Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

December 03, 2020

Waiting for Breakfast 05/012019 — Bluff Lake, Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge, Oktibbeha County,
Starkville, Mississippi

The Dalai Lama, speaking about the Chinese occupation of Tibet, said:

“If, in any situation, there is no solution, there is no point in being anxious. If the forces at work have their own momentum, and what’s going on now is the product of what went before, and if this generation is not in control of all those forces, then this process will continue.”

Some things have to play themselves out.

A lynch mob, for instance,
is not going to be talked out
of doing what it came to do.

Force is the only valid form of persuasion
in situations like that.
And "if this generation"
lacks the wherewithal to force compliance
with the rules of decency and order,
"this process will continue."

And China remains,
after all these years,
in control of Tibet.

We can wring our hands
and wail,
"Why doesn't anyone DO SOMETHING?"
but the "process will continue"
until it plays itself out,
or something shifts in the situation.

The Republicans in Congress
are the force
that would put the country
back on track.
But, they demur.
Look away.
Feign shock and consternation.

They disappear.
And become Trump's invisible means of support
in the attack on democracy
and the foundations of government.

Without the force to compel compliance
with customary norms and standards
of behavior,
the country is swept by the current
of the times
into the clashing rocks
and heaving waves
of the wine-dark sea.

And as it is with Tibet,
so it will be with the USA,
without a miraculous intervention
to disrupt "the process."

–0–

**Angel Oak 11/14/2013 Black and White — Angel Oak Park, Johns Island, South Carolina**

This tree is doing all it can--
doing its best--
doing all it knows to do--
with the resources at its disposal
and the gifts that came with it
from the acorn
all those years ago,
without wondering what's in it for it,
or thinking it isn't good enough,
or that it is something really special,
or wishing it were a school bus,
or a diesel locomotive,
or...

This tree is,
as all trees are,
just what it is:
A tree thus come.

Where it is,
when it is,
how it is,
for as long as it is,
as a blessing and a grace
upon all who come its way,
without striving to be more than it is,
or something it is not.

Trees know where to draw the line.

They know the difference between
trusting their luck,
and pushing there luck,
and live to see what they can do
with what they have to work with
in the time and place of their living.

And they exhibit their original nature
in everything they do.

And are content to sincerely be who they are,
with balance and harmony,
through all the days of their life.

–0–

**Grayson Highlands Oil Paint Rendering — Grayson Highlands State Park, Mouth of Wilson. Virginia**

Each one of us 
is an embodiment 
of The Mystery
at the heart
of life and being.

And it is our place--
our role,
our duty and responsibility--
to consciously,
mindfully,
intentionally and willfully,
incarnate The Mystery
that is who we are.

When Jesus said 
"The Father and I are one,"
and when he prayed,
"And may they all be one,
even as we are one, Father,
just as you are in me 
and I am in you,
may they also be in us,"
he is talking to The Mystery,
calling it "Father,"
as it is, indeed,
the Source of life and being
throughout the cosmos.

We all carry within us The Mystery,
the Father,
and are called to exemplify
the truth at the heart of who we are
in everything we say and do.

Jesus and the Buddha did that very well.
So did Eleanor Roosevelt and Helen Keller.
As are Dolly Parton and Taylor Swift.

Beautiful works of art, every one!

And it is our place to join them
as vehicles of, for and to The Mystery
in the time left for living.

How well we do that determines
the extent to which 
we transform the world
by living in each moment
as conscious,
mindful,
intentional,
willful
extensions of The Mystery
in the times and places of our living,
moment-by-moment,
situation-by-situation,
by seeing what is called for
and responding in ways fitting to the occasion
with the gifts that are ours to share,
sincerely and without contrivance, 
and nothing at stake in the outcome,
all our life long.

December 02, 2020

**Om Mani 05 — From my Symbols of Transformation Collection**

Joseph Campbell emphasizes the importance
of creating a sacred space
as a place to retreat
from the world of normal, apparent, reality--
in order to return to the center, 
amid the things that are central
to "the harmonization of your own life."

A sacred space is a decompression zone,
where we return to ourselves
and know the joy and peace 
of being sealed off 
and at one with meaningful items
that help us find our way.

Campbell says, "You must have a sealing-off
place for yourself whenever you need it--
it is an absolute necessity
if you are going to have an inner life."

We need a play room where what we do
does not have to have any significance
beyond doing it.
Where we can play a drum,
or read a book that goes nowhere,
or listen to music that we love,
or sit looking out a window.

We need a place where our heart and soul
can come alive,
and we can come alive to them,
and join together 
in the joy and wonder of being alive.

**Adams Mill Pond Mirror 01 11/10/2014 — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina**

Ours is the most neurotic generation in history.
I say that based on the central place
of money and addiction worldwide.

