Author Archives: jimwdollar

We are always trying to turn thingsto our advantage.And here we are.We are here, now,with things just as they are,because we, as a species,are always trying to turn things to our advantage.Call it “The Profit Motive.”We want what we want,when we want it,where we want it, the way we want it,for as long as weContinue reading “June 29, 2024 – A”

The path unfolds before thosewho start walkingin the service of their intrinsic intuition,with no outcomeor destination in mind.To walk as a devoted partner,not as a way of getting somewhere,is to be mindfully awareof each momentand what is called for thereas the purpose of the journey.This here, this now, is the point!How faithfully do we respondContinue reading “June 28, 2024 – A”

You know what the problem is?We could call it the human problem. We are the problem.We know what we want,but we do not want know what we ought to want.And even if we did,we would not do what we ought to want.Which is to say,we would not do what we ought to do.We would notContinue reading “June 27, 2024 – A”

The Things I don’t know anything aboutwould fill the cosmos,and do.I am the Puer Aeternus,and you may be as well–unless you are female, and then it becomes puella aeterna,the eternal child,innocent of guile and deceit,pure and well-intended,with a gentle heart,and no chance of ever growing up,and sizing things up,and winning the day.But,quite capable of stumblingContinue reading “June 26, 2024 – A”

A raccoon has its businessand it goes about it every dayas best it can.It has preferences but no opinions,no agendas, no greed, no angst…It just deals with what comes upin each situation as it arises,and lets that be that.Every natural thing is that way.Even me and you.But we aspire to be morethan a bird inContinue reading “June 25, 2024 – A”

The Flow seems to consist ofsitting in the right kind of silencewaiting to rise and enter the field of actionto do what needs to be done there,when, where and how it needs to be done,then dropping back into the right kind of silence,waiting to rise and enter the field of action…round after round.Anything that disruptsContinue reading “June 24, 2024 – B”

Life is to be enduredas a series of trials and ordeals,and the quality of the spiritwith which we take what comes the entire length of the path,as though to say,”Is this all there is?I thought there would be more to it!”And the last trial to be enduredis the ease with which we let gowhen itContinue reading “June 24, 2024 – A”

Just a photograph of an expanse of sunlight,trees and grass,waiting for a downpouror a hurricane (I hear they are coming)to transform instantly into a lake/river/inland sea,forcing the animals who live here to find high ground.Charlotte/Meklenburg County is great for its green spaces,connecting and running through the city/county.I’ve seen small herds of deer,occasional wild turkey, coyotes,andContinue reading “June 23, 2024 – B”

Trying to effect outcomes–rather than striving to do what is called forin each situation as it arises,and letting the outcome be the outcomeno matter what it may be–is the single most efficient wayto screw up everything ever devised.You could talk to Adam and Eve about that.

Life itself is the burden,the agony,the trauma,the torment,the affliction,the pain…Why should we have to livewith Donald Trumpand the Trump-Ettes,and the Trump MAGA Billionaires,and their mirror imagesaround the world,Putin in Russia,Xi Jinping in China,Kim Jong Un in North Korea,Benjamin Netanyahu in Israeland all the others everywhere???It is an unending line of viscous hatred, rancor, bitternessand greedthatContinue reading “June 22, 2024 – B”

The Tao,the Dharma,and our Intuitionare all as onewhen it comes to declaringthat it comes down todoing the right thing,at the right time,in the right way,in the right place–for the joy of doing itand the satisfaction of having done it.And, beyond that,there is nothing in it for us.So, why would we do it?Because that is whatContinue reading “June 22, 2024 – A”

The amount of noise in our lifeis the degree of distraction in our life,is the measure of the amount of life in our life.The noisier we livethe less alive we are.Our life is one distraction/diversionafter another.And we hate silencebecause we don’t know what to do with it.And we have to have something to doto takeContinue reading “June 21, 2024 – B”