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?
There is being aligned with our life,
in accord with our life,
and there is being at odds with our life,
at war with our life.
If we are in accord with the Tao,
we are aligned with our life,
and things are fine.
Which may not be ideal,
but it is as good as things
can be expected to be
under the circumstances.
This is called optimal.
Optimal puts us at the fulcrum,
the pivot point between
past and future,
between how things are
and how things need to be.
That is to say
at the still point between worlds.
The middle way between opposing,
contradictory,
mutually exclusive
possibilities.
To be conflict ridden
and storm tossed
is to be out of accord with the Tao
and too much embroiled in
attached to,
involved with
our life and what is happening,
or not happening,
there.
To be at one with our life
is to be at the proper distance from our life.
"Working distance," I call it.
We can allow things to be
what they need to be
in order to do what needs to be done.
When we have to have things
the way we want them to be--
regardless of how they need to be--
we disrupt the flow of time and place,
create disturbance and turbulence,
and nurture all of the symptoms
commensurate with the struggle
to force our way upon our life.
At that point,
we have to take stock,
step back,
stand aside,
sit quietly,
enter the silence,
and wait for the muddy water to settle,
allowing our perspective to shift
in ways that take everything into account,
and allow the action that is called for
to come into focus
and spontaneously move us
to do what needs to be done
in the service of the good
of the situation as a whole--
in spite of what it may mean
for us personally.
Following this mode of seeing/doing
into the next moment,
into the situation that arises from this one,
situation-by-situation
for the rest of our life,
puts us in the current of the Tao
as it courses through our days,
as a blessing and a grace
upon all that comes our way.
–0–
02
Two of our fundamental experiences
are with Grace and Karma
(Grace is also called Tao,
Dharma
and Synchronicity).
We don't have to believe in Grace and/or Karma--
anymore than we have to believe in
yoga or acupuncture.
Or wonder and awe.
Or justice and love.
These things,
and all the rest,
are part of the background,
the environment,
the umwelt,
of our life.
They are "just there."
They "just happen."
Of themselves.
And are not to be conjured up
by belief or devotion,
sacrifice or superstition.
They are evidence
of "more than meets the eye,"
and serve to remind us
that the visible world
rests upon the invisible world,
and that living knowingly
between both worlds
enhances the quality
of our life immeasurably.
What would you do
“without hope,
without witness,
without reward”
(Steven Moffat)?
Without recognition,
without acknowledgement,
without gain?
What would it be?
Find it!
Do it!
Over and over!
There is life hiding in that.
You come alive there.
Do not stop doing it!
I suggest that you
build coalitions of 3-5 people
to explore who each of you is,
and what you think/feel
is at the heart/center/ground/source/foundation/bedrock
of each of you.
How do you decide what to do?
What directs your boat
on its path through the sea?
How do you think of what is good?
Where do your ideas of the good originate?
Who are your guides?
How do you maintain your balance and harmony?
What is your work?
(Not what you do for a living,
but what you live to do.)
What would you go to hell for?
What do you know about
what has always been called God,
that you did not get from some other source,
including the Bible?
Where do you go--
what do you do--
to be with what has always been called God?
What are your essential virtues?
The ones that form your essence.
The ones that came with you from the womb.
What is your essential nature?
How do you like to spend your time?
What are the stories that form your bedrock?
Not necessarily things that have happened to you,
but stories that connect you to the truth
of who you are and how it is.
What grounds you so solidly
that nothing can knock you off your foundation?
How do you know what is being called for
in a situation?
You might also commit to viewing all of the
Jon Kabat-Zinn YouTube Videos
(The shortest ones first)
and giving some money
to benevolent causes
throughout the year.
If someone suggests that the group
elect officers,
tell them that is cause for life-time disbarment
and don't invite them to future meetings.
–0–
02
Your personal coalitions,
and you should have as many
as you can manage,
of 3 - 5 people
will see you through,
and enable you to meet
whatever comes up
with the resolve,
creativity,
resiliency,
spirit
and enthusiasm
that has gotten us
through all that we have faced
as a species
from the beginning
to now.
Our coalitions enable "truth,
the whole truth
and nothing but the truth,"
and, more importantly--
more important because the truth
cannot happen without it--
they enable us to bear the pain
of the full realization of the "truth,
the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth."
