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?
Sassafras and Sourwood 01 11/11/2021 Oil Paint Rendered — 22-acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina
Things are the way they are
because of two things:
The Pain!
Oh, the Pain!
And the Terror!
Oh, the Terror!
The Pain of the Terror!
The Terror of the Pain!
That's it.
Disappear our pain
and our terror,
and life worldwide transforms
instantly.
What is the nature of your pain?
What is the nature of your terror?
Don't take one more breath
until you know.
Your life is as it is because
of your pain and your terror.
The same is true for all of us
around the circle,
throughout the world.
I'm going to shift the subject on you,
but not really.
My sister Susan is killing herself.
She has been killing herself
for over two years now.
We could call it "mental illness,"
and and we would be right about that,
but.
"Mental illness" is just a catch-all phrase
for "too much pain, too much terror."
Susan is brilliant on some levels,
PhD in history,
fluent, at one time, in French,
lived in Paris for a while,
but with no capacity for compromise
or good-natured "give-and-take-ness."
Her social intelligence,
in terms of knowing and doing
what the situation called for
in the flow of life as it was being lived,
was not there,
and she could flash into anger and sarcasm
the way Clark Kent could become Superman,
over what anyone else would call
"no apparent reason."
She used alcohol and pot as a buffer
against the pain/terror of
more than she was equipped to deal with,
and it added up over time.
She drifted into social (psychotic) withdrawal,
disorientation, not eating,
and was "saved" by a heart attack
and hospitalization,
which resulted in early retirement
and residency in an assisted living facility,
which slowly disintegrated
into her refusing to eat or take her meds,
which led back to hospitalization
where she is now,
refusing to eat or take her meds,
leading to a nursing home with hospice
and palliative care.
Because she is not equipped to deal
with her life on her life's terms.
The Pain! The Terror! Is too much!
And, of course, we all do it to ourselves.
We all are "mentally ill" to the extent
that we allow the Pain, the Terror,
to make our choices for us,
and force us in to the life we are living,
because it is easier that way,
and we are getting along there as best we can.
Be aware of your Pain and your Terror,
and stand up to them as best you can.
Live to see if the Pain
is actually as unbearable
as you are afraid it is.
To see if you have any real reason
to be afraid of what you fear.
We owe it to ourselves to find out.
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02
Sourwood 06 11/09/2021 Oil Paint Rendered — 22-acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina
We are a compromise worked out
over the course of our life
between our original nature
and the nature of the time and place--
the conditions/context/circumstances--
of our living.
We would be different
with different parents
and a different point of origin,
and throw in a different century
for our birth date,
and we would be even more different.
Who would Micheal Jordan, or Steph Curry,
or LeBron James have been
if they had been born before basketball?
It is our place to be conscious
of the compromise we are making,
and make it thoughtfully,
responsibly--responsible
to our original nature
and to the place and time of our living.
Balance and harmony, Kid. Balance and harmony.
We cannot neglect ourselves (our inner nature)
or the terms and conditions of our life in the world.
And we bear consciously the pain of that dichotomy.
This is our cross,
and I believe it to be the cross
Jesus was talking about
when he said, "If you are coming with me,
you have to bear your own cross every day."
The cross is the conflict between who we are
and who "the world," "our life," requires us to be.
Jesus could not deny himself
in order to meet the demands
of life in his world,
and he paid the price
of his own integrity.
We all do,
or pay the price of not paying the price.
And the more conscious we are
of that divide,
the better able we are
to "walk on water"
(As Jesus did in getting by with
what he got by with,
for as long as he could),
and maybe make it to retirement,
or not.
Living knowingly gives us a better chance
of being savvy,
and knowing where to draw the line,
or deliberately cross it,
than living without a clue would offer.
"Know when to hold 'em,
know when to fold 'em,
know when to walk away,
know when to run..."
Be savvy.
Mind how you go.
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03
Baxter Creek Bridge 05 11/07/2007 Oil Paint Rendered — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Big Creek District, Waterville, North Carolina
The times, they sweep down upon us,
with their clashing rocks and crashing waves,
threatening to wreck our world
and carry us away.
Then's the time for courage
and resolve,
foresight and faith
in our own ability to tread the water
and find a way to the way
that is even there,
as it is everywhere,
waiting for eyes that see
and noble hearts ready
for an adventure like this.
Comes to mind the words of the blind poet Homer,
who put them in the mouth of Ulysses,
having him say,
"I will stay with it and endure
through suffering hardship,
and once the heaving sea
has shaken my raft to pieces,
then I will swim!"
That's the spirit, I say,
and what's keeping that from being us
in times such as these?
Beaufort Swing 11/12/2017 Oil Paint Rendered — Harbor River Marsh, Beaufort South Carolina
What keeps us going?
The next thing!
We have no idea what it will be,
or how we will respond to it.
The possibility of new and innovative
is never farther than the next thing away.
The next thing stands before us
as the Cyclops stood before Ulysses.
Joseph Campbell said,
"It took the Cyclops
to bring out the hero in Ulysses."
The next thing does that for us.
We have to call upon the Hero within
to stand up and meet
the next thing,
and do with it what needs to be done,
when it needs to be done,
how it needs to be done,
because it needs to be done,
anyway, nevertheless, even so,
for the joy of doing it
and the satisfaction of having done it,
no matter how often we may have done it before.
