EMERGE

Surfing the web, I happened upon a free introductory course in oil painting. The instructor, a young Frenchman, was painting a landscape and talking while I looked over his shoulder.  

Loaded brush in hand, he offered a bit of artistic insight that grabbed me. “Never worry about creating your own unique style as an artist,” he said, “Just work at constantly improving your skill as a painter and your personal style will emerge all on its own.”

I find this to be extremely sage advice--and not just for artists.  

Ultimately, one’s unique style, voice, groove--as well as one’s overall approach to life and resultant contribution to the world--cannot be gained by copying anyone else. It won’t be authentic. Won’t be real. No, we must each surf, stop, observe, consider, experiment and then put into practice what we personally are gleaning from the world and life around us. There is just no other way. There can be no other us. 

Yes, many are happy (some all too happy) to teach us how to do life--and maybe even love. But their advice, even when well-meant, won’t stick, won’t stay....unless we each do the transformative  work of hearing deeply what life’s many teachers are telling us.

And then act on it.

Let’s take a moment to think of the people in our lives who have created their own style, found their own voice, settled into their own groove (or whatever your preferred cliche) and made their unique contribution to us and the world. Then, let’s thank them--whether they’re still with us or not--whether we even know them or not. Next, let’s recognize that they are actually doing (or have done) just what the art instructor advised: Not worrying about creating their own “style,” they’ve just kept working at improving their skills at being lovingly, creatively, joyfully human…and all of its own, their style--their way of being in the world--emerged. 

Finally, let’s not attempt to copy what makes these prophetic individuals stand alone in our crowd. Rather, let’s use the inspiration with which they fill us to go and do our own version of the same.

TODAY.

LET’S GIVE THE WORLD & OURSELVES A GIFT.

LET’S THINK ABOUT HOW WE HUMANS EMERGE.

THE ART OF BEING

My life’s a bit hectic right now and I’m not finding the time to write something from scratch so I’m offering another of my favorite sayings. How about you? Got one to share? I find they have amazing power to inspire us to love, kindness, and courage so I’m always on the lookout for them. This one’s on my short list.

“To be nobody but yourself 

in a world that is trying its best, 

night and day,

to make you everybody else

means to fight the hardest battle

which any human being can fight;

and never stop fighting.”

edward estlin cummings 

THE LIGHT UNDER THE DOOR

What is it about a light under a door that gets our attention? We can’t help being curious. Where’s the light coming from? Who (or what!) is behind that door? What’s going on in there?

A question is like that. It automatically beckons us from beyond. In fact, sometimes it’s better than an answer since an answer is a singular solution. Once we pick it--for better or worse--it’s our baby. But! A thoughtful question can spawn any number of children. Further, an answer--even if wrong--can give us a satisfying but false sense of security so we go with it. Settle for it. Maybe sell our souls for it.  

Been there?

Of course, we need to critique our questions, too, since there are good ones, bad ones…and very bad ones. Good ones free up our imagination, take our creative juices offroad and literally open up our brain’s blood vessels. But bad ones, and especially very bad ones, send us into heart-sinking emotional freefalls.

Done that?

Never mind the answer, a good question itself tells us something we don’t already know. Like our favorite teacher, it both informs and inspires us. It broadens our experience while guiding us from the moment it sets our minds and (hopefully) our hearts in motion. Yes, at times it may feel like nagging. But what if it’s nudging? 

Of course, the questions we ask say a whole lot about us, too--which can be another empowering line of inquiry. Feeling courageous, anyone? 

In the meantime…a good question sheds its own light.

TODAY.

LET’S GIVE THE WORLD & OURSELVES A GIFT.

LET’S THINK ABOUT THE QUESTIONS WE ASK.

TIME & ETERNITY

Seconds, minutes, 

hours, and days, 

all but human constructs

keeping time in a line

while this very instant,

and each one passing,

is but a momentary blip, 

the transitory tip of eternity,

crashing time’s continuum.

And here in turn, at the now

where time slices through 

the bread of all things infinite 

with the blade of temporality,  

the two become one. 

Like lovers they merge, 

each time as if never before, 

every time knowing never again, 

then move on, leaving only lingerings.

And the all of it before our blearied eyes.

Meanwhile, we long to wander in wonder,

as if we haven’t a care in the cosmos. 

Oh, wouldn’t that be the kiss of bliss.

FOR SURE

I know a man, asks me oft as he can, 

“Well, what do you know for sure?”

He’s a bit of a joker, a bit of a poker,

but I trust him, his motives are pure.

The question he asks is innocent, I know,

if an odd way to start conversation.

But I have to admit, down in my pit, 

it causes me some consternation.

Though I’m not sure 'xactly why it puts me awry,

one or both of us must have some baggage. 

(While nurture, I think, is one of our porters,

some of our bags come prepackaged!)

Turns out, I don’t know half what I thought,

And half of that isn’t true.

But I also know some things I know

are “for sure” as the sky is blue.

I know how to care, I know how to share,

I know how to love, know the feeling,

I know for certain we need each other

I know the world needs our healing.

And if I know this, and you know that,

in my mind it leaves little doubt.

If each of us brings our blessings to bear,

then together we’ll figure things out.

