Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

December 18, 2020

**Lake Martin Sunset 08 02/07/2014 — Beaux Bridge, Louisiana**

One of the first principles states:
"Nothing can happen to us that is so bad
that it cannot be made better--
or worse--
by the way we respond to it.

And nothing can happen that is so good
that it cannot be made better--
or worse--
by the way we respond it."

We hold the key to how well our life goes
by the way we respond to how our life is going.

Our response determines (or strongly influences)
everything that follows.

And so, we
Stop. Look. Listen.
And we 
Look Both Ways Twice.

This means before we act/react/respond
in every life setting.

Because our response to what is happening
is much more important 
than what is happening.

We set-up what happens next
by the way we respond to what just happened.

If you are ever going to believe anything,
believe this--
and act accordingly.

–0–

**Coming In 03/22/2013 — The Bog Garden, Greensboro, North Carolina**

The symbols that are alive for us
have to square us up
with the life that is ours to live,
and the world in which we live,
so that we find ways to be who we are
in the time and place of our living.

Our symbols call us to life,
and guide us in finding ways
to incarnate the deep truth of our being
within the circumstances of life-in-the-world--
to break into the world
as the Transforming Word,
the Sacred Act,
of Life coming to life
and shattering the expectations
and assumptions of life
in so doing.

Symbols are life and death in the making.

What are the symbols that are alive for us?
To what do they point?
They are doorways opening to what?
What are they calling us to do,
to become?

Two of my favorite "living symbols"
are Yoda and Obi-wan Kenobi.
The two are one.
They stand before me 
as projections of my own Inner Guides,
my Mentors within,
reminding me that I have all I need,
if I will be still and listen,
and look, 
and write!

When I write it out,
there it is--
exactly what I am looking for!
Calling me to incarnate it
in the way I live
moment-by-moment,
day-by-day.

–0–

**Cabot Trail 02 09/27/2007 — Nova Scotia**

Life at its best
has an organic flow about it.

There is a time to sleep,
and a time to eat,
and a time to work,
and a time to refrain from working...

A circadian rhythm governs
the planets in their orbits,
and the tides in their cycles, 
and the seasons in their traces...

To live in accordance with the times
is to be on track and in tune with the Tao.
In the ancient Greek way of thinking,
this is kairos, the opportune time,
the right time,
the time for acting. 

Our lives tend to be more orderly,
more routine,
more predictable,
and are run by the clock
and the calendar.

We eat at noon 
whether we are hungry or not.
We go to bed at 10:30
whether we are sleepy or not.

We live buy Chronos, clock time,
calendar time.
The time bills come due,
and school starts and stops,
and the day begins and ends.

Working Kairos in with Chronos
is a balancing act only humans
have to master.
The rest of the natural world
turns when it is time for turning,
dances when it is time to dance,
and naps when a nap is called for.

Eating when hungry,
resting when tired
is the ideal to strive for.
Doing what is needed--
what is necessary--
in the time and place
the call is issued,
is the sine qua non
of a True Human Being.

How close can we come,
and how often do we dare,
are the questions 
which, when answered, 
tell the tale.

–0–

Axis Mundi — From my Symbols of Transformation Collection
The Axis Mundi is the Axis of the World, the center of the world and of the universe, the pole, and more than that, the point–the still point–around which everything falls into place, and upon which all things are centered, grounded, united, and become One. The Central Mountain. The Sacred Tree. The heart of the cosmos and all that is. And it is everywhere. Within everyone. Living from that point, all things are One.

We belong in one place,
not in every place.
We belong to one thing,
not everything.

Knowing where we belong,
and what our "thing" is,
is essential knowing.

Honoring what we know,
and living in accord with it,
is essential wisdom.

Allowing where we belong
and what we do 
to evolve over time
is essential grace.

Living out of essential knowing,
essential wisdom,
and essential grace
is to compose a well-lived life.

No one can do better than that.
And no one can tell us
how to do that.

No one knows what we know.
No one.

We are the teacher,
and we are the student.
We are the chisel 
and we are the stone.

December 17, 2020

**The Fire Place 04/03/2011**
The fire pit where the family gathers periodically to sacrifice marshmallows
and offer thanksgiving for chocolate bars and graham crackers.

Happy is a state of being,
an aspect of mind.

A perspective,
an outlook,
an orientation,
an attitude,
a point of view.

It is the way we look
at what we see.

Joseph Campbell called for
"The joyful participation
in the sorrows of the world."
And invited us to
walk right into life as it is
and embrace without hesitation
the full pathos of
the Mystery at the heart of Life and Being.

He said,
"The Cosmic Dancer, declares Nietzsche, does not rest heavily in a single spot, but gaily, lightly, turns and leaps from one position to another. It is possible to speak from only one point at a time, but that does not invalidate the insights of the rest."
(The Hero with a Thousand Faces p. 196)

And advised that we "Say 'Yes!' to it all!"

We live as full participants
in the moment of our living
no matter what that entails.

We are here/now for the good
we are able to bring forth
in response to what is being called for
by the situation we find ourselves in--
one situation after another,
all our life long--
without being overwhelmed and undone
by what we have to work with.

