel,
and think they know and understand. - 08/26/2019 — Australian Black Swan 2019-08 03 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, August 24, 2019
Dark,
uncertain,
frightening
times
call for
courage,
confidence,
and the will
to meet
and rise to
any occasion
in the service
of who we are
and what is ours to do
in doing what needs
to be done
moment-by-moment-by-moment
throughout the time left for living.
We do not know what might lie ahead,
what will be asked of us,
what we will do.
“It’s a new world, Golda!”
And as a species,
we have come through worse worlds–
and are fully equipped
to face up to what must be faced.
We have what we need
to find what we need
to do what needs to be done.
We only have to access
the latent characteristics
and qualities
that have been with us from birth.
The owner’s manual
and instruction book
were misplaced along the way.
The people and institutions
who were supposed to
“raise us in the way we should go”
failed us
by forgetting the way we should go,
by not knowing the way they should go,
by thinking it was all about money,
prestige
and power–
by thinking it was about thinking–
and that was that.
Leaving us bereft
and on our own.
No problem.
We are never on our own.
We are being led all along
the way
to who we are
and what is ours to do.
All we have to do is remember
how to follow
and take up the work
of being who we are
and doing what is ours to do.
It is all a simple matter
of returning to the rhizome,
to the core,
to the bedrock,
the source and foundation
of life and being,
redesigning our relationship
with our life,
and living in light
of different ends.
It starts with being quiet
sitting still
and listening,
waiting,
watching
for that which is waiting
for us–
for our receptivity,
cooperation,
collaboration.
In so doing,
we will be Adam and Eve
in the Garden of Eden,
come to redeem
the original refusal to listen,
watch,
wait,
and to hurry things along
by serving our own ideas
about how our life should be lived.
By waiting in the silence
for what meets us there,
we put thinking/knowing in its place
as the servant
of seeing/hearing/feeling/knowing.
The two ways of knowing
have to be properly aligned
if we are to live aligned
with That Which Knows,
and it is this realignment
that is the most difficult part
of finding what we need
to do what needs us to do it.
What does
“Thy will, not mine, be done”
mean to you?
Allow it to mean
sitting quietly,
waiting
to see/hear/feel
what arises there
and calls our name.
We see/hear/feel our way
to What, When and Where.
We think our way to How.
When thinking begins to ask
What?
Why?
When?
Where?
Put it in its place with,
“That will all become clear in time,
and then you can get to work
on How!” - 08/27/2019 — Great Blue Heron 2019-08 04 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, August 24, 2019
“There is only the dance”
(TS Eliot).
“And the dance goes on.
Dance, then, wherever you may be!”
(The Lord of the Dance).
We do not understand
the eternal and endless nature
of what we are doing,
and become disenchanted,
disheartened,
beaten down
and depressed
because what we are doing
has always been done,
and everything cycles around,
and what needs to be done
always needs to be done,
and what’s the point,
so why try?
Who cares?
What difference does it make?
“It’s like rearranging the deck chairs
on the Titanic!”
The same thing could be said
about the process of evolution,
life, living and being alive.
“Birth and death,
sunrise, sunset,
where is it going?
What’s the point?
Why go on?”
You never hear a child eating ice cream
complain about the unending,
meaningless,
nature of eating ice cream.
“I eat a bowl,
and here comes another one,
oh woe,
oh no,
one after another,
I can’t go on with this!”
So.
Are we rearranging the deck chairs
on the Titanic,
or eating ice cream?
Let me put it another way:
Nothing is more important
than you being you
and me being me
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.
This is the hermeneutical task.
Hermeneutics is the art of interpretation.
It is making the meaningless meaningful.
It is bringing forth the truth
of what’s what
and so what
into the time and place–
the here and now–
of each situation as it arises
moment-by-moment-by-moment
day in and day out
all our life long.
It is being who we are,
where we are,
when we are,
how we are
no matter what,
no matter why,
forever.
Why?
No Matter Why!
The dance goes on.
Why?
No Matter Why!
The. Dance. Goes. On!
Our place is to Be The Dance,
to Be The Ice Cream.
