Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

There are things we know by experience
like what applesauce tastes like,
and things we know by memorization
like how to spell Minneapolis 
and how to pronounce Natchitoches
and what 9x6 is
and why/how Jesus is the Savior of Sinners.

There are things we know by experimentation
like the speed of light
and the circumference of the earth,
and things we know through realization,
like what's what
and what needs to be done about it,
and whether we are a mountain or a sea person,
a pets or a no pets person.

The people who allow someone else
to do their thinking for them
and know only what they are told
are the saddest kind of people.
And the most dangerous--
to themselves and to others.

Which leads me to this:
I have been reading a lot of poetry lately.

Collected works reside in "the public domain"
and are free or very inexpensive,
and I have experimented with the possibilities
and realized that anthologies are better
sources of good (In my view) poetry
than collected works are.

There is a lot of bad (In my view) poetry
in collected works.

There is a lot of bad poetry generally,
whether it has been collected or not.

Knowing what is good or bad
is like knowing whether you are
a mountain or sea person,
a pet person or a no pets person.

We cannot allow someone else
to tell us who we are,
or, even worse, who we are supposed to be.
Even if they are our father.
Or our mother.

Or, even worse, the preacher.

–0–

Being right about what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises
and doing it when, where and how
it needs to be done
is all there is to it.

We don't do it
because we confuse 
what needs to happen
with what we want to happen,
and we don't take the time even
to be sure about what we want to happen.

I don't know what to do about that,
but I think spending more time
with emptiness, stillness and silence
would go a long way
toward putting things back on track
and heading in the right direction.

But, everything is so easily dismissed
these days
that I've resorted to letting things 
sort themselves out
and allowing people wake up on their own
or not
according to their own pleasure,
instead of yelling
WAKE UP!!! WAKE UP!!!
to everyone I see. 

–0–

There are three questions
and several ways to ask them:

1) What's what?
(Also phrased, "What's happening?
and, "What's going on?")

2) What needs to be done about it?
(In response to it?
(What is being called for?)

3) How can we be helpful with the gifts/
tools/traits/virtues/specialties/character/etc.
that are natural to us--
that come with us from the womb?

There are two questions to ask of
things that someone tells us:

1) Who says so?
("Where do you get your information?"

2) How do we know this person
can be trusted to know
what they are talking about?

Being clear about what's what,
and what needs to be done about it,
and how we can help
with what we have to offer
is crucial to what happens next.

Without clarity,
we are all bumping around in the dark,
thinking one thing 
when it is another,
doing this
when we ought to be doing that.

Sound familiar?
It is the daily fare these days.

–0–

Something is to be said for repentance
well beyond getting us into heaven when we die
(Whomever thought that one up
needs to be sentenced to a couple of years
at hard labor in the other place
on the grounds of absurdity and cheekiness alone).

Repentance restores balance and harmony,
oils the wheels of social interaction,
and returns things to the status of regular order.

Heart-felt, spontaneous, sincere repentance
is the most important step
in replacing things as they ought to be
with our own inter-being,
and within our relationships with one another.

I repent daily of all the repentance-worthy
things I have done and failed to do
throughout my life,
and I don't have to tell you, 
of all people,
how easy it is to stack them up in large piles
during the course of day-to-day living.

I repent of the choices I've made
and the ones I should have made
on a regular basis--
just to put things right with myself,
and things have to be right with ourselves
in order to live in ways that are right
with other human beings.

You know how easy it is
to make the case against yourself--
as though you are the prosecuting attorney
in the trial determining your ultimate worth
as a person of reputed value.

My advice is to simply come clean with yourself.
Say from the start of the proceedings,
"You are right! You are absolutely right!
I am appalled and ashamed of myself
for the turns I've taken
and the events I have been responsible for,
or have been an accessory to!
And with your (Taking to yourself) help
I will do better with all my actions
remaining to be done
in the near and distant future!"

It's a start to putting things as they ought to be
with ourselves,
and to keeping ourselves aware of how easy it is
to slip off the path,
lose the way,
and wander away from the ideals and values
we honor and revere
here and now (Trusting eternity to take care of itself).

