Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

December 12, 2020

Two Ducks Flying 11/30/2011 — The Bog Garden, Greensboro, North Carolina

We can care too much,
and we can care too little.
We can think too much,
and we can think too little.

We live on a continuum between
too much and too little.

Finding the Still Point,
is as easy as riding a bicycle.
Once you get it,
you have it forever.

Just think of your life as riding a bicycle.
And take it for a spin.

–0–

0201

**Big Creek 08 04/14/2009 Oil Paint Rendering –Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Waterville, North Carolina**
When I take a photo that is improperly focused, the only way I know of redeeming it is to render it as an oil painting or as watercolor.
All of our sins of omission or commission are the result of not knowing, or not caring, what we are doing.
And we get back on track the best way we can.

Knowing what is ours to do,
and to not-do
and to do-not,
and knowing what we have to work with
are matters of essential knowing.

And nobody explains that to us.

All of the important stuff
we figure out on our own.

And nobody explains that to us.

Everybody acts as though there is some
Almighty Authority directing their actions,
and they are doing what they are supposed to do
by aligning themselves with that invisible,
undetectable, completely imagined and non-sensible
Authority.

And, they are right.
Except, but, only 
they are imagining the wrong Authority.

They are imagining an Absolute Authority "out there"
and it is "in here."

The One Who Knows dwells within us
and communes with us indirectly
with sign language (symbol language),
metaphors and energy bursts,
dream images and compelling urges,
drifts of "soul" (whatever that is),
and stirrings of "heart" (whatever that is)...

For all practical purposes,
WE are the Super Authority we seek,
and our only problem
is working out Right Relationship
with ourselves--
knowing who is saying "Yes" and "No"
to the things we do and do-not
throughout our life?

Who is guiding our boat
on its path through the sea?

The answer is to be found within.

When we get to the bottom of that,
and are right about it,
we know what we need to know
to find what we need,
to do what needs to be done,
about everything that comes along.

And that is the best anybody can do.

–0–

**Big Creek 08 04/14/2009 –Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Waterville, North Carolina**

Whatever happens in our life
is our destiny's way 
of taking care of us,
of waking us up,
of getting us back,
or keeping us,
on the track.

It is all about us and the track.

There is being on track,
and there is being off track,
and that is all there is.

Everything that happens to us
is about keeping us on,
or getting us back on,
track.

Track is the only thing to be.
The essential thing to be.

Track is humming along,
with everything in place
and working together
to produce the music
we came to make,
with us being aligned with the Tao
and in the center
of our life's will for us
and all is good beyond compare.

Do we know it?
Is the question.

Off Track is lost in a Wasteland
of our own making
by failing to cooperate with the Tao,
and having nothing but contempt
and derision
for the idea
that there is a better way to do it
that the way we are doing it.
"Our Way Is The Only Way,"
carries us directly
to the rock solid heart
of where we do not want to be.
And we wanted our way there
all along the way.

Do we know it?
Is the question.

We can do it our way,
or we can do it the right way.
And our destiny is here with us
to urge us to do it the right way.

Here's a tip for you:
We get and stay on track
by sitting still
and being quiet,
and listening/looking
until we see and hear,
and know what's what,
and do what needs to be done about it.

That is all there is to it.

How quiet are you,
for how often,
and how long?

December 11, 2020

**Fall Canopy 05 11/08/2020 — Indian Land, South Carolina**

What fills us?
Where are we "filled to the brim"?
Filled with life--
with the experience of being fully alive?

Where has that--where does that--happen to us?
How do we respond?
Tears?
Laughter?
Silence?
...

Those moments are "transparent to transcendence."
They are "thin places" (Parker Palmer)
where the world of The Mystery at the Heart
of Life and Being
breaks into the world of normal, apparent, reality,
to transform everything,
and we forget to breathe.

Then it all snaps back into place,
leaving us to wonder if that just happened,
and long for a return engagement very soon.

But the memory lasts always,
and we know we are that close
all the time,
that it could happen anywhere,
but it doesn't happen everywhere,
so we live between the times of its epiphany,
hoping to be present again
when it is present with us,
knowing our life can't be 
more meaningful than that.

Putting ourselves in the position
to be filled--
opening ourselves to the wonder of being
here, now,
wherever we are,
looking with fresh eyes
to see past appearances,
to see what else is there,
draped in the garb of the everyday,
concealing the truth of the Other World
just beyond reach...

We live in an optical illusion.
Now we see it, now we don't.
We have to look knowing what we are looking at,
knowing what we are looking for,
looking for how to master the shift
by not staring at it,
but just past it,
out of the corner of our eye,
not quite focusing,
seeking the wonder,
the radiance,
just out of sight.

–0–

**Cullasaja River Panorama 02 04/12/2011 — Nantahala National Forest, Highlands, North Carolina**

Our destiny is among the strangest of things.
It can use anything to bring itself about.
Whether we cooperate or refuse,
it is all the same to our destiny.
From its standpoint,
"Anything can happen,
but nothing can go wrong."
Because nothing can happen
that it cannot fold into its idea
of how things need to be.

The advantage of cooperating with our destiny
is entirely our boon to embrace,
if we choose,
though it will seem to us at times
to be more of a curse than a blessing.

We have to trust ourselves to
That Which Knows more than we know,
and open ourselves to the times that are upon us--
"And when," in the Native American way of doing things,
"we come to the chasm,
and it is dark,
and we are afraid for our life,
we jump,
trusting that it is not as wide as it seems."