The truth about truth
is that we rarely ever
get all the way to the bottom
of truth.
There is always more than meets the eye.
So, we have to keep looking.
No matter how things are,
there is always how things also are.
This is where sitting in the silence
in the presence of the Source
(However you imagine that to be)
and waiting for whatever arises/emerges
out of the silence,
as realization,
or as urge,
or as urgent call to action,
or as memory,
or as whatever comes up
in the silence to guide/direct
you to action,
comes into play.
Always the need to return to the silence,
to return to the Source,
and wait for whatever revelation
we need to meet whatever we face.
The silence/Source is with us always,
and those who know,
know we all draw water from the same well,
and are connected at the level of the heart
as One throughout all time and space--
and it is our ideas of how things ought to be
that separate us into factions
and divisions
and war parties,
and once we put contriving
and conniving
out of the picture
there is only all of us together
seeking together
what is in the best interest
of all of us together.
And the base unit
of all of us together
is a coalition of 3 - 5 people
speaking straight from the heart
about matters
that are important
to us all.
–0–
03
Two foundational assumptions for membership
in the Church of What's Happening Now
are your good faith
and your ability to bear the pain of your life.
Everybody wants to feel better.
Nobody wants to do what it takes
to get better.
What it takes to get better
is bearing the pain of the way things are.
The culture we have created
is a giant excursion
into the unending possibilities
of pain avoidance and relief.
Diversion,
distraction,
escape
and denial
come in myriad shapes and sizes.
There is something,
somewhere,
for everyone.
If you are in pain
in this place,
someone will hand you
a pill,
or a drink,
or an injection,
or an experience
that will take you far away
from your anguish
and transport you
to a "land of gentle breezes
where the peaceful waters flow"
(Anne Murry, Snowbird).
Always, always,
at the bottom of our pain
lies a contradiction
that cannot be borne,
which we have to bear.
We want what we do not have,
or have what we do not want.
"That" rules out the possibility of "this."
What we want runs afoul
of something else we want.
And, what we don't want is everywhere.
The song has endless verses
saying the same thing:
We have to grow up against our will!
Therefore, we choose not growing up.
And here we are.
Sometimes we can walk
two paths at the same time.
Sometimes we have to make
a choice between mutually exclusive options.
Sometimes we have to adjust
ourselves to having lost
our truest love.
Bug always, we have to come to terms
with the pain of our life being as it is.
"This is the way things are,
and this is what we can do about it,
and that's that.
And That is how things are."
Growing up means coming to terms
with how things are.
Means bearing the pain of how things are.
Doing that (growing up) will not be good
for the economy.
But.
It will be the best thing we can do
for ourselves and those we love--
though it may take a while
for all of us to realize that.
The foundation
of The Church of What's Happening Now
is the right kind of silence.
The right kind of silence is the source of everything.
The wrong kind of silence
leads to the right kind of silence
over time.
Just be still
sit quietly
and wait
to see and hear
what needs to be
heard and seen.
As thoughts appear,
moods arise,
feelings stir...
add them to your awareness
without engaging any of it,
in a "This too, this too," kind of way,
and return to the stillness,
sitting quietly,
waiting,
watching,
seeing,
hearing...
The things that occur to you in the silence
will organize themselves into categories.
They will sort themselves out
grouped according to their urgency
and the quality of their power
to attract/distract.
Is it attraction or distraction?
What is the nature
of their urge to action?
What is the nature
of the action they urge?
The questions raise the matter
of the source and the end
of our thoughts,
moods,
feelings...
Seek the source in the silence.
Get to the bottom of you.
Joseph Campbell said,
"It is the nature of reflection
to lead to new realizations"
(Or words to that effect).
Curiosity and inquisitiveness lead the way.
Ask the questions that beg to be asked.
Say the things that cry out to be said.
Investigate your own
thoughts,
feelings,
moods...
to see where the come from,
where they are leading,
and what they have to tell you about you.
Carl Jung said,
“Neurosis is always a substitute for legitimate suffering.”
We refuse to bear the pain of being alive--
the pain of coming to life
within our own lives.
The agony of the delivery room
is not just the mother's.
We continue to birth ourselves
long after we are born,
throughout our life.
Or not.
