tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19089303021851520512012-02-08T04:14:43.369-08:00All Day I Dream About Photography: This blog has great tips, featured .Photocritic offers an overall excellent photography blogenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comBlogger1001100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-55181785608043289512012-02-07T17:11:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.635-08:00

"The child has to learn how to separate out the images which assail the newly-opened retina... a whole series of 'senses' are necessary... A sense of spatial immensity, in its greatness and in its smallness, disarticulating and spacing out, within a sphere of indefinite radius, the orbits of objects which press around us; A sense of depth, pushing back laboriously through the endless chain of

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-79222519283635103992012-02-06T16:30:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.635-08:00

"What prohibits me from treating my perception as an intellectual act is that an intellectual act would grasp the object either as possible or as necessary. But in perception it is 'real'; it is given as the infinite sum of an indefinite series of perspectival views in each of which the object is given but in none of which is it given exhaustively."- Maurice Merleau-Ponty(1908 - 1961)"Perhaps art

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-24817461447155666012012-02-05T15:35:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.635-08:00

"...above all, I perceive in me with joy, a new tone, sounded by a violin within my innermost being. Its strings are tensed or relaxed through simple differences of temperature and illumination from without. Yet from deep with our being (an instrument that the conformity of habit has condemned to silence), there appears a song - out of those derivations, out of those vibrations -  from which all

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-74996756075211454332012-02-04T17:38:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.635-08:00

"The outcome is this...the whole conscious being is open to spiritual experiences of every kind. It turns toward spiritual truth in thought, feeling, perception, and action; it is adjusted to respond rightly... The second thing is the free influx of all kinds of spiritual experience, experience of self, experience of God and of the divine creative power, experience of the cosmic consciousness, a

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-82213232730236172892012-02-03T19:10:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.635-08:00

"I see photography as an extraordinary means to undertake an exegesis of the Real, prompted by the first and literal level: the image of the evident objects. Any subsequent new meanings are discovered and rendered manifest through a hermeneutic process unfolding from the limited surface of the photograph; new interpretation will spring from the depth of the apparently flat surface of its image...

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-42682461285503446792012-02-02T18:42:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.636-08:00

"The order and regularityof the appearances,which we entitle nature,we ourselves introduce.We could never find themin appearances,had we not ourselves,or the nature of our mind,originally set them there."Immanuel KantCritique of Pure Reason"Cosmic Consciousness is ... as far above Self Consciousness as is that above Simple Consciousness. The prime characteristic of cosmic consciousness is, as its

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-49724824265457808182012-02-01T16:20:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.636-08:00

"A timeless, limitless, perfect unity underlies all our feeling and thought, underlies every form of existence and every part of our self. We know this through a deep, inner awareness for which we can give no explanation or proof, because it is itself the source of all knowledge, proof, and explanation. Depending on our degree of personal development, this awareness in us may be obscure or

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-38192912629741750452012-01-30T19:11:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.636-08:00

"Science of nature has one goal:To find both manyness and whole.Nothing 'inside' or 'Out There,'The 'outer' world is all 'In Here.'This mystery grasp without delay,This secret always on display.The true illusion celebrate,Be joyful in the serious game!No living thing lives separate:One and Many are the same."...We can never directly seewhat is true, that is, identical withwhat is divine: we look

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-61745140842600058932012-01-29T13:22:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.636-08:00

"To take photographs. Such was the entry point into photography. Along the creek beds and waterfalls seeing was always possession and camera affirmed ownership. Since then other modes, other doors have superseded, for example, to make photographs. The greed, however, has never really disappeared. Ownership seems to be the force that opens all the other doors. Yet, possession is not all. As I

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-3429146610213564252012-01-28T13:37:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.636-08:00

"The Western man who claims consciousness of oneness with God or the universe ... clashes with his society's concept of religion. In most Asian cultures, however, such a man will be congratulated as having penetrated the true secret of life. He has arrived, by chance or by some such discipline as Yoga or Zen meditation, at a state of consciousness in which he experiences directly and vividly what

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-71604592354903875672012-01-22T11:18:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.637-08:00

"From the mast-head the mirage is continually giving us false alarms. Everything wears an aspect of unreality. Icebergs hang upside down in the sky; the land appears as layers of silvery or golden cloud. Cloud-banks look like land, icebergs masquerade as islands or nunataks, and the distant barrier to the south is thrown into view, although it really is outside our range of vision. Worst of all

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-1210419774285934992012-01-21T14:27:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.637-08:00

"Seeing is perception with the original, unconditioned eye. It is a state of consciousness in which separation of photographer/subject, audience/image dissolves; in which a reality beyond words and concepts opens up, whose "point" or "meaning" is the direct experience itself."- John Daido Loori"We look at the world and see what we have learned to believe is there. We have been conditioned to

