The Great Wonder
In
Simple Things
#IX in the series of Pandemic Inspired Project
Introduction First: the Pandemic-Trumpisim Report
This ninth collection of photographs, Published on March 2, 2021, in the continuing series inspired by the Coronavirus Pandemic, marks the one-year anniversary of the first known case of a Coronavirus-related death reported in the United States. Since then over half a million Americans have died from the virus and its variant strains. The New York Times wrote on February 21, 2021: "More Americans have died from Covid-19 than on the battlefields of World War 1, World War II and the Vietnam War combined." The article went on to say:
The milestone comes with a light, however faint, at the end of the tunnel. New virus cases are down sharply, deaths are slowing, and vaccines are steadily being administered. President Biden said the U.S. could near normalcy by year’s end but warned that new virus variants could slow progress. (click here for the entire report)
Everyone, now, is wearing a face mask as part of the social distancing strategy to prevent the spread of the virus, and many are beginning to double-up on masks because of the more contagious and in some cases more dangerous variant strains of the virus that have been emerging Globally and in many parts of the the US. (click here to learn more) There has been a shortage of vaccines, and as we learn more about how the virus works, "boosters" will likely have to be created to accommodate the shifting forms of the virus. Johnson & Johnson's vaccine has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use. It is the third vaccine now being used in the United States and it is said to be affective in eliminating both deaths and hospitalizations and may reduce the spread of the virus by vaccinated people. It requires only one injection.
Amidst the Pandemic this month a major snow storm has hit a huge portion of the United State, but Texas in particular has received extremely unusual amounts of snow and cold temperatures, and they certainly were not prepared for such a major climate event. The state has had to endure very dangerous cold temperatures, electrical black outs, frozen pipes, flooding, water contamination (requiring boiling of water before drinking) and food shortages. click here to learn details.
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Though Donald Trump was impeached for a second time by the US House of Representatives, and was ousted from the Whitehouse January 20 after majorly losing the election, nonetheless the "other" raging epidemic I refer to as Trumpism continues on, particularly in the Republican Party which acquitted Trump in the Senate Trial regarding the ex-president's incitement of the mob which stormed Capitol Hill at the same time that lawmakers were in the Capitol Building about to ceremoniously finalize the States' Electoral Vote Counts. Seven Republicans voted against Trump--not nearly enough to prevent Trump from running for public office again in the future. (Note: Trump's niece, Mary, who knows her uncle's social-psychological pathology quite well, thinks he will not try to run for the presidency again.)
Mitch McConnell (who voted in support of Trump's acquittal, and who earlier had prevented the trial from happening before Trump left office) gave a surprising press conference, immediately after the Senate vote was taken, in which he blasted Trump with a scathing statement in which he said there was no doubt whatsoever that Trump incited the mob's attack on the Capitol Building with the intention of stopping the certification of the Electoral Voting Process using unsubstantiated claims that the national election was a "huge fraud." See McConnell's speech here.
Many of the rioters have been arrested, and when questioned, many have claimed that they stormed the Capitol Building because of Trump's promptings.
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I have been able to take a deep breath now that Donald Trump is no longer inside the Whitehouse, even if Trumpism remains alive and well in our country and in our Local, State and Federal governments. Now Trump himself will have to begin dealing with the huge number of law suits that have been on hold because of his previous status as president. For example, the nation's Supreme Court has at last ordered Trump's accountants to hand over eight years worth (millions of pages) of tax returns to New York State prosecutors who will be looking for evidence of tax fraud . . . and much more. And the Federal Justice Department has begun looking into many other kinds of claims of illegal acts by Trump including his involvement in the mob's attack on the Capitol Building. (click here to learn more)
Joe Biden has been faced with an overwhelming task of addressing all that Trump had done over the past four years to intentionally sabotage and damage this country, its democratic system, and the planet as a whole (i.e. climate change). As promised, Biden has been actively trying to heal this country relative to the Pandemic, the economy, the need for new bills to protect the US Postal Service, the environment . . . all this and so much more in his first 100 days. He is, at this writing, very close to getting a large 1.9 billion dollar Pandemic aid Bill passed to help America's struggling workers, and those who have lost or are about to loose their businesses, their living spaces, access to food, and in general trying to stay afloat and keeping their families together. Unlike Trump, Biden seems to have real respect and compassion for others and their suffering, but many Republicans in the House and in the Senate seem determined to undermine Biden's attempts to turn things around. They have created blocks in the Senate to slow the progress of the aid bill, arguing against the $15 dollars an hour minimum wage law which the House Democrats had included in the new Stimulus Package.
