Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

The older I get,
the more sensitive to,
aware of, 
impatient with,
I become regarding 
intrusions,
encroachments,
incursions into
my life 
and my preferred ways
of doing things.

For instance,
commercial advertisements.
And non-stop talkers.

Non-stop talkers
are at least accessible
and I can break into their monologue
with clarifying questions
that give them pause
and shift things into areas
they evidently have never considered
and brings our mutual humanity to life,
if only momentarily.

I don't do social without breaking the mold
and making inquiries about what matters most
and how they know,
and how anyone else would know
by the way they honor it in their life.

Time is precious to me
because there is not as much left
as there once was,
and everyone lives as though money 
is important
when it is what we do with money
that is important,
and everyone seems bent on
doing the same things with it
with nothing to indicate that 
any of it is important on any level,
except that it generates more money
to be spent on nothing much at all.

And, if I don't call attention to that,
who will?

Calling attention to discrepancies 
and dichotomies is one of my specialties,
and I use social occasions 
to explore them
the way some people use social occasions
to say the same things they say
at every social occasion.

And if that works to provide me 
with little in the way of a social calendar,
what's the harm in that?

–0–

All we need is a sounding board.
We all need a sounding board.
Someone with nothing at stake
in us or what becomes of us,
who can simply listen us to the truth
of what's what with us
enabling clarity,
bringing forth realization,
being, for us,
the vehicle of enlightenment,
satori,
awakening,
knowing
who we are and how it is with us
in the here/now
of our life.

You do this for me.
In revealing myself to you,
I reveal myself to me,
and step with understanding
into each day.
More balanced and harmonious,
at one with the Tao
and aligned with the flow of life
than I could ever be without you.

Thanks for that.
Where would I be without you?
It would be a darker,
colder,
place,
for sure!

Yours is the place of a really good therapist
in my life,
enabling me to get to the bottom of me,
look around,
take stock,
acknowledge the how it is,
examine the what to do about it,
and put things together
in a way I could never do it on my own,
without you.

So, whatever you find here
that you can use
is where you and I are alike
in ways that reflect each of us
to ourselves,
and serve as common ground
on our mutual journey
to the truth of who we are,
and what the implications are
of that for the way we live our life.

To Truth!
To Life!
Together!
Along the Way!

–0–

The easiest thing in the world
is thinking it is about one thing
when it is about another.

Clarity is the foundation
of a life worth living.

And fooling ourselves,
no--telling ourselves what we want to hear,
which amounts to the same thing--
is what we do best.

Truth and clarity interfere with
having our way
and getting what we want.

So, the first thing is
getting our way
and what we want
out of the way
entirely.

Practice living without having a way,
without getting what you want.
Live with only what needs to be done
here/now in mind.
From one here/now to the next one.

Truth and clarity are grounded
in/on what is important.
Everything falls into place around that.

Knowing what is important
and being right about it
are superpowers,
directing your life,
guiding your living.

How important are the things
you declare to be important?

We can think our heart is in 
things that don't matter at all.
This is called fooling ourselves.

The clarifying question is:
How wholeheartedly do we live
in the service of things
we tell ourselves our heart is in?

Heart shows up in living wholeheartedly.
How often can that be said
about what we are doing?

Examine your life from the standpoint
of wholeheartedliness. 
How much of what you do 
do you do wholeheartedly?

Enthusiastically?
Energetically?
Joyfully?

Those are the important things.
The remainder are pretenders to the title.
Shuck them like you would an ear of corn.
And live like you mean it
with the things that matter most.

–0–

Curves are everyday occurrences 
through the outback of life,
and we keep thinking we have 
to "Be There Now!"

It's "Be HERE Now!"
We all might like to be somewhere else,
but the Here/Now is all there is,
and the perennial call 
is to do right by the time
that is at hand.

What is being asked of us here/now?
What is being called for?
What is needed?
Right here, right now?

Maybe, it is nothing more than waiting.
Going to the DMV is going to wait.
And wait.
And wait.
Emergency rooms, too,
are getting to be that way.

When waiting, we wait!

And, while we wait,
we can be aware of the pressing need
to walk two paths at the same time
in most of the moments
that come our way.

Sometimes, we have to live
in two worlds at the same time.

Family reunions,
weddings
and funerals
are like that for me.
The traditions require my presence,
and I'd rather be not there at all.

So, we adjust ourselves to our role,
and do what it requires of us,
as though we are playing the part
in a movie,
and give the best performance of our life,
while looking forward to a quiet
cup of coffee and a nice piece of pie
(Or whatever your preferred substitutes
might be)
on the way to whatever is after that. 

–0–

No plans,
no agendas,
no expectations,
no opinions...

The day has a drift
and a rhythm of its own.

Our place is to find
what needs to be done
and do it,
when, where and how 
it needs to be done,
situation by situation,
and let that be that,
because the next situation
is on the way.

We can tell 
when we are willing
what cannot be willed,
and let it go,
stepping back,
standing aside,
listening/looking
for what is called for,
and assisting
as we are able,
to the best of our ability,
with the unfolding of the here/now
in the time and place of our living,
as we move through the day,
one situation at a time.

Imposing nothing,
contriving nothing,
seeking nothing,
doing nothing
in the right way
at the right time,
letting it all come forth
in its own time,
in its own way,
as only a day 
knows how to do it.

Flowing with the movement
of the day
into the movement 
of the night,
doing what is called for
all along the way.

–0–