Existential Dread
View allAll Photos Tagged EXISTENTIAL
The letter G!
GTWL -- clones!
I'm gonna have to note the hell out of this thing so you know who everyone is....!
Secret #2: I have tried every religion/spirituality/philosophy/movement in the picture. My faith is, er, interesting. Mother is Jewish, father is atheist (formerly Episcopalian). I'm Jewish by blood, had a Bat Mitzvah, but once I got to college... well, you know. One existential crisis after another left me an atheist. Then agnostic -- a very humble position (and is why I love David Hume so much). Then I 'found' God when I took mushrooms -- not shiitake -- and I've been a deist ever since. By God, I mean higher power, no identity (no way for us to identify), unable to comprehend, the First Cause. you know. Religion scares me. That's my secret.
I'm also really pissed that I didn't add Kierkegaard in here. Despair, angst, leap of faith.... brilliant.
*Explored: Reached #50
Long-Tailed Tit [Aegithalos Caudatus] on a hazel branch.
This little guy and two of his friends appeared at The Pixies not long after I had replenished all of the feeders. They love my fat- and protein-rich peanut butter/seed mix!
Today, it has been raining, all day, and this wee soul looked a little worse for wear. Pathetic fallacy to assume that he was sad in all the rain, but he just seemed bedraggled and sorrowful…and very wet! Poor wee guy. Maybe he was just being reflective and existential :-) and not just crying in the rain.
I’m sure he’ll be all huddled up, warm and cosy, with his buddies, after they all have their fill of peanut butter.
At The Pixies (about a mile down my track)
South Carrick Hills
SW Scotland
🎼 “Lágrima” - Miloš Karadaglić (Francisco Târrega)
The image is based on a frame from "The Man Who Was Never Born" - Season 1, Episode 6 of 'The Outer Limits."
powered by:
a China Aster / Sommeraster (Callistephus chinensis) -
in a vase and from further down in the archives!
Besides all the current discussions and necessary measures ...
let's not forget, that we still have a much bigger and more existential problem on our beautiful planet!!!
Dear friends,
thank you all for your kind words on my 13th Flickrversary yesterday!
(english follow)
Dans le torrent du Temps
(Note : Ce texte est une allégorie inspirée d’une théorie scientifique très actuelle, résumée dans le lien ci-dessous)
La Vie semblait monter à l’assaut du Grand Néant
Cette montagne morte qui trônait au centre de Terra Nova, un haut-plateau de Poësia…
Des milliers d’arbres et de plantes cherchant à coloniser le moindre replis de cet espace de non-vie, comme autant de combattants sur un champ de bataille.
________
Cette vision conquérante de la vie telle que nous la connaissons est typiquement humaine. Elle se nourrit à la fois de la culture populaire (science-fiction) et de la Science, elle-même, légitimement curieuse de trouver des signes de vie au-delà de la Terre (ETI). Nous voulons y croire! Mais, pour l’instant…
________
Là-bas, le Grand Néant résistait à l’expansion de la végétation, son environnement hostile étant impropre à la vie telle que nous la connaissons… sauf, peut-être, dans ses expressions les plus simples, de l’ordre de la molécule…
Debout sur le promontoire qui me permettait d’observer les forces en présence, les questions se bousculaient dans ma tête: Le Néant serait-il l’état dominant de l’Univers? La vie organique - qui plus est, ses formes intelligentes - serait-elle une situation exceptionnelle, un événement hautement improbable sur la lente trajectoire de l’évolution? Et la question essentielle dont je redoutais la réponse: Serions-nous seul dans l’Univers?
Si cette hypothèse devait faire son chemin dans le torrent du temps , une réalité pressante, existentielle s’imposerait alors à tous les enfants de Darwin: la vie sur Terre, sous toutes ses formes, est un héritage extrêmement précieux et nous avons, en tant qu’espèce intelligente, l’immense responsabilité de la préserver.
Patrice photographiste, Chroniques de Poësia
Voir : www.americanscientist.org/article/alone-in-the-universe
_________________
Through the Ages
(Note: This text is an allegory inspired by a very current scientific theory, summarized in the link below)
Life seemed to rise to the assault of the Great Nothing,
This dead mountain which reigned in the center of Terra Nova, a high plateau of Poësia ...
Thousands of trees and plants seeking to colonize every fold of this non-living space like so many fighters on a battlefield.
