The Soul of Photography

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Chapter 3: Fine Art, Expression, Contemplation

In the early 1950s, when I was introduced to photography, the debate was raging as to whether or not photography could be considered an art form. In January 1955 Edward Steichen launched an exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City entitled, The Family of Man. While it was touring the United States, he published Family of Man: The Photographic Exhibition. Together, they demonstrated that not “anyone with a camera” could produce “art.”

Highly skilled painters re-present what they are observing. Whether on a wall or canvas, the work occurs within a fixed frame. Those skilled in the chemistry and optics of photography move the camera’s frame around to focus on a subject within it, excluding the distracting elements. Both mediums involve focused attention, an informed aesthetic and craftsmanship. Cameras today, even smartphones, can produce high quality photographs. But is it art? Certainly, it can be. That’s for each of us to decide, but a contributing factor is “value.” I don’t mean price. The value I’m talking about has to do with the significance a photograph has for the photographer.

Frames speak. They say, “Pay attention to what’s enclosed here. It matters to me. It interested or attracted me.” They do this by enclosing or “formalizing” the space within the frame and excluding everything else. From the viewer’s perspective, it commands our attention. Due to the rapid increase in the number and varieties of electronic devices, the opportunities to frame images, words, events, ads and entertainments of all sorts have grown exponentially in just a few decades, creating what some have called an “attention economy.” It’s nearly impossible to count the number of “frames” we encounter in just one hour.

A photograph can be considered to be “art”—an artifact of creative experience—when its creator thinks of it that way. Whether or not others recognize it as such is up to them. At the very least, putting something in a frame gives it value. A quality photo of my family in a 5×7 frame sits on my bookshelf. It’s a keepsake, not art. If I were to mount that print on a 16×20 museum board with a cover mat showing lots of white space, enclosed in a wood frame and hang it on a gallery wall, its value to me would instantly be recognized by others; it would likely attract their attention and they’d ask about it, curious about its significance. But they wouldn’t consider it an object of art. The intent of the person taking the picture was to capture a moment, not to make art. And there was little if any evidence of that person’s skill with a camera or concern about aesthetics.

Serious photographers consider an electronic file an image, a potential photograph. It’s not a photograph until it’s printed. It’s also why they only show their best works, mat and frame them, whether or not they will be exhibited publicly or offered for sale. It’s the photographer’s intention to create something new, the application of certain aesthetic preferences and skill in execution that constitute a “fine art” photograph. Another term used to characterize an artistic approach to photography is “expressive.” It’s where the maker invests more thought or feeling in the process, with the intent to convey one or the other.

An approach to photography that includes expression, is “contemplation.” Here, throughout the process, the intention is to use make and use photographs as vehicles for reflection and self-discovery. When considering a print, questions are asked about the subject and its representation. And they’re ideally written in a journal. What was the attraction? Why did I photograph this? If an object, what was its history? What does it say about humanity, society, the culture, our times and me? Which of the aesthetic dimensions were operating in me when I shot this? What can I learn from this? Does the photograph capture the spirit, the essence of this object or person?

The motivation for capturing the “spirit,” the essence of a subject, is personal growth and spiritual development, beyond recognition of monetary gain. Whether on location or in the studio, key to this approach is being open to guidance—intuition—and paying attention to the energies of attraction. Once a setting or subject has been identified, the “pull” of the mind’s eye—ideally the heart—triggers thoughts about how to frame the elements involved and decide the physical and aesthetic preferences that would best reveal its essence. Black and white works far better for this because it emphasizes form, composition and texture. Color too often dominates, making itself the principal feature of a photograph.

Philosophers find a basis for the law of attraction in the idea that “like attracts like.” To my knowledge this hasn’t been scientifically tested, but because I’ve become sensitive to the feeling of “resonance” and the reality of interconnectedness when I’m out with a camera, I pay close attention to what attracts me.

Early on, I went looking for subjects that would make a good photograph. But after years of analyzing my collection to understand what worked, what made a print “numinous”—expressive of spirit—I realized that I’d been guided to certain locations and subject matter, and that my aesthetic preferences were a significant contributing factor. For instance, after an outing where I’d been shooting landscapes, I got in my wife’s car to go grocery shopping. I hadn’t intended to shoot anything in the store (many don’t allow cameras inside), but I didn’t want to leave the camera in the car. Browsing the produce section, I was drawn to this particular onion among hundreds of others because of its geometry, gradation and simplicity—three of my aesthetic preferences.

The act of photographing with creative intention is mindful. However briefly, framing and focusing a camera requires us to be present and attend to a momentary attraction. From a spiritual point of view, the value of any creative pursuit isn’t only the final product. It’s the insight, appreciation and the expansion of consciousness that occurs throughout the creative process. Those are the qualities of what lasts, because ultimately what’s under construction on this planet is love and the expansion of consciousness, not the acquisition of more stuff or more thrilling experiences. The energy of attraction—love actually—is one of the ways the soul directs our attention to what matters in the trajectory of our personal growth and spiritual development. Considering this, the proper response to all creative expression, whatever the medium, is gratitude.

 

We are not alone here. Something is watching. Something is listening. I would say that the ‘something’ that is listening is everything: earth, sky, water, air, rocks, trees, animals, plants… along with beings we do not see and that have no name (in English anyway). Matter is sentient, watching, listening; God, you might say, is in all things, and nothing is not God.

                        Charles Eisenstein, American public speaker, teacher, author

Recommended Practice

STEP 1: Take your camera to a park with the intention of creating a “fine art” photograph. Take many shots. Make a large print of the one that you think worthy of being displayed.

STEP 2: Take your camera to a busy street intersection with the intention of creating a photograph that says something about people, the culture, our times or the world. It can be an idea or feeling, perhaps both.

