“He liked to observe emotions ; they were like red lanterns strung along the dark unknown of another’s personality, marking vulnerable points.”
– Ayn Rand, from ‘Atlas Shrugged’
The Relentless vs The Sentinel
What a match up! The Pacific Ocean against Sentinel Rock in Northland, New Zealand.
Continual surf crashes upon,and tidal motion swirls around and over, the rocks.
Pummeled.
24/7.
Every day and every night.
It’s epic, and relentless.
But still the Sentinel holds its ground, and stands guard.
Life is just as relentless as the ocean waves and tides.
It is hard to be rocklike in the face of attrition, I know. It’s easy to let your guard down when it feels there is no respite.
And there are times when I feel submerged but still manage to pull through,somehow.
And at those times I am grateful to people who are my “rocks”, shining concepts I cling to, and whatever higher power there is that guards me against destruction…
Ripple The Heavens
ripple the heavens
cast doubt on the earth
burn the blue
for all that you’re worth
Seated On Elephants
Retro chairs on the deck of a summer holiday place I love.
As close as I am likely to get to riding an elephant!
They are weighty beasts to be sure.
But holidays are all about taking the weight off…
The Descent
Ok, right turn, straight down, left turn….then what?
Just remember these simple directions:
“The descent to Hades is the same from every place.”
– Anaxagoras (Greek philosopher)
No believer in a physical hell, but metaphysically, yeah, and we can all find it alright.
If you feel yourself going down, grip tight the proverbial handrail, or latch onto any inspiration that will make you realise that stairs work in two directions…
Wilder
“Going to the woods is going home, for I suppose we come from the woods originally. But in some of nature’s forests, the adventurous traveler seems a feeble, unwelcome creature; wild beasts and the weather trying to kill him, the rank, tangled vegetation, armed with spears and stinging nettles, barring his way and making life a hard struggle.”
– John Muir (Scottish-American naturalist and writer)
Nowadays , when we are encouraged to find our “wild side”, we don’t really mean anything that would instill fear in us, or cause us pain.
It’s more like an extravagant extra, something different that takes us out of our humdrum existence.
A bungy jump; a raging party; acquiring some “edgy” art or clothes ; or a trip to somewhere off the usual “tourist trail”. Preferably something that can be posted on social media after the event…
But definitely not something we have to endure, or survive.
My own experience with hellish life events outside my control that took me to dark and wild places (nowhere I would choose), was exactly those two things. You too may have gone unwillingly into your own wild woods…
The words of Muir resonate with me as I think about those times: I knew with absolute certainty that everything could hurt me, anything could have my number.
The feeling of being utterly lost, blocked at every turn, and with each moment fraught with pain and danger, will stay with me always. It has changed my outlook on life, changed me.
The true wild transforms you.
If you survive it that is…
Birds Of Paradise
Flora corner: Bird of Paradise (also called crane flower) plants seen on the weekend.
You either love or hate them, but they are striking and individualistic.
Mimicking a bird’s head with plumage or with petals like a bird in flight – take your pick – they make a statement of unique style that would be the envy of any fashionista.
Go with your own style I say – nobody totally inhabits it like you!
Lift
“I think it is incumbent on anyone who can, to lift human dignity to the highest possible levels, maintaining one’s own and helping to raise that of others.”
– Henry Rollins
Great words from former Black Flag frontman and spoken word artist Henry Rollins.
Emphasises to me the togetherness of humanity – sometimes you will be the lifter (when you can) and sometimes the one lifted up (when you need to be).
As an aside, Rollins has also been a keen lifter of weights and famously said of the iron he lifted:
“The Iron is the great reference point, the all knowing perspective giver. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend……..Friends may come and go but two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds.”
I agree…what gets lifted, and what lifts us up … is the Truth.
Tiny Temple
Pictured: one really tiny temple, on a little rock outcrop, beside a small river of running water.
Spiritual harmony in miniature.
This is an Asian-styled water feature at the entrance to my favourite Vietmamese restaurant in Otahuhu, Auckland (which ,by the way, has a killer banh mi roll…to die for!)