________
This conquering view of life as we know it is uniquely human. It feeds on both popular culture (science fiction) and Science itself, legitimately curious about finding signs of life beyond Earth (ETI). We want to believe it! But for now…
_______
There, the Great Nothing resisted the expansion of vegetation, its hostile environment being unfit for life as we know it ... except, perhaps, in its simplest expressions, of the order of the molecule …
Standing on the promontory that allowed me to observe the present forces, the questions rush in my head: Would Nothingness be the dominant state of the Universe? Could organic life - moreover, its intelligent forms - be an exceptional situation, a highly improbable event on the slow trajectory of evolution? And the essential question I dreaded the answer to: Are we alone in the Universe?
If this hypothesis were to find its way through time, a pressing, existential reality would then impose itself on all of Darwin's children: life on Earth, in all its forms, is an extremely precious heritage we have, and us, the intelligent species, have the immense responsibility to preserve it.
Patrice photographiste, Chronicles of Poësia
see : www.americanscientist.org/article/alone-in-the-universe
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My cat, Mr. Meowzer, basks in the warm, autumn, afternoon sun.
" ... Ready or not,
Autumn here I come.
I love chasing falling leaves
And well, anything that moves.
Followed by some existential soul
searching and a cuddle."
~ Odin the Cat: CatWisdom101
“The sigh of all the seas breaking in measure round the isles soothed them; the night wrapped them; nothing broke their sleep, until, the birds beginning and the dawn weaving their thin voices in to its whiteness”
― Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse
Or: An offer he couldn't refuse...
#macromondays
#Biscuit
Another day, another cookie. But something was different this morning. Sid didn't wake up with his usual ravenous craving for breakfast cookies (which would be followed by lunch, snack, dinner, and night snack cookies). He woke up with pangs of conscience. Was it right what he was doing? Eating cookies, cookies cookies? When he had taken a look at himself in the mirror the other day, he all of a sudden had a Dejá Vu. A cookie Dejá Vu. Oh dear, he felt panic rising. Was it possible that... he? Sid? Was... a cookie, too?!? He looked at the delicious-looking chocolate chip cookie right in front of him. "Hel...lo?", he asked with a quivering voice. "Can... can you hear me?" A somewhat deafening silence answered him. Next, he heard a familiar grumbling coming from below. And it was more than the usual "Me hungry, where are me cookies?" grumbling. This time, the grumbling in his stomach spoke to him. "Sid, Sid, Sid," it said. "You moron! You aren't a cookie, you are a macaroon. Ma-ca-roon. A fabulous Italian Brutti ma Buoni. Made with nocciole italiane. You are Sid. You are special. Capiche?" Sid sighed. A huge weight was lifted from his mind. "I'm Italian?", he asked in bewilderment. A big smile appeared on his face. "Wow! I must tell Grover, Kermit, and all the others when they come over for my birthday cookie party. I'm so proud!" And with an earsplitting growl of "Coooookkkieeees, Me Eeeeeat!!!!" he dug into his favourite type of cookie, the chocolate chip cookie right in front of him – and the world's shortest existential crisis ever had dissolved into thin air. Or rather: into crumbles.
Unbeknownst to Sid, however, Brutti ma Buoni (which means "ugly but good") are very much classified as biscuits. Just like the more obvious choice, the quinoa chocolate chip cookie on the small wooden fork. And both are delicious ;) Btw, did you know that the Cookie Monster has a name? Well, he does, and it is Sid. A fact that I learned when I did some research to refresh my Sesame Street knowledge. The Cookie Monster revealed his name as late as 2004, long after my own Sesame Street days, so I'm not surprised I didn't know ;)
Ingredients: an Italian hazelnut macaron, dyed blue with food colour, and adorned with modeling clay eyes, a chocolate chip cookie, a wooden fork (from an instant noodle bowl), a wooden drip mat, black foam sheet as backdrop, soft light from above. This is my test shot, a single photo taken in shadow priority mode. The width of the frame is 6,5 cm / 2,5 inches. It's not the technically most brilliant capture, but I somehow liked it even with all its shortcomings, so I decided to keep it short and simple this time. In fact, doing the write-up took much longer than taking the photo ;)
I'm very busy today, so I'll catch up with you tonight. HMM, Everyone!
