To Be Watched Over

It’s an amazing feeling to be watched over. It is a state of mind, not something that can be acquired, possessed, earned or deserved. It dissolves aggression and the fear behind it. Is like a soft wind on the skin and the feeling goes vastly deeper than winning or accomplishing or forcing one’s will on any circumstance and carries no unwanted side effects. Freed from confusion and conflict and worry one is much more intelligent, genuine, and alert and much more effective as a living being. Such people are interesting to behold. Their movements fascinate. They draw you in.

As I see it there are two kinds of humans living here on Earth. One kind has seen as a fact that the observer is the observed and lives from that angle. The other kind thinks himself or herself to be separate from that which it observes and acts on that belief as if it were true. Persons of this second type are easily led to become scientists, physicians, lawyers, judges, politicians, teachers, jailers, wardens, priests, coaches, executives, officers, critics, scholars, librarians and the like. The rest of them become accomplished loafers, artists, and poets as described by Walt Whitman.

Now, whenever any life form is by another form of life (be it animal, vegetable or mineral) seen to be one who knows the observer is the observed that one is immediately accepted into a family, not a word depending upon a definition but a feeling of being watched over, to be watched over. Such a life, knowing itself to be watched over, is going to be seriously unwilling to be labeled at all or to serve anything but the whole of life. Such a way is true religion rather than superstition. 

I tell you many such creatures live among the population now often seen by others to be loafers who cannot be controlled and manipulated. Such ones are definitely not "company men" or "team players".  Seen by the other type as chaotic by their attitude  these watch the waters of chaos growing deeper and deeper around the others yet stay here with them with a life line knowing the observer is the observed. Truly, that is family.

 Ceasing Thinking of Ourselves

Some who think of themselves as religious will say some words like “We lift you on High, Oh Lord”.

They use these words but do not realize that the words were first uttered to mean  “We escape the bondage to thinking to meet with You, Oh Lord of Existence!” 

And, very importantly, we fail to realize to meet with such a One has nothing to do with concentration at all for we are always there. So we become joyous about actually lifting a veil of nothing, A newborn infant is aware. There is no effort to it. In fact, effort will lead to more confusion. 

We are but becoming aware of how we are the intellectual servants of words. By that understanding we awaken as who we are actually. And not by “practice”! We see the absurdity of thinking a “practice” can lead to truth. That error is assignable to the misuse of a brain to figure out a way to become what I am not rather than being a friend to my true nature.

At the beginning sentence above it was written that people “think” they are religious. Such people are slaves of thought which is mechanical. Thought is fine for finding an address to a meeting place but lousy as a boss of living. All such mechanical people are dangerous to children and animals and plants, all living things, including themselves. 

Out beyond right doing and wrong doing is a field where there is no such thing as distraction for there is no such thing as inattention, both mere words. Zero effort is required to be there where by nobody else’s system we playfully live lives of happy, pure, unconditioned  children. The mentioned field lies inside us way, way out beyond all thoughts. There will be found Heaven on Earth. I am not suggesting you think about this matter. That would be crazy! Doubt it! But check it out. Examine into how you use your own mind.

ATTENTION IS ALL THERE IS

Do not think about your God, rather pay attention to your thinking and lie wisely at home in the bosom of your living Lord in complete attention.

Life is sufficient unto Itself.

 

 CAN I BE THE LEGEND OF MY LIFE?