Regarding the Photographs
Here in Canandaigua, NY we have received lots of snow and cold weather throughout the month of February. We have had two major snow storms, and temperatures have consistently stayed in the low to middle teens at night. After the first major storm I found it difficult at times to get out and make photographs because of the high winds, the cold temperatures, and the snow which was too deep to walk through. Nonetheless I have persisted in making snow photographs, when at all possible, in brief flourishes.
The 28 images you will be seeing below are, for me, a visual meditation on simplicity, and the deep sense of stillness and silence that I feel pervades snow and the natural world in general. I have tried to give visual form to what my yoga teacher, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda has called "divine beauty," a form of grace that pervades everything, the kind of beauty that stills and silences the mind.
When snow is falling from the heavens, and when fresh snow transforms everything on the part of the planet I am living on, time seems to become suspended; my mind stops its chatter and turns inward; I feel a deep sense of peace. Snow has a way of helping me get in touch with the silence that pervades my entire universe--both within me and all around me.
When I am not making and contemplating photographs, I have been reading yogic teachings and listening to quiet music. Both are a wonderful antidote to all the blustery news of social-political discord and the raging dangers associated with the Coronavirus Pandemic.
(*Note: regarding the music I have been listening to, I highly recommend the following CD recordings: Melodies of Silence, the solo piano music of Valentin Silvestrov performed by Tomasz Kamieniak; Good Night! a collection of piano compositions by various composers, performed by Bertrand Chamayou; Musica Callada (Silent Music) composed by Mompou, performed by Jenny Lin; Frank Bride Piano Music Vol. III performed by Mark Bebbington)
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The title of this project "The Great Wonder In Simple Things" is from a passage I found in Gurumayi's book entitled Enthusiasm. When she spoke of "Wonder" she was referring to the sacred Knowledge, the mystery of grace . . . the divine beauty that pervades even the smallest, most simple thing in the Created Universe. The yogic saints tell us that the divine Self, otherwise referred to as God, or the Supreme Soul, or Supreme Consciousness, exists in everything, and in every human Heart; and they say within the inner-most regions of the Heart (the abode of the divine Self) there is a supreme stillness, a divine silence which is the very nature of God.
The photographs in this project, then, are my attempt to give visual form to my experience of the divine presence--the beauty and the wonder, the stillness and the silence--that dwells within the things I have seen and felt compelled to photographed, and which correspondingly exits within my innermost being. When my pictures succeed in revealing this very personal experience of the sacred, they are functioning for me as living symbols, images radiant with grace, photographs which have united interior and exterior corresponding Imaginal counterparts. Symbolic photographs, then, are visual affirmations, heartfelt (enthusiastic) celebrations of the Oneness of Being.
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This project's collection of photographs include many "Thing-centered photographs," and there are several images which simply present naturally occurring compositions, elegant self-created "constellations" of things that have emerged spontaneously within the white field of snow that
covers our back yard, its three raised beds, and the meadow beyond.
Sometimes, rather than seeing things, my attention becomes fixed on the relationships between "lines" and "shapes," "light" and "tonalities." And sometimes, rather than seeing things I respond to the living presence that appears tp exist in the space between things, the space between lines and shapes, the space present in light and fields of tonalities. I attribute that living presence which exists between things to a silent conversation that is ongoing and ever changing between all "things" in the universe.
The yogic scriptures say that every thing in our created universe has something important to teach us. My practice of making and contemplating symbolic photographs is a means by which I can "listen" to, absorb and integrate the ineffable wisdom being offered by the things in my world and their silent interactions.
The symbolic photograph is (for me) a divine gift that comes spontaneously, intuitively through the grace of my Creative Process. And through the creative act of Contemplation I can "listen" and absorb and integrate the silent teachings that pulsate within an image that is functioning for me as a true, living symbol. And, of course, the gifts of contemplation are available to each and every one of you as well.
