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?
Cane River Sunset — Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana
Making sense of things is a full-time job. And we can't ever be sure we've been successful.
We take everything on faith in this world.
We trust ourselves to our intuition and take our chances. Our biggest chance is being right about how we read/understand our intuition!
Too often, it seems, she says exactly what we want to hear. Which is to say our thumb is on the scale of truth, tipping the outcome in favor of our wishes/want/ desires and fears.
We aren't even truthful with ourselves! And our intuition never abandons us or leaves us bereft. But is always there as the hills from which our help comes, hoping we will be receptive to what she offers.
I'm retired, and still finding my way--but now, I don't have to pretend that I know what I'm doing.
I retired after 40.5 years as a minister in the Presbyterian Church USA, serving churches in Louisiana, Mississippi and North Carolina. I graduated from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, in Austin, Texas, and Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana. My wife, Judy, and I have three daughters, five granddaughters, one great granddaughter, and a great grandson on the way, within about ten minutes from where we live--and are enjoying our retirement as much as we have ever enjoyed anything.
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7 thoughts on “August 24, 2024 – A”
The way I see it, we really are what you call “intuition”, meaning we are not to consult it, or ask questions of it, because that implies a separation from it and then, we have reduced it to a mere concept, missing the living truth of it. We are one with our intuition, so all that is needed is to just BE it, with full awareness of our ‘being’ in the moment, and watch ourselves act / function spontaneously from this ‘being’. The ‘doing’ flows naturally, effortlessly from this ‘being’, which is where the root of all intuition is. To align with intuition, the emphasis remains on ‘being’ in awareness, not at all on the doing, and the ‘right’ action naturally follows.
The moment we are looking for validation of our own thoughts/feelings/ desires/ wants/ hopes etc. to be encouraged, or approved by our ‘intuition’, we are operating from our conditioned personality, from the calculating mind (even though it may not always be obvious to us, because conditioning is deep, and often expressed from the subconscious level).
Trusting intuition, is equivalent to ‘being’ fully aware of the facts of a situation and meeting the moment from full awareness, directly, spontaneously, without any calculated, personally biased thinking. Acting this way from intuition, does not always serve the ‘person/ personality’ but serves the interests of the whole, which includes but is not limited to, the one who is acting.
Being fully aware brings the left/ego/brain into equation in a “Hey look at me! I am soooo aware!” My best decisions have been thrust on me from “the outside” in situations where I had no idea of what I was doing. I don’t think up photographs, I “just see them.” They are handed to me as a gift, unmerited, unearned, so that “I” didn’t take any of them. Full awareness is something to be attained by sitting doe-fully thinking about nothing because our thinking brain can’t be trusted, we think.
Hello Jim,
I sincerely apologise for often having repeated similar things, on many occasions before, in my comments over time. Because I wholeheartedly agree with your take on ‘intuition’ being the all important focus of our lives, hence we can never have enough clarity on this! So, this discussion is in the spirit to bring more clarity on what exactly we mean/ understand about it. Here is my understanding:
If we are ‘ thinking’ we are aware, we have lost it to the ego brain, exactly as you said! But, the key here to understand is ‘awareness/intuition’ is NOT thinking…it is the root, the background of all thinking. Being aware and knowing this awareness, does not involve any kind of thinking whatsoever.
The key is to understand the ‘non’-role of thinking mind here…it executes, implements, in space-time and material world, that inspiration from the timeless moment of truth/reality/ intuition received as a flash of insight. But it is not the leading force, it is merely a servant, subsequently executing the insight received first from intuitive awareness in a state’ of thought-free’ knowing.
It is a mitake and the root of all confusion, to consider awareness/ intuition have anything to do with thought/ concept/ ideas originating in ‘thought’. Hence intuition cannnot be pondered over. We can only ‘be’ it, knowingly, which does not involve thinking “I am aware”, it involves only silently ‘being’ it. This quality of knowing is ‘direct’ knowing in the moment, a recognition not depending on any ‘thinking’ in words, until it is formulated. When thought ‘I am aware’, it is a thought about it ,and we have shifted away from just knowingly ’Being’ to ’doing’, in talking about it !
“Full awareness is something to be attained by sitting doe-fully” NO… this is precisely where we misunderstand each other. Full awareness cannot be ‘attained’, it is the default basal background state of our being. We do not ever ‘intentionally’ not think, we watch any thoughts arising without following them to their conclusion, without riding them away from ‘being’, returning back to ‘being’ the watcher…as often as we remember. Living from ‘position’ of this awareness, is living with ‘who’ we are- which is always there, with or without thoughts. This is where all ‘intuition’ IS…when you operate from this state, your photographs are ‘taken’ without you interfering as you beautifully illustrate, this is when everything ‘just happens’ without us doing it, the space of ‘doing without doing’ where all gifts are handed out to us, without us having to ask, demand, for anything we want.
