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I'm in a show.
we open in three weeks.
I was asked to take some rehearsal photos for the local paper and let me tell you that shooting a show while you're in the show is a lot different than shooting the show simply for publication.
I'm still working out the kinks I suppose.
| Canon EOS 60D + Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM | ISO100 f/2.0 1/6400" @ 50mm |
| March.2012 | Aguçadoura, Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal | Enlarge This Photo On Black |
On the 28/6/13 around 250 people Palestinians join by Israeli supporters marched in ahat the largest beduin town Protesting the Prawer - Begin Plan and calling for the Beduin People to wake up and join the Protest. Acording to the "Prawer plan" about 40,000 Beduins will lose there home! and on some of them would be built new Jewish Settelments.
I am grudgingly beginning to accept the Grandes Rocques complex particularly as they have built in a turret right on the edge of the sea, here we have the breakers from Port Soif pounding the coastline
I'm on a personal journey (of sorts) this year, and felt the pull of the Spark. This will get me out of my comfort zone right away (because NOT an artist), but that's really what I'm looking for.
The moon begins to decrease
Boy it was cold this morning !!!!!!
Minus 30 celcius with the factor wind !!!!!
One finger out for the photo and it was starting to hurt like hell !!!!!
7 Night Eastern Caribbean Cruise, Disney Magic
Feb 25th, 2012
Visit our site Disney Character Central for tons more Disney and Character pictures!
DVD 410
Batman Begins explores the origins of the Batman legend and the Dark Knight's emergence as a force for good in Gotham. In the wake of his parents' murder, disillusioned industrial heir Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) travels the world seeking the means to fight injustice and turn fear against those who prey on the fearful. He returns to Gotham and unveils his alter-ego: Batman, a masked crusader who uses his strength, intellect and an array of high tech deceptions to fight the sinister forces that threaten the city.
Usually when we talk about energy, we are refering to an ongoing source of power, something that is able to generate power, such as an electric generator. In a similar manner, when we speak of an energetic person, we usually mean a vigorous person, someone who possesses enormous energy. When we are around such a person, we feel there is a bank of energy happening. That person works so hard that we feel guilty being idle around him or her. We feel that we should do something too, and we begin to work very hard. Then no one can say that we have been bad boys and girls, that we haven't done our chores, washed the dishes or ironed the sheets. Because we feel that person's enormous energy, we begin to perk up, and we stop being idle. We begin to take part in the energy.
Then there is another kind of energy, which is self-existing. Self-existing energy is not dependant on something or somebody else; it simply takes place continuously. Although the source of such energy is difficult to track down, it is universal and all-pervasive. It happens by itself, naturally. It is based on enthusiasm in the sense that we trust what we are doing, and freedom in the sense that we are completely certain that we are not going to be imprisoned by our own energy, but instead, freed constantly. In other words, we realise that such energy does come up by itself, and that we can work with it. This self-existing energy is the potentiality of siddhi, a Sanskrit word that refers to the ability to use the existing energies of the universe in a very special and appropriate way.
Self-existing energy is difficult to describe in words or concepts. When we try to describe this pattern of energy, we are only fingerpainting. Basically, it is the energy of the psychological realm. No matter what state of mind we are in, we experience a particular quality of life, that is, we experience an emotion. We begin to feel an electric spark taking place. That energy can come out of having a quarrel with our wife or out of having a severe accident or a love affair. It comes out of being either rejected or accepted.
This energy is created both when we fail to do something and when we accomplish something. Rejection or acceptance by the world does not mean that the energy is either invalid or valid. Rather, there is transparent energy happening all the time. Whether we are in a appropriate situation, in accordance with the laws of the universe, or we are in a inappropriate situation, not in accordance with the laws of the universe, energy is constantly taking place. This energy, from the vajrayana or tantric point of view, is simply the energy that exists. It does not mean being hard-working or extremely industrious, always doing things, being a busybody, or anything like that. This energy can come from all kinds of challenges, in the positive or negative sense. Such energy takes place constantly.
