jimwdollar

February 26-B, 2023

If we keep looking at what we see, it will become “transparent to transcendence” (Joseph Campbell). Before we get to that point, everything we see is a projective device, like a Rorschach inkblot, reflecting our own expectations/ideas/opinions/etc. back to us, showing us who is looking as we talk about/express what we see. We see ourselvesContinue reading “February 26-B, 2023”

February 26-A, 2023

The foundation of photography and of life is the same for both: Keep showing up! Keep going back through all the seasons. Squeeze the good/mine the gold from every scene. And keep looking for scenes. Arthritic knees make getting there iffy these days, but I still look for scenes, walking through the neighborhood, sitting inContinue reading “February 26-A, 2023”

February 25-B, 2023

A couple of Canadian physicians, writing about “A Philosophy of Health,” define health as “ease of functioning.” Healthy is how easily we do what we do. What we do to maintain our ease of functioning is our philosophy of health. What we trade ease of functioning for is where our philosophy of health, conflicts withContinue reading “February 25-B, 2023”

February 25-A, 2023

We all would like to be better off but we lack clarity, certainty, conviction, courage, and settling for where we are seems to be as safe a bet as striking off in any direction on the hunch/hope things will be better there if we can get there. We need better information. Reliable information. Trustworthy information.Continue reading “February 25-A, 2023”

February 24-B, 2023

Marianne Moore said, “The cure for loneliness is solitude.” Solitude opens the door to an inner mélangerie of helpers, guides, advisors and invisible friends. Something is always arising, appearing, emerging, “out of thin air,” “out of the blue,” “from nowhere,” at exactly the right time in exactly the right way to lead us into aContinue reading “February 24-B, 2023”

February 24-A, 2023

Jesus is a metaphor for a fully grown human being– for who we all are built to be. Eden is not about sin, it is about seeing. Gethsemane is about dying. We live between Eden and Gethsemane. Seeing is a metaphor in that we see with “the eyes of the heart.” Dying is a metaphorContinue reading “February 24-A, 2023”

February 23-B, 2023

One of the things I would change about my life is the quality of the preparation I had for living my life. They taught me how to tie my shoes. Pretty much period. Not a word about the importance of curiosity and the value of questions, and what separates good questions from bad ones (TheyContinue reading “February 23-B, 2023”

February 23-A, 2023

If we feel like we are nobody, we have to prove that we are somebody, by pushing somebody around who we think can’t push back. Vladimir Putin comes to mind in this regard. A little man who becomes smaller by trying to look larger. There is no limit to the amount of damage he canContinue reading “February 23-A, 2023”

February 22-B, 2023

This is where we live, and how we live there. The background of this scene, and several more like it, is my interpretation of scenes in the Namib Desert in Africa. The foreground is my interpretation of The Gateless Gate, and represents the flip in perspective that enables us to see beyond what we lookContinue reading “February 22-B, 2023”

February 22-A, 2023

The Middle Way is preferred by all of the spiritual systems I know about. The lesson of the Greek myth about Daedalus and Icarus is, “Don’t let your inflations get you down!” Balancing our highs and lows is the true work of ego in minding the emotional flow and keeping it within the normal andContinue reading “February 22-A, 2023”

February 21-B, 2023

Fascist-Republicans are desperate for fast solutions that do not exist. They want to believe that walls, and guns, and getting everyone to be just like they are will make them safe. They are fanatically insecure, afraid of every future that is not exactly like the past which was 1950 wonderful to their way of thinking.Continue reading “February 21-B, 2023”

February 21-A, 2023

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 eachContinue reading “February 21-A, 2023”