Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

Jesus didn't have any more of a plan
than I do,
than the Buddha did.

"Get in there and do your thing,
and don't worry about the outcome,"
isn't much of a way to change the world.

And has never done much to change the world,
so far as I can tell.

A lot of people are talking about
Jesus and the Buddha,
but in terms of raising the quality of life
on the earth,
with fewer wars
and less suffering/anxiety
and more comfort and security,
I don't see any evidence of that.

More doing it like it ought to be done?
I think not.

Talk leaves things as they are.
Vulnerable to Donald Trump of all people.
Donald Trump is more of a threat to the world
than Jesus and the Buddha and I combined are 
a boon to the world,
and that is for sure.

Greed and the quest for power and control
are more of a threat to the world 
than compassion, empathy and charity
are a vision of hope for the world.
And that hasn't changed over time.

Lao Tzu spent his life
in the service of his idea
of world peace,
and at the end
went off in disgust to the west to die.

World peace isn't much of a draw.

I will note this in his behalf:
Lao Tzu went off to the west in disgust,
not despair.

Neither Jesus nor the Buddha 
died in despair.

They were true to their vision
to the end.

And that, I think, 
is the way to do it.

Get in there and do your thing,
and don't worry about the outcome!

We will meet in the west
to honor one another
for a life well-lived!
Never mind its impact.

–0–

Listening to our body
is listening to our intuition
speaking to us though our body.

Intuition is a Right Brain process,
and the Right Brain isn't much for language--
so it speaks with images in our dreams,
and with physical symptoms and sensations,
trying to get our attention
and our cooperation.

Everybody knows what the "Uh-oh Feeling" is.
Where is that located in your body?
Several places, perhaps.

Our body is the playground of intuition,
and intuition is our secret power
for navigating the trials and ordeals of life.
Learning the language of intuition
puts us in its service
and provides us with guidance and direction
through the heaving waves of the wine-dark sea.

Practicing being with emptiness, stillness and silence
is practicing being open and available to
intuition and imagination
in service to our original nature
and our inherent virtues/virtuosities
(What we do best and enjoy doing most)
in doing what is called for in each situation as it arises,
all our life long.

No one could ask more of us than that.

–0–

The foundation of theology is 
"I And Thou."

The foundation of spirituality without theology is
"Thou Art That."

The movement is from relationship
to identification/inclusion.

The movement to identification/inclusion
is grounded in the realization
of the oneness of all things.

That oneness is experienced
by consciously reflecting on
the "Zone of Confusion"
that exists between the "I" and the "Not I,"
or the "I Am" and the "I Am Not."

And exploring the question
"In what ways is the 'I Am' one with the 'I Am Not'?"

The lines separating us begin to blur
at some point
and become indistinguishable
the closer we look.
Or the farther away we get.

Chaos disappears as we get closer
and as we get farther away.
So does the Zone of Confusion.
As we get closer and farther apart,
oneness is increasingly difficult to declare.

At what point are we two?
At what point are we one?
It all depends upon our point of view.
How we look determines what we see.

When Jesus declared,
"The Father and I are One,"
he was not saying anything
everyone could not say.

Duality is apparent only within a limited range.
Move closer or farther away
and the lines of separation merge
and disappear.

Theology is a narrow point of view.

We expand it in emptiness, stillness and silence
in the present company of our original nature,
our inherent virtues/virtruosities,
and our intrinsic intuition--
knowing that we are one with every living thing
in these aspects of existence,
and in many others as well--
and allow our awareness in these areas
to deepen and expand over time,
so that the silence becomes a threshold
to oneness with all things in our imagination.

Before you know it,
imagined reality becomes
indistinguishable from the real thing.

The Taoist, Zen, and Buddhist masters lead the way here.

What we experience as real
may as well be real.
No?

–0–

Hermeneutics is at the heart of who I am.
From the Greek word "Hermes," the messenger of the gods. 
The Roman name for whom is "Mercury."

As Hermes, the Master of Interpretation, Knowing what's what and what matters most,
Hearing, seeing, understanding, knowing, doing, being...

As Mercury, Trickster, play-on-word master, who cannot be pined down,locked up, explained, known, defined, made plain and real...

Bringing all of that together in "Hermeneutics."

My kind of gig.

Saying what cannot be said.
Laughing at the very idea.
Trying to keep a straight face
as though I know what I'm doing.
Seeing what I can get by with.
Seeing what I can see...
As though it is essential--
because it is!

–0–

It comes down to what we make of it.
To what we do with it.
To who we become because of it.

We are it.
It is us.
Where does that line lie?

And my death,
our death,
is a continuation of it.
It goes on.
And on, and on...

And so do we--
in an altered state of being,
but we are a form of energy,
a collection of various forms of energy,
psychic energy, 
karmic energy,
kinetic energy,
thermal energy,
electrical energy,
radiant energy...
and energy cannot be created or destroyed,
only transformed or converted.