Self-existing energy permeats all of our emotional relationships: our emotions towards our relatives, our lovers, our friends, and our enemies. It also permeats our philosophical beliefs: either something is happening "right" according to our beliefs, or something has gone "wrong" according to our beliefs. Some situations try to dislodge us from our philosophical or religious commitments, and some situations try to draw us into certain commitments. All kinds of energies take place. So when we talk about energy, we are not talikng about vigor alone but about that which exists in our lives. It is as though flint and steel were rubbing against each other and sparking constantly, again and again. That is, the phenomenal world exists, and we either rub against it or with it, and that rubbing is constantly creating a spark.
According to the tantric understanding of reality, energy is related to the experience of duality, the experience that you exist and others exist. Of course, both those concepts are false, but who cares about that? -- at the time, anyway.The deceptive existence of you and other rubs together, nevertheless. Sometimes you are conquering the world and sometimes the world is conquering you. It is like riding on a balloon in the ocean: sometimes the balloon rides on you and you are underneath the ocean; sometimes you ride on the balloon and the balloon is underneath the ocean. That play of duality takes play constantly; that kind of electricity takes place all the time.
So the basic notion of energy is nothing particularly magical or miraculous. It is simply rubbing together of the duality of you and the phenomenal world, you and other. We are talking about that spark, that fire. It is real fire, real water, real earth, and real air: the real elements are working with you. Still, at this point we have no idea who you are, actually. Let's just say we are talking about the basic you. Let's leave it vague at this point; otherwise it is going to get too complicated. Just leave it at you, this vague stuff that exists somewhere or other in the middle of the cosmos.
At this point the question arises of how we can handle, or utilize, such energy. In fact, that has been a question for a long, long time. For 2,500 years the same question has been asked: how can we handle self-existing energy; how can we work with it? Fundamentally, that question is the question of how to handle duality, or the basic split.
The split between self and other is taking place constantly, constantly creating energy, and we are always trying to work with it. Our approach is usually to try to unify the split in order to avoid the energy. We may say, "I am a good man; I am a bad man; I am Joe; I am Mary". In doing so, we are trying to bring self and other together in a superficial sense, as if no energy existed at all, as though everything were going smoothly: "There is nothing to worry about; everything's going to be okay. I am Mary, and that's smooth. There is no gap between I and am and Mary at all". Or we try to avoid the split by refusing to say "I am". Instead we might say, "My name is Mary." Still we have a problem. That approach of smoothing things out and trying to make everything presentable and respectable brings enormous problems, enormous questions. In fact, instead of getting rid of the energy, it raises further energy.
The attempt to define who we are and who we are not is basically split into two approaches: the theistic approach and the nontheistic approach. In the nontheistic approach we simply acknowledge the dualistic gap rather than trying to unify it or conceal it. In the theistic approach, there is an ongoing attempt to conceal that gap completely. There is a notion of spiritual democracy. In fact, that approach is often used in dealing with political and social problems: "Blacks are not against whites -- we are all the same species. Since we all live on the same earth, we should regard ourselves as a brotherhood".
That approach of covering up of separateness, pretending that the black man is a white man, is the cause of all kinds of problems; but the theistic approach can go much further than that, to the point of covering up any differences: "Let us have real unity. We can conceal this problem. We can iron it out completely, like a cloth. Let us work in such a way that when we have ironed our sheet we can even conceal seams. In fact, we can make the whole sheet seem to be made out of one big cloth. God is in us and we are God. It's all one, so don't worry".
Another way to cover the gap is to try to eliminate discomfort. The modern world has provided us with all sorts of conviniences: television, beautiful parents, lots of toys to play with, automobiles, and so on. There are notices everywhere offering entertainment and telling us how to handle ourselves. Even while we are flyingin an airplane, we have food to entertain us. The world has provided all kinds of entertainment to make us feel better, to make sure that we do not feel bad or lonely. When we board an airplane, the stewardess says, "Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you have a comfortable flight. Call us if you need any help". That is a theistic remark, and such remarks occur all the time.
On the other hand, we could act without guidelines. This possibility may be completely unappealing to people who are used to their luxury. Nevertheless, it is a very thruthful way to relate with things, and there is no room for deception. In this approach there is no hospitality; we have to provide our own hospitality. We have to work on ourselves. We are provided with kits, K-rations, booklets, and our own parachutes, and off we go.If we land on the top of a tree, we try to make the best of it; if we land in a gorge, we try to make the best of it. That is the nontheistic lifestyle: we can't do everything for one another. We have to make do for ourselves. We have to learn how to live with nature. So the nontheistic tradition is much harsher than the theistic tradition. It is very skeptical, unyielding, and somewhat outrageous.
