Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

I had a dream last night
driving home the point that 
I have no idea of what I'm doing--
I have a chant that goes:
"I do not know what to do,
I do not know what to do (Repeat)--
and am stuck eternally with trusting
my intuition to find the way,
the path,
The Tao,
through the darkness of the time and place,
the here/now of my being,
and hoping bit by bit
to know how to do that
with an increasing degree of competence
over the time left for living.

And I am somehow certain
this is a lot that I share with all of you.
Taking heart in the fact that we 
are in this together
and can find mutual consolation and courage
in being up against it with each other
and our collective intuition,
pondering now what?
All along the way, path, Tao,
in very good company.

Ghetto Economics will be Trump's calling card
if he is re-elected,
stealing from the poor
and giving to the rich.

The Billionaire foundation paving Trump's way
is composed of people in a Money Bubble,
aware only of what they stand to gain
with Trump in office,
and oblivious to what the people
outside that bubble stand to lose.

That would be,
for all practical purposes,
everything. 

Me, for instance.
Trump has promised
to take away my Social Security--
taking away what I amassed over 
40 years and 6 months of salary deductions,
but which, nevertheless,
Trump declares to be an "entitlement program,"
when the actual entitlement program
is the tax cuts going to the people
and corporations already afloat in the Money Bubble.

Trump will take away my Medicare,
and with that goes my healthcare.
He will take away family benefits
necessary for food and medicine
and financial encouragement
to people he never notices,
knows about
or cares about outside the Money Bubble.

The catch is that the welfare
of the people inside the Bubble
is directly connected
to the welfare of the people
outside the Bubble.

The people inside the Bubble
live under the illusion 
that their money makes them secure.
The truth is that their money
is completely without value
everywhere but in their imagination.

When the people outside the Bubble
are crushed by Trump's "entitlement" attacks,
and cannot meet their obligations
or pay their bills,
who is going to prepare the food
and serve it, etc,
in the restaurants where
the people inside the Bubble go
to celebrate their wealth?

Etc., throughout society and culture and world.

We will have a Money Bubble
with no means of support.
Money cannot buy what isn't there.
And money cannot produce what Trump
will destroy in order to make more money
for his friends.

There is a tipping point Trump ignores.
You have to feed those who serve you,
and take care of their basic needs 
by creating an environment that enables
them to take care of their own needs.

Destroy that environment
and you light the fuse
that blows up your Bubble,
or makes it valueless,
which has the same effect.

Creating a worldwide Ghetto
in which no one can thrive,
and few will be able to survive.

Ghetto Economics.
That's what you are voting for
when you vote for Trump.

It comes down to
revolves around,
flows from
listening to our intuition. 

There is never,
was never,
never will be,
any more to it than that.

The people who listen to their intuition
are who they need to be,
doing what needs to be done,
when/where and how it needs to be done.
And the world is better off for them.

Our calling is to live the remainder of our life
being one of those people.

The world is dying for us 
to be who we are
in lifelong service to our intuition.

It is up to us
to spend the rest of our life 
doing that.

And it is essential that we do.

Intuition guides us along the way,
past the withering exits 
to the Wasteland,
disguised as shortcuts
to Happy Ever After,
beyond the off ramps
to All Our Dreams Come True,
through the darkness
of lost hope
and bitter disappointments,
to the realization
of oneness with balance and harmony
and the best we have to offer
aligned with the heart of life and being
through the situations
and circumstances 
as they arise upon the path.

Intuition is the way,
the truth
and the life,
and no one gets to the end
of the journey
except by being true
to their own.

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!