Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

Emptiness is emptying ourselves
of everything,
even the desire to be empty.

Emptiness is nothingness.
Mindlessness.

Emptiness is No Mind.
Buddha Mind is No Mind.
Not knowing it is No Mind.
Not knowing.

Dropping into the deepest sleep.
Beyond dreaming.
Past knowing.
Past seeing/hearing/thinking.

Just being here/now.
Cleansing the doorway of perception.
Being open,
being closed.
Not here, not there.

Been there?
Done that?
Why?
Why not?

What would we remember
if we have been there,
done that?

That is emptiness.

Anything else is just talk.

–0–

Tranquil scenes allow us to 
sink into the moment,
absorbing the rightness
of here/now,
and participating in the 
universal recognition of 
the importance of 
being present with what
is present with us
for the experience of oneness
with all of the cosmos--
like seeing the wonder of the ocean
in one drop of water,
or one grain of sand.

Presence is the wonder itself.
"The ability to be with anything
within our field of awareness,"
is the way Ann Weiser Cornell
thinks of Presence.

Present with, accepting of,
all there is, as it is,
right here, right now,
always and forever.

Why not?

"If the doors of perception 
were cleansed every thing 
would appear to (us) as it is, 
Infinite" (William Blake).

We participate in the act
of "cleansing the doors of perception"
by stopping to see the moment
and being present with everything
within or field of awareness."

Or, allowing ourselves to
be stopped by the moment,
as with this one.

–0–

Hitler captivated his audiances
and talked them into seeing 
the way he saw things.
He had a "hypnotic personality."
"Strong, forceful personalities"
can be that way.

Politicians and evangelical preachers
and "snake oil" salesmen thrive on
having "the gift."

The rest of us would do well
to spend our time away from their influence,
and happy to be at home
in emptiness, stillness and silence.

We are born with an original nature,
intrinsic virtues/virtuosities
(The things we do best and love to do most),
and an inherent intuition,
which is a built-in sense of direction,
intuiting "Yes and No" from birth.

And, we would do well to develop our relationship
with these things,
learning to know what we know
and how to trust our own innate sense of who we are
and what we need to do and to leave undone.

However, the inner signals 
can be jammed by powerful personalities,
and by parents who force their authority
upon us
and "training us in the way they think we should go"
from birth.

We meet a lot of resistance in our work
to be who we are,
and have to be resilient and determined
to follow our own heart
and live to be who we are,
no matter what.

May it be that way with us all!

–0–

Listening to ourselves,
hearing what is going on within,
knowing how we are being impacted
by the circumstances of our life,
and responding to that with 
a level of empathy and compassion
appropriate for the situation as a whole,
would be an important step
toward balance and harmony,
and a partnership with ourselves
based on mutual respect and encouragement
for the effort of meeting life as it comes
day to day.

We don't get enough help,
we don't have good-enough choices,
and we don't know where to turn
too much of the time.

Yet, we can always Buddy-up with ourselves
in a "Here we are, now what?" kind of way
whenever we need a hand with attitude adjustment
and squaring ourselves up
with how things are.

Our best invisible friend
is always right here
with a wink and a smile
when the times call for such,
and it would be wrong
to not look them up!

–0–

The missing piece was D.T. Suzuki's statement   
that Zen considered "enlightenment" 
to be equivalent to "habitual intuition."

Listening to ourselves
and being right about what we are saying/hearing!

Enlightenment is INTUITION!!!

So is living faithfully--
faithfully aligned with what we know to be true!

And, it is the same thing 
as living in sync with the Tao--
living in accord with what we know to be so!

This has to be the cornerstone 
in the new edition of "The Church of What's Happening Now"!
Flip Wilson did not realize the splendid nature
of the truth of the phrase he coined.
But he knew what he was talking about.

"Come to me all who are weak and heavy-laden
and I will show you how to find what you need
to do what needs you to do it
and what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises:
LISTEN TO YOURSELVES!!!
TO YOUR OWN INTUITION!!!

This is the church of the future.
Just waiting to be CHRISTened and put out to sea.
Given to us from Zen,
which is the Taoist version of Buddhism,
and the New Christianity!

Thank you, D.T. Suzuki!

We are each "built" differently.
The truer we are to who we are "built" to be,
the truer we exhibit/serve our "original nature"
and the intrinsic virtues/virtuosities
(The things we do best and enjoy doing most),
and are at the service of our "habitual intuition,"
the better our quality of life
and the more centered/grounded/focused we are.

Getting us together with who we are
is establishing and maintaining a relationship
of mindful awareness with ourselves,
with a clear and abiding sense
of who we are and who we are not,
what is "us" and what is "not us,"
what is ours to do
and what we have no business doing.

