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?
This also exists as 57 of my WordPress Blog, “200 More Zen Thoughts From Jim Dollar #1”
I heard the owl call my name: Who? Who? Who are you? What are you about? What is called for here, now? What will you do about it? How can you be sure that is what needs to be done? The way it needs to be done? Where and when it needs to be done? How do you know you are right about all of that?
It is easier with photography. I can look at a photograph and see what it needs, or if it is perfect and stands on its own just as it is. People, myself included, come with so many nuances attached, it is hard to be “perfectly personed” just as we are.
Where would we stop making adjustments? When would we be “just fine exactly as we are”? There is always something else to get right. No? Something else that needs to be done differently, better, all the time.
At some point we have to be who we are here, now and let it be just as it is because it is and this is it. Just walk away from the mirror and let it go! They can take me or not exactly as I am! I, I, I can take me or not, just as I am!!! Even perfection has its down side! Right?
Christmas Shadows 03 — The Promenade, Charlotte, North Carolina You will not find this scene in reality. I used Photoshop Generative Fill to disappear the houses surrounding The Promenade. The trees, stones and the shadows are actual.
Removing the diversions/distractions of cars and houses brings for the wonder of light and shadow. I enjoy walking with a camera through the world as it is without the additions of civilization intruding, neverminding and overlooking the additions of my cellphone camera, my coat and my shoes. Which brings up the matter of contradiction, opposition, the other side, and “without contrary is no progression.” All of which is also an essential aspect of how things are. I recognize, and even relish, the “yes/but” of “Yin/Yang,” rounding things out and introducing complexity and tension to life and providing us with factors we have to work out in doing what is called for here, now in each situation as it arises.
Christmas Shadows 06 — near where I live on Christmas Morning 2025
How we see is a function of how we look, is a reflection of who we are, and a mirror of our soul. Soul is our deepest, truest self, carrying our values and our cherished ways of being in the world and expressing the truth of what we honor most. This photograph and all those I take and post here is/are an expression of my soul on exhibition. And the way you respond to it/them is an exhibition of your soul responding to my soul. We see/know each other and ourselves just by seeing our photographs. Our spirituality is on display in the galleries displaying our favorite images of the world in which we live. We are seen in what we like to look at and in the ways we express that to the world.
Having done it is it. No one living–no living thing–has done it without having toughed it out somewhere, if not all the way, along the way, and they get style points for having toughed it out with style and with grace and with Pizzazz along the way. Style points are icing on the cake. They are what sets us off as individuals worthy of applause and curtain calls, and bring out the show-off in us all.
It’s what we bring to the moment, what we get out of the moment. It’s the tune, the melody, the rhythm, the harmony… That we bring to life in our life. It’s what they remember about us when we are gone. What we leave behind. What stands out. What sets us apart. We showcase who we are in a thousand ways throughout our life. That’s it. What life is all about. Daisies and sunflowers waving in the breeze. Showing off.
The old Taoists knew all of this. Style points are all there is. The old Taoists talked about Wu-Wei, doing it without doing anything, getting it done without breaking a sweat, without moving a hair. Yin/Yang. Same thing. Being who we are and who we are not at the same time, in the same place. Doing what is called for, when, where and how it is called for in each situation as it arises by doing the right thing in the right way at the right time in the right place with everyone grading us on the smoothness of our movements in not moving a muscle, without breaking a sweat, without doing anything and yet everything is done precisely as it should be, as it needs to be done, and leaving it there in our wake for all to admire throughout the ages.
Zen is what happened when Buddhism met Taoism and the Bodhisattvas became the masters of doing-while-not-doing, but it was Taoism that they were “doing,” not Buddhism with its Dharma and its ten thousand rules about how to sit correctly and be quiet precisely in order to get it done properly, but the Bodhisattvas “just did it” all, spontaneously, automatically, naturally, being perfection without trying, without doing anything out of the ordinary. So that “Nothing special” became the mark of a true master of life for both male and female.
