Finding our way to The Way one situation at a time. I don't know how great it will be, but I expect it will be interesting, and I look forward to it going on past all reason because wonder is just that way. Are you coming or not?
The Skeleton Trees of Boneyard Beach — Botany Bay Historical Preserve and Wildlife Management Area, Edisto Island, South Carolina
It isn't being dead that bothers me. It is the dying I would like to avoid. More specifically, it is the lingering incapacity, the dwindling, the not-dead-yet-but-maybe-a-little-deader-today-than-yesterday-it's-hard-to-tell that I find to be tedious and unnecessary.
I would like to be surprised, and yet, I like to think that I'm ready to die at any time, prepared, and looking forward to the experience of transition--being there, hoping to not be disappointed with any aspect of my passing.
And, I would like to out-live everyone I have ever known and cared about knowing. To be the one to turn off the lights and shut the door. Wrap things up and go home.
"Home" has a nice ring to it. And fits smoothly with my idea of life being more of a psychic experience than a test, or a burden, or a duty. A "Let's see what we can do with this," kind of thing. A pass-time. A hobby.
I have found seeing things and thinking about them to be quite my thing. Photography and writing are two things I do quite spontaneously, automatically, all of the time, either doing it or thinking about doing it some more again every day. And two things I will most surely miss about being alive. Two things that "life" means for me.
And that leads me to say that life for me is experiential, not intellectual. I do it and think about having done it, as in reflect on having done it more than explain having done it. The only thing I can think to say about life is "Do It! All the way to being dead!" May it be so said of us all!
Lake Haigler Fall Mirror — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Fort Mill, South Carolina
Ms. Unglesby was my fifth-grade teacher at Georgia Tucker Elementary in Monroe, Louisiana, who told my mother in one of those Parent/Teacher conferences, "Jimmy looks out the window a lot."
Jimmy still does. He carries the window with him wherever he goes. And takes photographs of what he sees to share with those who couldn't be there, then.
And, as with the image above, he mostly sees tranquility, serenity, peace and harmony, because that is what attracts him and what he looks for, because he doesn't have enough of those things in his life and goes in search of them to stabilize his world and enable him to find his way to who he is and what he is to be about.
Jimmy has discovered that he shares this, you might say "Schtick," of his with the Buddha, who summed up Buddhism with the simple and easily remembered phrase, "Peaceful abiding, here, now."
That's all it comes down to. This is where all living things come to life, by peacefully abiding, here, now. It is what we all are looking for, hoping to find. And it is all "right there" for those with eyes to see, looking, as we do, out the windows of our life, that we might be safe and serene, here and now, at last. No?
Lake Haigler Fall Mirror — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Fort Mill, South Carolina
Experience is required to know/understand/comprehend. It cannot be said, told, explained, defined… Psyche is leading us to knowing throughout our life. We are not old enough to get it until we are old. And then it takes talking to/with people who are consciously seeking to grasp Psyche’s attempts at communion. Waking up. Enlightenment–is Psyche breaking through, which does not, cannot happen until the time is right. All of the Taoist, Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu, Chang Tzu, etc. are about waiting, not pushing, forcing. And so the importance of looking out windows, of silence, stillness, emptiness, waiting, waiting, waiting, all of which goes against the culture, but not against nature, which waits for the right time to act before acting, or misses breakfast, lunch and dinner again.
Psyche is behind everything. At the bottom of everything. There are only us and the worlds of consciousness and unconsciousness, of reason, logic, intellect, and the artistic, painting, poetry, singing, psychic feeling, sensing, knowing without knowing how we know, and we have to consciously live in both worlds at the same time, knowing, sensing the movement from one to the other.
The wanting/desiring is identified in the metaphor of the Garden of Eden as being the source of our problems. Jesus picks up on the theme with “It is harder for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle (A tight passageway in Jerusalem) than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” And his “the spirit is like the wind that blows where it will” is his condemnation of 5-year plans and scheming, planning our way to the goals we have in mind for ourselves. Not-knowing is the way to knowing, but it is not a kind of knowing that would be of value to those seeking “fortune and glory, kid, fortune and glory.”
And this “gospel” doesn’t preach any better today than it did in Isaiah’s day with his, “Land, land, land! Hear the word of the Lord!” (Or was that Jeremiah?), and Jesus, with “You have eyes to see and ears to hear! Use them!” But words are useless when addressing the ways of Psyche. Only silence, stillness, emptiness works over time.
