Plentium

  "Welcome to the land of Plentium" my guide said. "Come on in"
I entered the vast hall trepidatiously. There were so many treasures lying around, free for the taking. 
"What an amazing place!" I remarked, awestruck. "I must be dreaming!"
"Rest assured, you are not dreaming" my guide said. "This is the real deal. You've earned it"
  "I have? How?"

I don’t do this every day so don’t get any ideas

Tom Parsons- Unsplash.com

"All those nights you worked late because your co-workers called in 'sick', all those times that the managers claimed that the company was struggling when it was making bank, all the times that you asked if it was the correct price and the salesman in the store or whatever said that it was, and you paid it, and all of other times you played by the rules while others cheated. It all adds up. This is your karma. It is what you, by doing your good works, have silently accrued. Now it is yours to enjoy"
"Uh..... uh.... I don't know how to enjoy. I've always gotten by with less. It's what I'm used to. This seems to be way too much"
"It's not"
"How can you say that? There's more here than I've ever dreamed!"
"Were not your dreams big like this, once?"
"They were. But then....."
"Something happened, right? You're not alone. You were told- conditioned- by various factions and forces that your lot in life was a small one. It never in actuality was. This largesse has always been your birthright"
"I thought so. I knew it!"
"Don't be gettin' uppity now! This isn't about winners and losers. It's about The All. The All wants you to have this. It has always wanted you to have this. But- you live in a free will world and there are those who didn't want you to know that. Your gain is their loss, in their perception. This is why this was kept from you. They wanted all of The All for themselves"
"And they did a pretty damn good job of that!" I snidely (and surprisingly) replied. I was getting a little bit pissed at being delayed from grabbing the goods that were so agonizingly near. 
"Not nice people are a pain throughout the universe. But don't worry. They'll get theirs" the guides calmly said, which was not a good enough answer for a long sufferer like me.

"By means of fiery vengeance and horrible shrieking pain?" I sputtered, urgently hoping for an affirmative reply.

"By means of unending overtime and having to carry the load shorthanded?" I prayed this too would be so.

"And by means of heckling and spurious laughter coming from regions removed?" I fervently wished, my brow aching as if in extreme throes of visualizing.

My guides sadly shook their heads in response to my vitriol, but having been once human, or assigned through higher attainment to coach humans, they understood. 
"No, it won't be that way. An eye for an eye is the olde interpretation of the law. It was meant for Moses' time. Today we say 'appropriate'. The appropriate means of salvation, brought about by the implementation of corrective measures, will be lovingly yet sternly applied. You call this 'tough love'. We call it 'infinite mercy'. Your vengeance timetable is a crude and inappropriate application of ‘justice’, one that is also way too short for The Universe. Try thinking much longer term. We don't want trauma patients, we want coherent members of the growing fold of the redeemed. Think about that the next time you get the urge to lash out.
Now go and help yourself to the booty. Your time in the trenches is over. Others have volunteered to be the wayshowers so that you can take a well deserved rest- of the rest your lifetime, if you wish it. A good looong break"
"Yea!"
"Just understand that with fiscal freedom comes responsibility. Use this bequest wisely. Treat others with respect, extend a helping hand if so inspired, tread lightly through the world in all ways. Because if'n you don't......"
A piteous scream was heard in the background, wailing came from another direction, and an overtime zombie staggered by, quite near. 
     "....you will again find yourself in the company of the wicked".
"That''s ok. Got it. I’m cool. Ain't goin' there. You got my word on that"
”Good. See you in fifty years?"
"I'll be dead by then!"
"You'll be reborn by then"
"Oh".

The Interview

A local station, Wha's Sup Radio, called and asked if I wanted to be interviewed and I said "No, I can't. My travel schedule is too full".
(Yeah, right)
Of course I agreed. Any exposure right now is a good thing. So I made my way down to the station but came bringing my own Joe with me for the morning interview 'cuz I ain't the trustin' kind when it comes to Joe.
The woman doing the interview was named Tina. I like that name. Haven't heard it for awhile. You know, baby names change with the generations and Tina, an old one, is making a comeback. Anyway, the interview:

Tina: "How did you pick the name for your website- 'NowChangeable.com'?"
Me:  "I just came up with it, and liked the way it sounded right away. It represents a whole slew of things"
Tina:  "Does that 'just coming up with it' approach apply to everything you write?"
Me:  "Pretty much. I pull from everywhere and everywhen. What ends up on the page is an amalgam, a mixture, a soup"

That’s not me. I don’t ever wear camo pants.

