tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4638899826405409481.post7522262122069511561..comments2023-05-17T08:16:38.082-07:00Comments on Bahiya Of The Bark Garment - Mahasiddhi: - Not Selling any AlibisMahasiddhihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08958131694728422827noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4638899826405409481.post-74741021661507241442011-05-28T13:34:04.589-07:002011-05-28T13:34:04.589-07:00I love the photo at the top of this post (as well ...I love the photo at the top of this post (as well as the impressive story within the post itself of course).<br /><br />There are plenty of photos of pebbles around, of them still on beaches, or removed in various still life arrangements. Most of those photos show their colours and patterns, and some show their texture. This one does so particularly well, with the contrast between the hard, rough, cold pebbles and what could only be soft, warm, hands. <br />(And with a warm human hand touching the hard and cold it was a good choice of photo to top a blog entry about a person having been through so much.)<br /><br />But this is the first photo of pebbles I've seen which very cleverly conveys a sense of their weight too. I love that this photo is a very deliberately arranged still life, but with life in it. It's special that because someone's hands are there, you're instantly given the whole feeling of the pebbles yourself, including felt texture, and the weight of them. I almost feel like I need to go and wash my own hands, after collecting the pebbles somewhere.<br /><br />I see this photo as a picture of warm generosity, with strength. Palms outstretched full of something weighty and welcome being given or shown. <br />(Although for a homeless person with open hands, pebbles would be a very empty gift).<br /><br />That in this case the things being given or shown are pebbles grabbed me, simply because my mum has always loved pebbles. I remember collecting them with her or, since her disability, looking for good ones and bringing them back to her. Since there are so many photos of pebbles in this world, pebble-loving must be a commonly shared human trait, but not many photos actually show a person with them.<br /><br />Because of the unusual instance of there being hands in an essentially still life shot, this photo highlights the interaction between two people in taking the photo. Between the photographer, whose own hands would have been busy on the camera, and the person whose hands he needed to borrow and arrange, like cooperating objects, along with the inanimate pebbles.<br /><br />So, in line with the art & Buddhism theme of this blog, this photo to me is simultaneously an extremely effective, very direct, way of conveying everything pebbly about pebbles, and hand-like about hands, as well as a reminder of giving and receiving gifts, and also a subtle but automatic encouragement to take part in the practice of putting yourself in other people's shoes (palms) and seeing yourself there; that there is no fundamental difference between people. Because all hands have the same capacity for the same sensations, we would all feel the pebbles if they were our hands holding them. (Again, making it a good choice to top a post on someone having experienced homelessness and alcoholism - because "there but by the grace of" whatever, goes anyone.)ergjnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4638899826405409481.post-77624109439276344522009-10-20T07:51:02.877-07:002009-10-20T07:51:02.877-07:00A friend of mine in AA added this: “We see the 12 ...A friend of mine in AA added this: “We see the 12 steps as delivering sobriety, or recovery. These two words to us describe the total life-change that results from a journey through the 12 steps - like ‘a new pair of glasses.’ Someone in AA says that not drinking is the wrapping paper on the present, and people in early recovery play with that wrapping paper as though it is the present, like a baby does. The real prize is the spiritual awakening that should come by step 12. ‘Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps.’ The term to avoid is ‘dryness’ because we all aim well beyond dryness, a pejorative term in AA.”Mahasiddhihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08958131694728422827noreply@blogger.com