Money and addiction are substitutes
for a viable, vital, vibrant and alive center.
We have no center,
no core,
no adamantine rock-solid foundation
upon which to stand,
immovable,
confident,
secure,
stable,
balanced and harmonious
in the face of the clashing rocks
and heaving waves
of the wine-dark sea
that constitutes our life.

And so, the attraction of certitude
of any kind.
We will follow anyone who knows
what they are talking about.
And so, Qanon and Donald Trump.

The theme song of our age
is "The Paradox of Needy":
I'm so needy!
I HATE being needy!
And I need to be needed
by someone who needs me
to need them too!
But I'll hate them if they do!

All neurosis is a box
with no center
and no door,
and no floor.
A square black hole.
A womb with no due date.
With money and addiction,
lights and action
to take our mind
off free-falling
through endless neediness
and a life that has no meaning.

What's the solution?
Waking up.
Bearing the pain, laughing.
Knowing there is no fixing any of it
only dancing with all of it,
for what?
We do not know!

Shoulder uncertainty!
Tolerate anxiety!
Trust the unknown and unknowable!
Dance with the darkness!
Play with terror and with fear!

Native Americans would tell their children
as they left home to find their way in the world,
"When you get out of sight of this place,
you will enter the land of darkness and doubt,
and you will come to a chasm.
When you do, JUMP!
It is not as far as it seems."

Neurosis is refusing to jump.
And takes everything more seriously
that it deserves.

December 01, 2020

Mute Swans 02 08/16/2019 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina

It comes down to attitude.
Outlook.
Viewpoint.
Perception.
Perspective.

How we look limits what we see,
casts what we see
in a favorable or unfavorable light,
tilts the table for or against,
pro or con,
my way or the highway.

We tend to see in ways 
that favor what we favor
and disfavor what we disfavor.

We are how we look
at what we see.

Tell me what you see and how you see it
and I will tell you who you are.

So, start with a mirror,
looking at you.
What memories come to mind
that cant you in a particular direction
with regard to yourself.

You remember the things
that justify your view of things.
That justify your view of you.

When I ask you to "look at all there is
about you,"
you won't scratch the surface.
You will look at all the things 
you always see about you.
You cannot see any of the things
that do not support your view of yourself.

The same thing applies to your view 
of everything and everyone in your life.
You cannot see them for all of the things
you already see about them
that get in your way of seeing
all there is to see.

You cannot see all there is to see
about anything.

You see only your viewpoint,
your perspective,
your perception,
your attitude,
about everything you look at.
Which prejudices your outlook.

Now listen to me:
We have to get beyond how we see things!
We have to get ourselves out of the way!
We have to look at everything
as though we are seeing it 
for the first time!

Here's the way to do that:
Draw a mental frame around everything
you look at.
Set it apart from everything else.
Memories, impressions, ideas, presumptions,
assumptions, inferences, what you know
and what you think you know...
Filter all of it out,
so that it is just you looking at 
what is in the frame
as though you have never seen it,
or anything like it,
ever.

Sit or stand before it in the silence
of compassionate presence
and allow it to show you who
and what it is.

Allow it to transition from "it"
to "Thou."
And go where you are being led.

–0–

**Eagle Cliff Falls Panorama 09/20/2015 — Montour Falls, New York**

What are your gifts?
What do you do with them?

That is all you need to know.
What your gifts are,
and what to do with them.

Then it is just a matter of doing
what needs to be done
with the gifts that are yours to share.

–0–

Koi Pond 01 05/24/2018 –Pike Nursery, Charlotte, North Carolina, from my Symbols of Transformation Collection

Everything serves our destiny.

It helps to tell ourselves that,
no matter what happens.

The things we don't think we need,
the things we don't want,
the things we hate with all our heart,
not to mention our mind,
our soul,
our strength,
our essence
and our convenience,
are serving our destiny,
as surely as the things that please us
to no end,
stoke our gladness
delight our mothers
and fill our fathers with pride
are.

The question is:
How are we going to respond to them?
What are we going to do with them?
Are we going to see them--
understand them,
interpret them--
in ways that shift us
off the Me And What I Want Track,
and put us squarely in the center
of My Destiny And How I Need To
Align Myself With It Track?

If everything that happens
is serving our destiny,
but we aren't,
we have a problem.

And our destiny has a problem.

Our destiny's only problem ever
is getting our whole-hearted cooperation.

If we aren't living intentionally,
deliberately,
consciously
in the moment-to-moment,
situation-by-situation,
day-by-day
service of our destiny,
we are striving uselessly 
to heave our own ideas for our life
into place
in order to live happily ever after.

And creating hell for ourselves
and everyone we know.

We are swimming against the current,
spitting into the wind,
digging holes in solid granite,
and free-falling into the void
through one wasteland after another.

Not so smart.

Everything that happens to us 
serves our destiny
by trying to wake us up.

And it is going to keep
trying to wake us up
until we die.

We can wake up or not.
It is up to us.

