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?
Mormon Row Barn 06/23/2001 Oil Paint Rendered — Grand Teton National Park, Jackson, Wyoming
Where do you belong?
Where do you have
no business being?
Where do you feel at home?
Where are you out of place?
How do you spend your time
in ways that are right for you?
How do you spend your time
in ways that are wrong for you?
Are you going with the flow here,
or swimming against the current?
Of your life?
What is your position
with regard to yourself?
Are you mostly pro-self,
or mostly anti-self?
Would you be better off
with a different self?
Would you be worse off
with a different self?
If you could pick your ideal self
off a shelf,
what characteristics would you have,
and what characteristics would you not have?
How different would you be, ideally?
If you could divorce yourself,
would you?
Have you?
Divorced yourself?
Our relationship with ourselves
is our most important relationship.
If we aren't tending that,
nurturing that,
nourishing that,
we are violating a sacred trust,
and have the time left for living
to make amends.
The more time we take,
the less time we have.
–0–
02
Morant’s Curve 02 09/25/2005 Oil Paint Rendered — Banff National Park, Alberta
Everything is a mirror,
exposing us,
revealing us,
bringing us forth
for all to see
who know how to look.
We are "right here,"
as "one thus come,"
just like the Buddha
in all of our coming and going.
If you want to know who you are,
to see into your original nature
and behold "the face that was yours
before you--our your parents--
or your grandparents--
were born,
sit down with some readily visible
aspect of yourself
and wonder about it,
playing with it,
turning it over,
digging into it,
exploring it,
inspecting it,
seeing it as though
for the first time,
asking it to show you
what it has to say about you
and what you are about...
And see where it goes.
I've been revising all of my old images
by applying Photoshop's "Oil Paint" filter
from about the beginning
of the pandemic
(And the worsening of the osteoarthritis
in my knees,
which reduces my ability
to plunder the world
in searching for new images).
And I can easily reel off
all of the "reasons why."
--I can take a 72 ppi image
from my Flickr online gallery
apply the filter
and enlarge it to a 300 ppi image
with no pixelization.
--I can "save" marginally focused images.
--I can "re-up" old images
by turning them into "new" images.
--I like the effect...
I have recently come to realize
that it shows me who I am
and what I am about:
Taking the edge off of reality.
Softening "the world."
Making all things easier to take
as they are.
Applying the "Dollar--Dolor--Filter"
to life.
"Dolor" is a Scottish word
meaning "depression, angst, pain,
sorrow, sadness, melancholy...
and it is pronounced "Dolla,"
Dollar without the "r."
There is an area in Scotland
called "Dollar Glen"
near Campbell Castle
which gets its name,
as legend would have it,
from the broken-hearted suicide
of a beautiful young princess
of the castle
over Lost Love,
and the pall her death cast
over the surrounding glen.
My ancestors would have
spelled their name "Dolor,"
pronouncing it "Dolla,"
coming to America,
and being ridiculed
for "not knowing how to spell
their own name,"
saying, "Okay, what the hell?"
and adopting the Anglican-American spelling
and signing everything "Dollar"
to escape the pain/shame/humiliation
of "not knowing how to spell" their own name.
Perhaps this is an unnecessary embellishment
of the origin of "Dollar,"
but it suits my purposes
and expands my "story."
And allows me to adopt "the heritage"
of my ancestors in "explaining"
using the oil paint filter
to "take the edge off reality,"
and present a softer, gentler, kinder
view of "how things are,"
which is what I have been doing
throughout my life.
I was a "Preacher" by trade
and by craft.
Hermeneutics is my shtick,
my "thing,"
my foundation and my core.
"Hermeneutics" comes from "Hermes"
(Also called "Mercury")
the "messenger of the gods."
Seeing and saying how things are.
Interpreting what was said
to clarify and express what was meant.
Turning reality into possibility.
Making the world better than it is.
Taking "dolor" and producing "dolla(r)."
Afterall, the "r" was already there.
Otter Point 09/29/2006 Oil Paint Renderd — Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, Maine
Sit still.
Be quiet.
Pay attention.
To all that arises in the silence.
Be curious about what catches your eye.
See where it goes.
Every day.
Throughout the day.
You are getting to the bottom of it.
