Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

01

What needs to happen in any situation
conflicts with--
and stands in contradiction of--
what we want to happen there.

This is the story of the Garden of Eden
and the Garden of Gethsemane.

It is the story of the Buddha under the Bo Tree
and of Jesus in the wilderness.

It is the story that is repeated ad nauseam
through all of the ages of humankind--
and all the lives of each of us in all those ages.

Truth is found,
and life is lived,
"between the hands."
On the one hand, this.
And on the other hand, that.

I want this,
and I need to want that.
Which will it be?
The theme is at work
in each situation as it arises
throughout time.

And here we are,
now what?

We answer the question best
when we ask it with full awareness
of what we are doing.

We default instantly
to what we want to do,
to what we want to happen,
without considering what needs to be done,
what needs to happen.

We live to have our way
in each situation that arises
until we die.

We live our life
in a lifelong conflict of interest
with our life.
We want one thing from our life
and our life wants another thing from us,
and it is within this tension
that we live
moment-to-moment,
day-by-day.

But.

Don't take my word for it.
Simply be still.
Sit quietly.
And wait.
Wait to become aware of 
the conflict of interest
at work in this moment
in your own life.
Be clear about what you want to happen.
Become open to what needs to happen--
to what the moment is calling for
beyond what you want for the moment.

Do this with every moment following this one.

And see what you do.

This simple process
calls into question 
everything we think and believe
about living our life.
Our sole motivation for living
is to have what we want,
to do what we want.

We talk of Freedom and Liberty, 
but it is always the freedom and liberty
to do what we want,
to live our life the way we want to live our life.
And anything that stands in our way
is interfering with our freedom 
to have our way.

What does wanting know?

Wanting has led you to this point in your life.
What is your batting average?
How often has your wanting known what it was doing?
How often did you want yourself to a rock wall,
or a cliff edge?
How often did you want yourself
to the end of the line?
And what did you have but more wanting
to lead you to the end of the next line?

Wanting is a very short-sighted guide.
Near-sighted-ness is not a particularly
sought-for qualification
when interviewing potential guardians and guides.
It isn't what we want that matters,
but knowing what we ought to want,
what we should want,
what we need to want--
and doing what we know needs to be done,
regardless of what we want.

This is the quality that will direct our living
past all concerns for our best interest,
our good,
our gain,
our advantage
and what is in it for us--
and deliver us into the service
of what is crying out to be done
in each situation as it arises,
moment-by-moment,
day-by-day,
all our life long:
"Without hope!
Without witness!
Without reward!" (Steven Moffat)

If you are going to hitch your wagon
to some horse,
let it be that horse,
and give it the reins,
or, better, forego reins and bit entirely,
and just go along for the ride!

–0–

01

"The Church of What's Happening Now" 
is the companion blog-page to this page,
and can be accessed through the menu above.

It is offered in light of its absolute necessity
in the work that we are to be doing--
the work that is ours to do--
here and now,
moment to moment,
situation by situation,
day in and day out,
because being both
involved/immersed in,
and aware of,
what's happening now
is more that any of us 
can do alone.

There have always been
communities of the now--
I call them "communities of innocence"
because they are completely sincere
about their work--
and of all the institutions
that have been developed 
through the ages of our accession,
they alone stand apart
by having nothing to gain
and nothing to lose,
beyond helping the individuals
they serve in living as those
who, themselves, have nothing to gain
and nothing to lose.

"Sincerity without contrivance"
is the motto of all communities of innocence.
Alcoholics Anonymous separates itself with its
"Attraction not promotion" slogan
and its recognition of "a higher power"
with no theology or doctrine to cloud and conceal
the essence of "that which has always been called God."

For me, "The Church of What's Happening Now"
is AA without the Alcohol (or the substance Abuse) part,
helping us to stay focused on being  here, now,
doing what is ours to do--
what needs to be done--
what the situation is calling for,
throughout the "Eternal Now" of our existence.

As I say in the introduction to the page,
"The Church of What’s happening Now 
is intently focused on, 
and involved with, 
the present moment, 
which, of course, is eternal and unending 
because it, in fact, never ends. 
It evolves, morphs, transitions 
forever into nothing more 
than the present moment 
right here, 
right now,
forever.

