Just the Facts, Ma'am

Loon before the Mist, Tucker Pond, September 2021

So I've started meditating again, out on the deck of our camp, early in the morning.  What an amazing time to be awake and outside.  The rest of humanity (at least around the pond) has yet to stir.  But the wildlife is buzzing and serenading me.  It really helps one get back in touch with nature, with life, with reality.

We had some family friends visiting us for a couple of days, and had some interesting conversations, one of which somehow, in that alchemic way, sparked this poem.  It's called "Just the Facts, Ma'am" from that old TV show Dragnet, where the unflappable (and largely unemotional) detective wants the witness to just give the essence of the matter, not irrelevant commentary, like our minds so often do.

So anyways, here's what emerged after one of those meditation sessions.

Just the Facts, Ma’am

This thing called "life" sure is interesting, if nothing else

And there’s always something else

Life is a gift — it’s all of existence

The who-what-when-where-why of it

And yet, Life is nothing of the kind

It’s non-duality … simply the wholeness of being

Life is this moment, and only this moment

Constantly refreshed, nothing is fixed

The stillness of dawn’s light, and

The effervescence of hummingbird wings

Ever humming, flowing, emerging, creating

This impermanent dance of Lila

Sunlight dances across a misty pond

Dewdrops glisten upon Indra’s net

Ripples of consciousness itself

Are but the footfalls of so many water striders

That loon’s mournful morning cry really is

The sound of your original birth

Everything is, just as it is, enfolding and unfolding

Thirteen billion years of causes and conditions

No this or that, no good or bad … no separation

When in doubt, simply remember, “not two”

All of it, the sublime and the ridiculous

Right here, right now … **snap**

Thou art That  

Thou art That!

Falling Water

Bass Creek, off trail from Charles Waters Campground, Florence, Montana

Falling Water

The sound

Of falling water

Is flooding my ears

And my very existence 

The sound

Of rushing water

Flows deep within my bones

And penetrates my soul 

This is the sound

Of Life itself

Unstoppable Flow ... Life’s effervescence 

Bubbling up, if only you will drink

That primordial sound

Resonating somewhere deep within you

Is the very birth of this universe

And a newborn’s first ferocious cry

You must tread, uphill, for miles

To reach the mighty headwaters of your Being

Until you can finally meet yourself 

For the very first time

Revel in the cacophony

So often rough and tumble

Yet at the same time, somehow soothing

Once you come to realize ... "thou art that"

For there is … Only Being

Your Invitation

Soulmate or Solemate?, Kailua, HI, April 2020, Nikon D600 with FX 28-300mm VR lens, 135mm,
1/160 sec @ f10, ISO 200, -0.33 EV, no flash © Steven Crisp  [Click on the photo to enlarge]

Your Invitation

Are you frustrated with your life?
Asking why this befalls you or that keeps on happening?
Wishing some pain would just go away?
Wondering why you feel so tired or trapped by despair?

You could take up arms!  Cinch tight your armor!
Spend every free moment devising the master battle plan!
Envision the vanquishing of your archest enemy!
Surely then, with your foot upon his neck, the sun will shine brightly!

Funny thing about life.  The sun is always shining brightly.
It’s just that some days clouds bless the earth with rain.
Each night, if we look up, distant stars will twinkle.
And we may glimpse the infinite vastness of life unfolding.

So let us recalibrate our thinking. Judge not each day,
By the harvest that you reap, but by the seeds that you sow.
That’s the measure of control you have with life.  
Then, if conditions are favorable, life will be bountiful.

But when conditions leave the ground dry and barren, 
As life surely will from time to time, you have
Only two choices:  1) Acceptance;  2) Acceptance, 
While you till the soil and water by hand.

The truth about life is that we are not in control 
Of the whole of it.  But we can influence our role in it.
We can check our motivations, reset our expectations.
See that it is our actions that count, and not our wishes.

This is the good news.  Everything you can control is 
before you and inside you.  Before your ego is hurt or stroked.
Inside the heart and soul of your very Being.  Go There.
To that place of Knowing.  A subtle Opening.  That’s your Invitation.