Of it all.
Especially of YOU.
The curiosity part is the best part.
If you are End-driven,
and looking for where it all is going,
so are the tides.
We are just along for the ride.
Allow curiosity to pilot your boat
on its path through the sea.
If you are obsessive/compulsive
and Have To Be There Now!
Be curious about that--
and everything else that would hijack
your boat and send it off
after red herrings and wild geese.
Also, remember to be curious about
whose good is served
by the good you call good.
And wonder,
"What's so good about that?"
And, "Who says so?"
Who says that the good you call good is good?
How do they know?
Who told them?
We are here to see where it goes.
Start looking!
At everything!
Particularly the things
that catch your eye!
–0–
02
Linville River 08/13/2018 Oil Paint Rendered — Lindville Falls, Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina
We are the treasure we seek.
The gold mine we hope to find.
If you are going to take something on faith,
let it be this,
and allow you to show you
what you are capable of
even now, even yet, even so.
Jesus said these things all of the time:
"Beware of the blind leading the blind!"
"Leave the dead to bury the dead!"
"Why don't your judge for yourself what is right?"
It comes down to:
"How good is the good you call good?
What makes you think you are right about that?"
We all are locked into the service
of the good we call good.
How good is that?
What makes us think it is good at all?
Who is telling us how good it is?
What is in it for them?
How good is the good they call good?
Who says so?
We need to get to the bottom of these things.
Of what is good and how do we know.
Of what is good and who says so.
And why don't we decide for ourselves what is right,
and how we are to know when we are wrong,
and when we are right about being right.
That is all that is worth knowing--
when we are right about what is right,
and when we are wrong about what is right.
There is nothing else but that.
How do we know?
How often do we ask?
Whom do we ask?
Whose word for it do we take?
Why don't we judge for ourselves what is right?
And change our mind
when it becomes obvious
that we were wrong?
Let the evidence guide your boat on its path through the sea!
Keep asking the questions that beg to be asked!
Get to the bottom of everything!
And sail on! Sail on!
On the sea that has no end!
“Traveling on every path,
you will not find the boundaries of soul by going;
so deep is its measure.” -- Heraclitus
Looking-glass Rock 01 05/29/2011 Oil Paint Rendered — Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina
Prosperity is having what we need
to do what needs to be done.
We think of prosperity
as having more than we need
so that we do not have to do anything.
We think having it made
is not having to do anything
we don't want to do.
We think "being free"
is being able to go
wherever our heart takes us.
It is bondage
to our own desires.
What changes more often
that our desires do?
Endlessly wanting is the curse
of wealth and privilege.
What does wanting know?
How often does wanting want
what it has no business having?
Does wanting know what is right?
Does wanting know what it is time for?
Does wanting know the importance
of doing what needs to be done
whether we want to or not?
What is more important--
wanting what we want
or wanting what we ought to want?
What is more important--
having what we want
or wanting to be free of wanting?
Who has ever been free of wanting?
Why would we want to empty ourselves
of wanting?
Why wouldn't we want to empty ourselves
of wanting?
–0–
02
Hwy 52 and Pilot Mountain 06/20/2012 Oil Paint Rendered, North Carolina
It all is going.
But, what's coming?
Will it be better?
Worse?
More of the same?
How long will this go on?
What are you
going to do
with the time left for living?
What is worth your time
over the course of what remains of it?
I'm going to probe my interests,
consider my possibilities,
and see what needs to be done
using my skills and abilities--
doing what matters to me,
whether it means anything
to anybody else
or has any impact
on the cosmos
or not.
This is called
"Doing my work
and stepping back,
letting nature take its course."
What matters to you?
What are you going to do about it?
–0–
03
Light on Grandfather Mountain 12/12/2011 Oil Paint Rendered — Price Lake, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina
The Way is not about thinking.
The Way is not about believing.
The Way is not about reason and logic or faith.
The Way is about experiencing the truth
of your original nature
and bringing you forth
within the context and circumstances
of your life--
with balance and harmony
all the way around.
The way to the Way
is the way of sitting still,
being quiet
and paying attention.
