Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

November 11, 2020

**Fall Leaves 12 11/08/2020 — 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina, an iPhone Photo**

Grounded in, 
and living out of,
our original nature 
and that which is ours to do,
we are invincible,
untouchable,
beyond reach,
and cannot be knocked off
dead center
no matter what comes along.

Send up the Cyclops!
And Medusa!
Genghis Khan and the Mongol Hordes!
It doesn't raise a sweat.

We are invulnerable when we are 
being who we are,
doing our heart's sure things.

The way is clear before us:
Align our conscious identity
with our unconscious original nature,
and cast off all motives,
desires,
ambitions,
incentives,
aspiration--
and live connected with our heart
and its sense of what it needs to do.

Letting our heart
and our original nature
lead the way, 
is to be on the way
across the slippery slopes,
the dangerous paths
and the razor's edge--
with nothing to fear,
and the next adventure
to look forward to.

–0–

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

Mindful living is being aware
of the present moment
with compassion for,
and acceptance of,
the "is-ness" of what is,
without judgment or even opinion,
on every level 
for as long as the moment lasts--
and then being present 
in the same way
in the next moment,
and so on, 
throughout what remains
of the time left for living.

Jon Kabat-Zinn has some valuable
YouTube videos that will help
with the process.

Watch the shortest ones first,
and change your life
one moment at a time.

–0–

**Sourwood 15 11/10/2020 — 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina**

No one can tell us 
what our Original Nature is.
That is ours to ferret out for ourselves.

Each of us is unique
in a special kind of way.
Our Original Nature
is like an emotional/psychological fingerprint.

We also differ by the sonic patterns
of our voice,
the coloration of our eyes,
the cones of our irises.

Not to mention our idea
of a good pizza.

We are as different as different can be.
We all are alike in that way.

We are different and we are the same.

The tide comes in,
the tide goes out,
the tide turns around...
Which way is it?
The tide is all those ways at once.
If it is not coming or going
it is turning around.
That's the tide for you.

Our place is to say "Yes!"
to everything.
But everything includes "No!"
We say "Yes!" to "No!"
and say "No!" to things that are out of place,
or out of time,
or out of place and time.

"Everything in its own place
and in its own time!"
"Nothing in the wrong place,
or in the wrong time!"

"Yes!" can become "No!"
"No!" can become "Yes!"
depending on the time and place,
the here and now,
the situation that is at hand.

The Dalai Lama's bodyguards
carry automatic weapons.
That is "Yes!" being prepared
to say "No!"

Shiva is the Lord of the Dance,
among other things.
He dances with time and place,
with here and now,
and is always exactly what he needs to be
in each time and place of his being.

Which means, of course,
that Shiva contradicts Shiva,
as all God's worthy of the title do.

Yahweh is a God who hides
in thick darkness 
sometimes,
and is said to be The Light of Life
in whom there is no darkness at all
sometimes.
Which way is it?

The tide comes in
and the tide goes out
and the tide turns around.

The only God worth having around
is the God who sacrifices God,
who kills God,
who bears the cross of contradiction
all the way to death,
to be resurrected/reborn as God.

Birth and death,
coming and going and turning around,
forever.
This is the dynamic of life,
of eternity,
of the way things are. 

There is no static state of being.
Rigid,
static,
unbending,
unmoving,
unchanging...
is death, not life.

Life is becoming
by dying
and being raised from the dead
to new life,
which is becoming...

When something becomes,
something else dies.
Dying is the prerequisite of becoming.
We are born to die again and again
in the process of becoming who we are,
of maturation,
of developing wisdom and grace.

This life.
Life is the way of dancing 
with the time and place of our living,
being what is called for here and now,
and being something else then and there.

Always moving,
coming, going and turning around.
Dying again and again,
coming to life again and again,
metaphorically and actually
(Where does that line lie?),
on and on.

Never stopping.
Never quitting.
Never arriving.
Always moving on.
Dancing with time and place,
being what is needed here and now,
doing what is called for forever.

World without end. Amen.

November 10, 2020

Crepe Myrtle 01 11/10/2020 — 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina

When this all started,
there were no natural laws.
No law of gravity.
No law of inertia.
Laws and rules hadn't been invented.

Then there was this really big BANG,
and everything started flying in all directions
at once,
and it took several years
for it to get sorted out
and into stars and planets,
constellations and galaxies.

The universe figured it out
by letting things bang around 
until order appeared,
and now we have clocks and calendars,
physics and chemistry,
scientists and mathematicians.

It's amazing what can happen
just by letting things happen.
That is pretty much what happened 
with each of us.

None of us knew what we were doing,
most of us still don't,
and not one of us planned to be where we are,
or got here by making all the right moves.

We are here by virtue of the same process
that got the universe here.
We knocked around,
got knocked around,
and here we are.
Still getting knocked around,
and are on our way to somewhere else.

We don't comprehend any of it.
It is all such a mystery.
Yet, we pretend everything is well in hand
and completely under our control.

We are masters of our destiny, you know.
Captains of our ship.
And all that.

We are the biggest mystery of it all.
And we think getting what we want 
is all it takes.
What we want is our way,
at all times,
in all places.

That is such a laughter.
Give us our way--
we don't know what to do with it!
We find our way to where we need to be
by taking one wrong turn after another.
And, poof, like that,
we wind up in exactly the right place.
Or not.
Either way, it's a mystery how it works out.