And talking presents us with the dichotomy of saying what was while the act of speaking fails to take into account what NOW is, no NOW is… While awareness is silently present with what is in an “eternal now” kind of way. And stopping to talk about it breaks up the experience of being aware of what we are trying to say…
On another level entirely–I’m interested in the experience of “from bondage to freedom,” which is both an Old Testament concept and a Buddhist understanding, with freedom (or “liberation”) being from a caste system set of “ought to be” rules to the unrestrained ability to respond to the moment at hand in a way that is aware of the moment and in full accord/compliance with what is called for in the moment.
I am personally the product of my grandparent’s world (Particularly my maternal grandparents), with my parents being somewhat removed from that world, and me being even more removed from that world, my children being even more removed, and my great grandchildren (I hope) being even further removed… A process I envision as being about the escape from depression and oppression in order to live fully functioning lives with the freedom of choice and expression.
The freedom to respond here and now to what is called for without thinking about it, but spontaneously, intuitively, acting to meet the moment, not-knowing what we are doing, but being in full accord with the moment as a dancer dancing with the music–which I consider to be the WOW! of life lived in the moment (Which I am, sure my grandparents never experienced–a sadness I bear even as I live to be free of it. Even the memory of enslavement perpetuates enslavement to a degree, like “the witness of violence is a victim of violence.” And how do we ever get free from that?)
“the memory of enslavement perpetuates enslavement “, it seems obvious then, to not live in memories. What was, was a fact for that day and time…and what is NOW is the only place to be, now. There is always freedom in NOW, which is a perpetual freedom, just as is each ‘NOW’. Thinking and feeling about past, can never lead to freedom from it. It is a psychological memory of facts. History is in facts but psychological memory is in our own mind. There is never any erasing of facts, but psychological and emotional memory is a bondage which is unnecessary. Freedom from it is to be here and now and live from moment to moment.
Trauma impacts us physically, on a level beyond thinking, beyond reason, beyond “forgetting agout, ignoring, moving on…” We are what we experience, sometimes for ever. Soldiers who survive war, never quite get over being where they were…
I agree, not just trauma, every ordinary emotion like anger, envy etc. has a deeply penetrating often lasting effect on the body-mind. This is because mind identifies with all it experiences. It cannot separate itself, from what happens. Awareness of what happens does not involve identification with what happens. That is why, the healing and therapies of all kinds that ever work are those that do not focus on “forgetting” as in repressing, escaping , ignoring what is felt, but encountering it in the awareness of NOW as a fact of experience, rather than repeating and reliving the misery of its psychological memory. In the awareness of now, all facts are acknowledged, including that of any trauma. But they are seen for what they are, as facts…in this clear direct ‘seeing’ is breaking the identification with them. There is no healing ever possible, in a loop of repeated thoughts, fuelled by emotion.
Standing out of this loop and witnessing facts leads to healing. This can only be done, in and from the awareness of now.
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 
The way I see it, we really are what you call “intuition”, meaning we are not to consult it, or ask questions of it, because that implies a separation from it and then, we have reduced it to a mere concept, missing the living truth of it. We are one with our intuition, so all that is needed is to just BE it, with full awareness of our ‘being’ in the moment, and watch ourselves act / function spontaneously from this ‘being’. The ‘doing’ flows naturally, effortlessly from this ‘being’, which is where the root of all intuition is. To align with intuition, the emphasis remains on ‘being’ in awareness, not at all on the doing, and the ‘right’ action naturally follows.
The moment we are looking for validation of our own thoughts/feelings/ desires/ wants/ hopes etc. to be encouraged, or approved by our ‘intuition’, we are operating from our conditioned personality, from the calculating mind (even though it may not always be obvious to us, because conditioning is deep, and often expressed from the subconscious level).
Trusting intuition, is equivalent to ‘being’ fully aware of the facts of a situation and meeting the moment from full awareness, directly, spontaneously, without any calculated, personally biased thinking. Acting this way from intuition, does not always serve the ‘person/ personality’ but serves the interests of the whole, which includes but is not limited to, the one who is acting.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Being fully aware brings the left/ego/brain into equation in a “Hey look at me! I am soooo aware!” My best decisions have been thrust on me from “the outside” in situations where I had no idea of what I was doing. I don’t think up photographs, I “just see them.” They are handed to me as a gift, unmerited, unearned, so that “I” didn’t take any of them. Full awareness is something to be attained by sitting doe-fully thinking about nothing because our thinking brain can’t be trusted, we think.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hello Jim,
I sincerely apologise for often having repeated similar things, on many occasions before, in my comments over time. Because I wholeheartedly agree with your take on ‘intuition’ being the all important focus of our lives, hence we can never have enough clarity on this! So, this discussion is in the spirit to bring more clarity on what exactly we mean/ understand about it. Here is my understanding:
If we are ‘ thinking’ we are aware, we have lost it to the ego brain, exactly as you said! But, the key here to understand is ‘awareness/intuition’ is NOT thinking…it is the root, the background of all thinking. Being aware and knowing this awareness, does not involve any kind of thinking whatsoever.
