Finding our way to The Way one situation at a time. I don't know how great it will be, but I expect it will be interesting, and I look forward to it going on past all reason because wonder is just that way. Are you coming or not?
Low Tide 10 09/25/2012 Oil Paint Rendered –Deer Isle-Sedgwick Brdge over Eggemoggin Reach, Deer Isle, Maine
Wanting/Having/Going/Doing
must be balanced with
Seeing/Hearing/Knowing/Being,
allowing Doing to flow naturally
in response to what is called for
in each situation as it arises.
This means
No Agendas/Plans/Schemes/Plots,
No Contriving/Arranging/Engineering/Orchestrating
No Imposing/Forcing/Compelling/Coercing...
You see how
this turns upside down,
inside out,
the foundational assumptions of the culture,
of the world.
And you see how
the way that cannot be discerned
as the way,
and is thus
the only reliable way,
has no chance whatsoever
of being recognized and revered
with fealty,
liege loyalty
and filial devotion
by anyone
in the times
that are upon us.
That means we can't care
what our chances are
as we see what we look at
and do what needs to be done about it,
moment by moment,
situation by situation,
no matter what,
all our life long.
Lake Andrew Jackson 10 07/26/2020 Oil Paint Rendered — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina
Happiness is a function of freedom,
but, freedom is not freedom to do
whatever we want.
It is the freedom to do whatever
needs to be done
with our original nature
and our innate character.
Knowing and doing what needs to be done
with the gifts we have to work with
is the key to happiness,
even though we may sacrifice personal gain
in doing it.
Knowing what needs to be done
in any situation
is a matter of living in accord
with the times that govern
the situation.
Knowing what's what
and trusting ourselves
to the spontaneous inclination
of our self in response to the situation
is being at one with the moment
and doing what is called for then/there.
We cannot contrive the fitting response,
or think our way into knowing what to do.
We trust our way there,
trusting what, we do not know.
Trusting our response to be right
without knowing how we know.
It is all such a mystery,
knowing and doing what needs to be done.
"Darkness within darkness,
the gateway to mystery"
(Lao Tzu).
Moraine Lake Afternoon Oil Paint Rendered — Banff National Park, Alberta
Adjustment and compromise, Kid.
Adjustment and compromise.
It is the way.
Noise, complexity, drama
are always right there
disturbing the flow,
disrupting the groove,
interfering with our ability
to see, hear, know, do
what needs to be done
here/now.
Doing what needs to be done
here/now
is the only thing
that needs to be done.
Get that down,
and everything falls nicely
into place around it.
To get that down,
we have to first
put noise, complexity and drama
in their place,
which is far out beyond the periphery
of life as it needs to be lived.
It starts with recognizing
noise, complexity and drama
for what they are,
and shutting the door,
or walking away.
If you have lost your
balance and harmony
and don't know where to find them,
you are besieged by
noise, complexity and drama,
and don't have a minute's worth
of peace and quiet
anywhere in your day
or night.
It's time to reclaim your life.
See what needs to be done.
And do it.
Saying NO!
to noise, complexity and drama.
Try it and you will feel so empty,
the wrong kind of empty,
filled with all the inner turmoil
that keeps the right kind of empty away.
Our life is so filled with
noise, complexity and drama
that we don't know what to do without it.
Start with the TV.
Cut. It. Off.
Oops, now what?
See what I mean?
Sit quietly,
identifying the sources
of noise, complexity, drama
in your life.
Quietly, show them the door,
and shut it behind them
as they exit the scene,
every scene.
At first, the transition
is unsettling.
In time, it becomes the source
of light, and life, and being.
And we enter a world where
"Anything can happen if we let it,"
and "The future is up to us
and how we deal with the present."
And emptiness (The right kind),
stillness
and silence
become traveling companions
on the path
that cannot be discerned
as a path,
and is, therefore,
a reliable path,
for being with
the wind that blows where it will.
Rangeley Lake Sunset 01 Oil Paint Rendered — Rangeley, Maine
Ease of functioning
is what I want.
Just give me that,
and get out of my way.
I don't know why it is so hard.
Everything about it is hard.
It is hard being me.
You know what I'm talking about
as it pertains to you.
It is not easy being you.
Why not?
Why aren't we all helping each other
be who we are?
A little compassion and kindness
goes a long way.
Start dispensing compassion and kindness--
and never, ever ask,
"When is it going to be MY turn?"
Just dispense a little compassion and kindness
to yourself.
Get off your own back.
Grant yourself a little peace,
a little slack,
along with the compassion and kindness.
We only need a whiff.
Just a memory.
A faint recollection.
Somebody being kind to us,
reminding us of someone being kind to us,
breaks the spell,
picks us up,
like a smile and a wink
from across the room.
