dogwood
6"x12"
acrylic on canvas




painted from a tree outside my studio door







Unawakened, we continually encounter unseen difficulties, and compounding our problems, when we encounter such difficulties we curse and blame all those things on others.
When we awaken nothing really changes
This life becomes a good life when we realize that it is a good life, that we are given all that we need and that we are never abandoned by great compassion and wisdom.
Discovering that this life is a good life means waking up to the truth that both our difficulties and our gifts are opportunities, that even our deep karmic limitations are great teachers for understanding reality and experiencing the joy of liberation.
jeff wilson





From the promise land in Lipscomb Alabama
Where golden eagle table syrup and buffalo rock
Flow freely
And the train whistle blows

collards are planted

garden caretaker
acrylic on fencepost

he doesnt do any planting..just oversees it
he also calms any angry spirits and maintains harmony.

let us dig our gardens and not be elsewhere: Let us take long walks in the open air... Let us bathe in the rivers and lakes... Let us indulge in games... Let us be more simple: simple and true in our minds above all. Let us be ourselves. —Robert Linssen

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yesterday i planted collards . they are planted to the left where you see the green rows. the green is rye which i grew there in the winter. rye adds nitrogen to the soil. what you see directly behind the post is all clay..i tilled it up but it will have to have some soil conditioners and manure and such added to it. lots of it is also shaded quite a bit by a pecan tree out of the picture to the right. directly behind the post is a row of onions. lots of pole beans grew in that row last year.
the flags you see further back are prayer flags. they have prayers for peace and compassion and well being printed on them. when the wind blows the prayers are blown out to everyone. i love to see them blowing.

***************from the promise land in lipscomb alabama; where golden eagle table syrup and buffalo rock flow freely....and the train whistle blows***************

the image is adam kadmon [jewish mysticism] .. primal man..the essence of man..before the garden..'everyman'

linoleum blockprint 9x12

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"This world is only a bridge; you may pass over it, but you should not think to build a dwelling place upon it."

Jesus, The Urantia Book, Page 1735 (156:2.1)

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we dont exist as separate beings but as 'everyman' .. like a piece of a hologram ..we have always/never been .. we will always/never be..we are .. now..this moment

we will do well to recognize what we all have in common rather than focus on our differences
****

When a traveler arrives at a hotel, he negotiates a price for a room and informs the staff of how long he will be staying. But as he gets comfortable there, he may begin to feel like the hotel is his home, and after a while he forgets about moving on. When the management tells him that he must give up the room, he refuses to leave. “This is where I live! Why should I leave?” There is some misunderstanding, and it leads to strife.
When we start to identify with our bodies and minds and think of this life as ours, then we are similar to the traveler who doesn’t want to leave the hotel. We have a wrong idea about this temporary stopping place, and we find ourselves always in struggle and conflict.

Ajahn Chah, from Being Dharma

from the promise land in lipscomb alabama; where golden eagle table syrup and buffalo rock flow freely....
and the train whistle blows

killing for peace

KILLING for PEACE


how many civilians must be killed to buy peace?
isnt that a stupid question?
it seems that in most if not all the wars going on right now ..in the name of "religion". "peace", "democracy" and other such 'desirable' things.. more innocent civilians and children are being killed than bad guys.
this baffles me
shall we just keep killing until everyone who differs from us in any way is dead..until each of us is the last one standing.
then have we won? proudly put our foot on the chest of dead mothers and children and raise our guns in victory in the name of our cause? ......we have WON peace.....

oil on masonite

painted during some war news
[there is plenty of it]

the madonna

16"x20 oil on canvas

painted from my wife carol and daughter

represents that all mothers are madonnas and

that all children are the blessed one

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"What triggers you can get less and less in your life. But, you know, if you're trying to avoid being triggered, I read something recently where someone said that's like becoming a celibate nun like me or monk and then trying to get rid of all the sexually attractive people in the world in order to keep your vows. You know, it just doesn't work. You have to work on your side of it, you know? ."..........................pema chodron

**

"This lousy world, this lousy people, this lousy government, this lousy everything. Lousy weather, lousy blah blah blah blah. Pissed off, you know, it's too hot in here, it's too cold, I don't like the smell and, the person is too tall in front, and -- too fat next to me, and they're wearing perfume and I'm allergic, and just -- unnnh! So he says, the analogy is that you're barefooted, it's like being barefooted and walking across blazing-hot sand or across cut glass. Or in a field with thorns. And your feet are bare, and you say, this is just, you know, it's really hurting, it's terrible, it's too sharp, it's too painful, it's too hot. Do I have a great idea! I am just going to cover the whole, everywhere I go, I'm going to cover it with leather. And then it won't hurt my feet anymore. That's like saying, "I'm going to get rid of her and get rid of him and get the temperature right, and I'm going to ban perfume in the world and, you know, there will be no, nothing that bothers me anywhere. There -- I am going to get rid of everything, including mosquitoes, that bothers me, anywhere in the world, and then I will be a very happy, content person." We're laughing, but it's what we all do. That is how we do approach things. We think, if we could just get rid of them or cover it with leather, then our pain would go away. Well, sure, because, you know, then it wouldn't be cutting our feet anymore -- I mean, it's just logical, isn't it? But it doesn't make any sense, really. So he [shantideva] said, "but if you simply wrap the leather around your feet" -- in other words, shoes -- then you could walk across the boiling sand and the cut glass and the thorns, and it wouldn't bother you. So the analogy is, if you work with your mind, instead of trying to change everything on the outside, that's how your temper will cool down. "

