The Seemy Side of Life.

It seems obvious. In our black and white divinations, things are judged as being either beneficial or detrimental. But we've all had experiences when we've done something wrong or experienced something that didn't go as per our wishes, which was later revealed as being the first step along a fortuitous course of events.

I recall hearing a parable a number of years ago – I believe it was credited to ancient china: A farmers horse runs away. His neighbors console him for his misfortune. “It does appear to be a bad turn of luck ... We'll see.” A couple weeks later, his mare returned with a fine stallion in tow. His neighbors were elated and showered him with good cheer in a display of unity. “It certainly seems like a blessing. Time will tell.” The next day when the farmers son was trying to break in the horse, he was thrown and broke his ankle instead. The neighbors pitched in, bringing food and helping with chores as a way of showing their support in this time of dire crisis. “It is unfortunate and debilitation, indeed, but one never knows what the future will hold.” The next week, when the army came through the village looking to “recruit” some more fodder for their campaign, being unable to walk, his son was spared the atrocities and horrors of war.

We can try to assimilate an imaginary world of interpretation and conjecture. But life is simply what it is. It's much easier and more truthful to just take it as it comes, remaining ever on the verge of discovery. Trying to invent and protect a fantasy is a fanciful and fruitless affair. The breeze is blowing, the leaves limbo low, worms tunnel over the molten magma and flecks flare across the sky in the culmination of their billion year trek across the cosmos. Far too many dominoes for anyone to see the whats and hows, to foresee the wheres and whens or to comprehend who and why.

Grant life its rightful mystery. Let it be what it wants to be – it will anyway.

Sorry, you can't get here from there.

All of this outpouring of words, spilling down the page, is evidence of my efforts to promote others experiencing a world beyond words. It's not theory or philosophical conjecture. It's not a search for meaning or pointing toward any imaginary ultimate truth. It's an attempt to lure people out of their familiar and comfortable ways of thinking and seeing.

You can't learn what I strive to teach through my words, alone. Hopefully, once one's made the commitment to de-prioritizing self centered concerns and continually inviting an ever expanding view point, my attempts to express my experiences will serve as confirmations.

We are often mistaken and easily deceived. If we're honest with ourselves, we simply can't trust what we know or see to be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Especially, when the experiences are solitary, personal ones. So we owe it to each other to try to describe our ethereal and intangible encounters, that we might help each other to keep our bearings.

It's not possible to think your way into quietude. You can't surrender through force of effort. A full vessel cannot receive.

Sorry, you can't get here from there. Close your eyes, make a wish and jump.

To be and not to be – that is the answer.

We have two primary and distinctive aspects of our being.

One feels like and is most commonly identified with as our selves. This is our ego. Our thoughts and emotions, our wants and worries, our likes and dislikes, our perceived strengths and weaknesses – in short, everything that constitutes our images and ideas of who and what we are, personally and in relation to the rest of our world.

The other is an awareness which may feel like and be imagined as other than ourselves. In fact, it is other than our selves, when one adheres to the ego definition of self. Terms like “the mind of God”, “universal consciousness”, “shared awareness” and the like have been applied to this aspect of our being. However it's labeled or interpreted, it's ever present for, and with, each of us. And it's far more consistent and enduring than any notions about who and/or what we are.

Most people get trapped in their egos, so my teaching is primarily steering others in the opposite direction. This may leave the impression that the ego is an obstacle or burden that should be eliminated. This is not the case. If I were to see people using only their right hands, I would encourage them to use their left hands. And habit being as it is, I would have to say it over and over, ad nauseum. Obviously, I wouldn't be asking them to remove their right hands; but simply to find a balance, to use and value both sides with equal importance.

With all of one's eggs in the ego's basket, action and attitudes are primarily geared toward short term self interest; and therefore, are generally not in the best interest of the whole. If they were all in the non-personal awareness' basket, patience and acceptance would prosper to the point that little action would happen and creativity would be greatly curtailed.

In finding a balance between our personal ambitions and timeless, non-personalized observation, we become optimally productive and effective – for our selves, in the bigger picture and over the long haul.

To be and not to be – that is the answer.

“A clean work space is a safe and efficient work space.”

We all have a giant chalk boards in our minds. (Some gianter than others, no doubt.) We write down notes about everything we do, experience and believe. We write and write, learning to use different colors to add discernible layers once the board's been whitewashed with worries, wants and wonderings. It becomes a cacophonous collage that's difficult to decipher.

Tis better to clear the board on a regular basis. With the board cleaned, priorities, proverbs and preferences remain clear, and can be properly positioned to highlight the broadest possible overview and to illuminate the most important details, for our nomadic attention.

It's far more important than it may seem. The state of your chalkboard greatly affects your functioning in, and the way you interpret, your world - all day, every day. No aspect of your life is immune to its influence.

Sorry, they haven't come up with an effective board cleaning machine, yet. (Although many have tried.) You'll have to roll up your sleeves, on a regular basis, and do the maintenance, yourself. Meditation, or whatever technique or combination of practices does the trick for you, make the time and do the work.

Shhh, hhhh, shhh, hhhh, shhh, hhhh, shhh, hhhh, ...

Dance with the rhythm.

On This Love Your Mother Day

The earth does not belong to us - we belong to it.
- Chief Seattle

You never miss the water 'til the well runs dry. (He types, hearing the melodic Mills Brothers in his head.) Likewise, breathable air, living soil, abundant and diverse lifeforms, safe water and a protective atmosphere are all commonly taken for granted.

This is such an amazing and wonderful planet, on which we live. It's such a rare and precious gift. Let's not wait until it's not, before realizing this. After tens of thousands of years, as a species, we are in the unique position to be the ones who ruin it all, if we don't mend our ways, now.

Not the legacy I wish to leave. How 'bout you? Please, practice and teach sustainable living whenever, wherever and however possible, for the sake of all species, our future generations and the planet as a living breathing organism.


We don't own the earth – we owe it.

The Language of Silence

The conceptual mind knows only the language of reason and logic. It immediately disregards any understanding that presents in another form, as irrelevant, invalid or unreal.

I only speak English. I could assume that someone speaking another language was spouting nonsensical gobbledygook, and casually discount their messages, off hand. That, of course, would be foolish, incredibly egocentric and woefully wasteful.

There are valuable inner languages of vision and metaphor, mist and riddle, hint and silence. Do not let the thinker brush them away.

Happy days are here … and now.

Happy days are here and now
The skies above are clear, and how
Let's sing a song of cheer right now
Happy days are ...

Memorable moments in our lives are made so, because we're engrossed in the occasion, while it's happening. The question is - Are we engrossed in the moment because the events are so special, or are they made more special because we're so engrossed in them? The answer is – Both.

We can't control when or whether life will enamor us, but we can choose to be extra attentive, anytime. And in so doing, we enhance our experience and our enjoyment of any and every situation. The mundane becomes marvelous and the pleasant made sublime. True, you may find yourself brought to tears by something that you wouldn't even have noticed before, but that's a result of compassion and empathy that simply can't flourish when the light of creation is blotted out by the canopy of self interest.

Fanciful notions and images can be alluring, but they happen outside of time, independent of our spinning world, and exist only for the individual. Stepping into the stream of the present moment is the only way to be fully involved in the world, and is the only way to experience it in all its glory.

Stop everything, close your eyes, inhale deeply. Pause and let go of any mental/emotional clinging as you exhale, slowly. Open your eyes and greet the world, anew.

Repeat as needed.