If you want guidance and assistance in this,
watch all of the Jon Kabat-Zinn
YouTube videos (The shortest ones first),
and enlist the services
of a same-sex as you Jungian analysist
for five sessions
in learning how to read the signs and clues/cues
coming from your inner self--
the source Carl Jung was talking about
when he said,
"There is in each of us
another
whom we do not know."
You can waste a lot of time in analysis
on a thinking/understanding/conceptual level.
All you need to know
is how to read the signs.
Revolution Mill 01/26/2012 Oil Paint Rendered — Once the leading producer of denim in the US, Greensboro, North Carolina
Everybody wants a better life.
That's where the similarity ends.
Everybody has a different idea
of what that means
and how to achieve it.
Which results in the mess
everything is in.
A lot of people think having their way
would result in a better life.
A lot of people think having more money
would result in a better life.
A lot of people think having more sex
would result in a better life
(For then, but not necessarily
for their partners).
The list goes pretty much forever.
I think being aligned with,
living in accord with, the Tao
would result in a better life.
And, that how to achieve it
is by being still and quiet
and paying attention
in the right ways--
seeing what's what
and what needs to be done about it--
and doing the right thing,
at the right time,
in the right place,
in the right way,
no matter what,
for no reason other than
it needs to be done,
with nothing in it for us
beyond the joy of doing it
and the satisfaction of having done it.
I spend a lot of time talking about this
because I think it is the most important thing.
But I can only talk to people
who already feel the way I do.
I make no headway at all
with people who have different ideas
about what it means to live a better life.
And they make no headway with me.
We can only talk meaningfully with people
who see/think approximately the same as we do.
We have nothing at all to say
to most of the people we walk past in a day.
When I realized that,
I stopped talking to basically everybody,
and limited my conversations to business matters
and family members.
I write all I have to say here
and post it to the world,
and have less than a dozen readers a day,
probably the same people every day.
Writing it out enables me to hear/see
what I have to say,
which creates balance and harmony,
and encourages sincerity and integrity,
in the service of energy, spirit, and vitality,
and I would do it if nobody read it.
Writing to me, from me, about me,
about how it is with me
and how I see things here and now,
is essential, I think, to living
a better life.
That starts with knowing who we are,
how we are,
when we are,
where we are,
why we are,
and what we are about.
So, if you are reading this,
I advise getting to know yourself
in an on-going, regular, repetitive way.
Let it become your practice,
to be increasingly clear about what it means
to live a better life.
And put yourself deliberately on that path,
and walk it earnestly,
with loyalty and devotion,
every day.
And if this is a part of that work,
I am glad to be helping you
to live a better life.
Thanks for being here, now.
–0–
02
Patchwork Dogwood Panorama 04/16/2008 Oil Paint Rendered — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Gatlinburg, Tennessee
Sitting still,
being quiet and attentive,
seeing what's what
and what needs to be done about it,
opens us to ourselves--
when we are aware of being aware
we are aware of how it is with us,
of what we are feeling in our body.
And, if we sit with our body
and what our body is feeling,
understanding that is our body's way
of communing with us,
of communicating with us,
we realize that our body is talking to us
all of the time.
What our body is saying
is a matter of attending our body
and (This is the important part)
interpreting correctly
what our body is saying.
If you have a dog or a cat,
you have come to read what your dog or cat
is saying to you.
The same applies to your body.
Spending time with our body,
attending our body,
opens up a new world of communication
and awareness about our life
and its impact on our body.
This spills over into,
leads to,
expanded awareness of our mind/body connection,
and how our mind is impacting our body,
and how changing our mind--
being aware of our mind and its impact on our body--
shifts everything about our life.
By being aware of our mind and our body,
we change our relationship with our mind and our body,
and transform our life, like that (Snaps fingers).
Sit still.
Be quiet and attentive.
Seeing what's what
and what needs to be done about it.
And transform your life,
just by being aware of your body
and your mind.
In so doing,
you will be tuning into the Tao
of Mind-Body-Life.
The connection and flow of awareness
that shapes and forms our way of being here and now,
in every moment of every day,
leading us, guiding us, enabling us
to do the right thing,
at the right time,
in the right place,
in the right way,
no matter what,
because it needs to be done,
spontaneously, from the heart,
for no other reason
than 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.
By sitting still with quiet attentiveness.
Seeing what's what
and what needs to be done about it.
