Each moment of our lives is both a death and a resurrection.

Extended meditation practice teaches us that each moment of our lives is both a death and a resurrection. Our thoughts, feelings, projects and plans appear fresh out of the sky-like spaciousness of a human awareness that is ever rooted in its Divine Source. Then, in the very next moment, these same elements die back into this vastness - before once again being born and taking on fresh life in the very next instant.

Last weekend as I was taking these pictures, I could see this time-based reality of successive death and resurrection reflected in a spacial metaphor as well. The light-and-shadow patterns appearing in Medano Creek toward sunset - as well as in the peaks of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and Great Sand Dunes at sunrise - illustrate visually this constant interplay of death and resurrection, of darkness and light, just as they also showcase the profound beauty that arises in the process.

For this reason, sunrise and sunset are a photographer's favorite time of day. For it is then that the contrasts of light and shadow are generally greatest. As philosopher A. N. Whitehead says, "beauty is the harmony of contrasts" - and this would include the reconciliation of both light and darkness, of longing and fulfillment, and - ultimately - of both death and resurrection. May we ever keep in mind this liberating realization during this week's commemorative Good Friday / Easter season :)

Photos: Great Sand Dunes National Park, CO, March 27-28, 2015