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?
Zen Moon — Price Lake, Julian Price Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, NC
I like the theory put forth by all of my shipmates that consciousness is the source and ground of all things everywhere. That we are the means consciousness uses to become self-conscious, that is conscious of itself. That consciousness experiences itself through our experiences. And that when we die, nothing dies, as in ceasing to exist, but that, as Einstein said about energy, "Energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed or converted." And if we understand consciousness to be a form of energy, and that we are all a form of consciousness and consciousness is a form of energy, then when we die, we are merely being transformed back into consciousness/energy from which we emerged.
I am a devoted advocate of this point of view and recommend the YouTube videos of Alan Watts for more of the same if you are so inclined.
Red Sumac and Blue Ridges— Blue Ridge Parkway, near Mount Mitchell, North Carolina
"The observer cannot be separated from the observed." Where does experience stop and projection start? We see everything from the standpoint of "the way we see things." How we see things makes things as they are. And we live in relationship with things and people as though they are the way we see them. All "objective reality" is interpreted/perceived subjectively.
So, where do the lines lie? "Not one. Not two." Say the Buddhists, but the Taoists see Yin AND Yang everywhere, inseparably, all the time.
Our presumed separateness is presumed, not real. The "seems to be" is not the "is." The space, the gaps, the emptiness between "this" and "that," are convenient, enabling us to eat the green beans but not the fork, but it all means what we say it means, and we treat it as such.
Even when we deny/denounce duality and proclaim "All things are one!", suffering and freedom from suffering remain quite different, and we treat them as such in all times and places. "Not one. Not Two" remains the anomaly, calling for laughter that holds everything together as "One but not the same one" forever reminding us to lighten up and not take things so seriously, but keep the spirit of playfulness at the heart of being, and stop playing like it matters, as though it is REAL--and remember that we are not laughing enough. Authentic laughter is missing from our life. Everything waits for us ease up and start laughing, knowing it isn't what we say it is, and the joke is on us.
Which segues nicely into consciousness being all there is and everything being an aspect of consciousness at work in our lives. The more conscious we can be of living unconsciously amid assumptions and presumptions, inferences, conjectures, speculation, surmises and suppositions, the easier it will be to find ourselves laughing all of the time.
A Path Through Fall — The Bog Garden, Greensboro, North Carolina
Who are we? What are we about? We have to take Remembrance-Recognition-Reorientation breaks from time to time to regroup, recharge, and get back on the beam.
It is easy to lose our way amid the complexity and confusion of the day-to-day. There is so much coming at us from all directions, it is easy to drift off into robot responses to what is being asked of us, and we have to get back in the groove of here, now and what’s what.
So, “Who are we? What are we about?” refocuses us on the essential matters of being who we are, doing what is ours to do, here, now in each situation as it arises, no matter what, all our life long.
What we are about is what we do best and enjoy doing most in bringing ourselves forth to meet what’s coming here, now, every day. Who we are is our original nature, our innate intuition, our intrinsic imagination, and our inherent virtues (The “do best and enjoy most” aspects of ourselves).
Living with our eye on those things enables us to meet each aspect of every day as they need to be met with what we have to offer each situation as it arises–and that is the most anyone can hope to do 12/7/12/forever.
I invite you to take up the practice of dropping into the silence (emptiness, stillness) at various points throughout each day without interrupting what you are doing. This is a simple matter of doing what you are doing while being intently aware of opening yourself to HOW you are doing it.
Attend your attention and your emotional reaction to what's what here, now, with the intention to distance yourself from the goings on and shift over into the way of, in the Buddha's words, "Peaceful abiding, here, now."
Focus on just doing what is called for in each moment without emotional reaction to the moment. If someone cuts you off in traffic, just observe what happened and what responses you are making without being pulled into the moment, but remaining apart from the action by observing the action and how you are dealing with it. Concentrate on doing what is called for without embellishing anything.
We can remain calm and deal smoothly with what is going on just by observing what is going on and being aware of what is needed when, where and how and doing what is called for, as you would if you were returning serve in a tennis game.
Distancing ourselves from the action by being aware of the action and doing what is necessary spontaneously, automatically, is a wonderful way of "peaceful abiding, here, now." And a fine way of being here, now, moment by moment for the sake of the moment all our life long.
Cosmos Fall — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Fort Mill, South Carolina
Seeing, hearing, understanding, knowing, doing, being, expands into seeing what we look at, hearing what we listen to, understanding what's what, knowing what's called for in each situation as it arises, doing it as it needs to be done, when, where, and how it needs to be done, while being who we are, where we are, when we are, how we are, throughout what remains of the life left for living.
All of which is grounded upon and flows from enough time spent in the right kind of emptiness, stillness, silence (One thing, not three) in a routine and regular way.
The Grove, ACE Basin Wildlife Refuge, Hollywood, South Carolina
MAGA is the self-designated moniker of a gang whose primary identifying feature is the complete absence of anything resembling maturity of anyone embracing the title.
Fascism and White Supremacy describe immaturity perfectly throughout the ages. There is not a grown-up in the group, though there are plenty of people old enough to be confused with one--exhibiting the ancient observation, "Growing up is inevitable, but maturity is entirely arbitrary."
