Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

"The path that can be discerned as a path
is not a reliable path" (Martin Palmer/Lao Tzu). 

We know the path that is our path,
the way that is our way,
only by way of hindsight,
and by way of being open to the here/now
through emptiness--
as empty as the space 
between breaths--
stillness and silence.

Seeing what we look at,
listening to what we are hearing,
asking all of the questions
that beg to be asked of everything,
saying what cries out to be said
about everything,
and trusting ourselves
to the flow of energy/vitality
throughout our time upon the earth.

Everyone is moved by something.
Toward something.
Away from something.

Following the movement 
of the things that move us.

Being aware of what moves us
and moving with it,
in accord with it,
in tune with yes and no
in each situation as it arises.

Aware of balance and harmony.
Aligned with original nature
and innate virtues/specialties,
allowing the path to unfold before us,
letting the way be the way
of being moved by what moves us,
amazed at how simple
and wonder-filled
life can be.

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Jesus raised the dead
and left the dead to bury the dead.

He forgave a guilty woman
and cursed an innocent fig tree.

He forbade praying on street corners
and said, "Let your light shine before others."

He said, "Do unto others as you would have them
do unto you,"
and told a parable about a land owner
paying his workers the same wage
for different hours of work.
And another one about the wise bridesmaids
saying, to the foolish bridesmaids,
"We didn't take you to raise! 
Go get your own lamp oil back in town!"

He said, "Do not think I have come 
to set aside the law and the prophets,"
and, "You have heard it said,
but I say unto you."

From all of this,
I can easily conclude
that truth is contradictory
and paradoxical,
and there are no formulas
or recipes for determining beforehand
what will be required by,
and necessary in,
each situation as it arises.

And that we have to "sit loose in the saddle"
and be "light on our feet,"
and quite free to do anything 
that is appropriate to the occasion,
and do the polar opposite
in the next occasion 
regardless of its similarities
to the last one.

In other words,
we don't know what we are doing
or will do next
from situation to situation.
But trust ourselves
to see what is called for
and respond appropriately
from situation to situation,
and have nothing to do with people
who insist that abortion is always wrong,
and that killing people we think need killing
is always right.

For example.

Got it?

Get with it!

And don't let being on your own stop you,
or even slow you down! 

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The 13th Step of Alcoholics Anonymous
is "After sobriety what?"

After sobriety is remarkably the same
as Before Addiction.

We couldn't handle it then,
how do we handle it now?

What has changed between
then and now?

Sobriety is about the right kind of 
perspective/perception.

Addiction is the path to seeing appropriately.
Which is to say,
addiction is the path to enlightenment.

To seeing what's what
and what needs to be done about it
in each situation as it arises--
and having the courage to do it,
time after time,
for the joy of doing it
and the satisfaction of having done it.
Period.

That is the adamantine ground/core of life.

If we cannot do that,
we live for diversion/distraction/denial,
i.e., addiction.

Because life is about seeing/doing
what needs to be done,
when, where and how it needs to be done
in all of the situations
and circumstances of living.

For no other reason
than because it needs to be done.

If we cannot/will not do that,
it's addiction to something all the way.

Perspective/perception is/are the key
to seeing/doing what needs to be done.

Enlightenment is the grounding foundation
of life as it needs to be lived,
which is doing what needs to be done
with the right attitude,
always and forever.

The formula is simple:
We get out of bed
and step into our life
and deal with what needs to be dealt with
when/where/how it needs to be done,
every day for the rest of our life.

Which can be shortened to "Deal with it." 

The 13th step.

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The craziest people I've known
were entrenched in their craziness.
I left them the way I found them,
and walked on.

They could not come to terms with life as it is.

One of them couldn't handle road kill.
Went into deep mourning every time
they came upon it.

One of them couldn't handle what they called
"insensitivity,"
And was super-sensitive to all things
that looked like they might some day be
insensitivity.

The first order of business
is to understand how things are
and what can be changed
and what cannot be changed,
and let it be because it is,
always has been,
and will forever be.

"Life eats life."
That's basic.
We can wait for the wheat to die naturally,
harvest it and make bread,
but it had to die in order for us to live.
Something has to die for us to live.
We have to square up with that,
and let it be because it is.

