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?
White-Brested Nuthatch — Scenes from my hammock, 22-acre woods, Indian Land, South Carolina
Intuition takes the lead in knowing what’s what and what’s called for in each situation as it arises, but. Ambition and desire trump–the way Trump trumps the good everywhere he goes–balance, harmony and the flow of life and being in the unfolding of life as it could be, leaving us with the ruins of what might have been with wanting/striving/having to have out of the way. And so, the ancients could advise, “Don’t push the river!”, “Let Be What Is!”, “Trust the seed to know what it is doing without pulling up the sprout to check on its progress!” But no. We have to have what we want when, where and how we want it no matter what. Adam and Eve are eternal models of what knowing what we are doing and taking charge of our future can lead to when there is no rush and no reason to have it all NOW! beyond the press of wanting, wanting, wanting…
The way of Psyche/Tao is to let nature take its course and see where it goes while we wait to know what is called for when, where and how, trusting intuition not indulgence and knowing the difference between the two.
Brown Thresher — Scenes from my hammock, 22-acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina
The natural world fluctuates around a “happy medium,” or “a bell-shaped curve” where daily things are mostly what they “always have been and what they will be.” Carl Jung said, “We are who we always have been and who we will be.” We belong to the natural world and are as it is, preferring stability, balance and harmony, to the disruption of earth quakes and hurricanes, tooth aches and war.
Getting back to and maintaining the rhythm of the centering AUM is the goal of life throughout the Cosmos. We know when we are there and when we are not, and we haven’t been there for much too long. “The news cycles” are about disruption and anomalies, and we have had enough. Each of us has to seek out our own refuge offering peace and quiet, stability and rest in doing what needs to be done to meet the requirements of daily life without being traumatized some more again today by the news of the day.
Emptiness, stillness and silence provide us with breathing room in which we can take stock, find our balance, seek out the rhythm and harmony of a comfortable routine within which we can reclaim our soul, “recover from the past and store up for the future” (Robert Ruark in The Old Man and the Boy).
Black and White Warbler — Scenes from my hammock, 22-acre woods, Indian Land, South Carolina
Doing what is called for in each situation as it arises, when, where and how it is called for, is all the is asked of us, and constitutes the flow of life and being. It is the way tennis players play the game, the way dancers dance and the way singers sing, hitting the right notes the way they need to be hit when they need to be hit. Disappearing into the moment at hand by being exactly what that moment needs, spontaneously, intuitively, instinctively, at one with the moment, with the here, now. And we do that not by thinking about it and trying to get it right, but by living like we breathe, without thinking about it, and doing it as it needs to be done even in our sleep. Live like we breathe in each situation as it arises all our life long. Disappear into the situation. Become one with the moment. Like a pitcher throwing a no-hitter, or a base runner stealing a base. Like a new born baby sleeping in its crib. A fresh hatched turtle making for the sea.
Let the sentinels who keep watch take no rest nor allow him to rest until he has remembered his promises and returns to make us the boast of the earth!
Misplaced allegiances lead to a lot of grim realizations, no? Leading to Now what? Where do we go from here? The Silence is always with us. We could go there and listen for what is called for here, now, and do that when, where and how it needs to be done. And see where it goes. There is nothing wrong with that for a life plan!
Cardinal 02-02 — Scenes from my hammock, 22-acre woods, Indian Land, South Carolina
This bird knows what it is doing, where it is, what is going on. This bird knows what its business is and is about it to the fullest extent of its being. Would that we could say the same things about ourselves. My associate pastor and I would ground ourselves by asking, whenever it was appropriate, meaning whenever we found ourselves in a vortex of colliding circumstances which knocked us off our routine and required us to take stock, take inventory and see where we needed to go from here, now, “Who am I? What am I about?” Grounding ourselves in this particular here now to remember where we were and what we were dealing with. And what our business was here, now.
What are we doing here, now? What does life mean for us? What is life asking of us? What does life need from us here, now? These are appropriate questions for orientation, direction, grounding ourselves in the moment and readying ourselves for what may be coming.
It is a practice whose time has come for everyone in the United States and in the world. Who are we? What’s what? What is going on? What is asked of us? What do we do about it?
Let’s start with: What is meaningful for us, here, now? What is our life about that has meaning for us? What do we do in a day that is most meaningful for us? These are grounding, directing, inquiries/realizations. What are we doing here, now? What are we about? How does that serve, reflect, exhibit what is meaningful for us?
What do we do that has meaning for us? My personal bias in this search for meaning inquiry is to say that four things are likely to be the most meaningful thing for a large portion of the world’s population: sex, drugs, alcohol, money. Beyond that, what? Partying and entertainment. How much of the world’s population live in the service of partying and entertainment? How much of the world’s population live lives going nowhere, doing nothing?
The short dialogue between Rocky Balboa and Mickey Goldmill in the movie “Rocky” captures our situation perfectly. “It’s a life,” says Rocky about how he makes a living, “It’s a waste of life,” retorts Mickey. How much of life worldwide amounts to “a waste of life”? And how do we turn things around? By finding what is meaningful for ourselves and serving it with our life. No?
Black-and-White Warbler — Scenes from my hammock, 22-acre woods, Indian Land, South Carolina
I have just published on my “Jim Dollar’s Published Works” blog on Word Press, “Three Points on Prayer” as an excerpt from my eBook, A Handbook for the Spiritual Journey II, available from Amazon Kindle with an internet search for “Jim Dollar Kindle.”
