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Archive for the ‘photography’ Category

More, more, more

Posted in from the dark room, from the living room, life, philosophy, photography on April 25, 2015| 1 Comment »

Working the vines

Living surrounded by vineyards is influencing my perspective on life.

There is a little shop next to the tourist information office in the nearby village of Segonzac where you can drop by and taste a cognac or two and explore the individual produce of several local distillers. This is small scale cognac production – families who have worked the same vineyards for generations, tended the vines, plant by plant, through the seasons of each year.

Every year they strive to produce the best quality grapes they can from their vineyard. And each year they strive to produce the tastiest cognac they can – taste which is not just pleasurable but unique and distinctive.

It’s delightful to head home with a bottle of cognac produced 40 years ago by the father of the man who sells it to you.

The focus is quality. Quality and that unique, distinctive flavour. These vineyards and distilleries have been productive for years and years. They don’t “succeed” by producing more and more every year.

They don’t survive by buying up all the surrounding vineyards and becoming global mega-corporations. (there are cognac producers in the area which are a bit like that – big, multinational companies).

They thrive by doing well what they do well. Their focus is on quality and what makes their particular cognac unique.

We hear so much these days about the need for “growth” – more consumption, more production, more sales, more profits.

There is another way.

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The narrative of change

Posted in creativity, from the living room, life, narrative, photography on April 23, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Shell

We create stories by weaving together the past, the present and the future. Stories have a direction. They develop from “once upon a time” and lead up to “The End”. Although we can always find a “prequel” and a “sequel” which layer this story into another one.

No story stands alone.

No life exists in isolation.

The story of the Universe is a story of change…..from a time about 14 billion years ago of the emergence of stars which became great creators of, ultimately, all the elements of the Periodic Table, to the creation of the Earth, Life on Earth, and the evolution of consciousness. We haven’t reached “The End”. The Universe story is still being unfolded.

The story of Life is a story of change……every single organism is born, matures, and dies.

The story of any individual is a story of change. We develop from a single, fertilised egg, to this incredible complex, adaptive organism with astonishing powers of adaptation, resilience, self-healing and growth.

Your story is a story of change.

Your story is embedded in multiple layered stories of others.

And here is the most exciting thing – YOU are the author, and the hero, of your unique personal story. Every day you write the next few pages as you live them. You write today’s passages from the memories of all the ones which went before, woven into the events and experiences of today, set within the framework of your hopes and expectations which you create with your imagination.

You write today’s passages, and indeed your entire story in the context of the multiple stories you hear from others – family stories, friends’ stories, colleagues’ stories, and the stories told by the Establishment, the Media and others.

Finally, your story becomes a stimulus and an influence on others. Others will write their stories, live their lives in particular ways, partly because of the stories you create and send out into the Universe through the way you live your daily life.

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Change, change, change

Posted in creativity, from the dark room, from the living room, life, personal growth, philosophy, photography, science on April 21, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Dandelion

A dandelion seed head – did you ever play with one, blowing the seeds off and counting the number of blows it took to scatter them all, saying that the number equalled the time of day? We even called the dandelion seeds like this a “dandelion clock”.

Strange game when you think about it. Was there ever a relationship between the number of puffs and the hours of the day?

Yet, this image remains a powerful symbol of the passage of time, and hence of change.

It’s one of my favourite images.

i don’t know if you have ever stopped to think about what the inevitability of change really means. You might be surprised to know that it’s only in fairly recent times that scientists have begun to describe the universe in a historical and evolutionary way. Before this understanding there has been a way of thinking based on the idea of permanent laws – laws of physics, laws of the universe, laws of Nature – laws which don’t change. But this idea is undermined by the discovery that the universe is constantly changing. As it changes, it changes itself, because we have also discovered that everything is connected, that there are no “essential fixed, unchanging elements” which are the raw materials or building blocks on which these so-called laws act.

This new understanding shifts the focus from being to becoming, and gives becoming primacy.

All is in a constant process of becoming.

There are no fixed states. There are no permanent entities. There are no unchanging laws.

