Gentle Pulsing

"Over this great expanse there is no disturbance but it is thus at once gently smoothed away and assuaged, as, when a vase of water is jarred, the trembling circles seek the shore and all is smooth again. Not a fish can leap or an insect fall on the pond but it is thus reported in circling dimples, in lines of beauty, as it were the constant welling up of its fountain, the gentle pulsing of its life, the heaving of its breast. The thrills of joy and thrills of pain are undistinguishable. How peaceful the phenomena of the lake! Again the works of man shine as in the spring. Ay, every leaf and twig and stone and cobweb sparkles now at mid-afternoon as when covered with dew in a spring morning."

- Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)
Walden

Sunyata

"All descriptions of reality are limited expressions of the world of emptiness. Yet we attach to the descriptions and think they are reality. That is a mistake.

...

In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities; in the expert's mind there are few. The mind of the beginner is empty, free of the habits of the expert, ready to accept, to doubt, and open to all the possibilities. It is the kind of mind which can see things as they are, which step by step and in a flash can realize the original nature of everything.

...

So we say, 'True nothingness, true emptiness -- from true emptiness the wondrous being appears (shin ku myo mu).' Shin is true, ku is emptiness, myo is wondrous, mu is being. From true emptiness wondrous being - shin ku myo mu. So without nothingness there is no naturalness - no true being. True being comes out from nothingness, moment after moment. So nothingness is always there. From nothingness everything comes out."

- Shunryu Suzuki (1904–1971)

Beyond Knowing

"If you want to be free, get to know your real self. It has no form, no appearance, no root, no basis, no abode, but is lively and buoyant. It responds with versatile facility, but its function cannot be located. Therefore when you look for it you become further from it, when you seek it you turn away from it all the more."

- Linji Yixuan (618-907)
The Record of Linji

Punctum

"Occasionally (but alas all too rarely) a 'detail' attracts me. I feel that its mere presence changes my reading, that I am looking a new photograph, marked in my eyes with a higher value. This 'detail' is the punctum. [...] Very often the punctum is a 'detail,' i.e., a partial object.[which] is also: sting, speck, cut, little hole-and also a cast of the dice. A photograph's punctum is that accident which pricks me (but also bruises me, is poignant to me). [...] A detail overwhelms the entirety of my reading; it is an intense mutation of my interest, a fulguration. By the mark of something, the photograph is no longer 'anything whatever.' This something has triggered me, has provoked a tiny shock, a satori, the passage of a void (it is of no importance that its referent is insignificant). A strange thing: the virtuous gesture which seizes upon 'docile' photographs (those invested by a simple studium) is an idle gesture (to leaf through, to glance quickly and desultorily, to linger, then to hurry on); on the contrary, the reading of the punctum (of the pricked photograph, so to speak) is at once brief and active [...] The studium is ultimately always coded, the punctum is not ... However lightning-like it may be, the punctum has, more or less potentially, a power of expansion. [...] There is another (less Proustian) expansion of the punctum: when, paradoxically, while remaining a 'detail,' it fills the whole picture. [...] Last thing about the punctum: whether or not it is triggered, it is an addition: it is what I add to the photograph and what is nonetheless already there.

- Roland Barthes (1915 – 1980)
Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography

Liminal

 "New pond.
No sound of a frog
Jumping in.
...
Past has passed away.
Future has not arrived.
Present does not remain.
...
I don’t tell the murky world
to turn pure.
I purify myself
and check my reflection in
the water of the valley brook."

- Ryōkan (1758 - 1831)

Wintery Mists

"In darkness it is most bright,
while hidden all the more manifest.
The crane dreams in the wintery mists.
The autumn waters flow far in the distance."

- Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091–1157)
Cultivating the Empty Field:
The Silent Illumination of Zen Buddhist Master Hongzhi

Luminous Insistence

"In some photographs the essence of light and space dominate; in others, the substance of rock and wood, and the luminous insistence of growing things ... It is my intention to present - through the medium of photography - intuitive observations of the natural world which may have meaning to spectators."

- Ansel Adams (1902 - 1984)

Old Wood

"The whole world is, to me, very much 'alive' - all the little growing things, even the rocks. I can't look at a swell bit of grass and earth, for instance, without feeling the essential life - the things going on - within them. The same goes for a mountain, or a bit of the ocean, or a magnificent piece of old wood."

- Ansel Adams (1902 - 1984)

Nature's Sculpture

"Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty - a beauty cold and austere, like that of sculpture, without appeal to any part of our weaker nature, without the gorgeous trappings of painting or music, yet sublimely pure, and capable of a stern perfection such as only the greatest art can show."

- Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970)

The Intuitive Mind

"The difference between the mathematical and the intuitive mind.—In the one the principles are palpable, but removed from ordinary use; so that for want of habit it is difficult to turn one's mind in that direction: but if one turns it thither ever so little, one sees the principles fully, and one must have a quite inaccurate mind who reasons wrongly from principles so plain that it is almost impossible they should escape notice ... But in the intuitive mind the principles are found in common use, and are before the eyes of everybody. One has only to look, and no effort is necessary; it is only a question of good eyesight, but it must be good, for the principles are so subtle and so numerous, that it is almost impossible but that some escape notice.

