Making “Authentic” Decisions

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Those in Alignment with Self (Soul)

Let’s begin at the beginning. Oh, actually we can’t—the soul is immortal, so there was/is no beginning. Okay, so I’ll fast-forward, ignore previous incarnations and just focus on this one. There too, the word “beginning” needs to be qualified, because decision-making—if it’s to be “authentic”—begins prior to assuming a physical vehicle, a body. I’ll be describing my personal belief system in this post, not to proclaim or persuade. I have no agenda, just passing on a soul-sourcing technique that many have found helpful.

If you believe the noises of the world, rather than the silences of your soul, you will be lost.

Neale Donald Walsh, author Conversations with God, screenwriter

I believe that, before we’re born, in concert with others in our soul family, we formulate a “plan” that continues our journey to “realization,” union with God (Source, Cosmic Intelligence, Ground of All Being…). Consideration of the soul is paradoxical: While it’s One with God, fully realized, indivisible, perfect and eternal, it has assumed an “aspect” that’s individual, separate from God, finite and evolving toward wholeness—a return to its divine nature.

Religions and spiritual teachers speak of a “Fall from Grace” that happened aeons ago, when we made the free-will choice to use our creative faculties of thought and emotion in ways that were not based in love. I picture this as myself and all other souls who made this choice, coming to Earth to climb a precipitous mountain called “Love.” Step-by-step it’s the return to wholeness, ONE with God at the peak. The realization attained there, is that we are IT. We’ve been THAT all along.

The pre-birth plan is a kind of prescription that souls “write” prior to incarnation. Based on a combination of lessons to be learned and karmic influences to be balanced, it consists of a series of contexts that will provide us opportunities to take the next step—or several steps—up the mountain, a component of which is primarily the lesson of universal, unconditional love. Once embodied, due to free will, we can adhere to the presecrption, ignore or disregard it—in part or altogether. We’re not required to advance, to grow in consciousness and expand love to all that is, but it becomes increasingly painful to remain on any one step for very long. Eastern spiritual traditions hold that sooner or later, over aeons of incarnations, every soul achieves the summit.

All adversity is really an opportunity for our souls to grow; all adversity is really a form of growing pains.

John Gray, self-help author, relationship counselor, lecturer

The prescribed experiences are revealed to us by the inner voice of “conscience.” Unlike a medical prescription that consists of pills, the pre-birth plan guides us into contexts, not experiences. The ego/mind thinks it’s just making choices, creating those contexts, but that’s an illusion. The various contexts are like college courses on the subjects necessary to advance in consciousness and love, throughout life. None are lectures; all are experiential. Sages tell us that realization can take millions of incarnations—or just one. Some of obvious contexts include the characteristics and circumstances surrounding—

  • Parents: The choice of parents, their ethnicity, ancestry, location…
  • Body: The choice of a vehicle…
  • Birth: Where, when and how to be born…
  • Parenting: The process of rearing children…
  • Education: Formal or not? Where and when to attend…
  • Jobs: Work circumstances…
  • Others: Interests, skill development, who we’ll marry (if we marry), where and how we’ll live, friends, health situations, economic and social status through adulthood and the time and circumstances of our passing.

Contexts do not “determine” experience. They are simply the “settings,” within which we encounter both positive and negative opportunities to choose, all of which are designed to develop consciousness and expand love in the direction of realization.

The soul is realized in love.

Phil Cousineau, author, lecturer, scholar, screenwriter

Throughout life we take command, researching, creating, preparing and planning what we want and don’t want, and responding to whatever comes our way. The ego mind needs to feel like it’s in control. And the conscious mind is, because of free will. But as noted, the soul presents the contexts for experiencing the lessons prescribed in its plan. As our true Self, it knows us better than we know ourselves, and guides us unerringly. It’s the only source of information and guidance that’s absolutely true about and for us and can be trusted. That’s because its individuated aspect has only one agenda—the realization of its divine nature. The great mental challenge for us, is trying to ascertain the plan.

Whenever a context appears—like deciding on a college to attend or a person to marry— whether or not we feel like we created it, we’re presented with a choice. Sometimes the choice is obvious or easily seen to be in alignment with our deeper Self. When that’s not so clear and there are many options, there’s a way to tap into the soul’s plan. It’s a brief mental exercise I refer to as a “Gifts Inventory.” By understanding our endowments, what the soul had provided, we can better align with its agenda. What this process reveals is our life’s purpose relative to who we are as a being, and what’s appropriate for us to do in order to authentically learn and contribute. Our unique gifts tell us why we came here at this time, in this place and with this body.

The evolutionary modality of the emerging humankind is the alignment of the personality with the soul through responsible choice.

          Gary Zukav, author The Seat of the Soul

Gifts Inventory (A self-inquiry exercise)

Set aside a time and place where you’re comfortable and certain not to be disturbed by anyone or anything like a phone, conversations or car noise outside. Take a pad of paper and something to write with, sit and get quiet. Do not use a computer. You can have your eyes open or closed, it doesn’t matter. All you’ll do is respond to the following questions. You’ll be asked to make a list. Write your responses in the order they come to mind. You don’t have to do this all in one sitting. And you won’t be sharing this with anyone.

STEP 1: The Questions

  1. What are the gifts you were born with?

These are the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual capabilities that you didn’t learn or earn. You awakened to them naturally, like a propensity to play a musical instrument, solve math problems, make people laugh, love animals or draw. Nothing is off limits. Take your time. Make the list as complete as you can.

  1. What are the gifts you have learned or earned?

Irrespective of the sources, list the skills, abilities, talents, knowledge or attributes that you acquired up until now.

  1. What are your abiding interests?

Some interests come and go. Others sustain over many years. Those are the ones to list.

  1. What do other people see as your gifts?

Sometimes we have a talent that others recognize but come to us as a surprise. What complements do you get? “Your meals are amazing! You could have been a chef.”

  1. If you could snap your fingers and completely resolve or improve three human challenges, what would they be?

STEP 2: Prioritize

Go back and prioritize your responses to Questions 1, 2 and 3.

STEP 3: Identify your “BEING” purpose

(Follow the above guidelines regarding comfort and non-distraction)

Consider your responses to Question 1. Star or circle the priorities that mean the most to you. Those are the gifts your soul has provided this time around, the exercise of which is necessary for you to fulfill part of your pre-birth plan. Now, write this heading: My Being Purpose. We are human “beings,” not human doings; being is fundamental, primary. It conditions everything else.

Close your eyes and go into a meditative state. With your primary gifts in mind, direct this question to your soul, your deepest inner voice: “What have I come here to be?” Pause, let your mind rest. When something comes to mind, open your eyes and write. Begin a sentence with, “I am here to be… Pay no attention to length, grammar, spelling or if it makes sense. Write all that comes to mind.

If nothing, think again about your gifts and ask again. Still nothing? Put the pad aside. Ideally, take a walk in nature and mull over your gifts—or go about your life. I can almost guarantee that, when you’re least expecting it, an answer will pop into your head. Whenever it comes, write and edit the first draft into one or two sentences, eliminating all words that are unnecessary. What remains must feel absolutely true. This is why you came here and why you’re still alive. I highly recommend that you never share this with anyone, not even a spouse or best friend. You don’t want to get any kind of reaction that could cast doubt on it. It’s among the most intimate statements you’ll ever make, so memorize it and often repeat it to yourself. If you like, destroy what you wrote. Or put it where it cannot be found.

STEP 4: Identify your “DOING” purpose

Afterward, or on another occasion do the same as the above. This time, take an integrated look at your top priorities relative to Questions 2, 3 and 4. I recommend transferring them onto a fresh sheet of paper; the insights come more easily that way. Now, the question to your soul is: “What have I come here to do?” As before, immediately still your mind and write whatever comes. What you’re writing now, is your “Doing Purpose,” what you have come here to do. Again, edit it into a two or three sentence statement that ring true. Memorize it.

