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?
Cherry Blossoms 04-03-2013 Oil Paint Rendered — Indian Land, South Carolina
After Ed’s Death
By Jim Dollar
Ah, the Ache!
It is so important
to not outlive the ache!
I would raise a toast to Ed,
if I had a Mimosa in hand:
"Here's to the Ache!
And to what it takes
to embrace the Ache--
and to keep it alive within!"
There are people scattered throughout a month, say,
who I glimpse peripherally,
or from behind,
and think for an unthinking moment,
it is Ed I have seen.
And am stopped,
again,
and rejoice at being stopped,
opened,
remembering,
with gratitude and appreciation,
the grace and the blessing,
and the honor
to ache,
and, in aching,
to participate
in the life of that
which does not die!
Great Smoky Mountains Sunset Panorama 02 11/06/2011 Oil Paint Rendered — Clingman’s Dome Parking Lot, Cherokee, North Carolina
We do not know what we are doing,
or where we are going,
or why it is like it is
and not some other way instead.
We're just trying to make the best of it,
without knowing what the best of it is,
and we settle for smooth and easy,
hoping to get ahead,
whatever that means,
smoother and easier is the best we can do,
working at it no harder than we do,
with only our ease and comfort in mind.
Everybody with something to sell--
that is, with some kind of profit to make,
in the service of smoother and easier for themselves--
tells us they have the secret to smoother and easier,
and will share it with us
if we do what they say.
"Just do it my way," is everybody's gimmic
to smoother and easier for themselves.
"Just do what I say, and you will have it made,
and if you don't do what I say, there will be hell to pay."
Well, my way for you is to take smooth and easy away.
Is to tell you not to care about smooth and easy,
but just look around
and do what needs to be done--
not in the service of smooth and easy,
but in the service of getting what needs to be done done--
whether that is smoother and easier
for you or not.
The Old Ones would say,
"Chop wood, carry water."
"Eat when hungry, rest when tired."
"Do the laundry, dust the furniture."
"Feed the baby, make the bed."
Do what needs to be done here/now,
and then do it again,
and again,
and again...
and don't ever think about smooth and easy again.
Just think about what needs to happen here/now
and what you can do to assist its happening,
using only your original nature
and the innate virtues that are yours
to serve and share,
and don't worry about what you are doing,
or where you are going,
or why it is like it is
and not some other way instead.
Just do your thing here/now
in the service of the good of the here/now
whether that serves your own good or not,
and let that be that,
(Though your own good might well be the good
that needs to be done
for the ultimate good of the situation,
like eating when hungry,
resting when tired),
day after day,
all the way.
And see where it goes,
going along with it,
day by day.
Like for instance right now,
you know what needs to be done
that you aren't doing
because what good would it to,
and so what,
who cares,
why try,
what difference could it ever make?
So stop with all of the objections
and reasons why not,
and go do the thing you know needs to be done.
And then the thing after that...
See?
Heron at Sunset Panorama 01/23/2013 Oil Paint Rendered — Lake Brandt Greenway, Bur-Mil Park, Greensboro, North Carolina
Emptiness,
stillness
and silence
are the sources
of the future,
our own and that
of the cosmos.
What does not come
from emptiness,
stillness
and silence,
comes from chaos
and anarchy,
and people trying
to force their way
through the world,
as though they know
where they are going,
when all they know is what they want,
and what they fear--
not caring if it is worth wanting,
or anything to be afraid of.
Return to the emptiness.
Sit in the stillness.
Listen to the silence.
And wait for the guidance
that comes from the source
of mystery and life
beyond knowing and telling/saying/explaining,
as a beckoning from the mover
to the moved.
What does wanting know?
We know what we want,
but we don't know/care what we ought to want,
and we know know how to want what we ought to want,
even if we know what that is.
We cannot control our wanting.
We cannot control what we think is important,
and we cannot force ourselves
to change our mind
about what we think is important.
And we talk about "freedom of the will."
We can will what we want to will,
but we cannot will what we ought to want to will.
How free is that?
What governs our choices?
What is directing our desires?
What is guiding our boat
on its path through the sea?
How free are we to not do what we want to do
and to do something else
(What needs to be done, for instance)
instead?
How free are we to be who we need to be,
doing what needs us to do it,
what needs to be done,
whether we want to or not?
Sunrise at Sunset Point 06/01/2010 Oil Paint Rendered — Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
We live to find out
what we can do
and what we have no business doing.
We live to know what our limits are.
We can't just be afraid of what they might be.
And we can't be thinking we can do anything we want.
We are limited by our interests,
capabilities/abilities...
I thought I would be a fine saxophone player,
until I met sharps and flats,
and discovered that rhythm was important.
I sold my saxophone for what I paid for it,
and felt like I had won the lottery.
After nearly 78 years,
I have a good idea
of what I need to be doing
and what I need to leave alone.
