Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

In The Fellowship of the Ring,
Gandalf said, "All we have to decide 
is what to do with the time that is given to us."

And we have help with that.
Our intrinsic intuition is with us
to guide us all along the way.

All we have to do is dispense with ambition,
aspiration, intention, desire and the will
to have our way no matter what.

Once we get that out of the way
and open ourselves to the emptiness/stillness/silence
(One thing not three)
we wait there for our intuition to nudge us
in the direction of what is called for
in each situation as it arises.

At that point,
we turn to our original nature,
our innate virtues (What we do best
and enjoy doing most)
to see what we have that might be helpful
in the work to do what needs to be done
here, now.

What to do with our life
is not a problem to be solved,
but a joy to be experienced
by doing what we are good at
in ways it is needed.

Life comes to us with its needs
and we serve it with our gifts
(Once we get our plans, agendas
and timetables out of the way).

All of my seminary professors 
were brilliant people.
They talked about God loving us unconditionally
against the backdrop of the Vietnam war
and the assassination of Martin Luther King
the the bit about being sent to hell for not believing
the bit about God's unconditional love.

As though there were no contradictions, 
discrepancies,
inconsistencies within the mix of the times.

They were brilliant without awareness
of the dichotomies at work in their lives.

A ten year-old Sunday School student
asked me,
"When am I going to understand
what's going on around here?"
I don't remember what I told her,
but I wish it had been,
"If you are looking for things to make sense,
you have to throw something out."

That's what I would tell her now,
for sure.

We have to throw out the nonsense
and see what we can do with what remains.

No God, no theology, no doctrines, no dogma,
no dharma, no creeds, no catechisms...
just you and me
and our original nature,
our innate virtues--
the things we do best and enjoy doing most--
and our intrinsic intuition.

Our virtues include our creativity,
the arts, literature, poetry, music...
all the good stuff humans are capable of producing.

The good stuff holds it together
when the bad stuff threatens to destroy it entirely.

With the good stuff at the heart of our life,
and living to serve our intuition
and do what is called for in each situation as it arises,
for the joy of doing it
and the satisfaction of having done it alone--
with nothing in it for us
but the wonder of being who we are.

The old Taoists built the spiritual foundation
of their existence out of no more than that--
doing what needed to be done
when, where and how it needed to be done
all their life long.
Because that is who we are.
That is what we do.

There doesn't need to be any more to it than that.

The Buddha and Jesus 
were as neurotic as the rest of us, 
and given to panic attacks,
frustration
and uncertainty.

They, too, wrestled with
Desire, Fear, Duty.

And they found the way through
the right kind of emptiness,
stillness and silence,
just as we do.

And they couldn't tell us
anything we can't know for ourselves
just by reflecting quietly
on our daily experiences 
with life
and our responses to those experiences.

We all are self taught.

The only thing teachers are good for
is telling us to listen to ourselves.

This old tortoise figures everything out
for her/him-self.
So do we all.

If hurricanes and other natural disasters
are going to reshape our lives 
to fit the contours of a new world,
we need to get creative really fast.
We are out of time.
And rebuilding the way it was
is just putting off adjusting
to the new constraints and requirements.

For example:
People are rebuilding homes
that have been swept into the sea
by moving 100 feet or so
from their old foundations.

Reality will finally win,
but it will be a long,
grueling, fight.

We aren't known for our ability
to take "No!" for an answer--
and have only ourselves to blame
for the "No's" we want to ignore.

The New World will not care at all
for our wants and wishes
when it delivers its requirements
and time table to our door steps.

I would like to watch how it plays out,
but I will be glad to miss it as well.

Collecting images "in the field"
was the high point in landscape photogaphy
for me. 

Walking up on them--
which is different from waking upon them,
which sounds like I am treading them
underfoot--
wandering through them,
taking time with them,
bought me to life
in ways that finding
the right word or phrase
does for my writing side.

Joy unfolding by being there, then.
Which is not the same as
exploring/deciding how to present them
with the wonders of Photoshop here, now.
That is a different kind of joy,
but joy, nonetheless.

Which gets us to the crux of the matter:
The joy of doing it 
and the satisfaction of having done it.

Where in your life
have you/do you
find those experiences coming to your rescue
in the ho-hum-hum-drum of existence?

What do you do that brings you to life?
Where do you find life pouring over,
spilling out, running on and on?

Partnering up with our intuition
in living in ways that call us to life
here, now,
is always available to us
as the gift of meditative playfulness
with our circumstances as they develop
around us.

With intuition pulling us into
aspects of our situation 
to startle us with surprise and delight
as things work out before our eyes
in ways we did not foresee 
and could not imagine.

The gifts of intuition keep on coming
in places we least expect it.
And leave us wondering what she is up to now,
and will do next--
and eager to find out!

We make things bearable
by changing the way we think about them.

Shifts in attitude
are a superpower.

We wait for the power to come back on
by waiting for the power to come back on.

And doing what needs to be done in the meantime.

Sitting quietly is always a fall back on Do-Thing. 

Being able to do that is one of the pluses 
of introversion.

Working with what we are given is another.

And wondering what it's time for now. 

Before you know it, 
it's tomorrow already.

