Honor Your Commitment

While it is clever of you to work the angles surrounding your present job, to find all the little gray areas where you can play your avoidance games, it would really be helpful if you didn't. 

     For you see, we, your coworkers, showed up ready to work. Somewhere along the way it got instilled in us that Honoring Our Commitment was valuable let me explain…. 

People don't exist in a vacuum. What they do has an effect on everybody else and every other thing. Most of what people do is absorbed into the great big gestalt called The World which is the cumulative effect of people's actions and is measured by scientists and sociologists but let's not go into broad spectrum awareness. Let's keep it close to home. In fact, let's go inside that 'home away from home' called the workplace and make it personal. 

  Now I know we each have our issues. Things aren't working out the way you thought they would. The wife is on your back, or the boyfriend, or it’s the ex or the kids or the in-laws or you got health issues or your mother is long term sick or whatever. We all got our problems. 

    And I know it's hard sometimes to look at the situation you're in and not try to lay some or most of the blame for things being the way they are on The Man, 'the oppressor', but you gotta understand that The Man is far removed and supremely shielded from whatever actions you decide to take at work to 'get back' at him. Or is it her? Doesn't matter. 

To your feeble efforts The Man laughs, for he doesn't feel a thing. Your coworkers- us- however, do. When you decide to call in sick when you're not, we have to cover for you. When you decide to take a three day weekend and not report on your Monday or Friday of the week, we have to cover for you. When you disappear at work or figure out a way to appear to be working but are really not, we have to cover for you. Need I go on? You look to be strangely puzzled by this. Are you not getting it? I thought that what was being relayed was unmistakably clear..... 

     No, you are getting it. And that's the problem. You know what you are doing yet you do it anyway. 

Perhaps figuring out why you choose to take the low road might be a course of study beneficial for you to undertake for you probably don't feel so good about yourself or the actions you are taking. It's okay. We understand because way back in the past we did the kinds of things that you did and felt the feelings you are now experiencing. Those weak and sickly vibrations didn't settle well with us so we chose to explore them in order to get rid of them. 

    The only way we could figure out how to overcome those feelings was to live honorably in a dishonorable world. We knew we couldn't change the exterior a whole lot, there were too many people making dishonorable choices, but we decided that at least we were going to feel good about ourselves.

That was a long time ago for us, it seems, for we know that time weighs heavy on the dishonorable. 

The only thing you can’t escape is having to live with yourself

Zoltan Tasi- Unsplash.com

Consequently, we don't go home at night anymore carrying guilt and self loathing. We may at times stray in our actions, everybody does, for The World is an intense place, but we course-correct rapidly while you don't. You linger in the dark, heavy, and sad vibrations and go into endless stories about this and that and them in order to justify your actions to yourself and the people that share your views, who you call 'friends'. The only entity you may fear is God, your creator, for while everybody else is ‘totally snowed’ you suspect that there is one who isn't taken in the least bit by your actions but you can even mentally come to grips with that. He's the forgiving kind, or so you’ve heard. When the time comes you'll just check out like you usually do so there's really not a lot to worry about there. 

Oh, I, we, wish we could reach you but so far all our efforts have been futile for you do what you do again and again and again. 

This is not to scold you, or lambaste you, for the honorable don't do that. Neither is this presented in order to shame you or forcefully educate you. It is only offered in compassion for you to consider. 

Eventually, the pain you have been causing others will have to be reckoned with and boy, that's gonna hurt. You. Hell, it happened to us, that's how we know. We saw the damage we caused, said "Anything but that!", and from then on stuck to the high road for we couldn't continue on in any other way.

A Message To The Class Of 1999

     How's all that world changin' workin' out? Are U Millennials getting things done, the kinds of things that you hoped the previous generation would have gotten around to? 

Well, speaking from experience, you probably feel at this point that you coulda done more and you're puzzled by that, you're looking back and going "What the hell happened?" because things haven't really changed all that much. 

Yeah, you brought us a lot of tech, and we got to thank you for bringing those wondrous computers and apps and all that into our lives, but you also opened the door to a lot of bad things coming through and using those portals but you can't be faulted for tryin’. 

To improve the world, that is. Every generation gives it a go. 

You were so full of hope then

Ben Konfrst- Unsplash.com

What you might be finding right about now is that the twenty-somethings are kinda lookin' down on you some, thinking that you have seriously dropped the ball and that they've got a long row to hoe 'cuz things we're supposed to get done on your watch and they weren't. Some of 'em might be a little mad. 

But you got busy, didn't you? It was a little more than you expected, this thing called Life, and well, things take time you know, and most times the path you were on didn't flow in a straight line. You got sidetracked or sidelined by things and might even have lost a little ground somewhere along the way before you got back in the game but those of us that have been there totally understand all that, and that's why we didn't take it so personal when you got mad at us do you remember?

Nah. You probably don't. You were too full of yourselves then. But that's okay. So were we, in our time! 

Lookin' on the bright side though, you did get a surprising amount of things done which pissed off or outright scared the kinds of people that don't like to see progress so those folks dug their heels in all the harder and put up walls or somehow hobbled progressive movements like it was the end of the world comin'(!) or something but you were just trying to help. You saw a way things could be made better but they didn't want to see a whole lot of change unless they could work that change for their own betterment, you understand, and you do. You saw darkness come out of hiding, like we did. 

“So yeah, uhm… …welcome to the club!” say we who have come before. Furthermore, we’ll tell you the gist of what we realized and came to grips with when we hit forty: “You can't give up, 'cuz what else is there?”.

If you’re anything like us, and you probably are, you’re going to find that you and your contemporaries are not going to be as vocal as they used to be, and most of them won’t make it near the front page anymore. Movies and TV shows will stop portraying your generation so much. You’ll find that you’re hardly as ‘up and coming’ as you once were and that you’re certainly not hot, not as hot as the twenty-somethings coming right out of the gate. But even so, you’ll continue doing what you can. 

So go and have a home-brew or something. Take the load offa your feet. Kick back and take a breather ‘cuz you gotta prepare yourself for what comes next. The twenty-somethings are hard at work creating a new culture and lingo and you’re gonna have a hell of a time trying to keep up!

Thought Train

 I woke up this morning like any other morning, pondering the remnants of dreams I had, but after awhile I noticed that also filtering through my awareness was a large concept that called for contemplation. 
Contemplation needs mental space so everything, including TOTD, was set aside, for one does not want to derail a Thought Train. It must run its course for at the end there is something to be gained, understood, known, or grokked and in pursuit of that the focus must be pure. 

Contemplation actually occurs in a state of 'loose' focus. That which desires to be brought into comprehension must be allowed to free associate, that is, it must use all tools at its disposal in order for the mind to grasp its meaning, for the mind is not yet comprehending that which is sensed but not understood. 
To this end, whatever means are required to gain comprehension are employed. These could be memories of things past, bits and pieces of conversations, dreams, songs, or phrases. Signs one has seen. Odd puzzling snippets of, literally, anything that has ever been experienced. 

Thought Train coming through! Make way!

Denis Chick- Unsplash.com

Contemplation for me lies in assembling these bits and pieces into some sort of mosaic, I suppose, or pattern, that leads closer to comprehension but usually not yet. This process might take hours.

 
Complex groks are like this, they use everything that has occurred in one's experience to further illustrate, deepen, and eventually bring into knowingness that which the subject has not known before. Call it wisdom. Wisdom occurs at the end of the contemplative process, when the understanding seats itself into the mind, never to be forgotten. Can wisdom ever be un-known? Can you forget how to ride a bicycle?

 
I have gone for days on Thought Trains, wrestling with complex issues. During those times I appeared to be aloof and I was, purposely so, for I nay desired to derail the Thought Train at any point in the process because.....

...once derailed, it's hard to pick up the concept again! States of mind calling for contemplation are precious and thus must be fully acted upon when they arise. They are opportunites brought about by Spirit and desire by the self to further the self's understanding. The larger Self already knows, the earth-based self does not, thus, in order to regain the state of knowingness, the small self must, in lieu of suddenly becoming aware, work to bring awareness back to self. 'Know Thyself' goes the saying. 

What else can human life be but a slog through the misty lands of forgetfulness until the Self is regained? States of contemplation are steps in that process for human life is difficult and poses challenges. It vexes us and has us calling for solutions. Introspection offers us the opportunity to lessen difficulty and improve our lives. In this way, we are directly facing our issues and using our willpower, the inspiration that comes from dreams, our connection to Spirit- our intuition- and our contemplative abilities to elevate our awareness, which enables us to transcend our difficulties. It can be no other way for who can do it for you?

Others may offer a temporary fix, a salve or a balm that addresses an issue, but since all issues arise from energy, which we are made up of, the energetic basis of any issue must be addressed in order for the cure to be permanent. 
(Many call this 'processing') 

Okay. Enough writing. I gotta get back on today's Thought Train. It's a juicy one, I only took a breather from it to document the process.

TOTD Is One Year Old Today

   Happy Birthday, TOTD! You are one year old today. 

A year ago, when I began this project, I didn't know if I'd be able to write about different things every day for a year but I have nearly pulled off that feat. There were days that I missed posting something but I can honestly say that I gave it a go every day, I gave posting something a thought. Life intervened, however. 

Writing each day's piece at times is ridiculously easy and fun, most times it's a process of having a general idea and honing that over and over, sometimes it's extremely difficult for some reason, and there have been times where I wrote something and decided not to post it due to it being not to my liking, unclear, incendiary, or the energy is just not there. 

So where from here? Right now TOTD will continue as usual. I know that for a fact because during the last year I tried a few times to drop it and couldn't do it. Tried to set it aside and then wouldn't ya know it I had a thought that I thought I oughta write about. That's when TOTD is at its best. 

