Finding our way to The Way one situation at a time. I don't know how great it will be, but I expect it will be interesting, and I look forward to it going on past all reason because wonder is just that way. Are you coming or not?
Blue and Green 07/24/2009 Oil Paint Rendered — Black Lake, Campti, Louisiana
There are people who hate other people
because they see partially
and with partiality.
Seeing wholly, completely
and impartially
is to see with balance and harmony
and the world is a peaceful place.
How long has it been?
Not in the lifetime
of anyone who has ever lived.
Seeing partially
with partiality
is the way it has been done
from the start.
And all it takes
is turning the light around.
Anyone can do it.
Very few do.
Hate and anger
are all the rage.
Rage is the rage these days.
With no way of reigning it in.
Some things have to burn themselves out.
The Dali Lama said,
in talking about the Chinese takeover of Tibet,
with millions of people
being displaced and murdered,
"If, in any situation,
there is no solution,
there is no point in being anxious.
"If the forces at work
have their own momentum,
and what’s going on now
is the product of what went before,
and if this generation is
not in control
of all those forces,
then this process will continue.”
Until they burn themselves out.
Or die out.
Whichever comes first.
Prepare for a long haul.
Gather around you
the precious few,
your community of kindred souls,
for the mutual support they offer,
and ride it out
as best you can
with noble hearts
and tender spirits,
a place where all can find rest
and be restored to life
in the Wasteland.
Log Walk to Sandy Stream Pond 09/26/2010 Oil Paint Rendered — Baxter State Park, Millinocket, Maine
I'm glad I've been there
(Three times, I think, maybe four),
I'll never be back,
and that is fine.
It is called "Squaring yourself up
with the way things are."
I did not have me,
or anyone like me,
for a father,
and even so,
I've made it this far,
and that is fine.
If I could talk to me
as I was then,
I would tell myself,
"Don't think,
SEE!
LISTEN!
FEEL! (Not emotionally,
but, Yes, No, and Uh-oh).
"Distance yourself from
fear and desire.
Walk away from what you desire,
walk into what you fear.
The rest you can figure out
on your own."
I wish I had had someone
like me
to talk with all the way
from start to finish.
That would have made all the difference--
and it has made all the difference
since I started talking to me,
and inviting you to listen in,
and that was early-on
in adulthood.
Could have used it in adolescence.
The right person to talk to
in adolescence would have been
really fine.
Great Blue Heron 09/09/2013 Oil Paint Rendered — The Bog Garden, Greensboro, North Carolina
When we look,
we see our expectations,
judgments,
biases/prejudices,
evaluations,
appraisals,
analysis,
conclusions,
inferences,
assumptions...
We cannot get ourselves
out of our way
in order to see
what we look at.
We see what we know is there.
If you want to fix something,
fix that.
Goodale Black and White Oil Paint Rendered — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina
If we keep looking at what we see,
it will become "transparent to transcendence"
(Joseph Campbell).
Before we get to that point,
everything we see is a projective device,
like a Rorschach inkblot,
reflecting our own expectations/ideas/opinions/etc.
back to us,
showing us who is looking
as we talk about/express what we see.
We see ourselves wherever we look,
and, when we keep looking long enough
we become "transparent to transcendence" ourselves.
We are carriers of light.
Bearers of light.
We are the light.
The light of creation--
the light of creativity itself.
The light of being.
The light of wonder,
of awe,
of radiance,
of mystery
and magic...
And can never say what we see--
what all we see--
because words just can't...
just won't...
just don't do.
We carry the Truth of Life,
Light
and Being
within,
looking for meaning and purpose
wherever we go.
Like the man on his donkey
looking for his donkey.
Like the woman holding her car keys,
looking for her car keys.
It only takes seeing
to know it is so.
Beyond projection
is transcendence.
If soldiers could see what they look at,
they would drop their armament,
and war would end like that (snaps fingers).
