Ponder the Moon

I read this story in "The Spirit of Silence: Making Space for Creativity" by John Lane. A Japanese Buddhist monk named Ryokan lived in a cave. Already someone who makes time and space for silence. One evening he was spending time with a friend and said he would go out and get some more to drink and eat. About three hours passed by and the friend who had become worried went out to look for him. He found him not far from his home, sitting under a tree and staring up at the sky. 'How beautiful is the moon!?', he declared with a childlike smile of wonder on his face. He asked his friend to come and join him to enjoy the beauty of the moon.

This is not necessarily a situation that occurs in our modern life. Usually if someone goes out to get reinforcements they get held up by the traffic from an accident from other people who were driving too fast they were not distracted by natural beauty. Or we simply rush past it all in an effort to quickly complete the task. 

 Silence is something I definitely need to make time for in my life. I need to sometimes turn off the music and the computer and sit with whatever my thoughts may be. Or simply just be. I hope that I will never lose my sense of joy at a beautiful sky or the ability to pause and look up at it as it changes colors. I suppose we must nourish this sense of wonder and this spirit of silence, so that we do not lose our sensitivity to all that is around us. Here are some shots from around my studio as the sky transitioned from day to night, often referred to as a sun set, though, I guess it is really the earth turning.