The situation needs us to be,
one situation after another,
all our life long.
Our work is to know and be
who we are,
here and now,
doing our thing
as only we can do it,
and not worrying about the outcome
and refusing to let anything stop us
or even slow us down.
Joseph Campbell said,
“Native Americans would tell
their children
as they left the tribe
to find their way in the world,
“When you go forth
to seek your life and live it,
the birds of the air
will shit on you.
Do not pause even to wipe it off.”
Got that?
DO it!
Nothing is more important
than you being you
doing your thing,
and me being me
doing my thing.
This place,
this time,
this here and now,
desperately needs what you and I
have to offer.
It is our place
to Be The Ice Cream!
Be the ice cream
the moment is calling for–
moment-by-moment-by-moment!
No Matter Why! - 08/28/2019 — Beidler Forest 2019-06 11 — Four Hole Swamp, Francis Beidler Forest Audubon Center & Sanctuary, Harleyville, South Carolina, June 23, 2019, an iPhone photo
The Lapis philosophorum,
or, “Philosopher’s Stone,”
is “the stone the builders reject,”
is the Soul, Self, Psyche
within us all.
We seek ourselves.
We are as close to what is missing
from our life
as sitting quietly,
being still
and listening within–
and aligning ourselves
with what arises,
emerges,
in the silence.
We were separated from ourselves,
our Self,
shortly after birth,
and spend our life
trying to find our way back
to “the face that was ours
before we were born.” - 08/28/2019 — Lake Andrew Jackson 2019-08 05 — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina, August 22, 2019
June Singer writes in her book, *Boundaries of the Soul,*
“The process is the only thing that matters. The sooner we realize it, the sooner we identify with the flowing stream (Or any other metaphor of process which presents itself), the more likely we are to become free of pointless struggles and fruitless conflicts. Thus, we liberate our energies for collaboration with nature…”
Collaboration with nature
is waiting for what arises
in the stillness,
for what emerges,
for what occurs to us
“out of the blue,”
“popping into our mind,”
“just like that,”
compelling our attention
with a surprising urgency,
and with topping things off
with the grace
of synchronicity
(Or the synchronicity
of grace).
We will never think our way there,
or scheme our way there,
or connive/con our way there,
of exploit/manipulate our way there,
or bribe/extort our way there…
The world is full of approaches
that won’t work.
Only one will work.
Siting still,
being quiet,
listening to our body,
to our stomach,
to our bones,
to our heart’s true desire,
to the things that set our toes to tapping,
to our nighttime dreams,
to our hunches,
nudges,
urges
and the white rabbits
that catch our eye.
Note what simply occurs to you,
see where it goes.
Allow Kairos (Tao, Dharma)
to lead the way.
We are all being led
whether we know it or not.
It helps to be mindfully aware
and conscious
of what’s what
and what we can do
to help things along
without getting in the way. - 08/29/2019 — Two Barns 2019-08 01 Panorama — Kershaw County, South Carolina, August 10, 2019
“A wandering Aramean was my father…”
begins the tale of Jewish heritage,
and in a broader sense,
begins the story of all of us–
though Aram isn’t our actual origin,
but the African plains and jungles.
We all come out of Africa.
Wandering is our lot.
We are one people,
on the move.
Carl Jung recognized
the true nature of our journey
and called it
“The circumambulation of the Self.”
We circle ourselves throughout our life,
trying to know who we are.
Seeking to be who we are
capable of being.
As did our parents before us,
and their parents before them,
all the way back
through the maize of paths and trails,
wilderness sojourns
and desert treks
our ancestors trod
to here, now.
We are one with each other
and all others
seeking to know and be
who we are.
What makes that difficult?
Thinking!
The thing that separates us
from the “lower animals,”
cuts us off from each other
and from ourselves!
We think too much
to know what we are doing.
But, thinking alone is not the problem.
Thinking mindlessly is the problem.
Mindless thinking is the problem.
Mindfulness is the solution.