We are not comparing Eastern and Western philosophies here, but theistic and nontheistic traditions, wherever they occur. We might hypothesize that Easterners think in a different way than Westerners, and that Eastern philosophy expresses this different style of thought. But philosophy is not that neatly divided into East and West. The basic thinking processes of the East and the West are the same. The only difference that exists is between the thinking style of ego and nonego. Failing to acknowledge that difference in style becomes a tremendous problem.
The standard approach to ecumenicism is to try to pretend that theism and nontheism are not different. But this is another theistic attempt to conceal the discomfort or the energy that comes from experiencing duality. We should be aware that differences exist. Then true ecumenicism, or continuity, can come about Because of the differences.
In comparing theism and nontheism, we are discussing different approaches to separateness. In the theistic approach, we know that things are separate, but since we don't like it, we feel we should Do something about it. We don't like the separateness; so we try to overcome it to the best of our ability, and that becomes an enormous problem. In the nontheistic approach, we also know that things are separate; therefore things are unified. Things are different, but that is not regarded as a problem. Fire is hot and water is cold, but still they can co-exist. Fire can boil water, changing it into steam, and water can kill fire. We should not be embarrassed about the functions of the universe.
We are still talking about energy -- energy and reality. And we are concerned with what actual reality is. Is reality a gap, a crack, or is reality a big sheet of cloth, all-pervasive. In the nontheistic tradition of Buddhist tantra, when we begin to have a relationship with the world, we do not try to make sure that the world is part of us. In fact, the question of separation does not come up at all. According to the nontheistic tradition, we do not believe ourselves to be creatures. We are some kind of being -- or nonbeing, for that matter -- but we were never created, and therefore we are not particularly creatures. Nevertheless, there is a sense of continuity, without hysteria, without panic, without any congratulatory remarks or attempts to smooth things out. The world exists and we exist. We and the world are separate from that point of view -- but so what? We could regard the separateness as part of the continuity rather than trying to deny it.
In the nontheistic approach, there is continuity, openness, and oneness -- but in the sense of zeroness rather than even oneness. The nonexistence of a dualistic barrier does not quite mean that we are one, but that we are zero. Nontheism is the basis for understanding that. Tantra is continuity, so the thread of tantra runs through our life from beginning to end. In a sense, the beginning is part of the end, so a complete circle, or mandala, is formed. The beginning is the beginning of the end, and the end is the beginning of the beginning. That continuity is tantra. It is the continuous thread of openness that we could experience throughout our lives. Because of that, whatever sense perceptions or realms of experience come up, we can work through them.
From this point of view energy is very simple, extremely simple: energy is separate from you; therefore, energy is part of you. Without You separateness cannot exist. That is the dichotomy in Buddhist logic: you have form; therefore you do not have form. You cannot have form if you do not have formlessness, if you do not acknowledge or perceive formlessness. In the same way, you exist Because you do not exist. Such riddles are regarded by Buddhists as the truth.
According to the tantric tradition of nontheism, energy is vital and important. Of course, in this approach we are viewing the world purely as a psychological process: if we do not have mind, we do not exist. The world comes out of our mind; it is created by our mind. From that point of view, working with energy, or developing siddhi, means that we do not have to depend on feedback but that we relate with life as straightforwardly and directly as possible. We relate directly to our domestic world, our enemies, our friends, our relatives, business partners, policemen, the government, or whatever happens in our life. We relate directly with energy as much as possible.
We are not talking about centralizing energy within ourselves, making ourselves into little atom bombs and then exploding. Working with energy in a tantric sense is a decentralized process. That is very important point. We are talking about energy as something spreading, opening. Energy becomes all-pervasive. It is all and everywhere. If we centralize energy in ourselves, we are asking for trouble. We will find that we become like baby snakes who are vicious and angry but still very small. Or we may find that we are like extremely passionate, horny little baby peacocks. So it is important to remember that, in Buddhist tantra, energy is openness and all-pervasiveness. It is constantly expanding. It is decentralized energy, a sense of flood, ocean, outer space, the light of the sun and moon.
CHOGYAM TRUNGPA / Journey without Goal / Shambhala Publications