neonbrand- Unsplash.com

Tina: "What caused you to want to do a blog?"
Me: "It was time. That's all I can tell you"
Tina: "Mmm. Mysterious. Tell me, what do your readers think of the stuff you write about?"
Me: "It's up to them. My job is to just put the words out with the overall intent that whatever I post is helpful"
Tina: "Is it?"
Me: "That's not for me to decide or know. I'd rather not know"
Tina: "Why?"
Me:  "Because then I might become famous or something. Worse thing that could happen! Recognition is okay, but fame.... ...ooh. Don't want that"
Tina: (looking at my readership stats) "Looks like you could use a little fame"
Me: "They'll find out about me organically. The web might be a big place but type in the right words...."
Tina: "I see your point. You're a low key guy"
Me: "Not at all! I like to think big. Very big. Fame though, in my view, is a burden. There have been many cases of You Tube stars burning out lately. Their audiences demanded new stuff from them regularly and these You Tubers feared that their ratings would drop and their viewership would disappear if they didn't produce. Even though they tried desperately to keep up, they became exhausted physically and mentally from being literally besieged to put out content. They're drained, anxiety ridden, stressed-out shells of their former bright happy selves, who like me, initially only wanted to help people"
Tina: "They needed a break!"
Me: "Hell yes they did. But they were afraid to take one. Not putting out content was like death to them"
Tina: "I notice in your blog that you put out something nearly every day. Are you driven by that same fear? That if you don't produce you'll become irrelevant, a has-been, an afterthought?"
Me: "Oh yeah. Defintitely. But it's an itsy bitsy fear. My greatest fear is that the well of meaningful, inspirational stuff will dry up and I'll end up writing about how I saw Bic pens are made on How It's Made or other such drivel but so far, thank God, that hasn't happened very often"
Tina: "Do you think this 'well of inspiration', as you call it, will ever fail to provide?"
Me: "I don't think I'll ever run out of things to write about. And I'll tell you why... (a pause here, followed by a scratching of the head and staring blankly into space, as if searching for an answer, which seems to produce a glimmer of an idea) ...I don’t know why! Wait- wrong answer. Just kidding. I do know why. The well will never fail to provide because my intention is to help people and I'm interested in fulfilling that intention. My intent will bring subjects to me to write about, because Lord knows, this world needs help"
Tina: "Isn't that a little presumptious? That the world needs help from you, specifically?"
Me: "Of course it's presumptious. But- I'm doing it. I'm getting up in the morning, or late at night or whatever, and putting words on the page. There are those who would like to help, but don't. I actually walk my talk"
Tina: "Yes, you do. But for how long? Do you see yourself doing this say, five years from now?"
Me: "I can't say I've actually made any long term plans like that but I will say this: If I feel into the future, I sense that NowChangeable.com is going to be around for a long, long time"
Tina: "As a blog, or will it morph into something else?"
Me: "I envision a platform of sorts. Maybe with some contributors. Products. Endorsements. Classes. Who knows? Im building a brand here. There's no telling where I can go with this but the key thing is I keep the name. People like stability when it comes to spiritual content and philosophical dissertations. I act as the rock, the foundation, for all that is to come. Everything that forms later can be built upon this solid base"
Tina: "I see. You talk about God a lot. Do you have a direct line or something like that to him?"
Me: "That sounds like I'm acting as his spokesperson or something. No, I wouldn't put it that way. I'd say I have, over a long period of time, got to know how the spiritual realm works but- there's a whole lot of learning left. My concept of God has changed and continues to do so. At this point I wouldn't say that God is in another area like the 'throne room', or that he exists in a different dimension or level, or that he can even be called a separate, singular entity- he's referenced that way for convenience's sake. Let's just say that God and I exist in the same space. We collaborate. Or as the rappers would say, I represent ‘him’ (in a respectful way, of course)"
Tina: "I've never heard it put that way before, but I like it. I feel this interview could go on for a long time, and that we could cover many subjects in depth, but I'm running out of time. Any final words for our listeners?"
Me: "Just that NowChangeable.com is going to be around for awhile. So look it up if you're interested. See if there's anything in there for you, for your friends, or for other people you know that would be interested in such content. In the future I'd like to do some collaboration with other like-minded bloggers or websites, sort of an ongoing cross fertilization thing, while retaining the distinct flavor of my personal site. I think that different viewpoints on the same subject can be refreshing and inspiring. That's all I have to say- for now."
Tina: "Well, thank you for your time. And good luck in the future."
Me: "You're very welcome. Invite me back to do a follow-up in a few years. That should prove interesting".

Tina (after the interview). I hope his site does well. I, as they say in spiritual circles, 'liked his energy'. Coming up next week, we'll take a look at another site, Big Changes Afoot, which is an offshoot of Robert Dashford's site, 'Reboot Nation'. Hope to have you listening then and have a stellar day- 'cuz now you know Wha’s Sup!”.