Regularly, routinely, religiously.
Transforming your life,
and your world,
and the world.
One moment at a time.
–0–
03
Looking-glass Rock 02 05/29/2011 Oil Paint Rendered — Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina
Listening to the Tao
is listening to your life.
The Tao is our life's rhythm and movement.
It is the rhythm and movement of all of life and being,
of the cosmos,
of all that is
and has been
and will be.
It is the how of things.
The way of things.
The howness, whenness, whatness and thatness of things.
All things.
Our meeting place with the Tao is our life.
We live in harmony with the Tao
or out of harmony with the Tao.
In tune with the Tao
or out of tune with the Tao.
In accord with the Tao
or out of accord with the Tao.
The term "Tao" is meaningless in itself.
It can be understood as "Way," or "Path."
It is about rhythm and flow and movement,
of all of life and being,
and all things animate and inanimate.
There is a sense in which rocks and horseshoes
have life and being.
Everything does.
Everything changes.
Is in flux.
Is becoming something else.
How it does so is its Tao, its Way, its Path.
Unconscious things do so unconsciously.
They are the Tao.
They are one with the Tao.
They cannot help being so.
Conscious things have their own ideas
about how their life should be,
and compete/contend with the Tao
over who they are and what they are about
and how things ought to be in their life.
When there is disturbance in the flow,
the flow folds that into it's fluid nature,
takes that into account,
and moves on.
But the individual life that is refusing
to cooperate with the flow
is a mess
and creates a larger mess in its vicinity
because it is disrupting the natural flow
and sequence of things.
"Smooth and easy" describes the natural flow
and sequence of things--the "regular order."
"Chaos and turmoil" describes things that are
out of sync, turbulent and disorderly.
It goes better for us when we are in accord
with the Tao,
and worse for us when we are at odds with the Tao.
But the Tao is not "God's will,"
and has no purpose in the sense of "divine intention."
It is simply how things are
and how things work together
within the harmonious arrangement of the whole.
Yet nothing can happen that is not incorporated
into that harmonious arrangement over time.
Hurricanes disrupt the regular ebb and flow of the tides,
but hurricanes are a part of a different ebb and flow
of weather patterns worldwide,
so the Tao can be opposed to the Tao and at one with the Tao
at the same time.
Contradiction--Yin/Yang--is very much a part
of the harmony of the whole.
And being in accord with the Tao
means bearing the pain of our own contradictions
even as we enter the flow/flux of life and being.
When there is disruption and disharmony in the flow,
we wait it out,
emptying ourselves of wanting things
to be different than they are,
and allowing things to be as they are
for as long as it takes for "smooth and easy"
to return of their own accord.
Just being here and now,
without will or expectation,
desire, interest, or opinion,
seeing and doing what needs to be done,
moment to moment
in each situation as it arises,
when it needs to be done,
the way it needs to be done...
is our contribution to the flow
and our assistance in effecting
its return.
Equanimity and good faith
are our gift to the Tao,
and the Tao is our gift from the Cosmos.
And the flow goes on.
"It is the Way."
Cypress Phantasy — Reelfoot Lake 14 11/04/2015 Oil Paint Rendered — Reelfoot Lake State Park, Tiptonville, Tenessee
Having expectations,
having desires,
having resentments,
having fears,
having anger,
having duties and responsibilities
keep us from being alive.
Being alive is
being being balanced
and in harmony
with ourselves,
our life,
and one another,
living with sincerity
and integrity,
having energy,
spirit
and vitality,
and acting in the service
of what needs to be done
in doing it
with the gifts, shtick, daemon,
interests, abilities, etc.
(that come with us from the womb
and constitute our original nature)
at the right time,
in the right way,
in each situation as it arises
all our life long--
the way emergency room personnel
meet everything that come through
their door every day.
With no expectations,
no desires,
no resentments
no fear
no anger
and serving only the duties
and responsibilities
of being who they are,
where they are,
when they are,
how they are,
in responding appropriately
to what's what
in each situation
as it arises
all their life long.
Smoky Mountain Dawn 11/07/2007 Oil Paint Rendered — Clingman’s Dome (Parking Lot), Cherokee, North Carolina
As we reduce the noise
and the complexity
in our life,
we are likely to discover
there isn't much there.