Mindful awareness is the solution
Mindful awareness that knows what it is thinking,
when it is thinking,
how its thinking is interfering
with what it is experiencing,
with what it is seeing,
with what it is hearing,
with what it is feeling,
with what it is sensing,
with what it is intuiting.
with what it is hunching…
is the solution.
When each of us is living
as the whole person we are,
instead of living as the partial person
we have become,
we live differently,
and the world is transformed.
Don’t wait for everybody else
to go first.
Be the trend setter.
Learn the art
of mindful,
compassionate,
non-judgmental
awareness.
See what you look at–
and what you are not looking at.
Hear what you are listening to–
and what you are not listening to.
Know what you know,
and what you don’t know.
Know what’s what,
and what’s going on,
and what’s happening,
and what needs to be done in response,
and what you can do about it,
and do it
the way it needs to be done,
when it needs to be done,
as only you can do it.
And, like that,
the world is a different world,
and we are all better off
because of you
and the way you are living,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
A good place to start
is with the Jon Kabat-Zinn
YouTube videos
(The shortest ones first).
The complete transformation
of life as we know it
is that close at hand. - The Mandala of Notre Dame
Mandalas are symbols of wholeness,
completion,
fulfillment,
and metaphors
of the Self/Soul/Psyche.
We all are multi-faceted.
And, we are One.
The Mandala of Notre Dame
declared to the world,
“This is who we are!
Though we are many,
we are One!”
And, called us to live
as though it were so–
because it is so.
It only takes eyes to see,
and ears to hear,
to know that it is so.
“Jesus Is On The Ballot,”
declares yard signs,
across the country.
And everyone who knows Jesus,
knows that it is so.
The Mandala of Notre Dame
declares it to be so:
“Though We Are Many,
We are One!”
Jesus said,
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matt 22:37-40).
And when the lawyer asked,
“Who is my neighbor?”
Jesus told him the Parable of the Good Samaritan,
and asked the Lawyer
“Who was the neighbor to the Jew in the ditch?”
The lawyer replied,
“Why, the one who showed mercy to him!”
Jesus said, “Go and do likewise!”
In other words,
Jesus is saying to all
with eyes to see and ears to hear,
“YOU are the neighbor!
Go be one!”
Jesus is on the ballot.
Vote for the people
who live to serve the two greatest commandments–
in being a neighbor to all people everywhere–
the immigrants,
the people of color,
the LGBTQ’s,
the poor,
the homeless,
the sick,
the infirm,
the Untouchables,
the Undesirables,
the “least of Jesus’ brothers and sisters.
Elect those people!
Elect the people reflecting,
exhibiting,
the Mandala of Notre Dame! - 08/31/2019 — Steele Creek 2019-08 01 Panorama — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Dairy Barn Access, Fort Mill, South Carolina, August 29, 2019
The Indiana Jones’ line
that stands out for me is,
“Fortune and glory, Kid. Fortune and glory,”
from *The Temple of Doom.*
There is so much that can be done with it,
because there are so many things
our life comes down to,
depending upon the context and circumstances
of our living,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
One minute it is “fortune and glory,”
and the next minute it could be,
“Negotiation and compromise, Kid.
Negotiation and compromise.”
Fortune and glory depend upon,
and require,
negotiation and compromise–
and 10,000 other combinations.
(“Grace and maturity, Kid. Grace and maturity.”
etc.)
Negotiation and compromise
is my present favorite
because I am at the point in my life
of appreciating the contradictions,
the opposites,
the polarities,
the wonderful complexities
that come into play
with “The collision of goods,
desires,
values,
duties,
responsibilities,
obligations…”
Our life is one trade-off after another.
We give up “this” to get “that”
throughout our day,
every day.
If you have to have everything you want
exactly like you want it,
you have to slip over into denial
from time to time,
and refuse to acknowledge
how having “this”
keeps you from having “that,”
and take it out on your spouse,
or your parents,
or your children,
or your pets,
or drink a lot
and take heavy doses of medication.
There has to be compensation somewhere
for unacknowledged grief and suffering.
We bear it, get ready,
“Consciously or unconsciously, Kid.
Consciously or unconsciously.”
