No one is here but us and our idea of what's important and how we serve that idea in the time left for living. The clearer we are about our idea of what is important, and the closer to right our idea is the better it will be for everyone. We owe it to ourselves and to one another to be clear about what we think matters most, and to be right about that. Examination, exploration, reflection, inquiry, inspection, scrutiny regarding the validity and value of what we declare to be important to the point of being worth our fealty, allegiance, devotion and duty is critical to our being clear and right about what we say is so. Where does our idea of The Good come from? What makes us think we are right about it? Who says so besides us? What evidence is there to support us? What evidence is there to the contrary? Who do we trust to know more than we do in the matter? What suggests to us that they are trustworthy? How do we know that what we say is so is so? And, if you say you "take it on faith," you are merely taking your opinion that it is so on faith. You are not doing the work of knowing it is so. You are being lazy and faithless, claiming to be faithful. You are lying to yourself and all others. Get off your duff and do the work! Dig around in what you say is so! Expose it to the light! Do not take someone else's word for it! Find out for yourself if it is as important as you say it is! Hold nothing back! Poke! Probe! Analyze! Vet! Nothing is more important than being clear and right about what is important! Take up the quest, and do not stop until you know!
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Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 