Perhaps the only thing you and I can agree upon without a reservation is the fact we are both alive now. I live as I write. You live as you read this. Do you know how to waste a life? You should. I will tell you. It is to spend it in a practice that is supposed to  lead you to a certain goal or dream of yours. Call it peace or enlightenment or contentment or true love or salvation or total security or a championship or retirement or whatever you like. To do that is to trick yourself out of a life. I listened to some folks talk awhile about the legendary outlaw Billy the Kid. All of them admired the Kid and most were convincing in stating “there was something about him I can relate to in me” but none could say what that was with the slightest degree of certainty. I have studied the Kid’s life and as I listened I felt what in me those people were trying without success to express about him. They ended pretty much all saying “well it’s what a legend is all about and we make a legend of him” then love him, adore him even. What is a legend? It never dies. It lives on and keeps on affecting people long after the death of the person who became the legend. Right? I suggest to you a legend is the truth about who we, you and I, are but deny. Is it not an obvious fact that as long as I deny who I am I cannot claim to be living? Look closely into that. And into the fact that who I am not is living my life. Billy the Kid it is told died quite young but he lived a life however short or long. Measurement or comparison is absolute nonsense here. Did I live? That is the question. 

Mother Teresa, Rumi, Robin Hood are some other legendary names. All religions trace from a legendary figure. Why are we so drawn to a legendary life? If I wasted my own better to worship someone who did not than live with the pain of such denial? Can you hear everyone of those legends we have made saying to us right this minute:  “Do not count on me. Save yourself. I did. The world needs you now!” 

It is about a ceasing, not about practice. Stop saying “I believe in blah, blah, blah.” Ask instead, “Can I cease wasting my life and live it?” It takes a lot of courage to do that. A certain intensity is required.

 How Do I Meditate?

You ask. I love you too much to answer your foolish question and spin out a system of meditating for you. Anybody who would do that for you is not a friend but someone who wants to control you and call it love. Such a one wants to organize what is perfect as it is and be an organization’s man. Such believe they will go to Heaven in that manmade way. This is very important to see. Much untold trouble can come from this activity. 

What I have told you does not mean I can be of no assistance for I have already been so above. I can add this-the better question is “What is meditation?” As soon as you ask it sincerely -that- is the beginning of meditation for you. The question itself contains the answer invariably leading to deeper and deeper meditation. Enjoy and benefit from every step as it comes to you as a beloved. You have been graced to enter a gate that was not there to begin with discovering your very own life. The gate I mentioned was put up by traditional thoughts from those who would cripple you mentally as they were crippled before you came. Do not fall for any trick that tells you “I can show you how to live a good life”. That is the voice of the Trickster who wants to be your guru, leader, or master. That voice is ignorance.

I love you means do not count on me. For if you count on another you miss the train to Heaven and that is saddest of all. That is the time to weep. Get it now? I never asked for your crutch so please do not ask me for mine. Before long you will see that this way is truly the work of some power that actually does love you and had you in its heart before even you were born. It will seem so absolutely obvious to you that only a meditation you source from within is valid. It is after all how you came to be from nothing when two met in love. As you. Forever meditate!

Let it be this time, now, when the making of art, something beautiful, is the sole obligation of all people living on the Earth not by fiat from above but from within each one’s heart and never, never, never shall any person tell another what is art. That is simply a stupid thing to ask or say. This comes by something deeper than mind reading or telepathic thinking. It is a pure state of being whereby among the entire population there is one thought only. It is here. Blowing in the wind. Imagine a group of adults standing by the crib of a brand new infant in admiration absent thoughts, words, names, relationships, or any obligation save the one.

A Mystery of Creativity

Does anyone suppose for a minute even that the commercial system for making use of creative works of art was the design of an author of such a work? Of course not. An artist is an artist only because he or she cannot help finding beauty from time to time. The happening is not planned…must not be…and all artists know that an essential requirement is that there be nobody, and I mean nobody, present when it happens. So, who is the owner of such a work?

The distribution of art commercially is the invention of business. They smelled money. That is why. The artist is bound to be trivialized by the sale of the work the ultimate source of it all dishonored.  To the business operator that means nothing. To the artist it is critical. The author of any work of art knows that the art is a gift from something holy and so much is not holy. The author sought no following, was not even present, and will shudder at the proposal that he or she be singled out as a leader who needs followers. Knowing the act of following him or her to be absurd, and twisted, the author of a holy work must refuse such a designation and encourage any who see the value of the work to make their own art. Only in this manner can humanity awaken to really be what we are and bring forth together a  beautiful interaction as a way of living and love each other for it. Does anybody care? Anybody listening? 

