Friday, 6 December 2024

Have you ever dreamt that you could fly? I bet so have many a penguin.


Have you ever dreamt that you could fly?
According to those in the know 20 - 40% of
us have done so at least once in our lives.
As I am one of those of us who have done so,
I have often wondered if dreaming one can fly
may have some sort of underlying meaning.
Looking in to it I found that it can be interpreted
in a number of different ways:
Positively, as in symbolically representing feelings
of freedom, transcendence and empowerment.
Negatively, as in symbolically representing a
 desire/need to flee from difficult obstacles, and or to escape 
feelings of anxiety and fear.
Pragmatically, we dream in order to keep us sleeping.
Dreaming gives the part of our brain that stores memory
a chance to inscribe our memories for future reference.
Although there's much written about dream interpretations,
 at this point in time however, it seems dream interpretations 
belong more in the ''theories'' basket rather
than the ''scientifically substantiated knowledge'' basket.

If Penguins possess consciousness, and some say they do,
are they aware of the irony that they have wings
but they can't be used for flying? 
Rather ...... their short, stocky wings are excellent
for...... swimming (??!!).
The fact that penguins can't fly but are good
at diving and swimming, is something that they have
in common with us humans.
Actually, they share a bunch of attributes with us.
They use patterned sounds to communicate with each other,
they use each other's bodies to regulate their body temperature,
they mate for life, they like playing and they walk upright.
And much like us when we live on top of each other,
when they live in large colonies where the distance between 
breeding pairs is very close, skirmishes often take
place.

This morning I woke up and for some unknown
reason I just felt the need to grab my sketch pad
and some ink and brushes, and paint a penguin.
(I have never even tried to draw one before, little
less paint one. Such is the muse. She comes
she goes. It is not for me to question her when
she shows up, alas, only to obey.)

In the midst of the chaos that is my life, I have
discovered that I find it harder and harder to
digest all the terrible and unnecessary suffering
us humans are inflicting on fawn and flora
on this our little blue planet.
As I can no longer play my angst and sorrow away
on the piano due to my rampant bursitis, I now try to 
find some solace by painting small-scale pieces and
posting my scribblings(thoughts) here on the blog.
Example:
 Fairy Wren (Ink/water colour on paper)

A penguins largest threat to its existence is 
not the fact that it can't fly, oh no,
the largest threat to its existence
is another wingless creature,
us.

We can do better, don't you agree?
Not only do I believe we can treat animals and
all that nature gives us, including each other,
better, but we can use our consciousness to
to guide our behaviour and actions mindfully aware
of that all life is precious.
We need to:
''Not hurt our brethren, our sisters, our animals,
as our first duty, nay, to stop there is not enough.
We have a higher mission - to be of service
wherever and whenever they require it.''
(St. Francis of Assisi re-interpreted by me)

about top painting: Ink on paper

Monday, 2 December 2024

Pain can be subdued with the help of a vivid imagination........................


Some say that when we visualize something, the brain
can at times find it hard to distinguish between a vivid 
imagination and that which we experience as reality.

Let me be blunt.
I'm in pain. Mentally and physically.
Have been for years.
Some days are worse than others. 
It was during one
of those really worst of days that I discovered
a way to
escape my pain by utilizing the power
of imagination.
This particular day the pain was so intense that
 I couldn't even get out
of bed to grab some pain-killers.
Even the tiniest of movement and my stomach
would lurch.
Although even the act of mere thinking hurt, 
somehow suddenly
I remembered someone telling me that it is
possible to make the brain/mind ''think/believe'' 
something to be real/actually happening with the help 
of a very vivid imagination.
Stuck there in my bed, unable to move and barely
capable of breathing, I closed my eyes and visualized
myself being an eagle, soaring high above snow
clad mountains. 

I became the eagle.
My eyes viewed the mountains, I heard the
winds, I smelt the ice-cold air, I felt my
wings slowly moving.
Gliding through the air all my attention was
focused on being there, there....in the mind of an
eagle.
I was no longer aware of my pain, I was only
 experiencing a sense of freedom and lightness that
I imagined soaring like an eagle entailed.

As to the amount of time that may have passed while 
I ''was soaring'' I have no idea, but
what I do know is that when I opened my eyes again,
I was able to get out of my bed, slowly walk to
the bathroom and finally
take some over-the counter pain-killers.
With blurry,  bloodshot eyes I looked at my watch.
5:30 am.
I went back to bed.
I went back to being an eagle.
(Since then I have ''soared'' many times.)