We step up and do what needs doing
as the Cosmic Dancer we are,
bringing blessing and grace,
compassion and justice
to bear on where we are,
no matter what.

We live as vehicles of hope and mercy,
anyway, nevertheless, even so--
drawing our strength from,
not the results and outcomes
of our living,
but the foundation,
center,
core
of our life.

Zen Master Yun-Men said it like this:
"You should withdraw inwardly
and search for the ground
upon which you stand--
thereby you will discover
what truth is."

And live from there
in the joyful embrace
of all things.

–0–

Fear (Anger, Hatred, Jealousy, Ruthlessness, etc.) ,
Desire (Greed, Lust, Passion, Obsession, Compulsion, etc.),
Duty (Responsibility, Obligation, Subservience, Obeisance, etc.),
are forever (since the Buddha's and the Christ's temptations)
listed as our primary motivations,
as the heart of human-being-hood,
and the things we must escape
by taking refuge in illumination (enlightenment, realization, etc.)
and not-caring about the diversions and distractions
of the world.

Well. 
That pisses me off.

It places "I Want More Now!"
("And Will Do Anything
To Get It,
Have It,
Keep It, 
Increase It!")
at the center of who we are.

And misses entirely the grace
and wonder--
the salvific mystery--
of laughter and tears,
of joy and sorrow.

I watched four episodes of Mandalorian
before quitting at the prospect of
more of the same forever.
The man behind the mask
never laughed or cried.
He just killed whomever 
wasn't doing it his way (The Way It Is).
He was/is a weapon
in the hands of Fear/Desire/Duty.
A non-human being.
A non-sentient being.
No actual non-human being kills everything
that doesn't do it the Right Way.
Only human non-humans do that.
Or thinks it can only be happy
when all threats to happiness are destroyed.

Happy is not what we have,
it is who we are.

For. No. Reason.

Happy. Here. Now.

How about that?

It is a different way of thinking
about motivation,
and life.

We don't have to kill anything,
or possess anything,
before we can be happy.

We can just be happy now. 
Here. 
With things as they are.
Why not?

What is stopping you
from being happy to be here, now,
with things exactly as they are?
Laughing and crying as is appropriate
to the occasion?

December 16, 2020

**Circle 5-A — from my Symbols of Transformation Collection**
Circles are among the most ancient symbols “transparent to transcendence,” and have been honored, recognized, understood through the ages as a metaphor of wholeness, completion, realization, awakening, enlightenment, awareness, presence, being here/now, being grounded, being immovable and untouchable…the list is long. What does a circle mean to you?

We are not living to have our way.
We are not living to do what we want.

We are living to serve our destiny,
to be who we are capable of being,
to realize our potentiality,
in doing what is calling us to do it--
aligned with our original nature,
in accord with the Tao
(The Mystery),
the mystical flow of time and place--
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.

This puts us in the position of Luke Skywalker
in relation to Obi-wan Kenobi
and Yoda,
as we take up the work
of finding our life and living it,
of discovering our original nature--
our gifts,
our virtues,
our spirit,
our vitality,
our balance and harmony,
our energy--
and incarnating it,
exhibiting it,
expressing it,
serving it,
moment-by-moment,
day-by-day,
throughout the time left for living.

–0–

**Wetlands Geese Panorama 01/11/2013 — Guilford County, North Carolina**

We are not free to chose our choices.
Or to chose our preferences.
Or our disinclinations.
Or our desires.
Or our fears...
The list is long.
Forever long.

Freedom is the greatest illusion ever.

We have to see the way we see,
until we no longer see the way we see,
and we do not determine when that will be.

We have to feel the way we feel...

Think the way we think...

Enjoy what we enjoy...

Be the way we are...

And we talk about freedom.
We should expand it 
to be clear about what we mean.

We mean freedom from oppression.
Freedom from somebody else's religion.
Freedom from somebody else
telling us what to do.
Freedom from unwarranted intrusion
into our lives.
Freedom from invasion,
from the demolition of our boundaries,
from someone else's idea 
of how our life should be lived.

We want our bondage to be natural,
and not artificially imposed.

But freedom as a way of being in the world
is not ours to possess.

I recall the investment firm's commercial
of a mighty bull trotting along 
an endless beach at water's edge,
while the theme song played in the background,
"To know no boundaries,
to let ourselves roam free..."

The bull was bound to run on the sand.
Not swim in the ocean,
or fly in the air.

Our bondage is absolute and inescapable.
Being clear about that
relieves us of the burden
of thinking we can will ourselves
to happily ever after
with just a bit more effort.

And then, there is Snoopy,
reminiscing about his days
at the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm,
lamenting, "Once we got over the fence,
we were still in the world."

It's called the fallacy 
of the Garden of Eden.
"One bite of the right fruit
and we are free as the breeze,
blowing where it will."

Another way to think of the breeze
is to say it doesn't know what to do next,
looking as it is,
for the way out of here.

December 15, 2020

Mallard in Flight 01/08/2013 — The Bog Garden, Greensboro, North Carolina

We have interests
and proclivities,
inclinations,
tendencies,
preferences,
penchants,
passions,
etc.
that energize us,
motivate us,
stir us to action
in ways that are unique to us.