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In being what we seek,
we discover that we have always
had what we need
to meet the moment straight up
and do there what is called for
and is appropriate to the occasion.

The way is clear until someone 
with a better idea comes along,
and then there is tension and struggle,
and we are generally unable
to determine whose way is the right way.

"Those who know best and must be pleased"
will not be interested in turning to the silence
and waiting for the guidance that comes from within.
They already know what is best,
so what's to wait for?

The bosses must be boss,
and therein lies the problem.
If we can delay any action long enough,
circumstances may take care of themselves,
but if we have to make those who know best happy,
a happy ending is in serious jeopardy.

The quest of the people for quick fixes 
and fast solutions gets us where we are.
Waiting things out
and seeing what happens
at least has the advantage 
of having the time to change our minds
about what needs to be done,
and that is often all that needs to be done!

See how slow you can go,
particularly when others are pushing
for action and answers immediately.
Be the sea anchor.
Take your time.
Change your mind if necessary,
and change it again if that helps.
See if the situation can resolve itself.

–0–

Everything is amazing 
to eyes that see.

Eyes that see are amazing.

To SEE is to be stunned into silence.
So, we have to not-see 
in order to get around at all.

We have to close ourselves off from wonder
to find a toilet.
Or a clothes hanger.
Which, in themselves, are aspects/extensions of wonder.

We seal ourselves up with the ordinary
and customary to have a chance.
Lost in wonder
would wreck our life.

We would forget to eat,
and sleep.

We wouldn't last an hour,
certainly not a day.

But.

We have taken survival much too far.
Being blind, deaf and clueless
is no way to carry out the business
of being human,
which is to sing
and laugh
with joy and thanksgiving
for the wonder of life and being,
and to share the wonder with everyone
all of the time,
like children at the beach,
or in the sandbox in the backyard,
before someone gets the idea of MINE!

MINE! pretty well ends the party,
and war is introduced into the scheme of things.
And hatred...
You know the story.

We quickly create a world
where wonder stands no chance--
except for wondering,
"What the hell?" all the time.

What are we thinking?!

We have to QUIT thinking,
and breathe ourselves back to wonderment
and joy.

We have to reclaim the wonder of being alive
by sealing ourselves off
from the world of noise/complexity/
drama/trauma of MINE!
And opening ourselves to the wonder of WOW!
at the very idea of LIFE and living
and tadpoles
and trampolines
and all the rest--
allowing all of it,
ourselves included,
to become, as it were,
"Transparent to Transcendence"
(Joseph Campbell),
and live in the company
of the radiance of life and being
throughout the time left for living.

–0–

"Grace" is another term for "good luck,"
"good fortune."

We all are graced by the minute,
by the second.

Everything is a coincidence,
an accident of time and place.

Every photograph is a miracle,
that we should be there, then, 
with a camera is always amazing.

What were the chances?
Who could have planned it?
Things just work out that way.

Every day is crammed with experiences
of benevolence and grace,
of place and timing.

The more aware of it we become,
the more stunned by it we are.
Who can believe it?

Yet, here is the real stunner:
We all take it for granted,
to the point where we don't see it,
where we give it no mind!

We walk through wonder,
marvels, miracles every day,
unseeing because we take it for granted!

Start paying attention to the coincedences
in a day!

To the encounters with grace and good fortune!

You will soon come to the conclusion 
that grace is the foundation of our lives.
We could not live without it!
And we do not have to!
It is everywhere all the time,
just like the air we breathe.
We are buoyed up by grace,
like corks on the water,
like leaves in the wind!

–0–

We have to learn how to be balanced and harmonized 
in the neighborhood of the clashing rocks
on the heaving waves of the wine dark sea.

The way there is a simple shift in perspective.

Life is an optical illusion.
We can look and see hopelessness and despondency,
and we can look again and see peace and tranquility
in the midst of hopelessness and despondency.

We can live in the midst of depressing circumstances
and be depressed.
Or not.

The way we respond to any circumstances/situation
can make things better or worse.

