Wednesday, January 16, 2013

accidents of light and shadow 2






why is there something, rather than nothing?


12 comments:

  1. i open this page and as it is too big for my laptop screen i have to scroll down. at the top i think the photograph is beautiful. i scroll down more and the ratio for beauty increases. i scroll down to the bottom and i become overwhelmed. it is too much. it becomes a physical response and i almost want to throw up. (this is real.) i want to shout, how dare you? not knowing what this might mean.

    jesusgod, the density of bodies! and yet - what i know is the particular identity of each! jesus! jesus!

    and then i want to be a smart ass with your question, why is there something, rather than nothing, and i want to say, well, one of those things was bound to happen and i want to say, well, perhaps next there will be nothing. where will we be then? and the answer is the same: nowhere, everywhere.

    you have shot beside, BEYOND what was present. you have not shot a group of birds, you have shot the struggle and delight of existence))))

    xo
    erin

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    1. erin: the world is always too much to see, feel, experience. it overwhelms me like this eruption of bird flesh at the bottom of the photo ...

      why is there something ...? i think there is sense in your response (even if you meant it to be smartass :-) maybe there is an anthropic principle at work: we can only ask the question in a universe where there is something. in all those universes where there is nothing, we are pretty quiet :-)

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  2. Congrats for your amazing work James, it's a very intriguing image that captured my attention! ;-)

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  3. to be able to fly...i feel that longing looking at this photo. i'm envious of the birds' wings. i've flown twice in my dreams...the feeling was extreme freedom and exhiliaration. it was soon after i'd read a quote by john burroughs: "Leap, and the net will appear." i saw this once as a definition for synchronicity, but that's a whole 'nother discussion. amazing photo, james. xo

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    1. Marion: flight is one of those basic longings that people have. we see the birds and envy that freedom, which seems more than release from gravity, but also from the bounds of all kinds of other complications ....

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  4. Believe me, that this question kept me awake a night and a day. Ended with the realization, that there might be no Nothingness; as it would be way too perfect for this world, this life, maybe even Godlike. Thank you much for this inspiration.

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    1. Robert: i like the paradox behind your words, the suggestion that nothingness doesn't exist in this world because it might only be an attribute of god, almost as if nothingness and absolute fullness come full circle, become indistinguishable ...

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  5. an exquisite image that transfers the sense of flight movement sound from the screen to the person who sees it. A kind of magic there...

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  6. recently watched a film on the making of The Birds... therefore a truly terrifying picture! actually no :) I love the natural sequencing, the warm hue, the detail on the wings, very beautiful.

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  7. sorlil: that movie works so well because of the strangeness of birds, how alien they are to us. it's one of my favorites, actually -- i admire hitchcock for not settling on some easy "explanation" for the birds' behavior -- rather the mystery of nature, beyond human expectations or understanding ....

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