STEP 5: Contribution

If you could snap your fingers and completely resolve or improve three human challenges, what would they be? Considering your Purpose Statements, along with your Gifts Inventory, what would be the smallest, most immediate thing you could do to heal or improve what’s going on in the world? Even a thought, a prayer or simply voting from the soul is a contribution.

Because our Being and Doing insight comes from the soul, everything we do that contributes to their fulfillment is supremely authentic, absolutely true to who and what we are and what we’ve come here to do. You’ll note that these act in concert. One accomplishes the other, because authentic behavior completes (satisfies) the whole person. Subconsciously, maybe even consciously, these acts are our unique and precious gifts to the world. When faced with an important decision, we can ask, deep down, which option is in harmony with our Purpose. By knowing why we’re here and what we’ve come to do, it becomes clear which thoughts, words and deeds are—or are not—advancing the evolution of the individuated aspect of the soul.

Our soul is using specific life settings as the stage on which we can play out our process of evolution. Through each event we take the journey of consciousness. We move through the layers of our unconscious self and begin to awaken, moving into a greater conscious realization. We ourselves are the process, the co-creator, experiencing an awakening through the events we call “my life.”

           Isira, Australian indigenous wisdom keeper

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My other sites:

David L. Smith Photography Portfolio.com

Ancient Maya Cultural Traits.com: Weekly blog featuring the traits that made this civilization unique

Spiritual Visionaries.com: Access to 81 free videos on YouTube featuring thought leaders and events of the 1980s.

 

The Typewriter And Authenticity

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Every Page a Lasting Fingerprint

Browsing at an antique fair, I was attracted to this typewriter with crooked letters, yellowed keys and options no longer used on computer keyboards (ribbon, margin release, fractions, cent-sign).

In 1575 an Italian printmaker named Francesco Rampazetto built a machine that impressed letters on paper. Centuries later, variations on his invention were huge and impractical. Then in 1868, Americans Christopher Latham Sholes, Carlos Gladden and Samuel W. Soule invented the first commercially successful, small device that everyday people could use to type words on paper. Machinist Matthias Schwalbach and E. Remington and Sons (sewing machine fame) sold the patent of his prototype machine to Densmore and Yost for $12,000. To promote and sell this machine, which typed all CAPS, they called it a “typewriter.”

In 1878 the Remington #2 a machine was marketed with commonly used letters arranged in pairs, allowing their salesmen to quickly type the word “TYPEWRITER” using just the top row. Advertisers promoted the machines as a way for women to enter the workforce as secretaries and typists. Ernest Hemingway used a typewriter for drafts, then retyped the pages more quickly. He said it helped him hear the “rhythm of the words.” And during WWII and the Cold War, intelligence agencies (FBI, CIA, NSA) identified documents by analyzing the “fingerprints” of specific typewriters—tiny quirks in alignment, ink dust and wear patterns unique to each machine.

I used a mechanical typewriter until the early ’70s. Having taken a typing course in high school, I could type pretty fast. I liked punching the keys, the ding! at the end of each line and pushing the return handle. There was a sense of momentum, like a train of thoughts clicking on. What I didn’t like was ink on my fingers from changing ribbons, needing to punch the keys harder when using carbon paper between sheets to make copies and using “White Out” to make changes or correct errors. It was messy, dried crust fell into the keys and the pages looked bad on final drafts.

With a typewriter, you don’t erase, you live with your words. That permanence sharpens the thought.

                        Tom Hanks, actor

The Alphabet

According to Google, the English alphabet has its earliest roots in Egyptian hieroglyphs, where pictures were adapted by Semitic peoples into symbols that represented sounds. This system developed into the Phoenician alphabet, which spread widely through trade and has influenced many cultures. The Greeks adopted it and added vowels, and the Romans eventually shaped it carrying traces of its ancient origins.

Evolving Technology

Marshall McLuhan famously pronounced, “The medium is the message.” That is to say, the  significance of all forms of “media” is that they extend human capacity—thought and expression in particular. The typewriter mechanized writing making it fast, uniform and widely accessible in academia, government, commerce, publishing and personal communication. In time, the keys showed up in the form of a computer keyboard, which transferred to the smartphone. And given the evolving forms of memory and processing media (silicon, quantum), direct speech could obsolete the keyboard. Futurist Barbara Marx Hubbard referred to this pattern of ephemeralization: “Our technology is helping us catch up with our consciousness… Technology is becoming less mechanistic and more bio-psycho neurological.”

Potential

The beauty of combining letters of the alphabet to give tangible form to thought, is that, unlike spontaneous speech, it requires me to slow down and consider, more accurately present what I want to say. Also, a keyboard presents a field of infinite potential. Because the letters can be combined to produce an infinite number of words and their arrangement, I’m required to “engage mind before fingers.” Typing encourages awareness: Is this accurate? Is that what I really want to say? And experimentation—writing a sentence or paragraph to see if it works. And I can easily make corrections to change the meaning, spelling or grammar.

Whatever the word-making medium, what matters is not only what we have to say and how we say it, but where it comes from—is it authentic, true to what we think deep down, believe or want to convey? Or does it originate outside us, perhaps an expectation, someone else’s opinion or belief or artificial intelligence? And tied to this, is motivation. I make these distinctions, because today the truth is under attack by politicians, foreign governments and Internet exploiters.

Words Matter

Words condition our perception of reality. They influence our emotions and guide our actions. They can heal or harm, inspire or discourage, unite or divide. It’s how we share ideas, transmit values, preserve memories and create meaning. They can clarify truth or distort it, affirm dignity or diminish it, contribute to understanding or confusion, inspire confidence or fear, empower or discourage action. Whatever the technology, the thoughts expressed enter the minds or readers, influence the culture and contribute to the “noosphere,” the subtle field of global and timeless consciousness in which all thoughts, energies and experiences are recorded. Both Western and Eastern spiritual traditions agree—from first to last breath, every thought, every word we think, speak or set down in some form is a contribution (positive and negative) to the whole, the human project. Accordingly, the species evolves in consciousness.

 

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us

Ralph Waldo Emerson, essayist, philosopher, poet

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My other sites:

David L. Smith Photography Portfolio.com

Ancient Maya Cultural Traits.com: Weekly blog featuring the traits that made this civilization unique

Spiritual Visionaries.com: Access to 81 free videos on YouTube featuring thought leaders and events of the 1980s.

 

Patterns

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Evidence of cosmic order

All evolution is a dance of wholes that separate themselves into parts and parts that join into mutually consistent new wholes. We can see it as a repeating, sequentially spiraling pattern: unity to individuation to competition to conflict to negotiation to resolution to cooperation to new levels of unity and so on.

Elisabet Sahtouris, evolution biologist, futurist, author

In 1979 I was interviewing noted scholars, authors, scientists and artists for a television documentary I wanted to produce on the life and philosophy of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. The film never got made but in the course of the research I came to understand that, although the evolutionary process is not predetermined, it is pre-patterned, driven by features that are constant and consistent. Among them are the conservation of energy, increased order and complexity, innovation and reciprocity. In the 80s when chaos theory emerged and mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot displayed his fractal images, these and other patterns became visible, demonstrating that beneath the apparent chaos, in all of nature there is order. From quarks to the cosmos, it’s revealed to us as patterns.

         

Computers create relationships based on patterns, and clocks display them in segments of time. Patterns of thought bring order and consistency to everyday living, for instance in our routines. Artists in every field look for and incorporate patterns in their works, in large part, consciously or not, because they evidence and reflect the order—some would say the “intelligence”—of the universe.

At a certain point, probably by noticing that I had already photographed lots of patterns, I decided to seek them out. Reading in physics helped me to appreciate that all patterns, whether found in nature or in man-made objects, were evidence of the order intrinsic to the cosmos. This especially became clear in the 90s when scientists learned that matter itself turned out to be patterned arrangements of energy.

And then I gained some perspective on the order within the atom. For instance, if Yankee Stadium were an atom, the nucleus would be smaller than a baseball sitting in center field, and the outer part of the atom (electrons) would be tiny gnats buzzing about in orbits and altitudes where commercial airplanes fly. In between the baseball and the gnats there appears to be nothing, but various technologies reveal them be patterned energy fields.

