Enchanted

                                           One's 'livelihood' is most demonstrably a Definition of One's Existence---we have all heard, "You are what you do" .   If you cut hair for a living you may be a barber or hairdresser---there are blue collar occupations-the trades and the like- and white collar professions -- all to be correctly viewed as Definitions of Existence .   I've heard RESOUNDING dismay expressed as "I'm NOT  just a fucking hairdresser,,,I am SOOO MUCH MORE !!!"   I agree BUT  what is this  MORE ?

                      We will explore the More in future efforts .

Miss Givings

                                     I mean, shit, when you're a raging alcoholic is fucking EZ to conduct an inventory, you don't have far to go,,, no need for "in-depth" penetration .  But what about the rest of Humankind---those of us that ca't seem to find "Peace of Mind" ???   We are assailed by doubt, misgivings, quantifiable dis-trust and {obsequious} moral outrage ?

                   Modern Zen Master Mick Jagger has asked, "So what can a poor boy do ?" and answered, "Sing in a Rock + Roll band" .   Almost all of us ain't-gonna be the front man of our local band however, it is IMPERATIVE to note that 'singing in a R+R band' DEFINES Jagger's Existence .  So --- what are the things that DEFINE one's Existence  ?   We can ask, "Who am I" and "What do I DO ???"  Great Start !!

Dr. Allen Wheelis

                                             From the front flap of How People Change Allen Wheelis =

                                    Dr. Wheelis, noted psychiatrist and author,wirtes here of those fears and sufferings which disturb people who have enough to eat and a place to live, but who feel guilty, believing their despair can't be real or justified while others suffer basic physical deprivation .  Acknowledging the differences, he asserts the importance of mental health and proceeds to illustrate various situations in which people find themselves, more damaged by their own self-imposed restrictions than by actual circumstances ."

                   Dr. Wheelis insists that the first necessity of Change is to establish the Mind's PRESENT location .   AA refers to this THIS as `conducting an inventory of one's Self` .  Easily said ... but .

                        

Miss Givings

                                            A quasi-recovering but still sublimely wretched hippie-dude once confessed :   "I use to be all messed-up on drugs and alcohol, now I'm all messed-up on the Lord" .   Healthier rite* ?

                       There can be no true 'beginning' without first a commitment to one's self .   One of the four primary Aspects of Zen is "Seeing into one's self and the attainment of Buddha-hood .    Steve Winwood cajoles, "Look inside your Heart, I'll look inside mine."   This THIS necessitates, HOW do I look inside and further HOW to I look inside my mind ?

The Great Master

                                     "Perfect is the man who knows what comes from heaven and what comes from man .   Knowing what comes from heaven, he is in tune with heaven .   Know what comes from man, he uses his knowledge of of the known to develop his knowledge of the unknown and enjoys the fullness of life until his natural death ."

                                         The Inner Chapters   Chuang Tsu 

                                                  Chapter Six   The Great Master 

                 These words ARE my Heart and Soul ---  they bond me to the Infinite .

Cato the Elder

                                            Plutarch writes of Cato the Elder "

                                                    "But a man who observed the ancestral custom of working his own land, who was content with a cold breakfast, a frugal dinner, the simplest clothing, and a humble cottage to live in, and who actually thought it admirable to renounce luxuries than to acquire them----such a person was conspicuous by his own rarity ."

                                          I LOVE Plutarch and ADMIRE Cato the Elder .

Dr. C.

                                               I wish I could promise that I won't use deception to deliver a message ... I'm not that guy BUT , I  WILL try to stay Honest, Level and Plumb and keep to the tag "Even Stephen" .   I an HUGELY dependent upon Superior Others and their Eloquence and Elegance to transmit Teachings that are both difficult and complex .   Please forgive an old man .

                     I need to establish a "base line", a Foundation from which all >Else< flows .   From this Foundation is one of my Essentials :

                                            "Nevertheless, every failure to cope with a life situation must be laid, in the end, TO A RESTRICTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS .   Wars and temper tantrums are the makeshifts of ignorance;  regrets are illuminations come to late .   The whole sense of the ubiquitous myth of the hero's passage is that it shall serve as a general pattern for men and women, wherever they may stand along the scale .   Therefore it is formulated in the broadest terms .   The Individual has only to discover his own position with reference to this general human formula, and let it then  assist him past his restricting walls .   Who and where are his ogres ?   Those are the reflections of the unsolved enigmas of his own humanity .  What are his ideals ??   Those are the symptoms of his grasp of life ."