This is #160 in my “Zen Thoughts” on my other WordPress Blog, “Jim Dollar’s Published Works.” There is wanting, and there is guessing, and there is thinking, and there is knowing. Knowing how to know what’s what, what’s happening, what’s called for, what needs to be done, where, when and how is the Philosopher’s Stone.Continue reading “December 07 – B, 2025”
Tag Archives: tao
October 23, 2025
We are back to where the old Taoists were with Lao Tzu and the Tao Te Ching in the neighborhood of 600 years BCE, with living to be in sync with, aligned with, in accord with the movement, the rhythm and flow, of life and being.The fundamental/foundational recognition/understanding is that there is a right wayContinue reading “October 23, 2025”
October 16, 2025 – B
The Garden of Eden did not exist. Adam and Eve are not real people. The story is about the danger of wanting the wrong things, of caring about things that do not matter. It is a great story. And terrible theology. All theology is terrible. Theology is a collection of opinions about hearsay. There isContinue reading “October 16, 2025 – B”
October 04, 2025
How well we live is how well we respond to our environment–how well we do what is called for in each situation as it arises. We live to do well with our life. To do right by our knacks and abilities and the gifts of our original nature, our innate imagination and inherent intuition. WeContinue reading “October 04, 2025”
September 15, 2025
I would like to live exactly where I am living, and be doing exactly what I am doing. I wouldn’t change a thing. It’s called “Having it made.”And, what does one do when one has it made? What is called for in each situation as it arises, day after day. Which may have nothing toContinue reading “September 15, 2025”
August 21, 2025
I’m thinking Psyche is something all life shares/has in common. All living things are one in this way. Consciousness is more or less aware of that connection. Emptiness/stillness/silence (one thing not three), or meditation/reflection, enhances/deepens/expands that connection, and we work together in the service of what is called for here, now, for the mutual goodContinue reading “August 21, 2025”
August 16, 2025
Each situation has its own direction and flow that has to be recognized and taken into account. Forcing action that is not conducive to the situation as a whole creates a disturbance in the flow that has impact and implications for the balance and harmony and wellbeing of the here, now and the not yetContinue reading “August 16, 2025”
May 12, 2025
What do we want from religion? Eternal life? Invisible assistance in having our way/getting what we want? The old Taoists sought to align themselves with the Tao or Wayin order to assist/participate in the flow of life and beingby doing what was called for in each situation as it arose–doing the right thing, in theContinue reading “May 12, 2025”
January 30, 2021
02 Making our peace with our life and living in the service of what is meaningful for us is a reasonable and attainable goal for each of us. Most of us want more than that. We don’t know what it would be except that it would be more than that. And the distance between whatContinue reading “January 30, 2021”
January 27, 2021
03 The single most important thing you can do to improve your chances of living well upon the earth throughout the time left for living is to become accomplished in taking “No” for an answer. By “accomplished” I mean taking “No” for an answer when, where, and how it needs to be done the wayContinue reading “January 27, 2021”
January 25, 2021
04 If heart could be coached, everyone would be LeBron James. Books on how to play chess, and tennis, and on like that forever, are published and sold every year. Books on how to play anything (or live) with heart, are hard to come by. What is it with heart, that only a few peopleContinue reading “January 25, 2021”
January 24, 2021
05 If you cannot be vulnerable, you will be symptomatic all your life, and crazy as well. We are surrounded by vulnerabilities! There is no way we can be protected from them all! Everything worthwhile about us and about our life is strictly dependent upon our vulnerability threshold. The more vulnerable we can be, theContinue reading “January 24, 2021”