Human-made patterns are evidence of our ability to repeat behaviors and create objects and images that are consistent, even identical, and organize them into coherence. They’re strongly associated with culture, for instance, in building materials, branded shopping carts, clothing and fabric made of Scottish plaid,  architecture as seen in Islamic geometry, and in values.

In Patterns of Culture, anthropologist Ruth Benedict observed that “A culture, like an individual, is a more or less consistent pattern of thought and action.” Each culture, she said, chooses from “the great arc of human potentialities” a set of characteristics that become its leading personality traits, and constitutes an “interdependent constellation of aesthetics and values” that make up its unique world view. Here, a conception of the ancient Maya world view and Chak, the rain god, are reflected in the motifs on this building.

Nature-made patterns reveal the underlying order of universal forces including gravity, magnetism, planetary and geologic movement, seasons, climate, wind and wave motion and electric force to name a few.

In some patterns, the order is regular, for instance in snowflakes, spider webs, and fish scales.

In others, such as a tiger’s stripes, tree bark, and soil erosion, the pattern is irregular.

Contemplating Pattern in Personal and Social Contexts

Pattern recognition is critically important in making decisions and judgments, acquiring knowledge, advancing the sciences and expressing creativity. Writing in Psychology Today, psychologists Michele and Robert Root-Berstein write that “The drive to recognize and form patterns can be a spur to curiosity, discovery, and experimentation throughout life.” They cite M.C. Escher and Leonardo da Vinci as artists who purposefully looked for patterns in wood grain, stone walls, stains and clouds—to use in their works and to stimulate thinking beyond convention. They note that every living thing that repeats a form, behavior or process has found a way to survive.

Psychologist, Jamie Hale adds a caution noting that “the tendency to see patterns in everything can lead to seeing things that don’t exist.” His examples of pattern recognition gone awry include “hearing messages when playing records backward, seeing faces on Mars, seeing the Virgin Mary on a piece of toast, superstitious beliefs of all types, and conspiracy theories.” I’d add to this, the turning of a blind eye to the increasing patterns of climate change.

Once in a while it’s good to look at our most repetitious behavioral patterns, the things we do almost every day and ask if they’re producing positive results for ourselves, others, society and the planet. To get a different result, the challenge is to adopt a different pattern—habit. For instance, when ordering iced tea in a restaurant I ask for a paper rather than a plastic cup.

On the social side, Tony Zampella, a sociologist, and leadership coach provides examples of exploitation in several area citing them as destructive social and environmental patterns.

In Labor—exploiting child labor, overworking employees without benefits or overtime, underpaying women in the workforce and hyman trafficking.

In Production—flouting regulations or cutting corners to maximize shareholder value or profits, (think Ford Pinto, the GM switch recalls, the recent Wells Fargo scandal).

In Public policy— exploiting fears to benefit an industry or voting block (think the congressional ban on gun violence research, willful ignorance of tobacco’s link to cancer and denial of climate change).

In Resources— ravaging the planet for political or monetary gain (consider the current fracking debacle, or the Exxon Valdez, or the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill).

As the behavior patterns of these and other cultural, commercial and political systems break down, they’re affecting change in the way we think about ourselves in relation to the Earth. As a consequence, we’re increasingly needing to rethink the workability and philosophy of materialism—the notion that the world is made up of dead atoms, that human consciousness emerged as a development of complex brains, that the resources of the planet are ours to subdue, that securing property, goods, wealth and varieties of experience are the road to happiness and that the purpose of religion is to gain a reward in an afterlife or beneficial rebirth. This—the “domination paradigm”— has been and continues to have dramatic and catastrophic consequences for the environment, the quality of life for humans and animals, and the ecosystems that sustain all life.

Atmospheric scientist, Michael Mann, writing about the jet stream as The Weather Amplifier (Scientific American March 2019), said, “The safest and most cost-effective path forward is to immediately curtail fossil fuel burning and other human activities that elevate greenhouse gas concentrations.” According to philosopher and social scientist Beatrice Bruteau, our best hope lies in the emerging paradigm, what she refers to as the “communion paradigm,” the perception that the earth does not belong to us, that we belong to it, and that all things and people are interconnected in the web of life.

In The Universe Story: From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era–A Celebration of the Unfolding of the Cosmos, eco-theologian Thomas Berry and cosmologist Brian Swimme show how the old sectarian story about how the world came to be and where we fit in, is not only dysfunctional but toxic to living systems. Importantly, Dr. Berry distinguishes the “environmental” movement from the “ecological” movement, the former attempting to be a respectful adjustment of the earth to the needs of human beings, whereas the latter is an adjustment of human beings to the needs of the planet. It’s why I’m always looking for leaders whose concern is “ecosystems” rather than “the environment.” According to these authors, the basic tenants of ecosystems are differentiation, which is the foundation of resilience (creating and celebrating variety in all things including people), subjectivity (preserving the inner aspects of life, the “vast mythic, visionary and symbolic world with all its numinous qualities”), and communion (the co-creative, mutually beneficial interrelatedness “that enables life to emerge into being.”) They observe that these three elements are fundamental patterns in the evolution of living systems.

Of course, a change in perception is not enough. It must be matched with commensurate action by individuals and governments, religions, educational institutions and corporations—as filmmaker Michael Mann urges, getting off fossil fuels. Thomas Berry is even more adamant: “All human institutions, professions, programs, and activities must now be judged by the extent to which they inhibit, ignore or foster a human and Earth relationship.”

So what can we do as individuals? We can develop a pattern, a regular practice—habits of recycling, minimizing our carbon and consumption footprints, supporting local and national initiatives in safeguarding or restoring ecosystems, educate ourselves, speak about ecology with family and friends—in person and through social media, and affect even broader influence by consistently voting for leaders who are knowledgeable about ecology and committed to making appropriate responses to climate change a top priority. It deserves that status because the survival and vitality of everything else, without exception, depends on humanity getting into patterns of right relationship with each other and the planet.

The human might better think of itself as a mode of being of the Earth rather than simply as a separate being on the Earth.

Thomas Berry, priest, “ecologian”

For further reading on what we can do, I recommend Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in without Going Crazy by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone.

(For pattern photographs in black and white, visit my monograph: Patterns: Evidence of Cosmic Order. Click on the book, enlarge and turn the pages).

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My other sites:

David L. Smith Photography Portfolio.com

Ancient Maya Cultural Traits.com: Weekly blog featuring the traits that made this civilization unique

Spiritual Visionaries.com: Access to 81 free videos on YouTube featuring thought leaders and events of the 1980s.

Reverence for Light

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Attending to light fosters deep perception and appreciation

I was nineteen and majoring in photography at Rochester Institute of Technology when I made a commitment to the regular practice of black & white photography as a medium of personal growth. Prompted by insights gained from some images I’d made, I sat alone in my car overlooking Lake Ontario and became overwhelmed with tears of joy. I said to myself: Whatever else happens in my life, I will always photograph and learn from the results. Unwittingly, I had adopted an admonition that I encountered years later in the writings of scientist and philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin S.J. “The more one looks,” he said, “the more one sees. And the more one sees, the better one knows where to look.” Many years later I am still on that path, exercising a growing capacity to experience beauty, discover essences and ultimates within commonplace forms and circumstances, and express feelings of appreciation and joy that come as a result.

Within a few years of making that commitment I realized that subject matter was taking a back seat to light. Beyond its direction, intensity and color, I hungered for circumstances and a quality of “illumination” that would evoke a sense of the subject’s essential being in relation to All Being—including its process of becoming. I’d experienced this in the works of Ansel Adams, Paul Caponigro, Ruth Bernhard, Edward Steichen and Minor White, so I knew the light without could reveal something of the light within.