We care about things
to a degree,
and in a manner,
that set us apart
from other members of our family,
and other members of the species.

We have potentialities that are our own,
the realization of which
constitutes our destiny.

We are destined to realize our potentialities.

Our destiny is a composite of our interests, etc.
When our life is lived in the service
of these things--
when we are true to ourselves
in honoring what we cherish
and doing what is meaningful to us--
we fulfill our destiny,
and satisfy our deepest
urge-to-wholeness-and-completion.

Our life is the expression,
the realization,
the integration,
the incarnation
of the energy that manifests itself
in all these ways.

This is destiny being manifest,
or "manifest destiny,"
being worked out in our life.

This is what we are here for.

If our destiny isn't being made manifest,
it is being frustrated,
blocked, 
denied,
rejected,
spurned
and refused.

And our symptoms are evidence
of a life unlived,
calling us to wake up
and get with the program
that is built into our bones.

–0–

**Live Oak Fantasy 02 — Undisclosed Location**

The commitment-- 
our commitment--
is to the path,
to our integrity
and our potential
as a human being.

How human can we be?
How true to ourselves--
to what is deepest,
truest,
and best about us--
can we be?

We live to find out.

We find out by committing ourselves
to finding what is meaningful to us
and serving it with our life.

By committing ourselves
to finding the center
and living from there.

By committing ourselves
to finding the still point
and allowing that
to direct our action.

And letting all other commitments 
fade away.

Our liege loyalty,
our filial devotion,
our deepest allegiance,
are to the grounding principle,
the axis mundi,
where heaven and earth meet
in the heart of who we are.

December 14, 2020

Far Away 05/06/2013 — The Bog Garden, Greensboro, North Carolina

It is easy to let someone else 
tell us what to do.
To follow the herd. 
From the barn 
to the pasture,
and back to the barn.
Day after day.

The work of being human
is The Hero's Journey--
finding what is meaningful,
not because it is supposed to be,
but because it is!

Not because someone else says so,
but because we say so!
Because we know so!

The right kind of community
is a community of innocence--
innocent in the sense 
of having nothing to get,
nothing to gain,
from the individuals
making up the community,
but existing solely
to assist each individual
in the work of finding what is meaningful
and letting their life
fall into place around that.

Once meaningful is at the center,
we only need enough money
to allow us to pay the bills
required to do what is meaningful,
and everything takes shape
around the center.

The Hero's Journey is finding
and serving what is meaningful
with our life.

The right kind of community
helps us with that,
and is composed of individuals
supporting each other
in the work of finding and doing
what is meaningful to them individually.

It does that primarily 
by listening one another 
to the truth of what they are saying,
listening in a way 
that allows the speaker
to hear what they are saying,
and realize the truth of what they are about.

The right kind of community
serves as a sounding board,
as a mirror,
to everyone in the community,
so that in looking,
we see ourselves,
in speaking,
we hear ourselves,
and know who we are
and what is meaningful to us--
not because someone else tells us so, 
but because we know so!
Because we experience it to be so,
and no one can knock us off of it.

As you step onto the path
of seeking and serving 
what is meaningful to you,
be aware of the people 
who resonate with you,
who understand the importance
of the search for what is important,
and can share things they have learned
in their own search for what is important,
and let the right kind of community
coalesce around the quest 
to find and to know
what is meaningful individually
for each person in the community,
and to make that the center
and begin to live in ways that
flow from the center,
and serve the center,
throughout what remains
of the time left for living.

–0–

Hemlock Woods 03 06/06/2012 — Roan Mountain, Carver’s Gap, Tennessee

It is the experience of life,
of being alive, 
that is at the heart of existence,
not what we have,
or attain,
or acquire,
or achieve/accomplish...

Being present with what is present with us,
without trying to escape the moment
by dismissing,
disregarding,
discounting,
denying it,
but receiving the moment just as it it,
"thus come,"
and doing what is called for
in response to it,
moment-by-moment
is the hallmark 
of the grace and acceptance,
of the wonder of being alive.

–0–

**Live Oak Fantasy — Undisclosed Southern Location**

There is our life to live--
the life that is ours to live--
the life that no one but us can live.

And there is our idea
of a substitute for that life--
an acceptable (to us) facsimile
of that life,
which we generally prefer
because it is apparently 
softer, smoother and easier
than our Real Life,
and requires (at least at the outset),
less anxiety,
and, hence, less courage
than our Real Life.

What we need in order to live our Real Life
from the start
is more awareness of what the deal is,
and more encouragement
and preparation for the task,
from birth on.

All of which is tragically lacking,
and we are thrown into life,
like all of our ancestors before us,
with no guidance whatsoever,
and only what comes with us from the womb
to stabilize,
balance and direct us
through the maze of options,
choices and pitfalls
that await all along the way
from birth to death.

We need better odds--
which is where I,
and those like me,
come into your life.

We are here to compensate
for all the miss-direction
and bad advice that litter your life
from the beginning until now.

Diane Osbon, who was wise beyond her years,
and very much on our side, 
had this to say about that:
"An old Apache storyteller said,
'The plants, rocks, fire, water
are all alive.
They watch us and see our needs.
They see when we have nothing
to protect us,
and it is then that they reveal themselves,
and speak to us.'"