The Next Thing
is the Sisyphean task
awaiting us all--
calling out the hero in us all--
waiting for us to gather ourselves
and do it again,
for no other reason
than because it needs to be done.
As with everything,
the right attitude is everything.
By standing up and doing the next thing
that needs to be done (again),
we are molding the right attitude
and shaping the right way of living
by bringing our original nature
to bear upon the time and place of our living,
time after time,
and that alone is bringing
something new to life moment-to-moment,
after all, where is that being done anywhere?
Who do we know who is doing the next thing
in the right way?
In doing it ourselves,
we bring novelty to bear upon the same old same old
in the way we greet the day,
and that creates the possibility
of seeing something new,
of doing something different,
of bringing to life something
that would not be there without us,
of changing the world--our world, at least--
of changing ourselves,
a little at a time.
Improving our attitude is the surest way I know
of improving the world.
And the next thing is always there
to assist us in doing that.
The Hero's Task is how we meet the day,
everyday.
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02
Tupper Lake 04 09/22/2015 Oil Paint Rendered — Adirondack Park, Tupper Lake, New York
Jesus was an original human being.
The list is long.
But not long enough.
The other list is longer
to the power of infinity.
Cows following cows
from the barn to the pasture
and back to the barn.
The reason unvaccinated people
are unvaccinated is their social circle.
The people they hang out with.
That is the reason
things are as they are worldwide.
If you want your life to be different
than it is,
hang out with different people.
If you want your life to be
what it is capable of being,
hang out with fewer people.
Stop watching TV.
Get off of social media.
Spend time in the natural world.
Visit art museums.
Listen to a wide variety of music.
Expand your interests.
Empty yourself of judgment,
agendas,
opinions,
desires,
fear,
duty,
anger,
and everything
that prevents you
from experiencing the moment
of your living.
Sit in the stillness and the silence.
Watching the mud settle,
watching the water clear.
Seeing what you look at.
Knowing what's what
and what is called for
in response to it.
Do what needs to be done,
when it needs to be done,
the way it needs to be done,
because it needs to be done,
on your own authority,
with the gifts/genius/daemon/shtick/interests/etc.
that come with you from the womb,
for the joy of doing it,
and the satisfaction of having done it,
in each situation as it arises,
all your life long.
Be the original person you are created to be.
Day in and day out
for the rest of your life.
Switch lists.
That is your mission
if you choose to accept it.
Beginning here.
Now.
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03
Blue Ridge Fall 01 10/11/2015 Oil Paint Rendered — Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina
Jesus came tossing out theology and tradition.
His, "You have heard it said,
but I say unto you..."
turned the Judaism of his day
into an enemy determined to see him dead,
declaring, "It is better that one man die,
than that the entire nation be destroyed!"
The entrenched way of seeing and doing things
never goes quietly into the night,
and Jesus was a threat to all
that was seen and done.
From turning over the tables
of money-changers at the Temple,
to harvesting wheat and eating it,
and healing on the sabbath,
Jesus was against the way religion
was done in his day.
And he paid for his defiance
with his life.
And within about 300 years of his death,
the Christian Church was burning heretics
at the stake
for doing the same thing Jesus did
to stir the wrath of the Pharisees and Sadducees
of his day.
Religion does not lend itself to reformation,
and has a hard time changing its mind
about anything.
Changing our mind is the key to success
on all levels,
and the essential characteristic
in finding our way to The Way.
We get there one mistake at a time,
one wrong turn at a time,
one dead end at a time.
The right kind of attitude
about all of our failures
is the path to The Path.
The trick to arrival is to keep on walking.
Our investment has to be in the search,
and not in making The Find.
Thinking we have found the answer
for everyone
is a clear indication
that we don't know what we are doing.
The right kind of emptiness,
the right kind of stillness,
the right kind of silence
will lead to the right kind of clarity
more surely than anybody's Book of Doctrine.
When in doubt, be quiet,
and see what stirs to life
in the gap between thoughts.
Baxter Creek 04 11/07/2007 Oil Paint Rendered — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Big Creek District, Waterville, North Carolina
The Hero's Journey is not to be distinguished
from The Spiritual Journey,
or from Growing Up.
It's all the same thing.
And it is as simple as knowing
what your interests are
and serving them with your life.
Which isn't simple at all.
Our interests are the first things to go.
When we are on a Career Path,
nothing is allowed to interfere
with The Career.
Except, of course,
drug and alcohol addiction
and job searches,
and divorce,
and...
The list is rather long, but.
Our interests are not to be found they.
Interests are persona non grata
when it comes to the important things.
If we speak of them at all,
we call them "hobbies,"
in a disparaging, apologetic, kind of way,
and quickly change the subject.
Our interests have no place in our life,
which makes our life a dull and uninteresting
place to be.
To be truthful,
our life is completely meaningless,
except for the Career which pays the bills,
but doesn't mean much to us at all.
Nothing does.
Because we don't allow our interests
in the door,
and, consequently, don't do anything
that means anything to us.
So, of course, our life is meaningless.