Imagination.
''Logic will get you from A to B.
Imagination will take you everywhere.''
(Albert Einstein)

Pain, including chronic pain, due to some
 form of illness, is in my view insidious.
 It tends to be stealthy, obnoxious, crafty
and so on, but worst of all, ....relentless.
If that's not bad enough, pain that is caused
by something not visible to the naked eye,
well, that's worse still. 
Why? Because it can so easily be
dismissed as ''imaginary''.
And as such, in my experience ''imaginary''
pain is often viewed as not
 ''deserving" of neither compassion nor sympathy.
Quandary: Imagination is ''good or bad'' according 
to the ''eyes of the beholder''.

Imagination, in my view is a tool.
It can be used in ways that enhances and
enriches our lives,
or it can be used in ways that diminish
and disparage our lives.
We are the ones using the tool so we must chose
how to use it.

''The man who has no imagination
has no wings.''
(Muhammad Ali)
 


about the image: Ink on paper
Title: ''I will soar like an Eagle''

Wednesday, 27 November 2024

Changed thinking, changed emotions.........

 


Why do we often find it so hard to change our
thinking?
According to those in the know, even if we are presented
with facts and evidence that upends our current thinking,
we tend to stick with our old way of thinking.
This they say, is because our beliefs are the key to
our understanding of who we are and the way
we understand the world we live in.
In other words, our belief-systems are so deeply
ingrained in us that to change any part of it
can feel like we are unravelling our identity.

''Your life does not get better by chance; it gets
better by change.'' (Jim Rohn)

"If you don't like something, change it.
If you can't change it, change your attitude.''
(Maya Angelou)

What does it take for us to change our thinking?
What does it take for us to differentiate facts from opinion, 
evidence from hearsay, what we know from what we
think we know?
What does it take for us to be willing to entertain
the notion that perhaps rather than thinking with a
''right and wrong mindset'', there may be many
other possible mindsets of thinking?
Emotions, whether we are aware of them or not, 
profoundly influence our thinking.
(Although much societal emphasis is given to rationality,
some recent research shows that only 5-10% of
the decisions we make are based on rationality.)
Emotions; how we feel about something, together 
with our cognitive biases (belief perseverance), 
those in the know say far outweigh logic and rationality
when it comes to how we think and perceive the world
we live in. 

Our thoughts create our feelings, and our feelings
drive our behaviour.
Someone once described it to me this way:
There's a situation. (S)
In response to that situation there's a thought. (T)
That thought evokes an emotional response. (E)
Example:
S > Where's my phone? It should be here where
I left it.
T > Somebody has stolen my phone!
E > Anger, disappointment, frustration.
or
S > Where's my phone? It should be here where
I left it.
T > Did I move my phone? I better check. 
I may have left it at my desk.
E > Optimism, positive mindset.

When I was a performing musician, there were times when
the gigs dried up and I had to find other work
in order to pay the bills for me and my son.
Most of the time that meant working in different
warehouses picking and packing orders.
As I found the work tedious I would entertain 
myself by trying to do the work faster and more
efficiently.
This did not go down well with the ''regulars''
which resulted in them ''bullying'' and making
life difficult for me.
S > I need money to pay the bills.
T > I have to be here but I don't want to.
E > Anger, frustration, sadness.
I would come home absolutely wrecked and
depressed, until.........
S > I need money to pay the bills.
T > I'm here for the time being. I can't change
the way they treat me, but I can change how
I view their behaviour. For me this is a stop-gap
situation, for them it's all they've got.
E > This too will pass, and so will they...I'm okay.

Really understanding the connection between thoughts and 
emotions has been a great help for me in order
to better deal with and understand myself and the
world I live in.
Along the way of trying to better myself I have
made myself some 'self-help' tools that I would like to share
 with you.

''You may not be able to change the world,
but you can change you.''
*
''With your words you create your world.''
*
''Changed thinking, changed emotional response.''
*
''All possibilities entertained.''
*
''If you can't change your situation,
change your attitude to the situation.''
(Citizen Z)


''It's not the strongest of the species that survive,
nor the most intelligent,
but the one most responsive to change.''
(Charles Darwin)


about the image: Water colour on paper, some editing in Elements

Tuesday, 12 November 2024

Swimming with jellyfish........not recommended

 


The minute the plane touched down in Brisbane I knelt
down and planted my sweaty palms on the steaming hot
asphalt.
Finally, after what seemed as forever, I had arrived.
Having spent time in Spain, Italy and other hot countries,
I thought that I knew how to deal with heat.
I was wrong. 
Welcoming me to Australia as I walked to the terminal
was the Australian summer and that, dear reader, 
means a humid kind of heat that would probably have 
most of us begging for mercy.
As soon as I arrived at my folk's place on Tamborine Mountain
I was told to never to leave my shoes outside, to
always check for ticks(horrible little bloodsucking critters),
watch out for redbacks and funnel web spiders as they
are deadly, and kill all ants but especially the red and green
ones.
What!?!!??
Oh, and also, if you go for a walk in the rainforest,
wear gumboots so the leeches(black horrible things
that start out small but they suck your blood until
they are three times! in size) wont get you.