Maturation is a by-product of awareness, of attentive presence with, and reflection upon, what is happening here, now, in every situation as it arises, and drawing sound conclusions regarding what it means and what is called for in response. All of which are completely absent in any MAGA worthy of the designation--starting with their Dear Leader and moving like a hot knife through soft butter through the rest of those gathered to chant their creed and declare their allegiance to their cause.
They designate empathy as a sin and look forward to the Rapture as though they have something in common with the Coming One. Which is clearly not their stance with regard to the Least of These which they denounce as NOT their brothers and sisters.
How all of this is going to play out is going to be a mess with nothing beneficial to anyone. A lot of dust and noise, disruption and chaos, destruction and mayhem, with gain nowhere and loss everywhere. The legacy of Donald Trump, the king of immaturity and emptiness, and a blight upon the land.
Fitting what we love to do into each day gives us something to look forward to every day. I love to be surprised, and the days are always calling for unexpected responses to unexpected events, so I look forward to what the day has to offer that I didn’t see coming, wondering where I will be surprised today.
Magic is real. Mystery is everywhere. We only have to step away from our agenda to know that it is so--and to experience being swept up in the experience of being alive to the life that is waiting for us to live it, instead of striving to force ourselves into a life we have no business living.
That Which Has Always Been Called God is as real here, now as ever anywhere in the past eons and ages. This is not the God of Theology, Dogma and Doctrine I'm talking about, but the guardian of lived experience, winking and nodding, smiling and laughing at the very idea of what she is setting before us, hoping we won't stomp by unseeing, incapable of imagining what might yet be if we only trust ourselves to know what to say no to, and yes to--so that when the door opens we know which to choose.
Being open to what is trying to reach us, get our attention, wake us up to what is Called for here, now is being alert to what is happening here, now, and what mysterious forces are at work in our life to turn us toward the things that are calling us to wake up to what is with us to guide and direct us to the path that is opening before us with our name written all over it.
Trusting ourselves to the life that is asking us to live it is the wisest thing we will ever do.
Black Balsam Knob Sunrise — Pisgah National Forest, MP 420, Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina
It is our place to discover what we do best and what we like to do most. They may be the same thing, and they may be quite dif-ferent. And it is also our place to spend our life doing them along with all the other things we enjoy doing that spin off from what we do best and what we like to do most. So that our life becomes a collection of things we love to do, and it is our place as the collector of things we love most about life to live so as to increase the number of items in our collection year by year until we are brimming with the wonder and joy of things we love to do and are quite thrilled by and interested in so that we are looking forward to every day to find more things that thrill us and call us forth into life and being as those who are on a mission to relish each day for the delights and beauty it holds and shares with us throughout the time there is for living, and to know what a joy it is to live that way.
And it is never too late to begin living in this way. It is always just the right time to start. What do you do best? What do you enjoy doing most? Be about these things here and now, with all your heart, and mind, and soul and strength! Living as though you mean it throughout the time left for living! YahRoo! The game's afoot!
Appalachian Trail and Jane Bald — Roan Mountain Highlands, Carver’s Gap, Tennessee
Right seeing, right hearing, right knowing, right doing, right being is all there is to it--and it is increasingly out of the question, because we have been overtaken by the noise and dust of the world. Bullied, you might say, into the new Dark Age where up is down, right is wrong and no one knows what's what.
And so, the need for emptiness, stillness, silence in which to sit and wait for the mud to settle and the water to clear and for everyone to regain their balance and find their bearings.
Finding the center requires us to sit still and breathe, waiting for balance, harmony and sanity to be restored, remembering, in the words of Martin Palmer, "The path that can be discerned as a path is not a reliable path." And the people who proclaim they have found the path are not reliable guides. The wold is awash in unreliable guides. Let the seeker beware, and seek the inner light to what is called for and serve that with all our heart, and mind, and soul and strength, regardless of what is trending. In these times, following the crowd may well lead deeper into the wasteland of dismay and disarray. No?
Around Bass Lake 01 — Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina
There is the God of theology, and there is "That Which Has Always Been Called God" beyond theology.
Theology was invented by the Church of Rome over the 400 years between Jesus' execution and the closing of the Canon which ended the amount of material that could be included in the Bible. The Church of Rome decided what was in and what was out of the Bible. The Church of Rome composed the Bible, we may as well say "The Church of Rome wrote the Bible," so that what the Bible says is what the Church of Rome wanted the Bible to say, which comes down to "You are all sinners going straight to hell unless you believe what we tell you and do what we say!" The Church of Rome gave itself some leverage that way, and guaranteed its future, not that it had anything at stake in choosing the scriptures it chose to comprise the Bible.
Before Theology was invented, there was only "That Which Has Always Been Called 'God,'" which was experienced more often than believed, and everyone knew what they were talking about when they talked about That Which Has Always Been called "God." Then Theology came along with Hell in tow and it all went to hell.
My point here is that we do not need theology. We only need to experience what has always been experienced as That Which Has Always Been Called God to know that God is one with us, that we are all "of God." That no one can draw the line between where we end and God starts. God is the stuff everything is made of. It is all of God, IS God, and everyone who has ever known has known this much. We are Psyche! We are God! There are no lines separating anything that theology did not draw.
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 