Take away the drama
and what's left?
This is a stark realization
of how little we are doing
with the time left for living.
And, it is a call to spend it
with things and people
that are meaningful to us.
No more meaningless chatter!
No more meaningless pastimes!
Where is the meaning in your life?
Dive into that!
Spend your time there!
Do that!
Reducing the noise, clutter
and complexity
brings meaning to the fore!
And if nothing means anything to us,
that is a call to get with remembering
the things that have been meaningful,
and may yet still be.
Recall what you did in childhood
that shut out the world,
and search for how that might
translate into this stage of your life.
Or what doors it might open
into related areas of interest.
Free yourself to imagine what you might love
and see where that might lead.
It would be a terrible thing to live meaninglessly
without making every effort
to find what might spark a fire in your heart
that lights the rest of your way!
–0–
02
Mesa Arch at Sunrise 01 05/11/2010 Oil Paint Rendered — Canyonlands National Park, Moab, Utah
What are we doing
with the time
that is our to live?
What are we being called to do?
What is our thing?
When Captain Jack Sparrow says,
"It's the pirate's life for me, Gibbs.
I have no say in the matter.
Savvy?"
Do we know what he means?
What is it for us
that was the pirate's life for him?
Do not die without knowing!
And doing!
What you have no say in the matter about!
Savvy?
Lake Chicot 10/27/2015 Oil Paint Rendered –Lake Chicot State Park, Ville Platte, Louisiana
To know what it is time for--
and not for--
is true knowing.
One time is not as good as another.
What is it time for here and now?
What is it not time for?
Teachers cannot teach us these things.
Books are of no help.
Videos and movies are useless.
Lectures and sermons, even worse.
The things we need to know
come from the heart
and from life experience.
Listen to the silence
in the midst of loud noise.
Know what you know
beyond being able to say
what you know,
or explain how you know it.
Knowing what is called for
is knowing what it is time for.
Knowing what is not called for
is knowing what it is not time for.
Be still.
Be empty.
Just listen.
Just look.
Just know.
The right action arises of itself,
without motive or intent.
Just knowing.
Just doing.
Seeing and hearing
what needs to be done,
and doing it.
Dancing with life
is a ballet with time and place.
Feeling the music
and moving with the flow
of the here and now.
–0–
02
Moonrise at The Mittens 09/23/2007 Oil Paint Rendered — Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, Arizona
Receive what the moment brings you
as the miracle it is
when you treat it as such,
seeing it as the very thing
you have been looking for,
waiting on,
even as you wonder
how best to bring forth its blessings
in the time and place of your living.
We do not think our way to the insight
that transforms our life.
We allow the answers to arise within
of themselves
in response to the experience of time and place.
The flow is dynamic.
The way is rhythm and movement,
balance and harmony.
Rigidity of expectation and stipulation
has to give way to intuition
and ingenuity
birthing what is needed in the moment
it is needed,
in response to what is offered
and called for--
as the song sings the singer
and the dance dances the dancer
and the painting paints the painter...
Take what comes
and see what you can do with it,
which includes separating what is useful
from what is not
and leaving what is not behind.
Sailboat Mooring 10/12/2013 Oil Paint Rendered — Bath Harbor, Bath Creek, Bath, North Carolina
We have to be empty
even of the desire to be empty.
That is the contradiction
at the heart of life and being.
Live the contradictions!
"If I contradict myself,
then I contradict myself!"
said Walt Whitman in Song of Myself.
Though that isn't the exact quote.
That's another thing,
trying to be exact is the wrong thing
to be/do.
Get the general idea in place
and the details will take
care of themselves.
The general idea is to be empty,
even of the desire to be empty.
How that works out actually
is a matter of time and chance
happening to us all.
Don't worry about the details,
and dance with the contradictions!
Trying to be too fine,
too perfect,
too "who you are supposed to be,"
is like trying to outsmart fate.
Take the time to do the thing
that needs to be done,
even if it means missing the train
to glory land.
"We make our plans,
collect our pay,
think we are gliding down the highway,
when in fact,
we are slipping away." (Paul Simon)
Be ever sensitive
to what the moment calls for.
Answer the phone.
Do the thing that needs to be done.
