Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

Asking the questions that beg to be asked
and saying the things that cry out to be said
are the foundation of realization.

If we aren't digging, digging, digging
into all the assumptions,
commonplaces,
expectations,
things taken for granted,
sacred presumptions,
and holy ground,
within and without,
we are going to serve the same old same old
outlook,
attitude
and ways of thinking
and doing things
for the remainder of our life.

BOO!BOO! on that, I say!
FIE! FIE! on that!

Ask, and go on asking.
Knock, and go on knocking.
Dig, dig, dig and keep on digging.

What makes you think that something is so?
That you are right about what you think?
How do you know what you know?
Who says so?
What gives them their authority?

We cannot help how we see things,
but.
We can be aware of how we see things.
And we can make deep inquiries regarding
what makes us think that the way we see things
is the way to see things.

How else might we see things?
What is keeping us from seeing things that way?

Become your own authority,
and question authority at every turn.
Throughout the time left for living.

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If you are a subscriber and get the photo associated with each blog entry but not the text, the work-a-round suggested by sandync 28704 is to click on the date of the blog above the photograph and that should link you directly to the blog.

"Government of the people,
by the people,
for the people,"
has a nice ring to it, but.
It won't pay the bills--
particularly the kind of bills
Clarence Thomas and members of Congress
like to ring up.

The motto has to be tweaked a bit
to get it right:

"Government of the Corporations,
by the Corporations,
for the Corporations,
and to hell with all other considerations!"

That puts the Founders
in the center of exactly how things are.
They should have seen it coming,
except that who could have imagined then
the kind of money that is influencing votes
now?

Oh, how I would love to see
the way things would look
if the good of ALL the people 
were actually taken to heart
with every vote taken
by Congress and the Supreme Court.

The way the world would look
if it worked worldwide 
with the good of ALL the people at heart.

Favoring the rich and powerful
at the expense of everyone else,
and playing "the people" off 
against other races and classes 
of "the people" to the benefit
of some people more than others
has us where we are today,
and where we will be
"when all is said and done."

And no one has figured out 
how to turn things around
in favor of equal rights for ALL people
through all the epochs and ages
up to here/now.

The selfish/greedy/vicious gene corners every market
all the time.
The game is tilted to favor the survival
of that gene
no matter how many times the game is replayed
with the universe coming and going
and nothing changing
to favor "Peace on earth, goodwill to ALL."

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The black trunks in the image
are the trees' attempt to heal themselves
where elk have peeled away and eaten bark
in the winter months. 

Both trees and elk are doing their best
with what they have to work with
to make things work
as well as they can. 

You and I are right in there
with the trees and elk,
doing our best to make things work
as well as they can.

We all would do better
with better choices,
better options,
and we are all limited 
to the choices/options
available to us.

Living/working/voting
to make a wider range
of choices/options 
available to all people
is incumbent upon us all.

This includes abortion rights
and LGBTQ rights,
civil rights,
human rights
throughout the country and the world.

Those who know best and must be pleased
haven't ever known being refused necessities
on any level.
Privilege is that way.
The underprivileged bear burdens
privilege would unable to manage.

Laws restricting choices
and forcing unbearable burdens
are not what we must be about
as human beings serving humanity.

Living to gain the approval
of those in authority
is lap dog mentality,
and we all deserve better than that
in the politicians elected
to serve all the people.

May we all live long enough
to elect politicians
who do that very thing!

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

I would have said,
"I do not believe in believing."

"God" as we have been taught of "God"
exists only as the production/projection
of human beings,
forced onto us by an orthodox priesthood
with their livelihood at stake
in selling their idea of God
to the people protecting their lives
and providing the wherewithal for their existence.

"God" is the product of some priesthood
throughout time.
Which "God" we are talking about
when we say, "Do you believe in God?"
depends upon the priesthood in charge of
generating the idea of God behind the question.

The transcendent ground/foundation/background/matrix
of life
exists only as experience
and has from the beginning of experience,
but must be "theologized"
in order to be worth anything
to those who would profit from its presence.

Knowing "God" is experiencing the transcendent
beyond experience without theology or belief.
Without attempting to manipulate/control 
transcendent reality in serving the perceived
interests/needs of "believers."

The experience of transcendent reality
is enhanced by the right kind of silence
in the presence of nature, art and music,
or the wonder of anything capable 
of generating wonder--
but it cannot be produced at will
or made to perform as directed.