The little water garden is by far the prettiest thing about the place, which is a very ordinary boxlike 1960s office remade into an eatery without too much actual remaking having gone on, with kleenex for napkins.
But you come for the warm welcome and some of the best cheap eats in town, gathered with your friends or family.
Call me shallow(as a water feature river), but that is the sort of spiritual harmony that I can relate to!
The Boy At The Foot Of The Cliff
Took this shot earlier in the year ,on summer holidays at the wondrous Mangawhai Heads, north of Auckland.
The head’s cliffs have been shaped and worn smooth through wind and sea action, and are almost building like in structure.
But it is the unknown lad scouring for coastal treasure that draws me into this scene .
Engrossed in his hunt, he is all earnest endeavour and innocent adventure.
He is early on in the greater adventure of life.
Looming above, the cliffs are yet to be scaled…but there to be scaled.
I hope he manages the climb of manhood safely and gets to take in the awesome view at the top.
I’ll never know…anyway, I’m still clambering up, one precarious foothold at a time…
The Hanging Tree II
Tyger Tyger, Burning Bright
“Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?”
– William Blake, ‘The Tyger’
Shuttered
Tropicalia scene: a Singaporean street of a row of colonial era houses with louvred window shutters.
All closed, bar those of one house.
That is my challenge to myself – to be the exception – the house with shutters thrown wide open…
…to stay open, keep open, always…
Whirl
Even if windless and still, this tree is awhirl; perpetual motion.
A ball of relentless , spiky energy suspended in space.
I have moments, days even, when I am like that.
Then I know I need to slow the f**k down…
Triple Pronged Night II
The sequel to the last (slightly creepy) post Triple Pronged Night.
As close as I am going to get to I am ever going to get to making a horror movie, given that I don’t enjoy them ,or being terrified for that matter.
But, all horror movies worth their gory salt seem to have a sequel, so here you are…
Actually this is more a contextualization than a true sequel: the photo shows the rest of the small pergola, set in a private school grounds, where I had cause to be last night.
A quaint Victorian gothic structure that was probably meant as a resting stop or glorified sun shelter.
Perhaps at night vampires might gather here and swap tales over pints of fresh blood…
Triple Pronged Night
Something spectral to end the month – three rooftop finials pierce the black of last night’s sky.
The prongs of a pitchfork?
Perhaps the devil is on the loose; better stay indoors….
Blue Spring
If in the last post Blue Moses, Moses had the blues, I think I have them too today, or at least a nagging sense of disquiet.
But blue is also the colour of the pictured spring, one of the special places I love, where water bubbles up from deep down and there is richness and amazing clarity.
Hope springs eternal, right?
Blue Moses
A full scale marble replica of Michelangelo’s sculpture Moses sits in an inner city Auckland park ( it came from Italy with a replica David but that statue sorta went missing years ago).
Theologians and historians still debate and surmise about Moses’s achievements and even his existence.
All I know is that in this representation of the Jewish leader and prophet ,he just looks a little pissed off and, frankly, depressed.
Too long in the wilderness ,maybe…
…or possibly missing his buddy Dave?
Whatever the reason , I have made him up in blue to suit.
Makes me happy, at least…
When Your Ship Comes In
Shot of a freighter approaching port, laden with containers of anticipated goodies.
Often we are the person on the dock, waiting for our ship to come in.
Some great upturn in our fortunes, the perfect significant other, a better job or perhaps winning the lottery!
Waiting, waiting…
You know what? That ship may be on the horizon, but the beautiful, ever changing sea is right before you, and breaking on your shore.
You don’t even need to wait.
Your future is with you, now.
Stare Of Taikehu
Another fearsome pou ,this time depicting Taikehu, an ancestral figure of Auckland Maori.
See his companion piece here in my previous post: Gaze Of Hoturoa
It is the constant remembrance of tipuna (ancestors)by Maori that I admire greatly.
Western thinking is so much in the now, and while that can be a good thing, we should not forget the sacrifice and leadership of those who have gone before. They connect and ground us to our physical and metaphysical place in the world, and they inspire our futures.
ebb then flood 