In January 2004, Santiago Calatrava presented its design for the World Trade Center Transportation Center.

One of the first decisions that Calatrava had in mind at the time of conceiving the project was the realization of the building at street level, an independent structure along the Wedge of Light Square, by Daniel Libeskind. “Oculus”, the centerpiece of the Transportation Center that presents the new station to the world is a kind of pause in the middle of the dense glass and steel towers that surround it.

The construction, due to constant delays, lasted 12 years and was finally inaugurated on March 3, 2016, without too many celebrations. The cost of its construction, $ 4 billion, greatly exceeded its original cost, becoming, until the time of its inauguration, the most expensive train station in the world and the third largest transportation center in New York, after Grand Central and Penn Station, both in Midtown Manhattan.

In its early stages, construction was delayed due to disputes over cost, safety and design. In 2012, the site was flooded by Hurricane Sandy and millions of liters of water had to be pumped in a matter of days. Other events were even more unexpected, such as the discovery of the remains of an 18th century ship.

Location

The World Trade Center Transportation Center in Lower Manhattan, New York, United States, officially opened to the public on March 4, 2016, replacing the PATH train station that was destroyed in the September 11 attacks. It provides access to the Trans-Hudson suburban trains (PATH) of the Port Authority to New Jersey and 11 subway lines in New York City. It was built east of the missing Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.

The station not only offer services to commuter trains, but it also connects with the city’s underground trains, it has interior pedestrian access to Brollkfield Place, towers 1, 2, 3 and 4, as well as the new transportation complex and Fulton Street Transit Center trade, at the intersection of Fulton St and Broadway.

Concept

Although its spectacular form suggests motifs of many traditions, the Byzantine mandorla, the cherub wings on the Ark of the Covenant or the protective wings on the canopy of the Egyptian urns, the form can be summarized, according to Santiago Calatrava, as the image of a bird freed from the hands of a child.

The building is designed to illuminate the underground train station and the shopping center that opened in March 2016, blurring the line between a railway station, a shopping center and a pedestrian tunnel. The large space created in its interior, elegant and modern, with its shops and restaurants quickly became an attraction in Lower Manhattan, not only for transport users but also for the general public.

In this regard Calatrava comments that, studying the city, its people, its lifestyle, the grid of its streets and its culture, he understood that the new project should generate a feeling of hope. New York City taught him that his milestones are civic buildings, such as the Brooklyn Bridge, the Grand Central Station or the 6th Av Public Library, all this inspired him, the entire city of New York was his inspiration.

Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, at Self-Realization Fellowship's Lake Shrine, opened to the public in 1950. A portion of Mahatma Gandhi's ashes are enshrined behind this Golden Lotus Archway. [10 of 12]

You can check out the rest of my work and toy reviews to these social media sites.

Please Like/Follow/Subscribe. Thanks!

Blog | www.codenamelocust.wordpress.com

Instagram | @codenamepablo

Facebook | www.facebook.com/locustblogsite

Youtube | www.youtube.com/user/dmon06660

update: I have a big photoshoot planned that will take place in the next couple of weeks hopefully :)

Série limitée et numérotée, avec certificat joint, pour chaque modèle de cadre.

PHOTO & TIRAGE en VENTE directe. DEVIS personnalisé SUR DEMANDE relevez la référence sous la photo

Me contacter : comlaphoto@gmail.com

Les photos, pour une lecture plus rapide, sont ici en basse résolution.

Tous ces clichés sont disponibles en haute résolution pour des tirages de qualité supérieure sur tous types de supports.

Tirages et impression sur tous supports : tirage classique, d’art, supports rigides (dibond, plexi, bois et pvc), toile, bâche etc.…

Réalisation de trompe l’œil.

A l’exception des œuvres d’artistes bénéficiant de la protection propriété intellectuelle (sculpteurs, architectes, peintres, marques, tags, graffitis, dessinateurs etc.)

Series limited and numbered, with certificate attached, for each model framework.

PHOTO & drawing in direct sales. Custom application specifications take the reference under the photo

Contact me: comlaphoto@gmail.com

The photos, for a faster reading, are here in low resolution.

All these clichés are available in high resolution for prints of superior quality on all types of media.

Prints and print in all formats: Classic, fine art print, rigid supports (dibond, selection, wood and pvc), canvas, tarpaulin etc....

Realization of proboscis eye.

Except the works of artists protected intellectual property (sculptors, architects, painters, designers etc.)

Barcelona, Spain. Fer

Divorce is most of all lonely.

Mine was compounded by the fact that my family adored my ex- and, for whatever reason -- maybe because the realization that the happy shining life that I loved so much was, in part, a sham -- I didn’t share a lot of details with them about why we were getting divorced. Protecting him and myself, I guess. But the event largely proceeded in silence. My silence. They didn’t ask much, and I didn’t tell them much.

Which made for a very lonely time in which I settled into the understanding that everything I wished for was gone.

It all exploded (many years ago, now) around Thanksgiving and had settled some by Christmas, but I was feeling so raw that I declined invitations from family and friends and opted to spend my Christmas at home alone by myself.

I don’t recommend it. But it gave me plenty of room to cry. And feel lost and alone and as if my world had ended.

Right. Like I said. Don’t recommend it.

A few days after Christmas I received a package from my little brother. I felt I had disappointed my brothers most of all. I gave them the news indirectly, cc’ing them on an email that I sent to my father as a last minute impulse. They had a great relationship with my ex- -- he was like a brother, he fit my family so well -- and it was the wrong wrong wrong way to do it. But hurt skews your best rational impulses, and regret doesn’t mean you can take it back.

I received a slip to pick up the package at the P.O. and so I did, taking it with me next door to the sublime Espresso Vivace to have a shot of coffee before I headed back up the hill for home. My empty home.

I decided to open his package right there at Vivace, and this little porcelain figurine -- the very first and the very last porcelain figurine that I have ever received from any member of my family -- was in the package. (We are not, as a habit, givers of porcelain figurines. Plastic maybe. Under certain conditions.) Along with a note from my brother.

I saw the figure, read the note and immediately started to cry. Carefully, silently, my chest heaving and my trying to hide it as I sat in that cafe.

I’ve misplaced the note, so I’ll have to paraphrase it here, but first: a backstory.

The whole tribe of us are hams, and as kids we excelled at mounting theatrical productions. My older sister was the ring leader, and I can still mime for you her choreography to Fantasia -- with roles for all four of us -- that grew and took shape over several years of working it. The story line had nothing to do with the real Fantasia -- Fantasia was convenient because we had the LP and a record player -- it was our score.

I’ll spare you the ELO Electric Bump story. But put it on and I’ll bump it for you, without missing a beat.

So. To the fairy godmother.

One of our most spectacular productions took shape over a weekend at my grandparent’s home in Seattle. I think I’ve mentioned before the levels and layers of that home -- it was made for theater. We had just moved back to the Northwest from Denver, and were staying there with my grandparents who were also putting up some family friends who had a daughter about the same age as my sister and me. We seized the moment to mount a full-scale production of Cinderella, using my grandmother’s spectacular ball gown collection for costuming (my grandfather was grand potentate of the Nile Temple in the 1960s -- which meant she had an amazing ball gown collection).

We dressed Cinderella in blue taffeta -- A, the family friend, played the princess-to-be. My sister reprised her role of wicked witch (which she played to perfection almost every single Halloween of our childhood) in the role of wicked stepmother. I think my youngest brother A was the prince, and G played miscellaneous roles, including the priest who would ultimately marry the prince and his princess (the bride’s train, btw, was an extended roll of toilet paper that unspooled as she walked down the aisle).