STEP 3: Considering the images you gathered, make a large print of the one you like “best.” Alone, where you won’t be distracted, write your responses to these questions as you observe the print. Ask the questions:

  • What attracted me to this?
  • What was the history here? How did this come to be or happen?
  • What does this say about humanity, society, the culture or our times?
  • What does this say about me?
  • Which of the aesthetic dimensions are operating here?
  • Does this capture the spirit, the essence of (whatever it is)?

The Soul of Photography

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Chapter 2: The Aesthetic Dimensions

Artists working in visual media train themselves to perceive beyond looking by continuously imagining or creating actual frames around everything they see. After a while a pattern emerges in the subjects they choose and the materials and techniques that work best. Along with these, they develop certain aesthetic preferences—choices relating to the arrangement and nature of visual elements, the ones they consistently find beautiful, pleasurable or interesting. Seeking them out and working with them, the artist develops a unique “style.”

So too, expressive photographers develop an “eye” by identifying their aesthetic preferences. For me, in the process of wanting to make photographs that fed my soul, I discovered that my favorites were exquisite light, simplicity, gradation and geometry. Whether I found these or constructed them singly or in combination, I could count on the resulting images to have the intended effect. Not always, but often. With the completion of this series, I’ll elaborate and provide examples of the following aesthetic dimensions.

WHAT ARE YOUR AESTHETIC PREFERENCES?

Abstraction

Abstracted subject matter is not readily identified, so it rivets and holds the viewer’s attention. They wonder, is there some meaning here, or is it just a pleasing image?

Atmosphere

This generally refers to weather conditions playing a role as a visual element. It takes the form of condensation, precipitation, or particulate matter such as steam, smoke, fog or smog. Mist and fog diffuse the light, softening the scene. Elements close to the camera are sharp. With distance, color saturation diminishes and blurring increases to produce a veiled or muted effect.

Color Harmony

A photograph is harmonious when the colors within the frame are predominantly the same hue. There can be few or many elements within the frame, but they will all be the same relative color on the spectrum—yellows, reds, greens— even if they vary in saturation and brightness. They stand out from the everyday norm, so they catch and holds our attention. They’re pleasing to the eye.

Color Discordance

Here, many different hues, opposites, are included in a frame. It can evoke a sense of clutter, frenzy, or confusion. Because they’re the norm, once the viewer identifies the subject matter the tendency is to look away. It works best when the objective is to convey information rather than express or elicit an emotion.

Contrast

In image formation, “contrast” is the ratio between the darkest dark and the lightest light within a frame. Contrast is said to be “soft” when there’s very little difference between the lights and darks. “Medium” is what we regard as normal. And a “high contrast” print has deep blacks alongside bright whites or highlights.

Composition

Pictorial composition is the arrangement of visual elements within a frame. Once the established rules and guidelines are understood, an artist can “break them beautifully.”

Unity relates to appropriateness. Not one dot, line, surface, form or subject matter is in the frame that doesn’t belong.

Balance occurs when the elements are neither bold nor heavy in one area relative to the overall space. The elements are not heavy top to bottom or right to left. The usage feels right.

Rule of Thirds advises us to imagine the frame segmented into thirds horizontally and vertically. Avoid placing principle subject matter dead center. Instead, place it where the lines of the grid intersect.

Dynamic Center refers to the point of critical focus within a frame. It is best placed according to the rule of thirds, not in the center of the frame.

Vectors or “Leading Lines” are lines along which the eye travels within a frame—bright highlights on telephone pole wires, a pointing finger, a tree branch or cast shadow.

Perspective is the artist’s point of view. Normal POV is eyelevel. Photographers and filmmakers prefer to situate the frame at angles above or below, left or right or tilted relative to the subject.

Depth of Field

Technically, “depth of field” (DOF) is the optical property of a lens that expresses the distance about the plane of focus where objects appear acceptably sharp in an image. Creatively speaking, it’s the relative degree of sharpness between objects that are close to or farther away from a lens. In practice, the features that concern the photographer are a) the lens’s aperture or f-stop, b) the focal length of the lens, and c) the camera-to-subject distance. Each is an independent variable, but they combine to produce the depth of field.

Form

Forms are three-dimensional. They are best represented in a photograph through depth or roundness. In black and white, without color dominating, gradations and shadows across rounded surfaces and shapes convey a sense of volume.

Geometry

Shapes, circles, squares and triangles can create structure, perspective and balance within a frame. The shape of an object immediately suggests its size and importance. “Sacred Geometry” is the ordering of elements in a way that they evoke a numinous feeling, a sense of spiritual wholeness or grandeur. Certain geometric forms, those with specific mathematical properties, somehow set up a resonance within us. I recommend a visit to Ancient Wisdom.

Gradation

This is the gradual or graded change of tones across a subject’s surface. In black and white, it’s a transition from light to dark or from one texture to another. In color it’s the transition from one hue to another or to a different saturation or brightness. As the eye moves across graded tones there’s a slowing of the aesthetic sensibility, a more pensive and flowing experience.

Key

“Key” refers to the overall brightness or darkness within the full frame. “High Key” images are predominately bright and white—a white cat sitting on a white background. “Low Key” is dark and somber—a black cat laying on a black background.

Line

Lines serve to define length, distance and shape. They indicate boundaries and create separation of forms, textures and colors. They can have thickness, evenness, brightness, length and direction. They make shapes, create visual variety and rhythm, simulate texture, separate colors, suggest movement and create the illusion of depth—railroad tracks to the horizon.

Light

Photography is literally, “Writing with light.” Awareness of its properties and behavior is a critical requirement for all artists, especially photographers. Black and white photography is the better learning medium; color can easily be converted. Rule #1: Consider the light source, it’s intensity, quality (color), direction and modifiers (how it’s being shaped; specular? diffuse?)