...

All mathematicians would then be intuitive if they had clear sight, for they do not reason incorrectly from principles known to them; and intuitive minds would be mathematical if they could turn their eyes to the principles of mathematics to which they are unused. The reason, therefore, that some intuitive minds are not mathematical is that they cannot at all turn their attention to the principles of mathematics. But the reason that mathematicians are not intuitive is that they do not see what is before them, and that, accustomed to the exact and plain principles of mathematics, and not reasoning till they have well inspected and arranged their principles, they are lost in matters of intuition where the principles do not allow of such arrangement. 

...

They are scarcely seen; they are felt rather than seen; there is the greatest difficulty in making them felt by those who do not of themselves perceive them. These principles are so fine and so numerous that a very delicate and very clear sense is needed to perceive them, and to judge rightly and justly when they are perceived, without for the most part being able to demonstrate them in order as in mathematics; because the principles are not known to us in the same way, and because it would be an endless matter to undertake it. We must see the matter at once, at one glance, and not by a process of reasoning."

.- Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662)

Synaptic Plasticity

"We found that trees could communicate, over the air and through their roots. Common sense hooted us down. We found that trees take care of each other. Collective science dismissed the idea. Outsiders discovered how seeds remember the seasons of their childhood and set buds accordingly. Outsiders discovered that trees sense the presence of other nearby life. That a tree learns to save water. That trees feed their young and synchronize their masts and bank resources and warn kin and send out signals to wasps to come and save them from attacks. Here’s a little outsider information, and you can wait for it to be confirmed. A forest knows things. They wire themselves up underground. There are brains down there, ones our own brains aren’t shaped to see. Root plasticity, solving problems and making decisions. Fungal synapses. What else do you want to call it? Link enough trees together, and a forest grows aware."

- Richard Powers (1957 - )
The Overstory

Mind Over matter

"The very act of thinking involves the redistribution of atoms, specifically the transference of mental information via mRNA (messenger RNA) in the neurons to protein chains at the ends of the dendrites where the new memories are held. Thus, the more a person uses his mind, the more protein in his dendrites and the more complex his brain. According to this view, 'all thought is psychokinetic' because the very act of thinking, by definition, involves a mental event being changed into a physical one: a thought becomes a memory, that is, mind over matter."

- Marc Seifer (1948 - )

"Gathered Light Magazine" - An Exemplary New Photography Magazine

A magnificent new photography journal has appeared, thanks to the efforts - better: thanks to the love and devotion - by photographer, writer, and editor, Micheal MacEoghain. It is called Gathered Light Magazine (GLM) and - as of January 2026 - there are five issues for all to enjoy. According to Micheal's Substack page, he explores the intersections of nature, healing, and conservation. From GLM, we learn that Micheal holds degrees in anthropology and art history, and has done masters work in music composition and underwater archeology. These sensibilities are manifestly obvious in GLM. Indeed, this is what separates this new magazine from what seems like a crowded field, but really is not. I can think of few other photography journals that so seamlessly blend art and photography, technique and vision, conservation, ecology, and even delves into psychology and healing. In short, calling GLM a photography magazine is a grave misjustice, since it offers so much more.

Except for the inaugural issue, each of the last four issues focuses on a single theme (Issue 2 = Ocean, Issue 3 = Inner Landscape, Issue 4 = Wildlife, and Issue 5 = Trees), but also includes a vast assortment of additional material that expand on broader subjects. GLM happily has two traits in common with one of my favorite photography magazines, Lenswork. One is that the photography itself is stellar, including a generous sampling of Micheal's own wonderful images. The other is that there are no advertisements, apart from a single "support our work" page nestled toward the end of each issue. So, Micheal, Kudos on an exemplary new magazine! 

Individual issues range in size from about 90 pages to 150 and are all free to read online - just follow the links that appear on the main page (pdf versions can also be purchased for 4.95USD). 

My recommendation? Right after you finish reading this blog post, grab a cup of coffee (or tea, or cocoa, or your favorite drink that you enjoy sipping for a long while), bring your laptop or iPad to whatever is your most comfortable easy chair or sofa, turn off all notifications, and just start reading. You won't regret it!

Nature's Peace

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.
Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.
The winds will blow their own freshness into
you and the storms their energy, while cares
will drop off like autumn leaves.

...

In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks.

...

There is not a fragment in all nature, for
every relative fragment of one thing is
a full harmonious unit in itself."