The Church of What's Happening Now
is a Community of Innocence
dedicated to helping its members
maintain their focus and clarity--
their balance and harmony--
while walking two paths at the same time,
being involved with the conditions and circumstances--
the "just so-ness"--
of the present moment,
while being intently aware
of the "also is-ness"
that connects this moment
with all those that have preceded it
and those that will flow from it.

Lawrence Tribe has said,

“Every possible future points back to 
and is contained in 
this moment in time and space, 
and every possible past 
culminated in this moment. 
So all that ever was or will be 
is right here right now 
with you and with me.” 

The present is eternal.
It is the fulcrum,
the pivot point,
"the still point
of the turning world" (Eliot).

It is the place of our acting,
or of our failing to act,
in the service of what needs us to do it
with the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues
that are ours to share
as blessing and grace
out of filial devotion
and liege loyalty
to the good of the whole.

02

Sincerity and awareness are prime tools 
in the work
of bringing ourselves forth
within the time and place,
context, conditions and circumstances
of our life.

We cannot fake either.

And we don't have to feel like doing either.
We don't have to be in the mood. 
Sincerity requires us to be the mood we are in.
Everything else is a lie.

And awareness pulls us beyond moods.
There is no mood for seeing things as they are.
Once a mood,
or an emotion,
enters the room,
awareness begins to dim,
and sincerity has to deal with
the conflict between seeing
and being afraid to see
(for instance)
into account.

And everything slows down,
waiting for us to get our feet back under us,
and settle ourselves into how things are,
so that we can begin listening/looking
for what is being called for,
and assist whatever arises within
to meet the moment 
with what we have to offer.

There is no thinking/planning/scheming/conniving/contriving here.

We see-hear-know-do.
Spontaneously,
naturally,
automatically,
sincerely.
The dog needs to go out,
and we let the dog out,
or take the dog out. 

Every situation is calling for something.
Our place is to know what that is
and see how we fit into what is needed.
What are we being asked to do?
How might we best respond to the needs of the moment?

We do not think out the answer,
we live it out.

It is like knowing what to do with the ball coming toward us
on a tennis court.
No thinking!
Just seeing-knowing-doing!

Carry a tennis ball with you into each moment
as a reminder of how to handle the moment.

Sincerely present,
with awareness.

–0–

01

It is all useless,
pointless,
hopeless,
futile
and absurd--
and coming to a very bad end
(We all die).

And, how we live in the meantime
makes all the difference.

If you are going to take anything on faith,
let it be this!
Believe it is so
with all your heart,
and soul,
and mind,
and strength!

And live as though it is!

Put it into play in your life
by seeing what you look at,
and hearing what is being said,
and not giving a damn what your chances are,
or what's going to come of it,
or what difference you are going to make,
and step into each situation as it arises,
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
all your life long,
letting things be what they are,
looking at what is happening,
listening for what is being called for,
knowing what needs to be done,
and rising to the occasion
upon every occasion,
in ways appropriate to the occasion,
out of the gifts/genius/daemon/virtues/character
that come with you from the womb
into all of the occasions of your life
as blessing and grace
upon all who come your way--
doing what you came to do,
what is yours to do,
what no one but you can do
the way you can do it--
to startle and surprise,
shock and perturb,
amaze and encourage,
dazzle and delight,
enlighten and confound--
and leave things more like they ought to be
than they were when you arrived.

In order to be able to do this,
you have to spend some time
reworking your relationship
with yourself and your life,
and with the Way that is yours through life--
even as you step into the next situation
and look around.

It is a lifelong process,
redemption and transformation.
It begins with our understanding
this is what we are about,
and finding our way to being
accomplished in the art
one situation at a time.

02

 Too many of us think
we have to have a plan,
a map,
a strategy,
a course of action,
a destination in mind,
to know where we are headed
in order to get where we are going.

If we don’t know where we are going,
we could wind up anywhere!

Time for a show of hands.
Here we all are.
How many of us had a plan,
a strategy,
a course of action
for getting right here right now?

Hold them high now.

How many of us knew
we would be right here right now
5 years ago?
4 months ago?

Our future is no more reliable
than our past.
How many 5-year plans are left
before we die?

Since most of us realize by now
that thinking more than two weeks ahead
is pretty much wishful thinking,
I’m going out on a limb here
and saying that 5-year plans are history.

