My online journal where I share my interests in photography, nature, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, coffee life, spirituality and asking deep questions.
Why are you so afraid of silence
Rumi
Silence is the root of everything.
If you spiral into its void
A hundred voices will thunder
Messages you long to hear.
This image is from last month after one of our snowfalls. Love the shadows and silence found in winters lovely scenes. Have a great day!
Silence gives answers…
Rumi
Silence provides answers whether I’m looking within during a time of prayer/meditation or the silence encountered during a conversation with a quiet winter snowfall.
When ink joins with pen, then blank paper can say something.
Essential Rumi by Coleman Barks
This is my latest pen, a Pelikan M205 in Marbled Petrol. It is a swirly teal, blue and green, translucent resin body with a black cap and finial with silver trim. I have Pelikan Aquamarine colored ink in it, which I think matches nicely with the body. As with all my fountain pens and journals I believe there are words hidden within them. It is our task to pick them up and be a part of the process to say something on blank paper.
Sometimes you hear a voice
Rumi
through the door calling you.
as fish out of water
hear the waves,
or a hunting falcon
hears the drums
Come back. Come back.
This turning toward
what you deeply love saves you.
Read the book of your life,
which has been given you.
A voice comes to your soul saying,
Lift your foot. Cross over.
Move into emptiness
of question and answer and question.
“I want to sing like the birds sing
Not worrying about who hears
Or what they think.”
Rumi
I wonder what went through the minds of our ancestors who were physically, mentally and spiritually closer to nature then we are? I ask because I come to these nature areas to find distance from the noise of the city but find my mind is consistently distracted. Were they capable of being more present than I seem to be? I’m aware the more time I spend out here the more present I can be. After a period of settling in, adjusting to this place, I hear, then see, the osprey soaring in the wind drafts, being pursued by a pesky crow. Next I notice a goldfinch that just perched on a bush nearby, singing it’s soft and delicate “swee-eet” song. I watch and am amazed at how quickly the birds can fly from here to there, silently. If you do not know what I write about then spend a morning in a nature area, listen, watch, be present, bring a journal and use it, and please leave your phone at home. Just some questions.
“Don’t think the garden loses its ecstasy in winter. It’s quiet, but the roots are down there riotous.”
Rumi
Maybe 2 inches of snow fell yesterday. I made a drive north of town on Larimer County Road 19 and stopped at the North Shields Natural Ponds where I took this image of the Poudre River. I continued north and one more of the trees. It is snowing in the mountains and the reason you cannot see them in either image. It was clear blue skies a couple miles north of this image. As I returned to town so did the cloudy skies and snow. One reason I headed north was to find the quiet. And I did.
“A shadow cannot ignore the sun that all day creates and moves it!”
Rumi
“The soul has been given its own ears to hear things the mind does not understand.”
Rumi
The biggest percentage of my images from October have been leaves. Evidence I’ve been walking with my head down. But they are the images I’ve enjoyed the most.