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-90776908216562494002012-01-19T17:42:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.637-08:00

"The state of mind of the photographer while creating is blank… For those who would equate 'blank' with a kind of emptiness, I must explain that this is a special kind of blank. It is a very active state of mind really, a very receptive state of mind, ready at an instant to grasp an image, yet with no image pre-formed, pattern or preconceived idea of how anything ought to look is essential to

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-57127425697342705842012-01-16T14:34:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.637-08:00

"O King, you say that Atman is infinite. Well, that which is infinite must be unconditioned by time and space. Absence of duality in Atman renders it incapable of being a cause. A cause exists both before and after the effect, as clay does in respect of the jar. But, in Atman there is neither beginning nor end. Besides, a cause must modify or change itself to produce an effect. Atman being all

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-10682166830517006862012-01-15T14:02:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.638-08:00

"A Buddhist scholar named Nogaguna, who lived about A.D. 200, invented a whole dialectic and founded a school where the "leader" of the students would simply destroy all of their ideas - absolutely abolish their philosophic notions. And they would get the heebie-jeebies and see that the leader did not have the heebie-jeebies, that he seemed perfectly relaxed in having no particular point of view.

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-67154366902967332452012-01-07T15:33:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.638-08:00

"Light to me is perhaps the most profound truth in the universe. My thinking has been deeply affected by the belief everything is some form of radiant energy." - Wynn Bullock (1905 - 1975)Wynn  Bullock is arguably one of the greatest fine-art photographers to have graced our world with his soulful mind, heart, and eye. He is also one of three photographers (of a bygone generation, relative to

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-66257017889917396912012-01-04T16:08:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.638-08:00

"As sounds in a musical composition can be used not to express physical objects but ideas, emotions, harmonies, rhythmic orders and most any expression of the human mind and spirit, so light can be used visually to express the mind and spirit.""Theoretical scientists who probe the secrets of the universe and philosophers who seek answers to existence, as well as painters such as Paul Klee who

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-54775987461768841882011-12-11T08:48:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.638-08:00

“People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances within our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.” ― Joseph Campbell, The Power of MythPostscript

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-72743528506380718042011-12-03T16:47:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.638-08:00

"1. Ineffability - The handiest of the marks by which I classify a state of mind as mystical is negative. The subject of it immediately says that it defies expression, that no adequate report of its contents can be given in words.2. Noetic Quality - Although so similar to states of feeling, mystical states seem to those who experience them to be also states of knowledge. They are states of

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-87428121957543862112011-12-01T17:52:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.639-08:00

"We want to pour oil onto the fire,fan the tiny glow into flame,span the earth;make it quiver,and beat more fiercely,living and pulsating cosmos,steaming universe."- Johannes Molzahn(1892 - 1965)"The Infinite, therefore, cannot be ranked among its objects. You can only apprehend the Infinite by a faculty superior to reason, by entering into a state in which you are your finite self no longer—in

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-85350133716140002572011-11-20T15:45:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.639-08:00

"Amongst all the changing phenomenathe essence of nature is invariable. A1. The World as human distinctions (God, The Soul, The Spirit, Life, Religion,Technology, Art, Science, The IntellectWeltanschauung, Labor, MovementSpace, Time) = 0.1. Science and art have no boundaries because what is comprehended infinitely is inumerable and infinity and innumerability are equal to nothing....8. There is

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-75923124932982446092011-11-12T16:34:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.639-08:00

"It is not always needfulfor truth to take a definite shape;it is enough if it hovers about uslike a spirit and produces harmony;if it is wafted through the airlike the sound of a bell, grave and kindly."- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe"A man should learnto detect and watch that gleamof light which flashes acrosshis mind from within." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-79604620027298500382011-10-30T10:03:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.639-08:00

"The hardest thing to see is what is in front of our eyes." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe During a visit to see my mom on Long Island the other week, my younger son and I stumbled across a beautiful park - no more than a stone's throw away from the house I grew up in - that I never knew existed! Well, I knew of the place, and of its beauty, but not of the park's presence. And therein lies an

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-65015327449990370012011-10-19T14:27:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.639-08:00

Blurb, with whom I have self-published a number of portfolio books over the last few years, has recently introduced an intriguing eBook option for prospective authors. Though currently confined to be read only by Apple iOS devices (i.e., the iBooks app on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod-touch devices), Blurb's new eBooks are faithful full-resolution versions of their print counterparts. I am impressed

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-86557644799522001192011-10-17T15:09:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.640-08:00

A few days ago I posted my first blog entry in over 3 months. It consisted of little more than explaining the long delay (attributed to "day job" related constraints), highlighting some recent publications, and briefly amplifying on an observation I made in a recent interview. But I left out a deeper thought; one that I think goes to the heart of the creative process. Namely, the degree to which

