Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

We are inherently religious, but not doctrinely so. “The Tao that can be told is not th eternal Tao.” This comes from the Shamans and early Taoists in northern China in the form of the Tao Te Ching, which was composed between 500 and 5,000 years before Jesus. And which also says, “Darkness within darkness, the gateway to mystery and understanding–and the “understanding” is that everything is grounded upon mystery. Christianity which is grounded upon dogma and doctrine cannot get around the mystery at the heart of it all that has to be “taken on faith.” But then goes out of its way to disparage the “Mystery Religions.”

All religion is mystery at the core. We do not know how we know what we know, and do not spend enough time–are not encouraged to spend enough time, or taught how to spend it–seeking even to know ourselves, much less explore the mysteries that lie beyond us and surround us. Yet, “Know Thy Self” was recognized as being essential knowledge, inscribed on the ancient Greek Temple of Apollo in the precinct of Delphi between around 700 years BCE.

It is to our shame that we do not honor the mysteries of existence with our attentive presence, yet call ourselves “religious” because we believe what somebody, anybody, tells us to believe “because it is so.” Nothing can be so that has to be believed to be true–it can only be said to be so. Beyond the saying is only Mystery.

Why we do what we do, where, when and how we do it, is dependent upon, controlled by, what? Thinking? Wanting? Willing? Fear? What manages, determines, our motives? What ignites our desires?

I gave these questions to Gemini, Google’s AI, and this what the response:

If thinking, wanting, willing, and fear are the surface waves, what is the undercurrent?

At a psychological and philosophical level, our motives are managed by a deeper organizing principle—an innate drive toward equilibrium, wholeness, and meaning. C.G. Jung pointed toward a self-regulating psyche where conscious intentions constantly interact with vast, unconscious dynamics. We are navigated not by a fragile conscious “I” sitting at a control panel, but by an intricate convergence of our history, our deepest internalized values, and our organismic drive to find peace and coherence in a chaotic world.

Desires are ignited not by a deliberate mental command, but by perception meeting lack. The moment we perceive a separation between where we are and where we imagine completeness lies, a spark is struck.

Ultimately, we do not so much direct the river as discover ourselves carried by it, occasionally steering against the current with our thoughts, but mostly responding to the quiet, ancient pressures of what we fear, what we value, and what makes us feel alive.

What is guiding our boat on its path through the sea? It’s complicated. No?

We are looking for balance and harmony, direction and flow, alignment and confirmation. And all of that is found in emptiness, stillness, silence. Marianne Moore said, “The sure cure for loneliness is solitude.” Solitude is where we go for balance and harmony, direction and flow, alignment and confirmation. Twenty minutes of solitude twice a day will open us to the truth of our own orientation. Our inner sense of how things are with us, what is calling for our attention, and what our body knows that it wants us to know. And therein lies all that we need to do what needs to be done. Then it is only a matter of doing it, when, where and how it needs to be done, in each situation as it arises, all our life long. Which we already know, and need only to know that we know.

God consists of words about God. We are the source of our own theology, the foundation of our own impetus and direction. We make it all up all along the way. We are the sole authority of all of our thinking, believing, saying, doing. There is no one “here,” but us! “We (ourselves and each other) are all we have! We are all we need!” All along the way!

All it takes is doing what is called for, when, where and how it is called for, in each situation as it arises all our life long. What is it about that that makes it difficult to do? What we want to do? What we feel like doing?

We get in our own way. We shoot ourselves in the foot time after time. We do not have our best interest at heart. We are lazy and undependable. Why?

I wonder what the rules were determining life at Mesa Verde. How were they created? How were they remembered? How were they enforced? How were new rules added? Who said so? Who decided? What went into the decision? And so on. Not only here but in every location indigenous peoples called home throughout time. I am awed and humbled at the processes life–and life together–required from the beginning. And highly honored to be a part of that process even here, even now.

We could improve things worldwide if we simply treated everyone as though they were highly rated on the Autism Spectrum. This ranks with treating everyone as though they are dealing with a difficult life, or with heavy burdens.

We all need more help than we get. And that needs to be taken into account with everyone we encounter.

Silence is the source of all that is and ever will be. And it doesn’t get credit for anything. Silence is due a planetary holiday without fireworks. Traffic. Commercial travel. Noise. Twenty-four hours of contemplation, meditation, reflection, realization, awakening, enlightenment, world-wide. Out of reverence for the sacred nature of silence.

Donald Trump is the essence of a corrupt ego gone rogue.

The fifth chapter of the Book of Amos is a wonderful exhibition of the wrath of the prophet projected onto God and ruling the spirit of the times: “I hate, I despise your feasts and take no delight in your solemn assemblies…” This is a perfect example of the Biblical way of perceiving the power of the puppets over the puppet master, imagining that the people control God with their behavior, for better and for worse. It is absurd to think that God, with compete power to arrange things to God’s liking, is utterly at the will of the people who control and determine what God does throughout their lives.

I much prefer the Taoist idea of merging with the flow of the Tao in living at one with the drift of the natural impulse of our bodies in conjunction with the way of things generally, in light of the seasons and the tides, with no sense of managing nature according to our wants and desires, but of tempering our preferences for our way in order to align ourselves with The Way that can be intuited and grasped in sensing/knowing the oneness of the Moved with the Mover throughout our lives.

“The Tao doesn’t love or hate us, reward or punish us, but simply unfolds through our choices and decisions as we align ourselves with the way of nature…”

“Take heart!” That is nature’s message to me every time I step into a scene. “Do not take anything with more seriousness than it deserves!” “Receive everything with a respectful, ‘This, too! This, too!” “Let things be as they are, AND as they also are!” “Remember the words of the words of William Blake in his poem, ‘The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, “Without Contraries is no progression.”‘(1790.)”

Contaries are the very heart of life! Yin/Yang is everywhere we look! We could not see anything without the contrasts of everything! Life consists of contrasts, contraries, contradictions! “Woe, woe!” is balanced by “Hooray! Hallelujah!” That is the way things are! To take offense is to ignore the counter forces at work throughout the entire scope of existence! The tide comes in and the tide turns around, and the tide goes out! And THAT is the way things are. Celebrate the contaries! That is our place! To recognize and celebrate the contaries! By saying, “YES!” to all that is exactly as it is! Because that is how it is! and our place is to witness that, to recognize it as nature’s way, as life’s way, and participate in the natural way of life with all our heart, mind, soul, intention and determination. Because that is how things are!