To refuse to bring ourselves forth
to meet our circumstances,
square up to our inner contradictions,
rise to every occasion,
and be who we are,
no matter what,
again and again,
in each situation as it arises,
is to die again and again,
and finally to waste our entire life
by refusing to live it.
Carl Jung said,
“In the final analysis,
we count for something
only because of the essential
that we embody.
If we do not embody that,
life is wasted.”
This "essential"
is our Original Nature.
The face that was ours
before we were born.
Our Essence.
Our essential identity.
Who we are.
Carl Jung said,
“The development of personality
means fidelity to the law of one’s own being.”
"The law of one's own being"
is our Original Nature,
our essential identity,
who we are born to be,
to incarnate,
to bring forth within
the context and circumstances
of our life,
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
which we sacrifice continually
upon the altar
of success,
or popularity,
or wealth,
or fitting in/belonging...
We neglect/reject who we are
in service to all we have to do
to have the life
we want for ourselves--
never-minding the life our Self
wants for us.
Here we are.
Now what?
It always comes down
to bearing the pain
that must be borne,
to suffering the agonies
that must be suffered,
in allowing our life
to bring us forth
to meet our circumstances/ourselves,
and do what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.
Beginning here and now.
Never-minding getting what we want,
and having it made.
01
All religion is based on the premise
that if we make God happy,
God will make us happy.
This has been condensed to the principle:
Give To Get,
and explained by saying,
"If we give to God we will get back blessings
by the boat load,
pouring over,
spilling out."
Never mind that God's very own son
"was crucified, dead and buried."
Or that Baruch (Jeremiah 45) was chastised
for looking for favors.
Or that Habakkuk (3:17) grounded his faith on,
"Though the fig tree does not bloom,
and no grapes appear on the vine..."
we are told if we do everything just right
we will accumulate great merit
and be rewarded handsomely in the end.
All we have to do is keep the 11 Commandments.
That's for Christians.
Other religions have different stipulations.
The 11 Commandments for Christians
are the usual and customary 10
plus "believing in the Lord Jesus Christ
as the literal Son of God
and our own personal Savior."
Now, some would tell you that #11
voids the other 10
because it earns you forgiveness
for all of your violations of every one of them.
But.
When you get to the fine print,
you see that not only do you
have to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
but you also have to
"Live a Godly, Righteous and Sober life,"
go to church every time the doors are open,
where you will hear that you will die and go to hell
if you don't come back whenever the doors are open
and hear that you are going to die and go to hell
if you don't come back...
It gets to be tedious,
toeing the line all the time,
which is what we had to do before
we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and we still have to do it
in addition to believing in the Lord Jesus Christ,
so what does believing do for us actually?
We can't ask the question.
We have to bow our heads
and take it on faith
that the Ones Who Know Everything
And Must Be Pleased Or Else
know what they are talking about.
It turns out that not only do we have to
make God happy,
but we have to make God's spokespersons happy as well.
But.
We are assured that heaven is worth every sacrifice
in the end.
In the meantime, well...
Keep your head down and do what you are told.
And the closer we examine religion,
the less healthy it appears to be.
And that is where The Church of What's Happening Now
comes in.
No Doctrine.
No Dogma.
No Theology.
No Creeds.
No Hymns (Books of Doctrine Put To Music).
And Worship takes whatever form
your joy, thanksgiving, gratitude, wonder, awe, marvel, amazement, etc.
in response to the experience of being alive
are best expressed in and through and by.
The focus of our living in The Church of What's Happening Now
is on our life,
on our lived experience,
right here,
right now,
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
day-by-day,
in each situation as it arises.
There is only the present moment,
the right-here-the-right-now,
which transforms,
transitions,
morphs
and becomes
the right-here-right-now
on and on forever.
The Eternal Now.
The Eternal Present.
With each moment/situation/here-and-now calling for something.
Asking for something.
Needing something.
For each of us to serve and bring forth
with the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues
that come with us from our mother's womb.
We step into the moment,
look and listen,
see and hear,
perceive what's what
and what needs to be done about it,
in response to it,
and do it as best we can
with what we have to offer,
and that leads us directly into
the next moment,
in which we do the same things...
All our life long.
The Church of What's Happening Now.
Is built around what we need to do that.
Is here to help us find what we need and do that.
And that's that.
–0–
02
What are the compelling urges
that guide our boat
on its path through the sea.