What form shall our conversion take?
That is the mystery
we wait to experience,
and to spend any time pondering it
is to waste the time that is ours
in this incarnation.
Why do that?
Why not spend our time exploring,
examining,
investigating,
probing,
inquiring,
experimenting,
intuiting,
reflecting,
realizing,
and making the most of the time at hand?

What would "making the most
of the time at hand" mean for you?

–0–

How to see what we look at,
how to look at what we see...
The essence of hermeneutics,
the foundation of life and being,
realization, sanity, stability and wonder.

Lost in too much talking,
explaining,
instruction,
words and noise.

The days keep coming.
I try to minimize the impact
of one damn day after another
by staying out of the way,
making it find me.

I reduce my vulnerability
by limiting my exposure.
I don't ask for it.
Silence and solitude, kid.
Silence and solitude.

Silence and solitude
make the days work for their pleasure.
It helps to be unemployed.

Compassion also helps.
Compassion for the damn day.

A damn day's life can't be easy,
especially after all these years.
I don't care how much it might enjoy
delivering pain, anguish, sorrow and misery--
after a while that has to become burdensome.
The damn days have to long for a break
in the same wearisome routine.
They don't get a damn day off.

I take that into account
and imagine them needing a vacation,
wondering what they would do
with a week away from business as usual.

–0–

Our attitude can keep a bad stuation
from getting completely out of hand.

Maintaining manageability is a worthy goal
for each situation as it arises.

We do that by treating things with 
no greater degree of seriousness
than they deserve.

And we do that by refusing to have anything
at stake in any situation that might arise.

There is nothing to gain and nothing to lose here,
there, anywhere!

Become the seated Buddha under the Bodhi Tree.
Do what you can about what's what
and let it be.
Let the world turn.
Let come what may.

It is the Buddha's way.

Jesus would have been better off
if he had taken that approach 
with the money changers 
in the courtyard of the Temple.

Be as placid and serene
as the waters of Adam's millpond
at daybreak.
All the time.

What is keeping that from happening?
Any time?

If the Buddha could do it, 
why can't we?

–0–

I hand out business cards
with a photograph I've taken on one side

And these terms on the other side:

Balance. Harmony. 
Original Nature. 
Innate Virtues (What you love to do and enjoy doing most). 
Intrinsic Intuition. 
Integrity. 
Sincerity. 
Spontaneity. 
Vitality. 
Emptiness. 
Stillness. 
Silence. 
Imagination. 
Reflection. 
Realization. 
Compassion. 
Generosity.
Kindness. 
Flow. 
Looking/Listening.
Seeing/Hearing. 
Knowing. 
Trusting. 
Being. 
Doing.

With these instructions:

"Reflect on the image
and the connections you make with it 
and your life.

Reflect on these terms
and the connections you make with them
and your life."

Joseph Campbell said that
reflection leads to new realizations.

Realization leads to new ways of living.

New ways of living transform the world.

Transforming the world
is something religion talks about
and never does.

It is time to take up the work
of sitting in the right kind of emptiness,
stillness and silence
with reflection and realization
and see where it goes.

No?

Things play themselves out over time.
Everyone with a vested interest in the outcome
influences the result
but no one is in control,
and however things unfold
will leave a lot to be desired,
thus, there is no outcome actually,
just an eternal continuation 
of "circumstances begetting circumstances,"
as the old Taoists observed around 500 BCE.

Even the Bible understands the absence of control,
with its "Time and chance happen to us all,"
and its "It rains on the just and the unjust alike."

So we take our seat with the Buddha
and let the world turn.
Happy to not be in charge of keeping anyone happy,
because we would be listening to grievances all day.

–0–

My intuition seems to be a   
spontaneous response to my 
life-situation
that is reliably "there"
without me thinking it into action.

Before my intuition,
I am like the Moved
in response to the Mover.

And I'm wondering if perhaps
we projected God onto our intuition
in the long ago and far away
when we didn't have much more
than our intuition coming 
between us and a savage world
outside the cave.

The powers of our intuition
could easily be interpreted 
as the intervention of God.

And, like that, we develop
doctrine and dogma and beliefs
and heaven and hell and here we are.

And it is all intuition and imagination.

That has an intuitive feel to it for me.

–0–

Finding our way to the things 
that need to be done,
and doing them in the right way,
in the right place,
at the right time,
is all that is asked of us.

And we get plenty of practice in the art,
because it is asked of us
in each situation as it arises.

We can begin practicing recognizing
situations as they arise.

We spill the milk
and create a situation.

The dog needs to go out
and creates a situation.

How many situations come with each day?
Make a list.
Learn to spot them as they begin to develop.
Step into them looking for what needs to be done.
Where, 
When,
How.

And notice how you utalize
your original nature,
your inherent virtues/virtuosities
(What you do best and enjoy doing most)
and your intrinsic intuition
in meeting each situation
and doing there what needs to be done.

Practicing your awareness
is practicing your responsiveness.
And raising the level of your
response-ability
in each situation as it arises.

–0–