jimwdollar

January 10-B, 2023

We cannot come to ourselves without leaving the culture behind. The return to Eden meant death to those entering the Land of Promise. That would be the death Jesus died before his death on the cross– the metaphorical/symbolic death in Gethsemane, with “Thy will, not mine, be done.” We, like Jesus, have to die toContinue reading “January 10-B, 2023”

January 10-A, 2023

Getting/having, going/doing, ignores/discounts/dismisses/disregards what arises spontaneously within in response to what is happening, or needs to happen, in each situation as it arises. Living in response to the moment leaves a lot of time between actions. What needs to happen is usually not quick on the heels of what just happened, but waits for circumstancesContinue reading “January 10-A, 2023”

January 09-B, 2023

The difference between living well and living poorly is easy to attain and impossible to retain. It is a moving, shifting, changing balance point between all of the extremes, created by the fundamental absurdity at the ground of reality: There Is No Steady State Of Being! “All we want is smooth and easy” (Ogi Overman).Continue reading “January 09-B, 2023”

January 09-A, 2023

I don’t care what you believe. When people ask me if I believe in God, I ask them if they believe in gravity and continental drift. It doesn’t matter what we believe about all three, or if we believe anything. That Which Has Always Been Called “God,” gravity and continental drift get along quiet wellContinue reading “January 09-A, 2023”

January 08-B, 2023

What do you need to know? How will that change your life? How will it change your relationship with your life? How will it change your idea of what is important? How will it make you better able to assess what needs to be done and do it when, where and how it needs toContinue reading “January 08-B, 2023”

January 08-A, 2023

Do not try to do anything. You cannot try to be hungry. You cannot try to go to sleep, or stay awake. You cannot try to remember something that is “right there.” But. You can be hungry, go to sleep, stay awake and remember. But #2. The doing is not connected to the trying. WeContinue reading “January 08-A, 2023”

January 07-B, 2023

Marianne Moore said, “The cure for loneliness is solitude.” Ortega y Gasset said, “A bore is someone who fails to provide companionship while robbing you of your solitude.” When I retired, I took a monastic vow of silence and solitude, which means “Nothing social.” With “social” meaning “anything other than family.” The best part isContinue reading “January 07-B, 2023”

January 07-A, 2023

We have each day that is left to us to work with– not to see what we can make happen there but to realize what needs to happen in each one, and to see how we may assist the birth of what needs to be, day by day, until the end of our days. OurContinue reading “January 07-A, 2023”

January 06-C, 2023

There are people in, amongst, around wild places throughout the world who don’t appear to be any better off for it. Nature is everywhere, and the world has been in a mess from the start. Nature has as much to say as it ever has had to say, and who stops to listen? And whatContinue reading “January 06-C, 2023”

January 06-B, 2023

Taoism is not a religion. No gods to please or displease. No theology. No doctrine. No ecclesiastical hierarchy. No organs. No hymnbooks. No Bible studies… But one thing it shares in common with all religions is an utter incompatibility with Capitalism in all forms. The profit motive is the original sin. Adam and Eve wereContinue reading “January 06-B, 2023”

January 06-A, 2023

No one told me the importance of guarding/protecting/shepherding/stewarding our vulnerable/defenseless inner-self. Everyone in my world was swinging away at it, within me and everyone else. Attacking sarcastically any hint of weakness, compassion, empathy, sensitivity and grace. Everybody had to be mean, tough, shrewd, rude, coarse, uncaring and indifferent. I look back on that world andContinue reading “January 06-A, 2023”

January 05-C, 2023

We come with the tools required to do our work: Our original/essential nature, the innate virtues/traits/characteristics that are ours from conception, our perceptions, perspective, judgment, courage, heart/soul, mind/intelligence, art/creativity/imagination, seeing/hearing/understanding/ knowing/doing/being. We lose connections with these aspects of ourselves in the churning chaos of aspiration, ambition, desire, fear, anxiety, jealousy, incentive, intention, aims, purpose, drivesContinue reading “January 05-C, 2023”