The Illusions Of Loss, Time, And Death

  Let's go back, way back, to yesterday. Wasn't that a great day? One that will never come again. Oh, the melancholy! 
Glory days, yesterdays are. They are that which was, are no more, and never can be replayed again- like reruns are. Constantly.
Imagine a reel of movie film, the film unwinding behind you into infinite space. Each frame on this constantly unwinding reel represents a day that was. Off into the ethers go these frames, which are held briefly in the memories of the living, or if you are famous, held in the minds of people long after your death. Steadily into the distance these frames travel, away from the Here and Now.
The Universe is like that. Relentless. Stubborn. Refusing, absolutely refusing to preserve or maintain that which was. What's done is done and will never be repeated in exactly the same way again. There is no rest, only perpetual movement. 
There is no pining for days gone by on The Universe's part. There is no attempting to resurrect what once might have been the epitome of beauty, fragility, or precociousness, like a sixteen year old girl, a flower, or a five year old child. You get your moment and that's it. "Sorry!" say human thinkers but "Not sorry, never sorry!" says The Universe, which is beyond emotion. It just is. 
  You might rant and rave about this 'injustice' but you have to deal with it because it's bigger than you, like the weather.
Time is clearly not on our side. 

Hola! The former Don Pedro and his sisters.

Cristian Newman- Unsplash.com

As we all march steadily towards our demise and once there leap into the unknown, disappearing from this realm, we seem to those left remaining gone but....
...we never really were here in the first place, so put away your crying towels. There was an embodiment, yes. That is gone. But that which was contained within the embodiment and found expression for awhile in the physical still remains. That essence, that energy which you knew as Joe, Billy, Samatha, or Carol hasn't gone anywhere other than where it has always been, vibrating in a dimension that is its natural home. Where else could it go? Could it dissolve into dust like the body? How? It never was the body, it only inhabited it like a suit of clothes. 
Undeniable is the fact that even before the actual grand exit have come (for most) decades of nightly sleep, where the energy that inhabited the body soared free, only to return in the morning, open the body's eyes, and mumble "I had the strangest dream last night..."
"...I dreamt I was trapped inside a body!"
    You can't deny it, this fact of life about life itself is ever present. The inability to locate the self anywhere inside the physical body is irrefutable. It hasn't been done yet, even though science has been hard at work probing and poking inside the brain searching for the seat of consciousness, which continues to elude them. 
So back to 'loss'. What loss? What is there to lose save the concept of physical permanence? The Universe is a living thing, as are 'we', those who exist seemingly 'outside' of it, and if you think about such things, which few do, ask yourself this question: "If I am not contained by a body now, what will contain me when my body is no more? What boundaries or borders will there be?”. There will be layers of vibration, perhaps, but certainly nothing physical. 
So. Care about the things you reference as 'home' for now. Your body, your family, your friends, your pets, your football team, and even this planet 'cuz you're not gonna be around them forever. However, that's the beauty of it! Krishnamurti said that (the concept of) death brings contrast to life. This contrast is absolutely necessary, for without it you wouldn't see life's fragile, aching beauty. 
But on the other hand, that little bit of poetic flavoring aside, it's not like you have a choice! So fight loss, time, and death if you want, resist them in any way that makes you feel like you’re somehow stopping the inevitable. The Universe won't pay you a bit of mind. Roll with impermanence though, and you'll be in the flow, because life is kind of like a crazy magic carpet ride of experiences for no purpose other than just to have experiences. 
Never being able to hold on to anything, we can only react to what confronts us. So why not choose acceptance? 
If you do, you will be able to see the beauty that exists all around.

Throwing Their Weight Around

Power has been in the news lately. Lotta people out there are doing a lot of big things. 

Farmers in North Dakota are sitting on huge piles of soybeans because their number one buyer, China, won't purchase them due to a tariff on that commodity issued by you know who. Wow. 
Elon Musk is busy boring a tunnel under Los Angeles (you can get permission to do that?) and, oh, building a mega factory in the Nevada desert and um, launching rockets into space. Triple wow. 
A cryptocurrency multi-millionaire wants to build a utopian community in the desert pretty close to Elon's mega factory, the kind of a place where drone delivery will be commonplace and all sorts of other innovative technologies will be incorporated into the city at it's inception, the list of those innovations being very long. A lotta stuff to think about, plan, and do- and a huge budget to do it with. 
China's leader is placing images of himself all over the country, and kind of being in people's faces about it, but you can do that sort of thing when you're the absolute ruler. 
Strongmen here and there are having their way and it ain't too pretty, what they're up to, but who's gonna stop 'em? Anybody around them cowers even thinking that.