I recommend “Negotiation and compromise”
in conjunction with “Playful awareness, Kid.
Playful awareness.”
Playfulness is the quality of seeing things
as they are
without taking them more seriously
than they deserve
to be taken.
If we cannot be playful,
we cannot be aware
of all we have to take into account
and bear it as it needs to be borne
day after day,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
Playfulness is the solution
to all of our problems today.
And tomorrow.
It is only possible
with the right mixture
of “Grace and maturity, Kid. Grace and maturity.”
09/01/2019 — Great Blue Heron 2019-08 06 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, August 24, 2019
The twin tasks of being human:
We have to find our work and do it.
We have to find our life and live it.
Everything else falls into place
around these two things.
Our greatest aids in this process are:
Conflict.
Contradiction.
Polarity.
Complexity.
Our greatest problem in this process is:
We want things to be smooth and easy.
We find our way by
sitting still,
being quiet,
listening,
looking,
seeing,
hearing,
being attentive
to what occurs to us,
knowing what needs to be done
and doing it
with the gifts/daemon
available to us
in each situation
as it arises
all our life long.
What we get out of all of this is
getting up tomorrow
and doing it again.
If you want more than this,
it likely falls into the category of
smooth and easy.
09/02/2019 — Canada Goose 2019-08 01 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, August 24, 2019
Those who see,
see the same thing.
Put the Buddha,
Gandhi,
the Dalai Lama,
Lao Tzu,
Jesus
etc.
in the same room,
and fighting will not occur.
Put their disciples in a room
and war will break out
within minutes.
The people in the first group
know what they know–
and what they don’t know.
The people in the second group
know what someone else told them–
and think that is all there is to know.
The people in the first group
can change their mind
in light of their experience.
The people in the second group
think changing their mind is anathema,
and is evidence of their disloyalty
to the creeds and doctrines
of their faith.
The people in the first group
have faith in their awareness
of their experience.
The people in the second group
have faith in the creeds and doctrines
they have been taught.
If you ask people in both groups
what beauty is,
or ask them to tell you
about their experience with grace,
you will get answers
that lend themselves to eye-to-eye-ness.
The two groups become one
when they talk about
what they know to be so
out of their own experience.
Two beggars telling each other
where they have found food
is a different dynamic
than two beggars fighting each other
over a banana
or a bagel.
What’s the difference?
At what point does our interpretation
of our experience
lead to greed or to benevolence?
Lead us to buy guns
and look with suspicion
and hatred at every stranger,
or to live unarmed
and greet strangers with openness
and ask them how things are?
What tips us toward generosity
and kindness,
or toward belligerence
and war?
What leads us to see as we do
and keep us from seeing as we might?
Sit with your seeing
until you can see it–
and see who,
and what,
has led you to see
the way you see.
Seeing our seeing
is experiencing our experience,
and is the path
to knowing what we know–
and what we don’t know.
And looking closer,
and seeing what we look at,
and changing our mind,
and asking-seeking-knocking,
and telling one another
where we have found food.
- 09/03/2019 — Canada Goose 2019-08 02 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, August 24, 2019
My friend Ogi Overman said,
talking about his AA community,
“All we ever wanted was smooth and easy.”
Wanting that and not getting it
sends us all into some form
of addiction and denial.
Life-as-it-is apart from addiction and denial
requires us to suffer it through.
Which is far removed
from smooth and easy.
Jesus raised the dead
and left the dead to bury the dead
because the quest for smooth and easy
deadens us deader
than actual physical death.
Many of us would prefer to be
actually physically dead
than to suffer it through
day-after-day
of life-as-it-is.
Others of us take things in stride,
deal with one damn thing after another,
receive things as they come,
and see the desire for smooth and easy
as just another obstruction
in their path
on their way to doing what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises,
moment-by-moment-by-moment
all their life long.
Suffering it through is just
doing what needs to be done
the way it needs to be done
when it needs to be done
for as long as it needs to be done.
Adopting that as a way of life,
flips the inconvenient
and the intolerable
into smooth and easy
for those bent on doing
what is asked of them
by each situation as it arises
no matter what
all their life long.