Yes, there is what endures. Yes, through our lifetimes there is plenty which seems to last. But ultimately, if you take a longer term perspective, nothing endures. Nothing is fixed.

Some people might find this scary. Some people might find the uncertainty this brings hard to handle. But I find it stimulating. Understanding the inescapable nature of change helps you to become aware of emergence – life is in a continual process of emergence – constantly producing the new, constantly creating.

It’s this connection between impermanence, change, emergence and creativity which excites me.

Shifting the emphasis from being to becoming, shifts your focus to the processes of creation. It also moves the attention away from objects and onto connections/relationships and actions. (See my series on this blog under the A to Z of becoming title, for practical ways to explore this)

This “dandelion clock” becomes a symbol of change, and so one of creation – after all it is a SEED head, literally bursting with potential new lives.

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The Flourisher’s Way

Posted in creativity, from the dark room, from the living room, life, personal growth, philosophy, photography on April 20, 2015| 1 Comment »

Dandelion path

Flourishing.

A lovely word. As a descriptor of a quality of life, it says so much more than just surviving, existing, or getting by.

It’s a word which says something about realising potential. It’s about blossoming, growing, developing and essentially about becoming all you can be.

Flourishing as a verb refers to a process. It’s not a fixed state. It’s not a goal which can be achieved then there’s something else beyond that. Flourishing is ongoing. Flourishing is a way of living.

What strikes me about this photo is that it really is a snapshot of that process of flourishing. There is an abundance of life, and there is also an abundance of potential. I know that as I return to this path through the year I’ll see a even more flourishing as the vines grow and the grapes appear.

How to live?

A question we all ask ourselves from time to time.

i suggest one way is to get into the flow of flourishing…..to pursue whatever it is that furthers flourishing – both our own personal flourishing, and that of all the other Life around us. Because in prioritising flourishing we can not only become, as fully as possible, all we can become, but we become the person who supports and encourages the flourishing of others.

Thats the Flourisher’s Way.

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I have my eye on you

Posted in from the dark room, from the living room, life, perception, personal growth, philosophy, photography on April 19, 2015| 1 Comment »

Cockerel

This is the bird which lives a couple of houses away from me. I hear him every day but now I have seen him!

And it sure looks like he has seen me too!

In my A to Z of Becoming, O can stand for Observe. So that’s my theme for this week.

I’m sure you will have had the experience of traveling a familiar route and when you arrive you realise you have been so lost in thought that you haven’t noticed anything en route. This can even happen when you a driving car. It’s not that you aren’t seeing anything but I think these experiences say something interesting about how we observe. In other words, observing is not just about what our eyes “see”, it’s about how we process that flow of information and energy within us.

One way to change what you observe is to set an intention to observe. Before you head off on your usual journey you can ask yourself “what am I going to notice today?”. Then while you are out, you are more likely to notice what is around you and so observe.

I find an easy way to increase your awareness and so your observation is to set the intention to photograph what you notice. These days with smartphones, we all have a camera in our pockets or bags, but the way to make sure you take more photographs is to actually have the device in your hand. I do that with my camera. When I set off out to observe and to photograph I set off with my camera in my hand – not in my bag or my pocket – in my hand.

Happy observing!

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Place

Posted in from the dark room, from the living room, life, personal growth, philosophy, photography on April 18, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Where we live is important in understanding who we are.

I don’t just mean the environment or the climate, although those things are certainly important. I mean more that aspect we think of as culture.

Not culture in the sense of theatre, opera and so on. But culture in terms of an approach to life, a focus on certain activities, a set of values and priorities which all influence design and choices.

The interaction between ourselves and the environments and cultures in which we live is a constant two way feedback loop. We are influenced by what is around us, and that influences our choices. Our choices then change the environment around us and fashion a culture. And then back around again..being further influenced by what is around us.

I think this photo I took the other day captures something of the culture of France. Or at least of the part of France where I am living now.

It says something about priorities. It says something about a connection to Nature and seasons. It says something about a kind of economic activity. It says something about aesthetics and design.

It’s hard to define the culture we co-create, but living it is clear.

Living it is a different kind of knowing from defining, labelling and categorising.

