Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

04

It takes active participation with--
intentional identification with--
the center and ground
of our original nature,
our life and being,
to live in accord with the Tao--
doing things in the right way,
at the right time,
in aligning ourselves with rhythms
and movement of nature's energy
moving through and directing our lives.

Our bodies are natural extensions
of the earth,
as much as trees and streams,
oceans and whales.

We are one with the forces of nature,
and live best when we nourish and nurture
a faithful presence in the world of nature,
being with nature in a regular and recurring way.

And when there,
we are to listen,
feel,
attend,
be aware
of how our bodies react
to the allness of our experience.

We have to consciously "be here now,"
seeing what we look at,
hearing what is being "said"
around us, within us,
noticing what is happening,
and what we are "picking up on"
beyond the range of sight and sound.

Nature is pure intention
toward life and being--
toward realization,
incarnation
and expression.

Nature's sense of what is 
and what needs to be
is as true as the turn of the tides
and the orbits of the stars and planets.

Our lives are a part of that choreography, 
of that orchestration,
and go so much better
when we consciously cooperate
with that which calls our name
and knows the time and place
of our presenting the gifts we carry
to the need that even now is in the making.

It only takes listening to our intuition
and paying attention to our instincts
to know that it is so.

–0–

03

We've been on the wrong track for so long
we will never get the light turned around
as a culture.
Only as individuals do we have a chance
of making the switch.

The switch I'm talking about
is the one Joseph Campbell preached
his entire life:
Symbols and metaphors are not facts.

Symbols and metaphors do not refer
to things Out There,
but to things In Here.

The betrayal, death and resurrection
of Jesus is symbolic/metaphorical
of our own personal experiences
with betrayal, death and resurrection.

To say, "The cup of suffering
is the cup of salvation.
The bread of affliction
is the bread of life,"
is to invite us to explore in our own life
places where suffering was the door to salvation,
where affliction was the threshold to life.

The question is always and forever,
"Where have you experienced the truth
of this symbol/metaphor
in your own life?"

That is the ground of true religion--
religion without theology/dogma/doctrine/creeds/catechisms
but with the ever-present experience
of life's impact on us
and our path for dealing with it.

The place of true religion
is providing us with a perspective
for finding our way
to the life that is ours to live
and living it with joy
as full participants in "the sorrows of the world."

Symbols and metaphors point us to ourselves!
We use symbols and metaphors as guides us, 
as Campbell might say,
"To what electrifies
and enlightens your own hearts, 
and wakes you up
to the work that is yours to do,
and the life that is yours to live!"

Symbols and metaphors do this for us
when we approach them as portkeys
into the Mystery from which we come
and into which we return,
ask of them, 
"What can you show me about life
and how to live it?"

"Ah," say the symbols and metaphors,
"I'm so glad you asked!"
And the light comes on.
And lights our way through the darkness
of "working on mysteries without any clues."
(Bob Seger).

The symbols and metaphors are the clues!

–0–

02

What does it for me are
reading/writing
seeing/hearing
looking/listening
seeking/finding
asking/searching
exploring/imagining
feeling/thinking
knowing/doing...

I just want to know what's what
and what needs to be done about it
and what makes me think so
and who says so
and what makes them think so
and what does being right about something mean
and how long does it take before being right 
becomes wrong
and how knowing leads to doing
and how doing leads to knowing more
and knowing more leads to doing differently,
and how far have we come actually
from living in the caves
and in the jungles
thinking fire was the coolest thing?

We're playing the game as though it matters,
and what matters is playing the game
as if it matters,
because that keeps the game going,
and that's better than not playing the game,
because that just leads to a quick death,
or to being dead a long time before we die,
and the game is fun when played knowing
we are playing the game of playing the game
as though it matters
because it matters that we don't die
before our time
because it is a game we play through time,
and everybody who has ever lived,
or ever will lived,
has played/will play the game,
because the game is all there is.

Here we are.
What are we doing here?
Now what?
We all ask the same questions.
We all come up with the same answers.
Joseph Campbell said, "It's all the same mythology!"
It's all the same game!
"Working on mysteries without any clues"
(Bob Seger).

Everybody thinks they have the formula,
the angle,
the recipe,
the plan.
They are all playing the game,
being played by the game.
Gaming the game is being gamed by the game.
It's a game.
How can we play it, 
knowing we are playing it,
and play it really well?

"It's not whether we win or lose,
but how we play the game"
(Grantland Rice).
We are not going anywhere,
we are not getting anything,
we are playing at playing the game
of seeing/hearing,
knowing/doing,
feeling/thinking
looking/listening...

Waking up and being here, now.
Doing what needs to be done here, now.
The way it needs to be done.
In each situation as it arises.
All our life long.