Not only could heat squeeze the life out of you,
apparently the country was also riddled with insects, snakes,
and other critters all hell bent on doing the same.
On hearing all this,
I was seriously considering to never venture outdoors
while I was in Australia.
Alas, heat is a serious antagonist and after sweating
gallons and enduring many, many sleepless nights...
I decided to find a breezy spot somewhere safe.
Ha! Amateur! 
Returning from a walk in the rainforest(I had been
told that it was always much cooler there.)
I put away the umbrella(just in case ticks or other biting
or stinging insects pounced on me) and then sat down
to pull off my gum boots.
Looking at my feet after I having pulled off my boots,
I noticed that they were covered in blood and a
bunch of leeches.
Remembering someone telling me to put salt
on leeches to make them let go, I somehow made my
way to the kitchen, grabbed a saltshaker and started
pour salt on the bloodsuckers.
One by one they fell off and bravely I scooped
them up and flushed them down the toilet.
(From then on I always carried a saltshaker with me
when I went for a walk in the rainforest.)
As time passed and I learned to adapt to the many
''dangers'' that was part of living in Australia, I grew
to love it. 
I applied for and was given a permanent visa,
I worked in my folk's restaurant, learned how to drive,
bought a car and started to drive off the mountain and
down to the beach as often as I could.
I made some friends and moved in to a share-house
with a young couple
who lived in a house barely 100 meters from the beach.

Nick surfed and made surfboards and Rita made clothes.
Every morning they would head down to the ocean for
a surf and I would come along for a swim.
For me, the Pacific Ocean was beautiful, inviting and
''safe'' in difference to ''land'', which seemed just riddled
with an endless offering of stinging, biting and potentially
deadly ''critters''.
Safe? Did I say the ocean was safe? 
Wrong.
None of my surfing friends seemed bothered about
sharks, stone fishes, jellyfishes or stingrays, so I assumed that
I was quite safe body surfing the white-wash.
Wrong again. 
One morning, happily surfing the white-wash
I suddenly noticed a bunch of my friends standing on the
 beach waving, shouting and flailing their arms about.
I thought they were just fooling around until I clearly
heard the words: GET OUT!!!!!!!!!
Having just swum out past the break I stopped swimming,
started to tread water and had a look around me.
I was totally surrounded by Compass jellyfish.
(Very nasty, potentially dangerous.)
Somehow, I managed to get out of the water 
without being stung. (Don't know how, it's still a
mystery.)
I have since been stung many times by another nasty
 jellyfish called ''Blue bottle'', but here's the thing;
I still love Australia and call it ''home''.

Australia, some reckon, is a ''deadly'' country
not made for the faint hearted.
Whether on land, in the water, or in the air....
it seems danger awaits us.
Here's the thing though, it is also a country
with golden sands, crystal blue waters, open
spaces, night skies sparkling with millions of stars,
and a nature inhabited by flora and fauna found
nowhere else.
Australia also has
a living culture created by a people who have nurtured 
and looked after country for thousands of years
and for whom the term ''deadly'' means excellent.

Putting some rubbish in my rubbish bin one
morning I suddenly came face to face with
this spider.
And yes, this is the real size.
And no, they can bite but seldom do so.
It did however give me a bit of a fright when
it was two centimeters away from my eyeball!

About the images: top: water colour on paper
''Lovecraft's Jellyfish''
above: water colour on paper

Tuesday, 5 November 2024

Unconditional love.......is there such a thing



Some say that love is of paramount importance
for all human beings.
Some say that human beings are born with
with an instinctual capability to love and to be loved.
Some say that love is an inherent human trait,
biological in nature and with mechanisms that makes
it possible for us to be compassionate, caring, and
nurturing toward each other.
Some say that love like many other emotions/feelings,
 is able to bring joy and elation, but also pain and suffering.
Some say that most kinds of love comes with an element
of risk.
The risk of rejection, loss, grief, disappointment
 and unfulfilled expectations.