Their motto is:
No Expectations And No Opinions!
Just seeing and doing.
Just seeing what needs to be done
and doing it.
The way emergency room personnel
treat their day,
taking whatever comes through the door
and meeting it straight up,
assessing need and meeting it
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
Once we square ourselves up
to life in the emergency room,
everything is
business as usual
and it becomes smooth and easy
because each one of us
is equipped to manage
life-as-it-is
from birth to old age.
All we have to do
is get out of the way
with our wish
for things to be different
than they are–
and get busy
dealing with what is
coming through the door.
Nothing to it.
All it takes is a slight shift
in perspective.
That’s the difference
between death and life. - 09/03/2019 — Coscoroba Swans 2019-08 01 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, August 24, 2019
Look around.
If this is the best God can do,
God has no business being God.
If this is not the best God can do,
God has no business being God.
Either way, we are at the point
in our development as a species
of re-imagining God
in light of all things considered,
in a way that sees all things for what they are
and kids not ourselves
about any of it,
but allows us to embrace all of it
as the umwelt of our existence,
and enables us to rise to meet
the context and circumstances of our life
in each situation as it arises,
moment-by-moment-by-moment–
seeing what’s what
and what needs to be done about it
and of that what can be done about it,
and of that what we can do about it
with the genius,
gifts,
daemon
we possess,
and holding nothing back,
bring forth the best we have to offer
in the service of the best we can imagine
for no other reason
that because this is who we are
and this is what we do,
all our life long.
That would be a religion
worthy of us,
and one whose time is nigh.
No theology.
No doctrine.
No creed.
Just seeing/doing
what is and what needs to be done about it
one situation after another.
Forever. - 09/04/2019 — Heath Springs Depot 2019-09 01 Panorama — Heath Springs, South Carolina, September 2, 2019, an iPhone photo
There is what we do to pay the bills,
and there is what we pay the bills to do.
What do you pay the bills to do?
On a scale of 10,
with 10 being high,
where do you rate
your vitality,
libido (joy of life),
enthusiasm for life
(These three things
are one thing)?
Where are the dead zones
in your life?
Where is life pouring over,
spilling out,
running free?
Where do you go
to be fully,
joyfully,
alive?
How often do you go there?
How long do you stay?
In what ways do you
befriend yourself in a day?
Whose side are you on? - 09/05/2019 — Crape Myrtle 2019-09 02 — Charlotte, North Carolina, September 3, 2019
The Two Greatest Commandments
are all the religion anyone needs–
with “The Lord Thy God”
being forever undefined,
unspecified,
unsaid
unexplained
and allowed to exist
in the realm
of Kairos,
Tao,
Dharma
and Grace–
understanding
“No graven image”
to mean no theology,
no ideology,
no idea,
no doctrine,
no creeds,
no thinking,
no mental or physical representation whatsoever
nothing
not even “My God is an Awesome God.”
Only silence will do
where “The Lord Thy God”
is concerned.
That means no promotion
only attraction
and makes AA the last word
in religion as it ought to be.
Which means no evangelism,
no persuasion,
no conversion,
no converting,
only realizing
out of one’s own experience
with seeing,
hearing,
understanding,
knowing,
doing,
being.
Everybody wakes up
in some gutter
or at the bottom of some wall,
or some bottle,
In the fullness of time.
When the time is right,
all efforts at intervention notwithstanding.
So, “Sit down,
shut up,
be quiet,
remain still
for as long as it takes
for something to happen,”
is the only instruction
possible or necessary
on the way to the Way.
Everything else falls in
the “graven image” category.
The Two Greatest Commandments
with “The Lord Thy God” understood
as Kairos/Tao/Dharma/Grace
are all the religion anyone needs.
Live in the service of those two commandments
and everything will fall into place around that.
xxx
07/19/2019 — On the way to the way–
to finding and living
the life that is ours to live–
we can assist the process
of coming to be who we
have within us to become
by familiarizing ourselves with Carl Jung.