The Supreme Court has just made things 
ridiculously bad for students and gay people, etc.
The Supreme Court and Republicans/Fascists
represent the heaving waves and the wine dark sea.

Here we are. NOW what???

NOW, we adopt an attitude
that makes us impervious to the impact
of the Supreme Court and Republicans/Fascists--
by grounding ourselves in this moment
and seeking what we can do here/now
to make this moment a better place to be
by seeing what needs to be done here/now
and doing it when/where/how it needs to be done.

Sometimes, breathing is all we can do.
Breathing with our mind focused on breathing.
Breathing is the path to balance and harmony
by connecting us with 
emptiness/stillness/silence.

Breathing in for a count of five,
breathing out for a count of five,
pausing between breaths for a count of ten,
breathing in for a count of five...
for five rounds,
puts us in the presence
of emptiness/stillness/silence.

Remaining there in the emptiness between breaths,
puts us in the position of waiting quietly
for what arises/appears/emerges in the emptiness,
just waiting, just watching,
without engaging anything.

There, we are empty of all thoughts/emotions,
just watching, just waiting,
letting the noise/clutter/complexity/anxiety/etc.
pass by without allowing it to hook us into engagement.

Seeing what occurs to us 
in the way of finding what needs to be done
here/now,
what we are being called to do,
then moving into action doing what/when/where/how
it needs to be done,
still disengaged from the noise/clutter/etc.,
free to be and to do
as our circumstances need us to be and to do.

In this way, we transcend the turmoil of life 
and position ourselves to live
with what must be lived with
as the vehicles of transcendence
we are capable of being--
grounded in the transcendent foundation of existence,
anchored to the adamantine essence
of life beyond life,
and living here/now as the source of hope
amid the hopelessness of it all.

This is the optical illusion
that we live to shatter
by being what we seek--
an oasis in the desert,
a shelter amid the torrential emotional storms
of life
for all those who come our way.

Breathing our way to balance and harmony,
to spirit/healing/wholeness/life beyond fear/anxiety
by just being here/now
with a smile and 
an indomitable hold on transcendent reality,
anyway,
nevertheless,
even so.

–0–

What is missing from our life? 
What are we seeking? 
What do we need that we do not have?

Pondering this, 
I realize that the world seeks 
release/relief from the burdens of life—
the uncertainties, 
the insecurities. 

People seek reassurance, 
companionship, 
security, 
certainty,
peace...

The ground of all religion is 
hope for the future--
some sense that everything is going to be okay.

I think that is pitiful, sad. 

So many people feel not okay. 
Not confident. 
Not grounded in who they are, 
in their life as it is,
in knowing where the next meal is coming from… 

In not knowing where to find 
the basic needs of life—
in not being able to trust themselves to life, 
to their experience of being alive.

Essential insecurity
is the common ground of the species.

The multitudes are 
“like sheep without a shepherd.” 
Lost and alone. 
At the mercy of anyone, 
any thing, promising them 
security and hope for 
today and tomorrow.

And have been that way 
from the beginning of human existence.

All of which is to say  
it is important that we 
run a "vulnerability check"
from time to time
to see what shape
our psychic foundation is in,
and keep an eye on 
what may be motivating 
our thoughts/feelings/actions/
being-in-the-world.

And take the necessary measures
to restore our soul,
and reassure ourselves
that we are stable, 
secure and capable of 
finding what we need
to do what needs to be done.

–0–

Accepting our plight for what it is,
whatever it is,
and determining to make the best of it,
far exceeds the frantic search for an escape
into bliss and happiness everlasting.

We meet the day 
and do what needs to be done there,
putting woe and "poor me" aside.

"Here we are. NOW what?
What NOW?
What is needed HERE-NOW?
How can we help with the gifts
we have to offer?"

Our place is not to think up
a response,
but to wait for the proper response
to arise/emerge from within,
surprising everyone with its
appropriateness to the occasion.

This is "Wu-We,"
"Doing by doing nothing."
Just responding properly
to what needs to be done.

A simple way to experience this
is to watch the next situation 
that develops around us,
being curious about what needs
to happen three
to establish/maintain
balance and harmony
(Become aware of how many situations
are unbalanced and adversarial--
what contributes to that,
creates and sustains that?
By refusing to support it,
we automatically,
naturally,
act to establish/maintain
balance and harmony).