Here is the deal:

1) Accommodation and adjustment, Kid.
Accommodation and adjustment.

2) Yin/Yang.

3) Balance and harmony.

These are the three steps to living
as well as life can be lived.

We are here, you might say,
to serve the requirements
of balance and harmony.

Everything revolves around
and flows from
and leads to 
balance and harmony.

The more consciously and deliberately,
intentionally and devotedly,
we serve the needs of balance and harmony,
the better things are for us and those around us.

The "sweet spot" is in the center
of the bell-shaped ("Normal distribution") curve.

"This is the way things are,
and this is what we can do about it,
and that is the way things are."

Jesus did not know what he was doing.
The Buddha did not know what he was doing.
Both of them did what they needed to do
to balance and harmonize themselves 
with their life,
and what they did was what they were doing.

They did not have a system for 
"The Way Things Ought To Be."
Neither had what it takes to be
King of the Realm.
Neither could have governed 
even a small country.

They lived and died in the service
of their idea of how things ought to be
in conjunction with how things are.

That is all any of us can do.

There is no figuring it out,
getting it down,
and having it made.

There is only dealing with how things are
here and now
in light of the three steps to living well:

Accommodation and adjustment, Kid.
Accommodation and adjustment.

Yin/Yang

Balance and harmony.

Get that down and we have it made,
as much as we can have it made,
on the heaving waves
of the wine dark sea. 

–0–

"The path that can be discerned as a path, 
is not a reliable path" (Martin Palmer/Lao Tzu).

Which begs the questions:
"How good is a path that cannot be discerned?"
"What does 'discerned' mean?"
"How do we find our way,
looking for a path that cannot be discerned?"
"Where does this leave us?"
"What do we do, not knowing
whether or not it is the way,
the right way?"
Etc.

A path that can be discerned as a path
is someone else's path.
We are on our own
when it comes to finding our path.
What do we say is a path
and is not a path?

This question, "What do we say?",
leads us into emptiness
(Where we are empty of all emotions,
especially fear and desire,
all thoughts,
all we have been told
and think we know...
as empty as the space between breaths),
stillness
and silence,
waiting to know what we say,
waiting for it to emerge/arise/appear
uncontrived
to compel us to act,
knowing what is to be done here/now
"Like a person with their hair on fire
searching for a pool of water."

That is what we say.
How do we know?
Where does it come from?
How can we explain/defend/excuse/justify 
our action?

In this, we are like Jesus going to Gethsemane
and Golgotha.

We go without knowing why
in the face of all the reasons to not go
because we know this must be done,
we don't know why,
or how we know,
or what makes us think so.

This is called making our own path,
when we do not know if it is actually a path,
and we don't let that stop us--
on the order of:
"It's the pirate's life for me, Gibbs.
I have no say in the matter. 
Savvy?" 

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Experience and reflection on experience 
lead to associations and connections,
trains of thought and streams of inquiry,
examination and realization,
all of which form another level of experience,
and the cycle repeats endlessly over time--
unless we interrupt it
by refusing to ask the questions that beg to be asked,
or say the things that cry out to be said,
or see what we look at,
or hear what is being said,
particularly what we are saying 
and failing to say
in light of all that we are experiencing
and failing to experience,
although it is right there,
awaiting awareness. 

We keep doing the same things
waiting for things to change.
Our luck, for instance.
Or our station in life.

Transformation follows courage,
which is forestalled by recurring rounds
of drugs/sex/alcohol/diversion/distraction/denial,
anything to take our mind off what's what
and what needs to be done about it here/now
and the beat goes on and on
like the tides through time. 

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Getting, acquiring, amassing, owning, having, possessing, doing,
achieving, winning, etc.,
add noise, complexity, drama and trauma
to our life,
disrupts our balance and harmony,
increases turmoil,
bedlam,
chaos
and uncertainty,
and has us where we are.

Everything has to serve 
balance and harmony,
integrity,
sincerity,
spontaneity,
spirit,
energy
and vitality--
in the service
of our original nature
and our inherent virtues/specialties/qualities.

Intuition,
instinct,
inclination
and resonance,
are proper guides
to life, being and action,
and are accessed best
through
emptiness,
stillness and silence.