Pattern

Through repetition, patterns set up a rhythm that suggests order. We see them in the most fundamental energy fields within the atom, in the immensity of the cosmos, and the way we function, behave and spend our time. Artists in every field look for patterns and incorporate them into their works, in part because they evidence and reflect universal patterns and evolution.

Shadow

Shadows contribute greatly to the illusion of three dimensions and “normal” everyday reality by providing evidence of depth and contrast. They turn an ordinary subject into an image that pops—backlit people casting shadows on concrete, shadows of beach chairs on a deck.

Simplicity / Complexity

An image gains in simplicity when it has fewer elements. It becomes complex as more elements are added. The former is largely absent from our everyday environments—and lives—because we’re surrounded with so much “stuff.” Artistically, the latter requires the reduction or elimination of visual elements. One is not better than the other; they have different communication objectives. Generally speaking, simple images have greater emotional impact and tend to hold a viewer’s attention longer. Complex photographs carry more information, simply because there are more elements. Both can have compelling outcomes.

Texture

The tactile sense is so acute and pervasive, subjects that are textured and lit appropriately are enough to elicit the sensibilities of smooth, rough, coarse and soft. Texture is minimized on a surface or object when the light is diffused and coming from above. It’s enhanced when the light is more specular (pointed without diffusion) and rakes across the subject from the side.

Recommended Practice

Carry a list of these in your kit. Consult it before going out—either to have these in mind or as “targets” to shoot for. For instance, determine ahead of time that you’ll go out looking for “textures” or “gradation.” This sharpens your perception as you walk around with a camera. The long-term goal is to identify the few aesthetic dimensions that consistently appeal.

As a regular pursuit, try to find or create a situation where you can create a “simple” rather than complex image.

The Soul of Photography

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The Aesthetic Experience

Philosophers since Plato have sought to define and describe the aesthetic experience. Among them there’s agreement that it’s a capacity unique to human beings, a contributor to well-being and different for each individual, but there’s no consensus on what it is in essence.

This is understandable because the word “aesthetic” is an abstraction that refers to something ineffable, a non-physical phenomenon like “beauty,” “truth” and “goodness.” We only know it through cognitive and emotional experience. But just as we don’t need to say how a computer works to use it effectively, we can discover and utilize our aesthetic preferences without knowing what it is exactly. 

One thing for certain, aesthetic experience has to do with how something looks and feels; it relates to beauty and taste, and is a central feature in creative expression, especially in considering or producing works of art.

Philosopher Immanuel Kant argued that, because aesthetics is a matter of judgment, only rational beings can experience it. “Rational beings need aesthetic experience, are significantly incomplete without it…” It “stands in fundamental proximity to moral judgment and is integral to our nature as moral beings.” After years of studying well-balanced and thriving individuals, psychologist Abraham Maslow ranked “aesthetics” high on his hierarchical pyramid of human needs — above physiological, safety, belonging, self-esteem and cognitive needs. In his scheme, “higher” needs don’t generally become active until the lower ones are being met. 

Humans need beautiful imagery or something new and aesthetically pleasing to continue up towards Self-Actualization. Humans need to refresh themselves in the presence and beauty of nature while carefully absorbing and observing their surroundings to extract the beauty that the world has to offer. This need is a higher level need to relate in a beautiful way with the environment, and leads to the beautiful feeling of intimacy with nature and everything beautiful.

Abraham Maslow

Eric Booth, author of The Everyday Work of Art: Awakening the Extraordinary in Your Daily Life  wrote that aesthetic experience consists in

  • Noticing well
  • Attunement to what attracts you so you find relevance everywhere
  • Authentic response
  • Making strong & flexible personal connections
  • Attention to impulses
  • The feeling of natural curiosity
  • Asking good questions
  • Making informed choices & seeing the consequences

To this list I would add “believing ourselves to be creative,” owning it as a natural and unique inheritance, free from the opinions or expectations of others. I would also emphasize Booth’s second item—“attunement”—because, along with joy, it’s how the soul informs us about its needs. In my experience, when an aesthetic hunger is satisfied, feelings of joy, awe, reverence or peace of mind, even the feeling of being able to breathe better, accompany it. In effect, the soul is saying, “Thanks, I needed that! More please.” 

Some people say they aren’t creative. Others say “I’m logical, not artistic.” And we’ve heard the excuses: “I took an art class but didn’t keep it up.” “I used to draw but… (life happened).” Most young people emerge from high school thinking that art—creative activity—is something to do on the side, perhaps later in life, because the career opportunities are few and low-paying. It’s the unique school that stresses creativity and integrates it in the curriculum. 

I see “artistic expression” and “being creative” as subsets of the aesthetic experience—how we see each other, the world and the cosmos. Understandably, not everyone can or wants to produce works of art. But everyone has an aesthetic. According to Szabolcs Keri of the National Institute of Psychiatry and Addictions in Budapest, we are born with the capacity to make judgments about how things look, and have preferences in the way they are arranged or displayed.

Creativity is related to the connectivity of large-scale brain networks. How brain areas talk to each other is critical when it comes to originality, fluency and flexibility. In highly creative individuals this connectivity is thought to be especially widespread in the brain, which may be down to genes that play a role in the development of pathways between different areas.

Szabolcs Keri, Professor of Cognitive Science 

“Highly” creative people tend to express themselves through some art form, but everyone with an intact brain continuously exercises their aesthetic preferences. The music we make and choose, the foods we prepare, furniture we arrange and objects we purchase all require judgments based on preferences. This dress for the photograph, not that one. A wood desk for my office, not a glass and chrome one. Most everything, including our lives, are acts of creation. We are all, self-creators and co-creators. 

Culture itself is an ongoing creative process, as are the many components that give it substance and character. I think of the Japanese who centuries ago turned the commonplace act of making tea into a high art. It’s an example of how special treatment, focused attention and contemplation beyond utility, can transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.