Mourning Dove — Scenes From My Hammock, 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina
Jesus died at the hands of The Establishment embodied in the High Priest Joseph Caiaphas who saw Jesus as an enemy of the High Priestly way of doing things. The Buddha died from eating poorly cooked pork (How enlightened was that?). Both Buddha and Jesus were living their life as they thought their life needed to be lived–and would have lived out their lives without killing anyone they thought was interfering with them doing that. The Tao Te Ching precisely declares the destiny that awaits all of us: “Get in there and do your thing and don’t worry about the outcome!” (A paraphrase by Joseph Campbell).
Our truth is more important than our safety. How we see things is who we are. Regular retreats into the emptiness/stillness/silence enhance our chances at achieving clarity of vision. Being true to ourselves in serving that vision is “the secret cause” of our death according to James Joyce. Living in the service of clarity about who we are and what is ours to do in the time left for living is a cause worthy of us. With that in hand, we have what it takes to face every day all the way to the last one. May it be so said of all of us! A better epitaph I cannot imagine.
Fence in the Fog — Six-mile Creek Road, Indian Land, South Carolina
Finding and living out of our center, our core, our foundation is the essence of integrity and the guiding principle of our life. Is it Me, or is it Not-me? In what ways does this represent, reveal, exhibit, express who I am and aspire to be? In what ways does this deny, conceal, misrepresent who I am and aspire to be?
Parties, for instance are Not-me. Siting, looking out the window is Very Much Me. And the lists wind on from there.
Sculptures of Life 02 —Ballantyne Town Center, Provincetown, Charlotte, North Carolina
Don’t have a plan! By all means, do not have to have a plan! All thought out from every angle, the brain child of reason and logic, carefully crafted and put into place. What does logic know of psyche? Do they ever talk shop and trade secrets over coffee and donuts? Nod in passing? Attend conventions? Live on the same street? What does day have to do with night, or high tide with low? Did we think our way to here, now, or was it magic at work in our life? “Darkness within darkness, the gateway to mystery!” That is the way at the world works, no? The way life goes? Who knows from one moment to another what’s now? What’s next? It is more on the order of “Here we are, now what?” Wait and see. Look for what is called for. See where it leads. The future is opening up all around us. Upon what choice does our fortune ride? What would logic determine? What would psyche say? “Columbus took a chance,” as the old saying goes. What did Columbus know that said, “This, now!”? What do we know, here, now? How do we know what we know? How do we know when to listen to what we know and when to let it go? Who do we listen to when we listen to what we know? Who knows what we need to know? Whom do we trust to know what, when, where, how? What guides our boat on its path through the sea? What brought us here, now? What do we trust with our next choice, our next step? When we listen what do we listen to? What, whom, directs our steps along the way? How do we know they, it, knows what they, it, are doing? What made Adam and Even think they knew what they were doing? Did they even stop to ask the question? Did they think to take it into the silence to see what might arise there? Come to light there? As a soft, small voice? A dim, flickering flame? Offering knowing, clarity to those who look, listen?
Sculptures of Life 01 — Ballantyne Town Center, Provincetown, Charlotte, North Carolina
I understand my role to be in the world as a witness–to see, hear, understand, know, what’s what, what’s happening, what is called for, and what is to be done about it, here, now, and to do it, when, where and how it needs to be done, in each situation as it arises, all my life long, with the gifts I have to work with from birth: My Original Nature, My Innate Virtues (The Things I Do Best And Enjoy Doing Most), My Intrinsic Intuition, and My Inherent Imagination, for the sheer joy of doing it, and the satisfaction of having done it.
I understand that to be your role as well. And when we join one another in doing the work that is ours to do as only we can do it, the world becomes a better place to be. Situation by situation. Day by day. Are you with me in this work that is ours to do?
Mossy Cascade — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Chestnut Branch, Tennessee
Integrity is foundational. We live to be who we are and to do what is ours to do. We live to be true to ourselves in all we do. We live to discover who we are. To know what we are called to do and do it. What is “us”? What is “not us”? We live our way to knowing these two things. No one can tell us who we are and who we are not. We experience integrity. We do not think it up, make it up. We get there by knowing what we know and living accordingly.
Joseph Campbell said, “We know when we are on the beam and when we are off it.” Carl Jung said, ““Follow that will and that way which experience confirms to be your own.” And, “Trust that which gives you meaning and accept it as your guide.” Only we know what is meaningful, right, good, true to us. To know that and to do it is to be who we are. We live to know what we know and to do what is ours to do. We are our own guide through life. Living the life someone else would have us live is to betray ourselves and our sense of what is right for us.
When we fall off the beam, step away from the path, we only need to drop into the right kind of emptiness, stillness and silence and “wait for the mud to settle and the water to clear” (Old Taoist advice for finding the center and getting back onto the Way) to know what’s what, what’s happening, what is called for here, now, and do what needs to be done about it when, where and how it needs to be done. And do it. Integrity is the way, the truth and the life. The way of the Tao. And the way in which “The Father and I are one.” May it be so for all of us, here, now and always.
Brown Trasher 01 — Scenes From My Hammock, 22-acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina
The solution to being perennially happy is to stop wanting things to be different than they are. Or, better, to stop wanting. What did wanting ever do for us anyway? When we come out of the womb, we have everything we need to find what we need to do what needs to be done. What more do we need? Besides cooperation, I mean. Cooperation is the missing item in everyone’s life. I don’t know why that is so difficult to secure. What does it take to be a little bit helpful?
How to be cooperative–which could also be understood as “lovingly kind”–is the one thing that would be most helpful around the world throughout the Cosmos. No?
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 