Taking a Rest with Ambiguity
Man in HongMei Park, April 2011
I like the contrast between focus and lack of focus and where the focus is located in this photo. Even though there is sharp detail in the “in focus” of the leaves at the top-centre of the photo, it is the blurred man who captures one’s attention. The blurr actually enhances a feeling of peacefulness.
As I listen and read various media from around the world, I get a heavy feeling that takes on various shades of darkness. The media has little to say in terms of hope, of what is good about being human. When the pressure gets to be too much, it is time to set aside the world of the collective and meet another face of the world, one that nature nourishes because of its numinous qualities which bathe the soul.
Meditation used to be a structured thing for me. I would set aside a certain amount of time, adjust the setting to allow myself to sit still. At times I would use music and incense, at times scentless silence. Sometimes I would embrace a mantra and at other times I would be active is banishing sounds within as well as without. Now, I am more gentle with myself and find that my meditation has become more authentic as a result. I don’t try to control meditation any more. Meditation comes to me when I need it and in a variety of guises.
As many here could already guess, photography provides many of these moments. I sit still with images and allow them to come forward, to evoke something within and coax it into life. Stilled and listening and allowing a thin light to emerge, I become a little more conscious, just a little.
I don’t want to lose this thin emergent light. Claiming wisdom banishes the light into the darkness from which it had emerged.
