I start from Stillness. I prepare my writing space with the best tools and Inspiration I can find. I relax my body and mind. I remember that neither body nor mind actually exists anywhere I can find. I then throw all this preparation out, as superfluous clutter. I let go of my doubts and judgements about… everything. I nudge the creative process by writing or drawing or reading whatever comes up. I watch what happens to see if I am surprised or delighted by anything that is unexpected or unplanned, as it arises. I keep the flow going by simply not judging anything that arises, as best as I can. And, I take no credit or blame for anything, simply because I can find no me that can be responsible for anything.

Yes, writing from or about Stillness is a hoot, and a contradiction. To say anything at all is… not absolutely true. To say nothing at all, and remain silent… that silence is not absolutely true either because something wells up inside me and pushes through the cracks in my sidewalk, reaching for the sun. The “trick” is to be still in the midst of movement, to speak whatever moves me, and know that I am always here, always now, always Still.

the contradictions of being and not being, movement and stillness… are all just concepts in a mind I cannot find. When my mind stops, and I glimpsed reality from stillness, there are no contradictions. This mind only “thinks” it exists; it eludes any inspection because it is only there when it looks fir itself.

1iZen is not Zen or Advaita or Dzogchen or shamanism or Buddhism or A Course In Miracles… or anything else specifically. But of course 1iZen is a mixture of All I have studied in my life’s inquiry into “what is.” As such, 1iZen stands alone, as my own personal inquiry into the Self.

I have immersed my self into many traditions, as I looked for the truth. I claim no affiliation or authority in anything whatsoever. My Self inquiry is my own, and my discoveries are my own as best as I can understand, guided and informed by many wise teachers I am sure, but what I write is not merely a rehash of words I have memorized from others. And, of course, the line between what I have heard from others and what I have discovered for myself is… imaginary. Yet I am not attempting to propose any belief system here… I am simply writing down, on this website, what I am seeing for myself, as cleanly as I can.

The art and ideas presented here are not my own. I have nothing to advocate or propound; and anything that erupts from these pages is intended to be a spontaneous flow from Stillness.

I write and I present images, but I don’t plan any of it.. And, this is all here because I like it. I am not in any way trying to teach you anything, or show you my amazing skills to impress you for any reason.

In fact, this I that I am is inching closer to simple stillness with each page I write. It is thus emerging Stillness that is the source and inspiration for my writing.
So, if you found your way to 1iZen, hold tight to the fact that none of this is written to you the person. If there is anything here that is true, it arises from my Stillness and it speaks to your Stillness. Everything else is my clumsy errors of pushing and pulling a little too much.

the clumsy way I write comes from my inability to find any “me” on which I can claim any authority or intention. The I that I am writes, and the me that I am watches the writing happen all by itself. It’s a kind of spontaneous combustion that sometimes burns away a little more of ”my” person/ego/thing ness.

I try to write not as I, but I just begin the process of writing, I set up my environment with website and images that ibspite me, and then I do my best to let go and not-write. I just watch the writing happen, and I let go of my judgement about it… so, sonetines Stillness emerges and I see something come through my hands that surprises me.

so, perhaps, I write to surprise myself… not to surprise you or teach you anything. You, the reader, are perhaps just a kind of canvass on which my stillness may spjash stuff, watch it drip for awhile, and then see what rorschack images appear .