And I’ll have to keep writing because that is the only way I see/hear/understand. I’m writing to myself to hear what I have to say to me. And I repeat myself all of the time, because I’m slow to get what I “know” psychically, so my writing is Psyche’s way of trying to get me to hear what I am saying and need to hear. How do you hear what you have to hear?
Those who know, know the same things. There are no secrets. There is only what we all know. ‘Tis quite the pity we haven’t done more with it than we have. No?
Day’s End — Blue Ridge Parkway, West Jefferson, North Carolina
Participating in the rhythm and flow of life here, now--seeing, hearing, knowing, doing (One thing, not four) what is called for in response to what is happening in each situation as it arises is all there is. "Peaceful abiding, here, now" is seeing/doing this very thing, situation after situation, all our life long. In sync with the Tao, aligned with the moment, doing the right thing at the right time in the right place and the right way. Synchronistically, coincidentally, harmoniously, beautifully, perfectly--without imposing anything on anything or anyone. Without forcing, without compelling, without pushing/pulling, shoving, demanding, insisting--just flowing with the moment here, now all along the way.
What is keeping that from happening? What is needed for that to happen? Seeing what we look at. Hearing what we listen to. Doing what needs to be done in response to what is happening in light of what needs to happen. Of what is called for. Here, now.
No opinions. No agendas. No plans. No expectations. Spontaneously. Unconditionally. Unilaterally. See/Hear/Know/Do.
Knife Edge — The Katahdin Range — Sandy Stream Pond, Baxter State Park, Maine
We have to be available.
What it means to be available is this: "Those who would be my disciple have to pick up their cross everyday and come with me."
Cross-bearing is making the routine sacrifice/practice of handing over what we want in the service of what needs to be done, when, where and how it needs to be done, in each situation as it arises, no matter what.
It is like this. People manifest their desires in hopes of producing what they want in their life and avoiding what they don't want.
Just like people pray to God to give them this and give them that and save them from that, and that, and that over there.
There is no giving, getting, being saved.
Manifesting anything is shaping ourselves to live in accordance with, aligned with, what is asked of us in each situation as it arises. It is not about us getting anything. It is about us doing whatever is necessary to serve the needs of the situation, where, when and how they are needed, never mind what that means for us personally.
We make ourselves available and do what is necessary.
Our life needs certain things of us in each situation as it arises. It is our place to meet the moment the way the moment needs to be met, whatever that means for us personally.
"Pick up your cross and follow me."
Jesus was all about aligning himself with the needs of his Psyche in each situation as it arose. He called it "doing his Father's will. His Father was his Psyche. Who spoke to him constantly. When Jesus said, "Pray always," he meant for us to understand that to be always be present with and in service to our Psyche in every moment of every day.
Being that close to our Psyche is not difficult. It only takes a shift in perspective to understand that our Psyche is in constant touch with us. Our intuition leads the way every day, but we have our eyes on what is in it for us, and on what we want to do and what we want to happen, and are mostly unaware of our Psyche's presence anywhere in the day.
But. If we sit down, shut up, be quiet, and listen, look, we will see and hear and be amazed at how the Tao (That is the Way of Psyche) is flowing along through every moment of every day--not for our personal benefit, but for the good of the whole, the good of the moment, the good of the day, every day.
Living in synch with the flow is how things work best, and we will benefit from that, but it will not be the kind of benefit we have in mind. Personal advancement to the point of having everything always just like we like is not in play. Being who we are doing what is ours to do all day long every day is that which is ours to do. That is our practice. Being who we are, doing what is ours to do, here, now.
Everything waits for that.
And why would we do that? For the simple joy of doing it and the satisfaction of having done it.
"For the joy that was set before him he endured the agone--the agony--of the way that was the way." Like Sisyphus pushing the rock up hill and trudging down hill to walk the rock up hill... Jesus had his rock, Sisyphus had his rock, we have our rock. No? And all it takes is flipping a switch to see it as the joy that is set before us and do what calls us to do it, where, when and how it calls us to do it, here and now, some more again today.
The View From Springer’s Point — Ocracoke Island, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Outer Banks, North Carolina
We are the source of everything that isn't a rock or a tree. Including God. We made it all up, right out of our own Psyche/imagination. We told ourselves stories that scared us into making up other stories to calm us down. Hate, anger, fear and greed are the origin of most of our problems with ourselves and each other. The gentle values, like compassion, empathy, sympathy and a noble heart help offset the violence and destructiveness we are capable of in the grip of emotions beyond our control. But it all is our responsibility, and due solely to being born without an instruction guide and nothing more than what we sense and tell ourselves to guide and direct us along the way.