The Zen aesthetic shows us that all things are perfectly complete, just as they are. Nothing is lacking. Each one of us is already an artist, whether are we realize it or not. In fact, it doesn’t matter whether we realize it—this truth of perfection is still there. Engaging the creative process is a way of getting in touch with this truth, and to let it function in all areas of our lives.

 John Daido Loori, author The Zen of Creativity: Cultivating Your Artistic Life

For me, the aesthetic experience is an energy, an impulse or urge, that both seeks and finds resonance in and attunement to the expression of Source, which in part is the physical universe. Said another way, it’s a “pull” of the heart to understand the Divine manifesting in the world, as the world.

It took some time to see, but when my photographs revealed the pattern of my aesthetic preferences—simplicity, exquisite light, geometry, gradation—I began to look for them and their combination in the natural world, to focus on them. I continued to work with other dimensions, including color, composition, form, contrast and texture, but was always on the lookout for the dominant four. Because that’s where the joy was in the final print. Finding it challenging to find them with some frequency out in the world, I created setups at home where I could optimize my preferences. 

Whatever your creative context, whether making a house a home, constructing a music playlist, a Zoom party, reading, writing, cooking, painting or photographing notice the pattern of your preferences, the elements that give you the most joy. Write them down. It’s your soul asking for more. Continuing, acting authentically in this way, we not only make a difference for ourselves, we make a contribution to the world—which doesn’t need another work of art. What it does need  is individuals acting authentically from soul, expressing their unique figts.

To look at a thing is very different from seeing a thing. One does not see anything until one sees its beauty.

Oscar Wilde

Recommended Practice

COMPOSITION

  • To develop your aesthetic “eye,” (seeing as if through new eyes) I can’t overestimate the value of continuously looking at the world—wide and close up—through a frame, any frame, a camera, smartphone or putting the forefingers of both hands together to make a frame. Get in the habit of composing. I recommend a tripod, but that’s not necessary. You’re not making good images here, just using a frame to organize visual elements within it. Don’t consider subject matter at all. Distracted from watching television or waiting in a line? Look away and compose. A stapler? Someone’s shoes? A cloud? Stop sign? Don’t name things. Move the frame up and down and all around to organize the lines, shapes, forms, brightnesses and shadows so they’re pleasing to your eye. When you’re satisfied, snap the picture if you like. Analyze them before you delete them. Does the composition work? Why? Why not? Are there elements that distract from the “dynamic center,” the point of critical focus—wherever it’s located? The more often you do this, the quicker you’ll develop your ability to compose elements within a frame that matter to you.
  • Also I recommend the book: Pictorial Composition (Composition in Art) (Dover Art Instruction) by Henri Rankin Poore. You might find it in your public library. He uses the works of painting masters (Cézanne, Hopper, etc.) to illustrate some of the aesthetic dimensions that that painters used.

AESTHETIC DEVELOPMENT

Begin to notice the consistent patterns in your work, especially the aesthetic qualities that trigger a “Nice” or “Wow!” in you.

 

Chapter 10 Posted by Mistake

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Dear Subscriber,

You received Chapter 10 in “The Soul of Photograph”y series today. That happened by mistake. The series was just launched with Chapter 1 yesterday (February 17).

Sorry for the confusion. You can do with you want with Chapter 10, read it or delete it. It will be posted again, at the end of the series on April 27.

Thank you,

David L. Smith

The Soul of Photography

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Introduction to a 10-Part Series

No matter how slow the film, Spirit always stands still long enough for the photographer it has chosen.

                        Minor White, fine art photographer, educator

Today I’m beginning a series that describes my spiritual approach to photography. The title of the blog itself, “Contemplative Photography,” can mean different things to different people. For me, the emphasis is on contemplation. With intention, the act of framing with a camera, irrespective of what’s in front of it, can be an exercise in “presenting” and “mindfulness.” Even at its simplest, when we “capture” images of people, places or objects there’s a level of affinity or caring involved. Those inclined to use a camera often are lovers in a sense. Some love the creative process and the technologies involved. Others love what’s in front of the camera, and there are those who love to share memories through pictures. Love urges us to create, share and express. In this series I describe and illustrate how a camera can be used to appreciate and evoke, in some instances reveal the Divine Artist within His creation—basically “to see God in all things.”

Since the Divine Artist has chosen to create, we cannot love the Artist without giving our best attention to the artwork. Things made must resemble their maker in some deep way.

Beatrice Bruteau, philosopher

Used consciously, photography can increase our awareness and feed the soul by helping us to see deeply, beyond mere looking. More importantly, in this series you’ll be guided to create images that are authentic to your purpose in life. What these weekly offerings have in common is an appreciation of the material world viewed as an expression of the Creator. I’ll share my thoughts and the techniques I use to optimize the effectiveness of this approach, provide guidance on how to discover your unique aesthetic and show through examples how understanding and insight can be gained by reflecting on the images you produce.

I’m not asking you to think, believe or photograph as I do. After more than 60 years of practicing expressive photography as a medium for personal growth and spiritual development, I’m simply offering some of my perspectives and experiences. Hopefully, they will aid in making your photographic journey more satisfying and meaningful. Throughout, I capitalize the word “Spirit” to reference God, the Creator or Divine Intelligence. Lower case versions signify the within of things, the characteristic essence of a material form, which I regard as an aspect of universal consciousness.

Along with indigenous people everywhere I believe that everything in nature, including plants, animals, rocks, weather systems and the earth itself possess a spiritual essence and have agency. For instance, the dense forms that we recognize as granite and iron are outer expressions of the primal consciousness within their atoms, each consisting of dynamic energy fields—protons, neutrons and electrons—that are constantly making decisions about their place, intensity, organization and relationships. Atoms never stand alone and they’re constantly in motion.