Get it? I’m the boss.

Lopez Robin- Unsplash.com

Governorships changed hands in a bunch of states last night, people are going to be moving into 'the governor's mansion' in those states. Imagine that, moving into 'the governor's mansion'.

Or being on the news five nights a week, bringin' it home to millions of viewers just how things ought to be done around here. Or sitting on The Board of Directors, at the head of the conference table, deciding which corporate tasks are going to be delegated down to your lieutenants.

There's more. 

People are deciding who gets who's project funded, how the budgetary pie is going to be sliced, spending time in closed door sessions, trying to open closed lands for mining, passing rulings on contentious issues with nationwide implications, and then eating at some restaurant where the commoners go at the end of an impactful day. 
They're flying in private jets, or in chartered government ones, around the country or the world, to survey the damage from the latest storm, shake hands with foreign leader(s) who may or may not be hostile to their views, or to consult with the managers that are heading overseas operations.

Powerful people are heading delegations to third world countries that might be the recipients of massive infrastructure loans, those loans to be granted in order to receive some of the precious natural resources that those countries possess in return. 
They're at the helm of data giants, where global internet traffic is probably displayed in some sort of Hollywood-sized, gleaming, high-tech, multi-screened command center.
They're strolling onstage at mega churches, to packed houses, to deliver to the faithful the word that God gave them to give this day.
They're dangling the prospect of moving the headquarters or production or fulfillment centers of their companies in front of drooling city council members and county and state representatives. 
They're heading media and gaming companies, making high dollar decisions about funding a multitude of creative endeavors that are going to be seen by millions of consumers.

All this and more has been in the news lately, which I think is pretty amazing, because it's just happening and physically, I didn't lift a finger to assist.

But energetically,

well…..

….I might have had some involvement.

OMG

Suffering a personal crisis that was peaking in intensity, I called the hotline. As always, they picked up on the very first ring. 
"Heaven Helper Hotline. How may heaven help you?" came the always-pleasant voice. 
"I need to talk to God"
I heard a sigh on the other end, something I had never heard before. 
"I'm soooo sorry. God is not in today"
"Not in?!" I almost yelled into the phone, but quickly remembering that it wouldn't be good to piss off God or his staff, I meekly struggled to say "Can you tell me when he will be?". My shock was so great that I could only manage to think to say this. 
"In 28 days. He's on vacation- his first one in ten thousand years"
"Okay, okay" I struggled to think. "Is Jesus in?"
"Yes- but...."
"But what?" I almost yelled into the phone again.. "He's not available?" I managed to say, then as soon as I said it, I almost kicked myself for saying something so stup.....
"That's right. He's struggling to fill God's shoes, but not even the number one son......"
"I get it. How about Moses? Or any other prophet? Apostles! I'll bet there's a few of those around! Any saints available? How about Joan Of Arc?"
"I think we can manage to get you through to somebody. There is a wait, however"
I pictured a massive heavenly call center, halos floating over cubicles as far as the eye could see, all of the hallowed ones within those glowing cubicles busy fielding calls.
"Would you mind holding?" came the ever-pleasant voice.
(What choice do I have?) "No, not at all"
There was a soft click and then the most wonderful Muzak came over the headset. I almost drifted off, as a matter of fact I must have, because when someone suddenly came on the other end of the line I was roused as if from dreamy sleep. 
"Yeah? Can I help you?" came a brusque voice over the headset. What was this?
"Yes, I'm here" I stuttered. "Who are you?”
"St. frickin' Anthony! What does it matter? Now- what's your problem?"
I was aghast that the Heaven Helper Hotline would have this kind of individual on their staff. "Is there anybody else I can talk to?" I queried this, this person. 
"Not unless you wanna wait"
"How long?"
"At our current rate of fielding questions, about two days"
I didn't want to wait that long. I needed answers right now. 
"Okay. Here's my problem. I got up this morning and figured that I didn't know the purpose of my existence”.

Which way?

Yeshi Kangrang- Unsplash.com

“So? Join the party, pal!"
I brushed off his curt 'answer' and continued. 
"It's something I've been wrestling with for years. And I've been able to deal with it for years. But sometimes...... .....I just can't get my mind off of it. Today I woke up and, with the midterms so close, I felt I had to find out. Because if things go the wrong way...."
"Speak no further, Bud. Whatever happens, it's all good"
"How can you say that? 'It's all good'? I don't think this country or my sanity is gonna make it another two years! That’s all you have to offer me?"
"Nobody here is gonna tell you anything different. We've been answering this question all day. People from the Left are about to jump off a bridge and people from the Right are stockpiling food and ammo. It ain't pretty what's happening out there, but it's all good"
“How is my undesired outcome gonna be good for me, or for the people I care about? God wouldn't tell me that!"         