It is as though something
knows more than we do.

But, how could that be?
It's a mystery.
There is no one here but us,
but there is more to each of us
than meets the eye.
Even our own eye.

WE are the mystery!
You might think 
we would be more interested
in getting to the bottom of us
than we are.
But we are more interested
in watching re-runs of sitcoms.

And that's another mystery.
Mystery is everywhere!
And we are the biggest one anywhere!

–0–

**Carolina Thread Trail 06 11/09/2020 — Swinging Bridge, 12-Mile Creek, Lancaster County, South Carolina, Union County, North Carolina**

Living in accord with the Tao
is laying aside all ambition,
all aspiration,
all agendas,
all aims,
all purposes,
all goals,
all objectives,
all desires...
other than and contrary to
living in accord with the Tao.

It is trusting the Tao,
trusting ourselves to the Tao,
beyond all logic and reason,
with liege loyalty 
and filial devotion,
doing what is called for
with complete sincerity,
spontaneity
and non-contrivance,
in each situation as it arises
moment-by-moment
all our life long--
with the Tao understood to be
doing the right thing
in the right way
at the right time
and being right about
what is right--
living so in tune with the here and now,
the time and place of our living,
that we are at one with what is happening
and what needs to happen in response,
that we do what is called for
without hesitation
and without thinking,
time after time after time.

Like a stream flowing downhill,
adjusting its flow 
to take boulders,
fallen trees,
cattle in the water,
and dams being constructed
into account on the fly
on its way to the sea--
and being right about
what needs to be done
in every moment of the journey.

–0–

**Walnut Creek Trail 02 11/09/2020 — Union County, North Carolina**

Fine is the balance,
thin is the line,
between having it made,
and having nothing at all.

Everything about democracy
depends on the willful cooperation
of all those involved in the work
of democracy.

Depends upon the good faith 
of those promising 
to "preserve, protect and defend
the Constitution against all enemies,
foreign and domestic."

If those so promising 
are themselves Domestic Enemies
of the Constitution
and Participatory Democracy,
well Who Is Going To Stop Them
from initiating a hostile takeover
of the government from within
the government?

The GOP has succeeded in placing
itself in the position
of destroying democracy
without a shot being fired.
Vladimir Putin has bought himself
a country
for less than one air craft carrier
would cost.
Talk about a coup!

All Trump has to do between now
and January 20, 2021
is fire all of the government workers
--the head of the Department of Defense 
was the first to go--
who might be disloyal
and replace them with "acting" loyalists,
and have them all refuse to obey
the norms and procedures
for transferring power to Joe Biden.

The government then would obey Trump.
Democracy would be kaput.
And the take-over would be complete.
Then it would just be a matter 
of cleaning things up,
with the ouster and martyrdom
of all of his political enemies,
at home and abroad.

Sweet.
Smooth.
Easy.
Simple.
What could go wrong?

That's the question that turns the future.

And however the future turns out to be,
it is sickening
that the fortunes of democracy
depend upon the willing and willful compliance
of all the people doing what is truly right
in upholding the principles of democracy
throughout the long generations of people
taking their oaths of office
and serving the country to the best of their ability
so help them God.

November 09, 2020

**Black Australian Swans 03 10/25/2019 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina**

What is your enthusiasm quotient?
Are you a proponent of enthusiasm?
An advocate?
An avid proponent?
An enthusiast?

On a low-to-high scale
of 1 to 10,
where do you rank yourself
on your daily degree of enthusiasm?

How many things are you enthusiastic about?
How often are they a part of your life?
If you were to raise your level
of enthusiasm,
what would you do?

Is your life more of a burden
or a pleasure?
What accounts for that?
Contributes to that?

What would need to change
for you to be able to find
more pleasure,
more joy,
in just being alive?

To what degree is your residual
amount of joy/pleasure
circumstances dependent?
To what degree is it a natural
expression of who you are?

Does your thinking flow from 
joy and pleasure?
Create joy and pleasure?
Create their opposites?

What governs your thinking?
Why do you think the way you think?
What makes it easy for you
to think the way you think?

How often do you think about your thinking?
Think about your feeling?
Are aware of your thinking/feeling?
Can you separate thinking from feeling?
Are they two things for you
or one thing?

Upon what does your enthusiasm depend?
What part do reflection and realization
play in your emotional response to your life?

–0–

**Fall Leaves 06 11-08-2020 — 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina**

The 22-Acre Woods are,
for all practical purposes,
my private preserve--
for which I pay no taxes
or have any liability.

My wife and I own a quarter-acre lot
nestled into the northwest corner
of our subdivision,
which is also the southwest corner
of the 22-Acre Woods
(And I am the only one
who refers to the small tract of trees
in this way).

There are roughly 800 people
in our development,
and we may see a dozen of them--
generally the same dozen,
mostly teenagers--
walking (or biking) through the woods
in a given week.

I am the only one I have ever seen
with a camera in the woods.

They are owned by a family
of six or so elderly children
who can't find a buyer for the property
because it is landlocked
with one access point in and out,
and it is a drainage area
for rainwater on its way to the sea.
There are more attractive parcels 
close-by for developers to choose,
and I relish each day
without a bulldozer in it.

I can walk out our back door,
or our front door,
and be in the woods
as quickly as I can check the mail.