This is the Apache way of saying
that we are surrounded by
"the hills from which our help comes"
(Psalm 121).

Help is everywhere for those with eyes to see
(Which come with us from the womb).
We only have to wake up and start looking
to know that it is so
(Which come from having the right people 
in our life to tell us what to do).

We are at once on our own,
and we have everything we need
to find what we need
to do what needs us to do it,
if only we will wake up
and start looking--
and trust ourselves to the process
that is waiting to assist us 
all along the way.

If you are going to take anything "on faith,"
if you are going to believe in anything,
believe this,
and start walking--
with your eyes open!

December 13, 2020

**Lake Brandt Reflection 11/09/2011 — Greensboro, North Carolina**

Diane Osbon said, "There is a track for each of us."
A track.
A path.
A way. 
A beam.
A course...

And we know when we are on it,
and when we are not on it.

We know when we are resonating with our life,
and when we are not.

We know when we are in the flow,
in the groove,
and when we are out of it.

When we are in the center of our greatest joy,
and when we are in the wasteland of discontent.

I know a woman in extended care
suffering from a room full of associated symptoms
all connected with excessive alcohol consumption
for twenty or so years.
Her mind is here and not-here simultaneously,
and her body is only somewhat better off.
But.
There is enough of her there mentally
for her to yell out at everyone who enters her room:
"Bring me something cold to drink
with Vodka in it,
and I want some Weed!"

That is a woman who has been off track
for over twenty years,
and knew it,
and drank to forget.

The Hero's Journey is not for sissies,
yet it waits for each of us
to step onto the path
and start walking.
And the basic requirement of that Journey
is that we have what it takes
to live a meaningful life.

Our life will tell us what is meaningful
and what is not.

And when it is not,
if we reach for the Vodka and weed,
or some rough equivalent.
we have chosen poorly,
and need to get ourselves backed out of there
while we can.

–0–

**Hatteras Sunrise 02 10/31/2011 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina**

What do you care about?
What do you care-not about?
What is your highest allegiance?
Your deepest loyalty?

I hope you don't know.

I hope you are living to find out.

I hope you are living 
to show yourself who you are.

Otherwise, you are living
in the service of some ideology.
Of somebody's idea
of what you should care about,
what you should give your highest allegiance,
your deepest loyalty to.

As if they know.

You are letting someone else
tell you what is important.
As if anyone but you can know what that is.

It is ours to discover it for ourselves.

No one can tell us what it is.
It is for us to know what it is
because it is.

Our life's work is to know
what grounds us--
not because it ought to,
but because it does.

What is the immovable,
unshakable,
adamantine,
foundation
upon which we stake our life,
and which is our life?

What do we live to serve?

We live to find out.

Let it be a surprise.

We find clues
in how we have lived
up to this point.

What are the questions we can ask?
What are the questions that are not allowed?
Who says so?

When we find the things we don't dare question,
we have to find who says so.
Where did we get that idea?
What keeps it in place?
Where are we not free to go?
Go there.
See what happens.

December 12, 2020

Two Ducks Flying 11/30/2011 — The Bog Garden, Greensboro, North Carolina

We can care too much,
and we can care too little.
We can think too much,
and we can think too little.

We live on a continuum between
too much and too little.

Finding the Still Point,
is as easy as riding a bicycle.
Once you get it,
you have it forever.

Just think of your life as riding a bicycle.
And take it for a spin.

–0–

0201

**Big Creek 08 04/14/2009 Oil Paint Rendering –Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Waterville, North Carolina**
When I take a photo that is improperly focused, the only way I know of redeeming it is to render it as an oil painting or as watercolor.
All of our sins of omission or commission are the result of not knowing, or not caring, what we are doing.
And we get back on track the best way we can.

Knowing what is ours to do,
and to not-do
and to do-not,
and knowing what we have to work with
are matters of essential knowing.

And nobody explains that to us.

All of the important stuff
we figure out on our own.

And nobody explains that to us.

Everybody acts as though there is some
Almighty Authority directing their actions,
and they are doing what they are supposed to do
by aligning themselves with that invisible,
undetectable, completely imagined and non-sensible
Authority.

And, they are right.
Except, but, only 
they are imagining the wrong Authority.

They are imagining an Absolute Authority "out there"
and it is "in here."

The One Who Knows dwells within us
and communes with us indirectly
with sign language (symbol language),
metaphors and energy bursts,
dream images and compelling urges,
drifts of "soul" (whatever that is),
and stirrings of "heart" (whatever that is)...

For all practical purposes,
WE are the Super Authority we seek,
and our only problem
is working out Right Relationship
with ourselves--
knowing who is saying "Yes" and "No"
to the things we do and do-not
throughout our life?

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

The answer is to be found within.

When we get to the bottom of that,
and are right about it,
we know what we need to know
to find what we need,
to do what needs to be done,
about everything that comes along.

And that is the best anybody can do.

–0–

**Big Creek 08 04/14/2009 –Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Waterville, North Carolina**

Whatever happens in our life
is our destiny's way 
of taking care of us,
of waking us up,
of getting us back,
or keeping us,
on the track.