Note: I encourage you to click on each of the photograph as you scroll down through the sequence of images below. One click on a photograph will enlarge the image and present it in a dark tonal viewing field. In this alternate viewing mode, the image will appear sharper and more refined tonally compared to the way the images appear in the blog's default viewing mode, which presents the photographs within a white tonal field. ~ And when you click on an image a second time, it will become even more enlarged, providing you with an opportunity to view, close-up, selected detailed areas of the photograph. ~ The very first image, immediately below, for example, deserves close scrutiny. An important detail will be clearly revealed to you, when you click a second time on the image, that otherwise might be overlooked. ~ I have written in detail about this image (and several others) in the Commentaries section that follows the presentation of the 28 The Photographs.
The
Photographs
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Commentary
on selected photographs
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# 1
This photograph, as we see it here, in the blog's default viewing mode, gives us a slightly distant view of two separate plants. The fact that two separate plants are being pictured here might not have been immediately apparent to you if I hadn't called it to your attention here. It's quite understandable that at first glance one might see the relationship between the two plants as if the two were one. However, if you click on the image and view it enlarged, it will become easier to see that the two plants are separated in space. The smaller, simpler plant stands alone in the background, behind the larger more visually complex plant.
If you click on the image a second time, the enlarged image will reveal quite clearly a different, more intimate kind of relationship that exists between the larger plant and the smaller plant. What I see are two "arms" from the larger plant reaching out to embrace the smaller plant which is just a short distance away. The gesture seems, to me, to be an offering of love, an invitation to "connect" with the smaller plant, to draw it closer, so that the two will not be separate, but together.
The title photograph, image #13 above, is one of my favorite images in the collection. It has some of the qualities I like most in Taoist paintings and drawings. In particular I like the arching line of the plant, and the way the white space around it (and the other, smaller lines) becomes a living presence that gives life to the dark lines and their elegant, interactive set of visual relationships within the picture's frame. ~ The way the large arching line bends to the "east" invokes in me an Imaginal circle which is the achetypal form par excellence which represents the Oneness of Being. ~ The arching line also reminds me of a poem by William Stafford:
One of my constant preoccupations as a photographer has been the making of what I call Thing Photographs, or Thing-Centered Photographs. One of "things" I tend to photograph often are stones. In this photograph I like the way the snow covers the large, standing stone like a hood, or perhaps a graceful wave of luminous hair that falls, like water, into a sea of light below. ~ This dark stone is stoic. It presents a strong, silent presence within the white field as it sits centered in the picture's frame above a dark horizontal base. ~ There is a hint of a neighboring stone on the very left edge of the photograph; and two little plant stubs activate the space behind the stone and on the right edge of the picture. ~ The photograph reminds me of a classical portrait, a head sculpted in stone that has been placed on top of a wood base. ~ The snow covered dark horizontal space below the stone is the top of one of our three raised garden beds, all of which are made of wooden planks.
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Straw, feathers, dust--
little things
but if they all go one way
that's the way the wind goes.
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In image #4, above, and in images #3, and #4 as well, the plant forms lean in a similar "eastward" direction as the arching plant in image #13 immediately above. I sense that each of the plants in these four images had been touched by the same invisible force or spirit: . . . the way the wind goes. The Chinese word Tao means "the way" or the "principle" of a natural order which pervades the universe.
Also, the plant in image #4 has "eyes." (Are they looking at me? Are they looking down at the smaller plant next to it?) And next to the smaller simpler plant, there is something within the snow that may be trying to emerge from within . . . or, perhaps, it is trying to hide.
(Note: I invite you to click on the two related blog links, below, which are about the Tao as it relates to visual art. The links are part of a previously published snow project entitled Photographs from the Silver World. Here are the two links: Silver World, Part IV: Taoism & Creativity and Silver World, Part V: The Great Image Has No Form)
# 10
This image, #10, has an animated, cartoon-like character. I see something like a snail or other small creature which appears to have made some progress in moving across the picture plane, through the snow. As it crawls, very slowly, partially submerged in the snow, it leaves behind little raised mounds of snow which are subtly catching the soft light that has ever so gently illuminated the scene and my seeing.
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My wife and I have placed stones around the tops of each of the three raised beds. We like the way it looks. In the spring, after planting, we place straw down over the beds. And in the winter, after a gentle snow fall . . . the beds become covered with soft white snow. The straw and the snow, with the stones placed on top of the wood planks, transform the beds into a sacred space similar to the zen rock gardens I have seen and admired in photographs, as in the image below, made in Kyoto. The photograph, which shows only a detail of a much larger garden space, reveals that the white gravel has been raked in a way that visually activates the space between the stones placed within the outer parameters of the rock garden.
