Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

To what extent does wanting drive our life? I have reached the point in my life where I don’t want anything. I have everything I need. I fully expect that I have less than ten years to live, and perhaps less than five. If I stay exactly where I am with possessions and finances for the next five years, I won’t need anything else. And I do not anticipate wanting anything for the next five years, and declining health will likely be the only thing that touches that. But not many people in the world today can say they don’t want anything, that they have everything they need. Wanting drives the world. It is the foundational principle that keeps everything going.

How well could we live without wanting? How could we reduce our wanting to a bare minimum after our basic needs for food, clothing and shelter are met? What would that do to the economy? To our peace of mind? Our happiness? Our sanity? To what degree do we have to want more than we need to keep things going around the world?

Jesus said, “The love of money is the root of all evil?” But how much money would Jesus have said that everyone needs? How much money, in an annual income, does everyone need? And how much more than that do “Quality of Life” considerations require? How much less that that can we live on and still live well? If we cannot pay our monthly bills, we likely have addictions that are syphoning some of our income away “Just to get by,” when we are not getting by.

What would make all the difference in your life? I can’t think of anything making much of a difference in my life. Which I take to mean things are just fine exactly as they are. think about that. How many people can say that. The fairy giving away magic wands stops at my door and I would have to tell her to go to someone else’s house. I’m fine just as I am. Unless she can change some of my memories. I had a hard time getting to this point, though I think everything was necessary to get me to this point, so I’ll have to keep the memories just as they are. Amazing. I amaze myself. Amazing.

I live to know what Tao knows by being sensitive to, and thus aware of, what catches my eye, calls my name. I stay away from the need to direct my life and simply sit back and listen to what is going on with my body and allowing my body to tell me where I need to go and what I need to do. And so, this image of Watkins Glen. And of every other image I have ever taken, or will take. If you don’t know what I am talking about, live to understand, listen to your body and let your roll be to drive the car and carry the camera and the tripod.

My zeal for the journey has disappeared. Any journey. I am quite content to look at the photographs and let that be close enough. Sitting by the window, writing what needs to be written are simple joys that come my way as the days go by. I take pleasure in my uncarved blocks and going to get the mail. And when it is gone, it will just be gone. I regret spending as much time as I did in a lot of places, and did not realize at the time that my dislike for them would last as long as it has and grow moreso over time. I don’t waste time with things I don’t like these days and I like the right kind of conversation more than ever. I think articulation is the doorway to realization, and if we don’t talk about subjects that interest us we will learn little about those topics over our entire life time. So ask the questions that beg to be asked and say the things that cry out to be said! You will never know where they will lead if you don’t ask and say.

Getting up and doing what is called for in each situation as it arises–doing what needs to be done, when, where and how it needs to be done–doing the right thing in the right time, in the right place, in the right way–is serving the Tao and exhibiting the way of Jesus. And the Tao was in place before 300 BCE. Leads us to wonder if Jesus had known of the Tao Te Ching. He would certainly have no quarrel with it. “The Spirit is like the wind that blows where it will.” “The love of money is the root of all evil.” “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” And others.

Being who we are, doing what is ours to do, is all it comes down to. And we know that by being good friends with stillness and silence, the source of realization and recognition. Our body speaks to us in the stillness and silence. When we listen to our body, we hear what needs to be heard, and know what needs to be known. Our body provides us with guidance and direction throughout our lives. Gene Gendlin and Ann Weiser Cornell, with their books, “Focusing” and “The power of focusing,” and “The radical acceptance of everything,” make body knowledge as easy as listening to what our body is saying throughout each day, and doing as we are told.

Encouragement, guidance and direction flow from and through the right kind of silence. Stillness and silence are natural sources of peace, balance and harmony. This scene could work as a connection to stability and tranquility. A path to quiet relaxation.

The Pathos of life, the weight of our days, is always close by. I’m not over slavery and the Ethnic Cleansing/Genocide of Native Americans–and I did not live through either of those things, but they weigh heavy upon my mind, body and soul. And I hate the push that made those things okay for so many people. It was not okay, and still is not. I plan on carrying this with me through all eternity. I call it paying my dues for myself and those who don’t feel a thing, and think I am crazy to.

Action that is spontaneous and natural without design or purpose is Tao guiding our path through the sea like a whale spouting for the joy of it with no one keeping score. Like a Koi fish gliding past reflections in the pond unaware of the photographer’s presence.

I like the Namaste, “I bow to you,” or, “The God in me bows to the God in you” greeting, with my hands in a prayerful pose as I bow slightly and nod to whomever I am greeting, making us all equal and evenly spaced on our way past each other to wherever it is that we are going. The posture reminds me and grounds me in the truth of Truth, Justice, Equality, Freedom as the four pillars of Democracy and Human-Being-Hood, and keeps me balanced and in the flow of Tao as I make my way along the Way of Life and Being. And some people bow back.

When it is going our way, we do what is called for the way it needs to be done, when, where and how it needs to be done. When it is not going our way, we do what is called for the way it needs to be done, when, where and how it needs to be done. Nothing stops what is called for from being done in the right way, in the right place, at the right time. We are here to do what is called for no matter what. Whether we feel like it or not. Whether we want to or not. Whether we stand to gain anything from it or not. Because it is called for. And it is the Way.

Maintaining our sense of humor is instrumental in maintaining our balance and our integrity. And taking things with no more seriousness than they deserve. All of which comes as gifts from the silence. How often do you take a Silence Now! break during each day? How can anybody do a day without ten or twenty minutes of silence scattered throughout it, preferably associated with stillness? Silence and stillness are my recipe for a long and quite satisfactory life. Noisy lives with hustle and bustle aren’t worth living. Take them to some ocean and throw them in! That’s what oceans are for.