All of which culture and society abhor.

Leaving us with decisions to make
regarding 
how we spend our money
and how we spend our time
in answering the questions,
"Who are we?"
"What are we about?"
"Where do we go from here 
with our life?"

–0–

How many people do you know
who talk without saying anything
worth thinking about or remembering?

Social chatter consumes our lives. 

Hair salon talk.
Bar talk.
Church talk.
Family reunion talk.
Dinner party talk.
The list is long.

We spend a lot of time saying nothing.
Hearing nothing.
Wasting our life
on things that don't matter.

What do we have to say that needs saying?

What enables and sustains
your balance and harmony?

Where do you go to talk about that?

What disrupts, unsettles, destabilizes your life?

Where do you go to talk about that?

What vitalizes your life,
infuses your life with wonder
and joy,
radiance,
delight?

How often do you spend time with that,
talking about that?

Where do you find the flow of vital energy
in your life?

How often do you experience that flow,
merge with it,
live in sync with it?
Deliberately?
Consciously?
Intentionally?

What upsets/destroys that flow? 

Where do you go to talk about these things?

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Nature, virtues, vitality.
These are the three aspects 
of our life
that have to be in sync
for our life to be
what it is capable of being.

Notice that our external circumstances
matter not one mote.

We are capable of living anywhere,
with anything
as those who are true 
to their original nature,
their innate virtues,
their essential vitality
just by the attention/intention
we give to those things
over time
no matter what.

Who are we?
What are we about?
Where is our joy to be found?
When are we going to start
serving those concerns
with all our heart, 
and mind,
and soul,
and strength,
every day,
in the time left for living?

A daily meditation 
on our original nature,
our intrinsic virtues,
and the things that generate
joy, radiance and vitality within 
is quite in order
all the time.

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It occurs to me 
from time to time
that we alone are responsible
for our safety and well-being
throughout what remains of the time
that is ours upon the earth.

We make the decisions/choices
that produce the future
that is ours to live,
one decision/choice at a time.

We each know--or could know,
if we were interested in knowing--
what assists/enables our balance and harmony,
and what disrupts/destroys it.

We know, as Joseph Campbell was wont to say,
"when we are on the beam,
and when we are off it"--
where we belong
and where we have no business being.

We know what does it for us
and what doesn't.

What overrides what we know to be so
and leads us away from who we are
and what is ours to do
with the life that has yet to be lived?

What helps us, aids us
in being who we are,
doing what is ours to do,
and what hinders us,
blocking our way,
concealing our path?

What we spend our time doing
and thinking about
carries us into where we are going.

We help ourselves or hinder ourselves
all along road through our future.

We do our future to ourselves
by how we live in the present.

What we do today determines,
or strongly influences
what we do tomorrow.

What are we doing?
What are we thinking about?

How does that square with who we are
and what is ours yet to do?

Are we on the beam or off it? 

–0–

It is a mess   
everywhere I look, 
created and compounded
by people trying to have their way
and force it on other people.

We all need a 50-year time out.
We could start with one
of any length.

No one seems to take a time out
any longer.

Everything begins with
and flows from
time out.

Sitting down.
Being quiet.

Where do you go for quiet?

I have a pair of ear protection
headphones used on shooting ranges
that I take a nap wearing every day.

And no TV in the house.

The music I listen to is by choice
using ear buds and YouTube.

And I do not do social events
of any variety.

I go for quiet regularly
and repeatedly.

Everything comes from the silence.
And is found there.
Being quiet enough long enough
will tell you all you need to hear.

If you ask the questions that beg to be asked,
and say the things that cry out to be said.
Of everything.
In the silence.

If you are just plotting your revenge,
or planning your next move
in the service of having your way,
it's a waste of time. 

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I have over 1,000 images up on ClickASnap, and am particularly proud of my "Beach Erosion" Album there, depicting the destruction of nature by nature--which, it seems, is one of the things nature does very well--of the beaches at Botany Bay, on Edisto Island, and Hunting Island, both in South Carolina.

Here is the ClickASnap link:

https://www.clickasnap.com/jim-dollar

Drop by for a "walk about" when you have the time. 

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