Also, from experience, I acknowledge the presence and activity of “spirit guides,” entities  that, among other things, have directed my creative activity since I began to use a camera. From this perspective, I consider matter, mind and spirit to be different frequencies along one grand vibrational spectrum—universal consciousness. The word “spiritual” generally refers to the recognition that there’s something greater than oneself, something more to being human than sensory experience. For me, a spiritual experience occurs when I connect with that grander something. Joy, appreciation, awe, beauty and wonder are telltale signs of that connection. In whole systems parlance, a spiritual experience occurs when a system’s member catches sight of the whole within which it functions—and is lifted up. For some that whole can be a field of interest, nation, humanity, planet or cosmos. For me it’s the Creator.

My journey in contemplative photography has been spiritually driven in four ways: 1) striving to see the Creator in all things, 2) allowing spirit to guide me in creative decision making, 3) attempting to reveal the spirit or essence within objects and people and 4) tracing subject matter to Source. The photographs in The Soul of Photography series were chosen because the subjects depicted are mostly commonplace, ideal for showing how matter can become “spiritualized,” sort of redeemed, through the agency of consciousness.

Matter is a form of Spirit, a habitation of Spirit, and here in Matter itself there can be a realization of Spirit.

Sri Aurobindo, Indian philosopher, yogi, poet

All matter is subject to entropy; it has a lifespan. When you can, with this idea in mind, go outside and pick a mid-sized stone out of the dirt or lodged in a rock wall—not a decorative stone. Clean it and sit with it, alone and quiet. Hold it in your hand and realize that it’s present incarnation began in a galactic explosion, and since then it has journeyed immense distances and been subjected to dramatic changes over billions of years. It has had a tremendous history that alternated between dramatic moments and long periods of relative calm. Eventually, it will disintegrate completely.

If your stone has jagged edges, it’s likely much older than a smooth one that had been shaped by eons of wind and water erosion on this planet. Also, it’s likely to be an “aggregate,” consisting of several minerals bonded together with uncountable atomic cloud-like “fields” continuously making decisions about their electric charge, energy fluctuations, relationships and position. Like us, your stone isn’t just one thing; it changes.

And consider, within your stone there’s far more “space” than there is matter in each of its atoms. The distance from the nucleus to the closest electron in a hydrogen atom is equivalent to a lemon sitting in the middle of the world’s largest football stadium. Your stone feels solid because the atoms are tightly packed together and held by strong electromagnetic forces between their electrons. This means your hand is basically interacting with the electron clouds within the stone’s atoms, not the empty space within them. (The more we learn from science, the greater our appreciation of creation).

Atoms in the laboratory are weird stuff, behaving like active agents rather than inert substances. They make unpredictable choices between alternative possibilities according to the laws of quantum mechanics. It appears that mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent inherent in every atom.

Freeman Dyson, Physicist

If your experience with the stone elicits a sense of wonder, awe or appreciation you will have had a “spiritual” experience. You will have touched the place in you that recognizes a whole greater and more mysterious than yourself, and appreciated it. The atoms in the stone were “spiritualized” by your consciousness, redeemed in a sense, made significant by contributing to your expanded awareness and appreciation. You haven’t changed the stone, but it will have evoked a change in you. This is what a camera can do. Used consciously, beyond simply recording, it can produce images that aid us in paying close attention to a subject, going deep with it, engaging and reflecting our innermost thoughts and feelings in a process of self/Self-discovery.

Cleave  a piece of wood (the) I Am is there; lift up a stone, you will find me there also.

Jesus The Christ, Gospel of Thomas (Saying 77:2-3)

Recommended Practice

As you did with a stone, sit with image above. Beyond identifying the subject as wood with some nails in it, what can you say about its history? What was the source—and earlier than that? What feelings arise in you? Images used in this way boost your sensitivity to the realm of spirit, of essences.

Perspective and Perception

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From where we are looking, what is our view of the world?

 

Being six-foot-five, I’ve always viewed the world from a slightly higher perspective than most people. For instance, I see the tops of furniture and people’s heads, and I can see farther in a crowd. No big deal. But that each of us perceives the world and other people from different perspectives, sometimes dramatically so due to our unique physical and mental endowments and upbringing, it is a big deal.

Differences in perspective and perception, with its attendant communication challenges, is at the root of prejudices, disagreements and abuses that can provoke violence, even war. I selected this image for contemplation because it depicts the nature of perception in the context of a whole system, the part-to-whole relationship. Here, individual drops of oil are seen moving in relation to one another on the surface of water. Although the composition of the drops is identical, they are each unique in size, shape and tonality due to their position relative to the light source and each other. If they had eyes, each drop would perceive a “reality” different from the others, so different we would not be surprised to hear them proclaim such things as “I’m bigger than you!” “I was here first!” “You’re blocking my light!”  

As individual drops, they’re looking from and only considering self, defining and ordering their world from a narrow and limited point of view. Given our five senses, we do the same thing. Eyes, for instance, evolved at the top of our bodies so we could survey the immediate physical and social surroundings. But we also have brain-minds that have the capacity to learn about and envision systems that can only be detected with instruments. For instance, the Hubble and James Webb telescopes are expanding our perception of the universe dramatically, challenging us to shift our perspective on who we are and where we are. Consider:

  • The big bang occurred about 14 billion years ago, giving birth to the universe.
  • 75% of the universe is dark energy; 25% is dark matter; 5% is the matter we’re familiar with.
  • It takes one million years for the light from the center of our galaxy to reach the Earth.
  • The Milky Way galaxy is 100,000 light-years (distance light travels in a year) across and 1,000 light-years thick.
  • There are more than 200 billion stars in our galaxy. 
  • Nearly 99% of our solar system’s mass is in the sun.
  • Our solar system orbits the Milky Way every 200 million years—at a speed of 570,000 mph.
  • Earth resides 25,000 light-years from the center of the Milky Way.
  • Light from the sun takes 8 minutes to reach us. We never see the sun in the present moment.
  • The Carina Nebula lies 7,500 light years from Earth. It’s 140 light-years wide.
  • There are at least 125 billion + galaxies in the universe.
  • Star V838 is 600,000 times brighter than the sun. Its size would engulf the solar system out to the orbit of Jupiter.
  • In the center of the Sombrero galaxy there’s a black hole with a mass equal to a billion suns.
  • Hubble has imaged 10,000 galaxies in the Fornax constellation, which is 13 billion light years from here.
  • Galaxies 300 million light-years from us are moving away at about 16.5 million mph—and the expansion is speeding up.
  • By one astronomer’s calculation, “There are tens of billions of potentially habitable planets in the Milky Way galaxy alone.”