Similarly, I strive to make photographs in which the spaces within the picture's frame become alive with a living presence. In the yoga I practice that presence is referred to as shakti or grace, the Creative Power of the universe. ~ Of course, the presence of shakti in a photographic image is not something I can willfully make happen; it becomes manifest in an image only if grace is allowed to enter into my Creative Process. Indeed, it is grace which transforms a photographic image from being a mere (mirror) description of the apparent world into a sacred space. Images which are radiant with sacred space are what I refer to as true, living symbols.
(Note: I prefer the use the word stone rather than rock. Click here to see a collection of my stone photographs and a wonderful poem entitled Stone which is about actively, poetically-imaginatively "going inside a stone.")
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These two photographs are examples of what I think of as "compositions." In image #18 (above) a stone becomes an integral part of the "composition" rather than the center of my attention, as in image #24, above.
In these two photographs a constellation of shapes has spontaneously, naturally emerged from within the snow and created a visual order, a composition that requires little of me as a "picture-maker" other than a pure, direct recording of the miraculous event which is freely presenting itself for all to see. When I say "pure, direct recording" I mean that the image is "free of my interpretation," "free of my intervention," "free of my ego."
I prefer that my photographs do not look composed by me. However, I will include any image in my projects that functions for me as a symbol. There are times when I can actually feel grace directing me to fill the frame in Its way rather than "my way." If I have done a good job of staying out of the way (out of the picture) and have allowed the grace of my Creative Power to compose the picture, there is a much higher degree of probability that the image will function for me as symbol.
I cannot draw; I can only imagine doing the kind of delicate rendering that many of the snow photographs in this project would require if created with pencil, pen or brush. It gives me great pleasure to make photographs that are like the simple, elegant Taoist drawings and paintings I love so much, images which are pervaded by the Tao (the Creative Power of the Universe, grace) rather than the ego, the willful personality of an artist.
# 27
This image, #27, does not succeed at describing what was actually before the lens. Rather, the image appears to be so "abstract" that it's impossible to identify what was photographed. The image of deep, fluffy snow that was covering some concrete steps, was made from our front porch, looking out toward our driveway.
All 28 of the snow photographs in this project are what I call "straight" photographs, and yet many in this collection may fail at describing what was before the camera's lens--despite most peoples' assumption that "describing" is what photography does best. ~ The transforming power of grace, the transforming power of light, and the transforming power of the photographic medium certainly can and do join forces to manifest images which function beyond mere description. When photographs are pervaded by grace, something ineffable and invisible becomes manifest, present in the image, something that transcends surface appearances.
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I find it fascinating the way some of my photographs can fail at describing and yet come remarkably close to representing what I saw, felt, experienced. And this is what happens for me in the image above (#27) made from our front porch looking down at the glistening, ephemeral horizontal mounds of snow which so gently, so softly covered the hard concrete steps beneath. As I was preparing to take the photograph I became spatially disoriented as I tried to fill the frame with the luminous forms before me. Rather than seeing "snow" I experienced what appeared to be a mirage of light, an infinite field of glistening round or circular forms, each one a miniature reflection of the sun.
I love the transforming power of snow, the transforming power of light, the transforming power of photography! I enjoy and welcome those moments when, walking in snow, all of a sudden time stops and I find myself suspended in nothing but pure light, pure wonder. (Could I ever make a photograph that comes even close to those magical, experiential moments of luminescence?)
Epilogue
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When Gurumayi spoke of "the great Wonder in simple things," she was speaking about the overarching theme of her book entitled Enthusiasm. She explains how the word enthusiasm comes from the Greek enthusiasmos. The syllable en means "in, within, or possessed." And theos means "God." Therefore, Gurumayi explains:
Enthusiasm literally means
"carrying God within" or
"possessed of the inner Lord."
For me, many of the 28 "straight" photographs of snow in this project "contain" or are "possessed by" a subtle presence, an ephemeral quality that is truly beyond description, beyond saying. Even as the images describe to some degree the outer world, at the same time it is often quite clear that they long to give or reveal something more to me. Those images which are full of enthusiasm, which function for me as symbols, offer a silent, ineffable teaching, a gift of divine wisdom which Gurumayi often refers to as Self-Knowledge.
