Finding our way to The Way one situation at a time. I don't know how great it will be, but I expect it will be interesting, and I look forward to it going on past all reason because wonder is just that way. Are you coming or not?
Morant’s Curve 09-19-2009 — Bow River, Canadian Rockies, Banff National Park, Alberta
If you looked at things differently, you would change your mind about everything.
How do you know that the way you look at things is the right way to look at things?
How often do you look at the way you look at things? Evaluate the way you see things? Examine the way you think about things? Wonder why you see things as you do? See if there might be a better way to consider what you look at?
How do you know you aren't wrong about the way you see what you look at and think things are?
Enlightenment is just a simple shift in perspective away.
I'm retired, and still finding my way--but now, I don't have to pretend that I know what I'm doing.
I retired after 40.5 years as a minister in the Presbyterian Church USA, serving churches in Louisiana, Mississippi and North Carolina. I graduated from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, in Austin, Texas, and Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana. My wife, Judy, and I have three daughters, five granddaughters, one great granddaughter, and a great grandson on the way, within about ten minutes from where we live--and are enjoying our retirement as much as we have ever enjoyed anything.
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5 thoughts on “December 04, 2023 – A”
To be absent as an ego, free from the conditioned memories of the whole ‘learned’ past, while looking- open and ready to receive the truth- is the way to really see with fresh eyes, whatever ‘is’.
This is the simple change in perspective- perhaps very difficult in the beginning, for a mind that is used to always interfering in its ‘looking’. But once it is understood clearly, it begins to get relatively easier?
I take “ego” to be “perspective/perception,” with everything perceived from the “ego’s” point of view, interpreted from the “ego’s” point of view, so that what anything “means” is what it means to that particular, individual, “ego,” and that apart from our “ego” we are described well by William Blake (In The Marriage of Heaven and Hell) when he said, “If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro’ narrow chinks of his cavern.” I would paraphrase this to: “Sees all things through his ego.”
As we bounce things off of each other, each of us articulates what we have to say, and in so doing, clarifies our own perception of what we are thinking/have to say, and see more than we ever would on our own, cut off from the “community,” of two or three, or however many is in the conversation, which is the true value, to me, of community which is, to my way of thinking, a group held together, not by a creed, but by an on-going conversation, which deepens, expands, enlarges our understanding of ourselves and each other and our awareness of what’s what generally.
Absolutely right Jim, I agree with you wholeheartedly! I hope we can help each other ‘see’ and understand everything more clearly. Mutually sharing our perspectives and learning about what others ‘see’, could certainly help expanding each of our own perspectives, to see the whole truth, including things which we may have missed on our own. I really appreciate that you are always so open, willing and generous, in sharing your views with us!
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 
To be absent as an ego, free from the conditioned memories of the whole ‘learned’ past, while looking- open and ready to receive the truth- is the way to really see with fresh eyes, whatever ‘is’.
This is the simple change in perspective- perhaps very difficult in the beginning, for a mind that is used to always interfering in its ‘looking’. But once it is understood clearly, it begins to get relatively easier?
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I take “ego” to be “perspective/perception,” with everything perceived from the “ego’s” point of view, interpreted from the “ego’s” point of view, so that what anything “means” is what it means to that particular, individual, “ego,” and that apart from our “ego” we are described well by William Blake (In The Marriage of Heaven and Hell) when he said, “If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro’ narrow chinks of his cavern.” I would paraphrase this to: “Sees all things through his ego.”
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Beautiful quote, and so true!
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As we bounce things off of each other, each of us articulates what we have to say, and in so doing, clarifies our own perception of what we are thinking/have to say, and see more than we ever would on our own, cut off from the “community,” of two or three, or however many is in the conversation, which is the true value, to me, of community which is, to my way of thinking, a group held together, not by a creed, but by an on-going conversation, which deepens, expands, enlarges our understanding of ourselves and each other and our awareness of what’s what generally.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Absolutely right Jim, I agree with you wholeheartedly! I hope we can help each other ‘see’ and understand everything more clearly. Mutually sharing our perspectives and learning about what others ‘see’, could certainly help expanding each of our own perspectives, to see the whole truth, including things which we may have missed on our own. I really appreciate that you are always so open, willing and generous, in sharing your views with us!
LikeLiked by 1 person