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?
This image brings to mind the quote from Captain Jack Sparrow, "It's the pirate's life for me, Gibbs, I have no say in the matter, savvy?"
That speaks for me of cameras and photography. I had to be at this place above Death Valley almost twenty years ago. The things about which we "have no say in the matter," are the things we cherish and serve because we must. And those are the things that guide our boat on its path through the sea.
I fell in love with a 35mm single lens reflex camera in the mid-sixties and have belonged to photography ever since. That is a psychic phenomenon of life-transforming proportions, and is the basis of much that passes for religious practice, and belongs to the sphere of the God beyond theology.
The conflux of the two Gods, the God of theology and the God of psychic phenomenon, has been a source of confusion and bewilderment from the beginning of human life, with us trying to make sense of our life experience in the grip of the psychological forces of projection and superstition--representing a powerful blend and the source of emotions quite beyond our comprehension and control--which we disregard and dismiss to our own loss and dismay over the course of our life.
When Psyche wants to have a word with us, it would behove us to listen. If we have a dream that repeats itself it represents a Psychic urgency to have our attention, and we would be wise to sit with the dream to explore and reflect on until realization dawns.
Mission San Diego de Alcala — San Diego, California
All churches everywhere are enigmas, revealing and concealing at the same time, being the truth that denies the truth, right and wrong simultaneously. We have to know what we are dealing with when we are dealing with the church. God and Not-God, here, now, all at once, all of the time.
We have to know what we are dealing with when we are dealing with the church (And everything else as well). Meister Eckart put the church in its place with this telling remark: "The final leave-taking is leaving God (the God of theology) for God (The Psyche, the Source, The Foundation of all things).
God is Psychic reality, not a spiritual being.
So when Jesus said, "The Father and I are one," and "When you have seen me you have seen the Father," he was talking about God as Psychic reality. Everybody else thought he was talking about the God of theology. We can see how that might confuse things from the start. However, once we have the "Rosetta Stone," and know how to see what we look at, it all falls into place, and we get it--and comes to life the words of the poet (T.S. Eliot in "Little Gidding") "We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time."
And so, we have to know how to see what we look at, and come awake in the emptiness, stillness, silence, as those who know what's what for the first time.
Zen Moon 04/11/2009 — Price Lake, Grandfather Mountain, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, NC
Blue seems to be my color of choice. The woman who owned the frame shop I used in my early days told me, "Jim, your photographs will never sell because there is too much blue in them." She was right, and there is still too much blue in them.
Taking photos that sell when it means not taking the ones we need to take because something within has a yen for the ones we take is to betray something within, and the is the wrongest thing to do ever.
We have to listen to ourselves and do what needs to be done in the service of what guides our boat on its path though the sea.
We are here to serve That Which Knows What's What And What Needs To Be Done About What Is Called For Here, Now, No Matter What Forever. Regardless of what's selling.
Sundown at Silver Lake — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, Outer Banks, North Carolina
I’m thinking Psyche is something all life shares/has in common. All living things are one in this way. Consciousness is more or less aware of that connection. Emptiness/stillness/silence (one thing not three), or meditation/reflection, enhances/deepens/ expands that connection, and we work together in the service of what is called for here, now, for the mutual good of all concerned.
I think Native Americans and all indigenous people could teach us much along these lines, sensing, feeling, knowing when/what is Yes and when/what is No. With Wanting way down on the list of important things.
We want to have our way when we need to want to do what is called for no matter what it means for us personally. The personal and the corporate have to be re-thought. Whose good is served by the good we call good? Psyche has an idea of the good that is contrary to the good most of the world thinks of as good, and so the need to re-think “the Good,” and to re-orient ourselves in the service of “the Good,” which Psyche represents and would have us serve for the good of the whole.
What is good? What is not good? What makes us think so? How do we know? The culture has to take the lead in helping us consider and live in light of these questions.
The church could lead the way here. It would transform the church and the culture, which is the essence of the Counter Culture idea that never seemed to gather any momentum, but which is the core problem in the modern world.
Aligning ourselves with the Tao has always been the problem. The Buddha’s “Peaceful abiding here, now” has always been the key. Our work is realization, recognition, realignment with the Tao in all times and places. And we only want what we want, which is our way NOW.
It is up to us individually to be what we need to be in the time and place of our living and let nature take its course, as the Tao Te Ching advises and has advised through the ages.