It is all about us and the track.

There is being on track,
and there is being off track,
and that is all there is.

Everything that happens to us
is about keeping us on,
or getting us back on,
track.

Track is the only thing to be.
The essential thing to be.

Track is humming along,
with everything in place
and working together
to produce the music
we came to make,
with us being aligned with the Tao
and in the center
of our life's will for us
and all is good beyond compare.

Do we know it?
Is the question.

Off Track is lost in a Wasteland
of our own making
by failing to cooperate with the Tao,
and having nothing but contempt
and derision
for the idea
that there is a better way to do it
that the way we are doing it.
"Our Way Is The Only Way,"
carries us directly
to the rock solid heart
of where we do not want to be.
And we wanted our way there
all along the way.

Do we know it?
Is the question.

We can do it our way,
or we can do it the right way.
And our destiny is here with us
to urge us to do it the right way.

Here's a tip for you:
We get and stay on track
by sitting still
and being quiet,
and listening/looking
until we see and hear,
and know what's what,
and do what needs to be done about it.

That is all there is to it.

How quiet are you,
for how often,
and how long?

December 11, 2020

**Fall Canopy 05 11/08/2020 — Indian Land, South Carolina**

What fills us?
Where are we "filled to the brim"?
Filled with life--
with the experience of being fully alive?

Where has that--where does that--happen to us?
How do we respond?
Tears?
Laughter?
Silence?
...

Those moments are "transparent to transcendence."
They are "thin places" (Parker Palmer)
where the world of The Mystery at the Heart
of Life and Being
breaks into the world of normal, apparent, reality,
to transform everything,
and we forget to breathe.

Then it all snaps back into place,
leaving us to wonder if that just happened,
and long for a return engagement very soon.

But the memory lasts always,
and we know we are that close
all the time,
that it could happen anywhere,
but it doesn't happen everywhere,
so we live between the times of its epiphany,
hoping to be present again
when it is present with us,
knowing our life can't be 
more meaningful than that.

Putting ourselves in the position
to be filled--
opening ourselves to the wonder of being
here, now,
wherever we are,
looking with fresh eyes
to see past appearances,
to see what else is there,
draped in the garb of the everyday,
concealing the truth of the Other World
just beyond reach...

We live in an optical illusion.
Now we see it, now we don't.
We have to look knowing what we are looking at,
knowing what we are looking for,
looking for how to master the shift
by not staring at it,
but just past it,
out of the corner of our eye,
not quite focusing,
seeking the wonder,
the radiance,
just out of sight.

–0–

**Cullasaja River Panorama 02 04/12/2011 — Nantahala National Forest, Highlands, North Carolina**

Our destiny is among the strangest of things.
It can use anything to bring itself about.
Whether we cooperate or refuse,
it is all the same to our destiny.
From its standpoint,
"Anything can happen,
but nothing can go wrong."
Because nothing can happen
that it cannot fold into its idea
of how things need to be.

The advantage of cooperating with our destiny
is entirely our boon to embrace,
if we choose,
though it will seem to us at times
to be more of a curse than a blessing.

We have to trust ourselves to
That Which Knows more than we know,
and open ourselves to the times that are upon us--
"And when," in the Native American way of doing things,
"we come to the chasm,
and it is dark,
and we are afraid for our life,
we jump,
trusting that it is not as wide as it seems."

The Hero's Journey comes down to 
trusting ourselves to our destiny
time after time.
Not willing,
not forcing,
not pushing,
not shoving, 
just listening,
just looking,
just waiting,
for the door to open
where we think there are no doors,
for the blessing to be bestowed
when we think there are no blessings 
in this mess for sure,
ready to act when the time for acting
comes upon us,
and trusting (that word again)
that we will know when it arrives.

It is a different way of going at life,
and it is the only way 
of being in accord with the Tao
moment-to-moment,
day-to-day.

–0–

**Mud Cracks 03 06/30/2011 — Mud Volcano, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming**

Living from the center,
aligned with the source,
at one with our original nature,
waiting for the mud to settle
and the water to clear,
listening/looking
for what arises in the silence
to speak for the Tao
flowing through all situations
and circumstances
in the service of balance 
and harmony,
spirit,
vitality
and life,
enables our virtues--
the gifts that are ours from birth--
to come forth
as blessing and grace
to heal the world
through the way
we respond
to what is called for
in each moment,
moment-by-moment,
the fulcrum shifting the future
into place,
and making all things
what they need to be
over time.

Do here and now right
as best you can.

That is the difference
that makes a difference
in the way things are
always and forever.

December 10, 2020

**Cypress Swamp 09/03/2015 16 Panorama — Lake Martin, Breaux Bridge, Louisiana**

Joseph Campbell said, "If you really want 
to help this world,
what you will have to teach
is how to live in it.
And that, 
no one can do
who has not learned
how to live in it
in the joyful sorrow
and the sorrowful joy
of life as it is."

We are always trying to improve
everything about life:
ourselves,
other people,
the world,
life as it is...

Life as it is
is not the way we want it to be.
And we have a plan for that.

The Bible would have us believe
that it all started out 
with Adam and Eve 
trying to improve Paradise.
And we are still at it.