They are a wonderful mixture
of hardwoods and pine.
The deer have moved out
due to encroaching construction, 
but small animals and snakes
and a pair of red-shouldered hawks
are holding out for as long 
as luck allows.

I am two weeks away 
from stepping into my 77th year,
and osteoarthritis in both knees--
and COVID-19--
keep me from traveling 
to photo-worthy sites
more than two hours away,
and make the 22-Acre Woods
my primary source for scenes.

Access is always the first rule 
of photography.
Without access,
a camera is worthless
regardless of what it costs,
and the 22-Acre Woods
are always accessible--
until the bulldozers arrive
and begin doing their thing.

So, I welcome another fall, 
and the daily opportunity
to go for a walk in the woods.

With a camera in hand.

–0–

Fall Leaves 04 11-08-2020 — 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina

Cruelty and compassion 
are the marks of bad religion and good religion. 
All religion falls out between those two poles. 
Theology has nothing to do with it. 
How we live/treat one another 
is all that matters. 
It doesn’t matter why. 
It matters what.

Consistently--
or even occasionally--
doing the right thing
for the wrong reasons
is infinitely better than,
and always to be preferred over,
doing the wrong thing
for the best of reasons.

Do not stop to get your theology right!
Do not even pause to wonder about it!
Theology is as much an excuse
for not doing what needs to be done
as it is a reason 
for doing what needs to be done.

Getting your theology all ordered,
lined-up,
systematic,
proof-texted,
iron-clad,
and irrefutably so
is just a way of feeling smug
about your oversights
and omissions. 

Live with sincerity,
straight from the heart,
spontaneously responding 
to what is called for
moment-by-moment,
without contrivance
or agenda,
judgment or opinion,
with nothing to gain or lose--
like the prodigal's father
and the good Samaritan,
the Buddha and the Christ
in every age--
and leave the thinking
to those who see everything
but what they look at.

November 08, 2020

Fall Leaves 07 11/08/2020 — 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina

Every photograph that works
is synchronistic arrangement
bringing the photographer together
at the right time
in the right place
in the right light
to compose the image
that makes the photograph.

Every photograph that works
is a miracle in that way.
Is the Tao creating wonder 
and amazement
that we pass of with
"Pretty picture,"
on our way to something worth our time.

We are that way with miracles
of timing and grace
every moment
of every day.

Wherever we are,
in every moment
it is a miracle 
that we are there, then
with all that is there, then
with us.
And we miss it.

We think, "Here I am.
So what?
Everybody is somewhere.
What is the big deal?"

It is a big deal for anybody to be anywhere!
At the precise moment
that everything else is with us
right here, right now.

It happens all the time
and we don't notice it.

Take your cell phone
out of your ear
and start photographing 
something amazing
that occupies the moment with you.

Teach yourself to be shocked
that This should be Here, Now
at the same exact time that you are!

It will transform the way 
you take your life for granted.

We walk through miracles of pace and timing
every day
without noticing any of it,
with our cell phone stuck in our ear.

–0–

**Rocks and Clouds Oil Paint Rendering — Yosemite National Park, California**

How we see things
is a function of 10,000 things,
a significant one being
the way people close to us,
and around us, see things.

How they influence/impact 
the way we see things
depends upon the quality
of our relationship with them.

Growing up means growing apart
from the way things are seen around us
and growing into the way we see things
for ourselves.

We have to separate from others
in order to develop our own sense
of ourselves
and of how things are,
and how things ought to be.

Where there is no separation,
there is no seeing.

Seeing is seeing how we are influenced
by those around us--
and taking that into account
as we evaluate the accuracy of our perceptions
in light of the questions
that beg to be asked,
and the things that cry out to be said,
about them.

Who would be proud of you
for the way you see things?
Who would take issue with you?
Who encourages you to see things
the way you do?
Who discourages you?

What is a play
in your wanting to please the people
who are pleased with you
and being fine with displeasing
the people who are displeased with you?

What makes you think
that the way you see things
is the right way to see things?
Who says so?
Who are the authorities you recognize
to be a knowledgeable and proper authority
in the matter of the way you see things?
What makes you think they know
what they are talking about?

What evidence would it take
to change the way you see things?
What do you think needs to change
about the way you see things?

Where are you most open to the idea
of changing the way you see things?

Where are you already beginning
to change the way you see things?

When have you been surprised
to see that the way you see things
has changed?

Seeing the way we see things
and the things that influence
us to see the way we see,
is opening the door 
to seeing things as they are,
apart from how we think things are,
and that is a step on the way
to seeing our seeing
and knowing what's what
and what isn't--
and that is what seeing is all about.

–0–

**Jordon Pond 01 09/23/2012 BW — Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, Maine**

A photograph that works
is a prefect example of the Tao
being exhibited in our daily life.

Tao is doing the right thing,
in the right way,
at the right time.
Like framing a photograph,
and pressing the shutter button.

When things click into place,
and you know that's "it,"
that's Tao.

Living in accord with Tao
is doing the right thing,
in the right way,
at the right time,
moment-to-moment,
situation-by-situation
day-by-day
throughout our life.

Try doing that without
paying attention.

Try doing that without
being here, now.

Try doing that with
your mind on something else.

Living in accord with Tao
is living centered,
focused,
grounded in,
and aware of,
the present moment,
moment-to-moment,
day-by-day.

Distraction,
diversion,
disturbance,
preoccupation,
grief,
mourning,
stress,
anxiety...
the list is long
of things that take us
out of the present moment
and transport us somewhere else.

