If one looks at nature abstractly, one can see it is made up of line, color and form. Plato spoke of “
form“. And Indian philosophy talks of
Maya, the consensual reality that is a dream of our mortal bodies. Yogananda warns us not to get caught up in Maya and how easy it is to see it as real.
My photograph is a homage to the Abstract Expressionist artist,
Mark Rothko, a hero of sorts for me. He was reaching for spirituality, too, but did not follow Hindu thought. However, in his paintings, which I try to emulate in photography, one can see color, shape and form. This is a step away from the dream of life or “Maya” and a step towards the spiritual.
Next time, when looking at nature, try looking beyond the scene to the formal elements, and see how the dream of life is a delusion in which our minds spend most of their time.
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February 7, 2014 | Categories: Abstract Photography, Animal & Landscape Photographs, Nature Photography, Paramahansa Yogananda | Tags: Abstract Expressionism, Abstract Photography, Art History, Color, Form, Hinduism, Indian philosophy, Line, Mark Rothko, Maya, Nature, Paramahansa Yogananda, Plato, Reality, Shape | 8 Comments
Here one second,
the next, gone,
with traces only in our hearts.
The ephemeral nature
of all life.
Our loved ones,
people and creatures,
here with us
for a pause in eternity
and gone for seeming eons.
*
It is as the Hindus say
all “Maya,”
a dream of life,
an apparition,
some form of us
awakens one day
somewhere
we know not
when or where or how
right now.
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December 4, 2013 | Categories: Animal & Landscape Photographs, Loss, Meditations, Nature Photography, Poetry | Tags: Animal Photography, Apparitions, Death, Diptych Photography, Diptychs, Dream of Life, Dreams, Ephermal nature of life, Hindu religion, Hinduism, Landscape Photography, Life, Life after death, Life Cycles, loss, Maya, Meditations, Nature photography | 11 Comments
We live in a dream world the Hindus call “Maya”
All is illusory–
a cosmic dream from which we will awaken
when we die.
Just as a baby may think
it is the “end”
of life as he knew it
when he is being shuttled through the birth canal
while being born,
so, too, we may think it is the end
when we are dying
to this world of delusion.
But we will be born to something real,
something just beyond the veil of illusion
in which we are so enmeshed during this “life” as we know it.
“When we awaken in God we shall realize that mortal life is only a picture made of shadows and light, cast on a cosmic movie screen” ~ Paramahansa Yogananda
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June 27, 2013 | Categories: Animal & Landscape Photographs, Meditations, Mood Photographs, Poetry | Tags: Barn photographs, Consciousness, Cosmic dream, Delusion, Hinduism, Illusion, Maya, Paramahansa Yogananda, Reality, Window reflections | 6 Comments