The Hero's Journey comes down to 
trusting ourselves to our destiny
time after time.
Not willing,
not forcing,
not pushing,
not shoving, 
just listening,
just looking,
just waiting,
for the door to open
where we think there are no doors,
for the blessing to be bestowed
when we think there are no blessings 
in this mess for sure,
ready to act when the time for acting
comes upon us,
and trusting (that word again)
that we will know when it arrives.

It is a different way of going at life,
and it is the only way 
of being in accord with the Tao
moment-to-moment,
day-to-day.

–0–

**Mud Cracks 03 06/30/2011 — Mud Volcano, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming**

Living from the center,
aligned with the source,
at one with our original nature,
waiting for the mud to settle
and the water to clear,
listening/looking
for what arises in the silence
to speak for the Tao
flowing through all situations
and circumstances
in the service of balance 
and harmony,
spirit,
vitality
and life,
enables our virtues--
the gifts that are ours from birth--
to come forth
as blessing and grace
to heal the world
through the way
we respond
to what is called for
in each moment,
moment-by-moment,
the fulcrum shifting the future
into place,
and making all things
what they need to be
over time.

Do here and now right
as best you can.

That is the difference
that makes a difference
in the way things are
always and forever.

December 10, 2020

**Cypress Swamp 09/03/2015 16 Panorama — Lake Martin, Breaux Bridge, Louisiana**

Joseph Campbell said, "If you really want 
to help this world,
what you will have to teach
is how to live in it.
And that, 
no one can do
who has not learned
how to live in it
in the joyful sorrow
and the sorrowful joy
of life as it is."

We are always trying to improve
everything about life:
ourselves,
other people,
the world,
life as it is...

Life as it is
is not the way we want it to be.
And we have a plan for that.

The Bible would have us believe
that it all started out 
with Adam and Eve 
trying to improve Paradise.
And we are still at it.

Carl Jung said,
"You can't improve something
without accepting it first."
Letting things be just what they are
is the first step 
in changing our relationship with them,
and that is the essential element
in the transformation of everything.

It all changes once our perspective changes.
If you are going to change something,
start with your perspective!

–0–

Carolina Thread Trail 01 11/09/2020 — Lancaster County, South Carolina

You cannot be a photographer
and be somewhere else.

You cannot be a photographer
thinking about something else.

To be a photographer,
you have to be where you are,
when you are,
and your mind has to be on
what you are doing,
what you are seeing,
here and now.

A camera requires your presence.
Your attentive presence.
It forces you to be present
even against your will.

If you are not present,
it shows.

A camera is sitting zazen.
It is better than sitting zazen.
Sitting zazen takes you out of the moment.
A camera thrusts you into the moment,
and requires you to be alive
to the time and place
of your living.
Sitting zazen is just another way
of being dead.

Between a zazen cushion
and a camera,
go with the camera.

–0–

**The Barn Down the Road 03/21/2011 — Yanceyville, North Carolina**

It comes down to this:

Pay attention,
be aware.

See what you look at,
know what you know.

Do what needs to be done,
what is called for,
in ways appropriate 
to the occasion.

In each situation
as it arises.

It is never more difficult than that.

Anybody can do it
with a little practice.

What's the problem?

–0–

Half Dome and Merced River 04/27/2006 — Yosemite National Park, California

We cannot assume anything.
We cannot take anything for granted.
Everything is for the first time.
Nothing has gone before.
Nothing will come after.
This is all there is or ever will be.
This here.
This now. 
Is it.

We are the still point of the turning world,
right here,
right now.
What we do here and now
is all that matters.

Experience makes little difference.
Prognostication is a delusion.
All we can know is right before us.
What is happening?
What is being called for?
How best to respond?
That is all we need to know.
That is all there is to know.

If the baby's diaper needs changing,
change the baby's diaper.
If the dog needs to go for a walk,
take the dog for a walk.

How we feel about it doesn't matter.
What we want doesn't come into the picture.
What needs to be done?
Who needs to do it?
When?
How?

This is the place,
now is the time--
for what?

That is the only question.
Ever.

Live to get it right.
Every time.

December 09, 2020

**Fall Canopy 04 11/08/2020 — 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina**

Joseph Campbell asked, "What are you going to do well?"

There is our art,
our gift,
and our life.

What are we going to do well,
when it doesn't matter?
When no one is going to notice,
or know?

When it amounts to nothing more than
"divinely superfluous beauty"?

There is our art,
our gift,
our life.

Where in your experience 
do you have to get it right?

If it is everywhere,
you need to look at
how you are dominated
by your compulsion 
to be pleasing,
and your inability to say no.

Don't do anything about it!
Do not try to make yourself
start saying no!
Simply be aware of it,
be curious about it,
search for when it started,
for its origin in your life.
Wonder about it.
Dig around in it.
See what you can turn up.

And if it is nowhere--
if there is nothing
you have to get right,
you have to do well,
you need to look at
who took it away from you.
Who made fun of you?
Who ridiculed you?
Who made you ashamed
of caring about what you cared about?

Simply become aware of your disconnect
with what was once important to you,
and curious about what happened
to render you incapable of
embracing aspects of your life
as being worth your highest esteem.
Dig around in it.
See what you turn up.

Joseph Campbell would say,
"Reflection leads to new realizations."
And that transforms the whole shebang.

–0–

**Cotton in the Field Panorama 03 11/03/2015 — Along the Blues Trail through the Mississippi Delta**

The life that is ours to live--
the life we are built for,
that comes with our destiny attached--
is so far removed from the life we are living,
that it is no wonder we suffer
from oxygen deprivation,
can't get our breath,
listlessly drift through each day.

We do not fit the life we are living!
We belong to another,
vastly different life,
and struggle to make room 
for that life
in this life.

