“The artist has no obligation to make his meaning immediately clear to anyone who does not want to make an effort to discover it.”
Thomas Merton
A Sunset
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I call that progress
Walking across the CSU Oval after a night of light snowfall “The man who fears to be alone will never be anything but lonely, no matter how much he may surround himself with people. But the man who learns, in solitude and recollection, to be at peace with his own loneliness, and to prefer its reality to the illusion of merely natural companionship, comes to know the invisible companionship of God. Such a one is alone with God in all places, and he alone truly enjoys the companionship of other men, because he loves them in God in Whom their presence is not tiresome, and because of Whom his own love for them can never know satiety.”
Thomas MertonWe had a dusting of snow yesterday evening and temperature is at 17 degrees this morning. Good morning for coffee. They had freshly made chocolate eclairs in the display but I kept my wallet in my pocket and calories off my waist. I’m calling that progress.
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Happy Friday
TWSBI Classic in White “A man knows when he has found his vocation when he stops thinking about how to live and begins to live.”
Thomas Merton -
Nature as a classroom
The least of learning is done in the classrooms
Thomas Merton -
Working Out Our Success
A Cold and Frosty Morning “The solution of the problem of life is life itself. Life is not attained by reasoning and analysis, but first of all by living. For until we have begun to live our prudence has no material to work on. And until we have begun to fail we have no way of working out our success.”
Thomas MertonWell, I guess that means I need to take a few more bad images. I posted this image previously in color. For this image I converted it to black and white with Silver Efex Pro.
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Palm Trees
Palm trees against the western skies from the patio As you can tell from this image I am in a very different place than my last post which included rain and snow and cold. I arrived Sunday afternoon in Phoenix to much warmer temperatures and the warm embrace of family. My brother-in-law, John, cooked up a chicken on the new grill for dinner. We sat on the patio in shorts sleeves to eat. I snapped a photo of these Palm trees just after the sun set from their patio. They live in Sun City Grand, Arizona. I think I’m going to enjoy my time down here and be present to family and the food.
“You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope.” ― Thomas Merton
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I’m Ready
Apple Blossoms “There is a greater comfort in the substance of silence than in the answer to a question.” – Thomas Merton
I noticed this blossom on my walk from the transit center to Mugs coffeehouse last week. It was snowing lightly when I took the image. Spring is coming and I’m ready.
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Heading North
Cholla and Starburst “We must make the choices that enable us to fulfill the deepest capacities of our real selves.”
Thomas MertonI’m heading north for Colorado and home. Will drive through Arches National Park on the way and scout things out. Maybe we can have a meet-up there.
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Who We Really Are
Archways “Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.” Strive each day to be who you really are.
Thomas Merton -
Spiritual Vitality
Holy Saturday Sunset “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time. The mind that responds to the intellectual and spiritual values that lie hidden in a poem, a painting, or a piece of music, discovers a spiritual vitality that lifts it above itself, takes it out if itself, and makes it present to itself on a level of being that it did not know it could ever achieve.”
No Man Is An Island by Thomas MertonI sat on the ground for almost an hour watching the sun set on the Rocky Mountains, trying to be present to the moment and every once in a while pressing my shutter button. I listened to Meadowlarks sing in the distance. I watched two hawks sweep in and perch on the row of trees just behind these. I watched 8-10 white tail deer feed in the field to my right with a watchful eye on me. We were all just being present.