And the adventure is right here, right now,
waiting for us to open the door,
saddle up,
and go for a ride.
The ride of our life,
in the company of our interests
that have been there from the beginning.
When Carl Jung asked himself what myth
he was serving with his life,
he realized that he had no idea.
So, he reflected on what had held his interest
when he was a child,
and he remembered he liked to play with stones,
building forts and castles and the like.
In his middle age,
he took up playing with stones,
and built a stone house with four towers
at Bollingen,
and everything fell into place around that.
Everything falls into place around our interests.
The things that our heart loves to do.
We forsake them to our peril,
to our despair and ennui.
We have to find/remember our interests
and allow them to be for us The Hero's Journey,
bringing us back to life
and directing our life,
even against our will.
Trusting ourselves to our interests,
and doing as they request,
allowing the Adventure to unfold,
and the path to open,
before us,
with one surprise after another.
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02
Maple Panorama 04 Oil Paint Rendered 11/04/2021 — 22-adre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina
I do so hope that trees
know they are magnificent,
and speak to one another
of their deep satisfaction
with themselves as they are,
admiring each other
for doing all they do,
and for the splendor of their appearance,
even if we would consider them to be
of no significance whatsoever.
I do so hope that trees
have a different way of according value,
and appreciating each other
for the joy of their presence,
and the quality of their company
filled with compassion and grace
for every tree in the forest--
in every forest of every land.
I do so hope that trees
relish and enjoy the civility of trees,
and delight in its wonder
all the days of their lives.
We all gravitate to what attracts us,
and shake out according to
our tastes and interests.
We are reflected in who we hang with,
and in what we do.
Being true to ourselves
is saying yes to the things
that "are us,"
and no to the things that "are not us."
Given complete freedom of choice,
where would you spend your time?
What would you do in a day?
How much of what you actually do in a day,
in a week,
is "you" and how much is "not you"?
What determines/restricts
how much time you spend with "you things,"
and how much time you spend with "not-you things"?
How often are you aware of the
"you/not-you" divide?
How well do you manage/make your peace with it?
How do you compensate "you"
for all the "not-you" things you have to do?
Honoring our "you side" for what it is,
helps maintain a healthy balance
with our "not-you side,"
and keeps things from going
straight into drugs and alcohol,
or some other addictive escape,
from the reality of not enough "you" in our life.
Cabin in the woods 01 12/13/2015 Oil Paint Rendered — Kings Mountain State Park, Clover, South Carolina
It is difficult to progress
without digressing or regressing
at the same time.
Things balance out that way,
so that the amount of function/dysfunction
remains the same over time.
There is something about balance and harmony,
synchronization,
stability,
equilibrium,
homeostasis
that everything in the cosmos likes a lot.
Everything is trying to reach
a steady state of being.
It is called death.
On every level.
The way of life
is the way of rocking boats,
making waves,
shaking things up,
stirring things up,
turning things over,
introducing unconventionality,
asking questions that beg to be asked,
saying all of the things
that cry out to be said,
exploring,
making inquiries,
investigating,
poking,
prodding,
nosing around,
movement,
movement,
movement.
"Get busy living,
or get busy dying"
(Red Redding).
We create a vital environment
when we seek to balance opposites
without remaining balanced.
We do this by seeking tension,
producing tension,
providing tension,
by saying/asking/doing the right things
in the right place,
at the right time,
in the right way.
By living sincerely,
spontaneously,
extemporaneously,
naturally,
from the heart
in each situation as it arises,
by being savvy
without being clever,
or conniving,
or conning,
or controlling,
with no end in mind,
no agendas in hand,
no purpose beyond
doing what is called for
in way appropriate to the occasion,
even if that is inappropriate to every occasion--
especially if that is inappropriate to every occasion--
by "getting in there
and doing our thing,
without worrying about the outcome."
Living innocently,
transparently,
with a pure, gentle and noble heart,
moment-by-moment,
day-by-day,
all our life long.
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02
Lake Haigler Trail 02 11/14/2021 Oil Paint Rendered — Anne Springs Close Greenway, Fort Mill, South Carolina
We live best out of a state
of openness to the moment of our living,
present with what is present with us,
aware of ourselves being aware,
seeing what we look at,
knowing what we know,
feeling what we feel,
at one with the times
and the circumstances,
with nothing at stake
and nothing to gain or lose,
just slow dancing with the present,
attuned to the music
and with the flow of life,
letting come what's coming,
letting go what's going,
letting be what is,
with no agenda
and no opinion,
ready for anything,
good for nothing,
just an original,
ordinary,
human being.
Practice that until
you are one with it,
in all times and places,
automatically,
spontaneously,
naturally,
all your life long.
American Buddha 02 03/16/2015 Oil Paint Rendered — Crystal Springs Cemetery, Crystal Springs, Mississippi
I dance on the edge
of what people can take.
I've done it all my life.
It's what I do best.
It means
I dance on the edge
of what I can take.
Jesus did the same thing.
And the Buddha.
It's called "walking on water."
Means the same thing
as "skating on thin ice."
It means "flirting with death itself,"
or "living between the devil
and the deep blue sea."
They said it about Jesus so much
that people who didn't know Jesus
thought he literally walked on actual water.
Not.
