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?
Peach Orchard Memory — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Fort Mill, South Carolina
Articulation is the pathway–the Way–to TRUTH, as long as it does not merely repeat what has always been said, as is the case with theology and preaching, patriotism and blah, blah, blah wherever it is experienced. Jacob Brownski said, “We cannot know the truth unless we live in certain ways.” We have to live truthfully. It takes the truth to know the truth. It takes being the truth to know the truth. If we are not living truthfully, we are lying utterly, completely, uselessly. Why live a lie? Yet, that is the way life is lived all about us through the ages. Politics and Religion are two places where lying is not only commonplace, but also are required, demanded, insisted upon–and everyone is in on the travesty. I call out the lie! The lying! With: A Pox On All Your Houses! All of those who would know the truth must live it in order to speak it! And that line is very short indeed.
When Jesus said, “Pray without ceasing,” I interpret that to mean “Be always aware of that which is thought of as God with us.” Be always open to that which is with us always. How do we experience “that which is with us always”? “The something that is there”? “The something that is there” has been “there” from the very earliest awareness of “the presence.” I think every living thing is aware of “the presence,” and has been from the start. I think of that eternal presence as “Psyche.” The best thing about “Psyche” is that (She) is not draped with theology. We can sense (Her) presence but we have not invented a vocabulary with which to talk about (Her), and may it always be so.
Theology so skews the field! We cannot mention the word “God” without being immediately carried away into Original Sin, The Garden of Eden, Atonement, Redemption, Forgiveness, the death of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, Heaven, Hell, etc. God has been captured and held captive by theology and has no hope of escape. So “God” is a word we cannot use because its meaning has been coopted, hijacked, and cannot be freed, and thus cannot be used to mean anything other than what it means. But, Psyche? As free as the wind blowing through the Cosmos! And it is that wind that I understand Jesus to be meaning us to be always attending. And, Oh if we would! That would transform everything!
Take it out for a test drive! Become aware of the “Something” that is with us always by being with the “Something” always throughout the day. Realize that we are sharing life always with “Something” that I call “Psyche.” See what you think, what you feel. See how it goes. Without ceasing.
The message of all the Messiahs through time is simple, straight forward, in capable of being missed, and, therefore being ignored: “This is the way to do it! Be me!” And we worship them all for being the spit’n image of who we all need to be, and letting them bear the wounds and the burdens that are ours to carry–which we disdain, preferring, instead, to project onto Jesus, and Gandhi, and all martyrs of all causes, the worship and admiration of disciples a step or two removed from the sacrifices made by those they worship and admire. And conveniently ignoring that it is not about believing in the masters, it is about BEING the masters. But that is a step too far. No?
In the silence, emptiness, stillness, we find what we need to do what is called for and needs to be done in each situation as it arises all our life long–doing the right thing, at the right time, in the right place, and in the right way. Through “circumstances begetting circumstances” all the way along the Way. And that is all there is to it. “Nothing to it but to do it!” (Maya Angelou).
I don’t know why I went from Greensboro, North Carolina to Deer Isle, Maine to take a photograph of the full moon. Or to take any photograph. In the grip of inspiration you don’t ask questions. That is also the difference between our sixties and our eighties. I am quite content to sit by the still waters and watch the days go past. I don’t have to have anything to show for it. Or do something worth while. It is worth my while to sit, watching the days go by. If I want to write something, I write it. Speaking of writing, if you haven’t read what I have to say on the parable of the prodigal son, I suggest you read it. You will find it at jimwdollar.com under The Parable of the Prodigal Son. It will be the end of Christianity as we know it if enough people read what I have to say. Then Christianity will have a choice, to hang it up or to turn the light around and begin living, not to believe in Jesus, but to BE Jesus. Or, as he put it, “Turn and become as little children.” It is the same thing, as Jesus would be quick to say.
Aspen 03 — Jasper National Park, Canadian Rockies, Alberta
We are our own light. Our own authority. Our own guide and Guru. We are all we need to find what we need to do what needs to be done with the time that is ours on the earth, and the task that is ours to do. All it takes is making regular visits to the emptiness, stillness, silence (One thing, not three) and waiting in the silence for what arises, emerges, appears, meets us there as the Knower within, AKA our Intuition. Our intuition knows. And Psyche, Tao join her as our three sources of balance and harmony, insight and understanding in the here, now of every situation as it arises.
Recurring visits with our inner Trinity qualify us to see, hear, know, understand, what’s what and what is called for and how we might do what needs to be done, when where and how it needs to be done as circumstances beget circumstances, and we respond to the urgency of the times that are upon us with what it takes to meet the moment with the gifts of our Original Nature, our Innate Virtues (The things we do best and enjoy doing most), our Inherent Intuition and our Intrinsic Imagination, bringing what we have to offer to bear on what needs our attention throughout all that meets us on the Journey that carries us all along the Way of Life and Being–which we remain prepared for by dropping into the silence and renewing our acquaintance with the Force that is with us always to the end of the age. Amen! May it be so!
The Willow in the Rain — Country Park, Greensboro, North Carolina
I am glad to have no idea of how things ought to be beyond being quiet and waiting to see what is called for in each situation as it arises and entering the field of action to do the right thing, in the right way, at the right time and dropping back into the silence until the next thing that is called for comes around and keeping the flow going through circumstances begetting circumstances as long as life lasts. May it always be so.