Our heart isn't in what we are doing.
How long has it been?
How long have we been going through 
the motions,
thinking it is going to get better
soon?

We think Jesus was about heaven when we die.
Jesus was about living the life that is ours to live
now, while we are alive!

Jesus lived the life that was his to live
and calls us to follow his lead
in living the life that is ours to live.

The Buddha did the same thing.
Waking up means waking up to the life
that isn't it,
and to the life that is it.
And living the right life.

Even if we have to compromise,
and walk two paths at the same time--
making enough money to pay the bills
with this life,
and doing what we pay the bills to do 
with our real life--
it is worth the work to do what 
we are here to do.

We will find ourselves smiling for no reason,
and laughing right out loud
with delight
over the good things
we never noticed before.

How long has it been since we did that?

We are burning daylight here.
Time's a-wasting.

–0–

Sailboat Abstract 01 10/29/2010 — Pamlico Sound, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina

We would all like to sail away
from time to time.
Or, as they say in the Old West,
"Don't fence me in!"

Being fenced in is the worst imaginable situation
for a lot of us.
"Give us land, lots of land,
with the starry skies above...
and don't fence us in."

The odd thing about all this
is that nothing is more confining,
limiting,
prison-like
than a damn sailboat!

I'm sure the irony is not wasted on you.

Carl Jung like to say,
"We meet our destiny
on the road we take to escape it."

We create the very future 
we try to avoid
by trying to avoid it.

And have less freedom than we can bear
by trying to be free
of all constants and restrictions.

The trick--
the work-a-round--
is to be free
right here,
right now,
just as we are.

It's the old soldiers' Great Escape,
being Absent Without Leave
while standing at attention
as the commanding officer
passes in review.

We are always a slight perspective shift
from being outta here.

It's the old Taoists' favorite retreat
into seclusion and solitude.

Just flip the switch!
"Turn the light around!"
Take your leave!
Sail away!
Without going anywhere!

And if the situation is really obnoxious, 
drift back in from time to time
and say, "I'm sorry,
my mind must have wandered,
can you repeat what you were just saying?"
And drift immediately away again.

That may not work on an arresting officer,
but it's good for insurance salesmen
standing at the door.

December 08, 2020

**Currituck Beach Lighthouse 10/24/20/10 — North Carolina Outer Banks**

Every time and place has its own mood,
its own character,
its own sense of being in,
or out of,
the flow--
the Tao--
of life and being

Some places are so dead
redemption and resurrection
are out of the question.

I have to get myself walked out of those places.
I expect you do, too.

There are people--
lots of people--
who have no hope of 
being awake in their lifetime.
They walk like the dead they are
through all of the aforementioned places.

You can see it in their eyes
and in their slack expression. 
It has been decades since they were last alive.

These people and those places
constitute a large portion of the world
we live in.

They dumbfound everyone who comes their way.
Jesus left shaking his head,
muttering to himself.
As did the Buddha before him
and Gandhi after him.

How do you teach a stone to talk?
If you take the time to cultivate
a relationship with the stone,
seeing through the stone
to all that it is 
that does not meet the eye,
it will speak to you of itself
and of you
in ways that startle and amaze. 

The dead people and places in our life
have the same potential.
But.
It will be a potential realized in pathos
and anguish
in recognition of all that might have been
and never had a chance of being
because there were none to listen
as we are listening,
and none to see as we are seeing,
and none to care as we are caring,
and now they are long past redemption
and resurrection,
though we are listening,
and seeing,
and caring
with a heart breaking for all that is,
and was not.

–0–

**Carolina Thread Trail 03 11/09/2020 — Lancaster County, South Carolina**

What helps you find your way?
What restores your soul?
Makes your little heart sing?
Your little footsies dance?

What harmonizes your life,
puts you back on track,
centers and grounds you,
is a reliable source of balance
and stability?

Joseph Campbell would suggest
that you create your own sacred space
around those things.

He said:
"You don't have a sacred space, a rescue land,
until you find somewhere to be
that is not a wasteland,
some field of action
where there is a spring of ambrosia--
a joy that comes from inside, 
not something external that puts joy in you--
a place that lets you experience
your own will,
and your own intention,
and your own wish (and delight)
so that, in a small way,
the Kingdom is there.
I think everybody, 
whether they know it or not,
is in need of such a place."

He continues:

"A sacred space is hermetically sealed off
from the temporal world.
When you are in such a space,
there is no penetration into the enclosure.
You are in an eternal zone
that is protected from the impact and intrusion
of the stimuli of the day and of the hour.
That is what you do in meditation:
you seal yourself off.
The world is sealed off,
and you become a self-contained entity.
You must have such a sealing-off program/place
for yourself whenever you require it:
once a week,
or once a day,
or once an hour.
It is an absolute necessity
if you are going to have an inner life.
What it provides is an interval
in which the eternal within you
is disengaged from the field of time
in the hermetically sealed sacred space
within yourself. 
The further you can get into that,
the more at peace you will be
with whatever happens."

–0–

Crepe Myrtle 07 11/27/2020 — 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina

Jim’s Favorite Rice Pudding

Bring 2 Cups of water to a boil.
Add 1 cup of uncooked rice of your choice.
Cover and reduce heat to simmer.
The water will evaporate/be absorbed by the rice
as the rice cooks. This will take about 20 min.
for white rice and about 35 minutes for brown rice.

While the rice is cooking,
in a separate pot, place
3 cups of milk (Your choice of variety),
1/3 cup of sugar, or 3TBS of Stevia
1/3 cup or more to taste of raisins or dried cranberries
1 TBS Unsalted Butter
1-3 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Heat over medium heat while stirring occasionally.

