Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

Balance and harmony,
peace and tranquility
are the grounding qualities 
enabling the kind of reflection
that leads to realization
and right-action.

They are countered 
by noise and complexity
drama and trauma--
the destabilizing aspects
of our environment
our life too often encounters.

Thus requiring regular recurring retreats
to emptiness, stillness and silence
in order to return to the anchor stone
and avail ourselves of reflection
and realization.

Our life is a rhythmical flow
from stabilization to destabilization
back to stabilization.

From balance and harmony
to noise and complexity,
back to balance and harmony.

Practice recognizing your present state
and the routine required to maintain or 
return to the state required
for seeing/knowing/doing/being
in sync with the movement of vitality and life
through each situation as it arises.

A structuring practice smooths the flow
and leads the way through the heaving waves
and clashing rocks of the daily round.  

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It is said that 
the Buddha held up a Lotus flower
before a crowd
and said, "You can look at this flower,
and either see it,
or see it not."

Only Mahākāśyapa smiled.

Seeing is smiling. 
Is laughing.
Is rolling on the floor,
or the ground,
howling with delight and wonder,
amazement and joy.

And Jesus warned
that in the realization
of all that was missed
after death
there would be weeping
and gnashing of teeth--
not because of the sentence of hell,
but because of the unforgettable
knowledge of having lost the chance
of life.

"You can look at this flower--
at all of life--
and either see it,
or see it not."

What are we missing
about what we look at?

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Vitality,
integrity,
sincerity,
heart.

Foundational principles
for guiding our way
through life.

Original nature.
Innate virtues.
How we do
what we do best.

Aligned with the center/source,
balanced,
in harmony,
inner and outer,
yin and yang.

The way to The Way
is The Way.

Wanting more,
with eyes on other things,
distraction,
disruption,
disharmony,
destabilization.

The way to the wasteland
is always at hand.

Focus,
attention,
intention,
deliberation.

Daily tasks
for the work 
of seeing/hearing,
knowing/doing/being.

Emptiness,
stillness,
silence.

Companions for the journey,
every day.

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Our response to the circumstances/situation
can interfere with/prevent 
the solution to the circumstances/situation.

Our influence is the uncertain element
in the work to balance the equation
that is every situation as it arises.

In light of Shel Silverstein's observation,
"Some kind of help is the kind of help
that help is all about,
and some kind of help is the kind of help
we all could do without,"
what kind of help do we bring to bear
upon the circumstances we encounter in a day?

How would we know?
How do we evaluate the impact
of our own influence?
What kind of shadow
do we cast on the circumstances at hand?
How do we know?

We might try walking around
watching ourselves in action,
just observing
without judgment or evaluation.
Just seeing.
Just hearing.
Just knowing.
Just reflecting.

What role do we play
in each situation throughout the day?
What are we trying to do?
How are we trying to do it?

What kind of help we bring to bear
on the situations we encounter?
How is it received?
What is the outcome?

How often are you sure what needs to be done?
How often are you unsure?

What types of situations have the best outcome
from your point of view?
What types have the worst outcomes?

Seek your own insight
as an interested observer.
What do you have to say in the matter?
How do you rate the value 
of your own participation 
in the situations arising through the day?

What suggestions does your inner observer
have to offer?

Keep the conversation going 
through all the days left to be lived.
And see what your nighttime dreams
have to offer over time.

See where it goes...

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This image makes me want
to sit on the big log on the left
and wait until tomorrow
so I can do it again.

Scenes like this do "it" for me.
Going to heavy weight fights,
or attending the Super Bowl don't.

This "me/not-me" sense of who we are
is but one of the expressions of mystery
in our life and world.

What is with the connections,
and the un-connections?
They stand for me as hints
of the Transcendent aspect of existence.

There is more to everything than meets the eye.

Who doesn't have experiences with Grace?
Or the sense, 
in looking back over our life,
of mysterious coincidences at work
as though everything were orchestrated,
choreographed,
guiding us all along the way?

This sense of the "as though"/"as if" 
has been strong enough at various places
in past ages
for our ancestors to posit the existence of God,
and point to these experiences as evidence
of God's providence and presence.

The "as though/as if" become rock solid facts
in no time at all,
just as the ever-present God becomes a fact,
with us having to have explanations
for our experiences,
rather than being awed with wonder and amazement,
and thrilled by the impact of our experiences
in the rear-view mirror of life.

It is all the other side of normal, apparent, reality,
the Transcendent glory of it all,
which we vandalize with our graffiti of explanations,
interpretations and commentary.

"Wow!" is enough
and all we need to say.

And maybe sitting throughout the night,
so we can say it again tomorrow.

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In my opinion,
all theology consists of
collections of opinion about opinions (Hearsay).

Roman Catholic opinion is different
from Protestant opinion.
Reformed opinion is a form of Protestant opinion
that can be sub-divided into a myriad
of somewhat related opinions.
The same goes for Methodist and Baptist opinion,
Pentecostal and Etc. opinion.

Philosophy also consists of
collections of opinion about opinions (Hearsay).

Both Theology and Philosophy come to grief
with four questions:

How do we know?
Who says so?
How do we know they know 
what they are talking about?
Why would anyone take anything on faith?
(Which would be answered with,
"We are at the point of having to do something
and we don't know what will happen no matter what we do,
so we have to make our best guess about what to do
and trust our luck,
and see what happens,
and we will know more after making the experiment."

Science is grounded on making experiments on someone's
opinions in order to verify what can be known
and separate that from what will have to--
for the time being--
remain unknown/unknowable.)
 
The statement:
"The stove is hot,"
can be verified independently
by everyone.

Statements of Theology and Philosophy
have to be "Taken on faith"
by those subscribing
to the Theology/Philosophy in question.

Why would anybody ever take anything "On faith"?
Because they are too lazy or disinterested
to think things through for themselves,
in an "Okay, if you say so," kind of way.

Immanuel Kant has some interesting things to say
about the "Transcendent" and the "Transcendental."
He says, basically, 
that we can think/talk about the "Transcendental,"
but, because the "Transcendent" is Transcendent,
we cannot think, and therefore cannot talk,
about the "Transcendent."

And, in my opinion, that is where it ends--
in knowing what we can talk about,
and what we cannot talk about.
And not talking about what we cannot talk about,
beyond asking the four questions,

"How do we know?"

"Who says so?"

"How do we know they know
what they are talking about?"

"Why would anyone take anything on faith?" 

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