Alcohol is a compelling urge.
And every other addiction.
Fear is compelling urge.
And every other emotional obsession.
Our life is "nothing but"
one compelling urge after another.
Things we must-do-have-to-do-or-else
drive us,
hound us,
chase us,
without ceasing,
and leave us with no time
to live at all,
existing as we do
to serve all that coerces,
oppresses
and owns us.
How to free ourselves
from all that owns us
in order to give ourselves
to that which has need of us--
and in whose service
we come alive,
at one with ourselves
and in tune
with the times and places
of our living,
is the question
that sets us free
and binds us to ourselves
in an eternal dance
of dying to all that is not-us,
and living to all that is-us,
in each situation as it arises,
world without end.
It is a choice, you see,
the only choice,
our only choice,
choosing the One
whom we serve--
in a "choose this day
whom you will serve"
kind of way.
Joseph Campbell said:
“The myths by which we live must support us through our personal crises in life. They have to sustain us and enable us to go forward with our lives. When we find what sustains us through those crises, we find our myth.
"We have to live out our story in light of a Greater Story that holds things together for us and enables us to make sense of things.
"What is it that supports us in the face of total disaster? To know that, is to know your myth.
"Our myth is what we tell ourselves about the way things are that enables us to live with the way things are.
"What is our mission? For what would we sacrifice ourselves? What is it that 'works' for us? To answer these questions is to find our myth.
"The problem is to find within ourselves the thing that moves us, that we are really pushed by.”
Abraham Maslow said that people live for five things: Survival, Security, Personal Relationships, Prestige, and Self Development.
And Campbell said
"These are precisely not the values that a mythically inspired person lives for.
"A person who is really gripped by a dedication, by a zeal, will sacrifice all these things for the sake of his or her own passion.
"These five values are the values people live for who have nothing to live for. Nothing has seized, caught, or driven these people “spiritually mad.”
"These people, aren’t worth talking to."
The people who are "worth talking to,"
are the people who are living their own life,
out of their personal affiliation with,
and commitment to,
living their own life
beyond every other consideration.
They are grounded upon the bedrock
of their own virtues and character,
they know who they are
and what is theirs to do,
and they live to do it
in each situation as it arises,
in season and out of season,
and in all weather conditions.
They have chosen to serve
what has chosen them.
And they are highly worth talking to.
Knowing.
Living with.
Being.
If you are going to be anything,
Be one of those people.
The ground of true religion is personal experience with the ineffable essence of existence in the form of grace, beauty, wonder–typically conveyed by an encounter with art, music, nature and/or the right kind of conversation with the right kind of people. This is religion without theology, doctrine, dogma, creeds, reason or logic, and is beyond being explained, defined, told, expressed, communicated…
This is conveyed by one my favorite Zen stories.
A Zen Master was crossing a bridge when a student accompanying him asked, “What is Zen?” Whereupon the Master picked him up and hurled him into the water, saying, “There! That is water! Drink it! Swim in it! Bathe in it! Or Drown! But do not talk about it! To talk about water is to not know water!”
So it is with religion and with the grounding experience of the ineffable.
For me, the Tao gets to the heart of religion because the Tao is remarkably devoid of theology, or explanation.
Tao is integrity.
Integrity is the alignment
of ourselves with ourselves
(our Original Nature)
and of ourselves with our circumstances.
When we live at odds with ourselves
for the sake of our circumstances,
we are out of alignment,
out of accord with the Tao.
When we live out of accord with our circumstances
for the sake of ourselves,
we are out of alignment,
out of accord with the Tao.
Integrity is the key
to being in position
to experience
grace/synchronicity/Tao/dharma
in the time and place
(the here and now)
of our living.
When we lose our rhythm,
balance and harmony–
are off center,
out of tune,
living against the grain,
swimming across the current,
and our life isn’t ringing true–
we need to run an integrity check
to see where we are contriving,
scheming,
engineering,
orchestrating,
arranging
outcomes and ends
by being who we are not,
and work to get ourselves back
in conjunction with ourselves
and our circumstances.
In so doing, we maintain the connections,
and live truthfully at one
with ourselves and our circumstances
“at the still point
of the turning world”
(T.S. Eliot).