"The noise of the world."
"The dust of the world."
"The 10,000 things."
Are terms the old Taoists used
in talking about all 
that interferes,
and/or disrupts,
our connection
with the flow of Tao.

Out of the flow,
we are a fish swimming
on the beach.
A bird flying in a cage.
A dog running
with its paws tied together.

Being in the flow
is waking up to being 
out of the flow,
stopping,
looking,
listening,
breathing slowly and deeply,
pausing for a count of five
between exhale and inhale,
and bringing ourselves back
into the moment of our living.

Being here, now,
is being aware of being here, now.
Being aware of breathing here, now.
Being aware of what is happening
here, now--
and what needs to happen in response,
and how we can best respond to the situation
with the gifts/character/perspective/etc.
that we bring to the occasion,
without contrivance,
without judgment,
with compassion
and complete sincerity,
knowing where to place the camera
how to set focus/shutter speed,
aperture and iso
for a proper exposure,
and when to press the shutter button.
Or whatever the equivalent would be
for the present situation,
moment-by-moment-by-moment
all our life long.

That. Is. All. There. Is. To. It.

November 07, 2020

12-Mile Creek 02 11/07/2020 — Union County, North Carolina

What's so bad about your life?
What don't you like about your life?
What is good about your life?
What do you like about your life?
What is it in your life that brings you alive?
How often do you go there, do that?
What is deadening about your life--
what drains the life out of you?
How often do you go there, do that?
How much of your heart is 
in the life you are living?
What has to change to get more heart 
in your life?
What control do you have over your life?
How much of that control do you exercise?
How might you better manage 
the control you have
over your perspective?
Over your reactivity?
Over your attitude?
Over your relationship with yourself?
If you were to improve
your relationship with yourself,
what would you do?
What is keeping you from doing it?

–0–

**Camellia 04 11/06/2020 — Indian Land, South Carolina, an iPhone Photo**

Our Community of Innocence 
is comprised of the people
around whom it is safe
to be who we are.

They are the people who receive us well,
who regard us kindly--
with compassion and without judgment.
Who listen to us to the point
of enabling us to hear
what we are saying.

They love us as we are
and as we are becoming--
and have nothing at stake,
nothing to gain 
and nothing to lose,
in our being who we are
beyond wanting us to be 
as aware of ourselves
and of our situation in life--
in our umwelt
("The world as we perceive it to be")--
as we can possibly be
at every point in our life.

They believe that seeing is being is doing,
and live to enable everyone to see
what they look at,
and see beyond what they look at
into what needs to be done
in response to it,
which is basically,
enabling the situation
to take itself into account
and adjust what needs to be adjusted
to be what it needs to be.

They are mirrors reflecting us to ourselves,
so that we might see ourselves
as though for the first time
and do what needs to be done about it
to better incarnate/exhibit/express 
who we are and who we need to become.

It is our place to seek out the people
who allow us to be who we are
and enable us to become
who we are capable of being.
Too many people want us to be
who they want us to be,
and will not permit us to be
different from their idea
of who we ought to be.

"That isn't YOU!"
"Get back in line!"
"Be who you are supposed to be!"

They want us to wear the costume
and play the role
assigned to us by our place in their life,
toeing the line
and exemplifying their ideal
of who we need to be.

"No variation allowed!
Recite the creed!
Embrace the dogma!
Project the image!
Be who we expect you to be!"

Communities of Innocence 
simply want us to be 
who we are capable of being
in each moment of our living,
moment-by-moment,
responding to what is called for
here and now
with what we have offer
from the gifts/daemon/virtues/
character/spirit/vitality/life
that comes with us from the womb
as our original nature--
sincerely and spontaneously,
without contriving
to arrange a particular outcome,
just doing what needs us to do it
as best we can
in the right way,
at the right time.
All our life long.

In this way,
Communities of Innocence
enable us to live in accord with the Tao
and exhibit the face that was ours
before we were born
out of the balance and harmony
that envelop those 
who are at one with the way
day-by-day.

–0–

**Sourwood 03 11-04-2020 — 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina, an iPhone Photo**

The people you run with
are your enablers
and your guards,
guaranteeing that you don't grow
beyond where you are.

They are the status quo keepers,
holding you in place,
ruling out any possibility
of your seeing things other than you do,
or being different than you are.

They limit your choices
and your chances,
and maintaining your present umwelt
exactly as it is forever.

If you want things to change about your life,
your "friends" are the first things
that have to go.

What we all need is a Community of Innocence
whose place in our life is that of a 
sounding board,
enabling us to say what needs to be said
and to hear what we are saying
to the point of understanding 
what the implications are
and what we need to do about it
in making the changes necessary
to grow into who we are.

A Community of Innocence is innocent
in the sense that it has no ulterior motives,
no hidden agendas,
nothing it wants from us,
or needs of us,
or each other,
beyond sincerity,
authenticity,
and non-contrivance,
so that everyone in the Community
is Thus Come,
is just who they are
and who they are becoming,
and all are supporting one another
in the quest to grow in all phases
of human development,
so that all are maximize 
their individual potential
on all levels of life--
becoming who they are
throughout the time left for living.

And they may do this unknowingly.
They may exist as a community
only in your recognition of their place
in your life.
They may never know one another,
but they are Your People in the best sense
of the term.

