Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

Waiting it out 
has a clear advantage
over other options.

Particularly over forcing the issue
and going to war,
and suicide,
and alcoholism...

Native Americans are waiting it out.
Palestinians are waiting it out.
LGBTQ people are waiting it out.
People of Color,
Descendants of slaves,
Immigrants,
Women,
The poverty stricken,
...

The list is long of people who are waiting it out.

And while they wait,
they remember.
They know.
They will not forget.
They will wait it out.
As long as it takes.
Over generations.

What are you waiting for?

Jonas Salk said, "It is always with excitement 
that I wake up in the morning 
wondering what my intuition 
will toss up to me, 
like gifts from the sea. 
I work with it and rely on it. 
It is my partner."

This partnership is the heart
of who we are, what we are about.

We do not direct our intuition
to fetch us this bone
or that one,
or tell it to dial up such and such a future.

We serve its ends
with our gifts,
trusting ourselves to it 
to know where we are going
with this life we call "ours."
But it is "ours" in that it belongs
both to us and to our intuition.

What does our intuition have
in mind for us today?
How well will we align ourselves
with its intentions
and its grace?

May we be alert to its guidance
and quick to do its will!

And, at the end,
may we look for the signs of its presence
and evidence of our loyalty and devotion
to intuition's influence on the flow of the day
and "our" life.

Ken Burns says "All we do is argue."
Jim Dollar says "Because we talk out of our heads 
all of the time.
Talking out of our hearts--
out of our intuition--
disappears argument 'like that.'"

Talking out of our heads
is talking about what we want and don't want,
what we like and what we don't like,
what we think about everything.

Opinions are all we have to talk about.
Humans are the most opinionated species in existence.
In my opinion.
Because we are the only species 
that lives out of its head
and not in accord with its intuition.
Its heart.
Its soul.

All we know is what we think we know--
and all we need to know is what we know.

Why don't we know what we know?
Because what we know is the enemy
to what we want.

We want, want, want all of the time.
Take our wants away and there is nothing to us.
What would we think about?
What would we talk about?
What would we do with our time?
It would be soooooo boringgggggg!

And boring is the last thing
anybody who aspires to be somebody
would allow themselves to be.

Sitting in the right kind of 
emptiness, stillness, silence?
BORINGGGGGGGG...

And how are we going to know what we know
without sitting in the right kind of 
emptiness, stillness silence?

Intuition doesn't have a chance
with wanting in the room.

We think it is about 
getting/having what we want.

But it is about doing what needs to be done,
when/where/how it needs to be done
for no other reason than because 
it needs to be done--
with the gifts of our original nature,
our innate virtues and virtuosities
(The things we do best
and enjoy doing most),
through the guidance/direction
of our intrinsic intuition
and our reliance upon the right kind of 
emptiness, stillness and silence
where we are able to reflect on
what our body is saying to us
through its sensations and our nighttime dreams,
trusting ourselves to know what's what
and what is called for
in each situation as it arises,
and to respond appropriately
in doing the right thing in the right way
at the right time,
the way flowers turn to the light
and bees find the flowers,
throughout the ages
to right here,
right now.

Seeing this slough,
in this light,
on the side of this road,
we stop and take the picture.

It's all just like that.

This is a MUST watch:

I have taken up the project of creating business cards
with images I've taken that I find to be satisfying,  
like this one, with the following inscription on the back:

jimdollar@me.com
https://thinkasnap.com/profile/jim-dollar

Original Nature. Innate Virtues.
Intrinsic Intuition.
Balance. Harmony.
Integrity. Sincerity. Spontaneity.
Emptiness. Stillness. Silence.
Imagination. Reflection. Realization.
Compassion. Generosity. Kindness

I hand these out to people I have interaction with during the day whom I intuit to be capable of benefiting from time spent with the card, with the following instructions:
"See what connections you can make between yourself, the photograph, and the terms. And explore those connections to see where they might lead."

I have printed sets of fifty different images, which amounts to my top 50 favorite photographs to date at work somewhere in the world. It comes down to my response to the instruction to
"cast your bread upon the waters," and to "do your work and step back, let nature take its course."

Which I take to be better than letting them grow old on an external hard drive in a cardboard box on the bottom of the closet in my office.

Within the "normal and customary 
(read, "acceptable")range,"
there are a number of perspectives available
for those seeking to express/serve
their uniqueness as individual human beings
throughout the broad sweep of their life.

Which begs the question:
"How unique can we be?"

"Uniquely acceptable"
has a "contradiction in terms" feel to it,
and underscores the reality of
"How different can we be
and still be 'One'"?

Presenting "Out there," for those
who have difficulty fitting in anywhere,
even among themselves.

Requiring a considerable amount of latitude
among all of us
in coming to terms with the rest of us.

Making, "Where do we go for latitude?"
an essential question for the entire spectrum
of humanity.

With a broad range of people
disinterested in either the question
or its answer.

Leaving "Seeing what we can get by with,"
as the foundational art to be mastered
in the game of human being-hood.

That has always been my shtick,
and will continue to be so
throughout what remains of the time left for living.

No ulterior motives,
no hidden agendas--
no agendas of any kind--
no deception or deceit,
no duplicity,
no bad faith...

Integrity and a noble heart
at all times,
in all ways,

creates an atmosphere
in which intuition flourishes 
and thrives
for the true good of all.

Amen!
May it be so! 

Few things are quieter 
than mushrooms.

They come and go
while making nothing of it.

If I could live as quietly
as a mushroom,
I would declare myself
to have achieved stardom.

Imagine that without fanfare!

That would be something
to shout about,
noiselessly.

Silence is the essence of quietude. 
Which is the foundation 
of all that was
before anything was.

The next thing was the AUMmmmm...
announcing existence/being/stuff,
like a whisper as the background
music of the spheres.

Getting back to which is like unto
having it made,
which is what the mushrooms have,
and all things like them.

Spiderwebs, for instance.
And dew drops.
Eagle tears.
Whale thoughts...
The list is long
of things that make no noise.

Those are the things
I aspire to be like.
Living noiselessly,
making no waves.

The Buddha under the Bodhi tree.

He could have been a mushroom,
turning the light around.

Which is something we do 
much too little of.
Turning the light around,
noiselessly.

Like the Buddha
being a mushroom.

Organized religion has always denounced
and despised expressions of our intrinsic intuition. 

The early Gnostics were persecuted 
as heretics,
hunted down,
murdered, 
burned at the stake, 
tortured,
and tormented
because of their "secret knowledge."

They listened to their intuition
and gave it equal status 
with revealed truth.

It should be given higher status,
unless we understand "revealed truth"
to be revealed to our intuition
through meditation and reflection,
or mere recognition and realization.

Is intuition God within,
or is God our intuitive projection
of the "Holy Other" without?

Projection or revelation?

Where is the pen that can draw
a line that fine?

Our intrinsic intuition is 
as close to God as we can get.

We are as close to God
as a lot of people will ever get.

If we aren't living intuitively,
and hanging out with those who do,
we are missing out on godliness.

Spending time regularly with the silence,
scanning our body for indications
of need for our attention,
listening for what might arise
in the stillness,
we signal our readiness
to comply with what is called for,
and position ourselves 
to deal with what's what
in the spirit of those 
looking forward to what they do best.