Cullasaja Falls 10/27/2018 Oil Paint Rendered — Nantahala National Forest, Highlands, North Carolina
The foundation of photography
and of life
is the same for both:
Keep showing up!
Keep going back
through all the seasons.
Squeeze the good/mine the gold
from every scene.
And keep looking for scenes.
Arthritic knees make getting there
iffy these days,
but I still look for scenes,
walking through the neighborhood,
sitting in my back yard.
I'm on the sidelines,
but still in the game.
And I have expanded the game
to include examining everything,
exploring, investigating, inquiring,
holding all of it up to the light,
looking for what I can see,
seeing what's what
and what it means,
and what it might mean beyond
the obvious.
Always probing and poking around
wondering what else is there,
and what questions need to be asked
that haven't been asked.
Including, what connections can be made
that haven't been made?
Always seeking what else there is to see.
Bluff Mountain Overlook 08/12/2018 Oil Paint Rendered — Blue Ridge Parkway, Monroe, Virginia
A couple of Canadian physicians,
writing about "A Philosophy of Health,"
define health as "ease of functioning."
Healthy is how easily we do what we do.
What we do to maintain
our ease of functioning
is our philosophy of health.
What we trade ease of functioning for
is where our philosophy of health,
conflicts with competing needs and interests.
We trade health for 10,000 things
in order to balance things out,
in order to compensate ourselves for
neediness that eating/drinking, say,
can relieve.
We need a philosophy of neediness.
We have to know what we are in need of
here/now.
And what we will do to relieve our neediness.
At any point in our life,
our physical/emotional wellbeing
is a reflection
of our physical/emotional neediness
at that point in our life.
How needy are you right now?
What are you in need of?
How would things need to be different
than they are
in order for you to enjoy
complete ease of functioning?
Walk around with these questions in mind.
Walk slowly through your life
with these questions in mind.
Become/be aware of your neediness
at every point throughout each day.
Know what all you need here/now every day
to live with complete ease of functioning.
Know what interferes with your ease of functioning.
What do you need that you don't have?
How might you address your neediness
in ways that would support/sustain--
and not interfere with--
your ease of functioning?
You will be developing
your philosophy of health,
and enjoying more about your life.
The Wasteland 06 Oil Paint Rendered — Digital Art of the Namib Desert
We all would like to be better off
but we lack clarity,
certainty,
conviction,
courage,
and settling for where we are
seems to be as safe a bet
as striking off in any direction
on the hunch/hope
things will be better there
if we can get there.
We need better information.
Reliable information.
Trustworthy information.
And when everyone is promising
to save us
it makes sense
to distrust everyone
and set about saving ourselves
as best we can.
Which gets around to
the importance of
emptiness,
stillness
and silence
in dousing the truth
in a land of anything but.
And learning to trust
the drift of our own soul
in knowing and doing
what needs to be done,
when/where/how it needs to be done.
These things are not to be known
by thinking.
Reason, logic, intellect, analytics and calculation
have no way of accessing
the regions familiar to
instinct, intuition, insight, realization,
knowing what we know
and feeling what we feel.
It takes practice to find our way
along a way
that can be seen only in hindsight.
Practicing emptying ourselves
of all thoughts, memories, emotions
and sending all of these things
into the void
the moment we become aware of them.
Practicing embracing the silence
in the stillness of just being here/now,
watching, waiting,
conscious of what arises/emerges/appears
within,
seeing what is called for
and how we respond,
all without thinking/planning/contriving,
just watching/waiting
to see what we do.
Boneyard Beach 01 11/19/2013 Oil Paint Rendered — Botany Bay Plantation Heritage Preserve/Wildlife Management Area, Edisto Island, South Carolina
Marianne Moore said,
"The cure for loneliness is solitude."
Solitude opens the door to
an inner mélangerie of helpers,
guides, advisors and invisible friends.
Something is always arising,
appearing,
emerging,
"out of thin air,"
"out of the blue,"
"from nowhere,"
at exactly the right time
in exactly the right way
to lead us into a new field
of exploration/investigation/contemplation/
realization/comprehension/awakening/
enlightenment/etc.