Occasionally, we’re reminded that the universe is vast and beautiful. But for many that perspective is fleeting, not very relevant. The quantum reality and cosmic immensity seem to have nothing to do with earning a living, parenting, managing work or getting an education. Except for certain circumstances, we tend to keep our focus narrow, on what’s in front of us. 

Narrowly focused perceiving has had, and continues to have, survival value. It’s how living systems survive, grow and reproduce. But on December 7th, 1972 the astronauts of Apollo 17 opened our eyes to what the Earth looks like from space. Overnight, our perspective changed. An imagined image suddenly became visible, real—an enormous blue body floating in the immensity of space, appearing as a whole system. And we realized that beneath the clouds, ourselves and everything we know has transpired and is unfolding. 

How to respond to such immensity? What are we to think? How does it affect our perception of ourselves? Of God? Of the future? Astronomy magazines and images from space online always increase my sense of wonder and appreciation. Given the context of what’s going on over our heads, personal, social and political challenges seem trivial. And in the context of evolution, we’re a very young species, barely out of the womb, just opening our eyes to where we are, struggling to learn and adapt to each other and changing conditions through trial and error. Combined, these perspectives position us in a place that recommends patience and compassion rather than fear, confusion or pessimism with respect to the future. 

A broader perspective can contribute to the management and healing of negative consequences due to conflicting perceptions. The Congress of the United States provides an excellent example of the consequences of head-in-the-sand narrow perspectives. Dysfunction, divisiveness and stalemate occurs in a living system when the members vigorously champion and cling to their own or a group’s perspectives rather than reason together to discover the best, most workable solution to challenges. Eventually, self-centeredness fails at every level because it serves a narrow and limited perspective relative to the greater whole. Unlike the oil bubbles in the above image, by consciously deciding who we are, the nature of our relationship to everyone else and the planet and how we will use our energy, we create the world of our experience. 

 

The impossibility of arriving at ultimate formulations of reality does not represent a defeat for the inquiring mind. It is only final assertions that are suspect, not the process of knowing itself. For we each have a valid and important perspective on what is. And to the extent that we can acknowledge the partiality of this perspective, what we say stays clear and true.

Joanna Macy, Ecologist, general systems theorist

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Flow

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It makes a huge difference where we’re planted

“Going with the flow” is an expression that suggests it’s a better life strategy is to align with rather than resist what’s happening. As guidance for individual behavior, paddling with the “current”—in the context of home, work and relationships—is certainly easier than paddling against it. In this image of waving grass, sometimes called “Whisp” or “Foxtail,” there’s more to be observed than just the blowing wind. From a whole systems perspective, I note that the stalks that support the tassels are rooted in the ground. They stand together as a community of sorts, and they lean in the same direction in response to the wind. Systemically, as a group, they can be seen as evidence of harmony.

Flow is in evidence at many levels.  Atoms, for instance, flow together or unite to form molecules, molecules combine to form cells, cells join to form organisms, organisms integrate to form bodies and so on. In nature, flow is represented in schools of fish, crop fields, herds of wild mustangs and flocks of birds, all moving together in harmony with each other and with their environments. Human communities that evidence flow include high functioning families, teams and synergistic work groups where people are all moving in the same direction. On a grander scale, Sweden, Japan and Canada are often cited as societies that are harmonious and less militant, places where there’s less social discord and more people living happier lives. Why is that?

The question is too big and complex to even approximate a reasonable answer, but it elicits a smaller question that piques my interest—What are the energies that result in or give rise to flow in human systems? An answer to that would also suggest the qualities that contribute to harmony. One thing for certain, they are not—as evidenced by religious and political polarization—the energies of intolerance, inflexibility and interfering.

Because analysis of living systems begins with an assessment of individual members, specifically their behaviors and relationships, I pulled up a list of some of the higher human character traits that were part of my “Vision for Television.” Here, I think they go a long way toward suggesting the energies that contribute to flow in individuals and society.

Acceptance • Altruism • Appreciation • Awareness • Caring • Compassion • Confidence • Cooperation • Courage • Creativity • Curiosity • Empathy • Faith • Flexibility • Forgiveness • Goodwill • Gratitude • Helpfulness • Honesty • Humility • Humor • Imagination • Integrity • Intelligence • Intuition • Kindness • Love • Patience • Respect •   Responsibility • Reverence • Tolerance • Trust • Wisdom • Wonder • Zest for Life

I believe these characteristics, or qualities, are contagious. As we experience them in others, they are awakened in us. And given even a small group, they can shape the direction of social change. On balance are the energies that retard flow and harmony, evidenced by the destructive “winds” blowing in the Middle East and other parts of the world where separatist factions and fundamentalist ideologies are bent on destruction rather than construction. Like grasses on the prairie, it makes a huge difference where individuals are planted or located. Those who paddle against the flow of life may expend a great deal of energy, but relatively little is accomplished that is enhancing and sustainable; the nature of conflict is merely to escalate.