Ideas of things to write about come to me and I might not write about whatever that idea or topic is until days later but I'll think about it from time to time. At the time I actually write the piece I guess it couldn't really be considered TOTD because I've been thinking about it for many days but when it comes time to sit and write it never comes out like I think it will so that is TOTD right there. Fresh. Present. That day is just the right day to write about it, is my feeling. 

Technical-wise, at the beginning I thought I'd insert all kinds of cool videos and provide all these interesting links to this or that page but Facebook is full of that kind of attention grabbing content. That's not really satisfying, most of it, so I go for the real and valid and try not to stand too high on any soapboxes like I’m some carnival barker trying to get people into my tent. 

No. That's not how I roll around here. I hope to present thoughtfully written pieces that entertain and compel and build a following that is more than about flash. My content is substance-based.

There were times during the year when I struggled with putting pieces out. Ideas just didn't flow and I hate to use the word 'filler' or to move in that direction to simply post something- anything- on those days and maybe I did but the intent was that even that would be of interest to someone, frivolous as it was. 

Some pieces I wrote were whimsical and in other ones I figure people definitely sensed that I was possessed by some sort of mood and I probably was. 

Also I must say that I am old school, not of the social media generation, so it was a bit of a stretch to even put myself out there, not naturally being that way, but the tools were there to do so and I used them and now I can't retrieve from the internet all of what I have written, even if I tried. I imagine it will be circulating through a network of servers forever, like a space probe in the far reaches of the solar system that continues to travel, who knows where or why.

I tried during the year to make my prose relatable. Not florid or pretentious or overly casual or hillbilly or ALL CAPS or heavy in the use of italics and a slew of other writing tricks and styles but if I did I did so for a purpose, to illustrate a point. But sometimes doing that stuff is just plain fun.

Format's not going to change, I don't see that happening soon. The text and picture or two I put in each piece seems to work best. I have recently added more space between the paragraphs for easier reading. Place concepts too tightly together, in too dense a fashion, and they can swirl and get lost in a sea of related topics and lose their ability to be comprehended. Too many ideas clumped together, too many associations and things to ponder packed too tightly together does not a happy reader make. 

Yippie! Cupcake!

rawpixel- Unsplash.com

As you can see, I have a lot to write about even when I don't think I do because when I sat down to write this all of these 'items to mention' just flowed. But I think it's enough..... 

I'm pleased myself to have presented the public with this body of work, these vignettes of daily life. I look back and marvel at it sometimes and then I move on, not resting on any laurels. 

Some things I wrote and posted are probably crap, in some minds, while others are too woo-woo but unless you swing the bat you're not in the game, eh? I thought I'd be writing about more metaphysical stuff but that comes when it comes. I fully intend to stretch boundaries there, what we're about, where we're going, so expect more of that. That's the stuff I really enjoy. 
I like the fun stuff too. The humorous postings. Love writing those. They're totally spontaneous, most times I write them. 

Statistics-wise, I tried for 365 but actually posted 297 times. That's a lot of work. Did I get paid for it, monetize it? I didn't make a dime. Did I enjoy it? Thoroughly. Writing is, for me, one of the things I'm passionate about. 

Ideas? Where do I get them from?  Ol' Johnny Carson got plenty of material from just commenting on the news of the day. I do the same but also mix in longer term musings and things that come right outta the blue. Expect mo' of the same, and hopefully they'll be mo' betta. 

Oh, blow out the candle already and get back to ‘work’!

Beyond Work

Exists a land called culture, which many people either know not of or very little of, for they are not used to having it. 
In mankinds' quest for survival, culture is one of those luxuries most often done without. Private enterprise, hell-bent on growth and dominance, cares little about culture and government- our current political climate especially- only sees supporting culture as a financial drain at best or a necessary evil at worst. 'The Arts', as they are called, which is a blanket term encompassing many 'frivolous' things, seems to be best presented via digital platforms where people can view culture but not participate in same. 

Cooking shows, traveling epicurean adventures, travelers reporting from various points on the globe, orchestras on You Tube, operas, street festivals, concert footage, sporting events, tours of art galleries, hunting even (and this just in- virtual reality plays where people can put on goggles and experience being in the scene), all are portrayed via the screen so that people, homebound in Podnunk or whatever, can experience cultural things vicariously and don't feel so very left out. 

For in Podnunk they're not so good at arts and culture, though they try and compete with cities around the area for things that their citizens might be interested in but, money, you know, drives this luxurious thing called culture, something they'd very much like to have. However, the roads need fixing and the town is over budget on the new jail and the school district is clamoring for more money and that means raising taxes which nobody wants and damn it would be nice if we could draw more real jobs here but- yada yada yada. 

Ya get what ya get where you live so the moneyed have flocked to well established cultural founts New York and San Francisco, Disney-esque islands where they knew they could experience mondo loads of culture, but real-time demographic data is showing that gentrification sets in when the cost of living rises and the very thing the rich want to forever experience is getting slowly killed off, artists not known to be as financially astute as the wealthy, nor are the artists so willing and able to hold day jobs and then perform for audiences at night. Or on weekends. So what's a city, or a group of cities- a nation- to do?

(Gasp!) Support the arts? OMG! That would cost money, but if culture was supported in not just The Big Apple and The Bay Area but across the land maybe, just maybe people would take more of an interest in where they lived, and go out more. Turn off the box, shut down the screen, see it live, participate even and be happy where they were instead of barrelling down The Boulevard afta work, you know, the one that seems scary and vacant even in the daytime, is lined by fencing on either side, and leads into the 'neighborhood' that the developers promoted as a 'community' because it has a walking path threading through it and a tiny, scrubby park with a playground for the kids oh dear God take me already!

Business, business, business, the economy, the economy, the economy! Don't the wealthy have enough already? Yes they do but they didn't put any of that in when they built The Podnunk Addition. 

Not dressed for ergasia (work)

Xuan Nguyen- Unsplash.com

The Arts fill a need, and that is to fill the soul with something that resembles Home. We did not come from a sterile environment and we won't thrive within one either. We yearn for the richness that naturally rises from the wellspring of our beingness. Art and culture is who we at heart are, and that thing we call work is included in there too, though it would be better put as 'craft', 'mastery', or 'skill'. We're not one dimensional in our expression, we're multidimensional. We function best when we operate in balance. Too heavy the focus on work, too little our exposure to culture, and we wither. 

On the upside, progress has been made! Most of the planet seems to have this survival thing down. America has Costco, which is a very good survivability indicator, so perhaps it's time we took things to the next level. We're new at this luxury thing, frivolity is still frowned upon- especially by The Boss, The Board, The Shareholders, and other stern entities- so it ain't gonna be easy moving forward because we've been relentlessly conditioned to live mainly without, but if we introduce arts and culture into the mix imagine the growth potential there! It's really where we're going as a species. I can't imagine our dreams to be building mega-factories, 2.7% annual GDP, or blasting off to Mars or some other planet only to recreate the world we have already made. 

Arts and culture is what the world is sorely lacking because it's the least cost effective element in a world fixated on creating wealth (for the very, very few). Marginally feeding and sheltering humans isn't the 'cost of doing business'. Creating satisfying lives is the true cost of doing business, but business doesn't want to factor that into their miserly calculations, thus the world 'is as it is'. 

Evolved societies always contain loads of culture. Like it or not, businesses, governments, we're headed in that direction. The olde 'labor camp' model isn't going to work anymore. 'Military barracks' model. 'Shopping center surrounded by suburbia' model. People want more. 

How to get there? Art incubators worked in the past. Give creative people places to practice and hone their craft. Finance entire districts where culture can be presented in concentrated form. Enable entreprenuers to marry their need to make money with their drive to support culture. Tell the Zoning Board and the SWAT team to stand down some so a bunch of people can eat street food, make noise, and roam from venue to venue (safely) at night. Build parks- big ones- that have lots of things in them that people can do for in doing, the people's lament “There's nothing to do!”, will be quelled.

And throughout, make whatever is built beautiful. 

How did we ever get away from this? Where did we err, drop the ball, and miss the handoff because European cities are packed with this stuff and that's where a lot of us came from? (Not to slight other cultures, though, I'm sure if I looked into any one of those the people from there would probably feel like there was a little- or a lot- left behind). 

America is a nation of immigrants that was 'tasked' with the job of filling a vast land and those immigrants were in a rush. Gold rush, land rush, mad rush. We didn't build those arts and culture 'extras' into our cities, most of them, though some people tried. And now that our cities are all built up, politics and tremendous redevelopment costs are involved, the wheels turn slowly or not at all, and a lot of us are left with something like Podnunk. 
So that's where we're at. Again I say, though, that that is not where we're staying because the simple fact is that people want more than 'just enough'. If I don't say it someone else will, and then somebody after that, and so on. And maybe that's what it takes to get the ball rollin'.

Because, deep at heart, we're all culture vultures and will, given the chance, sup at the glorious banquet table of culture and heartily consume its many offerings.

Forces Of Containment

Like it or not, you exist for the benefit of others who you probably do not know. Your life makes their life possible, a grander life, perhaps, because you act as support for their enterprise or enterprises. This is called being part of The Economy. 
The Economy is by no means a static thing, it changes as we breathe and as I write this and because it changes, it has to be monitored. 

Various monitoring systems are ever in place and have been since centuries past, these monitoring systems evolving with the times. The goal of these monitoring systems is to see to it that things do not get out of hand and that control is kept in the hands of the ones interested in seeing to it that their enterprises continue to function and prosper. This is not news to anyone, of course any business would see to those ends being accomplished, but often is it the case that long after any benefit to the operators of the enterprises has been realized, and benefit to the masses has been gained, that the enterprises themselves continue in operation. They do this until a superior technology or process comes along to overpower them, usurp them, which has happened quite regularly over the last few decades with the arrival of computers and digital technology. 