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The engaged life

Posted in books, from the dark room, from the living room, life, neuroscience, personal growth, philosophy, photography, psychology on April 17, 2015| Leave a Comment »

To be fully alive is to be engaged with the rhythms and patterns of the natural world, but to be fully human is to reflect upon and celebrate this relationship – David Fideler


There is a tendency to reduce thinking to rational thought. But thinking is not only about logic.

Thinking involves contemplation, reflection and the experience of sensations and emotions.

It does seem to me, however, that one way to move from zombie to hero mode, is to think – in the fullest meaning of thinking – to become aware and then to make conscious choices

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That intricate web of reality

Posted in from the dark room, from the living room, life, personal growth, philosophy, photography, science on April 16, 2015| Leave a Comment »

wired

“Always think of the universe as one living organism, with a single substance and a single soul; and observe how all things are submitted to the single perceptivity of this one whole, all are moved by its single impulse, and all play their part in the causation of every event that happens. Remark the intricacy of skein, the complexity of the web.” Marcus Aurelius

For many years the dominant model of reality has been one of discrete parts. Now we are beginning to understand that everything is connected, that nothing can be fully understood if it is cut out of reality and considered as a separate part. This shift in world view moves us away from the machine model with its command and control management systems, to the life model of the organism, always changing, never fixed or permanent, vibrant, dynamic and flexible. Life can’t be controlled like a machine, but it can be enjoyed as a flow….beautiful, good and emergent. Becoming not being.

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Where I live now

Posted in creativity, from the dark room, from the living room, life, narrative, personal growth, philosophy, photography on April 15, 2015| Leave a Comment »

spring home

Here’s where I live now. With a cherry tree just coming into blossom.

The cherry blossom’s transience is a powerful reminder of the impermanence and constantly changing nature of all life.

I like how that dominates this photo.

This is where I live now. It’s not where I lived last year, and maybe it won’t be where I’ll be living next year. But that makes it all the more special for me.

Every day can be approached this way – every day is unique and has never been experienced by us before. Nor will it ever be experienced by us again.

First and last. The idea of living in the present moment.

But it’s difficult to really live in the present moment if that means only being aware of what exists in the here and now. How would we tie our experience of life together if we only had a focus on what was right here now? Well, we do something pretty amazing and unique to weave these moments together – we tell stories.

It’s through story that we experience the present moment not as something separate and detached from the rest of our lives, but as something created by our past experiences and memories, informed by our values and desires, and fashioned by our hopes and expectations.

That’s what story does – weaves the past, the present and the future into a seamless whole.

So, “where I live now” can’t be understood only from one image. It can only be understood as an integral part of the story of “me”.

The story of “me’, with me as the main protagonist, or “hero”, and me as the author, or “creator”. A story which is constantly becoming, continuously emerging, in amazing, and unpredicted ways.

Your story has the same characteristics. But it’s your story. Distinctly yours. Nobody else’s. Weaving your story today out of the threads of the past, the present and the future – that’s how you become the unique and amazing hero and creator that you are.

 

 

 

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A flower is an event

Posted in from the dark room, from the living room, from the reading room, life, neuroscience, perception, personal growth, philosophy, photography, psychology on April 14, 2015| Leave a Comment »

The living world is a realm of dynamic processes. A flower is not a thing, but an event, like a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis. But with the word, we take a living event and freeze it forever into a useful but stable category. As Goethe wrote, “How difficult it is, though, to refrain from replacing the thing with its sign, to keep the object alive before us instead of killing it with a word.”

  • David Fideler, in “Restoring the Soul of the World”

When you see a tulip opening in the warmth and light of the sun, you know in your heart this is not a thing, but an event.

Iain McGilchrist says, in “The Master and His Emissary”, that we use our left hemisphere to label and categorise. In so doing, we take the actions, the verbs of the real world and re-present them to ourselves as nouns, or as objects. If we stop there, we mis-understand the world. But if we re-present them to our other hemisphere then we can see the links, the connections, the what he calls “the between-ness” of the re-contextualised representations.

How much more wonderful the world seems to me when I see dynamic processes and connections all around me, rather than a collection of separate and separated “objects”.

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