Das Krümelmonster in einer Sinnkrise
Was wäre wenn... das Krümelmonster selbst ein Keks wäre? Das würde gewiss im ersten Moment der Selbsterkenntnis eine echte Sinnkrise in ihm auslösen (s. englischen Text oben). Wer aber das Krümelmonster kennt, und ich gehe mal davon aus, dass das die meisten von uns tun, weiß auch um seinen unstillbaren Hunger auf alles Krümelige ;) Vielleicht würde es sogar im ersten Moment darüber nachdenken, auf Gemüse umzusteigen – sobald es dann aber den ersten Keks zu Gesicht bekäme, würde es keinen Moment zögern und sich mit dem wohlbekannten, ohrenbetäubenden Schrei "Keeeeeekse!!!" darauf stürzen. Oder? Ich würde darauf wetten. Im echten Leben war es dann aber natürlich ich, die beide im Bild zu sehenden Gebäckstücke verspeist hat. Mit Genuss, denn sowohl das Krümelmonster in Gestalt eines mit Lebensmittelfarbe und Knetaugen (die ich vor dem Verzehr natürlich entfernt habe) präparierten "Brutti ma Buoni" ("hässlich, aber gut" – und das sind diese italienischen Haselnuss-Makronen) als auch sein bedauernswertes Opfer, ein Quinoa-Kakao-Keks mit Schokostückchen (übrigens des Krümelmonsters Lieblingskeks, was die Annahme, es könnte sich zum Vegeatrier wandeln, noch unwahrscheinlicher macht), haben nach "Mehr" geschmeckt. Dabei bin ich eigentlich gar kein Süßschnabel :)
It's a human thing to humanise, when you look at Animals, Insects, Spiders, what have you, and notice expressions that we then mentally transmute empirically the emotions, yet do such creatures honestly feel this?! Really depends, many argue that such neurological behaviour must extend from sentience, but how do we judge that? Or measure it? If someone sees a shade of a blue sky and is aware that another may see an alternative hue of, more or less the same colour of blue, could it be argued that one's existential emotion is exact to that of another, now throw in an entirely different species and ponder the question again.
I took this shot of the spider and then saw the "expression" in its eyes, so to speak; a look that I perceive as of guilt and a desperation to change, from this psychopathic killing machine to a more sentient and appreciative being. But that's just me!
I hope everyone is well and so as always, thank you! :)
PS: Zoom in ;)
So I probably am insane, I don't care, I applied an awakening to this moment, for me personally I never see a road, I see demonstrational neurological existential consciousness, ready to send out the little messengers of thoughts of which we are all in the driving seat, master this and you master the Universe. Imagine if you would, realising that thinking decides reality and a new universe can be created from thus an infinitesimal moment's conjuring, it can be mind blowing and frightening to yield that level of conscience, be mindful of your thoughts but what an incredible playground of exploration awaits if we could ever can comprehend the absolute freedom that awaits, so go ahead Angel, blow my mind, I am ready!
I hope everyone is well and so as always, thank you! :)
If you are anything like me, and a terribly bad sleeper, then you will have experienced that infuriating phenomena of looking forward to a beautiful, revitalising, weekend sleep, only to wake up 4 and a half hours later and are fully awake for no reason as well as having nothing to do, as if one's brain has decided to envelope, without purpose or cause, the emotional paradigm of an existential crisis that doesn't exist, but by god you feel it! Great isn't it? Urgh!
So now I got that off my chest and having now gone full David Brent, the photo, this I took last Summer at Grunewald just outside Berlin, the location was teaming with Entomological life, including the Dor Beetle I captured here...
and here...
This Wasp Beetle was snuck down on a partially rotted tree branch, don't let the Bokeh confuse you, the antennae were right in front of its eyes, and I remember thinking how does this little guy see anything, but of course, insect sight is many times poorer than that of a human, so thus they of course predominantly, feel their way around. Still, the insect world is an interesting.
I hope everyone is well and so as always, thank you! :)
PS: Zoom in ;)
08-november-2021: in the beautiful mountain environment between "Sella Nevea" Ski Resort (1162m a.s.l.) and Plains (1551m a.s.l.) of mount "Jôf di Montasio" (2754m a.s.l.), the summit in the background of this shot.
Music is essential to life beyond the existential flatline of the day-to-day.
Vinyl is the coolest messenger.
