Indaba: Life Journey

Showing posts with label Life Journey. Show all posts

Sunday, April 9, 2023

Transformation

Behold, I Make All Things New

(Rev. 21:3-5)

Happy Day of Transformation!

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Birdwings ~Rumi

Birdwings

Your grief for what you’ve lost lifts a mirror

up to where you’re bravely working.

Expecting the worst, you look, and instead,
here's the joyful face you’ve been wanting to see.

Your hand opens and closes and opens and closes.
If it were always a fist or always stretched open,
you would be paralyzed.

Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding,
the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated
as birdwings.

~Jalaluddin Rumi

Excerpt from an Online Essay by Margaret Lottridge July 2004

Jalaluddin Rumi (Mawlana) 1207-1273

http://www.towerpoetry.ca/talk-lottridge.html

Jalaluddin Rumi, Persia’s best known lyrical poet and mystic, was born circa September 30, 1207 A.D. in Balkh, Central Asia, in what is now modern Afghanistan. Eighteen years later his family fled from invading Mongols, settling for a time in Laranda, Central Anatolia (present-day Karaman, Turkey) where Jalaluddin married Jawhar Khatun. His father, Baha’uddin Valad, the “Sultan of the Learned," moved the family to Konya (modern Turkey) in 1228 and founded a school of Islamic philosophy and theology.

Jalaluddin Rumi became a teacher and theologian who wrote scholarly articles. His traditional education was enhanced by the guidance of his father, a mystic and theologian, and through initiation experiences with his first teacher, Sufi master Sayyid Burhanuddin Muhaqqiq of Termez (a former student of Baha’uddin). Upon his father’s demise in January of 1231, Jalaluddin Rumi inherited the school and took over the responsibilities of guiding its students.

Rumi’s theoretical knowledge of divine principles was transformed by his relationship with Shamsuddin Muhammad of Tabriz. Shams, an enlightened being, a wandering dervish with an existential initiation and teaching style, was searching for someone to receive his knowledge – “someone whose soul was as wide and deep as his own.” Rumi, with his open, questioning mind, found in Shams the perfect mirror of his own soul – his Beloved – the Friend in much of his poetry.

Rumi and Shams met on a street in Konya in the fall of 1244.
Various accounts of their first encounter illustrate that the bond between Shams and Rumi was immediate and life-changing. In one account, Shams falls to the ground in a faint at Rumi’s replies to his introductory queries. Another account has Shams throwing Rumi’s treasured books into a fountain and telling him to begin to live what he’s been reading. He says the pages will be dry, as they were, if he lifts them out. Rumi leaves them in the water and they begin the first of many mystical retreats together. This is when Rumi’s scholarly writings took on the wings of poetry….

~Margaret Lottridge 2004

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Heartbeat

“Memory was that woman on the train. Insane in the way she sifted through dark things in a closet and emerged with the most unlikely ones - a fleeting look, a feeling. The smell of smoke. A windscreen wiper. A mother's marble eyes. Quite sane in the way she left huge tracts of darkness veiled. Unremembered.”
― Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things

Monday, March 18, 2013

Chiaroscuro

Chiaroscuro from Vitùc on Vimeo.

Shot with iPhone and Hipstamatic App / Tinto 1848 + D-Type Plate
Italy 12.2012

Music composed by David Ianni
Prayers of Silence - Rosa Mystica I
http://davidianni.com

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Back in Mind (film)

Back in Mind from Ben on Vimeo.

Sometimes you will experience something beautiful and then you are happy to capture it. It’s snowing heavily and I decide to go for a ride on my bike, to capture some snowy landscapes with the GOPRO3 mounted on my bike. (the blurry spots on some images are snowflakes) I also made some shots with the Panasonic HDC-SD10 under a bridge, because of the snow. And then suddenly………… This video is about a meeting with a hare in the snow. And on my way home, I could only think about that special meeting. I’ve tried to show that feeling in this video “Back in Mind”.

ferrie = differentieel made a beautiful soundtrack, did the audio and gave me a lot of feedback on the images. Thanks a lot Ferrie!

The soundtrack is a variation on the composition La habitación de Philip en Baltimore (2° versión) by Luis Rojas copyleft 2007
https://soundcloud.com/#luisrojas2011/la-habitaci-n-de-philip-en

Luis Rojas:
facebook.com/luisrojas.bahia
soundcloud.com/luisrojas2011

ferrie = differentieel:
http://dailym.net/2013/02/back-in-mind/
http://audio.dailym.net/2013/02/soundtrack-back-in-mind/

2013 Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0

Thursday, February 21, 2013

In One Kiss

An American Wedding by Thomas Hawk November 12, 2010

“A man had given all other bliss,
And all his worldly worth for this
To waste his whole heart in one kiss
Upon her perfect lips.”
― Alfred Tennyson

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Tribal Woman

Closed Path

I thought that my voyage had come to its end
at the last limit of my power,---that the path before me was closed,
that provisions were exhausted
and the time come to take shelter in a silent obscurity.
But I find that thy will knows no end in me.
And when old words die out on the tongue,
new melodies break forth from the heart;
and where the old tracks are lost,
new country is revealed with its wonders.

