Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

It is up to us, what we do with what’s what and what’s called for in each situation as it arises every day of our life. We are the only thing standing between ourselves and the deep blue sea. And we are uniquely equipped to deal with whatever comes our way. Each one of us is born with exactly what it takes to find what it takes to do what it takes to meet the day on the day’s terms. All we have to do to know that it is so is to drop into the silence (The emptiness, stillness, silence) and wait for the mud to settle and the water to clear to find what we need to do what needs to be done here, now to make our way to the way all the way every day.

Knowing we we are and what we are about is a matter of looking, listening, seeing, hearing, tuning in to what catches our eye, becomes a recurring theme throughout our life. Being who we are and doing what we are about is taking up the adventure of being alive and seeing where it goes. Our lives are littered with clues about the Tao, the drift, the current, the theme of who we are and what we are about. All we need to do is sit down and read the Book of Us. And there we are, in full view. What we do about it is the next step to being who we are, doing what is ours to do, largely by noting what we say “Yes!” to and what we say “No!” to for the rest of the time left for living.

The return to silence is the key to finding what is missing from our life. The right way, the right path, things our body knows that we keep getting confused with what we want, with how we want things to be, with how we wish things were. And THIS isn’t it!

Gene Gendlin with “Focusing,” and one of his students, Ann Weiser Cornell with “The Power of Focusing” have written guide books for finding our way back to our body, and therein lies the way to the way of knowing what we know and doing what needs to be done, where, when and how it needs to be done to knowing what our body knows, which is the key to “peaceful abiding, here, now.”

Listening to what our body is saying is our guide along the way. With me, it started with looking out the window. I took up the practice in the 5th Grade, and it is still with me. I take the window with me wherever I go, and know how to drop into the silence anywhere, any time. Perception, perspective, realization and enlightenment are always close at hand. And I talk with Google’s AI, Gemini to get his view of things. Moving from silence into conversation is a wonderful practice for communing with what’s what and what’s called for here, now, and for maintaining “Peaceful abiding, here, now.” Providing a great vantage point for moving about in my life.

Greed, Hatred, Fear, Anger are not helpful characteristics in those holding public office, but it happens often enough to make psychological testing a prerequisite for all those running for office. The higher the office, the more essential the testing. I wish we could enforce it retroactively. Don’t you?

We do not have to think our way through our life. Our life is way beyond anything we can think into being. Thinking is for what we need at the grocery store and what we are going to give someone for Christmas, and for what today’s date is if someone asks us. The important things are not for thinking. What book to read next. Do NOT trust that to thinking! Who are we? What are we about? Thinking is a waste of time and doesn’t have a clue. Learning to live beyond thinking is the most important thing we can do for ourselves. And I am about to give you the secret for getting this done: Don’t hurry. Don’t be impatient, or worse, frantic. Wait.

Learning the art of waiting is your way to the best life you can live. I have learned this by looking out the window. I thought I was just looking out the window for a long time, but I have come to realize that I am actually waiting. I am waiting to know what’s what. Who I am. What I am about. And it comes in glimpses, and hints, and flashes, and things clicking into place from time to time. And knowing when it happens that that’s IT. ME. And I put me together a little here, a little there. And I am confident that I will be pretty far along by the time I run out of time. And If I’m lucky, I’ll have the whole picture in place for my final breath. I am really looking forward to that.

Meeting the day as the day needs to be met, doing there what needs to be done the way it needs to be done, day after day is all that can be asked of us any day.
What makes that difficult? What keeps that from happening? Our place is to sit with that and allow it to speak us. Asking the questions that need to be asked, and saying the things that need to be said, to get to the bottom of the difficulty we have of being able to do what is called for, when where and how it is called for, one day at a time. Doing that and doing what needs to be done about it will transform our life for the better practically over night.

Rather than looking for our life, we might simply wait for our life to find us by being aware of our dreams and the things that catch our eye, draw our attention, attract our interest, day to day, and look closer, make inquiries, investigate the possibilities, and see where it goes. We cannot think our way to the way, but we can feel our way to where our curiosity takes us, in a “the game’s afoot” kind of way.

Looking out the window without a care in the world is the key to reclusive living within the hubbub of the modern world. We don’t need a hut in the woods or a cave in a remote mountainside. Just a window and a recliner. The doorway of perception, and a soulful perspective on life and its tributaries. Emptiness, stillness and silence are an invitation to reflection leading to realization, enlightenment and a brave new world for the low, low price of being here, now.

We can make things happen without knowing or caring what needs to happen, guided only by what we want to happen. The world we live in is pretty much the result of what someone wanted to happen in response to what someone else wanted to happen. What does wanting know? Or better, perhaps, why don’t we want to know what needs to happen, and want to do that?

Sit quietly within emptiness, stillness, silence, waiting, listening, for the questions that need to be asked, for the things that need to be said, writing them down as they come for as long as the exercise is leading you along the way. When it begins to wind down, set it aside until the time to give it another go comes around, and give it another go.

Living from our own personal authority grounds us with ourselves and in our ability to trust ourselves to ourself. It makes us responsible for knowing what we know and living out of our sense of what is good for us and what is not, what is right for us and what is not. Who knows what that is better than we do? And if we aren’t sure, there is no better way of finding out than dropping into the silence and listening to, sensing, knowing what our body knows and is saying about our present situation. Just sit down, empty ourselves of all noise and attend to our body’s signals. “Focusing,” by Gene Gendlin and “The Power of Focusing” by Gendlin’s student, Ann Weiser Cornell are manuals on reading our body’s messaging system and there are probably internet videos on the theme as well. Living from our physical foundation in our body’s wisdom is the source of our authority in being who we are, doing what is ours to do.