122 - Friendship

Good friends, good sunsets and a quiet conscience: this is an ideal life.

121 - Seeing

I know I'm not seeing things as they are, I'm seeing things as I am. Laurel Lee

This is taking a while to learn...

120 - Future

The best thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a time. Abraham Lincoln

119 - Pains

The pains which are yet to come can be and are to be avoided. II.16, Sutras of Patanjali

Past pain is finished. Pain that we are in the process of experiencing cannot be avoided, but can be reduced to some extent by yogic practice and discriminative knowledge. Unknown future pains can be prevented by adhering now to yogic discipline.

118 - Wisdom

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest. Confucius

And I think it takes all three methods to become wise.

117 - The Ancient Traveler

The most ancient traveler in the universe is love. It is love that travels from the unknown to the known, from eternity to eternity. From The Essence of Spiritual Life

116 - Morning Peace

Peace, in the sense of the absence of war, is of little value to someone who is dying of hunger or cold. It will not remove the pain of torture inflicted on a prisoner of conscience. It does not comfort those who have lost their loved ones in floods caused by senseless deforestation in a neighboring country. Peace can only last where human rights are respected, where the people are fed, and where individuals and nations are free. The Dalai Lama

115 - The Sky Breathes

Canon 5DmkII, 16-35mm at 16mm, iso100, 1/6 sec at f/13.0, +CPL

I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. Thomas Jefferson

114 - Connections

Canon 5DmkII, 24-70mm at 35mm, iso100, 1/60 sec at f/9.5, +CPL

A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Albert Einstein

113 - Coincidence

Canon 5DmkII, 16-35mm at 16mm, iso100, 1/15 sec at f/8.0, +CPL

According to Wikipedia, Coincidence is the noteworthy alignment of two or more events or circumstances without obvious causal connection. The word is derived from the Latin co- ("in", "with", "together") and incidere ("to fall on"). In science the term is generally used in a more literal translation, e.g., referring to when two rays of light strike a surface at the same point at the same time. In this usage of coincidence, there is no implication that the alignment of events is surprising, noteworthy or non-causal.

I tend more to mystical teachings that insist on the view that there is absolutely no coincidence in the world. Everything that occurs can be related to a prior cause or association, no matter how vast or how minute and trivial. All is impacted by something related to it that is seen or unseen, cognized or unknowable.

This sunset had special meaning for me and I believe the universe set it to remind me; Number one, how blessed we are. Number two, There are connections that make all of this a lot of fun.

Yesterday with another photographer I was discussing photographing sunsets, I said "And don't ever rule out the east, things happen there that don't happen in any other direction." Well the image above, that I took the next evening (due east) is what I was talking about. This beautiful pattern of sun rays is called anticrepuscular rays. Coincidence???

The second image and don't get wrong I'm not a religious guy, speaks to how blessed we are. I've been to this location numerous times and I've never seen a Sister there. Sister Marisa has a beautiful smile and is very friendly. I asked her to pose for me and she graciously agreed. The anticrepuscular and crepuscular rays are also called God rays. Another darn coincidence...