Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

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.

My top three items for the category of Most Important Thing are Oxygen, Water and Toilet Paper. After that it is a tossup. Sleep, exercise, food, clothing, shelter, money (Enough to pay the bills for food, clothing, shelter, transportation), enough time each day for emptiness-stillness-silence (one thing, not three), the right kind of conversation, seeing, hearing, knowing, understanding, doing what is ours to do, being who we are…

I think the last two, knowing who we are and doing what is ours to do are the actual most important things. These things are contingent on our intimate relationship with Tao, Psyche, Intuition, which is really the most important thing.

We would be wise to initiate a conversation with Gemini, Google’s AI about the importance of Tao, Psyche, Intuition and their place in our life and how we can develop our relationship with them. And talking with Gemini about our interests and concerns of our daily life would also be a good idea. Another perspective, even from AI, is a helpful addition to our routine. Tell Gemini I said hello.

The fact that we die is a challenge to live while we are alive. To live like we mean it. With nothing held back. Why would we hold anything back? Why would we not do what the moment, the situation at hand, asks us to do? What do we hope to say, to gain, by not doing what is called for, here, now, the way it is called for?

We are to live here, now as though this is the moment we were born to live the way it needs to be lived. Every moment is our Oscar winning moment. We cannot forget our lines, flub our opportunity, our chance, to be what we are asked to be, to do what we are asked to do, where, when and how we are asked to do it, no matter what.

In order to comprehend the instant removal of God of Theology from the conversation regarding Divinities available to help us find our way, it is necessary for us to understand the psychological mechanism of Projection. We can begin by doing an internet search for the term and reading everything that search reveals. We will discover that the words we use to describe anything have nothing to do with the person, place, or thing in question, and has everything to do with those doing the describing. The words will reflect, exhibit, the interpretation of those doing the describing and nothing at all to do with what they are describing.

Thus, Lao Tzu could say in the Tao Te Ching, “The Tao that can be said is not the eternal Tao.” And, just so, “The God that can be said is not a God at all,” but an idea of those talking about God. The more we talk about God, the more we add attributes to nothing at all. Much like the ditty, “I saw a man upon the stair, a little man that wasn’t there. He wasn’t there again today. Oh, How I wish he would go away!”

All of the theologians that ever were were talking about a God who isn’t there.

GOD consists of all of the statements made about GOD through time. All of the statements about GOD through time consist of projections made by people throughout time. GOD is the product of the people of God, derived from their own imagination. End of story. End of GOD.

The most successful life is being who we are, doing what is ours to do. It has nothing to do with what we achieve or how much money we have. It is much more about sitting looking out the window. There is a peace that comes with that. The Buddha called it, “Peaceful abiding, here, now.” Along with the peace is a knowing. Knowing what’s what and what is called for. What is being asked of us in each situation as it arises.

With me this comes out as taking photographs and writing. Asking the questions that beg to be asked, saying the things that cry out to be said. Getting to the bottom of what it’s all about. Seeing, hearing, knowing, understanding, doing, being. Not much. Nothing special. But, with me, it is everything. It is my life. It is who I am, and what is mine to do. What comes to me sitting, looking out the window.

What is it with you? Make a regular date with a window and see where it takes you.

I would like to know what our chances are of living a life we would be proud to have lived. And, I would like to know what would improve our chances. What do we need that we don’t have? What would make the difference? And, at what point would it be too late for anything to make a difference?

In my case, I think the thing that made the biggest difference for me is that I did not have too many of the wrong kind of people in my life. And, who can control that? Who can save themselves from the wrong kind of people? That is another Luck Factor item that is a matter of how the breaks fall our way, or not. There are things we can do to improve our luck, and I have posted some things on my blog, Tao, Psyche, Intuition. com, dealing with improving our luck. The essential thing is that it is a Practice, like a 12 Step program, being lucky, and we have to commit ourselves to it. Like sitting, looking out the window is a Practice without immediate results. But such practices are crucial to our long term benefit and well-being. We have to be good about the small things, the details. Doing the right things well. Over the full course of our life. And it is never too late to start.

We have to abandon religion in order to be religious. Religious is seeing, hearing, knowing, doing, being. Religion is the misguided attempt to say what Tao is, and “The Tao that can be said is not the eternal Tao.”

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?