Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

Faith is making something up
and saying it is so.
How would you verify or dispute
that assertion?

Do you trust yourself to know
when you are making something up?
Or, when someone else is making something up?

How can we know when something is made up?

How much of what you hear on a daily basis
is made up?

Would you say that we live 
in an imaginary world?

How would you substantiate your answer?

Jesus and the Buddha were independent thinkers.
They were their own authority.
Jesus said, ""You have heard it said,
but I say unto you..."
And, "Who do YOU say that I am?"

The Buddha said, "Don't listen to me!
Listen to YOU!"

And they lived their life
in light of what mattered to them.

Now there are churches and temples,
doctrines and dharma,
ministers and priests
and teachers everywhere
to tell us how to think, what to do.

Who told the Buddha what to think?
Who told Jesus what to do?

What do you think about that?
What will you do?

Trump owns both houses of Congress, 
the Supreme Court,
and, soon to be, the FBI.

And, he is on the way to owning the military.

He may as well be king
for all the difference being president makes.

And, I'm remembering the words of Genghis Khan,
who is reported to have said,
"It is easier to conquer a nation than to govern one."

Let's see how long it takes Trump to learn this lesson,
remembering that Trump is a very slow learner,
and a very dim wit.

Once we understand 
that life is out to get us--
and will get us eventually--
we can ease into the day
with an eye on our chances
and possibilities,
recognizing the perils
and staying out of harm's way,
making life work for its jollies
by remembering
that we reduce our vulnerabilities
by limiting our exposures,
and using the hand rails
and banisters
when going downstairs,
for example.

Why smoke/drink yourself to death?
Whose side are you on?

Know the difference between
trusting your luck
and pushing your luck,
and stay on the smart side of life
all the way to the end of the line--
remembering that we have a say
about how long that is.

Why not make life work for its joys?

"Peaceful abiding, here, now."
This is the Buddha's description of meditation.
This, and, "Don't listen to me!
Listen to YOU--and make up your own mind
about what's what and what is called for!
(Or words to that effect)"
are for me the only legitimate direct quotes
of the Buddha extant today.
Though ten billion things are said
that the Buddha said, these two will do fine for me.

And this photograph captures perfectly for me
the essence of "Peaceful abiding, here, now."

It all starts from there,
flows from there,
and returns to there.

"Peaceful abiding, here, now,"
is all there is to it.
Once we get that down,
we have it made,
and can remain there the rest of the way,
because once we have mastered the art
of peaceful abiding, here, now,
there is nothing left to do or to be,
and we are the peaceful master
of everything that comes our way.

And, from there, we are able to
arise, meet, and do whatever is called for
in each situation that comes along
for as long as there are situations 
to come along.

And I don't know what could beat that!

There is peaceful abiding as one 
thus come here, now,forever--
and there is constant striving
for more/better/different/finer.

There is meaningful
and there is meaningless.

And that's it.

The difference is turning 
the light around,
flipping a switch,
seeing what's what,
and doing what is called for,
in each situation as it arises
all our life long.

Peaceful abiding
or constant striving.
Where are we here, now?

What would it take
for us to be happily at peace,
with things as they are
here, now?

It takes a regular routine of returning
to a quiet place to open ourselves
to what is calling our name,
seeking to get our attention,
and point us in the direction
of our destiny
and the work that is ours to do.

Be aware of the things that catch your eye,
that pique your interest,
that wink at you and disappear.

We do not think our way to where we need to be.
We feel our way there
with propitious encounters
and accidental turns of fortune,
both good and bad.

We do not control what our life needs us to do.
And must be alert
to what is being offered to us,
asked of us
as we traverse the terrain of our days,
so that we don't keep missing
the gifts that continue to be presented to us,
waiting for us to receive for the hidden blessings
they represent. 

It is appalling, ludicrous, ridiculous, absurd and obscene 
that God would hold everyone forever accountable
for Adam's and Eve's disobeying orders.

Perhaps it was Nestorius who said,
"No one can sin for someone else,
and no one can redeem someone else's sin."

If the writer of the Garden of Eden tale
had been wise enough to shape it
after Jesus' parable of the Prodigal Son,
where the son doesn't have to earn his father's forgiveness,
the world would be a different place,
and we would be different-for-the-better people.

Revising the old tales,
with his, "You have heard it said,
but I say unto you!" style of life
was what Jesus did that was truly freeing,
calling us all to see for ourselves
the truth of what we look at,
and be fully alive in the time left for living--
rising from the dead ourselves
in order to live at last before we die.

But, the Church doesn't take that tack,
telling us that it is Jesus' death that saves us,
when it is our death to all that is shamefully 
wrong about "the old, old story" and our 
resurrection to life that never dies in the
realization of what's what and what is called for
in turning things around, 
finally, at last, seeing what we look at
and turning the light around,
in doing what should have been done ages ago,
even yet, even now, even so.

We are carried along by forces quite beyond us,
into circumstances we cannot imagine.
Our place is to rise to the occasion
without judgment, agendas, or even preferences.
With us one situation is as good as another,
providing us with a context within which
we show our stuff,
doing what is called for where, when and how
it is called for,
using the gifts of our original nature,
our innate virtues (What we do best
and enjoy doing most),
our inherent imagination and intrinsic intuition.

In this way, 
we bring our best to bear
upon the worst life has to offer,
and surprise ourselves all along the way,
in bringing ourselves forth to meet
what is in our path.

The day's gifts are surprisingly just what we need
to develop our latent powers
and amaze ourselves with talents
we did not know we possess.

This is thought of as the wonder of being alive.

Noise, complexity, trauma, drama,
keep things stirred up
and produce the heaving waves
and clashing rocks
on the wine-dark sea.

Emptiness, stillness, silence
reduce complication
and increase clarity and simplicity.

What is the status of your balance and harmony?
What are the forces of destabilization
at work in your life?

Where to you go for peace, calm, serenity, tranquility?

How intentional and deliberate are you
about managing the stability quotient in your life?

Here's another one for you:
Consume more than 50% of your daily calorie intake
before 5:00 PM.

We make our way along the Way
by doing what is called for
in each situation as it arises.

True to our original nature,
our innate virtues
(What we do best and enjoy doing most)
and our intrinsic intuition,
we have all it takes to be who we are
as "circumstances beget circumstances,"
and we experience the miracle
of no plan/no agenda,
no striving/no desiring
producing a lifetime of amazingly good luck
every step of the Way.

Those who know
know exactly what I'm talking about.

No?