Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

Finding what we need
to do what needs to be done
is always a matter 
of being quiet 
and waiting out the emotion of the moment
for clarity and peace.

We tend to default to the left hemisphere
with its rational structuring of life
to think our way through
whatever is threatening our balance and harmony,
but routine can be waylaid 
by the outlandish and unforeseen. 

Then the right hemisphere earns its keep
with its propensity for novel approaches
to practical matters.

Nighttime dreams and daytime reveries 
can right the boat
with reassuring reminders and suggestions
for responding to the situation at hand
that is completely out of hand.

It takes being quiet 
for clarity to find its way to us,
and quiet is the hardest thing to be
when its presence is most necessary.

So the old Taoists, Zen Masters
and Buddhist Monks relied on 
chanting and ceremony
to "calm troubled water"
and return to the perspective of peace.

YouTube is a great source 
for a variety of chants
to restore our connection to soul
(AKA The Right Hemisphere!)
if we have the wisdom to trust ourselves
to it with confidence and conviction.

–0–

I'm no longer taking anything seriously, 
which I take to be the lesson 
of the Buddha under the Bodhi Tree,
remaining unmoved by desire/fear/anger
and being enlightened
by the realization of the power
inherent in treating everything
with a complete lack of seriousness.

The Buddha's followers, of course,
treated him with absolute seriousness,
and his insight was lost in
the rules and regulations of Buddhism
where everything has to be done in
strict accordance with the officially 
approved way of doing/thinking about everything,
and that was that.

And, in order to get back to the purity of
Buddha-mind,
we have to treat EVERYTHING 
with the complete absence of seriousness
it all deserves.

So, don't take me seriously
when I say, "Don't take anything--
including me--seriously!"

Just like you should listen to me
when I say, "DON'T LISTEN TO ME!
LISTEN TO YOU!!!"

Everything will go so much better 
for all of us
if we don't take anything seriously
and listen quite carefully 
to our own heart/soul/Right Brain.

From now until the end of time. 

–0–

Heart.
Intensity.
Relentless.
Intention.
Anyway.
Nevertheless.
Even So.

Upstages

So What?
Who Cares?
Why Try?
What's The Use?
What's The Point?
What Difference Does It Make?

By way of the old Buddhist strategy of
"Turning the light around,"
and asking, So what? of So what?
Who cares if nobody cares?
Why not try?
Why let apparent uselessness
get in the way?
The point is doing what needs to be done,
when/where/how it needs to be done,
in the service of the best
we have to offer,
no matter what.
Whether it makes an immediate difference
or not.

For the joy of doing it
and the satisfaction of having done it,
through the dark nights of the soul
and all weather conditions
because we are not here to sit it out
and wait until like we feel like
meeting the day.
After day.
After day...

–0–

We carry the secrets of our own destiny
tucked into our DNA
and accessed via our Right Brain 
through trance states,
meaningful coincidences,
nighttime dreams,
daytime visions,
powerful hunches,
nagging calls to attend absurd missions,
propitious accidents,
sudden compulsions,
and all other forms of guidance
at the disposal of our Other Side
in its effort to wake us up
to who we are
and what is ours to do
even now,
even yet,
even still,
if only we will be still
and give it free rein.

The Adventure awaits the traveler,
wondering when might be the time...

–0–

We enter the silence
empty of emotion/agenda/expectation...
and wait for what will emerge/appear/arise 
of its own accord
for us to work with
in making associations and connections
and following where it leads
to realization/recognition/understanding--
the farther shore of reflection.

Propelling us onto the field of action
to will and to do according to the flow
of our understanding of what is called for
and asked of us in the time and place 
of our epiphany.

The quest and the deed,
back and forth,
throughout the time left for living
the adventure of being alive.

–0–

Seeing what we look at
and knowing what's what
without opinion
or expectation, 
plans
or agendas,
but with clarity
and understanding,
balance and harmony--
and doing what is called for
in ways appropriate to the occasion
in each situation as it arises
no matter what
all our life long,
would do it I think.

May it be so for us all!
Always and forever!
Amen!
May it be so!

–0–

We get up and meet the day 
as though it matters. 

Living with intensity 
and with intentionality 
anyway, nevertheless, even so 
is essential, 
and must be our lifetime commitment  
to each other 
and all others 
around the world. 

Caring  as though it matters 
that we care 
regardless of whether 
it matters or not is crucial. 

It’s as though we all 
are playing a part 
in a movie that requires us 
to act as though 
it matters who we are 
and what we do, 

and we pour ourselves into it 
every day 
with a performance worthy 
of an Academy Award. 

Every day. 

To love everyone in a way 
that they can’t tell 
whether we really love them or not. 

Every day. 