Carl Jung said,
"You can't improve something
without accepting it first."
Letting things be just what they are
is the first step 
in changing our relationship with them,
and that is the essential element
in the transformation of everything.

It all changes once our perspective changes.
If you are going to change something,
start with your perspective!

–0–

Carolina Thread Trail 01 11/09/2020 — Lancaster County, South Carolina

You cannot be a photographer
and be somewhere else.

You cannot be a photographer
thinking about something else.

To be a photographer,
you have to be where you are,
when you are,
and your mind has to be on
what you are doing,
what you are seeing,
here and now.

A camera requires your presence.
Your attentive presence.
It forces you to be present
even against your will.

If you are not present,
it shows.

A camera is sitting zazen.
It is better than sitting zazen.
Sitting zazen takes you out of the moment.
A camera thrusts you into the moment,
and requires you to be alive
to the time and place
of your living.
Sitting zazen is just another way
of being dead.

Between a zazen cushion
and a camera,
go with the camera.

–0–

**The Barn Down the Road 03/21/2011 — Yanceyville, North Carolina**

It comes down to this:

Pay attention,
be aware.

See what you look at,
know what you know.

Do what needs to be done,
what is called for,
in ways appropriate 
to the occasion.

In each situation
as it arises.

It is never more difficult than that.

Anybody can do it
with a little practice.

What's the problem?

–0–

Half Dome and Merced River 04/27/2006 — Yosemite National Park, California

We cannot assume anything.
We cannot take anything for granted.
Everything is for the first time.
Nothing has gone before.
Nothing will come after.
This is all there is or ever will be.
This here.
This now. 
Is it.

We are the still point of the turning world,
right here,
right now.
What we do here and now
is all that matters.

Experience makes little difference.
Prognostication is a delusion.
All we can know is right before us.
What is happening?
What is being called for?
How best to respond?
That is all we need to know.
That is all there is to know.

If the baby's diaper needs changing,
change the baby's diaper.
If the dog needs to go for a walk,
take the dog for a walk.

How we feel about it doesn't matter.
What we want doesn't come into the picture.
What needs to be done?
Who needs to do it?
When?
How?

This is the place,
now is the time--
for what?

That is the only question.
Ever.

Live to get it right.
Every time.

December 09, 2020

**Fall Canopy 04 11/08/2020 — 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina**

Joseph Campbell asked, "What are you going to do well?"

There is our art,
our gift,
and our life.

What are we going to do well,
when it doesn't matter?
When no one is going to notice,
or know?

When it amounts to nothing more than
"divinely superfluous beauty"?

There is our art,
our gift,
our life.

Where in your experience 
do you have to get it right?

If it is everywhere,
you need to look at
how you are dominated
by your compulsion 
to be pleasing,
and your inability to say no.

Don't do anything about it!
Do not try to make yourself
start saying no!
Simply be aware of it,
be curious about it,
search for when it started,
for its origin in your life.
Wonder about it.
Dig around in it.
See what you can turn up.

And if it is nowhere--
if there is nothing
you have to get right,
you have to do well,
you need to look at
who took it away from you.
Who made fun of you?
Who ridiculed you?
Who made you ashamed
of caring about what you cared about?

Simply become aware of your disconnect
with what was once important to you,
and curious about what happened
to render you incapable of
embracing aspects of your life
as being worth your highest esteem.
Dig around in it.
See what you turn up.

Joseph Campbell would say,
"Reflection leads to new realizations."
And that transforms the whole shebang.

–0–

**Cotton in the Field Panorama 03 11/03/2015 — Along the Blues Trail through the Mississippi Delta**

The life that is ours to live--
the life we are built for,
that comes with our destiny attached--
is so far removed from the life we are living,
that it is no wonder we suffer
from oxygen deprivation,
can't get our breath,
listlessly drift through each day.

We do not fit the life we are living!
We belong to another,
vastly different life,
and struggle to make room 
for that life
in this life.

Our heart isn't in what we are doing.
How long has it been?
How long have we been going through 
the motions,
thinking it is going to get better
soon?

We think Jesus was about heaven when we die.
Jesus was about living the life that is ours to live
now, while we are alive!

Jesus lived the life that was his to live
and calls us to follow his lead
in living the life that is ours to live.

The Buddha did the same thing.
Waking up means waking up to the life
that isn't it,
and to the life that is it.
And living the right life.

Even if we have to compromise,
and walk two paths at the same time--
making enough money to pay the bills
with this life,
and doing what we pay the bills to do 
with our real life--
it is worth the work to do what 
we are here to do.

We will find ourselves smiling for no reason,
and laughing right out loud
with delight
over the good things
we never noticed before.

How long has it been since we did that?

We are burning daylight here.
Time's a-wasting.

–0–

Sailboat Abstract 01 10/29/2010 — Pamlico Sound, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina

We would all like to sail away
from time to time.
Or, as they say in the Old West,
"Don't fence me in!"

Being fenced in is the worst imaginable situation
for a lot of us.
"Give us land, lots of land,
with the starry skies above...
and don't fence us in."

The odd thing about all this
is that nothing is more confining,
limiting,
prison-like
than a damn sailboat!

I'm sure the irony is not wasted on you.

