Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

I remind us of this a couple of times a year.
Here it comes again:

It's all useless, pointless, hopeless,
meaningless,stupid and absurd--
and coming to a very bad end:
We all are going to die!

And, we can't let that stop us,
or even slow us down!

Because in the meantime
we have work to be done!

We have to show them what it means
to live with our heart on the line
invested in what we are doing
in each situation as it arises
ANYWAY! NEVERTHELESS! EVEN SO!

So what if it doesn't matter?
Who cares if no one cares?
What difference does it make
if it doesn't make a difference?
Why not give it the best
we have to offer?
Even now?
Even here?
Even yet?
Even still?

We have to pick ourselves up,
dust ourselves off,
and get back into action
as though everything is riding
on the effort we put forth
in doing what needs to be done
when/where/how it needs to be done
because it needs to be done
when all we get out of it
is the joy of doing it
and the satisfaction of having done it
no matter what
all our life long.

Why not?

Can you think of anything better to do?

If so, do it!

Now, this meshes nicely
with my Wailing Wall metaphor.

The Wailing Wall is our hope
and our salvation,
just waiting for us to grasp that
and smile,
turn around with our backs to the wall
and say to all that is 
useless, pointless hopeless, meaningless,
stupid and absurd,
"Show me what you got!
Because I got something for you!"

And, as it rushes us, 
there with our backs to the Wailing Wall,
we grab it with both hands
and heave it over the wall.

On the other side of the Wailing Wall
is nothing but the Void.
And we send all that
Boo-hoo, woe is me stuff
straight into the gaping abyss of oblivion
where it belongs.

And step into the day,
to see what we can do with it
and what it needs from us
like it makes all the difference,
because it does.

He said, with a wink and a smile.

–0–

You know how the way things are? 
Putin destroying Ukraine while we watch.
Much like Hitler destroyed Europe,
and Alexander the Great destroyed the known world.
And how what's going on
has been going on from the beginning.
And is going to be going on
long after we have stopped going at all. 

Well, there is nothing we can do about that
except take it to the Wailing Wall
with all of the grief and remorse
it brings up within us.

As a way of finding the strength
and resilience required to get up
and do the next thing that needs to be done
when, where and how it needs to be done
anyway, nevertheless, even so.

It is ours to bring as much humanity to life
in the world as we are capable of bringing to life
in the world,
and let that be that.

It is the Native American way
in light of and response to
the atrocity the U.S. Government
and citizens have committed against them
throughout history.

And the descendants of slaves in this country
and around the world.

And the Tibetan response to the Chinese massacre
in our lifetime.

We do it like they have done it.
We respond to the horror of our time
like they have responded to it in their time.

It is our turn now.

–0–

We can't help how we see things,
but.
We are responsible for how we see things.
Which means, of course,
that we can help how we see things.

It starts with seeing how we see things.
Seeing our seeing 
is the most important thing to see.

The second most important thing to see
is seeing that how we see things 
IS NOT HOW THINGS ARE!!!

It is only how we see things.

The third most important thing
is to stop taking seriously
the way we see things. 

It is only the way we see things.

The fourth most important thing
is to see how we see things 
impacts/controls/determines
how we act/what we do.

The fifth most important thing
is to see how the way we live
expresses/exhibits/reveals
the values at the heart of our life.

I think Liberty, Justice, Equality, Truth
are the core values at the heart
of the Constitution of the U.S.
and that we cannot stand for the flag
without standing for the values
the flag stands for,
therefore these four values
must be part of the core values
of every U.S. citizen.

In addition to these,
my other core values in no necessary order are:

Emptiness, Stillness, Silence,
Balance, Harmony, Integrity,
Sincerity, Vitality, Spontaneity, Compassion,
which are held in place by
our service to
our intuition,
our body's felt sense,
our nighttime dreams
our habitual practice of focusing/awareness/mindfulness,
in service to original nature
and the innate virtues (virtuosities)
which comprise what we do best
and what we love/enjoy doing most.

