The Eye of the Beholder

This is supposed to be a video about creativity with Photography, and unexpectedly they stumble upon the crux of our human experience. We taint everything we see through eyes that are distorting the truth (or reality or the fact) of each and every moment. We cannot help it, it is based upon all the baggage that has been accumulated since the time the Doctor, Midwife or whom ever delivered us smacked us on the butt to take our first breath.

Most of us live our lives, never being able to see beyond the veil of our filtered existence. We think we see the truth in front of our eyes, and yet that truth is based upon our expectations, our biases and our opinions. So here, in this video, we have a group of photographers who are told a fabricated story about an individual, and they try to portray their idea of who they think he is rather than letting all that fall away and just see the image that is in front of them. 

This is how we do violence to each other, this is how we hurt those around us without even understanding that we have violated them. We say interesting things like, "You aren't the person you were when I met you." or "You have changed so much that I no longer know who you are." If we gave our selves a moment prior to opening our mouths and actually thought about either of these statements we would never utter them. Nothing in life is fixed, everything is in flux, including us. And this is the biggest lie we try to convince ourselves of. We look at pictures of Movie Stars when they were young, and we say, "Wow, they sure have aged "either poorly or gracefully."

We desire so much to keep everything static. This would be akin to going to our local favorite place, perhaps an Ocean side, or a Lake-view, or even at the banks of our favorite river. Perhaps we look at the water as being so clear, so pristine and sparkly that we want to take some of it with us. So we get a bucket and scoop it up and take it home. Perhaps we put it out on our porch and go about our business, only to return weeks later and see some slimy cauldron of mosquito larvae invested mold factory. Once we remove anything from its current environment, which is always changing and in flux, we remove its inherent nature and change it.

Global Warming and the Paradox of Judeo Christian and Eastern Theology

Chief Seattle

There is a fundamental issue which I may choose to develop more deeply on this subject; additionally, this appeared suddenly within my purview and I cannot hesitate to share it now. It concerns the sale of land to the United States of America and the Salish Indigenous People's inhabiting the land in what is now known as the State of Washington. This wise sage of a Chief warns the American's and invites them to change and see an alternative view with this letter he wrote to President Franklin Pierce, the 14th President of the United States. 

Chief Seattle (c. 1786 – June 7, 1866) was a Dkhw'Duw'Absh (Duwamish) chief. A prominent figure among his people, he pursued a path of accommodation to white settlers, forming a personal relationship with David Swinson "Doc" Maynard. The city of Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington, was named after him. A widely publicized speech arguing in favor of ecological responsibility and respect of Native Americans' land rights had been attributed to him. However, what he actually said has been lost through translation and rewriting.

President Franklin Pierce

Please read these words and know that they echo a respect and sanctity that frankly does not exist in the Abrahamic Religions. It is because in "Genesis" it says that "God then gave Man dominion over all things." We are on a precipice, it may tilt and destroy everything we value. The earth on the other-hand will still be here, and perhaps a bit happier we are gone.

Chief Seattle's Letter (1855)

"The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky? the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?

Every part of the earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my people.

We know the sap which courses through the trees as we know the blood that courses through our veins. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the dew in the meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man all belong to the same family.

The shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water, but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you our land, you must remember that it is sacred. Each glossy reflection in the clear waters of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The water's murmur is the voice of my father's father.

The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our children. So you must give the rivers the kindness that you would give any brother.

If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life that it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also received his last sigh. The wind also gives our children the spirit of life. So if we sell our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow flowers.

Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth.

This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.

One thing we know: our God is also your God. The earth is precious to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator.

Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will happen when the buffalo are all slaughtered? The wild horses tamed? What will happen when the secret corners of the forest are heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe hills is blotted with talking wires? Where will the thicket be? Gone! Where will the eagle be? Gone! And what is to say goodbye to the swift pony and then hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival.

When the last red man has vanished with this wilderness, and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, will these shores and forests still be here? Will there be any of the spirit of my people left?

We love this earth as a newborn loves its mother's heartbeat. So, if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it, as we have cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive it. Preserve the land for all children, and love it, as God loves us.

As we are part of the land, you too are part of the land. This earth is precious to us. It is also precious to you.

One thing we know - there is only one God. No man, be he Red man or White man, can be apart. We ARE all brothers after all."