Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

What does thinking about 
what we think about
keep us from thinking about?

We tend to repeat the same conversations
week after week.

When is the last time we had a new idea?
A realization?

What can you imagine doing
that would make you accessible
to your imagination?

If you were to have a conversation
with me in your mind,
what would we talk about?

Imagine the visit.
What would you say, 
How would I reply?

The simple exercise/experience
if an imagined conversation
is an always available opening
to new realizations.

You'll find yourself saying things
you would never think you would say.
And whenever the person you are talking to
says something,
it is something you say they will say,
and that will likely be surprising as well.

And the conversation will take turns
you would never say you would say.
We generate the words but say things
we are stunned to hear.

How does THAT work?

We are a mystery of endless depth,
brilliantly amazing at every turn,
and we think we are so boring 
no one would ever want to talk to us.

Take yourself out of lock-down
and watch yourself fly!

–0–

No matter how we cut it,
look at it,
size it up,
think about it,
perceive it,
etc.,
it comes down to being
immovably stuck in the Julie Andrews Dichotomy. 

As Mary Poppins it is,
"Anything can happen if you let it!"

As Maria von Trapp it is,
"How do you solve a problem like Maria?"
"How do you keep a wave upon the sand?"
"How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?"
"How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?"

Which way is it?

How would Mary Poppins
solve a problem like Maria?
By letting it be, no doubt!
By changing her mind about "the problem,"
so that it becomes "no problem at all."

Only Mary Poppins could be
so grown-up!
As to let things be what they are!
Until, as circumstances beget circumstances,
they become entirely different in time,
and we wonder why/how 
we ever thought they were problems at all!

In waiting it out
we change ourselves.
"Acquiescence, accommodation, compromise, Kid.
Acquiescence, accommodation, compromise."

Growing up is the solution 
to all of our problems today, any day. 

–0–

We are never more than 
a slight perspective shift away
from having it made.

Changing our mind about what is important
is all it takes.

Reflecting on our motives for not doing that
until we come to new realizations
is the only thing standing between us
and "a new world, Golda, a brand new world."

That is not asking too much.

–0–

We live to see what we can get by with--
just like Jesus,
who was called "a glutton and a wine-bibber,"
which was the term of the day
for "beyond parental control."

Jesus was beyond anyone's control,
and his turning over the tables 
of the moneychangers during 
the high festival season of Passover
was the last straw
and got him crucified.

That was a "bridge too far."
He couldn't get by with that much.

But his example shines brightly for us all:
Live to see what you can get by with!
Push against the limits!
Question authority (and everything else)!
Live by your own standards,
and with your own contradictions.

That's the way we did "church"
in all the congregations I served,
asking, "What needs to be done?"
and finding ways to do it,
no matter what,
"outside the box" though it was.

Doing what needs to be done
requires operating outside the norms
of the chain of command and the Book of Order.

How many Books of Order did Jesus violate?
How many Books of Doctrine did Jesus trash?
Be so bold!

But, be right about what needs to be done!
If you are right, be a law unto yourself,
and let the chips fall where they may.
Knowing that crucifixion is always a possibility.

I took this picture in 2015
because in 2014 (our first trip) 
I was so captivated by the scene
that I paid absolutely no attention 
to the process of photographing the scene
and being awestruck resulted in every photograph--
and there be many--
lacking a discernible point of focus.
I wasn't focused on focusing the camera!
So we went back.

Going back was as important 
as going the first time.
And that was important
because I saw an image of this scene
in some magazine--I don't remember which
or where I saw it--
but seeing it was enough to know
I needed to photograph it.

I call this "honoring my eye."
If something catches my eye,
I have to take the picture.
It's a deal I make with my eye.
If I see a barn along an interstate,
I find an exit,
turn around,
pass it on the other side,
find an exit,
turn around,
drive back, park, take the picture,
and get back underway,
having "honored my eye."
Which is not different
from being enslaved to my eye.
My eye is the boss.
I just carry the camera equipment.
Which is a lot easier these days,
in that I have sold all of my proper camera equipment,
and use only my iPhone for photoing everything.
My eye doesn't mind.

I will add here the confirmation 
that I will not put myself in harm's way 
for a photograph.
My eye understands my right to draw lines,
and does not push the issue.
If I feel as though I stand a good chance
of getting by with it,
I will.
If not, I won't.

This image hangs as a canvas print 
in our living area
as a portal to balance and harmony,
and I do not regret a second trip 
to New York to honor the eye.

And I will say this about being so captivated
by the scene that we forget the mechanics 
of photography: That's really the way to do it!
See the scene first! 
Photograph it second!
Do not miss the scene being so focused
on focusing the camera
that all you have of the scene
are not memories but photographs!
That is failing to honor the eye completely!

–0–

Our life is our path.
How we live it is who we are.
What we do with our life is who we are.
What we do is who we are.

"What I do is me--for that I came,"
said Gerard Manley Hopkins,
for all of us.

What is it about your life
that you are proud of?
Do more of that.