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-52041515312253736212011-10-15T17:56:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.640-08:00

"To be an artist is not a matterof making paintings or objects at all.What we are really dealing withis our state of consciousnessand the shape of our perception." — Robert Irwin, Artist/Theorist (1929 - )It has been quite a while since my last blog post; the long hiatus due (as almost always) to the demands and constraints of "day job" responsibilities. As I slowly reacclimate my activities to

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-64463964479958224322011-07-19T08:14:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.640-08:00

I am delighted to announce an upcoming slide presentation in Alexandria, VA, 6:00 to 8:00 pm on August 2 (Tuesday). The talk will be given at Alexandria's historic Morrison House (116 South Alfred Street, Alexandria, VA 22314) and is sponsored by the Torpedo Factory's Art Center. From the press release: Photography, Physics, and Complexity: Strange Bedfellows or a New Aesthetic?Morrison House

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-11022365028338309562011-07-16T15:32:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.640-08:00

"The interpretation of our reality through patterns not our own, serves only to make us ever more unknown, ever less free, ever more solitary." — Gabriel Garcia MarquezAuthor (1927 - )

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-3254807620581478912011-07-15T19:35:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.640-08:00

"Through falling from its previous function, and thus outliving the use originally conferred upon it, the ruin transgresses and subverts our everyday encounter with space and place. In the space of order and regulation, boundaries are delimited and linear. Being in place means knowing the limits of that place. So long as those limits are respected, then indeterminacy is evaded and the impression

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-73746622010123510472011-07-10T09:54:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.641-08:00

"The tree is morethan first a seed, then a stem, then a living trunk, and then dead timber. The tree is a slow, enduring force strainingto win the sky." - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry(1900 - 1944)"The tree which movessome to tears of joyis in the eyes of othersonly a green thing whichstands in their way."- William Blake(1757 - 1827)

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-10098595050483603182011-07-09T13:01:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.641-08:00

"Abstraction is real,probably more real than nature.I prefer to see with closed eyes."- Joseph Albers (1888 - 1976)"Abstraction allows man to seewith his mind what he cannotphysically see with his eyes... Abstract art enables the artistto perceive beyond the tangible, to extract the infinite out of the finite.It is the emancipation of the mind. It is an explosion into unknown areas."- Arshile

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-65629631953796428972011-06-29T18:10:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.641-08:00

"The universe as we know itis a joint product of theobserver and the observed.”- Teilhard de ChardinPhilosopher / Mystic(1881 - 1955)While looking over some old photos (going back to trips to Scotland in 2009 and Greece in 2008), I ran across an interesting set of pictures taken by my wife that I turned into what I call PPDs, or "Photographing the Photographer" Diptychs. My wife, an avid

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-7161438651053050212011-06-25T08:21:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.641-08:00

This is a short note intended mainly to provide a link to the slides (about 5 MB, Adobe pdf) I used for a talk I gave on June 20 to the Churchville Photo Club in Pennsylvania.My presentation used selected images and portfolios to illustrate (and give at least some credence to the sincerity of) my ongoing journey toward self-discovery as shaped by physics, tao, and photography.I'd like to thank

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-87739431433359139982011-05-22T08:24:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.641-08:00

LURAY CAVERNS As Above, So Below... By Andy Ilachinski Book Preview This is a short note to announce the availability of my self-published portfolio of 66 black and white images from a photo-shoot at Luray Caverns (in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley). I have written about my adventure there in posts a couple of weeks ago:

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-64885747682332895322011-05-17T16:35:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.642-08:00

While there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see. - Dorothea Lange(1895 - 1965)"Writing is not about words. Painting is not about pigments. Music is not about tones. As long as photographers insist that photography is about photographs, the art is

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-322291592402591982011-05-14T15:54:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.642-08:00

"Learn to be silent. Let your quiet mind listen and absorb."- Pythagoras“Only in quiet waters things mirror themselves undistorted. Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world.” - Hans MargoliusAphorisms on ethics (1955)

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-78194609368189657602011-05-13T18:42:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.642-08:00

"There is simply no real separation line,only an intellectual one,between the object and its time-environment. They are completely interlocking: nothing can exist in the world independent of all the other things in the world."- Robert IrwinArtist (1928 - )

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-7853240881297251542011-05-08T10:10:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.642-08:00

"A monk once asked Shao-shan, 'Is there any phrase which is neither right or wrong?' Shao-shan answered, 'A piece of white cloud does not show any ugliness.'" - Shao-shan's Phrase koan"Where others dwell,I do not dwell. Where others go, I do not go. This does not mean to refuse association with others; I only want to make black and white distinct."" - Pai-yun's Black and White koanRef: The Iron

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-31785420195732756232011-05-01T18:05:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.642-08:00

"O body swayed to music, O brightening glance, How can we know the dancer from the dance?"- William Butler Yeats(1865 - 1939)"The wild geese do not intend to cast their reflection; the water has no mind to receive their image... the general tendency of the Western mind is to feel that we do not really understand what we cannot represent, what we cannot communicate by linear signs - by thinking.

