DW's Blog

Birth Isn’t Accidental: On Witness, Providence, and the Outcomes We Cannot Claim

by DW Green — October 22, 2025

“What remains, what we can claim as truly ours, is only this: the capacity to witness it all. To stay awake. To observe without grasping, participate without claiming, live without demanding that the universe validate our importance through outcomes..”

There’s a teaching that circulates in spiritual circles, attempting to free us from the tyranny of ego and attachment to outcomes. It goes something like this: “Success comes, don’t think it is your success, and failure comes, don’t think it is your failure. All are accidental, coincidences—success and failure both, richness and poverty both, fame no fame. Whatsoever happens is accidental; only one thing is not accidental and that is your witness, the one who goes on watching the whole scene.”The wisdom here is clear enough. Don’t claim ownership of outcomes. Don’t let success inflate you or failure crush you. Remain as the witness, the awareness that observes but doesn’t cling.But something in this framing troubles the soul. That word: accidental. And its companion: coincidence.

THE PROBLEM WITH ACCIDENTS

To call life accidental is to suggest pure randomness, chaos without pattern or purpose. An accident implies no intention, no desig...

by DW Green — October 15, 2025

“But the Truth remains, patient, waiting, always available, never forcing itself, just quietly being what it is: the ground of everything, the source of everything, the One expressing itself as all things.”

There are some things you don’t learn so much as remember. Some knowings that don’t arrive from outside but well up from within, as if they’ve been there all along, waiting patiently for you to notice them. Truth, for me, has been one of these—not a concept I acquired but a companion I’ve walked with since before I had words, since before I had thoughts, since the very beginning of this particular expression of consciousness that calls itself “me.”To say this feels both impossibly intimate and strangely natural. Truth as my lifelong partner. Not truth as philosophical proposition or debatable claim, but Truth as the living presence that’s been here all along, the ground beneath every step, the breath behind every breath.

The Knowing That Can’t Be Taught

Recently, in a retreat group I belonged to for a dozen years, I suggested we explore the unique distinction of the word Truth. The suggestion went nowhere. And I think I understand why: Truth is only known firsthand, experientially. You cannot talk someone int...

by DW Green — October 8, 2025

“Here’s what I’ve come to understand: Contradiction is what the mind sees. Paradox is what the soul encounters.”

There are two words that have walked with me since childhood, though they move through the world in distinctly different ways. One feels like a close friend, warm and inviting, full of wonder. The other stands at a slight distance, more formal, even a bit austere—yet genuinely beautiful in its precision. The first is paradox. The second is contradiction.

For years I thought they were essentially the same thing, different names for the same phenomenon. But spending time with them, the way you might spend time with two people you’re getting to know, I’ve discovered they’re more like partners in a dance. Each has its own character, its own way of moving. And together, they illuminate something essential about how we encounter truth.

THE STERN GATEKEEPER

Contradiction arrives first, usually. It’s what the mind sees when it encounters two things that shouldn’t coexist, two statements that seem to cancel each other out. “Birth is not an act; it is a process,” writes Erich Fromm. “The aim of life is to be fully born, though it is a tragedy that most o...

by DW Green — October 1, 2025

“In the end, perhaps all of life is liminal—a threshold between birth and death, a crossing between mystery and mystery. “

There’s a word that carries within its very syllables the essence of what it describes: liminal. Soft and luminous, it flows off the tongue like water over stones, opening the mind to possibilities that exist only in the spaces between certainties. To speak of liminal space is to acknowledge those mysterious thresholds where transformation lives, where one thing becomes another, where the familiar dissolves into the unknown.

The Courage of the Open Sea

Picture the great seafarers of centuries past—Columbus, Magellan, the countless unnamed sailors who pointed their vessels toward horizons that promised either glory or oblivion. These explorers lived in the ultimate liminal space: the vast, trackless ocean that stretched between the known shores of home and the theoretical coastlines of new worlds. For months at a time, they existed in pure threshold, suspended between departure and arrival, between the familiar and the unimaginable

Their ships became floating islands of in-betweenness, carrying them through waters that appeared on no map, guided only by stars and in...

by DW Green — September 24, 2025

“The equinox is not just an astronomical event but an invitation to align yourself with the deeper rhythms that govern all growth, all healing, and all wisdom. “

As the fall equinox arrives, the world around us naturally shifts into balance. Day and night stand in perfect harmony, reminding us of the beauty of equilibrium. This seasonal turning point invites reflection, release, and renewal — a chance to let go of what no longer serves us and prepare for the months ahead with clarity and intention. Just as the trees release their leaves, we too can embrace this time as an opportunity to simplify and realign.

NATURE’S PERFECT MATHEMATICS

The autumn equinox represents one of nature’s most elegant demonstrations of cosmic balance. On this day, our planet tilts neither toward nor away from the sun, creating nearly equal portions of light and darkness across the globe. This astronomical precision offers us a profound metaphor: even in a world that often feels chaotic and unpredictable, there are still moments of perfect equilibrium waiting to be recognized and honored.

The word “equinox” itself comes from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night), literally meaning “equal ...

by DW Green — September 17, 2025

“This practice of giving as unveiling directly challenges one of the most persistent illusions of human experience: scarcity.”

