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?
Conservation Road — DuPont State Forest, Brevard, North Carolina
Marianne Moore said, "The cure for loneliness is solitude." Perspective shifts transform everything. Everyone thinks the way they see things is the way things are. Which makes magicians of us all. Just by changing the way we see things changes the way things are. The way we think becomes the magic wand disappearing moods and bringing amazing wonders into being. Flipping the switch was the discovery the old Taoists made for transforming their lives.
What we say. The words we use. Enflame emotions. Create realities. Produce "facts" that are no more factual than leprechauns and unicorns, but everyone believes are so because everyone believes are so. And so we have religions throughout history that are no more because they never were. Repeating lies produce what they pronounce. So be sure to be aware of what you say, and be sure to inquire, "Who says so?" and "What makes them think that what they say is so?" of everything you hear, including everything you hear yourself saying/thinking.
The ground of depression, paranoia, euphoria, etc. is nothing more than thoughts about thoughts fueled by imagination and speculation, presumption and assumption. Getting to the bottom of things changes things. No?
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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Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 