That is one of the things
living a long time
is good for.
We live to find out who we are,
and who we are not.
And to die being the one with all our heart,
and not being the other for anything at all.
The Woods at Springer’s Point 10/29/2010 Oil Paint Rendered — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, Outer Banks, NC
The New Dark Ages are at the gates.
Jesus was helpless
against those who would not see.
Helplessness remains remains the case
with willful blindness
and self-righteous stupidity.
There is nothing denial cannot deny.
Idiocy has to play itself out,
sometimes, over generations.
It is not going to disappear
just because it would be convenient if it did.
Here to stay is more like it,
at least through our lifetime.
Changing the way we do business,
and make our way through the world.
Mindful awareness is an excellent practice
for managing every circumstance of life.
Take it up.
Perfect it.
Jon Kabat-Zinn's YouTube videos
are not to be missed in this regard.
Developing our relationship
with the unknown Other within
is crucial--
Carl Jung said,
"There is in each of us,
another,
whom we do not know."
Who, I might add, knows more than we do,
and will be a helpful aid
in developing our intuitive/instinctive side.
We can improve our relationship with The Other
by exploring our nighttime dreams,
and understanding them to be a mirror
of our current daytime world,
saying, in effect,
"This is how it is with you,
what are you going to do about it?"
Metaphor is The Other's language,
so dying, for instance, in a dream
isn't about our actual death,
but about our need to "die" to some
side of ourselves that is preventing/hampering
our development as well-rounded,
fully-functioning,
human beings.
This kind of "dying" is a call to grow up.
We don't make any progress without growing up--
and progress is to be understood
as balance and harmony,
confidence and security,
integrity and sincerity,
laughter and well-being...
To be connected with ourselves
is to be firmly established
in solidarity with our original nature
and the innate virtues
that are ours at birth.
That is the Anchor Stone
from which nothing can budge us.
In tough with what is
deepest, truest and best about us,
we are more than a match for
the ignorance and absurdities
of these times,
and find colleagues where we
did not expect to find colleagues,
and oases where we thought
was only an empty and parched wasteland.
It is always a help to discover
we are not as alone as we thought we were.
Lights in dark places point the way.
May it always be so,
throughout the New Dark Ages.
Pelican Dawn 02 Oil Paint Rendered — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, Outer Banks, North Carolina
Our life is where we bring ourselves forth,
exhibiting,
displaying,
expressing,
reflecting,
incarnating,
unveiling,
disclosing
who we are
for all to see
acknowledge,
behold
and duplicate
by living their own life
in ways that are unique to them.
We are all the Christ
in our own way,
"the anointed one"
come to exhibit and make plain
the way of being a blessing
and a grace
simply by being who we are,
true to our original nature
and our innate virtues,
in doing what needs to be done,
when, where and how it needs to be done,
in each situation as it arises,
all our life long.
No doctrine,
no dogma,
no dharma,
no theology,
just seeing/doing,
moment by moment,
day by day,
throughout our life.
So simple a child could do it,
and children are doing it,
being who they are
the way only they can be who they are,
until Those Who Know Best
And Must Be Pleased
come along with their "How To Do It MY Way,"
and things go all to hell.
Beidler Forest 11/22/2019 18 Oil Paint Rendered — Audubon Four Hole Swamp Wildlife Refuge, Harleyville, South Carolina
Joseph Campbell talked about the difference
between the Ego and the Tao
in terms of finding our way through our life.
He said the Ego is the critical function,
and the Tao is the intuitive function.
The Ego assesses a situation in terms
of pros and cons,
likes and don't likes,
and figuring the odds,
deciding what our chances are,
running a cost/benefit analysis
in figuring what to do
to achieve the maximum return on our investment.
The Tao, on the other hand,
would assess a situation in terms
of what is happening and what is being called for,
and it would wait ("wu-wei"--doing nothing
until the time is right)
for the right time to act
in accordance with the opportunities
and needs of the moment.
And when the door opens, walk through.
Completely different ways of deciding what to do.
The analytical and the intuitive/instinctive.
Ego and Tao.
And our place is to know when to do which.
These ways of finding our way
are not mutually exclusive.
There are times when Tao has to stand aside
in favor of Ego's methodology,
and times when Ego has to give allegiance
to Tao's feeling/knowing/sensing way
of determining when/what/where/how.
And we stand between the two poles
and choose which one to favor
in the particular circumstances
of each situation as it arises,
and live there accordingly.
Badwater Basin Sunrise Oil Paint Rendered — Death Valley, California
We have to find our peace
and live from there.
It begins with making our peace
with our life just as it is.
With coming to terms with things
just as they are.
Most people I know never do this.
They live hopelessly,
or with resentment and bitterness,
or depression,
or with a combination of all of this
and anger,
and grief...
Nothing changes
until we change our relationship
with our life.