"The hell he wouldn't! He's the one who gave us this morning's script! He may be on vacation, but he still has his finger on things.  “it's all gonna work out” he told us to say. “Love will prevail. It's the strongest force in The Universe. Everything comes back to the fold sooner or later. You'll see- or maybe not- but your kids will. Or maybe their kids...."
"No, no, no! It's all gonna end! The Left and the Right will never coexist in harmony! They're too far apart and are getting farther apart every day! They're gonna go to war on each other!"
"They already are”
"So- is God gonna send reinforcements, when one side or the other threatens to take over the whole country?”
  "Please, calm down....."
"I won’t calm down! I feel worse than ever!"
"Go watch Seinfeld or something. Take your mind off of it"       

If the light is green it doesn’t seem so bad

Braden Hopkins- Unsplash.com

"Are you kidding?!”
"Not at all! You guys have to learn to relax. You think God is gonna sit by and not intervene? When the time is right, well, actually before, because he's so far seeing, but from your perspective of 'when the time is right', he'll be there. Like Superman! Believe you me, were ordinary people able to turn the tide in their favor they would have long ago. Goes to show there's equal power here- sort of like a standoff. Doesn't take much to tip the scales, and God doesn't see the point in overworking any issue so he let's humans work on problems, sometimes for a long time, then he steps in and 'tink!' everything changes. He's a very good scale tipper"
"Which way?!"
"You'll find out. But remember- whichever way it goes...  ....it's all good"
  Before I could get another word of protest in, the 'saint' or whatever at the other end hung up. I tried to call back but got a busy signal. After about twenty nine more times I finally gave up. 
So I took the guy's advice. I turned on Seinfeld and found I just had to laugh. Jerry and George were in some kind of trouble that had to do with ridiculously tight streetfront parking and then damn if Kramer didn't show up and somehow exacerbate the situation. Elaine had some weird issue with returning a sweater at a high end store- a sweater she bought but never wore- and…. 
….what was I thinking about? About twenty minutes ago? 

Oh yeah- now I remember. I don't know what my existence means, and from the way things have gone- and are going- I might never will. Same for most everybody else. Maybe we're not supposed to know. We're not ready for it. In God's view, we’re Jerry, George, Kramer, and Elaine. Bumbling through life and overreacting to the twists and turns of it. It's just where we're at. 
  Things might seem dire to us, but they're not really, not yet, and there's a good chance they never will be. The maddening issues that vex us aren't going away. We've got to stay with them, in the present moment, and keep working the puzzle of life, meaning, and existence.

Tension Model

Taut is the rope that the tightrope walker treads on. It bounces some, and sways a little, but the balance bar he carries counteracts those forces and stabilizes his slow gate from one end of the rope to the other. 
In my Tension Model, think of this taut rope as a sort of bridge that connects 'realities'. 
Uneasy standoffs between people are kind of like a taut rope bridge. In contentious matters, where belief systems are highly divergent, both sides hold onto their positions with a firm grip and the continuation of any matter between them is the tightrope walker moving back and forth between fixed poles. There is little give and take occurring. Neither position is surrendering or sacrificing much, and the tightrope walker can't carry much to either side anyway, so the bridge stays more or less the same. It's limited in capacity, narrow in scope.
But what if one end was loosened? Advantage may then seem to be gained for one of the parties as the bridge would disappear and a new way of reaching the other side could be be made, perhaps an easier way (or a more arduous and time consuming way). 

Might go all twelve rounds

neonbrand- Unsplash.com

Tension between positions is a 'fact' of life that most of us are born into. There is a distance between what we desire and how that desire can be fulfilled and usually acts of sacrifice are called for on the less powerful one's part, the expenditure of a great deal of time and effort, in order to reach the other end of the rope, the place where goals are realized. There is the 'where we are', and there is 'the other end of the rope', where our desire awaits us. 
But what if achieving our desires was as simple as letting go of any rope completely and trusting that what we desire will come about? We make no physical or mental effort to reach the goal other than that which is necessary at the time. Initially, the goal must be visualized as clearly as possible, and any contrarian thoughts about achieving the goal must be vanquished to the best of one's ability. After that, the goal begins to make it way towards you as you hold it persistently in mind, though you may not see any 'movement'. 
Action steps may be called for from time to time to bring that which is desired ever closer, but this involvement by you occurs only when prompted, and by 'prompted' it means you have the undeniable urge to perform the next action step. This urge to do can't be mistaken if you pay attention to the difference between feeling the need to perform an action step and restlessness. They are two very different things. 
Lastly, you stand by, ready to receive. That which you desire eventually lands on your doorstep, or you step into it, only because you wanted it and did the necessary at-the-time steps to realize it. 

