It's
amazing how much time I spend waiting for a flower to be still - for
just a split second - so I can finally snap a shot. That's especially
true in the mountains, where breezes, and often stiff winds, blow almost
constantly. The challenge is amplified by a flower such as the
columbine, which blooms on the end of a long, spindly stem, making it
especially sensitive to the least movement of air.
However, when I finally snap the shot, that moment is immortalized,
giving the viewer the impression that such stillness-and-clarity is the
usual condition of the flower.
Similarly, in the realm of revelation, the human race has spent hours, days, weeks, months and sometimes years watching and waiting for that brief moment when life suddenly makes sense and becomes filled with the blaze of divine fire. When these moments occur to someone else - to a religious founder, for example - we use the term "religion." And when these moments occur to us personally, we speak of "spirituality." In either case, these split seconds of epiphany are then recorded - in sacred scripture, in the pages of our own personal journal, or in our memory - and are thereby immortalized for all time.
The next step we call "faith," whereby we are called to take the moment of epiphany and practice and embody it throughout all of those moments when life seems dry and ordinary. In the process, we gradually BECOME the revelation rather than simply EXPERIENCE it. As the old Hindu phrase says, we learn to "BECOME sugar" rather than simply "TASTE sugar." With a photograph, this process occurs when we place ourselves (by "faith") within the scene and then practice the state of mind and heart it brings us. In the case of this photo of the columbine and stream, we might learn to "go with the flow" of the stream of life (rather than dam it up with our usual anxiety and fear), and all learn to RADIATE our own sacredness (like the flower) rather than constantly TALKING about it. In both cases, we PRACTICE the scene rather than simply EXPERIENCE it visually.
Photo: Colorado Columbine and waterfall; Chasm Lake Trail, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; July 12, 2013
Similarly, in the realm of revelation, the human race has spent hours, days, weeks, months and sometimes years watching and waiting for that brief moment when life suddenly makes sense and becomes filled with the blaze of divine fire. When these moments occur to someone else - to a religious founder, for example - we use the term "religion." And when these moments occur to us personally, we speak of "spirituality." In either case, these split seconds of epiphany are then recorded - in sacred scripture, in the pages of our own personal journal, or in our memory - and are thereby immortalized for all time.
The next step we call "faith," whereby we are called to take the moment of epiphany and practice and embody it throughout all of those moments when life seems dry and ordinary. In the process, we gradually BECOME the revelation rather than simply EXPERIENCE it. As the old Hindu phrase says, we learn to "BECOME sugar" rather than simply "TASTE sugar." With a photograph, this process occurs when we place ourselves (by "faith") within the scene and then practice the state of mind and heart it brings us. In the case of this photo of the columbine and stream, we might learn to "go with the flow" of the stream of life (rather than dam it up with our usual anxiety and fear), and all learn to RADIATE our own sacredness (like the flower) rather than constantly TALKING about it. In both cases, we PRACTICE the scene rather than simply EXPERIENCE it visually.
Photo: Colorado Columbine and waterfall; Chasm Lake Trail, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; July 12, 2013
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