I give credit to the experience of emptiness, stillness, silence (One thing, not three) over time to be at the place of experiencing frustration without beingfrustrated, for example. This is the way of experiencing a situation without being consumed by the situation. We can observe a situation and be immune to the situation. This is the way of emergency room personnel being able to take whatever comes through the door and do what needs to be done. When, where and how it needs to be done. We can practice being here, now while not being here, now, every day. We can become immune to the inescapable things in every here, now, in the service of doing what needs to be done in the right way, at the right time, in the right place. And be open to the joy and pleasure of being able to offer ourselves in that way to what is asked of us throughout our life.
I wish I could be there with the Sunday River in Newry, Maine until I was ready to be somewhere else. What this image means to me is peace, silence, quiet, solitude, etc. All of which I take to be the solid gold foundation and the essential necessities of life. But. For the most part our lives, our life, consists of noise, complexity, distractions, complications, disruptions… I don’t know how we do it.
I do not remember it happening, or when it happened, or how it happened but. Tao, Psyche, Intuition came to live with me as essential factors to be taken into account, noticed, felt, experienced, embraced, welcomed, perceived, comprehended, understood, etc. as That Which We Cannot Live Without. They are as essential as air and water. And it is our place to know that, realize that, and live with them front and center in our lives.
When did I start writing about them? It has a recent feel about it, as though it were only yesterday. And this image of the Sunday River and the Artist’s Bridge in Newry, Maine would be a good symbol reminding us of their place in our lives. We cannot hope to live well without them, front and center, in our lives. What do we do to give them that place and bestow upon the the devotion the place of the sacred deserves in our lives. For they are sacred. Beyond theology! Without theology! With nothing but experience–the lived experience of the day-to-day to ground and center them in the place of highest honor and devotion in our life day-to-day.
We could start with noticing our intuition at work in our life. Intuition is the most readily available experience of the three (The REAL Holy Trinity!). And is, to my way of thinking the source of all of our imagining about God, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost–All of that came to be out of our early forebearer’s experience with their Intuition. Inner experience is founded upon emptiness, stillness, silence–and that is all there was in the early days, in the earliest days. Ample time to be aware of and in relationship with Intuition and its wonders. And those wonders became stories, became ritual, became religion, as “we” projected our inner experiences outward into the vast imagined world of invisible beings, gods and ghosts and all of the invisible world that we created to comfort and terrify ourselves over the course of history from then to now. It only was Intuition at work in our life.
And Intuition is the interface between ourselves and Psyche. Psyche is the foundational knower/doer/be-er of life. Psyche IS Life. IS the Life Force of every living thing throughout the Cosmos. Connecting all of life. Overseeing all of life. Tending all of life. The vital source and foundation of life. And she has a central role to play in all of life. The more we are able to move our connection to, relationship with, Psyche from Unconscious to Conscious through our interaction with Intuition, the more aware we can be of the place of Psyche in our life, the more fully we can be aligned with, directed by the Intuitive/Psychic connection, the more satisfying and fulfilled, joyful and delightful our experience of life will be.
Which leaves Tao as the flow of time, circumstances, events, experiences, etc. through both physical (material) and spiritual (invisible) strata of existence and experience. When Stella got her grove back, she got back in alignment with Tao. To live at one with, in synch with, in tune with the Tao is to be at “the sweet spot” of life and being, and everything is humming along, on schedule and in balance, harmony and rhythm with the timing and the patterns of the Cosmos. When the Force was with Luke Skywalker, the Tao was strong in him, with him through out time and space, physically and spiritually, visibly and invisibly. We cannot talk about it, define it, explain it, but we can know it, and not know it, and be lost without it. The old Taoist of The Rainmaker is a metaphor for Tao, as is this illustration: A Zen master was walking with a student when they came to a bridge. The student ask the master, “What is Zen?” Whereupon the Master pushed him off the bridge into the water below, saying, “That is water! Wade in it, swim in it, bathe in it, drink it or drown! But DO NOT TALK ABOUT WATER! To talk about water is to not-know water! To talk about Zen is to not-know Zen. To talk about Tao is to not-know Tao. To know when we are in the flow, in the balance, harmony and rhythm of the Tao is to know as much of the Tao as we will ever know. To know how to be in the flow of Tao is not to be told how to know. It is to know without knowing how or what we know. The experience is its own teacher. And we live to know what we can know of Tao, Psyche, Intuition–and our life will be better for knowing, and it will be worse for not-knowing. And that is all that can be said about that.
Hanging Out on Hanging Rock — Hanging Rock State Park, Danbury, North Carolina
I don’t see prayer as having an impact on anything in the cosmos. If prayer worked there would be no cemeteries, or hospitals, or poverty…and so on forever. What does work is emptiness, stillness and silence (One thing, not three), being here, now, present with, and conscious of, what is present with us, here, now, in a physical and spiritual way (I using “spiritual” to cover all that is beyond our physical senses. If we don’t/cannot know it is there, it is spiritual, like high and low frequency’s and what is going on with Tao, Psyche and Intuition (I have written books on these things, might check them out. They are all priced in the range of a cup of coffee.)
Spending time with things spiritual is a fine way to spend time, actually, the best way to spend time. Dropping into the emptiness, stillness and silence, is what Jesus had in mind when he said, “Pray without ceasing.” The silence is home to everything spiritual, and is a great way to hangout. Call it meditation if you want to, or prayer, just go there a lot and become aware of what is with us there. Knowing what meets us in the silence is the kind of knowing that changes the material world in the way that prayer does change things. Beyond question. Without a doubt.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Gatlinburg, Tennessee
Knowing what is called for in each situation as it arises, being right about it, and doing it is all that can be asked of anyone, ever, throughout time. Even if they don’t believe in God. Even if they don’t believe they ARE God.
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 