Just as well.
They never were worth the time spent
drawing them up.

Joseph Campbell like to say that
Native American parents
would tell their children
as they set out to find their way in the world,
“When you step forth on your path,
the birds of the air will shit on you.
Do not stop even to wipe it off!”

They didn’t have to talk about
how to know where they were going.
These were Native American youth.
They knew about Vision Quests,
and living from the center,
and knowing a path with heart
when they saw one.

We missed all that.
Because it wasn’t a part of our growing up.
But it isn’t too late to learn.

The first thing that has to go is
knowing what you want.
Wanting is an eternal waste of time.
Wanting never ends.
What does wanting know?
Only that everything it wants
is the most important thing ever.
And all of those most important things
end up in some landfill,
and none of them was the end of wanting forever.

Throw wanting in the burning barrel
and take up listening and looking.
Sit still.
Be quiet.
Listen.
Look.
Wait for something to arise unbidden
that stirs something to life within.
You are waiting for something with life about it
to appear out of nowhere,
in a “Where did that come from?” kind of way.
Something with energy about it,
and the power to pull you into its influence,
the way a white rabbit might catch your eye
before it hops around a corner.

Do you follow?
The rule of the road is:
Always look closer at something that catches your eye!
The second rule of the road is:
The path opens before those who start walking.

That’s all the plan you need for a plan.
When the birds of the air shit on you,
don’t pause to wipe it off.

–0–

01

Our business expands to fit our life.
We live to find our business
and tend to it.
The entire world is our business.
What goes on everywhere is our concern.
Human Rights,
Gay Rights,
Civil Rights,
Abortion Rights...

Our business is everybody's business.
So that everybody can be allowed to have their own business
and do it.

"We find these truths to be self-evident..."

Evidently not,
else why do we have to keep saying it?
And insisting upon it?
And reminding people to live like it is so--
because it is so?

Some people--
and a hefty lot of them--
get off on pushing other people around.
Putting other people down.
Being superior.
Being supreme
(As though anyone is supreme
who has to shout,
"I AM SUPREME!
DO WHAT I SAY!").

What?
What did they miss early on in their life?
Was it a gene?
Or kindness?
Or enough of the right kind of attention?
Or enough of the right kind of anything?

Anyway.
Here we are.
What to do?
Mind our business!
Tend our business!
And trust other people to mind/tend theirs!
And, when it becomes apparent 
that they think their business 
is minding other people's business,
it becomes our business
to remind them that it is not.

"Back inside the lanes, please!
Everyone back inside their own lanes!"

That would be the lanes that are legitimately
our own lanes--
"the face that was ours before we were born,"
doing the things that are truly ours to do,
that no one but us can do
the way we can do it.

This world works best only when everybody
is respecting everybody else,
honoring everybody else,
allowing everybody else--
enabling everybody else--
to be who they are,
tending their own business
without worrying about the interference
of those who think they know best,
and that their way is The Way for everyone.

Why is this so hard?

All anyone needs
is to be left alone in the right kind of way,
and be allowed to tend their own business.

But, there are people who like to push people around,
and put them down,
and impose themselves on others,
deciding where people belong
and what they should and should not be doing,
making it necessary for us to stand up
and call them out,
and put them in their place
by reminding them it is not their place
to presume to know what someone else's place is,
and that we all have to be left to discover our own place for ourselves,
unless we get out of our lane
and into someone else's
by telling them where they belong
and where they have no business being.

We all have to find our own business,
and be right about it,
and be there doing that,
and trust everybody else to be doing that,
until it becomes apparent that they are not
and are interfering with someone else's right
to their own business.

Then, we have to call Time Out!
And make sure everyone understands the rule
about leaving everyone alone
to find and mind their own business
with all the help they need to do that,
and none of the hindrances
that some people like to throw in their way.

It is ridiculous that any of this
should ever need to be said.

02

Trust where you are
to be exactly where you need to be.

Trust the path you are on
to take you to exactly where you need to be.

Trust seeing what you look at,
and hearing what you listen to--
asking the questions that beg to be asked,
and saying the things that cry out to be said--
to produce the reflection necessary
to promote the realizations required
that enable you to recognize
when the door opens
and provide you with the courage required 
to walk through.

