We are missing authenticity. We can't be authentic and play the game of not playing the game. The game of having our way and striving to get it. It is a game of 10,000 moves, and much more intricate than three dimensional chess. It is played against everyone in our field of action, and each of them is playing it against everyone in their field of action, and we all swear we are not playing a game. We are missing authenticity. The authenticity of a Ponderosa Pine, say. Or, everything in the world of nature, say. Everything there is just what it is, "As one thus come," and nothing is pretending to be something else. Wolves in sheep's clothing are not to be found among actual wolves. We cannot be authentic and hide from our motives, or from ourselves. The joke here is on us-- how can we hide from ourselves? That is the deepest kind of denial! The kind that doesn't know itself what it is doing. And it happens all of the time. Did someone say, "Emptiness! Stillness! Silence!"? Amazing! I was just thinking that! Emptiness, stillness and silence are the way to authenticity. We cannot kid ourselves and tune into emptiness, stillness and silence. We kid ourselves best when we are into drugs and alcohol. Emptiness, stillness and silence don't stand a chance against drugs and alcohol. And authenticity doesn't depend on them to get through the day. No wonder that it is the one thing most often missing from our life.
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Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 