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?
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.
Iconic Zion — The Virgin and the Watchman, 2006 — Zion National Park, Springdale, Utah
Who we are and the way we do what we do are inseparable.
The way habitual intuition and enlightenment/awakening/liberation are inseparable.
Integrity is bound with/to intuition. When we are at-one with our intuition, we are at-one with who we are.
When we are enlightened we are "born again," and are ourselves, finally, at last.
Which is, of course, and amounts to, a dying to ourselves-- to our old way of being in the world, "as a snake sheds its skin," "as the moon sheds its shadow," we cannot be who we are without ceasing to be who we have been.
Every transition is a death. Every birth is a burial. The symbols/metaphors surrounding our coming to ourselves, to our intuition, are already there in the church of our childhood, just needing a re-interpretation to apply to our new life beyond theology/doctrine/ dogma/dharma...
Just waiting for a new hermenutic to be put into place-- a new way of framing who we are and what we are doing, and how we are to do it.
The prophets of the new age are about to take the stage-- which is where they have been, and what they have been doing, for the last 2,024 years.
Starting with the Gnostics, who were killed for saying what I am saying because saying/seeing what is to be said/seen is a threat to the established/comfortable ways of saying/seeing.
Waking up takes a long time, sometimes, no? And, sometimes, it is "just like that" (Snaps fingers, laughing).
Badwater Basin — Death Valley National Park, California
Integrity is being who we are, doing what is ours to do.
How do we know what that is? Knowing is where intuition comes in. Knowing is what intuition does best. When we know what to do, it often comes upon us out of nowhere. We are seized by the moment, in the moment, and hear ourselves saying, "Give me the ball!" Or its equivalent. And we are off in the service of what needs us to do it.
Intuition is just that way. And we would do well to get out of the way when intuition sparks us into action.
In between times, we can lie around wondering what's for lunch, but when it's time for action, we know it and have to be underway.
It is good to be able to count on intuition, and for our intuition to be able to count on us.
We make a team of two that way, with a whole lot of living to do!
Blue Ridge Fall 2004 — Vicinity of Mt. Mitchell, North Carolina
Balance and Harmony, serenity and tranquility, at peace with ourselves and our situation in life...
These are the conditions required to access our intuition and align ourselves with it.
And they are concurrent with emptiness, stillness and silence.
The right kind of emptiness is contingent upon the conditions required for alignment with our intuition.
It all comes together to lead us along the way of life everlasting-- which is the experience of life in its fullest, most vibrant and vital encounter.
When then and there is experienced here and now, that's it. There is nothing beyond "to ask, or seek, or imagine"-- just the continuation of the Eternal Now of the bliss of being.
Which, of course is gone in a wink, and we are left with "the memory of its passing and the dream of its hoped-for return."
But we know it is there for the experiencing when the conditions are favorable for the rest of life and perhaps beyond.
El Capitan in Merced River Yosemite National Park, California, 2006
Living intutionally puts us in the center of the way that is the way, and relieves us of the burden of having to know what we are doing.
I have never known what I was doing. And I am five months away from stepping into my eighty-first year.
It feels as though I have been guided along through the entire maize of choices and possibilities.
I read the signs and opt for the choice that seems most obvious, given the alternatives. I wouldn't take this system to Las Vegas because I have nothing to do with places like Las Vegas, beyond flying into and out of on trips to Death Valley and Arches and Canyonlands, back in the days of seeking out scenes to photograph.
It also takes emptiness, stillness and silence to sense the intuitive route, and there is nothing quiet about Las Vegas.
There is nothing quiet about our life style, and it has been getting louder, more chaotic and ridiculous by each high tech spin machine.
Which is to say that we have to be intentionally intuitive, sitting still, being quiet, waiting for the guiding realizations emerging from considered reflections regarding what's what and what is called for in response to it.
It has been the path of the species from then to now, and is the route to the rest of the way for those who learn how to use it.
Sunset at the Point 2006 — Ocracoke Island, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Outer Banks, North Carolina
I think we do it better with more of the right kind of emptiness/stillness/silence, conscious/mindful awareness and intentional affiliation with our intrinsic intuition.
Abandoning achievement/acquisition/accomplishment/productivity/etc. in favor of living aligned with, in full accord with, our intuition, would work wonders "right out of the box."
I am confident that the Buddha and Jesus did it this way, as have all those who have done/are doing it the way it needed/needs to be done throughout time.
Intuition is the way to the way, which makes intuition the way all the way.
Screws with our plans for ourselves but the person/people who came up with the story of the Garden of Eden knew that was the case all those years ago.
Carteret Ferry Mirror 2006 — Pamlico Sound, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina
The future is crammed with possibility, and we have to be ready for it all, though the likelihood of my being drafted into some war is less likely every day.
I will take a piece of blueberry pie with vanilla ice cream if one becomes available. It is amazing how difficult it is to whip one of those up. Possibility is never what it could be, which makes planning somewhat iffy.
Readiness in the surest sense of the word revolves around emptiness/stillness/silence and intuition.
With those in place, we can read--or listen to-- the weather forecast and be confident of at least knowing what to wear tomorrow, and probably the next day.
And with those in place, we will have what we need to do what needs to be done in any contingency that may arise.
That leaves looking out the window and waiting for what's on the way to arrive.
I like letting the future come to me. Conserving my energy is my plan for whatever the future holds.
All It Takes Is Time For Moss To Grow — Roan Mountain Rain Forest, Pisgah National Forest, Carver’s Gap, North Carolina
Doing it the way you think it ought to be done, doesn't mean telling anyone else what you are doing, or telling them what you think they ought to do beyond, "Listen to your own heart, and follow your own intuition."
If everyone listened to their own heart and followed their own intuition, the world would be a different place overnight.
We do our part by listening to our own heart and following our own intuition.
Big Creek Fall 2006 01 — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Big Creek District, Waterville, North Carolina, Access
We are--or eventually will be--awash in circumstances which challenge our resources, will, and intellect in rising to the occasion and doing what needs to be done.
We can be swamped, in other words, and at a loss as to what to do, here, now, next.
The work is to empty ourselves of all anxiety and open ourselves to the stillness and silence and to our intrinsic intuition, our original nature, and our inherent virtues-- the things we do best and enjoy doing most.
And wait in the silence for direction and guidance to arise to lead the way from this moment to the next one, from these circumstances to those that follow.
Our intuition, our nature, our virtues are our "very present help in time of trouble," which "will not abandon us or leave us bereft."
It only takes trusting ourselves to them to know it is so, "One step at a time."
And listen to our dreams.
I had a great one two nights ago. I was walking with a black bear on a leash.
"Well, now what?" I wondered. "What am I going to do with a bear on a leash?" "How hungry is it?" How am I going to feed a bear? How many beef roasts will it take? How often?"
I was dealing with these questions when I came upon an empty 18-wheeler trailer with bars on the sides and top, and I led the bear up the loading platform into the trailer where I left it, shutting the doors and securing them while I pondered the matter of what to do.
That led me to two realizations: 1) Why/how is this MY problem? 2) In what way is this bear a symbol of a burden that I am carrying in my own life?
The bear clearly was not my problem, and it was clearly a symbol of my life in its entirety.
My responsibility for my life is exactly my responsibility for this bear-- the bear is my life. In assuming my responsibility for my life, I am relieved of my responsibility for the bear.
And I eased into wakefulness aware of the need to be aware of my life and of my need to serve it with my attentive presence-- as though it were a bear on a leash.
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 