All enterprises have a beginning and an end. Initially, the process or device they introduce acts as a breakthrough and is seen as useful. This process or technology is adopted, that which it can supplant is retired or done away with, the process 'takes' more and more, becoming dominant, and then it meets its demise. This cycle has happened rather slowly throughout history and has been painstakingly documented but what about now? What technologies are being developed that could act as more rapid game changers upon our existing systems?
There are many. Any one could play a significant role in labor reduction, improvements in efficiency, or the outright elimination of existing means of doing things; these process improvements also affecting any resource gathering, stockpiling, needing to protect resources, the abilities to relocate and build, and may act to spur even more change. 

Existing enterprises most likely won't embrace these changes and will seek to thwart them in various ways, try to outlaw them even, but that will only work for a time. How many holes in the dam can you plug before you run out of fingers? 

Not Reality… …just reality… ..not Reality.. ...just reality…

Rye Jessen- Unsplash.com

The times we are in raises the potential of a lot of changes happening at once, which could severely destabilize the existing reality bubble humanity exists in and this is something that is exciting while at the same time frightening, for in the introduction of any element into existing systems there are reactions. Some are benign, hardly noticed, while some can be explosive. 

Enter the Forces Of Containment to temper the introduction of elements of change, to slow them, delay them, to (try and) thwart them entirely. We live in a system of duality and nowhere is that more true than in the balance of power. At the present time power lies in the hands of a few, who use money and information to condition the masses. 'Just enough' is given, is allowed the many, to keep them occupied and content with their lot, which makes them easy to manage. It's all about management. 

But is a human a cow? One of the herd, mindlessly chewing cud amongst other cows in some grassy field called suburbia, content with its lot because, compared to all the other cows in the field, he or she appears to be keeping up? 
Nay, I think the truth is that most humans have no idea who they actually are or why they're here, that they don’t know that each and every one of them was born innately noble, deserves only the best, and that they've been severely conditioned to think otherwise. But, such conditioning has kept perhaps many egos in check, egos that would have battled amongst each other and squabbled like playground kids over trivialities, with utter disregard for other's needs or the needs of the planet. School for us was necessary, is what I'm trying to say. 

And now, after the passage of many ages, perhaps it's now time for the Forces Of Containment to fall away to a greater degree. Many of us have matured and are now able to treat each other with kindness and respect, responsibly steward the earth, know when to say yes to an action and when to say no. 
It's nigh time to leave our need for parenting aside, time to do away with stodgy, suffocating governance, restrictions, and rules, and chart our own courses as we learn, over time, who we really are. 

It'll take time to drop the conditioning, there has been a lot of that applied over millennia. Multi-generational, our conditioning goes way back. Finding out who we are will be a joyful process of rediscovery and I don't think we'll be able to rush it for we cannot fathom our nobility, worthiness, and value, or come to terms with the fact that a benevolent system has carefully and patiently guided us through a very long process from afar, for we have a place in The Universe to fill, us gallant human beings of earth. Eventually, we shall take our places among the heralded, and many will honor us in legend and song.

Coffee Shop Window

     There was a coffee shop in a city I usta live in that had big plate glass storefront windows. Now I know this doesn't sound like anything out of the ordinary because there are very few coffee shops that don’t offer views of passerby, but with this this particular coffee shop, it was different. 

     Maybe it was the light. Maybe it was the location. Maybe it was because it was close to the river. Maybe it had to do with the diversity of the populace in that part of town. Maybe all of the above. And maybe there was something more, undefined, that made the view from those windows so compelling for the view out of this coffee shop's windows approached art. 

     People of all races and ages walked by. Shuffled by. Staggered by. Limped by. Ran by. You name it. 

Some days it was incredibly hot, some days it was bone chillin' cold. Every person walking by was as unique as a snowflake. To some degree different. Most were ordinary, not so noteworthy, the difference between them and the person I saw ten minutes ago that looked kinda like them wasn't much. Life was, however, indelibly etched upon passerby faces and some particular faces I wanted to draw in black and white. I wanted to capture whatever was in those faces because they modeled universal human traits. They were striking in their features, in their expression. This was a persistent idea I had but never actually followed up on, probably due to my wanting to look at the next passing person's face!

Lots of data being taken in.

Antonio Dicaterina- Unsplash.com

It was mesmerizing to watch this parade of humanity pass by. Of course, after you spend time anywhere you start noticing local characters, but of those there were relatively few. The sheer number of different people that this tourist town constantly brought in from everywhere got me wondering over time if God was keeping track of all these people- and why?

 
Surely there was a lot of life experience there, for good and bad, but what did all that experiencing amount to? Anything? Were people born to simply experience being human- breathing, eating, excreting, procreating? To experience being a child, then a teen, then an adult? To experience the wearing of clothing, courting of one's mate, holding job(s), wending their way through school, getting on the wrong side of the law? Some looked to have been been lucky in their experiencing, while others looked beaten down. Some were missing limbs, or they were walking in what looked to be painful ways. Some were exuberant, some sullen. Jesus it was better than any reality show on TV because here it wasn't just pretty faces, voluptuous bodies, and workout builds. Not at all. Here it was all the people that you don’t see on TV, which is most of humanity. I wanted to know their stories. "What (the hell) happened?!”.

  
But finding that out was an impossibility. I had to turn away. It was too much. There were too many of them- and they kept coming. Numbers! What does a hundred mean to you, a thousand? A hundred thousand, a million? Those are the numbers demographers throw out when they reference people. Describing people in this manner is necessary but it turns people into abstract entities, almost unreal. 

Mind-boggling, this is. There are over three hundred million people in the United States. China and India each contain over a billion people. That's a lot of faces! 

So what does it all mean? Why did all these souls volunteer to be here? From what I have seen, the vast majority of them didn't come here to party. Why did they volunteer for endless suffering, boredom, and lackluster daily experiencing, which could be succinctly said to be 'just existing'? Is human life so precious that each and every one of them would pit themselves against a mass of other people in an arena, an arena from which very few rise to positions of wealth or prominence, in order to 'give it a go and see what happens', knowing full well that the odds were against them; that there might be one or many who would subdue them, cheat at the game, shatter their dreams, place them in cages political or financial; this along with the possibility that they themselves might fall ill or suffer accident, sidelining them temporarily or permanently, and so many, many other things?

    Really, why bother? What's the point? Were we born to watch Netflix and SportsCenter (hey- gettin' personal here!), watch other people on TV, read about them in the papers, or online, watch them on the silver screen again and again as they play out their careers while we read the Good Book and wait politely our arrival to The Promised Land (via Rapture, preferrably), while others await the arrival of benevolent aliens and still others enlightenment- or oblivion? 

Are not all of us dreamers? Wishful thinkers? Each one of us on a personal quest, each one of us on the Hero's Journey of the ego trying to make who we are and what we do matter? We must be! There is no other sane answer. We're all givin' life a go and buckin' serious odds but you know, while winnin' at the game is great, losin' at it ain't so bad. 

Just take a look through any coffee shop window. You'll see you got plenty of company.

Erudite

     (In a video I see a diminutive man, against a background of gray. Not physically strong is he. But mentally, this man is a giant. After watching for an hour, I turn away and some time later post these words) 

What really drives us? Should we blindly take others' conclusions about what this world is about or should we question those conclusions, and by so doing, come to a further understanding?
Why, you'd think that this had been done already. By the many who have come before. You would think that we would have this (human life) down. 
From the looks of things, we have. We have 'figured life out and are expanding our horizons' but is this so? Perhaps 'expanding our horizons' is only us still searching, searching for something satisfying. 
  Looking around, everybody seems to be busy doing something, which is in a way searching for something, so what other action should a herd follower take but to join the pack and search too- for fulfillment, higher purpose, better sex, more money, endorphin highs, adrenaline rushes, enlightenment, bliss, inner peace, etc. Why not 'bundle it' all and call it 'Satisfaction'? 
But I, like many, can't get no satisfaction no matter what I do so I search and search but this little Indian man patiently and logically brings it home to me and anybody else that cares to listen that searching is unnecessary and is only a product of the mind. Searching comes through thought. We search because we have thought ourselves into searching! We have promomoted thinking over being and have created worlds upon worlds, concepts upon concepts. We have turned simple into complex. We have woven personal webs that must be cut through and torn apart in order to get back to simplicity. 
This man shows us the way but we must carefully follow his words, for he does not err in his reasoning, though we, in a rush, might choose to take a shortcut. We are in this rush, at first, for we think that what he is talking about is some sort of desirable state but we find that what we desire can only be in conflict with what is. 
And there is only what is. 
This gentle yet unwavering man brings us back to the state we were in before we started thinking about everything and anything and that was probably so long ago none of us can remember for we have been seemingly wrapped up forever in thought, in analyzing information, in trying to make sense of things in hopes that we will get to......
.....The Answer but if The Answer comes as a result of thought it cannot be The Answer for The Answer is beyond all thought and can't be expressed for in expressing it you have placed a limit on the limitless! 

The roots of the tree of knowledge run deep.