Note, this post was inspired by a quote I read this morning, and you'll find my 

close approximation of his words above:

"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant."

-- Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1094), Essayist, Poet, Novelist

Don't Just Be Yourself ... Just Be

Morning Flower Sermon, Lanikai, HI, September 2020, iPhone 11 Pro © Steven Crisp

The common advice when one is uptight or troubled is to “just be yourself” as if that will relax you and let you breathe more easily. 

But while that may be better than being anxious or fearful, is not enough. Still you have yourself — your ego — and that requires defending, stroking, placating, and the like. 

So the real step to take is to Just Be!  Dis-identify with that self that needs protection. That self is itself a contraction of being. You can even feel that contraction in your body if you become still, quiet, and aware. 

Just Be that which is present in this moment, or as Ram Dass so wisely titled his first book, just Be Here Now. 

So rather than just being yourself, try freeing yourself so that you can Just Be. 

After all, what you call the self is not a solid, well-defined, static thing. If the self is anything more than just a label, it is a dynamic, ever changing, process of being. The flux and flow of Life itself. 

You understand this intellectually — cells constantly dying and dividing, new experiences being processed and becoming part of your identify, even gut microbiome being changed based on the food you eat and affecting your health, etc., etc.

Absolutely everything you believe is your “self” is changing continuously. It's impermanent. That is what Life is. 

Come to know that fact intellectually and experientially, and you will have unlocked a precious treasure.  The ability to allow yourself to simply Be.  Recognize that you already are part of Life itself, an ever unfolding part of the Cosmos.  You are not looking at Nature, you Are Nature.  

Nature does not worry about its past or project what might be its future.  Nature simply flows, based on the deep interconnection with all that Is.  Indeed, it is that Is-ness, or Such-ness that constitutes your true Being.

There is a so-called Flower Sermon, given by the Buddha to his monastics and visiting lay-people.  It is captured in a famous Buddhist Sutra, and has been interpreted by Thich Nhat Hahn, in the book Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha (available for free).

In the Sutra, at the beginning of his anticipated dharma talk, the Buddha (Guatama) held up a single flower in his hand, and remained silent for a long time.  One of his disciples, Mahakassapa smiled and received the direct transmission of wisdom of this teaching, as interpreted below:

“The Buddha began to speak. “Friends, this flower is a wondrous reality. As I hold the flower before you, you all have a chance to experience it. Making contact with a flower is to make contact with a wondrous reality. It is making contact with life itself. 

“Mahakassapa smiled before anyone else because he was able to make contact with the flower. As long as obstacles remain in your minds, you will not be able to make contact with the flower. Some of you asked yourselves, ‘Why is Gautama holding that flower up? What is the meaning of his gesture?’ If your minds are occupied with such thoughts, you cannot truly experience the flower.

“Friends, being lost in thoughts is one of the things that prevents us from making true contact with life. If you are ruled by worry, frustration, anxiety, anger, or jealousy, you will lose the chance to make real contact with all the wonders of life.

“Friends, the lotus in my hand is only real to those of you who dwell mindfully in the present moment. If you do not return to the present moment, the flower does not truly exist. There are people who can pass through a forest of sandalwood trees without ever really seeing one tree.  Life is filled with suffering, but it also contains many wonders.  Be aware in order to see both the suffering and the wonders in life.

“Being in touch with suffering does not mean to become lost in it.  Being in touch with the wonders of life does not mean to lose ourselves in them either.  Being in touch is to truly encounter life, to see it deeply.  If we directly encounter life, we will understand its interdependent and impermanent nature.  Thanks to that, we will no longer lose ourselves in desire, anger, and craving.  We will dwell in freedom and liberation."

Excerpt From: Thich Nhat Hanh. “Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha.” 

And that is the intended purpose of the flower photo above.  Open your eyes and try to see all of Nature just as it is, part of the "wondrous reality" that is Life itself.  And Just Be a part of that wondrous reality!  No words are needed; no words can really describe it.