And that is what life is all about, across the board, around the circle throughout the universe: Doing it the way it ought to be done, when, where, and how from start to finish, from beginning to end, living like it ought to be done, with just the right touch, making it look as easy as falling off a curb or tripping over a stone. No?
This is #40 of “200 More Zen Thoughts From Jim Dollar #1” blog on WordPress:
In the New Testament, we get to pick our God, and there is a wide variety from which to choose. I’m going with the God who is like the prodigal son’s father: “You were lost and now you are found! You were dead, but now you are alive! I hold nothing against you–nor will I ever! Welcome to the hospitality of your eternal home!” That is God as God ought to be from my point of view.
But, if that is too soft for you, you have other options–I’m sure you will find one to your liking. There is the Good Samaritan God, treating his enemy, a Jew, like they are the best of friends, not sworn enemies for generations. That’s a God of grace, kindness, generosity, and a lot like the prodigal’s father.
If you like your God to be a tougher sort, there is the Unjust Landowner paying his workers the same wage for working different lengths of time. Not a just and fair wage at all (And let’s see how he does, hiring workers the next day, or the next year). A harsh and ruthless landowner might have a hard time farming over time. That God is not likely to be chosen by anyone.
Then, there is the “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” God. The far extreme of the Unjust Landowner. But quickly and easily dismissed by the hard realities of life as exhibited by the story of the wise and foolish bridesmaids: “You go get your own oil! We only have enough for ourselves! Too bad for you!” Or the God Jesus represents when he curses the fig tree for not bearing fruit out of season–talk about an unjust and irrational God! If that’s what you are looking for he is there for the taking!
And then there is the God who cleans out the money changers in the courtyard of the Temple–certainly not the same God who gives his servants a potful of money to invest while he is away and judges them harshly for knowing the kind of God he is and keeping their portion of the pot safe so as not to lose a penny and be punished severely upon his return. If you can’t keep this God happy, it’s all over for you. He is the far extreme of the prodigal son’s father.
We have plenty of options for the God of our dreams. And most of them don’t make the cut as far as I am concerned. How about you?
The Buddha under the Bodhi Tree is Jesus in Gethsemane and on Golgotha. And Dylan Thomas writing as his father lay dying, “Do not go gentle into that good night! Rage! Rage! Against the dying of the light!”
The last one alive is still dying. The work remains the same: Rage! Rage! Against the dying of the light!”
It is our work to do! We must do it even with our dying breath!
Socrates drank the hemlock. Hitler pulled some trigger in some dank bunker. How different they’re dying! Jesus on the cross, shouting, “Into thy hands I commit my spirit!”, having done all the could do–all that was his to do–all the way to the end was Socrates drinking the hemlock. That is the way to do it! I will be writing and perfecting photographs all the way to the end–not caring if anyone reads or sees or gets it and dies doing their own thing the way it ought to be done, laughing, dying, knowing that’s the way to do it, or not. It is mine to do! Theirs to do! Yours to do! “Get in there and do your thing, and don’t worry about the outcome!” (Joseph Campbell on the crucial importance of saying YES! to life just as it is, on his way to death).
We are all on our own way to death! So What? That is the nature of the game that’s afoot all the time all the way! We live and we die! That is the way it is! DO IT! The way it needs to be done all the way! And when it is done, say, “Good-by, Gracie!” “Good-bye, Gracie!” Laughing and dying, dying and laughing. Getting it and rolling on the floor laughing, dying, all the way!
Swamp grass has nothing to do with Christmas Eve, and Christmas Eve has nothing to do with the war in Ukraine, or with why we all can’t just get along. Or why we all can’t be billionaires. Not that we could get along if we were. What’s the key to getting along? Growing up may be it. If we all would just grow up it would make a difference for the true good of all concerned. And if we all treated ourselves and each other as we would if we were grown up that would be about the same. If we just pretended to be grown up and did a good job of it, that would do. But we can’t even do that. We aren’t that much grown up. We can’t even fake it. And when I take that into the silence with me, all I get is, “That’s the way it is, Jim. You will have to be grow up about it.”
