Blog entry for:
Sat, Oct 11, 2014 07:42:37 AM
€ today, seen through the clean lenses of faith and recovery, €
posted: Sat, Oct 11, 2014 07:42:37 AM
the world looks like a warm, inviting place to live. as the political season drags on and on, the tone of the megabux advertisers grows more and more dire. seriously, i do not believe the Islamic State is marching into Longmont tomorrow, nor do i see Ebola popping up and racing through Boulder, or any of the myriad of evils that may occur if i fail to vote for whatever candidate the hidden opinion broker is supporting. i was going to get rolling with a bit of daisies and rainbows, but my mind went here instead. what i am getting from the tone of the mass media today is certainly a whole lot of fear and loathing, and if i was more of a sheeple and less of a person who does his best to think for himself, well i would probably be marching lockstep with those fascists, when i mustered up the courage to get out of bed, after all, the world is dark and scary and voting for this candidate will make it less so, or will it???
i had plenty of free will when i got here, and was more than just a little capable of rational and critical thinking. well that is, except for one glaring omission, my uncontrollable use of drugs and my need to make the world spin my way. i have come to see, that even those two facets of my life could be changed, but it took a sh!tload of work and a total beat down by the forces of the justice system, to reach this spot. what spot is that? well to see the world through a more balanced and yes critical eye. the reading seems to suggest, at least superficially, that recovery makes me see only the rainbows and unicorns, disregarding the rest and addiction is the polar opposite. what i heard, when i could sit and listen, is that neither case matches the reality of what is, both are present, but for the most part, the world is a mix of both the bright and shiny and the dark and dangerous, and it is my job to sort through the chaff and white noise, to see it in all its glory.
warm and inviting or dark and dangerous, which is it? well in reality, and that is what i am dealing with today, at least my perception of reality, the world is neither, and is both. my spiritual path, gives me a foundation for seeing that in all things there is black and there is white. sometimes more of one or the other, but for the most part, what the world is, is somewhere in between. back to the idea that i stated above that the reading seems to suggest that in recovery, i see the world as bright and shiny. i certainly do not buy that idea at all, but what recovery has given me, is the ability to see the bright and shiny aspects of the world and lessened my need to focus on what i perceive as dark and dangerous, as that was where i stuck, when i walked into recovery, many days ago. that view, distorted by addiction certainly prevented me from seeing much but the dark and dangerous, as nothing was good enough for me, and everything had something wrong with it. that still may be true today, everything has its touch of dark and dangerous, but every storm cloud has its touch of warm and inviting. the political mania that is selling FEAR, UNCERTAINTY and DOUBT will end soon enough and the media will go back to its position of reporting what it sees through its ideological lenses. me? well i will move on, secure that i have the ability to better discern what is going on in the world and my life today, BECAUSE i am clean, i CHOOSE not to use and do whatever it takes to foster my recovery.
i had plenty of free will when i got here, and was more than just a little capable of rational and critical thinking. well that is, except for one glaring omission, my uncontrollable use of drugs and my need to make the world spin my way. i have come to see, that even those two facets of my life could be changed, but it took a sh!tload of work and a total beat down by the forces of the justice system, to reach this spot. what spot is that? well to see the world through a more balanced and yes critical eye. the reading seems to suggest, at least superficially, that recovery makes me see only the rainbows and unicorns, disregarding the rest and addiction is the polar opposite. what i heard, when i could sit and listen, is that neither case matches the reality of what is, both are present, but for the most part, the world is a mix of both the bright and shiny and the dark and dangerous, and it is my job to sort through the chaff and white noise, to see it in all its glory.