--0--
A life lived at-one with itself
has no trouble knowing
when to say Yes and when to say No--
What to say Yes to
and what to say No to.
And that is the only knowing that matters.
We know what we need to know
in each situation as it arises
when we are living
at-one with our life,
without an eye out for what's in it for us.
At-one with our life,
what we do is automatic, spontaneous,
improvisational and spot-on
every time.
We have trouble with when to say Yes
and when to say No,
when we are trying to figure our way
to increasingly better outcomes forever.
What is our best move?
Hmm that's a tricky one...
Maybe this, maybe that...
How do we know
How can we be sure?
What to say yes to,
when to say no?
So, we just take our chances
and say what seems best to us
at the time,
which creates a new situation
with what to say yes to
and when to say no,
and one follows another,
until we end up at the bottom of some wall,
wondering where we went wrong,
and how to plot our best moves for sure
next time.
But.
To know when to say Yes
and when to say No,
and be right about it,
we have to take ourselves
out of the game
of wrestling our best future
into existence,
and simply look and listen,
feel and sense,
what the situation is calling for,
what the situation needs,
and respond to that
out of the gifts, genius, virtues, etc.
that came with us from the womb,
and see where it goes.
Seeing where it goes
will lead us into another situation
where we follow the same process,
until it becomes clear that we are
on the beam,
on the path,
on the right track,
or off the beam,
away from the path,
in the trackless wasteland
of the wilderness.
At which time,
we have to stop forcing our way
and listen, look, sense, feel
deeper into the silence,
and wait for something to arise,
to occur to us,
to call our name--
and give ourselves to it service,
and see where it goes.
And so on,
like that.
Forever.
Always living here and now
in light of what is happening
and what needs to be done about it,
without worrying about
how to use this moment
to our best advantage,
but trusting ourselves to be just fine
by looking, listening, sensing, feeling
and following spontaneously
the compelling urges
that guide our boat
on its path through the sea.
Anything that takes the present moment
away from us
is evil.
Anything that brings the present moment
vibrantly alive to us
is good.
Anything can take the present moment
away from us.
Anything can bring the present moment
vibrantly alive to us.
Anything can be evil.
Anything can be good.
The present moment
is all there is.
What we do here and now
determines,
or strongly influences,
what happens next.
Good and evil depend on us
and how we live in each moment
that is present,
here and now,
throughout our life.
The quality of our relationship
with the present moment
is the only thing that matters.
Our relationship with this here, this now,
is the turning point,
the fulcrum,
the place of greatest leverage,
shifting us,
positioning us,
into the center of The Way--
carrying us into the current of the flow
of time and place--
opening us to what the situation
is calling for,
and enabling us to be the pivot
between what has been
and what will be.
Our mission is to integrate the opposites.
To assimilate the polarities.
To harmonize the world.
We are the Third Way
between mutually exclusive contradictions.
How well we serve our mission
depends upon the quality
of our relationship
with the present moment.
The more we have at stake
in the present moment,
the less responsive we can be
to what is called for in it,
and the more invested we will be
in serving a particular outcome--
the one which favors our interests--
at the expense of all others.
And that is where
The Church of What's Happening Now
comes into play.
The Church of What's Happening Now
brings us to life in the life we are living
by focusing us on this moment right now,
and calling us,
enabling us,
to see what we look at,
hear what is being said,
know what's what
and what is being called for,
and how we might respond to that
with the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues
that come with us from the womb
in doing what needs to be done
no matter what
all our life long.
Spending the right kind of time
with the Church of What's Happening Now
will be time well spent.
Birds in a Tree 04/07/2020 — Indian Land, South Carolina, April 7, 2020
Anything that takes the present moment away from us is evil.
Anything that brings the present moment vibrantly alive for us is good.
Anything can take the present moment away from us.
Anything can bring the present moment vibrantly alive for us.
Anything can be evil.
Anything can be good.
The present moment is all there is.
Our relationship with it is the only thing that matters.
Our relationship with the present moment is the pivot point, the fulcrum, the place of greatest leverage, shifting us, positioning us, into the center of The Way– carrying us into the current of the flow of time and place– opening us to what the situation is calling for, and enabling us to be the threshold between what has been and what will be.
Our role is to integrate the opposites. To assimilate the polarities. To harmonize the world.
We are the Third Way between mutually exclusive contradictions.