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-5865820486674892152011-04-30T11:25:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.643-08:00

"The practice of true realityis simply to sit serenelyin silent introspection.When you have fathomed this,you cannot be turned aroundby external causesand conditions. This empty, wide open mind is subtly and correctly illuminating." - Hongzhi ZhengjueBuddhist monk(1091–1157)"Men cannot see their reflection in running water, but only in still water. Only that which is itself still can still the

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-62660194472436362382011-04-28T16:41:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.643-08:00

"Underneath the superficial self, which pays attention to this and that, there is another self more really us than I. And the more you become aware of the unknown self — if you become aware of it — the more you realize that it is inseparably connected with everything else that is. You are a function of this total galaxy, bounded by the Milky Way, and this galaxy is a function of all other

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-15818274598252161612011-04-26T17:53:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.643-08:00

"It may seem ironic or contradictorythat detailed pictures of so-called reality become vehicles for movingus beyond ordinary perceptions."- Duane Pebbles"Bells and stones have voices,but unless they are struck,they will not sound."- Chuang Tzu

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-29119620139632252022011-04-25T19:35:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.643-08:00

"The inner - what is it?if not intensified sky ..."- Rainer Maria Rilke(1875 - 1926)"Deep in the mountainis an old pond.Deep or shallow,its bottom has never been seen."- John Daido Loori(1931 - 2009)

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-85647108544083083222011-04-14T19:43:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.643-08:00

"We are like the spider.We weave our life andthen move along in it.We are like the dreamerwho dreams and thenlives in the dream.This is true forthe entire universe."- Upanishads"All formations are transient (anicca)"- Buddha Sakyamuni(563 - 483 B.C)

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-49575355617829434492011-04-13T19:18:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.644-08:00

"In Aboriginal philosophy, existence consists of energy. All things are animate, imbued with spirit and in constant motion... [this] leads to a holistic and cyclical view of the world."- Marie BattisteReclaiming Indigenous Voice and Vision"The pulse of lifedemands an unendngstream of vital energyto keep it going."- Marija GimbutasThe Language of the Goddess

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-38507396333235741882011-04-10T13:27:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.644-08:00

"No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place."-Zen proverbMonk: "What is Zen?"Tosu (Zen Master): "Zen."- Daisetz Teitaro SuzukiZen and Japanese Culture

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-68043971688344048502011-04-07T16:42:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.644-08:00

"The prejudice many photographers have against colour photography comes from not thinking of colour as form. You can say things with colour that can’t be said in black and white… Those who say that colour will eventually replace black and white are talking nonsense. The two do not compete with each other. They are different means to different ends." - Edward WestonMy mom has a habit of asking

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-87469240222644064592011-04-05T18:00:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.644-08:00

"Into the dark beyond all lightwe pray to come,through not seeing and not knowing,to see and to know,that beyond sight and knowledge,itself; neither seeing nor knowing."- Dionysius the Areopagite"Any man working with the mediumsooner or later impinges,merges into, fuses withthe fringes of mysticism."- Minor White

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-52740911416463308112011-04-03T10:46:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.644-08:00

"...an aesthetic perspective is quite at home in the realm of contradictions, for its very nature allows it to transform them into a harmony of contrasts...value entails a synthesis of complexity with order, novelty with continuity, nuance with harmony, richness with stability...the cosmos is such an aesthetic reality. Both in its constituent occasions and in its overall reality the universe is a

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-87163225365949274632011-03-29T15:28:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.645-08:00

“Three Rules of Work: Out of clutter find simplicity; From discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” - Albert EinsteinAs a follow-on to my previous entry on my recent day-long photo excursion to Luray Caverns in northern Virginia, I'd like to make a few remarks about the aesthetics of capturing the caverns in a photograph, and - ultimately - a fine-art print. The short

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-6356467805552758102011-03-27T11:30:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.645-08:00

"Meditation reveals thatthe obvious place to begin is not in some other place, it's right here." - Angel Kyodo WilliamsBeing Black: Zen and the Art ofLiving with Fearlessness and GracePeople often ask me (when I am out photographing), "You must spend a lot of time doing that, eh?" To which the answer is (and this is not a cop out), yes and no. Yes - obviously - because it is a life's passion of

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-1065162854743747532011-03-26T15:48:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.646-08:00

