Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

No one can be anything.

The list of things I cannot be
rivals anyone's,
and all of us have an incredibly long one.

I cannot be an opera singer, for instance.
Or a ballet dancer,
or any kind of singer or dancer.
I can't ride a bull
or shoe a horse.

Play football, baseball, soccer, ice hockey...

You get the idea.

But.

Everyone can be who they are.

And that is all Jesus and the Buddha did.

They were who they were capable of being.

And we all can do that.

We all can be Jesus and the Buddha.

If you are saying, "No, not me,"
I'll be quick to ask you where you got that notion.

And if you say, "The best me is the worst Jesus and Buddha,"

I'll ask you to prove it 
by being the best you you can be.
And let the quality of your life
from this moment forward
be the proof of how close to Jesus and the Buddha
you can be--
But.
Don't hold anything back.

BE WHO YOU ARE!!!

Like this:
Focus only on your original nature
(Do you even know what that is?
Or, are you always finding fault 
and making excuses for your natural proclivities--
your inclinations, dispositions, propensities...?)

Your innate virtues--the things you do best
and enjoy doing most. Do you know what they are?
Or, are you always excusing and dismissing these things?

Your intrinsic intuition--the things you know
without knowing how you know, and the things you refuse
to trust because what would people think,
and you would be ashamed and embarrassed to trust yourself
to your intuitive urges and callings.

Yes, those things! Give yourself whole-heartedly 
to the things found in these three groups of things,
bringing more of them to life in your life each day!

You are keeping Jesus under wraps
and hiding Buddha from the bright light
of his incarnation in you.

And you have done both of these things
long enough.

Everybody wants to be happy.
Donald Trump plays that to the hilt.
He tells them the Democrats
will make them unhappy
in all the ways he tells them
the Democrats are for everything
Real People are against:
Immigrants,
Sex-changing,
Homosexuals,
High grocery prices
and raising taxes.

He doesn't ask them how happy they were
during his Presidency.
He tells them how unhappy they will be
under Kamala Harris.

I say, "What does happy know?"
Happy only knows what it wants
and doesn't want.

What does wanting know?

Does wanting know what it takes?
Does wanting have what it takes?
To do what it takes?
To tend the infrastructure
that takes care of the needs
of the Republic?
That guards, defends, allows, enables
Liberty and Justice for ALL???

Highways!
Lead-free water!
A living wage!
An end to hunger
and homelessness!
Medical insurance!
The freedom to be in charge
of our own personal healthcare!
An environment that honors the climate!
A government that works to serve
things like these worldwide!

Jesus put getting what we want
and being happy 
in service to doing what needs to be done
and doing unto others
as we would have them do unto us
even if it means picking up our own cross
in living as he did all day every day
with liberty and justice for all.

Something Trump knows nothing about!

Dementia has several phases.
I wonder what form mine will take,
looking out the window,
watching the days come and go.

I am curious about a lot of things,
most things, actually.
I've always been that way,
and enjoy it the most.
I wonder what I will wonder about next,
waiting for some form of dementia
to carry me off
(I wonder where I will be then).

I accompanied parishioners drifting away,
and am familiar with the possibilities.
Slats Rainey had me confused with a Coca-cola
delivery man from a time long past,
and he always talked to me 
as though I were that person--
and I talked to him as though I were that person,
sharing his memories, 
as he remembered them,
and laughing as though I knew
what we were talking about.
It was time well spent,
though it was completely meaningless
except for the communion it afforded
during the length of our visits.

When dementia consumes us,
we remain able to enjoy our 
communion with one another's company
regardless of the nonsense
of our conversation.

The sacred things remain intact
through it all.

Taking our time 
and paying attention
would reduce our problems/difficulties
considerably.

Why is it so difficult
to take our time
and pay attention?

We live in the tension
between "Yes" and "No"--
with the contingency 
of having to pay the price
of riding the ride,
of doing what we want,
without doing what we don't want
in order to do it.

The benefits we enjoy
come with a cost to enjoying them.
And we want the joy
without the cost.

And coming to terms with the costs
of life's benefits
is called "growing up."

We all grow up against our will.
And that is the kink in the hose.

And so it is said,
"Truth is found between the hands."
"On the one hand this,
and on the other hand that,
and when do we give up that
in order to have this?"

Which is also called,
"Paying the price of being alive."

Making our peace with the price
that has to be paid
for living the life we want/need/have to live
is on-going, 
never-ending.

Being fine with that
is having it made.

This is also called
"Getting up and doing 
what has to be done
regardless of the cost involved."

Understanding the price to be paid
to do what is called for
and being glad to pay it
is all it takes to be happy
to be here, now,
wherever and whenever we are.

If we don't have what it takes
to do what is called for,
or don't want to pay it, 
we have to pay the price
of not paying the price
and that is how the great majority
of living beings live out their lives.