So that from here to there
becomes a natural transition
that "just happens"
when the time is right,
and is so obvious
that it is simply a spontaneous shift
in the right direction,
with the path you are on 
taking you where you need to be,
one situation at a time--
occasioned by 10,000 unapparent right actions
opening and walking through
all of the doors 
that led to The Door,
resulting in you always
being where you needed to be,
doing what needed to be done,
every step along the way.

That is the way it is with The Way.

Break a miracle down into its component parts
and the whole thing is a miracle.

And our life is a wonder in the making.

–0–

01

I am more inclined to follow my inclinations
these days
than my compelling urges
and driving passions.

My best advice is to say,
listen to what you have to say
about what you have to say.

Listen until you can hear 
what is being said on all levels.
Look until you can see 
what you are looking at.
And know what's what.

Clarity is hard to beat.
Add Balance and Harmony
Sincerity,
Right Action
and Perfect Timing,
and we have all the companions
we need to find our way
through the day
every day.

Lay aside ambition,
aspiration,
willful determination
and the obsession/compulsion
to impose your idea
of how things ought to be
upon how things are.
Simply listen
for what is being called for,
look for what needs to be done,
and wait for the Six Companions
to lead the way.

02

The extremes exist in denial
of each other,
of contradiction,
of conflict,
of opposites,
of duality...

The Middle Way 
is "Thou Art That"
in a way that excludes identity,
equivalence,
interchangeability,
and demands mutual recognition
of the "I" in the "Other,"
because the Two are One
"but not the same One."

And the Dance of Dichotomy
requires the partners
to bear the tension of opposition
through all times and places
of three dimensional,
physical,
reality,
integrating the opposites
on the basis of the interplay
with the Forth Dimension.

Enter Grace.
Also called Tao,
Dharma,
Synchronicity,
and other names in other eras,
but it is Grace,
by whatever name,
"all the way down."

Grace allows us to bear the pain
of our contradictions--
the pain of Contradiction--
in order to live out our lives 
in the service of Grace,
as the servants of Grace,
by being what is needed
(Whatever is needed)
in each situation as it arises
through all of the times and places
of three-dimensional existence,
sometimes being "Thou,"
and sometimes being "That,"
as called for by the context
and circumstances of our life.

We are the children of Grace,
carrying the banner of Grace,
exhibiting the reality of Grace,
incarnating/expressing the truth of Grace
through the ages.

God's name is Grace.

We are all "chips off the old block."
Doing our thing
in response to the demands 
of the here and now,
moment-by-moment-by-moment,
our whole life long.

–0–

01

The way to The Way is The Way.

Jacob Bronowski said,
"If you want to know the truth,
you have to live in certain ways.”

We have to live in truthful ways--
we have to live truthful lives--
we have to live truthfully.

If we want to know The Way,
we have to be The Way.

Which is exactly what Jesus was saying
when he said,
"I am the way the truth and the life,
and no one comes to the Father but by me."

He is not saying, "You have to believe in me."
He is saying "You have to be me."

But more than that,
he is saying, "You have to be me by being YOU!"
The way to God is the way of God.
The way to The Way is The Way.

The Way is the way of Sincerity and Integrity.

Sincerity and integrity are the straight and narrow.
They are the middle way.
They are The Way.
No one comes to The Way without being The Way.
The Way is the way of Sincerity and Integrity.

Harmony and Balance flow from Sincerity and Integrity.
Spirit, Energy and Vitality flow from Sincerity and Integrity.
Life, Virtue and Character flow from Sincerity and Integrity.

Sincerity and Integrity are The Way
and are the way to The Way.

We do not believe our way to The Way.
We do not think our way to The Way.
We do not plan, scheme, connive, contrive 
our way to The Way.

We live our way to The Way
one situation at a time
with Sincerity and Integrity
leading the way.

Live with Sincerity and Integrity
and let everything fall into place
around that.

Align yourself and your life with yourself.
Live in accord with yourself.
Be at-one with yourself.
"Know Thyself!"
"To Thine Own Self Be True!"

Everyone who has known
has known the same thing
over time,
through the ages.

What, then, is the problem?

02

We have to mean it,
run a tight ship
(That means self-discipline),
straight from the heart,
with sincerity
and no contrivance
(That means without looking for our own advantage, good, benefit in any way),
with no judgment or opinion,
seeking only to serve the moment
in doing what is called for,
moment-to-moment,
in each situation as it arises,
all our life long.