I was the fairy godmother and I chose for my costume a killer sunshine yellow fringed flapper gown. Sleeveless with straight lines and long satiny fringe running in tiers over the whole of that dress. I asked my grandmother about it not too long ago and unfortunately it’s long gone. Although I’m sure it wouldn’t fit me now (we were unusually tall kids and she was diminutive, so we got away with it then), but if I could score it today I’d find myself a ball to go to. That was a gorgeous gown.

If I may say, I played the part of fairy godmother to perfection. It was my best role ever, wholly improvised, and played to uproarious laughter to a house of completely sloshed adults. They loved it. They particularly loved my crowning moment when, having dressed the ragged Cinderella in a flurry of magical accoutrements (G rushed the goods in when I waved my wand -- it was all very well done) the princess asked: “But I have no shoes. What will I wear for shoes?”

I pondered the problem, studied it, and then resolved it in a flourish -- by pulling a pair of stilettos -- our stand-in glass slippers -- out of the top of my dress where I had propped them in anticipation, heels pointing out, like a stuffed bullet bra, against my then quite flat chest. (This was the summer of what would be my 5th grade year.)

The crowd fell apart.

It was my greatest triumph.

It took some time to mop up the mess, but we finally got the audience to settle down and we took the show to its logical conclusion. Flawlessly executed by all. And of course, after it was done, we talked and talked and talked about it. Told the story over and over.

Because that’s what you do when you put on a show with the best players you’ll ever perform with; when you’re perfectly in synch in a way that only folks who love each other unthinkingly can be.

And that’s why I cried when I read my brother’s note; my brother who felt so far from me just then, who I thought I had lost by making a hugely difficult decision. My brother said in effect: “Merry Christmas to my sister, the best fairy godmother ever.” And some more stuff about being the best sister ever.

Reminding me all at once that I was loved.

And reminding me of something that every girl needs to know: that I was my own fairy godmother. That I held the power to make all my wishes come true.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

Due to the restrictions of the Versailles treaties, the Reichswehr was already dealing with the increasing mobilization and motorization of the army after the end of the First World War. The realization that the speed of the troop units required appropriate equipment was available early on. However, the Reichswehr suffered from financial constraints and during the Weimar Republic the industry only had limited capacity for series production of larger, armored vehicles.

Only a total of fifty-five Sd.Kfz. 241s were completed by Magirus in Cologne until 1936, when production of the Sd.Kfz. 231 (8-Rad) vehicle family started and soon replaced the Sd.Kfz. 241, which was primarily operated at the Eastern Front in Poland and Czechoslovakia. By 1940, no Sd.Kfz. 241 was left in any frontline army unit, but a few survivors were grouped together and handed over to police units. Their main gun was either completely deleted or sometimes replaced with a second machine gun, and they were used for urban patrols and riot control duties. However, by 1942, no Sd.Kfz. 241 was left over.

Specifications:

Crew: Four (commander, gunner, driver, radio operator/rear driver)

Weight: 7.5 tons (11.450 lb)

Length: 5,85 metres (19 ft 2 in)

Width: 2,20 metres (7 ft 2 ½ in)

Height: 2,78 metres (9 ft 1 in)

Ground clearance: 28.5 cm (10 in)

Suspension: Torsion bar and leaf springs

Fuel capacity: 150 litres (33 imp gal; 40 US gal)

Armor:

8–15 mm (0.31 – 0.6 in)

Performance:

Maximum road speed: 70 km/h (43.5 mph)

52 km/h (32.3 mph) backwards

Operational range: 250 km (155 miles)

Power/weight: 13 PS/ton

Engine:

Maybach HL42 TRKM water-cooled straight 6-cylinder petrol engine with 100 hp (74 kW),

driving the rear pair of axles

Transmission:

Maybach gearbox with 5-speed forward and 4-speed reverse

Armament:

1× 37 mm KwK 30 L/45 cannon with 70 rounds

1× 7.92 mm MG 34 machine gun mounted co-axially with 1.300 rounds

The kit and its assembly:

This fictional armored car was inspired by a leftover rear axles from an Italeri Sd.Kfz. 231 (6-Rad) model that I converted into a fictional half-track variant some time ago. I wondered if the set could be transplanted under an 8-Rad chassis, to create a kind of missing link to the 8x8 successors of the Sd.Kfz. 231 (6-Rad) with a total of twelve tires on four axles.

The basis became a First to Fight 1:72 Sd.Kfz. 231 (8-Rad) kit – a rather simple and robust affair, apparently primarily intended for tabletop purposes. But the overall impression is good, and it would be modified, anyway, even though the plastic turned out to be rather soft/waxy and the parts’ sprue attachment points a bit wacky.

The hull was “turned around” to drive backwards, so that its rear engine ended up in the front. I eventually only used the rear twin wheels from the Sd.Kfz. 231 (6-Rad), but not its single axles and laminated springs. Instead, I first cut the OOB mudguards in two halves, removed their side skirts and glued them onto the lower hull in reversed order, so that the exhausts and their muffler boxes would end up at the rear of the front fenders. With these in place I checked the axles’ position from the OOB ladder chassis, which is a single, integral part, and found that the rear axles’ position had to be moved by 2mm backwards. Cutting the original piece and re-arranging it was easier to scratch a new rear suspension, and the rocker bars had to be shortened to accept the wider twin wheels.

The original small turret with the 20 mm autocannon was deleted and replaced with core elements from a Panzer III turret, left over from previous conversion projects. Wider than any original turret of the Sd.Kfz. 231/232 family, it had to be narrowed by roughly 5mm – I had to cut a respective plug from the turret’s and the mantlet’s middle section, the deformed hatch was covered under a Panzer III commander cupola. To mate the re-arranged turret with the OOB adapter plate to mount it onto the hull, and to add overall stability to the construction, I filled the interior with 2C putty.

The typical storage bin at the turret’s rear was omitted, though, it would have made it too large for the compact truck chassis. The shape was a perfect stylistic match, even though, with the longer gun barrel, the vehicle reminds a lot of the Soviet BA-10 heavy armored car?

Most small details like the bumpers and the headlights were taken OOB, I added a whip antenna base at the rear and mounted two spare wheels at the back, one of them covered with a tarpaulin (made from paper tissue drenched with white glue, this was also used to create the gun mantlet seals).

Painting and markings:

Typical for German vehicles from the early WWII stages the Sd.Kfz. 241 was painted Panzergrau (RAL 7021; I used Humbrol 67, which is authentic, but mixed it with some 125 to create a slightly lighter shade of grey) overall - quite dull, but realistic. To make the vehicle look more interesting, though, I added authentic contemporary camouflage in the form of low-contrast blotches with RAL 8017, a very dark reddish brown, mixed from Humbrol 160 and some 98. Better, but IMHO still not enough.

After the model received a washing with highly thinned red-brown acrylic artist paint I applied the few decals and gave the parts an overall dry-brushing treatment with grey and dark earth. Everything was sealed with matt acrylic varnish. For even more “excitement”, I decided to add a coat of snow.

For the simulated “frosting” I used white tile grout – which has the benefits of being water-soluble, quite sturdy to touch and the material does not yellow over time like gypsum.

First, the wheels, the chassis and the inside of the wheel arches received a separate treatment with relatively dryly mixed tile grout, simulating snow and dirt clusters. Once thoroughly dried, the wheels were mounted. Then the model was sprayed with low surface tension water and loose tile grout was drizzled over hull and turret, creating a flaky coat of fake snow. Once dry again, everything received another coat of matt acrylic varnish to protect and fixate everything further.

A relatively quick build, done in a few days. The First to Fight kit is very simple and went together well, but I’d use something else the next time due to the odd material it was molded with. The outcome of an 4x8 scout car looks quite plausible, though, like the missing link between the Sd.Kfz. 231 and 232 – the unintended similarity with the Soviet BA-10 heavy armored car was a bit surprising, though. And the snow on the model eventually makes it look a bit more interesting, the stunt was worth the effort.

