The terror, part II

The search for a path through life

Photo: Piermont Pier, Dec. 2023. What appeals to me about this photo are the subdued reds & greens in the foreground—paint, iron, rust, wood, and algae—set off against the soft gray of water and the stone of the Palisades in the distance.

I can't insert a drumroll here because this isn't one of my songs; so I’ll just indicate that one ought to hear a drum roll or even a bright fanfare of trumpets in one's imagination here as we introduce “the fact.”

The ultimate point of self observation is to see that I’m not loving.

This brings one to the edge of an abyss at which many expansive facts about Being itself and the way “I” am inside are revealed.

Above all, what (a) a definite sense of presence formed from an active intelligence and (b) the action of a permanent sensation bring one to is the absolute fact that “I,” as “I am” on this level, am not loving.

This finding of course stands as an essential corollary to my call for us to adopt practice of loving kindness; but perhaps I’ll write more on that later.