 Summer afternoon in St Petersburg Thomas Merton: "we in the West, living in a tradition of stubborn ego-centered practicality and geared entirely for the use and manipulation of everything, always pass from one thing to another, from cause to effect, from the first to the next and to the last and then back to the first. Everything always points to something else, and hence we never stop anywhere because we cannot: as soon as we pause, the escalator reaches the end of the ride and we have to get off and find another one. Nothing is allowed just to be and to mean itself: everything has to mysteriously signify something else. Zen is especially designed to frustrate the mind that thinks in such terms. The Zen 'fact,' whatever it may be, always lands across our road like a fallen tree beyond which we cannot pass."
Suddenly, there are these clouds—except not as "clouds," not named, not categorized, just there, being themselves. Don't think: just look . . .  I've been working with a new laptop which I will need in Santa Fe. That has led to my looking more deeply into one of my processing tools (Lightroom), and I've discovered new ways to tweak images. The image above is from an earlier trip to Bar Harbor.
Gary Snyder: "The point is to make intimate contact with the real world, real self. Sacred refers to that which helps take us (not only human beings) out of our little selves into the whole mountains-and-rivers mandala universe. Inspiration, exaltation, and insight do not end when one steps outside the doors of the church. The wilderness as a temple is only a beginning. One should not dwell in the specialness of the extraordinary experience nor hope to leave the political quagg (sic) behind to enter a perpetual state of heightened insight. The best purpose of such studies and hikes is to be able to come back to the lowlands and see all the land about us, agricultural, suburban, urban, as part of the same territory—never totally ruined, never completely unnatural . . . Great Brown Bear is walking with us, Salmon swimming upstream with us, as we stroll a city street."  "I thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirit of trees and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes . . ." e. e. cummings  Continuing on from Friday's post: and of course, only when you forget the umbrella, do you get soaked clear through. And also, in a more general sense, Florida produces many sunny days when it's raining at the same time in the same place . . .
 Quebec City Gary Snyder wrote: "An ethical life is one that is mindful, mannerly, and has style. Of all moral failings and flaws of character, the worst is stinginess of thought, which includes meanness in all its forms. Rudeness in thought or deed toward others, toward nature, reduces the chances of conviviality and . . . communication, which are essential to physical and spiritual survival . . . " And how often this is missing in our lives, more and more . . . or is this just me getting older?
Another rainy morning; heavy rain, being blown around by the wind. Some thunder (one lightning strike, very sudden, very bright, very loud, very frightening, but also exciting, fascinating). How quickly we have moved from one of the worst droughts in a long time to the rainy season. And sitting and watching it all, I am reminded again of how much I like this season: clouds racing across the sky, dark as late evening here in the morning, water rushing down the hill, flooding streets, cars splashing water up over sidewalks: true, I'm sitting safe inside and not having to negotiate it, but I still am attracted to it. I wonder if many others are too?  Something we haven't seen in a long, long while: a continuously rainy morning. I am going to a photo workshop this July, and I am supposed to submit six of my images for consideration. I think these ae the six: any comments appreciated. A brief pause from images from the northeast to return to the southeast and the return of summer . . . |
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