The process for helping us come forth
is that of simply reflecting us to us
so that we see/know who we are
and who we need to be,
and live to narrow the gap,
even as it expands in all directions
and calls us ever beyond where we are
to all that we are capable of being.

In that there is always 
"more to us than meets the eye,"
we are always at the point
of becoming who we are 
by being who we are.

In seeing/saying/incarnating/
expressing/exhibiting who we are,
we move beyond who we are
into who we are yet to be.

There is no static way of being.
There is no rigid, 
firm and final form of US.
Our identity is being shaped
by our potential all our life long.
We never stop growing,
and that means we never stop growing up.

That can only happen within a Community of Innocence
that has nothing at stake in who we are,
and is only interested in reflecting us to us,
and thereby helping us to become 
who we are becoming.

I don't know you,
but I know you do not have 3 to 5 people 
in your life who are assisting
you in the process of your own birthing
in this way.

It is up to you to find them
and let them be for you 
your Community of Innocence,
even though they may never meet one another,
or come together for group gatherings,
they are what you need to be who you are
becoming who you are,
and are your sources of life, 
and light,
and being.

November 06, 2020

The Bridge at the Bottom of the Hill 02 11-05-2020 — 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina

Where do you turn 
when you have nowhere to turn? 

It's a serious question.

What holds you up?
What keeps you going?
What do you live for?
What is life for you?
What is your foundation?
Your ground?
Your center?
What is the rock solid,
adamantine core of your life
which nothing can knock you off of?
Your core certainty/conviction?
The one thing of which you are totally sure?
The one thing around which
your essential identity is eternally bonded?

What object or image reflects or expresses
the essence of your core?

Make or find a surrogate of the object or image
and carry it with you,
or create a sacred place for it to reside
at your home,
to be a constant reminder of what is so,
as a grounding/directing symbol
offering balance and harmony,
guidance and direction
amid the clashing rocks 
and heaving waves
of your life.

–0–

**Bog River Falls 01 09/29/2014 — Adirondack Park, Tupper Lake, New York, Oil Paint Rendering**

It's been a while since I recommended
Jon Kabat-Zinn's YouTube Videos,
so here it comes!

Jon Kabat-Zinn is the father of Mindfulness
Based Stress Reduction.
He invented "be here now."
Not really, but, he has helped 
bring "being here now" into the lives
of millions of people worldwide,
and you would be remiss 
if you did not avail yourself
of what he has to offer.

So, watch all of his videos--
the shortest ones first.
And bring the regular practice
of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction
into your life.

It will make all the difference
in the way you think about your life
and go about living it.

And in these times,
we can use all the help we can find!

November 5, 2020

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

When we live to integrate our opposites
and express/incarnate/bring forth our original nature--
"the face that was ours before we were born--
our identity,
who we are,
our true self,
and not to get something,
attain something,
have something,
possess something,
dominate something,
win something,
have something to show for having lived...

When we live to serve our life
and live the life that is truly ours to live,
we live sincerely,
authentically,
without striving or contriving
to exert our will upon the earth.

And the trees welcome us,
the meadows and the mountains recognize us 
as one who belongs there,
the birds and the wild things
are glad to see us coming,
and we are one with all the world.

–0–

**Sourwood 02 11-04-2020 — 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina**

Alcohol and pot cloud our judgment,
screw with our perception
and mess with our ability
to know what we are doing.

Nothing like being high
for being out of touch,
groundlessly floating in free fall,
laughing at all the colors
and crying over everything.

Critical assessment
and careful evaluation
take a leave of absence,
and we are enthralled by
the curled beauty
of a discarded popped top.

Or shift quickly into being suicidal at
the empty prospects of our life.

Reality becomes a quick change artist
and we become a yo-yo
and have to make ourselves unconscious
just to keep breathing.
Or stop breathing entirely--
there are times it doesn't matter which.

So the first step 
for letting the mud settle
and allowing the water to clear
is De-tox Now!

That's the hardest one.
Not really.
They are all the hardest one.
That's the second step.
We Have To Do What's Hard.
No one can do it for us.

What's hard is waking up.
Then getting up.
Then facing the day,
and it's hard all the way.

And we have only taken two steps!
Check that. 
We are only taking two steps.
We take all the steps--
and there are many more than 12--
simultaneously all the way
every day.

I don't think we can do it alone.
That's the real blessing of A.A.
We know we are not alone.
Standing Up,
Squaring Up,
Facing Up,
To A New Day
And Doing It Sober Again.
That's still the second step.

If we didn't extend steps,
we would run out of numbers,
lose count
and have to start over,
and it's hard enough as it is.

What keeps us going?
The spiritual side of reality.
Being a drunk is a great way
to find that door!
Everybody talks about God, God, God,
but nobody knows God
as the most intimate aspect
of who we are
who hasn't made that discovery
crawling out of some equivalent of a bottle.

So, I don't use the word "God."
It is too crusted over with rusted layers 
of theology, doctrine, dogma, creeds, catechisms
and other nonsense
to be of any help to anyone ever.

I use the word "Source," 
as in "The Source,"
to mean what I mean when I say "God."
The Source is with us always,
right there,
right here, 
right now.