Carl Jung like to say,
"We meet our destiny
on the road we take to escape it."

We create the very future 
we try to avoid
by trying to avoid it.

And have less freedom than we can bear
by trying to be free
of all constants and restrictions.

The trick--
the work-a-round--
is to be free
right here,
right now,
just as we are.

It's the old soldiers' Great Escape,
being Absent Without Leave
while standing at attention
as the commanding officer
passes in review.

We are always a slight perspective shift
from being outta here.

It's the old Taoists' favorite retreat
into seclusion and solitude.

Just flip the switch!
"Turn the light around!"
Take your leave!
Sail away!
Without going anywhere!

And if the situation is really obnoxious, 
drift back in from time to time
and say, "I'm sorry,
my mind must have wandered,
can you repeat what you were just saying?"
And drift immediately away again.

That may not work on an arresting officer,
but it's good for insurance salesmen
standing at the door.

December 08, 2020

**Currituck Beach Lighthouse 10/24/20/10 — North Carolina Outer Banks**

Every time and place has its own mood,
its own character,
its own sense of being in,
or out of,
the flow--
the Tao--
of life and being

Some places are so dead
redemption and resurrection
are out of the question.

I have to get myself walked out of those places.
I expect you do, too.

There are people--
lots of people--
who have no hope of 
being awake in their lifetime.
They walk like the dead they are
through all of the aforementioned places.

You can see it in their eyes
and in their slack expression. 
It has been decades since they were last alive.

These people and those places
constitute a large portion of the world
we live in.

They dumbfound everyone who comes their way.
Jesus left shaking his head,
muttering to himself.
As did the Buddha before him
and Gandhi after him.

How do you teach a stone to talk?
If you take the time to cultivate
a relationship with the stone,
seeing through the stone
to all that it is 
that does not meet the eye,
it will speak to you of itself
and of you
in ways that startle and amaze. 

The dead people and places in our life
have the same potential.
But.
It will be a potential realized in pathos
and anguish
in recognition of all that might have been
and never had a chance of being
because there were none to listen
as we are listening,
and none to see as we are seeing,
and none to care as we are caring,
and now they are long past redemption
and resurrection,
though we are listening,
and seeing,
and caring
with a heart breaking for all that is,
and was not.

–0–

**Carolina Thread Trail 03 11/09/2020 — Lancaster County, South Carolina**

What helps you find your way?
What restores your soul?
Makes your little heart sing?
Your little footsies dance?

What harmonizes your life,
puts you back on track,
centers and grounds you,
is a reliable source of balance
and stability?

Joseph Campbell would suggest
that you create your own sacred space
around those things.

He said:
"You don't have a sacred space, a rescue land,
until you find somewhere to be
that is not a wasteland,
some field of action
where there is a spring of ambrosia--
a joy that comes from inside, 
not something external that puts joy in you--
a place that lets you experience
your own will,
and your own intention,
and your own wish (and delight)
so that, in a small way,
the Kingdom is there.
I think everybody, 
whether they know it or not,
is in need of such a place."

He continues:

"A sacred space is hermetically sealed off
from the temporal world.
When you are in such a space,
there is no penetration into the enclosure.
You are in an eternal zone
that is protected from the impact and intrusion
of the stimuli of the day and of the hour.
That is what you do in meditation:
you seal yourself off.
The world is sealed off,
and you become a self-contained entity.
You must have such a sealing-off program/place
for yourself whenever you require it:
once a week,
or once a day,
or once an hour.
It is an absolute necessity
if you are going to have an inner life.
What it provides is an interval
in which the eternal within you
is disengaged from the field of time
in the hermetically sealed sacred space
within yourself. 
The further you can get into that,
the more at peace you will be
with whatever happens."

–0–

Crepe Myrtle 07 11/27/2020 — 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina

Jim’s Favorite Rice Pudding

Bring 2 Cups of water to a boil.
Add 1 cup of uncooked rice of your choice.
Cover and reduce heat to simmer.
The water will evaporate/be absorbed by the rice
as the rice cooks. This will take about 20 min.
for white rice and about 35 minutes for brown rice.

While the rice is cooking,
in a separate pot, place
3 cups of milk (Your choice of variety),
1/3 cup of sugar, or 3TBS of Stevia
1/3 cup or more to taste of raisins or dried cranberries
1 TBS Unsalted Butter
1-3 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Heat over medium heat while stirring occasionally.

When the rice has cooked, add it to the milk mixture
and stir it over medium heat until the mixture thickens
and the rice absorbs most of the milk--10 to 15 minutes.
Remove from heat, cover, and allow to "set up" for 10 minutes.

Serve or store in the refrigerator until needed.

All of the old monks ate their rice.
It was the foundation of their foundation.

–0–

Caroline Dormon Lodge 01 — Lake Chicot State Park, Ville Platte, Louisiana

We have been looking for the Power source
for as long as we have been alive.

As a species.

All this time,
we have been like 
a man sitting on his ox
looking for his ox.
Like a woman holding her car keys,
looking for her car keys.

We have been looking Out There,
when all this time,
it has been--and continues to be--
In Here.