I see this list of values/concepts comprising
essential things to be right about
and incorporate into our life
as the adamantine foundation
of human beinghood.

–0–

Our response strongly influences
what happens next.
We shape the future
by the way we respond to the present.

There is typically more at stake 
in any moment
than getting our way in the moment.

Imagining likely scenarios 
and practicing our response 
to each one
provides us with the experience
of having worked our way through
practice rounds before we go live.

I practice fending off dog attacks
every time I go with a camera
into the woods.

My first strategy is sweet-talking
my assailant,
calling out, "Come on, Mikey! Come on!
Where's the ball! (Bouncing an imaginary ball,
then pretending to throw it).

If that has no effect, I back up slowly,
still sweet-talking.

It it is an all-out attack,
I'll have one or two stainless steel
forearm crutches at the ready.

My targets are: Throat, Chest, Nose, Eyes
in that order.

And may the oldest contestant win.

–0–

The Buddhist concept of "Bodhisattvas" 
beautifully flips the Nirvana/Pure Land,
Heaven/Hell narrative
by positing a shift in perspective
that sees the world as it is,
not as a place of suffering
and meaningless wandering,
with death as a hoped-for escape 
from "the everlasting round
of grief, loss and sorrow,"
but as a place of unending opportunity
to practice the art of healing/helpful presence,
by returning--
not to another round of anguish and agony,
but to another chance to develop
our capacity for compassion,
kindness,
grace
and mercy.

Getting better at being loving
through the practice of being Buddha/Christs
by living and dying
to live and die
again and again.

And, it offers much more interesting ways
of spending our time
than being lost in beatific visions
in heaven/Nirvana forever.

I'm all for being a Bodhisattva 
when I die--
and I don't have to wait until then
to start living the role!

–0–

You remember Tevya,
the superman,
Jesus,
hero
of The Fiddler on the Roof,
coming down the gangplank 
of the steamship that delivered
him and Golda, his wife,
to the hovels and pollution
of New York City--
without his horse and his cow,
and his TRADITION!
To make his way in a new world.

He does that--
WE do that--
by walking two paths 
at the same time.

The path of "Oh, no! Not this!"
and the path of "This, too! This, too!"

We do that in the shadow 
of the Wailing Wall,
which is never out of reach,
and in the ever-present glow
of our original nature
and the innate virtuosities
(The things we do best,
and love, enjoy, doing most)
in each situation as it arises,
wherever, whenever, however we are.

Our original nature
and our innate virtuosities
come to life 
in the company of our 
habitual intuition,
our body's felt sense,
our nighttime dreams--
all three of which
guide our boat on its path
through the sea,
any sea,
even the one boasting the clashing rocks
and the heaving waves,
the one called "the wine dark sea,"
even that one,
in the strength of those who shout,
in the spirit of Ulysses and Tevya,
"I will persevere and endure!
And when these waves have shaken
my raft to pieces,
THEN I WILL SWIM!!!

–0–

There are people 
who do not examine 
their assumptions,
question their convictions,
or inspect what they have heard is so.

Thinking about their thinking,
and seeing there seeing,
and listening to what they are saying,
and to what is being said to them,
are not skills they have developed 
along the way.

Yet they get a vote like they know
what they are doing.
HOW do they know what they are doing?
Someone told them what to do.

This is not what the Founders
had in mind.

Free thinkers tend to think
that everyone wants to be free to think.
I think the people who want
to be free to think
do not constitute a majority
in any size crowd.

Tells you what democracy 
means to the majority of crowds.

It is a wearisome thing,
trying to excite people
about things they aren't excited about.

Or trying to get people to think
about things
they have never thought about.

But, I take heart in what I take to be
a fact, namely that things have always
been this way.

We are always here by the narrowest 
of margins.
Yet, here we are.
Hanging on 
and hoping for the best.

One election at a time. 

–0–

What are we living for?
What are we trying to get,
to have,
to do,
to be?