The wisest/best ancestors I know of are the Taoist, Buddhist, Zen (And Zen is what happened when Taoism met Buddhism) Masters. Jewish/Christian theologians are brutal and ruthless, and their religion reflects that to the core.
Our Psyche is the true source of everything, with us projecting our experience with Psyche onto the outer world and finding Out There what we discover In Here. Awakening occurs when we put things together in an "Aha!" kind of way, but we are torn by wanting what we want when we want it, which is a problem because it clashes with what we also want, and has been a problem forever. Which is the real "Aha!" discovery at the heart of who and how we are.
We find relief from all that ails us simply dropping into the emptiness/stillness/silence and waiting for our questions to lead to realization/awareness over the course of the rest of our life, and guide us along the way.
Lake Haigler Fall 2017 — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Fort Mill, SC
We are all that stands between us and the Void.
That being the case, we might think we would be doing a better job laying a foundation with ourselves that will allow us to deal with what's coming up, instead of looking the other way and hoping for the best. If the best were in play, we wouldn't be here now.
So, here is my suggestion. Trust yourself to have what it takes to do what is necessary in rising to any occasion and taking care of business the way business needs to be taken care of in each situation as it arises throughout the time left for living.
Understanding clearly that in order for ourselves to have the cooperation we need from us, we have to practice deepening, expanding, enabling the development of our relationship with ourselves. More specifically, I am talking about our Psyche here.
Our Psyche has been with us from the start, and I mean from the start of life. And, yes, I am talking evolution here. We have evolved as psychic beings. Everything has. The Psyche is the invisible life force at work in all sentient beings throughout the Cosmos. And, with more cooperation, things would be much better for all of life, but that is another topic.
Today we are talking about improving our awareness of and our relationship with the Psychic side of ourselves--that would be all of the aspects of ourselves that we are unconscious of.
It would be right to think of our Psyche as our Unconscious, and also as our Soul. She has us covered from the standpoint of all invisible, easily ignored, aspects of life beyond our physical state of being.
Our Psyche is in charge of our dreamworld, and all of our dreams are her way of saying to us, "This is the way your life is right now. What are you going to do about it?" Every dream makes this statement and asks this question, and we blow right by them saying, "I dreamed the strangest dream last night," and it is gone by the time we get dressed for the day.
We have to improve the depth and degree of our attention that we give the Psychic world which exists just on the other side of our conscious awareness, and begin cooperating with that which knows best about what is called for here, now, in the service of the Tao and doing the right thing at the right time, in the right place and the right way, which is Psyche's speciality, forever and always.
We take up the practice of Dropping into the silence/stillness/emptiness, Tuning into Psyche's presence, and Turning on to doing what needs to be done here, now in each situation as it arises with "peaceful abiding" everlasting.
Sailboats at Sunset — Silver Lake, Ocracoke Island, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Outer Banks, North Carolina
We lived for a while with the fantasy of Galahad and his heart of nobility, purity and grace carrying us forth like Jesus from the grave as a goal for us to strive for, a human wonder for us to be, but.
There was always littleness, meanness, hatred, greed, wrath and fear shinning through, getting in the way, and, in the end, the truth prevailed.
More of us wanted to be like Donald Trump than like Jesus and Galahad. And if not actually more, close enough for it not to matter for the dream of Liberty! Justice! Equality! Truth! to become just another WOKE dream crashing into the reality of My Way Now No Matter What! hidden beneath the guise of MAGA! And its disdain for Democracy and its hope for how things ought to be.
How ought things be? Who says so? Who cares? Here we are! Now what? What guides our boat on its path through the sea? My choice is for Emptiness, Stillness, Silence to lead the way.
Sitting still enough long enough to see, hear, know, understand, what's what and what is called for and what needs to be done in its service no matter what, when, where and how it needs to be done, and rising to do the right thing at the right time in the right place and the right way here and now day by day forever, starting now, you and I together, all the way--may it be so, no?
The Buddha saw "Peaceful abiding, here, now," as the foundation of "having life and having it abundantly." I call it "Looking out the window."
When I sit, I sit looking out the window, at the focal point, the foundation, of "having life and having it abundantly."
Everywhere can be the vehicle/Portkey/threshold/doorway to "peaceful abiding, here, now," "having life and having it abundantly."
Depending entirely on our perspective and point of view. How we see things IS how things are, in the sense that how we see things is how we respond to things, is how/what we take things to be. We are the fulcrum, the pivot point, from where things are to how things need to be. How/what we see when we look at it determines what response we make to it and where things go from here, now to what's next.
