01
We need a base, anchoring us, providing stability, balance and harmony amid the upheavals and uncertainty of social and political unrest. Where do you go in time of trouble? The right kind of emptiness (Like the emptiness between breaths), stillness and silence do it for me. I close myself off from the noise, complexity and drama, and return to the Source, which I picture as an inlet with a solid rock beach, and as I look out at an infinite expanse of water, there is a rocky cliff about twenty feet high rising from the rock beach. It is night, but dimly lit, and small waves are lapping at my feet. I know the water is deep, and I am completely safe there, welcome, protected, at peace, at home. Simply by waiting, I am grounded in confident assurance that I can find what I need to do what is needed in each situation as it arises by listening in the emptiness, stillness and silence for the knowing that guides action beyond thinking and understanding. I'm able to relax in that knowledge and wait for the flow of circumstances to call forth the action that is appropriate to the occasion, trusting myself to have what it takes to do what is necessary when the time is right. In the meantime, I can enjoy the peace of being grounded/anchored beyond the purview of the clashing rocks and heaving waves of the wind dark sea in the other world of normal, apparent, reality.
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02
"The Way" people are always talking about is the way we go about being alive, our way of life. How we do that makes all the difference. The best way to do that is with our eyes open. With awareness. Knowing what's what and what needs to be done about it in light of what. In light of what do we live? What directs us through our life? What guides our boat on its path through the sea? What do we mean by the way we live our life? What do we intend? What are we trying to do? Who says that is worth doing? How do we know we are not wasting our time? Chasing wild geese? Barking up the wrong tree? How do we know that what we say is important is important? How do we evaluate our values? How good is the good we call good? Good for whom? Good for what? What is our idea of the highest good? Getting to the bottom of us is the only trip worth taking. We get there by asking all of the questions that beg to be asked, and saying all of the things that cry out to be said, and not taking anybody's word for anything. We only know what we experience after we have thoroughly examined the experience. Fifty years of experience isn't the same as one year of experience repeated fifty times.
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03
Knowing what to do/what needs to be done is different from thinking/guessing/hoping/wishing/praying/... When you know it's time for a nap, it's time for a nap. When you know it's lemon ice box pie and not a doughnut, you know it and nobody can talk you out of it. Knowing what is called for in a situation is knowing what is called for. This kind of knowing flows from experience/intuition/instinct/seeing/hearing/understanding/... From being Here/Now in the fullest sense of the term. From being Here/Now, awake to Here/Now, aware of Here/Now, fully present Here/Now... Knowing what the moment calls for in each situation as it arises and doing what needs to be done there, the when and how it needs to be done-- doing the right thing, at the right time, in the right place, in the right way-- is to be aligned with the Tao and at one with the flow of time and place. This kind of knowing comes from being present-without-purpose (beyond being present), with no interests to serve (beyond seeing/doing what needs to be done) with no agenda/plan/opinion/desire/fear/etc. leading the way, "just being there" to do what needs to be done there, watching/looking/seeing/hearing/... waiting for the right action to come forth spontaneously in response to "the great flow of circumstances," to surprise even ourselves with its appropriateness and its precision. This kind of knowing springs from getting out of the way of The Way and being at one with The Way. The Way things need to be done Here/Now. If you are going to practice anything, practice that in each situation as it arises, until it becomes as natural as breathing, moment by moment, day by day.
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Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 