When the rice has cooked, add it to the milk mixture
and stir it over medium heat until the mixture thickens
and the rice absorbs most of the milk--10 to 15 minutes.
Remove from heat, cover, and allow to "set up" for 10 minutes.

Serve or store in the refrigerator until needed.

All of the old monks ate their rice.
It was the foundation of their foundation.

–0–

Caroline Dormon Lodge 01 — Lake Chicot State Park, Ville Platte, Louisiana

We have been looking for the Power source
for as long as we have been alive.

As a species.

All this time,
we have been like 
a man sitting on his ox
looking for his ox.
Like a woman holding her car keys,
looking for her car keys.

We have been looking Out There,
when all this time,
it has been--and continues to be--
In Here.

We have looked everywhere Out There.
In the Moon,
in the Sun,
in the Stars,
in the Mountains,
in this recipe,
in this belief system,
in that one,
and that one...

The gods and goddesses 
have been legion.
We have tried them all,
looking for a leg up,
for the advantage,
for the angle,
for the leverage,
for the formula
for beating the odds
and securing our future
and having it made.

Money seems to be the one
that has made it to the top.
If we only have enough money,
we will surely have it made.
And we live our life
in the service of Mammon,
seeking more,
always more,
and never having enough
to be sure 
that we have it made.

And through all of this
we are never more 
than one slight perspective shift
from having what we seek.

All we have to do 
is change our mind
about what it means
to have it made.

–0–

**Moonrise 10/23/2010 — Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nags Head, North Carolina**

If you are living from your center,
you can live through anything.
You can live with anything.

Your center is centered upon your Source,
and your Source,
and your center,
are equipped to assist you
in the work of 
fulfilling your destiny
within all possible
situations,
contexts and
circumstances.

Look at where we have been!
All of this started 
in the jungles
and in the caves--
on the plains
and the barren steppes!

We came from there to here
in 30 million or so years!
And we came through everything
to be here, now!

We come from good stock!
Stock that made it through
impossible-seeming conditions
using nothing but its original gifts,
its original nature,
living aligned with its center,
its Source.

That is the strategy
for living with--
for dealing with--
whatever comes up.

Seek the silence,
seek the center,
seek the source,
find the still point,
and wait for the Way to arise
and lead you through the Wasteland
to the Promised Land--
the Promised Land being within,
not without!

The Promised Land being anywhere
you are One with the Center and the Source
of the Mystery of Life and Being!

Live from there
and we have it made
no matter what!

December 07, 2020

**Walnut Creek Trail 01 11/09/2020 — Lancaster County, South Carolina**

Doing what our life asks us to do,
being who our life asks us to be,
faithfully offering what is called for
in each situation as it arises,
providing what is needed in each moment,
with compassion and kindness, 
sincerity and grace,
without contriving some outcome,
or seeking our advantage or gain,
is to be in accord with the Tao,
living aligned with the Way,
and fulfilling our destiny,
step by step,
through each day.

Jesus couldn't do better than that.
The Buddha couldn't beat it.
The Dali Lama aspires to it.
The people who toss it aside
in their search for more,
continue the legacy of Adam and Eve
in trading Eden for the Wasteland,
and throwing away their life
looking for life.

–0–

**Beech Tree Panorama 11/27/2020 — 22-Acre Woods, Indian Land, South Carolina**

The moment is where we come alive.
What is blocking our life-in-the-moment?
What is happening there
that keeps us from being alive?
What is our attitude 
about what is happening there
that keeps us from being alive?

There is caring too much
and there is caring too little.

There is wanting too much
and there is wanting too little.

There is thinking too much
and there is thinking too little.

You see where this is going.

We have to be capable of doing
what needs to be done
in ways appropriate to the occasion
in every moment of our life.

We need to have access to every
action we are capable of initiating
as a fully functioning member
of the species
without being incapacitated
by over-or-under reacting
in any area.

Living from the center,
from the still point between
all extremes,
requires optimal distance
from everything.

There is too-close and too-far-away.
Strive for the middle way
in all things.
Not caring too much,
and not caring too little.
About everything.

–0–

**Lake Chicot 10/27/2015 — Lake Chicot State Park, Ville Platte, Louisiana**

Sit down,
be quiet,
watch your thoughts,
watch your response to your thoughts,
distance yourself from your thoughts,
observe by being aware
of being aware,
without judgment or opinion,
with compassion and non-contrivance,
not striving for anything
but awareness of everything.

If the things that arise
become overwhelming,
return your attention 
to your breathing.

Breathe slowly, deeply,
pausing between exhale and inhale
for a count of five.
After five breaths,
resume your observation
of thoughts arising in the silence.

For twenty minutes,
or for as close to that
as your schedule allows.
Do this three times a day,
as your life permits.

–0–

**Breakwater and Headlight B&W 10/02/2002 — Rockland, Maine**

There are two things to attend
in every listening session
with yourself,
and with everyone else:
What is being said,
and 
What is talking.

Both must be interpreted
in light of the context and circumstances,
and who is speaking, 
and who is listening.

We cannot remove ourselves
from any conversation
or any relationship,
and impact what is heard
by the way we hear it.

We have to take all of it
into account,
observing the situation
and our place in it,
moment-by-moment,
situation-by-situation,
day-by-day.

Particularly what is talking.
What is the emotional charge
behind the words?
Depression?
Dismay?
Hopelessness?
Anxiety?
Fear?
Worry?
Anger?
Rage?
Hatred?
Defensiveness?
Uncertainty?
Unease?
The push to prevail?
The need to win?
Etc.

