Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

Dawns can be just this way
if we give them a chance.
I haven't seen a dawn of any variety
since well before we moved to Blakeney.

Not that I haven't been up before dawn.

That happens nearly every day.
But I don't leave the house.
I make coffee and sit down to write.

I'm made for writing and photographing.
My knees have made photographing difficult enough
for me to be happy sitting with a tin mug 
of coffee and writing for a while.

I'm good for the right word 
at the right time
in the right place
and the right way.

It's my shtick.

But spelling is not.
Nor are numbers.
So, I don't get far away
from being at home 
with my coffee and my shtick.
Looking forward to being bald.

To be bald,
I'm going to have to outlive my wife.
Until then, I'll be happy
imagining being bald.

Being bald, for me, is a defiant protest,
renunciation, rejection, repudiation,
renouncement, and abrogation
of the ways things are being done
everywhere I look.

Being bald, for me, is immolation on the order
of Buddhist monks in Vietnam,
only I get to keep breathing
and enjoying my putdown of what it's all come to.

Protest is all that is left to us.
That and the power to put things right
insofar as we are able
by doing small things
like choosing the right word
and using it at the right time,
in the right place
and the right way,
while enjoying our coffee and our shtick.

So, if you shave your head before me,
know that I'm coming along
and will get there as I am able.

–0–

We cannot fix the system from within the system.
All of the revolutions and near extinctions 
through the ages
failed to change much (enough) of anything
to change things.

Like fascism did in the United States
at the end of the Revolutionary War--
it went underground,
operating as the KKK
and the White Citizens Council,
until enough fascists with enough money
could mount a serious takeover attempt
and succeed in owning enough members of Congress
and enough judges strewn throughout the judicial system
to be a credible threat for decades and eons.

Fixes require a healthy majority, 
say 70% of the people,
to be solidly in favor of
and committed to 
Liberty! Justice! Equality! Truth!
for Democracy to have a chance at eternity.

And, for that to be the case (70% of the people),
the people have to wake up, 
be present,
pay attention,
be aware
of what's what, 
and what's happening,
and what's called for
in each situation as it arises,
and respond in ways appropriate
to the occasion,
every moment,
of every day,
throughout eternity.

And, if you know people
the way I know people,
you know lethargy takes over
after a year or two at the ready,
and things begin to slide,
and money buys votes and judges,
and within a generation
things are back to being out of hand.

The truth about humanity favors fascism.
Always has.
Always will.
The rest of us have to recognize 
what we are up against
and go up against it
all the time--
without quitting 
because "It's hopeless, pointless, useless,
futile and absurd!
And coming to a very bad end
(We are all going to die before the work is done).
So who cares?
What's the use?
Why try?
What good will it do?"

At this point, 
it is essential that we 
not care that "no one" cares,
that it is "no use,"
and refuse to be conned into 
defending/excusing/justifying/explaing
why we are doing why we are working
in the service of the Good that is truly Good
whether it does any "good" or not--
and stand up
and step forward
into each situation as it arises
and do there what is called for
in ways appropriate to the occasion,
anyway/nevertheless/even so
without keeping score
or caring what our chances are
because that is who we are
and that is what we do,
and if you think you are going to stop us
with reason and logic and money, money, money,
you've got another think coming
because that think isn't going to stop us
or even slow us down.

He said, smiling and winking, 
on his way to what is here and now and waiting...

–0–

Being moved by that which moves us 
is the common element uniting all living things.

That which lives, lives as
"the moved in response to the mover."

The mover--the moving "thing"--
is the wonder/radiance of life itself. 
Life being moved by life,
by the encounter with the reality of life,
with the astonishment of being alive.

Life is in love with itself,
cannot get enough of itself,
relishes the glory of the sublime nature
of being one with the mover in being capable
of being moved.

Those who know the beauty of their own experience
walk around agape and giddy
at the very idea of being here/now,
immersed in the "WOW!!!" on all sides.

There is nothing beyond the experience 
of being moved
to ask,
or seek
or desire.

Life itself is all life has to offer.
Are we going to be moved by that
on and on forever,
or not?

–0–

There is the way things are,
and the way things need to be,
and the ways things are said ought to be.
and the way we want things to be,

If we can apprehend the way things are
and live in service to the way things need to be,
dismissing the way things are said to be
and the way we want things to be,
we will be doing what needs to be done
when/where/and how it needs to be done
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.

No more can be asked of us than that.

However, the worldwide trend 
is to what is said ought to be
when it coincides 
with how we want things to be--
discounting,
dismissing,
denying,
ignoring 
the way things are
and the way things need to be
to our own detriment
and that of everyone/everything else
no matter what
forever.

Until things become what they need to be,
it's going to be like bathing hogs
in the barnyard 
with a short hose
for the rest of time.

–0–

We do not see
what we cannot articulate.
Articulation is the hidden source of seeing.
Taking up the work of saying
what needs to be said
is also the work of seeing
what needs to be seen.
The less we have to say,
the less we are capable of seeing.

