A WHOOPER SWAN'S DIARY: 08/28/16

THE STORY OF JOHNNY WHOOPER SWAN We go to school trusting our parents. We meet a teacher there who stands up front with a big desk, and a pointer. She or he trains us in an authoritative manner. We attach mentally to a life long need for authority in order to live lives successfully. Right so far? In my case, at the age of 25 I was ready to enter the practice of law where I hoped for success and a happy life finally. Very shortly, very shortly, I became anxious. There was a foreboding. I was made more uncomfortable with each experience. Law work is nothing like what I was told it would be. The system is corrupt. But I still cling to my expectation that career success is necessary to my happiness as a man. Each day my grasp of what the fuck success amounts to after all becomes more clouded, murkier. I hear songs on the airwaves and at concerts which describe my life as the life of a fool. What am I becoming? I want to rip off my business suit to run naked in the street with my hair on fire! But I am too afraid. In strange, weird (weird comes from a word meaning wise), fragmented steps I go about a journey of my own believing myself to be the first man to have failed in such a total way which journey works so as to break up my career, end a marriage, and start an entirely new way of relating with my two children whom I love deeply. Almost magically I meet a woman who is a career counselor who asserts a beautiful message that I am made to be joyful in my work everyday and at all levels. This understanding sets me on a completely new course. It is no longer a world of systems to me but an undivided one of unlimited beauty. It reminds me of a painting. A true masterpiece. I am drawn from within to learn the truth about my identity and nobody else can teach me that. From this point onward I will use thinking capacity for mastering mechanical processes and follow my heart, which includes my whole nature, which includes your whole nature and that of every human being for all the rest. I’ll go by the name Johnny Whooper Swan who does not explain itself to anyone. By my fruits shall I be known. Watch me soar!

Sunday, August 28, 2016

SIMPLY RECONSIDER EVERY DAY

I want to suggest that as humans we reconsider now the worship, or not, of any of the named gods, whichever the case may be.

For just a moment

to go back in history

to how it all began.

If you do, now, ask yourself:

did I believe or choose not to believe because in a time of deep fear someone told me almighty God can be on my side if I follow instructions to the letter assuring me that thereafter I shall be glad I did? In other words, someone invited me to join their side in a battle between good and evil? Can it be that that which seemed an invitation to freedom was the opposite dressed as a band of chosen people proclaiming a unique concern for me and my welfare? And, whether I accepted, or refused to accept, I ask, did I then make fear my master thereafter right up to this moment? Have I become fear itself?

One can come empty of guile only when one finally sees

no power is on my side.

Is that not so?

Think about it.

Does the world's Sun not seem to go 'round to you? Time and time again? Tracing the same pattern in the sky above you blessing all living things the same without a shred of judging who is good and who is bad? Now, make the same inquiry concerning the actual food you eat, the air you breathe, and the water you drink. Does a mango ever ask: are you entitled to eat me? Do air, water, or foods nourish the good only and curse the evil ones? Who draws lines and declares, my side?

In fact, be honest, as you surely are, is there not strong evidence laid at your door daily that whatever runs the show down here does not prefer you over those you dislike most bitterly? And, does that fact cause you to doubt the very existence of any god at times or cause you to hate the idea of it it even? You may tremble if you dare.

So, now, will you consider a recommitment of your life to something that does not want you to rejoice a moment longer than your neighbor rejoices? or a perfect stranger? or all your perceived enemies? right down the list to the tiniest bug?

Only am I asking. Should this make no sense to you forget it ever came by your eye.

This happened to me is why I am asking. What I care about is a world of peace for all we humans. The rest of nature, the trees, for example, and all that live under their sway seem to have no trouble living consistently without boundary lines, real or imagined. Do you know there is a vital connection occurring as you read these words between the lizards who cavort merrily in a desert this moment and the trees living and growing in forests far away from them and probably unknown to them throughout life? Only asking.

This is not an invitation to join a goddamn thing! Maybe it's an invitation to accept, just as you are, the only thing you cannot, under any circumstance, un-join. I care not that you know my name. I am ordinary like you. Talking to me is like talking to yourself.