Biking to a Place Inside and Out / 03
Taking a break at FATS (Forks Area Trail System) in South Carolina
Biking in the big city is quite different from biking in rural areas such as here in South Carolina. In the city, it’s about taking your time and blending in with your surroundings i.e. talking with strangers (girls mostly), stepping in and out of stores (got to have a lock), cruising downtown (looking cool), and going to the park for that “getting away from it all feeling”. Philadelphia has one of the largest city parks in the nation called Fairmount Park. It embodies four sections of the city, with beautiful trails and drives (most notably the East and West River Drives). Rivers, creeks, long stretches of trails and scenic vistas can be found only by biking, horseback riding or hiking.
Bike and helmet in a surreal setting at Laurel
Biking to a Place Inside and Out / 02
Biking across the tracks and taking photos at Laurel Creek.
In Philadelphia, growing up as a teenager in the 1960’s and 70’s, I enjoyed the freedom biking gave to my friends and I. We had back then what we called “Vroom” bikes. These were the bikes with the big V-shape handlebars (before the smaller BMX). As a group of young riders we were very competitive. We often challenged others boys from rival gangs in competition to see who could do the longest “wheelies” (lifting the front wheels and pedaling for blocks at a time, turning corners, and riding backwards). Needless to say, we sometimes found ourselves in fights, arguments and riding for our lives. Gangs were a prominent fixture of Philadelphia in the 60’s and 70’s and although we were quite young we were not immune to the violence in rival neighborhoods.
Meditating next to a river of glass and rock at Laurel Creek
Biking to a Place Inside and Out / 01
Resting at the end of the Laurel Creek Trail, Madison County, NC
There is something about biking on a trail or on the road that leaves one breathless—sometimes literally breathless. The energy consumed, the movement imposed, and the feeling of space and time standing still. In all of this there is the sense of traveling without moving, yet always a feeling of perpetual flight.
I love biking, then and now…
Reaching the summit at Tsali Recreational Park, Graham County, NC
Transcending the Mundane
Finding the path to Liberation and the end of cyclic existence
Our daily lives at times are filled with what seems like perpetual forms of the mundane. This is when the life around us appears to slow down and things appear to stand still. The thinking mind is no longer centered, but restless—searching for something to attach itself to. It is moments like this that we long for distraction. We may at this time unknowingly appear to be succumbing to this longing, but it has been there all along. It is the ego and it is at the foundation of our cyclic existence: (samsara): uncontrollably being reborn under the influence of disturbing attitudes and karmic imprints.
Today, I am experiencing such disillusionment or distraction. I am not at all centered. I want to think of something to do or find a profound gesture to give my life greater meaning. I say to my-self “you can create some art, or write a post for the blog or rehash thoughts about what I want out of life.” Now that (rehashing thoughts) is certainly a great way to keep one-self distracted—to be out of the present moment. The quickest way to address these moments of being “lost” in our thinking is to sit quietly and just observe the thoughts through our practice of meditation. Let the thoughts, like the waves of the ocean, rise and fall. We can say to ourselves, “I am thinking.” This is the beginning of Liberation: freedom from cyclic existence and Nirvana: the cessation of unsatisfactory conditions and their causes.
So today, I see the mundane for what it really is: a distraction from what is: We may call it mundane, but it is life itself in this present moment, and we can learn to embrace it.
And when we see it for what it truly is, we are free from any misconceptions that may arise.
We are on the path to Liberation and the end of Samsara.
