If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro’ narrow chinks of his cavern.”
   ~ William Blake (source)

The Past Never Stays in the Past

Stepping through the remnants of the past, thinking of those that inhabited these buildings… The dreams and hopes not apparent and long gone. Underscoring we only have today and we ought to make the best of it.

A family’s photograph album is generally about the extended family—and, often, is all that remains of it.”
   ~ Susan Sontag (source)

A Doctor's Office...

A passing shadow on the sidewalk, a stone, a molecule, and some carbon… Is that all that is left behind? Is it ego that wants to leave more? I guess, perhaps. Is art a way to satisfy the ego, to leave our mark in time, or our stamp upon the Earth? It is a record of culture, place, intellect, and emotion. Looking back at these buildings from a time gone by lets you wonder at the celebrations that took place within. Here the past and present collide. In these buildings, we are left wondering and to walk the steps of others that have no names.

One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between Man and Nature shall not be broken.”
   ~ Leo Tolstoy (source)

Rivers Ebb and Flow but Always Finds Its Way.

Memory holds together past and present, gives continuity and dignity to human life… the companion… the tutor, the poet, the library, with which you travel.”      ~ Mark van Doren, an American writer (souroe)

Art—To Some Stitching Past and Present Together

Since my diagnoses with HIV (AIDS), I literally sobered up. I’m about twenty-years sober and I feel blessed that I have found my way to sobriety. Sobriety has allowed me to go places and do things that I never dreamed possible. It’s been far more exciting than those haze filled days. I’m lucky I didn’t have to lose anything to find my way to sobriety. Never lost a job, never a DWI, and still have my partner.

For me, art is stitching time and place together…. Finding a way to connect the past and future together in some fashion. Whether it that is using a narrative or metaphor.

As I live with HIV, taking multiple medications a day, I think of how the present is connected with the past and how we experience the world. Our senses that we relay on to explain our surroundings and interpret the world are faulty at best. In a way, we all live in Plato’s Cave staring at the shadows on the wall.

Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.”
    ~ Pablo Picasso (source)

Change Your Perspective, Change Your World

I don’t know if I will ever look back at these pages. Probably never will but it is worth taking a minute and reflecting on today. Currently, I’m doing that with a camera and Photoshop… Tomorrow who knows. All I do know is that I find a peace through a camera lens.