When you respond,
speak to the emotion
as much as to the words.

Get to the bottom 
of the origin of the words.
To the source
of what is being said.

Do not leave the source un-probed.

Ask the questions that beg 
to be asked.
Say the things that cry out
to be said.

Take your time between
the statement
and the reply.
Allow yourself to process everything,
including your emotional response
to the statement,
and speak from your own center,
from the source of your own propulsion,
from the still point
between action and reaction--
the still point between thoughts.
Between feelings.

And make it your highest priority
to nurture your relationship
with the still point
through all the days 
of your life.

December 06, 2020

**Caroline Dormon Lodge 03/22/2015 — Chicot Lake State Park, Ville Platte, Louisiana**

The old Taoist saying,
"Turn the light around,"
says all we need to hear.

It can be understood on different levels.
Initially it was a directive
to stop looking for illumination
"out there,"
in books,
or lectures,
or sutras,
concepts,
creeds,
ideas,
thinking,
etc.
and start looking for it
"in here,"
in realizations,
recognition,
intuition,
insight,
instinct,
etc.

Joseph Campbell said,
"It is through reflection
on our lived experience
that we arrive at new realizations."
And on our dreams,
and our conflicts and contradictions,
etc.

Any time we come up against a wall
is a good time for reflection,
and for listening.

Nothing beats sitting quietly
and listening
for getting past the noise
to the truth that is trying 
to break through to us.

All we have to do is sit still
and notice everything 
that arises unbidden within,
until something comes up
with a peculiar energy about it,
different from all the other stuff,
in a way that catches your attention
and jolts you with 
a kind of "Here it is! Don't miss this!"
emphasis.

Well, reflect on that.
Turn it over.
Walk around it.
See what you can make of it.
What is it asking of you?
Take it for a spin.
See where it goes.

On the path to the Holy Grail,
one thing leads to another.
Start with the thing with energy,
and it will lead you to something else
with energy.
Stay with the energy.
With the life.
With the interest and enthusiasm.
With the joy and wonder.

Trust those guides with your life,
and be off
on your next great adventure.

–0–

Water Flower 09/02/2008 — Bass Lake, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina

A symbol's value
is its aliveness in the life
of those embracing it.

Symbols are alive for us
when they connect us with transcendence,
with the Numen,
the Ineffable,
the Indescribable,
the Inexpressible...
beyond themselves.

We see through symbols
when we look at symbols,
and we never confuse the symbol
with what it symbolizes,
with what it stands as a reference to,
with what it points to,
suggests,
reflects.

A symbol--all symbols--is/are alive
to the extent that it/they are metaphors
for more than words can say.
And everything is capable of being a symbol,
a metaphor,
for us when we see through it,
past it,
to what it "stands for" for us.

A symbol is dead
when it means just what it means
and nothing more ever than what it means.

God is a symbol.
God is a metaphor.
God is an idea that represents
a transcendent reality
that cannot be said,
told,
explained,
described,
clarified,
expressed,
defined
or made plain.

God is dead to the extent
that God is limited
to what can be said of God
in the Bible,
the creeds,
the catechisms,
the books of confession,
and the books of doctrine
that say who and what God is.
And is not.

God is more than we can ask,
or say, or think, or believe.

God is beyond all concepts,
ideas, opinions, descriptions...

The most truthful thing
that can be said of God
is "I do not know God."

As a symbol,
God is "transparent to transcendence,"
as all symbols are,
in that we see through the symbol
to what is beyond the symbol
which cannot be said/told/defined/etc.

We,
you and I,
are to live in ways
that "express the inexpressible,"
and "make known what which
is more than words can say."

We,
you and I,
are to be symbols
which are "transparent to transcendence,"
so that we are "as close to The Mystery
at the Heart of Life and Being,
as some people get,"
so that seeing The Mystery
through us,
they become present to The Mystery themselves,
and live, as a symbol of The Mystery
in the lives of others.

And, thus, The Mystery
comes alive in us all,
and we all come alive in The Mystery,
and know that at the very bottom of it all,
we are One with The Mystery,
"One with the Father,"
One with each other
and all people of all ages,
and all sentient beings 
of all times and places,
world without end, amen.

–0–

**Magnolia 08 06/24/2009 — Greensboro, North Carolina**

Only dead people kill people.

Every person who kills someone, anyone,
should ask themselves:
"In doing this,
am I more like Jesus,
or the people who killed Jesus?"

Christians think Jesus is a Christian,
and would be welcome in all their churches.
All Christian churches think everyone is welcome.
They say so on church signs.
"All are welcome here!"
"Everyone is welcome here!"
Not so.
What they don't say is left unsaid but implied:
"All are welcome here on our terms."
"Everyone is welcome here to be like we are."

The list of people who are not welcome
in Christian Churches is long.

Are gay people welcome
to hold Gay Pride rallies
and organize marches,
and preach from the pulpit on Sunday morning
in Christian Churches?

Are members of Planned Parenthood welcome
to hold Freedom of Choice rallies,
to speak from the pulpit,
and organize marches?

Are Muslims welcome
to preach from the pulpit on Sunday morning,
hold prayer retreats
and rallies,
and organize marches,
and talk about Palestinian rights?

Transgender people...
Black Lives Matter...
Buddhists...
The list is long of people
not-welcome on church property.

Yet, all Christian churches
think Jesus would be welcome.

They should devote a worship service
once a month
for silent contemplation
of all the ways Jesus would not be welcome,
and of all the things Jesus 
would not be welcome to say
and do.

And then consider, in light of that,
are they more like Jesus,
or the people who killed Jesus.

