Saturday, January 29, 2011

Reflections and Illusions

"You have heard much of this world
yet what you seen of this world?
What is its form and substance?...
You are asleep and your vision is a dream;
all you are seeing is a mirage.
When you awake up on the morn of the last day
you will know all this to be fancy and illusion;
When you have ceased to see double,
Heaven and Earth will become transformed;
when the real sun unveils his face to ou,
the moon, the stars,and Venus will disappear;
if a ray shines on the hard rock
like wool of many colors, it drops to pieces."
-Mahmud Shabistari
Sufi Poet
(1288 - 1340)

"Reflect: is not the dreamer, sleeping or waking, one who likens dissimilar things, who puts the copy in the place of the real object?

I should certainly say that such a one was dreaming.

But take the case of the other, who recognizes the existence of absolute beauty and is able to distinguish the idea from the objects which participate in the idea, neither putting the objects in the place of the idea nor the idea in the place of the objects-- is he a dreamer, or is he awake?"

2 comments:

Howard Grill said...

Beautiful image Andy! Having recently seen Inception (am I the last person in the country to see it?), I couldn't help but think of the movie after seeing this image. What is real and what is reflection? The rock in the water reminded me of the 'totem' or spinning top in the movie....one thing to ground yourself and serve as an 'anchor' to reality so that you can 'know' what is real!

Andy Ilachinski said...

Hi Howard, Thanks for stopping by...glad you made it to see Inception (one of my favorites from last year). Truth be told, your interpretation of the "rock" is precisely what I had in mind in posting this! I fee sorry for the poor chap (photographer) who decides to use his *photography* as a token for reality; try to figure that one out ;-) BTW: I need to remind myself to change my link to your blog!