Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

Reflection is waiting to see
what occurs to us
in the presence of openness to perception.

What makes us think
that the way we think
is the way to think?

That the way we see
is the way to see?

That the way we live
is the way to live?

That the way we perceive things
is the way to perceive things?

How might we think/see/live/perceive/etc. instead?

What makes us think that the way we see things
is the way things are?

Sit with the questions
and wait for what occurs to you.

We aren't looking for answers 
to the questions,
but for perception shifts
that lead to new realizations
that put the questions in a different perspective.

Looking at/examining what we think,
how we think,
transforms the way we think.

Changing the way we think/perceive
changes the way we live.

Education is not being told
what/how to see/think,
but being asked
what/how we see/think,
and what makes us think
that is the way to see/think.

Curiosity and exploration/examination 
produce the kind of reflection
that leads to new ways of perceiving,
responding to, living in 
the world of "normal, apparent, reality."

And that is what new realizations do for us.

How long since we had one?

–0–

Being among the dunes 
is one of the quietest places 
in my experience.

The sun rises over silence and stillness, 
yet the dunes are moving, 
transforming themselves, 
all the time. 

Constant motion has never been so still. 
So apparently lifeless. 
A place where nothing ever happens here.

It is a wonder to behold, 
and leads us to wonder 
what else are we missing 
when we look at it, 
listen to it. 

What do we walk by not-seeing, 
not-hearing 
all the time?

–0–

Emptiness/Stillness/Silence are the real Holy Trinity.
Ask anyone who knows,
they will all tell you the same thing.

Even the Bible chips in 
with "Good things come to those who wait."

And from Native Red Cloud on "X", quoting 
Chief White Eagle, Ponca,
we get:

“Go forward with courage. When you are in doubt, be still, and wait; when doubt no longer exists for you, then go forward with courage. So long as mists envelop you, be still; be still until the sunlight pours through and dispels the mists – as it surely will. Then act with courage."

It is not just any kind of waiting
that works,
only waiting in emptiness/stillness/silence.

Become expert in that art
and you will move beyond thinking/reasoning
into knowing,
and you will find yourself doing/saying 
things you never thought about
or decided upon--
not impulsively
but responsively,
rising to the situation
in ways appropriate to 
the occasion.

If we walk the path with emptiness/stillness/silence,
we will never go astray.
If we do,
it is because we didn't.

–0–

We are always placing the emPHAsis
upon the wrong silLAble,
as the old saying goes.

We are always fretting about our vulnerability,
and never say a thing about our invulnerability,
when, in all truth, we are invincible.

We may be scared and rumpled
but we are sill ticking.
After all these years.
Ticking is what we do best.
That and whining.
We whine about everything.

"Oh, Woe is me!
Poor me!
Poor, Poor, me!
I'll never get out of this alive!"

So what?
Why let our liabilities get us down?
Why keep score?
Why care what our chances are?
Why not live like we are never
going to die?
Or at least, like we are going to live
all the way until we do?

Here's my case for invulnerability:
We are still here!
You can't deny that.
We have dealt with everything 
that has come our way--
and are still dealing!

Nothing has stopped us!
We keep finding ways to get up
and face the day!

Superman/woman couldn't do more!

Invulnerability is doing what it takes
to get up and face what's next--
and doing what needs to be done about it
with a gleam in our eye
and a spring in our step!

In each situation as it arises
all our life long!

We have been doing that from the start!

And will keep doing it 
until we transition back into the light
that is our source and our goal!

Being who we are forever!
Bear that in mind 
the next time you are tempted
to do the "Woe is me!" thing. 

–0–

We find our own way
to what has life for us--
no one can tell us that.

We know for ourselves what is "Yes!"
and what is "No!",
without knowing "Why?",
or caring "Why?"

And anyone who tries to get us to explain
usually does so 
with the motive 
of arguing us

 out of our position,
turning our "Yes!" into their "No!",
or our "No!" into their "Yes!",
and are best left to their own way
by getting them out of ours.

This makes finding our way
not a collective pursuit
but a solitary one,
knowing our own life and living it.

If we are looking for a corporate
excursion to Wonder Land,
replete with fireworks displays
like a New Year's celebration,
we will be ignoring the "still small voice"
whispering "Yes!" and "No!"
lost in the din of universal delight
and boundless glory--
in which case,
our life will not be so much
ours as the masses'
and we will be looking together
for the next soccer match
or football game,
or concert...
to take our minds off the emptiness
of being by ourselves,
not knowing what to do.