December 05, 2020

**Lake Chicot 04 03/22/2015 Panorama — Canoe/Kayak Launch, Lake Chicot State Park, Ville Platte, Louisiana**

Preferences without expectations or demands
will go a long way toward peace, balance and harmony.

But.

This works only where there is
mutual respect for,
and commitment to,
the common good.

Where that is lacking,
that is where the police
and the military come in.

Everything depends upon
our ability to enforce compliance
to the agreements that hold us together.

Without the good faith participation of all
in the creation and maintenance
of an atmosphere/environment
that respects/honors the rights
of everyone to their rights to a life
they find to be pleasing--
without interfering with others' rights
to that kind of life for themselves--
it all goes to hell in short order.

We owe it to each other
to care about the good of the other
as much as we care about our own good.

That is the basis of our life together.

–0–

**Wild Goose Island 09/24/2006 — St. Mary Lake, Glacier National Park, Montana**

People group together
around their ideas 
of how things ought to be.
Which is how they wish they were.
Which has a somewhat tangential 
relationship with how things are.

The more people in the group,
the less agreement there is 
about pretty much everything.
Unless the group doesn't allow disagreement,
or questions,
or variations from the authority
of those in control of the group.

Insisting that everyone see things
like the leaders see things
is the grounding agreement
for peace and harmony.
The moment different opinions
and points of view are permitted,
it all goes to hell in a hurry.

Democracy is doomed from the start.
"Okay, we can all be free to live 
our own life with the same rights
and privileges as everyone else,
but we all have to agree 
that the majority rules."

And then we get Trump and the GOP
suing to have an election overturned
where the majority (by 7 million votes)
voted him out of office.

How are we going to make this work?

"Good fences make good neighbors,"
said Robert Frost.
What I do on my side of the fence
is my business,
and what you do on your side of the fence
is your business.
I won't mess with your life,
and you don't mess with mine.

That would work except for the color 
of my skin,
or my preference for a life partner,
or my right to have an abortion,
then somehow my business
becomes your business.
How does that happen?
I'm on my side of the fence.
What are you doing in my back yard?
In my bedroom?
How did my business become your business?

How is it that I cannot trust you
to abide by our common agreements?

Freedom of religion
means I am free from your religion.
So, keep your religion to yourself
on your side of the fence!

We can live together
only if you stay on your side of the fence!
When people in democracy
keep trying to impose their ideas
of how other people ought to live their life
on other people.
there is no democracy.

Democracy respects lines separating 
people and their business
from other people and their business--
and requires everyone to mind their own business.

Sounds simple enough.

December 04, 2020

**Lake Chicot 03/22/2015 10 — Cabin Rentals, Lake Chicot State Park, Ville Platte, Louisiana**

We owe our life
liege loyalty,
filial devotion
and devoted service
through all the times and places, 
contexts and circumstances
of our days upon the earth. 

Adam and Eve failed to do this,
and served their wants and desires,
but Abraham, Moses, Elijah and John the Baptist,
Ruth, Ester, and Mary the mother of Jesus,
and Jesus, among many others,
did it very well.

Now, it is our turn.

Our life is our destiny.
To live our life
with liege loyalty,
filial devotion,
and devoted service,
is to embrace our destiny,
and do what it calls us to do,
regardless of the price,
without any interest in
what is in it for us,
and no attempt to turn any moment
to our advantage,
gain,
or benefit--immediate or eternal--
but just doing what our life requires
in the time and place of our living,
moment-by-moment,
day-by-day
our whole life long,
for the joy of serving our life.

To live this way 
is to live in accord with the Tao,
and at one with our destiny.

–0–

**Father Crawley Point – Star Wars Canyon – Rainbow Canyon — Death Valley National Park, Inyo, California**

It is not a matter of thinking,
or believing.
It is solely a matter of doing--
of right doing--
of aligning our life
with what is being called for
in each situation as it arises,
and doing there what needs to be done,
when it needs to be done,
how it needs to be done,
for as long as it needs to be done,
and repeating that process
in the next situation as it arises,
and so on,
throughout our life.

You can think whatever you want.

You can believe whatever you want.

As long as it enables you 
to do what needs to be done,
when it needs to be done,
how it needs to be done,
for as long as it needs to be done
by doing what is called for
in every situation
that arises.

Forget ethics.
Forget morality.
Forget duty.
Forget what your mother told you.
Forget what your father always said.
Just focus on what is being called for,
be right about it,
and do what needs to be done,
when and how,
situation by situation.

This is called 
"living in accord with the Tao."

–0–

**Canyon Light 09/27/2005 — Grand Canyon, South Rim, Arizona**

Sit quietly,
find the still point within
between liking and not liking,
thinking and not thinking,
wanting and not wanting,
fearing and not fearing,
believing and not believing,
needing and not needing,
etc.

And live from there
in doing and not doing.

–0–

**Maine Moon 09/07/2006 — Mt. Desert Island, Maine**

Compliance with this
is non-compliance with that,
and vice-versa.

The only free choice we can make
is the choice between masters.
"Choose this day whom you will serve!"
is all the freedom we are allowed.

Not wearing a mask
is not evidence of freedom,
but of bondage.
The people who do not wear a mask.
cannot wear a mask.
They lose standing in their 
most-cherished community if they do.
What is the value of a community
that binds us to stupidity
and puts us in harm's way?

What is the value of anything
that destroys our connection
with our core
and commands us to do
what is contrary to our 
control center within?

When Paul says,
"It is no longer I who live,
but the Christ who lives within me!"
he is saying he is being directed
by the Knower who knows better
than he knows what is called for
and what needs to be done about it.