''Loving can cost a lot, but not loving always costs
more, and those who fear to love often find that
want of love is an emptiness that robs the joy
from life.''
(Merle Shain)

Some say that motherly love is the strongest
and purest type of love of all......
Some say that motherly love, whether reciprocated or not 
is foremost concerned with her offspring's
well-being, needs and safety.
However, some do ask........is this really true for all mothers
 or is this perhaps a cultural trope(figure of speech)?
The way we view motherly love, is it not perhaps
highly influenced by our own lived experiences and
the culture in which we grew up?
Actually, come to think of it, how we view love,
any kind thereof, as far as I can ascertain
is probably also highly influenced by our own lived experiences 
and the culture in which we grew up (and maybe still are).

Is pure (without expectations) love even a possibility
for human beings? 
Since I was a teenager I have pondered this. 
Finding a definitive answer has proved fruitless.
The closest I have come to an answer
 is what some call ''unconditional love''.
Some say that ''unconditional love'' is a ''pure love'' as
it is supposedly founded on ''loving someone or something'' 
without any thoughts of reciprocity.
Are we capable of doing this?
Can we maintain feelings of love if whoever or whatever
we love rejects and denies our very existence?
Perhaps parental love IS the closest kind of love
we can call ''pure/unconditional''?


Motherly love

Child, I love you, but your screaming for
hours on end is tearing me apart.

Child, I love you, but you putting everything
in your mouth has got me me frantic.

Child, I love you, but you refusing to sleep
 has got me feeling like the walking dead.

Child, I love you, but the time has come
for you to learn new things and play with others.

Child, I love you, and I know you're scared
but trust me on this, this passage too will pass.

Child, I love you, so if you need to leave,
then leave, but always know, you have a home.

Child, I love you, and I love your children too.
In truth, no matter what you do,
I will always, always, always, love You.

*

Perhaps a mother's or father's love for
their children is as close to unconditional
and pure as a human being can muster.
However, each stage a child goes through on their way to 
becoming self-reliant adults often brings with it a spectrum of
emotions ranging from joy to despair for
his/her/their responsible care-takers.



Like a kaleidoscope's image shifts with every
turn we make and thus creating new images, in my view,
so does our experience of love and loving change
with every experience we have with that which
we call love.

''Love is the soul's light,
the taste of morning,
no me, no we,
no claim of being.''
(Rumi)


about the images: Top: ''A mother's love'',  felt texters on cardboard
Bottom: "Kaleidoscope'' water colour on paper

Tuesday, 29 October 2024

Loving is easier when we let go of expectations.........


Have you ever heard of the term the ''Golden Rule''?
In short, one may call it a principle of reciprocity
as in: Treat others as you would want others to treat you.

Many view it as a culturally universal ethical tenet.
That is, regardless of nationality, religion or political
''flavour'', it is a fundamental human-made concept
/construct that helps us to truly consider the well-being
of others.

The ancient Greeks thought of the Golden Rule
as especially fundamental to one of four kinds of love
(Eros, Storge, Agape, Philia) that they named Philia.
Philia represented a kind of love founded 
on loyalty, commitment, steadfastness and
an open and honest companionship/friendship.

Philia does not include romantic feelings, although,
at times a love that may have started out as a 
friendship/companionship kind of love can
deepen and transform into including romantic
feelings/emotions.
And, of course,.... the opposite.

My personal observation is that although any
kind of Love is often complex and comes with a 
myriad of obstacles to overcome, Romantic Love
(Eros) seem to be the trickiest kind of them all
due to the volatility of romantic feelings.
(We may ''fall in love'', but we may also ''fall out
of love''.)

However, I've come to hold the opinion that
us humans often trip ourselves up by investing
far too much importance on allowing expectations
to override our hearts aspirations. 

If you love me, then you................
If you call yourself my friend, then you.........
You're family so you should...........
Since I feed and take care of you Dog/Cat/ other animal,
you should obey me............
Since we are both humans you should at least........

Uncertainty is something us humans don't like much
and to love often includes an element of vulnerability,
openness and trust and this, this we often experience as
very risky business.
Although we often probably do not think of love
as transactional in nature, (as in: as long as you love me, 
I will love you back.) letting expectations
take control of our feelings of love with demands of
those expectations being fulfilled often tend to
result in more of a transaction rather than a mutual
exchange of love.