Today was a great day in the workshop. I think I finally came to the realization that there really are no failed projects. Every successful project is because of a result of other projects that didn’t go as I had expected, but I learned from them and improved one thing or another. I think growing up watching Bob Villa, or This Old House, and other shows like that- it set the expectation that every project should just go flawlessly, and when it doesn’t that must mean there’s something wrong with your abilities. Bologna!

Today I drilled split level holes in these beams- a 2 inch, ¾ inch, then ½ inch hole all so these bolts would fit perfectly snug. It worked perfectly and they are just what I needed. But as I drilled on the drill press I thought through all the other projects similar to those where I learned by mistake, that got me to where I am today.

I think I have a really good grasp on when to step away from a project because it’s not going the way I thought it would and when I need to step away and redesign what I had on my original plan. I’ve learned to take my time through every measure, every cut, every drill- and yes I finally realized that the whole trial and error is part of the creative process!

Theme: Musings And Ramblings

Year Eight Of My 365 Project

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

Due to the restrictions of the Versailles treaties, the Reichswehr was already dealing with the increasing mobilization and motorization of the army after the end of the First World War. The realization that the speed of the troop units required appropriate equipment was available early on. However, the Reichswehr suffered from financial constraints and during the Weimar Republic the industry only had limited capacity for series production of larger, armored vehicles.

Only a total of fifty-five Sd.Kfz. 241s were completed by Magirus in Cologne until 1936, when production of the Sd.Kfz. 231 (8-Rad) vehicle family started and soon replaced the Sd.Kfz. 241, which was primarily operated at the Eastern Front in Poland and Czechoslovakia. By 1940, no Sd.Kfz. 241 was left in any frontline army unit, but a few survivors were grouped together and handed over to police units. Their main gun was either completely deleted or sometimes replaced with a second machine gun, and they were used for urban patrols and riot control duties. However, by 1942, no Sd.Kfz. 241 was left over.

Specifications:

Crew: Four (commander, gunner, driver, radio operator/rear driver)

Weight: 7.5 tons (11.450 lb)

Length: 5,85 metres (19 ft 2 in)

Width: 2,20 metres (7 ft 2 ½ in)

Height: 2,78 metres (9 ft 1 in)

Ground clearance: 28.5 cm (10 in)

Suspension: Torsion bar and leaf springs

Fuel capacity: 150 litres (33 imp gal; 40 US gal)

Armor:

8–15 mm (0.31 – 0.6 in)

Performance:

Maximum road speed: 70 km/h (43.5 mph)

52 km/h (32.3 mph) backwards

Operational range: 250 km (155 miles)

Power/weight: 13 PS/ton

Engine:

Maybach HL42 TRKM water-cooled straight 6-cylinder petrol engine with 100 hp (74 kW),

driving the rear pair of axles

Transmission:

Maybach gearbox with 5-speed forward and 4-speed reverse

Armament:

1× 37 mm KwK 30 L/45 cannon with 70 rounds

1× 7.92 mm MG 34 machine gun mounted co-axially with 1.300 rounds

The kit and its assembly:

This fictional armored car was inspired by a leftover rear axles from an Italeri Sd.Kfz. 231 (6-Rad) model that I converted into a fictional half-track variant some time ago. I wondered if the set could be transplanted under an 8-Rad chassis, to create a kind of missing link to the 8x8 successors of the Sd.Kfz. 231 (6-Rad) with a total of twelve tires on four axles.

The basis became a First to Fight 1:72 Sd.Kfz. 231 (8-Rad) kit – a rather simple and robust affair, apparently primarily intended for tabletop purposes. But the overall impression is good, and it would be modified, anyway, even though the plastic turned out to be rather soft/waxy and the parts’ sprue attachment points a bit wacky.

The hull was “turned around” to drive backwards, so that its rear engine ended up in the front. I eventually only used the rear twin wheels from the Sd.Kfz. 231 (6-Rad), but not its single axles and laminated springs. Instead, I first cut the OOB mudguards in two halves, removed their side skirts and glued them onto the lower hull in reversed order, so that the exhausts and their muffler boxes would end up at the rear of the front fenders. With these in place I checked the axles’ position from the OOB ladder chassis, which is a single, integral part, and found that the rear axles’ position had to be moved by 2mm backwards. Cutting the original piece and re-arranging it was easier to scratch a new rear suspension, and the rocker bars had to be shortened to accept the wider twin wheels.

The original small turret with the 20 mm autocannon was deleted and replaced with core elements from a Panzer III turret, left over from previous conversion projects. Wider than any original turret of the Sd.Kfz. 231/232 family, it had to be narrowed by roughly 5mm – I had to cut a respective plug from the turret’s and the mantlet’s middle section, the deformed hatch was covered under a Panzer III commander cupola. To mate the re-arranged turret with the OOB adapter plate to mount it onto the hull, and to add overall stability to the construction, I filled the interior with 2C putty.

The typical storage bin at the turret’s rear was omitted, though, it would have made it too large for the compact truck chassis. The shape was a perfect stylistic match, even though, with the longer gun barrel, the vehicle reminds a lot of the Soviet BA-10 heavy armored car?

Most small details like the bumpers and the headlights were taken OOB, I added a whip antenna base at the rear and mounted two spare wheels at the back, one of them covered with a tarpaulin (made from paper tissue drenched with white glue, this was also used to create the gun mantlet seals).

Painting and markings:

Typical for German vehicles from the early WWII stages the Sd.Kfz. 241 was painted Panzergrau (RAL 7021; I used Humbrol 67, which is authentic, but mixed it with some 125 to create a slightly lighter shade of grey) overall - quite dull, but realistic. To make the vehicle look more interesting, though, I added authentic contemporary camouflage in the form of low-contrast blotches with RAL 8017, a very dark reddish brown, mixed from Humbrol 160 and some 98. Better, but IMHO still not enough.

After the model received a washing with highly thinned red-brown acrylic artist paint I applied the few decals and gave the parts an overall dry-brushing treatment with grey and dark earth. Everything was sealed with matt acrylic varnish. For even more “excitement”, I decided to add a coat of snow.

For the simulated “frosting” I used white tile grout – which has the benefits of being water-soluble, quite sturdy to touch and the material does not yellow over time like gypsum.

First, the wheels, the chassis and the inside of the wheel arches received a separate treatment with relatively dryly mixed tile grout, simulating snow and dirt clusters. Once thoroughly dried, the wheels were mounted. Then the model was sprayed with low surface tension water and loose tile grout was drizzled over hull and turret, creating a flaky coat of fake snow. Once dry again, everything received another coat of matt acrylic varnish to protect and fixate everything further.

A relatively quick build, done in a few days. The First to Fight kit is very simple and went together well, but I’d use something else the next time due to the odd material it was molded with. The outcome of an 4x8 scout car looks quite plausible, though, like the missing link between the Sd.Kfz. 231 and 232 – the unintended similarity with the Soviet BA-10 heavy armored car was a bit surprising, though. And the snow on the model eventually makes it look a bit more interesting, the stunt was worth the effort.

The state of Self-realization, as we call it, is not attaining something new or reaching some goal which is far away, but simply being that which you always are and which you always have been. All that is needed is that you give up your realization of the not-true as true. All of us are regarding as real that which is not real. We have only to give up this practice on our part.

Be as you are – The teachings of sri Ramana Maharishi

Shot this in sand dunes of Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, India. This would be my last pic in desert-sun-camel series.

Alright ! View this On Black

Taken with iPhone

Etsy Shop | Catholic Realization Blog | Eleven's Photography Blog

© 2012 Teresa Escamilla, All rights reserved.