Rabindranath Tagore

About the Photographer:

George Koruth

George Koruth is a photographer based in India. His collection captures India's rich culture and traditions. One of his specialties is street photography. Be it a smiling child or a wrinkled old woman, you will find a unique collection of faces here. He also loves to showcase social issues and hopes his photographs can give a voice to those people who don't have any say in this world. George has done work for international magazines and websites and has been featured in Indian magazines.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Let’s Find a Way

Piglet's Song

Let's find a Way today,
that can take us to tomorrow.
We'll follow that Way,
A Way like flowing water.

Let's leave behind,
the things that do not matter.
And we'll turn our lives,
to a more important chapter.

Let's take the time and try to find,
what real life has to offer.
And maybe then we'll find again,
what we had long forgotten.
Like a friend, true 'til the end,
it will help us onward.

The sun is high, the road is wide,
and it starts where we are standing.
No one knows how far it goes,
for the road is never-ending.

It goes away,
beyond what we have thought of.
It flows away,
Away like flowing water.

~ Benjamin Hoff ~

(The Te of Piglet)

About the Photographer

Istvan Kerekes

In His Own Words

I have been a photographer since 2007. My favourite subject is The Man. I would like to show the souls behind the faces. Everyone has feelings, everybody loves and breathes. My subjects are usually ordinary people. My main aim is to show their personalities through my images. One of William Albert Allard’s thoughts on photos and photography is just like mine, I truly believe in it: “the good portrait is about the eye, the look, since the human soul is reflected in it the most purely.”When taking photos it is my heart that leads me. After I have tuned to the subject I act instinctively.

~Istvan Kerekes

Istvan’s website: http://www.kerekesistvan.hu/

*Copyrighted images are posted with kind permission of the photographer.

Friday, October 5, 2012

Birdwings

Birdwings

Your grief for what you've lost lifts a mirror

up to where you're bravely working.

Expecting the worst, you look, and instead,

here's the joyful face you've been wanting to see.

Your hand opens and closes and opens and closes.

If it were always fist or always stretched open,

you would be paralyzed.

Your deepest presence is in every small

contracting and expanding.

the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated

as bird wings.

~Rumi

Photographer Profile: Louise Fryer

I first got into photography in May 2009, after spending some time experimenting in various different areas I found the subject that interested me the most was street photography. It is since January 2011 that I have been seriously concentrating on this area. I focus mainly on street portraiture, I try to capture sensitivity and feeling in my photographs. My inspiration comes from the people I see, my own empathy and feelings towards them. I feel a connection with some of the people I photograph due to my work and my life experiences.

“I see in black & white, colours just complicate things.” ~ Louise Fryer

Louise Hails from London and is a contributor to Shoot the Streets established to promote the art of street photography and increase the exposure of the many talented, and often unknown street photographers who live, breath and shoot the streets.

Note: You may find Louise Fryer’s phenomenal Street Photography Here; Here and Shoot the Streets.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Wherever You Are is Called Here

Lost
Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you,
If you leave it you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.

~David Wagoner

~An old Native American elder story rendered into modern English

About the Photographer

William Mazdra

Before there was photography for me, there were words. I was once, and best described by a friend as "a man who loves words". and I do.. and because of that I believe my photography is at its core... emotional. If you feel something when you view a photograph of mine, I have great joy in that.

My work has allowed me to travel to some of the most beautiful places in the world, and for that, I am also very thankful.

~Words directly quoted from William Mazdra’s bio on G+

Saturday, July 21, 2012

It Happens to those that Live Alone

It happens to those
who live alone
That they feel sure
of visitors
when no-one else
is there.

Until the one day
And one particular
hour
Working in the
quiet garden

when the
green bud
at the center
of their slowly
opening silence
flowers
in belonging

and they realize
at once,
that all along
they have been
an invitation
to everything
and every kind of trouble

~and that life
happens by
to those who
inhabit
silence
~

Like the bees
Visiting
The tall mallow
On their legs of gold,
Or the wasps
Going from door to door
In the tall forest
Of the daisies

I have my freedom
Today
Because
Nothing really happened

And nobody came
To see me.
Only the slow
Growing of the garden
In the summer heat
And the silence of that
Unborn life
Making itself
Known at my desk

My hands
Still
Dark with the
Crumbling soil
As I write
And watch

The first lines
Of a new poem
Like flowers
Of scarlet fire,
Coming to fullness in a new light.
~David Whyte

Note: My Gracious Thanks to Louise Fryer for these Extraordinary Images
Linked with Postcards from Paradise at recuerda mi corazon

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Eliott

Eliott from Aymeric Ayral on Vimeo.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

The Guest House

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house

empty of its furniture,

still, treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out

for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,

meet them at the door laughing,

and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.