Feeding my long-term optimism are the seeds of reason, respectful communication, intelligent creativity, wisdom, planetary stewardship and the rule of law, energies that are on the ascendency because evolution favors increased freedom, order, complexity and consciousness. How grateful we are to have been planted in such rich soil.

The evolution of consciousness always moves in the direction of greater love, inclusiveness, tolerance, synthesis, freedom, and empowerment, however slowly and painfully.

Corinne McLaughlin, Author, educator

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Love

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Metaphysical gravity Something we are?

 

Jesuit paleontologist and philosopher, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin S.J., wrote that love is “The affinity of being for being.” Affinity recognizes love as an energy that’s not only a human experience, it’s also intrinsic to the universe. In support of this, engineer and futurist, R. Buckminster Fuller, often said that “Love is metaphysical gravity.” That is, it holds all things together, in relationship, at all times, everywhere. And with regard to the action that love gives rise to, Mother Teresa said, “It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters.” Love can be many things but putting these ideas together we can say that love is an energy, a force the favors relationship and affects bonding throughout the universe.   

Country singer, Clint Black, sings a beautiful song that says, love isn’t something that we find or have, “It isn’t something that we’re in, it’s something that we do.” The song references the frequencies of love that are the subject of literature, theater, film and mass media—romance, intimacy, amorous relationship and marriage. As biological creatures it’s natural and evolutionarily necessary for these to be paramount in our consciousness, rites, rituals and celebrations. Within these frequencies we marvel at the process of “falling” and “being” in love and lament the falling out of love. Indeed, love at these frequencies is something that we do.

The ancient Greek philosophers understood that there’s more to love than finding it and making it. Their term, eros, referred to this kind of elemental love—eroticism and intimate love, the kind of love where there’s an expectation of return. “If you make me happy and I’ll make you happy.” Another kind was storge, the natural affection between parents and children. It says, “I cannot help but love you.” Philia was affectionate regard for friends—“If you show me virtue, equality and familiarity, I will care for you.” And agape was the term applied to brotherly love, charity, the love of God and God’s love for man. Significantly, the latter was regarded as unconditional—“No matter what happens or what you do, I will love you.” Thomas Aquinas wrote that agape was “To will the good of another.” 

All these distinctions, different frequencies of vibration, regard love as a quality of relationship between human beings or humans and God, given our five senses and common interpersonal experience. But there is a higher and more potent frequency. “Transcendent” love steps away from material, space/time relationships and moves into the realm of Ultimate Reality, the present moment and union at a cosmic level where there is no object at which to direct love. It simply is, often occurring as an unexpected, fleeting and uncontrollable upwelling, a completeness that encompasses all that is. And it urges no action, no reciprocation. Indian guru, Sri Nisargadatta, said “When I look inside and see that I am nothing, that’s wisdom. When I look outside and see that I am everything, that is love. Between these two my life turns.” It’s the difference between doing—”I love you,” and transcendent love—”I am love.” 

If love is metaphysical gravity, the energy that holds all things together, might it be that the experience of transcendent love occurs when this is fully realized? I’m reminded that we only know these energies by their effects. For instance, we know how atoms interact and unite to form matter, that sub-atomic “particles” are actually energies of attraction and repulsion and that between them by far is space. But we don’t know why these energies are as they are. The same is true of love. If Buckminster Fuller is right about the energy of love holding everything together at every level, might love be—or give rise to what scientists are calling “Dark Energy?” Indeed, something we are? 

Benjamin Disraeli wrote, “We are born for love. It is the principle of existence, and its only end.” If all the above is true, what would be the consequence of living in such a universe? My view combines what Mother Teresa and Thomas Aquinas recommended, that as conscious beings, evolution encourages us to maximize the amount of love in all that we do and, as much as possible, widen our circle of love until it becomes inclusive, universal and unconditional, willing the good of the universe and all it contains.

On the everyday practical side, awareness of these vibrational distinctions in love can ease suffering. From the Buddhist perspective, the more we move from eros to agape—from thoughts and words of judging to non-judging, from controlling to allowing, from disapproving to supporting, from criticizing to empowering, from denying to accepting and doing to being—the less we suffer in the face of breakdown and disappointment. Irrespective of the frequency of love energy, it promotes union, the refinement of personality and the expansion of consciousness.    

Someday after mastering the winds, waves, tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love and then, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J., Priest, paleontologist

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Faith

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Grasping lightly can lift us up; grasping too tightly holds us down

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Dictionaries generally provide two definitions for the word “faith,” one being the trust or confidence we have in someone or something, the other a strong belief in God or a doctrine of religion irrespective of evidence. This image of a mother holding a child’s hand clearly speaks to the former, but in it I see where both aspects have their origin.

As infants and through childhood we are completely dependent upon others. Trust is given and “a given” if we are to survive. We take on faith that someone, usually parents or guardians, will be there—and able—to provide for our physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual needs. It seems like this should be an inalienable right as a prerogative of birth, because care given by responsible adults is what it takes minimally for children to become whole, healthy and contributing persons. That too often these essentials are not provided, deepens my appreciation for what I took for granted as a child. Even as adults, we have faith in family members and friends. They are the ones we can usually turn to in difficult times.

We also have faith in the systems that provide the contexts for our lives—schools, churches, small businesses, corporations, non-profit organizations, local governing bodies and the Federal government. My careers in education and business were all grounded in faith—that my teachers knew what they were talking about, that higher education would lead to desirable and creative work opportunities, that the economy would grow, that salaries in my field would be enough to support a family and so on. 

Along the way we learn that some of our faith in people and institutions was misplaced. Neither individuals nor institutions can always be trusted. Not everyone is responsible, not everyone behaves ethically. People and circumstances change. And so, through disappointments we develop some discernment as a hedge against misplaced faith.