Getting ourselves together
with the life that is our life to live
in the time left for living
needs to be the primary orientation of our life
throughout our years upon the earth.

So, what is the fascination
with sex, drugs, alcohol, money, power and control?

–0–

Nothing tops honest conversation
straight from the heart
about things that matter.

How long has it been?

How often does it come to pass?

Carl Jung said,
"The only thing wrong with people
is that they have no one to listen to their story."

And how it impacted them,
and who they are because of it,
and who they might have been
if they had had someone to talk to
all the way along the way.

Who could ask the right questions,
and listen with understanding
and compassion.

And nearly half the country reveres
Donald Trump as the way to do it.

We are dying here for someone 
to listen to us,
and we get Donald Trump.

Never could there be a wider gap
than need and response to need.
Or more appropriate the prayer,
"Save us, O God, from those who would save us!"

–0–

Most of us don't have the Tetons 
in our backyard,
but they call to us
all the way from Wyoming,
reminding us of what is missing
in our life
and inviting us to seek out
even faint facsimiles 
in the parks and greenways
where we live,
opening ourselves
to what is open to us,
offering peace and silence
where it may be found,
and reuniting with sacred space
linking us with more than meets the eye,
and speaking to us in spiritual/soulful ways.

Without retreats and oasis's
we are at the mercy of the noise
and complexity of our lives,
and we owe it to ourselves
to offset that however we might be able. 

The idea is to develop
an in-depth relationship
with our intuition,
learn to check everything out
with our body's felt sense,
and live mindfully present
with the here/now all the way
along the way.

How far are we from being able to do that?

That's how far we are 
from being able to live
as indigenous people live,
trusting themselves 
to themselves,
living their life
as their life needs to be lived.

–0–

Maintaining our balance and harmony
is remaining square-up with our life.
Aware of the forces of destabilization
and rolling with the rhythm of the waves
on the wine-dark sea.

I laugh as I write that
because it sounds as though
it can be done.

The fact of the matter
is that we are swept away
again and again by things like
being out of coffee
or losing electricity for a day.

The people in Gaza or Ukraine
would love to have what we can't stand.
No worse that what we can't stand
would be my hope for the entire cosmos.

But the coastal areas of the southern states
are facing a hurricane season
for the record book
with higher seas than anything 
ever experienced there.

Going to be dicey.

The next generation or so
is going to have plenty of practice
dealing with things they don't want to deal with.

Moving out now might help,
but where to go with a guarantee
of smooth and easy
is not a smooth or easy call to make.

The future is coming and it's a bear.

It is a good idea to take our attitude 
in for an adjustment now--
if we can get an appointment.

If not, we will have to settle for 
making do with what we do not want--
with a life civilization was supposed
to keep away.

Well. 
"Here we are, now what?"
Isn't bad for a mantra.
And it is for sure
that we will all be amazed
at what we have within
we never knew existed.

We come from good stock.
Our ancestors all dealt with things
worse than the worst inconveniences 
we are likely to face.

I'm betting on us making the adjustments
and being just fine.
Particularly if we remember to laugh a lot.

–0–

Where do you find what is helpful?
Where do you find what you need
to help you along life's way?

You are here, and that leads me to suppose
you find this "place" to be helpful--
unless this is your first visit
and we will have to wait to see
how helpful you think it is.

I hope it is helpful--
I fully intend it to be so,
offering, as I do, what is helpful to me,
both in offering it,
and in contemplating what it means
to be helpful
as a part of "a well-considered life,"
which is, I take it,
the only kind of life worth out time.

And knowing what is helpful
and where to find it,
and returning there often,
certainly has its place
in a well-considered life!

–0–

I observe the 1 year old Great Granddaughter
at lunch in local restaurants twice a week.
She is incredibly attentive and curious,
looking intently at everything and everyone,
lifting the table cloth
to see what is underneath,
trying everything that is offered 
to her to eat,
and reaching a hand into her mouth
to retrieve and hurl to the floor
anything that doesn't meet her idea
of tasty.

That is who she is.
We are all who we are.
From the womb! 

No one comes into the world
as an empty slate!
No one needs to be "taught" 
who/how to be!

The Montessori approach
regarding assisting the coming forth
of what is there
instead of trying to force into being
that which truly ought not be,
is so to be preferred
over what has long passed
for "training the child
in the way they should to"--
as though we know what that is!

Let them take the lead!
They come into the world
knowing more about who they are
and how they are built to be
than we know about them.

Keep them safe and let them live their life!
And allow ourselves to live OUR life,
while we are at it!

–0–