Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

This is the cover of my latest eBook on Kindle. The publication system converts my manuscript to mesh with all Kindle readers worldwide, presenting me with formatting problems I have no control over, so lines end and spaces appear for no apparent reason. I have endeavored to correct misspellings and punctuation errors to the point of being at the point of trusting you to deal graciously with any you find that I overlooked. Peaceful abiding here, now.

The country has been shocked and confused
by Trump's take-over of the government,
but the eruptions cannot be long off.

When people get it,
the betrayal and anger will find outlets,
Trump will jump to play the military
in the streets card,
and it will be dicy for a while
with Hamas-like terror groups sprouting overnight,
and shootings/bombings in the suburbs and inner-cities.
Without a dependable emergency-response network,
and a crumbling infrastructure nation-wide,
we will be living in the Third World
undone at how fast it happened.
And Trump will be king of the rubble.

At least, that's the dream that woke me up
fifteen minutes ago.

I can't wait for it to go away.

What's stopping us from doing it
like we would do it?

Living, that is.
Living like we think life ought to be lived.
What's stopping us from doing it like we would do it?
How different would that be from the way we are doing it?

Take it into the emptiness, stillness, and silence
and see what emerges there as suggestion or urgency.
What is called for?
What keeps it from happening?
Listen in the silence.
See where it goes.

It is all practice.  
Every day is another dress rehearsal.
We are working to improve our improvisation.
To see what's what
and to know what is called for
in order to respond with our original nature,
our innate virtues--the things we do best
and enjoy doing most,
and our inherent imagination
and intrinsic intuition.

In dancing with our circumstances
and living in synch with the force
at work in each here, now
to do what needs to be done
as a blessing and a grace upon all that is,
now and forever. Amen.

What's to become of all the wildlife refuges
when Trump fires all the workers?
For what? To take the money saved from all those salaries
and dole it out as tax cuts to individuals and cooperations.
What kind of man would do that?
How good is the good Trump calls good?
What is it good for?
Whose good is served by the good Trump calls good?

Trump has no sense of how things need to be.
He only cares for how he wants things to be.
When did Trump ever do what was right
at the expense of what he wanted?

Trump is a spoiled baby who never grew up.
It is too late now.
How many people would take back their votes
and give them to Kamala Harris?

And if they wouldn't, what kind of people does that make them?
What kind of people would keep Trump in office?

There is a sense in which cluelessness 
characterizes my life.
But, I also see wisdom at work in knowing--
and trusting my knowing--
what to say yes to 
and what to say no to.

So it's been a cluelessness innocence at work
and not a clueless striving.
I didn't push my way anywhere.
Just walked through open doors.
And I don't know how I could have done better.
I am happy to have been lucky,
and glad to be where I am.

My plan for the future 
is to sit looking out the window
and doing what is called for.

I could sit looking at these Appalachian Mountains
and not have to go see what's on the other side.
I call that contentment.

There is a lot I won't miss when it's gone.
I know people who take exception to dying.
To the point of being overwrought about it.

For one thing,
we don't know if our experience is limited 
to this life.
It may expand to unimaginable wonders.

We do not know enough to be upset about dying!
I'm looking forward to finding out what's there.
And what isn't.

And see it as an adventure waiting to unfold.

All of my books need a good proof reader,
and the conversion process from my computer
to a Kindle reader creates choppy line endings
that have to be cleaned up between editions
and it takes bout five of those for me to be
able to make my peace with the final outcome.
This is number three. And I don't say anything
there that I haven't said here. But, it keeps me
doing what I love to do, and that is all the reason  
anyone needs to do what they are doing.

I only write to say what needs to be said. 
And that includes asking questions that beg to be asked.
I think I'm in it for life--and have been since high school.

What I write is how I think, is who I am. 
And in saying who I am, I see who I am, know who I am.
And follow my interests by writing about what I am
interested in.

Photography served/serves me in the same way. 
I photograph what catches my eye, which shows me
what I am interested in. Which I would not know
without something catching my eye.

I have to be shown who I am. And I am always surprised
by the revelations, in a good kind of way.

There is On and there is Off.
They constitute/exhibit/express
ways of mind, ways of being.
The shift from one to the other
is controlled by being here, now
and being somewhere else.

Here, now, in the moment
is tuned into the moment
to the point of merging with the moment
and being what the moment calls for, requires,
here, now as circumstances shift and flow
like tennis players in the midst of match point.

The players disappear in the playing.
The dancer vanishes into the dance.
The child is swept away in the sand box.
The singer becomes the song.

What keeps that from happening is thinking.

By switching off thinking,
we merge into the here, now,
and become what is called for in the moment
of our being one with the moment.

How do we so focus on the here, now
that we become one with the here, now?

"Peaceful abiding here, now."

And "Practice, practice, practice."

I have a long list of places I don't want to revisit. 
And no list at all of places I want to visit.
I call that content.
I know people who would call it boring.

I would also call it coming to terms with my life.

I have spotted a photo I want to take,
and I'm figuring out the details regarding how to do it,
given my limitations.
Working out the logistics and timing is far from boring,
and I am looking forward to pulling it off.

I think we have to have interests and enthusiasms 
to keep us focused and going.
And I have those,
but none call for long trips to places
I don't care about visiting.

I view that as noise,
and silence is more valuable these days
than in those that have gone before.

Distraction, disturbance, diversion
disrupts our focus and our flow,
destroys our silence,
devastates our world.

And so the importance of returning frequently
each day 
to the refuge of "Peaceful abiding here, now."

Practice dropping into "Peaceful abiding here, now,"
all the time everywhere.

Perfect switching from "this place" to "that place"
instantaneously.

Be out of reach "like that."

Just disappear.

Into "Peaceful abiding, here, now."

Ground yourself in emptiness/stillness/silence
wherever you are.

Understand this to be what Jesus had in mind
when he said, "Pray always."

Live out of that place in meeting your day every day.

Dropping into emptiness-stillness-silence here, now,
and being clear about what's what 
and what is called for
and doing what needs to be done
where and how it needs to be done
is living aligned with the Tao,
which is the flow of life and being,
the Force of Star Wars,
the intuition at the heart of who we are.

When Jesus said, "Pray always,"
this is what he was talking about.

Being one with what is called for
and doing what needs to be done about it
with the gifts that are ours to serve and share.

Do not bother with believing in Jesus.
Live to BE Jesus and all that you do
by being YOU, doing YOU, in each situation
as it arises.

Spontaneously, from the heart,
without thinking about what you are doing.

Or as Jesus would say,
"Don't let your left hand
know what your right hand is doing."

And, "The spirit is like the wind
that blows where it will."

Without scheming, planing, or conniving.