It means, "How can that man keep
getting away with what he gets away with?"
You could say that Jesus lived a charmed life
right up to the cross.
It caught up with him,
as it does with us all.
That's the edge we dance on.
It is crumbling as I type,
it is coming apart--
coming for--all of us who dance there.
We know it, and can't help it.
It is what we do.
The edge I'm talking about
is the edge between spiritual truth
and physical reality.
Physical reality is Life Eats Life!
The Big Fish Eat The Little Fish
And The Little Fish Swim Through The
Nets That Haul The Big Fish To The Cannery.
"When 'the lion lies down with the lamb,'
only one of them gets up."
Physical reality has a side to it,
call it the Dark Side of Life,
that cannot be reconciled
with the spiritual truth of compassion and peace,
of mercy and good will.
And even on the spiritual side,
justice eats mercy alive.
People turn to alcohol to square up with
the incongruities of their life,
of wanting what they cannot have,
of imagining a world they can't live in,
of the way things are
being utterly incompatible
with the way things ought to be.
Everywhere the story is the same one.
No one is who they say they are.
No one is who they ought to be.
Democracy is at total odds with capitalism.
Capitalism uses democracy as a front
to destroy the world.
Capitalism is the end of life on the planet.
And alcohol is the cheapest/easiest way
to live within the contradictions
at work in our life
that are everywhere.
The contradictions permeate everything.
Tevya is my ideal of The Original Man,
who we all ought to be, whether men or women,
we all ought to be original selves,
as Tevya was.
Tevya pulled it off bearing the contradictions
of his life on the strength of his life's traditions,
but when his traditions were taken away,
he was left, as we all are, "like a fiddler on the roof."
And when, at the end of the play/movie,
Tevya and Golda get off the boat in New York,
then what?
How does Tevya walk on water in New York.
Odds are he becomes and alcoholic
and drinks himself to death.
Without the right kind of community,
that is what we are left with,
more often than not.
Alcohol helps us bear the pain
of life under water.
Of life without "traditions,"
that help us deny the truth
of how things are.
And when alcoholics wake up and realize
they are killing themselves,
they turn to AA,
putting AA between them and the bottle.
They dry out and quit drinking,
but the realities that sent them into the bottle
are still in place.
After sobriety, what???
How do we bear the pain of the contradictions
of our life apart from denial and addiction?
We dance on the edge of what we can take.
Of what we can get by with.
The edge between who we are,
seeing/bearing the truth as we do,
and the world of unbearable, horrendous, beastly,
corrupt, brutality
where life eats life
and might makes right
and nothing is as it ought to be.
How do we do that?
With our eyes wide open!
And our heart screaming "NO!"
We have to work with our heart.
We have to be able to say "YES!" to "NO!"
and be the place where they live together.
We have to say "YES!" to life just as it is.
To ourselves just as we are.
It is the way of life outside of the bottle.
I hope Tevya discovered that,
found it out for himself.
"YES!" to life just as it is,
to ourselves just as we are,
is the ultimate compromise,
and the end of the torment of incongruity
between spiritual truth and physical reality.
"YES!" to life as it is, to ourselves as we are,
is the real cross we must bear
in continuing to dance on the edge of what we can take,
and taking that forever,
because it is the best we can do,
and it is what we do best,
and it is what most needs to be done,
in order to live outside of the bottle,
facing life straight up,
and doing what is called for
to the extent that is possible under the circumstances
in each situation as it arises
all our life long--
for the joy of doing it,
and the satisfaction of having done it,
and is the best we can do,
anyway, nevertheless, even so.
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02
Field Road 01/09/2009 Oil Paint Rendered — Guilford County, North Carolina
Bearing the constant,
unrelenting,
wonderful agony,
of the pain of dancing on the edge
between "YES!" and "NO!"
is the heart of life fully lived
as original human beings.
No denial!
No escape!
No addictions!
Sex, drugs and alcohol,
and Money! Money! Money!
have no appeal
for those who know what's what,
look the Cyclops in its ugly, red, eye,
and say, "Show me what you got!"
day by day.
We begin to look forward to it
after a while.
Looking forward to what we do with today,
each day.
Looking forward to what needs to be done today.
To what needs us to do it, today.
We live day by day,
situation by situation,
moment by moment,
in a "Here we are, now what?"
kind of way.
It is the way of the Tao
at work in our life,
the way of keeping up
with "the spirit who is like the wind
that blows where it will."
We step into the world no one can live in,
and dance on the edge
between spiritual truth
and physical reality,
merging Mythos with Logos,
integrating who we are with where we are,
making it work,
paying the price,
just like Jesus did,
just like the Buddha under the Bo Tree.
Saying, "YES!" to life just as it is,
anyway, nevertheless, even so.
For the joy of doing it,
and the satisfaction of having done it,
again,
one more day.
There are no strategies,
no recipes,
for having it made.
There is only getting up again,
and doing what needs to be done,
here and now, again,
through all of the situations and circumstances
our days create and throw at us,
in a "Is that the best you got?"
kind of way.
This is what we are here to do,
and doing it is what keeps us going.
One day at a time.
All the way along The Way.
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03
Baxter Creek Bridge 02 11/07/2007 Oil Paint Rendered — Big Creek Campground, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Waterville, North Carolina
We do not find it "out there."