He is saying what Captain Jack Sparrow said,
"It's the pirate's life for me, Gibbs.
I have no say in the matter. Savvy?"

We have no say in the matter of what matters to us.
We have no say in the matter of what
we would go to hell for.
We have no say in the matter of what
pulls us or chases us or haunts us or pleases us.

We like what we like
and don't like what we don't like,
but we can't choose what we like
or don't like
any more than we can choose
what we dream at night
or what the next thing will be
that catches our eye.

Freedom is just another word
for having nothing at all to say
in all matters of grave importance,
so we need to stop kidding ourselves
about being free,
and realize who we are bowing before
and taking our orders from,
and who is directing our boat
on its path through the sea.

December 03, 2020

Waiting for Breakfast 05/012019 — Bluff Lake, Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge, Oktibbeha County,
Starkville, Mississippi

The Dalai Lama, speaking about the Chinese occupation of Tibet, said:

“If, in any situation, there is no solution, there is no point in being anxious. If the forces at work have their own momentum, and what’s going on now is the product of what went before, and if this generation is not in control of all those forces, then this process will continue.”

Some things have to play themselves out.

A lynch mob, for instance,
is not going to be talked out
of doing what it came to do.

Force is the only valid form of persuasion
in situations like that.
And "if this generation"
lacks the wherewithal to force compliance
with the rules of decency and order,
"this process will continue."

And China remains,
after all these years,
in control of Tibet.

We can wring our hands
and wail,
"Why doesn't anyone DO SOMETHING?"
but the "process will continue"
until it plays itself out,
or something shifts in the situation.

The Republicans in Congress
are the force
that would put the country
back on track.
But, they demur.
Look away.
Feign shock and consternation.

They disappear.
And become Trump's invisible means of support
in the attack on democracy
and the foundations of government.

Without the force to compel compliance
with customary norms and standards
of behavior,
the country is swept by the current
of the times
into the clashing rocks
and heaving waves
of the wine-dark sea.

And as it is with Tibet,
so it will be with the USA,
without a miraculous intervention
to disrupt "the process."

–0–

**Angel Oak 11/14/2013 Black and White — Angel Oak Park, Johns Island, South Carolina**

This tree is doing all it can--
doing its best--
doing all it knows to do--
with the resources at its disposal
and the gifts that came with it
from the acorn
all those years ago,
without wondering what's in it for it,
or thinking it isn't good enough,
or that it is something really special,
or wishing it were a school bus,
or a diesel locomotive,
or...

This tree is,
as all trees are,
just what it is:
A tree thus come.

Where it is,
when it is,
how it is,
for as long as it is,
as a blessing and a grace
upon all who come its way,
without striving to be more than it is,
or something it is not.

Trees know where to draw the line.

They know the difference between
trusting their luck,
and pushing there luck,
and live to see what they can do
with what they have to work with
in the time and place of their living.

And they exhibit their original nature
in everything they do.

And are content to sincerely be who they are,
with balance and harmony,
through all the days of their life.

–0–

**Grayson Highlands Oil Paint Rendering — Grayson Highlands State Park, Mouth of Wilson. Virginia**

Each one of us 
is an embodiment 
of The Mystery
at the heart
of life and being.

And it is our place--
our role,
our duty and responsibility--
to consciously,
mindfully,
intentionally and willfully,
incarnate The Mystery
that is who we are.

When Jesus said 
"The Father and I are one,"
and when he prayed,
"And may they all be one,
even as we are one, Father,
just as you are in me 
and I am in you,
may they also be in us,"
he is talking to The Mystery,
calling it "Father,"
as it is, indeed,
the Source of life and being
throughout the cosmos.

We all carry within us The Mystery,
the Father,
and are called to exemplify
the truth at the heart of who we are
in everything we say and do.

Jesus and the Buddha did that very well.
So did Eleanor Roosevelt and Helen Keller.
As are Dolly Parton and Taylor Swift.

Beautiful works of art, every one!

And it is our place to join them
as vehicles of, for and to The Mystery
in the time left for living.

How well we do that determines
the extent to which 
we transform the world
by living in each moment
as conscious,
mindful,
intentional,
willful
extensions of The Mystery
in the times and places of our living,
moment-by-moment,
situation-by-situation,
by seeing what is called for
and responding in ways fitting to the occasion
with the gifts that are ours to share,
sincerely and without contrivance, 
and nothing at stake in the outcome,
all our life long.

December 02, 2020

**Om Mani 05 — From my Symbols of Transformation Collection**

Joseph Campbell emphasizes the importance
of creating a sacred space
as a place to retreat
from the world of normal, apparent, reality--
in order to return to the center, 
amid the things that are central
to "the harmonization of your own life."

A sacred space is a decompression zone,
where we return to ourselves
and know the joy and peace 
of being sealed off 
and at one with meaningful items
that help us find our way.

Campbell says, "You must have a sealing-off
place for yourself whenever you need it--
it is an absolute necessity
if you are going to have an inner life."

We need a play room where what we do
does not have to have any significance
beyond doing it.
Where we can play a drum,
or read a book that goes nowhere,
or listen to music that we love,
or sit looking out a window.

We need a place where our heart and soul
can come alive,
and we can come alive to them,
and join together 
in the joy and wonder of being alive.

**Adams Mill Pond Mirror 01 11/10/2014 — Goodale State Park, Camden, South Carolina**

Ours is the most neurotic generation in history.
I say that based on the central place
of money and addiction worldwide.