Egret Ballet 05 — This series of six images was created at a rookery populated only by White Egrets on Avery Island, Louisiana in 1915
Wanting, particularly wanting my way NOW!, is the bane of all times. Those who know, know that what is called for here, now, is the most important thing any time, any place.
The Tao nails it: Doing the right thing in the right way at the right time in the right place. That is, doing the thing that is called for, here, now. Doing that the way it needs to be done is the solution to all of our problems, all of our suffering, all of our misery, angst, anguish throughout time. Jesus and the Buddha couldn't do better than that.
Do what is called for in the right spirit and the right frame of mind, and all will be well.
Owl Sees Owl — Barred Owl at the Bog Garden, Greensboro, North Carolina, 1912
Meister Eckhardt said, "The final leave-taking is leaving God for God." He meant leaving the God of theology for the God of Psychic dimensions. Dying is the only way of settling the argument between Orthodox Christianity and Gnosticism--between those who believe they know and those who know they know.
It's a ridiculous standoff between opposing points of view, but interpretation is everything, and the best we can do is to make our peace with ourselves in light of our degree of comfort with the alternatives that lie before us.
Sitting quietly before the alternatives and seeing which has a more compelling draw is my recommendation in that thinking about it gets us nowhere and being moved by the unknown mover is all we are left with.
I like the freedom from sin/salvation/forgiveness/redemption/atonement/doctrine/dogma and enjoy the felt-sense of guidance and direction, the wonder of inner peace stemming from knowing and doing what is called for in each situation as it arises, and the confirmation of the Buddha's discovery of "Peaceful abiding here, now."
Enjoying the option of personal authority is also a plus for me, and I find joy in knowing the satisfaction that comes from knowing and allowing nature to take its course from here to wherever we will be when we get there.
Egret Ballet 04 — This series of six images was created at a rookery populated only by White Egrets on Avery Island, Louisiana in 1915
Caring about the things we have no business caring about is the root of all of our problems today. It is about being right about our priorities, our ratios, and our duties.
Our duties need the most clarity. The "Thou Shalts and Shalt nots" can lead us in a merry chase if we take someone else's word regarding what's important and how do they know. My best advice here is "Don't care about what someone else tells you to care about--care about what YOU care about, and allow that to show what is important and what is not. Run periodic importance reviews to make sure we are aligned with our inner sense of what matters tells you. It is easy to drift away from what we know is important to us. So, we do Duty Checks from time to time to make sure what matters actually matters, and that we care about the things that truly need to be cared about.
Asking "Who says so?" and "How do they know?" Helps keep us synched to our own authority in all matters related to us and our sphere of legitimate concern.
Egret Ballet 03 — This series of six images was created at a rookery populated only by White Egrets on Avery Island, Louisiana in 1915
We have to befriend our inner resources in order to give ourselves the best chance of giving each situation as it arises the best we have to offer--which begins with "Peaceful abiding, here, now."
D.T Suzuki said the term "enlightenment" is synonymous with "habitual intuition." How are we living to enhance our relationship with our intuition? Where are we pushing our way through life and where are we waiting to see/hear/feel our way from one point to another?
Intuition and inner peace, inner consciousness, inner knowing are of the same ilk. Time spent daily in the presence of our selves, so that we learn to know "Yes" and "No" without knowing "Why," or how we know. "Yes" and "No" can be spontaneous, instantaneous with those who are one with themselves. Having to "think about" whether something "is us" or "is not us," is an indication that our "inner light" might be burning on dim, and we might look for ways to turn it up (Something the church could have done for us instead of handing us the Catechism, but don't get me started).
PS. I asked the stock photo agency I’ve just started working with if they had an interest in bird photos. They replied that they were “very interested.”
When I retired in 2011, I spent my time at the Bog Garden in Greensboro, NC, waiting for my wife to retire in 2013, taking photos of birds because I love taking pictures of birds. Sometimes things work out that way. And if it had not worked out this way, I still got to do what I loved. No?
Egret Ballet 02 — This series of six images was created at a rookery populated only by White Egrets on Avery Island, Louisiana in 1915
Each situation has its own direction and flow that has to be recognized and taken into account. Forcing action that is not conducive to the situation as a whole creates a disturbance in the flow that has impact and implications for the balance and harmony and wellbeing of the here, now and the not yet but will be. Who is in charge of all of the possibilities? We "create weal and make woe" without knowing what we are doing, and with no way of knowing. And so it is said, "Those who don't know what they don't know are capable of doing terrible damage without knowing what they are doing. Which is pretty much the case worldwide in all times and places. Because we want what we want and think about how to get and keep it without knowing what we are doing beyond having our way here, now.