Camera: Sony A7

Lens: Sony FE 16-35mm f/4 ZA OSS

PP: Lightroom

The Genko-an temple is most famous for these two windows: the round one - the Window of Realization - implying enlightenment, and the square one - the Window of Delusion - implying ignorance and human suffering.

The ceiling of the main hall is called the "bloody ceiling," which was made using floorboards from the disassembled Fushimi Castle where soldiers were defeated, killed themselves and left bloodstains on the floor in 1600. The boards were used to commemorate the samurai.

San Diego, California, Tyler

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest human beings infinite distances continue, a wonderful living side by side can grow, if they succeed in loving the distance between them which makes it possible for each to see the other whole [against the sky].

~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My new homeland offers nearly everything I longed for. Most important for me are the countless creeks in the close surroundings, and a gorgeous river: the Emme which has its source a couple of kilometers from my home.

The stonemen above and the others of this series were built in the Emme's river bed. I spent a whole afternoon there, playing with the stones like a child with toy blocks: lost in a world of pure magic...

It was the first time since my return from Greece in May 2010 that I was able to enter the magic world beyond consciousness, and to devote myself copletely to the innermost which for me is the inexhaustible source of creativity, love, and healing.

Sometimes not knowing is better. The trash cans at the Palm Springs Art Museum In Palm Desert (yes, that's correct) do double duty. The bottom is for trash while the top is for recycling bottles and cans. As I went to toss my empty bottle into the top part, I realized it might just make a cool shot. So I bent down, camera in hand and took my shots for my HDR photo and then stuck my hand deep inside to deposit the empty bottle so the wind would not blow it out. A few days later I got to processing it. I ran it through this, then pulled it up on that and tweaked a thingy here and there. Now, I have to say, in the bright desert sun, shadows are darker, much darker. So that round little hole was black to me with the exception of the words on the other side shining though. Imagine my surprise when I looked at the photo that the HDR processing pulled out all the dark from and saw the GIGANTIC MAN EATING SPIDER WEBS in there. My first thought was COOL! and then it hit me, that moment of realization that I STUCK my hand in there

Yes I fainted.

Twice.

View with bug eyes

Their numbers steadily increasing since the late 1970's, thousands stir awake each dawn in San Francisco to the realization that this will be just another day where nothing can be taken for granted. The game of the street demands that they play their cards right for money, food, and some kind of shelter over the next 24 hours. Horizons shorten; it is hard to strategize beyond the moves of the day. Many hide away their misery. Emaciated panhandlers display their sores and amputations, genial hustlers simultaneously entertain and disturb, and haggard men and bundled-up women stare off into space, jarring the sensibilities of more comfortable passerby.

(from 'Hobos, Hustlers, and Backsliders: Homeless in San Francisco' by Teresa Gowan).

The concept of self-realization states that it is the ultimate goal of a human being to attain permanent happiness and complete independence and freedom from all worldly bondage, and that true happiness is then the result of self-realization.

© Austin Sullivan 2012

facebook | website | blog

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

Due to the restrictions of the Versailles treaties, the Reichswehr was already dealing with the increasing mobilization and motorization of the army after the end of the First World War. The realization that the speed of the troop units required appropriate equipment was available early on. However, the Reichswehr suffered from financial constraints and during the Weimar Republic the industry only had limited capacity for series production of larger, armored vehicles.

Only a total of fifty-five Sd.Kfz. 241s were completed by Magirus in Cologne until 1936, when production of the Sd.Kfz. 231 (8-Rad) vehicle family started and soon replaced the Sd.Kfz. 241, which was primarily operated at the Eastern Front in Poland and Czechoslovakia. By 1940, no Sd.Kfz. 241 was left in any frontline army unit, but a few survivors were grouped together and handed over to police units. Their main gun was either completely deleted or sometimes replaced with a second machine gun, and they were used for urban patrols and riot control duties. However, by 1942, no Sd.Kfz. 241 was left over.

Specifications:

Crew: Four (commander, gunner, driver, radio operator/rear driver)

Weight: 7.5 tons (11.450 lb)

Length: 5,85 metres (19 ft 2 in)

Width: 2,20 metres (7 ft 2 ½ in)

Height: 2,78 metres (9 ft 1 in)

Ground clearance: 28.5 cm (10 in)

Suspension: Torsion bar and leaf springs

Fuel capacity: 150 litres (33 imp gal; 40 US gal)

Armor:

8–15 mm (0.31 – 0.6 in)

Performance:

Maximum road speed: 70 km/h (43.5 mph)

52 km/h (32.3 mph) backwards

Operational range: 250 km (155 miles)

Power/weight: 13 PS/ton

Engine:

Maybach HL42 TRKM water-cooled straight 6-cylinder petrol engine with 100 hp (74 kW),

driving the rear pair of axles

Transmission:

Maybach gearbox with 5-speed forward and 4-speed reverse

Armament:

1× 37 mm KwK 30 L/45 cannon with 70 rounds

1× 7.92 mm MG 34 machine gun mounted co-axially with 1.300 rounds

The kit and its assembly:

This fictional armored car was inspired by a leftover rear axles from an Italeri Sd.Kfz. 231 (6-Rad) model that I converted into a fictional half-track variant some time ago. I wondered if the set could be transplanted under an 8-Rad chassis, to create a kind of missing link to the 8x8 successors of the Sd.Kfz. 231 (6-Rad) with a total of twelve tires on four axles.

The basis became a First to Fight 1:72 Sd.Kfz. 231 (8-Rad) kit – a rather simple and robust affair, apparently primarily intended for tabletop purposes. But the overall impression is good, and it would be modified, anyway, even though the plastic turned out to be rather soft/waxy and the parts’ sprue attachment points a bit wacky.

The hull was “turned around” to drive backwards, so that its rear engine ended up in the front. I eventually only used the rear twin wheels from the Sd.Kfz. 231 (6-Rad), but not its single axles and laminated springs. Instead, I first cut the OOB mudguards in two halves, removed their side skirts and glued them onto the lower hull in reversed order, so that the exhausts and their muffler boxes would end up at the rear of the front fenders. With these in place I checked the axles’ position from the OOB ladder chassis, which is a single, integral part, and found that the rear axles’ position had to be moved by 2mm backwards. Cutting the original piece and re-arranging it was easier to scratch a new rear suspension, and the rocker bars had to be shortened to accept the wider twin wheels.

The original small turret with the 20 mm autocannon was deleted and replaced with core elements from a Panzer III turret, left over from previous conversion projects. Wider than any original turret of the Sd.Kfz. 231/232 family, it had to be narrowed by roughly 5mm – I had to cut a respective plug from the turret’s and the mantlet’s middle section, the deformed hatch was covered under a Panzer III commander cupola. To mate the re-arranged turret with the OOB adapter plate to mount it onto the hull, and to add overall stability to the construction, I filled the interior with 2C putty.

The typical storage bin at the turret’s rear was omitted, though, it would have made it too large for the compact truck chassis. The shape was a perfect stylistic match, even though, with the longer gun barrel, the vehicle reminds a lot of the Soviet BA-10 heavy armored car?

Most small details like the bumpers and the headlights were taken OOB, I added a whip antenna base at the rear and mounted two spare wheels at the back, one of them covered with a tarpaulin (made from paper tissue drenched with white glue, this was also used to create the gun mantlet seals).

Painting and markings:

Typical for German vehicles from the early WWII stages the Sd.Kfz. 241 was painted Panzergrau (RAL 7021; I used Humbrol 67, which is authentic, but mixed it with some 125 to create a slightly lighter shade of grey) overall - quite dull, but realistic. To make the vehicle look more interesting, though, I added authentic contemporary camouflage in the form of low-contrast blotches with RAL 8017, a very dark reddish brown, mixed from Humbrol 160 and some 98. Better, but IMHO still not enough.