And nothing has happened to us
that is more important,
in terms of its impact upon us,
that the way we have responded to
what has happened to us.
Our response is the power move.
We hold the key in determining
our outcome
by the way we decide
what all that has happened to us
means to us.
It means what we say it means.
We transform the impact of our life
upon us by changing our mind
about what it means
that our life has been what it has been.
Look at it as a proving ground.
As a practice field.
As a way of developing
our original nature
and our innate virtues,
and molding us into becoming who we are.
What we have been through
prepares us for the future
that we have been living toward all our life.
All this time we thought we were
being punished,
or separated from life
and thrown into some corner
with nothing worth being with
all our life long,
all this time we were distilling life,
getting down to the core values,
coming to know what is truly important,
truly valuable,
truly worth our life,
and now there is only realizing that,
only knowing what we know.
It is all right here
in our body,
in our heart,
in our soul...
The soul knows.
Through all we have been through,
our soul knows what matters
shines through the heart of all that,
and we only have to open our eyes
to know what our soul knows,
what has come through all we have been through,
to be the jewel in the lotus,
the treasure buried in the field,
the pearl of great price,
the stone the builders reject,
that we are prone to reject,
because it is not what we had in mind,
when we are just being asked
to see what's there
and relish who we are right here, right now.
Enlightenment,
illumination,
is waking up to who we are,
right here, right now.
Dying to our idea of what
we want our life to be,
what we wish it were,
and opening to what it is,
just as it is,
right here, right now.
Take refuge in your original nature
and in your innate virtues.
These are our superpowers,
and our ever-present help
in time of trouble.
We sink into who we are
and do what is ours to do,
becoming who we are uniquely
suited to be
in each situation as it arises,
like Clark Kent
becoming Superman.
Doing it like it needs to be done
the way only we can do it.
This is the way that is The Way
in all of the times and places,
conditions and circumstances,
of our living.
Our place is to know who we are
and what is ours to do,
and what we have no business doing,
following the adage of the old shaman,
"We are who we always have been,
and who we will be."
We only have to solve that riddle
to claim the boon
as a blessing and a grace upon the land
and all who live therein.
Moraine Lake Afternoon 09/19/2009, Oil Paint Rendered — Banff National Park, Alberta
Doing things that matter to us,
that are important to us,
and doing them well,
is good training/practice
for doing things that matter to others,
that are important to the way the world works,
and doing them well makes all the difference.
Find the things that matter to you and do them.
Do the things that are important to you,
and do them well.
Every day.
Do the things you love to do,
and it will spill over,
spread out,
catch on--
and other people will spontaneously
start doing what they love,
and it will be a new world like that
(Snaps fingers).
The same thing goes with laughter.
Start laughing
for no reason
throughout your day.
If you start laughing,
you will begin to find reasons.
Things will start being funny
that you never noticed.
Things can change for the better
for no reason at all.
We can start feeling better
for no reason at all.
Laughter turns the light around.
Vermillion Lakes Sunrise 08 09/19/2009 Oil Paint Rendered — Banff National Park, Alberta.
"Om Mani Padme Hum"
Is a Buddhist chant,
containing all of the sutras and the Dharma
in six syllables--
and which can be further reduced
to a single "Om," or "Aum."
Joseph Campbell said,
“AUM” is a symbolic sound
that puts you in touch
with that resounding being
that is the universe.
If you heard some of the recordings
of Tibetan monks chanting AUM,
you would know what the word means,
all right.
That’s the AUM of being in the world.
To be in touch with that
and to get the sense of that
is the peak experience of all.
A-U-M.
The birth,
the coming into being,
and the dissolution that cycles back.
AUM is called the “four-element syllable.”
A-U-M—and what is the fourth element?
The silence out of which AUM arises,
and back into which it goes,
and which underlies it.
My life is the A-U-M,
but there is a silence underlying it, too.
That is what we would call the immortal."
(Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth with Bill Moyers
book, p. 230).
The chant, "Om Mani Padme Hum"
can be understood to mean,
"The Jewel is in the Lotus
("The Jewel" is the Buddha),
and the complete phrase implied
in these six syllables is,
"and the Lotus is in the Slime
at the Bottom of the Pond."
In the world of non-duality,
where all is One,
The Jewel is the Buddha is the Lotus
is the Slime.
And Jesus and the Father are One.
And Jesus said,
"In as much as you have done it
to the least of my brothers and sisters,
your have done it to me."
Jesus and the Father are One,
and Jesus and the poor are One,
and Jesus and the people of color are One,
and Jesus and the LGBTQ population are One...
and all are one with Jesus and with the Father
and with each other.
Om Mani Padme Hum makes us one with all people
and all things.
All our dichotomies are false dichotomies.
All our distinctions are illusions.
All our caste systems are abominations.
All of that is present in
"Om Mani Padme Hum."
We incarnate that reality
when we chant the chant
and realize we are one with all that is.
See?
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 