What it means, 
how it might be used
in the service of our wants and desires,
what its purpose is,
and how it spends its time
on its days off
are all open to speculation,
but the transcendent
is beyond all thought and conversation,
and we are best served by it
by leaving it as
a source of awe and wonder,
and understanding our role
in this scheme of things
as being extensions of transcendence ourselves,
and treating one another as though we are,
with honor and respect
and mutual care and support
throughout all the days of our lives.

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What stirs your interest?
Piques your curiosity?
Ignites your passion?
Catches your eye?
Calls your name?
Encourages your participation?

How many of those things 
are in a day?
A week?
A month?

How can you restructure your life
to include more of those things
in your days,
weeks,
months?

If you are plodding through
too many days that are just alike
with little in them that stirs you to life,
it's time for a shift in direction.

Give your interests,
your curiosity,
your passion,
your eye
the driver's seat
and invite them to take you
where they would like to go.

Sit back and enjoy the ride.

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The worst thing that ever happens to us
can also be among the best things that ever happens to us.

Our worst experiences 
can be our best experiences.

Bad can also be good.
Good can also be bad.

Things are not one way only.

We have to expand our mind
to take into account
the allness of everything,
to be done with the straight and narrow
and to understand the place
of crooked, contrary and contradictory
in the way life is.

We over-think everything,
and have to learn to dance
without thinking anything ever at all.

Dancing is all grace and forgiveness,
laughter and magic.
Things thinking knows nothing about,
with its straight lines
and narrow margins for error.

We do not think our way into heaven.
We live our way there
by dancing with what life brings us,
eschewing expectations, regimentation
and regulation
by allowing things to be what they are
and seeing what they have to show us
about generosity, kindness, mercy
and peace.

It comes down to allowing things 
to be how they are
and letting them show us
how they also are.

Polarities are not so different
after all.

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There is nothing 
we cannot deny.

Denial keeps us where we are. 
If it weren't for denial,
where might we be?

Denial is a superpower in a negative sense.

Recovering alcoholics know about
the power of denial--
and the power of looking denial in the eye,
facing the truth of
the legitimate pain of life,
and doing what must be done
in the way of acceptance and adaptation,
working to put ourselves in right relationship
with the truth of how things are,
and the truth of how we wish things were,
and the work it is going to take
to accommodate ourselves to the reality
of the discrepancy between what we want
and what's what--
and get up and do what needs to be done
every day.

Anyway!
Nevertheless!
Even so!

Every day!

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The culture/the world is in hot pursuit
of the perfect means
With no idea of an end worthy of it.

I wish I remembered the name 
of the photographer
who said,
"The more equipment you have,
the fewer pictures you take."

Fine clothes and tattered lives.

We draw the wrong lines
in the wrong places.

Native Americans would go on vision quests,
which amounted to days
of emptiness, stillness and silence--
time spent waiting for things to become clear.

How much time in a week 
do we devote to clarity?

We think we are clear enough 
about what is important,
we just need better means (more money)
to get what we want.

It is what we want that is lacking.
We need better wants!
We are confused, conflicted and unclear
about what matters most.

First, we have to be right
about what we need.

Then, we can worry about the wherewithal
to acquire it.

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Meeting the day
without expectations,
agendas,
opinions,
intentions,
demands,
attitudes,
judgments,
plans,
designs,
programs,
and ideas for the way things should be,
is to be ready for anything,
except, perhaps, a test
on any of the above.

To walk unprepared into the day,
just as we are,
as ones thus come,
waiting to see what the day asks of us
and how we respond,
is to drop like Jesus
or the Buddha,
or Lao Tzu
into the day.

And the day will not know 
what to do with us.
It will likely look at us with side eyes,
walk around us,
suspicious of our intent,
of which we have none,
and sit down,
waiting to see what we do.

I suggest that we sit down as well,
and wait to see what the day does.

We could practice our breathing:
Inhale for a count of five, remember.
Exhale for a count of five,
pause for a count of five between breaths,
repeat for as many rounds
as it takes for the day to get bored
and start pestering us
just to see if we are alive.

And we can swing into action,
watching what is happening,
looking for what needs to be done
in response,
and we are off!
"The game is afoot!"

Matching wits with the day
is the greatest sport there is--
and the best thing about it is
no keeping score!

Just doing what is called for
in each situation as it arises,
through lunchtime,
dinner,
shower and bed,
dreaming of what tomorrow might hold.

What a life that would be, 
eh, Gibbs?
And quite the life for me!

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