After the model received a washing with highly thinned red-brown acrylic artist paint I applied the few decals and gave the parts an overall dry-brushing treatment with grey and dark earth. Everything was sealed with matt acrylic varnish. For even more “excitement”, I decided to add a coat of snow.

For the simulated “frosting” I used white tile grout – which has the benefits of being water-soluble, quite sturdy to touch and the material does not yellow over time like gypsum.

First, the wheels, the chassis and the inside of the wheel arches received a separate treatment with relatively dryly mixed tile grout, simulating snow and dirt clusters. Once thoroughly dried, the wheels were mounted. Then the model was sprayed with low surface tension water and loose tile grout was drizzled over hull and turret, creating a flaky coat of fake snow. Once dry again, everything received another coat of matt acrylic varnish to protect and fixate everything further.

A relatively quick build, done in a few days. The First to Fight kit is very simple and went together well, but I’d use something else the next time due to the odd material it was molded with. The outcome of an 4x8 scout car looks quite plausible, though, like the missing link between the Sd.Kfz. 231 and 232 – the unintended similarity with the Soviet BA-10 heavy armored car was a bit surprising, though. And the snow on the model eventually makes it look a bit more interesting, the stunt was worth the effort.

“The drum of the realization of the promise is beating,

we are sweeping the road to the sky.

Your joy is here today, what remains for tomorrow?

The armies of the day have chased the army of the night,

Heaven and earth are filled with purity and light.

Oh! joy for he who has escaped from this world of perfumes and color!

For beyond these colors and these perfumes, these are other colors in the heart and the soul.

Oh! joy for this soul and this heart who have escaped the earth of water and clay,

Although this water and this clay contain the hearth of the philosophical stone.”

(“Mystic Odes” by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi, known as Jelaluddin Rumi - Persian poet, jurist, theologian, and mystic, 1207–1273)

This was shot near Gai Ghat along the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras) where this man has been washing his laundry.

He was streching his clothes under the sun.

It was two days ago, I thought that it was uncommon to have such an heat in November.

View On Black

Join the photographer at www.facebook.com/laurent.goldstein.photography

© All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved.

Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).

The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.

life is going in the right direction, we thank God for that.

Who you are vs. who you want to make yourself be.

Because of us, environment is changing ... arn't we creating our own grave!

Original sin has made it to Bad Ragaz. Artist Liu Ruowang deals with questions about the origin of humanity, its roots and the meaning of life. The 3.5 m high apes made of copper are no longer brand new. They have already been seen in other places. The artist writes: „Ape-man looking up into the sky symbolize the springing up of ancient civilization; today, high civilization bring advanced material culture, yet the nature we live on is being damaged unceasingly“. This has nothing to do with original sin. *The following text is not suitable for religious people. Which does not mean that religiosity is inferior. The religions transport encrypted knowledge over millennia. The time is not yet ripe for the whole truth, but you can already think a few thoughts*.

Anyone who understands the Bible's hidden truth knows that original sin was a genetic manipulation that forced our ancestors and creators to banish us. Adam refused a first Eve because she had her own gene pool and he saw her as a emancipated competitor. It was only when she was created from his gene pool (rib) that he was satisfied, and this has had repercussions on the position of men and women to this day. Adam made this decision with the reduced collective consciousness of nature with which he was created. After all, he was a test person for genetic improvements. He knew no shame, no morals, and did not know what was good and bad. He was also unaware that he was human. But otherwise he had all the human qualities of his creators. Adam and Eve worked in a genetic laboratory where the tragic story about our genetic information took its course. Eva discovered that tampering with the forbidden area of the DNA would not kill them, and was seduced by the DNA snake into an attempt. With that she lost the collective consciousness of nature and became aware of her humanity. With all the consequences such as shame and the knowledge of good and bad that animals do not know. This intoxicant realization she made palatable to Adam too. But they got caught. And so began a journey through space that finally ended on our earth and makes every science fiction film look old. Example: Cain and Abel, murder and manslaughter over DNA information. The gene mutants of the Abel type were able to repair or improve the gene defect, those of the Kain type could not. The group of human beings with the gene mutation of the Kain type is exterminating the Abel type. Apparently the Abelers manage to call for help to their original home. She reports to the Kainern and asks: What did you do with the Abelians? The DNA pattern holders of the Cain type are pushed even farther from the center of the original home of humans to another planet by the headquarters(1. Moses 4: 11–12). On that planet, life support and food production were even more difficult. Cain speaks to headquarters and says: My genetic defect has grown even bigger. It will no longer be repairable. They will hunt me down and kill me (1. Moses 4: 13). They were given a mark in their DNA that immediately allows anyone examining the genetic material to recognize that, according to the law of the universe, these gene carriers are outcast, but must not be killed (1. Moses 4: 15).

The remainder of Chapter 4 of Book 1 of Moses contains the details of how the Cain-pattern bearer dynasty continued to expand. The DNA carriers who are defective in their genetic information, called people, are visited by children of God, i.e. of beings whose DNA genetic information is still in order (1. Moses 6: 1–2). There was a reason why the original home of humans did not destroy the genetically modified creatures, but only sent them into exile. The combination of the properties brought about by genetic manipulation with the DNA carriers of the original hereditary information led to a new type of living being with outstanding properties (1. Moses 6: 4).

Then the story of Noah, a scientist and expert on DNA problems, who had enough time to take healthy DNA information with him from the animal's genetic material for his journey. And Abraham, the story of the greatest genetic engineer all times. You must consider that all of these stories did not take place on today's earth, but on other planets.

Abraham created the gene type Isaac. Isaac is married to a woman of the gene type Cain, from whom Abraham originally descended. The sons from this connection are among others Jakob and Esau. The story on the planet of the Egyptians begins with Joseph coming to Egypt, so that an Isaac type is brought among the people of the Cain type. Abraham apparently knew very well why he was checking the connection between the Egyptian genetic pattern and the Isaac type. After all, he had found out that his technical skills were not sufficient to master the complicated technical systems for large space travel and to carry out the return to the original home of the people. He was not supported by the Egyptians on his first attempt; on the contrary, he was expelled from the country by them because they pursued other interests of their own. With this experience in mind, he systematically prepared his descendants to move to the Egyptians, to acquire their knowledge or their possibilities, and then to try the return home again. The Egyptians realized that there were Isaac types among them and took countermeasures, which led to the strange circumstances surrounding the birth of Moses. The Egyptians, the genetic information type Cain, were not interested in it, because otherwise the same problems would have arisen as with the tragedy of Cain and Abel. So they let kill male births of the Abel type. Moses was born into this situation. His mother played the baby into the Pharaoh's daughter hands. Was she an Egyptian Eva, a scientist looking for the know-how of Abraham? It is possible, that Moses was purposely and experimentally reared by her to discover the repair step in the genetic pattern that Abraham had performed. Moses grows up, receives an Egyptian education and training. And he learns how they use energies to do space travel. So exactly what Abraham wanted, to get his gene type on the way back to his original home. The years have not passed without any problems for Moses. Moses kills an Egyptian and has to flee. In 2. Moses 3:17–18 he is given instructions: Go to the Israelites. If they agree, go with a delegation of the elders to the Pharaoh and say that we have been called by radio, we can go home. Demand that you be allowed to travel into space, three days' journey from here, where your genetic patterns are checked, before you are allowed to travel. The Egyptians say no, you cannot head out alone. Either all or none. A violent dispute arose among genetic engineers (2. Moses 7: 10–13). On the one hand the genetic scientists Aaron and Moses and on the other the genetic experts of the type Cain. The Egyptian Pharaoh realizes that Aaron's gene strands, which he presents for testing, are superior to those of the Cain type. That they are in principle displaced by the Isaac type. The Pharaoh is pissed off because he has to recognize that a corresponding examination by the original home will enable the Isaac type to return to their original home. So he refuses to allow the people of Moses to face the test. The bible now describes the plagues that break in Egypt until the pharaoh finally lets the gene bearers of the Isaac type go. This is the beginning of an unprecedented space odyssey that is described in every detail. Does anyone get the impression that the Bible is a boring and unrealistic story?