Where photography is concerned,
the scenes that speak to us, 
speak to many of us, 
maybe most of us. 

What is it there 
that isn't everywhere? 
Why some scenes and not others?
Why some scenes for some people,
other scenes for other people,
and other scenes for no one at all?

I ask as "the moved" in response to "the mover." 

What moves us to awe, rapture, wonder? 
The old Taoists might answer, 
"The Tao that can be said is not the eternal Tao." 

What ever it is, 
we know it when we see it, 
even if we cannot say what it is. 

Our work as photographers 
is to show what can be seen even if
we cannot say what it is. 
To be "transparent to transcendence," 
and allow our silence to express 
our highest honor and deepest admiration.

And whether we are photographers or not,
our struggle is to say what needs to be said
and trust that to enable us to see
what needs to be seen--
always aware that we cannot say
what cannot be said,
so we talk about "transcendence,"
for instance,
without saying anything about "The Transcendent."

We owe it to ourselves to say as much as we can
about what can be said,
and to "talk without ceasing"
until we see at last what we have been
trying to say all this time.

–0–

The only thing between us
and what has always been called "God"
is sin.

But not sin as action or state of being.

It is sin as concept or idea.

It is the belief in sin as a human condition
that is the problem.
Dump it immediately--
and, POOF, like that, sin is gone,
and we are free from its burden, guilt and shame forever.

All acts and deeds work more or less well
to get things done as they need to be done,
and it only takes doing things properly
and in reasonable order to meet customary 
standards of behavior worldwide.

Which is normally enough to keep us out of trouble
with the authorities and our neighbors in most cases.

"When in Rome, do as the Romans do,"
is generally all it takes to get us by--
and saves us all the issues with confession,
repentance, redemption, penitence,vindication,
absolution, pardon, forgiveness, exoneration,
dispensation, deliverance, clemency, amnesty,
exhortation, and being put right with all those
we have wronged.

Which brings us to getting over things
being put right by us,
and simply focusing on doing what needs to be done,
when, where and how 
the way it needs to be done
here and now in each situation as it arises
all our life long
no matter what.

We square ourselves with the world every day
and do what is called for,
letting that be that
and growing up some more again
all the way.

–0–

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
with its four pairs of opposites:

Thinking/Feeling
Extraversion/Introversion
Sensing/Intuition
Judging/Perceiving

is one way of conceptualizing 
the eight fundamental/foundational forces
shaping the way we are,
and therefore, the way things are,
worldwide through the ages.

Life is but a dance of opposites
clashing over how things are.

How things are is a reflection
of how we are,
and how we are is beyond our power
to shape or control.

The way we see things 
is just the way we see things,
and even the input we may have in that
is, itself, shaped by the way we see things.

To see/think/feel differently
is to BE different
and that is quite beyond us.
We can only be who we are
pretending to be different.

Invisible forces arrange our lives
apart from our intents and purposes.
And those invisible forces 
are who we are, 
and also are.
Without us being in charge of
and determining,
the ways we see, think, feel and do.

What is guiding our boat 
on its path through the sea?
The eight happy captains it seems,
and their sixteen different ways
of arranging/expressing themselves
in the situations/circumstances of our lives.

–0–

We are our responsibility.

We are in charge of our balance and harmony,
our integrity,
sincerity,
spirit,
energy,
vitality,
mind,
body,
heart-soul--
within the forces of destabilization,
disruption,
disharmony,
diversion,
distraction,
disinterest,
denial,
chaos
and 
lethargy.

It is as easy as our answer
to the question:
What do we live to do?

There is what we do for a living,
and there is what we live to do.

What do we live to do?

If we are living to make money,
what's the money for?

How does what we live to do
serve our balance and harmony,
our integrity,
sincerity,
spirit,
energy,
vitality,
mind,
body,
heart-soul?

--0--

When Carl Jung was asked
if he believed in God,
he replied,
"I do not believe--I KNOW.

When you KNOW
you know the God beyond Gods,
beyond theology,
beyond sin and redemption,
beyond words
beyond thinking,
beyond reason, logic, intellect, discourse, etc.

And relax into knowing what you know,
and have always known:
The physical world is an expression of,
an extension of,
a reflection of,
a manifestation of
more than words can say.

Transcendent reality
is the source of all that exists
as apparent reality--
more than that cannot be said,
told, explained, described...

Heindrich Zimmer said,
"The best things cannot be said or talked about.
The second best things lead to confusion and debate
because they attempt to say what cannot be said
and disagreement arises.
Which leaves us with the third best things to say,
news, weather, sports, opinion and gossip."
Or words to that effect. 

Empty yourself of all opinions, feelings, emotions,
desires/wants/fear and thought,
and simply know what you know,
and what you do not know--
and let that guide you through
all of the circumstances of your life,
as you respond from the center of yourself
to the demands of the here/now,
knowing what to do 
without knowing how you know,
simply allowing reflection 
to lead to realization
and recognition
of doors opening and closing
along the way,
not to wealth and fame,
fortune and glory,
but to what you need
to do what is needed,
here and now,
day to day.

–0–

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–