Our only question is
"What does this occasion call for?"
Our only course of action is
to rise to the occasion
and offer what is called for
with the gifts, genius, daemon, virtues/character
that came with us from the womb,
and follow The Way as it opens before us,
inviting us as only we can detect,
and see where it goes.

The old alchemists had a saying,
"One book opens another."
Our moments can do that as well.

Karma is momentum as much as direction,
carrying us on the current of life
through the doors Grace opens
into a future quite beyond imagining.

We trust ourselves to our life
by asking "What does this occasion call for?"
And rising to the occasion.
Occasion after occasion.

–0–

01

There is always a price to be paid
for doing things out of time.
We are paying that price right now--
individually and personally,
corporately and nationally/internationally.

The world is out of step with the times--
and has been for times past counting.

The only sin is being out of step with the times.

All the talk about repentance,
and awakening,
and "getting right with God..."
all the business about redemption,
and righteousness,
and living "at one with God..."
is about getting our timing back.
About getting back in step with the times.

Karma is about the price to be paid
for being out of step with the times.

The recognition of the importance
of being in accord with the times
is as old as time itself.

"There is a time and a place for everything."
"For everything there is a season,
and a time for everything under heaven."

Those who know,
know the same things.
What is to be known
has always been known.
There are no secrets.
No hidden spiritual truths.
No esoteric rituals and beliefs.

There is only the stuff we don't want to know--
because it would complicate our lives
and require us to decide,
consciously,
knowingly,
if we are going to live out of our own willful desire
for the time and place of our living,
or out of our own willful submission
to what is being called for
in each time and place of our living.

In every moment,
we stand with Adam and Eve
in the Garden of Eden,
and with Jesus of Nazareth
in the Garden of Gethsemane,
and decide whether we will be 
in or out of sync
with the time that is upon us,
here and now.

And, that is the choice
"that sways the future
for the good or evil side."
Made each moment,
impacting all ages to come forever.

01

We pay a price to be who we are.

Negotiation.
Compromise.
Adjustment.
Readjustment.
Steady companions along the way.

If we aren't going to be who we are,
who are we going to be?

We pay a price to not be who we are.

"All we ever wanted was smooth and easy!"
(An AA slogan)

Smooth and easy aren't so smooth and easy.

We bear the pain of being alive
one way or another--
consciously,
mindfully,
deliberately,
intentionally,
courageously,
or
unconsciously,
mindlessly,
accidentally,
unintentionally,
symptomatically.

It begins with taking the time 
to know who we are.
Everything else falls into place around that.

The Native American Vision Quest
was not about envisioning a future,
conjuring up a life-goal,
imagining a destination
(Understand this:
There is no destination!).

It was about seeing who we are.

The most important relationship
is our relationship with ourselves--
with our Self.
With our Original Self.
With The Face That Was Ours Before We Were Born.
With The Self Who Is The Source And Guardian
Of The Virtues,
Values,
Character
that define us,
guide us,
illumine us,
direct us
and accompany us
along The Way.

We are never alone,
but we live as though we are,
because we do not take the time
to know who we are.

Marianne Moore said,
"The cure for loneliness is solitude."

In solitude we meet who we are,
who we also are.

Carl Jung said,
"There is, in each of us,
another, whom we do not know."

The heart of every vision quest is the silence
that transports us 
from aloneness to solitude.

The silence is alive with moods and memories,
feelings and thoughts,
reflection,
recognition,
realization.

How long has it been
since you sat, 
still and quiet,
watching and waiting
for something to stir to life in the silence,
something that has been waiting all this time
for an audience with you?

This is the vision the quest seeks.

It is the vision of our own depth and potential--
the gifts, genius, daemon, qualities, virtues
that comprise our identity
and yearn to be incarnated, exhibited, expressed, made actual
and brought to life in the life we are living.

We carry within us the treasure of the gods
as a blessing to humankind
(That would be to one another,
and all others)
and is waiting to be born
in the way we live our life.

Even yet.
Even still.
Even now.

02

Take care of the moment. 

Everything turns on how well
we take care of the moment.

We throw moments away 
by the bushels,
by the metric tons,
by the sanitary landfills.

We treat moments 
as though they are 
in our way
keeping us from where we want to be
and what we want to be doing.

