The Greenest Grass
Upcoming Events
UPCOMING EVENTS
Hi Folks,
Here are some events coming up in the next few months that you might be interested in:
• Feb. 10th - March 3rd - New Book Group (Tuesdays, 10-11:30 am Pacific time), using as guides to our explorations, material from my last book, In Every Wave, the Entirety of the Sea, and a soon-to-be completed new book (Everything is the Doorway). If interested in taking part in this group, message me at: john@johnastin.com.
• March 15th (3-5 pm) - In-person talk sponsored by the Open Circle Center (Berkeley, CA). Click here for further details or to register for the event.
• March 28/29 - Weekend retreat (w/ Dena Evans) in Austin, TX (for details - john@johnastin.com)
• May 17th (4-6pm) - Concert in North San Juan, CA (tickets available here)
• June 13/14 - Weekend retreat in London (for details, john@johnastin.com)
This Is It!
This that’s showing up is the absolute reality, the wholeness of life being everything. This is what we are always feeling for there is literally nothing else to feel.
To be sure, its presentation is always distinct. But regardless of how reality is showing up, whether we like the particular flavor or not, no matter how it may look or feel descriptively, it’s still the one reality, appearing as that particular moment. Call it Being. Call it Presence, call it God. What matters is not the name we give it but the fact that every experiential flicker, every thought, every flash of emotion is it, this inexplicable miracle of life.
That’s the great relief, the great freedom from needing the moment to be other than it is. It’s the discovery that this instant, the one appearing right now, is the “greenest grass” we could ever experience. This that’s appearing, no matter how it may look, is the home that can never be lost, the home of this singular life that is the basis of everything. Every moment is the expression of this one life, the aliveness at the heart of everything.
As you feel the presence of this aliveness, it’s so solid, so here, isn’t it? It’s right in our face. And yet, despite the concrete presence of this aliveness, we can’t really say what it is. It’s unthinkably subtle. I mean, what is it made of, this sense of being alive? Feel the way in which there is simply no answer to that question. It’s here but unreachable as far as getting to the bottomless bottom of what it is.
We could say this life is made of energy. But what does that even mean? To call it energy is to really say nothing about what makes life life as it begs the question, “what is this energy? What is it made of?”
Just feel that, the absolute mystery of existence itself, this magical appearing that can’t possibly get any more alive, any more present, any more here than it already is.
This moment unfolding, the very one that’s here right now. The greenest grass you will ever find…


Living in the mystery with complete acceptance is a daily practice with so much turbulence in the human made world. Thanks for offering peace…that’s what I felt reading this John.
Beautiful. TY, John.