Forget your plans.
The moment holds the key
to your future.
To THE future.
Trust yourself to the here and now.
Listen to the moment.
Everything hangs by
the most invisible of threads.
We think one thing
and its another.
So give up thinking.
Empty yourself of your thoughts.
Just be who you are
where you are
when you are
how you are
and see where it goes
from there.
Who does the moment need you to be?
What is the moment asking of you?
Do not allow your plans--
your idea of how things ought to be--
to interfere with what
needs to be done here and now.
The moment is the portkey
to eternity.
We think we are here for one thing,
and we are here for another.
Who can be so smart?
We think we would be happy
with what we want.
We would be happy
if we wanted something else.
Who can be so smart?
Empty yourself of being smart,
and listen to what is being
asked of you in the here and now
of your living.
Adam and Eve new what they wanted.
The way back to Eden
is being empty of what we want,
especially getting back to Eden.
Empty is empty.
Be that!
Here and now.
And see what happens.
In each situation as it arises.
If you can find better advice,
take it!
Split Rail Fence 06/20/2012 Oil Paint Rendered — Doughton Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina
When we fall in love with someone,
we are falling in love with
the aspects of ourselves--
our ideal self--our original self--
that we see reflected
in the other person.
They remind us of the us
we don't know we are.
"I see a bit of me in you,
but that's not all I love,
I love the you that lets me see
the me I know not of."
We all are narcissistic,
egocentric,
egotistical,
in this way.
We are born seeking ourselves,
and when we find the right mirror,
we think we have found the perfect other,
and conveniently ignore all that is Not Us
about them.
And when something of that appalling truth
shines through,
we react instantly with,
"That isn't who you are!"
But, it is exactly who they are.
It isn't who WE are!
It takes a while
to sort out who's who
and what's what
and where do we go from here.
It would help if we knew from the start
that everything that arouses/sparks/ignites
an emotional response in us--
either positive or negative--
is a mirror reflecting some aspect of us
to us,
either as "That is who I want to be/wish I were,"
or "That is who I am afraid I am and do not want to be!"
Then we sit down with the mirror
in our imagination
and commune with the truth
of our own reflection,
until we can say,
"Oh, Peter/Priscilla! THERE you are!"
And see where things go from that point,
with us, and the Other.
Part (Perhaps the full scope) of our task
is communing with the symbols/people/places/things
that reflect us to us.
We see ourselves in everything
that catches our eye,
either positively or negatively.
Our place is to recognize that
and commune with the "Rosetta Stone,"
until it reveals to us its hidden truth
in a "Thou Art That" kind of way.
How are you like that?
How is that like you?
What are the connections?
The commonalities?
Sit in the silence
of your imagination
with the person/place/thing
and "wait for the mud to settle
and the water to clear,"
and see what arises/appears/occurs to you
from within.
"Boom!" (As John Madden would say)
there you are.
Drying Out Oil Paint Rendered 04/18/2011 — Green Heron at the Bog Garden, Greensboro, North Carolina
The most important Commandment in the Old Testament
didn't make it into the Top Ten.
It was too controversial.
"Thou Shalt Not Remove Thy Neighbor's Landmark!"
Take the Big Ten to the burning barrel.
All we need is the one left behind.
Understanding "landmark" on all of its
metaphorical levels
puts everything in its place
and leaves nothing to be said.
And, applying it to each other
across the board,
around the table
throughout the world,
gives us peace on earth
and goodwill among all its peoples
to the end of time.
And if you forgot,
you would forget how to breathe
until you remembered.
We wouldn't need Hell for all eternity
to keep people straight.
A breathless minute would do nicely.
If I were in charge of things
they would be real different
real quick.
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02
The Bench by the Woods 11/05/2008 Oil Paint Rendered — Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, Greensboro, North Carolina
Republicans serve unworthy ends.
White supremacy,
Fascism,
Autocracy,
Castes and Social Divisions
between the Deserving
and the Undeserving,
who only want
to put everyone in their place,
and keep them there.
Republicans represent
the end of Democracy,
and have to come to the realization
that their place
is in solidarity with everyone else.
How to see and live beyond divisions
is the lesson these times
are asking us all to learn.
No rich and poor,
no white and non-white,
no male and female,
no gay and straight,
no In and Out...
