in driving to nyc today, i got a good regional glimpse of the 6 to 8" rainfall totals this area recieved on sunday

every stream, river and instant waterway gushed with torrents of water

could be seen were rivers encroaching on baseball fields and people's yards as well

whenever i see such torrents of water, i am reminded of the ganges lore of when mother ganga overflows her banks, its god's love flooding our world

we can appreciate the cup is half full consciousness of such bengalis who celebrate this calamity as an inundation of prema whose life is brought into great discomfort when they must live on the roof of their homes for a period

in waiting for a transaction to be finished in picking up some desk furniture, i went for a walk down the highway and there was a lone canadian goose walking on the grass

geese are community birds..., they migrate as a group and if one is unable to keep up with the group, several birds will fall back and stay with it, or if it has to rest and is sick, stop and be with it

i said to him, "where are your buddies?,... yah gotta find your buddies"

i felt sad for him, he was so alone and not with his buddies

yesterday we had a shooting at a university by a gunman who appears by all accounts to be so alone and lost and without his buddies

from accounts too, other students tried to reach out to him and be his friend but he was too alone

i feel sad for him and all those impacted by this event and i pray for the flooding of god's love to heal their hearts

in the strange ways of this world, shared in the collective journey of each of us helping each other find our way back to the flock, i know this tunnel is one of

light

when i delivered the desk, to my dismay, i discovered a small dink where a chair had impacted the desk

in talking to the owner on the phone not yet seeing the desk, he didn't think it such a big thing

i think this is the way of our world..., not to trivialize people's sorrows and calamities, but i feel optimistic about our collective flock awakening and flying to stars

somehow, our journey is full of dinks and yet it is all so very perfect

and there is a river of love flooding our world

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Thanks Babu, for this life-affirming post...like a breath of fresh air.

That was some really great insight Babu, especially on a day when death, destruction and flooding took their toll on the area. I was at my bank late Monday morning and 2 workers there were talking about their kids, who attended Virginia Tech, who called them at work to say all was well and that they were OK. I kept thinking about the report of cell phones going off in the pockets of those who were killed and whose bodies laid on the floor as the police where gathering evidence, all those parents, relative and friends calling, but with no one to answer.

I shall never look at a dink in furniture ever again with distain, just a more personalized object to call ones own.

Thanks for the wonderful post!!!!

the dink, btw is about the size of a two-week old fingernail clipping

on the way home getting some grub, i told the counter person i didn't have a great day but i am sure it was nothing compared to what some folks are feeling down in virginia... then told the person of how i put a dink in a 6,000$ desk

but in perspective, the day's measure was putting together some thoughts into this poem and so it was a great day

anyone know the zen term for a defect that adds to the character and beauty of an object?

Thanks for the post babu...

I found this definition online in describing the Japanese tea ceremony:

Wabi-Sabi

Since wabi-sabi represents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic system, it is difficult to explain precisely in western terms. According to Leonard Koren, wabi-sabi is the most conspicuous and characteristic feature of what we think of as traditional Japanese beauty and it "occupies roughly the same position in the Japanese pantheon of aesthetic values as do the Greek ideals of beauty and perfection in the West."

Wabi-sabi is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete.
It is the beauty of things modest and humble.
It is the beauty of things unconventional.

The concepts of wabi-sabi correlate with the concepts of Zen Buddhism, as the first Japanese involved with wabi-sabi were tea masters, priests, and monks who practiced Zen. Zen Buddhism originated in India, traveled to China in the 6th century, and was first introduced in Japan around the 12th century. Zen emphasizes "direct, intuitive insight into transcendental truth beyond all intellectual conception." At the core of wabi- sabi is the importance of transcending ways of looking and thinking about things/existence.