What we seek is not to be found
in the theologies, doctrines, dogmas, theories,
places, lectures, sermons, sites, locations, etc.
of external, physical, apparent reality.
It is to be found,
as Joseph Campbell said,
"far to the back in the darkest corner
of the cave you most don't want to enter."
If I had my way,
we would spend our time,
unpacking/mining/exploring/experiencing
the truth hidden away
in all of the metaphors
of all of the religions
throughout time.
I think we would discover
that all of them are saying the same things
over and over.
All of our metaphors have to be reinterpreted
in light of our present-day experience of life.
What is "the cave you most don't want to enter"?
What does it mean to "pick up your cross daily
and follow me"?
(I say, to "follow" Jesus is to BE Jesus--
to be Jesus the way only we can be Jesus,
by doing what needs to be done in each situation
as it arises
in the moment of our living,
spontaneously, from the heart, without thinking about it,
just as Jesus did in responding to the events
of his day.)
What we seek is found in doing the work
of working with the metaphors we have created
as a species to say what needs to be said
to enable us to do what needs to be done,
here and now, moment to moment, situation by situation,
all our life long.
The work is done in emptiness, stillness and silence.
The light comes on by its own volition.
There is nothing we can do to make it happen NOW!
We sit/stand/walk in emptiness, stillness and silence,
waiting for the magic to happen,
and the light to go on.
Looking, listening, watching, waiting,
making connections,
putting two and two together,
seeing how this relates to that
and what that means for us here and now...
We bring forth from within what we need
to serve as a grounding foundation
for the work that is ours to do
within the moment to moment reality of our life.
It helps to have the right kind of community
of two or three people
who ask the right questions,
and say the right things,
to keep us going
in the work of dancing on the edge
between spiritual truth
and physical reality,
bearing the pain,
integrating the opposites,
harmonizing yen and yang,
in accord with The Way,
all the way.
“YES!” That is the way it is,
and "YES!" THIS is what I’m doing about it!
Is the way of life.
Saying, "YES!" to life
is doing what must be done in response to life.
This can be like death,
it is a dying to how things should be,
in doing what needs to be done
about how things are.
This is death that leads to life,
to our doing what is required of us by life,
which infuses us with life
in living like life needs us to live.
Death and resurrection, Kid. Death and resurrection.
What we can do about the way things are
comes down, too much of the time,
to calling it out.
To naming it for what it is.
To saying what is so.
And what needs to be so instead.
Anyway, nevertheless, even so.
We say “YES!” to “NO!”
and bear consciously the pain of how things are.
Saying "YES!" to life as it is,
is a form of acceptance that does not
put things aside and move on.
It is an acceptance that accepts the burden
of the pain that will never go away.
It is bearing the pain of life all our life long—
without allowing it to interfere with our ability
to do what needs to be done, anyway, nevertheless, even so.
Racism is one of the 10,000 things
that nobody has any business saying “YES!” to.
But.
We all have to be able to say “YES!” to “NO!”
about racism, etc.
Saying “YES!” to “NO!”
means accepting the work
of calling out racism,
denouncing racism,
opposing racism in all forms forever!
Saying “YES!” to “NO!” about racism, etc.,
is saying “YES! to the work that is ours to do
in making racism think twice about
being racist,
and making ourselves a bad place
for racism, etc.. to be.
It is saying “YES!”
to the work that is ours to do
in making racists pay for being racist.
Ginkgos 05 11/27/2021 Oil Paint Rendered — Ballantyne Ginkgo Park, Charlotte, North Carolina
The light comes on of its own volition,
of its own accord.
"The light shines in the darkness"--John
"The darkness is the cradle of the light"--Rumi
"In the darkest moment, the light comes on"--Campbell
The darkness discloses, reveals, exposes the light.
Sit in the right kind of emptiness,
stillness,
silence,
(darkness),
waiting,
long enough,
and the light will come on.
"What light is that?"
you may wonder.
"The light that lights the way."
All the light that has ever been,
or ever will be,
is just this way.
Light upon light,
the gateway to realization
and new life.
Light begets light.
And it all starts in the darkness.
Believe in the darkness.
Believe in the light.
Trust the darkness.
Trust the light.
Trust yourself to know what's right
when you are evaluating paths,
and when you meet it on the path.
Even if it is wrong,
it will eventually lead you to right.
Keep trusting the darkness
to carry you to the light.
The darkness leads to the light,
the light leads to the way.
That is all we need to take on faith.
That is all we need to know.
–0–
Here is a link to “The Nature of Spiritual Reality” in A Handbook for the Spiritual Journey on my Jim Dollar’s Published Works site:
Scrapping Fall 12 11/17/2021 Oil Paint Rendered — Carolina Thread Trail, 12-mile Creek Segment, Waxhaw, North Carolina
We know it when we see it.
The path that is our path
(And everything associated with it).
No one can hand it to us
or tell us what it is.
Realization is a personal matter.
It comes in its own time,
in its own way.
It can be ignored, refused, rejected,
but it cannot be conjured, compelled, created.
Our role is to know what we know,
look at everything
and see what we look at,
ask the questions that beg to be asked,
say the things that need to be said,
and wait, wait, wait
for things to fall into place,
in an "Oh, I get it,"
kind of way.