–0–

Staying connected with the flow of life
through the crises, turmoil, noise, drama and trauma of life
is the greatest trick in the Encyclopedia of Tricks.

Something is always coming along
to knock us off-center
into the far-off center of the Wasteland.

We never become accustomed to 
the sister-in-law
(You know the one I mean)
crunching through bag after bag
of fried pork skins
because "They are carb-free
and I can eat as many as I want."

You can think what you want,
but Lao-Tzu went off into the west to die
because of his sister-in-law.

We all have to make peace
with the fact of no peace
being possible 
in some situations of life,
and find our equivalent of "the west"
in realigning ourselves with the Tao
and accommodating the most recent incursion
of fried pork skins into our life.

Regular returns 
to emptiness/stillness/silence
help to reinstate balance and harmony,
and return us to the sate of inner AUM
as our spiritual gyroscope gradually
overcomes the disturbance in the force,
and we come to terms with the other side
of tranquil and are in tune once more 
with the here/now of life as it is
and not as we wish it were.

Life not as we wish it were
is where we live,
and move,
and have our being.

We have to adjust our wants
to take the unwanted into account
and make the best of situations 
beyond our capacity for tolerance
and forbearance,
and hit the wall Jesus hit
with his, "How long am I to be with you? 
How long am I to bear with you?"

And take up the work again
of finding the source,
seeking the center,
and dancing with whatever life brings us
as it crunches through bag after bag
of fried pork skins.

Or its equivalent. 

–0–

In conversation with Joseph Campbell, Bill Moyers said,”There is this wonderful image in King Arthur where the knights of the Round Table are about to enter the search for the Grail in the Dark Forest, and the narrator says. ‘They thought it would be a disgrace to go forth in a group.’ So each entered the forest at a separate point of his choice.”

The Holy Grail represents the source of all that is vital and fertile and alive–the source of life and being. And we all are in search for it. It is our quest from birth to discover what brings us to life, what infuses us with life, what we discover to be the vital core, the élan vital, the vital force that drives and directs our living.

Martin Palmer translates Lao Tzu’s line ‘The Tao that can be said/told/explained is not the eternal Tao,’ as “The path that can be designated as a path is not a reliable path.” Which means the path that is the Tao, that is the source of life, can only be discerned in hindsight.

Now, where does that leave those who are searching for the vital force? With becoming students of emptiness, stillness and silence! The search is an inner realization of what is vital to us. We look within. We read the messages, the signals, from our body, our dreams, knowing what is “yes” and what is “no,” and going from there in each situation as it arises. And we all “enter the forest at a separate point by our own choice.”

–0–

I take heart in not knowing anyone
who has done it,
or is doing it,
right.

The old ditty nails it:

There is so much good in the worst of us, 
and so much bad in the best of us, 
that it ill behooves any of us 
to find fault with the rest of us
(James Truslow Adams).

Everything shifts when we just lighten up.

Particularly when it comes to
our relationship with ourselves.

No one can hope to have 
healthy relationships with others
who doesn't have a healthy relationship
with themselves.

Which makes the right kind of emptiness--
emptying ourselves of the right kinds of things--
at the top of the list
of things to get right.

And being desperate to get things right
is the first thing to be empty of.

I feel better already.
And hope you do, too.

–0–

We cannot care what our chances are.
We have to live as though
we are going to live forever
with no problems we cannot manage
and step into the moment,
offering what is called for
with the gifts that are ours to share
and let that be that,
moment after moment.

We rejuvenate ourselves
with regular returns
to emptiness/stillness/silence
where we reflect/recollect/realize
who we are and what is ours to do
anyway, nevertheless, even so,
as the human covenant with nature--
we bring hope,
kindness,
compassion,
love,
joy,
tenderness,
affection,
and all the high values
humanity has to offer and to serve 
to life in a heartless world
where life eats life
and the Law of the Fishes prevails
(The big fish eat the little fish
and the little fish swim through the nets
that haul the big fish to the cannery).

Our part is to balance the scales of nature
with caring, mercy, peace, benevolence, 
grace and charity--
offsetting ruthlessness, hatred, anger and greed
at every opportunity,
because that is who we are
and that is what we do.

