A Divine Center

As a student of the world, I am constantly observing, piecing together and analyzing the various aspects of life. It is interesting to me to take-in the external differences that each individual displays. Some people seem shy, others gregarious and many are just going-through-the motions of living. With such diverse and varied cultures, many of these personality types, which on the surface seem pretty similar, are even more sundry, when viewed through different cultural lenses.

If we were to untangle the mixed perspectives of religion, remove the overbearing voice of politics and unlocked the habitual practices of culture, what lies at the center? People. People are influenced by religion, politics and their culture but they are NOT those things. At the very center of every single person on the planet is a warm, loving, helpful soul, who has a beautiful light to shine with everyone else. Unfortunately, the mess of stuff around one creates such fear that oftentimes, the light is squeezed away so that all that can be seen is darkness.

So, on that note, the quote of the day is:

“The flavor of life is experienced when we are able to appreciate the unique richness of the whole, manifested in an assorted blend of mottled distinction.” tc

Scenic View

Sitting around a campfire last week, a few of us were talking about taking photographs. "Jim" loved to take photos of everything, "Jason talked about taking photos of ‘his stuff’ and "Thom" expressed a love of photographing flowers and sunsets. I prefer scenic photographs and shy away from pictures with people, unless it is a “family outing” type of snapshot. Everyone was quite surprised to hear that I didn’t like photographing people.

The next morning, I was making my way across the beach and realized that a man was taking photos of the morning sunrise. My path was taking me directly in front of his camera. Quickly, I turned away and started to walk in another direction in order to avoid ‘ruining’ his photo.

No matter how smart you are or how talented one may be, if you do not continue to learn and grow throughout life, you rot! As I veered out of his way, I apologized for walking into the photograph. The gentleman turned out to be a visitor from another country. He opened his arms and gave me a big smile. What he said to me was priceless.

As one person trying to reach out to many by blending my hobby of photography and an education in human wellness, I want to express the deep-rooted connection that we all share with Mother Earth. On this morning, I learned a valuable lesson. The lesson is that if, I am wanting to communicate the delicate, harmonious balance that people share with the land, why don’t I have people in any of my photographs?

So, on that note, the quote of the day is (What this kind man said to me):

“Everyone belongs to the scenery.” tc