There are also references to this in Nostradamus and in Goethe's secret legacy, when he describes the people before people as Adam and Eve. Switzerland, June 8, 2021.

Click here to view on an all-black background:

View On Black

The enigmatic title of this chapter is partially illuminated by a brief passage near the end (III, 351.21-22), where this mysterious “fifth tawakkul” is again briefly mentioned as one of the distinctive forms of spiritual knowledge Ibn 'Arabi saw in his culminating vision of the “Muhammadan Station”: .”..And I saw in it the knowledge of the person who acts deliberately and (at the same time) relies on God, and this is the fifth tawakkul, and it is

(expressed in) God's saying in Sura 73: '[...There is no god but Him,] so take Him as your Trustee (wakil)!' (73:9).”Elsewhere (chapter 198, II, p. 420, 36th tawhid), Ibn 'Arabi explains this same Qur’anic verse as a reference to man's inherent ontological status as a pure “servant,” with no possessions of his own, a description resembling the inner state of “pure servanthood” Ibn

'Arabi also realized in his culminating revelation (IV-I below). Similarly, a key phrase in this description, “to act deliberately” (itta'ada), is applied in Ibn 'Arabi's cautionary advice earlier

in chapter 367 (at n. 143 below; = III, 349.13) to those Sufis who would mistakenly take the ecstatic state of “annihilation in God” (fana', implying a heedlessness of the external world) to be the end and goal of the spiritual Path. All of these hints seem to point to this highest form of “trust in God” as reflecting an advanced inner state of spiritual insight in which the

saint's absolute reliance on God—an attitude that in lower stages of tawakkul is usually conceived of as implying a sort of ascetic disdain and unconcern for the “secondary causes”

(asbab) or things of this world—is now seen as simultaneously “affirming the secondary causes” (a phrase from opening poem of this chapter, at III, 340.15), which are finally perceived in their true metaphysical status, as necessary and intrinsic manifestations of the ever-present divine Reality. This form of tawakkul would thus closely correspond to Ibn 'Arabi's characteristic emphasis on the superiority of the state of “enlightened abiding” in the world (baqa') characterizing those saints who—like the Prophet—have “returned” (the raji'un) from the station of divine Proximity while retaining the ongoing realization of that insight in the world. The term tawakkul, “trust” or “inner confidence” in God, occurs many times in the Qur’an and gradually became a key term in Sufi spiritual psychology; see, for example, chapter 118 of the Futuhat (II, 199-201), on the maqam al-tawakkul, where Ibn 'Arabi mentions at the end that “the levels of tawakkul, for the true Knowers, are 487....” Near the

beginning of the R. al-Anwar (Chodkiewicz, Seal of the Saints, p. 151; T. Harris, Journey to the Lord of Power, p. 30) he also discusses tawakkul as the last of the preparatory stages

before the spiritual Mi'raj, marked by four distinctive “charismatic powers” (karamat)....God said “There is nothing like His likeness [and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing]” (Qur’an 42:11),27 so He described Himself with a description that necessarily belongs only to Him, which is. His saying: “And He is with you wherever you are” (Qur’an 57:4).28 Thus He is with us wherever we

are, in the state of His “descending to the heaven of this world during the last third of the night,”29 27This famous Qur’anic verse, with its paradoxical “double negations” (corresponding to the shahada) of God's “resemblance” to created things, is usually treated by Ibn 'Arabi as a classic reference to the mystery of the simultaneous immanence (tashbih) and transcendence (tanzih) of the Divine Reality reflected in the Perfect Manwhich is the central intuition of all his work. Often he even interprets the expression “His Likeness” in this verse as a direct reference to the Perfect Man, alluding to Adam's creation (according to a famous hadith) “in the image of the Merciful”: see the famous discussions of this verse in the chapters on Noah (ch. 3) and Hud (ch. 10) in the Fusus alHikam,and further references in the Futuhat I, 62, 97, 111, 220; II, 129, 510, 516-17, 541, 563; III,

109, 165, 266, 282, 340, 412, 492; IV, 135, 141, 306, 311, 431. In addition to the ambiguity of the expression kamithlihi (which can also be read simply as “like Him”—i.e., like God), Ibn 'Arabi likewise stresses the apparently paradoxical contrast between the absolute insistence on divine transcendence at the beginning of this verse and the apparent anthropomorphism of its conclusion. Thus, according to either reading, the absolute universality of the divine Presence implied by this verse includes all the particular, “restricted” modalities of the divine “descent” (nuzul) and Self-manifestation indicated in the following verses and hadith—each of which is likewise the subject of numerous discussions throughout the Futuhat. 28 For Ibn 'Arabi, this verse is simply a direct implication of the broader truth implied in the opening verse: this inner correspondence between the different manifestations of God and the Perfect Man (al-Insan al-Kamil), at all the levels of being (or “worlds”) is assumed throughout the rest of this chapter. More generally, the reality of the divine “compresence” (ma'iya, “with-ness”) with all things expressed in this verse is discussed in many parts of the Futuhat, including a number of the shorter metaphysical or cosmological excerpts included in this anthology. 29 A reference to a famous “divine saying” (hadith qudsi) which Ibn 'Arabi included in his own

collection of such hadith, the Mishkat al-Anwar (no. 56, and cited from the Sahih of Muslim); available in English translation by S. Hirtenstein and M. Notcutt in Divine Sayings, p. 65: “God, ever

mighty and majestic is He, says, when He descends during the third part of the night: ‘I am the King! Who is there that calls out to Me, that I may answer him? Who is there that asks of Me, that I may give to him? Who is there that asks pardon of Me, that I may forgive him?’”[MORRIS’S TRANSLATION“Our Lord descends every night to the heaven of this world when the last third of

the night remains, and then He says: 'I am the King! Whoever calls on Me, I answer him. Whoever asks (something) of Me, I give to him. Whoever requests My forgiveness, I forgive him.”] This hadith is recorded, with a number of minor variations, by Muslim, Malik, Bukhari, Tirmidhi, Ibn Maja, and Ahmad b. Hanbal: see detailed references and variants in W. Graham, Divine Word and Prophetic Word in Early Islam (The Hague, 1977), pp. 177-178. As Ibn 'Arabi explains in detail in the latter part of chapter 34 of the Futuhat (OY ed., III, 320-332), the “night,” in this hadith, “is the place of the descent in time of God and His Attribute” (of Mercy), and this “last third of the night”—which, Ibn 'Arabi insists, lasts forever—is none other than the Perfect Man (the first two “thirds” being “the heavens and the in the state of His being mounted upon the Throne (Qur’an 5:20; etc.),30 in the state of His being in the “Cloud,”31 in the state of His being upon the earth and in heaven (Qur’an 43:84; etc.),32 in the state of His being closer to man than his jugular vein (Qur’an 50:16)33—and all of these are qualifications with which only He can be described. earth,” man's “two parents”). The following verses and hadith (at notes 30-32 here) are interpreted in chapter 34 as references to different ontological degrees or “moments” of that

universal divine Self-manifestation. 30 There are seven Qur’anic verses referring to God's being “mounted (istawa') on the Throne,” often following “the creation of the heavens and the earth” (i.e., what lies “beneath” or constitutes the Throne in its cosmological sense). For Ibn 'Arabi's understanding of these verses, see the extensive references to the Futuhat in Hakim, Al-Muʻjam al-sūfī, pp. 791-803 (on the many meanings of the

divine “Throne,” 'arsh) and pp. 622-629 (on istiwa').