We drink whiskey
and do drugs
to compensate ourselves
for having to deal with all these damn moments
of nothing endlessly stretching out the distance
between the times of our glory and our bliss.

The high times are our way of compensating ourselves
for missing the point of our life.

We want our life to be bigger,
better,
finer
than a life can be.

A life that is alive to the moment of its living
is as alive as it ever gets.

A cat with a ball of twine.
A baby with a spoon and a pie pan.
Are doing moments the way moments are to be done.

It is called taking care of the moment.

Doing what the moment is calling for. 

Extending the moment,
making it last.

Jazz does that.
And dawdling around with a sunset,
or a thunder storm.

How long since you dawdled around with anything?
Lingered with the moment
as though it is sufficient for your needs?

Why do we need more than the moment has to offer?
From whence cometh our emptiness?
Our hunger?
Thirst?
Our desperate query,
"Is this all there is?"?

Hold on to your moments.
Relish them.
Savor them.
Do not let them go
until they have graced you
with their gifts
and the abundance of their stores.

And revealed to you the wonder
of a life lived fully
one moment at a time.

–0–

01

Look until you see what's what.

Listen until you hear what is called for.

In each situation as it arises.

Moment-by-moment.

Day-by-day.

Do what needs to be done.

As best you can.

With the gifts,
genius,
daemon,
virtues,
character
that came with you
from the womb
and constitute your Original Nature--
"The Face That Was Yours Before You Were Born"--
that you are here to incarnate,
express,
exhibit,
bring forth
and serve
with liege loyalty
and filial devotion
all your life long.

And let everything fall into place around that.

Flowing into the next situation
in the next moment
in which you will do the same things
throughout the time left for living.

That's all there is to it.

03

"Oh, I see what your problem is."
The Buddha was talking to those gathered
to discover the secret path 
to eternal happiness.
"You care too much about what happens to you!
You will never be happy
until you care less about what happens,
and care more about doing what you can
in every situation
to make things as good as they can be
for yourselves,
one another,
and all others--
and let that be good enough!"
      --From "The Undiscovered Discourses of The Buddha" 

–0–

02

Move toward what resonates with you.
Move away from what repels you.
Simple and fundamental rules for life.

The things that resonate with you
are your guides through all that lies ahead.

Just as "One book opens another,"
so the things that resonate with you
will lead you to other things that resonate with you,
and you will discover wonders
in the most unlikely places,
and come alive in the life you are living
in ways you could have never imagined,
or created,
on your own
by thinking about it
through careful planning.

We know what we need,
but.
We do not know what all we know.
And so.
We have to develop our awareness
in order to realize what lies latent within
waiting for its chance 
to sparkle and astound
when someone--
that would be us--
asks it if it would like to dance.

–0–

01

We take what the day gives us
and do what we can with it
with the gifts we have to offer
within the context and circumstances
of our life,
moment-by-moment,
and see where it goes.

We keep our religion to ourselves,
and stay out of other people's business,
honoring everyone's ability
to see what they look at,
and hear what is being called for
in the time and place of their living,
being clear about where we start
and they stop,
and only drawing lines
when it becomes apparent
that they are a danger to themselves
and to others,
and then in as kind a way
as the occasion allows,
understanding that no one is in charge
of the way they see things--
but that doesn't mean that all ways of seeing
are equally valid,
and that some ways must be challenged
when they threaten the balance and harmony
of the whole.

We carry our pain in different ways,
and what we see when we look at one another
is the outward, visible, expression
of how we have carried our inward, invisible, pain
over the course of our life.
And a little compassion means a lot.

So, even when we draw lines
it needs to be done with a compassionate stroke,
a soft voice,
and a gentle tone,
granting the benefit of the doubt to all comers,
and telling ourselves,
"These people would be doing better if they could,"
as we carry out our business
of restoring consonance
and bringing peace
to a torn and broken world.

02

"But my FREEDOOM!!!"

The people who protest mask wearing
for the good of the whole
cannot get beyond the idea
of masks being imposed on them
against their will 
by the domineering authority of those in power over them.

Sacrificing their idea of freedom
for the common good
is beyond the pale of reasonable and compassionate.
"That's asking too much!"
they say.

And here we are.

