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.

There is wanting 
what we want to want,
and there is wanting
what we ought to want,
and there is wanting 
what someone else wants us to want.

What variety of wanting
is the wanting
we want most of the time?

The spiritual life
is linking our wanting
with the wanting we ought to want
via our intrinsic intuition.

Our intrinsic intuition
wants us to want
what we ought to want
all of the time.

Like Adam and Eve
in the Garden of Eden,
we serve a different idea
most of the time.

That would be our idea
of what is worth wanting.

Spirituality is all about
aligning ourselves
with the wanting of our
intrinsic intuition -- 
or, as it is sometimes called,
"God's will for our life."

"God" is experienced
as intrinsic intuition.

Intrinsic intuition is experienced
as "God with us"
throughout our life.

When we live at one
with our intrinsic intuition,
we are living at one with "God."
Or/and at one with the "Tao."
Etc.

It doesn't matter if there is
a Super Cosmic Intuition "out there,"
our intrinsic intuition is our link
with all the intuition there may be.

Which is to say,
when we are at one with our
intrinsic intuition,
we are at one with the intrinsic intuition
of everyone who is at one with their
intrinsic intuition.

Like ants at one with the entire 
mound of ants.
Like bees at one with the entire
hive of bees.
Like birds at one with the entire
flock of birds.
Like fish at one with the entire
school of fish...

You know, like that.

Intrinsic intuition connects us all
with all of those who are capable
of being connected with us
through the experience of intrinsic intuition.

The catch is that the moment
we begin doing what we want
and not what we ought to want,
we break the connection,
and we are wandering 
through the wasteland on our own.

Such is the meaning of 
"Thy will, not mine be done."

To say that and mean it
is to divest ourselves of doing what we want
at the expense of what we ought to want
all our life long.

To say that and mean is
is to bring an immediate end
to life as we know it
throughout the world and the cosmos.

It is a terrible thing
to fall into the hands
of the living God
(Of our intrinsic intuition).

Fishing was an escape
from a world I did not begin to comprehend.

Fishing allowed me to catch my breath,
to breathe easy,
without worrying about 
keeping up
or lagging behind,
or making someone happy,
or knowing what I was doing
or what I was going to be
when I grew up.

I could step out of that world
of stress beyond managing
and fish.

That made stepping back into
that world manageable
until it became too much,
then it was off to some lake
to restore my soul and breathe.

All of that was unconscious,
un-thought, unrecognized,
but it is as though it were scripted
into my late childhood to early adulthood years.

How does anyone do it without a get-away?
I cannot imagine.
I had to have something to balance
the madness of my life,
and it was fishing.

And then it was photography.
I remember well the transition point.
I was cleaning a fish for our family dinner,
and realized I had cleaned enough fish.
And that was that.

About that time--probably my junior year in college--
I was walking through the house
and a made-for-TV movie was playing
as I went into the room
with a 35mm camera on a poolside table,
and I fell in love with that camera on the spot.

I wish I had had a clearer understanding
of what was happening,
but it was like someone had pushed me into the pool,
and I had to figure out how to swim 
my way into knowing what the camera was about.

Guidance would have been helpful,
but my entire life lacked guidance.
No one in my life knew much more than I did.
So, I took what I could use
wherever I found it
and kept looking,
mostly in books written by people 
who knew more than the people I knew.
And I'm still doing that.
And am glad to be able to.

But fishing saved my life,
and bought me time.

This 23 inch tall seated Buddha carries with it the authority and simplicity of the spirit of the person it personifies. It is a prefect replica of the seated Buddha under the Bodhi Tree, empty of fear, of desire, of duty, letting the world go by, knowing that he has all he needs to get up and do what needs to be done in each situation as it arises for nothing more than the joy of doing it and the satisfaction of having done it–in the form of his original nature, the inherent virtues/virtuosities that constitute what he does best and what he enjoys doing most, and his intrinsic intuition that sees into the heart of every matter, knows what’s what and what is called for, and when, where and how it is called for, enabling him to act spontaneously, from the heart at the right time, in the right place, in the right way, and thus personifying him as The Buddha, The Enlightened One, The One Who knows, through all of time. Amen. May it be so. For those who aspire to a similar way of being alive to and present with all that comes our way. Always and forever. Aum mani padme hum…

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