The Japanese way of seeing beauty in entropy We tend to think of entropy as something “bad,” the inevitable tendency for matter to dissipate, for all living things to die. As embodied creatures, we naturally would prefer to avoid this downward spiral—for ourselves, loved ones, pets, creations, cherished objects and the systems we use in […]
A deeper perspective Philosopher Ken Wilber’s perspective on art in The Eye of Spirit: An Integral Vision For a World Gone Slightly Mad beautifully expresses what I believe is its highest potential—that everything is art. My philosopher friend, Beatrice Bruteau, made it explicit. “Since the divine Artist has chosen to create, we cannot love the […]
What matters is how we use them What is the relationship between data, information, knowledge and wisdom? And what part does this play in human development and the expansion of consciousness? In his 1950 groundbreaking book, The Human Use Of Human Beings, mathematician Norbert Weiner defined “message” as “A sequence of events in time which… […]
Form changes while substance stays the same For me, every element of this image provides opportunity to reflect. The color alone evokes the sensibility of winter, the time of year when, for many of us, the often overcast sky tends to dampen the desire for activity. The lines where snow meets ice and water recalls […]
Advancing toward the light of increased awareness In this image I reflect on the notion of “reality,” that what we experience and know is both an individual and social construct. There’s the reality that I, as the photographer, experienced—the bright sun and the people on the hill. Part of that reality includes cars in a […]
All that we are and all that we know begins in space; the part contains the whole Recently, I was looking through a window screen and refocused my eyes to see the screen itself, the grid pattern with thousands of tiny, same-size boxes or holes. Defocusing again so the background became sharp, I became aware […]
How we see the world, what we believe about it, creates our experience. Human beings are meaning makers. Without having an anchor, a view of the world that makes sense of our existence, there’s little to no reason to carry on. As thinking and caring individuals who can rise above biological instincts, we have an […]
Before we have an effective vaccine, the sooner we do what it takes to prevent the Covid-19 virus from spreading, the sooner we can fill the seats of performance and sports venues, restaurants and personal grooming facilities, open more businesses and get back to work. Until then, in addition to wearing face coverings, […]
Washington Fan Palm There are over 2,500 species of palm in the Arecaceae family of evergreen plants. They’re found throughout the world, in climates as diverse as desert and rainforest where they can grow in the form of shrubs, trees or lianas. The needle palm is so hardy it’s found in Alaska. Palm trees have […]
From Peter Wohllenben’s The Hidden Life of Trees, I learned that the roots underground are more involved in a tree’s survival than anything growing above it. They withstand severe changes in climate, regrow trunks from time to time and it’s there where centuries of experience are stored. While trees don’t appear to have a central […]
Contemplative Photography 