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?
When the New Testament writer (Maybe Paul) said, "Christ is all and in all," he was saying, "God is all and in all." Which is saying, "God is all there is-- so what's the point of all the divisions and discord?"
"How can God be at God's throat?"
Look around. There is nothing but war, contention, strife...
on all sides.
God at war with God.
This is ridiculous. God becoming conscious hates God. Humans becoming conscious hate humans. What is one thing consciousness is good for?
I'll wait.
And, while I wait, I will drop back into emptiness, stillness and silence. The Buddha's answer to everything.
"Just sit! It will all pass."
Or, "Denial is the solution to all our problems today."
Maybe the one thing consciousness is good for: Unconsciousness!
Mesquite Dunes — Death Valley National Park, California
Knowing what is called for-- and doing it-- is all there is to it in each situation as it arises.
Never mind what you want, or what is in your best interest, or what you "ought to do."
What is called for here, now?
That is all you need to know.
And do.
Forever.
Think of all that is arrayed against knowing what is called for and doing it. That should tell you something-- like what a threat doing what is called for is to the way things are around the world throughout time.
The way things are suits a lot of people just fine.
A lot of people have a lot at stake in maintaining the status quo just as it is forever.
If we start doing what is called for they will lose their minds.
The Mafia, for instance, would be out of business over night.
Mudstones 2007 01 — Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park, California
Our circumstances can sweep us away. We have to be focused on-- and grounded in-- our intrinsic intuition and the here, now and what is being called for moment-to-moment in each situation as it arises.
The focus and ground of our life has to be on our intuition and what is called for right here, right now.
What we want, where we want to be, and what is going to happen tomorrow and what are we going to do then, etc. cannot enter the picture.
Everything else has to wait for us to consult our intuition and determine the best response to make to what is called for right here, right now.
That is the procedure for dealing with every here, now that comes along for the rest of time.
What is called for right here, right now? Do that. And then we will deal with what's after that.
Into The Mudstones — Death Valley National Park, 03/2007, Putting things in perspective
The words that greet me in the night: Atrocity Outrage Obscenity Disgrace Justice/Injustice Inhumanity Absurdity Truth/Lie Racism Bigotry Brutality ...
I am a witness to it all, and that makes me a participant-- as in "Compliance with violence is an accessory to violence." And a victim-- as in, "A witness to violence is a victim of violence."
And there is no escape. Just as there is no justice. No amends. No compensation. No restitution. No atonement. No restoration. No escape.
What are we going to do? Apologize?
That would be a start. Public apology. Annually. A national holiday for mourning. Grief. Sorrow. Remorse.
A Victim's Rights Month. Highlighting all the victims all month long.
I suggest May. As in "May I just say I'm sorry? Still, even yet, again."
Mud Stones at Zabriskie Point — Death Valley National Park, 2007
Being true to our inherent intuition Is laying aside our wants/desires/pleasures/dreams in the service of our intuition's ideas of what is called for in each situation as it arises.
The guiding question is never, "What do we want?" And is always, "What is called for here, now?"
Knowing what is called for and living to do it when/where/how it needs to be done time after time is the sine qua non of a life well-lived.
Price Lake Mirror 2008 — Julian Price Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina
The way we respond to events and cirumstances determines-- or strongly influences-- everything that follows.
We create the future by the way we respond to the present.
And living willfully, defiantly, demanding and insistent is not the way to produce the kind of results we have in mind.
The way to experience smooth and easy is to be smooth and easy, open and receptive, with nothing to gain and nothing to lose in each situation as it arises.
Living with nothing at stake in the outcome allows us to do what is called for here and now free from the influence of what we want "no matter what."
Doing what is called for by the situation at hand is the foundation of a future we all can live with.
All it takes is relentless courage to discover that this is so.
Indigenous peoples have it right throughout time. Colonizers destroy the world. World after world after world...
The difference is living in sync with the environment and living to consume the environment.
And the flip is made when the population grows beyond the ability of the environment to meet the needs of the population.
Humans are intelligent enough to avoid dying off by killing off one another. Becoming so proficient at it that they kill off themselves by being so successful killing off others.
It's a fine balance, which nature finds through natural die-offs. And humans haven't been able to improve on the solution, and trying to impose their "solution" leads to the kill-off of life worldwide.
So much for the survival of the fittest idea. The survival of the most stupid is more like it. In the end, protoplasm outlasts everything.
Half Dome in the Merced River — Yosemite National Park, California
I wonder how we are ever going to make this right. This world I'm talking about. Greed, money and power wield tight control. Caring nothing about what they do in an "If a profit can be made, a profit will be made" kind of way.
I think the only solution to the situation is to let it burn itself out, destroying civilization as it exists, maybe by way of environmental disaster, maybe by way of atomic holocaust, and maybe by way of world-wide economic collapse.
However we choose to exit the playing field, it will open the way for nature to take over and restore order and common sense to the way things work.
A break from greed and chaos will be welcomed by all living things. And it can't happen too soon or last long enough.
Price Lake Mirror 03 2004 — Julian Price Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina
It's all going-- and we are going with it. There is no evidence that any of it lasts, and if it does, would it be like a museum somewhere for those with nothing better to do?
Whether it goes or lasts forever, our question to answer is: Did we love it enough when we had the chance?
Did we love sunsets enough? And rain? And moon rises? And children? And old people?
Did we love ourselves enough?
We have from now to the time we die to get our loving done.
Do not slack up even for a minute any day of those that remain!
Price Lake Mirror 02 2004 — Julian Price Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, North Carolina
In living with integrity, sincerity, spontaneously, in each situation as it arises, we live intuitively-- intentionally unintentional-- lives, 24/7/365.
That is all there is to it.
Once we have an ulterior motive we have a hidden agenda and it's all over.
Canyon Mist 2006 — Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Our intuition is a superpower designed in the evolutionary laboratory for meeting all of the challenges presented by every day.
Every day we meet physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual tests of our stability, creativity, stamina, will, resiliency, fealty, devotion, incentive, resolve, ingenuity, determination...
And we have to find what it takes to rise to the occasion, growing up some more again, time after time.
We do it by handing ourselves over to our inner guide, saying, "Okay. Here we are. Now what?" And waiting for something to occur to us out of nowhere that turns out to be a fitting response to our environment, and "the game's afoot" again.
Our intuition is superbly suited to meet and respond to anything that comes our way-- without losing the way of being true to ourselves, at one with who we are and what we are about in the deepest spiritual sense of the term.
We have the capacity to land on our feet and be ourselves, anyway, anywhere, nevertheless, even so, day after day after day-- by living from the emptiness, stillness and silence, and waiting for "the mud to settle and the water to clear," until the creative impulse arises to lead the way some more again today.
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 