That's all there is to it.

"Get in there and do your thing!
and don't worry about the outcome!"
(Joseph Campbell's summation
of the Bhagavad Gita).

Don't even keep score.
Just play your heart out.
And when it's done,
let it go.

–0–

01

One of the primary, recurring, experiences
of humanity is that of 
Betrayal - Death - Resurrection.
We are born to be betrayed,
to die,
and to be born again.

We are all one with Jesus,
and repeat his experience
throughout our life,
learning, one would hope,
as we go,
so that Resurrection
increasingly means New Life
that takes the Old Life
into account,
knows what is coming,
and is ready for it
in the way of not taking it seriously,
and building a life around it
that is replete with good humor,
wisdom,
kindness,
compassion,
and all of the values
that are called forth
to meet the reality
of the human experience.

Meeting the reality of the human experience
in ways that deepen, broaden, 
lengthen, heighten, enhance
that experience,
and make it truly,
unbelievably wonderful--
wonder-filled,
marvelous,
awesome,
fascinating,
sublime,
radiant,
resplendent, 
transcendent,
"an awe inspiring mystery,"
worthy of our fullest possible participation
"in the sorrows of the world,"
is the story of religion
in the best and truest sense of the word.

Religion (and it's precursor, mythology)
help--enable us--to meet the world
on the world's terms,
providing us with the metaphors
("Betrayal, Death and Resurrection")
to make sense of it
and initiate us into it,
telling us,
in the words of the Native Americans,
sending their children off 
to seek their fortune,
"When you live in the service 
of your vision,
the birds of the air will shit on you--
do not stop even to wipe it off!"
And,"When you leave in the service 
of your vision,
you will come to what appears 
to be a great chasm.
Jump!
It is not as great as it seems."
(Both stories related by Joseph Campbell)

We all need help squaring ourselves up
with the realities of our life.
Good religion is metaphor/mythology
that has not been concrete-ized,
made literal/historical
as Christianity has done 
with the Christ myth.

We are all, each one of us is, the Christ
finding our way to the self-realization 
of our calling.
We are all The Anointed One
come to wake each other up
to the truth of our destiny:
Being awake to the wonder 
of meeting life head-on!
To the wonder of being alive!
Being awake to the joy
of perceiving the world as a portkey
to wonder, awe, fascination 
and mystery beyond words!
Dying figuratively in the process 
of realization and of life,
so that by the time our dying
becomes literal,
we are ready to Jump the Chasm,
knowing it is not as great as it seems.

02

Wealth, power and privilege seem to have it all,
until we see how it interferes with
seeing what needs to happen
in each situation as it arises,
and doing it with the gifts at our disposal.

Buying it done won't do it,
when our destiny is calling us
to step forward
and rock the baby,
or clean up after the dog.

We spit on destiny
on our way to call someone
to do it for us,
whatever the "it" is 
that is ours to do.

Money is a way of skirting 
our responsibilities,
enabling us to devote ourselves exclusively
to making more money.

Our destiny knows Karma's first name,
and has her phone number.

And the distance between where we are
and understanding
what is ours to do 
and doing it
is called The Hero's Journey.
It is also called Growing Up.

We think with enough money
we won't have to bother with it. 
With growing up.
And having money is better 
than being a hero.
Buy them all a round or two.
They will love you just as much.

Lost in all of this
is the life that is ours to live.
The destiny that is ours to serve.
The emptiness that is ours 
to try and outlive.

The truth is that money is meaningless
except as a means
to buy the tools we need
to do what is ours to do.

We learn that lesson a bit late in the game
to do much more than regret what we missed
in our effort to make up for lost time
before we die.

If we learn it at all.

–0–

01

The Tao is not good for the economy.
The Tao is as counter-cultural as it gets.
The same can be said for any spiritual practice.
The aims and activities of spiritual practice
are contrary to those of the culture--
any culture--
even the culture that is created
by the spiritual practice!
The more the spiritual practice
promotes itself,
the less self-aware,
self-transparent,
it becomes
(Which makes AA unique in the field,
with its "attraction not promotion" slogan),
and self-transparency is the sine qua non
of spirituality,
and the essence of counter-culture-ism.

Seeing what we are doing
transforms what we are doing.
The culture--any culture--is unconscious
to the core
(Commercial advertisement depends upon
its "marks" being unconscious of the truth
being concealed by the hype they are hearing,
and religions that are self-promoting,
don't allow questions they can't answer).

Taoism stands apart here,
with it's,
"The Tao that can be said
is not the eternal Tao,"
"The Path that can be discerned
as a path
is not a reliable path,"
"Darkness within darkness,
the gateway to understanding."

