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?
Hemlock Islands 10/10/2010 — Penobscot Bay, Deer Island, Maine
Paul Watzlawick wrote a book entitled "The Situation Is Hopeless, But Not Serious."
It is a title for our times.
Rumi said, "If you are not here with us in good faith, you are doing terrible damage."
Good faith cannot be compelled to come to the table.
Trump and everyone in Trump's sphere ooze with bad faith. No one can do anything about that. Electing Kamala Harris is our only hope.
We can't get Trump, etc., to care about what they do not care about and to not care about what they do care about. And if Trump is elected, it will be a hopeless situation that we cannot take seriously.
We will have to act as though it matters what we do-- anyway, nevertheless, even so-- and continue to work for equality, justice, freedom and truth no matter what our chances are.
We will have to do what we care about, while not-caring how unlikely our actions will have any impact.
Just so you know, the Chinese terms for this are: Guanhuai (Caring) Buzaiho (Not caring).
We have to vote as those who care because not caring is not an option.
Hemlock Islands 10/10/2010 — Penobscot Bay, Deer Isle, Maine
We have no need of plans and agendas-- a sense of what is necessary is enough to steer us through circumstances and situations as they arise.
It has been that way with us as a species since time began.
"If you meet an elephant coming toward you on the path, GET OFF THE PATH!!!"
This is not difficult. We make too much of it.
Siting in the emptiness, stillness and silence waiting for clarity and the spontaneous arising of intuition urging action in the field of action guides us into doing what needs to be done when, where, how it needs to be done, and it's back to waiting for clarity.
It is the way they do in on the islands, and the way indigenous peoples have done it through the ages.
Assembly lines, punching in and meeting quotas ruined a good thing.
Lake Andrew Jackson Mirror 02 2018 — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina
Liberty/freedom/liberation are over-rated. Balance and harmony are under-appreciated. What can we do with our choices? In light of what--toward what--do we live? What are we doing with our life? What guides our boat on its path through the sea? What do we have to work with? What are we here to do? What brings you joy?
Assume with me that we are here to serve our original nature, our innate virtues (The things we do best and enjoy/love doing most), and our intrinsic intuition (That which keeps us on track, on the beam, at one with ourselves and our life), while maintaining our balance and harmony, peace and joy.
We are born with all we need to find what we need to do what needs to be done-- when/where/how it needs to be done-- in each situation as it arises all our life long.
We have to let greed, fear, loathing, duty go, and embrace the right kind of emptiness, stillness and silence, waiting for the mud to settle and the water to clear, in order to see/sense/serve the way that arises spontaneously to call us to action upon the field of action in doing what needs us to do it here, now in light of all of the above, in each situation as it arises.
We do this with no plan, no agenda, no strategy, no tactics, no goal, no expectations, no ideas, no will, no purpose, to have/impose/force/apply.
We wait to see what is called for and how we might best use the tools/skills we have to offer in doing what needs us to do it, honoring all that needs to be honored, and let that be that, moment by moment, time after time.
Lake Andrew Jackson Mirror 01 2018 — Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster County, South Carolina
The old Taoists said "circumstances beget circumstances," and it is our place to respond to what's what here, now, in ways appropriate to the occasion.
That cannot be spelled out in advance. We cannot know beforehand what to do when and where.
We respond to every here, now, here, now.
To have any success with this process, we need a strong relationship with our intrinsic intuition, in order to "feel our way along," reading the moment, getting out of the way with our ideas of what to do, and relax into our intuition, doing what arises of its own accord in a "spontaneous arising" kind of way, so that we find ourselves acting in the field of action without knowing why, just being as pertinent and as in touch with what is going on as we are capable of being. Saying and doing what is called for as directed from within, as the moved responding to the mover.
This what intuition is for, the role intuition is expertly tuned to handle.
With a little practice in getting out of the way, we come to look forward to seeing what we will be doing next-- with a nod and a bow to the mover guiding our boat on its path through the sea.
"I don't think that's going anywhere," could be said about everything. Along with it's corollary, "Where do you think you're going?" And, "What do you think you're doing?"
These are all statements that could be at the heart of Zen.
Along with the following:
"Those who say, don't know. Those who know, don't say."
"The Tao that can be told/explained/said is not the eternal Tao."
A Zen master and a novice were walking across a bridge when the novice asked, "What is Zen?" Whereupon the master picked him up and threw him into the river below, saying, "That is water! swim in it, bathe in it, drink it, or drown-- but do not talk about it! To talk about water is to not know water!"
Those of us who know what we are doing, know that we don't know what we are doing, and sit in the emptiness, stillness, silence, waiting for the mud to settle and the water to clear, so that our intrinsic intuition might guide us into doing what needs to be done, where, when and how, and then we drop back into the emptiness, etc. for another round, and so on, for as long as life shall last.
All Aboard! — Jasper, Alberta, Jasper National Park, Canadian Rockies
What do you think about as you are driving trains through Canada?
What do you think about when you are not?
What do you think about?
What we think about tells the tale.
One thought tends to lead to another, particularly when we are thinking about our thinking. Being curious as to why we think the way we think and not some other way instead-- and thinking about some of the other ways available to us, and wondering why we have never thought that way.