Is always glad to see us.
Is always ready to get to work,
seeing, hearing, knowing, understanding
what is happening 
and what needs to happen in response,
doing what needs to be done
with the gifts/daemon/genius/spirit/
virtues/character/vitality
that came with us from the womb
in the form of our Original Nature,
which we access from the position of
balance and harmony
that comes from living in accord
with the Tao--
the right way of doing what needs to be done
in each situation as it rises--
and being at one with who we are,
and with how things are,
for the true good of the whole
all our life long.

That's the Source.
The Source is the source of Yin/Yang,
which are the vital opposites/dualities/contradictions
at the heart of life and being.
They are also called "The Mystery
at the heart of life and being."
Nothing is more mysterious than the unity--
the oneness--
of the contradictions/dichotomies/polarities/etc.
that comprise our life,
where good is bad and wrong is right,
and the dualities all dance together
like a perfect dance team,
a couple who are two and one at the same time
on a dance floor that could be called Life Itself.

That is the Mystery at the heart of life and being.
Which is the Source.
That keeps us going.
With all of our contradictions dangling
from every pore
daring us to find the courage
to step into another day.

It is possible
to integrate our opposites
after the manner of Rumi's "The Guest House"
(Googleit),
and take up the challenge 
of finding the good in this
terrible, awful, no good, very bad mess
we call our life,
one day at a time.

November 04, 2020

**Sourwood 01 11/04/2020 — 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina**

It is simple enough to find the still point--
the fulcrum,
"The still point of the turning world,"
(T.S. Eliot),
the center of our own ground of being,
the Axis Mundi,
the center of the world,
of the universe,
of eternity,
of infinity...

Stand still.
Sit quietly.
There you are.

You are the still point.
We all are.
When we are being still and quiet.
In quest of the Source
from which we come
and to which we return.

The Source is the unknown depth
within each of us,
connecting all of us,
known as the Ātman in Hinduism,
and as the Psyche in psychology,
the Source is the Mystery at the Heart
of Life and Being
in all living things.

We can connect with the Source at any time
simply by standing or sitting quietly,
and opening ourselves to the presence
that is with us always.

Then what?
Then we listen!
And remain alert to whatever arises within.
And respond to it in ways that are appropriate
to the occasion.

The old Taoists held that
the Tao gave rise to the Source (The One),
and the Source gave rise to Yin/Yang (The Two)
And Yin/Yang gave rise to Heaven and Earth 
and Humanity (The Three)
and from The Three come everything.
I say that is an interesting theory,
but what can be known
is the presence that is always with us
to comfort and console,
uplift, encourage and enable,
guide and direct.

It only takes sitting or standing quietly listening
to know what I'm talking about.

–0–

**Camellia 03 11/01/2020 — Indian Land, South Carolina**

The people who think about killing themselves
are right about something needing to die,
and wrong about what that is.

It is not their actual, physical, body 
that needs to die.
It is their attitude,
perspective,
point of view,
way of seeing what they look at
and feeling the way they feel
in light of what they believe to be the case
that needs to go.

They do not need to kill themselves!
They need to change their mind about themselves
and their situation in life!


They need to grow up, some more, again!

And that is like dying!

And that is the death to choose to die
whenever you are faced with wanting to die!
Just die to your way of seeing/interpreting/evaluating
your situation!

Change your mind the way your mind needs to be changed,
and live on!
Live on!
Live on!

–0–

**Jordan Pond 01 09/23/2012 — Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, Maine**

We cannot help how we see things--
anymore than we can help
the color of our eyes,
the tonal range of our voice
or the pattern of our fingerprints.

How we interpret what we look at,
how we make meaning of what we perceive,
in light of what we live--
and why we live in light of that
and not something else instead--
what we revere as important
and disdain as worthless,
what we believe
and what we believe in,
and how all of this reflects who we are,
are things we are no more in charge of than
the dreams we had last night
or the time we spend 
reflecting on anything.

We are not our own.

The most we can do is realize that,
and devote ourselves to the lifelong task
of being aware of what moves us to action,
and the type of action we are moved to take--
seeing how we see
and the meaning we make of things,
and wondering what that is about
and where it comes from.

Introspection,
examination,
exploration,
inquiry,
curiosity,
inspection,
seeking to discover who we are
and what we are about,
and how good the good is we call good,
transforms the relationship
we have with ourselves
and all other selves,
opens us to the truth
of what we call "true,"
and carries us to the brink
of the mystery at the heart
of life and being.

November 03, 2020

Tree Pans 02 –10/25/2019 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina

Heart and meaning are our guides through the wilderness.
Does it have heart?
Is your heart in this?
Does it have meaning for you?
If things start out full of heart and meaning,
notice if that changes--
not just because things become difficult.
No just because hard things are being asked of us.
Every track asks us to see something through.
A war comes along.
Or someone close to us dies.
Or we have a health crisis.
We have to work through 10,000 opportunities
to quit.
What is it you can't quit?
I am a writer,
so I write without an audience. 
I write to hear myself think.
I write to know what I have to say.
To quit writing would be an immense 
betrayal of self.
I take photographs in the same way.
I have to take photographs.
My heart demands it.
Meaning and purpose hang on it.
What do you do "the way a dog wags its tail?"
(Alan Stacell)
Do more of that.

–0–

**The Path 10/25/2019 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina**

I don't care what happens to us--
how we respond to it
is what matters.

We are built for reversals,
betrayals,
disappointments,
devastations...

If it isn't the clashing rocks,
it is the heaving waves!
If it isn't a catastrophe,
it is a calamity.
If it isn't a disaster,
it is a debacle.

