Thursday, July 3, 2008

Conch

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Everything speaks in its own way. The earth speaks. The plants and animals and insects and birds speak. Everything has a voice. This world is not mute, only waiting for us to say a word it understands, to recognize the many names by which it calls itself.

If we should come to listen to the world around us, if we should come to hear its voice and learn to whisper back its words, the clouds may pause in passing, the sleeping hills may shift and rumble, a blade of grass may bend.

Everything has a purpose it means to carry out -- sometimes important destinies lay hidden inside pebbles and crumpled leaves, between the fine fibers of a feather. Sometimes all it takes is a moment to breathe (for the mind to become still) for all things to be revealed, so we may listen to a shell...


...and hear the sound of the sea.


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photos in collaboration with Tom Craig (the poor fella who's trying to teach me to use a camera)

22 comments:

ishqia said...

true .. everything is for a purpose

Kaustubh said...

I agree...
But do we really take time out to listen?
If only we did...

Jon said...

ishqia...
and we must find our purpose to be a part of everything

K.M.... Hello new friend!
There is only one moment we can listen to and only one voice. The voice of the heart is an echo of the force which cast the stars through the sky. To ignore this voice is to be a reed out of unison with the wind. Take this moment to breathe, be supple, and you will hear.

human being said...

*-- only waiting for us to say a word it understands --*
.
.
and a conch has got two sounds... one when we put our ear to it... and one when we put out mouth to it...

Unknown said...

Hopper, thanks for sharing these pictures, I love them. All three still lifes, on the second one I can see a square-shaped rock with a hole in it, filled with water...I love that rock.
And the little feathered fellow and his perfect coat and beak, and the feathers and men-made wire and little pebbletower:)
love
Andrea

Debra Kay said...

I can hear the sound of the sea across thousands of miles. When life gets chaotic here, I close my eyes and I know she is there, and the murmur of her waves and the salty taste of her breath comfort me.

Jon said...

Crow... nice thought on the conch... hadn't gotten to that yet... and I was sort of thinking of it in terms of the helix also... the golden rectangle from geometry and the symmetry present in all things... in the seeds in a sunflower... the branch of a tree... the tides along the coast... and yes... in us too...

Jon said...

Hi Andrea... thanks for stopping by... and in the last shot here the item you took for wire is actually part of a root of a tree... if you click on the image you'll see it closer... I'm guessing it was wound that way when the tree fell and it got washed out into the water... and then it was bleached and dried by the sun as it sat on the beach waiting for me to find it... a wooden knot made by nature waiting for me...

Thanks for your thoughts on the pictures...

Jon said...

Deb... lovely description... you must be a coaster too... or have spent some good time there... you've even got the taste down... as for myself... I'm always anxious when I spend too much time away from the water... the first thing I do when I get close to the ocean again is to go straight there and have a taste... it's a strange thing to miss, I'll grant that... but being that my people are so closely tied to the seas it's just natural to me... thanks for your thoughts... and remember that next Wednesday I'll have that picture of the duck on one leg to you guys who do Animal Wednesday... bye for now...

Unknown said...

Hopper, thanks for pointing that out to me, I looked at it closer, and oh, wow, it is really a whitewashed root! I thought I had looked closely but look how I didn't:)
This is such a learning process: looking! It seems to be as complicated as listening!:)
Thanks for helping me to look right,
love
Andrea

Unknown said...

Seeing
Hearing
Understanding

All take place
In the mind...

Magicians know this
As do advertisers
And politicians.

Our eyes
Ears
Are but tools
Supplying information
To the brain

We then use this information
To perceive
The world around us
In our minds…

We go through life
Confusing sight
With perception

This is the first lesson
I give to my photo students
Before even picking up a camera…

Unknown said...

Taking this one step further
You can also separate sound
From perception
Learn to listen with your mind
And your heart
To the voices of nature

This is the first thing I tell my friends
Who seek to understand nature
Before even setting one foot
Outside

Roxanne said...

nice shots, jon. what is the bird in the top scene?? solid strong words to go along with the pictures too. and if we do hear the sound of the sea ... then we have to be honest about what it's telling us :)

Echo said...

Not only does everything speak but everything speaks in beauty.
thanks for the reminder, there is never enough delight offered, these photos are delightful.

sukipoet said...

This is beautiful. And the photos going with the words, so lovely the whole post.

human being said...

hey Jon... guess what i've found in the third photo... still life... which is not still at all... lots of movements there... in the elements and the composition...
the golden rectangle is also present here...

i was reminded of this pic several times these days... and told myself... ok 'everything speaks in its own way'...
the feathers ... the knot... the pile of pebbles on the old trunk... all were present in a ritualistic way... kind of a totem... decided to have another look at this photo... and this time i clicked to enlarge it...

and i found a tiny sprout near the trunk... have you noticed it? and something else... a heart-shaped pebble... as if coming out of the sands...
and the story it wanted to tell me was revealed...

part of it was about moving on a path with stepping stones:

let your heart reveal itself... then a new life sprouts within you... giving you wings to fly as if you are tied to a new being... a new commitment... now you can fly over your past... your old self and also the problems piling up in front of you... to reach the flowing foaming vastness of a higher being...
and Jon... the helix... now it is clearly seen...

ha ha ha ... you're laughing, eh?yes crows tend to make a story out of everything...
:)
but i liked this story and i needed it... i'll put this fabulous photo on my desktop for a while if you don't mind...
thanks for your art and your thoughts...

Jon said...

Bobb... thanks for the pointers on the photos... would love any more advice you've got as I've come to see that my understanding of light and shape and the elements of photography are quite limited... and I'd like to take better shots...

Thanks HONOUR... and yeah... that's good advice... will keep it in mind...

Echo... thanks for your thoughts... and I must say again how taken I was with your most recent post... masterful and moving... hope to see you again soon...

Suki... you're so good t always be stopping by... loves ya... you're a gem...

Andrea... NP... it's you who've shown me the value of looking more closely at what's going on around me with your subway sketches of all the people you encounter and their stories... glad you took a second look!!!

Jon said...

Crow... I'm thrilled you like this shot so... I never noticed the heart shaped rock until you mentioned it... and the same goes for the little plant sprouting up... CROWS HAVE SHARP EYES!!! will talk to you soon... have a note coming your way... and glad to hear that things are alright in your world... I hope you appreciate my concerns... some days this world gives me pause and I have to wonder what's coming next... I wonder how precarious these days are...

be well...
JON

human being said...

:)
will always be glad to hear from you...
think precariousness is one of the basic features of this world.... isn't it?

Lynn Cohen said...

I loved "listening to" the grizzly bear walking in his meadow, the herd of buffalo waiting to cross the road, their calves hurrying to follow the cows across, were the mother's telling their children to be careful, to look both ways, not to fear the stopped cars? I listened to the hawk high in the sky above, to the snow freshly fallen on the Yellowstone rocks, to the rain and wind in MN while tree branches banged into the side of our moving automobile; I heard the "sound of the sea" at the California coast, and the rushing rivers of Oregon. Ah listening.
A great thing for a woman wearing two hearing aids. Thank goodness for hearing aids.

The photos are wonderful...have fun learning to use your camera...through it you will see and "hear" much more, much more beauty in the world around you.

Amina said...

very inspiring post...full of life, light and love

I am very much impressed with your writing, you'd better put copyrights over it

regards from poland
Amina

Jon said...

Amina... thanks for stopping by new friend... and for your comments on my writing (blush) thanks too... I added a link to your page in my blogroll and was pleasantly surprised to find mine already linked in yours... well met... see ya soon!