Jeremy Bishop- Unsplash.com

But still this urbane man tries, even though he is now not of this world. Recordings of him live on though, and his words continue to ring true in numerous books. 
Some would say that this man of wisdom didn't have it all figured out, that there were flaws in his reasoning and so they argue amongst themselves about that, about things that they don't get about what he said, even though he tried to articulate his understanding as clearly as possible. His understanding had to be articulated in a precise and painstaking manner so that it could be transferred and we could comprehend. 
Mental silence was what he was leading us towards, seeing things as they truly are in their pristine state, unsullied by thought.
Some listened, but many turned away, perhaps to return at another time or in another life when the pain got to be too great, when the 'world got to be too crazy' and their minds roiled, like the minds of many are probably roiling now, so great is our political dysfunction. Madness, our present state is, the result of thoughts running wild, logic and reason abandoned for magic, fantasy, and deluded states of being held only in the minds of those so taken by them, these states of being having nothing to do with what actually is. 
Presently, it is being asked of many to share in these states of madness but the man from India said that this has been commonplace throughout history. When minds are in conflict with reality only corruption can result. The power hungry seek to foster, and then capitalize, on widespread states of delusion.  
And thus it is that many are arguing now with what is and wanting to assert their worldviews to such an extent that they are willingly putting filters over their eyes and distorting the sounds coming into their ears to match the 'realities' that they, and only they, hold as being true. 
The cure for this is the cold logic of The Universe which filters not and this is what came into the mind of the refined man, he one out of a multitude, who defied worldwide madness. He asked not to be worshipped or followed but only that he be listened to, for he wanted to alleviate the confusion the masses were undergoing. He truly wanted to help, for there was no personal gain to be had for him, he being far beyond the needs of money or being liked.
Krishnamurti was his name. He's alive and well on You Tube and if you're so inclined, cue up one of his talks and listen. It won't be as exciting as watching any one of the eight "Fast And Furious" movies, but it also won't have you wanting more substance at the end. After watching any of the videos of his talks you'll feel nourished somehow, like your mind has permission for once to just be still. Maybe watching one of the videos of him will point out to you something you've got a hang up with, or through watching you can see how to approach the process of thinking in a different way. You'll see why it's highly important to not go unconscious, why it's important to always monitor your thoughts. You'll see many benefits and those benefits will accrue. 
For sure, you will see that there is an antidote for what passes for 'deep thinking' these days, and be comforted by seeing that before you came into this world, there were actually people that wrestled with and came to some pretty good conclusions about life and why we're here. 

Errand Runner

I dispatched Carlos, on his E-bike, to make rounds for me within the city. As he zoomed away I breathed a great sigh of relief. A time window had opened on my day that I was now at the luxury of filling. 
Meanwhile, Carlos was standing in line at the post office acting as my agent, telling the person at the counter that some mail meant for another had been mistakenly and consistently stuffed in my P.O. Box. That rectified, he zoomed over to the local bakery and scored some stick donuts for me to enjoy later before the bakery sold out. 
On and on he went and the fee I paid him for his weekly services more than made up for the contentment his services brought me, the luxury of time. 

Processes that we grumble about that consume great quantities of the precious commodity we call time are what we call work, road construction, or airline travel, while processes that consume less of that time we call commuting, shopping, or cooking. 
Watching TV and perusing the internet can be said to be activities where time 'stops' (commonly called 'quality time'), for in doing these activities immersion occurs and the passage of time is hardly noticed. 
Ditto sitting on the beach, participating in sports, or eating a meal in a restaurant. 
Thus, when Carlos takes on my 'bad time' tasks, I am able to experience 'good time' activities in their place. Nothing wrong with that. Anybody that can afford this would do it. 

Is there a cure for 'bad time' activities? None that are known by humankind. Errands are errands, chores are chores, work is work, and a whole industry has developed to make the intolerable tolerable. Neck pillows for travelers. Satellite radio for commuters. Spas for the overworked. Sports bars to counteract non-exuberant workplaces. Take-out for the weary, etc. Toxin/antidote. No time/time saver. Un-fun/fun. 
Pain/pleasure is the standard human response to things within our environment. We avoid or lessen pain, seek out and try to increase pleasure. Yes/No. Attracted/Repelled. Approach/Retreat. 
The so-called 'masters' at the game of life (most of us witness this in one way or another, through TV, film, or videos) gravitate always towards pleasure and seek to reach the place where pleasure is continuously experienced. Full immersion. Heaven. Bliss. Nirvana. 
(I like the word Nirvana 'cuz it sounds like Nir-van-AHH.....)

But really, could anybody actually experience a constant state of bliss? After a while, the high would seem to be a vague thing, for how could you measure how high you were? Contrast provides the answer. The shadow side must exist and we must know of it, in order to determine whether we are experiencing 'pleasure' or 'pain', for without the ability to identify any difference we would only experience sensation. Without contrast we would simply feel. That's all we would know. That's all babies know. 
You might say that that is hogwash, that there is a huge difference between pleasure and pain, that 'pleasure' (eating exquisite food) and 'pain' (hand on a hot stove) are self-evident things not requiring thought. They are built-in, instinctual reactions to stimulus. "Yum!" is obviously pleasure, while "Ouch!" is obviously pain.  But is this so? Animals may be observed to be experiencing either state but are they defining those states, differentiating between the two? Probably not. To an animal, things just are. Separating sensations can only come through thought, through reason, where it is determined that there are such things as 'good' and 'bad'. Judgement has entered the picture. There is that which we think serves us, and that which we think is to our detriment.  

The intrepid Carlos pauses on his rounds.

Josh Appel- Unsplash.com

Only humans reason, and through thought, decide whether something should be or shouldn't be (is 'good' or 'bad'). In essence, we are arguing all the time with what is and if anything can be done about it and that is why I can't stand to run errands but Carlos is more than happy to do them for me. He has no judgement about them. 
That's also why the crippled man is happier than the healthy one sometimes, and the grimy peasant smiles while the wealthy layabout scowls, and so on. Judgement colors most people's perceptions, and most people have adopted their perceptions, their worldview, through conditioning. Conditioning that has been brought about by the unique environmental exposures they have experienced. Conditioning that very well may have been relentlessly thrust upon them until they adopted it entirely, or assimilated it to a degree deemed 'acceptable' by their peers or society.
This may be unfortunate but it is what is. Ultimately, to know who we are, we must overcome this conditioning in order to view the world through unconditioned eyes. This responsibilty is thrust upon us and can't be relieved by any exterior force. Drugs, sleep, and distractions can remove this responsibility from us, but only temporarily. Dissociation from reality can be a longer term coping strategy, anger another, depression a third, but still the responsibility remains. We're born with it and it will dog us throughout our lives, and into the next one(s).
So why not deal with it now? Not in a desperately ambitious "I'm going to solve this once and for all!" way (which may bring about the inner peace of 'enlightenment'), this approach working for a few but seeming to be highly arduous and destabilizing for the majority, but in a slow way, a measured way, a determined way, a methodical and patient way?
One could start by assuming that they know nothing, that they don't actually know (you can pretend here) why they're having a reaction to this/that/whatever and explore their thoughts about it. "Something is occurring and I'm having thoughts about it. Why?" you can ask yourself. Little stuff, to begin with. "Who ever said?" is a question you can ask about conclusions that others have reached.
It is in this questioning that you can find out how you feel about things, how you can separate your thoughts from the mass consciousness, at least for a while, if doing so for a longer time makes you feel uncomfortable. Because deep inside you know that when you do this you're stepping, even if it is just one toe's length away, from the comfort of the conditioned herd. But you also know deep inside that you have to do this, and do it consistently, because until you do you won't know who you really are and what your true thoughts are about whatever is occurring. You won't know if for you something is 'good' or 'bad'.

As to this pertaining to myself, I don't know if I'll ever come to the place where I don't have judgement about running errands and 'wasting time'. Perhaps Carlos knows something I don't? It could be that my 'wasting time' issues, my "Why am I doing this instead of that?” issues are actually much, much deeper than I think, they having to do with greater things called purpose, reason for being, why did God create me anyway, the egoic need to feel special, fears of inadequacy, abandonment issues, and who knows what else. Obviously, I have a great deal of judgement about where I am placed and what I am doing. Somewhere, somewhen, conditioning took hold.

That's okay, though. I'm looking at these issues, at least. Questioning them. I might not get all the answers in this lifetime but until then...

….you guessed it….

....I got Carlos running errands for me.

A Watershed Moment

Back in the day, prior to the internet even (!), I was a subscriber to the local (daily) newspaper in a decent-sized town because I wanted to be kept well informed. In addition to that, I purchased the big fat Sunday paper of one of the major metropolis’ nearby so that I could read the in-depth stories that were only printed in those kinds of esteemed publications. 
     The daily paper I read had about five sections to it, there was national and local news, sports, social and leisure activities, financials, and classifieds. 
I started with the national and local news always and in doing that I was kept appraised of the goings on at a national level as well as the happenings within the local government and area. As well, I was informed about criminal activity and apprehensions, of which there seemed to be a lot. 
The sports section was always a lively place, full of meets, playoffs, matches, statistics, schedules, and analysis. Always involved reading there, for those who were interested. 
The social section was hit or miss, some of it was interesting, some not, but it was worth a looking over, at least. 
  Ditto the financial pages. Stock info wasn't all that exciting to me but what was interesting was reading about all the stuff that was going on in The Economy, be it local, national, or global. How anybody could figure that mess out was beyond my comprehension. Though many tried to shed light on the subject that light, unfortunately, never dawned in me. 
The classifieds (pre-Craigslist) contained small type, which was worth perusing if you wanted to check out the local job offerings, cars for sale, furniture, etc. It was all there. The Sunday classifieds carried the best job offerings and descriptions of jobs so the Sunday classifieds were always worth a look. 
What happened to change all this? The arrival of the internet? No- what happened is I started to fall behind. I got busy with life, with other things during the day, and I wasn't able to fit reading the newspaper in so I set it aside to read it 'later'. 
This became more and more frequent and before I knew it I had a whole pile of newspapers to read, which I did, and it was a chore but a necessary one for one had to do this to keep informed, right? And I was very informed. 
My head was full of trivia. I never knew I could pack so much in there, and how little that information was doing to actually serve me. The more information I read the less it seemed to matter! Maybe the notion of being 'well read' and 'well informed' was the newspapers' way to keep me pursuing some sort of preposterous level of overall understanding, this only attained by consuming superhuman amounts of content. 
Over time, the local and national news seemed to be throttled and stale renditions of 'life'. This was also true about the crime section, where no matter how many bad guys and gals got busted and taken off the streets, more seemed to crop up, 
In the sports world, things got ever more involving as leagues expanded pretty much across the board, 
The social and leisure scene events had a repeating seasonal theme to them, which I recognized over the years, 
I found I never could make sense of the financial world, no matter how many of their columnists and pundits claimed to have their fingers on the pulse of things, 
and the Classifieds seemed to be the same old same old week in and week out. 