"Those who seek the truth by means of intellect and learning only get further and further away from it. Not till your thoughts cease all their branching here and there, not till you abandon all thoughts of seeking for something, not till your mind is motionless as wood or stone, will you be on the right road to the Gate." - Huang Po"The longest journeybegins with a single step."- Lao Tzu, Tao Te

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-32077783969010872152011-03-18T08:23:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.646-08:00

"Both the grand andthe intimate aspects ofnature can be revealed inthe expressive photograph.Both can stir enduringaffirmations and discoveries,and can surely helpthe spectator in his searchfor identification with thevast world of natural beauty andthe wonder surrounding him."- Ansel Adams (1902-1984)"Beauty is eternity gazingat itself in a mirror."- Kahlil Gibran(1883-1931)

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-14825800020733651802011-03-13T19:53:00.000-07:002012-02-08T04:10:54.646-08:00

“The farther and more deeply we penetrate into matter,by means of increasingly powerful methods,the more we are confounded bythe interdependence of its parts...It is impossible to cut into the network, to isolate a portion without it becomingfrayed and unravelled at all its edges.” - Pierre Teilhard De ChardinPhilosopher (1881-1955)“There is a constantand intimate contactamong the things that

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-9005689130955007682011-03-06T12:53:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.646-08:00

"When I make a photographI want it to be analtogether new object,complete and self-contained,whose basic condition is order;Unlike the world of events and actions,whose permanent condition ischange and disorder."- Aaron SiskindPhotographer(1903 - 1991)"To see is to forgetthe name of thething one sees."- Paul ValeryPoet / Philosopher(1871 - 1945)

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-31321713983800843992011-03-03T16:25:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.647-08:00

The graphic illustration you see above is a wonderful visual depiction of some of the key differences between how the left (analytical, logical) and right (creative, artistic) sides of our brain process information (it is part of a Mercedes-Benz advertising campaign). The point of my posting this image is not to engage in a dialectic on what is known, unknown, or merely believed about how the

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-4563046853028399612011-03-02T16:52:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.647-08:00

This is just a quick note as a follow-up on the B&W talk I gave at Belnavis Art Gallery & Custom Framing in Springfield, VA on Feb 26; and to announce that I will be giving a second (repeat performance) at the same gallery on Saturday, March 26 (same time: 1:30 - 3:30 pm).Though fewer people showed up than either Michelle (the gallery owner) and I had hoped for, I want to thank those that did.

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-68500219996521706702011-02-12T15:33:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.647-08:00

I am delighted to announce an upcoming workshop I'll be conducting on black and white photography. It will be held on Saturday, Feb. 26th, 1:30pm to 3:30 pm at Belnavis Art Gallery & Custom Framing in Springfield, VA.Geared to beginners and those with an intermediate-level understanding of photography, this will be a 2-1/2 hour class on the "art" of fine-art black and white photography. My hope

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-7105364103269164202011-02-11T20:10:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.647-08:00

"To make an 'I' you need meanings, and to make meanings you need perception and categories... The closing of the strange loop of human selfhood is deeply dependent upon the level-changing leap that is perception, which means categorization, and therefore, the richer and more powerful an organism's categorization equipment is, the more realized and rich will be its self. Conversely, the poorer an

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-429747053466093302011-02-10T17:04:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.648-08:00

"All language is a set of symbols whose use among its speakers assumes a shared past. How, then, can I translate into words the limitless Aleph, which my floundering mind can scarcely encompass? Mystics, faced with the same problem, fall back on symbols...Really, what I want to do is impossible, for any listing of an endless series is doomed to be infinitesimal. In that single gigantic instant I

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-29471224936375522372011-02-09T16:17:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.648-08:00

“Sacred space is a spacethat is transparentto transcendence,and everything withinsuch a space furnishesa base for meditation,even for the youngest child.When you enterthrough the door,everything within sucha space is symbolic,the whole worldis mythologized,and spiritual life is possible.This is a place whereyou can go and feel safeand bring forth what you areand what you might be.This is the

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-17302019115532739062011-02-07T16:47:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.648-08:00

"When you touch one thingwith deep awareness,you touch everything."— Thich Nhat HanhBuddhist Monk / Author(1926 - )"Time is the substancefrom which I am made.Time is a riverwhich carries me along,but I am the river;it is a tiger thatdevours me,but I am the tiger;it is a firethat consumes me,but I am the fire. "- Jorge Luis BorgesAuthor / Essayist(1899 - 1986)

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-24030100469241286432011-02-05T12:50:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.648-08:00

Having, with my last post, reached 200 blog entries over the seven years that I've been posting - and apropos of nothing in particular - I was curious to see what form a word cloud of my blog would take. There is a site that allows users to link to the URL of any blog (or any other web page that has an Atom or RSS feed) and then automatically generates a wordle. The wordle may be loosely tuned by