The Great Society is fluid,
mobile,
gracious,
kind,
accepting
and accommodating,
with noble hearts
and goodwill,
and good faith
for one another
and all others,
with "one for all
and all for one"
experienced and exhibited
on all sides
at all times.
And it requires a maturity
and a self-awareness
beyond what a large number
of people seem to be capable of.
And that's a problem.
Growing up is an individual obligation.
And when people as a culture/society
refuse to have anything to do
with bearing the pain of maturation,
and live only in the service
of My Way NOW!!!
it all goes to hell in a hurry.
When each person in a culture/society
has to do the work
of reconciling themselves
to their own shortcomings and deficiencies,
everything hinges on individuals doing
what individuals are wont to do.
And the chances of that happening
are "fat and slim."
And here we are.
Try forcing maturation on those
who will not grow up!
Let me know how it goes.
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03
Sunflower on Black 02 Oil Paint Rendered
Jesus clearly saw
the way,
the truth,
the light
and the life,
and did his best to exhibit
and express it
in his way with life.
His parables of The Prodigal
and The Good Samaritan,
and what he had to say about
"Inasmuch as you have done it--
and not done it--
to one of the least of humankind,
you have done it--
and not done it--
unto me,"
quite plainly put what is important
before the people,
and the people weren't interested then
or now,
or at any time in between.
The Church that rose up
out of Jesus' teachings
about "love your enemy,"
"love your neighbor,"
and "do unto others
as you would have them do unto you,"
by killing "heretics"
and massacring "blasphemers,"
represents the complete
repudiation of what Jesus stood for
and was about.
Apostasy and abnegation
are the churches' response
to the one they call Lord.
And that leaves us with individuals
having to find their way
on their own
to the way Jesus found on his own,
and continuing the work
of living truthfully in the service
of the good that is Good
anyway,
nevertheless,
even so,
as best we can
for as long as life is possible--
in the spirit of Lao Tzu
who said,
"Do your work and step back.
And let nature take its course."
Just like Jesus did.
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04
Shady View 06/20/2012 Oil Paint Rendered — Doughton Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina
Stephen Mitchell interprets Verse 72
of the Tao te Ching as saying,
"When they lose their sense of awe,
people turn to religion.
When they no longer trust themselves,
they begin to depend upon authority."
Is that not how it is, though?
Where do we go to get our sense of awe back?
How do we revive our essential trust in ourselves?
If we are not capable of doing--
or willing to do--
this work for ourselves,
who will do it for us?
Where does this leave us?
Here we are!
Now what???
Sunrise at Schwabacher Landing 02 06/25/2011 Oil Paint Rendered — Grand Teton National Park, Jackson, Wyoming
Light acts like a particle
and acts like a wave,
depending on what the occasion requires.
Light is a contradiction in terms.
So are you.
So am I.
So is life.
So is the cosmos.
So is truth...
It is Yin and Yang all the way down!
This means we are free to be
exactly what the situation calls for
moment by moment
in each situation as it arises.
We are not bound by anything,
bound to be anything--
certainly not freedom!
Nobody HAS to be free!
Everybody has be what it takes
to do what the situation requires,
and that means not being free
to do what we want mostly ever.
But.
It means we are free to do
what we don't want
all of the time.
Jesus died on a cross
because he was damned if he did
and damned if he didn't
(How free is that, to those of you
who won't be vaccinated
even though the situation demands it?).
And that's how it is
more often than not,
and the only way out of the dilemma
is to be damned and be done with it,
just like Jesus did,
by dying the death that must be died,
even though all of our dying is usually
more metaphorical--
but just as real--
than the way Jesus died,
which only means that we have to die
again and again over the course of our life,
as one situation after another
calls for it,
and we rise to the occasion again,
and die again,
only to rise again...
Contradiction lives at the heart of life
and being,
and at the heart of light,
which is neither life nor being,
which means it's everywhere,
all of the time.
So, make friends with it,
and bear it well!
Doing what needs to be done
when it needs to be done,
where it needs to be done,
the way in needs to be done,
because it needs to be done,
no matter what,
for the joy of doing it,
and the satisfaction of having done it,
with nothing more than that in it for us,
situation by situation,
all our life long.