But what was that “light within?” And where could I find it? Two experiences suggested a direction. The first was reading Teilhard’s description of love as an energy, “the affinity of being for being.” The other was when I heard Buckminster Fuller say that love is “evolutionary gravity,” the thing that holds everything in the universe together. Signs of affinity are readily available in nature, particularly in objects that display the fundamental order and patterns observed by scientists and mathematicians.

It’s readily available in nature.

But could it also be observed in people?

In the built environment?

In commonplace objects we make and use?

Perhaps seen in a new light or from a different vantage point?

What about objects that no longer serve a purpose? Indeed, the more I looked, the more I saw. And the more I saw, the better I understood where to look. Fast-forwarding through many more years of photographing and scrutinizing the results, I learned that deep perception—-seeing beneath the surface and with understanding eyes— requires both knowledge and imagination.

In 1978 I toured a mushroom farm and came away with a photograph of a dirty old wrench lying on an oil drum. While moving the print from one tray to another, I began thinking about what had to happen in order for that wrench to exist in front of my camera. What was its history? I thought about the farmer who used it last and set it down. I wondered what it was used for and how many other people had used it.

In my mind’s eye I back-timed to see the wrench shiny and new hanging on a pegboard in a hardware store, available for purchase. That led to imagining the steps in its making: the forging process, the molten liquid being poured into a mold, and before that the minerals being mined while a great distance away  in time someone sat at a drawing board drafting its form and dimensions. Prior to that, well down the evolutionary spiral, another someone was the first person to visualize the wrench-and-nut as a solution to a problem. And in order for the vision to materialize there had to be an accumulation of knowledge about the properties of metals, especially how to shape and strengthen them. Further down the spiral, I contemplated the frustrations and challenges, the failed experiments and happy accidents that resulted in that knowledge. And what did that require? All the people, time and learning that came before it, including the millions of years of human evolution that led up to it. And what did that require? Billions of years of planetary, solar, galactic and cosmic evolution. And what did that require? The Big Bang. And what did that require?

Up and down the evolutionary spiral: affinity and joining, love and union. “Fuller being is closer union,” Teilhard said. By joining in ways that promote viability and growth, simple forms brought about new, more complex and conscious forms. Primordial forces and sub-atomic particles merged to form atoms. Atoms joined to become molecules. Molecules joined to become cells. Cells joined to become organisms. Organisms joined to become creatures. Human beings joined to become societies. And societies joined to become nations.

That image of the wrench, isolated and illuminated to accentuate its form, texture and context was a statement of being that precipitated my journey down the evolutionary spiral—all the way to Source. At some point, particularly when the light is exquisitely illuminating a person, object or situation, backtiming to the Ground of All Being became natural.

If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.

Carl Sagan, astronomer, author

For more such images, visit my book: Reverence for Light: A contemplative approach to photography. Click on the book, expand the screen and turn the pages.

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My other sites:

David L. Smith Photography Portfolio.com

Ancient Maya Cultural Traits.com: Weekly blog featuring the traits that made this civilization unique

Spiritual Visionaries.com: Access to 81 free videos on YouTube featuring thought leaders and events of the 1980s

The Illusion of Control

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What can we do in the face of unsettling change, eroding confidence and civility?

The world has tilted in the direction of uncertainty. Social, economic and cultural norms are shifting and many are being dismantled.[1] Droughts, tornados, fires and flooding are becoming more frequent and severe. Technologies are evolving faster than the wisdom to manage them responsibly. Politics has become more of a contest between adversaries than a process for securing citizen welfare and well-being. Screen-based communication is increasingly preferred and inserted into social situations, often at the cost of personal engagement.2 More than personal engagement, people are using electronic devices to communicate, and gossip dominates conversations.3 And Cable television and streaming platforms are emphasizing programs designed for comfort, fantasy and distraction reflecting a move away from broad, culturally unifying programming and toward personalized escapist content.4

Evolutionary Drivers

While we tend to think of these phenomena as “negative” or “problematic,” they can also be seen as “evolutionary drivers,” perturbations or systemic stresses that are the birthing pains of a more refined, coherent and unified humanity. The long picture—it appears that humanity is in the process of learning responsible human-planet management. By experiencing breakdowns and dysfunctions due to self-centeredness, on the next turn of the spiral we’ll come to understand that survival requires coherence, whole-centered consciousness and collaboration, particularly being in right-relationship with each other and the planet. By actually living the teachings of the founders of the world religions and fostering love of the planet, we can—and I believe will— achieve this.

Cause

The leaders of every great spiritual tradition tell us the same quiet truth, that the fundamental cause of separation, self-centeredness and dysfunction is ignorance of who we are, what we are, why we’re here and what’s possible if we were to unite. The Dalai Lama wrote that “Ignorance is the true enemy, not the other person. It is ignorance that imprisons us in the cycle of suffering.” Spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle says, “The greatest illusion is the illusion of separateness. It is ignorance of who we truly are that gives rise to fear and conflict.” Philosopher Beatrice Bruteau considered that the root problem of humanity is not sin, “but ignorance of our real identity as participants in divine life.” And in a 2024 talk to students at a school in Northern Italy, Pope Francis warned: “Ignorance breeds fear, and fear breeds intolerance.”

What unites these voices is the understanding that our urge to control is born of fear and separateness. We imagine ourselves apart from God, apart from life, apart from one another. But in surrender, in trust, in letting go, we discover we were never separate at all. Control closes the hand; surrender opens it. And only the open hand can receive. The ideal model for this is life itself, which thrives on unpredictability.

Trees unfurl their leaves without a plan or schedule.

Flowers blossom without an algorithm.

Rivers and streams wend their way and merge through the landscape without a map.

What Can We Do?

Considering the many and dramatic changes going on worldwide, concerned citizens are asking, “What can I do?” When asked, one of my simpler responses has been to “focus on what’s in front of us”—concentrate on work, better manage schedules, undergo a health discipline, spend time in nature, engage more with family and friends and think positively. This can help for a while, but pervasive media reports of breakdowns, disasters and previously unimaginable events in the media keep fueling uncertainty and helplessness, in some cases, depression and suicide.

Positive Visions

Must we learn the hard way? Many are suggesting otherwise, building on and contributing to visions of a positive future. Futurist Barbara Marx Hubbard envisioned humanity on the verge of a great evolutionary leap, “moving toward a planetary birth of a united humanity, capable of co-evolving with nature and co-creating with God.” Her hope resonated with priest-philosopher Teilhard de Chardin’s conviction that one day we’ll harness not just the forces of nature but “the energies of love,” discovering a new fire in the heart of humanity. Engineer-philosopher Buckminster Fuller echoed this same belief, urging us to become “architects of the future, not its victims.” And contemporary theologian Ilia Delio observed that creation itself is unfinished, that “God is doing new things, and we are invited to participate in the future that is rising up through us.”

Buckminster Fuller and Barbara Marx Hubbard

In 1983 I produced a one-hour video: Our Spiritual Experience: A Conversation with Buckminster Fuller and Barbara Marx Hubbard in which they expressed their positive visions for humanity.

Uncertainty and Control

In the face of uncertainty the tendency is to exercise more control over our lives, to dream, plan, schedule, research and close ranks. Wisdom teachers say that’s an illusion, freedom from the stresses of confusion and uncertainty actually lie in letting go. For instance, Thomas Merton wrote, “We must relinquish our control over the deepest ground of our being and let God take possession of it.” He said the “false self” is constantly trying to achieve security through mastery of the situation, while the “true self” knows that security already rests in God. Our task is not to seize but to yield, not to hold or close but to open and allow.

The same perspective is echoed in the East. In the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu warns, “The world is sacred; it cannot be controlled. Whoever tries to control it ruins it.” Life is like a river. It cannot be dammed or forced without damage; to live in harmony with it is to move as the current moves—sometimes swiftly, sometimes in quiet eddies—trusting the flow more than the map. Chuang Tzu adds, “Flow with whatever may happen, and let your mind be free.” Beyond their choosing, clouds form, drift and then dissolve, shaped by the wind. And the Buddha taught that a mind gently steadied like a flame shielded from the wind, brings happiness, because it no longer grasps at what it cannot hold.