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-57498762922750737092011-02-04T18:38:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.648-08:00

“A human being is part of thewhole called by us a universe,a part limited in time and space.He experiences himself,his thoughts and his feelings,as something separatefrom the rest,a kind of optical delusionof his consciousness.This delusion is a kindof prison for us;it restricts us to ourpersonal decisions and ouraffections to a fewpersons nearest to us.Our task must be to freeourselves from this

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-77311467773896331992011-02-03T16:27:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.649-08:00

"The obvious is thatwhich is never seenuntil someoneexpresses it simply."- Khalil GibranPoet / Mystic(1883 - 1931)"Order is not pressurewhich is imposedfrom without,but an equilibriumwhich is set upfrom within."- Jose Ortega y GassetPhilosopher(1883 - 1955)

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-37005708157526176542011-02-02T16:27:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.649-08:00

"Broadening our attunement beyond the horizons of the individual self awakens one to the meaning encoded into existence - a kind of cognitive "super-logic" that reveals a different purpose, a larger pattern, than anything we might previously have imagined. That is exactly what a spiritual awakening is - shifting from one perspective to another, until we finally glimpse meaningfulness where our

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-84302701290145961162011-01-30T11:54:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.649-08:00

"All fixed set patternsare incapable ofadaptability or pliability.The truth is outsideof all fixed patterns."- Bruce Lee(1940 - 1973)"Our bodily foodis changed into us,but our spiritual foodchanges us into itself."- Meister Eckhart(1260 - 1327)

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-2827048726896762442011-01-29T14:35:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.649-08:00

"You have heard much of this worldyet what you seen of this world?What is its form and substance?...You are asleep and your vision is a dream;all you are seeing is a mirage.When you awake up on the morn of the last dayyou will know all this to be fancy and illusion;When you have ceased to see double,Heaven and Earth will become transformed;when the real sun unveils his face to ou,the moon, the

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-10893252783049987432011-01-25T18:12:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.649-08:00

"Every man takesthe limits of hisown field of visionfor the limits of the world."-Arthur SchopenhauerPhilosopher(1788 - 1860)"Man is the greatmystery of God,the microcosm orthe complete abridgementof the whole universe...a hieroglyphic ofeternity and time."- Jacob BoehmeMystic / Theologian(1575 - 1624)

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-86180543456317746332011-01-24T16:21:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.650-08:00

"As a mountain (a whole structure) moves forward in time, old centers are preserved and new centers are generated; centers will always tend to form in such a way as to preserve and enhance previous structure. Beauty will occur without effort in any world where the wholeness is allowed to unfold smoothly and truthfully, without disturbing previously existing centers. Everything becomes a single

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-91914159096218975692011-01-20T16:54:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.650-08:00

"What pattern connectsthe crab to the lobsterand the orchid to theprimrose and all the fourof them to me?And me to you? ...The pattern which connectsis a metapattern.It is a pattern of patterns."- Gregory BatesonAnthropologist(1904 - 1980)"A pattern of eventscannot be separatedfrom the spacewhere it occurs."- Christopher AlexanderArchitect(1936 - )

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-89497182180511081812011-01-19T16:18:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.650-08:00

"You must always keep in mind that a path is only a path. Each path is only one of a million paths. If you feel that you must now follow it, you need not stay with it under any circumstances. Any path is only a path. There is no affront to yourself or others in dropping a path if that is what your heart tells you to do. But your decision to keep on a path or to leave it must be free of fear and

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-69121130068917284832011-01-17T12:00:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.650-08:00

History is replete with lists of names and memorable biographies of the many gifted and talented artists that have graced our world. Indeed, these lists are so long and voluminous (and only growing ever more so), we may sometimes wonder if there are perhaps too many names already on them! But, of course, though not every artist is a Picasso, and not every photographer a Cartier-Bresson, each of

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-3036858245331883802011-01-16T15:25:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.650-08:00

“The spiritual world is one single spirit who stands like unto a light behind the bodily world and who, when any single creature comes into being, shine through it like a window. According to the kind or size of the window less or more light enters the world. The light itself however remains unchanged.”- Aziz NasafiSufi Mystic"We are born into theworld of nature;our second birth is intothe world

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-66431080094904627462011-01-15T09:12:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.651-08:00

"The Mind like a mirroris brightly illuminatingand knows no obstructions,It penetrates the vast universeto its minutest crevices;All its contents,multitudinous in form,are reflected in the Mind,Which, shining like a perfect gem,has no surface,nor the inside."- Yoka DaishiZen Master(665 - 713)"Your eye has not strength enoughto gaze at the burning sun,but you can see its burning lightby watching