Three books stand out for me
as good places to begin:
“Memories, Dreams and Reflections,”
by Carl Jung
“The Boundaries of the Soul,”
by June Singer
“Private Myths, Dreams and Dreaming,”
by Anthony Stevens
Plan on reading them slowly
several times
on your way to the way.
07/21/2019 — Are your feet under you?
Are you standing on the bedrock
of what matters most,
so that nothing that comes along
can knock you off it
Then, carry on!
And, if those things are not the case
with you,
why not?
07/22/2019 —I am up to me.
You are up to you.
The way I perceive my circumstances
and respond to them
are up to me.
The way you perceive your circumstances
and respond to them
are up to you.
I am up to me.
You are up to you.
What we do about that
is up to us.
07/22/2019 — Our life will prepare us
for everything life throws at us,
by throwing things at us–
IF we are open to the possibilities
presented to us
in the deliveries.
How open can we be
is the question.
What determines/influences openness
is the other question.
How we answer the questions
is the other question.
07/22/2019 — Wanting to hide
from our experience of life
is wanting to hide
from our wanting to hide,
is to deny everything
about our experience of life.
Yet, it is only our experience of life
that is capable of bringing us
into the realizations
of life at the heart of life.
We do not want to experience
the contradictions
at the heart of life
that reveal the truth
of “the awful grace of God.”
That reveal the truth of God–
not the God of theology and doctrine,
but the God at the bottom of it all.
The Numen at the door.
“Hello, Newman,”
are the words we intend to never say.
The conflict
at the heart of life and being.
07/22/2019 — The forces of evil
in the form of Dark Money
and corrupt politicians
and Russian propaganda
and election interference
put Donald Trump in the White House
in order to serve its ends
of wealth
and white supremacy.
Now, the forces of good
have to rally
and vote.
That’s really all we have to do.
Vote as one
to rid the country
of the scandal of Donald Trump.
That isn’t asking much at all.
I am afraid we will not have
what it takes
to do that much.
All we have to do is vote.
Will. You. Vote?
07/23/2019 — We will never get to the bottom of greed,
or of what the hunger is
that fuels sex addiction,
or any addiction.
What are we seeking
that we cannot get enough of?
There is no bottom.
There is only hunger.
Only desperately seeking
more than we can ever have.
And, there are those
who are content
with things as they are–
who aren’t looking for anything
they don’t already have.
There are the bullies,
and there are the bullied.
The tough-minded
and the tender-hearted.
We are all over the board.
As different as we can be.
What makes us the way we are?
What transforms us into
being some other way of being?
How will we know
when we have gotten
to the bottom of it?
What will we do then?
Alexander the Great
died longing for more worlds
to conquer.
Jesus died without conquering
any worlds.
In the service of what do we live?
How do we know it is worth our life?
Do we have any say in the matter
of who we are?
Are we responsible for the course we take?
For the goals we pursue?
For the values we serve?
On what basis do we determine
the value of what we call valuable?
What makes us think
we know what we are doing?
Why do it?
Why live the life we are living
and not some other life instead?
Some alcoholics quit drinking.
And some don’t.
I rode a motorcycle one summer,
and when the third vehicle
pulled out in front of me–
it was a garbage truck–
because the driver
just didn’t see me coming,
I decided that if I ever died,
it wasn’t going to be
driving a motorcycle.
And that was that.
Some alcoholics decide
if they ever die
it is not going to be in a bottle.
People ride motorcycles all the time.
And get drunk every day.
And some don’t.
Do either.
We will never know why
and why not.
But.
We can know what
and what not.
What is for you?
What is not for you?
Live to know at least that much.
07/23/2019 — “The bird is in our hands,”
(Google “The bird is in your hands”)
and there is much that is
out of our hands.
We have to know where “the bird” stops
and “not the bird” starts.
What is “the bird,”
and what is “not the bird”?
What is “in our hands”
and what is “out of our hands”?
Knowing that is important knowledge.
07/2019/29 — Embracing your paradoxes
and dancing with your contradictions,
will be the solution to your problems
every day for the rest of your life.
