“The outcome is not the outcome.” There is no point at which “the outcome” can be officially declared. Outcomes spin out and on forever like the circles created by a rock thrown into a still pond. There are no final outcomes–they just keep coming.
The old Taoists said, “Circumstances begetting circumstances is all there is.” Outcomes produce circumstances producing more outcomes and more circumstances forever. Why take anything personally, as the final word about anything? We maintain our balance and harmony by finding the right ratio here, now, between too close and too distant, between caring too much and caring too little. The dance of life and being.
Seeing requires no attachment, no judgement, no evaluation. It is all tentative, temporary. This is the way are for now and things are always changing. How can we keep score? When we respond emotionally to what is now. When we see with eyes that see, we also see our seeing, which changes how we look and what we see.
Our practice is seeing what we look at which includes how we look at what we see, and knowing what is called for here, now with our intrinsic, habitual, intuition–and following that with more of the same forever. Keeping troth with ourselves, our art through “circumstances begetting circumstances” forever. Doing “our thing” in ways appropriate to the occasion throughout time.
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 