From balance and harmony
come spirit,
flow,
spontaneity,
sincerity,
integrity
and life.

Which we produce
by what we don't do
to serve the forces
of unbalance and disharmony.

As circumstances balance and harmonize,
things move in a different rhythm,
spirit and flow,
and change "of themselves,"
with no one doing anything
to "make things happen like they should."

Noise is reduced.
Complexity is relaxed.
Drama and Trauma
become bored and leave
to find some action,
leaving us with peace
and well-being at last.

–0–

The saving grace about Jesus'
abject--perhaps even deliberate--
inconsistency, ambiguity, self-contradiction, obtuseness-- 
is that it recognizes/exhibits/declares/expresses
the essential nature of life, 
of living,
beyond absolutes
in each situation as it arises.

What is right,
what is good,
what is wrong,
what is evil,
shifts and changes
from moment to moment,
from situation to situation,
and we cannot say/know
what should be done
always and forever no matter what
contingencies may develop in the future,
even the near future,
that we cannot possibly anticipate
here and now.

We do not know what we will do when.
What is important now
may not be important then.

Things change over time,
and we have to be able to do
what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises
in light of what is called for 
in that situation--
and not imposed upon the situation
as that which is to be done
always and forever in every situation
regardless of prevailing circumstances.

We have to be free to determine what is important
and live in its service
here and now
regardless of what has gone on before,
or what the ramifications may be
for future situations.

"Here we are, NOW what?"
Is always the pertinent question,
with each NOW standing apart
from every other NOW,
with needs peculiar to itself,
and our being called upon
to read the times
and do what they are asking of us,
no matter what,
anyway,
nevertheless,
even so.

That is the way Jesus did it,
in honor of the spirit
"that is like the wind,
blowing where it will."

And it is the legacy he leaves us,
calling us to have the courage
to live out of our own authority
in doing what needs to be done,
here/now,
always and forever.  

–0–

I recommend having nothing to do with the Buddha
or with Jesus. 

The Buddha hated women
and abandoned his wife and child
in order to "seek enlightenment."
How enlightened was that?

He opposed women having leadership positions
over men,
and it was due to strong opposition
by his male monks 
that they were welcomed at all
within the Buddhist ranks.

Jesus didn't know whether he was coming or going.
He contradicted himself at every turn
and canceled himself out at every opportunity.

For instance there is "Do not think I have come
to destroy the Law and the Prophets."
And, "You have heard it said,
but I say unto you."

He forgives a guilty woman "taken in adultery"
(What about the man?),
and he curses an innocent fig tree
for not having figs out of season.

He says, "Depart from me!
I never knew you Evildoers!"
and he says, "Father, forgive them,
they know now what they do."
And, he says, "If you know what you are doing,
you are blessed,
but if you do not know,
you are cursed as a breaker of the law!"

He tells the parable of the prodigal son
where the son's father welcomes him home
and holds a feast for him 
because he was "Lost and now he is found,
he was dead and now he is alive."

And he tells another parable about a man
holding a feast and inviting everyone to come,
and then kicking out a man for not 
wearing the right party clothes.

He says, "Do unto others as you would have them
do unto you,"
and then lauds the wise bridesmaids for having
enough oil for their lamps
and not sharing it with the foolish bridesmaids
who didn't think to bring extra oil for their lamps.

He says, "Be a compassionate neighbor to everyone,"
and then tells a story about an unjust landowner
who pays workers the same amount for different
hours of work, saying, "Can't he do as he wants 
with what is his?"

And this in direct contradiction to the terms
of justice established by Abraham with his question 
to God, "Shall not the judge of the universe do right?"

It is all too contrary to worry with trying to figure out!

My recommendation is to
live out of your own authority,
squaring yourself with your own
determination of right and wrong,
so that you are a light to yourself,
aligned and in sync with yourself,
true to yourself and transparent
to who you are and how you live,
and let that be that.

If you can do better than that,
by all means, do it!

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