View from the Top, Near Barnum Rock On Mt. Lemmon (10/05/12) — Image by kenne
Archive for the ‘Philosophy of life’ Tag
View From The Top 1 comment
The landscape changes, so enjoy it: of course,
The Sky Above, The Earth Below 1 comment
View Above Hutch’s Pool In the Santa Catalina Mountains — Image by kenne
“In those vernal seasons of the year when the air is calm and pleasant,
it were an injury and sullenness against nature not to go out and see her riches,
and partake in her rejoicing with heaven and earth.”
— John P. Milton
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What if . . . 3 comments
Sunset Over The Tucson Mountains — Image by kenne
“What if our religion was each other.
If our practice was our life.
If prayer, our words.
What if the temple was the Earth.
If forests were our church.
If holy water–the rivers, lakes, and ocean.
What if meditation was our relationships.
If the teacher was life.
If wisdom was self-knowledge.
If love was the center of our being.”
— Ganga White
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Tourist In Other People’s Reality Leave a comment
Tourist In Other People’s Reality (1974) — a caricature of kenne
In 1974 an artist friend I worked with at a publishing company drew this caricature of me trying to include all the things he felt identified with me. For a long time, it hung on the wall in my office(s). One day I used a sharpy and wrote on the glass of the framed poster, “I’m a tourist in other people’s reality,” which sums up my life. I borrowed the line from Susan Sontag’s book (On Photography), “The camera makes everyone a tourist in other people’s reality, and eventually in one’s own.”
— kenne
Pinned on the wall in the drawing is the Edmund Burke quote:
“No men can act with effect who do not act in concert;
no men can act in concert who do not act with confidence;
no men can act with confidence who are not bound together
with common opinions, common affections, and common interests.”
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I Went To The Desert . . . Leave a comment
Catalina Foothills Sunset — Image by kenne
I went to the [desert] because I wished to live deliberately,
to front only the essential facts of life,
and see if I could not learn what it had to teach,
and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
— Henry David Thoreau
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Cartoon Du Jour — If You Are Not, Then You Are Dead 2 comments
nearlywildcamping.org
If you are not, then you are dead!
— kenne
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Rose Canyon Lake On Mt. Lemmon Leave a comment
Rose Canyon Lake On Mt. Lemmon — Image by kenne
“But I’ll tell you what hermits realize.
If you go off into a far, far forest
and get very quiet,
you’ll come to understand that
you’re connected with everything.”
– Alan Watts
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Sunset After The Rains 1 comment
Sunset After the Rains — Photo-Artistry by kenne
The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.
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Desert Globemallow Leave a comment
Desert Globemallow — Images by kenne
Balance
learning
new lessons
with learning
old lessons
again and
again to
become wise.
— kenne
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The Miracle of Life Leave a comment
Female Phainopepla Photo-Artistry by kenne
It is necessary to run risks.
We only properly understand
the miracle of life when we
allow the unexpected to happen.
— Paulo Coelho
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“What I Have Learned So Far” Leave a comment
Digital Image by kenne
Meditation is old and honorable, so why should I
not sit, every morning of my life, on the hillside,
looking into the shining world? Because, properly
attended to, delight, as well as havoc, is suggestion.
Can one be passionate about the just, the
ideal, the sublime, and the holy, and yet commit
to no labor in its cause? I don’t think so.
— from “What I Have Learned So Far” by Mary Oliver
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Swimp Boats At The Rocky Point Port 2 comments
Swimp Boats At The Rocky Point (Puerto Peñasco) Port — Computer Painting by kenne
“The meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day, from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment.
To put the question in general terms would be to the question posed to a chess champion: “Tell me, Master, what is the best move in the world?”
There simply is no such thing as the best or even a good move apart from a particular situation in a game and the particular personality of one’s opponent.
The same holds for human existence. One should not search for an abstract meaning of life. Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment which demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus, everyone’s task is as unique as is his specific opportunity to implement it.
As each situation in life represents a challenge to man and presents a problem for him to solve, the question of the meaning of life may actually be reversed. Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of life is, but rather he must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.”
–Viktor E. Frankl
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Changing Direction Leave a comment
Graphic Pen Art by kenne
In the search for your destiny,
you will often find yourself obliged
to change direction.
— Paulo Coelho
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Believing In The Importance Of The Struggle — Robert M. Pirsig, Dead At 88 2 comments
Source: William Morrow/HarperCollins
It’s just a little after midnight in Tucson, and I’m having trouble sleeping. It could be that Joy is having surgery later today. It could be that in this age of hand-held technology, it was several hours ago I received a news alert on the passage of Robert M. Pirsig at age 88.
In the 1970’s I was interested in motorcycles — own a couple. It was a time in which I loved reading about technology and philosophy. So, in 1974 when I read a review of a recently published book, “Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values,” I went out and bought a copy.
The inside cover jacket begins with a quote from the book:
“ The study of the art of motorcycle maintenance is really a miniature study of the art of rationality itself. Working on a motorcycle, working well, caring, is to become part of a process to achieve an inner peace of mind. The motorcycle is primarily a mental phenomenon.”
What better way to write about the conflict between science and religion, and the nature of Quality in art than to have it as part of a motorcycle narrative of a trip Pirsig, his eleven-year-old son, and two friends took from Minnesota to California? As it turns out, the real journey was not a motorcycle trip, but a philosophic trip that centers on an insane passion for truth.
In February of this year, I posted a blog entitled, The Zen of Visual Imagery – Balancing Passion and Obsession, in which I reference the novel I have worshiped over the years. Whether in my own teaching of educational philosophy or photography, I can’t talk about life without referencing Pirsig for the truth. It is time for a Chautauqua.
–kenne
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Sunrise On Wildhorse Trail Leave a comment
Sunrise On Wildhorse Trail — Image by kenne
No valid plans for the future can be made by those who have
no capacity for living now.
— Alan Watts