~ Rumi ~

(The Essential Rumi, versions by Coleman Barks)

About Renato Manzi:

Renato is an Italian portrait and fashion photographer, who moved to Oslo,Norway in 1977. He has worked with Miss Norway Agency since 1990. You can find him on 1x.com.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Questions that can make or unmake a Life

Sometimes
if you move carefully
through the forest
breathing
like the ones
in the old stories
who could cross
a shimmering bed of dry leaves
without a sound,
you come
to a place
whose only task
is to trouble you
with tiny
but frightening requests
conceived out of nowhere
but in this place
beginning to lead everywhere.
Requests to stop what
you are doing right now,
and
to stop what you
are becoming
while you do it,
questions
that can make
or unmake
a life,
questions
that have patiently
waited for you,
questions
that have no right
to go away.
~ David Whyte ~
(Everything is Waiting for You)

Linked to Postcards from Paradise at recuerda mi corazon

Sunday, April 1, 2012

As the Train Goes By

As the Train Goes By from Mickaël Muraz on Vimeo.
Watching the wheels

A film by Mickaël Muraz

Archives
Eisenbahn-Romantik
With thanks to
Arte Creative

Music
Le train de 7h40
Courtesy of Klezmer Goy's Band
http://www.myspace.com/leklezmergoysband

Originally created for the Rail RMX contest
http://creative.arte.tv/fr/space/Rail_RMX

http://mickaelmuraz.com
2012

Monday, March 12, 2012

Excerpts: Beyond the City

Music is by James Newton Howard from the film "The Happening"

Sunday, February 26, 2012

What is Supposed to Happen

When you were small,
we watched you sleeping,
waves of breath
filling your chest.

Sometimes we hid behind
the wall of baby, soft cradle
of baby needs.
I loved carrying you between
my own body and the world.

Now you are sharpening pencils,
entering the forest of
lunch boxes, little desks.

People I never saw before
call out your name
and you wave.

This loss I feel,
this shrinking, as your field of roses
grows and grows…

Now I understand history.
Now I understand my mother’s
ancient eyes.

~”What is Supposed to Happen”

by Naomi Shihab Nye

linked to Postcards from Paradise at Recuerda mi Corazon. Please visit rebecca’s blog to see other lovely postcards!

About the Photographer

Istvan Kerekes

In His Own Words

~Istvan Kerekes

Istvan’s website: http://www.kerekesistvan.hu/

*Copyrighted images are posted with kind permission of the photographer.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

The One who is Rightfully Yours

The True Love

There's a faith in loving fiercely the one who is rightfully yours
especially if you have waited years and especially if part of you never
believed you could deserve this loved and beckoning hand held
out to you this way.

I am thinking of faith now and the testaments of loneliness
and what we feel we are worthy of in this world.
Years ago in the Hebrides I remember an old man
who would walk every morning on the gray stones
to the shore of baying seals, who would press his
hat to his chest in the blustering salt wind and say his
prayer to the turbulent Jesus hidden in the waters.

And I think of the story of the storm and the people
waking and seeing the distant, yet familiar figure,
far across the water calling to them.
And how we are all preparing for that abrupt waking
and that calling and that moment when we have to say yes!
Except it will not come so grandly, so biblically,
but more subtly, and intimately in the face
of the one you know you have to love.
So that when we finally step out of the boat
toward them we find, everything holds us,
and everything confirms our courage.

And if you wanted to drown, you could,
But you don't, because finally, after all
this struggle and all these years,
you don't want to anymore.
You've simply had enough of drowning
and you want to live, and you want to love.

And you'll walk across any territory,
and any darkness, however fluid,
and however dangerous

to take the one
hand and the one life, you know belongs in yours.

~ David Whyte ~

linked to Recuerda mi corazon postcards from paradise

Photographer Profile: Louise Fryer

“I see in black & white, colours just complicate things.” ~ Louise Fryer

Note: You may find Louise Fryer’s phenomenal Street Photography on at the following url’s: https://www.facebook.com/StreetPortraits and http://louisefryer.tumblr.com/;google+; and shoot the street.

Friday, February 17, 2012

After the Thaw from Paul Frederick

After the Thaw from Paul Frederick on Vimeo.

"Some people worry that artificial intelligence will make us feel inferior, but then, anybody in his right mind should have an inferiority complex every time he looks at a flower."
- Alan C. Kay

This celebration of spring was shot with my Sony V1 using a Letus Extreme 35mm adaptor. A few shots are without the Letus. I spent quite a bit of time on the audio, so I hope you have good speakers! The music is some that I have the rights to from Digital Juice and Music2Hues. Enjoy, comments are welcome!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Supple Cord ~ Naomi Shihab Nye

My brother, in his small white bed,
held one end,
I tugged the other
to signal I was still awake.
We could have spoken,
could have sung
to one another,