All those words gotta mean something, right?

Waldemar Brandt- Unsplash.com

The big Sunday issues I could spend hours reading, which is something you could do to while away a Sunday afternoon, but after whiling away enough Sunday afternoons I started to want to read them less and less because, like the dailies, they weren't that enlightening. 
Back and forth I went like this, for well over a decade, seeing the pile of papers accrue, tackling it, watching it build again, taking a day off to read through it, skim through it, whatever it took to say I got caught up and then.....
...one day I just let things slide completely out of control and the pile grew and grew until it was two stacks of newspapers, each stack rising knee high from the floor. "Enough! I'm not going to read that!" vowed I, and I didn't. 
For what had started as a pleasure had become a chore and a duty, which was so sparse on payback as to be laughable. 
  And then along came the internet. With this a news junkie could get his fix twenty four hours a day, and didn't have to wait for it to be delivered. Ka-boom! What great news this was! 
But now my news was all over the place. Different sites ran different content. Local stuff was a little bit here, a little bit there, or wasn't even being covered at all. I started to miss newspapers and still do to this day because with newspapers, everything was in one place. 
Those days aren't coming back though, no way. However, through my experience with the amount of data in newspapers, I know of the impossibility of 'keeping up' and 'keeping informed' so The World is just going to have to turn without me knowing every damned detail about what is going on. And this is true for everybody else too. Nobody knows or can know it all, there's just too much and most of it is fluff. Filler. 
Added to that, who's editing this internet stuff? Newspapers used to have credibility. They had pro editors. Sure, the papers had 'slants' to them, many were privately owned, but if they ran a story it was similar to the ones other papers ran. With interent 'news' you don't have a clue. Could be a guy that shot a video in his back yard, or a montage of images doctored to look real. Use your imagination!
So this is where intuition comes in. You need it now more than ever. Bypass the fake stuff and the filler and let your guidance bring to you that which you absolutely need to know. Got a better system? I don't. All I need to remind me to apply intuition to this issue is to think about those piles of newspapers laying on the floor of my living room begging for my attention and what a waste of time tackling all that 'data' was. I'll take a short cut to what passes for 'news' any day if it leads me to a clearer and far less laborious conclusion.

Let Us Pray

     From Etrusians, 12:22:
     "... and henceforth there came upon the village a man, who was wearied. Seeking comfort, he drove his SUV into the parking lot of the inn. The innkeeper, seeing the arrival of this disheveled traveler, quickly put up his 'No Vacancy' sign. “Whyfore is there no accommodation?" asked the weary traveler, for others in a line next to him were offered room keys and given maps of the town. 
"Those ones are welcome, for we knew of their arrival beforehand" lied the innkeeper, for he had still rooms, but of this the traveler was to be kept unaware. "The entire village is without accommodation. It's "Givens Day".
"Givens Day?"
"Yes" the innkeeper lied again. "A holiday. They do not celebrate this one in Twinchville, fifty miles further down the road. You many be able to find accommodation there"
"But I am weary, and feel not to drive any more this day" said the traveler. "Is there not some way you could call the other innkeepers in town and...."
"Nay" the innkeeper said, shooing the traveler away. "I am busy. I shall deal with you no further"
And so the traveler set out again upon the road, and drove the fifty additional miles to Twinchville, where he immediately found a room. It was there that he gained rest, and in the morning he enquired the innkeeper at his accommodation what 'Givens Day' was, for he was curious, and had not thought to ask the rude innkeeper of the day before. 
"There is no such thing that I know of. Wait a minute, and I will ask around" The innkeeper queried many others in the office, who all shook their heads, save one, who, looking sideways at the traveler with sad eyes, said he knew of the custom. He rose, pulled the traveler aside, and related this tale:
"I was denied accommodation in that town, and it was for the same reason. It was because I am white, like you are"
"I have never heard of such a thing!" the traveler gasped.
“Yes. Givens Day is the local slang for 'givin' back' what they have received. It could have been much worse. You were wise to leave that town"
"Prejudice?"
"Oh yes. Ever since The Wall went up, the barbed wire was set in place, the soldiers manning the guard towers got orders to shoot tear gas if necessary, the German Shepherds were trained to rush and subdue, and all the rest, animosity has ruled the land. They protect their own and shun the rest, like you do"
"Like some of my kind does, but I and many other white ones are not like them"
"You're the same color. That's all the justification they need. Trust is gone, my friend. The Wall signifies that trust between people is impossible. There is now talk that villages will build walls again, like in days of old". 
"Castles!"

That looks welcoming.

Tim Rebkavets- Unsplash.com

"Yes. The return of the feudal system. Vassals, lords, serfs, and knights. That sort of thing". 
"Who started this?"
"One man, who could not trust anybody else. One man who, through cunning, sought to divide and conquer the world, his play being fracturing every relationship he could. Burning through people. Calling for loyalty then denying the ones who fell for that, for they were only to be used by him to achieve his ends, those being temporary ones, mainly. It was in this way that he had built a smaller empire before, and through that method became very good at it. Over time, a master even. He asks for trust, then pulls the rug out from the trusting when he needs them no more, leaving bitterness in his wake. His henchmen act for him one by one, or in unison, until they are ultimately removed, leaving him alone on the throne”. 
"The ultimate personification of ego!"
"Correct. There is no greater example"
"How then do we, who seek expansion and welcome, defeat this ones' purpose?"
"We learn to trust each other again, for only in trust can greater things be built. Isolation is self defeating. It leads only to stagnation and ruin. The game stops. The world is frozen. Trust is the thawing agent that leads us back to springtime again. There are only two roads, away from each other or towards. His road leads away, trust leads towards"
"Thank you for your wise advice. Why do you give it to me? Do you not suspect I will use it against you?"
"You can't. For within you you see the value in it, as do I. The only reason that ‘powerful’ one is atop his self-created pyramid is because he does not see the value in trust. His world is very alone. You and I, on the other hand, are now friends”. 
“Trust enables friendships!”
"Yes. It's the only way out of the trap. Think of it as a vortex, and follow what I have to say closely, in order to eliminate confusion. Non-trust draws inward, like water draining through a hole. Trust spins outward, throwing its fruit in all directions. Clockwise and counterclockwise. The old Nazi symbol was an inward spinning vortex, while the Buddhist one, which predated it by millennia, and the one used by certain Native American tribes, spun counterclockwise. It's there for all to see, this knowledge".
"Thank you. I feel greatly refreshed, and am ready to continue my journey". 
"Where go you this day?"
"Home, ultimately. The route I take doesn't matter so much. However I choose to get there, I shall along the way build friendships with those that understand the value of trust".
"You are wise in doing that. Perhaps we shall meet again?"
"In another guise, perhaps. Adieu!"

(and Amen!)

2018

2018 shuffled slowly towards the exit. His shoulders were hunched, his face was etched with the creases of worry, and his skin had the weathered look that comes from too much sun and not enough moisturizing. In his right hand he carried a scythe, which he here and there grasped with his left hand, and through the power remaining in both his spindly arms, he swooshed the scythe across some growth to reap a bit more news. The harvesting was almost done. Yea, it was old Father Time himself. 
I hailed him.
"Father Time! Looks like you've had a rough year! Thanks for doing what you do"
Father Time looked at me, astonished. "I've never been thanked before. Thank you for thanking me. I get a lot of pushback. People mistake me for The Grim Reaper, which I am not. I am, however, as relentless as he"
"That you are. We're just about done with this year. Only a little more, er, 'reaping' left"
"I am tired, citizen. My workload has steadily increased over the last three hundred or so years. I have so many more endings to officiate"
"Any benefit in that? For you, I mean?"
"None whatsoever. Being Father Time, I can wait for no man. I am duty bound to reap the fullness of whatever crop I am called to harvest, be it a life, a company, a leader, a country. I am the Omega"
"And here comes the Alpha" I quipped, spotting Baby 2019 crawling up the lane. "Is he an 'upgraded' version of you? Better, different, New & Improved? I've always wondered"
"He appears to be different, but nay, he is only me in a different guise. He is the appearance of youth and promise, new beginnings, and fresh starts. A blank slate upon which to draw upon. In time, he will mature and by the end of 2019 he will appear as I do now, withered and old, weary and wobbling, yet still able, for The Universe gives him strength, to complete his appointed task"
"Somebody has to do it"
"Somebody has to act as a reminder that time passes for your culture has made the passage of time almost a taboo subject. You are entranced with youth, perpetual youth. 'Forever 21' is your ideal mindset. But I must show you always, every single day, the fleeting nature of your existence. I must show you things like road kill, dying flowers, and the obituaries of famous people"
"Are you the one that brings us all that death stuff we see on TV, you know, zombie and vampire shows, crime shows, horror movies, that kind of stuff?"
"No, that is Satan's department. My task is to simply show you that the world of form is an illusion. There can be no permanence in the world of duality. There is only emergence followed by disappearance, birth and death, arising and dissipation"
Father Time got busy with his scythe, mowing down some outdated concepts, passe words, and terminally ill technology before turning his attention back to me. 
"See what needs to be done? Were it not for me no room would be made for my replacement" He pointed to Baby 2019, who was crawling up some steps that led to a stage. 
"That is where the ball is going to be dropped at the moment 2019 arrives. Baby 2019 has to be there, amongst the cheering throng"
"A destiny thing" I said, observing.