We have looked everywhere Out There.
In the Moon,
in the Sun,
in the Stars,
in the Mountains,
in this recipe,
in this belief system,
in that one,
and that one...

The gods and goddesses 
have been legion.
We have tried them all,
looking for a leg up,
for the advantage,
for the angle,
for the leverage,
for the formula
for beating the odds
and securing our future
and having it made.

Money seems to be the one
that has made it to the top.
If we only have enough money,
we will surely have it made.
And we live our life
in the service of Mammon,
seeking more,
always more,
and never having enough
to be sure 
that we have it made.

And through all of this
we are never more 
than one slight perspective shift
from having what we seek.

All we have to do 
is change our mind
about what it means
to have it made.

–0–

**Moonrise 10/23/2010 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, North Carolina**

If you are living from your center,
you can live through anything.
You can live with anything.

Your center is centered upon your Source,
and your Source,
and your center,
are equipped to assist you
in the work of 
fulfilling your destiny
within all possible
situations,
contexts and
circumstances.

Look at where we have been!
All of this started 
in the jungles
and in the caves--
on the plains
and the barren steppes!

We came from there to here
in 30 million or so years!
And we came through everything
to be here, now!

We come from good stock!
Stock that made it through
impossible-seeming conditions
using nothing but its original gifts,
its original nature,
living aligned with its center,
its Source.

That is the strategy
for living with--
for dealing with--
whatever comes up.

Seek the silence,
seek the center,
seek the source,
find the still point,
and wait for the Way to arise
and lead you through the Wasteland
to the Promised Land--
the Promised Land being within,
not without!

The Promised Land being anywhere
you are One with the Center and the Source
of the Mystery of Life and Being!

Live from there
and we have it made
no matter what!

December 07, 2020

**Walnut Creek Trail 01 11/09/2020 — Lancaster County, South Carolina**

Doing what our life asks us to do,
being who our life asks us to be,
faithfully offering what is called for
in each situation as it arises,
providing what is needed in each moment,
with compassion and kindness, 
sincerity and grace,
without contriving some outcome,
or seeking our advantage or gain,
is to be in accord with the Tao,
living aligned with the Way,
and fulfilling our destiny,
step by step,
through each day.

Jesus couldn't do better than that.
The Buddha couldn't beat it.
The Dali Lama aspires to it.
The people who toss it aside
in their search for more,
continue the legacy of Adam and Eve
in trading Eden for the Wasteland,
and throwing away their life
looking for life.

–0–

**Beech Tree Panorama 11/27/2020 — 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina**

The moment is where we come alive.
What is blocking our life-in-the-moment?
What is happening there
that keeps us from being alive?
What is our attitude 
about what is happening there
that keeps us from being alive?

There is caring too much
and there is caring too little.

There is wanting too much
and there is wanting too little.

There is thinking too much
and there is thinking too little.

You see where this is going.

We have to be capable of doing
what needs to be done
in ways appropriate to the occasion
in every moment of our life.

We need to have access to every
action we are capable of initiating
as a fully functioning member
of the species
without being incapacitated
by over-or-under reacting
in any area.

Living from the center,
from the still point between
all extremes,
requires optimal distance
from everything.

There is too-close and too-far-away.
Strive for the middle way
in all things.
Not caring too much,
and not caring too little.
About everything.

–0–

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

Sit down,
be quiet,
watch your thoughts,
watch your response to your thoughts,
distance yourself from your thoughts,
observe by being aware
of being aware,
without judgment or opinion,
with compassion and non-contrivance,
not striving for anything
but awareness of everything.

If the things that arise
become overwhelming,
return your attention 
to your breathing.

Breathe slowly, deeply,
pausing between exhale and inhale
for a count of five.
After five breaths,
resume your observation
of thoughts arising in the silence.

For twenty minutes,
or for as close to that
as your schedule allows.
Do this three times a day,
as your life permits.

–0–

**Breakwater and Headlight B&W 10/02/2002 — Rockland, Maine**

There are two things to attend
in every listening session
with yourself,
and with everyone else:
What is being said,
and 
What is talking.

Both must be interpreted
in light of the context and circumstances,
and who is speaking, 
and who is listening.

We cannot remove ourselves
from any conversation
or any relationship,
and impact what is heard
by the way we hear it.

We have to take all of it
into account,
observing the situation
and our place in it,
moment-by-moment,
situation-by-situation,
day-by-day.

Particularly what is talking.
What is the emotional charge
behind the words?
Depression?
Dismay?
Hopelessness?
Anxiety?
Fear?
Worry?
Anger?
Rage?
Hatred?
Defensiveness?
Uncertainty?
Unease?
The push to prevail?
The need to win?
Etc.

When you respond,
speak to the emotion
as much as to the words.

Get to the bottom 
of the origin of the words.
To the source
of what is being said.

Do not leave the source un-probed.

Ask the questions that beg 
to be asked.
Say the things that cry out
to be said.

Take your time between
the statement
and the reply.
Allow yourself to process everything,
including your emotional response
to the statement,
and speak from your own center,
from the source of your own propulsion,
from the still point
between action and reaction--
the still point between thoughts.
Between feelings.

And make it your highest priority
to nurture your relationship
with the still point
through all the days 
of your life.