Seek Guidance From Within

Regarding what to do, I favor a simple comment made by Lebanese novelist Mikhail Naimy. In The Book of Mirdad, he wrote “When in doubt about the next step, stand still.” The implication is to get quiet and look within, because that’s where all life’s lessons reside. In an atmosphere of troubling change and uncertainty, our most appropriate and authentic response can be found by consulting the soul, the place in us that knows the deepest truth of who we are, why we’re here and what we need to experience and learn this time around—for our sake, and that of the greater whole.

This is not to suggest we do nothing to influence or affect change. Just that guidance or validation that come from the soul (whatever we choose to call the animating higher intelligence within) will be in concert with our pre-birth plan and purpose—rather than any emotional trigger or outside influence. Think about it: What would happen if we all did that? One other thing to do—easiest and quickest— is to express gratitude for everyone and everything we enjoy and appreciate.

 

We sense that we are living at the end of an era, and that something more beautiful is struggling to be born.

Charles Eisenstein, author and activist

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[1] Bicchieri, C., Centola, D., & Gelfand, M. (2023). Social norm change: drivers and consequences. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 378(1879).

2 CliffsNotes. “The Effect of Technology on Face-to-Face Communication.”

3 Dunbar, R (2004). “Gossip in evolutionary perspective”. Review of General Psychology. 8 (2): 100–110.

4 Media, Society, Culture and You. “The Relationship Between Television and Culture.” Boise State University Pressbooks.

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My other sites include:

David L. Smith Photography Portfolio.com

Ancient Maya Cultural Traits.com: Weekly blog featuring the traits that made this civilization unique

Spiritual Visionaries.com: Access to 81 free videos on YouTube featuring thought leaders and events of the 1980s.

 

God by the Side of the Road

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 Everything alive has a unique purpose

Bristle Grass (Setaria species)

I used to walk or drive by thousands of these and similar weeds every week. I barely noticed them, much less knew their names—until I singled this one out to photograph. A review of my catalog revealed that I had long been pointing a camera at patches of weeds. Around that time, I came across Ralph Waldo Emerson’s popular quote about a weed being “…a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.” That made sense, and I had some images to support it.

Going back to my roots in large format black and white film, I initiated a project to photograph individual weeds in my basement studio. Black and white film and controlled lighting helped to illuminate the virtues of these commonplace plants. By paying attention to them as individuals, I learned their names and gained an appreciation for their beauty, complexity and contribution to human well-being. Going forward in this post, I blend a description of each plant’s contribution to humanity along with some contemplations and quotes.

Beginning with bristle grass, its domesticated form—foxtail millet (Setaria italica)—was one of the world’s earliest grains, sustaining ancient civilizations in Asia, and serving as a resilient food source in dry, marginal lands. Today, both wild and cultivated varieties provide valuable forage for livestock and seed for birds. Their hardy growth helps prevent soil erosion and restore degraded ground. Beyond these features, bristle grass (Setaria) is a model plant in scientific research on photosynthesis, drought tolerance and crop improvement.

Milkweed

Indigenous peoples considered milkweed a source of medicine, food and fiber. It’s silky floss was used as insulation and later stuffed into life jackets during World War II. Ecologically, it’s indispensable as the sole host plant for monarch butterfly larvae and a rich nectar source for countless pollinators. Its deep roots help restore soils and prevent erosion, and its fibers and natural compounds are being studied for sustainable textiles, biofuels and medical uses. Far from being a nuisance, milkweed is a plant of nourishment, protection and renewal.

The process of photographing dozens of individual plants reminded me that we best discover the virtues of other people by getting to know them as individuals. Observing them in “clumps,” it’s easy to ignore, categorize, devalue or otherwise see them as a threat in some way, particularly when they’re different from us. Rather than considering plants or people as commonplace, peripheral to our interests or a nuisance, I remember that life has taken a particular form for good reason. And that makes all living beings unique, precious and beautiful.

Pokeweed

Often feared as a poisonous nuisance, pokeweed has nevertheless played a notable role in human history. Native to North America, it was traditionally used by indigenous peoples and rural communities for medicine, dye and even food—its young shoots, carefully prepared, were eaten as “poke sallet,” a spring green of both nourishment and ritual. Its deep purple berries have long been used as a natural dye and ink, including in early American writing, and serve as food for birds and wildlife. Today, pokeweed is also studied for its antiviral and cancer-fighting compounds, showing promise in modern medicine. Though unruly and toxic if misused, pokeweed carries a legacy of resilience, healing and unexpected beauty.

I wonder, might the great American experiment in Democracy, be in fact the mechanism by which “we the people” shift our perception from separation and fear to unity and love? Are we Americans walking the path toward accepting others, respecting all human beings as they are and putting into practice—for ourselves and as a workable model for the rest of the world—the deep truth that “All men are created equal.”? If so, the challenge is not to revert to separation, censorship and consolidation but to put aside our smartphones and engage others individually, face-to-face, to build harmonious and collaborative relationships. After all, those we don’t know are also members of the global family, members whose virtues and diverse contributions we have yet to discover.

Burdock

Burdock, with its prickly burrs that cling stubbornly to clothing and fur, is often seen as a bothersome weed, yet it has given much to humans. Long used in traditional medicine across Europe and Asia, its roots and seeds were valued for purifying the blood, supporting digestion and treating skin ailments. In Japan, burdock root (gobo) remains a nutritious and popular food, rich in fiber and antioxidants. Its burrs inspired the invention of Velcro when a Swiss engineer studied its natural hook-and-loop design. The plant also provides nectar for pollinators and food for wildlife, reminding us that even the most tenacious weed can nourish, heal and spark human innovation.

If we are to direct evolution… we have to find an appropriate moral code to guide our choices. It should be a code that… specifies right as being the unfolding of the maximum individual potential joined with the achievement of the greatest social and environmental harmony.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Psychologist

Johnsongrass

Often cursed as one of the world’s worst invasive weeds, johnsongrass nonetheless carried unexpected gifts. Originally from the Mediterranean and introduced to the U.S. in the 1800s as a forage crop, it grows vigorously, offering abundant fodder for cattle when properly managed. Its deep roots help hold and enrich soils, and its fast growth can provide quick ground cover on eroded or disturbed land. Researchers have studied johnsongrass as a potential biofuel source, since it produces high biomass under poor conditions. Though it spreads aggressively and demands respect, this hardy grass embodies resilience and productivity, showing how even a troublesome plant can serve human and ecological needs.

Power rests in the conjunction of what the individual perceives of his own internal being, what he perceives in the world about him, and how he relates these perceptions to establish his relations with other human beings.

Richard Adams, English novelist, author of Watership Down.

Teasel

With its spiny flower heads and tall, prickly stalks, teasel is often dismissed as a nuisance along roadsides and fields, yet it has served humans for centuries. In Europe, the dried seed heads were once indispensable in the textile industry, used to raise the nap on woolen cloth, giving fabrics their softness and sheen before metal tools were invented. Medicinally, teasel root has been valued in folk remedies, particularly in Chinese and European traditions, for supporting joints and circulation. Its striking flower heads are also beloved by pollinators, and in winter they feed finches and other birds with their seeds. Though bristly and unyielding in form, teasel has clothed, healed, and sustained both people and wildlife, proving its worth beyond its weedy reputation.

We must be whole to see whole. We must in a sense be beautiful to see beautiful.  Art, at its most elevated is not so dependent upon skill as upon virtue. And virtue is preeminent dedication to a life of truth. 

Richard Guggenheim, artist

Nettle

This plant stings the skin, so it’s often cursed as a plant to avoid—yet few weeds have served humans more generously. For millennia, nettle has been harvested as a highly nutritious spring green, rich in iron, protein and vitamins, often sustaining communities after long winters. Its fibers were spun into cordage and cloth in Europe long before flax and cotton, and its roots and leaves have been used in herbal medicine for inflammation, allergies and blood health. Nettle enriches soils with minerals drawn from its deep roots and provides food for butterflies and other insects. What seems at first a plant of pain is, in truth, a plant of nourishment, healing and strength—a reminder that life’s stings can conceal deep blessings.

