one last thing

 There’s nothing to be said objectively about God.

God is the inter-subjective awareness of no other.

As is love.

yet we breath

 Our myths try to reveal to us what is beyond factually verifiable knowing.

There is another knowing. This occurs when something is true and takes up residence inside one’s being as would an idea that has not found words to express it.

As if God is breathing. 

A breathing below, above, within, and surrounding what is gathered from oblivion, present as reality taking place, and what is coming to be with each breath.

And we breathe.

No, we don’t know.

Yet we breathe.

And each breath is the opening of mind and heart to what is revealing itself in our midst.

Consider this: 

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.  

And what does the Lord require of you?  

To act justly and to love mercy      

and to walk humbly with your God.

      (—Micah 6:8, New International Version)

 Breathing throughout.

what is zen

Zen is seeing oneself everywhere.

As one sees itself within everything.

aισθητικός

write 

oneself,

a poem

zazen within what is becoming seen

Yes

I am

Willing

Let life be what is here what is this as I become (simply, with breath)

Willing

I am

Yes

witnessing the decimation of the democratic institutions

It is Veterans' Day. It is Remembrance Day.

The democracy they served and fought for is being held hostage by the current president and his republican crew. 

Former Defense Secretary William Cohen on Tuesday slammed Donald Trump’s administration for acting like a “dictatorship” as the president refuses to acknowledge defeat in the 2020 election. 

“We’re witnessing the decimation of the democratic institutions which the American people have come to expect will be nonpolitical in terms of our national security,” Cohen told CNN’s Don Lemon. 

Lemon asked Cohen, a GOP former senator for Maine who led the Pentagon during Bill Clinton’s presidency, to comment on Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s refusal to recognize the victory of President-elect Joe Biden.

(--William Cohen, former Maine republican senator, former Defense Secretary, Huffington Post re CNN interview with Don Lemon) 

 This is not a party partisan squabble. This is an undignified feint and possible dangerous threat by internal dissidents to transitional custom and good order following an obvious election outcome. 

“My reaction is the way they are conducting themselves is more akin to a dictatorship than a democracy,” Cohen told Lemon. 

“And I think the State Department has been politicized just like the DOD has tried to be politicized, and what we’ve done to undermine the intelligence community and other agencies,” he added. “I think it’s consistent with what has been taking place for four years now.”       (--Ibid) 

We are grateful for the service and good will of our veterans. We are grateful that warriors come home from war and continue to insist on solid practices of democracy. 

America needs thoughtful and practiced patriots.

We need to replace or hold apart those in political office who do not know how to practice democracy.

when a man with integrity dies

 I recall, fondly, reading and listening to him.

“God has spoken to mankind in many languages: through Judaism to Jews, Christianity to Christians, Islam to Muslims,” he wrote. “No one creed has a monopoly on spiritual truth; no one civilization encompasses all the spiritual, ethical and artistic expressions of mankind.”

He added: “God is greater than religion. He is only partially comprehended by any faith.”

(--from Obituary for Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, 10nov20, NYTimes)  

Each of us borrows from his integrity. 

something for students in prison course

THE EDUCATION OF THE WARRIOR

That mind of fearfulness

Should be put in the cradle of loving-kindness 

And suckled with the profound and brilliant milk 

Of eternal doubtlessness.

In the cool shade of fearlessness,

Fan it with the fan of joy and happiness. 

When it grows older,

With various displays of phenomena,

Lead it to the self-existing playground. 

When it grows older still,

In order to promote the primordial confidence, 

Lead it to the archery range of the warriors. 

When it grows older still,

To awaken primordial self-nature,

Let it see the society of men

Which possesses beauty and dignity.

Then the fearful mind

Can change into the warrior's mind,

And that eternally youthful confidence

Can expand into space without beginning or end. 

At that point it sees the Great Eastern Sun.

(--Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche (Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior))

the predicament

 After watching on Netflix A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future (2020, I remain in awe of both the beauty and the predicament of nature, and an individual man’s witness commitment to the whole of it.

David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet
Film poster
Genre	Nature documentary
Narrated by	David Attenborough
Composer(s)	Steven Price
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
Production
Executive producer(s)	Alastair Fothergill Keith Scholey Colin Butfield
Cinematography	Gavin Thurston
Editor(s)	Martin Elsbury
Running time	83 min
Production company(s)	Altitude Film Entertainment Netflix Silverback Films
Release
Original network	Netflix
Picture format	UHDTV 2160p
Original release	4 October 2020
Chronology
Preceded by	Life in Cold Blood

David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet is a 2020 British documentary film^[1] narrated by David Attenborough.^[2] The film acts as a "witness statement",^[3] through which Attenborough shares first-hand his concern for the current state of the planet due to humanity's impact on nature and his hopes for the future.^[4] It was released on Netflix on 4 October 2020.^[5]

 (—Wikipedia)

With someone like Sir David, now age 93, in the world, he, a treasure of experience, compassion, intelligence, and wisdom —  it makes someone like the lame duck occupant of the White House an even more curious player on the planet. 

The film is on Netflix.

Do yourself a favor.

Released on the feast of Francis of Assisi, probably not an unconsidered coincidence.

As for the gratuitous comparison of one great man with that other man, I am guilty of witnessing in one a loving gift of concern for life and wisdom on this planet, and the other, a terrible rift of self-indulgent crass uncaring narcissism tearing decency from its roots tossed on destructive fires of ignorance.

That being said, and comparisons the icky things they are, I am again reminded that it is the whole of nature and the whole of humanity that requires our compassionate wisdom.

Thank you, Sir David! Please stay longer.

Say thank you, Mr. Trump to those who’ve kept you standing...then...Please go away!

something from sunday evening practice

 Amid the noise of jubilation and the noise of grievance, there's a need for grace and compassion.

GRACE - Cultivating Compassion While Interacting with Others, talk by Roshi Joan Halifax, time 12:46

https://youtu.be/SWLmnHB4rLY

Such important words. 

what you and me can be

                 (a reconciling haiku)

There is no winning

Or losing — there is this, that

And no other — grace

might I have this dance with you

Half for, half against.

The stuff of democracy —

We’ll have to converse