Hermits have their own inner circle
to accompany them along life's way.
Learning to listen,
to tune in,
to be open and accessible
to that which dwells
in the interface between worlds
is one of the tasks of solitary examination--
leading to the discovery
that the silence is alive
with more than words can say.
In order to balance the relationship
between inner and outer reality,
it helps to be grounded in this world
of concrete and steel
by responsibilities and duties
that require us to "Be here now!"
And to have a few trusted friends/family members
to talk with about what cannot be talked about.
Successful solitaries I have known
had gardens and pets
day jobs
orders of the day
joys and delights
things they loved
and looked forward to,
and were very well-rounded
and extremely interesting to talk with
on levels far beyond average conversation.
They were busy with their life
and loved being alive,
and they were careful
to avoid noise/complexity/drama
throughout their day
every day.
And, they had their own ways of seeing/thinking
about life and living
in the world of ordinary, apparent, reality.
Rather than being disconnected from that world,
their solitude enabled and deepened
their association with it,
so that they became--without intending it--
bridges of life to life,
and were "transparent to transcendence,"
for those who were open and able
to receive what they had to offer.
Being "a breath of fresh air"
in the deepest sense of the phrase.
Jesus is a metaphor
for a fully grown human being--
for who we all are built to be.
Eden is not about sin,
it is about seeing.
Gethsemane
is about dying.
We live between Eden and Gethsemane.
Seeing is a metaphor
in that we see with
"the eyes of the heart."
Dying is a metaphor
for living aligned
with what our heart sees--
it is like dying to do that
because the heart knows
that living aligned with
liberty/justice/equality/truth
asks us to die to what we want
in order that we might live
in the service of what needs to be done.
Having the clarity,
confidence
and courage
to see and do what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises
is to be who Jesus was.
The world comes after those
who live like that,
and not to make them kings and queens.
Jesus is not about religion,
not about believing,
not about being saved and going to heaven.
Jesus is about seeing,
knowing and doing
what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises.
Not for what we will get if we do.
For who we are as we do it!
Being alive is about living
the way Jesus lived,
seeing/knowing/doing.
There is nothing more than that
to have or to be.
It doesn't matter what our theology is,
of it we subscribe to any at all.
All that matters is seeing/knowing/doing
what needs to be done
moment by moment
all our life long.
Appalachian Homestead 04/23/2012 Oil Paint Rendered — Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina
One of the things I would change
about my life
is the quality
of the preparation I had
for living my life.
They taught me how to tie my shoes.
Pretty much period.
Not a word about the importance
of curiosity
and the value of questions,
and what separates good questions
from bad ones
(They were all bad ones).
I received no instruction whatsoever
on seeing what I looked at.
On listening to how something was said
as well as to what was said.
(I picked that up on my own),
on how to read between the lines
and to understand what was being said
in light of what was not being said.
And to be very curious
about what was not being said.
My mother's family rarely laughed.
My father's family laughed all the time.
No one ever mentioned that discrepancy.
It was major
and needed to be probed, explored, understood
by everybody.
That would have made quite the difference.
What part does laughter play in your life?
Where was it absent?
Frowned upon?
Why?
Children were not to be seen or heard,
the more invisible they could be the better.
My opinions were not sought.
My perspective what discounted.
My original nature
and innate virtues/character
were non-existent.
I was told who and how to be.
I was told to listen to every adult
and to not listen to me at all.
Which was the greatest sin against me,
and took the longest time to unlearn.
Of course, they were only doing
what they had been told to do
and I hold that against them as well.
Authority existed to be obeyed.
Being out of line was the worst thing to be.
I wish my father had read poetry,
and that my mother had loved jazz.
Athabaska River Valley 09/26/2009 Oil Paint Rendered — Jasper National Park, Alberta
If we feel like we are nobody,
we have to prove that we are somebody,
by pushing somebody around
who we think can't push back.
