consciousness

lens-artists: pick a favorite quote and illustrate it

Every life is a point of view directed upon the universe. Strictly speaking, what one life sees no other can. Every individual, . . . is an organ, for which there can be no substitute, constructed for the apprehension of truth . . . Without the development, the perpetual change and the inexhaustible series of adventures which constitute life, the universe, or absolutely valid truth, would remain unknown . . . Reality happens to be like a landscape, possessed of an infinite number of perspectives, all equally veracious and authentic. The sole false perspective is that which claims to be the only one there is. ~José Ortega y Gasset

One of the magical things about photography is the transformation that takes place when you photograph something.  Something that inherently has very little going for it, in terms of interest you take in it, can become infinitely more interesting when rendered as a photograph. ~ Grant Mudford

…our ordinary vision is limited, and…our conventional consensus of reality is not the only version of reality.

The complex multidimensionality of the modern world no doubt contributes to the constructive habit of the mind that, in its attempt to provide meaning, continually rearranges the world to fit individual needs. The failure to recognize the constructive nature of the mind can be a major obstacle to artistry and creativity. Conversely, understanding the constructive nature of the mind and reality can lead the way to Great Understanding in the art of photography and in the art of living. ~Philippe L Gross & S.I. Shapiro, Tao of Photography

It is interesting how there are quotes that – like old friends – wander throughout life with us offering bits of wisdom here and there. Leya for this Lens-Artists invitation.

consciousness in a …

May I find the Equanimity
that will lift this veil of shamed despair
and acquaint me to the perceived and perceiver
absent of greed, anger, and ignorance.

brendakofford_dandelionprojlinesweb

When we say, ‘I can see my consciousness in the flower.’ it means we can see the cloud, the sunshine, the earth, and the minerals in it. But how can we see our consciousness in a flower? The flower is our consciousness. It is the object of our perception. It is our perception. To perceive means to to perceive something. Perception means the coming into existence of the perceiver and the perceived. The flower that we are looking at is part of our consciousness. The idea that our consciousness is outside of the flower has to be removed. It is impossible to have a subject without an object. It is impossible to remove one and retain the other.

~Thich Nhat Hanh (The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching, p.53)

Working homelessness in America…a glaring manifestation of income disparity.

No reset…

Each time we say or do something, write a line of poetry, disseminate an idea, send a letter, we go out in many different directions.  Once we have set out in these directions, there is no way we can pull ourselves back to the place we were before. 

~Thich Nhat Hanh (Understanding our Minds)

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consciousness

“…when consciousness manifests, it is not, at that moment, born. When it does not manifest, it does not, at that time, die. When consciousness manifests, there is differentiation and discrimination (vitalpa). Discrimination says, ‘this is self, and that is other than self.’ It is the sword that cuts and divides what is self from what is not self. But discrimination is not the truth. It is an imaginary construction, a fabrication of the mind. The Chinese ideogram for the term vitalpa means ‘universal comparing.’ To compare is to say, ‘This is inside, but that is outside. This continues to exist, but that ceases to exist.'”

~Thich Nhat Hanh, Understanding the Mind

consciousnessHanh