Get that down and you have it made,
all the way to the end of the line.
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02
Stone Mountain 06/23/2012 Oil Paint Rendered — North Carolina from the Blue Ridge Parkway
Something is called for
in every situation.
See what needs to be done
and assist it into being.
The only trick is being right
about what needs to be done
and when and how to do it.
And life is nothing more than practice
in the art of seeing and doing
what needs to be done,
here and now.
In every here and now there is.
Without judgment
or opinion.
Just seeing,
just doing.
Moment by moment.
Doing our work
and stepping back.
Letting nature take its course.
Moment by moment.
With nothing at stake
in any of it.
With nothing to gain
and nothing to lose.
Just seeing.
Just doing.
Here and now.
Trees in Fog 07 03/28/2012 Oil Paint Rendered — Sioux Falls, South Dakota
We all have things we care about
and things we care not about.
We are set apart and defined by those things.
What do you love?
What do you abhor?
There you are!
Even the Dalai Lama
has those on his
"Don't Like To Be Around/
Don't Like To Do" List.
Here is the really important thing
about our lists:
WE CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT THEM!!!
They are automatic,
involuntary,
uncontrived,
spontaneous,
organic,
instinctive,
unconscious...
unique to each of us
in their variety,
intensity,
depth,
breadth,
quality,
merit
and refinement.
We cannot help how we feel.
We can only try to control
what we do about it.
You know your sister-in-law?
Or your brother-in-law?
Everybody has one.
Or more.
Sometimes, it is your sister,
or your brother.
It's weird how it works.
Across the board,
around the circle,
throughout the world.
It is one of the things
we have in common with everyone--
and could serve us well
as a uniting factor in
bringing us all together as one.
We could hold "Who Do YOU Hate?"
block parties
and therapy sessions,
where we talk about our helplessness
and inability to be free of
our fundamental orientations
and incapacitates.
This is the thing:
there are things about us
we do not control.
Our point of view.
Our way of thinking.
Our preferences
and our disinclinations...
We have a better chance of
making up our mind
than we have of changing our mind.
Our mind changes all of the time,
but not because we will it to be so.
What's up with that?
What is our ideal of who we want to be?
Who says that is ideal?
Who thinks it is atrocious?
See what I mean?
Now, what do we do about it?
LIGHTEN UP!!!
Recognize how it is and let it be!
Keep an eye on it
without taking it seriously,
or thinking it means something,
or believing it gives us the right
to treat other people
the way we are inclined to treat them!
And start cutting slack,
across the board,
around the circle,
throughout the world.
The people we hate
are just the people we hate.
That doesn't say anything about them.
It speaks volumes about us!
Our sister-in-law, etc., is there to grow us up!
If it weren't her,
it would be somebody else!
There will always be someone
to carry our projections
and show us who we are
by showing us who we don't want to be.
Our enemies are our friends in the sense
of exposing our own lack of compassion,
kindness, latitude and grace,
and the ways we need to expand,
deepen,
enlarge,
develop
our capacity for being open,
caring places
inviting everyone
to come sit and rest for a while.
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02
Summer Panorama 04/11/2011 Oil Paint Rendered — Blowing Rock Street Garden, North Carolina
Everything is temporary,
nothing lasts.
Gravity is apparently permanent,
but even gravity's time is limited.
Expansion and collapse, Kid.
Expansion and collapse.
If it isn't coming, it's going,
or turning around.
It's all just a matter of time.
But.
The rhythm is always there.
Change is unchanging.
The beat goes on and on...
And I find something strangely
comforting in that.
To be a part of nature's rhythms,
riding the tide as it comes and goes
and turns around,
has a faintly familiar ring to it,
like I have been here before,
and again before that,
and again...
I am at home in the coming and going
and turning around.
And when I go,
I'm not going to be going anywhere--
certainly not anywhere I haven't been.
It ought to be old hat by now!
I'm on a roll, here.
We all are!
"And when the heaving sea
has shaken my raft to pieces,
then I will swim!"
(Odysseus in the Odyssey).
Swimming on and on,
and taking nothing with
more seriousness than it deserves.
Coming and going with the tides of time
in harmony with the music of the spheres.
Oh, what a ride!
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 