In a tension free existence, there is never any real battling involved. The only battle you ever have is with yourself.

This Just In

  Word has reached us here at The Daily Dose that people lie. Let's go to our correspondent on the street, Darren Philberts, for some insight into this phenomenon. 
"Darren! Is it true that people lie?"
"Apparently so, Janelle. And not only do they lie, but they do it all the time"
  "Give us an example"
"Easy" (Darren hails a passerby on the street) "Sir, can I ask you a question?"
  "Certainly" (first lie).
  "We're doing a story here about lying. Do people around you ever lie?"
  "Yeah! They do it a lot!"
    "Recently?"
    "Yeah, like five minutes ago. I got a text from my boss 'asking' (second lie) if I wanted to work on Saturday. He said somebody at work called in sick. But I know that person is not sick. I know that she is lying"
  "So this lying has an effect on you" 
    "Big time! I was going to spend an afternoon at Dodger stadium with my bros watching the NLCS!"
“Why don't you just tell your boss no?"
"Are you kidding? And threaten my future promotion chances? If I don't show up on Saturday I'll be viewed as Not A Team Player. Sayonara end of year bonus!"
"Uh, thank you" (Passerby walks off muttering. Another one is hailed)
"Ma'am? Can I ask you a question?"
"Uhm... Okay" (third lie. This suit better not be asking me for no personal information!)
"We're doing a story about lying....."
"I'm out of here!" Passerby walks hurriedly away.
Darren looks at the camera. "This seems to be a touchy subject for people!"
A man approaches, carrying a briefcase.
"Sir! Can I ask you a question?"
"Certainly" (fourth lie).
Darren goes into his story spiel and the guy listens. 
"Yeah, I lie. So what? I'm a lawyer. It's my business to s t r e t c h the truth. We don't consider it 'lying' though. We're simply offering a different perspective"
  "Interesting. Thank you, sir" 
"You're welcome" (fifth lie).
A local ruffian is hailed.
"Young man- can I ask you a question?"
"Wow! I'm gonna be on TV!"
"Do you ever lie?"
"Hell yeah! Think I'm stupid or something? How else am I gonna relate?"
"So you're saying that lying happens a lot, as a matter of course"
"Dude, where your brain at? You think I'd be survivin' out here streetwise tellin' the truth? Ain't nobody out here givin' you the facts straight up. It's all twisted. You gotta interpret everything"
"And you're good at that?"
"I'm okay. Some's better than me"
"Thank you for your input" 
"No problem, man" (sixth lie)
Elderly gentleman approaches.
  "Sir, can I have a minute of your time?"
“No!”
"Okay, sorry to bother you! How about you, miss?"
A young girl pauses. Darren gives his spiel, asks her if she ever lies. 
"Yeah. I tell guys I like them"
"Do you?"
"Not all of them. But if I do, they do things for me"
  "You don't see anything wrong with that?"
"Use it before you lose it, my sistahs tell me. We all do it"
"Uh, thank you, miss"
A couple approaches. Darren stops them. 
"No" they say, looking at each other intently. "We never lie about our relationship (seventh lie). We are totally honest with each other. It's what makes a relationship work!"
  "Thanks for your input"
Off they go, to get ice cream or something. Darren stops a policeman. 
"Good morning, officer. Do you or any of your fellow officers ever lie?"
"Never! (eighth lie). "We are sworn to uphold the law. It is our solemn duty. We might joke with each other, and with citizens, but we never lie"
"Sounds good to me. Have a nice day (ninth lie) officer"
"You too. Obey the law!"
  "I will, sir!" (tenth lie)

“No way!”

Mpumelelo Macu- Unsplash.com

"Whew" Darren turns back towards the camera. "It seems that lying is rather commonplace here in society. I just caught myself in a falsehood! After a few minutes on the street it must be clear to our viewers that lying is so prevalent that encountering the truth is rare. Perhaps our next story will be on that topic. 
    But what would be the point in presenting that? Employing white lies or blatant deception is relative to the scenarios people are presented with. Depending on the circumstances, some people gravitate towards one end of the spectrum, some to the other. Maybe the deeper question that should be asked is why do people feel that they have to lie at all? Would it be so harmful, or detrimental to their ambitions, to honestly articulate their needs to others? 
    Yes, it would, telling the truth being diametrically opposed to telling a lie. Truth stands alone, bright, shiny, naked, and unafraid. (Well, maybe not bright and shiny but definitely the other two). People are used to having to get what they want through roundabout ways, these being deception and/or manipulation. They veil their intentions, mislead their opponents in order to gain trust, then ferret their way towards their personal goals, or in business's case, shared goals.

