Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

December 06, 2020

**Caroline Dormon Lodge 03/22/2015 — Chicot Lake State Park, Ville Platte, Louisiana**

The old Taoist saying,
"Turn the light around,"
says all we need to hear.

It can be understood on different levels.
Initially it was a directive
to stop looking for illumination
"out there,"
in books,
or lectures,
or sutras,
concepts,
creeds,
ideas,
thinking,
etc.
and start looking for it
"in here,"
in realizations,
recognition,
intuition,
insight,
instinct,
etc.

Joseph Campbell said,
"It is through reflection
on our lived experience
that we arrive at new realizations."
And on our dreams,
and our conflicts and contradictions,
etc.

Any time we come up against a wall
is a good time for reflection,
and for listening.

Nothing beats sitting quietly
and listening
for getting past the noise
to the truth that is trying 
to break through to us.

All we have to do is sit still
and notice everything 
that arises unbidden within,
until something comes up
with a peculiar energy about it,
different from all the other stuff,
in a way that catches your attention
and jolts you with 
a kind of "Here it is! Don't miss this!"
emphasis.

Well, reflect on that.
Turn it over.
Walk around it.
See what you can make of it.
What is it asking of you?
Take it for a spin.
See where it goes.

On the path to the Holy Grail,
one thing leads to another.
Start with the thing with energy,
and it will lead you to something else
with energy.
Stay with the energy.
With the life.
With the interest and enthusiasm.
With the joy and wonder.

Trust those guides with your life,
and be off
on your next great adventure.

–0–

Water Flower 09/02/2008 — Bass Lake, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina

A symbol's value
is its aliveness in the life
of those embracing it.

Symbols are alive for us
when they connect us with transcendence,
with the Numen,
the Ineffable,
the Indescribable,
the Inexpressible...
beyond themselves.

We see through symbols
when we look at symbols,
and we never confuse the symbol
with what it symbolizes,
with what it stands as a reference to,
with what it points to,
suggests,
reflects.

A symbol--all symbols--is/are alive
to the extent that it/they are metaphors
for more than words can say.
And everything is capable of being a symbol,
a metaphor,
for us when we see through it,
past it,
to what it "stands for" for us.

A symbol is dead
when it means just what it means
and nothing more ever than what it means.

God is a symbol.
God is a metaphor.
God is an idea that represents
a transcendent reality
that cannot be said,
told,
explained,
described,
clarified,
expressed,
defined
or made plain.

God is dead to the extent
that God is limited
to what can be said of God
in the Bible,
the creeds,
the catechisms,
the books of confession,
and the books of doctrine
that say who and what God is.
And is not.

God is more than we can ask,
or say, or think, or believe.

God is beyond all concepts,
ideas, opinions, descriptions...

The most truthful thing
that can be said of God
is "I do not know God."

As a symbol,
God is "transparent to transcendence,"
as all symbols are,
in that we see through the symbol
to what is beyond the symbol
which cannot be said/told/defined/etc.

We,
you and I,
are to live in ways
that "express the inexpressible,"
and "make known what which
is more than words can say."

We,
you and I,
are to be symbols
which are "transparent to transcendence,"
so that we are "as close to The Mystery
at the Heart of Life and Being,
as some people get,"
so that seeing The Mystery
through us,
they become present to The Mystery themselves,
and live, as a symbol of The Mystery
in the lives of others.

And, thus, The Mystery
comes alive in us all,
and we all come alive in The Mystery,
and know that at the very bottom of it all,
we are One with The Mystery,
"One with the Father,"
One with each other
and all people of all ages,
and all sentient beings 
of all times and places,
world without end, amen.

–0–

**Magnolia 08 06/24/2009 — Greensboro, North Carolina**

Only dead people kill people.

Every person who kills someone, anyone,
should ask themselves:
"In doing this,
am I more like Jesus,
or the people who killed Jesus?"

Christians think Jesus is a Christian,
and would be welcome in all their churches.
All Christian churches think everyone is welcome.
They say so on church signs.
"All are welcome here!"
"Everyone is welcome here!"
Not so.
What they don't say is left unsaid but implied:
"All are welcome here on our terms."
"Everyone is welcome here to be like we are."

The list of people who are not welcome
in Christian Churches is long.

Are gay people welcome
to hold Gay Pride rallies
and organize marches,
and preach from the pulpit on Sunday morning
in Christian Churches?

Are members of Planned Parenthood welcome
to hold Freedom of Choice rallies,
to speak from the pulpit,
and organize marches?

Are Muslims welcome
to preach from the pulpit on Sunday morning,
hold prayer retreats
and rallies,
and organize marches,
and talk about Palestinian rights?

Transgender people...
Black Lives Matter...
Buddhists...
The list is long of people
not-welcome on church property.

Yet, all Christian churches
think Jesus would be welcome.

They should devote a worship service
once a month
for silent contemplation
of all the ways Jesus would not be welcome,
and of all the things Jesus 
would not be welcome to say
and do.

And then consider, in light of that,
are they more like Jesus,
or the people who killed Jesus.

December 05, 2020

**Lake Chicot 04 03/22/2015 Panorama — Canoe/Kayak Launch, Lake Chicot State Park, Ville Platte, Louisiana**

Preferences without expectations or demands
will go a long way toward peace, balance and harmony.

But.

This works only where there is
mutual respect for,
and commitment to,
the common good.

Where that is lacking,
that is where the police
and the military come in.

Everything depends upon
our ability to enforce compliance
to the agreements that hold us together.

Without the good faith participation of all
in the creation and maintenance
of an atmosphere/environment
that respects/honors the rights
of everyone to their rights to a life
they find to be pleasing--
without interfering with others' rights
to that kind of life for themselves--
it all goes to hell in short order.