Finally, let me add that the fact an artist likes to eat like we all do is no reason to think  creativity must be treated as being for sale. The Universe is not a store. Fuck that. It is a house of wonder. Anything that is good must come from a universal understanding and not be dictated by the few. The very existence of a creative work of art shouts to the heavens “we are more than we are pretending to be!” Imagine for a moment a flying formation of wild, free swans soaring across a sky and take notice that all will be given a swan’s rich life complete with food and shelter just because and for no other reason. It was designed so. Were you not so well designed as a swan?

I watched a documentary recently on the life of Mister Rogers of public television fame and heard comments from angry political activists and those who criticize our fears that he was an evil man for giving his life to telling as many children as he could, “I love you just the way you are”. They told it that he made a generation of lazy loafers who do not think they must work hard to earn such respect. I cried. Every swan who cracks out from an egg is given just that. I do not think for you, you must decide, but for me that is what I count on to be my inalienable birthright.

I sit now in a comfortable, friendly coffee shop somewhere as I enjoy this writing I do naturally where I am treated as worthy and even more than that though I have in dollars far less than is going to provide me with anything but poverty they say and I do not feel poor. To the contrary, I feel rich beyond all counting and comparing. 

The creative is where It’s at, Man. 

 WE ALL WANT A FAIR TRIAL

The way to deal with the fact that in the world of man you cannot get a fair trial (deal) is not to fight to reform trials (deals) inside a society. That way, conflict, is why we cannot get a fair deal in the first place. The way is to so live one’s life that you exist within a dimension unknown to societies. Do you know of such a way? Will you examine into the question for yourself? You might begin with looking to see what a dealer is and decide to eliminate gambling and by that is meant all games of chance. Hint: Life is a sure bet. Am I wrong? Look for yourself. It is your life I refer to after all. Second Hint: The questions will answer themselves if you ask sincerely.

 All the world promises is no good for you. Every attempt at power in the world is actually a surrender of vitality. Do not agree or disagree with this. Look at it seriously for yourself and find out. 

How much vitality have I to spare? After all is taken from me where will I be? Will I shrivel enough to vanish? How puny am I willing to become? It’s not dark yet, but…I heard a man who was a very famous athlete say “I had become nothing, and my life for me was meaningless. All I had done was never enough.” Pete Maravich

I am reminded of the alpinist mountain climber who was asked, “Why didn’t you take a rope along?” And he replied, “Those are just stupid questions." That must be my answer to any question about, “If I renounce the corrupt world what will I do to protect myself and my family?"

And by renunciation I am not at all meaning that I am to abandon the world and live in a cave. I mean to live here in the world man has created and not be of it.

 WHY  DO CANNONBALLS FLY?

Why do cannonballs fly?

That children may symbolically die?

Can they ever be banned, my Friend?

Is it a possibility that war might end? 

never again to begin?

I’d have to say not- unless the will to live symbolically be first forsaken. That is saying a lot.

That a chance beyond words be taken.

A search will reveal a symbolic life is chosen by those who are fearful and a further look will clearly show that never has there been nor will there ever be a drop of security inside a symbol. All of them are fake. Flags wave by the strength of the wind and the answer in the wind is where wisdom begins. All who choose a pretend life, symbolically, must die the same symbolic way. War with its terror not Heaven is the ultimate destination of a symbolic life. Do you not see it has to be that way?

Can a man even recognize a symbolic act anymore when he sees one? Look, if humans needed a symbolic leader, recognized by a select group, life would be pointless. It would mean in order to escape a horrible, inevitable consequence every human born will have to give up on having a life of their own and follow a prescribed life of symbolic order described by rituals and symbols handed out by human voices who have always an undisclosed motive to control you.* Their true face is well hidden. Meaning you have no life at all. So, no life at all had already accomplished all a symbol is worth before you came to be. Such a life loses vitality and withers. God is bored to tears. 