Lying is rampant in our society and due to that, there is rampant distrust. Nothing and no one can be taken at face value. We have lost our innocence and become predators upon each other, predators that search to satisfy personal needs in a jungle environment. It doesn't have to be this way but man thinks he needs to be a wily and perpetually strategizing creature. He prides himself on skillfully playing the game of human life and studies the moves of other astute players with rapacious appetite. He seeks power over the outer above all else. 

Those that seek to control the without have not yet discovered the ability to create within. That which lies within the mind, the attention, is always perfectly reflected in the without. The without acts as a learning tool in that way. 
Attempting to control the without is a cumbersome, karma-intensive, awkward way of bulldozing the personal will through obstacles to achieve one's objectives. Why not harmonize with the outer- The World- to get what you want? It's a far more elegant way. It might call for great patience and trust but The Universe has a way of giving you more than you could have ever imagined”.   

Gulp

Ideas for today's topic float through the air, thought bubbles that contain varying numbers of words that lead to concepts, or completed works, but none compel. Nothing is pressing to be articulated but wait! Upon the wind this one comes....

  "Who are you? What are you about? Where are you going? And why?”

We think we know where we're going (or I where this is going) but we do not in actuality know where we are going because in actuality we know very little about what is actually going on. So we presume. A lot. There is so much that we don't know that it is mind boggling yet in order to comfort ourselves in the vastness, we focus our attention on our immediate surroundings and never look up at the stars for long because if it's a clear night and you do, everything else drops away, doesn't it? You look up at those points of light, unfathomable distances away, go "Oh S---!"  and then scurry into the house to put Sportscenter on after which you exhale a sigh of relief and say to yourself "Whew! I'm back in the known!".

That doesn't change the stars one bit, they're still there.

Existential Percipience

Vincent Chin- Unsplash.com

If you work day shift a lot and you're home at night watching TV or whatever you're not really cognizant of that looming vastness just outside your locked front door but if you work night shift.....
....oh my! Not a night shift where you're in a building all evening and never go outside, no, a night shift where you are outside a lot and with nothing much to do, which is the case for a lot of night shift workers, you're just manning the place 'cuz somebody has to do it and you don't have enough seniority to have things your way so you spend a lot of time with the moon and the planets and the stars, looking at them, but that's not really it either. 
  What really drives the remembrance of the vastness is when you get off of work, like I do sometimes, and it's utterly still outside and the weather is such that the sky is not the least bit hazy and in all their glory the stars and Milky Way stand revealed and just glancing at the panorama you feel helplessly small and immediately wonder "How in the hell did all of this happen?" and "Where is my place in this?" and all that but you can only take so much. It's just too freaky to stand out there looking up because you know you're going back there someday and that puts a bit of humility in you, quivers the knees, and makes you review your performance during your time on stage today. A time of reckoning is going to come for you (but thankfully not this day!) because whatever created those stars and that vastness is intelligent beyond comprehension and probably won't waffle one iota away from absolute truth, which is sooo unlike the human realm, where everything can be explained away.

The stars stand waiting.

Gulp!

Grimstone Manor, Part II

It came to my attention that Alexander Crickston and Sir Loathsome had more to say. Let's tune in:

      “Reality?!” shot back Alexander. "I want no more of your mundane and decrepit reality! I seek to elevate myself higher than what I've previously known as 'living' conditions. Squalor and debauchery may be your chosen station in life, Sir Loathsome, but 'tis not mine anymore. I have caught a glimpse of a more polished and refined world, one which I seek to inhabit for the remainder of my days". 
   "That’s the Alex that I used to know" responded Sir Loathsome. "The one that had a little bit of fire in 'im."
   "A fire passionate in the extreme to distance myself from you and your kind" Alex replied. "Driver, make haste for Grimstone Manor!"
     "See ya wouldn't wanna be ya" hollered Sir Loathsome, but by then the clatter of horses' hooves all but drowned out his final jab.
"My, my, my. There’s a changed man" Lord Chuggleston, one of Sir Loathsome's mates, glumly said. 
"Aye" muttered another, Lady Hampton. "Don't drink the water in Scotland!"
"How long do you think he'll be that way?" growled a third, Earl Smithfield-on-toast. 
"No telling" Sir Loathsome spoke as if he was wondering, which was something he rarely did, for he did not wonder about many things. "I'm afraid our old friend has taken up a new way and left the known and well understood behind. His is a path of exploration, of finding what works and what doesn't. We are all called to stray from the Cock and Bull occasionally, in search of that which might otherwise comfort us, until we regain our senses and return home."
    "The Cock and Bull is our home?" Lord Chuggleston blurted.
    "It must be. We spend so much time here!" Lady Hampton retorted, matter of factly. 
    "There's no better home for me" Earl Smithfield-on-toast replied. "I have no desire to go anywhere else. Not even over to the Coat O' Arms, which is only a block away"
    "When you know it, when you know where home is" Sir Loathsome spoke for all of them, "you are content. Alex has not found home yet, and so he must search for it. I'm glad I'm not in his shoes!"