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-34388803876489651892011-01-13T16:33:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.651-08:00

“The objects of sense in the world ever changing — These we adhere to as things of reality; But in the ocean of birth and death, they drown us. How long shall we wander in this path of dreams? This world to us! Indeed seems permanent and fixed, yet after all, what is it but a road of dreams to which life after life we must perforce return?”- Zeami Motokiyo (1363 - 1443)Aesthetician /

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-57278102794100660042011-01-12T17:35:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.651-08:00

"The young man apologized very politely for having awakened K., introduced himself as the son of the Castle steward and said:'This village is Castle property, anybody residing or spending the night here is effectively residing or spending the night at the Castle. Nobody may do so without permission from the Count. But you have no such permission or at least you haven't shown it yet.'K., who had

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-52631036993246733492011-01-08T10:48:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.651-08:00

About a year ago I received an email from Stuart Sweeney, who introduced himself as a U.K. based (and Scottish born) musician. He said that after years of working behind-the-scenes for other musicians, he was in the process of releasing a debut album of his own music and that he was looking for images to feature on the CD and album case. He asked if he could use one of the images in my Spirit &

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-33136775886724653302011-01-07T19:44:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.651-08:00

"If a stone is thrown into a pond,waves are produced that travelthroughout the pond.Every wave produces effectsin every part of the pond,resulting in some influence or other.Similarly, the wave of individual lifethrough its activity producesan influence in all fields of the cosmos."- Maharishi Mahesh YogiScience of Being and Art of Living"We cannot live only for ourselves.A thousand fibers

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-89291998237779251492011-01-06T15:37:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.652-08:00

"Everything is dual;everything has poles;everything has its pair of opposites;like and unlike are the same;opposites are identical in nature,but different in degree;extremes meet;all truths are but half-truths;all paradoxes may be reconciled."- Hermes Trismegistus(The Kybalian: A Study of theHermetic Philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece, 1908)"Every perception is anawareness of contrast,of a

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-49114802959723224782011-01-04T19:50:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.652-08:00

"I almost never set out tophotograph a landscape,nor do I think of my cameraas a means of recording a mountainor an animal unless Iabsolutely need a 'record shot'.My first thought isalways of light."- Galen Rowell (1940 - 2002)"Color is the place where ourbrain and the universe meet."- Paul Klee(1879 - 1940)

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-7399559749846955512011-01-02T09:50:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.652-08:00

"Trees are the teachers, revealers, containers, companions, and protectors of the sacred, and our relationship to them, whether we meet them gently in a forest or, muscled and equipped, cut them down for the price of lumber, touches on our deepest values, emotions, and sense of meaning."-Thomas MooreThe Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life"The tree bears its thousand yearsas one large majestic moment.

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-7979636584573442232011-01-01T14:16:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.652-08:00

"...far from light emerging gradually out of the womb of our darkness, it is the Light, existing before all else was made which, patiently, surely, eliminates our darkness. As for us creatures, of ourselves we are but emptiness and obscurity... Radiant Word, blazing Power... reach us simultaneously through all that is most immense and most inward within us and around us."- Pierre Teilhard de

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-23889587518837932072010-12-26T15:55:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.652-08:00

"We pass into mystical statesfrom out of ordinary consciousnessas from a less into a more,as from a smallness into a vastness,and at the same timeas from an unrest to a rest.We feel them as reconciling,unifying states."- William JamesVariety of Religious Experience"When we are touched bymystic grace and allow ourselvesto enter its field without fear,we see that we are all parts of a whole,

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-34306288357199238352010-12-25T08:17:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.653-08:00

Seeing the Invisible by Andy Ilachinski Make Your Own Book

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-23007474435326295762010-12-25T07:24:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.653-08:00

“Everyone who is seriously involved inthe pursuit of science becomesconvinced that a spirit is manifestin the laws of the Universe —a spirit vastly superior to that of man,and one in the face of which we,with our modest powers,must feel humble."- Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)(from Max Jammer's Einstein and Religion,Princeton University Press, 1999)

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-55694618103587399982010-12-22T17:41:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.653-08:00

“The farther and more deeplywe penetrate into matter,by means of increasinglypowerful methods,the more we are confounded bythe interdependence of its parts...It is impossible to cut into the network,to isolate a portion without it becomingfrayed and unravelled at all its edges.”— Pierre Teihard de ChardinPhilosopher (1881-1955)

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-69912984139546243412010-12-21T17:16:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.653-08:00

"Now I was suddenly made aware of another world of beauty and mystery such as I had never imagined to exist, except in poetry. It was as though I had begun to see and smell and hear for the first time... I experienced an overwhelming emotion in the presence of nature, especially at evening. It began to wear a kind of sacramental character for me... I felt again the presence of an unfathomable

