When winds grow bitter and rains angry, Even small birds are frightened and sad.
When skies become clear and breezes are bright, The grasses and trees are fresh and full of joy.
From this it can be seen that
Heaven and Earth are unable to go one day without harmony; The human heart is unable to go one day without joy.
*Hung Ying-ming (China, 1600s). Master of the Three Ways. Trans. William Scott Wilson. Poem no. 6.
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Ying-ming, who was among the sages who integrated Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, sees "Heaven and Earth" (i.e., everything) as a creative playfulness, which Hindus call the Dance of God. Everything moves, including you, even when you are sitting still.
What we like and dislike is this one Dance. We do not have to choose to recognize the Sacred in only the pleasant or the preferable. Spirit imbues the unpleasant, the not-wanted. Wise men and women see this. Others run toward what they want or curse what they do not want. Cursing and running is an invitation to learn graceful acceptance and gratitude-always.
We may be placed for a time in what we do not want as a lesson in transforming do-not-want into grateful acceptance. This grateful acceptance is not want but beyond do-not-want and want. Life, then, is freed to act creatively into another manifestation.
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Harmony naturally arises from disharmony, the sage says, and unhappiness becomes joy. When we feel lost, found is nearby. When we are sad, happiness is near. When lonely, companioned is not far away.
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To trust is not merely to trust a distant god and, certainly, not to shift the universe as we wish it to be whenever we wish. We are not potters of Heaven and Earth. We are servants of Heaven and Earth. We trust the Intelligence.
God is already in the Harmony of Heaven and Earth. Align with God, and you align with all things. All change arises from God, for all transformations are in God as potential and potency, and wisdom.
This does not mean we do not engage in creative playfulness to enjoy the pleasant as much as possible. However, we need to remain aware that not acting is creative, too. Not-acting is acting. We can shape the Dance to a certain extent by doing and not-doing-doing.
We can influence and inspire the direction and transformations of the creative-energies by learning to cooperate with Life as part of it. The God-Dance is inside and outside us, for Heaven and Earth is inside and outside us.
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We initiate the opposite by trying to force harmony. If we pursue happiness, we are miserable. Working-with is the Way. Trying to force change is aggressive. Aggressive means Life will throw mud back in your face. Have you ever tried to make someone love you? Learning to go with dislike and like is important. If we do this, this invites being lifted above both.
As the Christian Scriptures say, "Walk in the Spirit" (Galatians 5.16, AV). The whole spiritual life - the Way - is summed up in those words. So, if you have a kite, place it with the wind at its back. If you go kayaking or canoeing, you expend much less energy going downstream. Life could be so much easier than most of us experience it. Humans complain of struggle and suffering while trying to paddle against the rapids. - Ongoing exhaustion of body and spirit is a sign we are not cooperating - in alignment - with Life. Then - we are out of harmony with Heaven and Earth, and God. In the one union... ever-renewing energies emerge. Outside the House, one is subject to the winds, inside, one enjoys contentment even when storms rage outside the windows. Stay in the House - Heaven and Earth is there.
I write in a lot of pain today. Chronic pain has been aggravated due to some recent physical stress. Knowing this will pass, the pain is not my foe. Near the pain is relief from the pain. The relief is already present. I feel it present, for I know it is present.
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There is only one Dance. Heaven and Earth is not a thing. It is a relationship. To trust one arm is to trust both arms. All the light you will ever need is already in the darkness. You welcome the light by befriending the darkness. Heaven and Earth invite us to yield to Intelligence. Why push the light away by pushing the darkness away? That makes no sense - does it?
Of course, acceptance does not mean floundering in the pig pen. Trusting is not the worship of Fate. Learn to get up, get washed up, and enjoy a walk in the Garden. See how sweet the Roses smell? Why not visit here more often? Possibly, we can all learn to live in the Garden. I think that is so.
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*(C) Brian K. Wilcox, 2023. Permission is given to use photographs and writings with credit given to the copyright owner.
*Brian's book is An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love. The book is a collection of poems Brian wrote based on wisdom traditions, predominantly Christian, Buddhist, and Sufi, with extensive notes on the poetry's teachings and imagery.