Another aspect of love I have also been pondering is
how easy it can be to forget that for anything alive
and or living to flourish and grow, is that it needs
nurturing, a tending to.
Alas, here comes the Golden Rule.

Because I love you I will.........
Dear friend, I so appreciate and love you.........
You're family and though we don't see eye to eye
on everything, I do still love you.......
You're a good doggie, kitty, and because I love you I will........
Madam/Sir, you look tired, will you let me help you........

Any kind of love expressed comes with the potential
and or possibility of rejection.
However, those in the know reckons that love
is not an emotion/feeling, but an enduring state of
mind in which we consistently care for the well-being
of others and may I also suggest, all the critters and
other living things that share
this planet with us.

''Ask not what Love can do for you,
ask what you can do for Love.''
(Citizen Z and JFK)

''Mankind is the game of risk as played out
on a planet it calls Earth.''
(Citizen Z)


about the image: acrylic on large canvas, some editing in
Elements


 

Monday, 21 October 2024

Love is an emotional process, not a logical position.


A few years ago one of my readers contacted me and asked
if I could write about love.
-What kind of love? I asked him.
-What do you mean with what ''kind of love''? he answered.
-Well, in my view the word ''love'' is one of those words
that often when we use it, we redefine it, I responded.
-I've never thought of if that way but I would really
appreciate it if you could share some of your thoughts 
on it. 
Since he asked so nicely I told him I would give it a try.

Love, in my view, is a high wire act.
How so?
''Love'' as far as I understand it, is like
 an umbrella term for an array of different
kinds of deeply experienced and held emotions.
We may say that we ''love'' cheese, cars, music, art,
rainy days, flowers, surfing, hanging out with friends,
binge our favourite shows, play with our kids,
etc. etc. etc. but I have a feeling that when we use
the word ''love'' about those things, we are not talking
about the kind of love we use to define how we
feel about our nearest and dearest.

Why High wire act?
As I view it,
love is often a balancing act including
all manners of risky elements and
 authentic love will require from us to
embrace the risk of the unknown and the
possibility of loss and or transformation.
I have used the word ''authentic love''
because I believe that there are times
when we may confuse what we call love
with what may perhaps be ''better'' defined
as what we believe we need.
If we believe that our happiness/quality of
life hinges on being the recipient of other's
love, attention and respect rather than
the love, attention and respect we offer
others, are we trying to fulfill a need
based on satisfying our ego or are we
trying to express and communicate 
our authentic feelings of love?
Basically, the difference between love and needs
may be:
''Love lets go. Needs hold on.''
(Neale Donald Walsch)


Have we idealized love to the extent that we
have now come to develop unrealistic
expectations of what it is supposed to be and
what it should do for us?
Does expectations really have anything to do 
with love???
I don't believe so.
I believe that love is fluid and malleable
rather than static and unchangeable.
An emotional process rather than a logical
position.

According to the ancient Greeks there are
 different kinds of love:
Storge {family love/including pets}
Agape {love for our fellow humans, critters}
Philia {friendship/platonic love}
Eros {romantic/passionate love}
Different as these different kinds of love
may be, they do have one thing in common:
Expectations.
 Often unspoken but strongly assumed.

Expectations have a lot to do with 
determining how we view our reality.
When or if our expectations are not 
aligning with the way we view our reality,
we often feel let down, disappointed or frustrated.

Mother to son: I expected you to come home earlier.
Son: Why? I told you I didn't know when I would be back.
Father to daughter: Is that what you're wearing???
I expect you to dress decently.
Daughter: Why? This is what all my friends are wearing.
Wife to husband: I expected you home earlier.
Why didn't you call me?
Husband: I'm sorry. My battery died.
Lover to lover: If you love me you should know
how I feel about it.
Lover: I do love you but I don't always know what
you feel.
Etc. etc. etc. etc.

Love, whether of the Storge, Agape, Eros or Philia
kind, fares more harmoniously in my view when
we act with patience, resilience, compassion,
forgiveness, attention and with a whole hearted
 commitment to others wellbeing.

Love may at times appear to be an enigma,
that elusive something that always seem to be out of reach.
Take courage my friend, for the truth of it is.
That deep inside of you, the very core of you, 
is where love lives.


about the image: water colour on paper edited
in Elements

Monday, 14 October 2024

It takes courage to love...........