Money and addiction are substitutes
for a viable, vital, vibrant and alive center.
We have no center,
no core,
no adamantine rock-solid foundation
upon which to stand,
immovable,
confident,
secure,
stable,
balanced and harmonious
in the face of the clashing rocks
and heaving waves
of the wine-dark sea
that constitutes our life.

And so, the attraction of certitude
of any kind.
We will follow anyone who knows
what they are talking about.
And so, Qanon and Donald Trump.

The theme song of our age
is "The Paradox of Needy":
I'm so needy!
I HATE being needy!
And I need to be needed
by someone who needs me
to need them too!
But I'll hate them if they do!

All neurosis is a box
with no center
and no door,
and no floor.
A square black hole.
A womb with no due date.
With money and addiction,
lights and action
to take our mind
off free-falling
through endless neediness
and a life that has no meaning.

What's the solution?
Waking up.
Bearing the pain, laughing.
Knowing there is no fixing any of it
only dancing with all of it,
for what?
We do not know!

Shoulder uncertainty!
Tolerate anxiety!
Trust the unknown and unknowable!
Dance with the darkness!
Play with terror and with fear!

Native Americans would tell their children
as they left home to find their way in the world,
"When you get out of sight of this place,
you will enter the land of darkness and doubt,
and you will come to a chasm.
When you do, JUMP!
It is not as far as it seems."

Neurosis is refusing to jump.
And takes everything more seriously
that it deserves.

December 01, 2020

Mute Swans 02 08/16/2019 — Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina

It comes down to attitude.
Outlook.
Viewpoint.
Perception.
Perspective.

How we look limits what we see,
casts what we see
in a favorable or unfavorable light,
tilts the table for or against,
pro or con,
my way or the highway.

We tend to see in ways 
that favor what we favor
and disfavor what we disfavor.

We are how we look
at what we see.

Tell me what you see and how you see it
and I will tell you who you are.

So, start with a mirror,
looking at you.
What memories come to mind
that cant you in a particular direction
with regard to yourself.

You remember the things
that justify your view of things.
That justify your view of you.

When I ask you to "look at all there is
about you,"
you won't scratch the surface.
You will look at all the things 
you always see about you.
You cannot see any of the things
that do not support your view of yourself.

The same thing applies to your view 
of everything and everyone in your life.
You cannot see them for all of the things
you already see about them
that get in your way of seeing
all there is to see.

You cannot see all there is to see
about anything.

You see only your viewpoint,
your perspective,
your perception,
your attitude,
about everything you look at.
Which prejudices your outlook.

Now listen to me:
We have to get beyond how we see things!
We have to get ourselves out of the way!
We have to look at everything
as though we are seeing it 
for the first time!

Here's the way to do that:
Draw a mental frame around everything
you look at.
Set it apart from everything else.
Memories, impressions, ideas, presumptions,
assumptions, inferences, what you know
and what you think you know...
Filter all of it out,
so that it is just you looking at 
what is in the frame
as though you have never seen it,
or anything like it,
ever.

Sit or stand before it in the silence
of compassionate presence
and allow it to show you who
and what it is.

Allow it to transition from "it"
to "Thou."
And go where you are being led.

–0–

**Eagle Cliff Falls Panorama 09/20/2015 — Montour Falls, New York**

What are your gifts?
What do you do with them?

That is all you need to know.
What your gifts are,
and what to do with them.

Then it is just a matter of doing
what needs to be done
with the gifts that are yours to share.

–0–

Koi Pond 01 05/24/2018 –Pike Nursery, Charlotte, North Carolina, from my Symbols of Transformation Collection

Everything serves our destiny.

It helps to tell ourselves that,
no matter what happens.

The things we don't think we need,
the things we don't want,
the things we hate with all our heart,
not to mention our mind,
our soul,
our strength,
our essence
and our convenience,
are serving our destiny,
as surely as the things that please us
to no end,
stoke our gladness
delight our mothers
and fill our fathers with pride
are.

The question is:
How are we going to respond to them?
What are we going to do with them?
Are we going to see them--
understand them,
interpret them--
in ways that shift us
off the Me And What I Want Track,
and put us squarely in the center
of My Destiny And How I Need To
Align Myself With It Track?

If everything that happens
is serving our destiny,
but we aren't,
we have a problem.

And our destiny has a problem.

Our destiny's only problem ever
is getting our whole-hearted cooperation.

If we aren't living intentionally,
deliberately,
consciously
in the moment-to-moment,
situation-by-situation,
day-by-day
service of our destiny,
we are striving uselessly 
to heave our own ideas for our life
into place
in order to live happily ever after.

And creating hell for ourselves
and everyone we know.

We are swimming against the current,
spitting into the wind,
digging holes in solid granite,
and free-falling into the void
through one wasteland after another.

Not so smart.

Everything that happens to us 
serves our destiny
by trying to wake us up.

And it is going to keep
trying to wake us up
until we die.

We can wake up or not.
It is up to us.

If we think maybe waking up
might be a good idea,
we start the work of waking up
by asking ourselves,
What is my life trying to tell me?
And all of the questions
that question stirs to life.

Asking all of the questions 
that beg to be asked
leads us to seeing things
in ways we have never seen them before.

And seeing things differently
opens doors we never knew were there.
And sooner than you may imagine,
we find ourselves in the middle
of the Promised Land,
listening for what is being called for
in each situation as it arises,
without trying to impose our will
for the situation on the situation,
but looking for how we can be helpful
in ways that need what we have to offer,
situation-by-situation,
moment-by-moment,
throughout the time left for living.

And our destiny takes care of itself.
In a thoroughly magical,
marvelous,
mysterious,
miraculous kind of way.

Without us every doing anything more
than what needs us to do it
here and now
kind of way.