just be it Just Be It is a practice of presence that recognizes the limits of language. When aware of silence there is a state of inner still alertness. You are wholeheartedly present.

I’m a US citizen, member of the human species and one of your constituents.  You can preach all you want about how you’re going to change things, how your opponent must be blamed for all that’s wrong, and continue the myopic strategies that have stalled our human capacity to meet ever accelerating change in climate, technology and globalization.

Yet, if you can’t show me you have strong active listening skills, if you can’t dedicate time to hear “the people’s” concerns, I have somehow lost hope.

Before you do anything or say anything, I want to know specifically how you’re going to heal the wounds created by our polarized country.  How will you get people to be friends rather than enemies?  How will you get people to stop yelling?  What will you do specifically to get the needle to move from “right vs. wrong” to  “maybe, maybe not”.  Would you endorse a change in congress where Democrats and Republicans sat next to each other?  Would you endorse a mandate where congress members were required to stay in Washington one weekend a month to socialize in bipartisan fashion at the White House?  Would you be willing to open each session with the pledge, “I admit I do not know everything”, showing at least a minimal willingness to explore issues with a more open mind?  Do you think the president has too much authority and would you support a wisdom council to strengthen more appropriate actions from the president?  This council could be made from past presidents, vice presidents and cabinet members who stayed the course through at least one term without sanctions.  The year is 2020 and we must have 20/20 vision that comes from open, collaborative minds.  Stale, old school dogmas that continue to be pushed in near sighted, myopic thinking threaten us all.  When all we can do is yell at each other, the future for our children is gravely at risk.  We’ve got enough candidates flaunting their ability “to fight”.  I’m looking for representation to the “open mind” that is cogently aware of our precarious time.  Again, my first question is directed to specifically what are your plans to break the walls and heal the wounds of our polarized country, of our polarized global community? Show me that you’re collaborative and not predatory.  Show me a flexible, open mind with imagination, 20/20 vision and a capacity to explore in these rapidly changing times.

There’s a magical moment in the morning when the frogs know it’s time to be quiet, when the birds know it’s time to sing the praises of a new day. As humans, this is very difficult….this ‘knowing’ when to not speak and when to speak. It requires a deeper listening.

Zen is about going nowhere, being nobody.  It’s about breaking the illusion of subject vs object.  It’s about relational awareness rather than consumptive unawareness, about whole hearted collaboration rather than hurtful competition.  It’s about gratitude rather than complaint, resting in the peace of what’s given in the arising moment.  Zen is about wholesome living, living from awareness to the whole and to healing, from  stewardship and the whole heart, wholesome action, speech and thought.  Zen is about the unified experience, welcoming the challenges of impermanence, grounded in the groundless moment.

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-9j5ur-dcc0a6

We are all cooked. We all get worked through life. We all know the depths of gain and loss, the highs and lows of birth and death, the emotions that come from gratitude and complaint. Perhaps the more painful part of the cooking process is moving into nobody land. After spending a lifetime of going deeper into a profession or a field of study it’s most painful when the wisdom garnished over a lifetime is disregarded. Yet, this is the way it goes. The ego hungers for validation from a lifetime of dedication. Yet wisdom knows that the cooking process is all about letting go, turning the cup over, and surrendering our attachments to identities we put on like another layer of clothing. Real living comes about when we strip naked and stand before the Mystery in faith to the surprise of the next arising moment. We want to help. We want to fix. We want to show others how life has worked for us and how it has not worked for us. And when we attach to this, we suffer more. The only response is to love without condition. This is real wholeness at work. So I humble myself to the earth, letting go my attachments to being special and of importance, dedicating each moment in stewardship to the care and well-being of what’s before me, whatever that is.  There is always light in the crack, light at the end of the tunnel.  Resilience is all about taking one step closer to that light.

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-4apf3-dc8913

The herd is not being heard. When we polarize and divide we are somehow thinking we’re separate. But we’re not. We’re all in the same boat, all in the same species, all trying to do the best we can, being the best we can. We all want to feel that we matter, that we’re enough, that we’re not “less then “, and in relational terms, “I’m OK, you’re OK“. The key question here is whether we have the resilience and discipline to not judge through this time of difficulty. You have your experience and I have my experience. I can’t question your experience. It’s fruitless to think I will change your thinking given the experience you have. I can control my reaction to what you say and do. I can notice what’s happening in the relation, whether I’m growing closer or further  away. Perhaps the best thing I can do, if you’re willing, is to be curious and invite your curiosity so that we can move to understanding in recognizing the true meaning of “herd”. With this thinking and practice we’re always aiming to expand our circles of belonging. This is the practice of going from small tribe to bigger tribe.This is a practice of breaking the illusion of our separateness, of thinking we’re superior, somehow special over others. This is where we find a bigger community, our healing and wholeness and our compassion for one another. This is a place of radical acceptance, a practice where we can embrace uncertainty, a practice where we relinquish the need to be right. We become true pilgrims of the herd.

Can we have people just sit in silence? Can we humble ourselves to not knowing? Can we explicitly say “I admit I don’t know everything“? Can we collectively breathe in and breathe out in gratitude for the opportunity to just be here, to just be present? Can we admit we don’t know when consciousness enters the brain or when it leaves the body? Can we allow compassion and love for one another to rule those decisions rather than the fixed beliefs of those who have done everything to gain power over us? Can we aim to not cause harm? Can we aim for the best for all with harm to none? Can we recognize this life that we’ve been given is precious moment by moment?   No judgment.  No complaint.  Just breathing in “yes” to this moment, just breathing out “thank you” for this moment.