Author Archives: jimwdollar

What guides our boat on its path through the sea? What idea of how things ought to be do we live to impose upon each situation as it arises? How do we know that is how things ought to be? How does how we want things to be impact our actions in each situation asContinue reading “June 22, 2023 – A”

Being right about “Yes” and “No” is the most important thing to be right about. We can’t go by what someone else says. It is our own call all the way. We can only trust ourselves to know what we are talking about when we have more than a casual acquaintance with emptiness, stillness andContinue reading “June 21, 2023 – A”

“We are all One, but not the same One.” I wish I remembered who said that. We are one in our individuality, in our personal identity, which is as different for each of us as our fingerprints or the cones in our iris. Different in our sameness. The same in our different-ness. Seeing the sameContinue reading “June 20, 2023 – B”

It starts with “Yes” and “No,” and being right about when to say what, and flows from there through all of the circumstances of life to form a reliable identity and establish our individuality, shaped by our original nature and the innate virtues/specialties that are with us, and are us, from birth. When Jesus said,Continue reading “June 20, 2023 – A”

We have to develop our own eyes! We cannot allow anyone else to do our seeing for us! Yet, how many of us “see” with other people’s eyes?! The entire thrust of Christianity– and all other religion– is to talk us into allowing “those who know best” to do our seeing and our thinking forContinue reading “June 19, 2023 – B”

Fraser Snowden said, “The only true philosophical question is ‘Where do you draw the line?’ It is a bigger question than that. Knowing where we draw the line, and drawing it, is owning our own “Yes” and “No.” When we own our “Yes” and “No,” and draw lines commensurate with our decision, we are establishingContinue reading “June 19, 2023 – A”

Jason Garret, when he was coaching the Dallas Cowboys, said, “It comes down to this: Handle the success of the game and keep playing. Handle the adversity of the game and keep playing.” He was saying, “Deal with it and go on. Without making a big deal of it.” The old Buddhists thought Dharma cameContinue reading “June 18, 2023 – B”

Step into any theological/doctrinal/dogmatic debate with only one question and you will be the last one standing when all the others have left the room. “Who says so?” Is all you need ask, and keep asking. “The Bible says…” “Who says the Bible knows what it is talking about?” “All of Christendom throughout the ages!”Continue reading “June 18, 2023 – A”

There is on the path and there is off the path. There is seeing what we look at and there is not seeing anything at all. There is knowing what we know and doing what needs to be done about it and there is diversion, distraction, denial. Also known as entertainment and letting the goodContinue reading “June 17, 2023 -A”

Our psyche seems to be the source of all things. It is the invisible world that serves as the foundation of the visible world. We have access to both worlds, live in two worlds at the same time, and project/imagine the psyche to be a world apart, heaven, where God and the angels, and allContinue reading “June 16, 2023 -A”

Looking back, I see that all of my yes’s and no’s were spot-on. Even when I said yes to something I should have said no to, and no to something that should have been yes, they were exactly proper and fitting for what they led to and what happened next. For instance, I said yesContinue reading “June 15, 2023 – B”

We walk through our days looking for what catches our eye, calls our name, invites us to tag along for a trip through wonderland. We seek that which moves us and fills us with a sense of vitality and enthusiasm, life and purpose, so that we live in its service with filial devotion and liegeContinue reading “June 15, 2023 -A”