jimwdollar

November 20-A, 2022

Happiness is a function of freedom, but, freedom is not freedom to do whatever we want. It is the freedom to do whatever needs to be done with our original nature and our innate character. Knowing and doing what needs to be done with the gifts we have to work with is the key toContinue reading “November 20-A, 2022”

November 19-A, 2022

Adjustment and compromise, Kid. Adjustment and compromise. It is the way. Noise, complexity, drama are always right there disturbing the flow, disrupting the groove, interfering with our ability to see, hear, know, do what needs to be done here/now. Doing what needs to be done here/now is the only thing that needs to be done.Continue reading “November 19-A, 2022”

November 18-B, 2022

Ease of functioning is what I want. Just give me that, and get out of my way. I don’t know why it is so hard. Everything about it is hard. It is hard being me. You know what I’m talking about as it pertains to you. It is not easy being you. Why not? WhyContinue reading “November 18-B, 2022”

November 18-A, 2022

All roads/paths lead to the light. What does thinking about what you think about keep you from thinking about? What are you afraid to think about? What do you hate to think about? What do you refuse to think about? Our thinking is a barrier to our experiencing. A restriction to our development. Locking usContinue reading “November 18-A, 2022”

November 17-C, 2022

It is traditionally held that Confucius died in 479 BCE. Some years after he retired from government service, he said, “Nowadays, no one is interested in hearing about virtue and harmony. In our society, people place more importance on business advantage than on friendship. Relationships have become shallow, and everyone is bending to social andContinue reading “November 17-C, 2022”

November 17-B, 2022

I’m looking to see what happens, and what I do about it, and what I can find to do that either needs to be done or is meaningful. In this, I feel like I am pretty much within the normal distribution curve of human beings on the planet from the beginning, and probably of allContinue reading “November 17-B, 2022”

November 17-A, 2022

We are not free to will what we want. Or to will what we will. Or to will what we ought to will. So much for freedom of the will. We will the things we have no business wanting, much less willing, much less having. And we are bound to will those things. We can’tContinue reading “November 17-A, 2022”

November 16-A, 2022

We are not here to get anything out of being here. The profit motive is the original sin. Getting, having, amassing, owning, possessing, fencing in, locking up, storing away get in the way. In the way of The Way. The Way is all there is. Babies have it, toddlers know it, then comes wanting, getting,Continue reading “November 16-A, 2022”

November 15-B, 2022

Spontaneity is an astounding guide. Who/what is responsible for our spontaneous responses to our circumstances? We find ourselves saying/doing things we do not think about saying/doing. Where does that come from? I say from the heart, or from the source of knowing, the Tao itself. But, what do we mean by “heart”? Or “the Tao”?Continue reading “November 15-B, 2022”

November 15-A, 2022

Everything depends upon our squaring ourselves up with our sitz im leben, our “setting in life,” the context and circumstances of our existence, day-to-day, moment-to-moment, in a “Here we are, now what?” kind of way. This is it! What are we going to do about it? What is called for? What is required? What isContinue reading “November 15-A, 2022”

November 14-B, 2022

The perennial task of life is to reconcile ourselves to our circumstances in a “This is the way things are, and this is what I can do about it, and that’s that” kind of way– without expectations, opinions, judgment, emotional reactivity, followed by: “Now what can I do about being unable to do any moreContinue reading “November 14-B, 2022”

November 14-A, 2022

To live the truth we have to be able to live a lie. To be true to ourselves we have to violate all of the standards that hold life together. Maybe walking off into Galilee, and maybe bearing the pain of a marriage to a man no one could live with for the sake ofContinue reading “November 14-A, 2022”