The old Alchemists thought they could change the world to suit themselves if they could but find The Philosopher's Stone, which was their equivalent to the Elder Wand, and would serve them as the threshold to wonders unimagined, but (with the Stone in hand) suddenly possible. Nobody in all the world, in all the worlds there have been, has ever wished for or tried to concoct a method of changing themselves to fit joyfully into their surroundings. People always want to change the world. They never want to change themselves. These days, they want to go to the beach and party without wearing a mask or social distancing. The only way to be safe is to stay away from everybody else. But they aren't having it. They aren't going to live in a world that isn't how they want it to be. And they don't care how many people they kill on their way out the door.
–0–
My idea of success is doing what needs to be done with the resources available-- including those I bring with me in terms of my Original Nature and the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues that are mine to serve/offer-- in each situation as it arises, in light of all things that need to be considered, moment-by-moment-by-moment. I wish I had realized the importance of this when I was sixteen years old.
–0–
Caring is "a slippery slope, a dangerous path, like the razor's edge." But. Don't let that stop you-- or, even slow you down. Joseph Campbell said when Native American children left home to find their way in the world, their parents would tell them, "When you step into your life, in service to your vision, the birds of the air will shit on you. Do not pause even to wipe it off!" Slippery slopes are part of it. We are treading the Way between Yin and Yang, remember. Contradictions are everywhere. Living our life is learning to dance with the contradictions in each situation as it arises, all our life long (Get used to the phrase, I use it all the time). (One of my deepest disappointments in the Church of Our Experience is the way it discounts, dismisses, ignores and denies the place of contradiction in our life. It will not allow them-- certainly not with God. [Look up "Do You Believe In God," in my book I Call This Poetry on my https://www.jimwdollar.com companion web site on WordPress]. Contradiction becomes Paradox with God. I have never understood why God is allowed to have Paradoxes, but not Contradictions. "That is a great paradox," the spokespersons for the Church of Our Experience say about things they cannot explain. "We just have to take it on faith that what I'm telling you is so, in spite of clear evidence to the contrary"). Contradiction is the heart of Life and Being. And it is at the heart of That Which Has Always Been Called God. One of the operating principles of existence is: Truth is found between the hands! On the one hand this, and on the other hand that. Truth is the middle way between mutually exclusive opposites, paradoxes, dichotomies, contradictions incongruities-- and is the way of dealing with the dissonance at work throughout our life. We exist to integrate the opposites, to resolve the paradoxes, to explore the dichotomies, to balance the contradictions, to acknowledge the incongruities, to harmonize the dissonance-- and to bear the pain of it all-- in the service of being true to ourselves within the context and circumstances of our life in the world of time and place. Caring is good place to start. We can care too much, and we can care too little. We can care in the right way, and we can care in the wrong way. We can care about the right things, and we can care about the wrong things... Finding the right balance between the contradictions is as tricky with caring as it is with the rest of the 10,000 things (I want to be the best father in all the world, and I don't want to be a father at all-- and the same goes for all of the other roles I am asked to play, etc.). What is the formula, the recipe, the ratios for perfection? It changes moment-to-moment, day-by-day. We step into each situation as it arises and feel our way along. The guiding rule is the same in each one: Stop! Look! Listen! See! Hear! Understand! Know! Do! Be! Look until you see what you are looking at. Listen until you hear what is being said. Understand clearly what's what, what is happening, and what needs to be done about it. Know what the present circumstances are calling you to do with the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues that are yours to serve and to share. Do what can be done as well as you can do it. Be ready to repeat this process in the next moment that is already forming and about to spring forth. And don't take any of it more seriously than is appropriate to the occasion!
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 