The Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron“As with all of the Creature Beings of the Earth Mother, the coloring of the Great Blue Heron’s feathers is significant, as each color carries with it special attributes unique to that Creature. Blue in nature is connection to Father Sky and also represents Peace and Tranquility. In Esoteric thought, deep blue is also the color of the sixth chakra which corresponds to the third eye. Hence, insight and psychic vision are also emphasized here.” ~Source

“The first peace, which is the most important, is that which
comes within the souls of the people when they realize their relationship,
their oneness with the Universe and all its powers,
and when they realize that at the center of the universe
dwells the Great Spirit, and that this center is really everywhere,
it is within each of us.” ~Black Elk, Sioux Holy Man

*Image source

Dimensions Of Possibility

Dimensions Of Possibility“‎By 2100, our destiny is to become like the gods we once worshipped and feared. But our tools will not be magic wands and potions but the science of computers, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and most of all, the quantum theory.” ~Michio Kaku, Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100

*Artwork: Created by NIKOtheOrb using CC licensed stock from Arwen Arts.

Infinite Introspection

Reflect“Many people suffer from the fear of finding oneself alone, and so they don’t find themselves at all.” ~Rollo May, Man’s Search For Himself

*Artwork created by NIKOtheOrb, using CC license stock:
“Cosmos7_007” and “Simple Starfield” produced by Funerium, distributed by Resurgere Stock Resources.

Persistence of Memory

Persistence Of Memory“Live today. Not yesterday. Not tomorrow. Just today. Inhabit your moments. Don’t rent them out to tomorrow.” ~Jerry Spinelli

A Slip In Time

Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’ into the future. . .

Majestic Sunrise by Spreng Ben

I want to fly like an eagle to the sea. . .

Time Flies by Neal Fowler

Fly like an eagle let my spirit carry me. . .

Flying Milk by Chavil Brasil

I want to fly like an eagle til I’m free. . .

Nature At Its Will by Akshay Moon

Oh, Lord, through the revolution

Lightpainting by Armene

Feed the babies who don’t have enough to eat. . .

Til The End Of Time by Akshay Moon

Shoe the children with no shoes on their feet. . .

Reflections of Fitz Roy

House the people livin’ in the street

Past by Desdester

Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’ into the future

 

Credits (in order of appearance)–
“Majestic Sunrise” by Spreng Ben
“Time Flies” by Neal Fowler
“Flying Milk” by Chaval Brasil
“Nature At Its Will” by Akshay Moon
“Lightpainting” by Armene
“Til The End Of Time” by Akshay Moon
“I’ve Reached The End Of The World” by Trey Ratcliff
“Past” by Desdester

*Quotes from Fly Like An Eagle by Steve Miller

The Element of Surprise in Life

I saw then that my sense of me being me was exactly the same thing as my sensation of being one with the whole cosmos.

Fractal FlowerI did not need to have some sort of different, odd kind of experience to feel in total connection with everything.

fractal_stock_01302012_by_dsynegrafix-d4o3vjgOnce you get the clue you see that the sense of unity is inseparable from the sense of difference.

Fractal GapYou would not know yourself, or what you meant by self, unless at the same time you had the feeling of other. Now the secret is that ‘the other’ eventually turns out to be you.

FractalThe element of surprise in life is when suddenly you find the thing most alien turns out to be yourself.

fractal_stock_11912_2_by_dsynegrafix-d4mvlpfGo out at night and look at the stars and realize that they are millions and billions of miles away, vast conflagrations far out in space.

Fractal Stock 43You can lie back and look at that and say, ‘Well, surely I hardly matter.

Fractal DragonflyI am just a tiny little speck aboard this weird spotted bit of dust called earth, and all that was going on out there billions of years before I was born and will still be going on billions of years after I die.’

Fractal Valentine

Nothing seems stranger to you than that, or more different from you, yet there comes a point, if you watch long enough, when you will say, ‘Why that’s me!’ It is ‘the other’ that is the condition of your being yourself, as the back is the condition of being the front, and when you know that, you know you never die.

*Quotes by Alan Watts, Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life

Image credit (used with permission under CC license)–
“Fractal Flower” by Daniel Chapelle

“Fractal Stock 01302012” by DsyneGrafix

“Fractal Gap” by Barabeke

“Fractal” by Patrick Theiner

“Fractal Stock 11912-2” by DsyneGrafix

“Fractal Stock 43” by BFstock

“Fractal Dragonfly” by Christoph Zurbuchen

“Fractal Valentine” by Laura Harris

Does The Universe Have A Purpose?

I don’t know anything, but I do know that everything is interesting if you go into it deeply enough.” ~Richard Feynman

The Meaning Of Life:

What is it that we think we know? And why do we ask? And why is it important that we have an answer? Humans have an inherent, it seems, ability to question their purpose of being. Which seems a bit odd to me, as what is wrong with Just Being? What difference or relevance does the answer make when just being would remain? I like being, love being alive, I think existence is the bee’s knees, if you will. Yes, I question, but this does not subtract from the beauty that is Life, only adds to it.

Richard Feynman Uncertainty

Does the universe have a purpose?

