Finding our way to The Way one situation at a time. I don't know how great it will be, but I expect it will be interesting, and I look forward to it going on past all reason because wonder is just that way. Are you coming or not?
Lake Andrew Jackson 09/21/2007 08-Detail Oil Paint Rendered — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina
Our conditions and circumstances
fluctuate according to the times,
which are always changing,
so we have to be fluid and flexible
in order to respond appropriately
to each occasion as it arises.
What is important changes with the times,
and we have to change with them
in order to maintain our balance and harmony,
upon "the heaving waves of the wine-dark sea,"
in a "Then we did it like that,
and now we do it like this," kind of way.
It is incumbent upon us to develop
our ability to flow with the movement of the moment,
and not insist that things meet our expectations
and desires.
We have no reason to think that things
should be different than they are.
What do we need to do to respond appropriately
to the situation that is developing as we watch?
Our role is to do what needs to be done,
and figure that out as we go along,
hoping for enough stability
to allow us to catch our breath.
Black Birch B 01/20/2012 Oil Paint Rendered — Blue Ridge Parkway, Rocky Knob, Virginia
Happiness is a function of freedom.
But.
Freedom is not freedom to do
whatever we want,
but freedom to do
what needs to be done,
where, when, and how
it needs to be done.
Knowing and doing
what needs to be done
is the key to happiness,
when it is done
for the joy of doing it
and the satisfaction
of having done it.
This gets us to
the heart of the matter:
What do we stand to gain?
What do we stand to lose?
By doing what we do--
where, when and how we do it?
And this gets us
to the heart
of the heart of the matter:
What is important?
What matters most?
For what do we live?
What is guiding our boat
on its path through the sea?
What are we trying to gain?
What are we trying to keep from losing?
What is our foundational motivation?
What are we living to serve with our life?
Our fealty,
liege loyalty,
filial devotion,
are to what?
Be right about what that is--
and be right about it being worthy of us--
and we have it made.
The freedom to do that,
when, where and how it needs to be done,
is the source of happiness everlasting.
Sharp Top Reflection 05/25/2012 Oil Paint Rendered — Abbot Lake, Peaks of Otter, Blue Ridge Parkway, Bedford, Virginia
The way to get what you want
is to not want very much
and to be happy with what you have.
Unending wants conflict with one another,
off-set one another,
cancel each other out.
We cannot have this that we want
because it rules out that
which we also want,
and we set up an endless cycle
of wanting opposing wanting.
We can have more of what we want
by wanting less,
and being very happy
with the things we really want,
letting the rest of it go.
For this to work,
we have to be self-transparent.
The more self-transparently we live,
the more transparent to transcendence
we become,
so that the light of immortality
shines through us into the world,
and everyone is blessed
by our wanting very little
and having a lot
of the things we truly want--
and knowing where/when to stop wanting
and simply enjoy what we have.
This generates vitality,
light
and peace,
and the world comes alive
with the sound of satisfaction
and good will,
simply because we knew when/where to stop wanting
and start enjoying what we have.
We thus become a blessing and a grace
upon all who come our way,
simply by letting go of all the things
we have no business having.
Little Deer 09/08/2011 Oil Paint Rendered — Stone Mountain State Park, North Carolina
Making the best of it
means asking "How can I do better
with what I have to work with
and with what needs to be done?"
We have to know what needs to be done,
and we have to know what we have to work with.
We can be wrong about what needs to be done.
It helps if we are able to asses that correctly.
Fear, anger and desire
cloud the window
and make it difficult to discern
what is on the other side.
We have to be able to take refuge
in emptiness, stillness and silence.
Clarity is found
in being empty, still and silent.
To be there,
we have to reduce the amount
of noise and complexity in our life
and within our own mind.
Breathe in...
Breathe out...
Count to five in sync with our heart beat...
Breathe in...
Breathe out...
Count to five...
Helps transition us
from noise and complexity
to emptiness, stillness and silence.
Where we can consider our situation
apart from fear, anger, desire, etc.
Seeking clarity.
Seeking what needs to be done...
And we have to know what we have to work with.
Our primary resources are our original nature
and our innate virtues built into our DNA--
who we are.