Now, for a wonderful discovery.  Words are symbols. Each individual life, naked of words, has its meaning. Each has as much meaning as the meaning of any other that cannot be erased by the use of words. Or, correspondingly, every child born is a sacred world unto itself. I know that because my own life showed me that for me nothing symbolic will do. It has to be real for me. Actually lived, life is vital. It fulfills. Totally.

___________________

• Do you not see that organized causes and all their minions are but packs of tricksters and thieves offering to take from you everything they can steal? Learn for yourself to trace these things back to their source and to expose the flimflam for yourself. It is your life after all is said and done.

A NEW HUMAN

If time were not all over my ass I’d be okay.  I’d be free. Lonesome would mean nothing. So, is there a way for me to be free of time? That is a good question. 

Time is thought. Thought takes memory and experiences and cooks up time. Time exists in the outer world all right but no time is there inward except by thinking it up. This means to me we can let the weather come and go and the water flow to the sea knowing we are inside a cave of innocence nothing to control. In that little insight are miracles. More energy than can be imagined is there. A clear mind is there. Such a person is unstoppable. 

 HOW HUMANITY CHANGES

If it’s humans that make up humanity how can humanity change until the humans do? My job is to change this one human I am. Not anybody’s job to change the world. No one who has tried has made a difference.  It gets worse. Because it’s humans that make up humanity. A surprising thing is that when I change myself the world changes for me. One way I see it is that when I let the world be in the sense I am in it but not of it, it returns the favor, not by choice. I have lived a creative existence for over thirty years. What I mean by that is some power beyond description takes an interest in what I am doing as I keep my mind open controlling nothing. It is not easy to control nothing. It requires a great and serious concentration to see the confused mind we all share for what it is and what it is not. Seeing that, one will fall in love with a new way of life. In this world I am of there is a beauty that has no opposite so control is obsolete. If I control nothing I have nothing to lose. Having nothing to lose I have no secrets to conceal. Being so vulnerable I overcome all that is resistant. Being soft I conquer all the is hard. 

 LITTLE DO I KNOW

So, as I see it, most people live everyday rating a false symbol above the truth. From that approach what can we expect to be life’s response? People complain about the weather…with each other. Who do we think we are talking to? Can it be hot as Hell weather has its own secret, or obvious, purpose? Is the answer in the question itself then? Look in there with me. I came to teach you what to pray for. That is what I hear the weather say. What did you hear? Love sent me? I’ll be damned!

I’ll tell one. I fell in love recently with a woman cashiering in a shop. Our eyes met. In a timeless moment there was the unusual. That is what I call it to fall in love. Not lust. Love. Here is the most important part I have to tell. What I fear is she did not fall as I did. She saw nothing unusual and had no timeless moment she shared with me and knew it. Get it? So strong is that fear it makes me fear the truth so much I grab a symbol, no, many symbols to chase after. I actually think they are more reliable than the moment as it happened to me. I crush that moment like crushing a bug under my foot each time I do. If I were that moment I’d give up on me. It has not yet. Yet. 

I mess around with escapes from the moment rather than give my whole being to the moment. If I were that moment I’d give up on me. She’s just a cashier. She’s much younger than me. She wants someone who holds out promises for a happy future. We all know those images. In a second the true moment is cast aside and replaced by a preferred future goal and not a now that just happened. The moment was so pure it held no opposite so from where do the opposites come? My conditioned mind? I’ll be damned!

Now, the real loss. Symbolically, I jumped to “I need to marry this woman”, or, in some other way, attach to her. That will give security. How crazy is that? I know already that marriage, an image, holds no security at all. Been there. Done that. Here I am back again…here I go down that wrong road…again. I realize I do this with jobs, business, children, friends, enemies, and all the rest of the symbols given to me for a solid, secure  life. 