If we think maybe waking up
might be a good idea,
we start the work of waking up
by asking ourselves,
What is my life trying to tell me?
And all of the questions
that question stirs to life.

Asking all of the questions 
that beg to be asked
leads us to seeing things
in ways we have never seen them before.

And seeing things differently
opens doors we never knew were there.
And sooner than you may imagine,
we find ourselves in the middle
of the Promised Land,
listening for what is being called for
in each situation as it arises,
without trying to impose our will
for the situation on the situation,
but looking for how we can be helpful
in ways that need what we have to offer,
situation-by-situation,
moment-by-moment,
throughout the time left for living.

And our destiny takes care of itself.
In a thoroughly magical,
marvelous,
mysterious,
miraculous kind of way.

Without us every doing anything more
than what needs us to do it
here and now
kind of way.

December 2020

This Category contains all of my posts made in the month of December of 2020

November 30, 2020

**Fall Leaves 02 11/08/2020 — 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina**

Our mythology consists of the things
we tell ourselves 
to adjust ourselves to the world,
to life as it is,
to the way things are.

What do you turn to
when you have nowhere to turn?
What do you say to yourself
about your losses and your sorrows?
How do you find your way forward?

What are the stories?
The pep talks?
The the slogans and mottoes? 
The mantras and the sayings?

There is a world of things
we turn to 
when this world flattens us,
overwhelms us,
disappoints us...

We talk ourselves back to life,
back to functioning.
What do we say?
That is our mythology.

Our mythology is a collection of metaphors
that help us make sense of things
and find meaning in what happens
or fails to happen. 

Scraps of songs, 
pieces of poetry,
movie lines,
inspirational quotes,
stories of the heroes of the past,
baseball quips...
all come together in the moment
and what needs to be done about it,
in response to it
and help us find our bearings,
get our feet under us,
stand up and make our way.

What is our grounding mythology?
When we identify it,
we can consciously amend it,
elaborate it,
add to it,
improve it,
perfect it,
shape it,
form it
and formally make it out own--
and be better prepared 
to meet what is coming,
and find our way through
whatever is waiting around
the next curve in the road,
and the one after that.

–0–

**Lake Chicot 05 10/27/2015 — Lake Chicot State Park, Ville Platte, Louisiana**

"All things work together for good
for those (who are on the beam)."

Being on the beam is the key factor
in a life well-lived.

Beyond that,
there is no advantage whatsoever 
to being on the beam.
Staying on the beam
under those circumstances
is the true test
of our resiliency and willful determination
to be faithful and loyal
liege servants of our destiny.

Our relationship with our destiny
is the central point
around which everything coalesces. 
Living aligned with our destiny
means one thing for us,
and living at odds with our destiny
means another.

Here is the interesting thing:
Either way, 
it is all the same with our destiny.
Our destiny is such 
that it can use whatever we bring it
to realize itself through us.

It goes better for us 
in terms of our peace of mind
and our being true to ourselves,
living from our center
and grounded in what matters most,
whose life is a blessing and a grace
upon all who come our way,
but we are only going to be able
to count on having what we need
to do what needs to be done.

Extravagance and indulgence are not
going to characterize our life,
and there will be days
when we have to talk ourselves into
getting out of bed
and doing the thing that calls our name.

It comes down to sacrificing ourselves,
again and again,
in the service of our destiny,
doing what is ours to do,
the way it should be done,
when it should be done,
as best we can
for as long as we are able--
with compassion and sincerity,
and without contrivance or exploitation.

Once contrivance and exploitation,
personal gain and advantage,
enter the situation,
the flow is destroyed 
and we are on our own.

When we walk away from the beam
to serve our own purposes,
we die in a wasteland of our own making
every time.

–0–

**Katahdin Range Panorama 09/26/2010 — Sandy Stream Pond, Baxter State Park, Millinocket, Maine**

I dreamed last night--
or was it a vision--
that some place in the world
had been cordoned off because
a strain of COVID-19 had been discovered
that is 25 times more deadly than 
the original version,
and all known vaccines
are useless against it.

Whether it is real or not
is not the question.
The potential exists
no matter how unlikely.
Our mindset worldwide
leaves us vulnerable 
and reduces our chances,
regardless of what 
those chances are.

A mindset is something 
we can do something about.

Let's divide mindsets between 
Stupid and Savvy.

Stupid wears a MAGA hat
and refuses to wear a mask.
Savvy does the reverse.

But, Asymptomatic people
belong to both groups, 
and skew the profiles.

Plus, all Stupid people will not get the virus
and all Savvy people will not avoid it.

After the mud settles
and the water clears,
there will probably be
about the same percentage of Stupid
and Savvy in the world
as before.
And the vulnerability of Savvy people
will be about what it was before.

But. 

Everyone can increase their chances
at a long,
centered,
balanced
and harmonious life
(Probably forgetting for some time
happy, joyous, carefree and giddy)
by learning to be mindfully aware
and self-transparent.