Look at what we have been through 
as a species
to be here, now!
What keeps us going???

Whatever it is,
it can be counted on!
It and gravity are the most reliable 
things this world has to offer!

And it comes tucked away
in each of us,
to be used as needed
throughout our life
in dealing with circumstances
beyond control,
and events that are completely
out of hand.

There is an adamantine core
running through the human spirit
that is "a very present help
in time of trouble."

Our original nature
includes resilience and durability.

Grounded upon the rock of our character
and the flexibility of our spirit,
we are more than a match 
for the daily deliveries.
It only takes standing on our own two feet
and living out of our center
to know that it is so.

The stream finds its way to the sea.
We have what it takes
to find what it takes
to do what needs to be done
about all that comes our way.

The confidence that this is so
is waiting in the silence
to console and sustain
and call us forth to meet the day.

–0–

**Black Australian Swans 02 10/25/2019 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina**

Jesus came reinterpreting everything
that had gone before.
"You have heard it said,"
he said,
"but I say unto you..."

"The old has passed away!
Behold! The new has come!"

How we did it then does not
take precedent over
what is called for now!

With Jesus, what once was the case
is no longer the case,
what we once could assume was so,
can no longer be assumed to be so.

"It's a new world, Golda!"

We look.
We see.
We listen.
We hear.
We decide what is being called for.
And we respond with the gifts
that are ours to share.

We say what is so,
and act out of our own perspective.
We take the appropriate action
in each situation as it arises,
and are the person responsible 
for knowing and doing--
in living our life as it needs to be lived
moment-by-moment-by-moment.

Jesus said, 
"You shall know the truth,
and the truth shall set you free."

The truth is the truth of how things are,
the truth of what's happening now,
the truth of what needs to be done about it.
Seeing the truth
is being set free
to do what needs to be done about it
with what is ours to offer
in each situation as it arises
as a spontaneous response to the moment
with no thought for what is in it for us,
or for what we stand to gain,
or how we might profit,
or what the advantage to us might be
with this response or that one.

We simply do what needs to be done.
We simply say what needs to be said.
We simply are who we need to be--
who the situation needs us to be--
one situation after another,
day by day,
all our life long.

No one can do better that that.
And it needs to be done all the time.

November 02, 2020

**Peaks of Otter 02 10/29/2019 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Bedford, Virginia**

Sincerity and non-contrivance are one thing,
and combine with compassion
to produce an environment conducive to
life,
living
and being alive.

There are not enough sources
of sincerity/non-contrivance and compassion
in my life or yours,
or in the entire world.

It is more like
snatch and grab
and to hell with you
wherever we look.

Plop sincerity/non-contrivance and compassion down
in the middle of that
and you get the Buddha,
and Jesus,
Gandhi and the Dali Lama,
and all of the people
who have kept hope alive
in the darkest nights
we have lived through 
in all the years of our living.

You get people who are remembered
and revered 
for making all the difference
in our lives.
It is our calling
to be one of those people.

All it takes 
is dedication to the task,
and practice,
practice, 
practice.

–0–

Nation Ford Road 11/01/2020 — The Nation Ford was a ford across the Catawba River and this is a portion of the road that led to it. First a Native American footpath, it became the highway for all west-bound traffic during the early American expansion years. — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Lake Haigler Access, Fort Mill, South Carolina

Take what you get
and do what you can with it--
in light of all things considered, 
particularly what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises.

Don't let your chances stop you
or even slow you down!

"Get in there and do your thing"
no matter what--
in light of what "your thing"
has to offer the present moment.

Our only interest/concern is to be
true to ourselves
within the time and place,
conditions and circumstances,
of our living.

Do not think of achievement,
accomplishment,
advancement,
advantage,
success,
profit,
gain,
or winning.

Live to be who you are,
doing what you do best
with what you have to work with,
right here, right now.

No one can do more than that ever!
And we can always do it.
Don't let anything stop you 
from doing it!
Ever!

–0–

**Pink Camellia 01 11/01/2020 — Indian Land, South Carolina**

I do not know if life was invented
to facilitate/enable/assist/speed up seeing,
but,
I am quite confident
that if we live long enough
we all will see all there is to see at last.

Everything becomes clear in time.
We all see what is to be seen eventually.
If we live long enough.

This is a safe hypothesis 
because no one can live long enough 
to test its validity.
We all die--no matter how long we live--
before we see even half
(Okay one half of one percent)
of all there is to see.

Yet, we all parade around,
thinking we see what we look at,
thinking we know what we are doing.
We don't even see ourselves seeing!
We don't even see what we are doing!

A lot of us will not live long enough
to see that we don't see!
Much less, to see what there is to see!
Much less, to see all there is to see!

So, if life was invented to facilitate seeing,
you gotta believe that that before life
things were dark indeed.
Gives me pause to consider
what that means for after life.

If life is the place of seeing,
we better be sitting quietly more often
for longer periods of time,
looking within,
because that is were seeing begins.

–0–

**Steele Creek 01 11/01/2020 Panorama, an iPhone Photo — I took this handheld with the Spectre Long Exposure App — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Lake Haigler Access, Fort Mill, South Carolina**

There are no shortcuts to eternal life.

"The shortest way through
is the long way around!"

The "circumambulation of the self"
is what Carl Jung called 
the Hero's Journey.