Faith has higher and lower vibrations. The “higher” is acceptance of what is. Bo Lozoff, an American writer and interfaith humanitarian wrote that “Faith is a profound acceptance of life’s ultimate goodness no matter what happens.” At the opposite end of the faith spectrum is fanaticism—excessive, irrational, uncritical zeal characterized by an unwillingness to recognize and respect differences in opinion or belief. Robert Pirsig, author of Zen And the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance wrote that “No one is fanatically shouting that the sun is going to rise tomorrow. They know it’s going to rise tomorrow. When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kind of dogmas or goals, it’s always because they are in doubt.”

In this regard I think of President Biden’s campaign perspective, that “We’re engaged in a struggle for the soul of America.” Former California State Senator John Vasconcellos said the same thing in 2014, adding, “We are struggling between two visions of human nature: faithful and cynical.” Indeed, held lightly and with an open mind, faith can unite and lift us up. Grasped too tightly it divides and holds us down.

In the long run the fate of a civilization depends not only on its political system, its economic structure, or its military might. Perhaps, indeed, all of these ultimately depend in turn upon the faith of the people, upon what we believe and feel about man; about the possibilities of human nature; about our relation or lack of it to such intangibles as the meaning of morality or the true nature of value.

Ashley Montagu, Anthropologist

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Belief

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We move in the direction of our beliefs

Life isn’t ever a straight line on a single track. Rather, it’s a progression along many tracks with lots of switching going on. Although I have switched “tracks” purposefully, there were many instances, probably more, where a switch occurred and I didn’t see it coming. The analogy raises questions about control and self-determination. How much control do I really have over my life?

Certainly, I can choose a destination and get on board with ideas and plans to get me there. That’s “entrainment.” But what about those switches, the plans that don’t—or do—work out, the emergency phone call, lottery ticket, birth, diagnosis, failed plans, new interest or the person we meet who changes the course of our life?

Some things happen beyond our control that changes us, at times even altering our destination. In large part, I think it’s our encounter with life’s unexpected turns that urges the search for meaning. Is life just a random sequence of events over which I have some but not much control? And why all the unexpected switching along the way? What are we to think? How do we respond to change and uncertainty? When switches altered my dad’s life journey he would shrug his shoulders and say “What can you do?” Indeed, when life (the soul) is leading, the wise course is resignation, go with the flow, align and allow. Resistance just creates frustration and pain.

Somewhere along the line, likely paralleling philosophical tracks, I found comfort in the notion that the inner animating force—I call it the “soul”—of each individual is like the engineer on a train, making decisions about which tracks to take and which switches to activate, when and where.

Looking back I can see how my life as been punctuated by unanticipated events, people and experiences that altered my course. Some were outright challenges that were either met or not—opportunities for growth. Others were tangible opportunities, like when a full scholarship to graduate school was presented to me without my even applying. Others were gifts, one of the most memorable being a friend’s sale to me of about $8,000 worth of high-end darkroom equipment for one dollar. And then there’s the lost opportunity as when Ansel Adams offered to sell a group of us students at RIT, original photographs for fifty dollars—prints that now sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars. In retrospect I can barely imagine that I was all those people who did what I did and didn’t do what I now wish I had. That every switch and each new track presented an opportunity of one kind or another adds credence to the soul being in the driver’s seat.

One thing is certain—each track provided a unique set of life lessons, chapters in the story of me and my becoming. Hard lessons learned leave little to regret. Rather, ideally, they lead to constructive intentions and choices when a familiar lesson comes again. My belief for now, and it could change tomorrow, is that life stories are written before we appear—already complete, perfect and happening in the Eternal now. That we don’t remember them allows us to freely choose both tracks and switches. Whatever the outcome, lessons were learned. Or not.

The tracks we’re on lead us toward destinations appropriate to the soul’s plan. The engine of belief provides the momentum. And so, whether or not we’re aware of it, we move in the direction of our beliefs.

And I’m a strong believer in belief. I think it’s creative, we get what we believe. Gandhi described the mechanism succinctly—

Your beliefs become your thoughts

Your thoughts become your words

Your words become your actions

Your actions become your habits

Your habits become your values

Your values become your destiny.

Mahatma Gandhi

Through years of study, personal experiences, readings and conversations with people like Dr. Beatrice Bruteau, a friend and mentor, I’ve come to believe that the soul, which is already one with the universe, has constructed a plan for each individuation. However, once embodied, the egoic personality can choose to ignore or alter it. Further, I believe that we will ultimately need to confront the lessons of the plan that we ourselves have made—lessons that balance, correct and lead us toward the realization of our true identity. The question is, “With regard to the more difficult choices, when life throws a switch that’s uncomfortable or undesirable, will we face it now or in a later life?”

There are instances when a particular track or switch is obviously part of the plan—as when I discovered photography, met my wife and saw my daughter for the first time. More often it’s by hindsight that I learned an event was part of my soul’s plan. In either case, knowing that my universal Self is driving my experiences toward the fulfillment of my purpose, that it’s setting me on the right tracks at the right time and will continuously throw the switches that favor realization, I feel like the story is unfolding properly and beautifully. I’m grateful for that, including the privilege of feeling that way. Of course, there is no way to know if my beliefs are in alignment with Absolute reality. At least they’re comforting and the effects appear to be constructive.

NOTE: If this topic interests you, I highly recommend a book by cellular biologist Bruce Lipton entitled, The Biology Of Belief. He presents recent studies on the biochemical effects of the brain, showing that all the cells of our bodies are affected by thought. Further, he talks about the profound effects this has on our personal lives and the collective life of our species. It’s a great read!

This is a make-believe world. We make it according to our beliefs.

Jerome Perlinski, Teacher, History of Ideas

The most powerful thing you can do to change the world is to change your own beliefs about the nature of life, people and reality to something more positive… and begin to act accordingly.

Shakte Gawain, Teacher, Personal Development