In her book Enthusiam, Gurumayi emphasis over and over again:
There is wisdom everywhere.
For example, she says a teaching may come unexpectedly from a little child, a tree, a dream. And of course teachings could emerge from falling snow, the shape of a rock, a mound of snow, the leaning or the curve of a plant that has just weathered the gusting winds of a winter snow storm. We know that ancient peoples have discovered wisdom in the constellations of stars that fill the night skies.
If only I could remember to pay attention, tune in and listen to the divine music, the grace of the silence of the Self which pervades everything I see, everything I hear, everything that happen's in my world, my life! Making and contemplating photographs has become a form of yogic practice for me, which helps me pay attention, recognize, become conscious of the grace, the divine presence in my life.
The yogic saints teach that everything in the outer world comes from within, from within the Heart, from within the divine Self. Gurumayi writes in her chapter entitled "The True Companion Within":
If you are looking for something or someone, find this great friend within yourself--your true companion, your wisdom, your knowledge. Allow your inner being to blossom and reveal its glory. . . Think of the grace of the teachings [of the yogic sages and saints] as the sweetest rain falling from heaven. This shower of grace falls upon each moment of your life. Each moment is saturated with the wisdom of the teachings. Allow yourself to be soaked in this wisdom. Let the refreshing knowledge of the Self rise from the core of your being and bring forth its fruit. ~ Allow each moment of your day to become the embodiment of the Truth. Remember that each person carries the golden light of the teachings. Let each object shimmer with God's message. Let each element of nature reveal God's magnificence . . . the ecstasy of the heart.
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The five symmetrical photographs below give visual form to something invisible: perhaps the ineffable wisdom hidden within snow or within the unique symmetrical-crystalline structure of an individual snowflake. Perhaps one or two of the images give visual form to the experience I wrote about earlier, of that "mirage of light," that "infinite field of glistening round or circular forms, each one a miniature reflection of the sun."
The symmetrical photographs were constructed with "straight" snow photographs made in February, 2021. Four of them were constructed with images I have included in the collection of 28 photographs presented above.
Each symmetrical image was constructed with four identical copies of one "straight photograph" placed in relation to each other so that each image is mirrored in another above and below, and to the left and to the right, such that the four images merge into One at the very center point of the image. As such, each symmetrical image is literally a visual representation of the Oneness of Being.
But more than that, each of the symmetrical images have manifested, for me, a miraculous, graceful transformation of the one (repeated and merged) image into a new and completely different living
symbol which is equally alive, and perhaps even more alive with the Creative Power of the Universe than the originating "straight" photograph. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that a few of the symmetrical images below have the divine aura, the mystery, and the visual characteristics associated with the great visual tradition of the sacred Icon. (See my project The Photograph as Icon.)
Gurumayi tells us when the goal of yoga--union with God--is achieved, the veil, the illusion of separation created by the mind (the ego), is dissolved. Then, she says:
. . . merging does indeed take place. Then you will recognize the essence of everything. That which exists in the ocean also exists in the sky. That which exists in the mind also exists in the Heart. That which is within you is also within the universe. That which is within the universe is also within you.
I will conclude this prelude to the symmetrical photographs with a poem by the Indian poet-saint named Bholenath, which Gurumayi quoted in her book Enthusiasm:
This entire universe is the garden of Shiva,
the great Lord.
It is meant for you to roam in.
This universe is a mansion containing the mirror
of Lord Shiva.
Whoever looks in it with the feeling of being one
with the great Lord
sees his own divine image everywhere,
sees the great Lord everywhere.
Enthusiasm, by Swami Chidvilasananda was published in 1997 by the SYDA Foundation.
Five Symmetrical Snow Photographs
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Symmetrical Photograph
"The Garden of Shiva" in the form of a Mandala or Heart,
for Dainis and his brother in loving remembrance of their dad, who passed in February, 2021;
and in loving remembrance of my dad, who passed in August, 1955.
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This project was posted on my blog's
Welcome Page on March 2, 2021
Related Project Links:
Welcome Page to The Departing Landscape blog, which includes the complete hyperlinked listing of my online photography projects dating from the most recent to those dating back to the 1960's. You will also find on the Welcome Page my resume, contact information . . . and much more.