Joseph Campbell says, in Pathways to Bliss,
"What is it we are questing for? It is the fulfillment of that which is potential in each of us. Questing for it is not an ego trip; it is an adventure to bring into fulfillment your gift to the world, which is yourself. There is nothing you can do that's more important than being fulfilled. You become a sign, you become a signal, transparent to transcendence; in this way you will find, live, become a realization of your own personal myth."

We are seeking who we are and what we are about, what is ours to do. We are seeking our original nature, our innate virtues (The things we do best and enjoy/love doing most, and our intrinsic intuition. It all is "right there," if we will only sit with ourselves in the emptiness/stillness, silence (One thing, not three) and open ourselves to the possibility of realization in these matters--not thinking about is so much as reflecting on nature/virtues/intuition in a walk-about kind of way, ruminating, wondering and waiting to see what occurs to us, what arises within to catch our eye and invite us to wander/wonder in its direction.

It might be a memory that stirs to mind, or a feeling of attraction to, or interest in, a particular area or event. Our role is to sit quietly and see what calls our name and where it leads. We open ourselves to what has need of us and see what happens--returning again and again to this process, looking for leads to follow to who we are and what we are about, what is ours yet to do.

All it takes is paying attention.
Seeing what we look at.
Knowing what we know.
Asking the questions
that beg to be asked.
Saying the things 
that cry out to be said.
Being awake.
Being aware.
Being alive
to the time and place 
of our living.
Throughout time.

Allowing our intrinsic intuition
to guide our boat 
on its path through the sea.

Knowing and doing what the situation calls for
when, where and how it is called for.
In each situation as it arises.

That's all there is to it.

24 hours without power,
12 hours without water,
will disrupt the flow,
introduce the novel,
and the steady presence
of the inconvenient
into any life.

Leaving us with responding
to the need of the moment
with the best we can think of 
at the time,
and the hope of never having
to do it again.

And comes the realization
that every moment,
every situation,
asks things of us,
requires our response 
to how things are here, now.

That is the on-going,
always-present 
condition of being alive:
Here we are--now what?

Something is called for all of the time.
How well we meet the moment
is the challenge of the times always.

We bring forth who we are
moment-by-moment,
24/7/12.

Being conscious/aware of that
and ready for the call of the times:
"The game is afoot!"
puts us in the position 
of doing what needs to be done
at all times
in all places
throughout our life.

Deliberately meeting the challenge of the times
with our original nature,
our innate virtues 
(The things we do best
and love/enjoy doing most)
and our intrinsic intuition,
puts us in the position
of living as well as we can
in dealing with all that comes along.

And no one can do better than that!

And everyone can feel the physical shift
when the power comes back on
and water is restored.

We trust each other
to be who we say we are.
And to live together in ways
that honor each other's right
to be who we are
within normal, customary, social limits.
We aren't going to trash
each other's boundaries
or mind each other's business.
And we are all going to do our part
to "just get along."

I do so wish this kind of social agreement
extended to all people throughout society.
I don't know why it doesn't.
But, I remain aloof from strangers,
and prefer being withdrawn and "alone"
in public places.
Yet, I hold little back here,
believing in the value of saying what's what
and how it is with me,
and trusting you to distance yourself from me
if I'm appalling and too raw for your comfort zone.

I invite you to take religion into 
your own hands,
and create for yourselves
what you deem to be reasonable
and prudent ideas about your spirituality
and "the invisible world"
that will support you in your life
and in your ability to live 
with balance and harmony
within all circumstances
and each situation as it arises--
standing with our shoulders
above our feet
and able to move in any direction
at any time
in doing what needs to be done,
when, where and how it needs to be done,
and enabling ourselves to bring our best
to meet the moment and what is asked of us there
throughout the time left for living.

Living our of our intrinsic intuition
is our most reliable guide
in determining what needs to be done here, now.
And we grow in our ability to do that
by spending enough of the right kind of time
with emptiness, stillness, silence--
one thing, not three--
in a routine and regular way every day.

May it be well with you in that regard,
now and forever!

Once the Buddha died 
and his followers got their hands
on distributing his teachings,
Buddhism diverged into Who Says So?

I have no idea of how many variants 
of Buddhism there are,
or have been through the ages,
but a Google search will take you there.

Who Speaks For The Buddha?
Who Says So?

It's like asking 
"Who speaks for the Christ?"

Irenaeus the Bishop (Butcher) of Lion
took it upon himself to speak
for Christianity
and the Church of Rome,
persecuting the Gnostics
by burning them at the stake,
and paving the way for  
"One Holy and Apostolic Church "
and however many varieties
of Christianity that have developed 
through the ages
(Google it!).

Who Speaks for Christ?
Who Says so?

People argue about the variations
of Buddhism and Christianity 
as though there is a definitive word
regarding the Absolute Truth.
There is only a massive amount of opinion
in the matter.

And Those Who Think They Know Best
still go about declaring heresy
here and there.
As if they have more than a
self-declared right to do so!

Who Says So?
How does anyone know
that they know
what they are talking about?

Faith, these days, 
is more than faith in the Christ 
or faith in the Buddha.
It is faith in Who Says So?
And that could be anyone 
with a microphone these days!