Jon Kabat-Zinn's YouTube videos
(The shortest ones first)
are a helpful path
to both those outcomes,
which is really one thing,
Mindfully-Aware-Self-Transparency.

If it takes a pandemic
to ground us forever in
Mindfully-Aware-Self-Transparency,
it is our own stupid fault.

2020

I migrated from FaceBook to WordPress in June, 2020, so this collection is for the last six months of the year. I hope you enjoy perusing the posts!

Here’s one to get things started:

**Patchwork Dogwood Panorama 04/16/2008 Oil Paint Rendered — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Gatlinburg, Tennessee**

We wake up in some life
in some time
in some place
in a "Here we are, now what?"
kind of way.
How we answer that question
tells the tale.
The tale we tell with our life--
the tale our life tells through us.

Getting ourselves together 
with our life
is what our life is all about.
We take our cues for living
by living in tune with our life.

By aligning ourselves with our life.

By living in accord with the impulses,
with the current,
with the flow and movement
of our life.

Our life takes the lead.
We collaborate and assist
as its faithful companion
in the wonder of being alive.

Seeing what we look at,
listening to what we are hearing,
reading the signs
and sensing the rhythms of the times,
so that we know what's what
and what is called for
in each situation as it arises,
in order to do what is needed
when it is needed
the way it is needed
because it is needed
for nothing more than the joy 
of doing it,
and the satisfaction
of having done it,
moment by moment
all our life long
is the way that is The Way,
which we make up as we go,
and realize after we have done it
at the end of our days.

May it be so for each of us,
always and forever!

November 29, 2020

**Country Cemetery 10/05/2015 — Lancaster County, South Carolina**

–0–

What pulls you off course?
What attachment is stronger than
the call from your center
for expression and service?

If we are not going to live
to incarnate 
what is deepest,
truest
and best about us,
what are we getting that will
offset that betrayal?

The story of the Garden of Eden
is the story of the betrayal
of our center.
The story of the Garden of Gethsemane
is the story of faithful loyalty
to our Center.
Both stories are about our dying.
Only one is about our being restored to life.

Our center is the source of life.
It is our vital core
of life and being.
When we live from the center,
we are as alive as we can be.

When we fail to guard the center,
and live to serve some other promise
of gain, 
delight
and well-being,
we choose a path that leads
directly to the depths of the wasteland.

Joseph Campbell said,
"The crucial thing to live for
is the sense of life in what you are doing,
and if that is not there,
then you are living according to
someone else's notion
of how life should be lived."

And, "I know that I am on track
when everything is in a harmonious
relationship with what I regard as the best
I have in me."

When we sacrifice our best
on the altar of our wants and desires,
we sell ourselves for the equivalent 
of glass beads and silver mirrors.

**Redwing Blackbird Panorama o5/21/2019 — Savanna National Wildlife Refuge, Hardeeville, South Carolina**

The moment we have something at stake
in a situation,
or a relationship,
a disturbance is created in the flow,
and we are living with our self-interest
at heart
and not the interest of the situation,
or the relationship.

Then we are in a "Get My Way At All Costs"
mode of operating
and the true good of ourselves,
the other person,
or the situation as a whole
goes out the window.

Getting our way is not always
what the time and place of our living 
is calling for.
And, even if it is what is called for,
it still creates a disturbance in the flow
by virtue of putting us in the position
of calculating where to draw the line--
where does what is good for us
become what is bad for us,
in terms of the price we are willing to pay
to have our way.

There is no price we will not pay
when serving the good of the situation as a whole.

Men/women sacrificing themselves
on fields of battle,
are examples of people paying the ultimate price
for the good of others.

Jesus died in service to his cause
as a model to all his followers
of what was to be/is to be
expected of them in their service
to the same cause--
that is to say, "The truth of what
matters most in any situation."

This is the "Love of Fate"
put forth by Fredrich Nietzsche
as the ideal way of embracing
one's circumstances with a bold, "Yea!"
and letting nothing stop us from doing
"what we are here for"
in the places with the worst likely outcome.
Or of "participating in the suffering
of another to such a degree,
that we forget ourselves
and our own safety
and spontaneously do what is necessary"
(Joseph Campbell)--
"in service to the truth
of what matters most 
in any situation."

Our life is always moving toward our death.
"The Secret Cause" (James Joyce)--
that is, what we are living in the service of--
directs our steps toward our final breath.
And, through 10,000 psychological/emotional deaths
at every transition point
(where we are asked to "grow up some more again"
all along the way),
"dying to our idea of how things ought to be
in the service of how things actually need to be."

The trick is to die the deaths that lead 
to new births
and not dying the deaths that 
just lead to our being dead.

That is living in the flow of our life
all the way to our last breath.