How good is the good they call good?
It is not good at all for anyone but themselves
and those like them.

How wide is our circle of compassion and concern?
What limits it?
Restricts it?
Expands it?

How low,
or high,
is our kindness and consideration threshold?

How easily do we feel "put upon"
and "taken advantage of"?

What can we do about that
in terms of becoming more giving
and less resentful?

These are questions never asked
by those who protest
"But my FREEDOM!!!"

And there is no way to force it upon them.

This is the log jam in the flow of human development.
We cannot be made to grow up against our will--
and yet, and yet...
EVERYBODY grows up against their will!!!

No one volunteers for the experience. 
We all go bucking and snorting into the process,
with stiff necks and hard hearts
and stout resistance at the very idea!

And some of us change our minds.

What is that about?

Why do some of us change our minds
and some remain "arrested" in their development
throughout time?

Some of us have the capacity to grow up in spite of ourselves,
and some of us have nothing whatsoever 
to do with what is being asked of us ever.

And here we are.

Those of us who have the capacity to be big about it
have to be big enough 
to take the pettiness and brutality 
of those who will be small and angry forever
into consideration,
tell ourselves, "I'm sure they would do better if they could,"
and try to find some way to work with their
stern refusal to be helpful
as best we can.

We have to grow up 
about their failure to grow up
and grieve the fact of things staying as they are
long past their need to change.

–0–

01

Believe in your Work.
Believe in The Way.

Allow them to become
the grounding,
guiding,
forces in your life.

Our Work is The Way!
The Way is our Work!

There is no separation,
no distinction!

But.
We have to understand 
our Work
is not necessarily what we are paid to do.
What we are paid to do pays the bills.
Our Work is what we pay the bills to do.

Paying the bills enables us to live.
Our Work enables us to be alive.
Our Work is what we live to do.

Chances are we have no conception
of what our Work is.
There is nothing in our background
that is specifically geared to help us
comprehend the importance 
of knowing/finding our Work,
and if we find it,
it is because we stumble upon it.

The concept of The Way
is in a similar state.
No one talks about The Way 
in our experience.
Everyone talks about finding Jesus
and going to heaven when we die.
No one says anything about finding The Way
and being Alive until we die.

We are on our own
with regard to our Work and The Way.
But we come well-equipped for the task.
All it takes is being still and quiet,
and knowing what we know--
allowing what we know
to guide us away 
from all that is Not our Work
and Not The Way,
and toward what IS our Work
and Is The Way.

Knowing what it is not
is a very helpful thing to know.

Knowing what it is
is a matter of knowing 
what attracts us,
resonates with us,
calms us,
centers us,
grounds us
and brings us to life.

Determining the "Life Quotient" 
of the things in our life--
the degree to which they spark
something within us
and cause us to smile for no reason--
will help guide us to IT
and away from NOT IT.

There is also a "felt sense"--
a physical sensation--
within our stomach or chest
(A bit like being in love)--
that clues us in on what's what
when we are in the presence of IT.

The rule is always in play:
"Look closer at the things 
that catch your eye!"
And let those things lead you
to your Work
and The Way!

02

Joseph Campbell said,
"We know when we are on the beam,
and when we are off it."

That is all we need to know.

Yet the 10,000 things interfere with our knowing
even that much.

Distractions abound.
Diversions proliferate.
We lose the way.
Stray from the path.
Wake up--if we are lucky--
at the bottom of some wall,
wondering how we got there
and where we go from here.

We got there by being smart.
Thinking we knew what we were doing.
Knowing what we wanted
and how to get it.

That will do it every time.

Knowing what we want
overlooks the most important thing:
What Does Wanting Know???

Nothing as it turns out.

When we live from the center,
we are not influenced by either
fear or desire,
anger or greed,
but from the Life Point,
like leaves turning to the sun,
we turn toward--
move toward--
exactly what we need at that point,
knowing only that this
is the right thing for us to do 
at that particular place in time,
and to not move toward it
would be to do irreparable damage
not just to ourselves, 
but to our place in life,
with implications moving outward
like a giant Tsunami in all directions,
altering forever what might have been.

Our task is to live from the center
and not let anything knock us off
the Life Point
because from there
everything flows
for good or for evil. 

–0–

01

Money is the most meaningful thing
in our life--
not only in our life,
but in all our lives.

