Gaining an appreciation for how things used to be by listening and becoming the ultimate storyteller of our lives. Telling about both the good and bad in all things.

To the right preparing to pass through the Doorway of Heaven and below the steps that take us there on HuaShan Mountain 

Not simply through our thoughts and words, buts by our actions and deeds. Following the good and learning of our roots and how things used to be we are here to build upon and answer to. Sometimes it means being a rare breed where solitude manifests as authentic lifestyle. Guided by nature and virtue not what can be seen as current events. No matter how many people you are around, quietness permeates your soul. It is like maintaining your natural sense of identity that spans time, space, and centuries. How does someone come to this timelessness? As if there is no such thing as original thought as it has all been said and done before by us and others. Taking our thoughts of having an original identity beyond the present that speaks for and to both our past and future. 

There is an ancient Nez Pearce belief and tradition that with men wearing their hair long that they would gain more knowledge and wisdom. Chief Joseph would say that the religion and beliefs of the Nez Perce tribe was based on Animism that encompassed the spiritual or religious idea that the universe and all natural objects animals, plants, trees, rivers, mountains rocks etc., have souls or spirits. Like what we say in Taoism that we are simply one of the ten thousand things. The connection goes back to the power we gain from animals, and I would add nature itself. To do otherwise is like cutting ourselves off from the spirit.

Traditionally, the teachings of  Confucius in ancient China, wrote that people inherited their hair from their ancestors and ought not to damage (cut) it. Even stories of Samson from the Bible denote his loss of power comes directly from his cutting his hair at the urging of others hoping to gain from his loss. To men growing beards that denote a connection to something greater than themselves. Indigenous people also refrained from killing as it cuts off another’s power. Paying tribute when necessary to do so. With the feeling of everyone and everything coming together with a responsibility for all.

Myths and legends also help color a true story to convey the message of the storyteller through history. To think in terms of being all the wiser and staying in agreement with what has come before us. That what we find in nature and staying in-tune with our hopes, our prayers, and our dreams becomes most paramount. 

Underlying contradictions confuse us with ideas that opposites attract instead of acknowledging that it is complimentary opposites that endure and take us to rightful conclusions. Complimentary opposites that strive for common ground are what find conclusions and outcomes that last. 

To the left the Azure Cloud Temple, constructed under the Song Dynasty that sits atop Mount Taishan in Shandong Province in China depicting the yin/yang symbol.

The secret to longevity, and the yin and yang that it speaks to and for in all things, is that sometimes our paths are decided by powers greater than our own.  As we in turn get to choose detours that may only delay the time of arrival. Stories and writing telling this eternal truth have always interested us. Conveying spirit’s hand regardless of place or time.

A favorite book and reference I like is called The Way of the White Clouds by Lama Anagarika Govinda. His journey through Tibet gives a life changing account of spirit and guidance. Taking us beyond mere imagination and conscious connections. It is like studying our own cosmic origins and recognizing the origins of all life and what I have tried to do here at The Kongdan Foundation.

The ancient shaman would tell of finding our origins and destiny in the stars. Looking to the sky we could see our world appear to move from night to night, like mistaking the sun revolving around the earth. Much later learning that we are instead on a planet circling the sun.

As we sometimes appear to just drift away on the clouds. To the left Yellow Mountain visited in 2016. 

Following the horizon and stars, we too become mystical and look to origins and explanations simply to find and come to know contentment. That we are forever a part of all that is and will be. To look to from where we came and where we return. To an inner experience that takes us there where we learn to embody that there is no competition between reality and truth. 

Knowing true bliss is adapting this environment to the way we live that best identifies the path that takes us to our highest enfoldment. It in and of itself is not complicated, except for the baggage we carry that slows our eventual arrival. Not concerned with when we arrive, only what we have learned about ourselves that contributes to our journey and the quietness of the spirit found in nature that guides us. This is true contentment as we release underlying contradictions mentioned above that attract what may be seen at first as opposites but remain complimentary and universal…

As we become again as Carl Sagan reminded us… star stuff as we embody what we are here to transmit. 

Just how does this enlightenment occur? Why does it appear to come easily for some and not for others? Sometimes it happens as if a switch is turned on as we become fully aware, or awake, and have one or more spirit guides that direct us? Do we know of our true origins and beginnings? If our spirit is eternal, who is it we answer to but ourselves? 

For myself, it is an open door to what remains unknown with hints and nudges along the way. Sometimes appearing as a portal, or even as a two-way mirror, reflecting both an inner truth and outer world. Guided by innate intuition as if learned attributes over the ages. With vibrations open to the unknown allowing us to go unencumbered to where our universal spirit lies. It is here that we become in-tune with inner certainty, our inherent intuition.

Sunrise on HuaShan Mountain October 8, 2018

To where being unsure of the answer is not as important as knowing the right question to ask, as we are seen peering over the horizon.  

The answers lie in what tasks we are here to perform that console and contribute to our eternal spirit. For some, this may seem to be too difficult a task, but one we cannot ignore, or run away from.