We meet our life anchored in who we are.
Our secondary resources are our stability,
our balance and our harmony.
What are our sources of stability, balance and harmony?
What are the sources of instability, imbalance, disharmony?
We seek to increase the former
and to decrease the latter.
What are our refuges of stability, balance and harmony?
In whose company do we feel better?
In whose company do we feel worse?
Where do we turn when we have nowhere to turn?
That is our rock and our foundation!
Go there!
Spend time with that!
Out of these resources
we take up the work
of seeing and doing what needs to be done.
Making the best of it
by doing the best we can
with what we have to work with
and with what needs to be done.
And follow the words of the sage,
"Do your work,
and let nature take its course."
And let that be that.
Until it is time to do the next thing
that needs to be done.
Then repeat this process
throughout the time left for living.
Lake Crandal Fall 11/03/2017 Oil Paint Rendered — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Fort Mill, South Carolina
Since we control neither life nor death,
we should make the best of things as they are,
and give ourselves fully
to the time left for living.
Being what the times call for
and doing what is needed
is a good way to live our life.
What would we gain by not doing that?
What would we lose by doing that?
Live to see what is happening,
to know what's what
and what is called for in response
in each situation as it arises.
Do it,
and then live to see what happens
in response to that,
and what is called for there,
and do that...
And so on throughout the time left for living.
If you have a better idea,
live in its service
all the days of your life,
and may they be days well spent upon the earth!
Reeds at Abbot Lake 05/25/2012 Oil Paint Rendered — Peaks of Otter, Blue Ridge Parkway, Bedford, Virginia
We cannot be in this moment here/now
and be thinking about,
engaged with,
in,
some other moment,
past or future.
To be here/now
is to be here/now.
Period.
Empty of everything
but what is happening here/now.
How often are you ever there?
For how long?
How long can you be here/now?
Before shifting over
to some other place to be?
This moment has to be the only moment
if we are going to offer here
what the moment needs from us.
We cannot do that absent-mindedly.
We cannot be somewhere else
and do here what needs to be done,
when, where, and how it needs to be done.
Do you want your dentist to fill a cavity
while watching TV?
It takes practice
to be still, silent, and empty
in order to be here/now,
present, open, aware of
what is happening
and what needs to be done about it,
moment by moment,
in each situation as it arises.
What is the nature of your practice?
How often do you practice?
For how long?
Footbridge 02 09/27/2011 Oil Paint Rendered — Peaks of Otter, Blue Ridge Parkway, Bedford Virginia
The freedom to do what needs to be done
establishes individuals
in the right to their own perceptions
and convictions
by making the individual
the responsible party
answering the question,
"Who says so?"
Who says what is right in each situation
as it arises?
"I DO!", shouts everybody participating
in the situation.
And, there is a catch.
They all have to be right about it.
But, there is a qualification to the catch:
There is no penalty for being wrong.
The only stipulation
is that each individual in the situation
has to use the experience gleaned from the situation
in being right about the next situation.
We are all growing up here,
one situation at a time,
in the work to be right about what is called for
and needs to be done
in each situation as it arises.
It is crucial that each individual
lives with integrity and sincerity,
transparent to themselves,
situation by situation
all their life long.
Cheating, pretending, lying,
collapses the social contract
among all people
at every point
in their life together,
and creates complexity,
noise,
confusion and chaios
where cooperation and collaboration
should be.
We all bear the burden
of being sincere and transparent--
primarily to ourselves--
in all of our dealings with one another.
Deceit, deception and duplicity
destroy the bonds of society
and throw everything into
the "might makes right,"
and "everybody for themselves,"
scramble for personal gain
at everyone else's expense,
ending all hope for the mutual
care and concern
that is the foundation
of the human experiment,
and throws us into a situation
in which everyone
has to look out for themselves
instead of one in which everyone
has to be responsible for themselves.
Mutual responsibility
to oneself
and one's peers
has to be the familial responsibility
borne equally by every family
in every generation.
Where that is absent,
we have what we have,
with no one to blame
but ourselves.