That moment I shared with a woman at her job held out no promise whatsoever. It was complete and it grabbed me. What for? Is the answer in the question again? Look there with me. For all I know she could be someone who knows somebody who knows somebody else who knows another who has a cure for toe fungus. Little do I know. Important words to live by. It is true. Her eyes spoke to my eyes and told me “I know you as you are and have known you always”.  When I am still I am aware that there is no bottom to that pure message. It goes nowhere. Had no beginning and has no end. I will call it sacred. Trust I will in it in place of all the world’s images for the remainder of my days. That moment happened like anything happens. I await more. In the truth of who I am now, ignoring a need to become something, I totally end symbolic living.

 LIVING SYMBOLICALLY

My generation has been named and it means who I am. I will conform to it and our leader shall be named. I do not even blink or hiccup at that. I believe we got our own set o’ problems. We are gonna solve ‘em this time unlike the previous generation that fell down a well. It’s a great challenge to solve problems and we are well-equipped and aware but nobody has a clue the source of the problems, who they came from, or where. A poet said they came from solving previous problems, we laugh, agree and go on from there solving away. Mostly its about tightening your belt and directing your spending we are convinced. Cash. The banks can print more. We are going to have to buy clean water and air. Price is steep. 

My family has been named and it means who I am. I will conform to it and our leader shall be named. I do not even blink or hiccup at that. I believe! We got our own set o’ problems. We are gonna solve ‘em this time unlike the neighbors that fell down a well. It’s a great challenge to solve problems and we are well-equipped and aware but nobody has a clue the source of the  problems who they came from or where. An uncle said they came from solving previous problems, we laugh, agree or disagree, and go on from there solving away. Mostly its about tightening your belt and directing your spending. Cash. The government  can print more. We are going to have to buy clean water and air. Price is steep.

My job has a name and it means who I am. I will conform to it and obey our leader whose name will change. I do not even blink or hiccup at that . I believe! We got our own set o’ problems. We are gonna solve ‘em this time unlike the competitors that fell down a well. It’s a great challenge to solve problems and we are well-equipped and aware but nobody has a clue the source of the  problems who they came from or where. A comedian said they came from solving previous problems, we laugh, agree or disagree, and go on from there solving away. Mostly it’s about tightening your belt and directing your spending. Cash. We can print more. We are going to have to buy clean water and air. Price is steep. This is literally getting monotonous. I quit!

 

 

 BEAUTY WITH NO OPPOSITE

Here is my favorite song this morning-All Along the Watchtower by Dylan.

It is a short one that says volumes. Also, the beginning is placed at the end. A trick with power to sneak by the conditioned mind and the way words become our rulers before we notice. In fact, I'd say this morning all of formal education takes place in a jail built with words which form systems that are nonexistent in reality so that in Not Dark Yet the singer says he just sees no reason to go on since every beauty he has known has had an evil side. The question of the day is: 

is it possible to live a human life in a world, a parallel universe, in which beauty has no opposite? Not Two Riders but One. Neither the Joker nor the Thief. One Rider. 

I say there is. It remains a mystery why most who find that out only play with its amazing grace more or less in secret and stay stuck in the same ol' universe of duality where everybody suffers, suffers, suffers. Buy the record. Listen to the song. Feel its truth. Rejoin misery. It seems we want false security, in symbols, that much! How weird it is to want false security more than the real.

I watched some football. The slogan of all coaches in competitive sports is “Winning is all that matters”. What if there is a world here and now where winning has no opposite?  In his song “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” the singer says there’s no success like failure and failure is no success at all. It makes me feel, not think, there truly is no opposite for success. Secretly, every coach, when vulnerable, tells his players “if you do your best today you will be a success in my book regardless of what the score board says”.  What book is the coach aware of that his players also grasp immediately? 

In a Universe without an opposite for love when two lovers meet the whole thing is wrapped in “I love you”. Not in words. The fact! The fact is not followed by “or, I do not”. And the word is always followed by “or I do not”. Thesis-antithesis. All that follows ”I love you” in the suffering universe-that is, a ring, a promise, a license, a wedding then counting the days…that is entirely absent in the universe of love with no opposite. Does it exist? Do you know? This writer says it does.