December Woods 10 12/02/2021 Oil Paint Rendered — 22-acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina
Stop thinking about what it will take
to make you happy,
and start thinking about what needs to be done,
here and now,
with the gifts/daemon/shtick/genius/virtues
of your original nature.
We are here to bring our original nature
to life in our life
by doing what needs us to do it,
when it needs us to do it,
the way it needs us to do it,
because it needs to be done,
with nothing in it for us beyond
the joy of doing it
and the satisfaction of having done it.
Find that and do it
in each situation as it arises
all your life long.
Without thinking about what's in it for you.
That's the Hero's Journey.
Doing the next thing the way it needs to be done.
Anybody can do that.
Very few people do it.
Everybody else has their mind on bigger things.
The Hero's Journey is no big deal.
But it takes a Hero to do it.
–0–
02
Big Rock Preserve 06 11/17/2021 Oil Paint Rendered –Mecklingurg County Parks and Recreation, Charlotte, North Carolina
Men ought to be living
to be an original man.
Women ought to be living
to be an original woman.
Why else are we here?
To sit on the beach watching waves?
Hanging out looking for some action?
We are each unique in all the world
throughout time.
Our DNA is packed with unimaginable wonders,
all different from the DNA of everyone else--
who ever lived or will live.
We are not just different in our fingerprints
and our iris patterns.
We are different in all of the important ways.
And all we allow ourselves to be good for
is looking at waves
and looking for some action.
We are original in how we think,
in how we see what we look at,
in what things mean to us
and what things mean nothing to us,
and in all of the 10,000 ways of being.
We are here to be as original as we are!
Find what you are good for and be good for it!
Find what you are here to do and do it!
As only you can!
Ask the questions only you can ask!
Say the things only you know need to be said!
Do the things that call you to action!
Become the original man, the original woman,
you are in the time left for living!
–0–
03
Fort Mill Peach Orchard 01 11/12/2021 Oil Paint Rendered — Fort Mill, South Carolina
How do you manage the dichotomy
between the Is and the Ought To Be?
What do you do with that?
About that?
How do you make your peace
with the way things are?
Addiction and denial are faves
for a lot of people.
Emptiness, stillness and silence,
not so much.
Emptiness means emptying ourselves
of our reaction to emptiness.
Have you ever been that empty?
That is being empty in the right kind of way.
Most people I know
are empty in the wrong kind of way,
as in depressed and afraid
that there is nothing there,
no reason to live,
in a "Who cares? Why try?
What Difference Does It Make?"
kind of way.
The right kind of emptiness
empties itself of all responses to emptiness.
It is being empty of the fear of being empty.
Emptiness, stillness and silence
are the foundation to life, living,
and living well.
Nobody ever tells us about that.
Everybody offers us their favorite way
of being safe from being empty,
being still
and being silent.
Sex, drugs and alcohol.
And Money! Money! Money!
That is the best the culture can do.
Emptiness, stillness and silence
is the new Counter Culture.
And the way to
Life and Light and Peace.
Learn to be empty, still and silent,
and practice it on a regular basis.
Everything falls into place around that.
Why would I lie?
–0–
04
Iron Bridge 07/23/2019 Oil Paint Rendered — Tygre River, Union County, South Carolina
The on-going work of life
is squaring ourselves up
with how things are,
in a "This is the way things are,
and this is what we can do about it,
and that's that," kind of way.
How well we do that--
how well we maintain our composure,
our attitude,
our perspective,
our balance and our harmony
while doing that,
day in and day out
over the full course of our life--
tells the tale.
The tale we are here to tell.
The Tail of Us.
Of Who We Are And What We Did With It
Within The Context And Circumstances
Of Our Life.
There is how things are,
and there is how we wish things were
(AKA how we want things to be),
and there is our original nature.
And our place is to be true to ourselves,
to our original nature,
within the time and place,
terms and conditions,
of our life in the world as it is
and can only be.
How well do we do that,
and go on doing that?
It takes the right kind of community
to enable us to do that well.
You are my community,
or part of it.
I am part of your community.
Together we do it,
we do what is ours to do
with what we have to work with,
and let that be that.
Let everything fall into place
around that.
By knowing when to do what
in what way for how long.
We know that by listening
in the emptiness/stillness/silence
to our body (symptoms),
to our heart,
to our dreams,
and to each other,
in serving our balance and harmony
and making peace with ourselves
and our place in life.
We have to create a meditative,
listening/looking/seeing/hearing
kind of life
around emptiness/stillness/silence,
allowing the light,
and right action,
to arise of themselves,
doing what is needed when it is needed,
and waiting, waiting, waiting
between the times for action.
Nothing happens quickly,
certainly not as quickly as we would like,
as we need,
it to happen.
How well can we bear the pain
of the discrepancy between
how things are
and how we want/need things to be?
How long can we wait
for things to be different than they are?
How long have women waited for true equality
with men?
How long have indigenous peoples waited
to get their life back from the invaders?
How long have people of color waited
to have their own life on their own terms
as full citizens of the cosmos?
How well can we bear the pain of waiting?
That is the question we all answer
on the Hero's Journey.
