01
Doing what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, where it needs to be done, the way it needs to be done, and repeating this process through each moment of every situation as it arises, is more about listening and looking, seeing and hearing, than it is about prioritizing. We need less thinking and more realizing. Realization comes from seeing and hearing. Action is spontaneous, automatic. Look and listen. Here and now. Hear what is being called for. See what is happening and what needs to be done about it. Do it with the gifts you have to share and the daemon (sounds like "diamond") you live to serve. And let nature take its course.
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02
Theology is the end of religion. The religion that has to be explained, defined, elucidated, spelled out, nailed down, argued and debated into being is dead on arrival. Living religion thrives on fascination, realization, wonder, amazement, joy, laughter, dancing, relishing, exuberance, confidence, peace, grace, kindness, compassion, generosity, integrity, mindfulness, awareness, self-transparency, questions, silence, balance and harmony, playfulness, mercy, non-contrivance, spontaneity, sincerity, good faith, good will, honesty, truthfulness, and on and on like this... Religion ends when it tries to make sense or make disciples. We find it with our heart, not with our head. We live our way there. We do not think our way there. Check out The Non-subscribing Church of What's Happening Now at www.jimdollarsphotographyandphilosophy.com
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03
Insight, awareness, realization, illumination, awakening, etc. are the result of seeing what we look at. Of hearing what is being said-- particularly what we are saying. Typically, we see and hear what we expect to see and hear, what we think we are seeing and hearing, what we assume we are seeing and hearing. Take an object, an old hubcap perhaps, anything will do. Draw a frame around it (The frame can be imaginary), and consider the object in a contemplative, meditative, kind of way-- the way you might look at an optical illusion-- until you see the object as it is, and as it also is. Sit with the object and allow it to reveal itself to you. When the shift occurs, continue looking until you see all that is in the frame with the object-- until the entire cosmos is in the frame with the object. This is called "Seeing things as they are." Look at everything you see in this way. This is called "Seeing."
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04
We live to make peace with our contradictions-- to balance our extremes, to harmonize our excesses and deficiencies, to integrate our polarities, to bear the pain of our conflicts and to walk two paths at the same time. We do that by walking carefully along the way, with one eye on this path, and the other eye on the other path, always conscious of both paths at once, threading the needle between Yin and Yang, and making our home on the edge of the coin. Sometimes we do it this way, and sometimes we do it that way, and we can never be sure which way we will do it next. If people demand consistency of you, hand them a brick, and wink. Live playfully in the service of what the situation calls for, rising to every occasion and doing what needs to be done there-- without worrying about precedent or tradition-- and let the outcome be the outcome and the opening to the next moment where you do the same thing, consistently inconsistent over time, and always in tune with the moment and what is best suited to here and now.
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05
We cannot help how we see things, or what we think about how things are, or how we feel about the present situation anywhere... My current way of thinking about these things is to say it all depends on several contingencies: Where we come from, who we run with, who we admire, who we dislike/detest who we want to please... Change any of these factors, and we don't see the way we see, think the way we think, feel the way we feel... Which is to say that we are very much the product of our environment, no matter how independent and self-directed we think we are. We are where we live, and who we live with, and who we love, and who we want to love us. We want the right people to be happy with us, and thus, our seeing, thinking and feeling. Or we want to irritate/enrage the right people, and thus, our seeing, thinking and feeling. How would we see, think and feel, if we were cut off from all human contact, and lived by ourselves alone? Check it out. Spend a week by yourself, in complete seclusion, solitude, isolation. No movies, no books, no TV no newspapers. Walk on a lonely beach. Camp in the woods. Build a log cabin. See how that impacts how you see, think and feel. Or, you could just observe yourself seeing, thinking, feeling. Ask all of the questions that beg to be asked-- and all of the questions the questions beg to be asked. Investigate your seeing, thinking, feeling. Where does this come from? Why do I see/think/feel this way? Who do I know that would see/think/feel this way? That would be happy-or-upset with me seeing/thinking/feeling this way? Explore! Explore! Explore! Get to the bottom of it! Get to the bottom of you! And see how you see/think/feel about you!
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 