(Photo by Maggie Begley)

When I saw this image through my camera lens, it was mind-boggling in its whimsy and begging to be captured…

When your personal ‘viewfinder’ plays a trick on you, seize it! Question reality, what you see, what you hear, what you assume to be true. I remember my SRJC sociology professor, Scott Fuller, saying: “If you’re bored, it’s just because you’re not asking enough questions.” Though to a certain extent, ignorance IS indeed bliss. I wish there were some things I didn’t know, or didn’t want to know. There’s a lot of yuck out there that I don’t want to step in, but maybe I should. It’s a matter of ability and discernment, about what to handle, if and when. Information = Complicity that’s the dilemma of a curious and conscientious mind, attached to a sensitive soul.

On the bright side, there is so much brilliant Love in this Universe, internally and externally, we couldn’t possibly absorb it all at once, we’d be blinded by the sight! That’s WHY the Divine doesn’t reveal us to ourselves all at once. A permanent state of bliss is not possible on this plane, is it? We must reach Higher to achieve sustainable and lasting Bliss. As such, I keep this flip-side as my positive focus and fully enjoy all the temporary moments, bit by bit, until I achieve permanent status. Learning and growing is what it’s all about, cultivating playfulness and gratitude, whilst skipping… and tripping…along. So ‘on-asking’ and reaching I will go.

The nature of the human mind is to be locked into pre-conceived notions of our limited vision. Breaking outside it is our spiritual nature coming to the surface to save us from ourselves. Taking in the larger context can be thrilling, and unsettling, rocking us off our core, but ensuring a stronger foundation with its jolt. It can also be reassuring, helping us to finally make sense of our own myopic vision. Like an establishing shot in film, it provides information, the big view. Without it, things can be more confusing, a dark room to grope our way through.

Does this establishing shot give you context for the previous photo? (Photo by Maggie Begley)

A raconteur knows their power and is skilled at eliciting emotion, entertainment, and provoking thought, holding our attention hostage till the end. Good storytelling depends on the presentation, sequence and editing of one’s point of view, no matter the medium. I have made a few slide shows in my life, a few for this blog (see samples 1 and 2). As short and simple as they were, putting them together brought this point home. Obviously I am not a professional photographer nor a professional writer…I realize I could use a good editor for the latter. (It’s just me, myself, my camera-phone and computer). The beauty of photography, and writing, is that it enables us to virtually seize a moment in time, that can be enjoyed for eternity. That too is human nature, clinging. With a work of art, you only get one chance to tell an entire story, or many stories at once…all open for interpretation of course. That’s what makes it ‘art’! As you know, my definition is a broad one, how do you define the word?

I should have also taken a shot of the bridge I was standing on, from afar, but this smirky bridge detail was as close as I got. (Photo by Maggie Begley)

I love abstract photos precisely because I like to have my mind ‘messed with’. Close-up macro shots allow us to see things we might have otherwise missed, or not have put together ourselves…when we can’t see the trees for the forest! (For more photos of mine, click on my menu bar’s ‘Foto Flickr-ing’ link, or just click here).

Talk about abstract photos and persons…Today, we don’t have to stray very far to wonder if what we are seeing is real, or should I say, an ‘untouched original’? With photoshopping/digital manipulation and plastic surgery being the norm, we must question reality in the real sense. More so, question the manipulator, and their intentions. Take the following video for instance:  It can be argued too, that this is just another art form. The human body has always been a canvas, it’s just that the ante has been upped: Competition for perfection among the masses, with corporations and their advertisers at the helm, greed driving the ship.

Questioning various perspectives is also why I enjoy spirituality, metaphysics, travel, culture, as well as immersing myself in the drama of my nightly dream life. And it’s probably why other folks like to experiment with psychedelic drugs and such…to break down and expand their own barriers of conscious experience and perception. This is not just a current and/or hippie-dippy 1960’s phenomenon. Historically, psychedelic drugs have been used in traditional medicine and religious ceremonies, as well.

Earlier this week, my mind played another trick on me. I lost my glasses. I knew they had to be in my bedroom. I remember having last seen them atop my jewelry box, as I was going to brush my teeth and retrieve my cleaning cloth. Upon my return they had vanished into thin air!! Was I crazy??? There was no sign to the contrary…

(Photo by Maggie Begley)

I scoured my room for several days before a friend volunteered to lend his eyes to the search. Sure enough, within minutes he had rescued my glasses from within the dim recesses of my jewelry box. Absent-mindedly, I must have picked them up, gotten sidetracked opening my jewelry box to make an earring selection, and while I perused, laid my glasses inside on the bottom tier.

You wouldn't have seen them either, would you?!
(Photo by Maggie Begley)

What’s amazing to me, is that I had not only looked for them there specifically, but I had been in and out of that box at least five times after they disappeared. I had probably even been so close to have TOUCHED them and STILL I didn’t SEE them. When my friend said, “Are these them?,” I thought he was joking. When I realized he wasn’t, I surprised myself by crying…I felt betrayed by my own mind. I was so upset at having something I needed RIGHT under my nose ALL that time and not being able to SEE it! Consciously/subconsciously, we seem to see what we WANT to see when we WANT to see it, and we see what we NEED to see when we are READY to see it. Or we simply don’t have our glasses on, and couldn’t see it even if we wanted to! 🙂

To me, it was a metaphor much bigger than the situation itself. Looking isn’t necessarily seeing, but it will eventually will lead us to our treasures. Life is full of synchronous, anecdotal, archetypal, metaphorical, metaphysical, multi-sensory, intuitive, experience! Our internal/external daily life is constantly imparting information to our spiritual psyches…louder than we can hear at times. The Divine just keeps trying to reach out to us, with a full arsenal, until we finally do wake up, see, and behave differently.

Hindsight = Foresight
Looking for More = Seeing More
Knowing Better = Doing Better
Searching = Finding…

There was another lesson here that was not lost on me: Straying from the present moment can have obvious problematic consequences, in other words, “Pay attention!!” For emphasis, I got a speeding ticket later in the week, on my way to a massage appointment of all things! Obviously, I wanted to hurry up and relax! Luckily no one was hurt by my swiftly moving non-presence, while racing through a residential neighborhood!! I’m waiting to see now if I finally heard the message loud enough!

All pared down, this is the gist of what I’m trying to get across: We are the manipulators of our own reality. What is ‘Reality’, really? It’s up for grabs. Our mind is the lens that creates our personal portrait. With care, be mindful of your own self.

(Image via Google)

Wishing Godspeed and a safe and artful journey to my fellow ‘View-Finders!’