And we do not get a break
because we haven't had a break in forever
and we are worn out with the burdens
of life as it is--
in order to offer unrelenting evidence
of life as it also is
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.

This is the human covenant with nature.

–0–

What's so important
about believing in God?

Why is that more important
than doing what needs to be done?

If we are going to believe anything,
why not believe in the value
of doing what needs us to do it
in each situation as it arises
no matter what?

And do it just like it matters
more than anything else in the universe?

If we are going to trust in anything
why not trust in our ability
to know and do what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises,
and give ourselves to knowing and doing
as though it matters 
more than anything else in the universe?

Why don't we just settle into
seeing what we see,
hearing what we listen to,
knowing what we know
and doing what needs to be done about it,
and letting that be that.

No theology.
No doctrine.
No dogma.
No creeds.

Just seeing,
hearing,
knowing,
doing,
being who we are,
moment by moment,
and letting that be that.

Jesus couldn't do 
any better than that.

And it's well within
the capacity of all of us--
without one thought 
about sin,
damnation
and going to hell when we die.

–0–

You have to do you the way you would do you
given all you know about you
and your current circumstances.

What do you have to offer
out of your original nature
and your innate virtues/characteristics?
Your specialties and perspective?

What does the situation call for?
What does it need from you
that you can provide 
out of your storehouse of goods and services?
With your forte, your "thing"?

Speaking of "thing," 
what are the things that make you you?
How might that be called for
in the present moment?

Turn to you in all things.
You are your guide through all things.
What would you do here and now?
Do it and see what that has to tell you
about what to do next time
some similar occasion/situation arises.
How would you do it differently next time?

We find our way through life this way.
Trusting ourselves to learn from ourselves
and our circumstances
how to do it better.
"It" being our life. 

"Better" in terms of balance and harmony,
smoothness and flow.

–0–

I was born into seriousness
and have swum around it it all my life.
It is the whole trouble with everything.

People take things so seriously.

Paul Watzlawick wrote a book entitled,
"The Situation Is Hopeless But Not Serious,"
which captures things quite nicely.

Comedians are bad about taking things too seriously.
Walking around in drug-induced comas,
or killing themselves,
or living out their lives 
sitting looking at a wall.
What???

Why don't we just lighten up?
That is the prime ingredient in enlightenment.
Just lightening up!

Itta Bena, Mississippi was/is a very serious place.
Everywhere I have lived was very serious,
until I got to Greensboro, North Carolina
and the Presbyterian Church of the Covenant.
It was fabulous.
It had out-lived its seriousness,
was running out of money,
had its back to the wall
and was willing to try anything
because nothing they had tried worked.

A dear woman came to the rescue
with a $4,000 dollar gift
and a "See what you can do with this,"
so we did four things with it.
We sat down with six or eight people
who were fun to be with
and agreed to ask our unchurched friends,
"What would it take to get you to church
once or twice a month?"
The results were astounding and beautiful:
No liturgy.
No offering.
No creed.
No organ.
No prayers of confession.
No Bible reading.
No prayers.
No hymns.
No sermons...
Things like that,
which, when you put it all together
came down to NO CHURCH,
at least no church the way the church
has always been the church.

The second thing we did was to create
an early service, that worked out to be 
"The 9:20 Service."
Why, 9:20?
It was late enough to not rush people
to an early service,
and it was early enough to allow time
for the traditional service at 11:00 O'clock.

The third thing we did was
to run a series of ads in the local paper
along the lines of
"No Bible.
No sermon.
No hymns.
No prayers.
No kidding."

The fourth thing was to invite local 
singer/songwriters
and musicians
to provide 20 minutes
of their kind of music
for $100.
(No "religious music" allowed),
in two 10 minute sets
to start and end the service,
and we had 10 minutes of silence
at the start.
That's thirty minutes.
We spent another thirty minutes or so
with time for people to say
what they had to say
and for me to talk to them
about things I write about here.
And ended in time to move out
and for the 11 O'clock people to move in.

It was a wonderful encounter with freedom
for all of us,
and lasted seven years up to my retirement,
when people who "didn't get it" came in
to do things like they ought to be done,
which is killing the church worldwide.

And it was a seven year demonstration to me
of the importance of lightening up
and not taking things too seriously--
of being serious about not being serious.

And of the difficulty in doing that
in a world where things are deadly serious
all of the time.

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