November 28, 2020

**The Light at the Edge of the Woods 11/04/2020 — 22-Acre W00ds, Indian Land, South Carolina, an iPhone Photo**

If our heart isn't in what we are doing,
it shows.
We can't fake heart.
Better that we listen to heart--
and do what heart says do,
and not do what heart says don't do.
We make our biggest mistakes
not listening to heart.
Or confusing heart with Eros,
and waking up in some version
of the Wasteland,
wondering how we got there.

Well.

It is too bad we aren't born 
with experience.
Because it takes listening with experience
to know what we are hearing.

But no one is keeping score,
and it doesn't matter how long it takes,
and all it takes is waking up,
and all waking up takes is experience,
so, what's the problem?

There is no problem!

Live on! Live on!

–0–

**Lake Chicot 03 09/27/2015 — Lake Chicot State Park, Ville Platte, Louisiana**

Everything is moving
all the time.

The only still point in the entire cosmos
is at the very center of ourselves.

Finding the core of who we are--
"the face that was ours
before our parents were born"--
the qualities,
character,
virtues/characteristics,
proclivities/interests/enthusiasms
gifts,
genius,
spirit/life/vitality
that are as our fingerprints
and the cones of our irises,
unique among all humans
who have ever lived,
or will ever live,
and living out of our individuality
in ways that incarnate,
express,
exhibit,
and make plain
the person we are
in the way we live our life
is the Opus we are here to compose,
orchestrate
and bring forth
in the time and place of our living.

How are you coming along with that?

What would help you with your work?

November 27, 2020

**Crepe Myrtle 08 11/27/2020 Panorama Detail — 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina, an iPhone Photo**

What is meaningful about your life?
How often do you do it?
How often would you need to do it
to say without hesitation
that you are living a meaningful life?
A life that has meaning for you
is the only meaningful life there is 
for you.

If what do has meaning for 10,000 people,
but now for you,
how meaningful is that?
You could still drink yourself
into oblivion every night
and feel that you had wasted your life
because it was not fulfilling for you.

And it is not self-indulgent to live 
in the service of our highest/deepest
enthusiasm, "it is vital," 
as Diane Osbon has said. 

Do not merely think about 
what is meaningful to you--
do it--as often as possible,
for as long as possible!

Make it your thing
to do your thing,
as often as possible,
for as long as possible,
throughout what remains
of the time left for living!

–0–

**Boardwalk Panorama 10 10/25/2019 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina, an iPhone Photo**

Everything is a portal into mystery
and unknowing.

The Hindus, and before them,
the Dravidians of the Indus Valley
(2500 BCE - 1500 BCE)
held that the world as always been
just as it is.

And always means always to them.
It means there has never been a time
when the cosmos was not.

No beginning, no ending--
like the tides on the seas.
The tide comes in
and the tide goes out,
and between coming and going,
the tide turns around.
So it is with the universe,
coming and going always.

It is a different way of looking at things.

We think of the creating event
as the Big Bang.
Before then there was only tiny bits
of matter coalescing over a long
period of time.

We do not ask,
"How many Big Bangs have there been?"
We think in terms on only one.
Why only one?
Before that one, what?

Those of us in the Christian West,
like to think there is only one God
who has always been.
We do not ask,
"Before God, what?"
or, "Where did God come from?"
We grant eternal and everlasting existence
to God.

Hindus grant it to the Cosmos.

And it all is shrouded in mystery.
We do not know where it all came from,
or how we got here,
or by what means there is something
and not nothing.

Our Sunday school teachers
told us a nice, pat, little story
that answers nothing.
That creates more questions
than it resolves.
And leaves us stuck
with not-knowing half
of all there is to know,
or even half of one millionth 
of one percent 
of all there is to know.

We live in mystery.
We swim in mystery.
We are awash in mystery.
And we don't give it a thought.

We should be staggered by the wonder
of it all.
And we spend our time 
complaining about the weather,
or wondering where we can find
a really good pizza.

When everything is a portal into mystery
and unknowing,
and it is wasted on us.

Absolutely wasted.

–0–

Scum Panorama 01 10/25/2019 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina

We are ice dancing here.

Dancing with our life,
at one with the music
no one can hear,
to the flow of time and place
and the wonder of everyone,
ourselves most of all--
for the glory of it,
like a moth dancing with the flame,
for the hell of it,
for the joy of it,
for the rapture of it,
and the beauty of
being in sync with the moment,
having the time of our life.

And, if not,
why not?

What are we waiting for?

Step onto the ice,
and dance!

While you can!

–0–

**Ghost Trees 02 08/21/2015 — A blended photograph with the Ghost Tree from the Anna Zagora Collection and the Beach Sunrise from Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina**

There is more to it than meets the eye.

This is the grounding hope
at the bottom of it all.

Karma and Grace and the Tao
are all a part of the More.