08/02/2019 — (In reply to Wanda Smith) Hi Wanda, I like the way you carry your questions with you, reflecting on them, living them. That’s the way to do it! And to ask all the questions raised by the questions! And by the answers!
I have no idea how I would have answered your question, “What does it mean?” then–which underscores my lack of faith in any of the answers (They all change with time)–but, today I’ll say “Where is the problem with one person believing in God and another person believing in Tao?” means “What’s the difference?” Not to suggest that there is no difference, but to open the matter for exploration, examination, inquiry, investigation…
What is the difference between “God,” in all the ways that word has been and can be understood, and “Tao,” in all the ways that word has been and can be understood? What do the concepts/ideas have in common? Where do they part ways? In what ways do they mean the same things?
What difference do they make in the lives of those who believe in them, in terms of the impact they make in those lives? Which group of believers is better off, by what standard of determining “better off”? In what ways is the world better off for the way each group of believers live their lives?
The Greeks had two concepts of time. “Chronos” is clock time, calendar time, what we are talking about when we ask, “What time is it?” and “Kairos” is “the right time,” the time when a baby is born, or a tomato is ripe, and what we are talking about when we ask, “What is it time for?” A walk around the block? A glass of water? A cup of coffee?” etc.
Tao is more concerned with Kairos than with Chronos. And, so is God. Jesus was born “when the time was right.” Ecclesiastes talks about “There is a time to be born and a time to die…” The entire thrust of the Bible is about “What is it time for, here and now?” The Tao is all about “What is it time for here and now?”
If we answer that question right in each moment–moment-by-moment-by-moment–we are one with Tao and one with God. “Where’s the problem?”
Know what the moment is calling for. Offer it as best you can in every moment, being you, doing what you do best the way only you can do it. No one can ask more of us than that! Jesus couldn’t do more than that! That’s all there is to it, ever!
I love you, Wanda, just as everyone who knows you does!
08/04/2019–Money is very useful,
but.
What we use it for
tells the tale.
08/06/2019–Everybody has access to the same information.
How they interpret it
and what they do about it
tells the tale.
I have my business
and you have yours.
How well our business
is an accurate reflection of,
and response to,
the world we share,
tells the tale.
If we say, “Oh we love children,
even when they are fetuses,”
and throw children in cages–
or our assigns do–
and deny them health care,
and the basics of humanitarian concern
so that they are forever marked
by their treatment,
or die because of it,
we get no points for opposing abortion,
and bear the shame of our refusal
to bear the responsibility
for our actions
because “we didn’t know,”
I say we all have access
to the same information,
and how we interpret it,
and what we do about it,
tells the tale.
08/07/2019. — What people need to hear,
and what people can hear,
are too far apart
to be bridged
by somebody saying something–
by anybody saying anything.
Therefore,
silence is the ticket
to being where we are
and
to going where we need to be going.
Those who can hear
at least this much
need to be quiet
for longer periods,
more often.
You will be surprised
what you hear
when all the noise stops.
08/10/2019 — We are the gift we give to the moment,
and the gift we receive from the moment.
Moment-by-moment-by-moment.
Yet, we try to exploit the moment
or control and direct the moment—
to manage,
manipulate,
and profit from the moment.
And here we are.
08/18/2019 — Wholeness is wrought through the integration of our opposites, our contradictions, our paradoxes. We suffer it through, the circumambulation of the Self.
08/30/2019 — Nothing is more important than being able to change your mind about what is important. When is the last time you changed your mind about anything important?
08/30/2019 — How much time each day
do you spend
sitting still,
being quiet,
listening?
08/30/2019 — Do not get sidetracked!
Know what your business is
and mind your business!
Know what your work is
and do your work
Do not pause
to defend,
excuse,
justify,
explain
what you are doing!
Maintain your focus
and your intensity!
“Do your work
and let nature take its course”
(Lao Tzu).
+++
September 5, 2019 — Any concept of God restricts God to what we are capable of conceiving. God is inconceivable. “The Tao that can be (conceived) is not the eternal Tao.” Stop talking about God and live to be godly, so that no one can tell where you stop and God starts. That will do.
+++
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