Slowly she lowers her arm holding the bow.
She raises her eyes and with as much disdain and
defiance as she can muster, she glares at the conductor.
There will be consequences, this she knows, but she
is so tired and hungry that she no longer cares.
For days she and her fellow musicians have rehearsed
the same five pieces of music over and over, so now,
they are all exhausted and at the brink of collapsing.
Head bowed and staring at the floor, she gathers up all her
 courage and then petitions the conductor for a few minutes
 rest and a cup of water for everyone.
Her petition is granted and as the ragtag little orchestra
sits down on the cold, dirty and inhospitable floor, the
conductor fills a battered tin cup with water and hands it to
her to pass around.
In an attempt at finding
 some warmth, they all sit close together
while silently passing the tin cup one to another.
With the music now silent they can hear the noise
from the goings on outside their so called ''rehearsal space''.
At the sound of the ratatatataa and a woman's scream,
she grabs her friend Vira's hand and together they quietly
say a prayer. But a few minutes later all the orchestra members
are holding each others hands and have joined in
in the prayer.
A few moments later their momentary reprieve from their 
harsh reality is broken as the conductor shouts Enough! 
and they are ordered to start playing again.
One by one they pick up their instruments
and as the conductor raises his baton and count them in,
 like a mist the music of Beethoven permeates the
cold stale air in Barrack 14 at the Theresienstadt
concentration camp.

*

The above graphite drawing is my interpretation
of a photo I found.
The photo was taken at the Theresienstadt
concentration camp, the story.....taken from
my imagination.

I wish 
that we would chose to stop the killing of each other
I wish
that we would chose to be more accepting of each other
I wish
that we would chose to care much more for one another
I wish
that we would chose to listen more to those we call ''others''
I wish 
that we would chose to be more caring sharing lovers
I wish
that we would chose to honour humans of all colours
I wish
that we would chose be kind to all of us who hungers
I wish
that we would chose to build, restore and lift each other
I wish 
that we would chose to learn much more about each other
I wish
that we would chose to focus more on what we all have
in common,
and take a moment to consider
that what hurts us,

 also hurts others.


''Love one another but make not a bond of love:
let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your
souls.''
(Kahil Gibran)


above painting: acrylic on canvas

Sunday, 29 September 2024

Life is an analogue experience........


It was one of those days when the light was extraordinarily 
beautiful.
One of those days when for a brief moment in time
the light would fall on everything in its path
and turn even broken pieces of glass to the
most precious of jewels.
I loaded my Pentax analogue camera with a fresh
roll of film and headed for the beach.
Arriving at the beach, what I had hoped for
was immediately apparent in all its glory.
The rain had yet again managed to set the scene for
the sun to perform its magic as its rays enveloped
everything it touched.
Knowing that this very special light would only
last for another hour, I started to wander about
searching for that special shot.
I wasn't searching for a postcard image, I was
searching for that something that under normal
circumstances probably would be considered as
uninteresting and rather dull. 
Something that now, with the help
of this special light had become something
beautiful, something extraordinary,
something more ........ like a piece of art.

As I sat down on a bench, camera at the ready
and scanning the scenery, I noticed something 
 in the periphery catching the light in a most
spectacular way.
Knowing that time and therefore also the light
was slipping away, I aimed my camera at the
''whatever it was'', zoomed in and took a few
shots in quick succession.
With my finger still on the shutter button
it started to rain again.
I quickly put on the lens cap, shoved the camera
 in the camera bag, and ran for cover.
The photo session was over and so was
the extraordinary light.

Halfway home I realized that I had to wait
for the film to be developed before I could 
have a closer look at what those last few
frames of film contained.
But then again, part of the fun of using 
an analogue camera was (and still is in my view) 
the anxious anticipation of picking up a fresh
batch of photos from the developers.

*
These days we snap pics with our telephones.
We have immediate access not only to view
our pics but also to edit and print them.
Every moment can be ''frozen'' in time.
We no longer need to use our minds and
memory facilities in order to remember 
our special moments.
What I keep wondering about though,
is whether it's really that good for our
ability to remember stuff if we keep
relying on an i-Thingy to do the remembering
for us?

Insight: Once upon a time, photographs were often
used to authenticate experiences and events.
Today? Not so much, as we have figured out
how to ''deep fake'' and edit images in the
most genius of ways so that photos/pics/images can
 no longer be trusted.

*
Maybe if we focus our attention more on
experiencing the(a) moment instead of
capturing it, we may become the beneficiaries
of those precious moments instead of one of our
many Data Storage systems.
Just wondering...........


This is an acrylic on canvas painting made
from a close-up of the above photographic image.

What is it: it is broken pieces of glass from a green
 beer bottle on top of a water-soaked ledge