The key is to understand the ‘non’-role of thinking mind here…it executes, implements, in space-time and material world, that inspiration from the timeless moment of truth/reality/ intuition received as a flash of insight. But it is not the leading force, it is merely a servant, subsequently executing the insight received first from intuitive awareness in a state’ of thought-free’ knowing.
It is a mitake and the root of all confusion, to consider awareness/ intuition have anything to do with thought/ concept/ ideas originating in ‘thought’. Hence intuition cannnot be pondered over. We can only ‘be’ it, knowingly, which does not involve thinking “I am aware”, it involves only silently ‘being’ it. This quality of knowing is ‘direct’ knowing in the moment, a recognition not depending on any ‘thinking’ in words, until it is formulated. When thought ‘I am aware’, it is a thought about it ,and we have shifted away from just knowingly ’Being’ to ’doing’, in talking about it !
“Full awareness is something to be attained by sitting doe-fully” NO… this is precisely where we misunderstand each other. Full awareness cannot be ‘attained’, it is the default basal background state of our being. We do not ever ‘intentionally’ not think, we watch any thoughts arising without following them to their conclusion, without riding them away from ‘being’, returning back to ‘being’ the watcher…as often as we remember. Living from ‘position’ of this awareness, is living with ‘who’ we are- which is always there, with or without thoughts. This is where all ‘intuition’ IS…when you operate from this state, your photographs are ‘taken’ without you interfering as you beautifully illustrate, this is when everything ‘just happens’ without us doing it, the space of ‘doing without doing’ where all gifts are handed out to us, without us having to ask, demand, for anything we want.
LikeLiked by 1 person
And talking presents us with the dichotomy of saying what was while the act of speaking fails to take into account what NOW is, no NOW is… While awareness is silently present with what is in an “eternal now” kind of way. And stopping to talk about it breaks up the experience of being aware of what we are trying to say…
On another level entirely–I’m interested in the experience of “from bondage to freedom,” which is both an Old Testament concept and a Buddhist understanding, with freedom (or “liberation”) being from a caste system set of “ought to be” rules to the unrestrained ability to respond to the moment at hand in a way that is aware of the moment and in full accord/compliance with what is called for in the moment.
I am personally the product of my grandparent’s world (Particularly my maternal grandparents), with my parents being somewhat removed from that world, and me being even more removed from that world, my children being even more removed, and my great grandchildren (I hope) being even further removed… A process I envision as being about the escape from depression and oppression in order to live fully functioning lives with the freedom of choice and expression.
The freedom to respond here and now to what is called for without thinking about it, but spontaneously, intuitively, acting to meet the moment, not-knowing what we are doing, but being in full accord with the moment as a dancer dancing with the music–which I consider to be the WOW! of life lived in the moment (Which I am, sure my grandparents never experienced–a sadness I bear even as I live to be free of it. Even the memory of enslavement perpetuates enslavement to a degree, like “the witness of violence is a victim of violence.” And how do we ever get free from that?)
LikeLike
“the memory of enslavement perpetuates enslavement “, it seems obvious then, to not live in memories. What was, was a fact for that day and time…and what is NOW is the only place to be, now. There is always freedom in NOW, which is a perpetual freedom, just as is each ‘NOW’. Thinking and feeling about past, can never lead to freedom from it. It is a psychological memory of facts. History is in facts but psychological memory is in our own mind. There is never any erasing of facts, but psychological and emotional memory is a bondage which is unnecessary. Freedom from it is to be here and now and live from moment to moment.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Trauma impacts us physically, on a level beyond thinking, beyond reason, beyond “forgetting agout, ignoring, moving on…” We are what we experience, sometimes for ever. Soldiers who survive war, never quite get over being where they were…
LikeLike
I agree, not just trauma, every ordinary emotion like anger, envy etc. has a deeply penetrating often lasting effect on the body-mind. This is because mind identifies with all it experiences. It cannot separate itself, from what happens. Awareness of what happens does not involve identification with what happens. That is why, the healing and therapies of all kinds that ever work are those that do not focus on “forgetting” as in repressing, escaping , ignoring what is felt, but encountering it in the awareness of NOW as a fact of experience, rather than repeating and reliving the misery of its psychological memory. In the awareness of now, all facts are acknowledged, including that of any trauma. But they are seen for what they are, as facts…in this clear direct ‘seeing’ is breaking the identification with them. There is no healing ever possible, in a loop of repeated thoughts, fuelled by emotion.
Standing out of this loop and witnessing facts leads to healing. This can only be done, in and from the awareness of now.
LikeLiked by 1 person