Synchronicity and the magic
of Timing,
and the wonder of Flow,
and whatever goes into setting
one Time and Place apart
from all other times and places,
always and forever...

There is Mystery at the Heart
of Life and Being.

Mystery that is to be trusted
and relied upon
past all logic and reason.

To be aligned with the Mystery
is to be on track,
on the beam,
at one with the moment
and in touch with the Unknown
and Unknowable--
without being able to use it
for our personal gain 
or benefit in any way.

The Apostle Paul said it this way:
"Have the same mind among you
that you find in Jesus of Nazareth,
who did not count equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself
and became faithful unto death,
even death on a cross."

To live in this way is
to be the Christ
in each situation as it arises,
in each moment of our living,
by getting ourselves and our interests
out of the way,
and doing what needs to be done
for no other reason than
that it needs to be done,
and having nothing to gain or lose
because we are serving the Secret Cause
beyond sight and sound,
and are glad to be spent in that service,
knowing it is better and more 
than anything we could ever imagine.

If you are going to take anything on faith,
let it be this,
and live in every moment
as though it is so.

November 26, 2020

**Fall Canopy 01 11/08/2020 — 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina, an iPhone Photo**

Is it easier to deceive yourself alone,
or in a group?

When I look around at
the white supremacists,
the NRA,
the MAGA's,
the Qanon's,
the Roman Catholic Church,
the Evangelical Christian churches,
the Protestant Christian churches...
the list is really, really, long...

I think there is no safety in numbers,
and the more people you have, 
the less likely it is 
that everyone is doing a clarity/fact/check
on every statement 
that is being made,
and that is, at least, a possibility
for individuals in the solitude
of their own recliner.

Deception, delusion, illusion, being fooled
are all tricks humans pull
on themselves and one another.

Avoiding them,
or just recognizing them,
is a life-long task.
And, it is one that we have to recognize
as being ours to undertake,
and to know we are responsible for,
and begin the work on constructing
what is generally thought of as a
"Bullshit Detector."

What goes into an industrial strength BSD?
There are books, 
newsletters, 
YouTube videos
and soon-to-be-surely hotlines
and smart phone apps.

We would be wise to start our own collection
of methods to keep ourselves savvy
and up on the latest aids to knowing what's what
that are available to those who want to know.

It is hard enough staying on the path
when the mud has settled
and the water is clear.
When the propaganda merchants are filling
the air with waves of nonsense and idiocy,
we have to filter everything we hear and see
through micro-strainers
to have a chance at a trustworthy interpretation
of what is going on.

Do everything you can to see what you look at,
and understand what is being said. 
Everything depends on knowing what is happening
and what needs to happen in response.

Everything.

–0–

**Sumac 03 11/10/2020 — 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina**, an iPhone Photo

It is difficult to know 
where Zen begins and Taoism stops,
but.
The concept of "turning the light around"
is right there.

Turning the light around means
"Stop looking out there for what is in here!"
The Buddha is not out there!
The Way is not out there!
The Christ is not out there!
God in whatever religion is not out there!
The Enemy is not out there!

It is all in here!

When Jesus said, "Love your enemy,"
and when Paul said, 
"Wretched man that I am--
who will deliver me
from this body of death?"
They were both talking about 
the enemy within,
the one who sabotages
our best intents and purposes.

We do not will ourselves to perfection
and holiness,
deserving of the rewards of heaven
and life-everlasting.

We do not beat ourselves into submission,
or punish ourselves into sinless living.
"Love your enemy"
is loving ourselves,
and all that is within us
that opposes our idea
of who we ought to be.

Turning the light around
means receiving ourselves well,
with compassion and grace,
the good and the bad,
like the Prodigal's father
welcoming him home.

It is not by striving to be pure
and sinless
that we become whole and complete,
but through compassionate,
non-judgmental awareness
and acceptance
of all that we are
and are capable of being--
and by extending this welcoming,
gracious, generous and kind
receptivity 
to all others,
we participate in the making
of a miracle
that transforms
all of our relationships,
by turning the light around.

—–0–

**Fall Leaves 39 11/24/20 — 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina**, an iPhone Photo

Genghis Khan said:
"A man's greatest pleasure is crushing his enemies.
The greatest happiness is to vanquish your enemies, 
to chase them  before you, 
to rob them of their wealth, 
to take their horses,
to see those dear to them  bathed in tears, 
to clasp to your bosom their wives and daughters.”   

Take his enemies,
their wealth and horses,
their wives and daughters
away from him.
Put him on an island
with water to eat
and fruit and vegetables to eat,
and watch what happens to him.
What does he do with his time?
Forever?
What would keep him going?

What is your greatest pleasure?
Your greatest happiness?
What would you do without it?
Without the hope of it?
Without the possibility of it?
What would keep you going?

Blaise Pascal said,

“All of humanity's problems stem 
from (our) inability 
to sit quietly in a room alone.”

What keeps us going,
sitting quietly in a room alone?