All things are impermanent
All things are imperfect
All things are incomplete
Material characteristics of wabi-sabi:

suggestion of natural process
irregular
intimate
unpretentious
earthy
simple

As wabi-sabi once was the preeminent high culture Japanese aesthetic, a familiarity with its concepts is essential for the understanding of the Japanese tea ceremony.

thank you, kali

Thank you so much, babu and Kalisurfer. I have never heard of this term, but the idea strikes a chord. I have been trying to define for myself my sense of aesthetics in photography, what I find worth photographing and how. This Japanese term captures an important aspect of it.

Below, a pic of the year's last roses, taken last year in autumn.




The single ray of light touching the flowers on this picture is sunset reflected from a West-facing window across the backyard.

Thanks Babu, Kalisurfer and Dhyana for this inspiring thread. I really like the wabi sabi aesthetics and Dhyana's beautiful photo.

I want to dedicate my photo to Babu, it is entitled "More Than A Dink".

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This must be a maha-dink! I like its imaginativeness. On my computer, images load slowly. I gazed at it as it unfolded and it was hard to say what was "real" and what was reflected...

I didn't take this pic, its from a UK "grafitti artist and you can find more at www.banksy.co.uk His stuff can be found all over the place, usually ironic and satirical

Dhyana and Softbrain, the photos you have posted pertaining to the esthetics of Wabi-Sabi were simply amazing!!!

The blooming rose next to the decaying one with the spider walking in between are so nicely framed by the lush green of the background. The yin and yang of nature, a delicate visual of transformation…the imperfections that are well…..perfect.

Then the sharp edges of sky and foliage playing figure and ground games with the black asphalt background, asking the viewer to discern what is reality and what is reflection? Like a abstract expressionist painting, this photo demands attention to the fleeting moment.

Truly inspiring beautiful photos, thanks for posting them.

I also have a love for taking photos of objects in flux, showing aspects of it’s temporary nature and transitional nature. Here is one I took about a month ago after a slight dusting of snow fell, catching the patterns of tire marks before it all melted away very quickly.

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Awwww. What an intensely uncomfortable image! Thank you for posting, Pentagram!

Thank you for the appreciation, Kalisurfer. Somehow when you look and put your impressions into words, the description adds something further to the picture. You made me look at my pic as if it was not a scene I had seen, rather as if it was a scene seen through someone else's eyes.

Your tire patterns are so geometrically perfect, and the viewer ends up at the "crossroads" -- which way did the car came from, which way did it go? Left and right, will they lead to different places or is it all the same wheeling around?

Graphically very strong, Kalisurfer!

Pentagram, thanks for the Banksy example,you’ll find some good links to Banksy in the Entertainment section here at GR, under Twilight Zones, here is the link:

Link to Banksy in Entertainment/Twilight Zone

Banksy does have a way of putting his art in the most unusual places, so in many ways he does create this dichotomy of message graffiti that surprises the viewer, a sense of the unexpected. His art is temporary too, for much of it gets painted over eventually. Wabi-Sabi Grafitti!!!!

A lot of nature photography goes for the beautiful and perfect, so it is refreshing to see a sense of both in one picture, a full blossomed flower next to the a dying one is really a very strong statement on the nature of life.

It is great to get feedback on one's creative expressions, you can sometimes learn more about your own creations through the eyes and awareness of someone different.


Those tire patterns caught me by surprise, I was luckily enough to reach the intersection just in time when only two cars passed through it. Through some uncanny coincidence, both drivers must of turned at about the exact same spot, only in different directions. I also notice that when I walk with a camera, I see things differently, I am more aware of objects and events visually, whereas when I walk without a camera, I am mostly ingrained in thought of the past or something in the future. The camera makes me more aware of the moment…kind of like the Zen of Photography! Perhaps I should start a new spiritual movement and become the first Shutteracharya Roshi!!!!

Thank you Softbrain, it did have a very abstract expressionist quality to the black tracks in light snow, something similar to a Franz Kline black and white raw brush stroke painting. A very similar strong graphic look is found in your broken glass on asphalt image.

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