While we and others occasionally experience barbs and stings, behind them are unique gifts and potentials which, if we choose, can be explored. Every living being, plant, animal and human expresses an outer form for reasons that are not always evident. What is known, however, is that each individual, as a member of a greater whole (species), is endowed with “life,” inner animated being. However simple or complex the form or consciousness, it emanates from the same Source. We may see it differently and call it by different names, but because we’re aware of our own inner experience we know it’s real and fundamental. Whenever and wherever we experience “clumps” of people, there’s much to be gained by engaging their members directly as individuals. The next time you observe a clump of weeds by the side of the road, remember—everything alive has a purpose.

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For more such images check out my monograph: Weeds: God By The Side Of The Road. (Click on the book and expand the screen)

My other sites:

David L. Smith Photography Portfolio.com

Ancient Maya Cultural Traits.com: Weekly blog featuring the traits that made this civilization unique

Spiritual Visionaries.com: Access to 81 free videos on YouTube featuring thought leaders and events of the 1980s.

Clouds and Beyond

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Science, Ecology, Art; Spiritual Insight

I’ve always appreciated clouds. Often, they evoke an out loud “Wow!” If Linda’s nearby I can’t help commenting on them. In the early years of elementary school, the nuns always seated me in the back of the room, probably because I was paying more attention to what was going on out the windows, rather than what they were saying. Besides their fluffy and graded beauty, I think my attraction to clouds had a lot to do with the expansiveness of the sky interrupted only by the sun and those soft white, untextured and floating forms that, unlike the earth’s surface, had no natural or artificial boundaries. Whenever I see a cloud-filled sky, it evokes in me a sense of both freedom and awe.

Science

Simply put, clouds form when warm, moist air rises into the sky and cools down. As that happens, the water vapor turns into tiny droplets or ice crystals that gather together. As the droplets bump into each other and stick together, they grow bigger and heavier. And when they become too heavy to stay in place, gravity pulls them down as raindrops or snowflakes.

Cumulus

In the early 19th century, meteorologist Luke Howard classified clouds as cumulus, stratus and cirrus, laying a foundation for their study. He also personified them, suggesting they were atmospheric indications of nature’s up and down moods. In 1887, Scottish Ralph Abercromby saw clouds as dynamic storytellers, “the message of which is opaque and threatening, but always true…and difficult to read.” American meteorologist John A. Day, known affectionately as “The Cloud Man,” combined scientific rigor with metaphysics and photography to show how clouds bridge empirical study and human wonder. And a team headed by Lubna Dada, a CERN atmospheric scientist, has shown that trees emit organic compounds—sesquiterpenes—that significantly influence cloud formation, sometimes doubling it. The study shows how biological systems and atmospheric science are interrelated.

Ecology

Ecologist-philosopher David Abram urges us to see ourselves as part of a living, breathing Earth—not above it—which includes air, sky, and clouds as vital, sentient threads in the whole tapestry of life. His perspective on clouds in particular, is that they reflect the dynamism, flow and interconnectedness of the living world. “They shape themselves and go.” Environmental writer Gavin Pretor-Pinney writes extensively about clouds in The Cloudspotter’s Guide. “Having your head in the clouds, even for just a few minutes each day, is good for your mind, good for your body, and good for your soul.” And “Life would be dull if we had to look up at cloudless monotony day after day.” In The Cloud Book: How to Understand the Skies, historian Richard Hamblyn offers insight into how clouds are both natural phenomena and carriers of cultural meaning. And famed priest-ecologist Thomas Berry added a poetic voice to his call for conservation and right-relationship to the planet. “Without the soaring birds, the great forests, the sounds and coloration of the insects, the free-flowing streams, the flowering fields, the sight of clouds by day and the stars at night, we become impoverished in all that makes us human.”

Stratus

Art

One of Georgia O’Keeffe’s monumental paintings, titled “Sky Above Clouds IV,” depicts a field of clouds seen from above in an airplane. Many of her works featuring clouds as subjects reflect her appreciation of a common theme—grandeur and transcendence. Geoffrey Hendricks, known as a “cloudsmith,” depicted skies and clouds in a variety of media—painting them on objects, vehicles, textiles and more. He wanted to blur the line between earth-bound objects and the limitless sky. And musician-vocalist Joni Mitchell’s iconic song “Both Sides, Now” captures clouds as metaphors of life’s ambiguity, change and perspective. Her inspiration for the song came from seeing clouds from above and below, pondering how that dual perspective reflected broader complexities in life.

Clouds are the sky’s way of expressing laughter.  Pablo Picasso

Each day brings a new canvas, waiting for clouds.  Vincent van Gogh

Spiritual

Vietnamese Zen Buddhist Monk Thich Nhat Hanh wrote, “If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating in this sheet of paper…” It was an invitation to see and appreciate a piece of paper’s source, beginning with sunlight, the clouds that provided rain, the tree it was made from and the people involved in its creation and distribution. He used this perspective to  illustrate the Buddhist concept of “interbeing” where all things are interconnected because they/we ultimately derived from a common and single source. awakin.org. “Every day,” he said, “we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds… All is a miracle.” Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson expressed both constancy and impermanence when he wrote “Nature is a mutable cloud which is always and never the same.” Paul F. Davis, an inspirational author, wrote “The sun always rises above the clouds”—a metaphor suggesting that clarity, warmth and light prevail even when dark clouds obscure the sky.

In the novel The Book of Mirdad, author Mikhail Nuayman uses clouds as a symbol for the self, a distinct form that’s inseparable from the divine. “The Word is the ocean; you, the clouds…Except it lose itself, it cannot find itself. Except it die and vanish as a cloud, it cannot find the ocean in itself which is its only self.” For him,  “The Word” represents the divine or cosmic source—pure, boundless plenitude. And clouds, formed of the ocean yet distant from it, symbolize us: beings made of divine substance but still detached from full realization. Extending the metaphor, he asks the reader if a cloud is but the ocean it contains. It’s a reminder that clouds, though separate in form, are not distinct from the ocean—they originate from it and will eventually return to it. The moral of this passage in the book is clear: Why would a cloud “waste away its life striving to pin itself in space so as to keep its shape and its identity forever?” This amazing little novel, written in mystical-diction in 1948, is an invitation to see ourselves as both cloud and ocean—distinct in awareness, yet fundamentally one. It urges the letting go of false identities to rediscover our divine unity.

Cirrus

Analogies aid understanding, but there’s nothing like direct experience. For me, that occurs on days when clouds are prominent. I pause to absorb their light bedazzled beauty, then look between them to the clear blue sky, because there lies the spectacle of uncountable stars and galaxies—the universe. Although the eye can’t see it, the knowing of what’s there provides a perspective, a taste of what matters here below.

For reasons I’ve never quite understood, the act of just looking up, day or night, has since childhood evoked in me a sense of amazement and gratitude for the privilege of dwelling on the surface of a planet—rather than living underground. It’s like, in previous incarnations I’d never been exposed to sunlight or seen the stars. As noted, turning my attention back to the reality in front of me, the mental-emotional weight of what’s going on in the world seems almost trivial by comparison—passing clouds against the immeasurable evolution of the earth and human consciousness.

God is the light beyond all clouds, yet the clouds themselves are part of His garment.

Meister Eckhart, Christian mystic

The clouds are but a veil between us and the infinite.

Henry David Thoreau, American essayist, philosopher

(Can you see the jet trail in the first photograph, the cluster of clouds?)

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My other sites:

David L. Smith Photography Portfolio.com

Ancient Maya Cultural Traits.com: Weekly blog featuring the traits that made this civilization unique

Spiritual Visionaries.com: Access to 81 free videos on YouTube featuring thought leaders and events of the 1980s.