RECIPROCAL RELATIONSHIPS

A single act of giving has a value beyond what we can imagine. So much of the spiritual path is expressed and realized in giving: love, compassion, sympathetic joy, equanimity; letting go of grasping, aversion, and delusion… that is why the Buddha said that if we know, as he did, the power of giving, we would not let a single meal pass without sharing some of it.

I hadn’t ever thought about the deeper mechanics of this teaching before. What if the Buddha’s emphasis on constant sharing wasn’t really about the food at all? What if it was about something far more profound—the practice of discovering our own inexhaustible nature?

THE PARADOX OF POSSESSION

There’s an ancient spiritual paradox worth exploring: only what one possesses can one give away. On the surface, this seems obvious. You can’t hand over money you don’t have or share food from an empty cupboard. But when we move beyond the material realm, this truth reveals layers of meaning that can transform how we understand both givi...

by DW Green — September 11, 2025

“Shakespeare knew something profound about the human condition:
our experience of life is shaped not by what happens to us, but by how our minds engage with what happens.”

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

For most of my life, this line from Hamlet puzzled me. It seemed almost dismissive of real hardship, as if Shakespeare was suggesting we could just think our way out of genuine pain and loss. How could someone say that about divorce, death, illness, or any of the inevitable struggles that come with being human?

But after 75 years of living—75 years of testing this idea against real experience—I can say with certainty that the quote is true. Not in some superficial “positive thinking” way, but in a much deeper, more practical sense that took decades to understand.

WHEN ANCIENT WISDOM MEETS PRESENT MOMENT

This morning I encountered a teaching from Buddhist teacher Kaira Jewel Lingo that suddenly made Shakespeare’s insight crystal clear. She spoke about “present moment, wonderful moment” and explained something profound: “There’s a certain amount of pain that we’re all going to have in ...

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The Anti-Cracker Barrel: How Dorothy Lane Market Proves Authentic Heritage Beats Manufactured Nostalgia

by DW Green — September 3, 2025

“While chains race to the bottom with processed convenience, DLM continues to elevate what a grocery shopping experience can be.”

In an era where corporate chains slap vintage signs on cookie-cutter stores and call it “tradition,” Dorothy Lane Market stands as a beacon of what authentic heritage actually looks like. With their recent expansion to Mason Ohio, DLM has once again demonstrated why genuine family values and unwavering commitment to quality will always trump manufactured nostalgia.REAL TRADITION VS. CORPORATE THEATERWalk into any Cracker Barrel, and you’ll find the same carefully curated “old-timey” décor, the same mass-produced comfort food, the same calculated attempt to manufacture feelings of home and heritage. It’s retail theater—convincing but hollow.Now step into a Dorothy Lane Market. Here, tradition isn’t a marketing gimmick painted on the walls; it’s baked into every decision, every product selection, every interaction with staff and community. For decades, the Mayne family has built something far more valuable than a brand—they’ve cultivated a genuine culture of excellence.STAYING TRUE WITHOUT STANDING STILLWhat makes DLM the anti-Cracker Barre...
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The Hidden Cost of Fear: Why Certainty is the Enemy of Innovation

by DW Green — August 28, 2025

“The path forward requires acknowledging a fundamental truth: in a world
of accelerating change, the biggest risk is often taking no risk at all. The
greatest failure is often the failure to try.”

In our relentless pursuit of success, we’ve created a paradox that quietly undermines our greatest achievements. We crave certainty in an inherently uncertain world, and in doing so, we’ve made fear our most trusted advisor—often without realizing it.THE ILLUSION OF CERTAINTYCertainty feels safe. It promises predictable outcomes, manageable risks, and the comfort of knowing what comes next. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: certainty is never actually certain. It’s a mental construct, a story we tell ourselves to navigate complexity and ambiguity.The markets shift overnight. Technologies emerge from nowhere to disrupt entire industries. Consumer preferences evolve in ways no focus group predicted. The very foundations we thought were solid prove to be shifting sand.Yet our minds—what some might call our egoic consciousness—desperately cling to the illusion of certainty. This isn’t a character flaw; it’s a deeply human response to an unpredictable world. Our brains are prediction machines,...
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The Ripple That Follows the Stone

by DW Green — August 20, 2025

“True enthusiasm emerges from a kind of sacred surrender – when we stop trying to manufacture meaning and instead allow ourselves to be touched by what is already present.”

Despite our endless limitations, it seems that the qualities of attention, risk, and compassion allow us to be at one with the energy of the Whole and the result is enthusiasm, that deep sensation of oneness. Enthusiasm is not a mood that can be willed or forced. Rather, it is the ripple that follows the stone. It can only be felt after we immerse ourselves in life.True enthusiasm emerges from a kind of sacred surrender – when we stop trying to manufacture meaning and instead allow ourselves to be touched by what is already present. It requires the willingness to pay attention so completely that the boundary between observer and observed begins to dissolve. This is why genuine enthusiasm feels so different from mere excitement or manufactured positivity. It carries the weight of the whole, the recognition that we are participating in something far larger than our individual concerns.The risk involved is not physical danger, but the courage to let ourselves be moved, to care deeply despite uncertainty. We risk disappointment, yes, but more fundamentally we risk the d...
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