We need a regular time and place for taking stock.
Sitting in the silence, open to what's what and what needs our attention, and waiting to see what occurs to us, calls us, directs us "from out of the blue" is not a waste of time. We have to learn to be conscious of forces at work in all times and places that are in play to impact, if not control, what happens next and then what happens.
We all are dancing to music we cannot hear. We move in response to the moment without foreseeing what that means beyond the moment. We have to make the time to listen for what is beyond frequencies we can hear. Which makes no sense until we experience knowing that cannot be explained just by making ourselves available to forces beyond rational, logical, intellectual concerns and consideration.
Psyche is cosmic and foundational. And aligning ourselves with it is living in sync with the wisdom of the Tao at work in all times and places.
Egret Ballet 01 — This series of six images was created at a rookery populated only by White Egrets on Avery Island, Louisiana in 1915
We are capable of things we cannot imagine simply by relaxing into ourselves and opening ourselves up to each situation as it arises, allowing the situation to call us forth in the service of what is called for here, now. The old Taoist ideal of doing the right thing, in the right place, at the right time, in the right way--which Is The Tao--has always been a simple matter of allowing the situation to call forth action from us that is appropriate to the occasion regardless of what we want to do/serve/achieve/acquire.
Our single-minded want has to be to live in ways that serve what is called for here, now--regardless of the implications that may have for us and all that we have in mind for ourselves and/or our life.
We are all quite capable of knowing what is called for but we negate that super power by dismissing, denying, denouncing, disregarding what is called for in our life long service to what we desire, crave, want, lust, after and live for with all our heart, mind, soul and strength.
And therein lies the problem that has us where we are in our life, in our society, in our culture, in our world.
We all say we want "to make a difference." But. Not to the point of self-sacrifice and self-surrender to what is called for in each situation as it arises all our life long.
Which is all that is standing between us and Nirvana, the Elysian Fields, the Farther Shore, things as they ought to be, now and forever.
Goshen Creek 02 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina
God is a psychic reality, not a spiritual being. Comprehending this changes everything. For one thing, it makes us the closest some people ever get to God. And it gives us the opportunity to remind them that they, too, are God, and need to start acting like it. Without saying anything about going to hell if they don't.
If they don't, they just regret it forever.
Living without dancing with the God they were born to be. That is an eternal realization that beats hell all the way to hell and back that never ends.
Living as though we are God because we are makes us Jesus. Makes us psychic wonders. Everyday. And cuts back sharply on the whining, moaning, complaining... Jesus never whined.
If Jesus could forgive the crowd that killed him, we can show compassion for Donald Trump. And few people ever needed compassion the way Trump and his minions do.
They diss the God they are every moment of every day. The God they are never shines through. Imagine living with that eternally.
Grandfather Mountain in Price Lake Mirror — Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina
We all are Psychic marvels, as is every other physical thing in the Cosmos. Psyche is the source of everything. And, if we are wondering what the point of it all is, the whole point is just for the joy of it. There is nothing to gain beyond being joyful over the experience of being alive. It is all about JOY!
Psyche is very childlike in many ways. But you knew that. We all know everything important. We all know the truth about everything--and truth has very little to do with facts, and that is a fact. About the only fact that Psyche has anything to do with. Psyche also has very little to do with negative emotions.
Joy, mercy, peace, wonder, laughter, love, resiliency, resonance, creativity, imagination... Psyche is big time into all of those, along with silence, stillness and emptiness. Psyche comes to us in emptiness, stillness and silence. And loves to visit us with sudden realizations that are the exact thing the moment calls for. I think that is what Psyche does best and enjoys doing most.
A lot of people confuse Psyche with God. God is a completely human invention. We made God up to explain our experience. And along with God comes theology, also made up to explain the contradictions in our experience. When none of it needs to be explained. It is like a joke in that way. Experience waits for us to get it with joy and laughter, and trust ourselves to it as being exactly what we need to grow up and square ourselves up with the contradictions and discrepancies, paradox and irony that are everywhere, strewn in with the joy, wonder and laughter, and the understanding that "Life is just that way!"
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 