How well we do our work depends upon the quality of our relationship with the present moment.
The more we have at stake in the present moment, the less responsive we can be to what is called for and the more invested we will be in serving a particular outcome at the expense of all others.
Gardenia 06/21/2020 01 — Indian Land, South Carolina, June 21, 2020
I do not know of any of AA’s slogans that I take exception to. And, If I did, or ever do, I would/will take that as evidence of my having not lived long enough under the right conditions, and that with a little more time and a shift in circumstances, I will see the sharp truth of that one as well.
Which gets us to “Acceptance is the solution to all of my problems today.” Now, I have fun with this one because 10,000 things are the solution to all of my problems today.
Growing up, for instance, or more of the right kind of help, or less of the wrong kind of help, but none of this removes the place of acceptance on the list. Acceptance is the right kind of help. Acceptance is evidence of growing up. Acceptance is front and center in the long list of things that would solve all of my problems today.
Which gets us to nothing happens until we accept things as they are.
“This is the way things are, and this is what can be done about it, and that’s that– and that is the way things are!”
We walk into a situation and get to work seeing what’s what and what is called for and what we can do about it with the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues we bring to the moment, rising to the occasion and doing what needs to be done, moment-by-moment, situation-by-situation, all our life long.
And we cannot do that without acceptance on all levels.
Acceptance is non-judgmental. Acceptance is without bias. Acceptance is allowing things to be what they need to be and doing what is called for by the circumstances at hand– regardless of what that means for us, or what the neighbors will think, or any one of the world full of things that would stop us from doing what most needs us to do it.
Acceptance is the Prodigal’s father running to welcome his son home. Acceptance is the Samaritan going to the aid of the stranger in the ditch. Acceptance holds no grudges, Plays no favorites. Does what needs to be done.
We all need to be more accepting than we are of our place in life and of the path before us.
Carolina Girl 12/05/2014 Panorama — Shrimp Boat on Battery Creek, Port Royal, SC, December 5, 2014
We are here now and want to be somewhere else. Maybe, just anywhere else, and maybe, a clear and specific THERE! NOW! There are two ways to do it. 1) Leave here and go there. 2) Be here, now and see where it goes.
Which option applies to our current situation depends on what is being called for here and now. If we are in an enclosed space and fire breaks out, we have to get somewhere else (THERE) NOW! If we are in the third grade and decide we need to be a doctor, we have to stay here, now, and see where it goes–always choosing the next choice in light of our ultimate destination (Which won’t be a stopping place, but our chosen here and now, still on our way to other here’s and now’s that will open up from our present here and now.
Here and now can be trusted to get us to a reliable and valid here and now if we trust ourselves to it with filial devotion and loyalty, doing what is called for by the situation as it arises with our idea of who we are and what is us and not us firmly in mind.
Matthew McConaughey says that who we are not and what is not “us,” are easier to know that who we are and what is “us.” And that if we only know what to stay away from, that will be guiding us by default to who we are and what is “us.” As we live here and now in light of what we know about who we are and who we are not, we will be setting Karma in motion to deliver us to us throughout the course of our life.
And that’s the way to do it!
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Pink Flame Azalea 06/23/2020 09 — Indian Land, South Carolina, June 23, 2020
There are so many things that have to happen all at once to transform our life from what it has been to what it needs to be that our old life would collapse and give up under the oppressive weight of utter impossibility. And our new life would delight in the adventure and wonder where to begin.
All journeys–particularly the wonderful ones–begin right here, right now. Orientation and assessment, Kid. Orientation and assessment. The first realization is: We are never going to arrive, anyway, so what’s the hurry? Hurry is the bane of our existence. Hurry keeps things unchanging by its insane insistence that everything change Right Now! Pace and timing, Kid. Pace and timing.
Look around. Take stock. Settle down. Breathe slowly, deeply, quietly. Just be here now. It’s not so bad. Even at its worst, it isn’t so bad. It just takes some getting used to, that’s all. Get used to being here now. It is the only place you will ever be!
“Oh, but I hate it so!” Good thing to know. Start there. What do you hate so about here and now? Sit down with that. Take your time. Make a list. Seriously. Make a list of everything you hate about your life, about being here now. As you write things down, categorize them into two separate lists: Things I want to be happening that are not happening, and Things I don’t want to happen that are happening. This could also be thought of as Things I want to get to and Things I want to get away from. Keep this list going over time, and add to it as things come to mind. This list–these lists–are a grounding, focusing, mirror of you and your life, helping you see things as they are.
