The culture/the world is in hot pursuit of the perfect means With no idea of an end worthy of it. I wish I remembered the name of the photographer who said, "The more equipment you have, the fewer pictures you take." Fine clothes and tattered lives. We draw the wrong lines in the wrong places. Native Americans would go on vision quests, which amounted to days of emptiness, stillness and silence-- time spent waiting for things to become clear. How much time in a week do we devote to clarity? We think we are clear enough about what is important, we just need better means (more money) to get what we want. It is what we want that is lacking. We need better wants! We are confused, conflicted and unclear about what matters most. First, we have to be right about what we need. Then, we can worry about the wherewithal to acquire it.
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Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 
Better wants! Yes!
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Amen × 5!
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You are right about my opposition to my hitchhiking to Austin being inappropriate in light of its pivotal place in my life–yet my opposition/regret about it is the essential key it its importance. That trip changed everything about my life and set in motion my being here, now. And my opposition to it is foundational in my growth around it and through it. We have to hate the part of our lives that save us in a very real death and resurrection kind of way, but we have to hate it with awareness/realization of the necessity of how things are.
Just as Life Eats Life is the central contradiction of existence–we have to bear the pain of that realization and embrace the wonder of its necessity at the same time. The rabbits playing in my backyard are coyote food (and hawk food, and owl food, and people food…). We hate the things that are in our best interest. And must to create the tension that moves us along with the flow of life. One of the paradoxes at the center of what’s what.
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