04
It takes taking some things on faith-- believing they are so-- in order to know that they are. The visible world is upheld and sustained by the invisible world. Death and rebirth are metaphors that transform the fact of life and enable us to live with facts we could not, otherwise, bear. Seeing past the facts enables us to take into account more than denial would allow, and opens up worlds for our imagination to explore, investigate, examine using analogy, allegory, parable and reflection. Taking God out of the sphere of facts, and understanding God to be representative of more than words can say about experiences that cannot be explained, or even understood, permitting "That Which Has Always Been Called God" to become real for us beyond theology, doctrine, dogma and creed, and inviting us to explore what it means to say, "There is more to us than meets the eye," and what that might offer us as a guardian and guide through dark places and disquieting times. We are not alone. Carl Jung said, "There is within each of us, another, whom we do not know." The Force that is with us as Way and Virtue comes to life through sincerity and a return to our original nature. Grace and Dharma stand by smiling as "events unfold in mysteriously appropriate ways" (Joseph Campbell). However, the invisible world cannot be used in the service of our egocentric goals, plans, desires, agendas and schemes. Contrivance is not a companion of soul. And sincerity is the prerequisite for all of our interaction with the Source and Goal of Life and Being. But. We are all within a quiet breath of that "very present help in time of trouble." All it takes is Stopping. Listening. Looking. Waiting. In the stillness and the silence for things to stir to life there and begin to occur to us as comfort and direction in response to what our life situation is calling for. What we do about that is up to us. It may be enough for now to receive it as an encouraging disclosure of the fact that we are not alone, and that we only have to restore our relationship with the Other who resides within to know that it is so.
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03
Nothing will turn things to the good in our life-- your life and mine-- like making our peace with how things are. Failing/refusing to do that is the source of all of our pain. And doing it is the solution of all of our problems today. Every day. So. What's the problem?
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02
Each of us has our own life to live. There is that which assists/helps us with our life, and there is that which hampers/interferes with our life. It is our place to know the difference and be attuned to it, assisting what assists us, helping what helps us, avoiding what hampers and interferes with us living our life the way it needs to be lived. We are not free to live any way we feel like living . "We are our own worst enemy" in a lot of ways. We are the one who hampers/interferes with our ability to live our life the way it needs to be lived. We have to buy into the program ourselves! We have to believe in what we are doing-- in what we are here to do--ourselves! We have to believe in us! In what is ours to do! Most of us don't even know what that is, and couldn't care less. Those of us who belong in that category have to start there. We have to square up with that. Own it. Decide what we are going to do about it. Decide how we are going to respond to it. There is only ourselves and our life in this picture, and what we choose to do about the relationship between us and our life is going to make all the difference. No one can do that for us. We are up to us. It is all up to us. What happens next is our call to make. There is that which helps us live our life, and there is that which works against us living our life. Are we with us and our life? Are we against us and our life? Whose side are we on? Are we buying in? Or selling out? If we aren't buying in, we are selling out. This is the turning point. Everything is on the line. Where are we in relation to our life?
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01
Everything dries up and blows away in time. The things that mean the most to me, that prop me up and keep me going, don't seem to mean anything at all to anyone I know. That isn't going to stop them from meaning the most to me. Love what you love! Enjoy what you enjoy! What's the life span of a spiderweb? Or of a spider? Neither of those things matter to the spider! Live like it is forever, you and the things you love! When I am gone, and nothing of me remains anywhere, and all the things that mean the most to me have taken their place with all that is no more, it, and I, will have done our part, and that will be that. In the meantime, there is life to be lived before it all dries up and blows away! Don't waste a moment thinking too bad it doesn't last! Live every one-- every moment-- for all it's worth-- for all you're worth-- as though it is the last moment ever! Cherish what is here, now! And live as though you do! Everything is drying up and blowing away! Enjoy it while you can! Be YOU as long as there is a you to be! Don't hold anything back! Look while the light lasts! Dance while the music is playing! This is your LIFE! Live it like it matters to you that you are alive-- throughout the time left for living!
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 