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-38610351121953210332010-12-19T08:02:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.653-08:00

"Everything we seehides another thing,we always want to seewhat is hidden by what we see."— Rene Magritte(1898 - 1967 )"Everything in the world hasa hidden meaning. . . .Men, animals, trees, stars,they are all hieroglyphics.When you see them youdo not understand them.You think they are really men,animals, trees, stars.It is only years laterthat you understand."- Nikos Kazantzakis(1883 - 1957)

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-59832025067483941792010-12-18T11:55:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.653-08:00

Morpheus: I'm trying to free your mind, Neo.But I can only show you the door.You're the one that has to walk through it.- Matrix (1999)"If the doors of perceptionwere cleansed every thingwould appear to man as it is, infinite.For man has closed himself up,till he sees all things thru'narrow chinks of his cavern."- William Blake (1757 - 1827)

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-34311820114883343802010-12-15T16:10:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.654-08:00

About 35 years ago, the late great curator of photography at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in NY, John Szarkowski, published a landmark book called Looking at Photographs. Intended as "... a picture book, and its ...purpose ...to provide the material for simple delectation" (according to Szarkowski, from his own introduction to that book), it was, and is, considerably more, giving life to

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-64192618829266606352010-12-14T17:30:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.654-08:00

“In kindergarten we drew three daffodils thathad just been picked out of the yard;and while I was drawing,my sharpened yellow pencil and thecup of the yellow daffodilsgave off whiffs just alike.That the pencil doing thedrawing should give off thesame smell as the flower itdrew seemed part of the art lesson.Children, like animals, use all theirsenses to discover the world.Then artists come along

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-48646480455761410952010-12-13T20:04:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.654-08:00

"Nothing in Nature is random. ...A thing appears randomonly through the incompletenessof our knowledge."-Benedict Spinoza(1632-1677)"Our minds are finite,and yet even in thesecircumstances of finitudewe are surrounded by possibilitiesthat are infinite,and the purpose of human lifeis to grasp as much as we canout of the infinitude.''- Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947)

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-15710500516024428042010-12-12T10:02:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.654-08:00

"We live in ourdescription of reality."— Gregory BatesonAnthropologist / Systems Theorist (1904 - 1980)"If you cling to appearances while searching for meaning,you won't find a thing."— Budhidharma (440 - 533)

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-9261135634320236942010-12-09T16:19:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.654-08:00

“As entropy increases, the universe,and all closed systems in the universe,tend naturally to deteriorate andlose their distinctiveness,to move from the least tothe most probable state,from a state of organization anddifferentiation in which distinctionsand forms exist, to a state ofchaos and sameness.”— Norbert WeinerMathematician (1894-1964)

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-2958635369038616482010-12-05T08:30:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.655-08:00

“The actual infinite arises in three contexts: first when it is realized in the most complete form, in a fully independent otherworldly being, in Deo, where I call it the Absolute Infinite or simply Absolute; second when it occurs in the contingent, created world; third when the mind grasps it in abstracto as a mathematical magnitude, number or order type...”“...The fear of infinity is a form of

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-88686265957898941882010-12-04T10:30:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.655-08:00

"On the day of the Great On-Turning two soberly dressed programmers with briefcases arrived. Their names were Lunkwill and Fook. For a few moments they sat in respectful silence, then, after exchanging a quiet glance with Fook, Lunkwill leaned forward and touched a small black panel. The subtlest of hums indicated that the massive computer was now in total active mode. After a pause it spoke to

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-63145348649008683582010-12-02T17:39:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.655-08:00

“We hypostatize information into objects.Rearrangement of objects is change inthe content of the information;the message has changed.This is the language which wehave lost the ability to read.We ourselves are a part of this language;changes in us are changes in thecontent of the information.We ourselves are information rich;information enters us,is processed and is thenprojected outward once more

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-75868045145778969702010-12-01T17:32:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.655-08:00

"True, without falsehood, certain and most true, that which is above is the same as that which is below, and that which is below is the same as that which is above, for the performance of miracles of the One Thing. And as all things are from the One, by the meditation of One, so all things have their birth from this One Thing by adaptation. The Sun is its Father, the Moon its Mother, the Wind

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908930302185152051.post-48354161326200720972010-11-29T16:34:00.000-08:002012-02-08T04:10:54.656-08:00

"...This web of time—the strands of which approach one another, bifurcate, intersect or ignore each other through the centuries—embraces every possibility. We do not exist in most of them. In some you exist and not I, while in others I do, and you do not, and yet in others both of us exist. In this one, in which chance has favored me, you have come to my gate. In another, you, crossing the garden

enhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565588943538357675noreply@blogger.com