Seeking Out the Wisdom of Our Own Hearts...

   As we age, as we progress through the multitudinous chapters in our lives, we file away, often unawares, tidbits of wisdom.  Contemplative photography calls on us to bring this wisdom front and center.  It acknowledges this wisdom and asks us to acknowledge it as well.

   In Matthew Fox's compelling book, Hildegard of Bingen, he writes that:

Wisdom, Spirit and creativity go together

so thoroughly that Hildegard tells us

wisdom "resides in all creative works."-page 89

   This is really a stunning thought; that even our smallest creative act contains wisdom.  For the contemplative photographer this means that the very act of releasing the shutter reveals a kernel of wisdom inherent in the photographer. Something drew you to the thing you photographed; it plucked a heart string that reverberated a message to you.  You only need to tune in to your own heart's wisdom.

   Whether we accept our innate creativity or not (and, sadly I fear, most people do not) the human soul is desperate to put our most profound experiences into some form of artistic expression.  Photography offers the masses this opportunity...to record, to translate and to share those experiences, to pass on our wisdom.  The camera is the perfect instrument to focus our attention, to direct our vision.  The artifact it creates is a documented example of the wisdom of that vision.

   She (Hildegard) is saying that all of us have visions to

give birth to, and we shouldn't hold back from doing so. - page 91