El Capitan Merced River Reflection Oil Paint Rendered 04/25/2006 — Yosemite National Park, California
All roads/paths lead to the light.
What does thinking about
what you think about
keep you from thinking about?
What are you afraid to think about?
What do you hate to think about?
What do you refuse to think about?
Our thinking is a barrier to our experiencing.
A restriction to our development.
Locking us in to a comfortable,
peaceful existence.
We seek Peace! Peace! where there is no peace.
We say, "Not There!" "Not That!"
and turn away from the way
that is The Way.
Thinking about what we think about
keeps us from facing up to,
squaring up with,
coming to terms with,
making our peace with,
what we most do not want to deal with.
Joe Campbell said,
"That which you seek
lies far back
in the darkest corner
of the cave
you most do not want to enter."
The light never dies,
does not end
or go away.
We live toward the light.
Live to serve the light.
Live to become the light.
Live to be the light.
We are the light
seeking itself.
"Darkness is the cradle
of the light" (Rumi).
"The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness cannot extinguish it"
(John 1:5).
Live to diminish the duality,
to lose the distinction
between light and dark
so that where we are
there is no darkness at all.
Dogwoods 04/25/2006 Oil Paint Rendered — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Gatlinburg, Tennessee
It is traditionally held
that Confucius died in 479 BCE.
Some years after he retired
from government service,
he said,
"Nowadays, no one is interested
in hearing about
virtue and harmony.
In our society,
people place more importance
on business advantage
than on friendship.
Relationships have become shallow,
and everyone is bending
to social and peer pressure
to get approval
or to get ahead."
(From "Lieh-Tzu: A Taoist Guide
to Practical Living," by Eva Wong).
We have motor cars
and aeroplanes,
rocket ships and diesel locomotives,
but the times we live in
are not much different,
in spite of the time that has passed,
since Confucius lived.
And it still comes down to
doing what needs to be done,
when, where and how it needs to be done,
in each situation as it arises,
and letting that be that.
And on to the next situation.
Ferry at Day’s End 10/30/2010 Oil Paint Rendered — Silver Lake, Ocracoke Island, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina
I'm looking to see what happens,
and what I do about it,
and what I can find to do
that either needs to be done
or is meaningful.
In this, I feel like I am
pretty much within the normal
distribution curve
of human beings on the planet
from the beginning,
and probably of all living things
as well.
Each day,
there is what happens
and what we do about it,
what needs to be done
and what is meaningful.
Settling into doing what is meaningful
has a lot to commend it.
It keeps up our interest
and our curiosity,
and holds our attention.
Is the value derived from it
worth the effort required by it?
The answer to this question
changes with time.
And we let more go with age,
smiling/laughing at the idea
of that being something
we would even consider.
Aging is the art of letting things go.
Without regret.
Even bread and circuses
lose their allure over time.
Particularly circuses.
And, after a while,
nearly everything is
"just another circus,"
and watching the clouds move past,
or the waves come in,
are perfectly grand things to do.
Mount Wythe 09/24/2003 Oil Paint Rendered — Lake Louise, Banff National Park, Alberta
We are not free to will what we want.
Or to will what we will.
Or to will what we ought to will.
So much for freedom of the will.
We will the things we have no business wanting,
much less willing,
much less having.
And we are bound to will those things.
We can't help it.
We can't help thinking what we think,
seeing the way we see,
believing what we believe,
wanting what we want,
loving what we love...
We are at the mercy of
forces quite beyond us.
Nowhere near being
the captain of our ship,
the master of our destiny.
Free will is not the problem.
Wanting what we want
instead of what we should want
is our problem.
We want the wrong things.
What can we do about that?
Whose fault is it
that we are the way we are?
Certainly not ours!
We don't do anything
to make us this way!
We would want what we ought to want
if we knew how.
Wanting our way
is the most natural thing about us.
Show me some living thing
that doesn't want its way!
Octopuses want their way,
and mosquitoes,
and baby squirrels...
the list is long.
If it is alive,
it wants what it wants.
And if we started wanting
what we don't want,
we would still be wanting
what we want.
There is only one way out of this hole
(Who dug it in the first place?).
The best we can to is to
stop taking wanting seriously,
and start wanting what is called for,
what is needed,
what is essential,
what is necessary...
whether we want it or not.
Doing what needs to be done
the way it ought to be done,
when and where it needs to be done,
whether we want to or not,
is the way out of any hole.
Sweetgum Autumn Oil Paint Rendered — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina
We are not here to get anything
out of being here.
The profit motive is the original sin.
Getting,
having,
amassing,
owning,
possessing,
fencing in,
locking up,
storing away
get in the way.
In the way of The Way.
The Way is all there is.
Babies have it,
toddlers know it,
then comes wanting,
getting,
having...