Two years sober blogging a whiskey bar, the existential dread is setting in big time. 4773 days (13 years) Later... RL me stares at the screen watching Flit's AO loop and wondering what I even am doing here at 2:49AM on a Sunday night fighting the urge to sleep because it's the only time that it's quiet in my head.
Perhaps it was the juice that fueled my drive to create, to chase digital validation of some kind... everything used to be more exciting maybe or my ego's taking a hit and I'm starting to look back at time and money I may have been wasting.
I've put down the guns because they disgust me now. I'm tired of being cramped up in space and people certainly don't need any more thirst traps or photos of me playing with cats.
It might be time to fade into the ether friends... I'm certainly done trying too hard. <3
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View from the Quiraing overlooking Loch Leum nu Luirginn and Loch Cleat on the Isle of Skye, Scotland.
Previously unpublished shot taken on my week away roaming Skye in a campervan during the pandemic 'lull' of September 2020. The only time I have felt truly happy and alive since 2019 was this week on this magnificently beautiful and mystical isle. Since then the pandemic worsened, my back failed me and now Putin has brought widescale war to Europe with the ever-present threat that escalation could turn a monstrous catastrophe into an existential apocalypse.
Tonight I choose to remember this happier time. Capturing this magical scene, savouring it for a while and then descending onto the foggy beach to find fossilised dinosaur footprints.
Wishing you all a peaceful and safe weekend.
My heart and thoughts are with the people of Ukraine.
"... When it's not always raining there'll be days like this
When there's no one complaining there'll be days like this
When everything falls into place like the flick of a switch
Well my mama told me there'll be days like this ... "
- Van Morrison -
“The capacity to be alone is the capacity to love. It may look paradoxical to you, but it's not. It is an existential truth: only those people who are capable of being alone are capable of love, of sharing, of going into the deepest core of another person--without possessing the other, without becoming dependent on the other, without reducing the other to a thing, and without becoming addicted to the other. They allow the other absolute freedom because they know that if the other leaves, they will be as happy as they are now. Their happiness cannot be taken by the other, because it is not given by the other.”
― Osho
Credits: aroyalminx.com/
existential rivalry instead of searching a way of co-existence. Dedicated to our FLICKR friend Wolfgang Bayer.
www.instagram.com/lightcrafter.artistry
Inspired by Edvard Munch's "The Scream."
The image is a macro photo of a hairbrush, processed in Photoshop. I attempted to give the impression of a lone individual, caught in the claustrophobic, existential moment, defined by a dreamlike state of paranoia and anxiety.
All images © 2017 Daniel Kessel.
All rights reserved
Hello, my friends
It is my biggest wish that my message will find you all amazingly well and excited about the wonderful spring that is about to arrive. Of course, as you probably noticed I haven't been here at all lately so I want to thank you sooo much for the lovely feedback on my last posts which was greatly appreciated although for lack of time and energy I haven't managed to return it. Can't promise to do it from now on either as between work, study and my usual existential dilemmas :) I am very caught up at the moment. As spring is my favourite season I will probably post some images just for the joy of spreading and sharing the beauty of it but please do not feel compelled to favour or comment as I will probably not be able to interact much. This being said, thank you so much for keeping me into your contacts and wish you all the most wonderful spring!
Much joy&peace to you my friends!
Love
Lu
Getting away from the ocean to the mountains, the Blue Mountains in particular, with this pic. Bit of trivia for you, I used to live up the Blue Mountains, and belong to the local bush fire brigade, way back in the early 80's, a little place named Warrimoo.
The Blue Mountains cover around 11,400 square kms west of Sydney with elevations up to 1,100m. They are a vast sandstone plateau carved by deep valleys and dramatic cliffs, covered in eucalypt forests that give the region its signature blue haze & name. They boast waterfalls, slot canyons, rainforests & heathlands. It is a paradise for bushwalkers boasting 250 trails ranging from short easy walks to tough multi-day hikes. A mate & I did the Lockleys Pilon hike a couple of years back and the views of the Grose Valley, Mount Hay and Eucalypt rainforests were so inspiring. Might have to dig some of those pics out.
This view here is from Boars Head looking out across Narrow Neck and the Megalong Valley.
Now that's sorted it's time to go workout. Does anyone know how many calories you need to burn off to compensate for 2 large dark cholate eggs & 1 large honeycomb choc bunny.