“An absolute” Father Time corrected me.

I looked directly at Father Time. "And where will you go, at that moment?"
"I will be no more" he replied, without a hint of trepidation or remorse.
"Sounds uber harsh. Just like that, winked out of existence? Hopefully, there won't be any pain"
"There won't. I will simply reappear in the embodiment of Baby 2019, and start over"
"Wait a minute! Baby 2019 is a separate entity! You can't be in two places at once!"
"You have a lot to learn, young man"
"Obviously you haven't seen the gray hairs! Here, I'll turn a bit so they pick up more light"
"I have seen them, but you're still a youngster to me. I have lived forever! As time itself, I cannot be bound to the concept of the passage of time, as you are"
"Ooh. Got me there. I'm very much bound by time. It's all I think about. "How much time do I have left?"
"There will come a day when that won't be an issue for you, and you will simply celebrate existence, like I do every 'day'"
"Mowing things down with the scythe of time is celebratory? That sounds kinda sick!”

Winter is the appropriate backdrop

Seth Macey- Unsplash.com


"It's not. It's necessary. Without me, you would not be able to orient in your world. You would have no reference point and things would appear to be happening in a random fashion. Time is the tool humans use to measure sooo many things. You are fixated by the concepts of progress and history, and compare your 'standards of living' and 'evolvement' to years, decades, centuries, and epochs gone by. The calendar you swear by, the careers you toil within, the vacations you take, the children you raise, the accomplishments and accolades you gather, the contributions you make to this thing called 'society'- all of that is computed in your minds and out comes the result of your efforts- the purpose of your existence! These things matter not outside of this planet you ride upon, whose existence is measured in billions of years. You think you're important but you couldn't stand to see yourselves as I see you- as temporarily animate motes of dust in the void!"
"Gulp!"
"Gulp is right! Be thankful that I am gentle with you, and stay confined mostly to the shadows. Enjoy your 'time' in the sun while you can"
After sobering me with that wintry blast crotchety old Father Time left me, and I must admit I was very glad to see him shuffle off, muttering, looking this way and that for something to lay his scythe into. Meanwhile, Baby 2019 cooed cutely upon the stage. Some people up there were already decorating it and polishing the glittering ball that would be raised, and then dropped, at the moment 'he' (Baby 2019) arrived. 
I turned away. There were still a few days of 2018 left to experience, but I gotta admit, after Christmas, the rest of the year seems like a lame duck. "Is it over yet? everybody wonders, because they're ready for the next year to begin. Ready for all the events that will happen in the next 365 days, those days marking our planet's orbit around a timeless sun.

Burnt Toast

Was the feeling that Larry Bartles felt, the "Damn!" expression that you have when you discover that the toast has burned and time is short before having to leave the house and the morning bites you have been counting on ain't gonna happen. 
  And then on the drive to work some fool in a Jeep decides that you 'pulled out in front of him' on the highway and is gonna school you on it. Even though there was plenty of space, he actually races to close the gap and gets tight on your bumper as if to say that you, who have been driving for forty years, can't judge when to merge properly and don't accelerate fast enough. As if!

When the day unfolds kinda like this.

Elijah O’Donnel- Unsplash.com

And then at work you find out that so-and-so has called in 'sick' for the umpteenth time and you're going to have to work twice as hard because management won't manage to cover the lack of coverage 
and it's just a snowball rolling downhill from there and at some point you look up at the sky and ask "Why me? What did I ever do to deserve this?" and the clouds drifting by up there don't answer but the customers you're dealing with do, rather rudely, to your asking them necessary questions that are just part of your job. 
So you go within, to the place that can't be touched by any of this and is simply observing without passing judgement of any kind, not taking sides, and you can do that too but your judgement stands in the way. Your emotions stand in the way, turbulent as a storm toss'd sea and added to that there's physical tiredness as well. 
But n'er does The Observer of all that you experience vary from neutrality, the calm center, the unattached state. 
It's not 'sad' to The Observer, to watch you as you go through a rough day. There are no labels that can be put upon what it sees. What’s occurring is not drama, right, wrong, unjust, or unfair, it just is. 
And the same holds true for the good times. There are no such things as rewards, justice, fairness, or payback. To The Observer, it always and only is What Is. 
A life is only What Is to The Observer, for it knows not of death, time, or being born. There is only the arising of forms and the falling away of same. 
There is intelligence there, supreme intelligence, that takes a different view. We cannot contain hope of understanding that intelligence. It is far too vast. 
But when the toast burns, it takes notice even of that.

Mr. Jepson's Annoyance

Reginald Jepson, the illegitimate son of Sir Percival Jepson, an English ambassador, and a Japanese geisha named Mir Ling, was raised in Sheffield, England, and schooled at Oxford. He was overall a kindly fellow but one that could just as well be easily annoyed. A man of culture and learning, he all too clearly saw how the cruder members of the human race, as he put it, could find ways to exemplify modes and means of behaviour that he took issue with, no matter how he wished they wouldn't, couldn't, or shouldn't do what they did, nor could he find it within him the ability to condone their actions. 
In a nutshell, the behaviours of people rankled him. 
While he knew that these others could never be like him, he fervently prayed for some sort of resolution to come to his mind over these matters for the torment it caused him was relentless. Some days it was more, some days it was less, and no matter how he tried to pinpoint the cause of his distress and dismay in hopes of alleviating it he could not, for people's actions could be attributed to numerous factors, all of which were out of his control. His say in any matter mattered not, nor would his input ever be heeded by those he often mentally pleaded with to "Please curtail your annoying activities!" 
  What to do, what to do? 

What uncouth fellow calls my name?

Jia Ye- Unsplash.com

He tried drink, but that was not allowed during the busy portions of the day when annoying behaviours were at their peak. Of what use was drink afterward, when he was mulling over the day's events at home, and rueing the moments when he thought negatively about people, wished them unwell, and mentally threw comments their way, all this in order to quell the inner torment he felt inside? 
He tried prayer, and religion, which espoused loving one's fellow man, but he loved them not, though he tried, he surely and sorely tried. Of what use was it to love your brother or sister if they loved you not back? How many times could one turn the other cheek, for after a while it became sore from all the slapping!
  He tried to ignore other's patterns of behaviour, but that's like telling someone to not notice the elephant in the room. He tried to justify people's actions by saying that they did not know any better, that they were 'unaware'. That didn't work either for when would they ever become aware? Not soon, from the looks of things. It seemed the only reason many people were on the earth was to simply annoy Reginald Jepson, and when it came to the ability to annoy, they were masters at it. 
Television brought annoying people, events, and situations into Reginald's home every night, and most TV channels thrived on bringing such fare to his table. Of non-annoying stations there were few, but those ran annoying commercials! The internet, when it arrived, bought more choices but, you know- on the internet, anything goes.
Over time, Reginald Jepson became a recluse. He holed up in his house, only leaving if he had to, in order to keep his exposure to annoyances to a minimum. But, one can only do that for so long because more annoying than the annoying people that annoyed him was the call of Life, with a capital L, to come out and play. Life called and called, pestered and vexed, insisted and beckoned, would not take no for an answer no matter what answer Reginald gave but still Reginald would not move. 
So Life moved him.
Life, and Reginald's soul, the greater part of him, conspired to plunge Reginald into circumstance that would cause him to face his greatest fears and no greater fear for Reginald was losing the tidy sum of money he had inherited, which happened, and "Now what?" was the question. Unable to magically manifest more o' the green, Reginald, sound of body, was faced with the prospect of going to work, something he had never done, for he had grown up moneyed. 
Work was to be his crucible, where over time, over many years in fact, he was faced with and faced directly the most annoying people on God's green earth and though many times he thought he was about to die, and wished to, God would not let him for dying would not serve Reginald Jepson. He could, if he fervently wished it, die, for at a deep soul level he had that right, but the wiser part of him vetoed that notion for it saw the benefits that were to come were Reginald to choose to stick it out. 
There were times when it was touch and go, and those watching Reginald's progress from unseen bleachers were on the edge of their seats, not knowing what he'd do, how he'd react, but they were also rooting for him and he felt it, he felt their presence though he did not know what 'it' was- relief in a dream, a sudden feeling of peace or confidence, a 'chance' encounter with a well wisher, or an encounter with a teacher who espoused timely and profound knowledge- not in a great hall, but in an ordinary setting. 
And so, in regards to Life, Reginald's annoyances became less and less until one day he noticed something, something he had never experienced before- a situation that had annoyed him greatly in the past he had no reaction to in the present. He thought that he had arrived. 
He had. But in the very next day another, similar situation vexed him terribly and he relapsed, thinking that all he had gained was suddenly lost, and it was. For a while. But peace returned, a little longer this time. 
On and on this back and forth process went, for sooooo long that he thought he'd never get there but when he did get there he didn't even know he had arrived until months later, so subtle was his crossing of the threshold. 
Nowadays annoyance rises in him and passes away in seconds. He can't ever get rid of it, this he has learned. It's part of who he is. He simply watches it arise, and then dissipate, knowing that it's not going to overtake him. It's just a thing that happens, like lifting a hand to scratch an itch. You do it and it's done and that's all the thought you give it. 

Life goes on. And on, and on. Perhaps someday we will be in another dimension, and our bodies will have changed into light. We'll look different than we do now, and maybe we won't think about things so much, we'll just know. And nobody knows how this will happen, but it's probably not going to happen overnight and when it dawns on somebody how much we've all changed, it'll be years after the fact, when some historian measures our progress. 

"Wow!" we'll think. Life will go on for us, the multifarious variations of Reginald Jepson in the world.