December Woods 11 12/06/2021 Oil Paint Rendered — 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina
Trust your luck,
but do not push your luck,
and when things don't go your way,
look on it as the luckiest thing
that ever happened to you--
and live as though it is so.
Doing this will transform your life.
And that will be
the luckiest thing that ever happened to you.
–0–
02
Road Through the Woods 01 11/10/2021 Oil Paint Rendered — 22-acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina
The nature of spiritual reality
is at odds with the structure
of what passes for civilization.
Break that word down and it becomes
Civil-ization,
and there is nothing civil about it.
Civilization is the death of all things civil,
and "Civil War" is the most incongruous
paring of words I can think of.
Civilization is opposed to all things spiritual.
Civilization depends upon, and fosters,
order, control, power, force, layers of command,
dominance, regimentation, compelled compliance,
artificiality, insincerity, misplaced values,
imbalance and disharmony.
Spirituality requires
emptiness,
stillness
and silence
just to restore its equilibrium
and regain clarity
in order to know what is important
and live to serve it
in each situation as it arises.
This often runs counter to what
Civilization declares to be important,
and in that clash of values,
spirituality retreats
into emptiness, stillness and silence
where it nourishes and nurtures
those who cannot find food for their soul
in the pantries of Civilization.
Emptiness, stillness and silence
is where we must turn
to revive our heart and replenish our soul.
–0–
03
Maple 05 11/04/2021 Oil Paint Rendered — 22-acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina
Trees are going nowhere slowly.
And that doesn't stop them.
They have their work to do,
and they do it,
where they are,
when they are,
how they are,
with what they have to work with,
all day long,
everyday.
No matter what.
Be a tree.
Do your thing.
Everyday.
No matter what.
–0–
04
Beech Woods 06 11/10/2021 Oil Paint Rendered — 22-acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina
I know more Original Women
than Original Men.
How about you?
Speaking of you,
how close do you come
to being an Original Human Being?
How often do you allow other people
do your thinking for you?
Tell you what to believe?
How to think about things?
What to do?
What to wear?
Who to be?
Too many of us, men and women,
are "cookie cutter" people,
shaped and molded to be who we are,
how we are, what we are, as we are.
Who thinks for themselves these days?
Any days?
Who asks the questions that beg to be asked?
Who says the things that need to be said?
Who has their own take on things?
Who does what they say is important?
Who does what they say needs to be done?
Who lives to please themselves?
Who lives to do what is theirs to do?
Who lives out of their own authority?
Who lives to please their "base"?
And their donors?
We get one shot at this life.
Why throw it away
living to please someone else?
Beech Tree Panorama 02 11/26/2021 Oil Paint Rendered — 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina
Seeing what needs to be done
in a situation
is the doorway
to doing it.
"Darkness is the cradle
of the light." -- Rumi
Before seeing is
seeing not.
And waiting in the darkness
for the light to come on.
The light comes on of itself.
It is a property of light
to be self-illuminating.
When the time is right
the light comes on.
We wait in the darkness
for the light to come on.
Darkness is not the enemy of light,
nor light of darkness.
They are extensions of the other,
and need each other
for their own optimal existence.
Light needs enough darkness to see by.
No darkness at all
means the light is too bright.
Darkness needs light to be seen by.
No light at all
means the darkness too deep for life.
Even bats and owls would starve to death
without the creatures of the light
to feed upon.
We sit in the darkness
waiting for the light.
Emptiness.
Stillness.
Silence.
Clarity.
The formula for seeing in the darkness,
and doing what needs to be done.
Fall Woods 11/22/2021 Oil Paint Rendered — 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina
There is what we do to pay the bills.
And, there is what we pay the bills to do.
It is never enough to just pay the bills.
Even outrageous bills.
Even bills for the sixth private jet,
and the fifth private island,
and the tenth yacht.
If we aren't doing the right thing
with the bills we pay,
it's all a wash.
May as well be homeless
for all the good well-paid bills alone will do--
in terms of our joy in living,
and our enthusiasm for meeting the day.
What do we pay the bills to do?
Is our heart in what we do?
Does it make our little heart sing,
and our little toes dance?
Would we find a way to do it
even if we couldn't pay all of the bills?
Our life takes shape around that.
Falls into place around that.
Takes on its tone and its shine
because of that.
What do we need to do with our life?
What do we have to do with our life?
Our life is for doing what?
Don't answer the questions with your head.
Answer them with your heart.
By now, you know the routine.
Emptiness.
Stillness.
Silence.
Clarity.
With practice,
we can carry
emptiness,
stillness
and silence
with us throughout the day,
waiting for clarity
to come into focus
out of the things that
arise, appear, emerge, occur to us
out of the silence.
Sometimes, it comes together slowly
and we see what has always been so.
Sometimes, it comes as a flash
of realization.
But whether slowly or quickly,
Carl Jung's words are always borne out:
"We are who we always have been,
and who we will be."
Our identity takes shape around
our original nature.
Around the face that was ours
before we were born.
Before our parents were born.
Before our grandparents were born...
It is there from the beginning,
waiting for us to stop distracting ourselves
with illegitimate wants and desires,
fear and duty.