Speaking of which ..... what type of easter bunny eater are you? I'm an Ear Assassin.
An Ear Assassin - eats the ears first without mercy, no bunny will hear you coming.
The Smasher - whacks the entire bunny to bits and eats it in blissful chocolate chaos.
The Slow Dismantler - nibbles the limbs and features one by one with surgical chaos. The eyes would have to be last I reckon.
The Existential Licker - softens the bunny up by licking it first to gain its trust before biting.
Or is there another secret way of devouring them?
Thanks kindly for any likes/comments, they are always appreciated.
Sick transit
Stubborn ghosts, shy to the point of evaporation, propelled by the merciless invasion of light to their inescapable fate, a lamentable state of affairs comfortingly derided by the remnant of the red jeans alone.
*
Shortest curve
We wonder what kind of desperate determination can drive this existential march from nothing to nowhere in the midst of such painfully vivid clarity?
//These words suggested by the inscrutable links of friendship serve to add Janos Kepes’s personal verbal articulation to Richard Wohlfart’s photographs, a single if relevant item of an infinite set of possible resonances.//
the place of our most amazing summer holiday ever: Sandvika bay on the Lofoten islands, where we rented a Rorbue (red fishermen's hut) in the middle of these jaw-dropping surroundings. I just can't stop longing for the place.
Juliette Gréco, la grande dame existentialiste
La chanteuse Juliette Gréco, née à Montpellier, est décédée à l'âge de 93 ans
«What happens in Ukraine matters to us all.
That is why I am in Kyiv today.
That is why the UK will continue to stand with our Ukrainian friends.
I believe Ukraine can and will win this war.»
/British Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrived in Kyiv as the country celebrates Independence Day./
Life in Ukraine has never been easy. Many challenges have always awaited every Ukrainian every day - from the usual family and existential ones to unpredictable ones related to the political life of society. The war of 2014 fell on Ukrainians by surprise, like some kind of disease. That war was perceived as a disease that could be cured, because no one could and did not want to believe that it was a harbinger of something terrible, that trouble was brewing. How was it possible with common sense to believe that your neighbor would declare: "I will destroy you all and take all yours for myself." But February 24, 2022 came, and Russia began killing Ukrainians, destroying cities and villages, and looting our historical symbols. Life in Ukraine has changed. A different meaning of life has appeared, the dreams of Ukrainians have changed. We want to expel the enemy from every piece of the land of Ukraine and return to our usual and such difficult Ukrainian life. This is now the dream of everyone who lives in Ukraine and loves it, because there is nowhere better than it on the planet.
Життя в Україні ніколи не було простим. Щодня на кожного українця завжди чекало багато викликів - від звичних сімейних і екзистенційних, до непередбачуваних, пов’язаних з політичним життям суспільства. Війна 2014 року впала на українців зненацька, наче якась хвороба. Ту війну і сприймали як хворобу, яку потрібно вилікувати, адже повірити, що це передвісник чогось страшного, що готується біда, ніхто не міг і не хотів. Як можна було при здоровому глузді повірити, що твій сусід заявить: «Я вас всіх знищу і заберу все ваше собі». Але настало 24 лютого 2022 року і Росія почала вбивати українців, руйнувати міста і села, плюндрувати наші історичні символи. Життя в Україні змінилося. З’явився інший сенс життя, змінилися мрії українців. Ми хочемо вигнати ворога з кожного клаптика землі України і повернутись до свого звичного і такого непростого українського життя. Отака зараз мрія кожного, хто живе в Україні і любить її, бо кращої за неї для нас немає ніде у світі.
To the illusion of an end in sight.
I've been staring at this. It was my home stretch on a 10K. My legs barely carried me, my skin was wind burned, and my lungs were on fire. A knee-buckle had never seemed so sweet, well past second and third wind.
We all chase some kind of carrot though, don't we?
I'll go have an existential crisis now.
“There is no place like the beach... where the land meets the sea and the sea meets the sky”
― Umair Siddiqui
A early morning sunrise at Wells beach, during my trip up the Maine coast. There is something so very freeing about being on the ocean shore. It has always touch something elemental in me... the sight, smell and taste of the ocean evokes an existential "deep breath".
Texture added by:
Virtually Supine - www.flickr.com/photos/virtually_supine/4406422319/in/albu...