Awe and wonder can be experienced everywhere in Daydreaming on the Porch
- March 14, 2024, 4:34 a.m.
- |
- Public
When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else. Most people in the city rush around so, they have no time to look at a flower. I want them to see it whether they want to or not.
Georgia O’Keefe
To Look At Any Thing
To look at any thing,
If you would know that thing,
You must look at it long:
To look at this green and say,
“I have seen spring in these
Woods,”
will not do – you must
Be the thing you see:
You must be the dark snakes of
Stems and ferny plumes of leaves,
You must enter in
To the small silences between
The leaves,
You must take your time
And touch the very peace
They issue from.
John Moffitt
This poem reminds me that to truly “see” is a deeply meditative act. It is essentially about transcending normal perception. Mostly we look at things casually or superficially, unless we suddenly come upon something spectacular like a perfectly arched rainbow, or even a part of a rainbow. Then we gasp in awe. This I would term “awe at the macro level” but at the micro level, just coming close to an ordinary object or a sight we think we’ve seen a million times, will reveal hitherto unknown wonders.
Mystery surrounds us, but we’re not aware just how mysterious this life is, because understandably, we have work and family, and obligations and chores to attend to all the time, and a multitude of activities and interests we enjoy pursuing. Thus our lives can become both hurried and harried.
But don’t we owe it to ourselves to take enough time out of our busy lives to look deeply and to think deeply about what we see and experience, even the familiar, even mundane objects we see often can be infused with the kind of awe that surprises us. Through attentiveness, we can see beyond the surface and delve deeper into reality.
Looking closely at azaleas backlit by the sun:
I gathered together a collection of some of my recent photographs to illustrate what ai am talking about in this essay.
Jinn ⋅ March 14, 2024
Great pictures .
Oswego Jinn ⋅ March 14, 2024
Thank you! Love this time of year!
Sleepy-Eyed John ⋅ March 14, 2024
So many pretty flowers! Love butterfly.
Like second poem.
Oswego Sleepy-Eyed John ⋅ March 14, 2024
Thank you! My favorite time of year to be out taking pictures. It’s 80 degrees F today and sunny (26 degrees C)
Sleepy-Eyed John Oswego ⋅ March 14, 2024
Oh geez. It's 9 above here, and snow is still on the ground. It should only be 2 above though.
Oswego Sleepy-Eyed John ⋅ March 14, 2024
Sounds like you’re having a heat wave! Haha
Sleepy-Eyed John Oswego ⋅ March 14, 2024
15 above Sunday. Average: 2.
Oswego Sleepy-Eyed John ⋅ March 15, 2024
The climate is changing and Canada is really experiencing it with the extreme temperature fluctuations, drought and wildfires.
Here where I live flooding is much more of a problem than it ever was.
Sleepy-Eyed John Oswego ⋅ March 19, 2024
:(
sourapple ⋅ March 14, 2024
I know this is very different from the sentiment of the poem, but reflecting on it brought to mind the way everyone around us has such full lives about which we know little to nothing. I look at the freeway filled with traffic and really it's filled with people celebrating and grieving and overwhelmed and curious. So many full, complex lives going past that would likely fascinate us were we able to sit with each person and learn their story.
Oswego sourapple ⋅ March 15, 2024
What a very interesting and perceptive comment! All those people on the freeways absorbed in their daily lives, the drama and joy of living their lives the best they know how. I learned from years working as a newspaper reporter and editor and interviewing countless people for news and feature stories, that their lives are each immensely important and fulfilling, in so many ways. Grateful I am to have had those experiences.
Thank you for stopping by and leaving this comment!
music & dogs & wine ⋅ March 17, 2024
The moon & butterfly! No way you are using an iPhone!!
Oswego music & dogs & wine ⋅ March 17, 2024
That butterfly picture was made several years ago and taken with my old Nikon D5100. But everything the past couple of years has been with my iPhone. I got an iPhone 15 pro max a couple of months ago, and it’s fantastic. Allows much sharper zoom photos. I love it.
music & dogs & wine Oswego ⋅ March 17, 2024
I just got a 15, but not the pro. My camera is better than the 12 I had, but not as good as yours! Dang! The pro is too big for my little hands though, lol. K has one and I can barely hold it.
Oswego music & dogs & wine ⋅ March 17, 2024
Haha! You can still take great pictures with any recent iPhone. I even got great results on my 8 model years ago. Can you imagine using nothing but phones for cameras these days? At the gardens yesterday everyone was using their phones to take pictures. So convenient!
music & dogs & wine Oswego ⋅ March 17, 2024
It's so crazy! I used to have a digital camera, I remember going on vacations and having both my camera and my phone and toggling between the two to take pictures. At one point I was going to get a better camera, and then realized there was no point cause the iPhone was taking decent enough pics by then. We have come a long way, and it's nice! Also love all the apps to print pics for framing, makes things so easy.