The right answer
is living to be aligned
with our original nature
and in accord with our innate virtuosities--
the things we do best
and love/enjoy doing the most.

We are assisted in this 
by our intuition,
by our body's felt sense
by our nighttime dreams
by our ability to attend our body
and pay close attention
to the here and now
in each situation as it arises.

Observing our inner world
and the outer world 
simultaneously
positions us to know what's what
in both worlds,
and to know what is called for
in the present moment
and our our unique gifts
equip us to do what needs to be done,
when,
where
and how it needs to be done
spontaneously in response to
the time and place of our living.

With practice,
we are automatically there
with the right action
in the right time, place and way.

Throughout each day
in the time left for living.

–0–

There is grief
and there is glory
along the way that is the way, 
and we can't be in it
for what we get out of it.

We have to be in it
without caring about outcomes,
or what our chances are.

We live to serve
integrity,
sincerity
spontaneity--
doing what is called for
in the moment that is upon us
in each situation as it arises,
and letting nature take its course.

Allowing intuition,
the felt sense,
our nighttime dreams
and our ability to focus
on what is happening here and now
and doing what needs to be done in response,
no matter what
guide our boat
on its path through the sea,
knowing that no one could do more
and that everyone has what they need
to find what they need
to do what needs to be done,
puts us in good company
in the quest to see/hear/know/do/be
true to our original nature
and the innate virtuosities
(What we do best
and enjoy/love to do most)
throughout what remains
of the time left for living.

May we do just that
every step of the way!

–0–

Of all the ideas
that I am aware of
floating around
about the afterlife, 
the one that I am most 
enthralled by/attracted to
is the Buddhist formulation
of the Bodhisattva,
a person who has attained Nirvana
but opts out of the reward
for living the right kind of life
in order to return to an ordinary
existence in this world
and living to make things better here.

The Dalai Lama, for instance, 
is held to be a manifestation 
of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara,
living forever in the service of compassion
in this world.

I find that to be a great concept,
and one worthy of an eternal embrace.
We don't go to heaven (or hell)
when we die.

We don't die.
We smile and get back to work here.
If I have the option,
I'll be back.
Perennially, eternally,
literally, 
world without end. 
Amen.

–0–

There are no strategies for gaming the game.
There are only serendipity,
synchronicity,
and fortuity--
all put into play
in the old golfing mantra,
"The more I practice, the luckier I get."

In place of "practice"
we might say,
"The more I put myself in the service 
of my intuition, the luckier I get."

Intuition and the felt sense
(Or the "gut feeling")
are our inner guides
which only seem to come to life
when we come to life ourselves
in taking a chance in the field of action
in the service of what "feels"
like the right thing to do,
but it would take doing it to know.

So we do it and see what happens,
where it goes,
and what may great us as unexpected help
along the way.

It comes down to trusting ourselves
and doing what needs to be done,
and then doing what needs to be done
in response to having done what needs to be done,
in order to see what circumstances
are generated by our actions
in the service of what needs to be done.

But here is the catch.
We do what needs to be done 
for itself alone
and not to get any reward or payoff
for having done it.

We aren't in it for any kind of profit.
We are in it to do what needs to be done
and see where it goes--
which will to do do what needs to be done
about whatever arises from having done
what needs to be done.

The things that need doing
create their own karma
which upholds us and directs us,
sometimes against our will,
in the service of what continues
to need doing.

If we can get ourselves out of the way
and do the things that need to be done,
we will be sustained in the service
of doing what needs doing
in miraculous ways,
not so much as a blessing,
but as encouragement
to continue doing what needs to be done.

We live to do what needs to be done
and not to have it made.
If you can understand that
and do that,
you will have it made.

It helps to be a child of irony
and paradox.  

–0–

Here is a TED talk whose theme is “Habitual Intuition All The Way!” And, Alan Watts’ observation that “People who are habitually intuitive are thought of as being lucky by everyone who knows them or hears about them.”

It would be wrong of you to not watch it.