Russia destroying the people of Ukraine. White Supremacists hating everyone who isn’t like them. Wealthy people hating poor people. The list is long of things I will have to be grown up about. And everybody wants to go to heaven–without considering how different everybody is going to have to be to be in heaven. There are only grown ups in heaven. We should begin practicing here, now. No?
Colors of Fall — Th Bog Garden, Greensboro, North Carolina
We experience That Which Has Always Been Called God all of the time without acknowledging what’s what, what’s happening, what’s going on. It’s time to Tune In, Turn On, Wake Up And Get With the Program in an “Oh, THERE You Are, Peter” kind of way. We are looking for experiences with flow, synchronicity, coincidence, things clicking into place, doors opening where we did not expect doors to be, help coming to our rescue at just the right time, timing, magic happening often enough to make us want to believe in magic… Calling us to wake up, look around, see where we are, know what’s what and what is called for and asking us to wake up and believe in magic. No?
The old Taoists sensed the Tao was/is an elementary aspect of existence, always here like time itself, and psyche. Three concepts with a timelessness about them. Time itself being timeless in the sense of being here/there always and forever, like the Tao, like Psyche, elements of being that “just are” in an always have been and always will be kind of way.
How we fit into the picture, like this truck, belongs to the “circumstances begetting circumstances” explanation, or realization, also verbalized by the Taoists for existence/being itself. A “doing” without “being done,” like Wu-wei itself, an “explanation” for things that appear to be “out of nowhere,” like a tornado or an earthquake whose sudden appearance is the result of “circumstances begetting circumstances” accumulating over time to explode in suddenness that was a long time in the making. And the “mystery” being not so mysterious at all when broken down into individual components/events like a butterfly originating as a caterpillar.
If we simply sit, watching things come and go, we will likely be amazed at what is and isn’t, while, all the time, we, ourselves, are coming and going. I was a new born baby once and now I am approaching my 82nd year. What happened? Circumstances begetting circumstances. And what is “cause” and what is “effect”? Each is both. Both are each. Depending on point of view and what and when which is viewed. And, in a flash of insight, all things become one thing becoming two things becoming everything while doing nothing. And a “miracle” becomes “nothing special” when seen in a certain way.
I returned to the scene where I took this picture a few years after I took it and the truck was gone. Circumstances begetting circumstances. Are we coming or going? Both. At the same time. What we see depends on how we look. And when we look. And we go to war over who is right and who is wrong. Can’t everyone please just sit down and shut up? And wait to see? That everything will be different over time? So what’s so important about here, now? It is changing even as we watch. When, then, do we act? And when do we refrain from acting?
Red-breasted Nuthatch — Scenes from my hammock, 22-acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina
This is #22 of “200 More Zen Thoughts From Jim Dollar #1” on my WordPress Blog:
We are capable of realizing/recognizing the Buddha in the Buddha and the Christ in the Christ. If we can realize/recognize it in them we can realize/recognize it in ourselves if we would but get out of our way and see what we look at when we look at ourselves, and stop giving ourselves over to the un-Buddha-like and un-Christ-like aspects of ourselves, and thinking that is who we Really are. We are the Buddha, we are the Christ–all it takes is acknowledging/ realizing that it is so and living as though it is for it to be so. And if you are screaming “NOT SO! NOT SO!” now, I invite you to begin living as though it is so for it to actually be so. Do this for me: Live to see how close you can come to it actually being so in each situation as it arises for the rest of your life. How about it? What do you say?
Eastern Towee — Scenes From My Hammock, 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina
In two weeks I will step into my 82nd year, with no health problems to speak of. I hope I have twenty more years with no health problems to speak of. With Psyche/Tao to work on, I will have plenty to be interested in, so maintaining a healthy body/mind relationship over a twenty year period will be a reasonable accomplishment if the necessary details fall into place. I am looking forward to seeing how far into twenty years I’m able to go. I hope you are with me all the time way to 2045 or 6 if we are feeling fancy.
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 