This is the first rule of the Journey. See what you look at–look at everything. And the first thing to look at/see is your seeing. No one can see anything without reacting to it in some way. If there is no reaction, there is no seeing. Things are invisible that we do not react to. We literally/actually cannot see them.
Seeing is meaning. We only see the things that mean something to us, good or bad, positive or negative, like or dislike, plus or minus, right or wrong… Distinction is duality and that is the work of consciousness. If it weren’t for distinctions, it would all be a blur of color and texture. We could not see a thing. All of our seeing is evaluative. All of our seeing is feeling. All of our seeing is reactive. In seeing our seeing, we are seeing how judgmental we are. How biased we are. How programed we are to see things in a certain light, in a certain way. We are all products of our culture. Our culture is who we are. Our culture is where we have been, where we have come from, what we bring with us from where we have been into wherever we go. We cannot escape our past. We cannot outlive having had parents, for one thing, and their impact upon us for better and for worse. As with our parents, so with everything. Every influential thing, anyway. We have been impacted for good and for ill from the beginning, throughout our life, and as we begin to see our seeing, we will see the results of that impact over the full course of our life from then to now. We see as we have always seen. Think as we have always thought. Live as we have always lived. And, that is about to change.
It is at this point in our “conversation,” that I have to confess what I am doing to you. I am redeeming you. Saving you. Killing you. Destroying you. Resurrecting you. Death and resurrection, Kid. Death and resurrection. Your new life will eat your old life alive. Everything I say here is really about introducing you to, and inviting you to become a part of, The Church of What’s Happening Now. That is the other half of this web site. “Jim Dollar’s Photography and Philosophy” is about waking you up and bringing you to life by killing you dead, dead, dead to all that has passed for your life up until now.
Transitions are hell. You know all that you hate about your life? You prefer that to what you will have to go through to have another, better, finer life–because better, finer is worse beyond imagining in so many ways. Those of you who are members of AA can relate to this. You have died in a thousand ways in being born again into a life that isn’t killing you. It is a wonderful paradox, as all of our paradoxes are, and it is essential that you realize that, and come along on the Journey from where you have been to where we are going together–insofar as we can go together, because much of the Journey is you alone with the dark night of the soul, trusting me to know what I’m doing and hating me for not leaving you alone by forcing you to be alone, if you know what I mean.
What I mean is: Death and resurrection, Kid. Death and resurrection.
Jump back with me to seeing. We cannot see without evaluating until we begin to see our seeing without judging, finding fault, being disheartened, despairing, desponding, and contemplating suicide. You must promise me you will not take your own life! Actually, dying can seem to be a much better option that metaphorically/abstractly/figuratively/apparently dying. Actual death puts resurrection out of the picture, in spite of what religion tells you. You don’t die physically to be resurrected, you die metaphorically to be resurrected. Metaphorical death means you live to die again and again as you work through where you have been to be where you are. That’s the Journey. We are leaving where we have been to be where we are. And we do that by teaching ourselves to see what we look at without judgment, evaluation or opinion, but with compassion, kindness, good humor, and understanding–letting things simply be what they are because that is how they are, and what do you care, anyway?
Which gets us to caring. But that’s another story. We started this out with, “There are so many things that need to happen all at once…” But, we live in a linear world, or so it seems. We live in two worlds, actually, Yang and Yin. Linear and Non-linear. The actual, physical, tangible, concrete world of logic and reason is Yang, linear, sequential, causal, left-brained… And the metaphorical, abstract, figurative, apparent world is Yin, non-linear, intuitive, creative, holistic, right-brained… And the Journey is from one world to the other, and then, with both worlds simultaneously all the way to the end of the line. We are journeying from where we have been to where we are to where we are going to be when we get there, which is going to be exactly where we are, here and now, only fully aware of where that is and what it is calling for and what we need to do about it–in response to it–moment-by-moment-by-moment, day-by-day, for the rest of our life.
You wouldn’t want to miss that for the world. Because here, now, there is always “another story” and the wonder of that is beyond telling, and can only be experienced to know and understand what it is all about.