We owe it to each other
to care about the good of the other
as much as we care about our own good.

That is the basis of our life together.

–0–

**Wild Goose Island 09/24/2006 — St. Mary Lake, Glacier National Park, Montana**

People group together
around their ideas 
of how things ought to be.
Which is how they wish they were.
Which has a somewhat tangential 
relationship with how things are.

The more people in the group,
the less agreement there is 
about pretty much everything.
Unless the group doesn't allow disagreement,
or questions,
or variations from the authority
of those in control of the group.

Insisting that everyone see things
like the leaders see things
is the grounding agreement
for peace and harmony.
The moment different opinions
and points of view are permitted,
it all goes to hell in a hurry.

Democracy is doomed from the start.
"Okay, we can all be free to live 
our own life with the same rights
and privileges as everyone else,
but we all have to agree 
that the majority rules."

And then we get Trump and the GOP
suing to have an election overturned
where the majority (by 7 million votes)
voted him out of office.

How are we going to make this work?

"Good fences make good neighbors,"
said Robert Frost.
What I do on my side of the fence
is my business,
and what you do on your side of the fence
is your business.
I won't mess with your life,
and you don't mess with mine.

That would work except for the color 
of my skin,
or my preference for a life partner,
or my right to have an abortion,
then somehow my business
becomes your business.
How does that happen?
I'm on my side of the fence.
What are you doing in my back yard?
In my bedroom?
How did my business become your business?

How is it that I cannot trust you
to abide by our common agreements?

Freedom of religion
means I am free from your religion.
So, keep your religion to yourself
on your side of the fence!

We can live together
only if you stay on your side of the fence!
When people in democracy
keep trying to impose their ideas
of how other people ought to live their life
on other people.
there is no democracy.

Democracy respects lines separating 
people and their business
from other people and their business--
and requires everyone to mind their own business.

Sounds simple enough.

December 04, 2020

**Lake Chicot 03/22/2015 10 — Cabin Rentals, Lake Chicot State Park, Ville Platte, Louisiana**

We owe our life
liege loyalty,
filial devotion
and devoted service
through all the times and places, 
contexts and circumstances
of our days upon the earth. 

Adam and Eve failed to do this,
and served their wants and desires,
but Abraham, Moses, Elijah and John the Baptist,
Ruth, Ester, and Mary the mother of Jesus,
and Jesus, among many others,
did it very well.

Now, it is our turn.

Our life is our destiny.
To live our life
with liege loyalty,
filial devotion,
and devoted service,
is to embrace our destiny,
and do what it calls us to do,
regardless of the price,
without any interest in
what is in it for us,
and no attempt to turn any moment
to our advantage,
gain,
or benefit--immediate or eternal--
but just doing what our life requires
in the time and place of our living,
moment-by-moment,
day-by-day
our whole life long,
for the joy of serving our life.

To live this way 
is to live in accord with the Tao,
and at one with our destiny.

–0–

**Father Crawley Point – Star Wars Canyon – Rainbow Canyon — Death Valley National Park, Inyo, California**

It is not a matter of thinking,
or believing.
It is solely a matter of doing--
of right doing--
of aligning our life
with what is being called for
in each situation as it arises,
and doing there what needs to be done,
when it needs to be done,
how it needs to be done,
for as long as it needs to be done,
and repeating that process
in the next situation as it arises,
and so on,
throughout our life.

You can think whatever you want.

You can believe whatever you want.

As long as it enables you 
to do what needs to be done,
when it needs to be done,
how it needs to be done,
for as long as it needs to be done
by doing what is called for
in every situation
that arises.

Forget ethics.
Forget morality.
Forget duty.
Forget what your mother told you.
Forget what your father always said.
Just focus on what is being called for,
be right about it,
and do what needs to be done,
when and how,
situation by situation.

This is called 
"living in accord with the Tao."

–0–

**Canyon Light 09/27/2005 — Grand Canyon, South Rim, Arizona**

Sit quietly,
find the still point within
between liking and not liking,
thinking and not thinking,
wanting and not wanting,
fearing and not fearing,
believing and not believing,
needing and not needing,
etc.

And live from there
in doing and not doing.

–0–

**Maine Moon 09/07/2006 — Mt. Desert Island, Maine**

Compliance with this
is non-compliance with that,
and vice-versa.

The only free choice we can make
is the choice between masters.
"Choose this day whom you will serve!"
is all the freedom we are allowed.

Not wearing a mask
is not evidence of freedom,
but of bondage.
The people who do not wear a mask.
cannot wear a mask.
They lose standing in their 
most-cherished community if they do.
What is the value of a community
that binds us to stupidity
and puts us in harm's way?

What is the value of anything
that destroys our connection
with our core
and commands us to do
what is contrary to our 
control center within?

When Paul says,
"It is no longer I who live,
but the Christ who lives within me!"
he is saying he is being directed
by the Knower who knows better
than he knows what is called for
and what needs to be done about it.

He is saying what Captain Jack Sparrow said,
"It's the pirate's life for me, Gibbs.
I have no say in the matter. Savvy?"

We have no say in the matter of what matters to us.
We have no say in the matter of what
we would go to hell for.
We have no say in the matter of what
pulls us or chases us or haunts us or pleases us.

We like what we like
and don't like what we don't like,
but we can't choose what we like
or don't like
any more than we can choose
what we dream at night
or what the next thing will be
that catches our eye.

Freedom is just another word
for having nothing at all to say
in all matters of grave importance,
so we need to stop kidding ourselves
about being free,
and realize who we are bowing before
and taking our orders from,
and who is directing our boat
on its path through the sea.

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.