The Spark that Ignites Our Dream of Love Soon Fades Away
A 2011 remix for Life and Stolen Innocence with poem
four point two million sympathy cards hallmark dissipating blue-clear skies to purple gray skies vertical sky-cam a gun in hand aisle four
the sound of a distant airplane voices behind closed doors clear skies, green grass, eternity hand-held sony super 8 interviewing clips from serial mom and fourth of july picnics
christmas morning echoed screams polaroids father knows best sleep in pain, wake to fear, live without love family sitcoms circa: 1960’s
The Narrow Way: Choosing a Path
- When we find a path that leads back to ourselves, we discover things anew
In 2002 I moved from Philadelphia to South Carolina. It was a time for a deliberate and conscious change. The beautiful natural landscapes of the Carolinas, Tennessee and Georgia all provided a sharp contrast to the harsh urban decay of what was becoming, in some parts, the City of Philadelphia. It was a very positive move for me, and I immediately embarked on a journey to rediscover some important sustaining elements of my life i.e. Mind, Body, Creativity and Spirit. I call them my Four Jewels. The very first thing I did when I arrived was go up into the mountains. I hiked, explored and found beauty, space and peace. Hiking as an adventure has a wonderful aspect to it, that is physical, emotional and exploratory. Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina is home of the Mile High Swinging Bridge and various trails. It is one of the highest peaks east of the Mississippi. While walking along the bridge, above the beautiful gorge below, one can begin the journey of self discovery. And in doing so, find a subtle, yet profound emergence of the meaning of man and nature as one.
The Narrow Way / The Bridge to Knowing
- The Narrow Way / The Bridge to knowing begins with your daily meditation practice
We often try to understand who we are through the process of knowing. In doing so, we come face to face with a peculiar dialectic. That peculiarity is how to bridge the awareness of being the knower and the known. To do this, one must understand that everything in awareness is known because of you. Our perception of the things around us is derived from an ever changing inherent existence. Things can never exist upon their own power, nor can the awareness of things be from the thinking mind alone. We exist in that place in between the two — You are Knowing. It is the state of Knowing that frees us from the misconceptions, the untruths of the object / known relationship and the subject / knower relationship. We begin the journey with our daily practice in meditation, and move forward when we let go of ourselves and the world around us and just Be That which Is.
Art and Place an Antidote for Violence
Lilies on the Lake 2011 Remix for the post Art and Place an Antidote for Violence
On Saturday January 8th 2011 an act of violence erupted that may well change the political landscape and its discourse. I am of course talking about the shooting, killing and wounding of numerous individuals as they participated in a town hall meeting with Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. The congresswoman, a centrist Democrat, was also critically injured in this senseless attack. A very sad day for America and my condolences go out to the families and friends. What does this act say about our society as we must press forward, while enveloped in a sphere of indifference, ignorance and hatred? What should a nation as a collective and a nation of individuals do? How do we respond? And will we demand that our politicians (the right in particular) stop putting their heads in the sand as they minimize and discredit the obvious i.e. that the shootings were politically motivated while fueled by an incoherent and troubled mind.
My suggestion today (and there should be many from all of us) is the focusing of the mind, seeing things as they really are, taking time to find ART and PLACE, and finding in the quiet centered mind, the antidote for violence. “Lilies on the Lake” and “The Lake in Quiet Meditation” are two pieces I created with the purpose of finding the quiet centered mind in the beauty of ART and the ambient sense of PLACE. There is stillness in nature and in the nature of the mind. We must actively pursue this solitude to increase our awareness of ourselves and the world around us. And in doing we step one moment closer to enhancing our world, creating love, not hate, and finding peace through compassion.
The Lake in Quiet Meditation, 2005 for the post Art and Place an Antidote for Violence
The Mind in Conscious Meditation
From the series Chakra Flowers for Meditation 2009
The background image for my blog is one of the visual components for the final piece entitled: “The Mind in Conscious Meditation.” Over the past few years I have begun to meditate on the Dharma teachings of emptiness: the lack of independent or inherent existence. This is the ultimate nature or reality of all persons and phenomena. In 2009 I started a series of works entitled “Chakra Flowers for Meditation.” This series embodies the concept of mindfulness and nature as one–with flowers as one of its main abstract elements. Here is the final image in its completion.
n e w d i g i t a l s c a p e s 