Or thinking how the way we think is so much like the way people think around us.
Who in your family of origin thought the way you think? Who in your family of origin did NOT think the way anyone else thought?
Who has been the freest thinker you know? What books did they read? What did they do to pay the bills? What did they pay the bills to do? How was their life different from the way life was being lived around them?
How is the way you live different from the way life is being lived around you?
How is the way you think different from the way people around you think?
Crescent Beach Panorama — Ecola State Park, Oregon
Aligning ourselves with our original nature, innate virtues (The things we do best and enjoy doing most), and our intrinsic intuition, puts us at "the sweet spot" of our life, on the beam, at one with our destiny, and in accord with the Tao of life and being.
You would think, that with all that going for it, more people would be faithfully engaged in centering themselves with themselves, and living with the plumb line of their personal integrity always in mind, being true to who they are in each situation as it arises all their life long.
It is an eternal puzzle that we are not.
Just sit down, shut up, and focus on what rings true.
Get up and do what needs to be done, when/where/how it needs to be done.
Repeat this process/practice throughout the time left for living.
Lake Chicot 06 2015 — Lake Chicot State Park, Ville Platte, Louisiana
If you choose to go the Non-Christian/Non-Buddhist route, you get to throw out all the theology, doctrines, dogma, dharma, sutras, rituals, catechisms and creeds, and focus exclusively on being the best Jesus and/or Buddha you can be, simply by sitting in the right kind of emptiness, stillness and silence, waiting for the mud to settle and the water to clear, reflecting on, contemplating, considering, exploring your original nature, your innate virtues (The things you do best and enjoy/love doing most), and your intrinsic intuition, and waiting on/watching/listening for what arises in the silence with an urgency about it that cannot be denied to thrust you into the field of action, calling you to do what needs to be done, where, when and how it needs to be done, in each situation as it arises.
And when you see that through to completion, drop back in to the emptiness, stillness and silence, waiting for the mud to settle and the water to clear, etc, just as before, throughout the time left for living.
Just like Jesus and the Buddha did it all their life long.
The key is being true to your original nature, your innate virtues, and your intrinsic intuition.
These comprise the Holy Trinity of the Non-Christian and Non-Buddhist life.
They come to life in the emptiness, stillness and silence (The second Holy Trinity), and off you go! Into the Great Adventure of Being Alive!
Moraine Lake Panorama 2009 A — Banff National Park, Alberta
Tourist time starts around 10 AM. Sunrise on the peaks begins a bit earlier. It is a question of what matters most.
Knowing what matters to us is a key piece of knowing, reflecting our original nature.
We don't know why the important things are important, we just live to serve them.
Dogs, cats, horses and people matter a lot to a lot of people, and not so much to others, reflecting the original nature of both groups.
Giving them a sense of where they belong, and where they have no business being. Essential knowing. Where our place is, and where it isn't. What we are about-- what we are to be about. And not about.
We have to honor the lines defining, expressing, doing, being who we are, and are capable of being.
That is the tragedy. That we do not know and do not bother with knowing who we are and are capable of being.
Largely because we have the wrong people in or life. People who do not know or care who they are.
Who have/had neither the time nor the inclination to sit in the emptiness/stillness/silence long enough, often enough, to listen/see/know/understand required to discover and understand who they are and not.
Wild Goose Island, St. Mary Lake, 2004 — Glacier National Park, Montana
Zen is Taoism's response to Buddhism. There is nothing Buddhist about it.
"Don't take suffering seriously, Bro! Just fold it into your life and live on! Live on!"
The Buddha could have used the insights of Taoism.
"Nothing is so bad that changing the way you look at it won't make better!"
"Why be undone about the way things are? Do what can be done about it and move on! Move on!"
The Buddha's solution was to stop thinking about it entirely. Empty mind. No mind. Untouched by it all. Being dead to the idea of dying. Ignoring things as they are disappears them altogether.
Nothing is so bad that denial can't improve, like that!
Dying to death beats death! Dying to suffering beats suffering! "Nothing can happen I can't deny by not thinking about it! So, I'm just going to not think about the things I don't like!"
Cathedral Rock Mirror — Yosemite National Park, California
Spend the rest of your life trusting yourself to the right kind of emptiness/stillness/silence, exploring your original nature, your innate virtues (The things you do well and enjoy/love doing most), and your intrinsic intuition.
And experimenting with living in ways that serve and exhibit/express these three aspects of yourself in responding to what is called for in each situation as it arises.
Bringing yourself forth in this way to meet your life. In so doing, you will be living your life in the deepest, truest, kind of way.
Live to be you-- in the service of being you-- in the right kind of way, here and now, for as long as life shall last.
Moraine Lake Mirror — Banff National Park, Alberta, Canadian Rockies
Making the world a better place is quite beyond any of us. It is out of our hands. We would do well to settle for making ourselves a better place.
That is well within our reach, but. We have to lay aside our wants, desires, aspirations, dreams of conquest and domination...
We cannot go the Adam and Eve route, striving for what we have no business having.
Living within our means and doing what can be done with our original nature, our inherent virtues (The things we do best and enjoy doing most), and our intrinsic intuition to work with in each situation as it arises throughout the time left for living would do an amazing amount of good.
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 