Just Enough, Never Enough

      'Twas an ill wind prevailing on the cusp of winter in 2018. Those that ruled the great land were of grievous disposition and quarreled mightily with the will of The People for, in the way that they saw it, they did not yet have enough. 
      Whether they be in government, or in business, they saw themselves as greater than the rest, many of them, these ones that had risen to positions of power and influence by working the system to their advantage, through a means they called 'cleverness'. Because they employed the ways of wile and others did not they thought themselves the victors over men, in a weird sort of way. 
      At the helms of their respective ships with minions under their command, it was they who determined what was enough for them, and so the pie was divvied up in that way, leaving Just Enough for the little ones. 
       This was good, they stated, competitive, fair, just, and reasonable. For the economy was such that others, vying for position, would overtake their respective ships if they could. Be happy with your lot, whatever it was, and wherever it was, be it in America, China, the E.U., or in the U.K., behind the potentially drawing isolationist curtain of Brexit. 

Welcome to the Banana Republic

Khachik Simonian- Unsplash.com

Corruption spread like a malaise in America, a disease, oozing out of the dark places where the infected dwelled. Never Enough was the credo and those espousing it searched for more down every avenue, in every situation, with every favor granted, and upon every handshake gone unrevealed. 
       Christmas seemed to be over before it had yet arrived. Though The People still sought to celebrate it, their motivation was halfhearted. Perhaps this would be the last Christmas for them for the joy had all but gone out of it. Cardboard and hollow it was, like all the other so-called holidays celebrating events that no one realy cared about anymore- save for one. Easter, the holiday where many of the celebrated celebrated the resurrection of The One, the Master of Love they claimed to believe in. The other holidays were relics of the past for no one was really being memorialized, the day of the nation’s birth was hardly felt, labor had been diminished, and not many were giving thanks. 

The news was filled with whack-a-mole stories. No matter how many times the law or social conscience or scandal struck a blow upon one, another would pop up wearing a smart aleck grin. Justice seemed to be truly blind and ordinary citizens could only wonder what was coming next, for all sense and reason had gotten lost in the swamp surrounding the capital. 

The decades-long quest for clean air, water, and healthy food, chemicals that wouldn't harm us, and pharmaceuticals that wouldn't make us worse off or addicted seemed to be unraveling in an awful display of lack of foresight, one oblivious to consequence.

Science was replaced by the simple dismissal of it! There was nothing that couldn't be explained away. The rich got richer while the rest got by and only disdain and contempt were held for those not in the club. Santa cried while the nation died and the eagle soars no more.

Sunset

     Every year about this time of the year it's time to go down The List. There are usually quite a few items of interest on it, things I didn't know. About them. The ones who have died. Passed away. Moved on. 
     Each one of them gifted us with something, didn't they? The famous ones, I mean. ‘Cuz there were others…..

With so many transitioning each year that I didn't know I can only say 'Godspeed" to them but to the celebrities, or quasi-celebrities I did know about, follow somewhat, or took a great deal of interest in, it's time to pay my respects.
It's amazing how much they contributed to our culture, each in their unique way. This one starred in this or that show, or movie, or wrote the book we all had on our minds at one time, or did the deed that was so spectacular that I was inspired by it. Or maybe I thought about what they said, wished I had been in their place or had had a similar opportunity, or else I was glad that they had the guts to do what they did 'cuz I never could have done it.
These kinds of lists are easy to find, the people that are on them are ranked by their popularity, usually, and it's pretty predictable which people are going to be on them but the most interesting obituaries I have found to read have not been the 'Top Twenty Five' or whatever annual ones come out but the daily ones about quasi-celebrities or even ordinary people. Such diverse lives they have led! 
These kind of obits are very local or they're localized, meaning that a listed person's influence encompassed a larger area. Every newspaper runs them. Being a everyday reader of the New York Times for a while, I have seen that artists, dancers, and writers are featured in their obits regularly. Scientists who discovered this or worked on that. People that contributed unique things to the New York culture- restauranteurs, sports heros, politicians, and business people. As well, there are social misfits and fringe dwellers of every stripe, people who were thoughtful and urbane (and hardly ever read, save by a few), punk rockers, mob figures, etc., plus there are quirky people who did things that maybe were only for a short while interesting or impactful, but were enough to shift the direction much of the populace was moving in. Remarkable stuff. 

Adieu: Ken Berry, George Bush Sr., Roy Clark, Stan Lee, Paul Allen, Burt Reynolds, Neil Simon, John McCain, Aretha Franklin, Tab Hunter, Anthony Bourdain, Kate Spade, Phillip Roth…..

Thomas Bennie- Unsplash.com

I try not to read the NY Times obits on a regular basis, I don't want to be reminded, but they're there in the sidebar as I scroll down the page so I get exposed to them a lot and now added to that, we've come 'round to the tail end of the year when the annual lists start showing up. The annual lists are interesting but through reading the daily obits I know that it's not just celebrities that do extraordinary things. Each of us has an impact, however slight that may be, just by being here and being alive. We affect those around us and maybe that's not noticed or noticeable at the time but over time the affect we have accrues. 

Outside of celebritydom we others, removed from our usual social circles, are simply 'that guy' or 'that gal' that people know only on sight, encounter briefly, or catch a glimpse of just once. Most of us are like movie background. We're members of the crowd on a busy street, patrons in the restaurant, fans in the stadium, bicycle riders passing by, a lone dog walker. Fellow participants in life. We're out there, doing our thing. 
Personally, this gives me the feeling that progress is being made by society as a whole towards some meaningful ideal. I may not know you, but I take solace in the fact that you're out there doing whatever it is that you do because without you doing that, this would be a very uninteresting, purposeless, and lonely planet indeed. But I don't necessary want 'you' over at my house, nor could I realistically ever accommodate you. There are just too many yous! 
     And it's likely that we'll never get to know each other, or of each other, unless we do something that gets us on The List that nobody really wants to be on, the list that tells me a little bit more about you than the billions of others because you did something that official list compilers found interesting.

So as I read The Lists ('Most notable deaths of 2018', 'People we have lost in 2018', etc.)  I feel that there are an incredible amount of others worth mentioning who are not being remembered. However, I think they have been noticed in a different way and are definitely on the ledger of a higher power. 
Not that their being put on this one has any effect whatsoever on whether they get to stay where they are or get sent elsewhere, no, this eternal list is a highly individual one and is tailored like an evaluation, where you get to see what areas you were strong in and in which ones you were weak so that the next time around you might want to work on building skills in your weak areas (but that will be totally your choice). 

'Cuz there will be a next time, for most people. They wouldn't want to miss playing another role in this unfolding drama for anything. 

Chop Wood, Carry Water

700 A.D. 
"Ah, that old nag in the village! What does she know about planting rice? "Wait until three days after the full moon". Nonsense! I plant when the water is high because what if the rains fail? And my neighbor's dog- what a nuisance! Up all night, yapping at this and that. I'd move from this village if I could!".

It was for the purpose of stopping this incessant mind chatter that Zen was practiced, for it was said to lead one to Satori, or enlightenment. After Satori, this same hypothetical villager, named Po, would be seen calmly walking around, his mind as still as the surface of the koi pond. Nothing would rattle him for long before his mind resumed stillness. In the state of supreme illumination, movement was still occurring, the hands and arms were steering the ax as it fell, and the body was occasionally strained by the weight of water buckets suspended over the shoulders by means of a stout staff, but the mind was relaxed and enjoying the present moment. Yet, strangely, the mind was not numb but very, very alert.

  Hark! A bird in the forest! Footsteps approaching upon the village path! The distant rumble of thunder! A voice singing in the rice paddies! A swarm of bees by the jasmine flowers! 

What a blessed life. Simple, uncluttered, primal, right, and perfect. Perhaps after dinner in the evening a song would be sung for Po’s family by a local musician, a lilting song accentuated by adept bending of the notes on an (organic, of course) reed flute. 

Doesn’t this make you feel peaceful?

Faye Cornish- Unsplash.com

2018 A.D.
That same villager, Po, reincarnated to serve the heathen horde in present day Tech Village and had trouble staying out of monkey mind. All around him was noise- cars, car alarms, sirens, airplanes, trains, rap music, classical music, notification chimes, bells, and gongs, rude shouting people, slick games that work to compel and involve (the latest is 'Red Dead Redemption 2', seven years in the making), 24/7/365 media access, binge watching, social media, upgrades, keeping up, and soooo much more, most of it inorganic.
Amazingly, and to the bafflement of naysayers, Po has overcome this. His mind is still still, as unrippled as it was over a millennia ago. How does he do it?
  (Let's ask!)

‘Rick’ interviews Po on the Satori Times You Tube channel:

"Po, can I call you ‘master’?"
"It's already been done, Rick. Just call me Po"
"'K, Po it is. Po, how the frickin' frack do you keep your head on straight in the face of this barrage? Wasn't it easier back in the day?"
"Yes, it was, Rick. Much easier. You know, I've been interviewed a lot lately, once news of my former status leaked out. I tried to keep a low profile but my NowAGram account…. …was hacked"
"So we heard!"
"Yes (chuckles). Welcome to the 21st century! Anyway, it can be done. Remaining untouched and unsullied by The World even deep within this godawful din"
"Um... ..for our listeners and viewers, how exactly is that sort of thing accomplished? Remaining centered?"
  "It's easy, Rick. You don't have to turn anything off at all"
  "I was expecting a totally different answer!"
  "So is everybody else. The trick is, don't give what is happening out there any importance. That's all"
"All you have to do?"
"Right, yup, you got it. Just don't pay it any attention. Attention is key. I understand that you have to give things your attention. That’s proper, that’s right, that’s practical. Just don’t pay them too much attention. That's your only power in these times. Get educated. Figure out how to do that. Discard everything else"
"Sounds too easy!"
"It is easy. Just disregard the junk!"
"But what if you don't know what the junk is?"
"Start questioning. Begin exploring. Hash things out. That's all I can tell you. True intent will steer you down the correct path. Just ask that what you give attention to has integrity. Is important. Adds value. Those are your clues. There are others. That which does not fit those kinds of intentions will disappear from your view, or you won't find interest in them anymore. All you gotta do to get the ball rollin' on this is ask"
"Po, I'd also like to ask you about....."
"No more questions! I just gave you the answer"
"But...."
"No buts. We're done here. Get to work!".

