Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

My childhood friend, Eddie Stanton, was killed in an airplane crash when he was 27. That was 55 years ago. For 55 years I have felt what a shame that is. And what a loss, mostly for him, for all he has missed. And it rankles me to this day. His death is one of the many things “I just cannot stand” about how things are. Like 77MILLION IDIOTS voting for Donald Trump!!! for President of the United States. For Class Dumbass, I could understand. And a large number of those 77 million votes had to be cast knowing they were really voting for the Class Dumbass and they laughed about it. They did not care. And if you don’t care about that, what do you care about? And in all probability, Eddie Stanton would have voted for Donald Trump, laughing. That’s the kind of world we live in. Not a damn thing makes sense. Not one damn thing. What are we to do with a world like this? I am flummoxed by all of it. And if you are flummoxed too, here’s to you! That makes at least two of us!

It is up to us to make of it what we will and to do with it as we will, “it” being what greets us on arrival. It is a common mistake to rush to judgment, wondering, “Is this all there is?” Sitting with it, open to it, brings different aspects into awareness. The Yin/Yang symbol opens us to the depths rather nicely. Nothing is what it appears to be. Life is not a steady state of being. “Now we see it, now we don’t.” Koans and optical illusions are everywhere. Nothing can be taken for what it is, or for what it also is. And before long it is clear that nothing is clear and we don’t know what to make of anything, because, “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.” And, “Those who know don’t say, and those who say, don’t know.” The only appropriate response to the whole show is roaring laughter and a standing ovation. It is a wonderful joke that keeps getting better with age. It is all such a marvelous, wonderful world. The Buddha died from eating poorly cooked pork. How enlightened was that? Isn’t that exactly as it should be? Wonderful, wonderful in every way!

Diversion, distraction, denial, addiction help us pass the time. The Buddha called it “Peaceful abiding, here, now.” Being still and quiet, seeing what emptiness, stillness and silence have to offer. Contemplating what’s called for and what needs to be done about it where, when and how, doing the right thing, at the right time, in the right place and the right way. Entertaining ourselves by being enthralled by the moment, moment by moment, calling it “seeking enlightenment,” as the sure cure for boredom and what to do with time on our hands. Or, there are drugs, sex and alcohol. Or war. And buying, spending, amassing and consuming. Sleeping and eating. Life in a nutshell. Pick your poison. Or make your own list of favorite ways to pass the time. Conversation. Art. Music. Diversion. Distraction. Denial…

I wonder if there is a Wild Thing anywhere that likes its chances. That feels good about its prospects. That ever thinks it has a cushion. Which is interesting because I am confident that every Wild Thing everywhere is 100% at one with Tao, Psyche and Intuition. Which is all Wild Things have going for them. And they all are at odds with other wild things in the work of survival. They all survive at each other’s expense. Which means that Tao, Psyche and Intuition are at odds, pitted against one another in a system that is rigged against them. Which suggests to me that Life is dishonest from the start. It doesn’t matter to Life. Life knows from the beginning that it isn’t about Life. Life is serving a purpose beyond Life–a means to a greater end, so to say. Raising the question, “What purpose could Life be serving?” An experience gathering mechanism? For what purpose would Life be gathering all these million years worth of experience? To what end? What is Life learning? What is going to be better of for knowing what Life is learning? Whose idea was this? The word, “Nonplussed” would fit me perfectly at this point. “Dumbfounded” would also work.

I grew up, as did we all, among people making the best of it, of their life and their living conditions, they all could have used more help than they got–and could have been more helpful than they were. And yet, here we are, even so, even yet, even here, now. Things were right-enough for us to be here, now. And it is good to be with you, and would be better if I were really with you, but we are left with making the best of it, as I am certain we will.

I could use more of the right kind of silence in my life, and I am working to arrange that, with attentive thankfulness for Tao, Psyche and Intuition and their place in my life as the Inner Guides and Comforting Presence they are. I am glad to have their company, and their abiding grace and good will, borne out by the realization and recognition of things happening just right throughout each day to make a difference for the good of the day as a whole, and my life as a whole. It only takes seeing to know it is so. May we all see so clearly every day!

It helps if we are easier to please. Lower expectations make a difference. Stepping into the day with a camera and no pictures in mind, ready to find the best compositions available given the light and weather conditions–with no stipulations regarding either lighten’s the days load and gives us a better chance of being happy with the scenes we get. I have worked in the vicinity of people who were finding things not to like about every scene. I was glad to keep my distance.

Spending enough time in the right kind of silence is essential for knowing what we know. When we live noisy, complex, complicated lives, we are too busy to listen to our body. Our body knows. When we know what our body knows, we know what’s what and what is called for here, now. And we take care of business in behalf of our body. Taking care of business in behalf of our body is what we are here for.

Listening to ourselves is the secret to being lucky and having it made. We are always talking to ourselves, mainly complaining, whining, wanting, wanting, wanting. We would do well to start listening. Making inquiries. Being interested in what we have to say. Why would we die never having heard what we are dying to talk about?

I would like to conduct exit interviews with people worldwide to see if they think life is worth the effort. And I would like to conduct those interviews with populations who lived in different centuries throughout time. I would like to spend eternity talking to people. I would be particularly interested to see how humor faired through time. And compassion. What was the most compassionate era? The era with the highest degree of humor? That’s the work I am going to apply for. I’m looking forward to it.

I am amazed at my flip from going anywhere to take a photograph to being perfectly content to sit looking out the window with a computer filled with images I have taken in my lap and being completely disinterested in going anywhere for any reason. It is as though I have placed myself in solitary confinement. Perhaps by way of my realization that the silence is the source of knowledge, seeing, hearing, understanding, contentment, peace and tranquility everlasting. And what is going going to get me that I don’t have here, now?