For Ibn 'Arabi, however, an even more fundamental meaning of the “Throne” is “the Heart of the man of true faith” (which is “the Throne of the Merciful,” according to a famous

hadith), i.e., the Perfect Man (see Hakim, Al-Muʻjam al-sūfī, pp. 916-921, on the qalb). The inner connection between these two senses is brought out explicitly in the famous hadith

qudsi discussed at n. 7 above and quoted at n. 37 below, and is a basic assumption throughout sections III and IV below, since the “Heart” is precisely the “theater” of the entire journey:

that point is made most forcefully in sections IV-G and IV-I below. Elsewhere, (e.g., in chapter 34, OY ed., III, 320 ff.), Ibn 'Arabi frequently stresses the particular importance of the

Qur’anic specification (at 5:20) that it is “the Merciful” (al-Rahman), the Source of all being, Who is “mounted” or “seated” there. 31 A reference to the following hadith, concerning the Prophet's response to the question “Where was our Lord before He created the creation?”: “He was in a Cloud ('ama'), without air above it and without air below it, and He created His Throne upon the Water.” (This famous hadith is found in the collections of Ibn Maja, Tirmidhi and Ahmad b. Hanbal.) Our translation here reflects Ibn 'Arabi's interpretation in chapter 34 of the Futuhat (OY ed., III, 323 ff.), where he also stresses the fact that this particular ontological reality concerns the divine Name “Lord” (rabb)—and not “the Merciful” (see n. 29). For the broader meaning of the term 'ama' (“the Cloud”) in Ibn 'Arabi, see the

references in Hakim, Al-Muʻjam al-sūfī, pp. 820-826 and in the Futuhat II, 310, as well as its treatment in the penultimate stage of the cosmological mi'raj in chapter 167 (S. Ruspoli, L’Alchimie, pp. 138-140). 32 This phrase is contained (with minor variations) in a number of other Qur’anic verses (3:5; 10:61; 14:38; 22:70) all insisting on God's intimate acquaintance with all things: see, for example, “Our Lord, surely You know what we say openly and what we hide: not a thing upon the earth and in heaven is hidden from God” (Qur’an 14:38); or even more appropriately, “He is God in the heavens and upon the earth; he knows your secret [sirr] and what you proclaim, and He knows what you gain” (Qur’an 6:3). 33 Ibn 'Arabi's understanding of the divine “nearness” (see the related notion of “with-ness,” ma'iya,

at n. 28 above) expressed in this Qur’anic phrase is intimately bound up with the reality of 19 Hence God does not move a servant from place to place in order that (the servant) might see Him, but rather “so that He might cause him to see of His Signs” (Qur’an 41:53; etc.)34 those that were unseen by him. He said: “Glory to Him Who made His servant journey one night from the Sacred Place of Worship to the Furthest Place of Worship, whose surroundings We have blessed, so that We might cause him to see of Our Signs!” (Qur’an 17:1)35 And similarly, when God moves (any) “perpetual creation” (khalq jadid) expressed in the rest of the verse and its immediate context: .”..yet they are in confusion about the (ever-) renewed creation; but surely We created man [alinsan] and We know what his soul insinuates to him and We are closer to man than his jugular vein” (Qur’an 50:15-16). As indicated in the Introduction, for Ibn 'Arabi the spiritual “station of Proximity” (maqam al-qurba), in which one actually realizes the full extent of this intimate relation with God, is the ultimate goal of the Ascension of the saints outlined in this chapter: that relation is outlined schematically, in the theological language of 'ilm al-kalam, in section III and discussed in

more experiential terms in the final two parts of section IV. (See the extensive references in Hakim, Al-Muʻjam al-sūfī, pp. 936-940 and Chodkiewicz, Seal of the Saints, index s.v. [maqam al-qurba].) 34 While Ibn 'Arabi is alluding in particular to the “reason” for the Prophet's Ascension described at Qur’an 17:1 (see following note), the same phrase (with only minor variations in the pronouns) is addressed to mankind more generally in a number of other Qur’anic verses (27:93; 31:31; etc.). Of these, certainly the most important and best known is the verse 41:53—to such an extent that it is clearly assumed whenever Ibn 'Arabi mentions the divine “Signs” (ayat): “We shall cause them to

see Our Signs on the horizons and in their souls, so that it becomes clear to them that He is the Truly Real [al-Haqq]—or is your Lord not enough, for surely He is witnessing every thing! What, are they in doubt about meeting their Lord? Does He not surely encompass all things?” Especially important, for Ibn 'Arabi as for so many other Islamic thinkers, is the insistence in this verse on the coincidence of the Signs “on the horizons,” i.e., in the external world (but note also Muhammad's decisive revelation at the “Loftiest Horizon,” Qur’an 53:7) and those “in the souls,” in the totality of awareness of the “Perfect Man” (al-insan al-kamil). Secondly, Ibn 'Arabi always emphasizes the causative, active meaning of the verb form 'Ara as “to make someone see,” not just “to show”: for him, God's “Signs” are already there, in the totality of our experience, but usually “unseen” (ghaba)—i.e., not perceived as such. Thus the whole purpose of the spiritual journey is simply to open our (spiritual) eyes to the reality of “things” as Signs, or as Ibn 'Arabi goes on to explain immediately below (and in more detail in section III), to recognize the divine Names “in our states.” All this is implicit

in the famous prayer of the Prophet likewise assumed throughout this chapter: “O my God, cause us to see things as they really are!” 35 The masjid al-haram (“Sacred Place of Worship”) was a common name for the sanctuary of the

Kaaba at Mecca, but there is some disagreement in the hadith surrounding the identification of the masjid al-aqsa: it was sometimes, especially in later traditions, identified with the site of the Temple at Jerusalem (al-bayt al-maqdis, “the sacred House”) where Muhammad stops to pray before his heavenly ascension according to several hadith accounts (including that followed by Ibn 'Arabi below); but the earlier traditions agree that it refers to the “furthest point” (al-darah) or goal of the

Mi'raj (i.e., where Muhammad received the culminating revelation described in Sura 53), and is therefore more or less identical with the “Inhabited House” or heavenly Temple of Abraham (al-bayt 20 servant through his (inner spiritual) states in order also to cause him to see His Signs, He moves him through His states.36 ...(I.e., God) says: “I only made him journey by night in order that he see the Signs, not (to bring him) to Me: because no place can hold Me and the relation of all places to Me is the same. For I am such that (only) 'the heart of My servant, the man of true faith, encompasses Me,'37 so how could he be 'made to journey to Me' while I am 'with him wherever he is' (Qur’an

57:4)?!” al-ma'mur), the symbol of the Heart discussed in section IV-H (notes 168-172) below. Ibn 'Arabi implicitly seems to follow the latter interpretation. See also the articles from the SEI/EI cited in n. 1 above. Throughout this chapter (and in the K. al-Isra', etc.) Ibn 'Arabi generally uses the Qur’anic expression isra' to refer to the Prophet's ascension and its spiritual analogues—

possibly because the term mi'raj might appear limited only to the “ascending” portion, whereas Ibn 'Arabi always is at pains (as in sections III and IV-F below, and at the end of his R. al-Anwar) to emphasize the critical importance of the “descending” phase of return (ruju'), which distinguishes the highest rank of the saints (and of course the prophets). We have consistently translated isra' and its related verbal forms here as “journey,” but it must be kept in mind that the Arabic term refers specifically to a nocturnal journey: for Ibn 'Arabi, especially, this nuance no doubt corresponds to the fact that the spiritual isra', at least, is an

inner, “secret” process largely hidden from outward observation, especially in those saints (the afrad or malamiya) who have followed it through to the end. In the K. al-Isfar 'an Nata'ij al-Asfar (Rasa'il, II, no. 24), pp. 17-21, Ibn 'Arabi offers

an elaborate interpretation of this same Qur’anic verse (17:1) focusing—as is typically the case in his reading of the Qur’an—on the complex inner significance of the grammatical and

lexical details of its particular Arabic expressions, such as the apparent duplication of “at night” (laylan) and asra (meaning “to cause to journey at night”), etc. Our translation cannot

convey most of those nuances or alternative meanings.