Breakfast is served!

Madelon-Unsplash.com

And so many a year passed, and Alexander Crickston lived somebody else's dream, which he thought was his. He followed in his father's footsteps and became a quite successful and accomplished businessman. His wife loved him dearly, and his four children adored him, for he slavishly devoted all his time and efforts towards furthering their desires but then one day, one fateful and totally unforeseen day, as Sir Loathsome had predicted, Alexander Crickston woke from sleep and for the first time in decades, asked himself "What the hell am I doing with my life?" The first hints of depression had landed in Alex's mind, and there were more to come. 
He tried to push them away but the instances where he fluctuated between happy and not became more and more pronounced. His family and business could provide no cure for this malaise so he took, upon his doctor and family's pleadings, a long overdue sabbatical and went a'wandering.
Across England and Scotland he went, searching for something, he knew not what, and one day he was close enough to his old home town of Everton to drop in- if he dared. Something compelled him to do so and so he wandered through the town, even stopping trepidatiously in front of the door of his old haunt the Cock and Bull to possibly pay his old friends a visit. 
But, even after mustering up the courage to go inside and in an incognito way see if anybody he recognized was there, what he found when he entered was that nobody he even remotely knew was in there. The pub was also under new ownership and its interior had been so redecorated as to be almost unrecognizable. 
The utter inability to touch base with anything from his past piqued his curiosity so he started asking around, trying to find out what had happened, for he had been away for a very long time. 
It was a contact at the local golf links that was able to provide some information, a man name of Tom Pinch, who was a distant relative of old Mr. Whatley, now deceased.
"Your gang disbanded" Mr. Pinch relayed, "about ten years after you left for London and your financial career. Sir Loathsome, I believe that was the name you called him, got killed in a pub fight over a spilled pint of Guinness that interrupted a critical dart's match final. Made all the papers. After that, Lady Hampton disappeared for some time, then reappeared, a shady figure of the same gender from the south of France on her arm, and Lord Chuggleston hit a big jackpot down at the betting shop, which increased his intake of drink for awhile before he went into rehab. He runs marathons now and competes all over the world in his age group, which is quite high"
"Amazing!"
"Yes. Who ever would have thunk it? Smithfield-on-toast then died unexpectedly after a minor bout of Hong Kong flu but he left a wife and daughter. They're doing quite well. Mrs. Smithfield-on-toast is an artist, and her daughter lives in Wales, I think. You might want to talk to Mrs. Smithfield-on-toast- she lives right here in town"
"I think I will. What is her address?"
"I don't know exactly. She's next to the breakfast shop on Trent. Ask at the shop if she's in, she spends a lot of time there"

Everton, village of

Annie Spratt- Unsplash.com

    Off Alexander went to the shop, and indeed the widow of Smithfield-on-toast was there. Her name was Nancy. 
"Oh- so you're Alexander" she said upon meeting him. "I heard a lot about you. The gang talked about you a lot"
"They did?"
"Oh yes. Pined for you, they did. Lamented that you had gone".
"Oh". The memory of his times with the gang had been so long ago that this hardly registered in Alexander's highly logical brain, but something deep inside became stirred by the news. "I never really missed them"
"That's the way it goes" Nancy said sadly. We never seem to appreciate people at the time we are lucky enough to have them"
"Lucky enough?" Alexander scoffed. "It was a amusing time, but an uncomfortable and disgusting one as well. I've no fond memories of it"
"All the pity to you then" Nancy replied. "You've yet to find home"
"I've a fine home, thank you very much"
"Nah, ya haven't" Nancy replied. "Home is everywhere you are in every moment that you live. It's in appreciating whatever is going on around you and trusting that there's a bigger plan. I can see in you that you've got a bit of wandering left to do. Wander then and while you're doing so, see if you can find home in any of that"
"What a confounding statement!" Alexander thought, and then after a brief bit of garnering more local trivia, he bid impertinent Nancy adieu.
  "What in the blazes does she know?!" he muttered to himself while walking briskly down cobbled Trent lane, a possibly very long road ahead of him.