Informal Freedom

"What we do formally we freeze.

What we do informally we free."

-- Paul Reps

The word "amateur" comes from the same French root as amore -- to love. Amateurs do what they do because they love it. They're not in it for the money, the ego gratification, or the power, but simply because they love doing the activity itself.

And in their love, they are free. Free from coercion, free from structure, free from policies, and SOP's, free from the chase for the almighty dollar. In essence, they're free from form. They get to create, out of their love, their own form. And they can alter it whenever they wish. There's no formality in the heart of the amateur.

Compare this with IRS regulations or the policies of the Catholic Church -- byzantine structures that definitely freeze the heart rather than free it! Formal clothes, as beautiful as they may look, are uncomfortable and constricting. Give me the aloha shirts, the sloppy sweaters, the crocs and jeans any day. Look at artists -- no formal dress there, especially when they're in the midst of creating.

So, if you value your freedom, if you love an activity, or even a person, keep your interactions as informal as possible. Which may actually, at times, be harder than slipping into formalized, calcified patterns, like 9-5 jobs and marriage.

The security implied by formality is a lie. It's not security you feel, it's the slow death of creativity, the demise of freedom. Go out into the world today and live in a wild, amateurish informal manner. Free don't freeze. Your soul will thank you.

Don't look!

"The devil inside

The devil inside

Every single one of us the devil inside"

-- INXS song lyrics

Back in the thank-God-they're-gone 80's there was a song entitled The Devil Inside. The chorus went something like "The Devil inside, the Devil inside, everyone's got the Devil inside." The edgy youth of the time loved it. Why wouldn't they? It was based on truth.

Don't get me wrong. I don't really believe in a red dude with a long tail and horns who answers to the name Satan. What I do notice, not believe, is that we all have some negativity in our souls. Call it the Devil, call it evil, call it Dick Chaney. It doesn't matter what you call it, it's an energy that is harbored within the dark side of each of us.

It's there. We know it. But there's no good reason to spend any time looking at it, feeding it, or giving it energy and attention. Sure, you and old Beelzebub may get into an occasional wrestling match or two during your dark nights of the soul, but that's your own personal business. No one can wrestle the Red Man for you. And any evil lurking in the hearts of others is their business. No rubber necking, please.

Evil is a fascinating phenomena. And it comes in so many creative guises and disguises. Our job, though, our path, if you will, no matter what your religion may be, is to choose love. When we look at others, we are looking for the best and brightest light that they can shine. We are looking beyond appearance to essence, beyond persona to Spirt.

And the more we choose to focus on Spirit, on love, rather than upon evil, the freer we are. We are free because Spirit itself is always already free, and we are It. We may have evil, but we are Spirit. As is everyone.

And so when we notice a tail under the priest's cloak, or the cold metal shine in the teacher's eye, or just the common, everyday examples of greed and pettiness that cross our path, we turn away. We turn away not from the person, just from the negativity. We turn away not in anger but in gratitude. Gratitude for the fact that we have the strength, the discernment, the heart to choose to see all the positive things that a person is and can be.

That is our freedom -- not to be compelled, constrained or controlled by evil, not to mistake it as Real, but to see all and everything, everyone, as Spirit incarnate.

No Purpose

"The highest purpose is to have no purpose at all. This puts one in accord with nature in her manner of operation."

-- John Cage

You can have any purpose you choose. Just realize that whatever purpose you do choose, it's all made up, it's all a game. God did not give you a purpose, nature did not give you a purpose. You have no higher calling. It's just you calling to your self. Metaphysical ventriloquism -- you putting words into the mouth of a Dummy Divine.

I guess having a purpose is suppose to make us feel better, give us a reason to get up in the morning. As if you had no purpose, you'd just lay in bed all day. Hell, you'd at least get up to pee, I hope.

Here's another perspective: Purposeless living is freeing. You go where you want to go, you do what you want to do, not in service of some overriding purpose, but merely because it brings you joy. A world of joyful people, what could be better than that? Surely not a world of grim, nose to the grindstone, purposeful people!

What if living is its own purpose? Like nature, just to be. Not to accomplish, not to collect, not to impress, not even to serve or to love -- just to live? What if you lived each day fully, authentically, no two days the same, without guiding purpose, clearly from the heart of now? What would happen? Want to find out?

Put down purpose. Pick up nothing. Be and see.