That kind of language is no way
to make converts!

A self-transparent spiritual practice
sets up an immediate barrier 
to cultural absorption,
and distances itself automatically,
spontaneously,
from the ends and means of the culture.

The more a practice embraces and serves
those ends and means,
the less spiritual it is.

The more we live out of our own heart,
grounded upon the source of our Original Nature,
and in tune with the drift of our soul,
the more we will distance ourselves 
from the cultural practices
and assumptions
at work in life around us.

There will be a natural separation,
an "in the world but not of the world"
ambiance will surround us,
without any rules or guidelines
or effort being extended
to set us apart.

The ends are not the same ends.
The means are not the same means.
The way is not the same way. 

04

Happiness is a natural by-product
of doing the things that make
our little heart sing
and our little toes dance.

Having our heart in what we are doing
is all there is to it.

How hard could that be?

When is the last time your heart was in
what you were doing?

Why did you stop?

What are the blocks,
the stops,
the barriers
preventing us from living 
with our heart in what we are doing?

Conduct an inquiry.
Get to the bottom of it.
Why are we not living
with our heart in what we are doing?
What would have to happen 
in order to be able to live that way?

What does our heart want
that we aren't giving it?

Why are we holding out 
on our own heart?

Whose side are we on?

–0–

03

There are the Who, What, When, Where, How questions
to be answered.
The Tao and the Atman team up
for the them all,
with The Atman being
the essential Self/Soul/Essence/Being
(the Who)
within all living things,
and the Tao being
the Right way (How) to do What needs doing,
and When to do it.
And Where is always here and now.

Throwing or lot in
with the Tao and the Atman,
leaves us with only having to
develop our relationship
with both
in order to follow the flow
of life from beginning to in.

The only catch is 
that we have to play our part
as it needs to be played
and get out of the way
in each situation as it arises.

It means sincerely being devoted
to serving the true good of the whole, 
with no contrivance
and no interest in the outcome.
We just do what is ours to do,
with nothing to gain or lose,
and it all works out just peachy
for all concerned.

We have everything we need
to do what is called for 
in all conditions and circumstances 
of life.

What could be wrong with this plan?

–0–

02

There are eight tools
for getting us through anything/everything,
and for getting us in the center of the sweet spot
of where we need to be
in every time and place of our living.

They are:

1) Compassion --for ourselves,
and for one another
(that would be for all others)--
and for our circumstances/situation in life.

It begins with compassion
and flows from compassion,
and depends upon compassion.

Compassion is unconditional
and equally applicable to all things
everywhere,
any time.

It is the ground of our existence.
If we do it without compassion,
it won't be worth doing.

If you are going to practice anything,
practice compassion--
for everything
throughout your day
all day long.

2) Awareness takes everything into account,
contains everything,
considers everything,
with compassion (of course),
and without judgment,
opinion,
or expectation.

All things are just as they are, 
"Thus Come,"
"right out of the box."

Awareness receives everything
in a "This is the way things are,
and this is what can be done about it,
and that's that"
kind of way.

Awareness is without emotional attachment
or reactivity.

Awareness is the operational attitude
of emergency room personnel,
or emergency medical technicians,
triaging a situation
and responding to it
in ways appropriate to the occasion
in each situation as it arises.

Awareness is the primary
and absolutely essential attitude
for sizing things up
and dealing with them
as they need to be dealt with,
one after another,
moment-by-moment,
day-by-day,
all our life long.

3) Acceptance greets everything
with Rumi's warm welcome
expressed so well in his poem, "The Guest House"
(Googleit).

Everything is exactly what we need
to grow up some more again.
And growing up some more again
is "what it's all about."

Growing up some more again
is the essence of the Hero's Journey,
and the Spiritual Journey,
and every other journey there is or may ever be.

We are never Grown Up.
We are always growing up.
Evolving,
becoming,
moving,
developing,
shifting,
changing,
showing ourselves who we are
and what we are made of.

There is more to us than meets the eye--
any eye,
especially our own eye!
And our life is exquisitely designed
to provide us with the experiences necessary
to bring us forth,
expressing, 
exhibiting,
incarnating
who we are 
in each time and place
(here and now)
of our living.

So, greet the day,
and make it welcome!

4) Silence is the sine qua non for 
balance,
harmony,
spirit,
life,
vitality,
virtue,
character,
Original Nature,
and living centered
in the sweet spot of who we are
and what is ours to do.

Everything flows from Silence!
Imagination and creativity
are grounded in Silence!
All that we as a species
have ever produced
came right out of Silence!

Meeting what meets us in Silence
is the necessary ordeal
for meeting what meets us 
in the world 
of ordinary, apparent, reality.