We are all on the path 
to the Truth at the heart of who we are.
to the "face that was ours
before our parents were born."

As we approach the point 
of full realization,
and quite some time before we arrive,
we will understand that
the Truth at the heart of who we are
is also the Mystery at the heart
of who we are.

Truth is Mystery.
Mystery is Truth.
And that's the Truth.

And we cannot hurry things along.
Things plod along as though
they have all the time in the world.
They do.

Everyone who knows 
knows the same thing
in every generation.

Lao Tzu said a thousand years
before Jesus was born,
"The Tao that can be said/told/explained
is not the eternal Tao."
He was saying "Truth is Mystery,
Mystery is Truth."

500 years later, the Buddha said the same thing.

500 years later, Jesus said the same thing.

The Christ is born in every generation
and says the same thing--
and this has been going on from the first generation,
and will go on to the last generation.

Things plod along as though they have
all the time in the world.
They do.
They must.
Because they are taking us 
where we do not want to go,
and we resist and oppose,
snarl and snort,
buck and bite
all along the way.

The only way to speed up the process
would be to see from the start,
but that's the reason for the process.
We refuse to see from the start,
saying, "What's to see that I don't already see?"

Trump (and his ken) thinks he sees.
But he doesn't see what I see.
I think I see, but I don't see what the Buddha saw.
The Buddha thought he saw...
The Christ thought he saw...
There is always more to be seen 
than is seen,
that is why it is called
"The Mystery at the Heart of Life and Being."

The Mystery is unending and everlasting,
and we will never get to the end of the journey.
There is always more to see
than has been seen.
More to know than has been known.
And always something calling us to do it
in each situation as it arises.

And all we have to work with is
right here, right now.

"So get in there and do your thing,
without looking for profit, recognition,
or reward!"

After all, what's beyond seeing to want?
There is only more seeing
for as far as we can see.

See?

November 01, 2020

**Sumac 01 10/28/2020 — 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina**

What is this moment in our day
asking of us?
What is this time and this place in our life
asking of us?

Sit quietly!
Listen!
Feel in your body
what this moment in your day,
what this time and place in your life,
are asking of you,
are calling for.

Learn to read the moment
and the times and places of your life--
not to exploit them
or to profit from them,
but to know what is being called for,
what they need from you.

Sincerity and non-contrivance 
are the ways 
of those who do not come to be served
but to serve--
without an eye out for gain or reward.

The thing is to be completely free
to offer what is needed
without strings attached
or hope for some advantage.
Walking freely and unmoved
by hope of personal benefit
into each moment,
in to all times and places,
puts us at the fulcrum,
the pivot point,
of those moments/times/places,
and positions us to lever the present
into a future that is exactly
what is needed for that present place and time.

This is to have an impact for the good
for no reason.
It is being good for nothing.
That kind of boon is the hope of the world.

–0–

**22-Acre Woods 08 10/25/2020 — Indian Land, South Carolina, an iPhone Photo**

In the gospels of Matthew and Mark,
Jesus says contradictory
and mutually exclusive things.

In Matthew 12:30, it is like this:
"Those who are not with us
are against us."

And, in Mark 9:40, it is like this:
"Whoever is not against us is with us."

Leaving us in the lurch,
wondering, "Which way IS it?"

This is the absurdity
of a rule-based system
governing relationships.

There are no static,
rigid ways of structuring communities
or societies. 

The truth is that how we live together
comes down to good faith among us,
and how we individually read a situation
and respond to it.

"Sometimes, it is like this,
and sometimes, it is like that."

When is it what,
and how do we know?

We decide.

It may be this way in this moment
and that way in the next.

Equitable,
fair
and just
have to even out over time--
and that is achieved through
awareness and good faith,
around the circle,
across the table,
but it may not be our turn
as often as we think
it ought to be.

The catch, of course,
is with "good faith."
Good faith is beyond the bounds
of rules and laws.

Rumi said,
"If you aren't here with us in good faith,
you are doing terrible damage."

Sincerity,
authenticity
and good faith
are the things upon which
relationship depends.
And they cannot be forced
or contrived.

And that's the plaque in the veins.

–0–

**Earthshadow 10/30/2020 — Indian Land, South Carolina**

When Angeles Arrien says,
"Everybody wants to have their way,"
she is saying,
"Everybody needs to grow up."

The Terrible Two's is where this all begins.

Everything would be fine 
if we only had our way--
and we know how that sounds,
so we tack on
"once in a while"
to take the edge off of
our terminal self-centered-ness,
which is the same thing as
our terminal immaturity
as individuals
and as a species.

People of every culture
and of every religion in every culture
have always projected their 
infantile fantasies onto 
their idea of heaven,
where they will be guaranteed
of having their way at last.

The Hero's Journey is the wake-up call
to our whining and complaining.
The Path that has to be our own path
is nothing more than the way to 
maturity and grace.

The Hero's Journey is growing up
and assuming responsibility for
our own life
and sacrificing our way
for the true good of the whole--
in the manner of those who
"come not to be served but to serve,
and to give their lives to the work
of setting others free from themselves
so that all might be here 
for the good of the whole."

Nothing is ever wrong with us
that growing up some more, again,
wouldn't help.

November 2020

This is Home to all pages written in November of 2020. Hovering your pointer over each month in the header, will drop down the daily posts for that month. Thanks for visiting. Stay safe and be well!