What makes it worth our time 
and effort?

–0–

**Abbott Lake 09/27/2011 — Peaks of Otter, Blue Ridge Parkway, Bedford, Virginia**

What does thinking about sex
keep us from thinking about
if we weren't thinking about sex?

What will Artificial Intelligence
think about
when it progresses to the point
of being self-replicating,
self-reproducing?

It seems (to me)
that thinking about sex
is our genes' way
of producing more genes.

What is the equivalent 
of "producing more genes"
from an AI perspective?

It could be that the problem
for the Mystery at the heart
of Life and Being
is keeping the experiment going.
So, every living thing
thinks about sex in its own way.

And Life and Being follows
a routine course over time,
except for the occasional blips
of novelty that make it interesting.

Being interested is another
problem for the Mystery.
What keeps it going?
What is the mystery for the Mystery?
What does it think about?

You can't get away from the fact
that the theological creation we call God
cannot get us off its mind.
God is consumed with,
obsessed by its compulsion 
for us to do right by it.
We drive God to distraction.
It cannot think of anything else.
"What are they doing now?"
"What are they doing now?"
"What are they doing now?"
And writing it all down
in the Book of Life.
What a life that would be.

What keeps AI going?
What would keep us going
if it weren't for thinking about sex?
(And having sex isn't as important to us,
as interesting to us,
as thinking about having sex,
which makes pornography such a hit).

What is there, other than sex,
to think about?
To be interested in?
Can we think about it,
be interested in it,
without thinking there is something
wrong with us 
for not thinking about sex all the time?

The culture would have us think about sex
all the time.
Sex sells.
Sex is good for the economy.
Sex and money are the foundations
of every culture there ever has been--
and where does that line lie?
The one between sex and money?

Sex is money.
Money is sex.
What is money good for 
if not sex?
What is sex good for
if not more sex?
What are we good for,
if not thinking about sex?

It is what we do best,
isn't it?
It is certainly what we do most,
isn't it?
What would we be doing
if we weren't thinking about sex
or having sex?

What will AI be doing with its time?

November 25, 2020

**Trees Panorama 03 10/25/2019 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina**

Boredom is not a call for 
"Action, any kind of action!",
but an invitation 
to sit still and be quiet.

We are forever passing up silence
for action--
and therein lies the problem.

"Action, any kind of action,"
is distraction,
diversion,
addiction--
addiction to noise,
to distraction
and diversion.

We live for entertaining pastimes,
and have no intention 
of meeting what meets us 
in the silence,
and dealing with what must be dealt with,
and doing what needs to be done.

We live for the "action, any kind of action,"
that keeps us going
and saves us from the silence
that requires us to face 
the truth of who we are
and how it is with us.

We don't much like ourselves
and do not enjoy our own company--
and seek relief from
all that is so unsatisfactory
about us
in "action, any kind of action!"

Living is like dying,
any way we look at it.
Doing what it takes to be alive
is like dying.
And refusing to do what it takes 
to be alive
is like dying.

One way of dying comes with resurrection
attached.
The other way of dying is to be dead
until we die.

I say if we are gong to die either way,
we may as well get something out of it,
and go with meeting ourselves in the Silence,
and doing what is required to be alive.

Even though it is like dying,
it is the doorway to life.

Being fully alive,
with life spilling over,
pouring out,
is "right there,"
waiting for us to show up
and say,
"We're looking for action,
any kind of action.
Can you help us with that?"

–0–

**Fall Fern 11/24/2020 — Indian Land, South Carolina, an iPhone Photo**

There is only knowing what your "thing" is,
and doing it.
Knowing what makes your little heart sing,
and doing it.
Knowing what is meaningful for you,
and doing it.
Knowing what you love,
and doing it.

How long as it been?
How long will it be
before you work it into your life?

That is your life!

The rest of your life 
consists of what all doing that leads to
and what it takes to support
your doing it.

If your life is renting a horse
and jumping obstacles, 
rent a horse and jump obstacles,
and let everything else
fall into place around that.

Everything. Else.

–0–

**Sweetgum Fall 11/24/2020 — 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina**, an iPhone Photo

My best advice has not changed over time:

Sit still,
be quiet,
wait for the mud to settle
and the water to clear.

See what arises from the silence.
What calls you to action.
What compels you to act.

What you do about it 
tells the tale
that is waiting to be told.

At this point,
at every point,
your future is entirely 
up to you.

–0–

**Goodale Mirror Panorama 01 — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina**

Freedom is not having anyone
telling us what to do,
what to like and not like,
what to see
and how to see it...

We want to be free to choose,
or not,
all of that for ourselves.

As if.

We are not--not one of us is--
free to choose what we like
and don't like,
what we want 
and don't want,
how we see
and how we don't see,
what is important
and what does not matter at all...

