I’ll share a few more photos.

With wife and sonny boy out of town and a day completely to myself I chose to forego chores around here and went for a little drive, camera in hand.

Now I don’t fancy myself a photographer, however, when scenery is sublime anyone with a half decent camera can capture it. Every day of summer thousands upon thousands take the same photo as the one above from Moraine Lake, Alberta, which is part of the reason I included the beetling creatures in the bottom right hand corner of last post’s image.

But, what draws us to scenery such as this?

Years ago now I drove one of the busses that brought tourists to places like these. Once, standing beside my bus waiting for the passengers to return, I fell into conversation with a man. He was a doctor from New York City, and the place seemed to have stirred something inside of him. “You here every day?” he asked. “Couple times a week,” I replied. “Nice place to work.” “Not bad,” I nodded.

We look out upon the world, and see ourselves reflected back. Unfortunately, the lens through which we look has been given us by the culture in which we live. That is, very few look through their own eyes, most peer myopically through collective eyes. And increasingly, those collective eyes are urban.

Where, looking at the scene above, is the nature from which we have extracted ourselves? Who are we, when all we look out upon is steel, brick, concrete and glass?

  Do we ever truly get away from it? Can we leave the city behind and genuinely commune with ourselves?

Some, a handful at most, can and do.

It’s what I’m attempting to convey here at the Cafe.

Given the chance, we are awestruck confronted by nature’s grandeur, her surreal immensity.

  It reminds us of something long forgotten. Something in ourselves, of immeasurable value.

What?

  That we are kin to this cute little fella roguishly staring back at us, and nothing more!

Our culture has lifted us outside and away, placed us upon pedestals (and very likely might one day knock those pedestals out from under), and gets between us and the reality of our deep and abiding oneness with all life.

 

That’s all.

Once more, because it bears repeating: Life is ALL there is.  We need reminding of that fact, now as much as ever.

Anyway, two last photos.

We gaze out upon the world and see ourselves, or portions thereof, reflected back. Our art seeks to capture that scenery and mirror it back, touching us, reminding us of what and who we are.

  We stare goggle-eyed at a cataract and feel emotions roiling inside. We sense and identify with the tumultuous flow.

  However, do you see the flow above? It’s there, only with monumental glacial leisure.

If the falls reflect us–our inward life–individually, the glacier reflects our inward life too, collectively. But the latter’s flow, however grand, is imperceptible to our eye.

We don’t see it, so it mustn’t be there.

Woe unto us….