All there is--
all there ever is--
is here/now
and what needs to be done,
here/now,
where and how.
What needs to be done
for the sake of the good of the whole,
for the sake of what needs doing--
not for the sake of our personal
benefit, profit and gain.
Sit still,
be quiet,
empty of all motives/fear/anger/desire/etc.
until what needs doing
becomes clear.
Do that.
Then, sit still,
be quiet,
empty...
It will transform your life
and rearrange the world.
Dugger’s Creek Falls 02 09/04/2011 Oil Paint Rendered — Blue Ridge Parkway, Linville Falls Visitor’s Center Parking Area, North Carolina
Spontaneity is an astounding guide.
Who/what is responsible
for our spontaneous responses
to our circumstances?
We find ourselves saying/doing things
we do not think about saying/doing.
Where does that come from?
I say from the heart,
or from the source of knowing,
the Tao itself.
But, what do we mean by "heart"?
Or "the Tao"?
We mean we don't know.
We don't have the vaguest clue.
We don't know where anything comes from.
Creativity.
These words I'm writing.
Art, music, invention, imagination...
We act like we know,
swaggering around,
explaining things,
all logical, rational, analytical...
like we know what we are talking about.
What do we mean by "mind"?
By "unconscious"?
By "instinct"?
"Intuition"?
We are Mystery
wandering around in Mystery.
"Darkness within darkness,
the gateway to Mystery"
(Lao Tzu).
That's us.
Spontaneity is as close to truth
as we can get.
Revere spontaneity!
Explore spontaneity!
Trust yourself to it--
even when it leads you astray.
Trust "astray"!
Big Creek 03 09/02/2011 Oil Paint Rendered — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Waterville, North Carolina
Everything depends upon our
squaring ourselves up with our
sitz im leben,
our "setting in life,"
the context and circumstances
of our existence,
day-to-day,
moment-to-moment,
in a "Here we are, now what?"
kind of way.
This is it!
What are we going to do about it?
What is called for?
What is required?
What is being asked/demanded of us
(That we do not want to have
anything to do with)?
How well we do that--
how well we accommodate ourselves
to our place in life--
tells the tale.
There is what we want to do,
and there is what is ours to do,
and the trick
is to do what is ours to do
as though we want to do it.
It helps to have "another life,"
an escape/oasis that we can turn to
from time to time
in which we do exactly what we want to do,
what is truly "our thing" to do,
and serves to balance out
all the things we have to do
that are "not us" at all.
Most of us have to walk
two paths at the same time
in order to be reasonably sane
and healthy
(With health understood to be
"ease of functioning")
throughout our life.
The most common/typical
escape/outlet for people worldwide
throughout the ages
have been sex/drugs/alcohol/money,
not necessarily in that order.
What do we think about
to keep ourselves from thinking about
the things we most do not want to think about?
The closer that comes
to truly being an extension/reflection
of our essential nature
and our innate virtues/character,
the more whole and healthy we will be.
The less we live to truly serve ourselves,
by doing what expresses/exhibits
what is deepest/truest/best about us,
the more depressed and lifeless we will become
to the point of being an empty body
going through the motions of life
with nothing alive about us.
We save ourselves by doing things
that are meaningful to us
with all our heart/mind/soul/spirit,
as often as possible,
wherever we can,
all our life long.
"It's never too late to start all over."
"Anything can happen if we let it."
"Our future is up to us."
Mary Poppins-esque,
Chinese Fortune Cookie Psychology,
comes to our rescue time and time again.
If we let it.
Bass Lake 10 10/06/2011 Oil Paint Rendered — Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina
The perennial task of life
is to reconcile ourselves
to our circumstances
in a "This is the way things are,
and this is what I can do about it,
and that's that" kind of way--
without expectations,
opinions,
judgment,
emotional reactivity,
followed by:
"Now what can I do about
being unable to do any more about it?"
The "What can I do now?"
is the crucial part of the equation.
Diversion, distraction, dejection, dismay, denial
are the usual options,
opined in a "Poor me, poor me," kind of way.
We owe ourselves more than that.
What we do with disappointment
is crucial to everything that follows.
We carry it into the emptiness,
stillness
and silence,
and sit with it
until something stirs to life,
emerges,
arises,
appears
to lead us on a train of associations
into depths and realizations
that would have never occurred to us
without taking the time
to explore our response
to "No! Not now, not ever!"
"No!" is better than "Yes, of course!"
in that it expands/enlarges us
in ways "Yes," never could.
And, if we aren't growing,
we're dying.
So, take every "No!"
as a concealed "Yes!"
that needs to be explored,
examined, imagined, birthed,
and brought forth into being.
"If not this, then what?"
Find out!
Do not die without knowing
where every road leads,
which is, of course,
to another road.
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 