The Cypress Pond 01-B 11/04/1999 Oil Paint Rendered — Down East, North Carolina
There are four classic texts of Taoism:
The Lao-tzu (AKA The Tao Te Ching),
The Chuang-tzu,
The Wen-tzu,
and the Lieh-tzu.
These were all put together between
500 BCE and 400 CE.
Somewhere within that period,
the following was attributed to Lieh-tzu:
"The sage Wen-tzu said,
'Someone who knows how to withdraw
when his work is finished
is one who understands the way of heaven.
He has no quarrel with the world,
and whatever he does follows
the natural order of things.
'Therefore, the enlightened person
does not need eyes to see the Way.
This is because the Way cannot be
grasped with your senses and thoughts.
'Look for it in front
and it will sneak behind you.
Seek it with good intentions
and it is everywhere.
'If you are insincere,
it will never reveal itself.
'Is something that you cannot
use your intellect to attain,
and if you are not serious,
it will also escape you.
'Only in naturalness can the Way
be attained.
'And after you have attained it,
only in naturalness can it be kept.
'Knowing the truth of things
and yet not clutching to the truth,
knowing how to act
and not using effort to do it,
is the mark of a sage.
'If you pretend to know
or not to know,
pretend to do
or not to do,
you are just like a pile of dirt.
It sits there doing nothing.
And it is also worth nothing.'"
(Quoted from "The Lieh-Tzu" by Eva Wong).
From 400 BCE.
Penobscot Bay Sunset 02 10/14/2009 Oil Paint Rendered — Deer Isle, Maine
Freedom is not the freedom
to do as we please,
but the freedom to do what needs to be done,
moment to moment
in each situation as it arises.
Will we be in bondage to our desires,
bound to do what pleases us?
Or, will we be in bondage to what needs to be done?
Can we live so that doing what needs to be done
is what pleases us the most?
Freedom is the freedom to choose
to what we will owe fealty,
liege loyalty,
filial devotion,
life-long service and duty.
The freedom to do what needs to be done
binds us to a strict regimen
of seeing/hearing/knowing/doing
what needs to be done,
moment to moment,
day by day,
all our life long.
Nothing is more necessary and essential
than this in all of the 10,000 things.
Hanging Rock Vista F 11/03/2011 Oil Paint Rendered — Hanging Rock State Park, Danbury, North Carolina
Changing our mind
is about being aware of our mind.
Seeing our mind.
Knowing our mind.
Being mindful of our mind.
Having our way has to go.
We have to change our mind
about the importance
of having our way.
We cannot change our mind
without being aware of our mind,
of our way,
of having to have our way,
no matter what,
in a "Damn the shoreline!
Full speed ahead!" kind of way.
Canyon Mist 09/29/1999 Oil Paint Rendered — The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
It is crazy to have a will
that is at cross-purposes
with the way things are.
Willing what cannot be willed,
and being pissed about it
not coming to fruition,
is crazy.
We walk amid crazy people every day.
Blaming someone else for their difficulties.
Getting drunk at night
because things are the way they are
and not the way they want/will them to be.
The world needs to square itself up
with the world.
"If it don't fit, don't force it,
just relax and let it go.
Just 'cause you want it
doesn't mean it will be so."
Rodeos, rainbows,
and a blue tick named Bob,
are as close as we are likely to get
to the world as we want it to be.
And some of us don't want that.
Nothing is wrong with any of us
that growing up some more again
won't fix.
And changing our mind
about what's important
will top everything off
with a bright cherry riding
a dollop of whipped cream.
Footbridge 08/28/2012 Oil Paint Rendered — Peaks of Otter, Blue Ridge Parkway, Bedford, Virginia
Numen,
Numinous,
Ineffable,
Sublime,
Mana,
Brahman,
Atman,
Kami,
Wonder,
Awe...
These are words
for more than words can say.
Heinrich Zimmer said,
"The best things cannot be said,
the second-best things are misunderstood
(Because they are attempts to explain/say
what cannot be said),
and the third-best things
are what we are left to talk about
(News, weather, sports, commentary/opinion, gossip)."
Our solemn duty
is to place ourselves in the presence/company
of the terms at the top of the page,
and have the experience
of "that which cannot be told"
in a regular and recurring way.
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 