I felt like Po had just struck me over the head with a Zen stick but you know, that approach is so typical of those guys. Straight up, no chaser.

Fulfillment Center

I caught word that there were such things as Fulfillment Centers so I set out to find one. It was not what I anticipated. When I came upon one, it looked like a giant warehouse and was located in an industrial park. The people walking towards and away from it hardly looked fulfilled.
    "Where can I find fulfilllment?" I asked the guard at the Fulfillment Center's security gate, long as I was there.
    He looked at me like I was slightly off and in need of help. "Try about two miles down the street. I think you might find fulfillment there" he offered.
    So down the street I went where I came across a church. I went inside but nobody was there. Exiting, I came upon a man outside. 
"I'm looking for fulfillment. Can you help me?"
"Sure" he said. "I've got Oxy, I've got heroin, I've got meth....."
"Drugs?! Are you crazy?" cried I alarmed, while backing away. 
"You said you were lookin'" he shrugged before waving me off. "Just tryin' to he'p ya, bro!"
  An ad in an employment office's window I passed somewhat later caught my eye. "Fulfilling careers. Now hiring!" it read. 
  "Sounds good!" I thought, and entered therein.
  "I'm looking for fulfillment" I said to a man sitting at a desk. 
"Welcome. Have a seat, I'll be right with you. Got to make a call" He dialed someone and started talking. He was very busy during the call, multitasking with papers on his desk, a computer, a scheduling board behind him, sipping coffee, and even taking a bite out of a doughnut here and there. The call concluded after about ten minutes. He set the phone down, took a long slurp of Joe, then without even asking me my name or interviewing me said "I think I can help you. Are you available weekends, holidays, nights, swing shift, split shift, and basically any other time we might need you?"
"If that will bring me fulfillment, I guess I'll do it....."
"Ok then! See you 7:00 p.m. sharp, Saturday night! Go to this address!" He scribbled an address on a piece of paper and gave it to me, then sort of rushed me out the door, saying he had a ton of other calls to make.
Boy was that ever a scam. I spent Saturday night feeling very unfulfilled. He lied! 

“How about overnights? Can you work those?”

rawpixel- Unsplash.com

The next morning, I sat around my house and with nothing else to do, I turned on the TV. Sports fans seemed to be fulfilled so I went to the nearest stadium. There was a game there this afternoon.
"Rah Rah Rah! Go team!" I shouted with the rest and while it felt fulfilling, it didn't last. I left the stadium rather let down but after having had a taste of the elixir, I was motivated to find more. 
A flyer caught my eye in the local coffee shop, where I'd stopped in to see if they had any almond poppyseed muffins with which to sate my hunger. A guru promised fulfillment at a workshop that night. 
"Yeah! Just what I want!" I crowed. "I'll be there!"
At around seven o'clock I made my way over to the venue where this guru gave weekly talks. I entered a hushed workshop space, and found a cushion to sit on. Many others were present.
    But the guru wasn't there yet. After what seemed like a long wait, he entered and sat down in a chair in front of us, that chair sitting on a little stage so we could all see him. 
  "If anybody is here looking for fulfillment I can't help you" was the very first thing he said. 
"What?!" I thought. "How.....    ...can you say that! I paid good money!"
    "Fulfillment is never found outside of the self. It can only be found within" he said, after which he started to ramble on about this and that and occasionally giggle. None of what he was saying was making any sense.  
  This guy was a charlatan and playing us for fools! I was in no mood for this gobbledy gook psychological trickery. I wanted fulfillment now. I rose from my cushion and tried not to step on anybody as I hurriedly left.
  Outside, a brochure for retirement caught my eye, the wind had blown it down the street from somewhere. Upon the front cover of the brochure a man was lying in a hammock, on a beach, with a drink in his hand, calmly gazing at the setting sun. He looked very fulfilled. 
    I had some time off coming up so after a few more irritating weeks I made my way to a warm sunny beach in Mexico and got myself into a hammock and ordered a drink from the resort's bar and timed it so I would be gazing at the setting sun, just like the guy in the brochure. 
Man did I ever get bored after awhile! This was not fulfilling!
"Arrggh!"
Off I stormed, to wherever, determined to find fulfillment. Months passed by, where I tried this and that, and then finally I gave up. "Fulfillment is impossible!” I yelled, to whoever would listen or care, but since I happened to be out in a shady park somewhat away from people at the time I yelled this, the only ones who could hear me were a elderly couple with some kids at a distant playground and a young couple throwing a frisbee back and forth. The elderly couple nervously gathered their grandkids together and started walking away to give me a lot more space. 
"You rang?" came a voice from above, or somewhere close. I was startled.
"Who are you? Where are you? Why are you talking to me?"
A misty white shape formed in front of me, but stopped short of making itself clearly definable. I could make out the guise of a very old man. "I am the god of fulfillment" the apparition said. "Here to satisfy your desire"
“Finally! Ok, god of fulfillment. Lay it on me!"
"Here goes! You might not like it....."
I blew off his cautionary words and stood there, with eyes closed, waiting for something grand to happen. The eyes closed thing seemed to be the appropriate stance to take in this situation. 
Nothing. I peeked out of one eye. Things still looked the same.
"There. I'm finished. Enjoy!" he said. "Time to get going! I've got to aide a certain Mrs. Appolinia Wharley next, over in East Suffolk Township."
"Hey! Wait a minute! You haven't done 'it' yet" I blurted.
"Yes I have. I've granted you fulfillment"
"I don't feel anything"
"Oh, you won't. That's why I can't charge for my services. Nobody I've helped ever wants to pay"
I sighed. Another joke. 
"No, it's no joke" he said, apprending my dismay. "You got the real deal. Gen-u-ine fulfillment. Even if it lasted for only a nanosecond"
"Get outta here!"
"Allright, I am messing with you. I do so because you seem to me a weary fellow, possibly receptive to knowledge, so if I'm right about that, and I usually am, let's get straight to the point. I can't give you something that you already have. You only need to become aware of that 'something'. Fulfillment can only be found when you are at peace with What Is. Otherwise you are at war with What Is. It's black and white like that. Either/Or. Come to peace with What Is and everything settles. Fight with What Is, and the battle continues"
"Oh-kay" I groaned. 
"You're not getting it" he sadly shook his head. "But you will- eventually! Everybody does. Bye, gotta go, the number of calls I'm getting today! Sheesh! Must be the holidays again....!"
"Poof!" he vanished. 
So I gave what he said a try. I'd up to that point tried everything else, so why not? I looked around the shady park and tried, really tried, to be ok with things as they were for just fifteen seconds. I noticed that when I did so I released a breath of tension, tension that I didn't even realize I'd been holding. It was a start. I felt better. 
"Maybe" I thought, "if I can string together a whole buncha of moments like this, I can stay in a state of peace with What Is. Nobody else can do this for me, I have to do it on my own. I don't know if being okay with What Is qualifies as 'fulfillment', but I'll deal with that sticky concept later, if I feel like it".

"'Cuz right now it feels good just feeling good!".

Droplets

It is not for most people to think that they are anything greater than just a member of their family, an employee at their job, a part of their community, a citizen of their country, along with the the minor influence they bring to that conglomorate, and then reaching further out, the even smaller overall impact they make upon the world. 
      People are conditioned to think that what they do in the scheme of things doesn't matter so much unless they're at the top pulling the biggest strings, steering and directing the course of major events. 
      But are not all rivers made up of droplets? This might be an extreme concept to consider, one that even seems laughable, for what possible influence can a droplet have? Not much, compared to a river. 
       But look to the movement of society and how relatively minor happenings within that movement are what most people experience on a daily basis. The majority of people aren't in the throes of huge undertakings, they are in the midst of everyday occurrences and within those occurrences are the happenings that shape their days and their perceptions. This 'colorizing' happens all the time and is so ubiquitous as to be almost unnoticed. People are continuously being affected, molded, and changed by life itself. 
      One time encounters or events can make a profound difference in people's lives. Searching my memory banks here, I can say that for sure I hold memories of several seminal events. The same must be true for you. 

The river is rife with new additions

Inge Maria- Unsplash.com

Leaders try to affect the course of the river. They think that it is they who are making a difference but it is individual choices that ultimately makes up the path the river follows- are you following this?
       For if you are, you can see that it isn't the 'cult of personality' that rules the day so much, it is the inner state of each person. Each person examines the outer and makes decisons based on what they hold within. Of all the influences people take into consideration, the vast majority are those that might affect them personally. 

Were we to examine the building blocks that make up just one human's perception of the world we would be amazed at the amount of influences that individual has experienced. Who can say which of those have had the most impact? That is up to the individual to decide, and most quietly do. They come to their own conclusions.

So yes, though people are driven by highly individual needs and desires they are also turned this way or that through exposure to exterior influences, the things that politicians and advertisers and romantic partners and managers concern themselves with. Psycholological aspects aside, there is also the subject of spiritual belief and understanding, which definitely plays a role in each individual's decison making. Not money, sex, or survival driven, these decisions rest on individually held concepts of right and wrong. It's easy to see why politicians couple with religious leaders to cover all the bases of belief.

In extreme times, people are called to examine their beliefs and assumptions and the way they do that is by acting on what they personally know, not just what they're being told. So you can see how the interaction with just one person, or being part of one event, which could be a current one or an event that happened years ago, can change the path an individual currently chooses to take, which can alter the flow of the immense river of life!

Knowing this, can it still be said that droplets don’t have any power?

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".