Seeing the Unseeable

Often when I make photographs I think about

Seeing the Unseeable

Through the lens of my camera I look deeply into the marrow of life to discover its hidden order, its rhythms, the luminant transparency of it all. I want to look deeply into the nature of things and see the hidden grace and intelligence that is often overlooked.

Everything

I want to make poems that say right out, plainly,
what I mean, that don’t go looking for the
laces of elaboration, puffed sleeves. I want to
keep close and use often words like
heavy, heart, joy, soon, and to cherish
the question mark and her bold sister

the dash. I want to write with quiet hands. I
want to write while crossing the fields that are
fresh with daisies and everlasting and the
ordinary grass. I want to make poems while thinking of
the bread of heaven and the
cup of astonishment; let them be

songs in which nothing is neglected,
not a hope, not a promise. I want to make poems
that look into the earth and the heavens
and see the unseeable. I want them to honor
both the heart of faith, and the light of the world;
the gladness that says, without any words, everything.

   — Mary Oliver

Being Open and Willing to See

I am fascinated by stories of animals and trees and insects and their intelligence, which we are only beginning to understand.

Yesterday I read an interesting article about an elephant that had figured out how to hold a water hose with her trunk to give itself a shower rather than having to use her trunk to spray water over herself. The article went on to describe another elephant which seemed to be jealous of, or angry with the first elephant. This elephant learned to step on the hose the first elephant was holding to create a kink in the hose so that the water wouldn’t flow.

Think about that story for awhile and the rich intelligence and emotional life of elephants that it suggests.

Because of recent experiments designed with the elephant’s perspective in mind, scientists now have solid evidence that elephants are just as brilliant as they are big: They are adept tool users and cooperative problem solvers; they are highly empathic, comforting one another when upset; and they probably do have a sense of self.

   — The Science is In: Elephants are Even Smarter Than We Realized, Scientific American Article Online

I believe that for everything we ordinarily see and understand about the world there is as much or more that is unseen and misunderstood. We need to suspend all of the assumptions we’ve made for so long about humanity’s supposed dominance and intelligence and become open, curious and willing to see what is really true.

In these post-election days I am suspending judgment, watching, waiting, to see what really transpires. While I don’t expect great things from the new president and congress, I am hoping to be surprised by unsung heros hiding in plain sight. While I am not looking through Pollyanna eyes I am also not looking through eyes of doom and gloom. One day at a time is my current mantra every time I notice myself beginning to catastrophize in my thinking.

One day at time, actually one moment at a time, my friends. One moment at a time.

May you walk in beauty.

Note: today’s photos made today through my living room windows, some made with camera, some with iPhone. Top photo is double exposure with Photoshop divide blend mode. Notice how much color I found on what I thought of as a very gray November day.