bobklipp

6-12-25

I don’t know what it all is, but day by day I learn more and more what it is not.

It is not material, or accomplishment, not the acquisition of morality, concentration,

or knowledge.

It is not intellectual or found in answers, or the world of facts.

It is emotional, but our emotions are impermanent, and not trustworthy, and they

always involve risk.

It is not about gaining, but surrender.

It is not about religion, religions are other peoples stories, and we all have our own.

It is magical, but we must never follow anyone else’s magic, we must create our own.

In doing so we will confront our own insanity, and we will learn acceptance.

We must expose ourselves on the altar of life and allow ourselves to be carried by an

ambivalent universe toward an unknown God.

6-8-25

Thinking today about feelings, how we seem to focus on the unpleasant ones,

and avoiding them, disconnect from all of our feelings.

I don’t think there is anything better than the feeling of humility and gratitude.

Nothing inspired that feeling more than the natural world.

To be humbled, to know my place, to be grateful.

I must be willing to be alone, make the time, find a place, the night sky-

the morning mountains, make a connection.

It will hold you and you will know that you belong, it will feel like a home for your

lost soul.

Our mind and our body might want to run away, our thoughts cannot reach this place.

It is inside all of us, it calls us, we will be stilled, all other feelings will subside, save gratitude.

It is our own very personal spiritual awakening.

6-1-25

Home again, taking it all in, the moment and the memories.

I seem to be loosing judgement of both, the past and the present.

Yes it’s all good, not just for the sake of feeling better, but accepting as is; as is.

That has become more of a reality for me.

How fortunate, to be old and discover acceptance.

It has been there all along, ungraspable, unholdable, so overlooked.

Although not yet a part of me, let me be more aware of my most reliable companion-

acceptance.

Let me believe in a future that I cannot control, and I will not try.

5-13-25

Today I arrive at the park, to pastel skies and green earth.

The trees have filled in now, there has been enough rain for the grass to awaken.

Fewer birds, more people.

I feel a strong need to hide, no more morning darkness to protect me.

The fear of being seen, but why?

Do I have the mark of Caine, that is visible to all?

I know I cannot run away, I must stay, this life is the only place that I can learn what

must be learned.

It is the not knowing that holds me, learning the unknowable, feeling it, the doubt, uncertainty.

It is the feeling that I love.

The feeling of being alone, alone in unison with everyone, everything.

My unknown part in the great mystery.

5-11-25

Maybe, just maybe, I could learn to trust patience, as much as I trust impulse.

Acting impulsively, pleasure seeking, habit, the inevitable, “oh well”,remorse,

self-exoneration, lingering guilt.

Patience, the undeveloped muscle in everyone, refraining from impulse.

To take a breath, to become aware, to notice how impulse dissolves when unfulfilled.

Patience takes root, develops with each use, the hidden power in everyone.

Patience with myself, with others, with this turning world.

5-4-25

Today I must recognize this feeling that has been rising up in me.

It is not something new, it has come before.

It is the darkness that is as real a part of me as any other feeling.

It does not need expression, and denial will only empower it.

Let me accept its’ presence and not indulge its’ attractions.

Let my thoughts and actions not find motivation here.

Let me hold to a deeper reality that is always present.

The inner peace that holds as emotions and events come and go.

The great reality, the great mystery, the unknowable truth-

But if we are willing life will teach us what it is not.

4-15-25

Yesterday, while looking out my window at the bare branches of a dormant

Honey-Locust Tree-

I saw the rainbow expanse of humanity, all alike, no two the same.

Sometimes you are grateful and sometimes you are overwhelmed.

Today, as I sit in the park, it is forty two degrees and raining,

A single robin sings his song, creating the moment, believing in the next.

Who am I to question?

4-10-25

If only for a day, or for all time, today I step away from the certainty of religion.

I step away from being told everything will be o k.

I step away from “Everything is part of the plan” from safety, comfort, self-righteousness.

I choose life, sadness, and confusion.

I choose the path that has not been walked before, because it is the path that presents itself.

I give up judgement of right and wrong and choose acceptance.

I give up the pursuit of knowledge for the patience of understanding.

Although I am always in a state of fear, I will remember to at least speak gratitude,

And believe my heart will overtake my mind, and fear will transform into peace. Only this.

3-30-25

As I write, a sudden brightness catches my eye, when I look up

I see for a short time the sun is visible above the horizon and below the clouds.

Today the sunshine will be brief, but the sunlight will endure.

As time marches on, we travel along too.

It seems the lessons of history have been forgotten or ignored.

The idea that might makes right has always led to corruption, moral decay, and

the demise of the mighty.

Creating enemies has never led to any profit or type of enrichment.

Greed has never been and never will be a virtue.

Calling it capitalism and patriotic does not change it, greed creates suffering,

and despair for the have nots, and fear of loss for the haves.

Security is always an impossible promise, and has never ever ever been granted

to any living thing.

The concept of winning is unnatural and exists only in games, and the minds of

the childish.

As individuals or collectively we can only advance in co-operation with others, not

conflict or competition.

As I learn from the past, let me stay present to this moment, and hold to my values

that we can create a future of co-operation.

3-3-25

This morning while riding my bike, I heard the call of crows in the distance.

They were soon over me, I have never seen so many together.

They wandered the sky for a minute or so, just riding the updrafts.

They were separate enough for me to count, 16 crows heralding the day.

They were soon away, flying southbound, such good friends.