- John Muir (1838 - 1914)

Banyans & Balls (or "Sufficient Reason")

"Suppose you were strolling in the woods and, in addition to the sticks, stones, and other accustomed litter of the forest floor, you one day came upon some quite unaccustomed object, something not quite like what you had ever seen before and would never expect to find in such a place. Suppose, for example, that it is a large ball, about your own height, perfectly smooth and translucent. You would deem this puzzling and mysterious, certainly, but if one considers the matter, it is no more inherently mysterious that such a thing should exist than that anything else should exist. If you were quite accustomed to finding such objects of various sizes around you most of the time, but had never seen an ordinary rock, then upon finding a large rock in the woods one day you would be just as puzzled and mystified. This illustrates the fact that something that is mysterious ceases to seem so simply by its accustomed presence. It is strange indeed, for example, that a world such as ours should exist; yet few men are very often struck by this strangeness, but simply take it for granted. 

...

Suppose, then, that you have found this translucent ball and are mystified by it. Now whatever else you might wonder about it, there is one thing you would hardly question; namely, that it did not appear there all by itself, that it owes its existence to something. You might not have the remotest idea whence and how it came to be there, but you would hardly doubt that there was an explanation. The idea that it might have come from nothing at all, that it might exist without there being any explanation of its existence, is one that few people would consider worthy of entertaining. 

...

This illustrates a metaphysical belief that seems to be almost a part of reason itself... the belief, namely, that there is some explanation for the existence of anything whatever, some reason why it should exist rather than not. The sheer nonexistence of anything, which is not to be confused with the passing out of existence of something, never requires a reason; but existence does. That there should never have been any such ball in the forest does not require any explanation or reason, but that there should ever be such a ball does."

- Richard Taylor (1919 – 2003)

Ineffable Music

"Trees are the earth's endless effort
to speak to the listening heaven.

...

The touch of an infinite mystery passes
over the trivial and the familiar, making
 it break out into ineffable music... 
The trees, the stars, and the blue hills
ache with a meaning which can
never be uttered in words.

...

The one who plants a tree knowing he
may never sit in its shade has
learnt a little about life."

- Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)

Uncanny Witchery

"November — with uncanny witchery in its changed trees. With murky red sunsets flaming in smoky crimson behind the westering hills. With dear days when the austere woods were beautiful and gracious in a dignified serenity of folded hands and closed eyes — days full of a fine, pale sunshine that sifted through the late, leafless gold of the juniper-trees and glimmered among the grey beeches, lighting up evergreen banks of moss and washing the colonnades of the pines."

- Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874 - 1942)

Interpenetration

"Deep interlock and ambiguity are other strong ways of connecting. Forms interpenetrate to link together. An analogy comes from fractals, where crinkled lines tend to fill portions of space, and surfaces grow with accretions. Two regions can interpenetrate at a semi-permeable interface, which enables a transition from one region to another. There is ambiguity as to which side of the interface one belongs while inside the transition region, and this is a good feature. Abrupt transitions such as a clean straight line, however, do not bind objects coming up to each other."

- Nikos Salingaros (1952 - )
Unified Architectural Theory: Form, Language, Complexity 

Autumn Tree

"Every leaf speaks bliss to me,
fluttering from the autumn tree."

- Emily Brontë (1818 - 1848)

Replenishing My Soul

"The psyche, if you understand it as a phenomenon occurring in living bodies, is a quality of matter, just as our body consists of matter. We discover that this matter has another aspect, namely, a psychic aspect. It is simply the world seen from within. It is just as though you were seeing into another aspect of matter."

- C. G. Jung (1875-1961)
The Earth Has a Soul

Postscript. Some of you may have noticed that for the past month or so I have been posting "autumnal abstracts" consisting mostly of small, intimate compositions of leaves, rocks, reflections and gentle water flow. But while these rapid-fire posts may seem like I have had a "lot of time on my hands," the truth is actually the reverse. But therein lies an important (albeit "obvious") lesson for all creatives: when you objectively have "no time" for creative endeavors, force yourself to find a pocket of time, however small - it can be measured in minutes! - to nourish your soul. Of course, this is particularly hard to achieve after enduring a long string of "day job" hours; in my case, 10+ hours days consisting of working on endless equations and computer code, and dealing with recursively multiplying deadlines for deliverables). As the "day job" hours increase so does the need to to recharge; unfortunately, since fatigue also grows (in my case, exponentially) with "day job" effort, there is a point of no return wherein you'll find yourself too tired to carve out what (at this point, is now a critically vital) "pocket of time" to recharge. So what does one do? In my case, when I am able to work from home, I force myself to stop work about an hour before the sun sets, grab a camera and tripod, and drive a few miles to a local trail that runs along a small creek. I park my car at the end of a residential cul-de-sac and walk about 300 feet to a "little bridge" ... (iPhone panorama):

It is here around this little bridge and the shallow leaf-strewn creek that I let my soul breath for however many precious few minutes I have until the sun sets, while my eye happily searches for intimate compositions of leaves, rocks, reflections and gentle water flow! 15 to 20 minutes in this oasis is usually all I need (and, often, all I have) to forget about me equations and replenish my soul.

In my next post, I'll explain what these "autumnal abstracts" have to do with quantum mechanics, albeit from a more whimsical than physics perspective.