warm and inviting or dark and dangerous, which is it? well in reality, and that is what i am dealing with today, at least my perception of reality, the world is neither, and is both. my spiritual path, gives me a foundation for seeing that in all things there is black and there is white. sometimes more of one or the other, but for the most part, what the world is, is somewhere in between. back to the idea that i stated above that the reading seems to suggest that in recovery, i see the world as bright and shiny. i certainly do not buy that idea at all, but what recovery has given me, is the ability to see the bright and shiny aspects of the world and lessened my need to focus on what i perceive as dark and dangerous, as that was where i stuck, when i walked into recovery, many days ago. that view, distorted by addiction certainly prevented me from seeing much but the dark and dangerous, as nothing was good enough for me, and everything had something wrong with it. that still may be true today, everything has its touch of dark and dangerous, but every storm cloud has its touch of warm and inviting. the political mania that is selling FEAR, UNCERTAINTY and DOUBT will end soon enough and the media will go back to its position of reporting what it sees through its ideological lenses. me? well i will move on, secure that i have the ability to better discern what is going on in the world and my life today, BECAUSE i am clean, i CHOOSE not to use and do whatever it takes to foster my recovery.
∞ DT ∞
The views expressed on this page are solely the opinion of the author.
While the author is a member of a 12 Step recovery fellowship, these writings are not intended to endorse or express the published wisdom of any fellowship.
These writings are not meant to be socially or politically correct, and if you take issue with any opinions expressed, please seek the guidance of someone wiser than me.
While the author is a member of a 12 Step recovery fellowship, these writings are not intended to endorse or express the published wisdom of any fellowship.
These writings are not meant to be socially or politically correct, and if you take issue with any opinions expressed, please seek the guidance of someone wiser than me.
Another Look!
accepting the consequences of my actions 428 words ➥ Monday, October 11, 2004 by: donnotα adjusting my lenses Ω 351 words ➥ Tuesday, October 11, 2005 by: donnot
α today, however, i understand that the condition of the world was not really the problem. Ω 359 words ➥ Wednesday, October 11, 2006 by: donnot
μ in addiction, my best thinking kept me from clearly seeing either the world or my part in it μ 420 words ➥ Thursday, October 11, 2007 by: donnot
↔ my attitudes and my ideas are the eyeglasses through which i see my life ↔ 740 words ➥ Saturday, October 11, 2008 by: donnot
∂ by stripping away my denial and replacing it with ∂ 501 words ➥ Sunday, October 11, 2009 by: donnot
• my best thinking got me into trouble … 526 words ➥ Monday, October 11, 2010 by: donnot
ø in my active addiction, the world looked like a horrible place ø 583 words ➥ Tuesday, October 11, 2011 by: donnot
⊕ my attitudes and my ideas are the eyeglasses ⊕ 438 words ➥ Thursday, October 11, 2012 by: donnot
∝ to insure my vision of life is in focus, ∝ 664 words ➥ Friday, October 11, 2013 by: donnot
◊ eyeglasses and … 856 words ➥ Sunday, October 11, 2015 by: donnot
🌀 the condition of 🎢 980 words ➥ Tuesday, October 11, 2016 by: donnot
🌎 the condition 🌏 553 words ➥ Wednesday, October 11, 2017 by: donnot
👁 viewing the world 👁 636 words ➥ Thursday, October 11, 2018 by: donnot
😎 tolerating the world 🤓 595 words ➥ Friday, October 11, 2019 by: donnot
👓 a horrible place 👓 375 words ➥ Sunday, October 11, 2020 by: donnot
📉 bringing my 📈 552 words ➥ Monday, October 11, 2021 by: donnot
😡 resentment, denial, 😎 515 words ➥ Tuesday, October 11, 2022 by: donnot
😶 thoughtfulness 🤔 494 words ➥ Wednesday, October 11, 2023 by: donnot
🙉 kind thoughts, 🙊 330 words ➥ Friday, October 11, 2024 by: donnot
☯ The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao ☯
by Lao-Tse
Translated by James Legge
Book 1
The grandest forms of active force
From Tao come, their only source.
Who can of Tao the nature tell?
Our sight it flies, our touch as well.
Eluding sight, eluding touch,
The forms of things all in it crouch;
Eluding touch, eluding sight,
There are their semblances, all right.
Profound it is, dark and obscure;
Things' essences all there endure.
Those essences the truth enfold
Of what, when seen, shall then be told.
Now it is so; 'twas so of old.
Its name--what passes not away;
So, in their beautiful array,
Things form and never know decay.
How know I that it is so with all the beauties of existing things?
By this (nature of the Tao).