pema chodron

***

we can never have world peace until we are at peace with our neighbor

From the promise land in Lipscomb Alabama
Where golden eagle table syrup and buffalo rock
Flow freely
And the train whistle blows

karma and the pit

karma
The word [karma] penetrated the Western consciousness, from the Buddhist point of view at least, in somewhat distorted guise. It is often called the Law of Cause and Effect, so it is about the consequences and actions of the body, speech and mind. And consequences are very important in Buddhism. Any action that is willed, however subtly, by the person who performs it will always produce a future "ripening" and ultimately a "fruit" of similar moral quality, because in the human sphere karma operates in an ethical manner. So an unethical action will produce a come-back of like kind in this life or some future rebirth; and the same goes for morally good or indifferent actions that are willed and freely undertaken. In the Bible it says something similar: that we reap what we sow. If we want to progress spiritually--or even just live with minimum aggravation--it therefore behooves us to be very careful how we speak and act, for there is no way we can escape the consequences.
- John Snelling

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primal abyss

...16x20 oil on canvas...

**

coming up from the abyss..ascent of man

**

sisyphus .. condemned to roll a boulder up and over the edge of the abyss..only to have it..as he neared the top..to roll back down again

The workman of today works every day in his life at the same tasks, and this fate is no less absurd. But it is tragic only at the rare moments when it becomes conscious

being abstracted it is not entirely clear but at the top left of the painting is village. it is separated however by a great chasm from the trail of man coming up from the pit. having escaped the fire they nevertheless are still separated from their goal.

**

i have heard of [i belive this is true but it really doesnt matter] a tribe somewhere on the continent of africa that is/was doomed to spend their entire life..whole families..generations of them..down in a mine pit ..either gold or diamonds. supplies adequate for their existence were sent down to them but they were never allowed to come up from the pit.

************

From the promise land in Lipscomb Alabama
Where golden eagle table syrup and buffalo rock
Flow freely
And the train whistle blows

*

happy new year

happy new year

a new beginning

here is adam kadmon [jewish mysticism] primal man

the essence of man... haveing always been

9x12 block print

drawn at a sketch group and carved on a linoleum block and printed on paper

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"The world is in fact a seamless and dynamic unity, a single living organism that is constantly undergoing change. Our minds, however, chop it up into separate, static bits and pieces, which we then try mentally and physically to manipulate "--John Snelling, Elements of Buddhism

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the beginning of a new year

i am of course going to start the new year with blackeyed peas, pork, and cabbage.

today as everyday is also the beginning of the rest of my life...and at any moment could become the end of it....if there is really an end .

"plan as if you will live foreverlive as if you will die today" james dean

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From the promise land in Lipscomb Alabama
Where golden eagle table syrup and buffalo rock
Flow freely
And the train whistle blows

block prints

these are 9x12 linoleum block prints

mother teresa was done from a painting i had done

the christ was done from the mother teresa

the similarity is intentional

a few copies have been sold

From the promise land in Lipscomb Alabama
Where golden eagle table syrup and buffalo rock
Flow freely
And the train whistle blows

wasteland and pant

i noticed yesterday that we use a lot of paper plates and paper towels. now it really doesnt make a lot of sense to me. cut down a treethat took some years to grow..cut it down..make some paper..use the plate or towel for usually only a few minutes...throw it away. i wonder how long it takes to throw a tree away? doesnt sound right does it. so...yesterday i used neither paper plates nor towels..but in the stead i used 1 knife, 1 fork, 1 spoon and 1 plate, 1 bowl, and 1 glass and a cup all day. that reminds me of a story. anyway we shall see how long the paper saving lasts.

the story: [this is true ]:

years ago living in tarpon springs we were preparing to move from shakey flats to an apartment..carol and the kids [3] and myself..on banana street. i decided it would be in our favor to limit our selves to each person 1 each..knife,fork, spoon, plate, bowl,glass, cup. so that is what we took with us. this served us ok. months later for thanksgiving we invited a herd of people over for dinner. in time we realized there was no tableware for the guests so we contacted each of them and advised them to please bring their own. so without another thought they did. they each brought his own tableware and we had a grand thanksgiving. when they left alas most of them left their utensils so since then we have been back to a drawer and sinkful of kitchen stuff.

this painting was started in florida but i recently finished it up here. it was at first a more idyllic scene but i changed it to be more truthful. most of the condos remain unsold or are in forclosure as a result of greed. just up the street from our house here is a creek which shamefully looks a lot like the one in the painting because of nothing other than thoughtlessness.

the painting is mixed media 16x20 on canvas. it drew a lot of attention at avondale and was displayed at my brothers annual christmas party but remains unsold..as do countless others.

panting: this morning carol said that ebbie's panting made her want to go back to sleep. im not sure i understand that but i did realize that pant is one of those words that i like. pant. doesnt it sound nice? and you would almost know what it was just from the word itsself. say it. panting.

enough ..im headed for the bank and the library.

good fortune