Edisto Beach Sunrise 01/29/2015 04 — Edisto Island State Park, South Carolina, January 29, 2015
The old Alchemists thought they could change the world
to suit themselves
if they could but find
The Philosopher's Stone,
which was their equivalent
to the Elder Wand,
and would serve them
as the threshold to wonders unimagined,
but (with the Stone in hand)
suddenly possible.
Nobody in all the world,
in all the worlds there have been,
has ever wished for
or tried to concoct
a method of changing themselves
to fit joyfully into their surroundings.
People always want to change the world.
They never want to change themselves.
These days, they want to go to the beach
and party
without wearing a mask
or social distancing.
The only way to be safe
is to stay away from everybody else.
But they aren't having it.
They aren't going to live in a world
that isn't how they want it to be.
And they don't care how many people
they kill
on their way out the door.
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My idea of success
is doing what needs to be done
with the resources available--
including those I bring with me
in terms of my Original Nature
and the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues
that are mine to serve/offer--
in each situation as it arises,
in light of all things that need
to be considered,
moment-by-moment-by-moment.
I wish I had realized the importance
of this when I was sixteen years old.
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Uptick Red and Bronze Coreopsis 06/06/2020 04 — Indian Land, South Carolina, June 6, 2020
Caring is "a slippery slope,
a dangerous path,
like the razor's edge."
But.
Don't let that stop you--
or, even slow you down.
Joseph Campbell said
when Native American children
left home to find their way in the world,
their parents would tell them,
"When you step into your life,
in service to your vision,
the birds of the air will shit on you.
Do not pause even to wipe it off!"
Slippery slopes are part of it.
We are treading the Way between Yin and Yang,
remember.
Contradictions are everywhere.
Living our life
is learning to dance with the contradictions
in each situation as it arises,
all our life long
(Get used to the phrase,
I use it all the time).
(One of my deepest disappointments
in the Church of Our Experience
is the way it discounts, dismisses, ignores and denies
the place of contradiction in our life.
It will not allow them--
certainly not with God.
[Look up "Do You Believe In God,"
in my book I Call This Poetry
on my https://www.jimwdollar.com companion web site
on WordPress].
Contradiction becomes Paradox with God.
I have never understood why God is allowed to have Paradoxes,
but not Contradictions.
"That is a great paradox," the spokespersons
for the Church of Our Experience say about things
they cannot explain.
"We just have to take it on faith that what I'm telling you
is so, in spite of clear evidence to the contrary").
Contradiction is the heart of Life and Being.
And it is at the heart of That Which Has
Always Been Called God.
One of the operating principles of existence is:
Truth is found between the hands!
On the one hand this,
and on the other hand that.
Truth is the middle way between
mutually exclusive opposites,
paradoxes,
dichotomies,
contradictions
incongruities--
and is the way of dealing with
the dissonance at work throughout our life.
We exist to integrate the opposites,
to resolve the paradoxes,
to explore the dichotomies,
to balance the contradictions,
to acknowledge the incongruities,
to harmonize the dissonance--
and to bear the pain of it all--
in the service of being true to ourselves
within the context and circumstances
of our life in the world of time and place.
Caring is good place to start.
We can care too much,
and we can care too little.
We can care in the right way,
and we can care in the wrong way.
We can care about the right things,
and we can care about the wrong things...
Finding the right balance between the contradictions
is as tricky with caring as it is with the rest
of the 10,000 things
(I want to be the best father in all the world,
and I don't want to be a father at all--
and the same goes for all of the other roles
I am asked to play, etc.).
What is the formula,
the recipe,
the ratios
for perfection?
It changes moment-to-moment,
day-by-day.
We step into each situation as it arises
and feel our way along.
The guiding rule is the same in each one:
Stop!
Look!
Listen!
See!
Hear!
Understand!
Know!
Do!
Be!
Look until you see what you are looking at.
Listen until you hear what is being said.
Understand clearly what's what,
what is happening,
and what needs to be done about it.
Know what the present circumstances
are calling you to do
with the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues
that are yours to serve and to share.
Do what can be done as well as you can do it.
Be ready to repeat this process
in the next moment that is already forming
and about to spring forth.
And don't take any of it more seriously
than is appropriate to the occasion!
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 