TO THE POINT

Biologically speaking, two people (our parents) made us into who we are today. Step back one generation and 4 people, our grandparents, had their biological say in the matter. Go back seven generations and 128 of our ancestors got in the funnel that became the present you and me. 

Now let's go the other way. Hypothetically, if we have two children and those two have two children, etcetera, we quickly result in another human triangle, this one fanning out into the hopefully-distant future. 

Put the two triangle points together and what do we have? The you or me that exists at this very moment relative (pun intended) to our entire past and future--and I’m still speaking biologically! 

But there’s more.

In a similar way, the choices (good and bad) that you and I have made in our past bring us down to the precise point of who we are today, right? By the same token, the choices that we will make today will inevitably shape each of us into our future selves--and how many others will be shaped by them along the way?                   

My point is this.

Even the seemingly insignificant decisions we make here and now CANNOT NOT have a lasting causal effect upon our future as well as present lives. And what about the lives of all those with whom we share this planet? So let’s commit ourselves to doing our very best thinking. And let’s remember, no decision is too small to shape the future.

It’ll make all the difference in the world.

TODAY.

LET’S GIVE THE WORLD & OURSELVES A GIFT.

LET’S  THINK ABOUT HOW TODAY'S THINKING SHAPES THE FUTURE.

MASTER GAMERS

Our minds approach life as if everything is a game.

Buy a new car? They’ll spot every car exactly like it. Ask them what we want for dinner? They won’t just yell, “Take out!” They’ll give us a visual of the food. Tell them not to think ‘pink elephants’? (Well, they like to play tricks, too.) In fact, they love games so much that if we don’t give them one they’ll just make one up.

And that’s where the trouble starts.

If we’re thinking happy, healthy thoughts? No problem. They’ll come up with more! But give them a sad or anxious or angry feeling to work with and watch out! Why? Because it’s all a game--one where their only goal is to please us--to give us what they think we’re asking them for. Good or bad.

It’s good to let them go off leash. Sometimes. It can be both cathartic and creative. But like the late astrophysicist Stephen Hawkings said, “It’s important to have an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out.” Our minds want and need some level of loving guidance. After all, it’s why they store up our emotional profiles, values, experiences, habits, beliefs, preferences, relationship histories, mores and more. 

Self-awareness--TO ASK OURSELVES WHY WE’RE THINKING WHAT WE’RE THINKING--is a special capacity of the human mind--a true gift--given to all but gainfully utilized by few. Never mind under! There’s a wealth of wisdom waiting right behind our noses that we only draw upon if and when we consciously seek it out. And it’s the kind of savvy that matures us, shaping us into better, happier people . . . 

. . . .and making the world a safer, sweeter place.

TODAY.

LET’S GIVE THE WORLD & OURSELVES A GIFT.

LET’S TAKE TIME TO THINK ABOUT HOW WE THINK.

THE FACE

I close my eyes and quiet my breath,

I ease my ever-restive spirit into your solitude,

and I see you. I behold your sweet smile. So clearly!

So soft and warm your eyes as you rekindle mine,

your chuckle of glee at my arrival palpable,

though it should be the other way round.

You fill me with  an unfathomable mirth,

I feel such assent, such acceptance, such ecstasy,

that it moves me to a rare and cathartic humility.

But this, this one thing, catches me up.

It’s as if I’m gazing upon my very own self,

Me, yes, yet having an ageless countenance,

and a visage so filled with an unworldly energy

that you sweep me into the orbit of your aura. 

I don’t want to leave. Never. Ever. Thankfully,

you assure me that you are with me always,

that you are nearer to me than this very breath,

that I am lavishly anointed with your serenity

and extravagantly appointed with your joy.

So I wonder, are you the spark of the divine in me,

the Presence within reaching out?

Are you the face of my soul?

THE PATH

“Life is a journey,” so we’ve heard. A million times.

It feels that way, in part because our memories and imaginations divide time up into yesterdays, todays, and tomorrows, and in part because as a species we humans move about. Thanks to drivers like the Internet, a morphing climate, edge-cutting science, and ever new technologies we move about more than ever (sans pandemics!). We do so physically, but also mentally, socially, spiritually, relationally, economically, and politically as well. We are wanderers by nature. Always have been. Always will be.

Accompanying this wandering is the strong inner sense that our lives are on some kind of trajectory or path. Individually and collectively we travel this path through time and space. Always coming from somewhere. Always going somewhere else.

But what if the path itself is the destination?

We so focus our lives on their content…the people, places, things, thoughts, feelings, and experiences! What about the process? After all, the process is actually the path by which the content of our lives comes into being, right? So what happens if we focus our attention here?

Where am I going with all this? (pun intended)

Many have taught/teach that when Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)) he was exclusively saying, “I, Jesus, am the one and only path to your ultimate destination (God/the Father/heaven). No one else matters!” 

But what if he wasn’t? 

What if he so identified with the “journey” nature of our being that he saw himself as one with the path itself…and then spoke for it? What if he was saying, “Look to my life as a way of engaging with your own path. I will show you how. If you do, you will find your ultimate destination. You will experience your own truth…your own True Life.” 

What if he meant, "THIS MOMENT IS YOUR PATH…YOUR DESTINATION."

TODAY.

LET’S GIVE THE WORLD & OURSELVES A NEW GIFT.

LET’S THINK ABOUT ENGAGING WITH OUR OWN PATH.