What if

The Fibonacci in Lateralus

The Big Electron

“We absolutely must leave room for doubt or there is no progress and no learning. There is no learning without having to pose a question. And a question requires doubt. People search for certainty. But there is no certainty. People are terrified — how can you live and not know? It is not odd at all. You only think you know, as a matter of fact. And most of your actions are based on incomplete knowledge and you really don’t know what it is all about, or what the purpose of the world is, or know a great deal of other things. It is possible to live and not know.” ~Richard Feynman

*Image Credits–
Artwork is a photomanipulation created by NIKOtheOrb
Tesseract Stock (blue cube) by Sheridan Johns
Self-Portrait taken by NIKO

Let’s Start A Conversation: So, does the universe have a purpose? If it does, what do you think that purpose is? If it doesn’t, what do you think of the idea that it doesn’t? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

You Must First Invent The Universe. . . To Laugh At It

“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” ~Carl Sagan

© Damien Bouchard / StockProject1

“An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend – or a meaningful day.” ~Dalai Lama

“Once we rid ourselves of traditional thinking we can get on with creating the future.” ~James Bertrand

“Life stands before me like an eternal spring with new and brilliant clothes.” ~Carl Friedrich Gauss

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things.” ~Steve Jobs

“The more you find out about the world, the more opportunities there are to laugh at it.” ~Bill Nye

 

*Image Credits–
(in order of appearance)

“Cosmos8_0007” produced by Funerium and distributed through Resurgere Stock resources;
“Mountain Lake” by Damien Bouchard, distributed through StockProject1;
“The Future Is Now” produced by Kuschelirmel Stock;
“Premade Background 1478” by AshenSorrow;
“Zebra Profile Fractal” by Nicholas Raymond; and
“Feather Dreams” by Mohamed Raoof.

Take A Bite Out Of The Big Apple

For about 7 months, my boyfriend and I lived outside in the woods. We slept on the ground, watched the daily runs of the animals each day rather than television, we slipped gently into sleep each night beneath a starscape, conversing on consciousness and what it meant to be alive as a conscious human being. We professed dreams and lived them; we undertook a journey of mental acuity and adeptness, while learning the potential aptitudes inherent in humanity. We thought that we possessed a nature lifestyle and that nature should be our home for the rest of our days. We thought only in the embrace of nature could we enjoy meandering through the timeless channels of higher consciousness . . . we were mistaken. Although, nature had become our mountain, like Zarathustra we had never left it.

Click for enlarged, detailed view.

In the wonderful words of Mr. Feynman, we decided to find out whether city living was as oppressive as we supposed it to be. We chose our next adventure to take a bite out of the Big Apple (what better atmosphere of City can there be on the East Coast, pray tell). We landed at K-Pax’s surprising arrival point on a tachyon beam after a 3 hour train ride, and exited quickly for the streets. Punched full in the face by the pace of the city and the volume of human bodies moving uniformly, like some kind of concrete ballet, in both directions (was this some sort of nondualistic play?), it was easy to slip into the stream and ride the current from one point to the next. We walked to Times Square (a place so vivid it seemed constructed using CGI), and suddenly I understood the sheer magnitude and bravery the director of Vanilla Sky demonstrated in this famous scene. There were people occupying every square footage it seemed, somehow innately aware of their space and the space of others. I only saw people bump into each other once or twice, as the idea of congestion simply did not exist here. Only motion, sheer motion, wave after wave of people, moving as one undulating body. To see truly this phenomenon we had to find higher ground.

After purchasing Metro Cards, we rode the subway to Union Square,

Click for enlarged, detailed view.

where we emerged from the tunnels directly into an open air Farmer’s Market. The fragrances of free wine-tasting, colorful fruits and vegetables, and bouquets of spices, herbs and roots swept us into the flow of the Market. Around the corner, a chocolate restaurant titillated us with their cocoa aromas. Once around the Market and adjacent Park, and a brief chat with an Australian, we were pointed in the direction of The High Line. Stopping briefly to admire what sounded like rain dropping on a wind chime emitting from a fellow playing a hang drum (one of my favorite scenes of the adventure), we continued along the Line. From this vantage point, the full aspects of this city could be gleaned.

Click for enlarged, detailed view.

As in nature where the animals have their daily runs, a well-worn path taken each day to their preferred spots of food and water from their homes, as it is in a city. Humans leave their homes and meander through the concrete paths towards clothing and food, or social habitat. Rather than trees, there are buildings and in them house living beings. Around every corner and down every street, there is an adventure to be had, a sense to be expanded. In one direction from the Line sat the Bay, the Hudson and the Statue of Liberty, in the other shops, cars, and buildings as far as I could see, as if they disappeared at the horizon, like I was a star on the Truman Show. There was a network here, a living organism reciprocating with one another. I had never seen such efficiency, the same as nature. I wished I could have stayed longer.

Our trip ended with a small amount of time seated on a bench in

Click for enlarged, detailed view.

Battery Park (where a bird so tamed by humans’ hand-feeding, sat beside me and waited for its treat), talking about what we’d seen. The subway rides, the food, the perfumes, the interesting characters and caricatures of people, the subtleties of life . . . we marinated in it. This was an adventure wanting repeated . . .and we are eager to give in. It wasn’t until this moment, that I realized I do not have a specific city or nature lifestyle; I go with the flow of things, for I am a flexible being. Adventure can be found wherever I roam, as adventure is housed not at the place but in the spirit of humans. Whosoever has the notion for the wild life (and by wild that can be anything adventure-some or just out of the ordinary, or the ability to see uniqueness in the mundane or not being bored because one is always looking for opportunity to be bewildered…to see life as a playground) will find adventure.

Whosoever is willing to step off the precipice wearing a wingsuit will fly.

Click for enlarged, detailed view.

Blowin’ In The Wind

“Don’t be afraid to be weak, Don’t be too proud to be strong.
Just look into your heart my friend, That will be the return to yourself. . .

“Be yourself don’t hide, Just believe in destiny. . .”

“Don’t care what people say, Just follow your own way. . .”

“That’s not the beginning of the end, That’s the return to yourself. . .”

“The return to innocence.”

*Quotes from lyrics to The Return To Innocence by Enigma

*Image #4 is a photomanipulation of: Image of trees taken by NIKOtheOrb, “Cosmos8_0008” and “Cosmos1_0005” produced by Funerium and distributed through Resurgere stock.