Attitude

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The difference between mediocrity and excellence

Image

In addition to the quiet sensibility that this image evokes in me, it speaks to the human journey, our quest for meaning and purpose, even our individual place and function in the world as we paddle this way and that with attention focused mainly on the surface of things.

Quantum theorists observe that, at the level of quanta, consciousness—thought—directs and influences the outcome of that which is sought in research experiments. Until a researcher looks  for a particular sub-atomic particle, it can occupy two different places at the same time. And then it only shows up where the person looks. Might the same be true at the human level? Could our surface realities be reflections of underlying expectations in consciousness?

In this regard, I recently noticed a sharp contrast between the experience of two grocery stores. In one the employees were bored and unhappy, preferring to engage each other in gossip and playful banter while halfheartedly waiting on customers. Perhaps reflecting the scattered consciousness of the manager—or the other employees—the store was messy and cluttered. And the atmosphere was stressful.

In the other store, the employees were pleasant, doing their jobs, responding to customer’s questions and looking people in the eye. A new employee went and got immediate help to answer my wife’s question about a checking procedure and both she and the manager were courteous. The place was clean and orderly, the atmosphere inviting and friendly. I commented to Linda on the way out about the difference in attitude—consciousness. I think it was the calm sensibility of the above image that prompted my comparison. The water was calm because the men in the rowboat were calm. One reflected the other. Neither of them were rocking the boat.

Building greatness is achieved one human being at a time. The difference between whether an organization is mediocre or superb is determined by whether all its individual members are mediocre or superb. The difference between organizations that are mediocre and those that are great is the attitude within each of us—our values and our culture. An inspired organization is simply the sum of inspired souls.

Lance Secretan

Beyond the relationship between consciousness and the effects it ripples onto the surface of life, further consideration of this image reminded me of past experiences in a rowboat, the smoothness of oak, the sound of paddles turning in the oarlocks, the pull against the water, the water swishing and dripping off the oars as they were raised, the drops and ripples they make when the paddling stops, and the bumping of wood on wood. Deeper yet, I imagine the voices of the men in the boat, perhaps telling stories about the one that got away, how things used to be or ought to be, sharing memories of great games, players or plays and where to get the best pizza.

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My other sites:

David L. Smith Photography Portfolio.com

Ancient Maya Cultural Traits.com: Weekly blog featuring the traits that made this civilization unique

Spiritual Visionaries.com: Access to 81 free videos on YouTube featuring thought leaders and events of the 1980s.

The Wonder Of Being

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What had to happen for these leaves to be photographed?

Leaves By Streetlamp

Trees have long thoughts, long-breathing and restful, just as they have longer lives than ours. They are wiser than we are, as long as we do not listen to them. But when we have learned how to listen to trees, then the brevity and the quickness and the childlike hastiness of our thoughts achieve an incomparable joy.

                                                                  Hermann Hesse

This is one of the first photographs I made as a student at RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology), not as an assignment, but attempting to explore how the light without could reveal the light within. I felt that the black and white photographs of masters such as Ansel Adams, Ed Weston and John Paul Caponigro pointed to or evoked sensibilities beyond and deeper than representation. They not only increased my appreciation of subject matter, they helped me see deeper into essences through the patterns in creation.

My photographic contemplations usually begin with an evoked feeling or question. With respect to Leaves By Lamplight, the question that comes to mind as I write is one of the most common because it can be asked of every photograph irrespective of subject matter — What had to happen for this subject matter and image to exist? And that includes the circumstances that gave rise to them. What had to happen for me to be wandering the streets of Rochester, New York in the dark, with a 4×5 camera and tripod, looking for something to photograph?

The answer, of course, is EVERYTHING! Everything since a speck, tinier by far than a grain of sand, dramatically burst forth and expanded to become the cosmos that we know—all of space-time with its invisible fields of energy and clumps of matter, the galaxies, stars and planets including their patterns of organization, 13.7 billion years of evolutionary unfolding, the position of planets with respect to the Sun, the cooling of the Earth and the shifting of the continents, the unbelievably precise conditions to produce the water and atmosphere that gave rise to living organisms, all of human evolution and technological development up until that cold September night in 1962 when I made this photograph. Had any one of these events, elements, object or process varied even slightly—including my birth and life experiences up until that moment—the tree, the lamppost and the above image would not exist.

According to cosmologist, Brian Swimme, if the rate of the expanding universe had been slower by even a millionth of one percent, it would have collapsed. Conversely, if the universe had expanded faster by even a millionth of a percent it would have expanded too quickly for structures to form. So if the unfolding of the universe had not occurred exactly as it has, this image, the photographer and you the reader would not exist.

It’s a humbling perspective that leads me to appreciate that those of us alive today stand as the pinnacle achievement of the evolutionary process, the result of countless lines of ancestors going back to just a few individuals in Africa more than 40,000 years ago. They survived to reproduce. And we are the result of their success down through the ages. Now, we are the leading edge of the future, determining what we will become.

So in this image I see evidence of the perfection and success of being itself—ALL being, as it happened and as it is. Though we humans may be imperfect in our becoming, we and everything around us is perfectly being what it is and doing what it needs to do. Here and now, in and through us, the universe with all it’s blessings and blemishes is, in us, reflecting upon itself, coming to self-knowledge—the Love that we are—through infinitely diverse and creative expression.

Just as Morning Glory blossoms attract hummingbirds to extend their line, the young leaves on this particular tree in Rochester, New York attracted a young college student many decades ago to stop and notice them. Due to the law of attraction they captured me and it turn I captured them. Part of the wonder is that, although those leaves are long gone, they are still present and operating in my life—and now, because of their presentation here, beyond it.

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My other sites:

David L. Smith Photography Portfolio.com

Ancient Maya Cultural Traits.com: Weekly blog featuring the traits that made this civilization unique

Spiritual Visionaries.com: Access to 81 free videos on YouTube featuring thought leaders and events of the 1980s.

The Aesthetic Dimensions in Art and Society

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Chapter 14: Pattern (The final in this series)

Through repetition, patterns create visual harmony, rhythm and order, all of which can contribute to meaning and create a sense of stability and symmetry which is pleasing to the eye. Patterns are apparent in the energy fields within atoms, the immensity of the cosmos and the way we function, behave and spend our time. They can convey spiritual, mathematical and philosophical ideas. And as an aesthetic dimension in photography, they can create visual interest, lead the eye, frame subjects and add depth and texture. Artists in every field look for patterns and incorporate them in their works, in part because they evidence and reflect patterns in Nature and the evolutionary process of growth and expansion.

Patterns are pervasive. Look closely at your clothing, how different threads are interwoven to create a pattern. Think about the repetitive structuring of your day, the stores and restaurants you frequent, your thoughts and behaviors, how you brush your teeth and read a book. There’s security in repetition. Redundancy is an indication that something is working. When machines, objects and processes display a pattern, they become part of our psychological “comfort zone.”

Human-made patterns are evidence of our ability to repeat processes and create objects and images that are consistent, even identical, and organize them into coherence. They’re strongly associated with culture, for instance in the areas of building materials, shopping carts, clothing and fabric, wallpaper and architecture. Look at the black and white work of German photographer Peter Keetman (1916-2005) who specialized in patterns that he found in water, cars and machine tools.

Depiction of Chaak, the ancient Maya rain god

In Patterns of Culture, anthropologist Ruth Benedict observed that “A culture, like an individual, is a more or less consistent pattern of thought and action.” Each culture, she said, chooses from “the great arc of human potentialities” a set of characteristics that become its personality traits. They constitute an “interdependent constellation of aesthetics and values” that make up the culture’s unique worldview. A conception of an ancient Maya diety is reflected in this patterned frieze on “The Nunnery,” a large architectural complex at Uxmal in Yucatan, Mexico. The photographs of African artist Thandiwe Muriu combine her interest in the country’s people, textiles and ideologies to create striking, highly patterned tableaus that confront issues around identity and self-perception.