The world is dying for people 
who will do these things, 
reliably, 
consistently, 
deliberately, 
dependably. 

We owe it to ourselves 
and to each other 
to help the world out, 
whether it deserves it or not. 

My pledge to you. 

And, you?

–0–

We wait for clarity and motivation,
and follow the inner drift
of the soul's delight.

As time goes by, 
I find myself thinking of "soul"
(and "heart")
as "Right Brain,"
and thinking of "ego"
as "Left Brain."

The duality of Right Brain/Left Brain
provides the foundation and clarity
of our life's work:
Establishing the balance and harmony
between the two hemispheres of our brain
which is exemplified 
in the quality and flow of our life.

We live to unify the opposites,
unite the polarities,
reconcile the disparities
and bring the two together,
aligned and in accord 
with the here and now of our living.

How we do that is through
the conscious awareness of what's what
and what needs to be done in response to it
in each situation as it arises,
dancing with the music of the moment,
bringing order out of chaos
and Yes out of No
through all of the circumstances of our days.

What is called for?
How can we meet that
with the gifts of our original nature
and innate virtuosities?

Take the questions into the silence
and see what comes to mind.

–0–

The day has a mind of its own.
As does our life.
We wait to see what comes
and what we do with it,
and that tells the tale.

We get up,
get dressed,
open the door,
and the day,
our life,
takes it from there.

With a bevy of things
we would never have guessed.

Our place is to respond appropriately
to each thing that comes along,
and see where that takes us
and what we do about it
all the way to bed tonight,
and back at it again tomorrow.

No plans,
no agendas,
no knowing what's next
or caring,
just seeking the flow
and seeing what's called for,
understanding that the path
is revealed in hindsight,
and no one knows before hand
what is being staged
or how it will all merge together,
disparate parts
producing a whole
that is our life
one day at a time.

Epiphany!
Revelation!
Realization!
Enlightenment!
Surprise!

Waiting for us to get out of bed.

–0–

Loss of balance and harmony
is the cause of the disturbance
in the flow of life
and the experience of the clashing rocks,
and the heaving waves
of the wine-dark sea worldwide.

And the cause of imbalance and disharmony
everywhere
is wanting what we have no business having.

Wrong Wanting
is the source of all of our problems today.
Every day.

Starting with Adam and Eve,
which is the most brilliant summation
of The Problem
ever presented,
and it has nothing to do with God
or the creation of the Cosmos,
or Original Sin.

Wrong Wanting is the culprit
behind all of our misery and whining
from the start.

Wrong Wanting results in the loss of paradise,
and the way back into the Garden of Eden
is dying to our desires
by flipping our Wanting from Wrong to Right.

Wanting the right things
and serving Right Wanting with our life
is all it takes to restore balance and harmony
in our day-to-day experience
of living in the flow of life,
aligned with the Tao
and at one with the way of things
worldwide forever.

But, like Adam and Eve,
we think we have a better idea.

And here we are.

–0–

Indigenous spirituality has it right
on all points,
starting with No Sin,
if you can imagine that.

Religion without sin.
What kind of religion is that?

Religion from the bottom up
and the inside out,
not something handed to us by the priests
and the experts,
not something hinging on Right Belief,
but flowing from the truth of personal experience.

How much of Colonialist Religion
is grounded on separating us from our experience
and gluing us to counter-intuitive,
self-denying,
trust-us-to-tell-you-how-is Blah-Blah
that makes no sense whatsoever?

Talking snakes.
How someone can sin for someone else
(i.e. Adam and Eve), and
How someone can atone for someone else's sin
(Jesus of Nazareth).
And why God would create people
who are going to disappoint him
and cause him to hate them forever
when he could just get it right
on the production line
and everyone would live happily ever after...

No one would come up with something like 
the power-hungry with the need for total domination
would invent and say,
"You're going to hell if you don't do it
like we tell you to do it!"

Indigenous peoples around the world
have a better idea
and they don't kill heretical heathens
who don't think like they do.

And the environment would be
a lot better off 
with them at the helm.

–0–

It is the same with all of us.
We gather ourselves 
and meet the day.
Every day.

It would help, I think,
if we could actually gather together
and meet the day as One,
drawing strength from each other's determination
to bring our best forth
in doing right by ourselves
and each other.

So, I'll meet you in the silence,
in the stillness and emptiness
that awaits us each day
and step with you into whatever awaits us,
smiling,
knowing we have what it takes
to be here tomorrow,
doing it again.

We are bound by the silence,
by the stillness and emptiness
and the knowledge that it is filled
with the spirit of life
that never dies,
in the sense that energy can't be
created or destroyed,
only converted or transformed.

We can take our consolation in that
as we step forth together
into whatever is next,
winking and saying,
"See you tomorrow!",
all the way.

–0–