It only takes being empty, still and silent
long enough to know what we know.
And, like that (snaps fingers),
resurrection, new birth, new life, at last.
–0–
02
Ginkgos 02 11/28/2021 Oil Paint Rendered — Ballantyne Ginkgo Park, Charlotte, North Carolina
How meaningful is your life?
How many meaningful things are in your life?
How many meaningful things
do you do in a day?
How many meaningful things
have you done in the past week?
Meaning is not "just there."
It is not accidental.
It is not routine.
It is not "just because we are alive."
It is because we immerse ourselves in meaning.
Because we hunt meaning like it is buried treasure.
Because we seek out meaning like it is pool of cool water
in a burning desert wasteland.
Our life is meaningful
to the extent that meaningful things fill our life
to the brim,
spilling over,
pouring out.
If your life isn't that way,
it is up to you to make it so.
By taking up the search for meaningful things
and enjoying them on a regular basis.
Beech Woods 01 11/11/2021 Oil Paint Rendered — 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina
Everyone wants what they want.
No one wants what they ought to want.
No one knows what they ought to want.
Everyone thinks that what they ought to want
is what the Bible or their mothers
or some substitute for the Bible or their mothers
would tell them they ought to want.
We have a better chance of knowing
what we ought to want
if we empty ourselves of all our ideas
about wanting and ought to want,
and sit in the stillness and the silence,
waiting for the mud to settle
and the water to clear.
Which is to say that
we ought to want emptiness,
stillness,
silence
and clarity.
Start there.
Wait for what else we ought to want
to arise unbidden
from emptiness, stillness and silence,
in leading us to do
what needs to be done
in each situation as it unfolds
before us.
If you are too impatient
for that,
you ought to want patience.
Start there...
And be true to the task
of wanting what you ought to want
and doing what needs to be done
all your life long.
–0–
02
Big Rock Preserve 08 11/17/2021 Oil Paint Rendered — Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation, Charlotte, North Carolina
Emptying ourselves of all wants,
desires,
expectations,
agendas,
opinions,
assumptions,
inferences,
fear,
anger,
resentment,
denial...
You know, like that...
At every transition point
throughout each day,
In order to see what's what
and what needs to be done in response to it,
with the gifts/daemon/specialties/virtues/genus/shtick
that came with us from the womb
(That is to say, our original nature),
would do wonders for our balance and harmony,
and the true good of the world.
Emptiness,
stillness,
silence,
clarity--
hold on to these things,
employ them often.
See where it goes.
You could do a lot worse.
Ginkgos 01 11/27/2021 Oil Paint Rendered — Ballantyne Ginkgo Park, Charlotte, North Carolina
I hate vulnerability.
I don't know anyone who doesn't.
All of our problems arise
from our opposition to vulnerability.
We strive to make ourselves safe
at all costs on every level.
We over-react.
And spin out of orbit,
ricocheting off asteroids,
crashing into the sun.
All because we didn't want to
display/confront our vulnerability
by, say, wearing a mask.
Denial is the end of the human race.
Our hope is exposing ourselves
to the truth of the denial of our vulnerability,
and being as vulnerable as we are.
Hating it all the way.
Being as vulnerable as we are,
anyway, nevertheless, even so,
because that's the way it is.
The necessary ingredient is
an adamantine foundation upon
the fluid nature of life in the cosmos.
Nothing Lasts!
Let go what's going!
It's all going!
Let it go!
Let it go!
And say "YES!" to it all,
just as it is!
The "Saying 'YES!' to it all,"
flows from our ability to look past
loss and sorrow
to the positives of letting go.
Letting go is the threshold to
complete and eternal invulnerability.
When we can lose everything and be okay with that,
nothing can touch us.
This is the aging process refined
to its essence:
"Good-bye! Good-bye! Good-bye!"
We spend the last years of our life
detaching ourselves from everything
that has been important to us.
"This, too! This, too! Take this, too!"
It's all going,
and we are going with it.
Let it be, because it is,
and pretending otherwise,
prevents us from enjoying
what is to be enjoyed,
even now, even so.
As with everything else about our life,
it all comes down to a shift in perspective,
a change of mind,
saying yes to no,
taking no for an answer,
and letting go,
letting go.
Emptying ourselves of our attachments,
and floating like a leaf on the waters
to wherever we will be when we get there,
enjoying what is left of the ride!
–0–
02
Cornfield Stubble 02 11/28/2021 Oil Paint Rendered — Lancaster County, South Carolina
Why do we care?
It is what we do!
Caring is where we come in!
Don't worry about why!
Just care! Just care!
About everything!
About everyone!
Hone your compassion to its finest edge
and cut through all the pretense
and denial
to the treasure at the heart
of the experience of life:
A noble heart itself!
Everything comes down to,
revolves around,
and flows from
a noble heart.
A heart that cares
for no reason,
with nothing in it for it,
because caring is what its here for,
caring is what it does.
To ask "Why care?"
of a noble heart
is like asking, "Why is water wet?"
or, "Why is night dark?"
"Get in there and do your thing,
and don't worry about the outcome!"
Care like it matters!
Because it does!
If you are ever going to take anything "on faith,"
let it be this!
And Care Like It Matters!
About everything,
and everyone!
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 