No?

I think of the people just getting by
in Long Lake, New York,
and Tupper Lake,
and Rangeley Lake, Maine
and throughout the United States,
and the entire planet,
and the cosmos,
and wonder why they do it.

What is their motivation?
Their motivating force?
Why do they get up and face the day?

Let's see what good we can do today!
For the joy of doing it,
and the satisfaction of having done it!

And the Buddha?
and the Christ?
Born to die for the privilege
of having lived--
like everyone who came before them
and after them.
To see what good they could do today,
for the joy of doing it
and the satisfaction of having done it.

It is the only motive
for everyone ever always.

We do it to see what good we can do today,
for the joy of doing it,
and the satisfaction of having done it.

For the wonder of it all.

And we would do it again if we had the chance--
for ten thousand billion lifetimes.

To see what good we can do
for the joy and satisfaction
of having done it,
and never having done it enough.

Those who know,
know it is so.

Forever always!

Fold it all in.
Incubate it.
Reflect on it.
Allow it to work its magic within,
transforming us into those
who care without caring,
and do without doing,
and accomplish without striving,
living in the service
of what is called for
without ambition,
intention,
expectation or opinion.

Just seeing,
hearing,
knowing,
understanding,
responding
to what is needed
in each situation as it arises
out of our original nature,
innate virtues
(What we do best and enjoy doing most),
and intrinsic intuition,
for the joy of doing it,
and the satisfaction of doing it,
like chips off the old block,
like the Buddha and the Christ,
spontaneously, 
sincerely,
appropriately,
time after time,
all our life long.

PS, I recommend my other site on WordPress for keeping up with What’s Happening Now, and it will save me from posting additional “Latest things that need to be said on this site. You can find me there here:

I wish I had devoted myself
to the moment, 
this here, this now,
all my life long--
being what the moment called for
doing what the moment needed
to be done,
when, where and how it needed
to be done.

I wish someone had explained 
to me how utterly important that is.
I lived among people who did not know
themselves how important it is.
No wonder I am the way I am!

I threw every moment to the wind.
I trampled every moment underfoot.
I redrew every moment to match 
my idea of what the moment should be,
serving my interests,
meeting my needs,
being as I wanted it to be.

I was the master of every moment.
I am ashamed to say.

I want a re-do.
Another go.
Let's start over.
Beginning now.
I will honor every moment
from here to the end of the line
as the wonder it is,
a gift for me to open carefully
and to serve with all my heart
as it needs to be served,
the rest of the way.

We are all we have--
we are all we need!
But.
It takes realization,
awareness-attention
to make it so.

There is no father-god out there.
The God we seek is in here:
In our body,
mind,
intuition,
virtues (The things we do best
and enjoy doing most),
original nature.

We laugh "and say "No way!"

YES WAY!!!

All it takes is waking up
to know that it is so.

We all know that it is so,
and are afraid that it is so.
Afraid because that leaves it
all up to us.

We do not want the burden--
the responsibility--
of being holy, sacred divine!

Who would?

So here we sit.
Waiting to be rescued
by a squad of UFO's.

If that isn't sad,
I don't know sad.

We all have the power of God
and don't use it 
because we are afraid.
And want to believe in a God
who gives us things
and takes care of us
so we pray to the hills
from which comes our help,
and refuse to help ourselves.

Of all the things in the cosmos,
we are the most to be pitied. 

"They were of God--
and refused to help themselves
or each other!"

The epitaph of the ages.

Bringing to life the holy within us
and living as the divine in human form
puts us in the league with the Christ
and requires the same of us
that was demanded of him,
namely that we live without concern for
profit or gain,
advantage and advancement,
exploitation and prosperity...
and simply do what is called for
in each situation as it arises
with the gifts of our original nature,
innate virtues
(The things we do best 
and enjoy doing most),
and our intrinsic intuition,
in the service of what needs to be done
for the joy of doing it
and the satisfaction of having done it
throughout the time left for living.

Amen! May it be so!

We have to drop into emptiness (stillness/silence)
on a regular basis
to just breathe
and wait for "the mud to settle and the water to clear,"
and to see what meets us there.

To see what arises there
to catch our eye,
get our attention,
and send us back into the field of action
with a sense of what is called for
to live in the service of what needs to be done
in each situation as it emerges
from the circumstances of our life
with the gifts of our original nature,
our innate virtues (What we do best
and enjoy doing most),
and our intrinsic intuition.

To live this way, 
dropping into the silence (emptiness/stillness)
and rising up into the field of action,
is to follow the path of Tao
in living aligned with the flow of life and being,
at one with who we are
and what is ours to do.

This is balance and harmony,
integrity, sincerity, spontaneity,
without any interest in what is in it for us,
beyond the joy of living like this
and the satisfaction of having done it.

Living at one with the time and place
of our living.

One day at a time.