Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

At any point in time,
there are several thousand
to several million people
who know the truth when they see/hear it--
who are genetically disposed 
to be bearers of truth
from generation to generation.

They do not always fare very well
at the hands of those 
who don't have a clue,
and learn from an early age
to keep their views to themselves,
but, as it is with alcoholics,
they can recognize each other
from across the room,
no matter how crowded the room is.

Servants of truth
share the same two powers--
the power of perception 
and the power of suggestion.

Beyond that,
they are at the mercy 
of the time/place/circumstances
of their living,
and in complete accord
with everyone else in the world,
are "just lucky to be here"
all along the way.

The work of truth seers/hearers/knowers
is simply to be who they are,
seeing/hearing/knowing
what's what
and what can be/needs to be 
done about it
in each situation as it arises,
maintaining the balance and harmony,
Yin/Yang,
of life within the circumstances of living,
and helping things remain
within the normal distribution curve
between chaos and stagnation
(Where life is best lived)
throughout time.

We all vary in our ablity
to know the truth 
when we see/hear it,
and owe it to one another
to be as truthful 
as our circumstances allow
in seeing and saying what's what,
and seeing who sees with us,
and who does not,
that we might encourage and sustain
one another
in the work of seeing/being/doing
truthfully
in all the times and places
of our living--
for the joy of doing it,
and the satisfaction of having done it,
now and forever.

–0–

I am sorry that it has come to this.
I blame it all on money.
On Capitalism.
On the profit at any price orientation
of society as a whole worldwide.

"The love of money/power
is the root of all evil,"
is an ancient realization
that changes nothing over time.

Money is power.
With money we can do anything we want.
That's the catch.
We don't know what to want.
And what to not-want.
We want it all.
We want everything.
Right Now!
No matter the outcome.

Moneyed people cannot take no 
for an answer.
They will have their way
despite the cost.

All of those Russian oligarchs 
who fall off balconies
and out of speedboats
are in somebody's way
who wants to have their way
at somebody else's expense.

People with money
do not have any idea
of what to do with money.

They just love the idea of money
and the power to do what they want,
and they want something 
all the time.
Mostly more money,
more power
for no reason.

And here we are.
With people using politics
to get more money for themselves,
and more power
for no reason.

The snowball is rolling
down a steep incline
and the end
will not be pretty.

When things are out of control,
out of anyone's control,
as this is,
the only thing to do 
is to get as much out of the way
as possible
and wait it out.

Waiting it out generally means
waiting for some door 
to something better opens,
and walking through.

Knowing the right door
when it opens
is the trick.

People get tired of waiting
and rush through any door
that looks promising,
thinking anything is better than this,
only to find out not so.

There is the frying pan
and there is the fire.
The real trick is to avoid both.

Good luck with that! 

–0–

I am proud of what 
my life has done with me,
and of the role I played
in assisting that happening,
without knowing what I was doing
beyond trusting myself
to what needed to be done
in the service of ends 
I could not imagine.

At every turning point,
the way was obvious
and I trusted myself to it
beyond all reason and fear,
and here I am,
"talking" to you,
whom I never would have met
if I pushed and shoved
in favor of what I Should Have Done
at any point along the way.

The way our life Should go
is not the way we think it Should go.
Trusting ourselves to the going
and picking up what we need
for the journey
without knowing we are on a journey
is the way it works
when we cooperate with the working
without a clue about what we are doing
by merely being present
with what is present with us here/now.

It unfolds according to its own needs,
carrying us along with it.
To think there is a plan
with stages,
and musts,
and oughts,
and a strict timetable
for being at certain places
at certain times
and we must do it Right
or go to hell,
misses the importance of hellish places
in our life,
where things are gleaned
and learned,
seen, known, understood
that are essential for the journey
when there doesn't appear to be a journey,
and we have to go through hell
to get where we are going,
which is no place at all,
only the experience
of being at one 
with forces quite beyond us,
having a good time with us,
watching us piece things together,
one decision/choice/realization
at a time.

Hatching what we do not know
beyond knowing what must be done here/now
all along the way that is The Way
from one here/now to the next.

The people who live by some book,
any book, miss the magic
and the mystery
concealed in the wonder
of life and being.

–0–

We all have our specialties.
Mine is playing around,
particularly with words,
perspectives,
meanings.

Looking at things from all sides.
Sizing things up.

The Articulation of How Things Are--
And Also Are--
And What All That Means,
Depending on Our Point of View,
In All Times And Places.

Ask me what the Bible, for instance,
says about something,
and I will ask you 
if you want the Pro or the Con.

The Bible says whatever we want it to say
about all of the issues of the day.
The Bible is self-contradictory.
So am I.
So are you.

We are multi-dimensional.
We are capable of the full range
of perceptions and responses
to bring forth in meeting
the situation as it arises,
in the moment at hand.

And that is how it must be
in a multi-dimensional universe.

Is it order or is it chaos?
It is both at all times!
Depending on our point of view.

And we have to be consciously capable
of multi-dimensionallity
in order to find our way to--
and along--The Way,
which is The Way of doing 
what needs to be done here/now
in each situation,
in each moment within each situation.

Dancing with the music,
rising to the occasion,
as it changes like the wind,
we all are like the spirit
that is like the wind,
blowing where it will,
capable of doing whatever 
is called for,
when/where/how it is called for,
all our life long.

In order to do that,
we have to be able to read
the signs of the times,
and respond appropriately,
as needed,
in the here/now,
all the time.

–0–

Do right by the moment,
by the time and place of your living,
and by those in the moment
with you,
by the circumstances in which you live--
in the spirit of those who have said,
"Thy will, not mine, be done,"
(With the "Thy" being addressed to
the moment and the circumstances
constituting the Whole of the here/now,
what is called for,
made necessary by,
the Umwelt,
the sitz im leben,
the lived environment
of each situation as it arises,
through all of the situations
and circumstances that arise,
all our life long).

Do that
and let it go.

No one could do more.

This is the grounding foundation
of the Garden of Gethsemane,
the very source of death and resurrection,
through all the world
from before the beginning of time.

To understand this and do it
is to be one with all that is
and ever has been,
and ever will be.

World without end.
Amen.

–0–