Have one completely wholesome day. Hey, even an hour would amaze. Warning: people who analyze songs are bound to fall back into pairs of opposites when analyzing a poet’s effort at something new. There are poets and those who name them so who praise and analyze their work. They are coming from two separate worlds. A wild cat knows. The wind has the answer. They are the growl and howl of the poets.

 A Memory, Or

Once I was chasing a tiger in the forest 

When I was a Kid riding with pals in a Chevrolet convertible on the Drag seated on the back of the back seat my ass out on the trunk with my feet inside the car and a beer in my hand on a beautiful Spring day in Austin came on the radio blasting fully “Like A Rolling Stone" by Bob Dylan and what I remember most of it was the line "You got nothing to conceal”. It followed the chorus line "How does it feel” and by then I was ready to allow the line to reach my deepest heart to show me for a moment there the feeling of being without a thing to hide from anyone…not even God Almighty. Like everybody who has heard it for the first time my response was “I never heard a song like that on the radio” and “they don’t play music like that from a commercial radio station” and what I really meant was “I never been affected thataway by a song before”. Thataway is when a song is so personal it is your song singing itself to free you up from an inescapable prison of bad ideas. When that happens one knows by actual experience, if only for a brief moment, what is meant by the term “paradise” and all its synonyms. And one will never be the same after that. And that is so even if it will take around two more decades for you to be ready to go for the feeling and find out for yourself whether it is real. 

 Let’s Pretend 

So, let’s play pretend good society for people to live under. Want to?  Okay. So, let’s pretend the people will vote for candi-dates who want to pretend they are lawmakers for the rest of the people to be governed by. Okay? Well, these elected lawmakers are only going to be able to pretend to make good laws that will make an incorrupt society, that okay? So, we will pretend the laws the pretend lawmakers make are really good, fair, wise, and pretend such laws will serve an incorrupt society we all pretend we want. Any problem? See any? 

Okay. Now the pretend fair and good laws are going to disappoint us unless we pretend the laws are good ones all should obey willingly. Get it? Okay. But if we really wanted a good society we are gonna be disappointed when these pretend laws are enforced. Understand? Yeah. Okay. Unless we are willing to pretend the pretend laws ought to be enforced in spite of the evidence. Is that understood?  Some people may protest the unfairness so we need to be ready to be rough…violent. Get it? 

Whenever anyone, a parent, for example takes a position of

I know

You do not

I’ll help you

nobody will be helped. In fact, the very person addressed in this manner will be crippled. Don’t you see why? With good intentions we murder. We murder the minds of our children in their cribs. The only real help comes from: I do not know. Only then does the mind of the would-be helper empty. And only an empty mind is brilliant enough for the task. You try it. Find out. I dare you. A door will open for you that you knew not to be there. Your life will flower. Do you understand what that means? Come on. Find out. Do not go to the library or bookstore. Try it. It must be your understanding not a borrowed one. 

 "You two are going to have to work it out”

as a direction to take when a problem arises instead of immediately jumping to “control” feels to me like a way whereby a real, far-reaching solution is possible  where "control" brings the opposite-always more and more far reaching suffering. Systems are replete with this. Has anybody ever learned anything worthwhile from being controlled by an outside force? A criminal can be imprisoned and punished, even executed. But, the source of any good that will come to the prisoner or anyone else will have to be love and patience…and that has happened many times.

Patience and love. Many, if not all, aboriginal societies we know of had this approach as naturally as is drinking water when thirsty. People have not always tampered with what is not their business and is beyond their understanding. Order is never manufactured. It does not come from a mechanical process. Such processes lead to disorder. Matter disintegrates. Order is. It exists. The way to find it is to cease controlling. In that state one is so very, very wise. What will unfold for such people cannot be predicted from the dimension of controlling. Try it.