And yet,
we use money to buy Crack,
if we are poor, 
and to by Cocaine,
if we are wealthy,
and to buy Opioids
regardless of our financial status.
Alcohol will do in a pinch.
And there is always Religion.

Money is meaningful
as a doorway to escape.

How meaningful is that?

We are such a sad,
hilarious,
lot.

We are pitiful.
We are a joke.
The joke is on us.
And no one is laughing.

Our life is--
our lives are--
meaningless.
And all we know to do about that
is to find something
to take our mind, our minds, off of it.

We get by with a little help from our friends,
Coke, Cocaine, Opioids, Alcohol, Religion...
Anything to take our mind off our emptiness.

We are people in search of some reason to keep going.

Joseph Campbell asked,
"What keeps you going?
What do you turn to when you have nowhere to turn?"

What enables you to face the complete loss of everything
without succumbing to the futility,
uselessness,
hopelessness
and absurdity of one more breath?

And, he says, "When you have found that,
you have found your myth!"

Our myth is our meaning.
It is the ground of our existence--
the very source of our life and being,
the ever-present wellspring
of balance and harmony,
spirit,
vitality
and resilient joy
in our life.

And we are people who have lost their myth.

Joseph Campbell would say the Quest starts here.

We are searching for the source of our own meaning,
for the reason, the purpose, of our own existence.
As he said, "To find the inward thing
that you basically are."

All of the myths refer to you, to me, to us,
and are pathways of opening us to the realization of ourselves.

We are what we seek.
"We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time"
(T.S. Eliot).

Back to Campbell, "You are God in your deepest identity.
You are one with the transcendent."

And we throw ourselves away as the source of meaning and purpose, 
and look here and there,
hither and yon,
for what is only found by
"Turning the light around,"
and looking within for that which is looking for us.

Campbell again:
"That which you seek
lies far back in the darkest corner
of the cave you most don't want to enter."

The first step is the hardest:
We have to bear the pain at the heart of the journey.
Bearing the pain of our life--
of the experience of being alive--
of life itself
is essentially "the divine acceptance of death"
(Thomas Altizer)
--not only at the end of life,
when life is done--
but at every point along the way.
Right here right now
is a dying to all that might be
wished for,
hoped for,
desired,
and is an acceptance of life-as-it-is
in its "just-so-ness"
right here, right now.

Which is made possible through
the recognition that right here, right now,
is the very time and place of our living,
of our being fully,
vibrantly,
alive to the experience of our own becoming
in this moment,
open to,
and overwhelmed by,
the mystery at the heart of being.

Campbell said,
"The goal of your quest for yourself 
is to find that burning point 
(where the veil of time is burned away,
and we are opened to the realization of eternity)
in your point (here and now), 
becoming the thing in yourself, 
which is fearless and desireless, 
(and forever) becoming."

We are always becoming something more
than we have ever been!
We are forever being born anew--
a brand new thing--
in the world each day,
in each moment of the day!
We are becoming always and forever!

That is who we are!
We are BECOMING!

Born to life again and again,
each moment, 
through bearing the pain of being alive
and opening ourselves to the wonder
of our own becoming.

The nature of the pain is the fear that there is nothing there.
We have to take a chance on ourselves.
But, we think we know there is nothing to us at all.
We are the cave we most don't want to enter,
and it is the experience of the wonder
of our own becoming
that waits far back in the darkest corner,
wondering if we will have what it takes
to find what it takes
to be fully alive
in the time left for living.

A bit of encouragement at the start:
Everyone starts where we are.
Fearful, doubting,
certain there is no reason to go on.

Campbell said,
"The word religion means religio, linking back, linking back the phenomenon of a specific, unique person to the source."
To their/our source.
To who they/we are at their/our core.

The old Taoists linked the Tao
with our Original Nature,
with "the face that was ours 
before we were born."
With the Source of Life and Being.
And said, "Thou art That."
We are It.
We are What We Seek.
Like the man riding his ox
looking for his ox.
Like the woman with her sunglasses on her head,
looking for her sunglasses.

We only have to stop,
look,
listen,
see and hear
to know it is so.

But we are afraid to look,
afraid to listen,
afraid it is not so. 

We have to bear the pain,
and take a chance
on the wonder
of our own
unending becoming
coming into being
in every moment,
here and now.