Nature-made patterns reveal the underlying order of universal forces including gravity, magnetism, planetary and geologic movement, seasons, climate, wind and wave motion and electric force to name a few. Among other things, Amanda Means created black and white photographs of leaves without using a camera, exposing them to white light in a darkroom after pressing them down with glass on photographic paper. These are sometimes called “photograms.”

In some patterns the order is regular, for instance in snowflakes, spider webs, snake skin and fish scales.

In others, such as a tiger’s stripes, tree bark and soil erosion the patterns are irregular.

Patterns can also flow, as in smoke, water ripples and a undulating sand dunes. Artist Paula Pink explores “the unforeseen or hidden details that are part of our everyday lives.” Her images demonstrate how an electronic flash light and color backgrounding can capture beautiful patterns in water.

APPLICATION

In a world where visual chaos appears to be the norm, ordered patterns stand out. And they can be stark. If the communication objective is to create an image that will grab the viewer’s attention, a highly ordered pattern would be appropriate. The downside is that once the subject is identified and the pattern appreciated, the regularity or sameness can become monotonous.

South Dakota Badlands

TECHNIQUE

Patterns are relatively easy to find, especially in nature and where natural subjects such as flora and fauna are found—for instance, in gardens and zoos. For years, one of my most productive locations for photographing flower patterns with a close up lens has been greenhouses. The diffuse lighting is excellent and there are varieties of plants. Without wind requiring a fast shutter speed to reduce blur, the aperture can be stopped way down to maximize depth of field, even up close. Unlike large conservatories, owners of greenhouses readily give permission to set up a tripod as long as it doesn’t block the aisles for their customers.

A pattern is enhanced by eliminating any visual element that’s not part of it. Again, this means getting in close. In nature I plan my expeditions by searching locations—especially “ecosystems” on the internet, favoring places where patterns and other strong geometries are likely to be found. In nature, these include tide pools, sand dunes, forests, meadows, snow drifts and water or wind-formed rock features.

Human-made objects displaying patterns are abundant in floor tiles, brick walls, furniture, architecture and clothing.

“PATTERN” IN PERSONAL AND SOCIAL CONTEXTS

Pattern recognition is critically important in making decisions and judgments, acquiring knowledge, advancing the sciences and expressing creativity. Writing in Psychology Today, psychologists Michele and Robert Root-Berstein found that “The drive to recognize and form patterns can be a spur to curiosity, discovery and experimentation throughout life.” They cite M.C. Escher and Leonardo da Vinci as artists who purposefully looked for patterns in wood grain, stone walls, stains and clouds to depict and stimulate the viewer’s thinking. Biologists and anthropologists observe that every living being repeats a form, behavior or process in order to survive and propagate.

Psychologist, Jamie Hale adds a caution, noting that “the tendency to see patterns in everything can lead to seeing things that don’t exist.” His examples of pattern recognition gone awry include “hearing messages when playing records backward, seeing faces on Mars, seeing the Virgin Mary on a piece of toast, superstitious beliefs of all types and conspiracy theories.” I’d add to this “the corporate turning of a blind eye” to the increasing patterns of destruction—shown in television newscasts—due to human influenced climate change.

Once in a while it’s good to look at our most repetitious behavioral patterns, the things we do almost every day, and ask if they’re producing positive results for ourselves, others, society and the planet. As with every facet of our lives, to get a different result the challenge is to adopt a different pattern of thinking or behavior. A recent little example of my own has been to reduce my use of plastics in certain restaurants by asking for cold beverages in a paper cup and not using straws.

On the social side, there are both positive and negative patterns in public policy. I summarize some examples (from AI 2025) as representative of an information based pattern.

Positive

Environmental Justice and Climate Resilience Initiatives

The Environmental Justice Executive Order (2021) directed federal agencies to address pollution and climate risks disproportionately affecting low-income and minority communities. The Justice40 Initiative ensures 40% of climate and clean energy investments benefit disadvantaged communities.

Strengthening Worker Protections and Living Wages

The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA, 1970) significantly reduced workplace injuries and deaths. Several states and cities have raised the minimum wage to $15/hour or higher, improving living conditions for low-income workers.

Expanding Public Transit and Sustainable Urban Development

Federal investments in transit systems like New York City’s subway and California’s high-speed rail aim to reduce car dependency. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (2021) allocates billions for public transit, rail and pedestrian infrastructure to reduce emissions.

Water Infrastructure and Clean Drinking Water Initiatives

The Safe Drinking Water Act (1974) set standards for clean water, protecting public health. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (2021) includes $50 billion to replace lead pipes and improve water infrastructure.

Negative

 

Deregulation of Environmental Protections

The current administration rolled back over 100 environmental regulations, including limits on methane emissions, protections for endangered species and clean air and water regulations. These rollbacks favored industrial profits despite increased pollution and environmental degradation.

Fossil Fuel Subsidies and Drilling Expansion

The U.S. government provides billions of dollars in subsidies to fossil fuel companies.

Agricultural Policies Favoring Industrial Farming

The U.S. Farm Bill heavily subsidizes large-scale monoculture farming of corn and soybeans, which depletes soil health, encourages excessive pesticide use and harms biodiversity. Factory farming also leads to water contamination and high greenhouse gas emissions.

Policies Encouraging Deforestation and Land Exploitation

The U.S. government has allowed logging and mining in national forests and public lands, often overriding indigenous rights. In 2020, the Tongass National Forest in Alaska lost protections, allowing more commercial logging, threatening biodiversity and carbon storage.

Given the current socio-political climate, I offer a personal perspective—

According to philosopher and social scientist Beatrice Bruteau, our best hope lies in the emerging paradigm, what she refers to in Eucharistic Ecology and Ecological Spirituality as the “communion paradigm,” the perception that the earth does not belong to us, that we belong to it, and that all things and people are interconnected in the web of life.

In The Universe Story: From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era–A Celebration of the Unfolding of the Cosmos, eco-theologian Thomas Berry and cosmologist Brian Swimme show how the old sectarian story about how the world came to be and where we fit in, is not only dysfunctional but toxic to living systems. Importantly, Dr. Berry distinguishes the “environmental” movement from the “ecological” movement, the former attempting to be a respectful adjustment of the earth to the needs of human beings, whereas the latter is an adjustment of human beings to the needs of the planet. It’s why I’m always looking for leaders whose concern is “ecosystems” rather than “the environment.” According to Berry and Swimme, the basic tenants of ecosystems are differentiation, which is the foundation of resilience (creating and celebrating variety in all things including people), subjectivity (preserving the inner aspects of life, the “vast mythic, visionary, symbolic world with all its numinous qualities”), and communion (the co-creative, mutually beneficial interrelatedness “that enables life to emerge into being.”) These three elements  have been identified as fundamental patterns in the evolution of living systems.

A change in perception is not enough. It must be matched with commensurate action by individuals and governments, religions, educational institutions and corporations. For me, shifting to clean and renewable power sources is Priority Two. Thomas Berry expressed my Number One, which is love and respect for the planet and all living beings. As he put it, “All human institutions, professions, programs and activities must now be judged by the extent to which they inhibit, ignore or foster a human and Earth relationship.”

So what can we do? We can develop a pattern, habits of recycling, minimizing our carbon and consumption footprints, supporting local, state and national initiatives in safeguarding or restoring ecosystems, educating ourselves and talking about ecology with family and friends—in person and through social media, and affect even broader influence by consistently supporting and voting for leaders who are knowledgeable about ecology and make positive responses to climate change a top priority. It’s important because the survival and vitality of everything else, without exception, depends on humanity getting into patterns of right relationship with the planet, the biosphere and each other.

For further reading on what we can do, I recommend Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in without Going Crazy by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone.

The human might better think of itself as a mode of being of the Earth rather than simply as a separate being on the Earth.

Thomas Berry, Catholic priest and geologian

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My other sites:

David L. Smith Photography Portfolio.com

Ancient Maya Cultural Traits.com: Weekly blog featuring the traits that made this civilization unique

Spiritual Visionaries.com: A library of 81 free videos on YouTube featuring visionaries and events of the 1980s.