We make the world we live in by the way we look at it and what we say about it.
What do you say about the photograph above? What do you say about your life? Why that and not something else instead?
We are the Portkey to our future, here, now. Our perspective, point of view, way of perceiving, shapes and forms our world. We hold the power of transformation just by being aware of what we see when we look at anything, everything. Why that and not something else instead?
How many different ways can we see things in a day? That's how many worlds we can live in in a day. No?
How many different ways can we see the photograph of hemlock islands in Penobscot Bay, taken from Deer Isle, Maine?
Marianne Moore said, and this is one of my favorite quotes, "Solitude is the sure cure for loneliness." We flip the switch on the photo above by seeing solitude or loneliness. No?
And so on, throughout the day, every day.
Of course, "seeing things as they are" is seeing things as they also are. Which is to say that nothing IS what it appears to be except in the eye of those to whom it appears to be that way. Which is to say that it is all a fiction, capable of being whatever we are in to mood for, or not in the mood for, in a particular time and place. Everything varies according to our "state of mind," whatever that means. It means that everything is a projection of ours onto whatever we are looking at here, now. We are making it all up all of the time. We can't help but make it all up all of the time. So that what we see is an extension of who we are at the time we see what we look at. Everything is a mirror reflecting us to us. When we start seeing us in the way we see everything around us, we will be on the right track at last, to realization, recognition, enlightenment, understanding, laughing, loving, being alive. No?
Riding the Railroad Through Canada — Jasper National Park, Alberta
I would like to live exactly where I am living, and be doing exactly what I am doing. I wouldn't change a thing. It's called "Having it made."
And, what does one do when one has it made? What is called for in each situation as it arises, day after day. Which may have nothing to do with what one would want to do.
Wanting does not know a thing. Wanting is not a reliable guide to having it made. I did not get here by wanting to. I got here by doing what was called for one situation at a time.
I know people who are plotting to be somewhere else. Their life has a better idea of where they need to be than they do. My best advice to them is to forget where you want to be and focus on doing what is called for here, now. One here, now after another.
I don't remember when this occurred to me. I know that I did not think it up and put it into place. I simply realized what I was doing, and had been doing. Looking back, I think it started in Seminary. I was taking Greek and Hebrew as though that was going to somehow help me in the ministry. Reading Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell would have helped me in the ministry--and did, when I stumbled upon them as a part of doing what was called for here, now.
Which started in Seminary with me doing Greek and Hebrew because that was what was called for here, now, no matter what I wanted to do. And it has been guiding the way ever since.
I call it "being lucky," and I remember that Alan Watts said that is what people say about people who are simply doing what is called for situation by situation--which is "enlightenment" as "habitual intuition." Sensing/doing what is called for one situation at a time. The Tao. Doing the right thing, at the right time, in the right way, in the right place. Not by thinking our way forward, rationally, intellectually, reasonably, but simply by knowing/sensing what was called for, what needed to be done, no matter what, one situation at a time.
It is the way that is not a way at all. Or, as Martin Palmer would say, "The path that appears to be a path is not a reliable path."
The path that is The Path is known only in hindsight. Doing Greek and Hebrew when they needed to be done led to doing Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell when they needed to be done. And here we are. Clueless about what's next, but trusting myself to know it when it calls my name.
Boone Fork Reflection — Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina
Nothing beats--and everything flows from--asking the questions that beg to be asked and saying the things that cry out to be said. Doing so paves the way for reflection that leads to realization. And that leads to seeing, hearing, knowing, doing, being what is called for in each situation as it arises--and no one can do better than that, or ask for more than that. No?
Sunwapta River and Falls — Jasper National Forest, Canadian Rockies, Alberta
Realization comes from our reflection on our experience. We make up the bullshit to suit ourselves. For instance, what makes dirty words dirty? And what makes white people superior? Where does experience end and projection/assumption/presumption begin?
We know so much that isn't so, who can keep track anymore? Bullies have taken over the world. Normal people are an endangered species. I am hereby prescribing 26 hours a day of emptiness, stillness and silence for everyone.
The right kind of silence is the cure to all of our problems. In the right kind of silence, we can ask all of the questions that beg to be asked of all of the things that cry out to be said. And things heal themselves as if by magic. Which is the reverse of how things got to be the way they are. Which is by talking, talking, talking about things they don't know anything about.
We have to sit down, shut up, be quiet and wait for the idiocy to pass. Nobody speaks until it is gone. Talking about things we know nothing about is the source of all of our problems today. Conspiracy theorists lead the way away from the way. Silence is the path to sanity.
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 