Anymore than we are free
to choose our destiny,
or how we will respond to it,
or our taste in pizza,
or when we will be in the mood for it,
or any of our preferences
and proclivities,
or our interests
and our lack of interests...

We have no say in who we are,
or how we are.

"Free will"
is such a hoax.
We are not free to will anything
other than what we will.

"Freedom of choice"
is another one.

We are not free to choose our choices.

We are not free to choose what we want.
Or what we don't want.

We are not free to live
anyway we please
because we are not free
to choose what pleases us
and what does not.

We are as bound to who we are
and how we exhibit that in our life
as a leopard is to its spots
and a spider is to the web it spins.

Enough of the free will myth!

Stop trying to have your way
and put your effort into 
having it not!

Real freedom is walking away
from your idea of you,
and embracing the you
that is calling you into its service!

We get to choose our masters!
It is the only choice we have!

Who is guiding your boat
on its path through the sea?

What is the source of the good
you call good?

What is the essence of you
that you are asked to exhibit,
to incarnate,
to serve with your life?

Our quest is to know these things,
to grow up against our will,
and to be, at last,
who we are--
and have been
since before we were born!

November 24, 2020

Flooded Path 11/04/2020 — 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina, the path becomes a drainage system for the woods, carrying runoff down the hill to the sea every time we get 2.5-3 inches of rain within 3 hours. It has worked this way from the beginning.

What is your predominant mood?

What is your overriding feeling?

What is the nature of your outlook?

Of your viewpoint?

Of your disposition?

How does your body carry anxiety, anger, hopelessness, depression, grief, mourning, fear, worry, concern...?

What is not working about your life?

Where are your needs and expectations being disappointed?

What is the nature of your betrayal?

Where do you turn when you have nowhere to turn?

When you know you are "on the beam,"
what is the nature of the beam?
What are you doing?

What happens to knock you off "the beam"?

What is the nature of your dissatisfaction?

How would you go about changing
what you tell yourself
about what has happened/is happening
in your life?

How does your "narrative" need to be changed?

Are you your own best friend?

If you were your own best friend,
what do you think you most need to hear?

On a low to high scale of 1 to 10,
how would you rate your response-ability
to disappointment?
to beauty?
to good news?
to bad news?
to wonder?
to excitement?
to opportunity?
to invitations?

Questions for self-reflection.

–0–

**12-Mile Creek 01 11/07/2020 — Union County, North Carolina, an iPhone Photo using the Spectre long exposure app**

Our way of living
creates waves upon the surface of life,
making it impossible
for us to see into the depths
in order to perceive
the truth of our essence,
and live out of our original nature
and our natural rhythms,
in meeting the requirements
of the here and now
as we move through each day.

In order to live out of the truth
of our center
within the time and place
of our living,
we have to make the concerted effort
to stop at regular intervals 
throughout the day
to remember our breathing
and shift into self-realization,
by sitting still and being quiet
to calm the waves,
allow the mud to settle,
and clear the water
to connect with the deep core
of our being
and the Source,
the Mystery,
at the heart of life.

Being thus centered and grounded,
we can step back into the moment
as those capable of seeing 
what is happening
and what needs to happen in response--
what is being called for
and how we can rise to the occasion
with the gifts we have to offer,
with sincerity and non-contrivance,
in each situation as it arises.

Transforming the world
one situation at a time.

–0–

Ghost Trees of Graveyard Beach 01 08/21/2015 — From my Skeleton Trees Collection–This is a blended image with the Ghost Tree from Botany Bay Heritage Wildlife Preserve and the beach scene from Huntington Beach State Park, both in South Carolina

A Community of Innocence 
is a group of 3 to 5 people
who come together
with no agenda,
and nothing at stake in each other,
beyond serving as a
sounding board
for one another
in helping everyone in the group
find their life,
and live it
with allegiance to 
their individual destiny,
through establishing 
their contact with,
and living from,
their own center
by way of self-transparency
and awareness,
mindfully exhibiting
sincerity,
non-contrivance,
balance,
harmony,
and spontaneity
in response
to what is happening,
and what needs to be done in response,
in each situation as it arises.

We do not live 
to answer the question,
"What do I want to get from my life?"
Or, 
"What am I getting from my life?"
But,
"What do I have to offer my life
and the situations that comprise my life,
out of the gifts I have to share,
for the good of the situations as a whole?"
And,
"How can I best live from my center
in serving my destiny
and my essence,
by being true to my original nature
and my natural rhythms,
situation-by-situation?"

Our Communities of Innocence
(And we can have as many
as we can fit into our life)
listen us into hearing what we have to say,
and offer a regular reminder
of the importance of finding 
a place for stillness
and silence
in each day
for self-reflection,
examination,
exploration
and realization
in order to know what we know
and what is being called for
in the here and now
of our living.

That is all we need
to find what we need
to do what needs to be done
in the times and places
of our living.

And no one can do 
more than that.