36Here, as so often with Ibn 'Arabi (see especially section III below), the pronouns are rather ambiguous; in this case the intended meaning is clarified by the following untranslated lines (III, 340.25-30) which cite several other hadith and Qur’anic passages where God shows some of “His” creations to certain prophetic messengers in order to teach them a particular lesson. Here Ibn 'Arabi implicitly contrasts this spiritual journey of the saints (and ultimately of all men) through their inner “states”—i.e., the “Signs in your souls” of verse 41:53 (see notes 34 and 72)—with the physical (or possibly “imaginal”) journey through places which, as he explains below (end of section II), was the exclusive privilege of the Prophet on this single occasion.37 An allusion to the celebrated hadith qudsi already mentioned at n. 7 above: “My earth does not encompass Me, nor does My heaven, but the heart of My servant, the man of true faith, does encompass Me.” This famous divine saying (not found in the canonical collections, but favored by many Sufi authors) is cited repeatedly by Ibn 'Arabi, who takes it as a classical reference to the role

of the “Heart” (of the “Perfect Man,” as realized by the accomplished saints) as the complete mirror of the divine tajalliyat. See the references at notes 30 and 33 above, and all of section IV-H (notes 167-173) below.

dlib.bc.edu/islandora/object/bc-ir:107287/datastream/PDF/...

Name: Urban Entertainment Centre

City: Almere

Architect(s): William Alsop (UK)

Realization: 2004

The Urban Entertainment Centre in Almere comprises of 16,000sqm of new buildings containing shopping, pop concert hall, disco, hotel, bicycle park and associated leisure, cafe and restaurant facilities. These elements are grouped together beside a new sunken square and form an edge to the southern limit of the existing town centre.

The 'polder city' of Almere, close to Amsterdam, has grown up as a low-rise development along the lines of the English garden cities. Although the residential areas of Almere are attractive, the settlement lacks a real 'heart' and the lack of local amenities encourages people to commute to Amsterdam for entertainment. Almere has, however, something of a tradition of encouraging bold and innovative architecture and this has underpinned moves to transform the central area.

In line with the development masterplan for Almere, which envisages a process of 'intensification' for the city centre, Alsop designed a 16,000sqm waterfront entertainment centre. The Centre consists of a family of buildings grouped around a new square and elevated four metres on a unifying podium, which covers a parking area. Varied in form, the buildings use a variety of materials to create a rich new urban landscape.

At the heart of the development is the Pop Zaal, its reinforced concrete structure clad in pre-weathered zinc and steel mesh. The scale of the structure is not apparent at first sight and cloaks the various internal functions of auditorium, disco, bar and ancillary spaces in a continuous metal skin.

The Almere Hotel is a 120 room 4-star hotel clad in cedar boarding. The hotel has a raised 'sleeping block' approximately 4,000sqm, that is lifted eight metres above street level. Below the ground plain is the car park with a direct connection to the lobby.

The 400sqm two-level entrance building is organic in shape and clad with brass. It houses the lobby, meeting rooms, a restaurant, a bar, offices, and storage spaces. Two elevators, a staircase and a services shaft connect the entrance bubble with the main accommodation component.

The square itself is a lively place, with cafes and restaurants, attractive in all seasons.

text: www.alsoparchitects.com

this was another quicky.. was so exhausted last night and fell asleep early.

this past week has been really hard with my son's tantrums.. and we are trying to figure out how to help him work through his emotions and find some peace. so we have made some changes.. limiting tv time.. and making sure there is no violence in any programs.. my fault for not recognizing that 'kung fu panda' might have been too much for him. i feel so horribly for that because he really liked it..but it is majorly violent.

i believe that much of sickness and disease can come from not properly working through our emotions.. when we stuff things inside they can end up doing physical and emotional damage.. and with the little ones, they might not even know what they are feeling and many things are overwhelming. lesson learned but i feel like an idiot!

:(

Realization Point Sunset, Flagstaff Rd. Boulder, CO

Above: Untitled Collage by Hermann Nitsch (Leopold Museum: "Hermann Nitsch - Structures. architectural drawings, scores and realizations of the o.m. theater").

Below: Untitled Guerilla Art at abandoned Pavillon 35. Psychiatric Department Otto Wagner Spital am Steinhof.

Part of "MirrorGround Steinhof".

Diptychon:

oben: DMC-G2 - P1270983 4.2.2012 (Hermann Nitsch: Collage)

unten: DMC-G2 - P1210302 Manipulation 26.11.2011 (Pavillon 35 Guerilla Art)

Free from rules

The realization that black and brown is not a fashion faux pas was so freeing for me. For years I thought brown footwear couldn’t be worn with a black and white outfit. Wrong!

Black and white and brown is a perfect color combination. The black and white is crisp but the brown adds a soft, organic element.

Jacket, Ci Sono (thrifted). Sweater, Mink Pink (consignment). Skirt, Candies (thrifted). Leggings, Allen B. Boots, Ariat.

I have come to the realization that the intense stare from a gorilla is really quite scary!!!!

This Momma Gorilla and her oh so gorgeous baby gave us the most vicious looking stare I'd seen from an animal... perhaps its was because they were behind the wall and not the other way round.....

Another shot from Belfast Zoo in the summer. I particularly liked the result of this shot, even though Momma is out of focus, you can still make out her disapproving frown :)

I'm apologising to you all for not having time to comment on your photos of late... and I'm afraid I won't get a chance until after Christmas... I do want to thank you all for the wonderful support and appreciation you have for my work.

I will get another couple of photos up before Christmas (hopefully a few seasonal ones) and will wish you all a merry Christmas then... For today (unfortunately I'm at work) I hope you all have a great Saturday and a stress free weekend :)

Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, at Self-Realization Fellowship's Lake Shrine, opened to the public in 1950. [2 of 12]

Photographed at the 2016 Antique Automobile Club of America Regional Fall Meet in Hershey, Pennsylvania. This grand event, held during the first full week of October, is so popular that it is usually simply identified as "Hershey".

What an amazing creation. A 1997 Ford Ranger pickup was the donor vehicle for this project. The owner actually made the drive from Scranton, a distance of more than 100 miles.

Murray General Pedal Car recreation

All of my classic car photos can be found here: Car Collections

Press "L" for a larger image on black.

I've come to the realization that unlike many 100 strangers project photographers, I can't go out with my goal being to seek subjects. Must not be my style. Strangers just kind of show up while I have my camera and I get a picture. It will probably take me a long time to finish this project....

That said... I was in the small park by my house and saw Jim hanging out on a bench talking with a friend. I started chatting with them and discovered that Jim is a volunteer at the Teton Raptor Center. The TRC takes in injured hawks, falcons, eagles etc. and nurses them back to health to hopefully release them back to their native habitat. Those that can't return to the wild find homes at the TRC, are well taken care of and become models for educational programs with schools and the public.

I learned a little about Jim but more about the Raptor Center. You can learn more about the Raptor Center at www.tetonraptorcenter.org

find out more about the 100 strangers project and see pictures from other photographers at www.100strangers.com

www.jkaphanphotography.com