Vladimir Putin comes to mind in this regard.
A little man who becomes smaller
by trying to look larger.
There is no limit to the amount of damage
he can do compensating for his
deficiencies in self-concept,
self-respect and self-control.
And the world pays for his emotional neediness.
And, there is Donald Trump,
dying for somebody to love him.
All the things he says about himself
are things he wishes someone else would say.
He will never live that long.
White supremacists only wish it were so.
Loaded down with weapons and vitriol
because of their insecurities and vulnerabilities,
they are certain everyone is out to get them,
and are determined to get them first.
People who belong in psych wards
are making laws and wielding power
and making the world increasingly unlivable
on every level.
What to do?
Find/create your community
of a small (3 to 10) group of people
who are good company
and well grounded and balanced,
and help one another toward stability and peace
by serving as sounding boards
and compassionate friends to one another,
doing what you can
to make the world as sane and as sensible
as it can be.
It may be a while
before the world
is what we need it to be.
In the meantime, we become what we need
with those who can join us in the work.
This is where we live,
and how we live there.
The background of this scene,
and several more like it,
is my interpretation of scenes
in the Namib Desert in Africa.
The foreground is my interpretation
of The Gateless Gate,
and represents the flip in perspective
that enables us to see beyond
what we look at
to the Also There that is a part
of every situation.
BREAK! BREAK! BREAK!
"The Gateless Gate"
and its companion volume,
"The Blue Cliff Record,"
are collections of Koans,
or Conundrums,
that were compiled by Zen Masters
and Taoist Sages
in the neighborhood of the 1st century CE
("What is the sound of one hand clapping?"
"Show me your face before you were born!"
"Does a dog have Buddha nature?")
whose purpose was to "turn the light around"
in the minds of those seeking enlightenment
in order to assist their "finding without seeing,"
or "understanding without thinking,"
because knowing what we need to know
is just there, right here, right now,
for those with eyes to see,
ears to hear.
And how do we get those?
By realizing they are right here, right now,
and always have been,
and always will be!
Because it is a shift in perspective
that is required,
like looking at an optical illusion.
END OF BREAK! END OF BREAK! END OF BREAK!
My interpretation of The Gateless Gate
is a part of every moment of every day,
there to be walked through
and transported instantly
to a different dimension
just by shifting the way we look at
what we see in this here, this now.
We live in the Wasteland
by way of the Gateless Gate.
My sister, Susan, killed herself
by starving herself to death
with a living will in one hand,
which specified, "No forced feeding,"
and Hospice in the other hand,
maintaining a "death watch"
until she died,
because she resolutely refused to live
life on its terms.
Agreeing to live life on its terms is
the universal covenant/contract
we all strike with life upon our birth.
We violate it to our eternal shame and chagrin.
Many of us don't care about that,
we have had enough and we are leaving.
Over my 40.5 years as an ordained minister
of the Word and Sacraments,
I officiated at the funeral of at least five people
who just weren't taking it anymore.
One was a dear child in her early twenties,
who could not bear the sight, or thought,
of roadkill,
and a squirrel committed suicide under
her car's wheels
as she drove to work.
She wasn't about to turn the light around.
My sister Susan had a PhD and two Masters,
and wasn't going to turn the light around, either.
We are all one slight perspective shift
away from having it made,
or losing it all.
There is always something to not like
about every situation.
How much emphasis we give to that tells the tale
in every situation.
My father would not live with out cigarettes
and died when he was 65 from emphysema,
hooked up to a respirator,
asking for a cigarette.
He wasn't about to turn the light around.
"Life on my terms, or not at all!"
Spitting on our compact with life.
Life is never on our terms!
Negotiation and compromise are required
in every moment,
in each situation as it arises!
We make our peace, again, with our life
all of the time,
doing what is asked of us--
required of us--
against our will
over the full course of our life,
and die when it is done,
weeping because it is done,
turning the light around
all the way.
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 