The Silence is practice
for the Noise of the 10,000 things,
for the Dust of the World.

As we learn to appreciate,
embrace,
yearn for,
enjoy,
relish Silence,
we prepare ourselves for all that waits
in the situations and circumstances
of our daily life.

Silence is the source of all that we need
to find what we need
to do what needs to be done
and what needs us to do it
in each situation as it arises forever.

We cannot be anything worth being
until we can be quiet.

On a regular basis
throughout the time left for living.

5) Perspective is how we see
what we look at.

How we see determines what we see
when we look at what we look at.

How we see is conditioned/controlled
by the 10,000 things.
The way we see things 
is determined by where we have been
and what has happened to us
from birth to here and now.

We all are at the mercy
of the way we see things.
Programming the way things are seen
is the aim of all propaganda,
and everything that has come to us
about how to see what we look at
is a form of cultural propaganda--
stemming from the people we hang out with,
socialize with,
associate with,
that form our culture-within-the-culture.

When the way we see things changes,
the people we spend time with is likely to change.
And if we change the people we spend time with,
we are likely to change the way we see things.

All of which is a result of awareness,
particularly as it relates to #6 below.

6) Self-transparency is seeing ourselves seeing.
Seeing ourselves thinking.
Feeling.
Knowing.
Acting.
Doing.
Living.
Being...

We do not move,
psychologically,
emotionally,
spiritually,
until we see ourselves moving--
until we know what we would
go to hell for--
until we know where we stand
and what we stand for,
"Without hope,
without witness,
without reward"
(Steven Moffat, Doctor Who).

Self-transparency is not kidding ourselves,
but knowing ourselves as we are,
"just so,"
"Thus Come."
With the kind of compassionate
awareness
and acceptance described above.

This kind of knowledge 
of our essential selves,
lends itself to a budding knowledge
of our Self--
The Atman within--
and positions us to live
aligned with ourselves,
with our Self,
and in accord with the Tao.

7) Sincerity (Non-contrivance) is the basic
requirement of self-expression.
We live to be who we are--
for no reason other than being who we are.

We do not live to get anything out of it
beyond the experience of being fully alive
by being who we are in the moment of our living
in each situation as it arises.

When we meet the moment
and respond to it
by offering/doing what is called for there
as only we can,
with the gifts/daemon/genius/virtue/character/grace
that are peculiarly ours to offer,
we have done all that anyone can do,
and that is being as alive to the moment as possible. 

8) Spontaneity is acting without contrivance,
without agenda,
without motive,
without plans,
or schemes,
or strategies,
or intentions,
or purposes,
or ideas,
but simply rising to every occasion
by offering what is called for,
and letting that be that.

Live in the service of these eight tools for living,
and you will be
where everyone has been searching for
from the beginning of the species,
and, maybe, before.

–0–

01

What comes packed in our DNA?
How did it get there?

I talk a lot about our Original Nature.
What is constant in everyone's DNA,
and what is inherited from our parents,
unique to us alone among all people on earth for ever?
How did it get there?
How often do new things get there?
What is the process of transmission?

How do innate releasing mechanisms
get into our DNA?
Can new ones ever come along?
When in the history of our DNA
did they first occur?
How does "experience" become "inherited"?

Does the idea of God
predate the experience of God?
Where do ideas come from?
Can we experience anything
that is not "expected" by our DNA?
What can we not experience?
Why not?

We are born into a culture
of assumptions and expectations.
How could we ever know 
that a response to our environment
is inherited via DNA
or originates in the sea of cultural
assumptions and expectations
that immerses us at birth?

It feels (to me) as though 
the Tao and the Atman 
are explanations/grounds of experience,
but experience could just as easily
be based on the cultural
expectations and assumptions
of Tao and Atman.

Experience is created by expectation
and explanation.
That is the foundation of superstition,
horoscopes,
black magic,
voodoo
and religion.
If we take anything on faith
it is instant and everlasting
that whatever we take on faith
becomes an irrefutable fact
like that (snaps fingers).

We are susceptible to suggestion,
and cannot separate 
culturally created expectation
from personally experienced reality.

How objective can even science be? 
Isn't that the very ground of the
"hypothesis not fact" presumption
that serves as the basis of all scientific endeavor?
We have to constantly check our own observations
because we cannot trust ourselves to see what is there
and not what we expect to be there?

How do our expectations have us where we are?
How can we free ourselves from our presumptions,
assumptions
and expectations
in order to see reality
separate from our presumptions,
assumptions
and expectations?

How do we know we aren't just making up
everything we think we know to be so?

Truth and illusion are separated by what?
"The edge of the coin"?
(Ortega y Gasset)