Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

Everybody has their own story/stories,
their own way of looking at things,
thinking about things...

It's a wonder.
I cherish a restaurant filled with people
living their own life,
more or less.
And a movie theater,
a football stadium,
a continent,
a planet...

I want to listen to each of them
as they say what's what,
what matters,
what happened to them,
and what they did in response,
and how that impacted their life,
and what their hopes are,
and their wishes were,
what broke their hearts,
what made them smile...

I want to know them all,
and encourage them along their way.

I love the oral histories
that are recorded of the elders
in each generation,
talking about their lives.

John Neihardt's book,
"Black Elk Speaks"
is a record of conversations
with a Oglala Lakota Sioux shaman,
or, medicine man,
that I can only read in short segments,
reflecting, as it does, the pathos
of Native Americans at their trail's end.

Carl Jung said, "All of our problems
are the result of being unable
to tell our stories."

Articulation is clarification,
is confrontation--
all three of which are required
for reconciliation.

Until we are reconciled to ourselves
and our own life experience,
we live out the pathos of our own trail,
without being aware of what is going on.

And that is the saddest end of all.

We are always awaiting the next thing,
wondering how we will respond,
waiting to see,
trusting ourselves to pull 
another rabbit out of the hat
and surprise ourselves again
with the range of our repertoire
and the depth of our capabilities.

We are amazing.
First grade--remember that?
Talk about a shock to our system!
Yanking us out of one way of life,
and hurling us into another,
requiring us to sit still,
be quiet
and do what the teacher said do.

How did we ever get through 
the first month of first grade?

And it has been a steady shock
of old being replaced by new
from then until now--
and beyond now...

We have what it takes
to meet the day
no matter what the day holds/requires.

All it ever requires
is emptying ourselves
of our fear/desire/expectations/judgements/opinions
and waiting to see how we respond
to what is being asked of us/called for
in each situation as it arises,
as we do what needs to be done,
anyway,
nevertheless,
even so.

Wants and wishes notwithstanding. 

–0–

Living to be who we are   
(When we are,
what we are,
where we are)
is much easier than
living to be happy,
wealthy,
successful,
admired,
popular,
etc.

Living to be "one thus come,"
just as we are
in each situation as it arises,
as a sequoia might do it,
or a mountain lion,
or a humpback whale.

Meeting the situation 
as it needs to be met
without aims and purposes,
agendas and plans,
with no contriving,
manipulating, 
exploiting,
controlling...
just being who the situation
needs us to be
in ways appropriate to the occasion,
as only we can do it
is all it ever takes.

Is all that is ever required of us.
Is all that can legitimately 
be asked of anyone.

And we all have the capacity to be 
what is needed,
to do what is called for
within the scope of our original/essential nature
and our innate virtues/character. 

Get out of all your other roles,
and into this one,
and back into all the other ones
as this one would do those.

Transforming your life,
your relationship with yourself,
and with the world.

Just by being you.  

–0–

Jesus was a rogue prophet
in a straight-laced world.

All prophets are.
They are not fit for the culture
they are born into,
and rather than adjust themselves
to the culture,
their task is to adjust the culture
to the truth of what's what.

We are always missing the point,
or missing something about the point,
and have to be corrected by those 
who see what we are missing.

Happens to me all the time.
I say, "Thank you for pointing that out to me,"
and make the adjustments necessary
to see to it that I don't miss that again.

We all have to correct the culture
we are born into,
the culture that we live in.

The entire culture is off track,
and only individuals can live it 
back on track,
by living themselves on track,
one situation as a time.

And by taking correction 
when they need to be corrected,
with appreciation and gratitude
to those who point out what we are missing.

We are alone against
the conditions and circumstances
of our life,
and we have everything we need.

It comes tucked inside our DNA
alongside our heart and soul.

Every living thing 
comes out of the egg or womb
ready to meet what is waiting for it.

Human beings are no exception.
We only have to learn to use
the equipment we have on hand
to know that it is so.

We are always selling ourselves short,
or down the river,
thinking we don't have anything 
worth having,
when we only have to open ourselves
to what is there
to know that we are well-prepared
for life as it is to be lived.

We aren't better trained in using 
the tools at our disposal
because our species traded its birthright
for the wonders of civilization
and its amazing distractions, diversions
and entertaining pastimes.

We are back to the Garden of Eden here,
with Adam and Eve opting for 
what is delicious to the tongue
and a delight to the eyes
over what is good for life in the world
just as it is.

We are forever making trade-offs,
giving up this in order to have that,
without knowing the full repercussions
of what we are doing.

We do not get far
without knowing what's what
and what is called for
and what to do about it.

To find what we need,
we have to change the ratios between 
thinking and using reason/logic/analytics,
and feeling using
listening/looking/seeing/hearing/knowing
on levels we cannot explain.

When we stop valuing instinct and intuition
in favor of rules and recipes,
we wander off the path,
lose the way,
and enter the wasteland of eternal discontent.

The way back to Eden is "right there,"
for those willing to "turn the light around,"
and begin looking within
for what everyone thinks is without,
peace, satisfaction, contentment and well-being.