What is it about your life
that you are ashamed of?
Do less of that.

There you are.

Live to be you--
consciously,
intentionally,
deliberately--
in all that you do.

We cannot ask for more than that,
and to do other than that 
is to betray ourselves.

We have what remains of the life
left for living
to express/exhibit/serve/be who we are.

Why waste a second not doing that?

If you don't know who you are,
examine what you are proud of
and what you are ashamed of,
and live to be proud of you.

Our Psyche is a wonder of wonders
with depths untold,
taking care of us from the beginning
with what we need when we need it,
enabling us to engage the world
and its people
while maintaining our own balance and harmony
and living to express/exhibit/serve
our original nature
and our inherent virtues/virtuosities
by sensing/seeing/hearing what is needed
and knowing what is called for
and responding to what's what
with what we have to offer
in each situation as it arises
as the child of Psyche that we are,
who protects, guides and enables us
to grow into who we are 
over the full course of our life.

Getting to know Psyche (Soul, Higher Self, Self,etc.)
is an aspect of our life's work,
and trusting Psyche is essential to that work.

We trust Psyche by knowing we are not alone,
and engaging Psyche as a Thou within us,
though where Psyche is located is probably 
beyond us,
and we are probably intricate receiving devices
capable of being in touch with realities
on different frequencies, wave-lengths, energy levels,
"out there" and "right here/now."

And our place is to know what's what
and what is called for in response
in doing what needs to be done
with what we have to offer
the situations and circumstances of our life.

Yet, we are used to thinking in terms of what we need
and what we want,
and live to have our way and get what we want
in each situation and circumstance that comes along.

So first up is turning the light around.
Changing our mind about what's what,
and revising our mode of operating day by day
to take Psyche into account
and live in relationship with Psyche
as the Moved to the Mover.

It is a new way of thinking,
so take your time with it,
and take it up as a meditative/reflective exercise,
you reaching out consciously/mindfully to Psyche,
perhaps by imagining yourself sitting in
stillness and silence in whatever setting you conjure up,
and waiting for the mud to settle
and the water to clear,
and taking whatever comes as being sent to you
from Psyche.

And see where it goes. 

–0–

We have to live as though 
everything hangs on how we live,
because it does.

We have to live as though
everything matters
because everything matters
on how we live.

We have to live as though we care
about all of the things 
we should care about
because when we don't care for
what needs us to care for it,
it all goes to hell in no time at all.

We have to live as though we mean it
because it all hangs
on our living as though we mean it.

We pretend we are who we are not yet
because the way we live
makes all the difference.

We have to fake it so well
that even we can't tell 
if we are faking it or not.

When we can fake out the faker,
all is well.
(Whether it is or not).

So, get in there and do your thing
as only you can do it,
whether you feel like it or not,
whether you want to or not,
whether you are in the mood for it or not--
because that is the only thing that matters.

–0–

Nothing ever ends.
There are no final outcomes.
Everything is always "in process,"
being transformed and converted
all the way.

Growing up, you might say.
World without end.
Just "more like we are now
than we were when we got here."

Picking up different accents
and attitudes all along.

"Adjustment and accommodation, Kid,
Adjustment and accommodation."

–0–

Everything is coming or going,
and our place
is to let come what's coming,
and to let go what's going,
in a "This is now, so let it be,"
kind of way.

It's called, "Going with the flow."
That's "the flow of life and being."
Like "The tide comes in
and the tide goes out," about every
twelve hours on most days.

Understanding how things are
and accommodating ourselves to them,
is a big part of growing up,
and one reason we will never be able
to prop up our feet,
light a cigar,
and declare ourselves to be Grown Up.

Grown Up is not a steady state of being,
any more than being Enlightened is.
Being dead is the only steady state of being,
and there is even some misgiving about that,
given that "dead" is but a transition
between different types of energy fields,
and we hop out of one way of being
into another, "like that" (Snaps fingers).

Of course that is hypothetical, 
but so have been heaven and hell all these years.

–0–

Awareness fosters reflection
and nurtures realization.

Start with awareness,
and see where it goes.

Knowing what's what
and what's happening
and what's called for
in response,
is essential knowing--
leading directly to 
what needs to be done.

If we are right about
what is called for
and do what needs to be done
about it
in each situation as it arises,
who could do more?

Being quiet and sizing things up
is the foundation of all that follows.

Fully attending here/now
changes everything.

They should tell us this 
from the start.

–0–

There is nothing wrong with us
that getting rid of all of our
opinions, ideas, judgments, expectations,
desires, fears, animosities, ways of seeing,
thinking, believing, points of view, etc.
wouldn't cure "like that"!

So why not get rid of them?
Just stop engaging in any of them.
Simply settle into seeing/hearing
what is called for 
in each situation as it arises,
and doing that
with the gifts of our original nature
and our inherent virtuosities
(The things we do best
and enjoy/love doing most),
when, where and how it needs to be done,
and letting that be that,
moving on to what else is called for here/now,
day-by-day
throughout the time left for living.

That would transform everything. 

–0–